With the non league season now over bar the playoffs, there's just time for the showcase fixture of the FA Trophy final, a chance for two tiny non-league teams to give their fans the game of a lifetime and a trip to Wembley.
That romantic narrative is spoiled somewhat by the fact that the two teams playing are traditional football league teams only recently entering the non-league abyss, both of whom have played in Wembley finals previously (and that was old Wembley, which is clearly a much bigger deal). Mansfield Town won the 1987 Freight Rover trophy, the first Wembley final to go to penalties, and their opponents have two losing playoff final appearances to their name. That name gives the tie all the romance and interest I need though, that's right, it's everyone's favourite non-league team Darlington.
You can check out how we got to this point by clicking here for my round by round preview/review, or for a more just the facts breakdown of all the results, go here to the magnificently thorough Soccerway.com.
Every Cup final needs an excruciating team song, so to get you in the mood, here's a Darlo one by the Speed Dinosaurs.
We once beat Mansfield in a friendly, now we're gonna beat them......at We-em-bley. genius!
For the sake of fairness, here's an equally bad one for Mansfield. Blue and Yellow, apparently a remake of some rap song. Becasue nothing says rap like Mansfield Town in the FA Trophy final! Still, better than Anfield Rap, I'll give it that.
As for the game itself, you can check out all the preview pieces from the proper media in the local rag here, and get a good preview as well as see all the different things the supporter's are talking about in the forum at Darlo Uncovered.
The Quakers are definitely on form, winning 5 of their last 7 games and riding a very good second half to the season to 7th place in the Conference, just outside the playoffs, but a very good stabilising season after all the financial problems and uncertainty that continues to hang over the club. Injury and eligibility problems mean top scorer Liam Hatch will probably have to play in defence, but Mansfield have similar issues of their own, to a worse extent and have had a poor run of form to finish the season, dropping down to 13th spot, so Darlo will be favourites going in to the game. Darlington's history in this sort of thing would suggest a 1-0 defeat, but I'll predict a glorious 2-0 win.
It'll be a nice day out, one that I'm gutted to have to miss, and another trophy for the cabinet would definitely be a good thing, but the main benefit could well be what it means to the long term future for Darlington. Ticket sales to Darlington fans are currently at about 9,000, way more than the average attendance this year of 2,051. Obviously there's a lot of people for whom it will definitely be just a one-off thing, but hopefully some of those will enjoy the experience enough to start attending games on a regular basis, or to get back into the habit of doing that.
Who knows exactly what crowds would be needed to make the club profitable at the ridiculous white elephant stadium, but with the ground up for sale and the Chairman Raj Singh making pleas for an increase in the season ticket base, hopefully this appearance will galvanize support and help get the club back on an even footing to support a push for promotion back to the Football league next year. After all, the FA Trophy's nice but given the choice of that, or the League Cup and Paint Pot, I know which I'd rather have Darlo regularly compete for.
Showing posts with label Non-League. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Non-League. Show all posts
Friday, May 6, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Sweet FA Trophy, semi-finals
The FA Trophy semi-finals happen over the next two weekends, and all the upsets are over as it's 4 Conference teams playing off for the place at Wembley for the final.
Chasetown took Mansfield Town to a replay before a 3-1 defeat saw them bow out, and Mansfield now face Luton Town in the first semi final, with the first leg this Friday at Mansfield. Luton are rightly the favourites to win the trophy, as they currently sit 3rd in the Conference and seem fairly certain of a promotion playoff place for the second straight year, whereas Mansfield are currently 13th. In their one meeting so far this season, back in September Luton won 2-0.
Both teams have previously won trophies at Wembley, Mansfield won the 1987 Freight Rover trophy (now the Johnstone's Paint Trophy) after a penalty shootout against Bristol City. Luton have made it to Wembley finals 5 times, losing the FA Cup final in 1959, as well as the League Cup final in 1989, and the short lived Simod Cup in 1988. They won the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in 2009, the same year they were relegated to the Conference mainly due to a huge 30 point deduction for financial problems. Most famously of course they won the League Cup final against Arsenal in 1988, a late comeback sealing a 3-2 victory, which you can see the highlights of here. Luton were the underdogs that day, but if they make the final they'll be the prohibitive favourites, quite frankly they're too good and too big of a team to be at the non-league level much longer.
The other semi final is a North Eastern Derby with Gateshead, winners over their local rivals Blyth Spartans playing against everyone's heroes Darlington, the first leg at Darlo on Saturday. The teams have played twice this year, Darlington winning 2-0 at home in August, and then just this Tuesday they drew 2-2 in Gateshead, Darlington letting in an injury time goal, throwing away points in that fashion for the 5th time this year.
Gateshead are currently 12th while Darlington sit in 8th after a good recent run that has them eyeing a playoff place. They are unbeaten in 9 games in all competitions since a 4-0 defeat to Luton, though any feel good factor is deflated somewhat by their precarious financial position, with a "help save your club" season ticket appeal being launched to try and take advantage of the extra crowds expected for the semi-final matchup.
The Wembley final is a very big prize for both these teams, Gateshead have never been to Wembley, so will be making history just by making the final. Darlington have just two losing division 4 playoff finals, 1996 and 2000, at the old Wembley in their history, and while it would be nice to get back there and hopefully win something, the economic benefits of qualifying for the final will probably be the most important factor for them. With Chairman Raj Singh putting out an appeal to get the season ticket base up to 2,000 adult season tickets (currently there are 1,200 and that's including children and other concessions) it's going to need something big like the chance of a Wembley final to get the locals energised and willing to give the club another chance. If it's not just a slightly desperate, blackmail based sales pitch, then without those numbers Singh is likely to walk away from the club, putting it's entire existence in jeapordy, so Darlo have a bit more than a fun day out and shiny trophy to be playing for.
Prediction time, I maintained my 75% success rate in the quarter finals, getting 3 out of the 4 ties correct. In the semis, Luton will use the Stag's antlers as a hat stand, and easily make the final, and Darlington will just squeak past Gateshead.
