It’s Non League Day this weekend so we celebrate Non league. I’ve tried to find something for everybody, celebrate the quirkiness, enjoy the camaraderie, and applaud the success in adversity. This is the Non League Football Show and this is Non League. First up a returnee with 15 games still to play until the end of the season that can’t be extended. By the time you listen to this, that will be 14, because with their own ground not in use due to the International break, the local pro club...

We start this week with one of this show’s longest-serving guests, not only as a guest of this show but also as manager of the England C side. Paul Fairclough has over two decades on the job and admits he is as enthusiastic as ever in the role. A game on Tuesday night in Wales is followed in May by a home game v Nepal at Aldershot Town and as Paul explains the non league international setup has been the stepping stone for so many successful footballers.  Next, a debutant to the show....

A bumper full length programme this week as we hit the Quarter finals of the FA Trophy and FA Vase, four ties, eight clubs in each compettion. First up an old friend of the show in a new job. His record speaks for itself but it's not often a manager moves into a new dugout in the back end of the season, at a club bigger than he’s ever taken on before, in sight of a play-off place and in the quarter-finals of a national cup competition. Michael Clegg has achieved just that at Macclesfield...

A full-length programme this week but just the two in-depth guests. As we roll into March we discuss ground grading or rather Stadium Assessment the new system of baselining and auditing the stadia in operation across the National League System. Mark Harris Chairman of the Northern Premier League offers an expert view into why the new system was needed, what it is, and how it will impact clubs this year and in years to come. In insightful discussion including how fans can play a part in...

A late release and shorter version due to technical gremlins affecting guest interviews this week. Disappointing but hopefully those guests can come back in the coming weeks as they have some exciting stuff to share. So just Matt Badcock from The Non League Paper this week but what a week of football news. He joins us straight from the press conference at Maidstone United as they gear up for their last 16 tie in the FA Cup at Coventry City. It’s also been a busy week on the clubs in crisis...

Just the one club guest this week so a slightly abbreviated show but an important insight nonetheless. With some of the Fifth Round FA Trophy ties still to be played due to weather postponements, we speak to a manager who is probably putting more on the chance for Wembley than any other club still in the competition. Bishops Stortford owner and manager Steve Smith was last with us celebrating his side’s romp of the IShtmian Premier Division. As he tells us he still can’t come to terms with...

We’ve reached round 5 in both the FA Trophy and the FA Vase. 16 clubs left in each competition 8 ties apiece to get through, with the weather looking to play a hand in that.  In the Trophy those from outside the top tier have their sights set on a Wembley final they may not have expected, whilst there are still some looking to battle on more than one front this season. But our focus this week is the FA Vase. @FAVaseFactfile Mr Phil Annets is on hand to give us oversight of all the clubs and...

To counter the clubs in peril stories we’ve had to report on this season, it’s time to celebrate a story of dedication, persistence and desire. London’s oldest football club finally coming home. Not quite yet fully ready for the return of the Isthmian Premier side but youth and women’s teams of Cray Wanderers are moving into Flamingo Park. CEO Sam Wright is rightly proud but far from done yet, not only seeking to get the men’s first team back in for some prestigious pre-seasons for next...

It is the FA Cup Fourth Round weekend and just the one non-league representative. Phil Annets @facupfactfile is on hand to give some insight into this round and the competition so far. Many will have written off National South’s Maidstone but having already dumped Barrow and Stevenage out for the competition to go further than the club ever has in this competition, or the former club before it in fact… there’s some magic in the air that might make, even high flying hosts Ipswich Town quiver a...

The highs and lows of football spotlighted this week but also the magic of why we all do it and why we all love it. First up a return to these waveforms of Barnet boss Dean Brennan. Into the FA Trophy last 16 and sitting third in the National League, life isn’t looking too shoddy. A Saturday tea-time visit of table-toppers Chesterfield is on the menu this week but as Dean says, he can only take one game at a time. Some might think even one game at a time would be too much after 27 league...

The FA Trophy and the FA Vase reach the Fourth Round this weekend. The last 32 and the clubs still involved have every right to be distant dreaming about that Wembley final. We speak to an experienced non league manager who has enough behind him to know few will give his side a chance against visitors Chesterfield on Saturday. Welling United boss Danny Bloor is wiley enough to have a few tricks up his sleeve to make it a big day out for all involved at the club, with an outside chance of...

It’s the FA Cup Third Round and four of the 64 in action are from Non-League Circles. First up Phil Annets is here with his FA Cup Factfile Hat, giving us all the insight into those four ties and more ahead of the weekend. Next an old friend of the show. A very old friend of our very old show. Hugo Langton used to grace the studio at BBC London in what seems another lifetime ago but now he’s set for the biggest game of his life as Assistant Manager at Aldershot as they travel to West...

