Non league! What to expect

[Chaddyexile84]

1 minute ago, GKing521 said:

Based on what’s flying around it’s highly likely that we won’t even be playing next season. At best we’re looking at a points deduction. 

 

If you're talking about admin, does the points deduction apply in the conference? It's a league rule

 

If you mean as punishment for Saturday, again it's sod all to do with the EFL next season

[Dave_Og]

10 hours ago, OL9erlatic said:

Incredible that Brackley Town are in the National League North

My then local team, Bishop's Stortford, spent two years in NL  North. Tuesday away at Blyth Spartans was one game 

[GrimReaper]

* waves *

 

Here's what you've got to look forward to:

 

It'll seem like a bit of a blur at first, anger and upset at the fact you've been relegated. It hasn't sunk in. You'll Google the teams who you'll be playing next season, have a sly chuckle at their names and attendances. It won't be that bad will it. You've got over relegation and you've accepted it. It'll be a change from the usual grind of the league. Who needs the Football League when you've new teams to play, new away days, teams you'll expect to batter each week. It'll be fun, a year of this will be easy.

 

Fixtures come out. Woo hoo!

 

Hang on we aren't on them, oh yes we've been relegated. National League fixtures come out in a few weeks. You worry as you've not heard of any of the players you've signed. NL fixtures are published, you start working out by the end of August you'll have maximum points and the congac and cigars will be out. "Piss this tinpot league!", and a ball hasn't been kicked.

 

First game. It all seems a bit strange, like a parallel universe. Everything seems different, have I come to the wrong game. We'll still win though, get that champagne on ice. But you don't, you lose at home to Eastleigh and it won't stop. August ends after a flurry of fixtures and you aren't top. Solihull Moors are three points clear of the pack. You look wistfully at the league 2 table.

 

It gets worse. You still check the league 2 scores, fixtures and table but then sheepishly look at the correct one. You'll get turned over at home by what looks like a pub team in yellow and green, called something like Cockspickle Welfare on a Tuesday night away game at some God forsaken place in a cup you never knew existed.

 

Now it's FA Cup time, hang on, qualifying round? Why is this happening. We have to win a game just to get to the 1st round? Which you'll inevitably lose to Exeter. Nevermind there's this "FA Trophy" which has a final at Wembley. Brilliant. Its practically a free pass to a trophy and a day out at Wembley. Oh you'll lose away to Workington, or at home to Telford.

 

Then you stagger punch drunk post Christmas towards the end of the season. Counting how many points you need to stay in this league whilst gazing up the table with envy at Fylde and Dorking. League 2 seems like a distant memory, a long lost love you never truly appreciated.

 

Life won't be the same again. You may go back up, you may go down again or you may end up trapped forever. Enjoy.

 

 

[Dave_Og]

14 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

You'll worry as you've not heard of any of the players you've signed. 

 

 

Ship. Sailed. 

[Monty Burns]

l still check the league one table to see how we are doin

[SweeperKeeper]

1 hour ago, GrimReaper said:

* waves *

 

Here's what you've got to look forward to:

 

It'll seem like a bit of a blur at first, anger and upset at the fact you've been relegated. It hasn't sunk in. You'll Google the teams who you'll be playing next season, have a sly chuckle at their names and attendances. It won't be that bad will it. You've got over relegation and you've accepted it. It'll be a change from the usual grind of the league. Who needs the Football League when you've new teams to play, new away days, teams you'll expect to batter each week. It'll be fun, a year of this will be easy.

 

Fixtures come out. Woo hoo!

 

Hang on we aren't on them, oh yes we've been relegated. National League fixtures come out in a few weeks. You worry as you've not heard of any of the players you've signed. NL fixtures are published, you start working out by the end of August you'll have maximum points and the congac and cigars will be out. "Piss this tinpot league!", and a ball hasn't been kicked.

 

First game. It all seems a bit strange, like a parallel universe. Everything seems different, have I come to the wrong game. We'll still win though, get that champagne on ice. But you don't, you lose at home to Eastleigh and it won't stop. August ends after a flurry of fixtures and you aren't top. Solihull Moors are three points clear of the pack. You look wistfully at the league 2 table.