Chasetown took Mansfield Town to a replay before a 3-1 defeat saw them bow out, and Mansfield now face Luton Town in the first semi final, with the first leg this Friday at Mansfield. Luton are rightly the favourites to win the trophy, as they currently sit 3rd in the Conference and seem fairly certain of a promotion playoff place for the second straight year, whereas Mansfield are currently 13th. In their one meeting so far this season, back in September Luton won 2-0.
Both teams have previously won trophies at Wembley, Mansfield won the 1987 Freight Rover trophy (now the Johnstone's Paint Trophy) after a penalty shootout against Bristol City. Luton have made it to Wembley finals 5 times, losing the FA Cup final in 1959, as well as the League Cup final in 1989, and the short lived Simod Cup in 1988. They won the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in 2009, the same year they were relegated to the Conference mainly due to a huge 30 point deduction for financial problems. Most famously of course they won the League Cup final against Arsenal in 1988, a late comeback sealing a 3-2 victory, which you can see the highlights of here. Luton were the underdogs that day, but if they make the final they'll be the prohibitive favourites, quite frankly they're too good and too big of a team to be at the non-league level much longer.
The other semi final is a North Eastern Derby with Gateshead, winners over their local rivals Blyth Spartans playing against everyone's heroes Darlington, the first leg at Darlo on Saturday. The teams have played twice this year, Darlington winning 2-0 at home in August, and then just this Tuesday they drew 2-2 in Gateshead, Darlington letting in an injury time goal, throwing away points in that fashion for the 5th time this year.
Gateshead are currently 12th while Darlington sit in 8th after a good recent run that has them eyeing a playoff place. They are unbeaten in 9 games in all competitions since a 4-0 defeat to Luton, though any feel good factor is deflated somewhat by their precarious financial position, with a "help save your club" season ticket appeal being launched to try and take advantage of the extra crowds expected for the semi-final matchup.
The Wembley final is a very big prize for both these teams, Gateshead have never been to Wembley, so will be making history just by making the final. Darlington have just two losing division 4 playoff finals, 1996 and 2000, at the old Wembley in their history, and while it would be nice to get back there and hopefully win something, the economic benefits of qualifying for the final will probably be the most important factor for them. With Chairman Raj Singh putting out an appeal to get the season ticket base up to 2,000 adult season tickets (currently there are 1,200 and that's including children and other concessions) it's going to need something big like the chance of a Wembley final to get the locals energised and willing to give the club another chance. If it's not just a slightly desperate, blackmail based sales pitch, then without those numbers Singh is likely to walk away from the club, putting it's entire existence in jeapordy, so Darlo have a bit more than a fun day out and shiny trophy to be playing for.
Prediction time, I maintained my 75% success rate in the quarter finals, getting 3 out of the 4 ties correct. In the semis, Luton will use the Stag's antlers as a hat stand, and easily make the final, and Darlington will just squeak past Gateshead.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Sweet FA Trophy, quarter finals.
After Leyton Orient's late equaliser against Arsenal saved the damp squib that was the FA Cup 5th round last weekend, this weekend it's back to FA Trophy action, and we've reached the quarter final stage.
In my second round review I predicted that Darlington would win their tricky third round tie at Telford, only to lose to a much smaller team in the quarter finals. Well, they did the first bit of that, with a 3-0 win at Telford, and now everything's lined up perfectly for the loss to the small team, with a home game against Salisbury City, currently two levels further down the non-league pyramid than Darlo. Hopefully history won't fully repeat itself as the only other time Darlington played in the FA Trophy, they lost at the quarter final stage to Leek Town, back in 1990, check out the link for all the results of that years competition, and see how teams such as Chalfont St Peter, Erith & Belvedere and Shepshed Charterhouse did.
All 4 ties feature Conference teams taking on teams from further down the pyramid, 3rd round heroes Chasetown have a home match against Mansfield Town, which going by logos is a stag v stag contest
so hopefully it'll be as action packed as this (check out the sweet spin move from the darker one about 30 seconds in!).
Guiseley have a home game against Luton Town, but it's the other match up that offers the romance and intrigue for this round, a big North-East derby between Blyth Spartans and Gateshead.
Local rivals from either side of Newcastle, and both inevitably forced to live in United's shadow, this is a good opportunity for them to get a share of the local limelight, with police escorted supporter's coach convoys and decorated shop fronts giving it a big game atmosphere in depressingly modern and charmingly quaint ways respectively.
Added flavour comes from the fact that there will be twins on opposing sides, Stephen (Blyth) and Phil (Gateshead) Turnbull, who have worked their way down the North-East football ladder together over the years, going from Sunderland to Hartlepool to Gateshead before Stephen struck out on his own to go to Blyth. They even live together, which should make for a fun Sunday at Chez Turnbull.
Prediction time, I got 6 out of 8 in round 3, not too shabby. This time I'll go for Luton, Mansfield, Darlington and Blyth.
Edit: Darlington didn't lose, winning 2-1 and then getting another result in the draw by avoiding Luton, instead we'll be playing Gateshead over two legs with a trip to Wembley at stake. In the other semi final Luton will play Mansfield or Chasetown whose quarter final was postponed.
In my second round review I predicted that Darlington would win their tricky third round tie at Telford, only to lose to a much smaller team in the quarter finals. Well, they did the first bit of that, with a 3-0 win at Telford, and now everything's lined up perfectly for the loss to the small team, with a home game against Salisbury City, currently two levels further down the non-league pyramid than Darlo. Hopefully history won't fully repeat itself as the only other time Darlington played in the FA Trophy, they lost at the quarter final stage to Leek Town, back in 1990, check out the link for all the results of that years competition, and see how teams such as Chalfont St Peter, Erith & Belvedere and Shepshed Charterhouse did.
All 4 ties feature Conference teams taking on teams from further down the pyramid, 3rd round heroes Chasetown have a home match against Mansfield Town, which going by logos is a stag v stag contest
so hopefully it'll be as action packed as this (check out the sweet spin move from the darker one about 30 seconds in!).
Guiseley have a home game against Luton Town, but it's the other match up that offers the romance and intrigue for this round, a big North-East derby between Blyth Spartans and Gateshead.
