Hednesford

[Gloucester man]

Sadly due to a failed takeover they have withdrawn from the league for the forthcoming season.
They have a good stadium but just have had no goid fortune on the pitch. On a good point Droylsden are restarting in the NWCL this on coming season.

[Exiled Port Fan]

None of this can be true, teams only go past us, none drop below and/or vanish!

[tonyhey]

Perhaps Bishop’s Stortford could play their home games at Hednesford.

[Port on the Kent]

None of this can be true, teams only go past us, none drop below and/or vanish!

Hurrah, for managing to exist!

Hip hip..

[Exiled Port Fan]

None of this can be true, teams only go past us, none drop below and/or vanish!

Hurrah, for managing to exist!

Hip hip..

You missed my point. People complain about sides going past us like Salford or Fylde, but ignore those who drop like stones for whatever reason.

[Sandgrounder SE]

Kinda misses the point. The ones who go past us started from well below us (Fleetwood, Accrington, Morecambe and dozens of others). Hednesford and Droylsden were always below us (apart from one season Droylsden had above us twenty-odd years ago).

It genuinely puzzles me why Southport, a relatively prosperous place with a substantial catchment area, has remained in the doldrums so long when clubs in much less favoured locations seem to steam effortlessly past us. Yes, Everton and Liverpool etc - but other moderately successful teams in Leagues 1 and 2 also face competition from PL clubs - Tranmere, very obviously. We used to be genuine rivals for promotion in the 60s. Then they had gates below 2000 in the 70s and were as bad as us! Now we’re in different worlds.

[Stratford Excile]

Kinda misses the point. The ones who go past us started from well below us (Fleetwood, Accrington, Morecambe and dozens of others). Hednesford and Droylsden were always below us (apart from one season Droylsden had above us twenty-odd years ago).

It genuinely puzzles me why Southport, a relatively prosperous place with a substantial catchment area, has remained in the doldrums so long when clubs in much less favoured locations seem to steam effortlessly past us. Yes, Everton and Liverpool etc - but other moderately successful teams in Leagues 1 and 2 also face competition from PL clubs - Tranmere, very obviously. We used to be genuine rivals for promotion in the 60s. Then they had gates below 2000 in the 70s and were as bad as us! Now we’re in different worlds.

I think it all boils down to ambition and hunger for success which has been lacking for so many years and it really grinds to see the likes of Morecambe,Accrington and Fleetwood overtaking us completely!

All we seem to do is to tread water and ultimately we know what happens if you keep doing this!

[Ralphy Rylance]

Kinda misses the point. The ones who go past us started from well below us (Fleetwood, Accrington, Morecambe and dozens of others). Hednesford and Droylsden were always below us (apart from one season Droylsden had above us twenty-odd years ago).

It genuinely puzzles me why Southport, a relatively prosperous place with a substantial catchment area, has remained in the doldrums so long when clubs in much less favoured locations seem to steam effortlessly past us. Yes, Everton and Liverpool etc - but other moderately successful teams in Leagues 1 and 2 also face competition from PL clubs - Tranmere, very obviously. We used to be genuine rivals for promotion in the 60s. Then they had gates below 2000 in the 70s and were as bad as us! Now we’re in different worlds.

I think it all boils down to ambition and hunger for success which has been lacking for so many years and it really grinds to see the likes of Morecambe,Accrington and Fleetwood overtaking us completely!

All we seem to do is to tread water and ultimately we know what happens if you keep doing this!

Anytime anyone shows any ambition in this town, and I don't just mean footballwise, they are ridiculed by born and bred Sandgrounders who cannot accept anything different to what they remember from their childhoods. Local social media pages are a cesspit of relentless negativity about their own town from people who've never lived anywhere else.
On the other hand people who've moved here from elsewhere love the place (but their footballing loyalties are likely to remain elsewhere).

[portexileinbath]

Great post RR. It is impossible for a true fan to change allegiance no matter how far away they move !.

[Sam]

Anytime anyone shows any ambition in this town, and I don't just mean footballwise, they are ridiculed by born and bred Sandgrounders who cannot accept anything different to what they remember from their childhoods. Local social media pages are a cesspit of relentless negativity about their own town from people who've never lived anywhere else.
On the other hand people who've moved here from elsewhere love the place (but their footballing loyalties are likely to remain elsewhere).

Both OTS News and Q local/Southport GB perfected rage bait to drive the clicks for ad impressions years ago.

We get things like "Council tight lipped as Pier debacle continues", despite the council releasing statements about the pier and how they are waiting for a structural engineers report.
It takes weeks to get survey results back when buying a house, but for some reason people think a half a mile long pier can have a report within days.

