Non League National League: A Shifting View Part 2: Protecting the Brand of the Football League

By Chris Harris The second part turns the spotlight on the top end of the pyramid. Here the focus is on the EFL, why the Football League has resisted branding a formal Division Five, how its clubs protect their own status, and why the National League has become a fifth division in everything but name. … Continue reading Non League National League: A Shifting View Part 2: Protecting the Brand of the Football League

Non League National League: A Shifting View. Part 1: From Non League Independence to the Unofficial League Division 5.

by Chris Harris This first part looks back at how the old GM Vauxhall Conference saw itself long before anyone talked about “Division Five.” It traces the mindset, the culture and the independence that defined non-league football through the 1980s and 1990s — and how automatic promotion gradually reshaped ambitions, identities and expectations. It’s the … Continue reading Non League National League: A Shifting View. Part 1: From Non League Independence to the Unofficial League Division 5.