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Didn't Wrexham sign a first team player from Charlton? Absolutely crazy for this level! Is there any sort of a wage cap, or can clubs still spend like Brackley, Colne, Grays etc.?

I seem to remember that the FL only allowed two up because they were in a bit of a bind after the ITV Digital collapse. A similar story in 1986 when there was a threat of a breakaway league by the big clubs (even if Bob Hopkins helped a bit!). I wonder if it will take some sort of crisis to bring about three up?

Is that Toffee Apple at bthe back? Are they all real people? And who's been left out? And who are the away supporters/ They've brought a good crowd anyway, so probably not Vauxhall Motors...

Looks like there was a similar situation to what we had at York in the FAT too, with a section of the ground being over capacity, and that it was lucky nobody was injured. I say this needs sorting  out now, rather than ignoring the warning signs and hoping that nobody is killed. This was also a cause of the Hillsborough tragedy. People should be safe at football grounds, whatever it tskes. And by the way that applies to us too. Maybe the club should officially respond to Hashtag's complaint (after the Notts gsme). Get  it sorted, or some people simply won't go any more.

There was also briefly a Chichester City United. I suspect my idea of a Manchester merger with Manchester City United playing in yellow and black hoops at the Commonwealth Games Stadium, nicknamed the Bees, probably won't get off the ground! The only really successful merger in Britain, I think, has been Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Dagenham and Redbridge are back at the level of the old Dagenham - though admittedly the Bury "merger" could be a success!

Agreed.

Chester game today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=putFzfFLLJQ

And for those of a strong constitution, the Devachat thread (and there's more of the same on the next page):

https://deva-chat.com/thread/6697/match-thread-chester-brackley?page=2

I tend to agree. Also Oxford by far the best for us from the NLS with so many Southern teams in  the league (and a new club for us).

The average crowds for the NL this season were approximately 3,341 - though obviously this would be slightly more if play off matches were included. This is a new record for the NL. Significantly, this is also the first time that every club has averaged over 1,000. Even Boreham Wood got an average of 1,185 - more than the 1,173 Workington averaged in the 4th division in 1973-74, when they were nonetheless voted back into the football league after finishing second bottom. If they were good enough for the league, so is anyone currently in NL. And obviously Wood would get considerably higher crowds as a league team. Even the lowest crowd of the season was over 700 (702 for Gateshead vs Dagenham and Redbridge) - more, for example than the third division crowd of 450 between Rochdale and Cambridge United in 1974.

With at least one of Chesterfield and Notts County going to miss out on promotion, and Crawley Town staying up after finishing third bottom, surely now would be the time for three up - at least if common sense had anything to do with it!

I'll also say this. Whilst there may be some understandable irritation at the Hollywood portrayal of Wrexham triumphing against the odds, because of them, English non-league football has been brought to an audience of probably millions world wide, surely a positive going forward, and something that we could scarcely have imagined back in 1991 when the first ever non-league match was televised!

I think it was a reasonable assessment of the situation in general. I really do think though that we need to stop talking about the play offs. Without serious investment in the playing personnel, this is just a pipedream unfortunately.

Ok, let's take a look at the other clubs from Woking down to us. Any supplementary information welcome:

4th) Woking - decent crowds but no big investment that I've heard of;
5th) Barnet - poor crowds. Do they have an investor?
6th) Boreham Wood - poor crowds but a lot of investment to geet them this far;
7th) Bromley -  decent crowds and some success in recent seasons but no big investment;
8th) Southend - a big club who should be too strong for us if they get thingssorted off the pitch;
9th) Eastleigh - not much bigger crowds than us and no big investment I've heard of (they even had to take seats out of their stand);
10th) Dagenham And Redbriidge - poor crowds but an investor, last I heard;
11th) FC Halifax Town - similar crowds to us and no big investor, and managed fourth place recently;
12th) Oldham Athletic - a big club who should challenge for promotion;
13th) Wealdstone - poor crowds and no big investor;
14th) Gateshead - small crowds and no big investment;
15th) Solihull Moors - small crowds but substantial investment;
16th) Dorking Wanderers - small crowds and no big investor (even if it won't feel like that for their founder);

Certainly top 7 will be very difficult, but we can definitely make the top half, and there isn't that much of a gap between 12th and 7th, and who knows how things might change in the future? Having got to mid-table, the play offs certainly long term is an obvious target.