Who May We See In The Pitching In Southern Football League in 2023/24? (Part One)

A look at who may become members of the league next season from the feeder leagues.

Obviously, the Football Association’s National League System Committee will have the final say on who goes where in the summer and one or two of the following clubs may not end up in the Southern League.

And in some cases, it also may depend on ground gradings being suitable.

However, these are the team’s best placed to be promoted to the league as it stands today.

Combined Counties League North

Ascot United

Saturday saw Ascot United reach Wembley for the first time in their history after beating Uhlsport Hellenic League Premier Division side Corsham Town in the Isuzu FA Vase semi-final.

With the scores tied at 2-2 after a nervy 90 minutes, both sides endured an excruciating penalty shoot-out where Sean McCormack held his nerve to send his side through to play at the home of English football.

Reading City are currently second behind Ascot but trail by 9 points, so it may be a case of them hoping the Yellamen take their eye off the ball now they have reached Wembley!

Ascot United was founded in 1965 by a men’s team who played their games at Sunninghill, with “after match meetings” in The Wells public house in Cheapside village (now Mikados).

Within three seasons, the club had gained permission from the Ascot Racecourse Trustees to convert the land north of coach park 10 into a football pitch. A wooden clubhouse was built and this team went on to win many prestigious trophies in the years that followed.

Various youth teams represented Ascot United over the years up to 1988, but the size of the club never exceeded eight boys’ teams.

From 1989 there was a gradual increase in demand and in 1992 there came a turning point when small-sided games were introduced for 7 and 8-year-olds and the men’s team reformed, having disbanded in 1980.

In 1990 the club started to work on some improvements to its infrastructure, with a new clubhouse being erected at the Racecourse Ground, and a season later a new pitch and training area was constructed on waste land.

The work continued in 1992 when the clubhouse was converted and floodlights added in 1994.

Then in 2003 a partnership with Charters School was established and the club website went live, this was followed by achieving FA Charter Community club status in 2004.

With the work carried out off the pitch, under manager Stuart Scammell results started to improve on the pitch with the club winning the Reading Evening Post Cup final at the Madejski Stadium in the 2005/06 season, and the following season winning the Reading League Senior Division.

This league title gained them promotion to the Hellenic League Division One East in the 2008/09 season they finished runners-up and were promoted to the Premier Division.

Once again the club upgraded its facilities and ground to meet Step 5 requirements, with new floodlights in 2009 and a new clubhouse and stand in 2010.

The club made its debut in the FA Vase in the 2010/11 season and in 2011/12 season the club made its debut in the FA Cup under new manager Jeff Lamb, as long-serving manager Stuart Scammell resigned at the end of the 2010/11 season due to work commitments.

Their debut in the FA Cup was also special as it was the first ever game to be broadcast live on a social networking site, when they played Wembley in the Extra Preliminary Round shown on Facebook. The game also led to Ascot's then-record attendance of 1,149.

In 2013/14 the club won the Hellenic League Cup, defeating Ardley United 2–1 in the final.

The 2018/19 season saw them win the League Cup for a second time with a 3–1 win against Windsor in the final.

And at the end of the season they were transferred to the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League and, after two abandoned seasons due to the Covid pandemic, the Yellamen finished sixth last season.

Star man in front of goal for Ascot is Brendan Matthew, who has 36 goals to his credit already.

He is no stranger to Southern League football, having previously had spells with Harrow Borough and Beaconsfield Town before joining the Yellamen.

Other current players include former Portsmouth and Reading goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown, who made over 100 appearances for Pompey and, despite being 42, has been a key player for Ascot this season.

Another striker, Marcus Mealing, played 24 times for Marlow in the Isthmian League South Central Division last season scoring 4 times as well as turning out for Risborough Rangers.

He has predominantly played for Marlow during his career but has also had spells with the likes of Thame United, Bracknell Town, Hanwell Town and Walton Casuals before joining Ascot in the summer of 2022.

Brothers Harry and Alfie Grant are also key members of the Yellamen’s squad.

Defender Alfie Grant captained Reading City and has also played for Marlow.

Midfielder Harry Grant began his career with Swindon Town before moving on to Sheffield Wednesday and Gillingham and has played for a number of non-League clubs including Farnborough, Maidenhead United, Marlow, Thatcham Town and North Leigh.

