Search Results

It's the return of the greatest club Cup competition in the world with the FA Cup🏆⚽ 2nd round taking place over the next four days with the obligatory homemade tin foil FA Cups on show on terraces and stands up and down the country. But which of the 10 remaining non-league sides do you fancy causing an upset? Tonight sees the first potential upset as National League side York City FC face League One Wigan Athletic at home. On Saturday National League North side Alfreton Town FC are at home to Walsall who dispatched the lowest-ranked team Sheppey United in the 1st round. High-flying Maidstone United FC in the National League South are at home to inform League 2 Barrow AFC. Newport County AFC of League 2 are at home Barnet Football Club of the National League. Bottom of League 2 Sutton United FC are at home to Horsham FC of the Isthmian Premier Division (level 7) who had a reprieve in the Cup after Barnsley were thrown out. On Sunday we have two National League sides facing League 1 opposition with table toppers Chesterfield FC taking on Leyton Orient and Eastleigh FC playing Reading Football Club and Aldershot Town Football Club against League 2 leaders Stockport County. Also on Sunday Wrexham take on National League South Yeovil Town at the Race Course Ground. And last but no means least the lowest-ranked team left in the cup, Ramsgate Football Club who play at level 8 in the Isthmian League - South East Division and are top, travel to AFC Wimbledon on Monday night with 1500 Rams cheering on their team! Best of luck to everyone taking part and🤞🏼for the cold weather not to disrupt any of the games.

Oxford City have won the National League South playoff final with an emphatic 4-0 victory over St Albans City. The game was over as a contest in the first half as the Hoops raced into a 4-goal lead in front of a record attendance of 3,100 at their Marsh Lane ground. Oxford City who finished 3rd in the National League South this season beat Worthing at home 2-0 in the playoff semifinal and now with this playoff final success, they will be plying their trade at their highest-ever league level in their 141-year history! The Oxfordshire club have been more successful as a Cup side in their history having reached the 2nd round proper of the FA Cup along with a few appearances in the first round proper as well. The club was once managed by England's World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore along with Harry Redknapp as his assistant. Congratulations to The Hoops and best of luck for next season in the National League!

Dawley Town Football Club a team based just South of Telford in Shropshire have had a remarkable season in the Salop Leisure Football League Premier Division which is the 11th tier of the English football pyramid. They not only won the League but also went the whole campaign unbeaten winning 26 of 27 matches with only one draw. The Invincibles decided to celebrate in style through the town, but the mode of transport was the back of a scaffolding truck instead of an open-top bus! The streets were lined by supporters, family and friends plus some bemused locals just going about their day. The small town of Dawley was once a mining town for over 3 centuries and was even mentioned in the Domesday Book, it has a regular street market in its town centre that consists of a single pedestrianised street, a street that was awash with blue flares and colourful ticker tape as the team passed through with chants of “Championes Championes Ole Ole" echoing around the historic buildings. The Shropshire side lifted the trophy at their Doseley Road ground at the weekend following a 5-0 win against Wem Town which meant The Jockeys finished 10 points clear of nearest rivals Ludlow and secured promotion to step six in Non-League next season.

The regular season is now over in the EFL and the National Leagues so it's time for one of football's best most recent innovations...(Tell that to Notts County) The playoffs! Here are the fixtures for the playoff finals in the National League top division and the North and South divisions along with the EFL League 2 semi-finals. Here‘s the lineup for the semi-finals in the EFL League 1 and the Championship including the dates and kickoff times for the finals weekend at Wembley. Best of luck to all the teams taking part.

Bury FC Supporters' Society and Bury AFC have both voted overwhelmingly in favour of a merger. They will come together under the name Bury and be back playing at Gigg Lane next season! Members of both clubs failed to reach a two-thirds majority in the first merger vote in October. This time 90.1% of the Bury FC Supporters' Society and 97% of Bury AFC members voted to form one club to play at Gigg Lane from next season. Having a unified club in Bury means it also now qualifies for local council and government levelling up funding with £1.3m is available in total - £450,000 from Bury Council and the rest coming from the government's levelling up fund. A statement on the AFC Bury website said; The motion to adopt the Gigg Lane Stadium as the football club’s home playing venue was approved by 97% of the vote. 1116 were in favour, 34 against and 9 abstentions. The motion to adopt Bury Football Club as the playing name was approved by 92% of the vote. 1046 were in favour, 95 against and 24 abstentions. The Resolution that the Society and Bury Football Club Supporters’ Society Limited (Register number 29385R) (“BFCSS”) shall be amalgamated pursuant to section 109 of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 was approved by 97% of the vote. 1109 were in favour, 35 against and 15 abstentions. As the Bury Football Supporters’ Society also approved their motion to amalgamate with a 90% majority we are pleased to confirm that the amalgamation will proceed subject to the Confirmatory Vote which will now begin and the results announced at the next General Meeting at 7 pm on 19th May. AFC Bury play in the Premier Division of the North West Counties League, the ninth tier of the English football pyramid, staging their home games a few miles down the road from Gigg Lane at Stainton Park, Radcliffe and also Bury fans completed a deal to buy back their old Gigg Lane ground in February 2022 and currently trade as Bury FC but with no team. There has been many disputes and division between some of the two fan groups but hopefully, this will now see some unity and most of all a club back at Gigg Lane representing the local community of Bury.

