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April 28, 2011

England, Non-League Football/6th Level – Conference North: the 1 promoted club, and the 4 play-off clubs.

Filed under: 2010-11 English Football,Eng-6th level — admin @ 7:00 pm

england_conference-north_may2011_the-1-promoted-club_and-4-playoff-clubs_post_.gif
2010-11 Conference North, top of the table


Play-off Final result – AFC Telford United 3-2 Guiseley AFC, at New Bucks Head in Telford, Shropshire, attendance 5,436.
From Bluesqfootball.com, ‘AFC Telford 3-2 Guiseley‘.

1st Leg match reports (from the Football Conference site, from 4th May,2011)…
[Nuneaton Town 1-1 AFC Telford United, at Liberty Way in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, attendance 2,089]
Advantage AFC Telford After First-Leg‘.
[Guiseley 1-0 Boston United, at Nethermoor in Guiseley, Greater Leeds, West Yorkshire, attendance 1,022]
Lions Take Slender Lead Into Second Leg‘.
2nd Leg match reports …
[AFC Telford 2-1 Nuneaton Town / Aggregate 3-2 to AFC Telford United. At New Bucks Head in Telford, Shropshire, attendance 3,442.]
AFC Telford Win Through to Host Final’.
[Boston United 3-2 Guiseley in AET / Aggregate 3-3...Decided by Penalties: won by Guiseley, 3-2. At York Street, Boston, Lincolshire, attendance 2,640.]
Guiseley are Spot-On

The Conference North ends it’s 2010-11 season on Saturday, but the promoted club – Alfreton Town – and the 4 play-off clubs have already been determined. Eastwood Town (currently in 4th place in the table) was ruled to have a ground that did not meet the criteria for Conference National standards, so they will not be in the play-offs regardless. That left the door open for the Greater Leeds-based club Guiseley AFC (currently in 6th place). Guiseley were in the 7th Level last season, and draw around 400 per game, so if Guiseley were to win promotion to the Conference, it would definitely be a case of a club punching above their weight. The same would not be said of the other 3 clubs in the play-offs here, particularly in the case of Boston United, who have history in the League (with 5 seasons in League Two, from 2002-03 to 2006-07), and are drawing over 1,300 per game this season. As for the other two clubs in the play-offs here, Nuneaton Town have drawn around 900 per game this season, and AFC Telford United have drawn around 1,800 per game this season. Telford lead the Conference North in attendance. The other thing about AFC Telford United is that Telford itself, which serves in some respects as as a bedroom community for the West Midlands and the city of Birmingham (it being 45 km./28 milles west of Birmingham), is a pretty large municipality for this level. Telford is a new town and is one of the fastest growing towns in the UK, with a population of around 162,000 {2009 estimate}. Telford is Shropshire’s largest town. It really has the potential to be the home of a lower-League club, and AFC Telford has the facilities to match such a potential, as the New Bucks Head is a pretty nice ground. The Wolverhampton Wanderers reserves play there, and the New Bucks Head is generally considered to one of the best Non-League grounds in the country. Here is a report on a visit there from the Tims92 site, ‘AFC Telford United, New Bucks Head [July, 2005]‘.

This is the first time I have covered the 6th Level play-offs. Sunday I will have the corresponding map for the other 6th Level league, the Conference South.

At the upper left of the map page is the promoted club, Alfreton Town, with club info, 2010-11 kits, and 3 photos of their Impact Arena (North Street) ground. Below Alfreton Town on the map page are the 4 play-of clubs, with club info, 2010-11 kits, and 2 photos of their grounds. On the map itself, the 5 clubs’ locations are shown. At the upper right on the map page are the 2010-11 and 2009-10 average attendances of the 5 clubs.

Derbyshire’s Alfreton Town lost last season in the play-off final to Fleetwood Town, so their clinching of this season’s title is a natural progression. Next season will be Alfreton Town’s first-ever in the 5th Level, and their chairman has confirmed that the club intends to have their squad go full-time, in stages {see this, ‘Reds facing some big decisions following promotion to the top flight”, from ThisIsNottingham.co.uk}.

Alfreton’s manager is Nicky Law (senior). Alfreton Town, known as the Reds, had been usually drawing between 600 to 800 per game this season, but they pulled in 1,364 at their Impact Arena on 23rd April, when they clinched promotion with a 4-nil victory over Redditch United. [Those 4 goals included a brace scored by the Conference North's leading scorer, the Nottingham-born Liam Hearn, who has scored 25 league goals for the Reds this season.] The gate figure at that match was Alfreton Town’s highest in 45 years. It is hoped the crowd size will be similar Saturday, when promotion-chasing Nuneaton Town visit.
Below are photos from Alfreton Town’s promotion-clinching match on 23rd April [note: click on images below to see an enlarged version]…
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Photo credits – all 6 photos by Dave Purseglove [aka kevmiles1] at Flickr.com, here.
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Below, are photo credits from the map page, along with a link to all 5 clubs’ official sites-
Alfreton Town [ http://www.alfretontownfc.com/ ]…
Aerial image of Impact Arena (North Street) from Alfretontownfc.com, here. Photo of field and terrace by clubbability at Flickr.com, here.Terrace photo from WheresTheTeaHut.blogspot.com, here.

AFC Telford United [ http://www.telfordutd.co.uk/ ]
Interior image from from Youtube video posted by telfordtillidie, ‘the new bucks head stadium‘..Aerial image of the New Bucks Head ground from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.

Boston United [ http://www.bufc.co.uk/ ]
Exterior photo of York Street ground from bufc.com, here. (via woswws.webs.com/Guide to Blue square north {2010-11}, here]. Interior photo from 100GroundsClub.blogspot.com, here.

Nuneaton Town [ http://www.nuneatontownfc.com/ ] Aerial photo from nuneatontownfc.com/ , here. Interior photo by LearnDavid at Flickr.com, here.

Guiseley AFC [ http://www.guiseleyafc.co.uk/ ]
Aerial photo from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here. Photo of main stand from GuisleyAFC.com, here.
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Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, ‘Conference North‘.
Thanks to Soccerway.com, for 2009-10 attendances. Thanks to HarrogateTown.com, for 2010-11 attendances.
Thanks to Alfreton Town FC site.
Thanks to kevmiles1 @ Flickr.com, kevmiles1 photostream, here.
Thanks to the BBC London Non-League Football Show.

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