History: Barrow in the early Alliance Premier League

[Rob]

One for the older fans - how did Barrow manage to get ourselves into the Alliance Premier in 1979? How did we suddenly do OK in it after being pretty awful beforehand? Were we on a path to improving or would we have folded if we hadn't been promoted?

We had been pretty desperately bad through the 70s in the Northern Premier and had not had a top-half finish after demotion from the Football League. My understanding is that the club struggled financially to re-set itself as a non-league team, and that it was touch-and-go during that time as to whether we would survive. We finished 16th in the 78-79 season, and were the lowest-ranked team to be accepted into the Alliance. What's strange is we then did pretty well after 'promotion', had a couple of top-half finishes in 1981 and 82 and despite being relegated in 83 we then stormed the Northern Prem in 84 and went straight back up.

I can see how when the Alliance formed we were a relatively big name in non-league having had recent history in the Football League, but Southport had only been demoted in 1978, finished 5th in the Northern Premier in 1979, and didn't get into the Alliance.

Was it just the case that we applied and other clubs didn't? Was something happening behind the scenes in 78 and 79 that led to the Alliance seeing us as an improving team, which then led to us being competitive when the new league was formed? Or was it luck - we got into the new league through connections, were able to attract better players, and that allowed the club to finally stabilise as a non-league side? Would we have survived in the Northern Prem or were the club doomed at that point?

[xerxes]

I believe Southport were to take part, but for some reason changed their minds, and we were next in line as the other clubs either did not want to take part or possibly did not have good enough grounds - though I don't know whether there were any ground criteria that had to be satisfied at that time.

Mick Taylor came in as manager and got a good team together - I don't know whether this was just down to luck, or whether money came from somewhere.

[McMark]

Probably a case of not what you know but who you know at the time. Yes we were probably known as big fish still in the non league pond. And local businessman Bill McCulough and board backing the club financially they ended up with a squad of considerable note a mix of local talent and journeyman footballers.
Previous discussions thread attached.

https://www.barrowafc.net/viewtopic.php?t=24907

https://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/hi ... seas-46289

https://footballs-black-pioneers.com/ba ... c-1979-80/

[Hadrian]

I believe Southport were to take part, but for some reason changed their minds, and we were next in line

That would be my recollection, too. We had not set the NPL on fire in our seven seasons after leaving the FL, finishing in the bottom four on five occasions, never in the top half and averaging 20th place. In our last season of that spell in the NPL (we were to return...) Barrow finished 14th and, for the reasons Xerxes states, we scraped in to begin a four-season run in the Alliance Premier League, the new top level national non-league competition, one of the seven NPL clubs to do so.

In 1982-3, we finished 22nd and were relegated back to the NPL, finishing as champions the following season to return to the APL, by then known as the Gola League, and establishing a pattern of yoyoing between the top two levels of non-league football which thankfully came to an end with a final promotion to what had become the National League in 2015.

[Suffolk Blue]

I believe Southport were to take part, but for some reason changed their minds, and we were next in line

Also my recollection. We had not set the NPL on fire in our seven seasons after leaving the FL, finishing in the bottom four on five occasions, never in the top half and averaging 20th place. In our last season of that spell in the NPL (we were to return...) Barrow finished 14th and, for the reasons Xerxes states, we scraped in to begin a four-season run in the Alliance Premier League, the new top level national non-league competition, one of the seven NPL clubs to do so.

In 1982-3, we finished 22nd and were relegated back to the NPL, finishing as champions the following season to return to the APL, by then known as the Gola League, and establishing a pattern of yoyoing between the top two levels of non-league football which thankfully came to an end with a final promotion to what had become the National League in 2015.

This is exactly my recollection too. I'm not sure it was much to do with "who you know". It seemed to me like one of those rare occasions where a set of genuinely random factors came together to create the opportunity. Some of these were pure luck, others pushed us up the pecking order when compared with other teams that were far better than us at that time.

I seem to recall that when they were constituting the League the powers that be rightly or wrongly were very fixated on ground capacity. The thought process I think was that the league needed to be a fit for ultimate entry to the EFL and therefore those clubs that had obvious capacity were favoured over those who didn't despite having much better squads. Mossley were the prime example of this. A great team but terrible facilities.

I've found the NPL table for the Qualifying season (below). You can clearly see from the teams that didn't qualify/accept an invitation why that might be. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978%E2%8 ... ier_League

If true this must be the last time our mausoleum of a ground actual acted as a positive factor in our development.

