The English Football Pyramid officially extends to Level 11. For the 2026-27 season my choices to follow are: Arsenal & Brentford, Wrexham, Plymouth, Exeter, Worthing, Torquay, Wimborne, Exmouth, Bovey Tracey, Teignmouth & Elmore. I am also following the women's pyramid which extends to Level 7. My womens teams are Arsenal, Bristol City, Exeter, Torquay, Yeovil, Feniton & Teignmouth.
This is my area as I have been keeping records of the professional non league divisions for ten years now and during that time I have added all the level 11 leagues, all of the level 12 leagues and many other lower leagues some of which decry the idea of being part of a pyramid. They are, whether they like it or not, at a level determined by the league immediately above them in the area.
The best anomaly I have found is the area covered by the Wiltshire Senior League. There are several minor leagues that claim to promote to the Wiltshire Senior League which sits at level 11. If so then these leagues are level 12 leagues but they are minor leagues and should not be recognised as level 12. To be fair the pyramid officially only extends to level 11 so anything after that is based on the opinions of those who follow the leagues themselves. The North Berks League, Salisbury & District League, Swindon & District League and Trowbridge & District League all claim to promote to the Wiltshire Senior League which gives them a status of Level 12 which is not quite right. That Wiltshire competition needs a second division to rectify the situation.
So far from level 11 onwards I have found 114 leagues, 324 divisions and 3,907 teams but as I keep on finding new leagues with every passing season I am sure there is a long way to go. I note the name every time I come across a new league name and I am excluding junior leagues and veteran leagues so if I add those in there is a massive football following in this country.
I think there is so much to mention in "The Big Mashup" that I will cover each league and maybe each division individually. Certainly I think if this sticks then the old "US and THEM" leagues have gone for good and we will have a reasonably well divided league system capable of allowing the correct level of promotion and relegation in the years to come.
The top of the pyramid is very easy with regard to promotion and relegation. Everyone knows about the ups and downs and most people understand the playoff system as well. The Premier League loses Fulham, Sheffield United and West Bromwich Albion (you have lost your record now haven't you Sam?) and it gains Norwich, Watford and the winners of tomorrow's playoff final between Brentford and Swansea.
The Championship loses Rotherham United, Sheffield Wednesday and Wycombe Wanderers while gaining Hull City, Peterborough United and the winner of Sunday's playoff final which has Blackpool and Lincoln City vying for promotion.
League One loses Bristol Rovers, Northampton Town, Rochdale and Swindon Town and it gains Bolton Wanderers, Cambridge United, Cheltenham Town and the winner of Monday's final where Newport County and Morecambe are hoping to make the leap up.
League Two loses Grimsby Town and my old home town Southend United to the National League and the gains are yet to be determined. The National League is last to finish and has a more complex playoff system than most. Round one consists of 4th place versus 7th place and 5th place versus 6th place. The semi-finals are 2nd place versus the winner of 5th v. 6th and 3rd place versus the winner of 4th v. 7th. I shall be following all these matches with interest.
The Premier Divisions of the step 3 level 7 leagues should remain unchanged but that has yet to be confirmed. I heard that some appeals to fill empty slots in these leagues were turned down which sounds like the Football Association. Why fill the gaps in the leagues when you can piss off the clubs that want to fill those gaps?
That is my second post without addressing the big changes at step 5. More to come obvs.
A number of teams from Level 9 Step 5 have been moved up to Level 8 Step 4 and as a result now qualify for the F.A.Trophy but I cannot always see the logic for those promotions. The Football Association, as we know, is a law unto itself and it will do whatever the hell it wants no matter how many teams come to harm.
Hashtag United who finished top of the Essex Senior League will be competing in the Isthmian League North when the new season starts and they are certainly worth their place. What is not quite so clear is that Stowmarket Town from the Eastern Counties League will be part of the same division although they only finished eleventh. I have just checked back and they finished top of the Eastern Counties League in 2019-20 so that is an explanation but maybe their promotion is a year too late particularly if the players have changed.
