BOTTLENECK WILL ONLY GET WORSE, SAYS CHIEF

A LEADING league official has vowed to continue pressing The FA to be more pragmatic when it allocates clubs to divisions, writes ANDY SIMPSON.

If they don’t, warns North West Counties League chairman Paul Lawler, then the game’s governing body risks receiving a higher number of appeals against lateral movement this time next year.

“I realise those tasked with deciding are doing a huge jigsaw with lots of pieces,” Lawler said after a week of controversy following the shifting of long-standing members Congleton Town, Winsford United and Northwich Victoria to the Midland League. “And it’s not as straightforward as people assume to put them together.

“When the latest restructure was proposed a couple of years ago, we raised the prospect of potential problems in our region. Now, it needs an intervention.” The Step 5 North West Counties League Premier Division will consist of a highest-ever 24 teams next season, while the Midland League houses just 18, including their new trio.

“We are oversubscribed,” admitted chief Lawler. “As things stand, the footprint of our league is moving north. If nothing changes, I can see sides from south Manchester being moved in the future.” Circumstances this season certainly have not helped. Champions Vauxhall Motors and inter-step play-offs winners Avro have been promoted to the Northern Premier League, replaced by relegated Ramsbottom United and Colne. However, a defeat for Glossop North End in their winner-takes-all play-off against Ashington, together with Skelmersdale

United’s demotion as punishment for failing ground grading, swelled the pool of teams whose most obvious destination; the NWCL Premier. An across-step reprieve for Burscough as one of the best-placed bottom two clubs on points-per-game, filling a vacancy created by the resignation of Cadbury Heath from the Western League, added to the logjam.

Four teams promoted from the level below, split equally between two Step 6 divisions operated by the North West Counties League, are indicative of a structural imbalance the league’s management committee want addressing. Lawler added: “There remains an open line of communication between us and the FA, but so far there’s no resolution.”

One option would be to relegate four teams from the league’s Premier Division, instead of two. However, the FA is thought to be worried that might cause a ripple effect with unintended consequences. The creation of an additional division at Step 5 in the north west, replacing one further south to maintain a perfect pyramid, is a more radical alternative. “This issue won’t go away on its own,” said Lawler.

“A tweak is all that’s required, and we remain supportive of the pyramid’s outline as it is.

“There are one or two fundamental problems that have emerged, and the FA’s insistence on being prescriptive on numbers – with the honest intention of being fair – is where we think there’s wriggle room.

“The potential for lateral movement has been discussed at meetings and minuted, so that shouldn’t have come as a surprise.”