SussexWorld's Matt Pole is joined by Sussex sport gurus Steve Bone and Mark Dunford. The news that has dominated headlines is that FA Cup replays will be a thing of the past in the so-called ‘proper’ rounds.
The FA has announced it will abolish all replays from the first round proper onwards – part of a new agreement between the FA and the Premier League which will see an extra £33m going to grassroots football from the top flight each season.
We also look at the state of play with our Non League teams who are fighting relegation, getting in the play-offs and winning titles.
The FA has announced it will abolish all replays from the first round proper onwards – part of a new agreement between the FA and the Premier League which will see an extra £33m going to grassroots football from the top flight each season.
We also look at the state of play with our Non League teams who are fighting relegation, getting in the play-offs and winning titles.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Welcome to another episode of the Sussex Non-League podcast, where we take a look at all things
00:05 non-league in Sussex. I'm Matt Pohl and I'm delighted to be joined by Sussex Sport Guru
00:09 Steve Bone and Mark Dunford. The news that has dominated headlines is that FA Cup replays
00:14 will be a thing of the past in the so-called 'proper' rounds. The FA has announced that
00:18 it will abolish all replays from the first round proper onwards, part of a new agreement
00:22 between the FA and the Premier League, which will see an extra £33 million going to grass-roots
00:26 football from the top flight each season. The FA had already scrapped replays from the
00:30 fifth round onwards and said the move to ditch them altogether had been agreed in light of
00:34 changes to the calendar driven by the expanded UEFA competitions. Mark Dunford, how big
00:40 of a shock do you think this is? I know that it's kind of been bubbling away in the background,
00:44 but I wasn't expecting a decision so soon.
00:47 No, that's what surprised me actually, how quickly it had come out. But I mean, I am
00:53 shocked and I'm not. It's just another ridiculous decision, isn't it? That the FA, whoever,
01:00 Premier League, etc, all getting their heads together and just coming up with a nonsense
01:05 that is going to affect a lot of people. And as we've seen already with stories on Sussex
01:11 World, you can see that has angered a lot of people. There are some people who probably
01:15 agree with it, but it's people who probably are involved at the top level. But yeah, I'm
01:21 really surprised. It just takes a bit more of the romance out of the FA Cup, doesn't
01:26 it? I mean, every year it seems a little bit more romance gets taken out and it's going
01:30 to be a very platonic competition soon, isn't it? No romance at all. But I mean, the only
01:38 good thing that came out of it, I think, was the fact that it's all going to be on weekends
01:42 again. There's not going to be that silly round which is in the midweek. But I mean,
01:46 the fact that they brought the FA Cup final to the penultimate weekend of the season,
01:50 it's just, it doesn't make it that showpiece big event that it always has been. But yeah,
01:56 I mean, yeah, sort of down the line, I know we're going to get on to how it affects the
02:01 non-league teams and that. For some, it won't ever, ever affect them. But for some, it could
02:09 be a decision that in the long run costs them a few more years in existence. It could be
02:15 as serious as that. So yeah, like I say, I was shocked how quickly it came out and shocked
02:22 that it did actually come to this, but not shocked by another ridiculous thing by football
02:28 authorities. They seem to just be, don't know what they're doing and they don't seem to
02:32 consult the right people when they make these decisions.
02:35 Yes, and another thing that really kind of annoyed me is that there was no real consultation
02:40 at all with supporters at all. It was a decision that was made and it was kind of a like it
02:44 or lump it thing. Steve, what was your initial reaction when you heard the news?
02:48 Yeah, same as you two really. And I was just going to say the consultation because the
02:54 FA and the Premier League have clearly been sitting around the table talking about this,
02:59 working out how much money they need to give the lower clubs to make it seem not so bad.