 

It gets worse. You still check the league 2 scores, fixtures and table but then sheepishly look at the correct one. You'll get turned over at home by what looks like a pub team in yellow and green, called something like Cockspickle Welfare on a Tuesday night away game at some God forsaken place in a cup you never knew existed.

 

Now it's FA Cup time, hang on, qualifying round? Why is this happening. We have to win a game just to get to the 1st round? Which you'll inevitably lose to Exeter. Nevermind there's this "FA Trophy" which has a final at Wembley. Brilliant. Its practically a free pass to a trophy and a day out at Wembley. Oh you'll lose away to Workington, or at home to Telford.

 

Then you stagger punch drunk post Christmas towards the end of the season. Counting how many points you need to stay in this league whilst gazing up the table with envy at Fylde and Dorking. League 2 seems like a distant memory, a long lost love you never truly appreciated.

 

Life won't be the same again. You may go back up, you may go down again or you may end up trapped forever. Enjoy.

 

 

 

It made me laugh and I know where you're coming from with this post - but don't expect much Billy Big Bollocks attitude from us. 

 

If there is no change of ownership, things will get worse before they get better, and we know it.

[JED]

15 hours ago, singe said:

Here is a map of grounds including those potentially promoted into Nat League and play off hopefuls who might get prmoted to L2. I've assumed Stockport will get promoted inot L2 and Maidstone into Nat League.

 

 

 

I’ve missed your analysis Singe -where have you been? At least Angels scraped to safety!

[SweeperKeeper]

9 hours ago, Chaddyexile84 said:

 

If you're talking about admin, does the points deduction apply in the conference? It's a league rule

 

If you mean as punishment for Saturday, again it's sod all to do with the EFL next season

The National League have deducted points for administration in the past, or relegated clubs to the National League North/South (Gateshead) or out of the league entirely (Salisbury City).

 

[SweeperKeeper]

11 hours ago, basilrobbie said:

It's an anomaly that has built up over a number of years. Promotion and relegation into and out of the EFL doesn't respect geographical balance.  And if you go back far enough weren't there three tiers of regional football funnelling Into just two when you go down to about tier seven/eight?

Yes.  It didn't help that for years the Northern League teams refused promotion, which meant that the northern border for English non-league effectively finished at Hartlepool.

 

Add to that the population growth in the southeast and end up with a North/South border running from the Severn.

 

I remember seeing a post somewhere that based on total travel time for the league it would actually make more sense to split West/East than North/South.  Given it takes the same time to get to Bristol as it does to Kings Lynn, I can sort of believe it.

[Dick_Valentine]

2 hours ago, GrimReaper said:

* waves *

 

Here's what you've got to look forward to:

 

It'll seem like a bit of a blur at first, anger and upset at the fact you've been relegated. It hasn't sunk in. You'll Google the teams who you'll be playing next season, have a sly chuckle at their names and attendances. It won't be that bad will it. You've got over relegation and you've accepted it. It'll be a change from the usual grind of the league. Who needs the Football League when you've new teams to play, new away days, teams you'll expect to batter each week. It'll be fun, a year of this will be easy.

 

Fixtures come out. Woo hoo!

 

Hang on we aren't on them, oh yes we've been relegated. National League fixtures come out in a few weeks. You worry as you've not heard of any of the players you've signed. NL fixtures are published, you start working out by the end of August you'll have maximum points and the congac and cigars will be out. "Piss this tinpot league!", and a ball hasn't been kicked.

 

First game. It all seems a bit strange, like a parallel universe. Everything seems different, have I come to the wrong game. We'll still win though, get that champagne on ice. But you don't, you lose at home to Eastleigh and it won't stop. August ends after a flurry of fixtures and you aren't top. Solihull Moors are three points clear of the pack. You look wistfully at the league 2 table.

 

It gets worse. You still check the league 2 scores, fixtures and table but then sheepishly look at the correct one. You'll get turned over at home by what looks like a pub team in yellow and green, called something like Cockspickle Welfare on a Tuesday night away game at some God forsaken place in a cup you never knew existed.

