2004-05 WHAT ELSE...

● THIS was the first Conference season to feature three divisions. The Conference North and Conference South were created by promoting teams from the top half of the Northern Premier, Isthmian and Southern Leagues, along with several play-off winners. Southport were the first winners of Conference North, with Grays Athletic taking the southern crown.

● YORK CITY, relegated alongside Carlisle, were competing outside the Football League for the first time since 1929. The Minstermen toiled all season and escaped relegation by a point. They would remain in Non-League until 2010.

● NORTHWICH’S 26-year stay in the Conference came to an end. The stricken Vics overcame a ten-point deduction for entering administration and finished nine points clear of the drop zone. However the league said the club had failed to transfer its membership share to new owner Mike Connett and demoted them to Conference North. Manager Steve Burr branded the decision “a disgrace”.

● GIULIANO GRAZIOLI was the top scorer in Conference National, netting 29 times for champions Barnet. The 29-year-old finished four ahead of Morecambe’s Michael Twiss. In Conference North, Southport’s Terry Fearns hit 28 to win the golden boot, while former Portsmouth hitman Luke Nightingale bagged 32 for Bognor Regis in Conference South.

● CARLISLE’S titlewinning side contained a young Glenn Murray, who this season scored 12 Premier League goals for Brighton and was linked with a call-up to England’s World Cup squad. Murray, though, never cut the mustard at his home-town club and was heckled by his own fans before moving to Rochdale in 2006.

● STRIKER Paul Benson sparked a transfer scramble by scoring 96 goals in 59 games for Essex League outfit White Ensign. The 26year-old eventually joined John Still’s Dagenham, where he won the Conference title and the golden boot in 2006-07. Benson would later play for Charlton, Swindon and Luton.