Non-leaguers in waiting?

NOBODY will thank you for saying it, but there a number of current Football League clubs that are really non-league clubs just visiting. Likewise, there is a growing band of non-leaguers that may eventually go back to the League – someday.

Today, scrambling near the bottom of the table are Yeovil Town and York City. While York have had a chequered recent history, they certainly look like a non-league club in many ways – although if they move to a new ground, that could make for a more sustainable Football League outfit.

Yeovil Town, however, are a local institution that you thought would make a long-term career out of the Football League. For years, they were one of those clubs you felt were too big and too clever to be outside the 92 for ever. Football students will tell you that, as a non-league club, Yeovil had that famous Sunderland FA Cup giant-killing in their back pocket to underline their credentials. They also had a big catchment area, so if they did get up, they would enjoy good gates – that was the theory.

But Yeovil seem to be on a downward spiral at present. They finished bottom of League One last season and they’re one off the foot of League Two – they are in the drop zone. And they have just sacked manager Paul Sturrock. This is Yeovil’s 13^th League campaign, but they have suffered two relegations since arriving in the Championship in 2013-14. What has gone wrong?

Their chairman, John Fry, told the BBC a few weeks ago that climbing into the Championship cost the club dearly. It’s a message to clubs that find themselves promoted out of their depth. Defeat follows defeat and it becomes habit-forming. Yeovil, to quote Fry, have to turn it around or they will be going into the National League. After years trying to move up from non-league that would be heartbreaking for Glovers’ fans.

Dagenham & Redbridge have been written off a few times in their relatively short Football League career. When they won promotion from the Conference, in 2007, not many people felt they would last a second campaign, but they also enjoyed a year in League One.  With London over-clubbed, Dagenham are too close for comfort to West Ham and Leyton Orient and their attendances barely get to 2,000 (current av. 1,800).

Barnet have had something of a yo-yo existence with the Football League – promotion in 2015 was their third to the League. Their old ground, Underhill, was always a hindrance for them, but the Hive has given them a new lease of life. They are now averaging 2,300 at their new ground.

Barnet’s Hertfordshire cousins, Stevenage, may have Teddy Sheringham as they boss, but the former England man is having a tough debut year in charge at the Lamex Stadium. It has always been a question of how long Stevenage can sustain League football on the gates they have, but this is a club that just 20 years ago was playing local derbies with the likes of Hitchin and St.Albans.

Morecambe, when they won promotion to the Football League, were scarcely well supported. Crowds at their functional stadium are just 1,600 at the moment, that’s non-league level and a thousand below their 2008 level.  Having visited Crawley recently, I felt the club was also very much in a non-league mode, the main difference being the enhanced security requirements.

AFC Wimbledon, for all the emotion surrounding their history and divorce from the MK Dons, are a club that was playing at a very low non-league level just a few years ago. They are getting 4,000 through the gate and they have big ambitions of a new ground, boosted by their links with Chelsea. You have to assume they will continue to survive in the Football League.

I am not so sure about Accrington Stanley, although we all love that name. Having visited them recently, I sensed that they are really in a non-league club punching above their weight. Good for them, but with gates of 1,500 it is really unsustainable.

In League One, there’s a couple of clubs who you feel may find their wings start to drip a little as they fly higher. Fleetwood Town, with an excellent ground and set-up, and Burton Albion, may fall into this category. I hope not, because I have visited both and got a good feeling from my trip.

Conversely, there are some National League clubs that are just biding their time to get back: Cheltenham, Grimsby, Wrexham, Lincoln City and Tranmere will all be hoping that their exile from the Football League is temporary.

Of course, the rise of the minnows is nothing but a tribute to the clubs that manage to outreach their potential. We are seeing a lot of this at the moment, and it is good for the game, but there’s also a message for those that live beyond their means, either by design or by accident. Caution should be the watchword.

I fear for Yeovil and in the longer-term, Dagenham, Morecambe and Accrington. But the National League, despite its trapdoor effect, does provide a way back, too. The boundaries between League Two and National League seem to be blurring at a rapid pace.