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HISTON APPEAL RESULT

Club Statement – League Allocation Appeal Outcome

Histon FC can now confirm that our appeal was heard by the FA Appeal Board on Monday 21st June but was unsuccessful.

We therefore now look forward to competing in the Northern Premier League Midlands Division.

The Appeal Board’s decision did not come as a surprise, although we were given a good opportunity to make our points, and did make our points in an effective way. We went into the appeal process knowing that a positive outcome was unlikely, but we wanted the opportunity to explain to the FA the impact this move would have on our club, and to try to get clarity for the future in order to allow us to make some kind of strategic plan to keep our club moving forward both on and off the pitch. In response, it has now been made clear to us that, because of our geographical position, we could potentially have the disruption of being moved between leagues every season from now on.

Our presentation to the Appeal Board focussed on the additional travel mileage and times we will now experience, with fewer localised fixtures and therefore fewer opportunities for generating income – all the opposite of the FA’s overall objectives for the pyramid restructuring. We pointed out that the practical implications relate not just to the additional travel, but to where our new opponents are situated – away from our connections in East Anglia, and away from the home and work locations of our players. Our first team football focus moves from the south and east of Cambridge to the north and west.

We explained to the Appeal Board our fears about additional costs, loss of players, recruitment difficulties, weakened squads, reduction in away support, and impact on our sponsors, volunteers, and youth structure. We argued for financial compensation if we could not remain in the Isthmian League. The Appeal Board however explained that it has no powers in relation to compensation and concluded that our reallocation was not “a decision which no reasonable body could have come to”.

Now we must move on.

The move into the Northern Premier League Midlands Division really will have a significant negative impact on our costs, and has already resulted in the loss of a number of senior players from our playing squad. We will of course face these problems head on, and the Board remains 100% committed to ensuring that the club continues on a solid financial footing. We are working hard to bring new sponsors to the club and are involved in a number of negotiations over deals with various potential suppliers to try to mitigate the financial impact as much as possible. There will inevitably have to be some savings made somewhere however and to that end we are currently reviewing all areas of club operations and will take any actions necessary where and when appropriate.

On the pitch, Lance and his coaching team committed their future to the club some time ago, fully in the knowledge that this lateral move could be in the pipeline, and for that we are grateful. Although he has seen a number of his squad leave the club they do so with his and our understanding that the huge increase in travel times for those affected is just too much for them to be able to deal with, and we will make a full squad announcement in the near future. Our thanks go to them all.

Meanwhile, recruitment plans move on with renewed vigour and news of signings will be announced in the usual way once confirmed.

This appeal was not about the club not wanting to be in the NPL, it was about the disregard the FA has shown to clubs like ours who have been ignored whilst the FA announce the wide-ranging benefits for other clubs at the expense of those in a similar position to us. We wanted to make our point and have now done so.

However, we are where we are and must now draw a line under the matter. We look forward to getting back to playing the game we all love, making new friends and visiting clubs we’ve never visited before whilst welcoming new clubs to The Bridge. We remain optimistic and excited for the future and look forward to seeing you all back at The Bridge soon.

We thank all of you who have shown us so much support during this process, it is good to know that you are behind us.

Come on you Stutes!

 Histon FC Board. 



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Interesting that Histon were told that because of their geographical location, they could potentially be moved between leagues every season.

No announcement yet from Cambridge City but we can be sure that the outcome will be the same.



 

Last edited by Matchman (24/6/2021 7:22 PM)

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Following confirmation of the failed appeals of Cambridge and Histon we now know for certain the teams who will make up our league. 
On 7th June I attempted to predict who would be the strongest teams in the coming season . This is what I came up with:  

Champions :      Stamford
............................................................
2nd             :      Belper Town
3rd              :      Halesowen Town
4th              :      Corby Town
5th              :      Spalding United
..............................................................
6th              :      Ilkeston Town
7th              :      Loughborough Dynamo
8th              :      Carlton Town
9th              :      Chasetown
10th            :      Shepshed Dynamo  


Three weeks on and we now have a better idea of which clubs have been strengthening their squads with view to making a promotion challenge. I still think the automatic promotion spot will go to Stamford or Belper.  