Local rivals from either side of Newcastle, and both inevitably forced to live in United's shadow, this is a good opportunity for them to get a share of the local limelight, with police escorted supporter's coach convoys and decorated shop fronts giving it a big game atmosphere in depressingly modern and charmingly quaint ways respectively.
Added flavour comes from the fact that there will be twins on opposing sides, Stephen (Blyth) and Phil (Gateshead) Turnbull, who have worked their way down the North-East football ladder together over the years, going from Sunderland to Hartlepool to Gateshead before Stephen struck out on his own to go to Blyth. They even live together, which should make for a fun Sunday at Chez Turnbull.
Prediction time, I got 6 out of 8 in round 3, not too shabby. This time I'll go for Luton, Mansfield, Darlington and Blyth.
Edit: Darlington didn't lose, winning 2-1 and then getting another result in the draw by avoiding Luton, instead we'll be playing Gateshead over two legs with a trip to Wembley at stake. In the other semi final Luton will play Mansfield or Chasetown whose quarter final was postponed.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Ridiculous ground, poor fans.
It's often right about now, as the season ticks past it's halfway point and the harsh realities of constantly losing money kick in, that all the financial crisis stories pick up pace in England. Kidderminster Harriers, Plymouth Argyle and Sheffield Wednesday seem to be this years main crisis clubs, and now, on a much closer personal level for me, it's once again Darlington's turn.
For the vast majority of it's existence Darlington has been a typical lower league team, struggling along from year to year, with some ups and lots of downs, including nearly going out of business in 1983, their centenary year. Chairmen, directors and investors came and went over the years, generally local businessmen who couldn't afford to be losing too much money for too long, and the club kept going at a commensurately modest level, much to the occasional chagrin of more ambitious supporters.
That changed in 1997 when desperate owners actually found someone with proper riches to take over, George Reynolds. He invested heavily in the team, with talk of the Premier League, bringing in players like Marco Gabbiadini, but it didn't quite work out that way, the loss to Peterborough in the 2000 playoff final saw the momentum really disappear and never really come back. He eventually left in disgrace in 2004 and if he'd just come and gone like so many others, it wouldn't be so bad, but his lasting legacy is the big part of his undeniably well meaning but foolish ambitions, The Reynolds Arena (also known in it's 8 years of existence as The New Stadium, The Williamson Motors Stadium, The Darlington Arena, The 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena, The Balfour Webnet Darlington Arena and now The Northern Echo Darlington Arena).
A ridiculous 25,000 capacity stadium on the edge of town, whose construction costs sucked all the money out of the Reynolds era, sending Darlington into administration in 2003, and whose ongoing maintenance costs have bogged the club down ever since, leading to administration again in 2009, it's the ultimate white elephant, and is very much at the centre of the current troubles.
The initial article in the Northen Echo can be read here, and a good summing up of the situation can be read here, but it's the common issue of the team not fully owning it's own stadium that is the root of the problem. The current Chairman Raj Singh, and the former Chariman George Houghton own the stadium and surrounding land, through a holding company, but that holding company took out a loan of 1.7m pounds before Darlington's previous administration journey, before Singh was involved.
The people who made that loan, Philip Scott and Graham Sizer, former senior executives with the Darlington-based care home company Southern Cross Healthcare, have now called in receivers to recover the debt. Singh says an agreement was in place that Houghton would cover the debt, which hasn't happened, and which Houghton denies, and now Singh has made an offer to buy the stadium at a much lower price than the original loan, which has been turned down.
If the receivers can't find a buyer, ownership would revert to Scott and Sizer, who don't seem interested in running the club, but would let the club continue renting the stadium for a quite reasonable 10,000 pounds a year. Without ownership of the stadium though, Singh doesn't want to keep running the club out of his own pocket and says he is prepared to walk away. Whether there's a new owner waiting in the wings prepared to take on the club remains to be seen but is probably doubtful.
At this stage it seems more like public posturing and negotiating through the media than a real imminent crisis, so hopefully a compromise can be found and things can keep going, but unless stadium issues get resolved, the club will always be on the verge of disaster. Ownership is obviously the main issue, and a problem common to many clubs, but the sheer inappropriate hugeness of it, and associated costs involved mean that even if that gets 100% resolved, money problems will keep cropping up as long as the crowds stay at their traditional level.
Proposals to make things work better include building an attached hotel/conference centre with restaurants and other sources of revenue that could subsidise the football team, but the local council seems hostile to pretty much everything that gets proposed for the site, and where's the money going to come from to do that? Another solution being thrown around on forums would be to sell it off to someone else, likely a supermarket chain, and build a smaller ground at a different location.
Even though it's been over 7 years since he left the club, Reynolds ego and grandiose plan are still dragging the club down to the degree that the bleak alternative of seeing the club fold and having to start again from scratch is starting to get discussion as the best way forward.
For the vast majority of it's existence Darlington has been a typical lower league team, struggling along from year to year, with some ups and lots of downs, including nearly going out of business in 1983, their centenary year. Chairmen, directors and investors came and went over the years, generally local businessmen who couldn't afford to be losing too much money for too long, and the club kept going at a commensurately modest level, much to the occasional chagrin of more ambitious supporters.
That changed in 1997 when desperate owners actually found someone with proper riches to take over, George Reynolds. He invested heavily in the team, with talk of the Premier League, bringing in players like Marco Gabbiadini, but it didn't quite work out that way, the loss to Peterborough in the 2000 playoff final saw the momentum really disappear and never really come back. He eventually left in disgrace in 2004 and if he'd just come and gone like so many others, it wouldn't be so bad, but his lasting legacy is the big part of his undeniably well meaning but foolish ambitions, The Reynolds Arena (also known in it's 8 years of existence as The New Stadium, The Williamson Motors Stadium, The Darlington Arena, The 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena, The Balfour Webnet Darlington Arena and now The Northern Echo Darlington Arena).