03:06 At no point do they seem to have thought, well, actually the FA Cup is open to football
03:10 league clubs and non-league clubs. We better see what they think or even we better tell
03:15 them what we're planning to do. They seem to have come out with the announcement and
03:18 the first of all, the other clubs have known about it from what I can tell is when the
03:22 announcements come out, just staggering really, isn't it? Not surprising though, really, because
03:27 as you say, the FA and the Premier League, they seem to be in bed together. They do what
03:34 they want to do. They do what suits the big teams with the loudest voices and never mind
03:39 the rest of them. I think people are sick of it really. I think the sort of level of
03:46 anger that you've seen from clubs and fans throughout the football league and in non-league
03:53 circles as well is quite telling really. And I think maybe that will have surprised the
03:57 FA a little bit. I think they might just need to, I'm not saying they're going to change
04:02 their mind on this, doubt whether that will happen, but they're going to need to think
04:06 about this very carefully because they've got a lot of angry member clubs on their hands
04:11 now. So, how do they know they can do that?
04:14 Yeah, I was going to say, I think the thought that's just popped into my head, we all remember
04:17 the Super League debacle, don't we? Is that kind of another way of the FA kowtowing to
04:22 the so-called big six clubs in the Premier League? Because it kind of, from my point
04:27 of view, a lot of managers of the big six have complained about the amount of games
04:30 that we play in. And these just seem the ones that aren't going to make those clubs the
04:34 most amount of money and are seen as expendable in a way. I don't know if you agree with that?
04:40 The big clubs complain about FA Cup replays, but they don't complain about Champions League
04:46 being extended to 32 and 48 clubs and more group games than it is. And they don't complain
04:52 when they get offered the chance to go off to Dubai or Qatar and play a friendly. And
04:56 I think people can see that. Fans of other clubs aren't stupid. They can see where the
05:03 really big clubs' priorities lie. They want to become global brands. They want to make
05:07 money. They want to have fans in all continents. And the other clubs here will think, well,
05:14 why should that be at the expense of the FA Cup? Everybody loves the FA Cup. Why sort
05:19 of water that down just to appease the top few? And I've seen a lot of fans of smaller
05:25 clubs and league clubs saying, well, why don't we just let the six go off and be in that
05:31 Super League if that's what they want? We'd all get on well without them and be a lot
05:35 happier.
05:36 How big of an impact will this decision have on non-league clubs, not just in Sussex, but
05:46 across the whole of England?
05:48 It's difficult to measure, isn't it? Because any one club in any one season can have a
06:09 good cup run. As we've seen in Horsham, they got to the second round. I know they kind
06:14 of got knocked out in the first round and then got reinstated.
06:18 They had a replay.
06:19 They got the draw at Barnsley. We all remember what a great story that was and what a night
06:24 it was back at Horsham for the replay. Live TV, full ground, didn't go their way, but
06:29 they still gave a very good account of themselves, gave them such exposure and such revenue that
06:35 that's an example of a game that would not have happened if these new rules had already
06:39 been in place.
06:40 A lot of non-league clubs that we deal with in Sussex won't get to the first round ever
06:47 or for a long time or it will happen very rarely. But when they do, the chance to get
06:54 a second game out of it, and that's whether you're playing your original tie at home and
07:00 having an away replay, which if it's at a big ground, is going to make you more money.
07:04 They talked about that with Swansea when they got round years ago.
07:11 Just one replay, as you said earlier, can make a big difference to a non-league club's
07:21 finances. It can keep them going for a long time. I wonder how much money Maidstone have
07:26 made this year from getting to the fifth round.
07:34 The FA Cup is still there, the rounds are still there and Horsham can still get to the
07:38 first round next year and make some money from a one-off game. But taking away the replays
07:45 is just another step towards reducing the appeal of the Cup to all clubs other than
07:58 Top View.
07:59 Will there be clubs to swap fixtures again? There was a time when a non-league club could
08:10 say if we're playing Man Utd, can we play Old Trafford? I haven't been allowed to do
08:15 that recently. But whether they reintroduce that to give those non-league clubs the chance
08:20 to make a lot of revenue from the ticket sales and that. That would be interesting.
08:24 You don't hope so, but that would be too sensible. It would be far too helpful to the small clubs.