Stamford were outstanding last season and have been successful in retaining last season’s players who obviously think that this could be their year. 
Belper Town have made several signings on the back of the money from their successful cup run and are determined to give promotion a real go.
Don’t know much about Halesowen and Corby but both are very well supported clubs and only successful teams attract big gates. 
Spalding United would not normally be considered as promotion candidates but they have signed several new players including two with extensive Football League experience. If Maddison and Maghoma live up to expectations Spalding could well be playoff challengers.
Ilkeston Town’s ambitious owners are demanding at least a playoff finish and they will do what it takes to achieve that.
Loughborough Dynamo were joint top with Leek after 8 games last season and have made some good signings so will be expecting to make a playoff challenge.
Carlton Town have been over-achievers under Brookbanks and Harvey and they will no doubt be pressing for a playoff place.
Chasetown are usually around mid table and could improve on that.
Shepshed Dynamo appear to be relying on the same players who were extremely successful at step 5 but the step up might test them. If they finish in the top half, it will be a great achievement 

Teams likely to be mid table, not in danger of relegation :
Bedworth United, Yaxley, Histon, Cambridge City, Sutton Coldfield

Teams likely to be around the relegation zone : (Bottom two automatically relegated, third bottom at risk)
Daventry Town, Sporting Khalsa, Soham Town Rangers, Coleshill Town, Wisbech Town.


 

Last edited by Matchman (27/6/2021 4:20 AM)

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It’s the Northern Premier League AGM today  

    


The Pitching In Northern Premier League @NorthernPremLge 

As we are underway with the 21st AGM, we can now formally welcome our newest member clubs who have been accepted to the @PitchingIn_Northern Premier League: 

@1874Northwich 
@BedworthUnited 
@Bootle_FC  
@BridTownAFC 
@cambridgecityfc 
@coleshilltownfc 
@corbytownfc 
@DaventryTownFC 
@halesowentownfc  
@HebburnTown 
@HistonFC  
@Liversedge_FC 
@ShepshedDynamo 
@Official_SAFC 
@SohamTownRanger
@SportingKhalsa  
@stockton_townfc 
@RylandsFC 
@yaxleyfc 
@AFCAmmers


                                                                               *****************************



Eleven of the 20 new teams in the Nothern Premier League are in the Midlands Division and will face Ilkeston.
That's eleven different grounds for us to visit when compared with last season.

For me personally it wil be my first time to visit the grounds of Cambridge City, Coleshill, Histon, Soham Town Rangers and Yaxley.

It's easy to follow Ilkeston away. Just book a seat on the Supporters bus.


 

Last edited by Matchman (27/6/2021 5:44 PM)

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HISTON LOSE AT LEAST SIX PLAYERS FOLLOWING PLACEMENT APPEAL FAILURE 


SQUAD NEWS



Squad update

Now that our lateral move to the Northern Premier League Midlands Division has been confirmed we are able to update you all on the current position with regard to our playing squad.
As previously announced, Lance has already committed his future to the club as have First Team coaches Mark Critoph and Simon Day. Physio James Smith also stays and we’re delighted that all four of these key members of staff will be with us for the coming season.

With regard to the players, it has already been confirmed that both Danny Gould and James Chivers have left the club and we must now add Dan Brown, Simon Swinton, Phil Peachey and Buster Harradine to that list. All of these players have made a huge contribution to the club over many years and for that we are grateful. We are of course extremely sorry to see them all go but we fully understand their reasons and wish them every success in the future.

As a club we were braced to expect the departure of some players after the appeal outcome was announced but we are pleased to be able to confirm that the following players have all committed to the club for the coming season:
Charlie Lewis will also remain with the squad for pre-season and the first few games of the league campaign before returning to the States to complete his studies.
There are a number of other squad members with whom Lance is still in discussions but the Gaffer is hopeful of being able to finalise agreements with them in the near future.
Once we are in a position to make further announcements then we will of course do so.

As a club we are now gearing up in earnest for pre-season and focussing on the coming NPL campaign. The players will return to training next week and our first pre-season game is scheduled for Friday 9th July against Walsham le Willows at The Bridge (more details about that game are coming soon). We will also be holding trials for potential new players and Lance has a number of individuals he has already invited to train with the squad.    