A ridiculous 25,000 capacity stadium on the edge of town, whose construction costs sucked all the money out of the Reynolds era, sending Darlington into administration in 2003, and whose ongoing maintenance costs have bogged the club down ever since, leading to administration again in 2009, it's the ultimate white elephant, and is very much at the centre of the current troubles.
The initial article in the Northen Echo can be read here, and a good summing up of the situation can be read here, but it's the common issue of the team not fully owning it's own stadium that is the root of the problem. The current Chairman Raj Singh, and the former Chariman George Houghton own the stadium and surrounding land, through a holding company, but that holding company took out a loan of 1.7m pounds before Darlington's previous administration journey, before Singh was involved.
The people who made that loan, Philip Scott and Graham Sizer, former senior executives with the Darlington-based care home company Southern Cross Healthcare, have now called in receivers to recover the debt. Singh says an agreement was in place that Houghton would cover the debt, which hasn't happened, and which Houghton denies, and now Singh has made an offer to buy the stadium at a much lower price than the original loan, which has been turned down.
If the receivers can't find a buyer, ownership would revert to Scott and Sizer, who don't seem interested in running the club, but would let the club continue renting the stadium for a quite reasonable 10,000 pounds a year. Without ownership of the stadium though, Singh doesn't want to keep running the club out of his own pocket and says he is prepared to walk away. Whether there's a new owner waiting in the wings prepared to take on the club remains to be seen but is probably doubtful.
At this stage it seems more like public posturing and negotiating through the media than a real imminent crisis, so hopefully a compromise can be found and things can keep going, but unless stadium issues get resolved, the club will always be on the verge of disaster. Ownership is obviously the main issue, and a problem common to many clubs, but the sheer inappropriate hugeness of it, and associated costs involved mean that even if that gets 100% resolved, money problems will keep cropping up as long as the crowds stay at their traditional level.
Proposals to make things work better include building an attached hotel/conference centre with restaurants and other sources of revenue that could subsidise the football team, but the local council seems hostile to pretty much everything that gets proposed for the site, and where's the money going to come from to do that? Another solution being thrown around on forums would be to sell it off to someone else, likely a supermarket chain, and build a smaller ground at a different location.
Even though it's been over 7 years since he left the club, Reynolds ego and grandiose plan are still dragging the club down to the degree that the bleak alternative of seeing the club fold and having to start again from scratch is starting to get discussion as the best way forward.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
A very good day for football.
So, how did the FA Trophy 3rd round go? Well, first of all, Darlington avoided the bananaskin, and got some very symmetrical revenge for 1985 with a 3-0 win over Telford. Chasetown, who I profiled yesterday came through with a 3-1 away win at Eastleigh, reaching the quarter finals for the first time in their history.
Excellent stuff, as was the result at Woking, where Salisbury City, who are at the same level of the non-league pyramid as Chasetown, won 2-0. Gateshead did defeat Dartford, but the other two Conference clubs Mansfield Town and Eastbourne Borough were both held to draws at home against Alfreton Town and Guiseley respectively. Blyth Spartans and Drolysden drew 2-2 in the other game.
Add in Wolves beating man United and Arsenal throwing away a 4 goal lead against Newcastle, and it was a very entertaining day in England.
In Canada, while not as entertaining, it was certainly more important, as the CSA voted on various reform packages, eventually passing a compromise version that will see changes come into effect by 2015. Not exactly the quick change hoped for, but definitely a step in the right direction.
Overall, a very good day for football.
Excellent stuff, as was the result at Woking, where Salisbury City, who are at the same level of the non-league pyramid as Chasetown, won 2-0. Gateshead did defeat Dartford, but the other two Conference clubs Mansfield Town and Eastbourne Borough were both held to draws at home against Alfreton Town and Guiseley respectively. Blyth Spartans and Drolysden drew 2-2 in the other game.
Add in Wolves beating man United and Arsenal throwing away a 4 goal lead against Newcastle, and it was a very entertaining day in England.
In Canada, while not as entertaining, it was certainly more important, as the CSA voted on various reform packages, eventually passing a compromise version that will see changes come into effect by 2015. Not exactly the quick change hoped for, but definitely a step in the right direction.
Overall, a very good day for football.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Sweet FA Trophy, round 3
Well, the FA Cup 4th round didn't work out too well, all the League Two clubs are gone, there's a few Premiership vs league one ties, with Leyton Orient vs Arsenal as the most interesting, but all the attention is going to go to the thoroughly odious match-up of Crawley at Man Utd. So it's once again time to turn to the FA Trophy for a breath of fresh air.
It's down to the last 16, you can see the ties as well as get a wealth of information about the teams and results in previous rounds here. There's only 5 Conference clubs left, and only 2 of those are in the top half of the table, one of those teams is Luton Town who played against Gloucester City of the Conference North tonight. Going by internet reports, Gloucester had the better of the game, but lost 1-0 to an 84th minute goal after their offside trap broke down. So Luton are through to the quarter finals and are definitely the favourites at this stage. 3 of the 4 other Conference clubs are at home, and the best possibility for an upset is probably the one team that's away, Darlington with a very tricky tie against AFC Telford.
The lowest ranked team still in the competition is Chasetown, currently 10th in the Non-League Premier Southern Division, but who are on form right now, they had a 4 game winning streak, including knocking off Conference Team Grimsby Town in the last round, before losing to Rushall Olympic in the Birmingham Senior Cup this past Tuesday. They face Eastleigh, who are a level above them in the pyramid.
Founded in 1954 and based in Burntwood, Staffordshire, Chasetown are known as the Scholars and play at a 2,000 capacity stadium, the refreshingly non-corporately named Scholars Ground. They've worked their way slowly up to their current position which is the highest division they've ever been in, and getting to the last 16 is also the furthest they've ever been in the FA Trophy. They did make the third round of the FA cup in 2008, making them the lowest ranked team to ever make it that far, though I'm not sure if that record still stands or not. Their average attendance over the last few years seems to be round about 400, but they've got a livelyish forum going at the clubs website, I hope to visit it and see a lot of celebrating on Saturday.
Prediction time, I'll go with a quarter final line-up of Luton, Darlington, Blyth Spartans, Guiseley with an upset at Eastbourne Borough, Chasetown, Dartford with the shock win over Gateshead, Mansfield and Woking.
