The Non - League thread

[NathStPaul]

On an unrelated note its pissing me off to high heaven the current trend of non league sides who record their games highlighting refereeing errors and then posting them on social media. Noticed a big increase in it recently.

[Winston Biscuit]

South Shields. 7 points clear at the top of the 7th tier. Went professional not so long ago and have Kevin Philips as manager

[Sutekh]

South Shields. 7 points clear at the top of the 7th tier. Went professional not so long ago and have Kevin Philips as manager

How many clubs at the 7th tier are professional? Seems a crazy decision for some clubs to take. Maidenhead are still amateur at tier 5 (and struggle every season because of it).

[NathStPaul]

South Shields. 7 points clear at the top of the 7th tier. Went professional not so long ago and have Kevin Philips as manager

How many clubs at the 7th tier are professional? Seems a crazy decision for some clubs to take. Maidenhead are still amateur at tier 5 (and struggle every season because of it).

*Semi professional.

Huge difference between amateur and semi pro.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

South Shields. 7 points clear at the top of the 7th tier. Went professional not so long ago and have Kevin Philips as manager

How many clubs at the 7th tier are professional? Seems a crazy decision for some clubs to take. Maidenhead are still amateur at tier 5 (and struggle every season because of it).

Must have an ambitious owner behind the scenes willing to fund that, especially considering a fair number of clubs in the National League will still be semi-professional. Boom or bust type territory though for some.

[Winston Biscuit]

South Shields. 7 points clear at the top of the 7th tier. Went professional not so long ago and have Kevin Philips as manager

How many clubs at the 7th tier are professional? Seems a crazy decision for some clubs to take. Maidenhead are still amateur at tier 5 (and struggle every season because of it).

Must have an ambitious owner behind the scenes willing to fund that, especially considering a fair number of clubs in the National League will still be semi-professional. Boom or bust type territory though for some.

Local property developer Geoff Thompson took over in 2015 when they were 10th tier, chucked money in, improved facilities, had 3 successive promotions. The players went full time pro last season. Says his ambition is to get them to the National League

[Royals and Racers]

Beaconsfield Town have parted company with manager Gary Meakin and his staff.

[Four Of Clubs]

...this may have got a mention above but for info - Tadleys' big Hants Cup tie tonight is also pay on the gate if you can't get a ticket on-line .....apparently?

https://twitter.com/tadleycallevafc/status/1627714832496578561?cxt=HHwWgsC-qYSB55YtAAAA

...and in similar vein Flackwell host MK Dons in the B&B Cup 1/4 Final at Wilkes Pk tonight

https://twitter.com/FHFC1907/status/1627941040060567553?cxt=HHwWgsC4gYbwzZctAAAA

[NathStPaul]

Beaconsfield Town have parted company with manager Gary Meakin and his staff.

Just poor form or is there more to this?

[Four Of Clubs]

Beaconsfield Town have parted company with manager Gary Meakin and his staff.

Just poor form or is there more to this?

...suspect it has to be the latter - I thought they were picking up significantly this year and rather assumed the coaching staff may have been approached by someone but that would have to be from around STEP03 or above which limits it - Slough maybe?
They've been in place there for 5 years reportedly - so quite a wrench.

- their recent form is bang-mid table. Have had quite a good run of 5 games that lifted them up to PO chasing possibilities and now not such a special run in the last five but only narrow 2 defeats in that latest batch : the other defeat in 10 was a close game (score-wise) vs Bracknell around Boxing Day.

They have dropped points in the last 2 to very late goals so maybe it's a 'dressing room bust-up' issue?
.....Although the reaction to the latest one (D2-2 @ Poole) was more to do with inept refereeing - they actually seemed OK with the point especially since the 'Dolphins' missed a stoppage time pen.

...no clues on tw@tter yet - responses to the announcement on there to date are equally puzzled/surprised?

[NathStPaul]

Beaconsfield Town have parted company with manager Gary Meakin and his staff.

Just poor form or is there more to this?

...suspect it has to be the latter - I thought they were picking up significantly this year and rather assumed the coaching staff may have been approached by someone but that would have to be from around STEP03 or above which limits it - Slough maybe?

