A number of NPL clubs are crowdfunding to support them during this difficult time.

Click on the relevant team name to view and donate.

Premier Division: 
Atherton Collieries
Bamber Bridge
FC United
Gainsborough Trinity
Grantham Town
Lancaster City
Matlock Town
Mickleover Sports
Scarborough Athletic
Stafford Rangers
Stalybridge Celtic
Warrington Town
Whitby Town
Witton Albion

North/West Division: 
Brighouse Town
City of Liverpool
Marine
Marske United
Mossley
Ossett United
Pickering Town
Ramsbottom United
Trafford
Workington

South/East Division: 
Chasetown 
Frickley Athletic
Lincoln United
Spalding United
Worksop Town

If your club’s crowdfunding initiative isn’t listed, please contact newsdesk@thenpl.co.uk  


 

    

Leek Town FC[/url] [url=https://twitter.com/leektown]@leektown·May 3 

This man is in demand - a great online interview and now the @NonLeaguePaper Blues "Hitman" @Tim_Grice9 Available today in all good newsagents  

There are some mixed messages coming out of Basford as they are still signing new players. It is however interesting to note how much revenue is coming form hiring out the facilities!

NEXT YEAR IS PROBABLY A BIG YEAR FOR US     by Kieran King


Loughborough Dynamo manager Lee Attenborough believes that his side are in a strong position and will be ready to go again when they get the green light to begin the new football season. The Moes’ BetVictor Northern Premier League South East campaign was cancelled back in March with nine games remaining due to Covid-19, and all of their results were expunged, meaning the league was deemed null and void. Attenborough, who celebrated his 75th game in charge of the club back in February, explains how he has maintained his squad during these difficult times and gives an update on how he is preparing for next season.

He said: “It’s one of them. We’ve kept in touch with a lot of the lads by text. I’ve spoke to all of them over the phone regards the lockdown situation and also trying to get plans in place for next season.

“This is in terms of who we want to stay and whether lads are willing to stay and want to continue playing for the club which the vast majority do. We’re looking solid for next year. We’ve got pretty much all of them (last season’s squad) agreed so we’re ready to go as and when season is ready to kick-off whenever that may be. "We know it’s probably going to be a long time but at the same time, if you do prepare and things do change, you’re going to be in a position where you are ready to go. So that’s important, but we’ve also done Zoom quizzes with the whole squad where we’ve all got together and had a good laugh.

”Dynamo ended the season with a seven-match unbeaten run and recorded impressive victories over Frickley Athletic, Carlton Town and Ilkeston Town in the process. But after a challenging start to the campaign which oversaw a good FA Cup run, the 29-year-old looks back on 2019/20 where his team eventually finished up in 11th place, nine points below the play-off places. “It’s similar to my first season in charge in the sense that we didn’t start particularly well,” he explained. “I think that was our problem in both the last two years because we’ve always seem to come good around Christmas towards the end of the season. “That’s almost two years running where we’ve had a run of seven undefeated, the season before it was six wins in a row. You think if we could have a little bit of better start and give us something to build on going into the second-half of the season, we would be up there competing. “So I think as an overall, we’ve done another good job.

When I took the job two years ago, it was to avoid relegation. We’ve now, I feel, cemented ourselves as a very solid mid-table side as a team other sides don’t want to play. No one sees us as an easy touch. “We have progressed but obviously because we’re ambitious at the same time. We’re always looking at the play-off spots and if we can get there but it’s probably still early for the club and the squad we’ve got to have done that this season. Obviously try and re-access and do that for the next one. “Next year is probably a big year for us I think because the squad is jelled, we’ve got the squad right. If we can get those signings right then we could be a good side." 

 

Last edited by Matchman (12/5/2020 12:52 PM)

STEVE CHETTLE IN GREAT SPIRITS AS THE CLUB NOW SITS AND WAITS FOR GUIDANCE ON A RESTARTBY JONNY DRAKE

Basford's first-team manager, Steve Chettle, has been a busy man in recent months, making some well thought out signings & re-signings. With Basford denied a shot at the 2019-20 playoffs, rather than sit & dwell, Steve Chettle has gone about the task of future-proofing Basford United, with excellent judgment attracting a mix of excellent players and a clutch of prospects.

With Basford's Educational Academy also looking in great shape for the new season, there’s a lot to be positive about for Basford United FC. Commenting on such Steve Chettle states: “this time of any normal season is always hard. When contracts come to an end (and with the season finishing the way it did) it has made our retention of players even more difficult.