Essex Senior League

This is the division which could see its winners moved into the Isthmian League for geographical reasons rather than the Southern League.

It’s tight at the top of the table though, with current leaders Enfield FC holding a five-point advantage over Redbridge, who are level on points with FC Clacton, with Woodford Town a point further back in fourth.

Enfield FC play at the home of Isthmian Premier Division side Bishop’s Stortford - the R&D Advisors Stadium.

They are currently managed by well-known former Bristol Rovers, Reading and Norwich City striker Jamie Cureton, who took over in September 2020.

Founded in August 1893 as Enfield Spartans by John Bruce Skinner, the club spent their initial season playing friendlies.

They entered their first league the Tottenham & District Junior Alliance for the season 1894/95.

They joined the North Middlesex League in 1896 which was won in 1901/02 and 1902/03 after which 'senior' status was attained.

The start of1903/04 saw the club join the London League Division Two. It won the title in 1911 and so gained promotion to the Premier Division, but for most of the next 50 years, the club played in the Athenian League.

After the First World War, Enfield disbanded.

Members of Grange Park FC, which had been a local junior club before the war, held a meeting with a view to stepping up to senior football and taking on the mantle of Enfield. The decision to become the "new" Enfield was taken the next month.

They enjoyed limited success until the arrival of Thomas Lawrence in the early 1960s.

Lawrence was a charismatic centre forward who attracted much stronger players to the club.

His career as a player was cut short when he fractured his skull playing for Great Britain in an Olympic Games qualifier.

Successful as a manager, he did even better later in business. Lawrence's arrival was the origin of the success of Enfield, that lasted 30 years.

It was not until 1961/62 that the club won the Athenian League title for the first time, and a second successive title in 1962/63 won them entry to the Isthmian League.

They won seven further league titles, and were one of the first two Isthmian League clubs to join the Alliance Premier League in 1981.

During their period in the Isthmian league they made their first appearance in the FA Amateur Cup Final.

After taking an early lead their goalkeeper, Malcolm Mitchell broke his arm, and Roy Thomas, a winger, went into goal. No substitutes were allowed and Crook Town won 2–1.

During the early 1980s, Enfield was among the strongest Conference sides, winning the title in 1982/83 and 1985/86, and the FA Trophy in 1981/82 and 1987/88.

Their form slipped and they were relegated to the Isthmian League in 1990.

Despite a run of seven consecutive top-three finishes they remained in that league, being denied promotion after winning the title in 1995 because the Football Conference were not satisfied with the club's financial credentials.

They won their most recent Conference title in the final season of the re-election system, in which the Football League members had to vote on whether or not to replace one of the bottom four teams in the Fourth Division with the champions of the highest non-League division. However, in the ballot which followed Enfield received just 7.5 votes, while the four Football League sides applying to retain membership received between 61 and 64 votes.

In 1999, the club sold its Southbury Road stadium, and began groundsharing with several nearby clubs.

Eventually, the board decided on a long-term ground share with Boreham Wood, 10 miles away.

Fearing that the club would never return to its home Borough and the team would continue to struggle near the foot of the league, a group of fans set up a supporters' trust.

The trust hoped to become involved in the running of Enfield FC and to bring about the club's return to play in the Borough of Enfield.

For months, their attempts to help were re-buffed by chairman Tony Lazarou. In February 2001 a deal to transfer control of the club to the Trust was proposed, but Lazarou stalled on the deal for several months and by the beginning of June nothing had happened.

When the club sold Southbury Road, £750,000 from the sale had been placed into an escrow account, for the use of the club in building a new ground.

In 2001, chairman Lazarou asked Enfield Council to hand the money over to him even though he had not identified a site for a new ground; after Lazarou threatened legal action, the council handed over the money.

After this, a group of supporters formed their own club, Enfield Town FC based in Brimsdown, "to keep football alive in the borough of Enfield".

After these events, Enfield FC struggled in the Isthmian League Premier Division, and were relegated in 2003.

The 2003/04 season was even worse, finishing bottom of Isthmian League Division One North.

In 2004/05 Enfield FC had moved to Wodson Park, Ware and came second in the Isthmian League Second Division, winning promotion to the Southern League Division One East.

Lazarou owed Enfield Football Club a vast amount of money from the sale of the ground at Southbury Road. A Football Association hearing stated he should repay the club a sum believed to be in the region of £200,000.