08:35 I know this isn't necessarily related to non-league, but Mark, you cover Pauley Town and they will
08:39 obviously be affected by the decision to scrap replays. You spoke to Scott Lindsay yesterday
08:44 I think in his press conference. What did he have to say about it? Mixed opinions from
08:50 what I understand.
08:51 He had two views. He was thinking about the actual club. He was saying it's not great
08:57 because they're a team that if they get to the third round, draw a Man Utd or a Liverpool,
09:04 and they get a home and they manage to get a draw, which this Crawley Town team feasibly
09:08 could certainly against Man Utd probably beat them. For Crawley Town, cash is everything.
09:17 They've got these American millionaire owners and that. But if you go to Crawley Town, you
09:22 know they haven't got a big budget. They've got five full-time employees at Crawley Town.
09:27 So a huge game like that can keep them running or help them with their player budget. It
09:33 means they can sign more players, get a bigger squad, become a better team, etc. So it will
09:39 affect them as well.
09:44 On a personal level, Scott Lindsay said actually he doesn't think it's a bad thing because
09:49 this year his players will have played 53 games by the end of the regular season, with
09:54 possibly three more if they get in the playoffs. So that's 56 games. He said it's a lot of
10:01 football and these players are knackered. They're tired out. I know people moan and
10:06 say, "Oh, they get paid for it. They shouldn't be tired." But they are. It's a lot of physical
10:11 effort and people get worn out.
10:16 I think he agrees that if you can just have the one game, that's great. Not that it affected
10:22 Crawley this year. They got knocked out of the League Cup in the first round and the
10:26 FA Cup in the first round without the need of a replay. So it didn't really affect them
10:30 this year.
10:31 But it could do if you have a good run. If you get first round, second round, third round,
10:35 possibly fourth round, if you have to have replays in all those games, that's four extra
10:39 games that could affect your league season if you're pushing for something. So Steve's
10:45 got something to say on that.
10:46 Scott's lucky he wasn't around in the 70s, where you didn't just have a replay. If it
10:50 was level at the end of 90 minutes in the replay, you'd have a second replay and a third
10:54 replay. And there was a saga between, I think it might have been Arsenal and Liverpool.
11:00 I might be wrong with that, but it might have been Arsenal and Liverpool in the late 70s
11:04 and went to a fourth replay for one round.
11:07 Really?
11:08 I don't think. Maybe they did complain back then, but they probably just got on with it.
11:13 They probably had the same 11 players playing in each round. Football was better back then.
11:20 Football was better back then.
11:21 Yeah, but it's interesting because the actual football club and the Crawley Town Supporters
11:29 Alliance put out a statement yesterday, a joint statement. They've expressed their disappointment
11:34 and regret that next season there will be no replays. This is especially concerning
11:39 given that no Premier League teams participate in either of these early rounds. So it's a
11:43 fair point, isn't it? It's a fair point. Why not do it from the third round onwards?
11:49 Yeah, exactly. But how it affects Crawley, they said, "As a football club, we have previously
11:56 set a stadium attendance record twice as a result of a replay." There is a bit of dispute
12:02 about this game, but it's either Hastings or Horsham in '94, '95 and Tiverton in 2002,
12:08 2003. So, and these are legacies to key, they say these legacies are key to lower league
12:14 football clubs. So, yeah, obviously when Crawley went to Old Trafford, they were a non-league
12:19 club in their make-up. So, yeah, no, it's, yeah, I can see where Scott Lindsay's coming
12:25 from, but I think he understands that if it means that he can sign more players because
12:31 they've had a big replay at Old Trafford, then he probably would agree, yeah, he'd be
12:36 gutted if he missed out on that. So, yeah, interesting, interesting times.
12:41 Steve, you're a Portsmouth supporter. I know that the rule won't affect you next season
12:47 after getting promoted. Portsmouth will come in in the third round for being in the Championship.
12:50 As a football league, a supporter of a football league club, what do you make of it as well
12:55 outside of your Sussex non-league helm?
