Barrow joining the APL in 79/80 - a query

[mossleysmiffy]

It's been a while ...

Just wondering if anyone could fill in a few gaps for me.

When the Alliance Premier League was being formed in 1979/80 Barrow were one of the seven northern clubs invited to join. The other six clubs had all been very successful during their time in the Northern Premier League - whereas Barrow had only twice finished outside the bottom three in their seven year tenure. I know there were a few clubs that were less than happy about being overlooked !!

Does anyone know exactly how - or why - Barrow managed to leapfrog some of the other clubs ?? Was it anything to do with Southport's refusal to take up a place (i.e. Barrow got in as a "late replacement") - was it pure luck - or what ??

If anyone could help me with any concrete information I'd be very grateful.

Smiffy

[Lancaster Branch]

The esteemed PJ Daly will know for sure but I remember being told it was because others, like Morcomb, turned the opportunity down because they thought the travelling would be too expensive.

[glasgow_blue]

The top 7 were invited but some clubs turned it down so they just kept going further down the league until they got the numbers. Think we finished 15th/16th but as teams had refused, we got promotion.
Plus, the grounds had to reach a certain stranded, so some were refused.
Mossley won the league that year iirc and they refused.

[glasgow_blue]

I've just looked it up, the promoted teams were.
Altrincham - 2nd
Scarborough - 4th
Boston - 6th
Stafford - 8th
Northwich - 10th
Bangor - 12th
Barrow 16th
So a mix of clubs refusing or being refused due to ground grading.
Or maybe the powers that be just liked even numbers.

[pjdaly]

As mentioned above, I believe some clubs were wary (for cost-reasons) of going into a league that embraced the length and breadth of the country. I don't know the identities of the clubs who wanted to join only to be rejected due to ground-grading. What I do know is that a lot of the talk of the footballing sages of the day had been predicting exactly the opposite of what happened with the formation of the National (then Alliance Premier) League in 1979 . . . and that is that the Full-Time Third and Fourth flights of the Football League would become part-time in order for clubs to remain financially sustainable and manageable.

[glasgow_blue]

The op needs to contact the clubs who either knocked it back or were refused entry to get the full details, at the time I just thankful we got in.
Off Topic but a fantastic heartfelt post by Kevin Proctor on Facebook, 27 years to the day after we won our 1st trophy, it shows those guys really cared about Barrow AFC and Barrow in general

[mossleysmiffy]

... am on the case anyway - just wondered if I could find a "short cut" ...

[BillyBlue]

IIRC it was based on the last 2 seasons positions and of the interested clubs it was between Barrow & Southport. Southport pulled out leaving us on our own to go up. Pretty sure that Bill McCullough said that we couldn't afford to go up but couldn't afford not to.

[frankums]

IIRC it was based on the last 2 seasons positions and of the interested clubs it was between Barrow & Southport. Southport pulled out leaving us on our own to go up. Pretty sure that Bill McCullough said that we couldn't afford to go up but couldn't afford not to.

Spot on.

[Esso Blue]

IIRC it was based on the last 2 seasons positions and of the interested clubs it was between Barrow & Southport. Southport pulled out leaving us on our own to go up. Pretty sure that Bill McCullough said that we couldn't afford to go up but couldn't afford not to.

Spot on.

This matches my recollection also. It was based on performance over more than just the one season. I think Southport would have been ahead of us but they declined the offer and left us to take the place.
We then realised that we were in a fully national league with Yeovil Town being our first oppoenents at home in the APL.

[DIXIE]

Spot on.

This matches my recollection also. It was based on performance over more than just the one season. I think Southport would have been ahead of us but they declined the offer and left us to take the place.
We then realised that we were in a fully national league with Yeovil Town being our first oppoenents at home in the APL.

And if memory serves me right we beat them 2-0.

[The Tomahawk Kid]

...Does anyone know exactly how - or why - Barrow managed to leapfrog some of the other clubs ?? Was it anything to do with Southport's refusal to take up a place (i.e. Barrow got in as a "late replacement") - was it pure luck - or what ??

Weren't Southport thinking of merging with Ellesmere Port or Burscough (can't remember which club) at the time?
Think it had something to do with that.

[Steelworks End]

Weren't Southport thinking of merging with Ellesmere Port or Burscough (can't remember which club) at the time?

Hmmm. Not heard that before. It could well be true though.

[Suffolk Blue]

I remember the Yeovil game. Twas a warm sunny day and I think the gate was pretty good at the time - over 2000. I'm desperately trying to remember who scored. Seem to recall that at least one was from a set piece - for some reason Mick Richmond comes to mind but I'm not sure. I remember it being a reasonably comfortable win and coming away thinking that based on that result we'd do just fine in this league. However I was at least 10 years out on that one. Am also trying to remember who was our Manager at the time. Was it Micky Taylor?

[glasgow_blue]

Brian Mcmanus was manager at the start of the season, Mickey Taylor took over before Christmas