It's down to the last 16, you can see the ties as well as get a wealth of information about the teams and results in previous rounds here. There's only 5 Conference clubs left, and only 2 of those are in the top half of the table, one of those teams is Luton Town who played against Gloucester City of the Conference North tonight. Going by internet reports, Gloucester had the better of the game, but lost 1-0 to an 84th minute goal after their offside trap broke down. So Luton are through to the quarter finals and are definitely the favourites at this stage. 3 of the 4 other Conference clubs are at home, and the best possibility for an upset is probably the one team that's away, Darlington with a very tricky tie against AFC Telford.
The lowest ranked team still in the competition is Chasetown, currently 10th in the Non-League Premier Southern Division, but who are on form right now, they had a 4 game winning streak, including knocking off Conference Team Grimsby Town in the last round, before losing to Rushall Olympic in the Birmingham Senior Cup this past Tuesday. They face Eastleigh, who are a level above them in the pyramid.
Founded in 1954 and based in Burntwood, Staffordshire, Chasetown are known as the Scholars and play at a 2,000 capacity stadium, the refreshingly non-corporately named Scholars Ground. They've worked their way slowly up to their current position which is the highest division they've ever been in, and getting to the last 16 is also the furthest they've ever been in the FA Trophy. They did make the third round of the FA cup in 2008, making them the lowest ranked team to ever make it that far, though I'm not sure if that record still stands or not. Their average attendance over the last few years seems to be round about 400, but they've got a livelyish forum going at the clubs website, I hope to visit it and see a lot of celebrating on Saturday.
Prediction time, I'll go with a quarter final line-up of Luton, Darlington, Blyth Spartans, Guiseley with an upset at Eastbourne Borough, Chasetown, Dartford with the shock win over Gateshead, Mansfield and Woking.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Sweet FA Cup, round 4.
Once again it's FA Cup week in England, with round 4 happening this weekend. Non-League clubs didn't fare too well in round 3, only one of them surviving, but League Two did the small clubs proud, with 4 of them still going and providing the best hope for continued romance and magic and all that stuff the FA cup gets by on now that it's not really as glamorous as it was for the big clubs.
On paper Torquay have the best chance of advancing to round 5, as they play the only non-league team still left, Crawley Town. Crawley aren't one of the heart warming non-league clubs though, they're currently in the middle of "project promotion" that has seen them outspend all of League Two combined and which to be fair, probably will see them win promotion this year, so I'm fully behind Torquay here. Stevenage are also at home, aginst Championship club Reading, and after beating Newcastle in the 3rd round, Stevenage will definitely fancy their chances.
Hereford, who are on a tear recently, 5 straight wins in all competitions and pulling themselves out of the League two relegation zone, have an away game against Sheffield Wednesday, who are a big club in name only, and currently in League One, so Hereford definitely have a chance. Probably the toughest draw for the League Two clubs is Burton Albion who have to go to Burnley after not having played a game since knocking Middlesbrough out 3 weeks ago, since when top scorer Shaun Harrad was transferred away.
Other potential upsets involve the two big Manchester Clubs, both away to League One teams, Man Utd having to take on Southampton while Man City go to Notts County.
It's getting to the stage where there's few teams left for the neutral to really get behind, hopefully a few of these can make it to the next round.
Edit: Well that didn't really work out did it? All 4 league Two clubs lost, and bloody Crawley get an away game at Man Utd in the 5th round, I genuinely don't know who I want to win that one.
On paper Torquay have the best chance of advancing to round 5, as they play the only non-league team still left, Crawley Town. Crawley aren't one of the heart warming non-league clubs though, they're currently in the middle of "project promotion" that has seen them outspend all of League Two combined and which to be fair, probably will see them win promotion this year, so I'm fully behind Torquay here. Stevenage are also at home, aginst Championship club Reading, and after beating Newcastle in the 3rd round, Stevenage will definitely fancy their chances.
Hereford, who are on a tear recently, 5 straight wins in all competitions and pulling themselves out of the League two relegation zone, have an away game against Sheffield Wednesday, who are a big club in name only, and currently in League One, so Hereford definitely have a chance. Probably the toughest draw for the League Two clubs is Burton Albion who have to go to Burnley after not having played a game since knocking Middlesbrough out 3 weeks ago, since when top scorer Shaun Harrad was transferred away.
Other potential upsets involve the two big Manchester Clubs, both away to League One teams, Man Utd having to take on Southampton while Man City go to Notts County.
It's getting to the stage where there's few teams left for the neutral to really get behind, hopefully a few of these can make it to the next round.
Edit: Well that didn't really work out did it? All 4 league Two clubs lost, and bloody Crawley get an away game at Man Utd in the 5th round, I genuinely don't know who I want to win that one.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Division 5? How 25 years of automatic promotion/relegation has changed the Conference. Part 2
This is the 25th season since automatic promotion and relegation was introduced between Division 4 and the Conference for the 1986-87 season (for the sake of consistency and clarity, that’s how I’ll be referring to the divisions throughout this article, Division three, League two, random sponsors, bite me!). So this seems like a good time to take a closer look at how this has altered football at this level, and the difference in the success of relegated and promoted teams, and how that’s changed over the 25 years. For part 1, looking at the changes at conference level, click here. In this second instalment, I focus on the promoted sides, and how Division 4 has changed over the years.
From 1958 when Divisions 3 and 4 were created out of the old Division 3 North and South until 1986, Division 4 was a fairly sleepy stagnant division with many perennially bad teams, where the worst of the ultimate closed shop old mens club could comfortably and unambitiously relax. Relegation existed, but the re-election process made sure it was a very rare threat, with the bottom 4 teams future decided by a vote among the other Football league clubs. Much mutual back scratching made sure that only 6 teams were ever replaced by non-League teams, and one of those, Accrington Stanley, actually resigned due to financial hardships rather than being voted out.
