League Allocations (part two)

Yesterday I thought I could blog as I went along because I expected very few changes to the leagues. There were more changes than I had expected although I knew that things would not simply stay the same. Today I discovered some leagues that did remain unchanged and I am very proud of them for showing strength and stability. Well done to .....

The South West Peninsula League

There were changes to this league for the 2019/20 season and the non promotion and relegation will give the league a sense of stability before changes at the end of the 2020/21 season.

The Western League

I found when I moved to Devon that things move more slowly down here. When I was working an urgent problem was given about three weeks as opposed to the one hour that you get in London. This league needs more changes but it will remain unchanged this summer.

The United Counties League

This is the league that I probably know the least about. I recognise some of the names from driving through the area but I cannot remember ever stopping in the east midlands. Peterborough, Leicester, Northampton and Boston kind of define the region but unless someone with enthusiasm for this league gets in touch I am likely to remain ignorant.

The Northern League

I learned a little about this league from a Sunderland supporter who knew of the Wearside League. My family originated in Darlington so we did visit there when I was a young child and I seem to remember Barnard Castle as a good day. Do they have a football team yet? I know that the Northern League were the last to get involved with the football pyramid which is why they win the F.A.Vase every year. It is a shame now that they have agreed to promotion that there is a blip this season when no team will join the Northern Premier League. A strong and stable league without doubt.

The Southern Combination League

I have only checked the Premier Division and Division One but neither of these have changed so I must award this league the "Strong and Stable" award. I may find that division two at level eleven has some changes but I am only working on levels one to ten at the moment. Level 11 will take twice as long to work through as all of the leagues from Level One to Level Ten. That is for another day.

The West Midlands Regional League

Only the Premier Division of this league sits within the top 10 levels and there are no changes so the league qualifies in this list as "strong and stable at the top". I will examine the other divisions at a later date,

Six leagues have no changes in line with the F.A. directive that the season be declared void so there would be no promotion or relegation. I have not seen any promotion or relegation although this might be a good opportunity to get teams that have over performed into gaps that have appeared in the leagues. I also know that if you make an exception for one team you are bound to upset other teams and for the sake of peace it may be better to stick to the rule.

I said that I would start today with the Midland League but I will leave that one till last as the only bit of potential controversy applies to that league.

I could stir up some controversy when we look at the Wessex League but that would be my bias towards football being the best game in the world. Solent University FC will not be competing in the Wessex League Premier Division next season because Solent University themselves have issued a statement saying that they have "other sporting ambitions". I presume that football is no longer important to them when they can put out a quidditch team. Bad call Solent University. Their place will be taken by Blackfield & Langley who voluntarily resigned from the Southern League Premier Division South.

Wessex League Division One is being reduced to 19 teams as Pewsey Vale have resigned to play at a lower level. They will be competing in the Wiltshire League Premier Division next season.

The Spartan South Midlands League has no changes in the Premier Division. Division one sees the addition of Hackney Wick from the Eastern Counties League South Division. The division will be reduced to 18 teams with the loss of both FC Broxbourne Borough and Wodson Park. Neither club will be putting a team out in any of the leagues as far as I can work out.

In the Southern Counties East League there will be no changes in Division One. The Premier Division has lost Greenwich Borough who resigned in January but they will increase to 21 teams with the addition of Tower Hamlets from the Essex Senior League and Balham from the Combined Counties League.

The Northern Counties East League has no change to the Premier Division and the only change in Division One is the addition of Emley who return from the North West Counties North Division.

The North West Counties League itself also has no changes in the Premier Division. In the North Division Emley moving to the Northern Counties East League has left a place for Bury AFC so we have found the ejected league club at last. I trust that they will continue to play at Gigg Lane but they will have to rebuild the club from way down here.

In the South Division of the North West Counties League FC Oswestry Town have folded so we will see no more from them but we should all keep an eye on the new club coming in, FC Isle of Man. We do not know how they will perform but I guess if Guernsey and Jersey are anything to go by they will be competitive.

The East Midlands Counties League is strengthening up to 20 teams with the addition of Ollerton Town from the Northern Counties East League Division One. This league may be involved in the situation I mentioned earlier which is to do with the Midland League.

The Midland League Division One have lost NFK Burbage and are reduced to 19 teams because of this. The news about NFK Burbage is that they will not be competing next season.

The Midland League Premier Division is also reducing to 19 teams with the loss of South Normanton Athletic. The South Normanton website suggests that they will be in the East Midlands Counties League but they are not mentioned in that list so I shall be listening with interest to hear what happens. Do South Normanton have a choice? Have they been stitched up by the F,A,? Do the authorities want teams to be excluded from their league of choice for no good reason? We may learn the truth as time goes on.

I shall now settle down to watch Cardiff v. Fulham.

League Allocations (part one)

I love it when the Non League Newspaper publishes the allocations for the various leagues in the pyramid. This year it should have been very boring as there are supposed to be no changes with the leagues being declared void for the 2019-2020 season.

So everything is as it was is it not? Well no, there are always disputes and legal challenges and clubs who do not want to be where they are placed. As I understand it there are also promises from the F.A. to unhappy clubs that "it will be for one season only" so I expected to see some changes and what have I found for you? .....

Blackfield & Langley took voluntary demotion from the Southern League Premier Division South to the Wessex League. I guess that either all their best players left or the funding from sponsors dried up. That was the highest level drop that I could find. I still do not know where Bury are going to be playing next season but I may find out in the next few minutes.

Balham have disappeared from the Combined Counties League Premier Division. They appear to be in the Southern Counties East League so the transfer for this Croydon based club means that they will spend much more time travelling east and far less time travelling west.