In the Isthmian League South Central the two new teams are Binfield from the Hellenic League who were also runners-up in the F.A.Vase competition this season, and Sutton Common Rovers from the Combined Counties League. This season Sutton Common Rovers finished top of the Combined Counties League while Binfied ended the season in second place in the Hellenic League.
The Isthmian League South East has one team from the Southern Counties East League and one from the Southern Combination. Corinthian finished second in the Southern Counties East League while Lancing finished eighth in the Southern Combination. Checking the 2019-20 tables Corinthian have finished second for two seasons running now but Lancing won the Southern Combination last season.
The Northern Premier League has undergone reconstruction with the addition of another division at step 4 level 8. Six new teams come into the Northern Premier League East with three from the Northern League and three from the Northern Counties East League. Good luck to Hebburn Town, Shildon and Stockton Town from the Northern League and best wishes to Bridlington Town, Liversedge and Yorkshire Amateur from the Northern Counties East League.
The Northern Premier League Midlands is a new division and two teams have been sucked up from the lower level. Sporting Khalsa are in from the Midlands League and Shepshed Dynamo have been promoted from the United Counties League.
Three teams from the North West Counties league are joining the Northern Premier League West so it is best wishes to 1874 Northwich, Bootle and Warrington Rylands who won the F.A.Vase this season.
The Southern League Division One Central benefits from the addition of Colney Heath who step up from the Spartan South Midlands League. I got slightly confused for a minute but it is other Colney, London Colney who finished rock bottom of the league.
The Southern League Division One South is being reduced to 19 teams because of other movements but the new teams are Lymington Town from the Wessex League and Plymouth Parkway from the Western League. Both these teams finished in the top two places.
There are massive changes at Step 5 Level 9 so that can be a complete other post. I am sure the F.A. will have upset many teams with this restructure but it may be for the best if travelling costs are actually reduced in total. I will search for the team most likely to suffer from the changes.
All previous 21 penalties had been converted before David de Gea's miss
David de Gea failed at the end of a marathon penalty shootout as Villarreal dashed Manchester United's hopes of Europa League glory in Gdansk.
This was a disappointing contest lacking in quality and producing only three shots on target across 120 minutes - but drama arrived with the spot-kicks.
All 20 outfield players converted their penalties in the longest shootout in a final of any Uefa competition, and in an increasingly tense stadium Villarreal goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli blasted home his effort and then denied De Gea, who was crestfallen at the end.
It gave Villarreal a first major trophy in their history and saw former Arsenal boss Unai Emery lift the Europa League for an unprecedented fourth time.
However, on the anniversary of both Sir Matt Busby's birth and the epic Champions League final in 1999 that earned Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hero status among the Old Trafford faithful, there was to be no new 26 May landmark as United complete a fourth year without silverware.
United simply did not do enough, despite the massive gulf in transfer fees and salaries between the two clubs.
Solskjaer's side did not start well and fell behind to a soft goal from Gerard Moreno.
Edinson Cavani dragged United level 10 minutes into the second period after a Marcus Rashford shot had been deflected into his path, but United failed to build on that momentum and by the end Solskjaer was introducing Juan Mata and Alex Telles purely to take penalties in the shootout.
Both players scored. Although given De Gea had failed to save any of the previous 21 penalties he had faced, maybe Solskjaer should have followed the example of former United boss Louis van Gaal, who famously brought on Tim Krul purely for a shootout at the 2014 World Cup, which the Netherlands went on to win
For most of this season, no-one has been quite sure which United were going to turn up. It felt like that across the whole game in Gdansk, as they alternated between inventive and passive almost with each passing minute.
Evidently, Solskjaer felt he had no choice other than to stick with it.
In the final game of last season, he waited until the 87th minute of the semi-final defeat by Sevilla before making a change.
By then, his side were losing, so it was not a shock the Norwegian had not used any of the six he was allowed on this occasion as extra time began.
