Welcome to the new ‘Monday Moment’ column. Each week I’ll be taking a look back at the last seven days in non-league show and picking out what you might have missed or something that makes a great thought provoking choice.
The only way to view this new column and at least seven more blogs per month is via a paid subscription, and to give you access I’m giving away a limited number of subscriptions via the link below. This offer works out at £1 per month, I simply am giving it away!
But hurry, this offer WILL end this coming weekend so why not take advantage of some great non-league writing whilst not breaking the bank at the same time:
The content below was originally paywalled.
Starting today with the 3UP campaign in the National League. This coming weekend all games in the top three non-league divisions will kick off at 3.03pm to highlight the need for a third promotion place into the Football League.
Step 3 and 4 leagues are also kicking off at the same time in solidarity, but not those in the very lower leagues which does baffle me a bit bearing in mind it’s not impossible for any side to progress all the way through the pyramid and reach professional football levels.
The extra place is long overdue in my opinion and there are enough facts to back up why. No side has ever been relegated straight back after being promoted, neither with one place or two places.
It’s created a bottleneck of former Football League clubs which in turn has meant the National League is 95% full time and the South Division is half full of full time teams. There are plenty of ambitious non-league clubs wanting to ply their trade in the EFL, there isn’t room for all to go up and whilst on the paper the National League looks extremely competitive which it is, it’s incredibly frustrating for all involved.
The stumbling block appears to be only the financial parachute payments for a third club to go down, the EFL say until their spat with the Premier League over payments is resolved they can’t do anything. Will the regulator get involved for the integrity of football? That remains to be seen, after all League Two and League One have four team movements between themselves over promotion and relegation, this could well get taken out of their hands to make happen.
———-
By the time you read this piece the draw for the Third Round of the Isuzu FA Vase will have been made but behind the mystery of closed doors. Now, not suggesting anything corrupt is going on, but we’re in a digital age whereby these draws and those of the FA Trophy would attract viewers at lunchtime or even later in the day when people would play it back in full.
Even County FA’s conduct a majority of their Senior Cup competitions on local radio for live broadcast, why do the blazers not move things forward?
It’s deemed good enough once the quarter and semi-final draws are around, the painful listening of talkSPORT who care as much about non-league listeners as they do unbiased opinion needs to be withdrawn and put on a platform where more care is taken.
———
As events go, when Adam Hinshelwood was sacked by York City at the end of August no one expected a full circle and a return to the South Coast at Worthing.
Having left the Rebels behind to steer the Minstermen to second place a year after managing to survive relegation, the popular manager returned to the Sussex Transport Community Stadium after his replacement Chris Agutter moved up a level to Sutton Utd, seemingly after Hinshelwood turned it down….still with me?
The response from players, putting aside the FA Cup defeat by Forest Green Rovers, has been remarkable with five wins from wins including two clean sheets in a row pushing the Rebels from mid-table to a point outside the play-off’s ahead of Tuesday night’s home clash with AFC Totton.
A much changed squad from the one he left behind in West Sussex but currently getting something of a strong tune from the group and in a division where it could be any one from about nine or ten clubs who could end up as winners Worthing are once again in contention.
——-
Enjoy the next seven days of football, and we’ll see what this week throws at us!
