Re: The annual who are we going to play next year thread - 2019/2020 season

[Dodgycarpet]

If we do get promoted there are few "sexy" ties to whet the bath public's appetite.... not sure where extra revenue will come from?

[LB]

Hopefully a game against a certain team that plays in green would fill the ground for one game at least!

If we don’t go up (sorry) either Weymouth or Taunton look likely to come up from Southern Premier (there is one point between them with one game to go) and hopefully the other might battle their way through the ‘super’ playoffs to give us a couple of derby games - at least it looks unlikely that we will be going to Truro on Boxing Day.

Whatever the concerns might be about finance if we do go up, it is probably a good season to do so with four teams coming down presumably all looking to go straight back up.

[comrade powell]

East Thurrock join WsM in being relegated. Truro will join them too unless they beat Slough next weekend and Hungerford lose at home to E Thurrock.

Very sorry to see ETU relegated - a very friendly club whose band of volunteers have worked wonders at this level. I wasn't at all surprised to read this...

http://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/rocks-relegated-but-coventry-quick-to-show-his-cla-56559

For several reasons Truro are not popular around the league and I guess they won't be missed if they go down. In fact victory against Slough and a Hungerford defeat will only be enough if a 3 goal deficit is overturned. I assume that if this is level then goals scored is the decider - Truro have scored 13 more.

[comrade powell]

at least it looks unlikely that we will be going to Truro on Boxing Day.

and instead have the usual midweek trip there!

[SteveBradley]

If we do get promoted there are few "sexy" ties to whet the bath public's appetite.... not sure where extra revenue will come from?

The answer is that if we do go up (and I'd say it's probably more likely that we won't) we will just have to find a way to make it work.

Conference South football hasn't been working for us either for the last number of years, given the state of our finances, debt, and running at a loss. A tremendous amount of work has been done by a small but growing band of people to turn that around, and it's really starting to bear fruit on and off the pitch. We could have taken the easy financial option of dropping down a level to cut costs instead of finding a way to make things work.

Likewise if we go up. We'll have more home and away fans, hopefully more sponsorship and a bit of TV money to add to the pot too. And it will show progress and help with the ongoing work that's being done to grow the club and nurture the next generation of supporters. But everyone associated with the club will just have to pull together yet again and find a way to make it work for us financially. I have no doubt we can.

The alternative is to settle for mediocrity and to clip our wings. Which no-one wants to see.

[Ashley]

For several reasons Truro are not popular around the league and I guess they won't be missed if they go down. In fact victory against Slough and a Hungerford defeat will only be enough if a 3 goal deficit is overturned. I assume that if this is level then goals scored is the decider - Truro have scored 13 more.

Truro's GD (-24) is better than Hungerford's (-27), so a Truro win and Hungerford defeat would save the Cornishmen, whatever the actual scores are

[Roy D Hacksaw]

So, where are we at with all these permutations? Well, most importantly, and whatever happens over the next few weeks, and barring sudden bankruptcies across the league, Weston-super-Mare have finally been relegated. Drink that in.

Anyway...

Looking upwards with a promotion eye, in the relegation berths from League Two, it's now down to Notts County (38), Yeovil Town (38) and Macclesfield Town (40). Now which pair from that trio would you most prefer to descend to non-league next season?

Guaranteed to still be in Vanarama National are decent potential away bringers like Chesterfield, Barnet, Halifax, Dagenham & Redbridge, plus a whole load of other less crowdy faves from the last new seasons.

And most likely to move up from the Vanarama North are Stockport County, who are guaranteed promotion with a win on Saturday, whatever Chorley's result.

But if we don't manage to win three in a row over the play-off series, who lays ahead if we stay where we are?

Well the relegation places from the National have all been decided, with Aldershot Town, Havant & Waterlooville and Maidstone Town all being guaranteed a slot in the V South. Braintree Town are the only potentially mobile side, and may be sent straight North rather than unsettling someone already entrenched in the South.

Down to the Isthmian, Dorking Wanderers are long since promoted, with Haringey Borough and Tonbridge Angels confirmed as the two top seeded play-off clubs. However, the other two slots are being battled for between five sides - Carlshalton Athletic (68), Bishop's Stortford (67), Merstham (67), Folkestone Invicta (66) and Worthing (65). And with Carlshalton playing Stortford, and Worthing playing Merstham on the last day of the season, absolutely anything could happen!