Depending on where a team was situated geographically, it could be as bad as it wanted and not really have to worry, Bradford Park Avenue for example had to finish bottom three times in a row before finally geting voted out, whereas in 1972, Barrow, all the way up there in the North-West were voted out a mere two years after being relegated to Division 4 and despite finishing 8 points ahead of Crewe Alexandra who finished botttom that year.
What this meant was that for a lot of teams, there was no real incentive to improve and they could trundle along, just get by really, with no real threat to their existence. It doesn't come as a surprise that the few teams that were elected into the league all had very early success, 4 of the 6 teams making it to the second division within their first 8 years. Now, with two teams relegated every year, the worst clubs can't continue being bad. Relegation has often been a wake up call, with teams coming back more competitive and in better financial health. There are currently 20 teams in the Football League that have come up via promotion since 1987, 14 in the old Division 4, 5 in Division 3 and 1 in Division 2. As in part 1, this can be broken down into 4 seperate phases.
1987-93
Seven teams were lost to Division 4 in this period, unfortunately three of them went out of business all together, but of the others, three won promotion back almost immediately, Lincoln City and Darlington at the first attempt, Colchester United in their second season, and they all seemed much better for the experience and the chance to regroup. Including those 3, 6 of the 7 promoted teams adapted comfortably to Division 4, all finishing their first season in the top half of the table, and 3 out of the 7 won promotion to Division 3 by their second season. The other promoted team, Maidstone United, made the playoffs in their first year, but soon became one of the three bankrupt teams, so only 3 brand new members were left at the end of this period.
1994-96
No-one was promoted during these three years due to the Conference champions' grounds not being up to Football League standards, and this period of calm, with Division 4 not losing any of it's weaker teams, and the Conference retaining it's stronger teams set the stage for the next period.
1997-2002
During this period, only one of the promoted teams was a returnee, Halifax Town who were relegated again after 3 years, and the relative weakness of the Conference teams promoted saw three of the five relegated back, though they all lasted 5 years, and Rushden and Diamonds did get promoted to Division 3 for one season. The two other teams promoted in this period, Macclesfield and Cheltenham Town are both still going strong, and have both had spells in division 3 as well.
Of the six teams relegated during this time, none of them won promotion back, meaning that for the first time, there was a now a good number of "big" clubs in the Conference fighting for promotion, creating the competition that would lead to the success we'd see from the promoted teams in the next few years.
2003-Present
2002-03 saw the promotion/relegation spots increased to 2, and the results since have been a real testament to the success of this 25 year experiment. Out of the 16 promoted teams, 9 were returning after relegation with 7 teams making their Football League bow, but almost all of them have been very succesful. Only Chester City have returned to Non-League status, mainly due to financial issues that dated back to the 1990's.
If Chester were the exception to the rule, Doncaster Rovers are perhaps the best ambassadors for how a club can be turned around. They had been relegated to the Conference in 1998 after finances had got so bad the Chariman tried to burn the main stand down for the insurance money in 1995. Under new ownership, they settled and returned to the Football League in 2003, immediately won Division 4, moved to a new stadium in 2006, won the Johnstone's Paint trophy in 2007 and won promotion to the second tier in 2008 where they have remained since.
Carlisle United and Exeter City are other clubs who have come back stronger and currently reside in Division 3, accompanied by traditional Conference clubs Yeovil Town and Dagenham & Redbridge. Hereford United also had a year at that level, three other clubs made the Division 4 playoffs and the rest have settled nicely into life at this level.
The Conference is proving the ideal place for troubled clubs to rehabilitate themselves. Though the number of former Football League clubs is increasing, it is still below half the division, so all but the worst off clubs have been able to consolidate, and then when more stable take advantage of their infrastructure and fanbase to outmuscle smaller traditionally non-league clubs, as the Conference table stands right now, the 9 teams with recent Football League experience are all in the top 14. That there are now 9 teams competing for the two promotion spots, along with non-league teams enjoying their best days, like Fleetwood Town or Crawley means there are no weak teams coming up. Though I wouldn't call for the Conference to be converted into a Division 5, there are still too many smaller clubs for who that would be a step too far, either financially or due to ground regulations, It could be time to look at expanding those two promotion spots to three.
Coming up:
Part 3: I get all "Soccernomics" with a more stats based look at how promoted and relegated teams have done.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Division 5? How 25 years of automatic promotion/relegation has changed the Conference. Part 1.
This is the 25th season since automatic promotion and relegation was introduced between Division 4 and the Conference for the 1986-87 season (for the sake of consistency and clarity, that’s how I’ll be referring to the divisions throughout this article, Division three, League two, random sponsors, bite me!). So this seems like a good time to take a closer look at how this has altered football at this level, and the difference in the success of relegated and promoted teams, and how that’s changed over the 25 years. In this first instalment, I focus on the relegated sides, the Conference and how it's developed over the years.
Looking at the development of the Conference, being a Darlington supporter gives a unique perspective, with Darlo one of the few teams to have 2 spells in the Conference, one back in 1989/90 and another one started just this season. It’s easy to see the biggest difference, and that’s the quality of the teams in the Conference. Getting promoted to Division 4 is a much tougher proposition now than in the first few years since automatic promotion/relegation was introduced.
Back in the late 80’s/early 90’s, the Conference was full of amateur or semi-professional sides, so a relegated team that maintained it’s full professional status was at an enormous advantage, and was considered a much bigger club that the rest of the teams in the League. Now however, there are many "big" clubs with long Football League traditions who would consider their natural place to be at least Division 4, but find themselves stuck in the Conference year after year. Clubs like Mansfield, York City, Wrexham, even Luton who were in Division 1 and winning the Littlewoods Cup during this 25 year period. Add in up and coming traditionally Non-League clubs such as Crawley, and "Phoenix" clubs like AFC Wimbledon or Newport County trying to restore former glories, and the amount of clubs seen as legitimate promotion contenders who wouldn’t look out of place in division 4 is now over half the division.
