It has, as many of you will already be aware, been a long few months for the supporters of
Kettering Town Football Club. During this period, their club has been uprooted to the former home
of their defunct former local rivals, they have been promised the earth and have seen only the
delivery of unpaid bills and an uphill battle to avoid relegation from the Blue Square Bet
Premier.
In 2005, FC United of Manchester was founded by disaffected fans of Manchester United. They
created their own club, one that will forever be fan-owned, and began playing at the bottom of the
English football pyramid, about as far from the bright lights of Old Trafford as one can go. From
the beginning, FCUM fan Matthew Wilkinson has been traveling far and wide in support of the club
and photographing much of their adventure as it has gone on.
As you are probably already aware, the weather took an axe to this weekend's non-league fixture
list and only a handful of matches took place anywhere. The FA Trophy Third Round matches were
completely called off and will be played at a later date, so the draw for the quarter-finals, which
is to be made tomorrow, will have a somewhat odd look about it.
The phrase "emotional rollercoaster" is one that is overused in football these days, but the
supporters of Darlington FC are rapidly becoming more than familiar with the term after another
week in which their club sailed close to extinction before receiving confirmation from its joint
administrator that it had permission to continue to trade and therefore play until the end of this
season.
Our non-league videos of the week are twenty-four hours late this week, but we have four matches
for you this evening two from the top of the Blue Square Bet Premier, one from the Blue Square Bet
South and one from the FA Vase. First up are two matches from the championship battle at the top of
the Blue Square Bet Premier.
A little gallows humour can go a long way. Kettering Town's patchwork team played Gateshead in
the Blue Square Premier in Tuesday night. Another crowd of under one thousand, another critical
evening in a relegation battle that may yet prove to be highly important should the club somehow
scrape through its current woes.
It is a sobering thought to consider that, for all the hard work and drama involved in keeping
Darlington FC alive just nine days ago, the looming deadline over the clubs future comes up for
renewal again on Monday. The last few days have seen a patchwork team lose narrowly to Fleetwood
Town and Hayes & Yeading United in the league, but performances on the pitch have, by necessity,
had to take a back seat to the continuing efforts to save the club.
We have five matches for you this evening, from the Blue Square Premier to Division One Central
of the Southern League, and finishing off with the Premier Division of the Super League in
Scotland. First up is a match that we have already mentioned on this site today, the Blue Square
Premier match between Wrexham and Kettering Town.
Two matches in the Blue Square Premier brought together four clubs from directly opposite ends
of the football spectrum yesterday and, while the results of those matches were hardly unexpected,
it was difficult not to feel at the end of this week that these were not as important as the fact
that the matches had taken place in the first place.
This year has been a difficult year so far for several of our non-league clubs. Mike Bayly
has a round-up of what has been going on at the foot of football's food chain.
By any measure of austerity, it's been a fairly turbulent week in the world of non-league
football. On Sunday evening, the main stand at Rossendale United's vacant Dark Lane ground was
completely destroyed in what police are treating as a suspected arson attack.
There is, perhaps, little surprising in the fact that the most confusing tie of the Third Round
of the FA Cup should involve Wrexham. The Blue Square Premier club the last non-league club still
involved in this year's competition have had possibly the most convoluted twelve months of any side
in the entire English league system, and this extended into the arrangements for this match against
Brighton & Hove Albion, following their 1-1 draw at The American Express Community Stadium a week
and a half ago.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. There can be few other sets of football
supporters that have had to bear up to the sort of agony and exhilaration that the supporters of
Darlington FC have had to put up with yesterday but eventually, more than an hour after final
confirmation one way or the other of the clubs fate was due to be announced, those concerned with
saving the club emerged before the press to make the announcement that so many had hoped for:
Darlington Football Club remains alive for now, at least.
At the exact time of writing (almost one thirty in the afternoon), we do not know whether
Darlington FC has been rescued or not. What we can say for certain is that a situation that may
have seen the club die at one minute to midday has been extended and that further negotiations are
now taking place and that a decision is due imminently over whether the club can be saved in its
current form or not.
