Is anyone else quite enjoying the National League?

[nw6pie]

I've been pleasantly surprised by the standard of football at this level, but the thought of being stuck down here for years and years a la Wrexham is a horrible thought.

This is a pig of a league to escape, and I thought it was interesting that the owners admitted (maybe via Richard Montague) that they had underestimated the challenge of getting back into the league. We'll get there some day as long as we keep improving things off the pitch and the players on it, so I'm just going to enjoy the ride.

[Frigiliana Pie 1]

Non-league football used to mean part-time football but that’s not true for most of the National League these days. There are so many ex-league clubs in the NL now, many of them with respectable budgets, decent grounds and a fair-sized fan base, that it’s sometimes difficult to remember that we, and quite a few of our opponents like Chesterfield, Stockport, Wrexham etc are non-league clubs. The presence of Grimsby and Southend next season will add to this feeling.

There’s also a certain attraction in playing in new places against clubs we’ve known little about up to now, e.g. Weymouth, Wealdstone, Maidenhead.

The big downside of course is that there are only two promotion places each season which presents a massive obstacle on the path of upward progress and that’s the biggest reason for wanting to get back in the EFL as soon as possible.

[LaxtonLad]

I'd enjoy it more if we were beating teams we should beat, I don't expect to win or dominate every game but I find it depressing to see us being played off the park by what should be cannon-fodder.

In just about every game before and since Burchinall arrived it has been possible to look at the game's team-sheet and point to a weakness just waiting to be exploited by the enemy manager, rarely do we dominate the majority of a game. Whether it's a player picked for a position he's unsuited for or just a useless player it's mystifying.

However, I do have faith in The Bros to finance our manager in his pursuit of incoming players of quality, I just hope IB's learning curve is curving up, then I'll enjoy next season.

[51Magpie]

This thread reminds me of a Sunday newspaper article a couple of weeks ago, pointing out the shift in the lower leagues away from some of the working class clubs typical of the Midlands and the North which are being out-budgeted by shinier new clubs soaking up the money that's swilling around Greater London. Sutton United being a case in point, but it's not hard to think of others. That's a factor that will certainly make it harder for us to get back up.

Reacting to the OP's question: yes, it's enjoyable always being at or near the top of our division, but I honestly think that with our new manager, sensible owners, workable budget and fan base we would have been ready to do really well in L2 had we managed to get through the play-off lottery.

[pravda_plc]

My father was a big fan of non-league football and so i'd been to a lot of games at this level, before Notts finally succumbed to it. This league has metamorphosed from the Alliance Premier, to the Conference, to its current name the National League. The big change is now the vast majority of the clubs are full time professional outfits. This season only 5 clubs were part-time: Woking, Altrincham, Kings Lynn, Wealdstone and Weymouth. When I first started watching football at this level, the vast majority were part-time clubs.

Mansfield fans call this a 'mickey mouse' league, a 'joke league' but they have conveniently forgotten that when they played at this level, there were many more part-time clubs than there are now.

The biggest problem for Notts is the 2 up promotion ruling. With only 1 automtic promotion place you have to win the league, or take part in the playoff lottery. In my time as a fan, Notts have only won a league 3 times: Jimmy Sirrel Div 4, Sam Allardyce Div 4 and of course the 'Munto Con' Div 4 (aka Coca-cola league 2). Unfortunately I still see and hear some Notts fans in complete denial, claiming we should easily smash our way out of this 'Tin pot League'. Sorry but it's a really tough league to get out of.

Last but not least: I prefer being in the promotion picture, playing entertaining & attacking football, than hanging on for grim death, playing turgid, defensive hoofball, just to hang onto a place near the bottom of Coca cola League 2...

[SwalePie]

My father was a big fan of non-league football and so i'd been to a lot of games at this level, before Notts finally succumbed to it. This league has metamorphosed from the Alliance Premier, to the Conference, to its current name the National League. The big change is now the vast majority of the clubs are full time professional outfits. This season only 5 clubs were part-time: Woking, Altrincham, Kings Lynn, Wealdstone and Weymouth. When I first started watching football at this level, the vast majority were part-time clubs.

Mansfield fans call this a 'mickey mouse' league, a 'joke league' but they have conveniently forgotten that when they played at this level, there were many more part-time clubs than there are now.

The biggest problem for Notts is the 2 up promotion ruling. With only 1 automtic promotion place you have to win the league, or take part in the playoff lottery. In my time as a fan, Notts have only won a league 3 times: Jimmy Sirrel Div 4, Sam Allardyce Div 4 and of course the 'Munto Con' Div 4 (aka Coca-cola league 2). Unfortunately I still see and hear some Notts fans in complete denial, claiming we should easily smash our way out of this 'Tin pot League'. Sorry but it's a really tough league to get out of.

