WELCOME TO TOOTING AND MITCHAM WANDERERS

A new non-league club has been formed named 'Tooting and Mitcham Wanderers' as a group of disgruntled former Tooting & Mitcham United supporters and staff have made the decision to create a new club in protest as they are reportedly dissatisfied with the current running of the Ryman League Division One South club.

 

Wanderers will play in the Surrey South Eastern Combination Intermediate Division next season at St Catherine's Playing Field in Raynes Park.

 

The SSEC League had two Intermediate Divisions last season with Division One including Westminster Casuals, Project Clapham, Cheam Village Wanderers and South East London. Division Two included Balham, Fulham Deaf, Ashtead and Kerria Knights amongst others.

 

Danny Lee whom is a former caretaker manager at Tooting & Mitcham United will be the man in charge for the new club's debut season. There will also be a Reserve Team, Sunday Team, Academy Squad and under 10's side in place for the 2013/14 season.

 

The Terrors were relegated from the Premier Division in 2011/12 and finished sixteenth in Division One (South) last season when the club had three separate first team managers.

 

The new club's website can be found at tmwfc.co.uk and you can follow them on twitter @TheRealTMFC.

 

The 'Wanderers' name is nod to the Mitcham Wanderers (formed in 1912) who merged with Tooting FC (founded 1887) in 1932 to form Tooting and Mitcham United.

 

 

STONES NET PROLIFIC FRONTMAN PUTMAN

Wealdstone have secured the signing of Lewis Putman from Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division side Oxhey Jets for the 2013/14 Ryman Premier League season. The 22 year old scored an amazing 81 goals and was player of the season for the Hertfordshire side last season and did have a trial with League Two Wycombe Wanderers in April.

He moves up from Step 5 to Step 3 on the non-league ladder so it'll be interesting to see how good he does at Grosvenor Vale where he will no doubt learn from their other centre forwards/strikers Scott McGleish, Peter Dean and Chris Moore.

When TheColdEnd saw him play last season I thought he was more than just a goal-scorer. He is tall, good in the air, holds the ball up and brings other players into the game as well. The Stones have netted a decent promising player in my opinion.

AVELEY BRING IN TWO PLAYERS

Division One (North) Aveley have brought in two new players as Justin Gardner strengthens his squad for the 2013/14 season. Highly rated 17 year old midfielder Sammy Knott has joined from Concord Rangers where he played eighteen times in their promotion winning campaign. Also joining is striker Sos Yao who has played for Brentwood Town, Maldon and Tiptree, Metropolitan Police and Harlow Town recently.

ESSEX BUSINESS HOUSES LEAGUE 2013/14

Looking at the Essex Business Houses League over the past decade is a clear indication of the decline in grass roots football which makes the signing of the e-petition set up to save the game at this level more important than ever. Please click and sign - It only takes a few minutes!!!!

The 2003/2004 season saw the League have Five Divisions and a total of 61 teams competing. The 2013/13 sees the league running with just one "Premier Division" of 13 clubs.

Four clubs have left the league in Blue Marlin, Flanders, Essex United and current champion's Snaresbrook.

Joining are six new clubs which is great to see. The Lord's Sanctury, Asianos, Dagenham United, Scouts United (Hackney Marshes), Brenthill Rovers and May & Baker 'A'.

The full line up is as follows -

Asianos
Brenthill Rovers
Dagenham United
FC Hamlets
May & Baker Club 'A'
Newtown Wesley
Rainham Working Men's Club
St John's Deaf
Scouts United
Silk
Singh Sabha Barking
Switch Bar
The Lord's Sanctuary
FOOTBALL FACT
If just 0.5% of the current £3billion FA Premier League television deal is used to develop and promote the grass roots game at Adult and Youth level it would see a massive amount of £15,000,000 invested.

THE THURSDAY CLUB #5 - WESTHAMIANS FC

Westhamians FC's history goes back to 1925 when a group of pupils from the old West Ham Central Secondary School formed a club to provide football for the old boys of the school. Originally named 'West Ham Secondary Old Boys FC' this was quickly changed to 'Old Westhamians' and now 'Westhamians FC'.

The club played in the Amateur Football Alliance prior to the second World War with the club re-emerging in 1947 to join the Old Boys League for season 1948/49. They stayed members of the Amateur Football Alliance until the mid 1990's. The club then moved over to the Ilford and District League, the Essex Business Houses League and then onto the Essex Olympian League. A veterans team, a Sunday team and an under 18's team were also formed.

