Lots of ex League clubs below us too. York, Kidderminster, Southport, Gateshead, Boston, Hereford, Bradford PA, Chester, Darlington, Bury, and errrmmm Macclesfield.
Don't forget Gainsborough Trinity and Glossop! 😉
Or South Shields, Gateshead, Washington, Aberdare Athletic.....
South Shields, I think, actually finished above Manchester United one season. I reckon there's massive potential for that club (South Shields that is, though I dare say there is for Manchester United too!).
By my reckoning there are 14 teams from the 1978-1987 racket who are currently not in the football league. I must say that the introduction of automatic promotion has bee n a huge success for all clubs involved. Every single club relegated from the league (rather than being voted out) currently playing in the non-league (with the exception of AFC Rushden and Diamonds, who are hardly a typical example) is getting average crowds over 1,000. This was hardly ever the case in the election days. Overall crowds have been boosted in both football league and non-league. Almost every season, the average crowds for the new clubs (i.e. not in the FL 1978-1987) has been around 3,000 or more, which compares favourably with the smaller football league clubs in the 1970's and 1980's. In the non-league, we have average crowds in the National League ov over 3,000, higher than in the 4th division at the end of the election era; average crowds over 1,000 at step two; over 600 in the NPL Premier (higher than when we won that league in 1999); and over 400 in the NPL West, approximately equivalent to the NW Counties league of the 1980's.
As for the old days, it always astonished me that New Brighton had two separate clubs in the football league, and now have to make do with a West Cheshire league team!