North or South for 2014-2015 season?

Get a grip people! We are hear to support Stour not what ground they are playing at! Be it an FA cup match or a league match!

baz wrote:Get a grip people! We are hear to support Stour not what ground they are playing at! Be it an FA cup match or a league match!

Well said Baz.

I'd always wanted to visit Workington's ground ever since i'd felt sorry for them after they lost their league place in 1977.

If Stour had not played them in the cup last season i'd never have visited their place,for me the pleasure of visiting a new ground only registers if it's Albion or Stour i'm watching at those grounds,i find being at a ground as a neutral no more exciting than watching paint dry.

From what I've seen of the Albion this season that seems to have been akin to watching paint dry!   

stour_boy wrote:

Burnham's effort was impressive in both games and I'm surprised they didn't finish higher in the table.

What effort? In the game over there they took an early lead and made no attempt to go for a second. They just sat back and absorbed....well, nothing TBH since we were awful that night.

As I said earlier, I'm not that fussed about staying South, although I think it's going to be a harder Division to do well in next season.

However, it does seem strange that the League Committee have gone annoyed three clubs (us, Corby and Halesowen) when they could easily have kept all three happy...

I've only got three new grounds to look forward to next season - Slough (at Beaconsfield), Dunstable and Dorchester - although I've also not seen Stour play at Bideford or Paulton even though I have seen matches at those grounds. The NPL would have been better personally in that respect but I'm more interested in SFC making a decent promotion challenge whichever Division we're in.

Don't know why it would annoy either us or Halesowen, other than groundhopper fans of either club.

Halesowen are trotting out the old "the players work 9-5 and then have to travel" argument but that applies in either division almost equally.

We are fairly unique at Step 3 that we would ever have the chance to sample two different leagues at the same level due to our geographical location. Most teams, if they don't get promoted or relegated, will play almost all of the same teams that they played the previous season. It's pretty normal the vast majority of leagues!

We should be more interested in moving up rather than moving sideways.

stour_boy wrote:Halesowen are trotting out the old "the players work 9-5 and then have to travel" argument but that applies in either division almost equally.

As mentioned earlier in the discussion, travel distances would be on average less in the NPLP.

We are fairly unique at Step 3 that we would ever have the chance to sample two different leagues at the same level due to our geographical location.

Not that unique since both Barwell and Corby will have been in both in very recent history/near future. Rushall have been in the SL as well, albeit at the lower level.

We should be more interested in moving up rather than moving sideways.

Well, true.

TRM wrote:As I said earlier, I'm not that fussed about staying South, although I think it's going to be a harder Division to do well in next season.

We may have had the element of surprise in the NPL whereas in the SL we're very much a known quantity. Then again, it's all done and dusted now.

I've only got three new grounds to look forward to next season - Slough (at Beaconsfield), Dunstable and Dorchester

Didn't you come to Dorchester with me and Nigel when they had a Sunday game back in 2001?

The NPL would have been better personally in that respect

Just got 2 for next season - Paulton and Histon/Cambridge. Would have had 5 in the NPL so not that huge a number.

[quotebut I'm more interested in SFC making a decent promotion challenge whichever Division we're in.[/quote]

Agreed.

Definitely never been to Dorchester's new ground. Did see us play at the old ground in 83/84 - won 2-1, one of only 4 league wins that season.

Not sure on how dates fall but presume there is the 4 Bank Holiday games this year?
August, Boxing, NYD, Easter Monday?

Saw TRM's post on the Southern forum would that mean that the 4 grouped for those games are Banbury, Stour, Redditch and them. Or is it just NYD & Boxing Day its done locally?

As Jack says, the logical way to do the BH fixtures (August, Boxing Day, New Year and Easter Monday) is to split the Division into mini-groups of four - eg. Stour, Halesowen, Redditch, Banbury. It can be done quite easily with just one "awkward" group.

Then if, say, the Boxing Day/Easter fixtures are:

Halesowen v Stour
Redditch v Banbury

then on August BH and New Years Day, you have:

Stour v Redditch
Banbury v Halesowen

and the remaining pairs will be played in midweek as they are short-distance journies.

(For what difference it makes, it's worth pointing out that last season Boxing Day was the reverse of the August Holiday games)

The fours I would come up with are...

Stour/Halesowen/Redditch/Banbury
Cirencester/Chippenham/Paulton/Frome
Truro/Bideford/Weymouth/Dorchester
Cambridge/Histon/St Neots/Biggleswade
Arlesey/Hitchin/Dunstable/Chesham
Poole/Hungerford/Slough/Burnham

That last one is the slightly ockered one!

If so, any 1 of those 3 could lead to massive away followings if we're in a title race on Easter Bank Holiday.

Jack wrote:If so, any 1 of those 3 could lead to massive away followings if we're in a title race on Easter Bank Holiday.

Given those parameters, the ideal would be at home to Halesowen on Easter Monday with both teams chasing the Title or play-off places.

They can have the Boxing Day game which will hopefully be frozen off and they'll only get half the expected crowd for it on a Tuesday night in January...

In all honesty, there's no need for local derbies on August BH or Easter Monday. Indeed, to me it would make more sense to have one of the longer trips when we have an extra 3pm kick off available.

[I know there's normally extra traffic on these days so I'm not suggesting Poole or Truro on these dates but surely it makes more sense to play Hungerford away at 3pm on Easter Monday than at 7.45pm on a Tuesday night in September as happened last season].

The Conference plays the main derbies as "double headers" on Boxing Day and New Year's Day which is something that seems to work.

