I cant be bothered to check, but Torquay must be up there prior to non league status.

Good shout...into the League in 1927, bottom two leagues until 2007 when they were relegated to non-league the first time, back up in 2009 then back down in 2014.

I think Rochdale were in the original division 3 in 1958 & got promoted out of the old fourth in 1968

Damn, right again..... five seasons in division 3 before going back to the fourth where they stayed until 2010

Championship
Blackburn Rovers v Cardiff City  3-1
Coventry City v Sunderland  2-1

League One
Northampton Town v Birmingham City   0-2
Reading v Stevenage  2-1

League Two
Morecambe v Barrow   1-1
Newport County v Harrogate Town   2-1

National League South
Dorking Wanderers v Torquay United   1-1
Enfield Town v Truro City   0-2

With the general seats and boxes open I predict an 8000+ gate for the first time ever (excepting Status Quo of course!)

8088 in attendance.

Walsall have blown their big lead at the top but I can't see them not finishing top 3. Bradford to join them and i'll go for Wimbledon to make it too.....decent ground. Notts County or Doncaster up via the playoffs, again both decent grounds with good allocations for away teams.

As long as we stay where we are, Id say Luton, Derby and Cardiff would be my preference. Still not been to the sheepshaggers new gaff so could tick that one orf the list!

Same here, one of the (current) five I still have to do.

Can see their gates dropping to around 12000 in League 1.

I'd swap Stoke for Luton to come down though....

Official website link....

https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2025/march/14/phased-opening-of-lcs-stand-to-begin-on-saturday/

So the general seats and boxes will be open tomorrow.

We took the mantle from Rochdale, who had played every season since 1921 in the bottom two tiers until relegation to the National League in 2023. They won their first promotion in 2010 having played in the lowest league tier for almost 90 years.
Similarly Hartlepool United joined the league the same season (1921) and plied their trade in the bottom two tiers until 2017 when they suffered the first of their now two relegations from the Football League.

Swindon haven't been out of the bottom 2 divisions since 2000.

Quite correct....for some reason I thought they had a stint in non-league so didn't even look at them!! They came down the same season as Port Vale.

Many of the current teams in League 2 have had recent spells in or not long been up from non-league.

Anyway, stats for the others.....

Gillingham came down from the Championship in 2005 and have now had 20 years in L1/L2
Shrewsbury came down from the Championship in 1989 but had a year in the Conference in 2003, so its 35 out of the last 36 for them.
Exeter City have never been higher than L1 level but had five years in the Conference between 2003 and 2008, otherwise they've been in the bottom two divisions every season since 1920.
Leyton Orient again, two seasons in the National League 2017-2019 otherwise its 31 out of the last 33 seasons for them.
Bristol Rovers, one season in the Conference, 2014 otherwise 31 of the last 32 in the bottom two tiers.
Port Vale relegated from the second tier in 2000, so 25 years consecutively in L1/L2 now, the same season as Swindon Town.
Walsall 21 years consecutively and counting. Bradford City also 21 years and counting...both were relegated the same season.
Carlisle were relegated from the second tier in 1986 but have had one year in the Conference, 38 of 39 seasons for them.
Mansfield relegated from the second tier in 1978 but spent five seasons in the Conference..... 42 out of 47.


So its us with 58 years since 1967, then Port Vale and Swindon with 25, Walsall and Bradford 21 apiece and Gillingham with 20. Accrington Stanley 19 years since promotion to the league in 2006, Morecambe 18 since 2007.

[SHREWSBURY P36, Pts 28]

Who's got who..... ("6 pointers" in CAPITALS)

SHREWSBURY  P36, Pts 28
H v BURTON, CAMBRIDGE, Reading, WIGAN, CRAWLEY
A v Birmingham, Wycombe, Lincoln, NORTHAMPTON, Barnsley

CAMBRIDGE P36, Pts 29
H v PETERBOROUGH, NORTHAMPTON, Wrexham, Charlton, Leyton Orient, Birmingham
A v Barnsley, SHREWSBURY, Huddersfield, BURTON