 

Now it's FA Cup time, hang on, qualifying round? Why is this happening. We have to win a game just to get to the 1st round? Which you'll inevitably lose to Exeter. Nevermind there's this "FA Trophy" which has a final at Wembley. Brilliant. Its practically a free pass to a trophy and a day out at Wembley. Oh you'll lose away to Workington, or at home to Telford.

 

Then you stagger punch drunk post Christmas towards the end of the season. Counting how many points you need to stay in this league whilst gazing up the table with envy at Fylde and Dorking. League 2 seems like a distant memory, a long lost love you never truly appreciated.

 

Life won't be the same again. You may go back up, you may go down again or you may end up trapped forever. Enjoy.

 

 

Kinell! Pass the Domestos ffs 

[Dick_Valentine]

1 hour ago, Monty Burns said:

l still check the league one table to see how we are doin

Just about over that, took a couple of seasons though 

[Chaddyexile84]

32 minutes ago, SweeperKeeper said:

The National League have deducted points for administration in the past, or relegated clubs to the National League North/South (Gateshead) or out of the league entirely (Salisbury City).

 

 

That's reassuring

 

Especially the second bit....

[Chaddyexile84]

2 hours ago, GrimReaper said:

* waves *

 

Here's what you've got to look forward to:

 

It'll seem like a bit of a blur at first, anger and upset at the fact you've been relegated. It hasn't sunk in. You'll Google the teams who you'll be playing next season, have a sly chuckle at their names and attendances. It won't be that bad will it. You've got over relegation and you've accepted it. It'll be a change from the usual grind of the league. Who needs the Football League when you've new teams to play, new away days, teams you'll expect to batter each week. It'll be fun, a year of this will be easy.

 

Fixtures come out. Woo hoo!

 

Hang on we aren't on them, oh yes we've been relegated. National League fixtures come out in a few weeks. You worry as you've not heard of any of the players you've signed. NL fixtures are published, you start working out by the end of August you'll have maximum points and the congac and cigars will be out. "Piss this tinpot league!", and a ball hasn't been kicked.

 

First game. It all seems a bit strange, like a parallel universe. Everything seems different, have I come to the wrong game. We'll still win though, get that champagne on ice. But you don't, you lose at home to Eastleigh and it won't stop. August ends after a flurry of fixtures and you aren't top. Solihull Moors are three points clear of the pack. You look wistfully at the league 2 table.

 

It gets worse. You still check the league 2 scores, fixtures and table but then sheepishly look at the correct one. You'll get turned over at home by what looks like a pub team in yellow and green, called something like Cockspickle Welfare on a Tuesday night away game at some God forsaken place in a cup you never knew existed.

 

Now it's FA Cup time, hang on, qualifying round? Why is this happening. We have to win a game just to get to the 1st round? Which you'll inevitably lose to Exeter. Nevermind there's this "FA Trophy" which has a final at Wembley. Brilliant. Its practically a free pass to a trophy and a day out at Wembley. Oh you'll lose away to Workington, or at home to Telford.

 

Then you stagger punch drunk post Christmas towards the end of the season. Counting how many points you need to stay in this league whilst gazing up the table with envy at Fylde and Dorking. League 2 seems like a distant memory, a long lost love you never truly appreciated.

 

Life won't be the same again. You may go back up, you may go down again or you may end up trapped forever. Enjoy.

 

 

 

Never has a user name been so appropriate 

 

I feel sick 

[Worcester Owl]

2 hours ago, GrimReaper said:

* waves *

 

Here's what you've got to look forward to:

 

It'll seem like a bit of a blur at first, anger and upset at the fact you've been relegated. It hasn't sunk in. You'll Google the teams who you'll be playing next season, have a sly chuckle at their names and attendances. It won't be that bad will it. You've got over relegation and you've accepted it. It'll be a change from the usual grind of the league. Who needs the Football League when you've new teams to play, new away days, teams you'll expect to batter each week. It'll be fun, a year of this will be easy.

 

Fixtures come out. Woo hoo!

