The Non League Football Show

It's the FA Vase First round this weekend and Phil Annets is here with his @FAVASEfactfile hat on with more impressive stats and facts. Our main guest is a former player with over 500 Southern League appearances, now operating as player-manager in Step 6 Divison One of the Western League leading a group of young local lads to one of the best starts of any club across the pyramid so far this season...

It’s FA Cup weekend again. The Fourth qualifying round. We speak with Phil Annets with his @facupfactfile hat on offering some impressive stats and facts. We then speak to the secretary at Horsham FC who have a local derby at home to Dorking Wanderers in the FA Cup this weekend and looking to cause an upset in front of a sell-out crowd. Jeff Barrett has been involved with the club for nearly 50 ye...

Our manager this week is an old friend of the show. He won the Vase at Wembley, won hearts with this approach to those working with him and won a place in history in his latest role managing a club looking to rise back up to the Football League from their current Step 5 rank. Dave McNabb is just two weeks into the role at Bury FC but already you can sense the impact it has had on him and the poten...

The FA Cup reaches the Third Qualifying Round with 40 ties and 80 clubs just one win away from potentially meeting one of the big boys of non league. First up this round and @FACupFactfile Phil Annets helps guide us through with highlights of his tie-by-tie previews. One club in the mix this weekend is Winchester City. An in-form team in the Southern League Premier South at the moment they host an...

After a successful first stint in management at Banbury, Andy Whing flew the nest in the summer and ended up with some old friends close to home at Solihull Moors. The only unbeaten side in the top of non league this season, 10 games in, they sit second and whilst realistic, Whing seems relaxed and confident they are ready to continue the same form for the rest of the season. Another busy week of...

It’s the Second Qualifying Round of the FA Cup with the National League South and National League North clubs joining the competition and those who have got the competition to this stage are beginning to dream of some proper giantkillings. We kick it all off with the man in the know, FA Cup statistician extraordinaire Phil Annets with his @FACupFactfile hat on joins Tim Fuell to give some insight...

We go to the West Country this week and specifically two clubs in the Bristol suburbs. The FA trophy begins this weekend with the First Qualifying Round with Step 4 clubs kicking the competition off. We link up again with Richard Luffman gaffer at Cribbs. Promotion last year to step 4 and now this year they’ve already dumped one step 3 side out of the FA Cup and travel to another next week, first...

It’s the FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round this weekend with the STep 3 sides coming in across the pyramid. Mr Phil Annets @FACUPFactfile is with us offering all the stats and facts of the round.  We talk to Chairman at Darlaston Town Neil Chambers about their history, their successes, and their aspirations as they prepare for a BBC Red Button game as visitors to local rivals they know well. Rounding it...

We are back with a new series of weekly looks at the world of non league football. As the 50th year of the FA Vase kicks off we speak with our resident Statto Mr Phil Annets with his @FAVaseFactfile hat on and speak with Holmer Green Chair Rob Shed who would like to do well in the competition this season but fears the timing might not be right, especially with even the Reading festival hitting tea...

As the football season comes to an end, so does our own season. We hear from the managers involved in the FA Vase and FA Trophy finals this week, discuss managerial changes and learn about the winners of the Non League Paper's National Game Awards. Thanks for all your support this season, we are back very soon for the new season bigger, better and all the best human interest stories from the world...

It’s a while since we did this but in an attempt to get a slightly different look at what Non League Finals Day means to those involved, this seemed too good an opportunity to turn down. Two legends of their club, Ascot United. Doug Page a man who first turned up at the club with two young sons looking for a club to learn football at. He ended up doing his own coaching badges and never leaving, ev...

The season is pretty much done but there’s plenty going on behind the scenes both here, at Wembley and at football clubs up and down the country. It’s actually the busiest time of the year and we wanted to capture a slightly different angle on it all as we go into the final big games this weekend with Non League Finals day. However, to do so it looks like we might have a two part show this week wi...

