@Ollie_Bayliss

Clubs have been told rough dates for National League North & South playoffs:

Eliminators: Sat/Sun 18/19 Jul
Semi finals: Sat/Sun 25/26 Jul
Finals: Sat/Sun 1/2 Aug

BT Sport is discussing showing games.

Playoff dates for the National League will be slightly different.

Firstly the FA produced a series of slides for their presentation which they have said will be emailed out later today. The meeting obviously went into more details than the slides and each league was able to ask a question. Summarising the main points:
THIS SUMMER Even if a league at a higher step has a vacancy caused by a club folding or requesting voluntary relegation, NO Promotion will occur and that league will run short.The FA will look at applications to enter the pyramid to fill a vacancy (AFC Bury and Isle
of Mann were only ones mentioned).
FUNDING The FA National Game have had a 38% cut in funding. This will impact all NLS leagues who will no longer receive FA Development funding, but they will still receive Administration grants at current level.FA Vase prize money will be reduced by approx 6%
COMPETITIONS It is the FA’s ambition still to run the FA Cup & FA Vase in full, BUT that may not be possible and certainly with the FA Cup they are contractually bound to have the FA Cup 3rd Rd on the opening weekend of January, so the dates and numbers of earlier rounds may be affected by that. The non-league final day at Wembley is subject to the FA calendar given that Euro 2020 matches now have to fit into 2021. Consideration is being given to do away with Replays in both Cup & Vase to aid fitting in league fixtures. If the season does not start in August then League and County Cups cannot be run in the traditional formats during the league playing season, but possible that new ways could be found to run Cups.
RESTARTING NLS FOOTBALL The FA stated that NLS will only re-start when the Dept of Media, Culture & Sport (DCMS) gives approval AND subject to any conditions that the DCMS makes. Games cannot re-start at Steps 1 to 7 of the NLS without spectators, AND ALL STEPS ARE TIED TOGETHER on a restart date (eg Step 6 cannot start whilst Step 3 is not allowed and vice versa) Football BELOW Step 7 where no admission is taken may start on a different date and is subject to specific “grass-roots” Govt guidance. The FA are working on various scenarios as to when and how it affects the programme of games, this was explained as: August –A normal season September/October –Full League seasons to be priority with NO League or County CupsNovember/January –Not possible for a full league season to be played and in this situation either half seasons (play each other once) or splitting divisions in half (probably on geographics) so that in our case we have 4 divisions of 10 rather than 2 of 20
Later than January – Worst-case scenario with re-structure and leagues maybe held over again until 2021/22 season. Whilst NOT a commitment or guarantee by any means, the FA said the most likely current scenario would be September.Pre-Season –The FA stated a pre-season would occur before commencement of matches, but they were not prepared to say what duration in weeks that timeframe would be.End of season –Flexibility to go into May rather than the last weekend of April, but again this would really depend on the starting date of the season.Possible agreement prior to restarting so that if a 2nd spike forced another curtailment of next season, that the leagues could be awarded based on the percentage of games actually played at that time –details to follow.
CLUBS The FA will require ALL CLUBS to produce and publish a Risk assessment and/or action plans to ensure they are Covid secure. This is specifically for clubs that are neither “elite” nor “grassroots” and will cover such things as:
Return to full training / matches
Use of facilities including clubhouses, dressing rooms etcTravelThe volunteer workforce at each club The FA are currently writing a guidance paper on this and it will follow to clubs in the near future.
Ground Grading: The FA have built into the temporary changes to regulations some flexibility regarding ground grading dates, whilst no specific date or rule has been changed, the FA stated that it is “Not the intention to relegate any clubs for work that Covid has meant they have been unable to do.”Next FA Leagues meeting on July 14th.

Dilly an interesting comparison would be season 08/09 when we won the Southern Prem and compare the average League attendance to the following season when we were bottom half in National League North.

Admin do you have those figures ?

Average league attendance 07-08 when we won the Southern Prem 1148
the following season 986

@DorkingWDRS
3:27 PM · Jun 13, 2020·Twitter for iPhone


BREAKING NEWS: Official clarity from the Government will be sent to National League Chairman today confirming that NO explicit guidance was given from the DCMS to the FA with regards to Step 2 football, a footballer obtaining an income falls within the ‘Elite’ classification.
Time for the FA to accept they made a mistake & we all move on - the National League now need to swiftly put this right & move on to the all important safety & testing costs by working alongside their clubs

Lynn Manager March 1992 - February 1993
https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/football-legends-memory-book-john-musgrove-1-6688873

I have had a couple of enquiries recently from people researching former players.
If anyone has any information please can you DM me and I will pass it on?

First: Graham Thomson. He is, as far as we know, Lynn's youngest first-team player making his debut on  Tuesday, May 3rd 1955 against Bradford City Reserves at the age of 15 years 9 months and 5 days.
He went on to sign for Spurs as a youth team player. Does anyone know of him?

Second: Peter McCall. He had a successful career with Oldham and Hereford but is said to have attended KES in Lynn.
Peter passed away in February.
An article in the Bristol Post suggests he was scouted playing for Lynn and joined Bristol in 1952 - which means he would have been 15-16 years old.
I doubt that this was for Lynn first team but might have been for the Reserves or at schoolboy level. Unfortunately, the lack of access to the library rather hampers any research.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/peter-mccall-obituary-former-bristol-3849012

https://www.thelinnets.co.uk/matchreports/ln260408.shtml