LEAGUE TWO TAKES SHAPE
Posted on: Sat 09 May 2009
As the Football League season approaches another conclusion, Bees fans will be anxiously counting down the days until the next ounce of football can be found. When the League Two playoffs conclude on May 23, we will know every one of our opponents for the 2009/2010 campaign.
Just under four weeks later is when the fun really begins. Fixtures release day falls on June 17 this year and is an eagerly anticipated day in every true football fans' calendar. Who do we play first? When do we play this team? When do we play that team? Questions are answered in a frantic website rush at 10am as supporters scramble for their diaries, and plead with sympathetic bosses for that Tuesday off to go to Shrewsbury.
With twenty teams confirmed so far, the picture is nearly complete. It looks like us Bees fans will be travelling a little further this year, promotion and playoff teams pending of course. As far as local 'derbies' go, we've lost Wycombe and Brentford to League One and Luton to the Conference, with only Northampton being offered in return as a relatively local game. Cambridge could potentially join the sparse local list if they overcome Torquay in the Conference Promotion Final, having beaten Stevenage Borough to make it to Wembley.
Some familiar names join us from League One. Northampton, as already mentioned, dropped on the last day after defeat at Leeds, as well as Hereford and Cheltenham who had been relegated long before the final day. Barnet have played them all since our return to the Football League. The fourth team to be relegated was Crewe Alexandra, who we haven't met since 1993.
Burton Albion lifted the Conference trophy the hard way having amassed a huge lead by the turn of the year. A massive stutter meant the title race came down to the last day, and even with a defeat, they just managed to make it into the Football League for the first time in their history. The Bees beat Burton as part of the historic FA Cup run of 2007/2008.
After June 17, when the whole day has been dedicated to looking over the fixtures repeatedly, it's less than four weeks until the Pre-Season Friendlies kick off. I can picture the trip to Dover already. It's always the same familiar faces at the first pre-season game, sharing a drink in the sun and discussing just how empty the summer has been without football.
With Andy Hessenthaler in charge, Dover are pulling themselves back up the Non-League pyramid, with a record-breaking season leading to promotion to the Conference South. Nine weeks and counting...
When written in front of you in black and white, nine weeks doesn't look too bad, not long at all in fact. However, only a football fan knows just how long and agonising that wait is. We have to find other things to do on a Saturday. After a fair few years of watching football regularly, I am still at a loss as to what that could be, especially with no World Cup or Euros this year. Many Bees fans will have been attending for many years longer than I have, I wonder if they have found an alternative? Suggestions on a postcard!
The BFCSA End Of Season Awards always feels like a conclusion. The Durham Suite is full of familiar faces and at the end of the night, we all say goodbye to Underhill for a couple of months. Who knows, maybe this time next year we'll be having another awards night like the somewhat memorable evening in 2005, or perhaps it will have to be delayed due to playoff involvement. Let's hope so.
The season only finished a week ago and already I can't wait for the next one. Time should fly.
James Harrison
Just under four weeks later is when the fun really begins. Fixtures release day falls on June 17 this year and is an eagerly anticipated day in every true football fans' calendar. Who do we play first? When do we play this team? When do we play that team? Questions are answered in a frantic website rush at 10am as supporters scramble for their diaries, and plead with sympathetic bosses for that Tuesday off to go to Shrewsbury.
With twenty teams confirmed so far, the picture is nearly complete. It looks like us Bees fans will be travelling a little further this year, promotion and playoff teams pending of course. As far as local 'derbies' go, we've lost Wycombe and Brentford to League One and Luton to the Conference, with only Northampton being offered in return as a relatively local game. Cambridge could potentially join the sparse local list if they overcome Torquay in the Conference Promotion Final, having beaten Stevenage Borough to make it to Wembley.
Some familiar names join us from League One. Northampton, as already mentioned, dropped on the last day after defeat at Leeds, as well as Hereford and Cheltenham who had been relegated long before the final day. Barnet have played them all since our return to the Football League. The fourth team to be relegated was Crewe Alexandra, who we haven't met since 1993.
Burton Albion lifted the Conference trophy the hard way having amassed a huge lead by the turn of the year. A massive stutter meant the title race came down to the last day, and even with a defeat, they just managed to make it into the Football League for the first time in their history. The Bees beat Burton as part of the historic FA Cup run of 2007/2008.
After June 17, when the whole day has been dedicated to looking over the fixtures repeatedly, it's less than four weeks until the Pre-Season Friendlies kick off. I can picture the trip to Dover already. It's always the same familiar faces at the first pre-season game, sharing a drink in the sun and discussing just how empty the summer has been without football.
With Andy Hessenthaler in charge, Dover are pulling themselves back up the Non-League pyramid, with a record-breaking season leading to promotion to the Conference South. Nine weeks and counting...
When written in front of you in black and white, nine weeks doesn't look too bad, not long at all in fact. However, only a football fan knows just how long and agonising that wait is. We have to find other things to do on a Saturday. After a fair few years of watching football regularly, I am still at a loss as to what that could be, especially with no World Cup or Euros this year. Many Bees fans will have been attending for many years longer than I have, I wonder if they have found an alternative? Suggestions on a postcard!
The BFCSA End Of Season Awards always feels like a conclusion. The Durham Suite is full of familiar faces and at the end of the night, we all say goodbye to Underhill for a couple of months. Who knows, maybe this time next year we'll be having another awards night like the somewhat memorable evening in 2005, or perhaps it will have to be delayed due to playoff involvement. Let's hope so.
The season only finished a week ago and already I can't wait for the next one. Time should fly.
James Harrison
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