By Histon Webmaster|June 27th, 2021


 

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The Pitching in Northern Premier League have now updated their League Tables showing the teams in each new Division

https://www.thenpl.co.uk/match-info/tables?table_id=d-3290340



Northern Premier League fixtures should be published mid July ie in a couple of weeks time. That would be 4 weeks before league season starts on 14th August.


The North West Counties Football League will publish its opening weekend’s fixtures tomorrow  (2nd July) at midday. Their League begins on Saturday 31st July.  (That's 4 weeks before the start of their fixtures.)









 

Last edited by Matchman (01/7/2021 8:44 AM)

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Following the restructure; If Ilkeston were to win promotion; which Step 3 league would they go into?
They may not necessarily go into the Northern Premier League - Premier Division


Promotion of Step 4 clubs to Step 3   

There are four step 3 leagues
       Northern Premier League - Premier Div
       Isthmian League - Premier Div
       Southern League - Premier Central
       Southern League - Premier South 

Four teams will be relegated from each of the above leagues (ie a total of 16 teams) and they will be replaced by two teams from each of the eight Step 4 leagues. 

When there was only two Step 4 leagues in the Northern Premier (North West Division and South East Division ) the promoted teams automatically went into the Northern Premier League - Premier Division). The problem is now that there are three Step 4 leagues in the Northern Premier League (ie, the East Division, the West Division and the Midlands Division).  Therefore there will be 6 teams to be promoted but only 4 teams being relegated from the Northern Premier League - Premier Division.

That means that two of the promoted teams may have to go into one of the three Southern Step 3 Leagues. Either that or two of the existing Step 3 teams are laterally moved from the NPL Premier Division to  one of the other three Step 3 Leagues to make room..

The FA would have to decide on the best geographical solution once the teams promoted from Step 4 were known.







  

Last edited by Matchman (03/7/2021 7:33 AM)

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The eleven incoming teams we know little about :

Bedworth United :  We played against them at their ground on 12th October 2019 in the FA Trophy and lost 3-1 but felt we could have won. Not expecting a major promotion challenge.
Cambridge City : Know very little about them but #Jeffbet’s odds were 10/1 (only just behind Ilkeston @ 8/1), which suggests they may be decent. They won 5-1 at Kempston Rovers in their first pre season friendly.  Definitely a top half team.
Coleshill Town :  Performed poorly over last two season so expecting them to struggle again.
Corby Town : Well supported and did well last two seasons so very likely to be promotion challengers.
Daventry Town  : Based on last two season’s form, probably a bottom half team.
Halesowen Town : Like Corby, very well supported. Definitely anticipating a strong promotion push. from them.
Histon : Know very little about Histon. May be dark horses and be on the fringes of the playoff positions.
Shepshed Dynamo : Always did well at Step 5. It remains to be seen if they can do as well at Step 4. Probably mid table.
Soham Town Rangers : Another team we don’t know much about and our furthest journey, but not expecting them to be challenging for promotion.
Sporting Khalsa : Like Shepshed, difficult to predict how they will do at a higher level. Not expecting them to finish in the top half.
Yaxley : Had a similar record to Daventry over the last two seasons so reckon they’ll be in the bottom half.   


Likely promotion challengers  : Cambridge City, Corby Town, Halesowen Town 
Mid-table :                                 Bedworth United, Histon, Shepshed Dynamo 
Bottom Half :                            Coleshill Town, Daventry Town, Soham Town Rangers, Sporting Khalsa, Yaxley



 

what did happen to Kole Lambert last season and is he going to be included this season ? 
 

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Football Web Pages have now updated their website with the new Northern Premier Divisions


https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/northern-premier-league-midlands-division



 

It’s now been announced that the fixtures will be published at 8 pm tonight

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Last edited by Matchman (20/7/2021 8:36 AM)

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Duo Join Soham Town Rangers


 about 6 hours agoBy James Gordon

Soham Town Rangers have announced the signings of Finley Iron and Sam Bennett. The duo arrive at the Lane from Yaxley, having left Cambridge United at the end of the previous season. While at the Abbey Stadium, both players progressed through the youth academy, with goalkeeper Iron making one first team appearance in a 4-0 home win against Southampton Under-23s in the EFL Trophy in October 2018. Iron also had loan spells with St Neots Town, St Ives Town and Ely City, with attacker Bennett also appearing for St Neots and Mildenhall Town.