Back in the late 80’s/early 90’s, the Conference was full of amateur or semi-professional sides, so a relegated team that maintained it’s full professional status was at an enormous advantage, and was considered a much bigger club that the rest of the teams in the League. Now however, there are many "big" clubs with long Football League traditions who would consider their natural place to be at least Division 4, but find themselves stuck in the Conference year after year. Clubs like Mansfield, York City, Wrexham, even Luton who were in Division 1 and winning the Littlewoods Cup during this 25 year period. Add in up and coming traditionally Non-League clubs such as Crawley, and "Phoenix" clubs like AFC Wimbledon or Newport County trying to restore former glories, and the amount of clubs seen as legitimate promotion contenders who wouldn’t look out of place in division 4 is now over half the division.
How did we get here? Well, I’d say there have been 4 distinct phases, the first of which is 1987-1992.
1987-1992
This period showed the gulf that still existed between Division 4 and the Conference. Every relegated team went one of two ways, either completely out of business (Aldershot, Newport County, Maidstone) or won their league status back almost immediately. Lincoln City and Darlington were both promoted in their first season, Colchester in their second, the only traditional Conference club competing was Barnet, who finished second three times before finally clinching their promotion in 1991.
1993-1996
This period was one of stagnation, but was also the period that really kick-started the increasing of quality and depth in Conference. Due to teams going out of business and the Football League expanding to 94 clubs, only one team dropped into the Conference between 1991 and 1996, Halifax Town in 1993, so it was wide open for the traditional Conference teams to take advantage and grab the promotion place available. Wycombe Wanderers did just that in 1992-93, under Martin O’Neill, they were a class apart from the rest of the league, winning by 15 points, but after that, the limitations of Conference teams were exposed.
Kidderminster, Macclesfield and Stevenage Borough were champions from 1994-96, but all were denied promotion due to their grounds not meeting Football league regulations. This forced these clubs, and others with Football league ambitions to develop their grounds, and as well more teams went fully professional in a bid to secure promotion, thus increasing the quality of the Conference as a whole.
Kidderminster, Macclesfield and Stevenage Borough were champions from 1994-96, but all were denied promotion due to their grounds not meeting Football league regulations. This forced these clubs, and others with Football league ambitions to develop their grounds, and as well more teams went fully professional in a bid to secure promotion, thus increasing the quality of the Conference as a whole.
1997-2002
From 1997 onwards, promotion and relegation resumed with no-one else barred from promotion, but unlike 87-92 this time the Conference was ready to compete. This was partially due to the stronger Conference teams of recent years still being there, as well as due to many of the relegated clubs being in financial dire straits and needing to steady themselves at Conference level before being able to compete. Macclesfield and Kidderminster both won again during this time and were actually promoted, joined in this period by Rushden and Diamonds and Boston United, both benefitting from an aggressive financial approach, and a Steve Cotterill inspired Cheltenham Town. The only former Division 4 team to win promotion during this time was Halifax Town, and they’d been in the Conference for 4 years already.
These teams were replaced by Hereford, Doncaster, Scarborough, Chester, and returnees Barnet and Halifax, so now rather than being the one big fish in the pond, any relegated team had plenty of other big teams to be competing against, a quick return would never be easy again.
These teams were replaced by Hereford, Doncaster, Scarborough, Chester, and returnees Barnet and Halifax, so now rather than being the one big fish in the pond, any relegated team had plenty of other big teams to be competing against, a quick return would never be easy again.
2003- Present
In 2003, a quick return was made a little easier as a second promotion relegation spot was opened up, to the winner of the playoff between the 2nd-5th placed teams, and initially the big clubs took advantage, with 5 of the 6 clubs promoted from 2003-05 having previously been relegated, with Yeovil Town as the only exception, and Carlisle and Shrewsbury both taking advantage of the playoffs to bounce back at the first attempt. Since then though things have evened off to an almost 50/50 split with 6 of 10 clubs, if you include Accrington Stanley and the new Aldershot club which I am, being traditional Conference clubs.
Perhaps the most remarkable stat, and testament to the new strength of the Conference, is that out of the 16 teams promoted in this period, only 1 of them, Chester City, have so far returned. The 16 relegated teams did include Kidderminster, Rushden and Boston, and 5 of the "big" clubs have earned their way back to Division 4. That leaves 8 teams that would consider themselves a Football League team languishing in the Conference, a number that’s only going to increase over the years as the Conference resembles more and more a 5th division rather than the huge dropoff it represented back in the 1980’s. It used to be that the relegated team would become an automatic favourite for promotion, that is clearly no longer the case.
Coming up:
Part 2: Looking at Division 4 and how the promoted teams have fared.
Perhaps the most remarkable stat, and testament to the new strength of the Conference, is that out of the 16 teams promoted in this period, only 1 of them, Chester City, have so far returned. The 16 relegated teams did include Kidderminster, Rushden and Boston, and 5 of the "big" clubs have earned their way back to Division 4. That leaves 8 teams that would consider themselves a Football League team languishing in the Conference, a number that’s only going to increase over the years as the Conference resembles more and more a 5th division rather than the huge dropoff it represented back in the 1980’s. It used to be that the relegated team would become an automatic favourite for promotion, that is clearly no longer the case.
Coming up:
Part 2: Looking at Division 4 and how the promoted teams have fared.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sweet FA Trophy.
It's easy to become disillusioned with the FA Cup. After the third round, only one non-league club still survives, and that club is Crawley Town, an obnoxious team that spent more this past off season than every League 2 team combined. There's no more talk of Vauxhall Motors or Swindon Supermarine, instead all the hype goes to the big glamourous clubs like Stevenage or Burton Albion.
No, if you want the real heart warming stories, and proper football at proper clubs, then it's time to turn your attention to the FA Trophy, a competition for only Non-League clubs. The 2nd round happened this weekend and there were plenty of upsets, with 4 Conference (Blue Square Premier, and in a rare example of me going along with sponsorship, for the sake of clarity, I'll call it the BSP) teams being knocked out by teams from further down the non-league pyramid.
How that pyramid works is that the BSP has 2 feeder leagues, Conference South and Conference North, and the level below that has 3 divisions, the Non-League Premier North, South and Isthmian, which is very London based. It goes further down that that, but thankfully that's as far as we need to go for today's article.