The Southern League is still undecided though, and will be down to who blinks on the final day out of Weymouth (83) and Taunton Town (82). The Terras have a tricky home tie against Farnborough, while Taunton need a win against relegation-threatened Basingstoke Town to even stand a chance of promotion, as they have a considerably weaker goals difference, so a draw won't be enough.

Below them Salisbury and Metropolitan Police are guaranteed a play-off place, with the last slot going to either Poole Town (67) or Hartley Witney (66). And of course, even a sterling play-off victory won't guarantee any of those a slot upstairs next term as they'll have to play the winners out of Stourbridge, King's Lynn Town, Alvechurch and Stratford Town from the Southern Central to determine who'll go up in this final 22 club division year.

And then we have the redistribution issue. With so many South facing clubs in the pool for the league this year, somebody's going to have to make that move back North. As we mentioned earlier, Braintree could well be heading to Barrow in a wet Tuesday in November, but with Gloucester City safe in the South, they may be favourites to make the switch back. But there's also a fistful of Essex and Home Counties sides who could well be shifting leagues. And I'm sure that they're all looking forward to that!

So whichever league we end up playing in next season, there's a whole bundle of potentially interesting new foes to test our skills against!

[Roy D Hacksaw]

So there we have it. The regular season ends and we're just three games away from promotion glory. The path as it lies before us is Wealdstone (H), Woking (A), and Welling or Chelmsford (A). Easy spuds! And now we have the added incentive of a massive league tie against Yeovil next season! Could things get any better?

We won't be playing Leyton Orient though, as they clinched promotion, and one from Solihull Motors, Salford City, Wrexham, Fylde, Harrogate Town and Eastleigh will be joining them. The last League Two relegation place will be battled out between Notts County and Macclesfield Town next week.

Also joining the Vanarama National will be Stockport County, who clinched automatic promotion yesterday. Another half dozen clubs are vying for promotion there, but I'll spare you a list until we know more about where we'll be ending up next season.

But in the obviously unlikely chance of us not gaining a glorious promotion, who might we be playing if we stay put? Well you've possibly heard already, but Truro City made the drop back to the Southern, so that's another long old trip that we won't have to worry about.

We've known that Dorking Wanderers have clinched the Isthmian some weeks since, but in the Southern League, Weymouth clinched the automatic promotion place, narrowly nudging out Taunton Town by a single point. But the play-off situation there is a little more complicated than I first though. Instead of the two Southern league play-off winners duking it out, the winners of the Southern League South play-offs will be playing the victors of the Isthmian League play-offs. So let's see how that all looks at panning out.

In the South, Taunton Town will host Poole Town, while Metropolitan Police are at home to Salisbury City. The home side in the decider will depend on who wins, but it'll be decided by the higher league position.

In the Isthmian, Carshalton Athletic take on Merstham whilst Haringey Borough entertain Tonbridge Angels. The two winners then have a final play-off to see who gains promotion, with the side with the bigger points-per-game average getting the home draw - which in every case bar Poole will be the Southern league side.

Interestingly, Weymouth and Kettering Town are having a ceremonial Southern League title play-off to see who gets to win the massive wooden shield, but it has no bearing on the promotion places.

Thank heavens this is the only season of all this complicated business, and we'll be having an extended league of 24 clubs for the 20/21 season!

As always, I'll keep you abreast of what's happening over the play-offs. Exciting times!

[comrade powell]

Thanks Hackers!

If we go up, here's hoping that Notts County join that sorry outfit from south Somerset. And off the six play-off contenders I'd least like to visit Salford (although Junior will definitely disagree!)

Should we remain at this level it will be great to resume hostilities with Weymouth and I'd prefer to see Salisbury joining them.

[Roy D Hacksaw]

Ah well, I guess we'll have to concentrate on the Vanarama South for the rest of the play-off season. Bah!

And sadly the results went against some of our old friends/foes in the Southern League (South) play-offs too.

Metropolitan Police rode out 3-2 winners against Salisbury City - despite a spirited late fightback from Salisbury at the death

In the other match, Taunton Town lost a heartbreaking penalty shootout against Poole Town after a 1-1 draw in normal time - made all the more gutting, not doubt, by the fact that The Peacocks only missed out on automatic promotion by a single point, while Poole snuck into the play-offs on the last day of the season.

