Joining League Two for 24/25

[AdamStag]

Surprised Oldham haven't really pushed on, decent squad and the signing on Tom Conlon in January stood out, I expected him to boss it down there but doesn't appear to have, he was one of the best L2 midfielders in the behind closed doors season and the first half of our promotion season until his bad injury.

Struggled with the step up it seemed to L1 (he was one I expected would step up easily) but wonder if the injury has had an effect on him.

Issue is few, very few sides go straight back up, it’s almost unheard of. Mainly as usually the clubs going down are usually in a tight financial mess but also that you’re the new league boy and all the random sides you’ve never heard of see you as a big game.

Sides usually do tend to fair better in their 2nd season and given next years conference looks weaker than this oldham would be fancying their chances.

 

[Alfie]

Issue is few, very few sides go straight back up, it’s almost unheard of. Mainly as usually the clubs going down are usually in a tight financial mess but also that you’re the new league boy and all the random sides you’ve never heard of see you as a big game.

Sides usually do tend to fair better in their 2nd season and given next years conference looks weaker than this oldham would be fancying their chances.

Cheltenham & Bristol Rovers relegated to Conference and promoted straight back.
Probably more but those two were front of memory.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Overall it's a very low percentage that bounce straight back. We nearly managed it but got rightly beaten by Harrogate in the final in front of basically no fans at Wembley , the fairytale story was complete.

With the NL/conference clearly getting weaker and weaker each and every single season, I dread to think how bad it will be in a decades time.

 

[jacobncfc]

Wow, some of those teams


Highly unlikely but would be class if alty made it.

Hardly the most random selection is it to be fair? Five ex-league teams, Altrincham who are arguably the biggest club never to make it to the league, then Solihull and Bromley who've been there or there abouts for years.

 

[Conker]

Funny seeing Alty full time now, that used to always be a proud thing for them, being part time for some reason.

 

[jacobncfc]

What’s Alty situation now - completely full time?

Yeah they went full time a couple of summers ago. Play some really nice football under the good Phil Parkinson, and always have three or four decent young players who'll get a bigger move soon.

 

[spireite]

I'm not sure if there's any part time teams left in the NL is there? I think even Dorking have adopted some kind of hybrid thing this year.

 

[AdamStag]

Yeah they went full time a couple of summers ago. Play some really nice football under the good Phil Parkinson, and always have three or four decent young players who'll get a bigger move soon.

Yeah i know a few that follow them regularly hence me wanting them up, it’s only 2/3 miles down the road from me, they’ve got some cracking young players and always get looked after to a degree by man utd p

 

[AdamStag]

I'm not sure if there's any part time teams left in the NL is there? I think even Dorking have adopted some kind of hybrid thing this year.

Oxford city?

It’s good to see though in general more sides being professional.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Fewer parts time clubs suggests an overall stronger conference year on year.

 

[Bottega Don]

Issue is few, very few sides go straight back up, it’s almost unheard of. Mainly as usually the clubs going down are usually in a tight financial mess but also that you’re the new league boy and all the random sides you’ve never heard of see you as a big game.

Sides usually do tend to fair better in their 2nd season and given next years conference looks weaker than this oldham would be fancying their chances.

This is Oldham's second season, they were shocking last year cause of Unsworth yet decided to keep him for the start of the next season.

I would be looking at Hartlepool and Southend as the favourites next year if Oldham do go up this year

 

[Conker]

I'm not sure if there's any part time teams left in the NL is there? I think even Dorking have adopted some kind of hybrid thing this year.

That used to be the case when we were down there years ago, only a couple genuine part-time sides.

 

[spireite]

That used to be the case when we were down there years ago, only a couple genuine part-time sides.

I suspect it's always been a stronger league than given credit for. The 1 auto slot makes it incredibly competitive and the bottle neck forces teams to keep investing. You just get stuck otherwise. It's a griiind as well, bitch of a league

 

[Essex2Wessex]

I'm not sure if there's any part time teams left in the NL is there? I think even Dorking have adopted some kind of hybrid thing this year.

