The Non League Football Show

One final round-up of the season as we hit June. A shortened show this week as we draw 2024/25 to a close. Matt Badcock is on hand to discuss sponsorships, managers, players and lots more besides, before I head off into hibernation - or not, actually off to plan our expanded coverage of non league for the new season fast approaching - but Matt, Jon and the gang will keep you all updated via the we...

Just one big match of the season to go then as we near the start of June. Wembley hosts the National League Play-off final on Sunday and we look ahead to that with a brief interview with Southend United manager Kevin Maher. As cool as ever, just one win from getting his club back to the Football League and of course he's taking each game as it comes. From the Non League Paper Jon Couch helps me pr...

This week, we celebrate the stats, or rather, we celebrate the men who bring you the stats. In a world of volunteers, these guys give their time and know-how to make out lives easier and more interesting by supplying the data that helps make sense of it all. They ply their trade as @NonLeagueHQ1 on X, and it is a pleasure this week to find out a bit more about what makes Matt Cooke and Andy Forwar...

A magical week in non league with The FA Vase Final, The FA Trophy Final and The Non League Paper's National Game Awards. We have reaction from manager's of AFC Whyteleafe, Whitstable Town, Spennymoor Town, Aldershot Town and Tamworth as well as some expert insight from The Non League Paper's very own Jon Couch.

This week we preview Non League Finals Day with super stat-man Phil Annets the man chosen to supply insight for the matchday programme and the man for whom the FA Vase and the FA Trophy have always had a bit of extra magic. Next up, a Chairman who saw his side to play-off glory at the weekend with unexpected promotion to Step 3 but is spending his Thursday evening a few days later operating the sc...

This week two managers with different weeks behind and ahead of them. First up, Sittingbourne manager Ryan Maxwell, who has already seen his step 4 side dispense of Southend United among others in one-off games this season. Burgess Hill Town their visitors on Friday in their play-off final, a game he’s very much looking forward to. Next, a manager who bowed out last weekend after 34 years as boss...

As the season draws to a close we look for some calm and experience this week. First up, a manager who could be celebrating a title this weekend with his club one of three tied on points at the top of the Isthmian Premier, but Ady Pennock is just enjoying his football, celebrating even being in this position and looking forward to seeing what comes. Next, we speak with a manager for whom the seaso...

We’re with a manager set to smash records this weekend as he hopes his Bury side can do enough in front of a bumper crowd to gain promotion to Step 4. Dave McNabb has had many highs and lows in his career as a coach, and a bigger football man would struggle to find but, the potential of turning his phone off on Sunday has quite some appeal. We also return to the National South again this week. Mar...

As the season reaches a denouement we speak to two bosses in the mix. Eastbourne Borough manager Adam Murray said pre-season it would go to the last game of the season and in National League South it is hard to see any other situation even with 4 games to go. He’ll just take each one as they come though, Some might say Cleethorpes Town are a shoe-in now for the title in the Northern Premier League...

This weekend the FA Vase semi-finals play their second legs to a finish and the FA Trophy have their one-off semis. The teams beginning with W take leads into the weekend and Phil Annets, our man with the stats, reveals the chances of a comeback and why Wembley way is never a straight road. One of those dreaming of Wembley is Aldershot Town gaffer Tommy WIddrington. His club has never been there,...

This weekend the FA Vase semi finals get underway. They are two-legged affairs starting this weekend and we speak to Phil Annets with his @FAVaseFactfile hat on about who is in it and why magically, somebody new will win it. One of those hoping to do so is AFC Whyteleafe, and their story for sure will be magical even if they weren’t to progress into the final. It’s less than four years since they...

It is Non League Day weekend and so we celebrate all that is great about Non League. To help us we head south to Whitehawk FC where their latest project I hope will inspire a whole new set of supporters indeed a whole new generation of supporters. I’m joined by three of those involved. Not the butcher, the baker and candlestick makers so often used to sneer at Non League but a Poet, a Visual artis...

With Non League Day just over a week away we catch up with founder of the whole shebang. James Doe’s seemingly simple idea has played a big part in revolutionising the way clubs think about fan experience and fan engagement and now 15 years still keeps getting bigger and bigger. We find out why from the man himself. Our gaffer of the week sits atop the Isthmian Premier in a tough and tight divisio...