12:57 The same, absolutely the same view. I was asked last night by one of our National World
13:04 colleagues, Simon Carter, down at Portsmouth to name some memorable Pompey FA Cup replays
13:11 from a little piece he's putting together about why these occasions can be so good.
13:16 And I came up with five pretty quickly. He wanted to do a top five. I came up with five
13:21 pretty quickly. And they're games you think back to and they're, you know, they're games
13:26 that are still talked about now. I'll give you a couple of examples. Pompey in the, when
13:31 we were in the Premier League 2003/04, we went up to Liverpool in the fifth round and
13:37 managed to draw. Got them back down to Frank Park for a big replay on a Sunday afternoon
13:41 live on TV, live on BBC, I think it was, and beat them 1-0. And people still talk about
13:47 that game now. You know, we then got through to the quarterfinals and lost to Arsenal.
13:52 And probably the most famous Pompey FA Cup replay of all was the semi-final 1992, which
13:57 I don't want to talk about too much because we lost on penalties. It was very hard at
14:02 the time. But, you know, you think back to that and if that tie had been settled in the
14:09 first time, you know, first time, maybe we'd have won. You don't know. But you'd only have
14:13 had sort of, you'd only have half the memories that people have got now of that run. So,
14:18 yeah, I think even the bigger football league, a lot of the bigger football league clubs
14:23 and the sort of smaller Premier League clubs will be sorry about this. And, you know, they'll
14:29 all have their memories of famous replays and replay triumphs. So, I don't think we've
14:33 heard of the last of it anyway.
14:35 No, no, definitely not.
14:36 No, I was going to say, you mentioned the memories there. You go back to Horsham's FA
14:40 Cup run, when they ended up playing Swansea, when they ended up drawing at home with them,
14:44 they ended up going to the Liberty Stadium and ended up going, I think it was 2-1 up.
14:47 And for a moment you thought, yeah, we're going to do this. And then they ended up getting
14:50 6-2. But it's the core memories for non-league fans that don't support teams that will have
14:56 trips to, like Brighton has had, to Rome or Amsterdam or something like that. And from
15:01 a personal point of view, I feel like it's just such a shame and it just kind of kills
15:04 it a little bit for non-league clubs. I know there is the incentive of playing a football
15:08 league club, but I think Dom said when Horsham drew three, Dom Powell, sorry, when they drew
15:13 three all at Barnsley, if the game had gone any longer and it had gone into extra time,
15:18 Horsham would have lost that game because the fitness would have won out to Barnsley.
15:21 And to me it just seems such a shame.
15:24 Yeah, it's such a shame.
15:26 Yeah, that's a really good point actually, yeah.
15:30 I don't know whether or not there could have been any other solutions to this problem.
15:33 The first one that springs to mind, and I hate the League Cup with every fibre of my
15:39 being and there is no need for the League Cup. Could they not have just done away with
15:43 that and kept replays? Where is the financial in? Because I don't think you get any money
15:47 for winning games, do you, in the League Cup?
15:51 Because I listened to another podcast, the Football Ramble, a friend of mine does it.
15:55 They took the mick out of this because I think they win like maybe £100,000, that's it,
16:02 for winning the League Cup.
16:03 What was that again?
16:04 It might even be less than that. It might even be less than that. I can't remember exactly
16:08 what it is, but it's ridiculous, isn't it? Because what's the incentive of winning the
16:12 League Cup for, I mean £100,000 is a lot of money, I get that.
16:16 That's to win it, that is.
16:18 Yeah, that's to win it. That's not for Manchester City, not for Liverpool, not for Man United,
16:22 not for Chelsea, not for Arsenal, who are the five teams who are likely probably going
16:27 to be in the final and win it. So, it's ridiculous. It pays one player's wages for one week.
