Friday Freebie: Who Will Finish Where?
National League North and South predictions here for you
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This weekend the National League get’s underway along with steps 2-4 joining the rest of the pyramid that began two weekend’s ago. Predictions for non-league’s top division you can find here on my Barnet FC blog.
The National League North and South are getting the treatment here, meaning all the predictions are FREE to read for all across both my platform’s and remember when you take a look through, it’s an opinion, not set in stone and I’d love any team to go and prove me wrong, after all Maidenhead Utd have been doing that for years!
We’ll kick off in the North, I might live in the South but I try and keep a good eye on everything that goes on. This isn’t going to be a massive in-depth opinion piece like some have excellently put together but a mere set of thoughts of what I expect to see come the end of the season.
Off we go then! My champions of the North are to be Scunthorpe Utd. No one I don’t think expected them to come up against a well drilled Tamworth and I don’t see it happening again. A more refined and lower cost base Scunny should see them home and back in the top division by the summer.
The play off sides I expect to finish in this order are Chester, Brackley Town, Darlington, South Shields, Kidderminster Harriers and Hereford. I’m tipping Chester to do it, Brackley as we know have been close more than once. Darlington were in tremendous form under Steve Watson to starve off relegation and if they repeat that they will be up there.
South Shields keeping Paul Blackett was huge and his goals should fire them to a top seven finish, Kiddy under Phil Brown will want to be in the mix to return first time and I think they’ll be involved, Hereford my rather dark horse choice but something just says to me they’ll take the last spot.
8th-12th, Chorley, Marine, Radcliffe and Spennymoor Town. A very good chance however they could do better than just miss out. Last season and the year before the race for the play-off spots was incredibly tight, 2023/24 went down to the final day, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the same this year.
13th-20th: Kings Lynn Town, Alfreton, Curzon Ashton, Southport, Oxford City, Peterborough Sports, Scarborough Athletic, Buxton, Farsley Celtic.
Similar to the National League any of these sides if they get on a run can finish anywhere in those positions or even higher. That’s almost the beauty of these predictions, it’s so tough to get the complete set right, you’ll see no different in the South later on.
Now, as I say in the NL as well you have to pick four to go down, it’s not personal or anything but 24 teams can’t stay in the same league. The four picked to go down are Leamington, Needham Market, Warrington Town and Rushall Olympic. Never set in stone, but those are the sides I feel need to do something a little more to not be in the relegation conversation.
And to the South. This is an ultra-competitive division this year with so many full time sides involved it’s incredible.
So here we go with this one! My champions are Dorking Wanderers. I know Marc White is a personal friend and I know he has publicly stated 100 points they’re aiming for etc. I just believe it will be them. There will be that huge desire to bounce back from a first ever relegation and while I see some who might run them close, not close enough.
The play-off sides in this one I see as: Maidstone Utd, Chelmsford City, Bath City, Slough Town, Eastbourne Borough and Farnborough. I’m taking Maidstone to win it, the others I feel are solid bets, Chelmsford lose players but retain a solid group and perform, Bath City similar.
Slough Town have lost a few this summer but I like what Scott Davies is doing there and that fantastic home record, Eastbourne have recruited so well and should be making some impact this season, Farnborough were close last year and Mason Bloomfield returning will add even more goals.
8th-12th: Worthing, Boreham Wood, St Albans, Welling Utd and Torquay Utd. Like the other two divisions any of these sides could nick one of the last two play off spots. Worthing the best bet here and of course all the talk is of replacing Ollie Pearce’s goals.
Wood are in transition, the same I feel of Torquay but both could be a dark horse shout. St Albans are close; some will feel I’ve got Welling too high but I have a sneaky feeling they will surprise one or two this year.
13th-20th: Hornchurch, Tonbridge Angels, Hemel Hempstead, Weymouth, Aveley, Weston-Super-Mare, Truro City, Chippenham Town. Again, these sides could spring a surprise but I think when you look at the amount of full time teams now it’s a tougher ask.
Now the four to go down. As above nothing personal, just represents my view. For me it’s Hampton & Richmond, Enfield Town, Salisbury and Chesham Utd. It’s a tough ask getting promoted into these divisions nowadays and you need either deep pockets, ability to go hybrid or full time or a few strokes of luck.
Hampton I feel have gone backwards from last year’s recruitment. I was surprised to see them rip up their blueprint instead of building upon last season. Sure they fell away, but learn from the lessons, stability shows up even more these days as the clubs who progress year on year than a constant change.
The other three I feel will need either themselves to use that kind of unknown quantity tag or someone else to have a poor start and ultimately poor season, but we’ll see come the end of April how things stand.
So there we go, feel free to drop your opinions in the comments, has one of these sides stood out for you to finish higher than I believe? Get in there and let me know…….