A farewell to the National League – Journeys that I’ll miss and some that I won’t…

By Steve Hill
Relegation affects different people in different ways. Tears, anger, despondency; these are all natural reactions when your club drops down a league.
However, after five seasons of treading water, when Chester FC finally slipped out of the National League following a routine 2-0 home defeat to Tranmere, the mood at The Deva was one of almost total indifference, so long had the inevitability been hanging over us.
Some months later, the reality has sunk in that next season will be a very different tour, the drop from national to regional football, being the cruellest of all for those of us who live in the suth but support a team in the north.
One of the great benefits, for me at least, of the reformed Chester FC regaining their place at Non-League's top table was the number of games practically on my doorstep.
While storming the North on the way up was an enjoyable novelty, heading back to it as a relegated club represents a grim reality, and I now face the daunting prospect of discovering where and indeed what Spennymoor is. Suffice to say that unless somebody offers me an enormous amount of money to write another book, I won't be doing The Card again.
But I'm looking forward to the fixtures coming out and the prospect of new experiences in distant lands. And I'm coping really well. I'll just leave this here…
Chester demoted
My life is a mess
Here's to next season
Of this I'll see less…
Goodbye to Aldershot
A military town
I won't be there
Coz we're going down
Welcome back Barnet
The Bees at The Hive
A shame we went down
It's a ten-minute drive
Farewell to Barrow
The back of beyond
Their fans send in letters
Calling me pond
Bye Boreham Wood
Home of Eastenders
Also a Wimpy
And money lenders
A return for Braintree
Known as The Iron
If I said that I'll miss it
I would be lying
Adios Bromley
Where they serve San Miguel
The Wetherspoons is huge
A vision of hell
Harsh times for Chesterfield
Their spire is bent
Sad I won't see it
To the North we've been sent
Dagenham & Redbridge
A long way to go
Deep into Essex
On a tube that is slow
Dover Athletic
The garden of Kent
On High Speed 1
Much money was spent
Good riddance Eastleigh
A mess of a ground
A waterlogged pitch
Was all that we found
No trip to Ebbsfleet
Always a treat
A quick train from Stratford
And then a defeat
I won't be at Fylde
Who play on the coast
I'll be at home
Buttering my toast
A long way to Gateshead
Next to The Toon
We flew there one season
But now we've gone doon
Halifax Town
Still at The Shay
No more days out
At the home of speedway
Welcome to Harrogate
Railway or Town?
None of my business
We're going down
Hartlepool United
Victoria Park
I'll be at home
Sat in the dark
Hello to Havant
Waterlooville too
Where that is
I haven't a clue
Leyton Orient
A decent ground
But so it should be
For 20 pound
Maidenhead United
I hardly knew thee
We scored nil
And you bagged three
Maidstone United
A plastic pitch
For Chester's finest
Travel's a bitch
Promotion for Salford
Thanks for your bosses
We might even pay them
If we cover our losses
No trip to Solihull
Also called Moors
Previously Borough
One for the bores
No Thameslink to Sutton
Where you can't get a pie
Their plastic pitch
Just made me cry
No derby with Wrexham
The end of the bubble
Welcoming fans
And no hint of trouble
The Card: Every Match, Every Mile by Steve Hill is available to buy now
http://www.ockleybooks.co.uk/shop/the-card
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Card-Steve-Hill/dp/1910906131/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529495593&sr=8-1&keywords=the+card+steve+hill
 
*This article originally featured in The @NonLeaguePaper which is available every Sunday and Monday
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