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It's grim up north, in Gloucester – Conference North 2019/20

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    It's grim up north, in Gloucester – Conference North 2019/20

    So with Gateshead's demotion confirmed, we have the final line-up for the coming season's bun fight, with enticing trips to some grim northern outposts such as Kings Lynn and Gloucester.

    At least one betting company already has York as title favourites, I'm assuming based on name rather than any tangible evidence of current ability, although there is a whiff of faint optimism that we might at least tickle the buttocks of the play-offs this year, rather than beat the club record for lowest ever finishing position for the 4th season in a row. Oh, and we might finally start playing in this uninspiring little Meccano shed tacked on to the side of an impressively huge cinema...

    #2
    Gloucester City were hoping to be in their new ground for the turn of the year - however, they have recently sent out a communication stating that now planning permission has finally been fully confirmed the grant submission process is in hand and they don't expect to hear anything before September. Leaving 3 months to build the ground - I don't see it happening myself.

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      #3
      Yeah good luck to them with that, particularly if their local council involved and if they're anything like CoYC. York were supposed to be in their new ground in 2011, and the word I have is it still might not even happen this calendar year, despite the photos being shared showing the stadium looking not a million miles from completion.

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        #4
        I think the council have been good to Gloucester, when you consider their average attendances were around 6-700 before the floods of 2007. They hunted out land for the club, they gave them money towards the groundshare with Cheltenham and they themselves haven't put barriers in place to building the new ground (objections tending to come from the Environment Agency more than anyone else).

        Gloucester were too stubborn at the start - the guys at the top decided very early on that they didn't want to leave Meadow Park - with the building of the Quays and regeneration of the Docks as a whole it's in a prime location. It's also where the owner bases his own company. The problem is, they made it sound like they wanted to play anywhere else and when options were put up (Quedgeley, the old Civil Service site in Longlevens, and a few others) they didn't show any real interest so the council moved on.

        There's a hell of a book in Gloucester City's trials and tribulations since being taken over by Westbury Homes in the mid-80s, I wish I just had the nous to write it.

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          #5
          Don't really know what to expect from Southport this season. The chairman left at the end of last season, having bought Huddersfield. He invested a lot of money, although some signings didn't work out. There is a core of some of last season's better players in place, but the squad probably needs filling out with another nine or ten.

          Promotions and relegations have more than halved the number of trips within the North West - we've lost Chorley, Stockport, FC United and Ashton United with nobody coming back in return.

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            #6
            The Jason McGill banter era continues at York with the announcement that the club's new shirt sponsor is... *drumroll*... JM Packaging. Some fans are genuinely trying to spin this as a positive along the lines of Jason's "being clever and trying to get round the FFP rules like Man City". Most of us strongly suspect no normal companies want to be associated with this ongoing circus. Either way, there are a lot of people now saying they won't buy the new shirt, which is a shame as it was voted for by the fans.

            Contrastingly, there has been some more positive news on the field with the signing of Dan Maguire, who got over 20 goals last season for Blyth. He's the first signing for a fair while that fans seem genuinely enthused by.

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              #7
              According to the roster, still no goalie at Darlo...

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                #8
                Disturbing levels of on-field optimism at York now, with the addition of Andy Bond from AFC Fylde and the massive signing (in every sense) of Steve McNulty, presumably partly so Jon Parkin's old XXXL training gear doesn't go to waste. Steve Watson really does seem to know his onions though, and it really does feel like this may well finally be the first positive season on the playing side since 2014.

                Things off the field are no less chaotic though. These new signings won't have come cheap wages wise, and while the results may well be better this season, I wince to think how this is all affecting the already disastrous balance sheet. In other money-related developments, the previously announced season ticket/matchday admission price rises have at the last minute (mostly) been scrapped, the board claim due to the continuing uncertainty about when we'll move to the new ground, with no acknowledgement of the general uproar the rises provoked (and I'm guessing the fact not many STs were being renewed at those rates). The next 12 months certainly won't be dull, that's for sure.

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                  #9
                  Quite agree with all that but ... there were no season ticket renewals before they changed the prices. They never actually started selling them at the inflated rates. By the time they actually went on sale they were back to last year’s prices (generally).

                  So, I assume the outrage factored in but they didn’t have any sales to look at.

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                    #10
                    Fixtures are out people!

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Guy Profumo View Post
                      Fixtures are out people!
                      Massive big boo for our game at Bradford being on Boxing Day. Has to be one of the best warm-weather away days there is.

