Reds will go the extra mile next season

The FA has released the National League System allocations for next season and, no surprise, Reds will travel slightly further than they did throughout the 2025-26 campaign.

Unlike last term, we will have twenty-one opponents, again, having operated with one team (Widnes) less, following their late summer demise.

Our mileage will increase to 6,254 (21 round trips) compared to 5,902 (20 round trips) last season.

The average journey will be 150 miles but, by far, the longest will be the trip to Leicestershire to face Quorn, a jaunt of 224 miles.  Other ‘long-haul flights’ will include the games at Cleethorpes Town (207) and Ilkeston Town (205).

The NPL Premier Division will certainly have a fresh look about it with seven teams coming into the division to replace promoted duo Hebburn Town and Hednesford Town, relegated trio Morpeth Town, Prescot Cables and Stocksbridge Park Steels and Rushall Olympic who have been moved laterally to the Southern League (Premier Central).

Coming into our section will be old adversaries Alfreton Town, Curzon Ashton and Emley as well as the new version of Bury Football Club.  And we also welcome the likes of Avro, Quorn and Redcar Athletic who we have never played previously.  

We will renew acquaintances with Alfreton Town who we last played in the Conference North play-offs back in 2010.  They were relegated from Enterprise National North.

Curzon Ashton accompanied Alfreton in the drop-zone from National North, despite amassing 52 points last term.  We last met Curzon during the 2014-15 season.

Emley have been promoted from NPL Division One East, via the play-offs, but you have to go back to 1991 for the last encounter between Reds and the Huddersfield outfit.   

The newly formed Bury emerged winners in the NPL West Division, two points ahead of Avro.  Our last meeting with the ‘old Bury’ was in the FA Cup in 2007 but we have never met the re-formed club.

Oldham based Avro will be another team we have never faced before.

The other two clubs we have never crossed swords with are Redcar Athletic, the runaway champions of NPL Division One East, and Quorn who finished 8^th in the Southern League Premier Division Central last term, and have been moved laterally.

All allocations will be ratified at the NPL AGM next month.