Just a few bits of information so far ... but there will be more ...

Altrincham’s Conference double

 

 Altrincham were the first champions of the Alliance Premier League, forerunner of the Conference, and retained the title in the second season.  The club’s league results for these two seasons are shown below, with the eventual champions’ position in the table after each fixture shown in the right-hand column.

 

1979-1980

 

1	August	18	Weymouth	0-0	D	9
2		20	TELFORD UNITED	2-0	W	2
3		25	MAIDSTONE UNITED	1-0	W	3
4		28	Bangor City	1-1	D	1
5	September	01	Worcester City	2-3	L	3
6		03	Telford United	2-3	L	5
7		08	NUNEATON BOROUGH	3-1	W	5
8		15	Stafford Rangers	2-1	W	2
9		22	Yeovil Town	2-3	L	5
10	October	06	Kettering Town	2-1	W	1
11		13	BATH CITY	4-0	W	1
12		20	A.P. Leamington	4-1	W	1
13		23	Redditch United	1-0	W	1
14		27	GRAVESEND & NORTHFLEET	4-1	W	1
15	November	10	Barrow	3-1	W	1
16		17	BOSTON UNITED	3-0	W	1
17		26	BARNET	1-0	W	1
18	December	01	Nuneaton Borough	0-2	L	1
19		08	Wealdstone	4-1	W	1
20		26	SCARBOROUGH	2-0	W	1
21		29	NORTHWICH VICTORIA	0-0	D	1
22	January	26	Northwich Victoria	0-1	L	2
23	February	16	Boston United	5-2	W	3
24	March	01	WEYMOUTH	3-2	W	1
25		03	KETTERING TOWN	0-0	D	1
26		12	Scarborough	1-1	D	2
27		15	Maidstone United	2-2	D	1
28		22	Barnet	0-2	L	3
29		24	BANGOR CITY	5-0	W	1
30		29	STAFFORD RANGERS	3-1	W	1
31		31	WEALDSTONE	2-1	W	1
32	April	05	Bath City	1-1	D	1
33		07	YEOVIL TOWN	1-1	D	1
34		12	WORCESTER CITY	3-1	W	1
35		14	BARROW	3-1	W	1
36		19	A.P. LEAMINGTON	3-0	W	1
37		28	REDDITCH UNITED	2-0	W	1
38	May	03	Gravesend & Northfleet	2-0	W	1

 

1980-1981

 

1	August	16	Stafford Rangers	3-1	W	2
2		23	NUNEATON BOROUGH	0-3	L	11
3		30	Wealdstone	2-1	W	5
4	September	06	WEALDSTONE	2-0	W	4
5		13	Scarborough	0-1	L	6
6		16	A.P. Leamington	4-2	W	3
7		20	Barnet	2-3	L	4
8		27	GRAVESEND & NORTHFLEET	2-1	W	4
9	October	04	Weymouth	0-0	D	2
10		11	WORCESTER CITY	1-0	W	2
11		18	Yeovil Town	1-1	D	3
12		25	MAIDSTONE UNITED	2-1	W	3
13		27	Bath City	1-0	W	1
14	November	01	SCARBOROUGH	4-3	W	1
15		08	Telford United	2-3	L	1
16		15	NORTHWICH VICTORIA	1-1	D	1
17		29	Kettering Town	1-1	D	1
18	December	06	BOSTON UNITED	2-0	W	1
19		26	Bangor City	5-4	W	1
20		27	Barrow	4-0	W	1
21	January	24	Northwich Victoria	0-1	L	2
22	February	07	KETTERING TOWN	4-1	W	1
23		14	Boston United	1-1	D	1
24		16	BANGOR CITY	2-0	W	1
25		25	Frickley Athletic	2-0	W	1
26		28	BARROW	2-2	D	1
27	March	07	Maidstone United	2-1	W	1
28		09	A.P. LEAMINGTON	4-1	W	1
29		21	Nuneaton Borough	0-0	D	1
30		28	STAFFORD RANGERS	4-2	W	1
31		30	FRICKLEY ATHLETIC	2-0	W	1
32	April	04	Gravesend & Northfleet	2-0	W	1
33		06	TELFORD UNITED	0-2	L	1
34		11	WEYMOUTH	1-2	L	1
35		20	BATH CITY	3-1	W	2
36		25	BARNET	2-0	W	2
37	May	02	Worcester City	0-0	D	1
38		04	YEOVIL TOWN	2-1	W	1

 

 

Scarborough F.C. – the first non-league side to win automatic promotion to the Football League (1987)

 

After years of complaints from leading non-league sides about the Football League operating ‘a closed shop’ through the re-election process, it was decided that the Conference champions in the 1986-1987 season would be automatically promoted to Division 4 – provided that the club’s ground was ‘up to standard’.