CRAWLEY P36, Pts 30
H v BRISTOL ROVERS, PETERBOROUGH, Leyton Orient, EXETER, NORTHAMPTON
A v Huddersfield, Rotherham, Stevenage, Birmingham, SHREWSBURY

BURTON  P36, Pts 33
H v WIGAN, Leyton Orient, Huddersfield, Birmingham, CAMBRIDGE
A v SHREWSBURY, Stockport, Wrexham, EXETER, Charlton

PETERBOROUGH  P35, Pts 39
H v Charlton, NORTHAMPTON, Birmingham, Stockport, Bolton
A v CAMBRIDGE, Reading, CRAWLEY, Mansfield, Barnsley, Rotherham

NORTHAMPTON  P36, Pts 41
H v Birmingham, Blackpool, Rotherham, Reading, SHREWSBURY, WIGAN
A v CAMBRIDGE, PETERBOROUGH, Charlton, CRAWLEY

MANSFIELD  P36, Pts 41
H v Barnsley, Leyton Orient, Charlton, PETERBOROUGH, Reading, EXETER
A v BRISTOL ROVERS, Huddersfield, Rotherham, Birmingham

BRISTOL ROVERS  P36, Pts 42
H v MANSFIELD, Birmingham, EXETER, Stevenage, Reading
A v Lincoln, CRAWLEY, Bolton, Wrexham, Blackpool

EXETER  P35, Pts 43
H v Wrexham, Stockport, WIGAN, BURTON, Huddersfield
A v Rotherham, Lincoln, Barnsley, BRISTOL ROVERS, CRAWLEY, MANSFIELD

WIGAN  P35, Pts 43
H v Barnsley, Bolton, Wrexham, Rotherham, Blackpool
A v Charlton, BURTON, Leyton Orient, EXETER, SHREWSBURY, NORTHAMPTON

Revenge 

Birmingham fans are morons.

I assume this is revenge for what they saw as "Cobblers fans disrupting the remembrance day silence" at St Andrews in November? I think their fans got more upset about that than the actual result on the day!

Team news wise, not a lot out of the club yet other than Mbete's return in the U21 game. Of course Tyler Roberts will miss out on Saturday as per the loan arrangements between ourselves and the Blues.

Jake someone.... The sub in question

Robinson? Was sub and came on and scored within four minutes in our 4-2 win there in 2012.

Havent we played them about 3 times in pre season games?
BTP should be busy on Saturday as well. I may just be in town centre pre match, as it will get a bit busy in the Tavern. Does the Bear still have a lunchtime happy hour? 

Amended....just for you!!

Yeah, will be a busy day on the rails on Saturday.....sort of glad I only work M-F!

Clarke sacked by Barnsley and swiftly replaced by Conor Hourihane on an interim basis.

Clarkes sacking means over half of the teams in League 1 have changed manager this season.

Critchley (Blackpool), Lindsey (Crawley), Robinson (Burton), Hurst (Shrewsbury), Brady (Northampton), Selles (Reading), Taylor (Bristol Rovers), Bloomfield (Wycombe), Evatt (Bolton), Monk (Cambridge), Maloney (Wigan), Duff (Huddersfield) and Clarke (Barnsley)

So pulling together some of the above, here is my preview for the game against Birmingham on Saturday.

The Blues come to us with a 14 point lead atop the table looking for an immediate return to The Championship following their relegation last season. Mathematically they only need five wins from their 11 remaining games to seal the deal.

Birmingham City only became Birmingham City in 1943, founded as Small Heath Alliance in 1875 before dropping the Alliance bit in 1888. They then became plain old Birmingham in 1905 before adding the City bit on in the war. They have spent roughly half their existence in the top flight although more recent times the second tier has predominantly been their level. With four second-tier titles to their name (1893/1921/1948 and 1955) and a third division title in 1995 they will be looking to add to their silverware, a haul which also includes the League Cup in 1963 and 2011 as well as the League Trophy in 1991 and 1995.

After seven consecutive 17th place or lower finishes in the Championship they finished 22nd last year and found themselves back in the third tier for the first time since 1995, during which time they had tasted life in the Premier League too with seven seasons at the top table between 2002 and 2011. Under the stewardship of Tom Wagner they want to get back to that level, Tom Brady is also in the background and they have big plans for a new ground in Birmingham capable of holding up to 62000 fans.