The club's sides have played at Fairlop since formation aside from two season's in Chingford in the mid 70's. They now have many youth sides and the first team are scheduled to play in Division One of the Essex Olympian League (Step 8 of the non-league ladder) for the 2013/14 season.

Last season they finished second bottom in the Premier Division winning only six of their twenty-six league games. Their most memorable season in recent times came in 2008/09 when they the Division One title gaining promotion to the Premier Division where they were members for four seasons up until relegation at the end of 2012/13.

Follow Westhamians FC on twitter @westhamiansfc or visit their website here

ESSEX OLYMPIAN LEAGUE CONSTITUTION FOR 2013/14

The proposed constitution for the 2013/14 Essex Olympian League four Senior Divisions has been announced. At the end of the 2013/14 season the league lost six senior teams in Premier Division Alborough Athletic (11th), Division Two side's Burnham Ramblers Res (10th) and Castle United (9th), Division Three side's Chingford Athletic (9th), Forest United (10th) and Writtle (12th).

I am unsure at present where some of the above club's will end up but can confirm that Castle United have tweeted the club have folded which is a great shame.

Four new sides join Division Three in Alemite Athletic, Forest Glade, Rochford Town and Snaresbrook.

*Alemite Athletic are based in Harlow and finished third in the Hertford and District Premier Division last season. They play their games at the Paringdon Sports club in the town.

*Forest Glade are based in Billericay and are a big youth football club with teams from under 5's to under 18s. They were formed in 1992.

*Rochford Town were champions of the Southend Borough Combination last season. They only lost one out of their sixteen league games on their way to winning the Premier Division title.

*Snaresbrook were Champions of the Essex Business Houses League last season. They play at the wonderfully named Nutterfield on Nutter Lane just off of the main A12 near to Wanstead station.

The Premier Division sees three promoted clubs in Bishops Stortford Swifts, Wadham Lodge and Newbury Forest and should be highly competitive next season.

The EOFL have also formed a new Under 21 division which currently has twelve teams involved as below. Barca, Basildon United, Dagenham United, Harold Hill, Hutton, LOASS, Little Thurrock Dynamos, Redbridge, Riverhawks, Romford Flyers, Ryan and Upminster will compete in the inugriaul season

Essex Olympian Football League 2013/14 Constitution

PREMIER DIVISION	DIVISION ONE	DIVISION TWO	DIVISION THREE
Bishops Stortford Swifts	Benfleet	Basildon Town	Alemite Athletic
Buckhurst Hill	Canning Town	Broomfield	Catholic United
Frenford Senior	Galleywood	Debden Sports	Epping
Hannakins Farm	Herongate Athletic	Lakeside	Forest Glade
Harold Hill	Hutton	Ongar Town	Leytonstone United
Harold Wood Athletic	Leigh Ramblers	Roydon	LOASS
Kelvedon Hatch	Newham United	Runwell Hospital	Ramsden Scotia
M & B Club	Old Barkabbeyans	Ryan F.C.	Rochford Town
Manford Way	Old Chelmsfordians	Shenfield A.F.C.	Snaresbrook
Newbury Forest	Old Southendian	Toby	Stambridge United
Rayleigh Town	Springfield	Upminster	Sungate
Southminster St. Leonards	Westhamians
Wadham Lodge
White Ensign

ALLIANCE PREMIER LEAGUE 1979/80 - THE FIRST CONFERENCE

ALLIANCE PREMIER LEAGUE 1979/80 - FINAL LEAGUE TABLE

TEAM	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
ALTRINCHAM	38	28	4	6	79	35	+44	56
WEYMOUTH	38	22	10	6	73	37	+36	54
WORCESTER CITY	38	19	11	8	53	36	+17	49
BOSTON UNITED	38	16	13	9	52	43	+9	45
GRAVESEND & NORTHFLEET	38	17	10	11	49	44	+5	44
MAIDSTONE UNITED	38	16	11	11	54	37	+17	43
KETTERING TOWN	38	15	13	10	55	50	+5	43
NORTHWICH VICTORIA	38	16	10	12	50	38	+12	42
BANGOR CITY	38	14	14	10	41	46	-5	42
NUNEATON BOROUGH	38	13	13	12	58	44	+14	39
SCARBOROUGH	38	12	15	11	47	38	+9	39
YEOVIL TOWN	38	13	10	15	46	49	-3	36
TELFORD UNITED	38	13	8	17	52	60	-8	34
BARROW	38	14	6	18	47	55	-7	34
WEALDSTONE	38	9	15	14	42	54	-12	33
BATH CITY	38	10	12	16	43	69	-26	32
BARNET	38	10	10	18	32	48	-16	30
AP LEAMINGTON	38	7	11	20	32	63	-31	25
STAFFORD RANGERS	38	6	10	22	41	57	-16	22
REDDITCH UNITED	38	5	8	25	26	69	-43	18

