The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

Now it's April the speculation about who might be in which division next season will begin in anger. With Daventry dropping to step 6, and the possibility of the Diamonds remaining at Step 4 the discussion about whether we might get "moved north" begins to take shape. The latest projection from the guy on Non-league matters who seems pretty proficient at understanding the ramifications of the promotion / relegation battles has us moved to the NLP1S -

Obviously things will change with every game that affects promotion and relegation places, ahead of the playoffs themselves, but its something a few people might want to look at, and others to say they won't think about it until the last ball is kicked (or the last appeal about points deductions is heard).

I've been watching those projections a lot since the turn of the year. This is the first time (I think) we've been switched to the Northern League. I guess whoever wins the UCL could prove important in this (subject to ground grading), with Kempston currently pipping Leicester Nirvana. It's painfully tight. Kempston would obviously go into the Southern League should they be promoted, whereas Nirvana would go into the Northern League.

Personally i'd welcome the move if it happened although i'm probably in the minority. Infinitely better grounds to visit and a better standard of football in my opinion.

There's confirmation in today's UCL newsletter that Kempston have met the Step 4 Ground Grading requirements, but I'm not sure whether Leicester Nirvana have been similarly confirmed. Obviously it's a different ground to the one we saw, but the suggestion was that it needed work in order to get it to UCL standard 12 months ago.

Completely forgot this could happen - if we go north it's disastrous news for my chances of making games, as no away games would be in striking distance.

Oundle Diamond #2 wrote:Completely forgot this could happen - if we go north it's disastrous news for my chances of making games, as no away games would be in striking distance.

Absolutely agree. There is no way we would want to play in the NPLS . If we get promoted to Southern Premier we have several reasonably local matches to look forward to......also a couple of great weekends away in Dorset.

Corby will probably be relegated and they surely are first in the queue to be placed in the NPLS

sussexdiamond wrote:

Oundle Diamond #2 wrote:Completely forgot this could happen - if we go north it's disastrous news for my chances of making games, as no away games would be in striking distance.

Absolutely agree. There is no way we would want to play in the NPLS . If we get promoted to Southern Premier we have several reasonably local matches to look forward to......also a couple of great weekends away in Dorset.

Corby will probably be relegated and they surely are first in the queue to be placed in the NPLS

Haha, Sussex would be even worse for being moved than Wimbledon.

Getting promoted is equally as bad for me to be honest, but obviously I'd still rather we went up. Currently 9 teams in this league are within an hour and a half of me, if we get promoted that probably also regresses all the way back to 0.

If we remain at Step 4 then I would welcome seeing us play teams in the Northern League, Southern section. I understand that the teams, standard of football and grounds are all of a better quality. I personally found travelling south this season, even by club coach, encountering the dreaded MI south of junction 15 with a regular Saturday traffic jam caused by an accident (one today I believe) and then the M25 a royal pain. Travelling north I feel would be quicker even from the Wellingborough/Rushden area. We would also enjoy matches at the likes of Rugby and Stamford for example. Let's face it we're at the northern most point of the Southern League Central at present which only benefits those fans living in Bedfordshire and further south.

The NPLS will be a much tougher league. I'll prefer to stay in the Central (if we don't get promoted)

Maybe that will gene are players up even more, to buck up are ideas and start to win games, get promoted.

Regarding Leicester Nirvana moving into Step 4, the other person that looks at this kind of thing - Peter Miller - has suggested they have failed ground grading in his document -