2022/23 Championship, Lower, Non-League & Papa John's Trophy - On beIN Sports and iFollow

[Upstart Swan]

Good job by Luton overturning the 1st leg deficit. Deserved to go through after the season theyve had.

Kidderminster Harriers return to the National League after a seven-year absence while Oxford City reach the fifth tier for the first time in their history. Kidderminster played in the Football League in the early 2000's but have struggled since falling to the NL North in 2016. They finished a whopping 25pts behind 2nd placed King's Lynn Town but dfeated them 4-1 in the semi-final before beating Brackley Town 2-0 in the final. Oxford City finished 3rd in the NL South and defeated Worthing 2-0 in the Semi Final and St Albans City 4-0 in the final.

Kidderminster Harriers and Oxford City reach National League

The 24 teams for 2023/24 National League season have been set:

Chesterfield, Woking, Barnet, Boreham Woods, Bromley, Southend, Eastleigh, Dagenham & Redbridge, FC Halifax, Oldham, Wealdstone, Gatehead, Solihull Moors, Dorking, Altrincham, Aldershot Town, York City and Maidenhead stay in the Nataional League.

Hartlepool & Rochdale have been relegated from League Two.

AFC Fylde and Kidderminster are promoted from the National League North.

Ebbsfleet United and Oxford are promoted from the National League South.


Also, The National League are asking for an increase in the number of promotion places to the Football League, they think three up and three down is fairer than the current two and two.

National League: More promotion spots to EFL would be 'fair', says general manager Mark Ives

I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes a reality in the next few seasons, there hasn't been a change to the promotion/relegation system since 2002/03 when it was increased to two and since then we have seen a number of large football league clubs getting themselves into financial difficulty and being relegated to National League, and a couple of them have been able to rebuild the club and have worked their way back up the pyramid, Luton are in the Championship finals and Lincoln, Cheltenham and now Leyton Orient are in League One.

Sad to see Hartlepool get relegated from the Football League again. I've has a soft spot for them from when I took them from the Third Division to European glory in Championship Manager 99/00.

 

[DEVO]

Good job by Luton overturning the 1st leg deficit. Deserved to go through after the season theyve had.

Sad to see Hartlepool get relegated from the Football League again. I've has a soft spot for them from when I took them from the Third Division to European glory in Championship Manager 99/00.

Having an interest in the history of the EFL and in particular the smaller clubs from Leagues One and Two, I too have a soft spot for Hartlepool. And Accrington Stanley and Barrow and Bradford City and Lincoln City and many others.

Also, Carlisle United fans consider Hartlepool to be one of their main rivals, this goes back to a survey from 2012 before Barrow made it back to the Football League.

In 2012, market research company FFC surveyed fans of every Football League club across the country to find who they consider their main rivals to be. Carlisle United fans were unusually shown to consider the more distant Preston North End, Hartlepool United and Middlesbrough as their main rivals. This is most likely explained by the fact that the survey did not include the option of choosing non-league clubs

 

[Upstart Swan]

This is nerve-racking!!!
(Cov v Boro playoff I'm talking about, extra time)

 

[RossFC]

 

[Upstart Swan]

Happy days!!!

 

[Sozabarus]

Luton v Coventry is a great final. Shows there is still some romance and magic left in the game.

 

[Bradesmaen]

Good to see different teams getting the chance.

 

[RossFC]

Happy with either side going up. Good luck to both clubs.

 

[Upstart Swan]

Luton v Coventry is a great final. Shows there is still some romance and magic left in the game.

Wouldn't be disappointed if Luton were promoted, after all their fans have had to put up with over the years.

 

[BStaff17]

Great to see a new & different side will be promoted this year.

Also means another stadium English football stadium will be added to EA Sports 24 game formally known as Fifa.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

 

[SM]

Wouldn't be disappointed if Luton were promoted, after all their fans have had to put up with over the years.

Coventry have arguably put up with more.

 

[Frank Bunn]

Happy with either side going up. Good luck to both clubs.

I don't mind too much but I hope it's Luton. I've got a mate who is a fan. They finished 10 points above Coventry. And as an Oldham fan it gives me hope that we will return to the higher leagues one day.