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                        #12
                        When did we last have a home Boxing Day fixture? As a non driver this is very annoying (and yes BPA is very much a warm weather delight).

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                          #13
                          Have to say, seeing York sitting top of a league for the first time in 13 years is rather pleasing after the horrendous recent period. Still mainly an embarrassing shambles off the field, but would appear they have finally found the right formula on it, aided though in some measure by the fact it does seem to be a weaker division this time round with no teams having dropped in from above.

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                            #14
                            Well Gateshead came down though that doesn't really invalidate your argument in any way.

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                              #15
                              They had rather slipped my mind, I'm ashamed to say. But yes, you would think they wouldn't quite pose the same threat as a freshly relegated club on a slightly more even keel.

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                                #16
                                Grim Northern Outpost, Kings Lynn, 3rd in table, outdrawing Curzon, Southport, Gateshead, Kettering, Bradford and more. Ian Culverhouse going to get them promoted again , I doubt it, but I am certainly looking fwd to the Xmas period derbies with Boston Utd.

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                                  #17
                                  ex-Northern League troubles: Spennymoor, Blyth bottom two.

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                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                                    ex-Northern League troubles: Spennymoor, Blyth bottom two.
                                    And not forgetting Darlo failing to "piss this shitty league" like wot we've got a God-given right to overcome all this NLS having the temerity to be in our path.



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                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by Exiled off Main Street View Post
                                      Grim Northern Outpost, Kings Lynn, 3rd in table, outdrawing Curzon, Southport, Gateshead, Kettering, Bradford and more. Ian Culverhouse going to get them promoted again , I doubt it, but I am certainly looking fwd to the Xmas period derbies with Boston Utd.
                                      Who is your local worthy capable of walking there then?

                                      (cf Brian Clough and the City Ground / County Ground)

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                                        #20
                                        If I understand the question correctly, although I probably don't... Stephen Fry lives in nearby Swaffham and has been seen at Lynn when Norwich were away. He went to Tech college in Lynn. Lynn's owner of course, is Stephen Cleeve, who is a chancer and ex-UKIP election candidate. Or do you mean local pub within walking distance ?

                                        Originally posted by Guy Profumo View Post

                                        Who is your local worthy capable of walking there then?
                                        Last edited by Exiled off Main Street; 27-08-2019, 23:20.

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                                          #21
                                          Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                                          ex-Northern League troubles: Spennymoor, Blyth bottom two.
                                          York have banjoed both of them on their own grounds in the last couple of weeks, and with a number of our team having been snaffled away from theirs with the lure of the big bucks in the big city (a-hem) in the very recent past it's hard not to feel a little guilty.

                                          Still, top by a sneaky point after that relentless month of games, after all the horrors of the last few years I am enjoying this little moment. My overriding impression from the games I've been to so far is the overall standard is very poor this season. There's a nagging feeling though that we may not have actually played anyone all that good yet, and our storming start may be a little false. We'll see...

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                                            #22
                                            Boston seem determined be the division's most inconsistent club again. When Elliott joined from Shaw Lane Aquaforce I was quite optimistic we might see them have a shot at returning to the Conference but given the current levels of player turnover and their inability to put a solid run together it seems unlikely.

                                            I drove past the site where the new ground is going to be last Friday. If they are leaving York Street at the end of this season they'd better get a move on. It's still a field.

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                                              #23
                                              Boston are training at Doncaster this season, which suggests their current group of players are decidedly not local - or Elliott doesn't much fancy the long drive down the A17. Elliott's Shaw Lane sides for all their success were a horrible watch, so not sure what he's fashioned at Boston so far.

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                                                #24
                                                Originally posted by Uroš Predić View Post
                                                Boston are training at Doncaster this season, which suggests their current group of players are decidedly not local - or Elliott doesn't much fancy the long drive down the A17. Elliott's Shaw Lane sides for all their success were a horrible watch, so not sure what he's fashioned at Boston so far.
                                                Boston haven't trained in Boston for a long time. It probably explains why Rene Steer played there for a while. It's a shame but a reality of the location. Skeg Town have had similar problems since their return to the pyramid.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Originally posted by Exiled off Main Street View Post
                                                  If I understand the question correctly, although I probably don't... Stephen Fry lives in nearby Swaffham and has been seen at Lynn when Norwich were away. He went to Tech college in Lynn. Lynn's owner of course, is Stephen Cleeve, who is a chancer and ex-UKIP election candidate. Or do you mean local pub within walking distance ?

                                                  No.

                                                  Just capable of walking between Boston and Lynn

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