Below you'll find seasons 1980-1981 to 1986-1987 covered - changes/movements, notes on title winners and Final Tables for Alliance Premier League, Gola League and GM Vauxhall Conference.

 

THE NATIONWIDE CONFERENCE 1980-1987

 

Operating under three different names in this period, the Conference moved from being simply the leading competition for non-league clubs to a league through which clubs could gain promotion to the Football League.  It is interesting to note that, of the champion clubs before this ‘promotion system’ began in 1987, only one was eventually to win a place in Division 4, going out of business not long afterwards and, sadly, probably as a result of the extra expenses incurred.

 

1980-1981

 

There was one change from the previous season, with Redditch United being replaced by Frickley Athletic from the Northern Premier League.  Champions Altrincham seemed to suffer a reaction from their bizarre, narrow failure to gain election to the Football League and made an indifferent start to the season.  However, the Moss Lane men put things right and, with Kettering Town and Scarborough, had established themselves at the head of things by the close of September. 

 

A run of 17 matches from November 8^th in which only one defeat was suffered saw Altrincham reach the final phase at the top of the table.  By this stage Kettering Town were the only challengers left in the race.  Both the leaders stumbled in the closing stages, but a 2-1 victory over Yeovil Town in their final game proved enough to see Altrincham home.

 

Alliance Premier League Final Table

 

1	Altrincham	38	23	8	7	72	41	54
2	Kettering Town	38	21	9	8	66	37	51
3	Scarborough	38	17	13	8	49	29	47
4	Northwich Victoria	38	17	11	10	53	40	45
5	Weymouth	38	19	6	13	54	40	44
6	Bath City	38	16	10	12	51	32	42
7	Maidstone United	38	16	9	13	64	53	41
8	Boston united	38	16	9	13	63	58	41
9	Barrow	38	15	8	15	50	49	38
10	Frickley Athletic	38	15	8	15	61	62	38
11	Stafford Rangers	38	11	15	12	56	56	37
12	Worcester City	38	14	7	17	47	54	35
13	Telford United	38	13	9	16	47	59	35
14	Yeovil Town	38	14	6	18	60	64	34
15	Gravesend & Northfleet	38	13	8	17	48	55	34
16	AP Leamington	38	10	11	17	47	66	31
17	Barnet	38	12	7	19	39	64	31
18	Nuneaton Borough	38	10	9	19	49	65	29
19	Wealdstone	38	9	11	18	37	56	29
20	Bangor City	38	6	12	20	35	68	24
		760	287	186	287	1048	1048	760

 

Bangor City, Nuneaton Borough and Wealdstone were relegated, with Dartford (Southern League Southern Division), Runcorn (Northern Premier) and Trowbridge Town (Southern League Midland Division) promoted in their places.  The competition was increased to 22 members by the invitation to and acceptance of Dagenham and Enfield from the Isthmian League.

 

1981-1982

 

The League adopted the 3 points for a win system. 

 

Dagenham began best of all, with Bath City and Runcorn also among the early front-runners.  The Cheshire club then eased their way clear and sat in pole position from early November onwards, always keeping a safe distance ahead of Enfield in second place.  Points in the bag proved crucial the Linnets march to the title – poor weather depriving clubs of fixtures during December and January and preventing any possible challengers from emerging.  Runcorn lost at Enfield in mid-February, but it is a measure of their dominance of the season that they remained 7 points clear of their rivals, with a game in hand, despite this.  The gap was never closed and the APL title remained in Cheshire.

 

Alliance Premier League Final Table

 

1	Runcorn	42	28	9	5	75	37	93
2	Enfield	42	26	8	8	90	46	86
3	Telford United	42	23	8	11	70	51	77
4	Worcester City	42	21	8	13	70	60	71
5	Dagenham	42	19	12	11	69	51	69
6	Northwich Victoria	42	20	9	13	56	46	69
7	Scarborough	42	19	11	12	65	52	68
8	Barrow	42	18	11	13	59	50	65
9	Weymouth	42	18	9	15	56	47	63
10	Boston United	42	17	11	14	61	57	62
11	Altrincham	42	14	13	15	66	56	55
12	Bath City	42	15	10	17	50	57	55
13	Yeovil Town	42	14	11	17	56	68	53
14	Stafford Rangers	42	12	16	14	48	47	52
15	Frickley Athletic	42	14	10	18	47	60	52
16	Maidstone United	42	11	15	16	55	59	48
17	Trowbridge Town	42	12	11	19	38	54	47
18	Barnet	42	9	14	19	36	52	41
19	Kettering Town	42	9	13	20	64	76	40
20	Gravesend & Northfleet	42	10	10	22	51	69	40
21	Dartford	42	10	9	23	47	69	39
22	AP Leamington	42	4	10	28	40	105	22
		924	343	238	343	1269	1269

 

AP Leamington, Dartford and Gravesend & Northfleet were relegated, with Bangor City, Nuneaton Borough and Wealdstone all returning to the APL.

