View from the Cemetery 14 December 2019

Our wait for a league win goes on, will Northallerton do the decent thing and let us get this monkey off our backs? Probably not, I guess we are going to have to win this or another game by our own efforts.

Lots of disruptions due to weather of course in recent weeks, and some decent enough performances in cup ties, but even so, three months without a league win does not look good. Maybe not a fair reflection, we have played fairly well in recent games, but its always true that its results that count in the end. Long way to go and a lot of games still to play, not even half way through the league season, so need to panic…

Panic does seem to be the new default setting over at the SoL however, with the latest upset concerning McGeady, banished and told he can move on come January. He, and a couple of others so I have heard, have been a bit unkind to some of the younger players. Banter they will claim no doubt, bullying is the word I have heard, but whatever, the upshot doesn’t look good.

A lesson in how and how far things can unravel if you are not on the ball, and Sunderland certainly haven’t been on the ball for the last couple of years. Can it get worse? Well, yes it can. First priority now is to stay in this division come April, and don’t think the unthinkable can’t happen..

Back in the Northern League and things seem to be starting to sort themselves out at the top of the First Division. Stockton look very strong and Shildon are getting their act together. I very much doubt if we will be playing them next season. Hebburn are having a wobble but are well resourced like the other two, and Consett are probably the fourth serious contender for a go at the Northern Premier League next season.

Good luck to them all, but the implications for the Northern League are pretty severe. There are no candidates to come up from the second division that have anything like the strength of those four, and if the process carries on as it looks to be then in a very few years the Northern League is going to be much, much weaker than now, and than it has always been. Blimey the way things are going even Bishop Auckland might get promoted one of these days…

Losing a club or two every few years is one thing, but three a season from the top? Not remotely sustainable in a small football pool like the North East, and there is little prospect of many clubs coming back down to redress the balance. Our own promoted teams can flourish and progress when they go up and if not them, then who?

Pickering Town are struggling at the moment and at a stretch you could call that the North East, but there are very few others. Interesting to see if the FA would apply the same ruthless logic to relegation from the Northern Prenier North and West as they now do to promotion from the Northern League. The occasional League member from Manchester would be interesting. One trip down South a season is a day out, seven or eight is a pain in the backside.

Hey ho, we shall see what we see..