16:34 Yeah, it's just, yeah, get rid of the League Cup. I'm up for that. Because the Bristol
16:39 Street Motors Cup, I know there's things like that. I think that has got a place because
16:43 it gives those smaller teams a chance to get to Wembley. Like Crawley Town could have feasibly,
16:48 if the wind had gone right for them, could have feasibly got to Wembley this year in
16:54 that competition and they've never been to Wembley and they might have another chance
16:56 in the play-offs. But, yeah, I don't think that's going to affect Premier League clubs
17:02 at all. But if you want to give the Premier League clubs a rest, yeah, get rid of that.
17:07 What do you say to the Premier League clubs, and you'd have to say it probably only to
17:11 Premier League clubs, if you want to withdraw from the FA Cup this, in any one season, you
17:18 can, or if you want to withdraw from the League Cup, you can. Give them the choice. Don't
17:22 let them come out of both. But, say we're keeping FA Cup replays, but you don't have
17:26 to play in it if you think that's going to be too many games for your poor, overworked
17:31 players or you can play in the League Cup. And if they're that bothered, they will. And
17:37 everybody else who's left in the League Cup will be quite happy to carry on without them.
17:42 The thing for me for the League Cup is that there doesn't seem to be the same level of
17:45 fan interest as there, especially my mate, he supports Arsenal and he said that he only
17:51 really cares about the League Cup, probably when his team gets to the final. Other than
17:56 that, he's not too fussed about it. I don't know whether or not, well, I don't know. Has
18:00 Portsmouth got a particularly good record in the League Cup, Steve? I don't know.
18:03 No, no, pretty poor, actually. Never got good. We've got a few quarter-finals and they've
18:07 gone badly. I don't know, I mean, the League Cup has, quite soon after the League Cup was
18:13 launched, about 60 years ago, people said, 'Oh, this won't last.' And it kind of has
18:16 lasted. I think, I know what you're saying, I think it has got a certain appeal and maybe
18:22 it's got more of an appeal to Championship League One, League Two clubs who like the
18:26 thought of a little run, you know, they'd love the thought of getting a big tie somewhere.
18:31 But yeah, it certainly needs looking at within the, you know, if you're looking at the whole
18:35 issue of too many games, then that is one to look at, definitely.
18:39 Just to confirm, yeah, it's £100,000 for winning it. For getting to the semi-finals,
18:44 you get £25,000. Big incentive, isn't it?
18:48 Yeah.
18:49 I'm posting a little competition in it. Anyway, Steve Bowne, what has the overwhelming reaction
18:57 been to the, well, you can probably guess what the overwhelming reaction has been to
19:00 this decision amongst Sussex non-league clubs about replays getting scrapped?
19:04 Yeah, of those that I've seen commenting, they're all saying the same as the league
19:09 clubs, really. They're saying it's a great shame, licking the teeth of non-league clubs.
19:13 No, I think the lack of consultation is a big thing as well. A couple of the guys at
19:20 Horsham have been quite angry about it. And even clubs even further down the pyramid who
19:26 won't ever get to the first round of the FA Cup and therefore aren't directly affected,
19:30 I think because they are football clubs and they have sympathy with others who are a bit
19:34 further up the ladder than them. You know, they're all saying the same thing. I've seen,
19:40 I think I've only seen two people saying, yeah, this is not a bad idea. One was a Man
19:45 United fan, this was yesterday when I was trawling through, one was a Man United fan,
19:48 one was a Spurs fan. Tells you what you need to know, doesn't it?
19:54 Yeah, absolutely does. But moving away from the FA Cup to the National League South, there
19:59 was huge Sussex interest at both ends of the table. Tell us how things stand ahead of the
20:03 final round of games of this season, Steve.
20:06 Yes, so the big news today, we're speaking on Friday, is that Eastbourne Borough are
20:12 safe. They thought they were going to have to go to a nail-biting last day and a trip
20:17 to Braintree where they might have needed something, but Taunton Town on Thursday night
20:22 became the fourth team to be relegated. That's occupied all four slots now at the bottom.
20:27 So Eastbourne Borough, who, you know, not that long ago, they were six or seven points
20:30 adrift of safety. They've done really well to grind out some results. They've been scoring
20:34 goals, they've been in form, found their confidence and they've stayed up with the game to go.