 

1982-1983

 

With only one reverse in their opening 19 league matches, Enfield set a standard with which no others could live.  The Southbury Road side seemed likely to run away with the title, but, as so often happens, the leaders lost their way rather and a bad spell of form at the end of the year opened a window of opportunity for both Maidstone United and Wealdstone.  The gap closed and, though Wealdstone could not maintain the pressure on Enfield, Maidstone proved to be ‘well up for it’.  Enfield clung on though and reached the last day of the campaign 3 points ahead and 5 goals better off.  Maidstone had a home game with Scarborough to finish on, whereas Enfield had to visit Runcorn.  The Stones won their game 6-0 – a result which would have been good enough to nick the title if Enfield had lost.  Although Runcorn twice took the lead, Enfield forced a 2-2 draw and earned the point needed for the club to become champions.

 

Alliance Premier League Final Table

 

1	Enfield	42	25	9	8	95	48	84
2	Maidstone United	42	25	8	9	83	34	83
3	Wealdstone	42	22	13	7	80	41	79
4	Runcorn	42	22	8	12	73	53	74
5	Boston United	42	20	12	10	77	57	72
6	Telford United	42	20	11	11	69	48	71
7	Weymouth	42	20	10	12	63	48	70
8	Northwich Victoria	42	18	10	14	68	63	64
9	Scarborough	42	17	12	13	71	58	63
10	Bath City	42	17	9	16	58	55	60
11	Nuneaton Borough	42	15	13	14	57	60	58
12	Altrincham	42	15	10	17	62	56	55
13	Bangor City	42	14	13	15	71	77	55
14	Dagenham	42	12	15	15	60	65	51
15	Barnet	42	16	3	23	55	78	51
16	Frickley Athletic	42	12	13	17	66	77	49
17	Worcester City	42	12	10	20	58	87	46
18	Trowbridge Town	42	12	7	23	56	88	43
19	Kettering Town	42	11	7	24	69	99	40
20	Yeovil Town	42	11	7	24	63	99	40
21	Barrow	42	8	12	22	46	74	36
22	Stafford Rangers	42	5	14	23	40	75	29
		924	349	226	349	1440	1440

 

Barrow and Stafford Rangers were relegated, with Gateshead (Northern Premier) and Kidderminster Harriers (Southern League) replacing them.

 

1983-1984

 

A new points scoring system was introduced – 2 points for a home win, 3 points for an away win, 1 point for a draw.  This system ran for 3 seasons.

 

There were several changes of leadership over the first stages of the season.  Runcorn were first to show, winning their opening 5 fixtures, but they were overhauled by Nuneaton Borough by late September.  Next to take over the lead were unbeaten Wealdstone, though Nuneaton reasserted themselves to reclaim the top spot.  Borough’s disadvantage was that they chief pursuers, Maidstone United and Wealdstone, had played fewer matches and this eventually told when Maidstone nosed ahead.  The crucial clash, as the season reached its climax, was on April 11^th, when Nuneaton Borough entertained Maidstone, who led their hosts by one point.  The game ended 2-2 and, with both clubs winning their final games, United took the title.

 

Alliance Premier League Final Table

 

As a result of the different points awarded for home and away wins, separate columns for these follow (to the right of the games played column) in the table below.  Home wins are shown first.

