As a life long Imp and have suffered the indignation of relegation to none league twice, I know all the emotions you will be going through. It's a huge double edged sword being in the conference, on one edge:

The club will lose circa £1m of revenue, FA support and Tv money.There is virtually no away support for the vast majority of home matches more lost revenue. The the drop in finances was so dramatic that many a loyal employee lost thier job at Sincil Bank, for no fault of thier own, the youth academy had to close too as the FA do not fund it outside the FL. The former bit the club on the bum this season as the infrastructure was not there to meet the ticket demand. Part of the ground, the Stacey West Stand had to be mothballed only being reopened in the second half of this season. In the first couple of seasons the Imps flirted with relegation to the NLN. Its well documented that Stockport and York took strong laxatives and exited the Div in double quick time and Kiddy didn't take much longer to leave it in the wrong direction. The single season bounce backs are not as common as they used to be, with only Cheltenham and Bristol Rovers achieving this feat in recent years. The average tenure for a former league club in the NL/Conference is I believe five to six before they return to the league, however Wrexham are setting new rules on this. I don't se them troubling the POs next season either given there fiscal woes, they now have to train on local Council pitches.

It is a brutal league in so many ways, not least only one direct promotion place Tranmere who amassed a huge 95 points a gave the Imps a run for our lives are consigned to the play-offs, in the FL that would have been an outright promotion spot. Not to mention the bank-rolled clubs like Eastliegh, Fylde, FGR (yes I believe FGR will a NL club next season) et al. FGR playing budget would be a credible L1 budget. Indifferent pitches (plus two 3G pitches), dubious refereeing and so on... It also a condensed season compared to L2 with relatively high percenatge of mid-week matches. Up until Christmas it is a treadmill of Saturday Tuesday, Saturday Tuesday.

On the other edge you get to meet some great grass root suporters, clubs and some fantastic away days - at a goodly proportion of the grounds there is no segregration and virtually no trouble, how football should be. With agreement the club can choose it's own Boxing Day and NYD fixtures. You should enjoy lots of Tv coverage via BT sports excellant coverage of the NL. the downs side there is the pittance they pay for live coverage, I believe its circa £8k for the home side and £4k for the away side. There should be free to air live, ball by ball commentary via your local BBC station. You'll undoubtedly get great coverage in the excellent Non-League Paper

You are in the fortunate position of having by NL standards a healthy parachute payment, use it wisely and you'll do alright.

Hopefully, Tranmere will be promoted through the POs, they deserve it, if the unimaginable happens I would expect them to waltz the league next season.

Treat the NL with respect and you'll be just dandy, and lastly its not the end of the World!

~Dave the Cardboard Box.

If cheltenham can make a quick return, after seeing them the other week i cant see no reason why we cant. Providing we get rid of the cancer in the club.

Thanks for that Mr Box, good read.

It's impossible to say how we'll do given we are a rudderless ship and absolutely no idea what the playing staff is going tio look like.

I read the NLP now pretty regularly - it is a decent read - just never thought I'd be reading about Pools in it

Brilliant post very eye opening and informative.

Cheers.!!!

Cheltenham, are an interesting case they literally threw everything at getting out the NL at first attempt basically mortgaging themselves up to hilt to do so, including an astute managerial appointment that came with a price tag. When they arrived in the promised land of L2 they had virtually nothing to spend, thats why I suspect they struggled this season. That said it worked, but it's an incredibly risky strategy, it could have easily backfired had they not gone up first season they could easily have gone the way of Kiddy who did something similar.

It reputed that FGR playing budget is well north of £3m pa. they wrote off in excess of £5m last financial year.

Wrexham one season amassed 98 points and are still in the league.

~ Dave the Card Board Box

Great read and hope Lincoln do a Brizzle Rovers to L2 next season - there were a lot of very average sides in the division this year that we somehow managed to struggle against.

It will be a massive relief when we know that there IS a playing budget for next season here at Pools, assuming that the parachute payment doesn't disappear into the same black hole (with pocket lint) as all the money that came into the club in 2016/17.

Full accounts need to be published for the last year so we can find out what happened to the money the fans put in etc.