 

Hang on we aren't on them, oh yes we've been relegated. National League fixtures come out in a few weeks. You worry as you've not heard of any of the players you've signed. NL fixtures are published, you start working out by the end of August you'll have maximum points and the congac and cigars will be out. "Piss this tinpot league!", and a ball hasn't been kicked.

 

First game. It all seems a bit strange, like a parallel universe. Everything seems different, have I come to the wrong game. We'll still win though, get that champagne on ice. But you don't, you lose at home to Eastleigh and it won't stop. August ends after a flurry of fixtures and you aren't top. Solihull Moors are three points clear of the pack. You look wistfully at the league 2 table.

 

It gets worse. You still check the league 2 scores, fixtures and table but then sheepishly look at the correct one. You'll get turned over at home by what looks like a pub team in yellow and green, called something like Cockspickle Welfare on a Tuesday night away game at some God forsaken place in a cup you never knew existed.

 

Now it's FA Cup time, hang on, qualifying round? Why is this happening. We have to win a game just to get to the 1st round? Which you'll inevitably lose to Exeter. Nevermind there's this "FA Trophy" which has a final at Wembley. Brilliant. Its practically a free pass to a trophy and a day out at Wembley. Oh you'll lose away to Workington, or at home to Telford.

 

Then you stagger punch drunk post Christmas towards the end of the season. Counting how many points you need to stay in this league whilst gazing up the table with envy at Fylde and Dorking. League 2 seems like a distant memory, a long lost love you never truly appreciated.

 

Life won't be the same again. You may go back up, you may go down again or you may end up trapped forever. Enjoy.

 

 

I thought the Grim Reaper was a myth.

 

Well, that's cheered me up no end. I can feel that new season buzz already.

[Littlemoor Lad]

18 hours ago, nzlatic said:

Jesus we’re going to be dreaming of the glory days of competing in the Papa Johns trophy. I dread to think of some of the shit cups we’ll be involved in now. 

After a very crestfallen weekend, it's starting to hit home proper,

Still, supporting athletic has never been a smooth ride and regardless of where we find ourselves.

Nothing has changed for me personally, if anything it's stoked up an even bigger fire inside, to see the poison drained away once and for all.

The club will survive in some form and all of the existing fans will be fully behind it, all the way.

[Witham]

Southend fan here in peace. Was sorry to see you go down over the weekend. Another proper club shafted by a bad owner, it brought back some unpleasant memories of last year.

 

This league is still a novelty for us. The standard of football among the top 12 or 13 sides is easily as good as League 2. I would be shocked if whoever wins the NL this season doesn't go straight through to League 1. There are a lot of very small clubs who have very rich owners. As much as it is hard to take, you will lose out on players to big spending sides with 9 fans who are willing to chuck a load of cash at it. This summer, we are likely to be outspent by the likes of Dagenham, Boreham Wood, Bromley and Solihull.

 

However, it is definitely not all bad. It is fun taking over grounds (we've had more than half of the overall gate in at least 4 away games this season), even if the facilities are sometimes not really prepared for it. Some big old toilet queues. As mentioned, the football is EFL standard at this level in most games now, and there are plenty of big clubs, bigger than many in L1 and L2, so it doesn't really feel like you're watching non-league.

 

The really bad things are the refereeing - the standard drops significantly at this level - and the fact that you will lose to some really small teams and they will really let you know how delighted they are about it. We lost to Maidenhead last month and they are going to dine out on it for months, they absolutely loved beating us. It is humbling as hell, but at the end of the day we have no complaints, we're here on merit and we have found it hard to adapt this season.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about going straight through the other end - there is quite a gap in quality between the bottom 6 clubs and the rest. We flirted it a bit earlier in the season when we had the clueless Brown in charge, but a couple of good months and all of a sudden we're 23 points clear of the drop zone. The bottom 3 this season have been really bad, can't see it being the case next year but even so, when you get down the bottom of this league the quality does drop off quite a bit.

