The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

Taken from the UCL Facebook Page: "AFC Rushden & Diamonds have applied to the FA for promotion to step 4 at the end of the season."

Is this true? Cool if it is, will we have a good case?

Oh god no, not the f word again :roll:

The UCL newsletter for December says us and Spading have applied, usually I think about 4 clubs do. Maybe the others think Spalding have already won it and don't want to spend money and time applying. However if we could beat them twice....

If true, would that be Evo-Stik level? The same level as St Neots were in when they gained promotion two years ago?

diamondgeezer1 wrote:If true, would that be Evo-Stik level? The same level as St Neots were in when they gained promotion two years ago?

Indeed. K*ttering are at that level, as are Northwood who actually sit in a play-off place currently despite looking toothless against us.

It's called the Calor Gas Division One Central nowadays but that'll probably change if/when we get there. We'll be travelling down the M1 every other week like we were doing earlier this season, as the vast majority of the teams are NW London/Hertfordshire based.

You never know, we might even end up in the Evo-Stik (Northern League) Division One South, as of the current teams in Southern League Div One Central only two are more northerly than us (Rugby & K*ttering).

Why wouldn't it be true? I'd be astonished if we hadn't applied. The difficult bit will be getting ahead of Spalding. There is virtually no chance of 2 UCL clubs being promoted, it would require several clubs from above to go bust.

I'm certain that the UCL wouldn't have stated in their newsletter that us and Spalding had applied if that wasn't 100% accurate.
I did read that applications must be submitted by the 31st December and that the fee was £120 which is not a princely sum in the grand scheme of things so I guess that further work will need to be done at the Dog & Duck after Christmas to ensure that we get the necessary ground grading before the deadline of 31st March 2014. The major work, I guess is enhancing the pitch side barrier with either boards or mesh that was a priority for K*ttering when occupying Latimer Park.

The deadline for applications was 30 November. A full list of the 73 clubs which applied for Step 4 promotion appears in today's NLP. The only two UCL clubs that have applied are Spalding United and AFC Rushden & Diamonds.

I too would have been surprised had we not applied.
Although at this stage it seems likely that Spalding will win the League strange things can happen.
Even if they do win it they would still need to satisfy all the criteria, and as they don't seem to be properly on top of their player registration situation you never know what else might go wrong. If, for example, their financial backer were to walk away for whatever reason they may deem it sensible not to go up.
5 months is a long time for things to change.

rushdenman wrote:I too would have been surprised had we not applied.
Although at this stage it seems likely that Spalding will win the League strange things can happen.
Even if they do win it they would still need to satisfy all the criteria, and as they don't seem to be properly on top of their player registration situation you never know what else might go wrong. If, for example, their financial backer were to walk away for whatever reason they may deem it sensible not to go up.
5 months is a long time for things to change.

As we saw with Wisbech, who could have gone up to step 4 at the end of last season, there are quite a few issues that need to be considered - especially for a team out in the Fens (and Spalding's average gate is below Wisbech, and they rely on bigger gates when the likes of Deeping, Holbeach or Sleaford visit). There will be the travel costs, and the question of whether their players can commit to playing midweek games in some of the locations that will take up to 2 hours to reach - especially if they are put in the Northern Premier League D1 South. As we've also seen with the Northern League, some club boards do the sums and realise the costs are prohibitive. If you look at the preview for this week's game you'll get an idea of how the Tulips have hopped around various leagues, whilst at the same time battling financial issues.

When they dropped back to the UCL from the NPL 1S, they were well adrift at the bottom of the league, and had averaged 76 fans at Step 4 - I guess they don't attract too many travelling fans due to their remote location - http://www.evostikleague.co.uk/archive-402/

King's Lynn could make the step up as they had the sort of gates we get - but I wonder if Spalding will be ready - and indeed whether they'd prefer another crack at getting to Wembley in the Vase next season.