Two of the four BSP teams knocked out by lower league teams lost to teams from the Non League premier level. Grimsby, a championship team as recently as 2003 were eliminated by Chasetown, and Wrexham, European Cup Winners Cup quarterfinalists back in 1976 lost to Salisbury.
Chasetown and Salisbury are the lowest teams still dreaming of a trip to Wembley, but out of the 13 teams who've already secured their way to the third round, another 7 are from the Conference North/South level, leaving only 4 conference teams left, though two more could advance from replays.
With AFC Wimbledon also losing this weekend, Luton Town will now be favourites, while Darlington have a tough away game at Conference North team AFC Telford. The last time Darlington played Telford in a cup competition was back in 1985 in the FA Cup 4th round after Darlo had beaten local rivals Middlesbrough in the third round.
It went to a replay, and the 5th round draw pitted the winner against cup holders, and that years eventual 1st division champion Everton. Typically enough Darlington lost that replay, and Telford went on to lose to Everton in the last 16.
Telford are another "phoenix" team, started up and run by supporters after their original team was run into the ground by incompetent owners, and working their way back up through the pyramid, so their current position is probably a false one, it will definitely be a tough game for Darlo, so we'll probably win, then lose to someone much worse than us in the next round.
No, if you want the real heart warming stories, and proper football at proper clubs, then it's time to turn your attention to the FA Trophy, a competition for only Non-League clubs. The 2nd round happened this weekend and there were plenty of upsets, with 4 Conference (Blue Square Premier, and in a rare example of me going along with sponsorship, for the sake of clarity, I'll call it the BSP) teams being knocked out by teams from further down the non-league pyramid.
How that pyramid works is that the BSP has 2 feeder leagues, Conference South and Conference North, and the level below that has 3 divisions, the Non-League Premier North, South and Isthmian, which is very London based. It goes further down that that, but thankfully that's as far as we need to go for today's article.
Two of the four BSP teams knocked out by lower league teams lost to teams from the Non League premier level. Grimsby, a championship team as recently as 2003 were eliminated by Chasetown, and Wrexham, European Cup Winners Cup quarterfinalists back in 1976 lost to Salisbury.
Chasetown and Salisbury are the lowest teams still dreaming of a trip to Wembley, but out of the 13 teams who've already secured their way to the third round, another 7 are from the Conference North/South level, leaving only 4 conference teams left, though two more could advance from replays.
With AFC Wimbledon also losing this weekend, Luton Town will now be favourites, while Darlington have a tough away game at Conference North team AFC Telford. The last time Darlington played Telford in a cup competition was back in 1985 in the FA Cup 4th round after Darlo had beaten local rivals Middlesbrough in the third round.
It went to a replay, and the 5th round draw pitted the winner against cup holders, and that years eventual 1st division champion Everton. Typically enough Darlington lost that replay, and Telford went on to lose to Everton in the last 16.
Telford are another "phoenix" team, started up and run by supporters after their original team was run into the ground by incompetent owners, and working their way back up through the pyramid, so their current position is probably a false one, it will definitely be a tough game for Darlo, so we'll probably win, then lose to someone much worse than us in the next round.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Sweet FA Cup, round 3.
As always, the first weekend of January means the third round of the FA Cup in England. A time for small clubs to take on the big boys and dream of the impossible upset, minnows vs sharks, David vs Goliath etc etc. But enough about plucky Liverpool's match against Man Utd tomorrow. Da-dum cchhhhhhh.
There were quite a few potential "cupsets" this year, and quite a few of them have actually happened, mainly against the North-East's big 3. Mr. Karren Brady's League two team Burton Albion got 2 late goals to beat Middlesbrough 2-1 and reach the 4th round for the first time in their history. As well, Sunderland lost 2-1 to League One Notts County, and Newcastle lost 3-1 at League 2 Stevenage! Combined with Hartlepool losing to Watford, and that's a weekend to warm any Darlington fan's heart. Stevenage's win prompted another great small club tradition, the celebratory pitch invasion, which unfortunately had an ugly moment when one of the Stevenage players got punched.
Other Premier League teams getting knocked out were West Brom, beaten by Reading, and Blackpool who lost at Southampton. The non-league clubs did themselves proud in defeat, York City holding Bolton goalless for 83 minutes before losing 2-0, in front of 4,900 travelling fans. Dover Athletic's fairytale run ended with a 2-0 defeat at League One Huddersfield. Crawley also play, against Derby County on Monday, but Crawley are the non-league version of Chelsea or Man city, rich and obnoxiously big spending, so I don't really find much romance in that tie.
Probably the most entertaining game of the day was actually a second round replay between two League Two teams, Hereford and Lincoln, which saw 7 goals, each one changing the result, before Hereford finally escaped with a 4-3 win.
All in all, very satisfying.
There were quite a few potential "cupsets" this year, and quite a few of them have actually happened, mainly against the North-East's big 3. Mr. Karren Brady's League two team Burton Albion got 2 late goals to beat Middlesbrough 2-1 and reach the 4th round for the first time in their history. As well, Sunderland lost 2-1 to League One Notts County, and Newcastle lost 3-1 at League 2 Stevenage! Combined with Hartlepool losing to Watford, and that's a weekend to warm any Darlington fan's heart. Stevenage's win prompted another great small club tradition, the celebratory pitch invasion, which unfortunately had an ugly moment when one of the Stevenage players got punched.
Other Premier League teams getting knocked out were West Brom, beaten by Reading, and Blackpool who lost at Southampton. The non-league clubs did themselves proud in defeat, York City holding Bolton goalless for 83 minutes before losing 2-0, in front of 4,900 travelling fans. Dover Athletic's fairytale run ended with a 2-0 defeat at League One Huddersfield. Crawley also play, against Derby County on Monday, but Crawley are the non-league version of Chelsea or Man city, rich and obnoxiously big spending, so I don't really find much romance in that tie.
Probably the most entertaining game of the day was actually a second round replay between two League Two teams, Hereford and Lincoln, which saw 7 goals, each one changing the result, before Hereford finally escaped with a 4-3 win.
All in all, very satisfying.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)