- their recent form is bang-mid table. Have had quite a good run of 5 games that lifted them up to PO chasing possibilities and now not such a special run in the last five but only narrow 2 defeats in that latest batch : the other defeat in 10 was a close game (score-wise) vs Bracknell around Boxing Day.

They have dropped points in the last 2 to very late goals so maybe it's a 'dressing room bust-up' issue?
Thought the reaction to the latest one (D2-2 @ Poole) was more to do with inept refereeing - they actually seemed OK with the point especially since the 'Dolphins' missed a stoppage time pen.

...no clues on tw@tter yet - responses to the announcement on there to date are equally puzzled/surprised?

I've seen a semi-clue on Twitter that there is more to this, a small one mind you.

Response to this Tweet from someone in the know is quite telling, obviously didn't want anything being said in public.

https://twitter.com/1AndyPurchase/statu ... 28448?s=20

[NathStPaul]

Half tempted to apply for the job tbh.

[Four Of Clubs]

Half tempted to apply for the job tbh.

.... spotted a post from last Sun PM on NLM suggesting the current chap (Meakin) had reportedly announced his intention to quit at the end of this season
- so if that is true, maybe the club have just decided to get on with it and get someone in ASAP?

[tmesis]

South Shields. 7 points clear at the top of the 7th tier. Went professional not so long ago and have Kevin Philips as manager

How many clubs at the 7th tier are professional? Seems a crazy decision for some clubs to take. Maidenhead are still amateur at tier 5 (and struggle every season because of it).

Must have an ambitious owner behind the scenes willing to fund that, especially considering a fair number of clubs in the National League will still be semi-professional. Boom or bust type territory though for some.

They get about 2000 at home games, which probably helps.

[Four Of Clubs]

....as per B&B TB thread Flackwell bow out of County Cup 0-2 to MK Dons

...sadly Tadley out of theirs too beaten 6-7 on pens by Bournemouth (Cherries ) youngsters in front of a crowd of 652

....elsewhere league wins for Maidenhead Dorking & Woking in the NAT league. Sh!ts lose 2-1 @ D&R.
In the Southern section vital win for Hungerford 0-1 @ Cheshunt lifts them off the bottom thanks also to Farnboro beating Weymouth at Cherrywood. Slough lost 1-0 at Dartford.
In the Northern section both Brackley & Banbury fell to 1-0 defeats.
Will round up more below STEP02 later....

[Royals and Racers]

Things are not going well in the South West- the FA have thrown out proposals from the South West peninsula league and the Western league in a strongly worded letter(can’t link at present). Not sure what happens next.

[Sutekh]

Things are not going well in the South West- the FA have thrown out proposals from the South West peninsula league and the Western league in a strongly worded letter(can’t link at present). Not sure what happens next.

Aren’t there already 2 peninsular leagues at tiers 9/10? There’s the Western League which covers clubs from Mousehole to Street and the South Western Peninsula covering clubs from Axminster to Penzance. Unless the proposal is to merge the two leagues, I hardly think the FA are going to permit a similar geographical league in the higher tiers having just got through a reorganisation. And whatever leagues exist at whatever levels there’s always clubs that are hard done by e.g. Gloucester in the Northern league section rather than the Southern section and Met Police in the Southern leagues rather than Isthmian.

PS - hoping for the rise one day of St Just (currently playing at tier 12 in the Cornwall Combination).

[Royals and Racers]

Although not strictly non-league- the FA Youth cup has reached the QF stage and tonight Ipswich play West Ham with the home team reporting that 2500 tickets are sold and tomorrow Arsenal host Cambridge Utd at the Emirates stadium with Cambridge reportedly selling over 3000 tickets- brilliant effort from their fans.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Fine effort indeed, but didn't we (RFC young’uns) pull in over 9k versus Man U yoof once?

[RFCMod]

Another good win for Bracknell on Tuesday night 3.2 against Hendon
Sets up a good game against Poole on Saturday 4th v 5th

When I saw them against Altrincham the other week I've noticed the pace and press of Bracknell has been cranked up a notch and certainly the full steam ahead approach to the top of the pyramid is full steam ahead

The construction of the 3G training pitches starts in May behind the Bottom Meadow ground and Kayne S-B has been over in Sweden looking at the new state of the art 3G pitches with a view to what he put as " building the most advanced training pitch seen"

And not one to dismiss his words as he has put his money where his mouth is so far