In the Isthmian Premier League playoff final it was Aveley who were victorious after beating Hornchurch 0-1 in front of 2,040 fans. Aveley will be joined in the National League South next season by Truro City who won the Southern Premier Division South playoff final defeating Bracknell Town 2-3 away with a 94th-minute winner! In front of 1,554 fans. In the Northern League Premier Division Warrington Town beat Bamber Bridge 1-0 with a goal in the 90th minute having been down to 10 men with a red card in the 80th minute in front of an impressive crowd of 2,550! Joining Warrington in the National League North next season are Rushall Olympic FC who beat Nuneaton Borough on penalties after the Southern League Premier Central playoff final finished 0-0 after extra time in front of a fantastic attendance of 3,563!

NATIONAL LEAGUE NORTH Congratulations to AFC Fylde who won the National League North after winning 2-0 at Bradford PA, a result that sadly sent the home side down, Kings Lynn in second place also won but it just wasn't enough to overhaul the new champions AFC Fylde. Kings Lynn Town will now go into the playoffs along with Chester FC, Brackley Town, Alfreton Town, Kidderminster Harriers and Gloucester City. Here's a great little Vlog from the Brackley Town v Alfreton Town match from Darren at Simply Football. Final Standings. It looked like Gloucester City were going to miss out at as they were losing 1-3 at home to Chorley but they came back from the dead with goals in the 74th, 87th and 93rd minute to get themselves into the last play-off place! Kettering Towns' 3-0 defeat at Kidderminster also saw them relegated along with Leamington, Bradford PA and rock-bottom Telford. NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH Ebbsfleet Town had already wrapped up the championship with an impressive 103 points so It was just down to the final positions of the playoff spots to see who will play who. At the bottom of the South Division things were far from settled in the fight for relegation and amazingly Weymouth who were dead and buried having been in the relegation zone all season went on to win their last 3 matches and stayed up on goal difference after winning 0-2 at fellow survivors Dover in the last game of the season which resulted in Dulwich Hamlet going down after their 0-1 defeat at home to Chippenham! Here's the wonderful scenes at Dover with Weymouth fans celebrating at the final whistle. (video credit to Andrew Brown a very happy Weymouth fan 😁)

It's all still to play for in the race for the Championship playoff places with 2 games to go with everyone in with a shout from 5th down to Watford in 13th albeit with the Hornets needing a big goal swing. Luton and Middlesbrough have confirmed 2 playoff places already and as it stands 6th placed Coventry who have sold out the CBS Arena for today's game with a crowd of over 30,000 and 7th-placed Sunderland who have sold out the Stadium of Light with a crowd of over 45,000 expected are currently in poll position. At the bottom of the championship Wigan Athletic will be relegated if they lose to Reading today who themselves need a win to take their survival bid to the final day, Huddersfield still have 3 games to play while QPR and Rotherham need one more win from their last 2 games to avoid the drop. In League 1 Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich Town will be promoted with victories against Burton Albion and Exeter City respectively today. If Plymouth win and Ipswich lose Argyle will be crowned champions. Plymouth will also be promoted if Sheffield Wednesday drop points at Shrewsbury Town, and Ipswich will go up by matching Wednesday’s result. The scrap for the last 2 playoff places is between Bolton, Derby and Peterborough. At the bottom, Morecambe and Accrington Stanley who play fellow strugglers Oxford need to win today to guarantee taking their survival bid to the final day, while defeat for Cambridge United against Stanley could see them relegated on Tuesday, when they play their game in hand against Burton Albion. MK Dons are still in danger and will be looking to beat Barnsley who are guaranteed a playoff place. In League 2 Northampton Town and Stevenage will be promoted with wins today and the 4 playoff positions are still wide open with Stockport, Bradford Mansfield, Carlisle and Salford all within a chance with the last two teams mentioned facing each other today. At the foot of the table Hartlepool United will be relegated if they drop points in their next game or Crawley pick up one more point. In the National League, it's a shootout between Bromley, Boreham Wood and Southend for the remaining two playoff places on what is their last day of the season. The final relegation place will be filled by Torquay, unless they win and either Maidenhead lose with a seven-goal swing in goal difference on the final day, or less realistically, York lose with a 14-goal swing in goal difference in favour of the Gulls. In the National League North AFC Fylde are one win away from being champions regardless of what Kings Lynn do. Scarborough, Buxton, Chorley, Kidderminster, Gloucester, Curzon Ashton, Spennymoor and Darlington can all still reach the playoffs with 1 game to go. As for relegation, Blyth Spartans need to win to have any chance of overhauling Farsley Celtic, Kettering and Southport. And finally, in the National League South, the last playoff spot is between St Albans and Havant and Waterlooville. Three points on Saturday against Dover Athletic would see Weymouth stay up on goal difference with Dulwich Hamlet needing just a draw to stay up. Best of luck to every team involved.