Last but not least: I prefer being in the promotion picture, playing entertaining & attacking football, than hanging on for grim death, playing turgid, defensive hoofball, just to hang onto a place near the bottom of Coca cola League 2...

Great post.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

I know we're supposed to be having the worst years of our Nott-supporting lives, but to be honest, I've quite enjoyed the last two seasons - and I'm very much looking forward to the next. We get to start each season as genuine promotion contenders and win more games than we lose - something we've not been able to do consistently in any other division, at least not during my 30 years as a fan.

Don't get me wrong, it's pretty shocking that we ended up playing at this level, and I'd much rather be chasing promotion a division or two above where we are now. But all things considered, I'd rather watch us win plenty of games and batter a few teams along the way than struggle in L2. Besides, that feeling that we've fallen too far isn't exactly new - I remember feeling the same way in L2 and even L1.

Anyone else feel the same, or have I gone completely mad?

Whilst we have just finished in our lowest ever position in the football pyramid it does not tell the story and generally it’s not been as bad as I expected but that is not to be confused with being happy for us to be settling in to this level. As I’ve said on here many times we should be approaching our time here with the mentality we are short term guests not long term residents.

The two seasons we have been in it we have won almost half of our games and in any league that is always good and shows you are a competitive side, that does win on a regular basis. We’ve scored goals that are celebrated in the same way as any other goal scored at any other level. Likewise generally we are tough to beat and rarely concede more than two goals a game. These are minimum expectations though at this level.

It’s had its up and downs thus far and has been frustrating at times particularly when we have seemed set up to not lose. (See England v Scotland thread) Some of the lows where we have struggled against far smaller and inferior teams with smaller budgets and resources has been a bitter pill to swallow and somewhat of a reality check at times. The worst for me was the defeat to Hornchurch, and sub par performances against the likes of Kings Lynn and Aldershot.

It’s a very tough league with only one automatic promotion place and as such it creates a backlog of good ex league teams pushing to get out. As a result there are clubs at the bottom end of league two that can be really poor on and off the field and be worse than some clubs at this level and not get relegated.

We can be positive and hopeful going forward as we have owners who now have two seasons experience of owning and running the club, a young manager who wants to play an attack minded high intensity game, and the foundations of a good playing team. We are along way from the shambles, fractional and basket case of a club we were two years ago. So I fully believe with time and patience we will become the oldest football league cub in the world once again.

[Davy500]

I know we're supposed to be having the worst years of our Nott-supporting lives, but to be honest, I've quite enjoyed the last two seasons - and I'm very much looking forward to the next. We get to start each season as genuine promotion contenders and win more games than we lose - something we've not been able to do consistently in any other division, at least not during my 30 years as a fan.

Don't get me wrong, it's pretty shocking that we ended up playing at this level, and I'd much rather be chasing promotion a division or two above where we are now. But all things considered, I'd rather watch us win plenty of games and batter a few teams along the way than struggle in L2. Besides, that feeling that we've fallen too far isn't exactly new - I remember feeling the same way in L2 and even L1.

Anyone else feel the same, or have I gone completely mad?

Maybe the new generation of Notts supporters are more used to failure, and not doing anything, i find it shocking where many are now rather accepting of our position, in what is truly an awfull division

As for battering a few teams, it was us getting beaten by much smaller outfits, remember Dover anyone??
Until we routinely start beating these poor to mid sides (not drawing or losing), we will be taking permanent residence in the National league

[bule1]

Davey, we have to accept our position as it's a fact, nothing we or any of our new generation supporters can do. Re losing to Dover, that was under NA and that too is history that we can do nothing about, the fact that NA has gone should help address that point and make you happier. Not going to criticise any supporter for being positive and if you read slack's post he does say "it's pretty shocking that we ended up playing at this level" which is hardly accepting this as OK, just accepting it as a fact. Better that than just moaning about it and finding people to blame for the past.

That said you are totally correct that we need to put the smaller outfits to the sword, just a gut feeling that IB will set us up better for that.

[crazyfists]

Yes, yes and no

Yes because the next change of division in those days turned out to be promotion to L1 and no because that period turned out to be the foreword to a story that ended with us falling of the edge the FL cliff.

Being in a division with only two up is not a positive.

This. And no I hate this league. The league is crap, the refs are crap, only one automatic promotion, lose to teams like Kings Lynn, the governing body are crap. The longer we spend down here the worse it gets.