20:40 They will now need to look at what lessons they can learn from this year and how they
20:45 can do better next year and I'm sure that will happen. We'll probably have Simon Leslie
20:49 on again here at some point telling us how they're going to do that.
20:51 At the other end, very exciting for Worthing. Worthing are assured of a play-off place and
20:57 they go into the final game with, well, they're in third place at the moment. If they finish
21:02 second or third, they will get a home semi-final play-off. So they'll be straight into the
21:08 play-off semi-finals in National South. If they end up finishing fourth, and I think
21:14 they can even finish fifth still, they will then have to play an eliminator before the
21:18 semi-final. So it gives them an extra game, an extra thing to worry about. They are at
21:24 home to Weston tomorrow, just hoping to get over the line and make sure they finish in
21:27 the top three. So, yes, an exciting end to the season for both our teams there but in
21:32 different ways.
21:33 I know that obviously their standing has not been confirmed yet, but how would you rate
21:39 Worthing's chances in the play-off, Steve, at this juncture?
21:42 Yes, as ever, it will depend who they end up playing. Chelmsford, who have been second
21:48 for a little while now, are very strong and you'd probably say they would be favourites
21:52 to come out of the play-offs as the second team to get promoted. But Worthing are in
21:56 good form. They've hit good form at the right time. They had a little blip soon after Aaron
22:01 Rossing took over as interim boss but they've now won five in a row. So if they can keep
22:05 that going tomorrow, that gives them the ideal platform to go into the play-offs and they
22:10 won't worry about facing anybody, I don't think.
22:13 Meanwhile in the Ismail Premier, Horne Church have been crowned champions but the race for
22:17 the play-offs has yet to be resolved. How does the play-off picture look in that division,
22:21 Steve?
22:22 Well, Horsham look like they're going to claim that final play-off place. Fifth is where
22:27 you need to finish to be in the play-offs. Horsham are fifth at the moment, three games
22:31 left. They probably need a win and a draw, I would think, to make sure as things stand.
22:38 One of our other sides, Hastings, have been trying to chase them and trying to keep on
22:41 their tails. It just went wrong for them last weekend. Played well, created lots of chances
22:46 but in the words of Protagator, it missed some absolute sitters and lost 1-0 to Whitehawk
22:53 and that has pretty much put them out of the picture now. I think Hastings would need to
22:58 win all three of their games and hope that Horsham lost all three of theirs or only picked
23:02 up a couple of points if they were going to get back in it. So you'd say it's going to
23:06 be Horsham in fifth place and that's great for them, great achievement, great effort
23:10 by Dom De Paola and the lads there. Hastings still got something to play for in a way because
23:15 if they finish seventh it's their joint highest league finish ever, which they can still manage.
23:22 It would obviously be their highest. So plenty to play for for them. Lewis and Bogner have
23:28 sort of tailed off. Well, Lewis have actually done quite well in the last three. They've
23:31 won their last three but they're going to finish outside the playoffs, as are Bogner,
23:34 who are back now in mid-table, along with Whitehawk. So mixed fortunes down there.
23:41 In the division below, the Ismian South East playoff race has been resolved and there will
23:46 be Sussex representation in the semi-finals. Which Sussex sides have a shot at promotion
23:50 to the Ismian Premier Mark Dunford?
23:53 So it's Chichester City and Free Bridges. Free Bridges are in fifth place, which is
24:02 the lowest at the bottom of the playoffs. Chichester are in fourth place. So as it stands
24:08 and if it remains that, they will avoid each other in the playoffs. So we could possibly
24:11 have a Free Bridges-Chichester final because it's second versus fifth and third versus
24:16 fourth, I think.
24:19 The fourth, the sitting board of the third, the other team who were confirmed to be in
24:25 the playoffs. And it will be one of either Ramsgate or Craig Valley, who were having
24:29 the right old ding-dong at the top to claim that automatic place. Both who had quite good
24:34 runs in the FA Cup, I think they had, didn't they? Craig Valley got a replay, didn't they,
24:41 I think, against Charlton. That's right. There you go. Moves it all back full circle.
