Northern Exposure

With Oxford’s triumph over York at Wembley all the promotion and relegation issues have been settled in the BSP. I caught the last 10 minutes of the Play-Off match and it was nice to finally see Alfie Potter do something decent, and amusing to hear the commentator excitedly ejaculate on at least two occasions, "THAT’S GASH!”

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Next season the BSP will be showing a bit of a Northern bias. Yes, it’s going to be all flat caps, whippets and any other Northern stereotypes we can think of. We’ve lost Stevenage, Oxford, Ebbsfleet, Grays and Forest Green, whilst gaining Darlington, Fleetwood, Southport, and Grimsby. Even the BS South teams in Bath and Newport County feel a long way away, necessitating a trip up the M6.

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But it’s not all bad!

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I’m pretty sure that Darlington’s ground will be the biggest ground we have ever visited for a league fixture (even if it is likely to be 90% empty).

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Although Fleetwood is an absolute dive (think Corby on the coast) it is a short tram ride from the dubious pleasures of Blackpool.

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We always win at Southport, so it will be good to see them again.

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And Grimsby will be useful if we suddenly find ourselves requiring a large consignment of cod.

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Of the more southerly teams to come up, a visit to beautiful Bath is always good for the soul and a visit to Newport is always good to remind you that your own home town is not as bad as it could be!

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A final note for the attention of the BSP fixture board, who I expect are long-time PATGOD readers. It would be enormously handy if you could arrange for our trips to Barrow, Fleetwood and Southport to take place over a week, with two Saturday fixtures and Tuesday night one in the middle. Furthermore, if you could start this run of fixtures on the first week of September, it would be greatly appreciated. And, I may as well go the whole hog, if you could let me have the contact details of anyone renting out a reasonably priced lakeside cottage for that week, that would be superb.