We reflect on some of the most memorable moments from a glorious decade
IT’S been a decade of thrills and spills – from Vase hattricks to FA Cup quarter-finals with some notable rises and downfalls in between.
In the first of a series of features over the festive period, we take a look back at some of the highlights and reflect on a decade to remember...
LINCOLN CITY AND SUTTON FA CUP RUNS
IT STARTED with a goalless draw against Guiseley but even after winning the replay, Lincoln City fans would never have dreamt of where their 2016-17 FA Cup journey would take them.
Under brothers Danny and Nicky Cowley, the Imps were rejuvenated as the city fell in love with its football team all over again thanks to the romance of the cup.
A third round replay win against Ipswich Town was followed by beating another Championship side, Brighton & Hove Albion, in round four.
Next up was an away date with Premier League Burnley where Sean Raggett’s late goal saw Lincoln become the first Non-League side in the FA Cup quarter-final in 103 years.
Straight after the game, the Cowleys appeared in the Match of the Day studio as Cup fever swept the Imps.
It culminated in a famous day against giants Arsenal backed by more than 9,000 travelling supporters.
Lincoln’s National League companions Sutton United also played the Gunners in the previous round. Paul Doswell’s side knocked out Cheltenham, AFC Wimbledon and Leeds United in a remarkable FA Cup campaign that did Non-League football proud.
LEYTON ORIENT
LEYTON ORIENT’S NonLeague stay was only two seasons but winning the National League title was a true display of all the emotion that went into it.
Following their relegation from the Football League in 2016, there was a very real threat to the clubs’ future on the back of a tyrannous ownership regime.
But taken over by American-based Nigel Travis and Kent Teague, the O’s began looking forward.
Off the pitch, at least. On the pitch was a struggle until the arrival of Justin Edinburgh partway through their debut Non-League campaign.
At the end of the second they were celebrating promotion. Edinburgh and his management staff turned a flagging team into title winners in less than 12 months. It was a hard-working side moulded to Edinburgh’s character as they sealed top spot with a final day draw against Braintree Town.
No one would have foreseen the tragedy that would follow a little more than a month later when Edinburgh suffered a cardiac arrest while in the gym and passed away five days later.
The former Rushden & Diamonds and Newport County boss will be forever remembered as one of the finest managers Orient – and Non-League – ever had.
JAMIE VARDY
SPEAK to any young NonLeague footballer with dreams of making it into the Football League and beyond and they will pretty quickly sight Jamie Vardy.
At the start of the decade he’d just joined FC Halifax Town from Stocksbridge Park Steels. The striker helped the Shaymen to promotion the Conference North before Fleetwood Town came calling.
A scintillating year for the Cod Army had the striker marked out as the hottest property around. His 31 goals fired Fleetwood to the title – and won him The NLP’s Player of the Year gong at the National Game Awards – before he moved to Leicester City.
Vardy won the Championship with the Foxes before being a leading figure in one of English football’s most remarkable stories as they lifted the Premier League title in 2015-16.
Capped by England 26 times, Vardy has also played in a World Cup and European Championships and is the poster boy for Non-League’s dreamers.
AFC WIMBLEDON
THERE’S football fairytales and then there’s AFC Wimbledon!
It’s almost impossible not to be touched by the plight of Wimbledon FC who, in 2004, were moved 90 minutes to Milton Keynes, forcing the disgruntled supporters of the abandoned club to form the AFC Wimbledon as we know it today.
Fast forward five promotions in nine years and the Dons found themselves in the topflight of Non-League under the guidance of experienced manager Terry Brown.
A second place finish, behind champions Crawley Town, saw the Dons qualify for the playoffs where they created more history with an 8-1 aggregate victory over Fleetwood Town setting a record as the largest winning margin recorded since the Conference play-offs begun in 2002-03.
That set up a play-off final at the City of Manchester Stadium on May 21, 2011, and in front of a crowd of 18,195, Brown’s men beat Luton Town 4–3 in a penalty shoot-out, after the match had ended 0–0 in extra time, ensuring they become the first club formed in the 21st century to make it into the Football League.
They went one better with promotion to League One in 2016 – exactly 14 years after the club’s promotion – where the Dons remain today, under the stewardship of Glyn Hodges.
WHITLEY BAY
THE term ‘Treble Tops’ is more commonly found in darts – especially at this time of year – but in Non-League circles it was Whitley Bay who were the team very much hitting the target in the FA Vase.
The Northern League side made their first trip to Wembley in 2009, with goals from club legends Lee Kerr and Paul Chow sealing a 2-0 win over Glossop North End.