Oxford City yes, I think possibly Wealdstone too? Not sure about Maidenhead. It's a world apart from the Conference of old.

 

[Greenacres]

Oxford City yes, I think possibly Wealdstone too? Not sure about Maidenhead. It's a world apart from the Conference of old.

I think Woking used to be part-time, not sure if they still are, which may have been due to the fact that they could attract enough players in their area who had decent (well paid) careers doing something else but who also wanted to play football at a good standard.

 

[GTFCfish]

Cheltenham & Bristol Rovers relegated to Conference and promoted straight back.
Probably more but those two were front of memory.

There is definitely another team if you think hard enough mucker.

 

[Essex2Wessex]

There is definitely another team if you think hard enough mucker.

Oh yes, Shrewsbury that's it isn't it? And Carlisle......

 

[kieran_vale]

Oh yes, Shrewsbury that's it isn't it? And Carlisle......

If you want to go old school back to the early days of promotion and relegation to there Darlo and Lincoln were two who did it.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Lincoln have had more opportunities than most.

 

[GTFCfish]

Oh yes, Shrewsbury that's it isn't it? And Carlisle......

Sorry I should have said ‘Another team that isn’t a tinpotter……’

 

[Master D]

Funny seeing Alty full time now, that used to always be a proud thing for them, being part time for some reason.

Same with Barrow.

They were officially called Part-Time Barrow for years. Nightmare for commentators it was.

 

[Son of Cod]

Solihull - Gone a bit under the radar this season after losing a lot of their better players over the last 18 months and frankly being a side that, like Bromley, is doing more or less as well as they have been for the past few years meaning no shock value. The return to fitness of Joe Sbarra is massive for them, and Tahvon Campbell is scoring on a regular basis now. They have one of the divisions best midfielders in Jamey Osborne.

I do wonder when Jamey Osborne chose to leave us in League 2 to go back to Solihull in 2017, if he'd have been told he'd still be there in another 6 seasons whether or not he'd have taken that decision as lightly as he seemed to do (from an outsider's perspective). Was comfortably good enough to kick and become a top player for us back then and it was quite frankly an utterly bizarre transfer back.

Also, I realise he's had injury probelms, but the fact that Sbarra is still a NL player is ridiculous. Should have been snapped up by someone at the end of the 2021/22 season.

 

[Conker]

I was thinking that about Sbarra, how he’s not ended up in L2 is bizarre.

Do Solihull pay big wages? I just wonder if nobody been willing to match it.

 

[Luke Imp]

Lincoln have had more opportunities than most.

1 out of 2 attempts isn't bad!

 

[GTFCfish]

I was thinking that about Sbarra, how he’s not ended up in L2 is bizarre.

Do Solihull pay big wages? I just wonder if nobody been willing to match it.

They definitely used to (Hurst said we missed out on somebody to them because they offered double wages before 21/22 season) but I think they cut it back a bit for the 22/23 season which is why Ardley left.

 

[Luke Imp]

Aren't Solihull owned by two wealthy ex-Oxford owners?

 

[GTFCfish]

1 out of 2 attempts isn't bad!

Snap.

 

[spireite]

Solihull do have money although I believe the cloth has been cut a bit this season after repeated efforts to spend their way out of NL. Still a strong team though. I think Sbarra was basically a Notts County player last season (?) but it fell down at the 11th hour and they ended up with Morais. Unless I am completely mis-remembering, but I know it was pretty much a done deal at some point. Why it fell over I'm not sure.

 

[spireite]

Chesterfield haven't sold their title clincher out on Saturday yet. Nice one lads.

Town fans buying up the away end for tomorrow now. The club refunded a few hundred but overnight they've just sold again. About 500 away tickets sold so far for a club who might usually bring about 50. I'm sure they're watching re-runs of Only Fools in readiness. Hopefully we get it sealed tomorrow because the squad has been on the beach for weeks.

 

[Master D]

They definitely used to (Hurst said we missed out on somebody to them because they offered double wages before 21/22 season) but I think they cut it back a bit for the 22/23 season which is why Ardley left.

Motors were paying huge wages under Ardley.