Smallest and biggest clubs to ever play in the Conference Premier.

[Paddy]

for uneducated southerners a slag bank isn't a pick up joint for loose women

Of course it isn't. It's where you deposit your loose women.

 

[Pliny Harris]

Smallest club... has nobody mentioned Frickley Athletic yet?
7 years in the conference and most people in Yorkshire don't even know where it is....

In Frickley's favour they seem to consistently fetch a crowd of 210, despite always flirting with relegation out of the Unibond Premier. They're the club of South Elmsall, a place which by all accounts makes Barrow look like Henley-on-Thames. When you try going into a pub even the pool balls suddenly stop what they're doing and turn around to stare at you. I'd love it if they found a money man.

 

[Railway Blue]

In Frickley's favour they seem to consistently fetch a crowd of 210, despite always flirting with relegation out of the Unibond Premier. They're the club of South Elmsall, a place which by all accounts makes Barrow look like Henley-on-Thames. When you try going into a pub even the pool balls suddenly stop what they're doing and turn around to stare at you. I'd love it if they found a money man.

How I never realised that Frickley had been in Conference. We played them in 2011 and I got talking to a bloke who had so much passion for Frickley that I warmed to him and them. Iirc the ground was quite picturesque too. Agree with the comment about a money man. Weren't they once known as Frickley Colliery?

 

[Bluandwite]

In Frickley's favour they seem to consistently fetch a crowd of 210, despite always flirting with relegation out of the Unibond Premier. They're the club of South Elmsall, a place which by all accounts makes Barrow look like Henley-on-Thames. When you try going into a pub even the pool balls suddenly stop what they're doing and turn around to stare at you. I'd love it if they found a money man.

The only pub I came across in South Elmsall didn't let 'outsiders' in at all!

 

[chipmunx]

In Frickley's favour they seem to consistently fetch a crowd of 210, despite always flirting with relegation out of the Unibond Premier. They're the club of South Elmsall, a place which by all accounts makes Barrow look like Henley-on-Thames. When you try going into a pub even the pool balls suddenly stop what they're doing and turn around to stare at you. I'd love it if they found a money man.

Barrow has a multi million pound 400 berth Marina in the pipeline so you might be more right than you know.
I have been to Frickley a couple of times and it is pretty grim over there in Winter...

 

[Football Purist]

Barrow has a multi million pound 400 berth Marina in the pipeline so you might be more right than you know.
I have been to Frickley a couple of times and it is pretty grim over there in Winter...

Hmmm...you sure it wasn't Burslem you were in?

 

[The_Boss]

I know a lad who's a big Frickley fan through watching England. Does loads of fundraising for them, I think he's led fundraisers totalling nearly £50k to go towards a new clubhouse.

 

[Pliny Harris]

Haha, enjoying how Frickley's got us talking! I never actually went—late train down from Edinburgh—but I heard things. A load of their older fans telling us "Tha's goin' nowhere" and "Tha'll win nowt". They're a great cause to get behind really, named after a place that was semi-wiped to become a colliery, swallowed by South Elmsall after being decommissioned, but still an almost famous non-league name. I guess the locals are so unused to off-comers turning up that they can't work out how to behave.

What's the Barrow marina about? Is it to expand your economy a little beyond defence?

 

[Monkey Tennis]

What's the Barrow marina about? Is it to expand your economy a little beyond defence?

It's been about a decade in the pipeline - will never really happen.

 

[Pliny Harris]

It's been about a decade in the pipeline - will never really happen.

Fairy nuff! Sounds a lot like Calderdale to me. Not arsed about any marina myself, as I'm gonna do all I can to get a fell run in before or after our Easter derby at Holker St.

 

[Railway Blue]

I know a lad who's a big Frickley fan through watching England. Does loads of fundraising for them, I think he's led fundraisers totalling nearly £50k to go towards a new clubhouse.

That sounded like the man I was talking to.

 

[rudebwoyben]

For me Oxford Utd, Grimsby and Luton are clearly bigger than Tranmere. That spell in the old Division 1 in the 90s was their historical high point. The rest of the time they have been a 3rd/4th division side.

Bromsgrove actually finished third in the Conference in 92/93 (I think) but plummeted pretty swiftly afterwards.

 

[rudebwoyben]

For me Frickley Athletic are synonymous with the "2 points for a home win; 3 points for an away win" era of the Gola League in the mid-80s and a time of some very hapless Barnet performances.

 

[Pliny Harris]

For me Frickley Athletic are synonymous with the "2 points for a home win; 3 points for an away win" era of the Gola League in the mid-80s

Wait, this happened? Is it a figure of speech or have I really been unaware all this time about this transitional rule?