Felixstowe & Walton United Reserves have gone from the Eastern Counties League Division One North. With reserve teams it is not always possible to work out what happened as sometimes they change leagues and sometimes they simply stop operating. I cannot find them anywhere else.
...additional (I have found this team in the Essex & Suffolk Border League Premier Division).

Tower Hamlets have disappeared from the Essex Senior League and they have reappeared in the Southern Counties East League Premier Division alongside Balham.

Brightlingsea Regent Reserves have resigned from the Eastern Counties League Southern Division and I have no information about whether they will be playing next season. If I find them I will try and add an addendum here.

Hackney Wick have also resigned from the Eastern Counties League Southern Division and will be playing in the Spartan South Midlands League Division One in what appears to be a straight swap with Brimsdown.

The Hellenic League which has always seemed to me to be a law unto itself (but maybe just very poorly covered on social media) has lost Brackley Town Saints from the Premier Division, Didcot Town Development and Marlow United from Division One East and New College Swindon from Division One West.

The Saints are the reserve team of Brackley Town and they are now listed as an "Archive" on the website for Brackley Town so I guess they are no more.

The Didcot Town website only mentions one team so I am guessing that the Development team are no more and will not appear next season.

Marlow United have applied for membership of the Thames Valley League and I expect to see them playing there next season. The reason cited was financial difficulties.

The suggestion I found on one website is that New College Swindon FC have folded.

I forgot how much time I spend each summer trying to find out what happens to every team on my spreadsheet. There are thousands of them now.

I will continue this post tomorrow when I carry on with the Midland League.

Television Rules

The reason, I am told, that the Premier League and the English Football League Championship are being played out is that the television companies were going to ask for their money back if they were not able to televise the missing matches. Well, as money talks, those two leagues are now being played to a conclusion with the promise of the play-off matches in the Championship.

All other leagues, where the money comes from gate receipts, have been ended incomplete. There are losses to be made by playing matches where no money is coming in. Any club on a tight budget will have trouble surviving and many will need a loan to see them through the summer to the hope of gate receipts in the autumn. Even then, it will take time to recover and some will struggle.

The first to declare and go into administration are Wigan Athletic. The situation seems to be that the club was sold to a Hong Kong consortium who sold the club on for a profit. The new owner Au Yeung is not interested in funding the club so why did he buy it? Presumably Wigan, and many other football clubs are a good bet if you are asset stripping. Turn the assets into money and run back to Hong Kong where the Chinese government will arrest you and lock you in a prison for the rest of your life if you do not repeat everything that they tell you to say.

Now that football is no longer a sport but a professional business deals of this sort are going to become more common. The EFL approved the deal so what checks were done? Apparently all they do is check that there is enough money in the bank account to complete the deal. No questions are asked about plans for the future and no commitments are garnered from the new owners. It seems that you can buy any EFL club if you have money, the root of all evil.

The Arsenal football club were bought by Stan Kroenke who seemed to want to take money out, not put it in, and that seems to be the case to this day. Mikel Arteta will have to make a team out of the youngsters coming through the system as little or no money will be provided to purchase ready made footballers in the relevant positions. Arsenal had a setback to the recent run of form last night, only drawing with third placed Leicester City.

Eddie Nketiah was sent off for a tackle that glanced a knee and Jamie Vardy was not sent off for kicking Shkodran Mustafi in the head. Obviously a footballer's knees are far more valuable that a footballer's head. I understand that the media and its pundits set the pattern for how the game is run but it was harsh on the young lad who was only showing enthusiasm.

Brentford are on a good run and it is continuing as they came back from being a goal down to Charlton Athletic running out eventual 2-1 winners. They are within two points of West Bromwich Albion although I am watching WBA against Derby County and the Albion are winning 1-0 as I write this. Come on Derby!

My level 3 and 4 selections are now both at level 4 so I will need a new pick in League One. I will also have to drop ... Southend ... I have been away long enough to forget them. I could probably name the team from 40 years ago but not any more.

The only other necessary potential change is in the National League where Weymouth are involved in the Play-offs but only one of the teams involved will be promoted so there may be nothing to do there along with all the other levels where the leagues were declared null and void.

We HAVE now heard about the Non League Play-offs. I will reiterate the point that we should stop calling the National League and below "Non League" because they are all leagues, simply lower leagues and the phrase "Non League" has similar connotations to other words designed to put down people of other cultures or groups.

It all starts on Friday Night (17th July):

Boreham Wood are at home to FC Halifax Town in Eliminator 1.

It continues on Saturday (18th July):

Yeovil Town are at home to Barnet in Eliminator 2. Points per game got Barnet into the playoffs.

Sunday (19th July) sees the National League North and South get involved.

Altrincham take on Chester in Eliminator 1
Brackley Town take on Gateshead in Eliminator 2

Slough Town take on Dartford in Eliminator 1
Bath City take on Dorking Wanderers in Eliminator 2

Saturday 25th July sees all the semi-finals take place.

National League:
Harrogate v. Winner of Eliminator 1
Notts County v. Winner of Eliminator 2

National North:
York City v. Winner of Eliminator 1
Boston United v. Winner of Eliminator 2

National South:
Havant & Waterlooville v. Winners of Eliminator 1
Weymouth v. Winners of Eliminator 2 (Bath City or Dorking Wanderers, I shall keep my eyes on)


The North and South Finals take place on Saturday 1st August alongside the F.A.Cup Final.

The National League Final takes place on Sunday 2nd August.

From 3rd August we will get a chance to focus on the European competitions.