At the end of yesterday, Darlington FC remained alive albeit on life support. Today, however,
stories started to emerge which threaten to fragment an increasingly fractious fan-base as the
matter of this club's survival draws closer and closer to its denouement.
There have been words of encouragement and support funds and fury from many supporters that a
situation such as this should be allowed to happen to the same club yet again but, at the time of
writing, we are still nowhere near knowing whether the club will saved or, if it will, who by.
By Chris Wright
As you may or may not know, 128-year old Blue Square Premier side Darlington FC have had to sack
their management team and playing staff and are teetering on the verge of extinction after going
into administration for the third time in less than a decade largely thanks to the utterly
ridiculous £20-million, 25,000-seater 'Darlington Arena' stadium that former chairman and
tax-dodger George Reynolds paid through the nose for a few years previous.
Shortly before 12.30pm today @TruroCityTweet declared 'ALL CLEAR FOR CITY -TAX BILL PAID IN
FULL' (their capitals not mine but worthy of shouting nonetheless) and it seemed in light of the
current cloud of doom hanging over parts of non-league that the sun has broken through over
Cornwall at least.
While Darlington have grabbed most of the recent headlines in the race to the financial bottom
that the bottom of the Blue Square Premier seems to consist of this season, Kettering Town
remains in a critical condition itself.
On Saturday, their home match against Forest Green Rovers was called off at lunchtime, which
is unlikely to have done the stricken clubs bank account a great deal of good, and this morning the
Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph, a local newspaper which has been criticised by some supporters
as being too ready in the past to toe the Ladak party line, also stepped off the fence to deliver
its viewpoint of the recent difficulties that the club has faced.
This week's non-league videos of the week features four matches from the Second Round of the FA
Trophy. With only thirty-two teams left in the competition at this stage, the scent of a Wembley
final is starting to drift into the air, and our four matches tonight feature twenty-five goals.
First up is a match between two clubs that are owned by their supporters, as Ebbsfleet United of
the Blue Square Premier play Chester of the Northern Premier League.
It has been a difficult week for those running Lewes Football Club. The arrival of former
manager Steve King back at The Dripping Pan raised an eyebrow or two when he returned to the club
during the summer, but the owners of the club have rightly remained tight-lipped over what King may
or may not have been up to and, although there are any number of theories floating around this
ground as to why he should have found himself at home this afternoon, no official announcement has
been made and Simon Wormull takes his place in the home dug-out today.
It is very much a sign of the times that £50,000 is not a great deal of money to a football
club in trouble playing in the fifth division of the English league system these days. An ongoing
debate over the eventual destination of precisely this amount of money, however, seems to be
throwing a spanner into the works of an attempt to rescue Darlington Football Club this weekend,
and this isn't the only area into which it could be regarded as having a malign influence.
Beg, borrow and Steele for a new job Conference South side Oxford City have sacked forward Lee
Steele after he tweeted a homophobic message about ex-rugby international Gareth Thomas. Whilst
watching Celebrity Big Brother (surely a sackable offence in itself) Steele tweeted: I wouldn't
fancy the bed next to Gareth Thomas #padlockmyarse A statement from [.
There may only be a couple of days left to go. Darlington FC continue to stare into the abyss
and the comments of the club's joint administrator, Harvey Madden, in an interview with BBC Radio
Tees this evening will have offered no comfort to those of the opinion that it is now only a matter
of time before this football club folds after one hundred and twenty-nine years.
Although a lucky handful of clubs were still involved in the FA Cup this weekend, most
non-league clubs were back to the league this weekend, and we have the highlights from four matches
from yesterday for you tonight. First up are the Blue Square Premier matches between AFC Telford
United and Kettering Town, and Mansfield Town and Forest Green Rovers.
