The road from the Football League...and back again

This debate continues to intrigue me and I think it’s worth a thread of its own.

Of course it's results on the pitch - plus any points which may have been deducted for irregularities - which determines who gets relegated to the Conference or any other league. Relegation, as we’ve always known, can result from a whole range of reasons from lack of finances to ill-luck, bad judgement, crap players, dreadful managers, incompetence (or even criminality) behind the scenes and a whole lot more. It's also in the nature of the game that a club can struggle for years and not go down - whilst another club can have one bad season and get the chop. C'est la vie.

There's also the small matter that - even if every club was superbly-run, well-supported, excellently-managed and full of brilliant players (they’re not of course) - two teams would still be relegated. Funny that, isn't it?

Two teams getting relegated has probably changed the dynamics more than we suspect. There’s now more likelihood of a relatively unwitting club going down. It may also bring larger clubs into the equation. It's not an exact argument but, in the days of just one relegated team, Gillingham, Brighton & Hove Albion (twice) and Bristol Rovers each occupied that 23rd spot. Preston North End were there shortly before the start of automatic relegation, Hull City nearly occupied that position and Northampton actually finished bottom in 1994 only to be saved by Kiddderminster’s ground not coming up to scratch. Think back to 1987 and Burnley and Tranmere were down there with us.

I wouldn’t say any team might, one day, be in the Conference but – if you’re looking for candidates for membership in 2010 – start searching, as you always should, in the lower reaches of the current Lge 1 and work downwards. Hereford? Cheltenham? Brighton? You can’t discount them. But that’s normal, isn’t it? Teams go up....and they go down. There’s still a significant status – and emotional – fault line between Lge 2 and the Conference but it’s a line that is having to be crossed by more teams more often. This opens up another world in the process. Brighton and Hove Albion could be in the Conference in 2010 but so could Nantwich, Staines or Corby. That’s just the way it works.

I still contend some clubs are more likely to eventually play in this league than others. Of clubs which haven’t been relegated, Rochdale is the one I think of first. They score badly on two potential measures: support and long-term membership of the 4th tier (they’ve been there since 1974). In that time Rochdale have often struggled – sometimes skirting with relegation (but not as often as you may think) - and are now doing well. What’s their secret? Are they a well-run club, making the most of what they’ve got, acting as a model for others? In other words the type of club Torquay was sometimes perceived to be under Mike Bateson. Or has it been a mundane and fortunate battle for survival? Rochdale may remain as members of the FL for ever-and-a-day but, surely, their arrival in the Conference wouldn’t cause too much surprise or excitement.

You can play at these things but quite a few clubs on any old timer's mental list for relegation - Exeter, Doncaster, Halifax, Darlington, Lincoln, Mansfield, Chester, Colchester, Shrewsbury, Newport, Aldershot (by default), Hereford, York - actually came up with the goods. Others - and it's an old list - might have included Scunthorpe, Stockport, Hartlepool, Crewe, Bury and a few others.

Some (not all) of this second group - together with several Conference risers and returners - might be seen as possible models for us. They’ve all been higher (several as far as the 2nd tier) and superficially don’t appear to be much bigger than Torquay United. That gives us an aim but it's also part of the frustration because, unfortunately, the gap between this type of club and ourselves started to widen once the game recovered from its low ebb in the 1980s. This continued until our relegation in 2007 and can be seen in terms of facilities, community involvement, commercial activities, etc.

This is why I believe people are right in highlighting how we stood still for so long. If I’m interpreting their views correctly, it’s not a case of advocating – or wanting – us to stay in this league for a particular period of time. It’s more to do with context, keeping the faith and highlighting that – to use the current jargon – the direction of travel is the right one.

Having said that, in all those years of struggle I always maintained I’d be relaxed about being in the Conference for three years. I'd try to enjoy it but, after that, I’d begin to get worried. I admit this was based on believing we’d start life in this league in an absolutely bloody awful state and that a three-year return might be rather optimistic. This, of course, hasn’t quite been the case. The influx of expertise and reasonable financial backing has, on occasions, turned my head and led to the odd outburst of impatience. But I still think returning to the FL within three years would be a tremendous achievement. It might take longer but – Burton aside – we remain with as good a chance as anybody this year. Let's grab it if it's there.

Which, whenever promotion comes, begs the question of what becomes of those who get back? At the moment such clubs occupy a scale ranging from Doncaster Rovers to Halifax Town. I wouldn’t expect us to inhabit either end of that spectrum. I'd certainly worry about a second relegation to the Conference - Barnet and Chester appear to be on that slippery slope at present - and I hope we can do better than that. I guess it’s the Lincoln, Darlington and Colchester experience – a short spell in the Conference followed by the speedy resumption of solid FL membership – is what we’d regard as the most realistically obtainable and desirable.

Plus a little bit more if I was being greedy. That day at Layer Road was awful...but wouldn't a taste of what happened to Colchester afterwards be great?