This season they have won 25 of their 35 games, losing only three. Those defeats came at Charlton, Shrewsbury and a week or so ago at Bolton. With 9 wins and four draws in the league away from home they sit second to Wycombe in away form. They have only one one of their last four away league games though (clutching at straws here!)
An early League Cup exit at Fulham has been complimented by a run in the FA Cup to the fourth round, bowing out to Newcastle, and they have also reached the final of the Trophy where they will meet Peterborough at Wembley in the middle of next month.

£15m man Jay Stansfield is their leading scorer. After a successful loan spell from Fulham last season Brum splashed the cash to make him the record third tier signing and he has obliged with 21 goals in all competitions so far this season. He has though picked up five bookings in his last eight games and did miss a couple of games through injury recently. He has been ably assisted by Alfie May who has 11 to his name this term, the former Cheltenham and Charlton man has not found the net since early January though, a barren spell of fifteen games. Former Celtic man Tomoki Iwata is a threat in midfield with seven goals to his name, alongside Kieran Dowell who is on loan from Rangers and has scored in the last two games.
Keshi Anderson is also in and around the team, a former Cobblers loanee in 2017 Anderson joined the Blues from Blackpool in 2023. Marc Leonard is also on the books of City of course, our player of the season from last year was injured in the Cup game against Newcastle but returned in midweek against Stevenage and should make the squad on Saturday.

Manager-wise Chris Davies is at the helm and with 35 wins from 48 games so far he isn't doing too badly! Davies took over in the Summer after Gary Rowett made his second exit. Before that Tony Mowbray had an illness affected spell in charge following the failed Wayne Rooney experiment and the controversial sacking of John Eustace.

Not too much of a head to head between Birmingham and The Cobblers, this will be only the sixth meeting between the two clubs, Blues have two wins to our one with two draws. This will be the first time Birmingham have played a competitive match at Sixfields, their last trip to Northampton was back in 1990 when we fought out a 2-2 draw, prior to that a 1966 Division 2 meeting when The Cobblers won 2-1. There are not many teams you can say have never won in Northampton but Birmingham fit that billing at the moment!!
Earlier this season the two sides drew 1-1 at St Andrews, 27485 fans witnessed Mitch Pinnock's 90th minute leveller as we became only one of three teams who have avoided defeat at Birmingham in their 19 home games this season.

Ross Joyce joined the League referees list in 2015, his first ever EFL game was at Sixfields as he handled our 3-0 win over Exeter in August of that year. Our latest encounter with him took place only a couple of months ago as he was the man in charge of our win at Burton. He's sent off two and booked 94 in his 23 games this season, 11 of those yellows came in one game between Blackpool and Exeter. We seem to have met him numerous times over the years including "that" last game of the season at Barrow in 2022, and our home win over Carlisle last season which is the last game he didn't feel the need to show a yellow card to anyone (29 games since then).
Having reffed almost exclusively in League 1 and 2 I can't see an game where he has ever reffed Birmingham in those 10 years on the League list.

As there is no mention anywhere and it's already Wednesday, I take it the boxes in the East will still be empty this weekend? It has all gone a little quiet, are they still having problems with the safety certificate being granted?

Not heard about the boxes but they are certainly selling the additional rows of seats (L,M,N) in the East Stand for this one. That in itself should mean a record crowd for Sixfields on Saturday.

But unfortunately nothing but fiction. A bit like the queue of people waiting to run the club. Nothing but smoke and mirrors.

In what way exactly is it ‘nothing but fiction’?

I seem to recall that one train of thought was that it was the second year when it goes pear shaped and we go down.

Seemed like we wanted to buck history and change the narrative! Hopefully a third, then fourth, then fifth......season means we can truly establish ourselves as a League 1 club.

If the two were comparable, yes..

Is one season ever comparable to another though?

Upon promotion to League 1 the thought was that we would survive year 1 and push on in year 2. Actually what has happened is the opposite and we are on target for a lower position this season than last season. Is that progress? On paper of course not, but there are so many variables (opponents, injuries, signings etc) that you can never really compare.