He’s top of the tree but feet on the floor. We chat to Barnet boss Dean Brennan on the project that has United staff on and off the field and brought fans closer as the club laser in on a return to The Football League. Celebrating International Women’s Day this weekend, the Trident leagues at Steps 3&4 are embracing the her game too movement. We speak with Lucy Ford co-founder of Her Game Goow...

It’s the quarter-final stage of both the FA Trophy and the FA Vase. We turn to the ever faithful, the never inexact, master of the stats Mr Phil Annets. He wears three hats this week @FATrophyFacts @FAVaseFactffile and @FACupFactfile inspiring us all with records, patterns, and with connections that would leave Victoria Coren Mitchell swooning if Non League was ever a category on Only Connect. Our...

A strangely quiet week in Non League as the focus tightens on who is going to get titles and promotions. We have two managers, both with strong winning mentalities, both currently off the top of their divisions but with their sights set very firmly on taking top spot shortly and securing the title in the coming weeks. First up Kettering Town’s Richard Lavery who in his first year since returning t...

This week highlighting the variety of Non League we speak to a coach who has helped shape many a rough diamond in the lower reaches of the pyramid and faces a tough task in his new role. As joint-manager at Meridian VP sitting bottom of their division in Step 6 they are the highest-ranked club still without a league win this season in Non League. He knew this before he took on the role and since h...

This week a new Chairman of a Step 5 side heading their division. Will Twigg is ambitious but realistic for Silsden AFC a club with 120 years of history finding current success built it sounds on everybody enjoying being part of the club.  Dave Anderson returns but on his own podcast.. Jon Couch is on hand to help round up the week’s news in non league. Promotion to the Football League, unforeseen...

A bumper show this week as the FA Trophy and FA Vase reach the last 16. Phil Annets is on hand to give us the lowdown on the stats and facts for both competitions with his @fatrophyfacts and his @favasefactfile hats on. Then we focus on one of those FA Vase ties but not just on the game itself. Caroline Bone lives and breathes Fleet Town. A family connection was the original pull but from a club t...

First up, a manager who finished his first 5 years as a boss with promotion to the National South before moving to a side now rivals for the National South title this season. Paul Wotton is clearly enjoying his new role and might just take Torquay United back up under their new ownership. Hoping to take inspiration from a reinvigorated Torquay, Banstead Athletic. After a very difficult year, new C...

A reduced show this week with Matt Badcock from the Non League Paper our sole guest. After the weather intervened last weekend 24 clubs compete in the FA Vase round 4, for a place in the fifth round drawn this week. We reflect on the FA Cup 3rd round and the end of non league involvement plus there’s more managerial merry-go-round moves and previews of the weekend’s Non League Paper.

A few techie issues this week but a bumper show no less. We start off with Phil Annets. Two hats as we look at the double representatives in the FA Cup Third Round and the last 32 clubs in the FA Vase as that hits round 4.  Then a lovely tale of one of those making history in the FA Vase and hopefully likely to beat the weather this weekend with a 3G pitch. Roger Hudd wasn’t around when the club i...

A new year and new stats and facts for an FA competition. Phil Annets starts us up as we embrace Round 4 of the FA Trophy. The last 32 with plenty of shocks and curveballs sure to come. Next a first for me on the show. He's a manager with a 100% record in his managerial career and he’s not a newbie. Quorn, top of the Northern Premier League Midlands division and under new management since the summ...

A slightly shorter version this week to fill the Christmas hole but as you know in the role of Non League, this is never a quiet time. First up, Dave Anderson is back with news of what he has been up to and some exciting previews of what he will be up to in 2025 Jon Couch is the man from Non League Paper Towers as he helps decipher the games coming thick and fast, the olden days and managerial mov...

Christmas is nearly here and while some focus on the presents, we concentrate on the presence. We are by the fans for the fans so we love stories that embrace fans and their enjoyment of the game. We welcome back to the show old friend of the show Tim Harris, he’s been a player, manager, coach, General Manager and Director of Football at many clubs over the years, but after an 18 month stint as ma...