 

The favourites to take the Conference crown before the campaign began were Enfield, with Maidstone United expected to mount a strong challenge.  The North’s best bet was thought to be Altrincham, who had been denied election to the League in bizarre circumstances in 1980.  Barnet and Scarborough, both of whom finished the 1985-1986 season firmly in the bottom half of the table, were seen as make-weights, but defied the pundits to run what turned out to be a 2-horse race.  Scarborough were under new management, with Neil Warnock having arrived during the summer of 1986 and built an almost entirely new team.  The contest was a tough one, with Boro emerging as champions late in April.

 

As well as providing all Scarborough’s league results in their title-winning season, the table below shows the crowd figure for every game, a basic result column third from the right so that sequences can be noted easily and the league position of the eventual champions after each game was played.

 

1	August	16	Nuneaton Borough	0-3	L	20	614
2		20	BOSTON UNITED	0-0	D	20	809
3		23	WEALDSTONE	2-1	W	12	856
4		25	Runcorn	2-0	W	5	621
5		30	NUNEATON BOROUGH	1-0	W	4	925
6	September	03	Northwich Victoria	1-0	W	2	651
7		06	Maidstone United	1-2	L	6	1004
8		10	NORTHWICH VICTORIA	2-1	W	3	1061
9		17	FRICKLEY ATHLETIC	4-2	W	4	1118
10		20	DAGENHAM	2-1	W	2	961
11		23	Altrincham	0-1	L	4	1474
12		27	BARNET	0-0	D	5	1075
13	October	04	BATH CITY	1-1	D	5	892
14		08	ALTRINCHAM	2-2	D	5	1295
15		11	Telford United	0-0	D	6	1458
16		18	Barnet	2-2	D	8	1360
17		25	CHELTENHAM TOWN	1-3	L	10	996
18	November	01	KETTERING TOWN	1-0	W	9	867
19		08	Stafford Rangers	0-0	D	9	1173
20		15	SUTTON UNITED	2-1	W	6	902
21		22	Frickley Athletic	2-0	W	5	490
22		29	Weymouth	1-0	W	3	852
23	December	06	Boston United	3-1	W	2	1278
24		13	STAFFORD RANGERS	2-0	W	1	1039
25		26	GATESHEAD	3-2	W	1	1397
26	January	01	Gateshead	1-0	W	1	486
27		03	TELFORD UNITED	0-0	D	2	1931
28		10	Enfield	1-0	W	1	739
29		31	Cheltenham Town	3-2	W	1	1282
30	February	07	MAIDSTONE UNITED	0-0	D	2	1510
31		17	Wealdstone	3-1	W	2	468
32		28	Kettering Town	2-1	W	2	1137
33	March	14	ENFIELD	1-1	D	2	1858
34		21	KIDDERMINSTER HARRIERS	2-1	W	2	1538
35		28	Welling United	3-1	W	1	666
36		30	Dagenham	2-0	W	1	651
37	April	04	Bath City	3-0	W	1	406
38		11	WELLING UNITED	2-0	W	1	2400
39		18	Kidderminster Harriers	1-0	W	1	1326
40		20	RUNCORN	1-2	L	1	3764
41		25	Sutton United	2-0	W	1	1430
42	May	02	WEYMOUTH	2-1	W	1	5650

 

Life-long supporter Steve Adamson has written two books on the club, with the official history covering the years 1879-1998 and a second publication telling the story of what happened afterwards.  There is also a first-class website paying tribute to the Boro at www.seadogsfans.co.uk which was created by another dedicated supporter, Derek Megginson, when Scarborough F.C. was controversially closed down on June 20^th, 2007 at the High Court in Leeds.