“We had already negotiated some deals before the season came to an end, and we have also secured the services of new players that fit into our ethos as a Club.  “Having worked with the players last season and getting into a really good position in the playoffs, it's difficult to let players go, but decisions have to be made and the structure of the club has to be of major consideration.  “These are difficult times that we find ourselves in and we have to make sure that the future of the club is at the forefront of our minds and securing the services of young, hungry players to work alongside the existing players that we have is going to be exciting.  “We thank the players that have left the club at the end of the season and we hope that they find themselves another venture. The squad is growing, and we are planning for pre-season as normal and listening to the Government guidelines as to when we can get back to work on the pitch ready for when our league programme will commence.  

”The club has no doubt taken some tough decisions to trim the size of the squad, but both Steve and the chairman feel such has been achieved without Basford being any less ambitious and are well placed to give future seasons a real go.  Commenting, Basford chairman, Chris Munroe, said: “I am extremely buoyant of what Steve, this group of players, our Academy and the advanced aged youth phase teams can achieve in the next few years.  “It’s exciting, refreshing, and I have a real buzz about the club even though we are not able to be on-site at the moment.  

“It’s been difficult for me to let any player go, especially those giving great service; but we are looking for players who want to be with us for this duration, have the tools/ experience or leadership we are looking for in a player or the potential & desire to help us achieve our objectives in the next two to three years.

”Mr Munroe would also like to thank Sportz Connections & One Stop Sports Management for the way they represent their clients in dealings with Basford United.  Both Mr Munroe and Steve Chettle believe the club is maybe one or two signings away from having a complete group. The club, though, will take its time and not make knee jerk reactions and have a small but exceptional list of targets that we are in discussions with.  

Commenting on the current situation, Mr Munroe states: “Like all, we are obviously struggling at the moment but not to the extent that some believe. Once a resumption kicks in then we will hit the ground running, but safety is paramount; we could be faced with a longer period of inactivity that could potentially jeopardise the forthcoming season. How high-level professional football and non-league football looks after this period will be anyone’s guess, but Basford intends to be there.  ”Mr Munroe would also like to inform fans that the club has launched a new Commercial department that will actively look to market the club to raise funds & appointments will be forthcoming. 
 

Former NPL East Division Young Player of the Year Piteu Crouz is the headline departure from Matlock Town after their revealed their retained list.

Crouz, 23, joined Matlock from Belper Town but after a solid start to his spell with the Gladiators, was hit by injury and suspension and struggled to regain a regular spot in the starting line-up.

Also departing the Proctors Cars Stadium are striker Sam Scrivens, goalkeeper Kyle Trennery and Sikirulaki Hamzat, who was signed on the day of his debut, against Warrington on March 10, which proved to be his first and last appearance.Midfielders Luke Dean and Jack Rea and full-back Ben Gordon haven’t been offered new deals but have been invited back to pre-season should they wish.

Boss Paul Phillips said: “It’s been really hard, none of them have really done anything wrong but Matlock again finished towards the bottom of the division and it’s plain to see a shake up was required. “I’m also looking at what I hope we have coming in. Piteu, Ben and Luke live quite a way away, and as for Jack I’ve never seen him play due to injury. “We have to look at things financially, while we’re hopeful Rob (Molloy) can have some positive impact there’s also the situation with the Coronavirus epidemic to look at. “We like everyone else aren’t really sure what will be happening and the implications of it. I felt like a coward having to speak to players on the phone, I’m the type of bloke who’ll speak with players face to face but there was no other way.

”Long-term injury absentees Craig King and Nathan Whitehead are included on the retained list, as is former Warrington midfielder Scott Sephton who signed just prior to the lockdown.Matlock’s full retained list is Alex Byrne, Chib Chilaka, Ben Edgson, Bailey Gooda, Spencer Harris, Luke Hinsley, Adam Kimberley, Craig King, Tomas Poole, Scott Sephton, Jon Stewart, Dan Turner, Nathan Whitehead, Dwayne Wiley and Adam Yates.


Several teams have now announced their retained players.

Our supporters are eagerly awaiting news of Ilkeston's retained list and details of any new signings. 

More news from Carlton Town :

LAST TWO HOME GAMES WERE THE BIGGEST POSITIVE AND THEN THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT IN EQUAL MEASURE SAYS NORTH

In the second of our exclusive interviews with some of the key figures from last season, we spoke to Vice Chairman Barry North about his first season at Stoke Lane.

“We definitely as a family made the right decision to come to this club, the welcome from day one from everyone towards myself, Jackie and Gary was overwhelming and it has continued ever since”

“The infrastructure in terms of the fund raising at the club is outstanding and that alone gives us a fighting chance and the work put in by the likes of Mick, Roger, Wally and Dave behind the scenes along with others is most impressive”

While Barry has been left impressed with the people behind the scenes, he believes that for a football club to succeed, all three sections of the club have to be pulling in the same direction. The board and managers, the players and the supporters and he genuinely believes that is happening at the club.

