The reality of the national league summed up

[Sharp_Shooter24]

In one play off game…

Woking vs Bromley tonight…. Watch it back, it’ll send you to sleep!!!

This is two of the better teams in the league… both are crap!!!
The level is poor!!

It’s an absolute disgrace we’ve been relegated from this level!!

Wrexham & Notts county aside the standard is absolutely awful!!!!!!

If we don’t win the NLN and come back with a vengeance we are gone beyond saving!!

I still think Dean as manager is a massive massive mistake but hopefully he proves me wrong

[WonderGoals]

At National League level as long as your well organized and have hard workers you’re 3/4 of the way there. Pity we had neither.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Sanfran49, SODIron

[Anonymous]

Looking at the distribution map of NLN clubs, there’s still a lot of travelling to be done next season.

Both leagues have 24 teams – too many IMHO. 46 games on sub optimal pitches will result in injuries.

In the depths of winter, it must be hard for the Groundsman of those clubs with grass pitches to get the games on?

I’d introduce a National League Central.
3 leagues with 22 teams – 42 game season.

Champions automatically promoted.
Runners up play a Round Robin with winners rewarded with promotion.

What if two teams finished ‘joint top’?

Goal difference.
Goals scored.
If still identical – then games won in regular season.

20 teams would be desirable but the games would be their biggest source of revenue I guess – so we have to find a ‘happy medium’?

[Ferrite]

Anonymous wrote:

Both leagues have 24 teams – too many IMHO. 46 games on sub optimal pitches will result in injuries.

It’s like football didn’t exist 20 years ago! Besides, many of the grounds in NLN will have artificial pitches.

[IronIronIron]

So ApAp, you are planning on ruining the structure of a lot of leagues up and down the country to save playing 4 games.

Instead of 48 teams in 2 leagues you would have 66 teams in 3 leagues. Where do these teams come from? They would have to be regional (North, South, Central), so you would bugger up a lot of lower league structures. There would also be a massive gap between the top teams and the bottom teams as they could be 2, 3 or even 4 leagues apart at the moment.

All that disruption not to play 4 games? That’s what a squad is for.

[Anonymous]

Leagues are continually being restructured, expanded, contracted… evolving.
Let’s deem it to be an organic body rather than an immovable mountain range.

I opened in my first sentence with the distribution (locality) of the clubs and the amount of travelling.

Less miles is a cost saving for clubs and supporters alike.

If you look at whom we will be playing next season, you will see that there aren’t many local or even close games!

Gloucester 175 miles and a shade over 3 hours.

It’s hardly regional football at those distances.

Massive gap? You’ll have to do better than that!
Last season we were a L2 club – next season we are NLN.
Season after, we may be Northern Premier!

The gap? Ha ha.

Yeah, like everyone has been breathing down Wrexham & County’s necks all season!

It’s not about fewer games.
It’s about saving money on travel costs and making it more affordable for fans and actually regional.

Kapish?

[lesgeo]

I don’t entirely agree, SS. I saw the game last night.
It was clear that they were both a long way better than what we have been – and that was the case with at least 20 more in the NL.
I thought that, in general, there was little to choose between NL and League 2 – excepting the top 8 or so.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sharp_Shooter24

[IronIronIron]

Anonymous wrote:

Leagues are continually being restructured, expanded, contracted… evolving.
Let’s deem it to be an organic body rather than an immovable mountain range.

I opened in my first sentence with the distribution (locality) of the clubs and the amount of travelling.

Less miles is a cost saving for clubs and supporters alike.

If you look at whom we will be playing next season, you will see that there aren’t many local or even close games!

Gloucester 175 miles and a shade over 3 hours.

It’s hardly regional football at those distances.

Massive gap? You’ll have to do better than that!
Last season we were a L2 club – next season we are NLN.
Season after, we may be Northern Premier!

The gap? Ha ha.

Yeah, like everyone has been breathing down Wrexham & County’s necks all season!

It’s not about fewer games.
It’s about saving money on travel costs and making it more affordable for fans and actually regional.

Kapish?

No, I don’t capiche.

You would need to disrupt a lot of leagues across the whole country, at the same time, to implement what you suggest.

The arguement that we have dropped 2 leagues in 2 seasons does not support your argument. It supports mine. Can you imagine our current mob against League 2 teams?