During the close season at the end of the 2006/07 season, Enfield had no choice but to liquidate due to the debts owed to the inland revenue by former chairman Lazarou, forcing the club to resign from the Isthmian League Division One North.

Enfield Town approached Enfield FC proposing a merger, but the Enfield FC officials opted to remain a separate club, and formed a brand new club, Enfield 1893.

The E's now found themselves in the Essex Senior League.

They were runners-up in their first season and after finishing as runners-up again in 2008/09, they were league champions in 2010/11.

However, they were not promoted as their ground failed the grading criteria.

The club dropped the `1893` suffix from their name in 2019, reverting to the original club's name.

Since then, Enfield FC have been in and around the top ten and then, after the two abandoned seasons through Covid, finished fifth in 2022/23.

Amongst the E’s squad are Kieran Bishop, who has plenty of experience in the Southern and Isthmian League with the likes of FC Romania, Hullbridge Sports, Grays Athletic, Walthamstow, Coggeshall Town, Ware, Biggleswade Town, Redbridge, Broxbourne Borough, AFC Hornchurch, Harlow Town and Hemel Hempstead Town.

Former Bishop’s Stortford striker Louie Johnson tops the scoring charts with 19 goals, while ex-Walthamstow, Brentwood Town and Tilbury striker Dwade James has chipped in with 10.

Redbridge are another club who groundshare, playing at the Oakside Stadium, home of Thurlow Nunn League Division One South side Barkingside.

The club was established in 1959 as a result of a merger between Ford Sports (Dagenham) and Brigg Sports.

They were initially known as Ford United and started out like playing in leagues such as the Aeotolian, Greater London (champions in 1971) and Metropolitan.

In 1974 they joined the Essex Senior League where they were champions in 1992 and 1997 and after the latter title, they joined the Isthmian League.

Starting in Division Three, they were champions in 1999, then a third-place finish in Division Two behind Hemel Hempstead and Northwood was good enough for promotion to Division One.

They were champions in 2002 and would change their name in 2004 to appeal to the wider area and to represent their declining association with the Ford Motor Company, who pulled out funding in 1995.

Their new name saw them squeeze into the Conference South by a fine margin but they finished bottom in their first season.

The following season saw them finish bottom of the Isthmian Premier to suffer a double relegation.

The club would then spend ten seasons in the Isthmian Division One North with a best-ever finish of third in 2008.

They suffered another relegation in 2016, this time to the Essex Senior League where they remain to this day.

They finished fourth in 2017/18 and, after the two abandoned seasons, were third in 2022/23.

Former Hornchurch, Canvey Island, Grays Athletic, Great Wakering Rovers and Bowers & Pitsea striker is a well-known face in Essex football circles, as is Nigerian defender Nathan Okoye, who numbers Cardiff City, Welling United, Thurrock, Crawley Town, Romford and Basildon United amongst his previous clubs.

FC Clacton

Following the demise of Clacton Town, FC Clacton were formed in June 2007.

After a lot of hard work behind the scenes the Club was granted the FA Charter Standard Community Club Award in May 2012.

The club entered its first season playing in the Eastern Counties League First Division with former Fulham and Colchester United player John Reeves at the helm.

The 2008/09 season, with Reeve’s assistant David Coyle now in sole charge, saw the start of a successful period for the club as they progressed to the Fourth Round of the FA Vase (equalling the club record of Clacton Town) and a seventh-place finish in the league gave optimism for the future.

The following season saw promotion back to the Premier Division, finishing runners-up to Great Yarmouth Town and in the process, Clacton scored 117 league goals and won the First Division Knockout Cup, beating Halstead Town in the final at Hadleigh.

During the 2010 close season, Coyle stepped down due to work commitments and was replaced by former Wivenhoe Town manager Steve Pitt.

Pitt brought in his own players and there was a very different look to FC Clacton by the start of the season and his side finished 16th and Pitt left to take the reins at Stanway Rovers.

Former Colchester United youth team player Andy Taylor was appointed manager and another upheaval of players saw Clacton finish in 15th place in his first season.

Taylor left early in the 2012/13 season and was replaced by Ray Turner, whose team struggled, winning just four games and, unsurprisingly, finished bottom of the table, only avoiding relegation due to an FA reprieve.