Three big games remain at the top of the non league league season. The finals for the National league, national League South and National league north play-offs, to see who takes those remaining promotion spots to climb further up the pyramid. We speak this week with one manager who if he achieves promotion sees it as his biggest achievement in a short successful management career but also a fairl...

As the play-offs round off in Steps 3,4 & 5, they reach the semi finals stage in Steps 1 and 2 as the season finally draws to a close. Luke Garrard is no stranger to leading underdogs to success to taking his side to Notts County this weekend isn't too big a worry for him, albeit he concedes they probably deserved promotion from their standard league season performance. We find out how he is p...

It’s the end of the season for many but for our first guest it’s just the beginning. Not with us, we’ve followed his journey for years, A new project begins this week as Gary McCann takes on the role of manager of Billericay Town. Calm and collected as ever, the excitement though is clear as he opens up about the challenge ahead. For our next guest, this weekend is the end of a very successful sea...

As many seasons come to a conclusion, for some the most exciting week of the season is upon us. We speak with a manager one point behind but a game in hand at the top of his table looking to secure the title this week. Adam Murray has been at AFC Fylde for less than a season but could be just about to secure legendary status  Rounding up the week’s news, as many leagues come to a close, the Non Le...

It’s the time of season when their are tears of joy here and tears of sorrow there. Relegation, Promotion and the pain of just missing out, it’s what football is all about…. Unless of course you supports Rossington Main. They have spent the last 32 seasons in the same division of the Northern Counties East League at Step 6, with limited highs and lows. But now the air is a little bit more expectan...

We speak with a player manager who effectively has 5 possibly 6 ‘cup finals’ between now and the end of the season, hoping to secure promotion, a title and a county cup too. Jamie Coyle is no stranger to the manager’s role, nor to combining it with playing too and asince taking on both mantles at Ramsgate in February he has tweaked the side to sit top of the ISthmian South East with 4 league games...

We reach the semi final stage of the FA Trophy and the FA Vase. All single game affairs with penalties if scores are level after 90 minutes, putting ateshead, Barnet, Altrincham FC Halifax Town, Corsham Town, Ascot United, Congleton Town and Newport Pagnell Town just over one hour and a half of football from a Wembley appearance. We talk to a man formerly of this very parish. Now head coach at Bar...

A slightly shorter show this week due to availability of our planned guests but hopefully as engaging as ever. So close in recent seasons, Berkhamsted are now just a point from the title at Step 4 in the Southern League and Chairman Steve Davis believes his club is more than ready for the next step, but first that trip to Hertford. As we reach Non League Day 2023 Matt Badcock is on hand from the N...

A slightly different week this one our feature this week is really the love of the beautiful game. As the two Bury football club factions seek to once again come together we speak with the half currently with a ground but no club. Not the non league experience, nor effectively a team to support just yet week in week out, but it does seem a sharing of values that are important to non league and imp...

As the Trophy and Vase reach the Quarter Finals we talk with those at the top. First up a Co-Chairman whose love for his club began decades ago with most of those spent admiring from afar. Now however, Bill Waterson is using that fans passion, and business knowhow to push forward his club Altrincham, now in it’s first year as full-time and going from strength to strength. We have a return of our v...

It's W week First up, we speak with Craig Parry the manager at Worksop Town who have already secured their play-off place this season and now focus their attention on the Northern Premier League Division One East title. He knows it won’t be easy but is pleased that the club seems to be on the right footing on and off the field. We also speak with a non league legend. Nicky Ironton won 3 Conference...

A big week in football with the new Government White Paper? We get the thoughts of old friend of the show, fan engagement expert, turned lecturer, Kevin Rye on what it all means, especially for non league and how people can get involved and influence the likely legislation it is set to bring.  On a slightly different note we speak with a man who has just notched his 2000th game at his club. From A...

In a week when the BBC are citing the awful statistics of referees being abused, injured or attacked, we speak with old friend of the Show Martin Cassidy. CEO of independent charity Ref Support he’s actually in positive mood - not that the darker side of football isn’t there, but that the publicity means things are a changing with the FA looking at body cam roll-outs to help referees, help players...