I'm not sure who I'd prefer out of that pair. The Met would be a bit of a novelty, but another London trip, while Poole's a nice day out but at a pretty poor ground.

The winner of that game will go on to meet the winners of the Isthmian play-offs, which take place tonight.

And as you may have read elsewhere, Southern (Central) play-off on Tuesday night was postponed after the FA finally decided that it was the time to bring up Stratford Town having fielded an ineligible player, despite it having happened some time ago - and leaving any Stratford fans who'd bought tickets and made travel and accommodation arrangements out of pocket. One suspects that they were just hoping that Stratford wouldn't make the play-offs so they wouldn't have to make any difficult decisions.

As it stand they've docked them three points, which is just enough for it to have had no bearing on the play-off places - conveniently, and they'll finally play their match at Kings Lynn Town on Bank Holiday Monday.

In the same play-offs, Stourbridge are due to play Alvechurch on Friday.

It probably won't be an issue, what with the clubs migrating to this level being so south-facing, but there still is an outside chance that Kings Lynn could come South, the way the league's boundary map works, but I'd be really surprised if that happens.

Oh well, there's still some fun games ahead in the next season - although nothing as fun as a wet Tuesday night in Hartlepool in November. Dang shame!

[comrade powell]

It would be good to renew acquaintances with King's Lynn fans - remember the late Colin the Broiler - and we've played Met Police before during two seasons in the early 70s. Our first visit to Thames Ditton ended in a 6-2 defeat...

[stillmanjunior]

Wealdstone are rumoured to be cutting their budget for next season, so would be better they stayed down rather than the other three, who are likely to challenge.

Also stories of Gateshead maybe dropping out of the National League, but could just be a phoenix club starting instead. If they do go, Aldershot would be reprieved.

[City 'til we're relegated]

Looks like the cops might come knocking next season.

Play-off final Met Police v Tonbridge

[Marc Monitor]

Quite fancy that, they are around the corner from my brother's so I can meet up with him whereas I am not a fan of Kent, Tonbridge/Tunbridge Wells nor getting there.

[comrade powell]

You'll be disappointed then that Tonbridge are joining us! Hopefully there will be a less aggressive atmosphere than on one of our more recent visits there - not a great argument for allowing drinking outside the bar while watching the game.

[kermit]

And we return to Welling. Although further to travel, arguably better pubs than Woking.
As mentioned earlier, doesn't look very good to see the 2 relegated teams go straight back up but that's how it goes.
At least the 2 top teams went up, not like last season, so they might do better than Braintree (and Loovile).

[comrade powell]

Despite the distance, I far prefer going to Welling than Woking. After their awful form going into the play offs and fortunate win over Wealdstone I'm surprised Woking won today. I'm not sure Torquay and Woking will do anything but struggle next season - are they stronger than twelve months ago?

[LB]

Ironic that of the teams involved in the southern play-offs the one furthest from us got through.

Kermit says that it doesn't look good that the two relegated teams went straight back up - to add to that the two teams promoted last season, Havant and Braintree, have come straight back down.

With Truro and Weston going down and Gloucester almost certainly heading north, the league will have even more of a south east base next season, with only Chippenham and Weymouth anything like local. If it wasn't for the presence of the likes of Spennymoor and Blyth (and one or two others) we would almost be better off going north ourselves.

[kermit]

yes.....and the beers cheaper oop north!

[SteveBradley]

Plus Blyth and Spennymoor are great clubs - with the Spartans in particular having a great footballing pedigree.

But by 'eck it's far. And Baltic in Winter !

[Dodgycarpet]

Well done woking, they did come second after all! So we won't be going there....
I agree though always more interesting going up the M5

[Midsomer-steve]

Don't get too excited, all you northern team fanciers, but a little birdie (and it wasn't Yorkie!) whispered that he had heard that WE might be travelling up the M5 a lot next season! Keep those ears to the ground!

[Beau Nash]

City home games at Cheltenham Town or Gloucester City?

[LB]

Don't get too excited, all you northern team fanciers, but a little birdie (and it wasn't Yorkie!) whispered that he had heard that WE might be travelling up the M5 a lot next season! Keep those ears to the ground!

If it did happen it might influence player recruitment as would perhaps be better to sign players based north of Bath rather than south. Still think there are a few better candidates than us to move, although with this league anything is possible.

[stillmanjunior]

Who made the claim?

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