They returned 12 months later to thump Wroxham 6-1 in the final – a game which saw Chow make some history of his own by scoring on 21 seconds – the fastest recorded goal in Wembley
history, both in the new stadium and the old.
And, in 2010-11, Ian Chandler’s Vase kings completed the hat-trick with a 3-2 win over Coalville Town in front of a crowd of 8,778 with that man Chow at the forefront again, scoring twice to seal a record fourth Vase success.
“I’m absolutely over the moon, it means everything,” Chow said pitchside afterwards. “It feels like there’s 80,000 when you score a goal in this stadium, it’s absolutely brilliant.”
HEREFORD FC
THE CLUB motto of the old Hereford United was “Our greatest glory lies not in never having fallen, but in rising when we fall”. How apt that was to prove.
On June 10, 2014 – just six weeks after the club had thought they had escaped relegation from the top-flight with a dramatic final-day victory at Aldershot – cash-strapped Hereford were expelled from the Conference with debts said to be totalling £1.3 million.
The club was accepted into the Southern League Premier Division for the 2014–15 season but on
December 19, 2014, the club was eventually wound up in the High Court following a petition by HM Revenue and Customs.
Following its demise, phoenix club Hereford FC was set up and from their famous Edgar Street ground they began life at Step 5 in the Midland Premier League.
Promotion in their first season, with a record 108 points and a stunning goal difference of +105, saw the Bulls charge back into the Southern League where they went on to breeze through Steps 4 and 3 in successive years with similar gusto under popular boss Peter Beadle.
Beadle’s reign came to a surprising end in September 2018 but the Bulls are still more than holding their own in National League North with a famous Football League return still very much in their sights.
SALFORD CITY
MARCH 2014 was the month that changed everything for Salford City.
The Ammies were simply treading water in Northern Premier League Division One North until news broke of a takeover involving Manchester United’s Class of 92 legends Gary and Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes. It made them the envy of Non-League clubs everywhere.
Officially taking over in the summer, Giggs set a 15year target for the Ammies to reach the dizzy heights of the Championship, backed by Singapore-based billionaire Paul Lim, who purchased 50 per cent of the club’s shares from the quintet in September 2014.
Their reign started with a 13-match unbeaten run in 201415 season and the Ammies never looked back, going onto lift the title in their first year before winning the Premier Division play-offs in 2016.
In the meantime, the club was featured in the BBC One series Class of 92: Out of Their League which was commissioned for a second series in February 2016. Then, a year later, the newly-named Peninsula Stadium was unveiled, opened by the Class of ‘92’s former manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Success continued on the field too with the National League North title following swiftly in the 2017–18 campaign before the Football League dream was realised after just one season in the top-flight following a National League playoff final victory over AFC Fylde at Wembley.
By this time, former England captain David Beckham was also on board, buying 10% of Lim’s shares, and backing an Ammies side more than holding their own in League Two under Graham Alexander.
NORWICH CITY 0 LUTON TOWN 1 - 26 JANUARY, 2013 – FA CUP FOURTH ROUND
SCOTT Rendell made history by scoring the Luton goal to become the first Non-League team to knock a Premier League side of out of the FA Cup.
Not since Sutton’s 2-1 victory over Coventry
City in 1989 had a top division side been beaten in the competition until Rendell struck ten minutes from time.
The Hatters had seen off Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers in the third round, but saved their best for Carrow Road.
Manager Paul Buckle made arguably his best substitution decisions of his career, seeing all three of his changes involved in the winning goal.
Stuart released JJ O’Donnell down the Norwich right hand side and he crossed perfectly for Rendell to stab in at the near post, sending 4,000 Luton fans into raptures.
The club became one of only nine Non-League teams since World War II to reach the fifth round.
“It hasn’t quite sunk in, this was an incredible performance,” said Buckle afterwards. “The club has had some really bad times. But we embrace its history — we are very aware of our heritage, and we’re keen to add to it. Here, we did.”
THE RISE AND FALL OF NORTH FERRIBY UNITED
JUST four years after dramatically winning the FA Trophy at Wembley, North Ferriby United were liquidated over an unpaid debt of £7,645.
Under the ownership of Eman and Steve Forster, the club won the Northern Premier League title in 2013 to reach the highest level they had played at. They then finished second in their first Conference North season, losing in the play-off semi-finals to Guiseley, but enjoyed more success the following season.
The Villagers reached the FA Trophy final where they trailed 2-0 to Conference Premier side Wrexham with 15 minutes remaining.