 

[rudebwoyben]

Wait, this happened? Is it a figure of speech or have I really been unaware all this time about this transitional rule?

Yes, for a couple of seasons in the mid-80s, just before the no offside from a direct free-kick pilot in the Conference in 87/88.

 

[eightiesrobin]

Yes, it was indeed true. My first two seasons of watching Alty had that scoring system.

Frickley Athletic actually finished runners-up in the 1985-86 conference. They were relegated the following season.

 

[eightiesrobin]

Frickley Athletic in their conference heyday:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/35233459@N02/3617619546/in/album-72157618721087536/

Rudebwoyben - if you haven't seen this photo album, you'd love it.

 

[Tivvyultras]

smallest would be Farsley Celtic for me

 

[Pliny Harris]

Yes, for a couple of seasons in the mid-80s, just before the no offside from a direct free-kick pilot in the Conference in 87/88.

Brilliant. It's a strange one. You'd think it'd be influenced by a few notorious ground and pitches out there, perhaps like Frickley's.

Some nice pictures there eightiesrobin, curious how ungainly a lot of players look, and you've got the odd spare tyre hanging out there. The Frickley slag heap was a real monster back then.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Frickley Athletic in their conference heyday:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/35233459@N02/3617619546/in/album-72157618721087536/

Rudebwoyben - if you haven't seen this photo album, you'd love it.

That is a great photo album especially as some of the players such as Dave Howell and Noel Ashford later played for us.
Poor Enfailed eh?

 

[Aberstone]

Wait, this happened? Is it a figure of speech or have I really been unaware all this time about this transitional rule?

We won the Conference in 1985 thanks to this tinpot glorious idea. Had it been 3 points for a win (home and away) we'd have finished 4th and Bath would have won the title.

 

[eightiesrobin]

That is a great photo album especially as some of the players such as Dave Howell and Noel Ashford later played for us.
Poor Enfailed eh?

I suppose the part-time London players did the rounds of Barnet, Enfield and Wealdstone in those days? There was certainly a fair amount of movement between Altrincham, Runcorn, Northwich and Macclesfield back then.

I take it Enfield weren't your favourite side in those days?

 

[eightiesrobin]

We won the Conference in 1985 thanks to this tinpot glorious idea. Had it been 3 points for a win (home and away) we'd have finished 4th and Bath would have won the title.

Yes, I noticed that - madness really.

 

[rudebwoyben]

I suppose the part-time London players did the rounds of Barnet, Enfield and Wealdstone in those days? There was certainly a fair amount of movement between Altrincham, Runcorn, Northwich and Macclesfield back then.

I take it Enfield weren't your favourite side in those days?

To be honest I started supporting Barnet in 1989 so I missed most of our rivalry with Enfield, the only Derby I went to was when we played at Southbury Road in the FA Cup in 91/92. By then there was a two level gap and it was an easy victory. That was a proper rivalry and we've not had one since then.
Yes, a lot of players moved between the 3 top non-league clubs in North London back then, until we got promoted to the Football League and the other two fell from grace.

 

[Tivvyultras]

That is a great photo album especially as some of the players such as Dave Howell and Noel Ashford later played for us.
Poor Enfailed eh?

Clapton but you can't get in

 

[Pablosammy]

I wonder how it would look to do it mathematically based solely on success. Chart the last 100 years of league finishes, awarding points (to be decided) for league position and cup progress. Each previous year would get have progressively less weighting i.e. last season would be worth the full amount, previous year would be worth 99%, right back to 100 years ago where points would only be worth 1%.

I might have a play.

 

[Football Purist]

I wonder how it would look to do it mathematically based solely on success. Chart the last 100 years of league finishes, awarding points (to be decided) for league position and cup progress. Each previous year would get have progressively less weighting i.e. last season would be worth the full amount, previous year would be worth 99%, right back to 100 years ago where points would only be worth 1%.

I might have a play.

I had a play once in Waitrose,by the deli counter.
I'm still banned.

 

[Pablosammy]

I wonder how it would look to do it mathematically based solely on success. Chart the last 100 years of league finishes, awarding points (to be decided) for league position and cup progress. Each previous year would get have progressively less weighting i.e. last season would be worth the full amount, previous year would be worth 99%, right back to 100 years ago where points would only be worth 1%.

I might have a play.

Well, the results are out.

Luton Town waved the biggest non-league willy. Up until teams started dropping out of the league (which really messes up my scoring system) Grimsby were second, followed by us (Tranmere) and Bristol Rovers just behind.

Tranmere were a long, long way behind until the 90s. It's only the preferential weighting of recent years that stopped the results being a bit embarrassing.

That took up far too much of my evening...