The FA Cup Third Round this weekend sees a handful of fascinating ties for the non-league clubs
still in the competition, with Blue Square Premier title chasers Fleetwood Town taking on
Blackpool, Tamworth travelling to Goodison Park to play Everton and Salisbury City of the Blue
Square South making the journey to Bramall Lane to play Sheffield United.
There has been, as has seemed perpetual over the last few months or so, a lot of bad news about
recently. Whether we are driving to distraction over racism, looking at football clubs that are
staring into the financial abyss or lamenting the death of anything approaching civility within our
national game, putting our heads above the parapets of modern football for longer than a fraction
of a second can be a thoroughly dispiriting experience, and it can become a thorough bind to even
seek to engage with the wider world of football at times.
Date: Tuesday Nov 01 2011
Ground: City Ground
Comp: West Midland Regional Division (step six)
Match: Darlaston Town 0 Cradley Town 8 HT: 0-4
ATT: 45 (headcount)
Additional: Entrance £4.00, Programme £1.00
City Ground in pictures
Ground Statistics (marks out of ten, maximum 40)
Character 8, Structures/Terracing 7, Hospitality 7, Backdrop/Scenery or aesthetics for larger
stadiums 7
Total 29
By a coincidence, just days before going to the City Ground of Darlaston Town, Neil
Chambers emailed me.
Date: Tuesday Nov 01 2011
Ground: City Ground
Comp: West Midland Regional Division (step six)
Match: Darlaston Town 0 Cradley Town 8 HT: 0-4
ATT: 45 (headcount)
Additional: Entrance £4.00, Programme £1.00
City Ground in pictures
Ground Statistics (marks out of ten, maximum 40)
Character 8, Structures/Terracing 7, Hospitality 7, Backdrop/Scenery or aesthetics for larger
stadiums 7
Total 29
By a coincidence, just days before going to the City Ground of Darlaston Town, Neil
Chambers emailed me.
The news came through with startling speed, another rumour that swelled to an almost bewildering
succession of public statements in just a few short hours. At the end of yesterday, the
battle-wearied supporters of Darlington FC could only step back, blinking, and survey the wreckage.
Their club has been pushed into administration for the third time in less than ten years, and the
prognosis for its future looks bleak.
Often, when push comes to shove in radicalising a group of football supporters, it will take
one, symbolic moment to push those that might otherwise have merely got on with the job of watching
their team to realise that the time for action is now.
For those that follow the ailing Blue Square Premier club Kettering Town, that moment may have
come at any of three or four different occasions over the last month or so, but the tipping point
for many may have cone with twin five-goal defeats at the hands of Luton Town over Christmas and
the New Year (results which plunged the club back into the thick of the relegation places at the
bottom of the table), it with the release of an official club statement which sought,
unsurprisingly enough, to place the blame for the club's woes at the foot of everybody but those
with the overall responsibility for managing its finances.
Normal service is now to resume after the somewhat chaotic Christmas and New Year matches, but
we're going to spend a little time catching up with the last of the festive highlights from over
the course of the last three days or so. We have six matches lined up for you this evening. From
the Blue Square Premier, we have highlights of the matches between Wrexham & AFC Telford United and
Forest Green Rovers.
A new year may have begun, but familiar problems are already starting to make themselves clear
with conflicting stories concerning the well-being of Blue Square Premier club Darlington. A club
that has already had two spells in administration in the last decade could well be headed for
further trauma following reports in the local press during the break between Christmas and the new
year, but upon what were these initial reports based, and can a consortium group which has since
announced itself get the assent of the club's current owner to take over a football club that has
been shipping money left, right and centre for longer than most people care to remember?
Date: Tuesday Oct 04 2011
Ground: Oak Park
Comp: Midland Combination Premier (step six)
Match: Walsall Wood 1 Bolehall Swifts 3 HT: 1-2
Sequence: 1-0, 1-1 1-2, 1-3
ATT: 80 (headcount)
Additional: Entrance £4.00, Programme £1.00
Oak Park in pictures
Ground Statistics (marks out of ten, maximum 40)
Character 6, Structures/Terracing 6, Hospitality 7, Backdrop/Scenery or aesthetics for larger
stadiums 6
Total 25
Another WWFC exists to the north of Birmingham - Walsall Wood FC; my third of the 'Walsall
Quartet' of Pelsall, Rushall, Walsall Wood and Bloxwich.