24:47 Free Bridges have had a funny season because they had a brilliant start. They were unbeaten
24:52 for ages and then over Christmas and early in this year, they struggled. But then they
24:56 put a few good runs together. I mean, the main thing about Free Bridges, the goals they
25:00 scored, 94 goals they've got this year. So they've got, even though they confirmed their
25:05 playoff place, they've still got that little target of maybe getting 100 goals, six goals
25:09 in the next two games.
25:10 But they've got seven oaks on Saturday, they've got nothing to play for. But they have got
25:14 Ramsgate final game of the season, who could obviously need a win to claim the title. So
25:20 tough one for them at the end. But they could potentially finish, I mean, mathematically
25:25 they can finish third, but more likely fifth or fourth, I would say, for Free Bridges.
25:28 But Chichester City, incredible story. They've got the momentum, haven't they, Steve?
25:33 Yeah. I'm going to read you Chichester City's results from the start of February. This is
25:39 with their score first.
25:40 When you do it in like the old guinea print, the guy you saw in the video.
25:45 Inflation of the Blues, Alexander Gordon or something. I'm not going to give you all the
25:49 opponents because we'll be here all day, but these are their results. 7-1, 0-0, 3-0, 1-0,
25:56 3-0, 3-0, 3-0, 2-0, 4-0, 2-0, 6-1, 3-1.
26:04 Gordon and 6-1, got to be disappointed letting in a goal.
26:07 They actually were. Yeah, because that was such a good record. I think they had nine
26:12 games without conceding a goal.
26:14 Incredible.
26:15 Yeah, it's an incredible run. And at the start of the season, if you'd said Chichester City
26:18 would finish in the top five, even Chichester City wouldn't have believed you because they
26:22 have a very small budget, quite a small squad. They don't get big crowds. The crowds have
26:29 gone up a little bit since they got their 3G pitch in at Oaklands Park, but it's just
26:33 been a phenomenal season for them.
26:35 At the end of it, of course, as we've been reporting, has been sort of overshadowed by
26:42 real sadness really. Graeme Gee, Chichester's very popular and well-known assistant manager
26:48 who'd had kidney cancer, which we've reported on a couple of times, passed away a couple
26:55 of weeks ago.
26:56 Very sad.
26:57 They knew it was going to happen. It was sort of when or if. And that's kind of, given the
27:06 end of their season, a very different sort of feeling, a different air. I think they've
27:10 kind of embraced it in the sense that they feel they're playing for him now, which is
27:14 going to inspire them further. And I think they've done it with great respect to him
27:22 and his family and great dignity as well. So we wish them all the best in their last
27:27 couple of league games and in those playoffs as well. Be there to see it.
27:30 They've got the momentum, but whoever finishes second is going to be in the box seat, aren't
27:37 they, for the playoffs? Because they've both had incredible seasons. It's unlikely that
27:42 any of those others will compete in that. But who knows? It's playoffs momentum, like
27:46 we say.
27:47 Yes. Sometimes in playoffs, if you've got a team who have just missed out on automatic
27:52 promotion, they're so far ahead of the others. They've given everything, haven't they, by
27:57 the time the playoff comes around. So maybe that will be a factor. But you'd say Ramsgate
28:01 or Prairie Valley will be favourites there.
28:03 I do have a dog named Grace. I do hope Ramsgate don't get promoted because when I used to
28:08 follow Horsham away from home, they used to play Ramsgate quite regularly and their away
28:12 ground is the windiest place quite possibly on the planet. So I hope Prairie Valley go
28:15 up and one of the Sussex sides go up through the playoffs. So, yes, if anyone from Ramsgate
28:20 is watching, I'm not sorry.
28:21 And finally, the SEFL Premier League look set to go to the wire in a thrilling title
28:26 fight. But now we know who has been crowned champions and who will compete in the Ismian
28:30 League next season. Which side has earned SEFL Premier Honesty and who has been left
28:35 to fight it out amongst the playoffs?