I think you have a point about August and Easter Holiday matches, Dave, but I also think the League takes the views of the clubs on board when planning the fixtures, and on the whole the clubs say they prefer local-ish games on those days.

Personally I don't like the "double-headers" at Christmas and New Year - it doesn't give enough time after the first game for gloating/stewing over the result! I prefer a decent period for bragging when you're stuffed your local rivals, or to brood on how you're going to turn the tables. Just my own view.

HOT, HOT NEWS!!!

Worksop Town have resigned from the NPL which could have a knock-on for us...

It means a club being reprieved at this level, which won't be a club from the NPL itself as Frickley ahve already been saved by Vauxhall's decision to drop right through the Leagues. The reprieve looks likely to go to Wingate & Finchley (on points-per-game) in the Isthmian League, which will mean a club moving from the IL to the SL (Hayes & Yeading?) and a club from the SL to the NPL.

That club would most likely be Halesowen, but the more logical alternative would be for Halesowen and us to both go to the NPL and Corby to come back to the SL.

Watch this space, I guess...

Looks like they will have that midweek trip to Blyth Spartans after all!

They already decided to swap Halesowen and Corby already so personally can't see them swapping back. But this is the FA we're talking about...

Fair point, but SOMEBODY has to go from the SLP to the NPLP. If it's not Halsowen, and if it's not Halesowen and us, with Corby coming back the other way, then who? The only other option I can think of would be Histon, on the basis that they are already changing Leagues due to relegation so the upheaval would be less - but that would mean Histon and Cambridge in different Leagues which would surely be ridiculous (even aloowing for waht happened with Hinckley and Barwell last season).

Could the NPLP run with 23 clubs? Arguably, yes, but the clubs will be budgeting for 23 home games, not 22, and will have set season ticket prices, etc accordingly. As the AGMs have not happened a club WILL be reprieved and if the NPLP runs with 23 then one of the others (SLP or ILP) would have to go with 25 - I can't see that happening.

For what it's worth, if all this happened AFTER the League AGMS then nobody would be reprieved and the NPLP would have to run with 23. The League AGMs are the cut-off point.

Yeah I agree, worded my point badly before, I meant they will likely move Halesowen but then not reverse totally their previous decision by moving swapping us and Corby too. I would imagine they would stick to one move only (Halesowen).

stour_boy wrote:Yeah I agree, worded my point badly before, I meant they will likely move Halesowen but then not reverse totally their previous decision by moving swapping us and Corby too. I would imagine they would stick to one move only (Halesowen).

Very possible, but if you think about it there was no need to move Halesowen in the first place. They could have left them in the NPL and left Corby in the SL. The only possible reason for moving those clubs was the "common sense" one of having us and Halesowen in the same Division (whichever Division it was). Having done that, would they then change their minds two weeks later and split us again? Your guess is as good as mine...

I think both of us would be happy to be transferred north so a lot might hinge on Corby. If they put their foot down and have a tantrum and say "Look, we've been moved once. Stop messing us about..." then the FA might sympathise and just move Halesowen to the NPL.

stour_boy wrote:Looks like they will have that midweek trip to Blyth Spartans after all!

Is a midweek trip to Blyth Spartans any more or less likely than one to Poole or Bideford?

stour_boy wrote:Yeah I agree, worded my point badly before, I meant they will likely move Halesowen but then not reverse totally their previous decision by moving swapping us and Corby too. I would imagine they would stick to one move only (Halesowen).

Who's the northernmost of us and Halesowen? Looks like us on Google Maps. Or would it just come down to the fact that Halesowen were NPL last season so they'd be moved "back"?

Dave the Glassboy wrote:

stour_boy wrote:Yeah I agree, worded my point badly before, I meant they will likely move Halesowen but then not reverse totally their previous decision by moving swapping us and Corby too. I would imagine they would stick to one move only (Halesowen).

Who's the northernmost of us and Halesowen? Looks like us on Google Maps. Or would it just come down to the fact that Halesowen were NPL last season so they'd be moved "back"?

I think if they only moved one of us it would be Halesowen on precisely that basis, Dave. But that id just guesswork on my part.

TRM wrote:

Dave the Glassboy wrote:

stour_boy wrote:Yeah I agree, worded my point badly before, I meant they will likely move Halesowen but then not reverse totally their previous decision by moving swapping us and Corby too. I would imagine they would stick to one move only (Halesowen).

Who's the northernmost of us and Halesowen? Looks like us on Google Maps. Or would it just come down to the fact that Halesowen were NPL last season so they'd be moved "back"?

I think if they only moved one of us it would be Halesowen on precisely that basis, Dave. But that id just guesswork on my part.

Might be good news for you if Halesowen are moved TRM,the "unwashed" on the Southern League forum might then give you a rest   

Devil's Advocate wrote:

TRM wrote:

Dave the Glassboy wrote:

stour_boy wrote:Yeah I agree, worded my point badly before, I meant they will likely move Halesowen but then not reverse totally their previous decision by moving swapping us and Corby too. I would imagine they would stick to one move only (Halesowen).

Who's the northernmost of us and Halesowen? Looks like us on Google Maps. Or would it just come down to the fact that Halesowen were NPL last season so they'd be moved "back"?

I think if they only moved one of us it would be Halesowen on precisely that basis, Dave. But that id just guesswork on my part.

Might be good news for you if Halesowen are moved TRM,the "unwashed" on the Southern League forum might then give you a rest   

I'm enjoying making them dance at the moment. For some reason they seem not to like being called Brummies!