 

The NL is a place where basket case clubs come to sort their :censored: out and start again. Stockport, Chesterfield and Wrexham have all sorted themselves out and are now fighting hard to escape. We seem to have turned the corner. Our dodgy chairman is still in charge but has handed over the day-to-day running to a competent CEO, and we're seeing the benefits. Hopefully you'll shake off your awful owners and get back on your feet. Unfortunately, it is harder than ever to get back to the Football League.

[Londonboy]

21 hours ago, singe said:

Here is a map of grounds including those potentially promoted into Nat League and play off hopefuls who might get prmoted to L2. I've assumed Stockport will get promoted inot L2 and Maidstone into Nat League.

 

 

 

OASIS heaven....

[TheBigDog]

7 hours ago, Witham said:

The really bad things are the refereeing - the standard drops significantly at this level

And the standard at L2 level is bad enough

[OneSizeFitz]

I'd be surprised if we're back within the next ten years. 

[kowenicki]

A completely empty Boundary Park I hope… until the ownership changes. 
 

 

[BP1960]

Maybe it should be renamed the EFL Division 3 then it wouldn't be non league?

(tongue in cheek as usual)

 

[Londonboy]

18 hours ago, Witham said:

Southend fan here in peace. Was sorry to see you go down over the weekend. Another proper club shafted by a bad owner, it brought back some unpleasant memories of last year.

 

This league is still a novelty for us. The standard of football among the top 12 or 13 sides is easily as good as League 2. I would be shocked if whoever wins the NL this season doesn't go straight through to League 1. There are a lot of very small clubs who have very rich owners. As much as it is hard to take, you will lose out on players to big spending sides with 9 fans who are willing to chuck a load of cash at it. This summer, we are likely to be outspent by the likes of Dagenham, Boreham Wood, Bromley and Solihull.

 

However, it is definitely not all bad. It is fun taking over grounds (we've had more than half of the overall gate in at least 4 away games this season), even if the facilities are sometimes not really prepared for it. Some big old toilet queues. As mentioned, the football is EFL standard at this level in most games now, and there are plenty of big clubs, bigger than many in L1 and L2, so it doesn't really feel like you're watching non-league.

 

The really bad things are the refereeing - the standard drops significantly at this level - and the fact that you will lose to some really small teams and they will really let you know how delighted they are about it. We lost to Maidenhead last month and they are going to dine out on it for months, they absolutely loved beating us. It is humbling as hell, but at the end of the day we have no complaints, we're here on merit and we have found it hard to adapt this season.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about going straight through the other end - there is quite a gap in quality between the bottom 6 clubs and the rest. We flirted it a bit earlier in the season when we had the clueless Brown in charge, but a couple of good months and all of a sudden we're 23 points clear of the drop zone. The bottom 3 this season have been really bad, can't see it being the case next year but even so, when you get down the bottom of this league the quality does drop off quite a bit.

 

The NL is a place where basket case clubs come to sort their out and start again. Stockport, Chesterfield and Wrexham have all sorted themselves out and are now fighting hard to escape. We seem to have turned the corner. Our dodgy chairman is still in charge but has handed over the day-to-day running to a competent CEO, and we're seeing the benefits. Hopefully you'll shake off your awful owners and get back on your feet. Unfortunately, it is harder than ever to get back to the Football League.

Cheers Witham. 

A very insightful read and makes sense to me.

I've had some cracking away days/ nights in Southend so will look forward to the trip next season.

How's the new stadium project going? Hopefully you can see some light at the end of the tunnel. In our case we are stuck at the entry point with no idea what happens next!

Best of luck for next season....apart from when you play us of course

[Monty Burns]

3 hours ago, kowenicki said:

A completely empty Boundary Park I hope… until the ownership changes. 
 

 

think we have sold 450 ST's

[BP1960]

24 minutes ago, Monty Burns said:

think we have sold 450 ST's

 

However, if by some miracle the club gets to the FA trophy final 20,000 will be sold, that's how fickle fans are.

[Monty Burns]

40 minutes ago, BP1960 said:

 

However, if by some miracle the club gets to the FA trophy final 20,000 will be sold, that's how fickle fans are.

absolutely 0% to do w being fickle,