Late Summer Days

At Seafield Park, home of Highland League side Strathspey Thistle where the hosts were comfortable 3-0 winners against Huntly on Saturday afternoon.

Admission in Grantown-on-Spey is £12 for adults, £6 for concessions and free for under 16's and the club have worked hard over the years to make progress both on and off the pitch, reflected in some of the ground improvements that have taken place over the summer and an impressive display to claim all three points.

Next home fixtures are on Tuesday 1 September against Inverness Caledonian Thistle (7.30pm kick-off in the North of Scotland Cup) and Wednesday 16th when Rothes are the visitors.

Happy Valley

A club that has appeared consistently on these pages over the lifespan of the blog has been Bradford City and the Bantams continue to regularly run good value ticket offers in addition to their attempts to keep season tickets competitively priced.

Evidence of their success with that are some impressive numbers, reported by the local Telegraph & Argus newspaper, of 16,352 season tickets having been sold ahead of the current League One campaign.

The latest ticket offer is for the League Cup tie at home to Burnley, on Wednesday 26 August, with all advance tickets (for home and away supporters) priced at £5.

In Brief

Building a bridge: Bamber Bridge FC, of the Northern Premier League, have reduced admission prices for the 2025/26 season to £10 for adults and £5 for concessions with season ticket holders from EFL clubs (and there are plenty in and around the Lancashire area) also able to come in for a fiver.

In a push to get more youngsters into the ground, accompanied under 16's will go free.

Moors the merrier: The National League Cup is a competition that has attracted plenty of criticism but it is worth a mention of Solihull Moors free football offer for all four of their home fixtures, starting with the visit of Middlesbrough U21s on Tuesday 18 August at 7pm (tickets to be claimed in advance) with donations welcome to the Solihull Moors Foundation.

Summer Swans: More free football, always handy during the school holidays, this time at Swansea City where the first two under-21 fixtures of the season, against Sheffield United on Monday 17 August (1pm) and Peterborough United (Tue 25th, 12pm) take place at the Swansea.com Stadium with free tickets available. 

FA Cup Weekend Treble

The 2026/27 FA Cup begins with a mammoth 219 extra preliminary round ties taking place over the weekend of Saturday 8 August.

At this early stage of the competition matches take place across three days, often because clubs who ground share have both been drawn, or where cricket still takes preference in the summer months, or occasionally where a Friday night is seen as a better means of getting people through the turnstiles.

That is the case at Sheffield FC as the world's first club, very active on social media at present under the chairmanship of Jon McClure, look to attract Owls and Blades supporters alike. 

They host Parkgate FC at 7.30pm on Friday 7th with advance tickets priced at £8, £5 and free for under 16's. 

The club's home ground is just over the border into Derbyshire with good train connections between Sheffield and Dronfield.

On Saturday afternoon Handsworth FC entertain Prestwich Heys AFC at Olivers Mount, a very smart facility that plays host to players of all ages across the week and accessible via the regular 52 bus from Sheffield city centre (with a short uphill walk once you get off on the main road).

Then on Sunday there is action at Sandygate (take a 51 bus from the city and it will drop you off outside) where Hallam FC welcome Irlam FC.

Staying with the Sheffield theme, the city's Millenium Gallery is still hosting the Football Art Prize exhibition until September (free entry, donations welcome).

Highland League 2026/27

My first venture into the Highland League came in August 2019, while visiting family in the area, and I have been back many times since to this beautiful part of the country.

It is a historic competition, founded in 1893, and one that existed almost entirely in its own world for much of its time, until the election in the 1990's of Ross County and the newly-formed Inverness Caledonian Thistle (from a fractious merger of two famous Highland League clubs) into the Scottish Football League.

Now firmly part of the Scottish pyramid system, the league is still a focal point of life in many towns in the Highlands, its clubs and their volunteers working hard to get matches on.

There are some lovely grounds with many stunning backdrops and the whole thing is superbly covered by the regional Press & Journal newspaper.

It's well worth a visit at any time of the year but the early weeks of the season are particularly enticing. 

Fixtures are available on the BBC Football pages with the season beginning on Saturday 25th July when champions Brora Rangers host Deveronvale and excitement is usually guaranteed right through to the end of the campaign as the title race has gone to the final day in the past five seasons.

Affordable Archive: Changes in the Welsh Premier

In July 2019 we looked at the restructuring of the game in Wales as the two feeder leagues into the Cymru Premier came under the control of the FAW.

I wrote at the time that the top league 'has consistently fared well on affordability in surveys such as the BBC's Price of Football' and I think that remains the case seven years on as the game in Wales prepares for an even bigger change in the upcoming, 2026/27 season.

The number of clubs in the top-flight has increased from 12 to 16 as part of an FAW push to increase interest, revenues and attendances, with the hope that almost every club will have something to play for come the end of the season, even if TNS are once again crowned champions, as the league will split into three tiers after 30 matches.

From a spectator point of view the big changes is a move to have matches played mostly on a Friday night, starting on 31 July with fixtures that may be of interest to anyone on holiday in North Wales as both Colwyn Bay and Llandudno have home games.

A Different View

 

A view across the cricket field at Sandygate towards the main stand at Hallam FC on Saturday afternoon.

Some watering of the football pitch was taking place ahead of Tuesday evening's friendly, against a Sheffield United XI, while Hallam will also be at home in the Extra Preliminary Round of the 2026/27 FA Cup following this week's draw.

Irlam FC will travel across the Pennines on the weekend of 8/9 August.

Training Day

I always think that open training sessions on the pitch at a club's main stadium, especially in pre-season and during the school summer holidays, are a really easy way of engaging with supporters and providing a low-budget activity for families.

Two such sessions spotted in the past week or so are at Sheffield United's Bramall Lane on Monday 27th July and at Aberdeen's Pittodrie on Tuesday 28th. Tickets for both are free but should be claimed online through the respective club websites.