Here are all the upcoming fixtures for the Non-League Playoff finals and Inter-Step Playoffs for relegation and promotion for Steps 3, 4, and 5 in the Non-League pyramid. Badshot Lea, Bemerton Heath Harlequins and Rugby Town have been automatically promoted from Step 5 on Points Per Game to fill the vacancies left by Harlow Town and demoted duo North Shields and Skelmersdale, who have both failed ground grading requirements and had their appeals rejected. Bideford, Carlton Town and Widnes have been reprieved at Step 4 and don’t take part in the Inter-Step play-offs. It’s also been confirmed this is the final season of Inter-Step play-offs with traditional four-team play-offs set to be introduced at Step 5 from 2023-24. Good luck to all the teams involved!

Football legend John Barnes joined us on our recent live show and told the story behind the England World Cup song ‘World in Motion'' and gives us a live rendition of the rap after we play him the recording of Gazza and Peter Beardsley‘s version which thankfully didn't make the final cut! You can watch the full episode here; 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 https://www.youtube.com/live/eghIX6PtF7E?feature=share Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and watch loads of other great content and receive a notification when we go Live every Sunday.

Join the Proper Football lads this Sunday 23rd April at 6:30 pm with special guest John Barnes! John's brilliant career spanning 18 years saw him star for Watford, Liverpool, Newcastle and Charlton playing a total of 751 games and scoring 198 goals in all competitions and winning the First Division title and FA Cup twice along with the League Cup. John also won 79 caps for England scoring 11 goals and featured in two World Cups in 86 and 90. We'll be chatting to John about his career and discussing the week's big stories along with his former Watford teammate and resident ex-pro Nigel ‘Cally' Callaghan. We'll be doing our usual special features including “The Good Old Days” + “It's a Funny Old Game" and much much more, so don’t miss the show! ⚽👊🏻 Make sure to tune in and get involved with your comments and views and any questions or memories you would like to share with our special guest. You can watch it live on our Youtube channel, so subscribe here and get a notification when it starts. 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 https://youtube.com/channel/UCtr7oTe3DH-Ymo4uxM6xULA Or follow us on Twitter to watch it live here; 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 https://twitter.com/ProperFootball8?t=voFqeo4B83kwlQKtJAx5gA&s=09 Or click on this link to join the event page and get a reminder when we go live on our Facebook page; 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 https://fb.me/e/2QQhDqVJa?ti=wa If you have any questions for John you can Email us at; properfootball2021@gmail.com See you all Sunday at 6:30 pm!

Like thousands of other football fans on Saturday 25th March, we decided to take in a game at grassroots level on what was the annual Non-League Day. Our destination was Carlton Town FC a wonderful community club based in Nottingham, Carlton Town play in the NPL First Division East which is step 4 of the National League pyramid, the visitors were high-flying Stockton Town. We were honoured to be invited to the game by Mick Garton the chairman and Gary ‘Boatsy Clarke' the commercial and marketing manager of Carlton Town who made Proper Footballs' very own resident ex-pro Nigel ‘Cally' Callaghan a guest of honour and he held a Q & A with the supporters. [Cally and Mick Garton] We were lucky enough to speak to Forest legend Ian Storey-Moore, scorer of 105 league goals for the Reds through the 60s and early 70s who was at the game supporting Non-League Day. We also spoke to Jonny Owen from Talksport who was in attendance and got the views of the match from both managers and players. [Cally with Jonny Owen] According to one source, it's estimated that there was a cumulative attendance of 141,619 in Steps 1-4 on Saturday which is fantastic news when compared to previous weekends over the last month meaning there was an increase of 20-30%! The game itself finished 0-2 to the visitors and on reflection was a fair result and keeps Stockton Town on course for a playoff spot, but unfortunately put an end to a recent great run of form for the relegation-threatened Millers who had won their last four games on the road. We also see Non-League Day as a day to celebrate all the hard work the clubs, fans and volunteers put in all year round all over the country to keep these vital community hubs going and applaud every single one of them. [Boatsy and Proper Football's Gary Harris] If you haven't been to a Non-League game then don't wait for the next annual event, give it a go now! and you'll be pleasantly surprised. You can watch our Vlog of the day here;