Edinson Cavani's 17th goal of the season took the game to extra time
The brutal truth is, having gone with his strongest offensive starting XI, there was no-one on the bench Solskjaer felt confident could improve the situation.
In Cavani and Mason Greenwood, two of United's best performers were attackers. But Rashford had a poor game, which was summed up by the England man failing to convert when Greenwood had given him a clear sight at goal.
Any goal would have been ruled offside but Rashford was not to know that as his scuffed effort rolled wide.
Scott McTominay's midfield industry outshone both Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba, who both flitted in and out of the game without producing anything truly remarkable.
Defensive slip-up
It would be easy to point to the absence of captain Harry Maguire as the key factor in Moreno's opener.
But Maguire was on the pitch when United conceded a very similar kind of goal against Everton in February.
On that occasion it was Dominic Calvert-Lewin who slid the ball past De Gea as United's defence failed to deal with a free-kick floated from a deep position into their penalty area.
This time Moreno's run into the box went unchecked, allowing him to get in front of Victor Lindelof and turn Dani Parejo's free-kick into De Gea's goal.
Gerard Moreno scored his 30th goal of the season to give Villarreal the lead
It is the kind of routine situation Solskjaer's team have been vulnerable to all season and seemed to be something Emery had worked out given the number of times Villarreal put themselves in situations to deliver such crosses, without quite getting their execution right.
Not that nervous United defending was limited to set-pieces. The sight of Eric Bailly attempting an overhead-kick inside his own six-yard box in the opening stages of the second period would have been only marginally less worrying had he actually connected with the ball.
It could be argued Solskjaer should have addressed the issue before now. Some may claim it was for the powers-that-be to deal with it for him.
Now, having failed to win a trophy in two and a half seasons as manager, the familiar questions about his own ability will follow the Norwegian around all summer.
United's penalty shootout woes - the stats
Villarreal are the first side to win in their first appearance in a major European final since Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2008-09 Uefa Cup.
Manchester United have lost six of their last seven penalty shootouts in all competitions, only winning against Rochdale in the League Cup in September 2019 in that time.
Villarreal boss Unai Emery is the first manager to win either the Uefa Cup or Europa League four times, surpassing Giovanni Trapattoni.
Villarreal became the 13th side in Europe's big five leagues to hit the 100-goal milestone in all competitions this season (100).
The three shots on target produced in the game (one for Villarreal and two for Manchester United) was the lowest tally in a Europa League final since Porto v Sporting Braga in 2011 also saw just three.
Gerard Moreno netted his 82nd goal in all competitions for Villarreal, joining Giuseppe Rossi as the club's all-time top-scorer.
Moreno became the first player to score 30+ goals for Villarreal in a single season in all competitions since Giuseppe Rossi in 2010-11 (32).
Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani became just the third player aged 34 or above to score in a major European final for an English club, after Gary McAllister (36) for Liverpool in the Uefa Cup final versus Alaves in 2000-01 and Didier Drogba (34) for Chelsea in the Champions League final versus Bayern Munich in 2011-12
Manchester United's Edinson Cavani has scored 16 goals in his last 11 starts in the Europa League.
Manchester United's Mason Greenwood made his 52nd appearance this season in all competitions, the joint-most of any teenager with a team from Europe's big five leagues along with Barcelona's Pedri.
Nicolas Pepe has been involved in more goals in all competitions than any other Arsenal player this season (21 - 16 goals, five assists)
Nicolas Pepe scored twice in the second half as Arsenal beat Brighton, only to be denied a place in Europe by Tottenham's fightback against Leicester.
A strong finish to the season moved the Gunners within a point of their north London rivals heading into the final day, and with Arsenal cruising after Pepe's double, they were set to snatch seventh place from Spurs.
Despite finishing the season with a fifth straight league win, Arsenal were condemned to an eighth-placed finish as Tottenham clinched a 4-2 victory at the King Power Stadium.
That result ends the Gunners' record of playing in Europe every season since 1995-96 and means they have not finished above Spurs since 2016.
