FA shake-up good for game, agree bosses
FOR Skelmersdale United FC and Burscough FC, the return of the North West Counties League Premier Division cannot come soon enough.
After two seasons heavily disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the FA have introduced a shake-up of the league format, promoting 1874 Northwich, Warrington Rylands and Bootle to the Northern Premier League, giving Skelmersdale and Burscough both new challenges and new opportunities to prosper amongst new competition.
Paul McNally, whose Skelmersdale United team beat Sandbach 4-1 in the St Luke’s Cup on Saturday, has welcomed the new format, believing it’s a chance for a new lease of life to be breathed into the league.
He said: “I think it is good for football, I think it should have happened the season before last when we played the majority of the season.
“With Covid, we do need to keep everything a bit more local and it incentivises everyone and gives everyone a level pegging.
“We have only played one game and afterwards, the lads were bouncing.”
Whilst motivated for the new season, McNally, made clear he knows his squad will have to work hard and group together to be near the top of the league.
“The aspirations for me personally are that we have already made great strides, but now we can challenge.
“We haven’t got the biggest squad so I think we need to buff that up in case of injuries, but I think we can challenge top five or top six.
“We are only a couple of players away, and with our FA cup run, the prospects for us have only been enhanced as lots of lads now see us as an attractive proposition.”
The excitement for the new season was reiterated by Burscough boss Nick Matthews, who thinks the new structure takes into account that his players are juggling work, family and football.
“It is great for Rylands and Bootle, they are two really great clubs who put money into making those kinds of gains and this is brilliant for them.
“The restructure from below for Vauxhall to get promotion is also deserved.
“I think for the whole game itself it is a good move as it cuts down travelling.
“It is hard at our level with the working-class man, and then you ask him to take half a day holiday to go to the other side of the country.
“I have always said, family first, job second, football third, you have to have morals.”
Both clubs have recently started to train again for one session a week, slowly working their way back up to the two or three sessions they used to undertake.
The slow re-gain of pace, both coaches hope, will help the players to re-gain some fitness and get some minutes under their belt before the proper preseason begins in June.
Whilst Skelmersdale have taken part in the St Luke’s Cup mini tournament with other league clubs to improve match fitness, Burscough have upcoming friendlies with Tranmere Rovers under 21s and Chorley FC under 21’s, working with other community clubs to maintain the high standards their teams have created.
It is this connection to other footballing communities, Matthews believes, that will allow them to push for promotion in the upcoming season.
He said: “A lot of our lads play in the Liverpool leagues and, as mad as it sounds, grass roots is massively important as without them we don’t have players.
“We had a chat with the lads, and we said you go and play your games for your other teams and, once it is safe to do so, we will start playing some games for ourselves.
“We have just moved to a new ground which helps attract the lads but working with these other teams is vital.
“We are looking to push for promotion, but we have to remember there will also be ten other sides who think the same.”
The North West Counties Premier League Division re-starts on 31st July.