“The transformation on the pitch, particularly from players that struggled the year before has been most impressive and their progress under Tommy and Mark who have done a great job as been fantastic to see”

“The stand out things for me are the way Martin Ball showed any doubters that he still had what it takes to perform at the highest level at this standard and I hope he can continue that next season and to continue to help develop the club’s youngsters”

The excellent penalty taking of the skipper Tom Maddison is another massive plus for the club, I believe he only missed one and that was converted on the rebound”

“I have enjoyed the away trips, but the Wisbech one springs to mind as a favourite, not least because of the friendly people we met that day"

North saves his biggest praise however for the club’s supporters“ They are a magnificent bunch led by Alan Murphy, they all too made us feel so welcome and the way they rallied to set up the 100 club and fill it so quickly was astonishing”  

“The 100 club has certainly helped protect the club now during this awful time, but it also gives us a platform of hope for the future and everyone involved with this should be so proud of their efforts and commitment to the club”  

“I get the distinct impression there is a lot of pride in this club throughout and that gives us a real chance” continued NorthSumming up, North admitted that the last week of the season as it turned out gave him the most enjoyment of the campaign but also in retrospect his biggest disappointment.

“Our away form was outstanding all season but our home form was not so good, so for me in that last week to win two home games 4-0 on the bounce was a wow moment” “It was a case of we had splattered the achilles heel and now watch us go and then we were stopped in our tracks by the virus and now we will never know what the outcome would be, but I genuinely believe it would have a good one” concluded North, a man clearly comfortable and embracing his role as Vice Chairman at the club and desperately hoping the virus will not stop football next season.

Chasetown FC have applied for an FA Grant towards the cost of preparing their pitch for next season



  

PITCHING IN AT THE SCHOLARS GROUND   BY PAUL MULLINS

Work on the playing surface has begun taking place.

We are pleased to say that work has begun being undertaken on the playing surface. The work carried out was :-
40 tonnes of sand applied to the pitch as a top dressing
The pitch has been aerated
The pitch has been listed and new seed has been sown all over pitch, particularly on the areas showing the most wear and tear.

The FA have agreed a grant of £1,500 to many clubs for this purpose, which we have applied for, as a contribution towards the cost.

 

BASFORD UNITED CONFIRM THE FINAL RETAINED LIST PLUS THREE MORE DEPARTBY JONNY DRAKE

Basford can confirm the final retained list for pre-season & departures of Nat Watson, Jack Thomas & Brad Gascoigne. With Steve Chettle doing the bulk of our summer work early the club has an excellent platform to go into pre-season.

The club can confirm today that Nathan Watson, Jack Thomas & Brad Gascoigne will not be offered deals for the new campaign. Basford Chairman, Chris Munroe, commented “It's always sad to let players & great servants go, but for differing reasons we have taken this decision. 

"Defensively, we are aware of some excellent players who will likely be released from the National League, so we have taken this decision with the intention of bolstering via identified defensive targets in the coming weeks.

”The club would like to thank Nat, Jack, Brad and all those who have given excellent service and we wish them the absolute best in the future. Mr Munroe said "the club is operating under such uncertainty with regard to all levels of football currently with regard to the pandemic. Therefore it is prudent to take the actions necessary to ensure any prolonged continuation and delay to the new season will be no risk to the club whatsoever. However, not many clubs will have been as active as us at this stage of late spring so we are excited and the two more defensive reinforcements we sought are moving along well.

Basford’s retained/signed & agreed trialist list stands at 20 excluding any academy prospects who also may force their way into Steve Chettle preseason plans; 

Kieran PrestonGK
Invited Trialist
Ryan Wilson
Stef Galinski
Dom Roma
Lewis Carr
Invited Trialist
Invited Trialist
Callum Chettle
Matt Thornhill
Kyle Dixon
James Tague
James Carvell
Marcus Marshall
Ashley Worsfold
Coury Grantham
Niall Towle
Rev James
Kane Richards
Wayde Hines

Steve Chettle, who is working on the preseason schedule and training plan under the uncertainty, expressed views on where the current squad is: ”As mentioned before, we are planning for next season under extreme uncertainty. "Like most clubs, we are trying to build a squad to continue on last season's successes, but it also comes with comings and goings. Nat, Jack and Brad all played their part during the season, but mutually we have decided to move onto a new challenge and we wish them all the best and thank them for their efforts last season. "It is almost impossible to make everybody happy in a competitive squad and sometimes we don't get deals over the line that we would have liked to. These things happen in football and will continue to do so all around the country. 

"I have spoken to all the players today to see how they are coping in these strange times and checked that they have received their offseason schedule in order to come back into pre-season when it is safe to do so. All the lads have said that they have been keeping active and can't wait to get back together.” 