People are talking about Coventry like they are a new team. They were continuously in the top flight between 1968 and 2001, including the first 9 years of the Premier League.

 

[Punt Road Feral]

Coventry have arguably put up with more.

I haven’t kept tabs on Coventry but I do recall they had some serious ownership issues even like two years ago they were playing OUT of their own city and in Birmingham because the owner couldn’t strike a deal with the local council or something like that.

What’s changed since then? New owners and investment?

 

[SM]

I haven’t kept tabs on Coventry but I do recall they had some serious ownership issues even like two years ago they were playing OUT of their own city and in Birmingham because the owner couldn’t strike a deal with the local council or something like that.

What’s changed since then? New owners and investment?

They had similar issues this year with their stadium not being available for the first few months of the season. They got new owners halfway through the season but their continued improve has almost solely been down to Mark Robins' fantastic management.

 

[Upstart Swan]

Coventry have arguably put up with more.

Luton fans might disagree. At least Coventry were never relegated to the National League.
And Luton had the infamous John Gurney ownership. He bought the club for £5, sacked the manager the next day, then organised Manager Idol. (Fans were supposed to ring up and vote for a preferred manager - 50p a call!)

 

[BobbyMorri]

Coventry was in League 2 for a season not so long ago either. Mark Robins was sacked by us and has now taken Coventry from L2 to the brink of the promised land.

Whoever wins the final, they have come from a long long way in a short amount of time.

 

[Upstart Swan]

I haven’t kept tabs on Coventry but I do recall they had some serious ownership issues even like two years ago they were playing OUT of their own city and in Birmingham because the owner couldn’t strike a deal with the local council or something like that.

What’s changed since then? New owners and investment?

Coventry, like a few other lower league clubs, went into administration at one stage. They were bought by a hedge fund, who obviously hoped to buy cheap and sell for a nice profit. However they had no real intention of actually investing in the club. The result was that the club's on-field performances continued to deteriorate, their investment lost value and they couldn't offload at a price they wanted.

The stadium fiasco was a whole saga in itself. In fact someone wrote a book about it, 'A Club Without a Home'. I think it's out of print now, but an interesting read.

A local businessman finally bought out the hedge fund earlier this year. He is supposed to have paid off all the club's debts, but it's rarely as simple as that in the murky world of football finances.

I just found this article which gives a nice snapshot of the club's woes over the last 15 years: Ground Shares, Text A Sub And Fat Elephants: Coventry's 15-Year Sisu Rollercoaster Ends

 

[SM]

Luton fans might disagree. At least Coventry were never relegated to the National League.
And Luton had the infamous John Gurney ownership. He bought the club for £5, sacked the manager the next day, then organised Manager Idol. (Fans were supposed to ring up and vote for a preferred manager - 50p a call!)

They can disagree all they want my point is just that Luton don't have sole claim to 'hard done by' club. Coventry have had a horrid time up to and including this season where they were almost kicked out of their ground for a second time.

 

[raticus_usm]

They can disagree all they want my point is just that Luton don't have sole claim to 'hard done by' club. Coventry have had a horrid time up to and including this season where they were almost kicked out of their ground for a second time.

Geez its not a dick measuring contest. Im proud of the Hatters fellow fans for the loyalty and if we win the final ill probarly shed a tear. Good luck for the game.

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

 

[SM]

Geez its not a dick measuring contest. Im proud of the Hatters fellow fans for the loyalty and if we win the final ill probarly shed a tear. Good luck for the game.

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

Uh.. I know? I'm the one saying that? The Luton fans carrying on as if they're the hard luck story in the final and all I'm saying is both sides have overcome adversity to get there. I'm not a Cov fan so no luck needed for me.

 

[DEVO]

The Tables for season 2022/23.

The Championship


League One

 

[DEVO]

League Two


National League

 

[RossFC]

Sheffield Wednesday came back from 4-0 down vs Peterborough in the first leg, to make it 4-4 in the 2nd leg in stoppage time, wow.

 

[Bojan KantKick]

They can disagree all they want my point is just that Luton don't have sole claim to 'hard done by' club. Coventry have had a horrid time up to and including this season where they were almost kicked out of their ground for a second time.

Has that been resolved? I thought Ashley was kicking them out.