The 1,000th Non-League Paper

The Non-League Paper is a Sunday regular in the house, a good read as well as an invaluable source of fixtures for the week ahead that either I fancy going to myself or for publicising on the Twitter page.

Even in the digital age it is a remarkable feat to see all of the previous day's scores in one place and for someone brought up with Saturday evening football papers it provides a spiritual link to all of the sadly-missed Pinks and Greens from around the country.

This Sunday's edition is the 1,000th and many congratulations to all of the team at the NLP from Affordable Football.

Postscript: Salford City

Following on from last weekend's National League Promotion Final, where I saw Salford City gain a place in League Two with a comfortable win against AFC Fylde, the Ammies have announced their season-ticket prices for 2019/20.

There's some good value on offer at Moor Lane with an Adult season-ticket (purchased after this week's early-bird window) priced at £175 and Concessions costing £87.50.

As they look to build on their existing fanbase it means League Two football for well under £10 a game for an adult next season.

However (and this is presumably nothing to do with Salford as such but more to do with the requirements of the EFL), as the article on the club website makes clear, season ticket are being sold specifically for each of the various home areas of the ground and supporters will no longer be able to roam freely around on a matchday.

Salford themselves say that 'this is a big change' for the club, at a stroke some of the informality that attracts people to the Non-League game being lost.

As the top-flight, and the top clubs within it, move further and further away from view (witness Saturday's FA Cup Final) there surely has to be more leeway for teams in Leagues One and Two to try and attract more supporters through the gate even if they don't have much scope for reducing admission prices.

In footballing terms Salford's leap isn't a giant one. In the season just gone they have welcomed the likes of Leyton Orient and Wrexham to their ground, teams with large away followings and League Two visits from Cheltenham and Crawley aren't suddenly going to present huge logistical difficulties.

Why not, for such run of the mill fixtures, let people take a beer into the stands onto the terraces or allow them to switch vantage points at half-time, the more vocal fans swapping ends to cheer their boys on from behind the goal they are attacking?

National League Promotion Final 2019

Something of a damp squib in terms of the game itself and the attendance and atmosphere at Wembley, Saturday's National League Promotion Final nonetheless provided the assembled media with the story they wanted as Salford City eased to victory against AFC Fylde under the watching eyes of co-owners Gary Neville, David Beckham and the rest.

Promotion to the Football League for Salford looks to have divided opinion quite sharply, those defending the involvement of the former Manchester United stars pointing to investment in facilities and youth development (and the fact that wages will be paid on time in contrast to the ongoing situation at Bolton Wanderers for instance) while others are unhappy with the idea of a club suddenly being propelled way above their natural level with reported player salaries that are out of proportion to the kind of crowds and income that they can attract.

The focus of this blog is the game itself, however, and the National League's pricing policy for their showcase event was also the subject of much debate in the week leading up the game.

Early-bird tickets were once again fairly priced (£20 Adults, £10 Concessions for excellent Club Wembley seats on the halfway line) and well-publicised throughout January and February across all National League clubs.

Similar to last year, however, adult supporters from the competing clubs were charged either £36 or £41 once their participation was confirmed. Couple that with late notice to book travel and/or accommodation and it made for a very expensive day out.

Last season's attendance will have covered up the cost, to an extent, as Tranmere Rovers brought a large following but with two teams this year who don't have that kind of fanbase the prices will have put off neutrals who didn’t get early-bird tickets or those in the Salford or Fylde areas who may have come down to support their local side.

So I think there is a decision to make for the National League in terms of whether they want this fixture played at Wembley going forward and, if so, for a better pricing structure to be in place if they do.

Going Up! Radcliffe Recover To See Off Leek

Saturday's Evo-Stik West promotion play-off final between Radcliffe FC and Leek Town went with home advantage as Radcliffe, known as 'The Boro', recovered from being a goal down at half-time to win 2-1, surviving the obligatory nervy moments in the final few minutes but overall being worthy of their win.

Promotion to the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League, for the first time in 16 years, has also been confirmed in a post-season where not all of the clubs going into the play-offs at various non-league levels actually had a chance of going up.

A restructure of the pyramid has reduced the number of available promotions around the country and although I will always look to defend the FA, in terms of the difficulty of getting the geographical balance of non-league football correct, having play-offs without the possibility of going up does make something of a mockery of things.

A fairly raucous atmosphere at Radcliffe saw flares being lit and supporters thronging the pitch after the game but I never felt that it crossed the line in terms of what is and isn't acceptable.

At non-league level you always have the chance to move yourself to a different area of the ground and, although they were vociferous in support of their own team, both sets of fans were able to change ends at half-time without issue. 

As Radcliffe players and supporters celebrated at the end the Leek team were able to go to their own fans and applaud them and in a way it summed up the best of football at this level.

Notes On A Season - FA Women's Championship

A picture of the fairly basic stand at the Olympic Legacy Park in Sheffield, home of Sheffield United Women during their first season in the second-tier of the women's game in England.

The FA Women's Championship has generated plenty of interest this season, mainly due to the presence of the new Manchester United team who have duly done what was expected of them by topping the table and taking a place in next season's Super League (WSL).

It's hard to escape the conclusion that those in charge have got the outcome they want with United going up and Yeovil Town Ladies dropping out of WSL (Tottenham are also going up to create a 12-team league next season) and the traditionalist in me does have some difficulty with things effectively being engineered in this way.

But hopefully now the preferred structure of the game is in place there will still be a chance for smaller clubs to punch above their weight and gain promotion in the traditional manner.

Durham Women FC perhaps fit that bill as they are set to finish third in the Championship this year and will hope to go one better in 2019/20 for which early-bird season tickets are priced at £50 Adults and £15 for Concessions.

Plans are in place, meanwhile, to develop the Olympic Legacy Park as a fitting permanent home for the Blades who will be playing their final game of the current campaign at Bramall Lane this coming Saturday, 11 May at 5.30pm, against Millwall with all tickets costing just £1.

Notes On A Season - Barnsley FC

The above picture was taken at the training pitches to the side of Oakwell Stadium as Barnsley Under 23's took on Coventry City on a Friday afternoon in early September.

There's something that appeals to me about taking a bit of time off work to watch a game in the afternoon and at matches such as this there is always the chance you will be standing next to a recognisable footballing face of the past doing some scouting of players or opposition.

And Barnsley have made good provision for spectators with plenty of seating and standing areas. Under 23 games that are played on the main Oakwell pitch are usually free admission as well.

Just a few weeks into the campaign at the time, Barnsley's new Assistant Head Coach Andreas Winkler was watching and an elderly fan came over to say how impressed he had been by the start made by the club’s new German management team.

His reply was something along the lines of 'let's hope people are saying the same in six months time' but although the success has continued for the Tykes with promotion back to the Championship secured earlier this week, Winkler himself opted to join new Huddersfield manager Jan Siewert at the John Smith’s Stadium so will be locking horns with Barnsley boss Daniel Stendel next season.