I believe the parachute payments are £475k for the first season and £240k for the second season, Chetlenham and Tranmere were the first two clubs to benefit from this increased rate.

~ Dave the Cardboard Box.

One went straight back up, the other look like they're going to go up 1 season later. Dagenham finished 4th straight after dropping down but what happened to York?!

Unfortunately I doubt the club itself will benefit from the first parachute payment at least.

They are more next season, it's the first time that the two relegated clubs will get exactly the same as we would in the League.

Edit; http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/34738830

It's actually the 2nd season.

Great read Dave, thanks for posting!

Thanks Dave , enjoyed that.

As for people been surprised at Cheltenham bouncing straight back. I put that down to them having a non league type side when they were in league 2, long ball, physical, big man up front. That in my opinion is our biggest obstacle, adjusting our playing style to suit non league, though maybe not as direct as it used to be, there is still a difference to league football. Given that our main downfall in the season just finished , was a lack of toughness/aggression and height, particularly in midfield, we have a lot of work to do, to get the team ready for the rough and tumble of the National League. The same team minus Carson and Thomas could quite easily go down again,so not necessarily the best players but the right players to do a short term job, need to be signed if we are to challenging next season.

Thats a 2015 article, I believe figures I quoted are there or there abouts.

Beware of the cloggers that are Barrow AFC, another bank-rolled club. Albeit Casson's investment appears to be drying up and thier failure to invest in the Jan transfer window cost them a real shot at the play offs this season. Holker St is a none league hell hole, nothing has changed since they were kicked out of the league 50 years ago - the floodlights are absolutely awful, the bogs are awful, the beer is awful,the journey is awful, the whole experience is awful - its just like being in a scene in Life on Mars.

~ Dave the Cardboard Box

I thought it was a lot more than that, I'm sure I read this season League Two clubs receive £800,000 from the FL, I presumed if in year one it's a 100% we would get that? Unless that figure includes the so called solidarity payment that filters down from the Premier League TV deal? I assumed that was all in?

Holker Street still the same ! That's just made my day, looking forward to going there then. Actually would be nice first game of season, tied in with a couple of nites in The Lakes.

Holker Street still the same ! That's just made my day, looking forward to going there then. Actually would be nice first game of season, tied in with a couple of nites in The Lakes.[/quote]
It was awful last time I was there in 1988..I seem to remember they didn't like us for some reason.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Not quite the same the roofs have been removed from all the open terracing. Not a place to be on a wet Tuesday night in Jan.

~ Dave the Cardboard Box

So,it's just like Darlo then.

Are there still a few part-timers down there?

7 at the last count.

Sutton United.

Maidstone United (planning on going full time next season).

Guiseley.

Dover (fake part timers given the wages some of the players are on).

Bromley.

Boreham Wood.

Solihull Moors.

+ those clubs coming up NL North and South

Don't be fooled part time players in the NL are earning top end League 1 wages.

~ Dave the Cardboard Box

When did Woking go full time?

Barrow is a hell hole and the ground is well suited to that place. Awful place to visit and yet just a few miles up the road is probably the most beautiful area in England!

Where ? Workington ?

I knew you were using a bit of poetic licence, but I get your point. Our ground wasn't much kop in 1972, in fact the grounds at Barrow , Workington and Southport were arguably better. Thankfully ours has improved, whilst those 3 have seen their grounds butchered. With our luck we wont get Barrow in August , more likely to be a Tuesday in November or February.

I am sorry to correct Dave the Cardboard Box
Sutton United full time
Bromley train 3 days a week will be 4 next season.
Dover were but training 3 days a week next season.
Boreham Wood full time
Maidstone full time next season

