WHO WILL LEAD WAY THIS TIME?
THE 2016-2017 season will kick off very soon and I will be enjoying my duties of recording the statistics of the senior leagues and their clubs for the 40th edition of the Non-League Club Directory, which will be put together by my son Michael and published next summer.
The 40th edition will obviously be a bit special for us, but we are also going to discuss some of the changes (good and bad) that we feel have affected the world of Non-League football in the last 40 seasons.
The structure of the Non-League pyramid, attendances, FA Cup giant killing, match-day programmes, sportsmanship, refereeing, representative football, FA Trophy and FA Vase, the general spirit within semi-professional clubs and the influence of the Football Association, are all subjects that we hear being discussed. The world of Non-League football has changed in so many ways since our first little handbook was published in 1978, but what do YOU think?
We will be interested to know your views –the good and not so good.
Please send them to t.williams320@btinternet.com
It was obvious last season that the Isthmian League was certainly the place to see goals.
And one of their number, East Thurrock United, proved to be the club with the most goals.
Their fixtures produced the largest all-round total of goals, including the opposition’s, and they scored more penalties than any
other senior club.
Their wonderful season was rewarded with promotion through the play-offs and, right from the start of the season, when they scored in their first 31 games, it was obvious that a special campaign was unfolding.
The Rocks failed to score in only three of their 56 matches and, of course, they had Non-League football’s leading scorer in Sam Higgins with 45 goals, though he was well supported by Tom Wraight with 22 and Lewis Smith with 20.What a season! Finishing the campaign with equal style and success were National South champions Sutton United, who – with 26 league games to play – were in tenth position. But they managed 21 more victories and two consecutive runs of five clean sheets, to clinch a very well-deserved promotion as champions. During the close season, I have enjoyed presenting some original stats for The Non-League Paper and, as this is my last contribution this summer, I thought it might be fun to suggest a list of stats (right) we could all look out for during the coming season. See if you can forecast where the goals will be scored this season.