Another slightly shorter show going into the New Year but still much to entertain and inform. First up he’s led this club to the only 100% league record still intact as the end of the year arrives. Paul Johnson’s Farnham Town top the Combined Counties Premier South and remains in the FA Vase, yet he’s only been in the job just over 12 months. Lots achieved but much more to come, as he sets out his stall for a long-term commitment to his growing club. Bringing us up to date with the news,...

A slighter shorter show going into the Christmas break but we have two of football’s hardest-working non-league experts to take you into the festive weekend. First up he’s back in non-league with perhaps perfect timing. 12 years since he took Fleetwood Town into the Football League from the Conference, 6 years since he took Tranmere Rovers back to the 92, he’s settling in quickly at Oldham Athletic with sights on the National League play-offs. Micky Mellon likes good people and he’s one of...

A mixed bag this week. We speak to an old friend of the show making progress every season at his club, now in the FA Trophy Fourth round and pushing for a play-off promotion in the National League. Phil Parkinson - yes non-league’s very own - thinks his Altrincham side is coming together nicely, although the Christmas schedule isn’t as he’d hoped, highlighting the big sacrifices those involved in football often have to make. With a similar schedule after weeks without competitive football is...

A double hit of FA cup competitions this week. With great non-league success in the FA Cup, we talk to a manager who faces a trip to league opposition in a replay on Tuesday with a Third Round spot, the prize. Billy Heath’s Alfreton Town drew 0-0 this week with Walsall but know they have all the opportunity to become heroes and make the Third Round for the first time in the club’s history. Next, we talk FA Trophy with a man perhaps known best as a manager on memorable FA Cup runs but who now...

It is FA Vase 3rd round and FA Cup second round this weekend so we have Phil Annets on hand with first, his @favasefactfile hat on, and then, his @facupfactfile hat. The FA Cup 2nd Round has 10 non league representatives this weekend and we speak to the Chairman of the lowest-ranked side. James Lawson, Chairman at Ramsgate, already has a plethora of stories with his club and he hopes to make more starting on Monday at AFC Wimbledon. Executive Editor at The Non League Paper, Jon Couch rounds...

Some techie gremlins means a late release and shorter show but plenty to delight, entertain and inform. First up Russ Penn manager at Kidderminster Harriers. From play-off winners last term to rock bottom of the National League this, but there’s still hope and still expectation that the small margins can be pushed in the right direction at Aggborough. Matt Badcock is back with his insight into the week’s news and previews of the content for this weekend’s Non League paper.

We talk FA Trophy this week. Second Round action with 40 ties. We talk to two sides involved and focus on clubs with joint managers as the season begins to hit super busy. First up, Anthony Johnson now joint manager at Radcliffe has had an amazing start to the season in the Northern Premier League which he admits is the focus for him and Bernard Morley, but who’d turn down an FA Trophy run with a trip to National North Farsley Celtic this weekend, between them and Round Three. Enjoying home...

As the final teams come into the FA Vase we celebrate Round Tw , and @FAVaseFactfile Phil Annets offers insight and stats into the 64 ties. One of the all-Step 6 ties features a club only formed in 2017 but one that has already begun the climb up the pyramid and entered the Vase this year at this round due to last year’s progress to Round 4. It’s not often you speak to a manager who has been the only one in the history of the club, but Johnny Payne is just that plus an ex-player of the...

It's the magical First Round of the FA Cup.n 32 Non League sides involved, some against each other - guaranteeing representation in the Second Round, some eyeing a big cupset against League opposition. @FACupFactfile Phil Annets is back on hand to offer insight into who may be the David and who may be the Goliaths to fall this round and we speak to a manager ahead of his club's attempt to break competition records against near neighbours some 5 steps above them in the pyramid. Cray Valley...

This week we celebrate a manager reaching 500 games at a club he first joined in 2013. Pat McManus may not have a multitude of promotions or silverware in the cabinet but as he explains success comes in different ways at Brockenhurst. Similarly, they may be former back-to-back FA Trophy Winners but nowadays whilst a Trophy run would be most welcomed by Kingstonian it might not be the primary focus it once was, as current manager Simon Lane explains. Rounding the show and the week's news up is...

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. Their trip to higher-ranked opposition this weekend in the FA Vase is a shot to nothing in his...

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 years through highs and lows but the club is now on a sure footing and looking to make gradual...

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 potential he knows the club has. Our Chairman this week is another old friend of the show. Another FA...