Newport County fan in peace , I'd just like to endorse Dave the Cardboard Box's views of life " down there ". Let's face it L2 is no promised land, it's the news coverage and the cash that's worth having perhaps but not much else apart from one or two exciting fixtures.
Like Dave , I enjoyed the lack of segregation at many grounds and a bit of fun chatting to fans of other clubs. Agree with him also about the nl paper, really good, sign up for it now as there's never enough of them in the supermarkets in my experience.
I'm not here to gloat , it could easily have been us ( and probably will be soon as we're trust owned with no cash ) and I'm glad we stayed up because relegation might have finished us but tbh the standard is often not much difference to L2. The referees are just as bad or even worse and some of the grounds are pretty ropey, though I can't really say much about that given our hovel and it's beach volleyball surface.
My advice would be that you need men in the team not boys, it's a tough old division and hope that sometime soon that sanity prevails and it becomes 4 up 4 down because the current system is totally unfair. What irks is that there are clubs like fgr with very few fans but a millionaire willing to bankroll them into the league, a crap idea ( that admittedly we benefited from until he went back to his tropical island ) because when they go up they'll be faced with the wage cap though I suppose other clubs ( Fleetwood? ) have found ways around it.
All the best lads, hope to see you soon ( in the league though not in the conference! ) . Chins up, it's not as bad as you think but it won't be easy.

Remember seeing watching Newport at Swindon Athletic and Swindon Supermarine in the late 80s and mid 90s. Lets hope we don't have to ever start right at the bottom. Fair play to you lot, you got there in the end, though imagine you could yo yo between league 2 and what is essentially league 3 or division 5 , whatever we want to call it. I can see us being similar if we don't bounce back stronger within 2 seasons. Going out of the league isn't the end of the world like it was for Barrow and Workington etc, but these days unlike then, there is every chance a team could disappear altogether, eg Hereford, Scarborough, Darlo, Maidstone.

People keep talking about clubs dissapearing altogether, in fairness very very few have done that over the years. I can't remember all the teams who have folded etc, but of those who have gone bust/disappeared, most are back at a senior level:

Accrington Stanley - League 2
Bradford Park Avenue -National League North
Maidstone United - National League
Hereford United - Southern League Premier
Scarborough - NPL North
Darlington - National League North
Aldershot - National league
Wimbledon - League one
Gretna - Scottish lowland league
Rushden and Diamonds - NPL division one south
Workington - NPL North, although I don't think they ever went bust.

Of those who didn't make it back from a senior/relatively senior level I can only think of:

Third Lanark - Scottish league One
Meadowbank Thistle - Scottish league 2 (as was) - Wimbledon scenario - now known as Livingstone.
Clydebank - Scottish league 2 (as was)
Runcorn - Conference powerhouse in the 1980's
Enfield - Major non league side in the 1980's
New Brighton - Ex football league
Fisher Athletic - Ex conference, ran by the docklands drug lords in the 1980's
Colne Dynamos - Came from park football to what is now the conference North, won it, the FA wouldn't accept their ground was up to scratch, so the mega rich owner pulled the plug, end of fairytale (all this in less than six years)

Sorry to any other teams I have overlooked.

I can't express how good BT Sports coverage of the NL is, that is something I shall miss next season. In the 6 years the Imps were none league we must have have been televised around 30 times. If The Imps had been the staple of L2 during that period its likely we would not featured in one televised match. The BT Sports highlights programme which they put up on You Tube is good too. I reckon your first NL match will be prime for a televised match.

~Dave the Cardboard Box

If you're going to be pedantic, I will have to remind you that Runcorn did make it back, currently play in NW Counties league. What I meant was that some teams such as Hereford, Scarborough, Maidstone did disappear, albeit temporarily before being reformed.

"If you're going to be pedantic, I will have to remind you that Runcorn did make it back, currently play in NW Counties league. What I meant was that some teams such as Hereford, Scarborough, Maidstone did disappear, albeit temporarily before being reformed."

I was merely trying to inject some positiveness into a conversation that had the potential to become an obituary.

Ok, fair enough, but we are grieving, it is like a bereavement. You are right, it isn't the end of the world it used to be. We could come back, but my worry is , even if we did, we may become a yo - yo club, flitting between league 2 and Non League. Now the chain has been broken, 96 years in the Football League, I cant see us bouncing back and staying there for any length of time. There are those who are looking forward to some new venues , a Boxing Day game away at Tranmere or Mansfield might pull in 7 or 8 thousand, that would be good, a wet Tuesday night at Boreham Wood maybe not so. There are those who think we may do a Newcastle and take over grounds and win games at a canter, that would be good too and an added bonus, but given our off the field problems cant see it happening myself. After a couple of seasons the novelty wears off, crowds drop off both home and away, and then you start to be defined as a Non League club, such as Wrexham are starting to become. That's what saddens me.