 

Prolific Hazel Heads To Whitby

By James Gordon

Whitby Town have signed prolific striker Jacob Hazel from Frickley Athletic. Hazel, 26, scored a record 47 goals in 2017/18 and had bagged 17 goals in 34 games when the 2019/20 season was brought to an end. He told the club’s official website: “I spoke to Chris Hardy a couple of weeks ago and we had a really good chat about everything. “I think we share a similar ambition in the game and beyond so that helped to attract me to Whitby Town. “I also couldn't turn down the opportunity to jump up a level and that was a massive head turner.

“As a striker I'm here to score goals and I would say that I like a shot, but my main aim is to create chances for my teammates and myself. That's what I think best describes my style of play. “I am confident that I can transfer my form and ability from Frickley to Whitby and hopefully hit the ground running whenever that may be.

”Hazel has previously had spells with Mickleover Sports, Chesterfield, FC United of Manchester, Buxton, Bradford PA, Gainsborough, Farsley and Scarborough.  



Frickley Athletic manager Dave Frecklington has confirmed a number of player departures.

As previously revealed, Captain Jacob Hazel and goalkeeper Tom Jackson have stepped up a division to join Whitby Town and Gainsborough Trinity respectively.

Also opting to leave are Bradley Wells, Michael Hollingsworth and Brad McGowan, while Lewis Bowring and Paul Sherburn depart in the search for regular playing time.

Frecklington told the club’s official website: “I totally understand the reasons behind them wanting to move on and as a manager, whether you like it or not, you have to respect their decision and move on quickly.

“Having held talks with all of last seasons squad I have been pleased with the response of those that have intentions of staying at the football club.

“Until we have the registration forms sent out by the NPL I will be keeping those names close to my chest, firstly because we can’t register them until July anyway and secondly things can change very quickly in football.

“Recruitment is going to plan, again I don’t want to mention names until it’s signed and sealed.“Once we get the green light to do so, we will be holding a meet and greet evening, we really can’t wait to get this underway and outline how we want to go about our business next season and beyond.”  



There appears to be some conflicting information here regarding registration of players in the Northern Premier League.  Frecklington is saying above that players can't be registered until July but Basford and other clubs have been announcing their new signings and retained players.

Last edited by Matchman (20/5/2020 7:29 AM)

Still waiting for news of Ilkeston players for next season 

We've all been patiently awaiting news of players who will be wearing Ilkeston's colours next season.  The following players appear to have been retained so far.

        Kieran Wells
        Richard Stainsby
        Joe Maguire
        Ross Durrant
        Kieran Fenton
        Billy Bennett

We can probably add Tom Marshall to the above list and we know we have lost Reco Fyfe and Fabian Smith.

Experienced players that we don't know about who were with us at the end of last season include :

        Fernando Bell-Toxtle,
        James Cullingworth,
        Kole Lambert and
        Mason Lee  


There have been hints of some good quality new signings but so far they have not been revealed.
 

Last edited by Matchman (21/5/2020 7:19 AM)

I wonder what the rule changes Chris Whitty talks about might be ...

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11992363/matt-hancock-says-government-wants-grassroots-football-back-as-soon-as-we-safely-can

Mr wells has gone and reidy is back with us.

Don't know what to say about wells. Give you is all but so did Alex.

Think I'll leave it at that.

All the best Kieron

Belper Town have revealed their player retention list, together with four new signings.

Steve McDonnell became the fourth new signing over the weekend, signing for the Nailers for the second successive summer having arrived from Worksop Town in 2019.  He made five substitute appearances for Belper before returning to the Tigers, where he was a regular starter last season.  The three other new faces are versatile defender Ben Rhodes, striker Danny Frost and former Ossett goalkeeper Leigh Overton.

Their retained list of 14 includes winger Nathan Curtis and full-back Josh Woodcock, who has made his loan switch from Lincoln City permanent.  New deals have also been offered to George Milner and Riece Bertram.  Defender Phil Watt departs to join Mickleover Sports, while Cameron Clark has decided not to re-commit to the club as he plans to go travelling in the New Year.

Retained

Ryan Musselwhite

Josh Woodcock

Danny South

Sam Wright

Derry Robson

Danny Gordon

Corey Gregory

Nathan Curtis

Brodie Litchfield

Alex Peterson

Steve Ridley

Charlie Dawes

Harley Kozluk

Yaya Dembele

New Signings

Ben Rhodes (Worksop Town)

Danny Frost (Stocksbridge PS)

Leigh Overton (Armthorpe Welfare)
Steve McDonnell (Worksop Town)

Offered terms (decision awaited)

George Milner

Riece Bertram  (now moved to Ilkeston Town)

Departed

Phil Watt (to Mickleover Sports)

Cameron Clark (unavailable)

Better news for Basford United. I presume we’re taking advantage of any funds, grants, bill and rate relief on offer?

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/boost-historic-notts-football-club-4170023

Last edited by Trowell Nicky (28/5/2020 8:01 AM)