Season 2013/14 saw the club thrust into the national TV spotlight when BT Sport adopted FC Clacton as their non-League team of the FA Cup competition following them through to the Second Qualifying Round.

Turner left the club in December 2013 and was replaced by Phil Yearling
but he in turn only lasted four matches before he was dismissed.

Glenn Eldridge was promoted from the under-18s to take over as caretaker manager and he steered the side to a 15th-place finish and was rewarded by getting the job full-time.

But in October 2014, Eldridge was sacked following a run of poor results and David Coyle was brought back to the club.

Sixteen points from the final seven games saw Clacton comfortably avoid relegation.

Coyle assembled arguably the strongest squad the club had seen for the
2015/16 season and the club secured its highest placed finish since they were formed, eventually achieving a top half finish.

Coyle resigned at the end of the season and was replaced by Tom Gooder. However, this proved to be a disastrous appointment and he was sacked after a run of eight consecutive defeats at the start of the 2016/17 season.

Kieron Shelley was then appointed manager and although Clacton finished in a relegation position, they were again reprieved following a re-structuring of the leagues.

In 2017/18, Tom Austin was appointed to replace Shelley and after securing safety when relegation seemed inevitable, he guided the team to a top six finish in 2018/19 – the best-ever as FC Clacton.

Former Brightlingsea Regent head coach Ryan Salter joined the club to work alongside Austin for the 2019/20 season and the club reached the Third Round of the FA Vase, and were on course to achieve another top half finish in the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division before the season was prematurely curtailed.

After a good start to the 2020/21 season, Austin and Salter moved on to take the reins at Brightlingsea Regent in October 2020 and the club moved quickly to appoint ex-Chelsea player Mark Nicholls as their new manager.

After the season was again curtailed in 2020/21, the club was moved laterally to the Essex Senior League in May.

Nicholls stepped down from his role in October following and David Collis was appointed as the new head coach, his time in charge ending after a 2-1 win at White Ensign the following month.

Tom Austin and Ryan Salter returned to the club for a second spell in charge in November 2021 and after a strong end to the season, the club finished in seventh position.

Former AFC Sudbury striker Mekhi McKenzie leads the Clacton scoring charts this season with 29 from 34 games, and he has been aided by former Stanway Rovers, AFC Sudbury and Brightlingsea Regent attacker Jake Clowsley and Teddy Collis.

Woodford Town

Although there was a Woodford Town playing in the Southern League in the 1970s and 1980s, that club folded in 2003.

The club was established in 1937, and were founder members of the Delphian League in 1951.

In 1961 they switched to the Metropolitan League, before joining Division One of the Greater London League in 1967.

They left the Greater London League at the end of the 1968–69 season and re-joined the Metropolitan League in 1970.

At the end of the 1970/71 season they joined Division One South of the Southern League but left after a single season in which they finished bottom of the table.

They joined the Essex Senior League in 1976, before switching to the Athenian League in 1979.

They re-joined the Southern Division of Southern League in 1982 and played in the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1986, losing 4–0 to Piacenza in the semi-final and then 3–2 to Merthyr Tydfil in the third place play-off.

Despite finishing third in 1986/87 and reaching the First Round of the FA Cup for the first time, they dropped back into the Essex Senior League at the end of the season.

In 1993 the club lost its Snakes Lane ground, and transferred to Division One of the Spartan League, which merged into the Spartan South Midlands League in 1997, with Woodford placed in the Premier Division South. However, they left the league in 1998 and dropped into the London Intermediate League, before returning to the Essex Senior League in 1999.

They remained in the league until being voted out in 2003 after finishing bottom of the league for three seasons in a row.

A re-formed club – formerly Bush Hill Rangers – began playing in 2015 at the Goldsdown Stadium in Brimsdown. This re-formed club only lasted one season finishing 11th in the league and winning the Presidents Cup in the process.

In 2017 they returned to the Essex Senior League but later reverted back to the original name - Woodford Town FC.

Luke Parrott, who has been with Woodford for a few seasons now, has 20 goals to his credit to date this season, with Jaedon Phillips, the former Harlow Town, Bromley, Sevenoaks Town, Canvey Island, Basildon United and Leyton Orient attacker, chipping in with 15.