[mickmike wilson]

I was a school boy then & had been going for a few seasons & if my memory isn’t playing tricks we missed out initially but for what ever reason Southport gave back word & suddenly we were in, I assume we were the next in line Northern club so it was a like for like swap.

Note to self Read the thread replies before commenting

[pjdaly]

How come we got into the inaugural "National League" (Alliance Premier)? As has been said, there was Southport's situation but, on our side of the story, I would say two words - - - Brian McManus! In the first five seasons in the NPL from 1972 we finished 23rd, 22nd, 22nd, 23rd, and 21st.

Then, miracles, in 1977-78 we finished 13th and in 1978-79, 16th, just prior to the national division starting.

So I'm not saying Brian McManus pulled up giant oak trees but, relative to our positions the preceding five seasons, he did make a huge improvement. I have always felt a debt of gratitude to Brian for engineering that improvement. Had we continued to finish in 20-something position would we still have received the invite into the new league for 1979-80? Who knows? But Brian did well in what had been a catastrophic football club between 1972 and 1977 (though I have also written on this Forum previously that Peter Kane and the largely local class of 1973-74 deserved medals for keeping us just clear of relegation, and maybe keeping the club alive, as the NPL hated us and our pitch/ground and we would very possibly not have been re-elected in 73-74 if we had had to go cap in hand).

Finally, just as an irrelevant aside, there's something in Memory Research called "primacy-recency" which suggests human-beings remember the first and last entries in a sequence better than the events in the middle. Well, I only mention that because that very first match in the new Alliance Premier League, a 2-0 home win over Yeovil, shines vividly in my mind, almost as though it was yesterday. And the first goal, a diving header from Cowps, feels like only a few moments ago. Other things that came later I've either forgotten or they seem much longer ago than that Yeovil game back in August 1979. Perhaps in the same way, some will always vividly remember our very first match back in the EFL in 2020? Now what was it? I remember very clearly the Yeovil one back in 1979 but the first EFL one a couple of years ago??? I guess the primacy-recency effect doesn't work as powerfully when one reaches a great age . . . . . . .

[FanzoneFan]

I seem to recall that Mossley who were a very strong Manchester based side at the time also didn’t want to join. I think they had a player called Leo SKETTE ? who used to bang in the goals for them. Southport we’re also above us in the pecking order but they didn’t want to take up their place which was strange considering they hadn’t been out of the Football League that long. We basically got in the Alliance by default so our achievements in staying in we’re even greater.

[FanzoneFan]

I seem to recall that Mossley who were a very strong Manchester based side at the time also didn’t want to join. I think they had a player called Leo SKETTE ? who used to bang in the goals for them. Southport we’re also above us in the pecking order but they didn’t want to take up their place which was strange considering they hadn’t been out of the Football League that long. We basically got in the Alliance by default so our achievements in staying in we’re even greater.

Just gone on the Mossley site apparently they won the NPL the year before the Alliance but their ground wasn’t up to scratch.

[Cuz66]

Leo Skeete or Skeetes I seem to think. Also guy surname Kabia? I was at that 1st Apl game as well, was it a 2000+ gate as well? Heady days!

[Richard Ingham]

I seem to recall that Mossley who were a very strong Manchester based side at the time also didn’t want to join. I think they had a player called Leo SKETTE ? who used to bang in the goals for them. Southport we’re also above us in the pecking order but they didn’t want to take up their place which was strange considering they hadn’t been out of the Football League that long. We basically got in the Alliance by default so our achievements in staying in we’re even greater.

This guy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Skeete

[FanzoneFan]

That’s the man - a Non League icon - if only we could have signed him. He certainly always looked the part.

[behind the goals]

From the Mail hope it works first time trying to put file on the forum.
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[Hadrian]

The Isthmian League teams - their background had been as a purely amateur competition - also decided not to take part in forming the APL. If they had done so, it may be that only six NPL clubs would have taken places in the new league (although conceivably the overall number of teams may have risen from 20 to 22) - in which case the lowest place NPL club would have missed out. You know who would that have been...

[Suffolk Blue]

The Isthmian League teams - their background had been as a purely amateur competition - also decided not to take part in forming the APL. If they had done so, it may be that only six NPL clubs would have taken places in the new league (although conceivably the overall number of teams may have risen from 20 to 22) - in which case the lowest place NPL club would have missed out. You know who would that have been...

I never realised I supported such a lucky team. All those decades thinking we were cursed.