SCRAMBLING FOR THE EFL
IT’S the nerve-jangling battle to reach the EFL which just keeps on giving with crazy games and staggering attendances
With six former Football League sides in the scrap to leave non-league football behind no wonder the buzz of excitement has reached fever pitch in the National League.
Last weekend’s barmpot game between ambitious Hollywoodbacked Wrexham and already relegated Dover which ended up with the Welsh side coming back from 5-2 down to win 6-5 with two goals coming in added time, has been viewed on YouTube more than 70,000 times.
That’s seven times more than Wrexham’s previous game against FC Halifax. Over the last month they have attracted around 100,000 new subscribers on their various social media platforms.
Home games regularly see more than 8,000 packed into the Racecourse Ground with Wrexham and Wales legend Mickey Thomas saying: “There is a fantastic feelgood factor around the town since Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds (above) bought the club.
“The home games have been sell outs and the amount of fans they take away is phenomenal.
“If anyone deserves success and a place back in the Football League it’s the Wrexham fans.”
And for Tinseltown’s duo League Two couldn’t come soon enough with the club posting a loss of £1.177million for their last financial year adding to a £740,000 deficit over the previous 12 months.
Without the pair’s backing any dreams of ending a 14-year Football League exile would be futile.
The same could be said of current leaders Stockport County, who through owner Mark Stott’s largesse, are odds on favourites to take the one automatic place.
That leaves Wrexham, Chesterfield, FC Halifax, Notts County and Grimsby, plus two clubs who have never been in the Football League, FA Cup giantkillers Boreham Wood and Solihull Moors, to scrap it out in the play-offs.
Last week Stott bankrolled the club’s first-ever plane flight for a fixture on the south coast against Eastleigh.
One Premier League player taking a big interest in Stockport’s progress is Manchester United keeper Dean Henderson, who had a loan spell at Edgeley Park.
He said: “Playing at that level is probably harder than playing in the Premier League as a goalkeeper.
“It’s tough, rough and ready and you’ve got to take it on the chin.”
The importance of promotion is plain to see in the 10,334 fans who watched Chesterfield’s visit to Notts County.
And Grimsby Town brought in just under 5,000 at home to Dagenham and Redbridge.
Only three clubs, Ipswich Town, Sheffield Wednesday and Bradford City had bigger crowds in League One and League Two than Notts County last weekend.