 

1	Maidstone United	42	12	11	13	6	71	34	70
2	Nuneaton Borough	42	14	10	11	7	70	40	69
3	Altrincham	42	13	10	9	10	64	39	65
4	Wealdstone	42	15	6	14	7	75	36	62
5	Runcorn	42	11	9	13	9	61	45	62
6	Bath City	42	10	7	12	13	60	48	53
7	Northwich Victoria	42	11	5	14	12	54	47	51
8	Worcester City	42	9	6	13	14	64	55	49
9	Barnet	42	9	7	10	16	55	58	49
10	Kidderminster Harriers	42	7	7	14	14	54	61	49
11	Telford United	42	13	4	11	14	50	58	49
12	Frickley Athletic	42	13	4	10	15	68	56	48
13	Scarborough	42	10	4	16	12	52	55	48
14	Enfield	42	8	6	9	19	61	58	43
15	Weymouth	42	5	8	8	21	54	65	42
16	Gateshead	42	7	5	13	17	59	73	42
17	Boston United	42	10	3	12	17	66	80	41
18	Dagenham	42	10	4	8	20	57	69	40
19	Kettering Town	42	8	4	9	21	53	67	37
20	Yeovil Town	42	9	3	8	22	55	77	35
21	Bangor City	42	7	3	6	26	54	82	29
22	Trowbridge Town	42	3	2	7	30	33	87	19
		924	214	128	240	342	1290	1290

 

Bangor City and Trowbridge Town were relegated, with Barrow and Dartford taking their places.

 

1984-1985

 

The APL changed its name to the Gola League.

 

Wealdstone were early leaders of the league competition, but hit an atrocious spell of form and were replaced at the top by Altrincham, with Boston United and Enfield having joined the ‘leading pack’.  In the New Year Altrincham moved further ahead, but bad weather and many postponements disrupted the league programme that teams had no chance to develop any consistent form.  This cost Altrincham dearly, as they lost 3 times in succession and were caught by a clutch of others, including Dartford, Nuneaton, Scarborough and Wealdstone.  Over the final weeks of the season, Wealdstone proved the strongest and lifted the title with relative ease in the end.

 

Gola League Final Table 1984-1985

 

As a result of the different points awarded for home and away wins, separate columns for these follow (to the right of the games played column) in the table below.  Home wins are shown first.

 

1	Wealdstone	42	8	12	10	12	64	54	62
2	Nuneaton Borough	42	13	6	14	9	85	53	58
3	Dartford	42	7	10	13	12	57	48	57
4	Bath City	42	15	6	9	12	52	49	57
5	Altrincham	42	13	8	6	15	63	47	56
6	Scarborough	42	10	7	13	12	69	62	54
7	Enfield	42	11	6	13	12	84	61	53
8	Kiddersminster Harriers	42	8	9	8	17	79	77	51
9	Northwich Victoria	42	9	7	11	15	50	46	50
10	Telford United	42	10	5	14	13	59	54	49
11	Frickley Athletic	42	12	6	7	17	65	71	49
12	Kettering Town	42	9	6	12	15	68	59	48
13	Maidstone United	42	10	5	13	14	58	51	48
14	Runcorn	42	6	7	15	14	48	47	48
15	Barnet	42	9	6	11	16	59	52	47
16	Weymouth	42	13	2	13	14	70	66	45
17	Boston United	42	10	5	10	17	69	69	45
18	Barrow	42	6	5	16	15	47	57	43
19	Dagenham	42	8	5	10	19	47	67	41
20	Worcester City	42	7	5	9	21	55	84	38
21	Gateshead*	42	5	4	12	21	51	82	33
22	Yeovil Town	42	4	2	11	25	44	87	25
		924	203	134	250	337	1343	1343

*One point deducted

 

Gateshead, Worcester City and Yeovil Town were relegated.  Cheltenham Town (Southern League), Stafford Rangers (Northern Premier) and Wycombe Wanderers (Isthmian League) took their places.

 

1985-1986

 

By mid-September Enfield were at the top of the Gola League.  Along with Altrincham and Weymouth, the London club continued to set the pace up to the end of December, after which the Dorset club faded and Altrincham spent most of the next 2 months out of league action because of Cup success.  Having gone in front early in December, Enfield stayed at the head of the table for the remainder of the season and took the title by 7 points.  The sides finishing second and third, Frickley Athletic and Kidderminster Harriers, both produced extended successful runs in the second half of the season, rising from the lower reaches of the table, but never likely to trouble Enfield.

 

Gola League Final Table

 

As a result of the different points awarded for home and away wins, separate columns for these follow (to the right of the games played column) in the table below.  Home wins are shown first.