The first Conference (formed as the Alliance Premier League) was played in the 1979/80 season and was the ground breaking first season of a non-league national division. Twenty teams were drawn from the Northern Premier and Southern Premier Leagues. The Isthmian League saw Dagenham and Enfield leave at the end of the 1980/81 season to join the newly expanded twenty-two team division for the 1981/82 season.

The first title winners were Altrincham and with no automatic promotion to Division Four brought in until 1987 they were entitled to apply for election to the Football League subsequently missing out by one vote as they received 25 and Rochdale (24th in Division Four) received 26.

When Enfield won the league title in 1983 the club couldn't apply as it didn't meet football league requirements but in 1986 (the season prior to automatic promotion) The E's did and the vote went as follows. Three out of the four teams involved have subsequently been relegated from the football league.  -

Exeter City (21st) - 64
Preston North End (23rd) - 62.5
Cambridge United (22nd) - 61
Torquay United (24th) - 61
Enfield (1st APL) - 7.5

An indication as to how the league has changed especially with the advent of automatic promotion in 1986/1987 and then two up/two down in 2002/03 is to look at where the original competing teams have been and where are they now. The fact that every team competing in the first season has either been relegated or promoted at least once to the various levels of the football pyramid is another good example. This includes the four clubs that have officially folded and reformed. The table is worked on the fact the FA Premier League is Level One on the pyramid and downwards as follows.

TEAM	HIGHEST POSITION SINCE	2013/14
ALTRINCHAM	1st - Level 5 79/80 & 80/81	LEVEL 6 - CONFERENCE NORTH
WEYMOUTH	2nd - Level 5 79/80	LEVEL 7 - SOUTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE
WORCESTER CITY	3rd - Level 5 79/80	LEVEL 6 - CONFERENCE NORTH
BOSTON UNITED	11th - Level 5 - 03/04 & 05/06	LEVEL 6 - CONFERENCE NORTH
GRAVESEND & NORTHFLEET	5th - Level 5 79/80	LEVEL 6 - CONFERENCE NORTH
MAIDSTONE UNITED*	5th - Level 4 89/90	LEVEL 7 - RYMAN PREMIER*
KETTERING TOWN	2nd -Level 5 80/81, 88/89, 93/94 & 98/99	LEVEL 8 - SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIVISION ONE (CENTRAL)
NORTHWICH VICTORIA	4th - Level 5 80/81	LEVEL 8 - NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE DIVISION ONE (NORTH)
BANGOR CITY	9th - Level 5 79/80	WELSH PREMIER LEAGUE
NUNEATON BOROUGH*	2nd - Level 5 83/84 & 84/85	LEVEL 5 - CONFERENCE*
SCARBOROUGH*	5th - Level 4 88/89	LEVEL 8 - NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE DIVISION ONE (NORTH)*
YEOVIL TOWN	4th - Level 3 12/13	LEVEL 2 - CHAMPIONSHIP
TELFORD UNITED*	3rd - Level 5 81/82	LEVEL 6 - CONFERENCE NORTH*
BARROW	8th - Level 5 81/82	LEVEL 6 - CONFERENCE NORTH
WEALDSTONE	1st - Level 5 84/85	LEVEL 7 - RYMAN PREMIER
BATH CITY	4th - Level 5 84/85	LEVEL 6 - CONFERENCE SOUTH
BARNET	24th - Level 3 93/94	LEVEL 5 - CONFERENCE
AP LEAMINGTON#	16th - Level 5 80/81	LEVEL 6 - CONFERENCE NORTH#
STAFFORD RANGERS	6th - Level 5 87/88 & 92/93	LEVEL 7 - NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE
REDDITCH UNITED	20th - Level 5 79/80	LEVEL 7 - SOUTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE

* denotes teams folded and subsequently re-formed as follows -
1) Maidstone United folded in 1992 and re-formed as 'Maidstone Invicta'
2) Nuneaton Borough went into liquidation in 2008 and a re-formed as 'Nuneaton Town'
3) Scarborough were wound-up in 2007. A new club 'Scarborough Athletic' were formed in 2007 and 'Scarborough Town' in 2008. Athletic were promoted to Level 8 at the end of last season with Town unfortunately folding after last season's campaign.
4) Telford United were wound-up in 2004. Re-Formed as 'AFC Telford United'
# denotes 'Autmotive Products Leamington' became 'Leamington FC' in 1985 and withdrew from the Midland Combination at the end of season 87/88. The club were re-launched after over a decade of inactivity in 2000.