In terms of travelling time, many of our supporters travel the length & breadth of the country to follow the team. Then there are people like me who live a long way from Scunny so appreciate less travel on occasion.

Yes, we might save some money but the competition would not be as strong – in all 3 areas that you would break it down in.

[Anonymous]

IronIronIron wrote:

Apathetic Apologists wrote:

Leagues are continually being restructured, expanded, contracted… evolving.
Let’s deem it to be an organic body rather than an immovable mountain range.

I opened in my first sentence with the distribution (locality) of the clubs and the amount of travelling.

Less miles is a cost saving for clubs and supporters alike.

If you look at whom we will be playing next season, you will see that there aren’t many local or even close games!

Gloucester 175 miles and a shade over 3 hours.

It’s hardly regional football at those distances.

Massive gap? You’ll have to do better than that!
Last season we were a L2 club – next season we are NLN.
Season after, we may be Northern Premier!

The gap? Ha ha.

Yeah, like everyone has been breathing down Wrexham & County’s necks all season!

It’s not about fewer games.
It’s about saving money on travel costs and making it more affordable for fans and actually regional.

Kapish?

No, I don’t capiche.

You would need to disrupt a lot of leagues across the whole country, at the same time, to implement what you suggest.

The arguement that we have dropped 2 leagues in 2 seasons does not support your argument. It supports mine. Can you imagine our current mob against League 2 teams?

In terms of travelling time, many of our supporters travel the length & breadth of the country to follow the team. Then there are people like me who live a long way from Scunny so appreciate less travel on occasion.

Yes, we might save some money but the competition would not be as strong – in all 3 areas that you would break it down in.

By your reasoning, the gap between L2 and the NL should have meant that we were up there challenging for promotion this season.

Relegation as the second worst chumps in the league see us drop yet another division.
So, how big is the ‘gap’ between L2 and NLN?

We will find out next season.

Personally, I believe we will struggle next season. We could well be facing a further relegation.
It gives me no pride or satisfaction to say that, but it is a distinct possibility.

[Richgy]

IMO there is not much (if any )difference between the bottom end of league 2 and the top half of the NL , lets face it both don’t go hand in hand with good football ; only a handful of games this season for us has the ball been on the floor most of the game .

I actually found the conference (NL) slightly more enjoyable as we actually gave some teams decent beatings .But in both the leagues teams/players are wildly inconsistent ;which i suppose is the main reason they are at the level .

I watch a few NLS games as a good mate supports Havant so I go occasionally , the standard is quite good a lot better than you would expect – some of the players have decent jobs and play part time there and could actually play higher but are better off part time and working ;you would assume it’s similar in the NLN as I can’t imagine there are many full time teams .

[Lord Kitchener]

Richgy wrote:

I watch a few NLS games as a good mate supports Havant so I go occasionally , the standard is quite good a lot better than you would expect – some of the players have decent jobs and play part time there and could actually play higher but are better off part time and working ;you would assume it’s similar in the NLN as I can’t imagine there are many full time teams .

Does he live in Leigh Park? Funkiest sink estate I ever worked in.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Richgy

[Richgy]

Lord Kitchener wrote:

Richgy wrote:

I watch a few NLS games as a good mate supports Havant so I go occasionally , the standard is quite good a lot better than you would expect – some of the players have decent jobs and play part time there and could actually play higher but are better off part time and working ;you would assume it’s similar in the NLN as I can’t imagine there are many full time teams .

Does he live in Leigh Park? Funkiest sink estate I ever worked in.

He lives just off it .
Many moons ago I had the privelage or not , of working for Portsmouth City Council and Leigh Park fell within our catchment area.

Let’s just say they were not jobs we most looked forward to , especially in the van – it’s safe to say the locals were not our biggest fans and we were regularly met with abuse and on a couple of occasions eggs from their inhabitants .

[seasiderrobbie]

I agree with this. AA’s put a lot of thought into it, obviously, but it’s a very elaborate answer to a fairly small problem, and delivers only marginal benefits. Plus all the disruption you described.

I think this geographical anomaly arises because teams based in the South in the top five Divisions have been more resilient and less susceptible to “downward drift” for quite a while.

NLN will be a good test for you. I think there are a fair few full time sides in there, aren’t there? And clubs like Chorley, Darlo and Chester have tons of ambition. The race for the last play-off spot this year was ridiculously tight.

[Author]

Posts