The Business of Non-League

Title picture: Ryhope Colliery Welfare in Northern League action at Ryhope Recreation Ground

You might have heard of the Northern League as producing nine FA Vase winners in the last 10 years. A coincidence? Some would argue that it probably isn't. 

While the success of the league can’t be argued, it certainly does raise some eyebrows. Former Premier League and Football League stars light up both Division One and Two of the Northern League, but it isn’t all glamour and ambition. 

A former Northern League winner and multiple-time FA Vase winner believes that majority of the Northern League lacks ambition and that the FA should also be mandatory for these sides to get promoted, especially when they win the league. 

While South Shields are planning on moving up the leagues and expanding the club off the pitch, there’s another that can’t afford to pay their local Football Association £300 per game to rent the ground.

But, how can these clubs expect to compete with the ones throwing money around? 

Especially when they don't have any desire to get promoted up the leagues. Leon Ryan has won the FA Vase three times with Whitley Bay and also has the Northern League title on his CV too. He is now captain of Ryhope Colliery Welfare.

 He said: "If I worked for Durham FA, or anywhere in the Northern League, I would ask 'what incentive do we have to go up the leagues?’ 

“Why do the last so-many winners of the FA Vase come from the Northern League? It’s quite an easy conversation if you think about it. 

“Because the incentive isn’t there to go up in the league. You can’t tell me the likes of Jon Shaw, Cogden etc at South Shields could not have played for Blyth, Spennymoor or even Gateshead. 

“The FA should make it a mandatory thing (promotion). If you win the league, you have to get promoted. Each time should have to apply if they’re aiming for top six. Or you get a £5-10,000 fine."

West Allotment Celtic's recent relegation from Division One led to an announcement that they would withdraw from the Northern League entirely as the Northumberland FA imposed a rent increase on their home, Whitley Park. 

The rent increase meant that they couldn’t afford to stay there and it potentially meant that they were going to be homeless going into the next campaign. 

Chairman, Jim Wilson, said: "The Northumberland FA had done their market research and had worked out that the facility we were renting was worth more than we were paying at the time. 

“They did suggest they could raise £100 an hour to rent it out to other people. They did offer us 25% discount which worked out at about £300 a match, which was still 66% more than we’d been paying and we couldn’t afford to pay that."

They have since resolved the issue and have agreed a deal to play at Druid Park. 

Nevertheless, this is an absurd position to be in, especially when there are certain sides in the league with paying several hundreds to players each week, while Celtic can't afford to stay at their home. 

However, the Tyneside outfit, who have been in the Northern League since 2004, have to compete season upon season with sides more financially-backed.

Wilson said: "It's virtually impossible to deal with those 'bigger’ clubs. I think if you look at the league table, apart from possibly North Shields, all the clubs tend to be well sponsored or someone who’s putting money in, financially it reflects on your league position. 

“We’ve been playing at Whitley Park and we don’t even get any of the profits from the bar, we have to pay for the food and bar staff, so we raise minimal amounts."

Former Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chesterfield forward, Colin Larkin, who now plays for Sunderland RCA, also believes that the clubs at the top not applying for promotion shows a lack of drive. 

Larkin said: "It's a strange environment to be part of, because you look at your Shildon-type teams and I think it just shows a lack of ambition to progress as a club (not applying for promotion). 

“RCA would probably be the same though because we’re quite a small club with a low fanbase, but that’s not to say that if you progress you get more bums on seats.

 “But travelling to Manchester and Leeds, so people in full-time jobs would have to be finishing early to go to places like that, so you might have to pay them more money too."

Ryhope Colliery Welfare spent their maiden season in the Division One of the Northern League having finished runners-up to South Shields in Division Two last season. 

Chairman, Darren Norton shares similar beliefs to Jim Wilson that there is a distinct divide in the league. 

Norton said: "There's definitely a clear gap between the top and bottom half of the Northern League. 

“I think the established clubs have been there for so long, so they know what to expect. We’ve just come up and are just getting used to it during the season. 

“It’s always going to be difficult to deal with the bigger sides and the support base that they have currently got."

Sustainability is key when trying to progress clubs, as we looked at in Part Two with Billericay Town's owner, rather than large short-term investment as Celtic Nation did and failed with as they soon went bust. 

South Shields were the first Northern League side to get promoted into the Northern Premier Division One North since Spennymoor in 2013, and Colin Larkin thinks they are going the correct way about investment and avoiding any issues that Celtic Nation came across. 

Larkin said: "In terms of progressing, South Shields are probably going about it the right way. 

"You look at Celtic Nation a few seasons ago, they were throwing ridiculous amounts of money, now they’re completely folded. You have to do it the right way." 

Sides like Shildon aren’t the only ones that would turn down promotion to step four. 

Darren Norton admitted that if his Ryhope CW side were in with a shout of finishing at the top end of the division, he would turn down promotion at this moment in time. 

He said: “Would we want to be promoted right now? I’d have to say no. We’re not big enough off the pitch to compete at a higher level. 

“When I joined the club eight or nine years ago, I was told that we would never be higher than the Wearside League, but here we are in the Division One of the Northern League. 

“Going further than that? You just need that consistent financial power off the pitch. We can all throw the money in for one season and class ourselves as superstars for that season, but long-term it’s never going to survive.”