 

1	Enfield	42	15	12	10	5	94	47	76
2	Frickley Athletic	42	16	9	10	7	78	50	69
3	Kidderminster Harrers	42	12	12	7	11	99	62	67
4	Altrincham	42	14	8	11	9	70	49	63
5	Weymouth	42	11	8	15	8	75	60	61
6	Runcorn	42	11	8	14	9	70	44	60
7	Stafford Rangers	42	10	9	13	10	61	54	60
8	Telford United	42	13	5	10	14	68	66	51
9	Kettering Town	42	11	4	15	12	55	53	49
10	Wealdstone	42	10	6	9	17	57	56	47
11	Cheltenham Town	42	13	3	11	15	69	69	46
12	Bath City	42	5	8	11	18	53	54	45
13	Boston United	42	11	5	7	19	66	76	44
14	Barnet	42	9	4	11	18	56	60	41
15	Scarborough	42	10	3	11	18	54	66	40
16	Northwich Victoria	42	5	5	12	20	42	54	37
17	Maidstone United	42	7	2	16	17	57	66	36
18	Nuneaton Borough	42	8	5	5	24	58	73	36
19	Dagenham	42	6	4	12	20	48	66	36
20	Wycombe Wanderers	42	7	3	13	19	55	84	36
21	Dartford	42	7	1	9	25	51	82	26
22	Barrow	42	5	2	8	27	41	86	24
		924	216	126	240	342	1377	1377

 

Barrow, Dartford and Wycombe Wanderers were relegated.  Their places were taken by Gateshead (Northern Premier), Sutton United (Isthmian) and Welling United (Southern).

 

1986-1987

 

Following agreement with the Football League, clubs in the newly-named ‘GM Vauxhall Conference’ began the season with the incentive of a place in Division 4 for the champions – subject to a satisfactory ground grading test.  The competition reverted to the award of 3 points for any win, home or away.

 

Few people expected the battle for a Football League place to become a straight fight between Barnet and Scarborough, who had finished the previous season in 14^th and 15^th places respectively.  Boro, under new manager Neil Warnock, started at 50-1 for the title, lost their opening fixture 0-3 and finished October in 10^th position, following a 1-3 home loss against Cheltenham Town.  What happened from that point onwards was remarkable.  The North Yorkshire side went 22 games unbeaten, conceding just 11 goals in the process, before losing to Runcorn on April 20^th.  Boro kept their noses in front with a 2-0 success at Sutton United 5 days later and became champions on April 29^th when Barnet’s challenge finally ended when they lost at home to Stafford Rangers 1-2.  On May 2^nd, a Conference record crowd of 5,640 paid record receipts of £9,975 to see Scarborough win their final game of the season, 2-1 against Weymouth, and to be crowned champions – the first non-league club to be automatically promoted to the Football League.

 

GM Vauxhall Conference Final League Table

 

1	Scarborough	42	27	10	5	64	33	91
2	Barnet	42	25	10	7	86	39	85
3	Maidstone United	42	21	10	11	71	48	73
4	Enfield	42	21	7	14	66	47	70
5	Altrincham	42	18	15	9	66	53	69
6	Boston United	42	21	6	15	82	74	69
7	Sutton United	42	19	11	12	81	51	68
8	Runcorn	42	18	13	11	71	58	67
9	Telford United	42	18	10	14	69	59	64
10	Bath City	42	17	12	13	63	62	63
11	Cheltenham Town	42	16	13	13	64	50	61
12	Kiddersminster Harriers	42	17	4	21	77	81	55
13	Stafford Rangers	42	14	11	17	58	60	53
14	Weymouth	42	13	12	17	68	77	51
15	Dagenham	42	14	7	21	56	72	49
16	Kettering Town	42	12	11	19	54	66	47
17	Northwich Victoria	42	10	14	18	53	69	44
18	Nuneaton Borough	42	10	14	18	48	73	44
19	Wealdstone	42	11	10	21	50	70	43
20	Welling United	42	10	10	22	61	84	40
21	Frickley Athletic	42	7	11	24	47	82	32
22	Gateshead	42	6	13	23	48	95	31
		924	345	234	345	1403	1403

 

Scarborough were promoted to Division 4 in place of bottom club Lincoln City.  Frickley Athletic and Gateshead were relegated, while Nuneaton Borough were demoted because of problems with the safety of the club’s stand and the failure to find a suitable ground-sharing alternative in time.  Fisher Athletic (Southern), Macclesfield Town (Northern Premier) and Wycombe Wanderers (Isthmian) took the three vacant places.

 

 

July 28th - there will be more on the history of the Conference.  Access will be via 'Vacant' buttons above - once things are ready.