However, Liam King’s penalty gave them hope before substitute Ryan Kendall equalised late on to send the tie to extra-time. Kendall then put them in front before Louis Moult levelled with only two minutes left. But Billy Heath’s side won the penalty shootout 5-4 with goalkeeper Adam Nicklin the hero saving a spot kick in sudden death.
Then, 12 months later, Ferriby were celebrating another promotion after beating AFC Fylde in the play-off final to reach the top-tier of NonLeague.
Heath left the club that summer to join FC Halifax Town and United were relegated in their first National League season. With the club bottom of National League North, the Forster family transferred their ownership t o Jamie Waltham, and a second consecutive relegation was confirmed in March 2018.
Carl Chadwick took over that
summer although after plans to relocate and rename the club to East Hull failed, Ferriby was listed for sale a year later, but was wound up over a £7,645.25 debt which had been incurred since February 2017.
THE RISE OF SOUTH SHIELDS
SOUTH SHIELDS’ rise may have been temporarily halted last season but the Mariners have certainly put themselves back on the map.
Thearrivalof Geoff Thompson in 2015, who purchased the club’s old ground and moved them back in to the re-named Mariners Park, signalled the start of a new era.
A crowd of 650 turned out for their return home during pre-season that summer and their attendances have grown to, on average, 1,500 and even over 3,000 for some fixtures.
The 2015-16 season in the Northern League Division Two was their first of three consecutive titles, in which time they claimed 318 points and scored 361 league goals.
The club tempted former Sunderland and Middlesbrough midfielder Julio Arca out of retirement to sign and he played a key part in their success before retiring for good in May 2018.
In 2016-17, South Shields lost just one game in 55 matches across all competitions which included a staggering 32 consecutive wins and lifted the FA Vase at Wembley following a 4-0 victory over Cleethorpes Town.
They were beaten in last season’s Northern Premier League play-off final by Warrington Town but now lead the division as they look to continue their assent.
YORK CITY AND CAMBRIDGE UNITED WEMBLEY WINNERS 2012/2014
GARY Mills and Richard Money became kings of Wembley after winning both the FA Trophy and the Conference play-off final under the arch.
Mills achieved the feat first with York City in 2011, beating Newport County 2-0 thanks to second half goals from Matty Blair and Lanre Oyebanjo.
A week later, the club returned to East London to take on Luton Town for a place in the Football League.
City had finished two points above the Hatters in fourth place and had beaten Mansfield 2-1 on aggregate after extra time while Paul Buckle’s Luton saw off Wrexham 3-2 in their two-legged semi-final.
At Wembley, Andre Gray, now of Premier League Watford, gave Luton a second-minute lead before Ashley Chambers equalised in the first-half.
Matty Blair bagged York’s controversial winning goal two minutes after half-time from an offside position, but the strike stood to end the Minstermen’s eight-year exile from the Football League.
Ironically, Mills led the club to Wembley glory again in the FA Trophy in 2016, but this time it came three weeks after York had been relegated to National League North.
Cambridge also tasted double success at the home of football by comfortably beating Gosport Borough 4-0 in the Trophy.
Luton, under John Still, had run away with the Conference title, forcing Money’s side to settle for second place and the play-offs.
The U’s beat FC Halifax Town in the semi-finals 2-1, having lost the first leg, to set up a clash with Gary Mill’s Gateshead.
Liam Hughes put Cambridge in front shortly after half time and then Ryan Donaldson made it two although Jack Lester grabbed a goal back to setup a nervy final ten minute, but United held on.
MACCLESFIELD TOWN
AFTER one win in their first five National League games, Macclesfield Town appeared to be living up to their bill of relegation favourites.
Without the biggest budget in the league and rumblings of financial issues behind the scenes, the Silkmen went on to produce arguably the biggest shock in Conference history – the NonLeague version of the Leicester City fairytale.
Adored boss John Askey, who played for the club over 500 times, led them back to the Football League in style, securing the Championship by ten points over Tranmere Rovers.
From November 11th onwards, Macc lost just twice in 28 league games, clinching the title on the penultimate day of the season with a 2-0 win at Eastleigh.
Experienced midfielder Danny Whitaker was superb throughout the campaign – and named The
NLP’s Player of the Year – while left-back David Fitzpatrick, who played for New Mills and Southport, realised his League dream with an outstanding season in a solid defence.
Scott Wilson finished as the club’s top scorer with 14 goals with wing wizard Elliott Durrell putting most of them on a plate.
“They will always be remembered,” said Askey on the pitch at Eastleigh. “You can have all the money you want, you can go and play for teams for money.
“But it’s about winning things. No matter what happens in their life, the people of Macclesfield will always remember this team, this squad. Money can’t buy that.”