Just realised that we don't have a thread to discuss the goings-on in the league we (hopefully temporarily) call home. Well now we do.

- Barnet now have NINE players plus their manager in quarantine. Did they spread it to us, or did we spread it to them? They played their FA Cup match anyway, and won 3-2.

- American investors are sniffing around Woking and talking about taking them into the Football League. What could possibly go wrong?

- As mentioned in Jason Turner's email, NL clubs are to receive 10m of funding - 95k a month for proper football clubs, and 84k a month for the tin-potters. Our Jase isn't happy with this, as it doesn't take actual crowds (the absence of which this money is supposed to be compensating) into account.

- Stockport have won four on the trot and are now top of the table. Am I the only one who finds this ominous?

Funnily enough, I was thinking of doing a video like this on my channel. A quick summarization of the first few weeks of the league 

@ARLukomski Do it..  

At least for once the National League is grabbing most of the headlines, although perhaps for the wrong reasons. Could Notts have been hit by Barnet and Altrincham? Woking in the Football League? Whatever next...

21 hours ago, ARLukomski said:

Funnily enough, I was thinking of doing a video like this on my channel. A quick summarization of the first few weeks of the league 

Yes, go for it! And feel free to link it here

To be fair @Chris, I think Woking were ahead of Forest Green and Fleetwood in the queue for Football League status. All the same, we need another nouveau riche club like we need a hole in the head. And there's always the danger that these are dreamers in the mould of Albert Scardino.

15 minutes ago, DangerousSausage said:

Yes, go for it! And feel free to link it here

To be fair @Chris, I think Woking were ahead of Forest Green and Fleetwood in the queue for Football League status. All the same, we need another nouveau riche club like we need a hole in the head. And there's always the danger that these are dreamers in the mould of Albert Scardino.

Alfreton Town had American owners do the same thing, but they've gone backwards and lost key players.

Some interesting results last night, Torquay have gone top after beating Aldershot 4-1 away. Sutton beat Yeovil meaning their only blemish is us! As for the other favourites, Hartlepool couldn’t beat Altrincham and drew 1-1. And Stockport drew 0-0 at home too. I don’t feel it’s ominous at all!

Speaking of Stockport, they’re no longer our first game back after our ‘fire-break’. We’re playing Aldershot on the 7th Nov. It’s the FA Cup first round weekend but as they got knocked out it makes sense to fill that weekend. I think Notts are due to test again on Thursday, so fingers crossed all goes well and the majority of the team can get back training.

Back to the results, as for the teams we lost too: Maidenhead got another win against Dagenham, that’s 3 in a row! And Dover got their second win of the season against Eastleigh and have moved out the relegation zone. Just goes to show no-one in this league is awful and it’s going to be tough.

i think the national league is only going to get harder with all the postponed games and the future outbreaks of covid-19.

On 26/10/2020 at 19:37, DangerousSausage said:

- Stockport have won four on the trot and are now top of the table. Am I the only one who finds this ominous?

Stockport should be in the top 3 come the end of the season, they've been pushing for promotion for awhile now.

It’s so surreal but it’s happening… Wrexham are voting today on whether or not to accept the proposed takeover from Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhanney. The results will be announced next week, with 75% needed to vote in favour for it to go ahead.

I think it will be accepted but personally I can’t see them being there for the long-term, they’ve got the money but they’ve got no knowledge about running a football club and I don’t even think they’re massive football fans. Maybe I’m wrong but watching teams in the cold and wet hoofing balls up to the likes of Denton and Rhead is hardly going to get you hooked. The national league is a far cry from the supposed glitz and glamour of the Premier League!

They might think they can jump up the leagues quickly but we know all too well big budgets are no guarantees for success, I think they might just get bored and frustrated if it doesn’t pan out how they want it too…

Time to revive this old thread...

- Dover have been punished for taking their ball home with them and refusing to play by being fined 40k and deducted 12 points, effective next season. Their fixtures for this season have been expunged, which works just fine for us - one defeat less, and for a while we'd gone above Wrexham without even playing! In terms of fairness, how can a team that refuses to play not be relegated? The NLS is even a team down for next season.

- Down in the NL North/South, the teams that didn't fulfil fixtures there have been fined 2k per game. Despite the fact that the season we ruled null and void...

dover are a shambles and deserve what they have got, very poor club and they will want to come across as the victim but they are not. very poorly ran club.

Sutton have reached the promised land and in some style. Congratulations to them. It's another glorious chapter in their thrilling history. Their FA Cup giant killings are legendary. Now they will get a chance to strut their stuff in League 2 for the first time ever. 

Hopefully we will be joining them! 

2 places left in the play-offs and 5 teams battling it out (Wrexham to Halifax). Tense final day.


 

As long as Bromley don't get through I'm happy with any of the others.

I hope Wrexham don't make it, I can see Notts landing them and struggling.

Fantastic achievement for Sutton, congratulations to them. But a part of me is frustrated that we had such a long meltdown this season - 83 points for automatic promotion isn't very much by NL standards.

I can see Chesterfield or Wrexham slipping up, but not both of them, so realistically Bromley and Halifax need snookers. Chesterfield are playing Halifax on the final day.

All credit goes to Sutton, but I agree as above. We should have and could have been top if things had gone differently. Firstly, Cal Roberts and his injury.

His skill and attacking adventure hid most of the Ardley negative tactics because he was a show stopper. When one does it, another does it too and Enzio found confidence in this.

Take one out for the season and another lacking in confidence and the defend first policy was laid bare for all to see.

The timing of his sacking was discussed a lot, but quite frankly, imo, they waited a long time before pulling the trigger on him. Now an attack minded manager is here, we’re beginning to see what they can do to circumnavigate the injury.

We could have been top, but aren’t. Looking forward to next season, regardless of division. IB will put out teams determined to win and that’s what you need to finish at the top.

Hartlepool dominating Bromley 2-0 after 20 minutes. Hartlepool look very good. This seasons play-offs look very different to last seasons.


Edit: Make that 3 in 24 mins.

Bromley doing their best impression of our performance in the playoff final last year. Bottling it big style. 

It took Bromley 45 minutes to get going. When they did they put Hartlepool under pressure. Hartlepool fell over the line. They need a big improvement if they want to beat Stockport.