Mansfield!? We'll have a job.

I'd imagine the way the National League fixtures work we'll play Gateshead on Boxing Day then again on New Years Day.

I was using a bit poetic licence PJ, could hardly have Gateshead down for 7 or 8 thousand could I?

Anyway this is Pools were talking about. What's the betting we are the first National League club to play 300 miles away at somewhere like Eastleigh on Boxing Day?.

I think it's always your most local fixture. I'd imagine we'll still take loads to Gateshead, not sure about home support.

Do they still have plans to move to an actual football ground in the Town Centre? Purely on population I've always thought they must be a club with a bit of potential and playing in an athletics stadium has never helped.

I know, but things change , as they did in league football. Just realised as well Mansfield are in league 2, but you knew what I meant.

The Gateshead new ground hit the buffers for now, and it seems they are happy enough to play at the Stadium for now. You would think they would have the potential, I used to think so, not so sure now, Gateshead seems like a town that has had its heart ripped out, with most happy to go to watch NUFC or SAFC. South Shields does seem to have a heart and a fanbase with a bit of passion and would currently fancy them to get into the FL before Gateshead.

Just to interject. We (Wrexham) are in a good place financially. After being systematically stripped of our assets by our previous owner, left to die and coming close to liquidation, we are now debt free, run at break even, we have secured our ground on a 99 year lease and now have secured our own training ground after being without one for 7 years. Despite flirting with relegation for much of the season our crowds held up well at an average of almost 4,000, and our playing budget has been increased for next season.

We were in terrible shape when we came down to the conference and it has taken years of work and fan ownership to sort the mess out. It shows what can be done with hard work and sheer bloody mindedness. No matter how bad things look now Hartlepool will eventually sort things out too.

Thank you, sincerely, Mr McGhee.

Spot on Dave.
League 2: payment from the EFL of c475k and 420k from the PL
Conference:
Year 1: payment from the EFL of 475k nothing from the PL
Year 2: 50% payment from the EFL

the problems with the conference are many. some of the clubs like guiseley are probebly happy to be there as its the highest they,ve ever got and are quite happy to stuff ex league clubs who have a billy big bollocks attitude about em. then you,ve got bankrolled sides where money is no object to gain success. then some of the grounds and pitches you play on leave a lot to be desired and that,s when you actually find em. my lad is a stockport county fan and has hated visiting some of the places he goes too where lack of segregation and home fans taking the piss is hard to take. lets hope the new manager will be up to the job as there are players out there to get pools up but others to take em further down as stockport and york have proved. its not all about the money although it does help.

I bet none of them have pitches as bad as newport and cheltenham though. Were used to getting beat on bad pitches.

Over the same period there will be a reduction of circa £2m plus from solidarity payments and any other FA enhancements.

~ Dave the Cardboard Box

The good news for you chaps three of the poorer pitches have exited the Division in Braintree, NFU and Southport, the later was more akin to a rugby pitch and Braintree was perenially under water. The Gateshead pitch is poor as it is grass laid over concrete base and has drainage issues. One season the Heed to had to play home games away such was the back log in fixtures due to thier pitch and were playing home games as far as field as Boston. The Eastliegh pitch is was nothing to write home about either, although they have thrown money at it to improve in recent years. Both Sutton and Maidstone have 3G pitches and amazingly have good home records.

I disagree with our friend from Livingstone Road, where the grounds are not segregated, other than friendly banter most are extremely welcoming - Solihull Moors despite the complete lack of parking is extremely friendly.

~ Dave the Cardboard Box

A rare breath of sunshine through troubled waters (ok it a mixed metaphor, but you know what I mean).

All power to you Wrecsam boys - good luck next season (but be kind to us newbies!)

I disagree with our friend from Livingstone Road, where the grounds are not segregated, other than friendly banter most are extremely welcoming - Solihull Moors despite the complete lack of parking is extremely friendly.

~ Dave the Cardboard Box[/quote]
might find the stewards and people who run the club being more friendly but a lot of non league fans will actually ask you who do you really support as a lot of em support other league clubs. its a funny old scene, but you,ve still got barrow which is really a film set for a 1940,s horror film and still in black and white.