Am interested to see that Durham, who were at times runaway leaders of the Unibond 1 North last season and eventually went up as champions, are finding life so hard in the Unibond Premier.
Currently they have played 11, lost 11, therefore on 0 points and have conceded 53 goals by the end of September!!!
Have their been many changes there or is it really that big a step up?
I see FC Danny of Manchester are in the bottom 3 as well, although in fairness the way the teams are grouped one win could take them back to halfway!
Durham ‘lost’ their main sponsor/benifactor at the start of the season, instead of pulling out they made the decision to play the season as amateurs mainly using the youth side, at the end of the season they intend to withdraw from the Unibond and apply to go back to the Northern league
Another club apparently hell bent on surging through the leagues with a massive playing budget. However once they discovered that their artificial pitch would not be allowed in the Conference set-up lo and behold their sponsors found a good reason to pull out!
Might have been fairer all around to club officials, players and supporters alike though to have actually done something in the NPL Premier Division to prove their playing credibilty before taking such drastic action me thinks :unsure:
The situation up in County Durham now resembles a West End farce.Bugger these benefactors who ride into town and want league football within five years.I would much rather have a club run like our very own.That is a club run by proper football people who already have peoples trust.
I have never felt that the league promotion/relegation system works that well in non league football, too many clubs are massively over ambitious. Far better to have local leagues with no promotion or relegation, it worked okay for many years and it would work again. Nothing wrong in being champions of the same league year in year out, ask Liverpool of the past and Manchester United of the present (or Rangers and Celtic!!)
WHS.
WHS I agree in part with your comments,but we find ourselves with added excitement brought upon us by relegation.
I also agree. that more local football would whip things up.
Take Darlington,struggling in div 2,it must be better for all concerned to be playing in a regionalised league against resurgent Gateshead than Aldershot.
I think everybody needs to find their own level for a period.Levelling out is something that we are now experiencing and it is not a bad thing.
We have the right personnel looking after the club,the right people to stop us becoming an other retched AFC something or other. It is imperative that we remain Witton Albion.
I cannot resist WHS ,staying put as the best team in the world aka MANCHESTER UNITED only hardends their resolve.
I must say, I find it strange that the Blue Square league won’t allow Durham to play in their league with an artificial pitch, but Uefa will allow CSKA Moscow to play in the Champions League, and Russia to play internationals on an artificial pitch.
Quite right Thomas,it is a strange situation.I watched MAN UTD on MUTV in Moscow and the pitch was awful.Every time a ball was played long it bit into the surface and the pace of the ball was instantly killed.It was a good job UTD won because Sir Alex would have been spitting feathers.
Having said that UTD strutted their stuff,there is even a rumour that WHS may even be starting to see the light.