The 2013/14 season's Conference is a 24 team division and contains eleven former football league teams or if you prefer to include the reformed teams it's fourteen. Back in 1979 it was only two clubs out of twenty in Northwich Victoria (1892-94) and Barrow (1921-72).

The most unluckiest team has to be Kettering Town whom finished in the runner's up position a total of four times in 80/81, 88/89, 93/94 and 98/99. They missed out on automatic promotion to the football league on three of those occasions. In 1989 they finished eight points behind Maidstone United, In 1994 three points behind Kidderminster Harriers and 1999 four points behind Cheltenham Town. How things have changed for The Poppies as they now no longer have a ground moving from their historic Rockingham Road in 2011 onto Rushden & Diamonds' former ground Nene Park and now ground share at Corby Town after series of well reported financial problems.  

Officially only one club from the original APL will be in Enfield Town's Ryman Premier Division this season in Wealdstone although Maidstone United (re-formed in 1992) could be unofficially counted too. Canvey Island, Grays Athletic, Kingstonian, Lewes and Margate have also been members of non-league's top division and will be playing Ryman Premier football for 2013/14.

There are currently only seven teams who have won the title twice with Altrincham's the only side to retain the title. Those seven teams are Altrincham, Enfield FC, Barnet, Kidderminster Harriers, Macclesfield Town, Maidstone United and Stevenage Borough.

2013/14 FOOTBALL CONFERENCE NATIONAL
ex football league teams in red

TEAM	LEAUGE PLAYED IN SEASON 79/80
ALDERSHOT TOWN	#Aldershot FC - Football League Division Four
ALFRETON TOWN	Midland League Premier Division
BARNET	Alliance Premier League
BRAINTREE TOWN	Eastern Counties League Premier
CAMBRIDGE UNITED	Football League Division Two
CHESTER	#Chester City - Football League Division Three
DARTFORD	Southern League South Division
FC HALIFAX TOWN	#Halifax Town - Level 4 - Division Four
FOREST GREEN ROVERS	Hellenic Premier Division
GATESHEAD	Northern Premier League  (#Gateshead AFC were Football League members between 1930 to 1960. The present Gateshead club were re-formed in 1977)
GRIMSBY TOWN	Football League Division Three
HEREFORD UNITED	Football League Division Four
HYDE	Cheshire League Division One
KIDDERMINSTER HARRIERS	Southern League Midland Division
LINCOLN CITY	Football League Division Four
LUTON TOWN	Football League Division Two
MACCLESFIELD TOWN	Northern Premier League
NUNEATON TOWN	#Nuneaton Borough - Alliance Premier League
SALISBURY CITY	Southern League South Division
SOUTHPORT	Northern Premier League
TAMWORTH	Northern Premier League
WELLING UNITED	Athenian League
WOKING	Isthmian League Premier Division
WREXHAM	Football League Division Two

With Luton Town, now managed by John Still, facing their fifth season outside the football league along with a host of other clubs looking for promotion it really looks like a very exciting 2013/13 season in prospect. BetVictor.com currently make Luton 7/2 favourites with FGR at 4/1. Nuneaton Town and Tamworth are highest rated at 250/1.

THE THURSDAY CLUB #4 - GRENDON RANGERS FC

Grendon Rangers FC represent the village of Grendon Underwood in Buckinghamshire which is located between Aylesbury and Bicester on the Oxfordshire border. They were formed in 1947 with a previous club named Grendon FC. Last season, managed by Scott Reynolds, Rangers finished second in the North Bucks and District League Premier Division only three points behind Champion's Pottersbury. They also played teams such as Silverstone, City Colts, MK Titans and Yardley Gobion.
In 2011/12 they finished in sixth place. For the 2013/14 season Rangers, it has been reported, will play in the Spartan South Midlands League Division Two.