A FAREWELL TO THE NATIONAL LEAGUE

Journeys that I’ll miss – and some that I won’t...

RELEGATION affects different people in different ways. Tears, anger, despondency; these are all natural reactions when your club drops down a league.

However, after five seasons of treading water, when Chester FC finally slipped out of the National League following a routine 2-0 home defeat to Tranmere, the mood at The Deva was one of almost total indifference, so long had the inevitability been hanging over us.

Some months later, the reality has sunk in that next season will be a very different tour, the drop from national to regional football, being the cruellest of all for those of us who live in the suth but support a team in the north.

One of the great benefits, for me at least, of the reformed Chester FC regaining their place at Non-League’s top table was the number of games practically on my doorstep.

While storming the North on the way up was an enjoyable novelty, heading back to it as a relegated club represents a grim reality, and I now face the daunting prospect of discovering where and indeed what Spennymoor is. Suffice to say that unless somebody offers me an enormous amount of money to write another book, I won’t be doing The Card again.

But I’m looking forward to the fixtures coming out and the prospect of new experiences in distant lands. And I’m coping really well. I’ll just leave this here…