Uhlsport Hellenic League

The race for promotion from the Hellenic League Premier Division is firmly down to two clubs, with Cribbs holding a two-point lead over second-placed Malvern Town, who possess a whopping 19-point advantage over the chasing pack.

Cribbs were founded back in London in 1958 as 'Sun Life Assurance'.

The Bristol team was established in 1976 when Sun Life first re-located to Bristol.

Initially they ran two teams in the Bristol & Avon League, playing at Dundridge Farm.

However, when the Cribbs Causeway Sports Ground (now The Lawns Sports Ground) was opened in 1978, the first team were promoted straight to the Avon Premier Combination League where they stayed for 20 years until they eventually won promotion to the Gloucestershire County League by winning the Bristol Premier Combination League in 2000.

The club adopted the name of AXA Sun Life FC at the end of the 1990s following the merger of the AXA Equity & Law and Sun Life Assurance Society, and became AXA FC in 2002.

At the end of the 2010/11 season, following the acquisition and merger of AXA Sun Life & Friends Provident, Cribbs Friends Life was born.

As the insurance company and the club parted ways, the club officially became Cribbs Football Club.

At the end of the 2020/21 season the club were transferred to the Premier Division of the Hellenic League and under the stewardship of Richard Luffman in his first season in charge recorded a best ever placed finish of fourth in the Hellenic League, they also were winners of the League Cup defeating Hereford Pegasus 1-0.

Cribbs` goals have been shared around the squad this season.

Local product David Duro leads the way with 13 goals, while Aysa Corrick, who has plenty of Southern League experience to his name through spells with Mangotsfield United, Yate Town, Evesham United and Larkhall Athletic, has 12.

One behind Corrick is skipper Jacob Hodgson.

Malvern Town was established in 1946 as Barnard’s Green Football Club.

They joined the Worcester League, where they played until moving up to the Worcestershire Combination in 1955, going on to win the league at the first attempt.

The club also won the Worcestershire Junior Cup and retained the trophy for the next two seasons, before winning it again in 1961/62.

In 1967 the Worcestershire Combination was re-named the Midland Combination.

The club won the inaugural Worcestershire Senior Urn in 1973/74, before retaining it for the next two seasons; they also finished as runners-up in the Midland Combination in 1973/74.

In 1979 Malvern transferred to the Premier Division of the West Midlands (Regional) League and although they finished bottom of the division in 1982/83, the club avoided being relegated. However, they were relegated to Division One at the end of the 1991/92 season.

Despite only finishing ninth in Division One in 1993/94, the club were promoted back to the Premier Division.

In 2003/04 they won the Premier Division title, earning promotion to the Midland Alliance.

A third-place finish in the Alliance in 2005/06 saw the club promoted to Division One Midlands of the Southern League.

The club finished bottom of the table in 2008/09 and were relegated back to the Midland Alliance.

Two seasons later they finished bottom of the Midland Alliance and were relegated to the Premier Division of the West Midlands (Regional) League.

Malvern lifted the Worcestershire Senior Urn for a ninth time in 2018/19 and have finished in the top five in each of the last five seasons.

The summer of 2019 saw the club’s association with the West Midlands (Regional) League come to an end as they were moved across to the Hellenic League Division One West.

It was during the first half of the 2019/20 season that `Project 2020` finally came to fruition with significant developments made to the club's facilities and infrastructure, including a new state-of-the-art 3G playing surface and new dressing rooms.

An FA Vase tie against Loughborough University in November 2019 signalled the first game at the re-vamped stadium and with home crowds regularly topping the 200-mark, the team marched to the top of the table until the campaign was declared null-and-void in March 2020 amidst the Covid-19 outbreak.

The 2020/21 season also saw Malvern sitting deservedly at the top of the table when the season was curtailed due to Covid-19. However, in May 2021, it was confirmed that they would be promoted into the Premier Division and they finished in third place.

Despite the fact that Malvern have already scored over 100 league goals this season, like Cribbs, they have been shared around the squad.

Four players have double figures, with former Worcester City and Bishops Cleeve striker Joe Bates leading the way on 19 goals.

David Reynolds, whose former clubs include Redditch United, Evesham United and Worcester, has 16, and ex-Evesham, Bishops Cleeve and Westfields striker Ben Hayes has 15.

Long-serving Matt Turner has 14, having notched 45 in 2020/21 before the season was declared null and void!