28:37 Yes, we need to congratulate Stenning Town, who are SEFL Premier Champions. They've done
28:42 it with a game to spare by virtue of, well, they had a very good win at New Haven, who
28:47 were their closest rivals last week. Won 4-0 at Fort Road. That put them sort of on the
28:53 brink. And then Crobra were the only other team that could catch them. They lost 2-1
28:57 to Crawley down Gatwick in midweek. That means Stenning are champions. Stenning players have
29:02 been to training on Tuesday night and hung around to see what happened there and have
29:06 been pictured celebrating since, which is nice. So they will go up to step four and
29:13 we assume to the Ismian South East for next season, unless there's any rearrangement of
29:18 who's in those leagues.
29:20 The SEFL Premier playoffs will feature Crobra, New Haven, Eastbourne Town and probably Hassox.
29:29 I think as it stands, Hayward Heath could still edge in there ahead of Hassox. I think
29:34 Hassox are favourites to do that. There's one round of games to go. There's a few left
29:38 over games tomorrow for the final round of fixtures next Saturday, 27th April. So those
29:44 playoffs will be interesting as well. It's the first time that a second SEFL Premier
29:48 side has been guaranteed a shot at promotion like this through the playoffs. So plenty
29:54 still to play for for all them as well. But well done to Stenning and we'll be doing more
29:58 on their title win in Sussex World and in the Worthing Herald in the days to come.
30:05 And no doubt you'll be getting behind Crobra in the playoffs, Mark?
30:09 Come on Crobra, come on you.
30:11 Crows.
30:12 Crows, yeah, that would make sense, wouldn't it?
30:17 And finally, before we close out this edition of the podcast, we're all going to choose
30:20 our Sussex non-league game of the week. I'm going to start, I'm going to go for Chichester
30:24 against Ramsgate this Saturday in the East Midlands League South East. As it's been well
30:28 described, Chichester could have a massive say in this title race. Ramsgate will be sickened
30:35 if they don't go up because it's been such an exciting title race. So obviously, as Steve
30:38 said, Chichester are in great form, so it should be a humdinger. Mark, what have you
30:42 gone for?
30:43 I've gone for Birgisfield versus Littlehampton. Littlehampton need just a point will probably
30:49 be enough, but if they win, they can avoid relegation. But I'd like to say a point would
30:54 be enough. They're currently on 31 points and Beckenham Town, who are in second from
30:59 bottom, are on 26 points, so five points behind. So yeah, a point might not be enough, but
31:04 it probably will be. But Birgisfield have got nothing to play for other than finishing
31:09 the season well. But Sussex rivals should be a good game and Littlehampton will be going
31:17 for it. And Littlehampton are one of the only two teams I've ever watched play at Wembley,
31:21 so there you go. So covered, actually physically covered. So there you go.
31:25 Last but not least, Steve Bowen, what have you gone for?
31:30 I'm going for Worthing versus Weston in the National South. Because although Worthing
31:36 have qualified for the play-offs, the difference between finishing third and fourth is massive.
31:41 It's one less game and it gives you home advantage in that play-off semi-final, as
31:46 you've said. The standings currently, Chelmsford are second with 83, Worthing are third with
31:52 81, Braintree fourth with 81 and Maidstone fifth with 80. So any of those could end up
31:59 third. If Worthing win basically against Weston, who have been playing sort of every other
32:04 day for the past fortnight I think, so it will work in Worthing's favour. If Worthing
32:08 win, they will be in the top three. So that's what I've got to aim for.
32:11 Are there play-offs next week for that, Steve?
32:13 I think the next weekend, I'm not sure when the eliminators are, but I think the play-off
32:20 semi-finals at that level are Sunday 28th. So big days to come at Woodside Road, we hope.
32:28 Fingers crossed. Thank you very much for joining us, chaps, and thank you very much for you
32:33 listening. I never know how to end this because normally at the other podcasts I've got a
32:38 little thing to write, but basically we'll see you when we see you.