Date: Tuesday Oct 04 2011
Ground: Oak Park
Comp: Midland Combination Premier (step six)
Match: Walsall Wood 1 Bolehall Swifts 3 HT: 1-2
Sequence: 1-0, 1-1 1-2, 1-3
ATT: 80 (headcount)
Additional: Entrance £4.00, Programme £1.00
Oak Park in pictures
Ground Statistics (marks out of ten, maximum 40)
Character 6, Structures/Terracing 6, Hospitality 7, Backdrop/Scenery or aesthetics for larger
stadiums 6
Total 25
Another WWFC exists to the north of Birmingham - Walsall Wood FC; my third of the 'Walsall
Quartet' of Pelsall, Rushall, Walsall Wood and Bloxwich.
Imagine if you will being born. A comfortable float around a womb that you are quickly starting
to outgrow. It has to end. Something's got to give. Then the pushing and the seepage and the
screaming and hey presto, pro-lifers everywhere pat themselves on the back, someone done a baby. As
a life event, it is perhaps the most dangerous, perilous and traumatic your body will ever
face.
For the second part of our Non-League Videos Of The Week, we have two matches from the Blue
Square Bet Premier Division. At the top of the table, Wrexham are continuing to hold Fleetwood Town
at bay and, while Fleetwood had a Lancashire derby match at home against third placed Southport on
Boxing Day, Wrexham, who are now owned by their supporters, made the relatively short trip to
Shropshire to play another supporter-owned team, AFC Telford United, and over four thousand people
turned out at New Bucks Head for the match.
Refreshed and reposed after a break for Christmas, we're back this morning with a double dose of
Non-League Videos Of The Week. We have a couple of matches from the Blue Square Premier coming up a
little later this morning, but we are starting off with five of Boxing Day's matches from the Blue
Square South.
On the pitch, Kettering Town have picked up a little of late. Two consecutive draws have lifted
them just out of the relegation places in the Blue Square Bet Premier and, even though the club's
transfer embargo remains in place, they even managed a full substitutes bench their match against
on Tuesday night.
After all the excitement of the recent rounds of cup matches in the FA Cup and FA Trophy over
the last couple of weeks, it was back to the league for non-league football this weekend, and we
have highlights from six matches for you this evening. From the Blue Square Premier, we have the
match between Forest Green Rovers and Lincoln City.
Date: Saturday Sep 03 2011
Ground: Atkinson Construction Bowl
Comp: FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round
Match: Borrowash Victoria 1 Carlton Town 3 HT: 0-2
Sequence: 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 1-3
ATT: 132
Additional: Entrance £4.00, Programme £1.00
Atkinson Construction Bowl in pictures
Ground Statistics (marks out of ten, maximum 40)
Character 8, Structures/Terracing 7, Hospitality 7, Backdrop/Scenery or aesthetics for larger
stadiums 7
Total 29
Borrowash Victoria are one of two teams who play next to each other in the Derby suburb of
Spondon.
Date: Saturday Sep 03 2011
Ground: Atkinson Construction Bowl
Comp: FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round
Match: Borrowash Victoria 1 Carlton Town 3 HT: 0-2
Sequence: 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 1-3
ATT: 132
Additional: Entrance £4.00, Programme £1.00
Atkinson Construction Bowl in pictures
Ground Statistics (marks out of ten, maximum 40)
Character 8, Structures/Terracing 7, Hospitality 7, Backdrop/Scenery or aesthetics for larger
stadiums 7
Total 29
Borrowash Victoria are one of two teams who play next to each other in the Derby suburb of
Spondon.
