Columnists

JOSH GOWLING: Darlo was meant to be!

This week my phone has been going crazy again with calls and messages after I was announced as Darlington’s new manager. I’m really proud. Everyone has made me feel so welcome already.

STEVE HILL: Footy fest is pure TV gold!

“Without going out of your door, you can know all things on earth.”

George Harrison may have had more transcendental matters in mind, but in many ways the meditative moptop could have been singing about the advent of National League TV.

A route one glory trail

Tony INCENZO Talking Points THEIR name may suggest they adapt a more outdated approach, but manager Sohail Abbas Rehman knows […]

STEVE HILL: Great to be back on the road

Hello, it’s good to be back. I don’t mean me – although it has been a while – but the football season and hence the welcome resumption of normal service. Despite decades of practice, football’s close season is a tricky beast to negotiate.

DIARY OF A GROUND HOPPER: Real Bedford 4-1 FC Clacton

Peter McCormack’s bold announcement about plans to take Real Bedford into the Premier League was dismissed with the same “Oh no, here we go again” reaction that all other big money men receive when taking over a club and making similar bold claims.

Trust HUST for smiles all round

Football fans can so often be relied on to do good things and it’s no different when it comes to the Hereford United Supporters’ Trust and their new Community Social Inclusion project in partnership with Hereford FC.

MATT BADCOCK: It began with a brain storm

Luton Town playing their first ever game in the Premier League brought to mind that great John Still quote having watched them lose 2-0 to Braintree Town just hours after he’d left Dagenham & Redbridge to take over as Hatters boss.

MARK HARRIS: This year’s five big issues

What do we all do in the close season? Some eagerly await new signings, complain when the fixtures aren’t out at the same time as the Premier League (“Workington away on a Tuesday, AGAIN!”) and daydream about winning the League by Christmas.

FA CUP FACTFILE: Lydd are opening up a new legacy

272 clubs are involved in the FA Cup preliminary round as the remaining Step 4 teams join those from Steps 4 to 6 which made it through the extra preliminary round, including FA Cup debutants Okehampton Argyle, the only Step 6 club to definitely be involved in this round so far.