Also re-signing with the club ahead of the Pitching In Northern Premier League 2021/22 season are Jon Kaye, who has been confirmed as the new club captain following the departure of Josh Pope, alongside Joe Carden, Alfie Connor, Ali Conway, and Josh James.
Soham Town Rangers will compete in Northern Premier League Midlands in 2021/22.

 

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The latest piece from Dan McKenzie, looking at some of the newest clubs in the Pitching In Northern Premier League.

The allocations of teams to the Northern Premier League has brought new outposts for the League. The NPL has had teams in the Eastern Hemisphere before, namely King’s Lynn and King’s Lynn Town, but this season that number will treble the number of clubs from East of the Greenwich Meridian all at once. In addition, whilst the NPL has the highest senior football ground in its midst, namely Silverlands, Buxton, one of the new members plays their home games at sea-level – that is 0 feet!  

As well as that, the Northern Premier we will now have the first three clubs to have played in ALL three Trident Leagues.

The first of those new members to transfer from the Isthmian League is Cambridge City, formed in 1908 as Cambridge Town, then playing in the Southern Amateur League. The Football League invited Town to apply for membership in 1935, to help expand into East Anglia, but they declined in order to keep their amateur status. After WWII the Lilywhites joined the Spartan League and later the Athenian League, as Cambridge was granted City status, they just beat Abbey United to the City name (Abbey United changing the Cambridge bit). City joined the Southern League in 1958 where they stayed until Conference South allowed a further rise up the Pyramid in 2004. After financial problems in 2008, City were demoted back to the Southern League. A transfer to the Isthmian League Division 1 North took place for the uncompleted 2019-20. City are constructing a new stadium at Sawston, which may be ready before the end of this season, but until then they will groundshare at nearby Histon.

Histon are another of the clubs from the East and formed in 1904 as Histon Institute, playing in the Cambridgeshire League for 44 years. 1948 saw the Stutes join the Spartan League, winning promotion to the Premier Division in 1951, when ’Institute’ was dropped. 1960 brought a move to the Delphian League, which three years later became part of the Athenian League set up, where Histon struggled. In 1965 they switched to the Eastern Counties League, where they were to play for the further 35 seasons. In 2000 the club gained promotion to the Southern League Eastern Division, rising again in 2004 to the Premier Division, in 2005 to Conference South and 2007 into Conference National. However, since 2009 there has been a steady decline back to the ECL. 2019 saw Histon unexpectedly winning promotion into the Isthmian for the first time in its 115-year history. Their transfer to the NPL completes their story. Their Bridge Road ground can hold 3,800 and is also home to Cambridge City, as well as the Cambridgeshire FA.

The third club from the ‘Far East’ is Soham Town Rangers. Formed by a merger of Soham Town and Soham Rangers in 1947, the merged club worked its way up through the Cambridgeshire League and then the Peterborough and District League before joining the Eastern Counties League in 1963. An ECL title win saw the Greens promoted to the Midland Division of the Southern League in 2008, but they were transferred to the Isthmian League in 2011, and finally transferred to the NPL ten years later. They play at the picturesque Julius Martin Lane which can hold 2,000.

Yaxley is a village just to the South of Peterborough and the football club was established in 1962, becoming Yaxley British Legion a year later, until 1971 when this moniker was dropped. They played in the Peterborough and District League throughout this time, becoming Coalite Yaxley in 1986, then joining the ECL in 1988, and becoming Clarksteel Yaxley in 1990, before being expelled from the Eastern Counties for ground grading reasons in 1992. The club subsequently dropped into the Huntingdonshire League, but two seasons later this league merged with the East Northants League to form the West Anglia League, with Yaxley becoming its inaugural champions. As WAL champions, and following the move to a new ground at Leading Drove, in 1995 the club were accepted into the United Counties League. The 2018 UCL Premier Division Championship win brought a move into Division One Central of the Southern League, where they stayed until their recent transfer into the new NPL Midlands Division. The Cuckoos’ Leading Grove Ground can hold 1,000 and now sports a 3G pitch. Its elevation is 0 feet or sea level, so they occupy the lowest NPL club spot!