Arsenal director Josh Kroenke, son of owner Stan, was in attendance and some of the 10,000 fans returning to Emirates Stadium held banners that read 'Kroenke out', with the club's involvement in the abandoned European Super League having intensified ill-feeling towards the board.
Fans also voiced their disapproval during the game and as news of Tottenham's win filtered through after the final whistle, a cruel blow after Arsenal thought they had salvaged something from what has been a lacklustre season.
Some of the 10,000 fans at Emirates Stadium held banners which read 'Kroenke Out, Fans In'
The mood at the final whistle was in stark contrast to that midway through the second half.
Arsenal were firmly on top, with Gabriel heading against the crossbar in the first half before Pepe controlled Calum Chambers' low ball into the Brighton box and fired right-footed past goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
Pepe then added his 16th goal of the season, stroking the ball inside the far post with his left foot after the recalled Martin Odegaard rolled the ball into his path on the right wing.
Arsenal 2-0 Brighton: Mikel Arteta says Arsenal 'need more consistency'
There was a party atmosphere inside the ground when Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey volleyed against the crossbar and leapfrogging their derby rivals looked possible.
After Arsenal's defeat at Everton on 19 December, that seemed unthinkable as the Gunners were 15th, four points above the relegation zone and 11 behind third-placed Tottenham.
So too the form of Pepe and Odegaard. Ivorian Pepe has finished the season with five goals in three games, suggesting he could be a key man for Arsenal next term, while Norwegian Odegaard played like he wants to return for another loan stint from Real Madrid.
Arsenal 2-0 Brighton: Graham Potter says Brighton's 'good foundation' is 'exciting'
Brighton were hoping to finish the season with a flourish, despite being assured of another year of Premier League football with three games to spare.
They drew with West Ham then came from behind to beat champions Manchester City on Tuesday, reaching 41 points to equal their best tally in four seasons in the Premier League.
They were unable to improve on that at the Emirates, having just one shot on target, while Arsenal's victory would have been more emphatic had Rob Holding not had a first-half effort disallowed for offside after Partey flicked on an Odegaard corner.
That meant the Seagulls finished one place lower than last season in 16th, but in his second year on the south coast, manager Graham Potter continues to improve the quality of his team and make their football easier on their eye.
The 46-year-old has already been linked with the Tottenham job this summer, but if Brighton can retain his services, along with the likes of defender Ben White and midfielder Yves Bissouma, they can hope to improve again next term.
'It wasn't in our hands, but we tried our best' - what they said
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta: "It wasn't in our hands. We tried to do our best, but it was not enough.
"This club deserves trophies and the Champions League and we haven't managed to do that in very challenging circumstances. Now we have to be critical of ourselves and prepare for next season in the best possible way.
"It is frustrating because last season with 61 points we [would have finished] fifth. Now we are eighth and that is the step that we have to identify.
"The level has gone so high so the only way to do it is to be much better next season and much more consistent, and this is the challenge ahead of us."
Brighton boss Graham Potter: "We did our best but we just weren't good enough today. The boys kept going and I can't criticise them for that. Sometimes you have to be honest and say we weren't at our level.
"We have had a tough week, a tough season and maybe today was a step too far for us. We weren't good enough to maintain attacks long enough. We didn't do enough to win the game so the result is a fair one."
Arsenal end the season strongly - the stats
Despite finishing the season with five straight league wins, Arsenal have finished as low as eighth in consecutive campaigns for the first time since a run of four between 1973-74 and 1976-77.
Arsenal kept three clean sheets in their last five Premier League games, more than they had in their previous 14 in the competition (two).
Arsenal had three players score 10+ Premier League goals this season (Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe) - the first time they've had as many reach double figures since 2016-17 (Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott).
Arsenal have won their final league game in each of the past 10 Premier League campaigns, and haven't lost one since 2004-05 against Birmingham.
Brighton have lost three consecutive away league games for the first time since January 2020.