Supposedly the council were happy Splashworld was closed because it means they could divert funds to Bootle. Ignoring how Sefton went to court in order to get compensation, a global pandemic, a building materials shortage etc to continue on with it and have it reopen at the weekend. Now it's yesterdays news and on to the next thing to moan about.

If Southport were ever successful as a football club i'm sure we'd see headlines like 'CHAOS around Haig Avenue as fans descend on town' then full of quotes of generically named people who don't exist saying they preferred it when Southport was in non league and they could drive down the roads on match days without issue, and why does the town need a successful club when Liverpool and Everton are down the road.

[Marsh Harrier]

It genuinely puzzles me why Southport, a relatively prosperous place with a substantial catchment area, has remained in the doldrums so long when clubs in much less favoured locations seem to steam effortlessly past us.

This may be true for some parts of Southport but Dukes Ward is the third most deprived ward in Sefton and had the highest immigration levels in Sefton (>17%) at the last census. I think Southport has a higher than average number of people retiring here from other parts of the country who have no allegiance to the football club and this has a negative impact on attendances.

[Formula Port]

Kinda misses the point. The ones who go past us started from well below us (Fleetwood, Accrington, Morecambe and dozens of others). Hednesford and Droylsden were always below us (apart from one season Droylsden had above us twenty-odd years ago).

It genuinely puzzles me why Southport, a relatively prosperous place with a substantial catchment area, has remained in the doldrums so long when clubs in much less favoured locations seem to steam effortlessly past us. Yes, Everton and Liverpool etc - but other moderately successful teams in Leagues 1 and 2 also face competition from PL clubs - Tranmere, very obviously. We used to be genuine rivals for promotion in the 60s. Then they had gates below 2000 in the 70s and were as bad as us! Now we’re in different worlds.

I think it all boils down to ambition and hunger for success which has been lacking for so many years and it really grinds to see the likes of Morecambe,Accrington and Fleetwood overtaking us completely!

All we seem to do is to tread water and ultimately we know what happens if you keep doing this!

Anytime anyone shows any ambition in this town, and I don't just mean footballwise, they are ridiculed by born and bred Sandgrounders who cannot accept anything different to what they remember from their childhoods. Local social media pages are a cesspit of relentless negativity about their own town from people who've never lived anywhere else.
On the other hand people who've moved here from elsewhere love the place (but their footballing loyalties are likely to remain elsewhere).

Well said RR. When you travel around the country you realise (or at least should) that Southport is actually not a bad place to live at all. Some people would have you believe it's been twinned with Beirut.

[portexileinbath]

It genuinely puzzles me why Southport, a relatively prosperous place with a substantial catchment area, has remained in the doldrums so long when clubs in much less favoured locations seem to steam effortlessly past us.

This may be true for some parts of Southport but Dukes Ward is the third most deprived ward in Sefton and had the highest immigration levels in Sefton (>17%) at the last census. I think Southport has a higher than average number of people retiring here from other parts of the country who have no allegiance to the football club and this has a negative impact on attendances.

What have immigration levels got to do with it ?. Immigrants are hardly likely to be able to see "their" team, so if they like football they are as likely as anyone to go to local matches. Also, people who have moved away from Southport often stay as Port fans, as is obvious from looking at the spread of fans we have across the country.
After the behaviour of some of our "loyal fans" last year, it's amazing that our attendances didn't drop further. If we want gates to rise we need to play better football and kick the malcontents & troublemakers out for good.

[Sandgrounder SE]

There’s quite an interesting ward profile for Dukes on the interweb thingy. There do seem to be a lot of elderly poor and families on benefits, though unemployment is quite low.Not a part of Southport I visit very often.
Nevertheless the town as a whole is prosperous enough and certainly places like Formby still seem well-heeled. It’s got to be better than Alfreton - who made the playoffs and have walloped us several times in recent years. Or King’s Lynn, at the edge of the known Universe. Or Barrow, ffs.

[Michael]

It genuinely puzzles me why Southport, a relatively prosperous place with a substantial catchment area, has remained in the doldrums so long when clubs in much less favoured locations seem to steam effortlessly past us.

This is very true but what is even more puzzling is that Southport is a town that appreciates sport. It somehow manages to successfully host Championship golf and County cricket. Why is football the loser?

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Think having two of the four or five biggest clubs in the world and loads of other massive clubs on our doorstep probably doesn't help. Dormitory towns tend not to have that strong a sense of identity, and lots of young people have to leave to find work (some of us are sad enough to come back for the football).

[Port on the Kent]

Whilst I don't doubt some of the valid points, you can't overlook the lack of success as the main factor.

How many people said Barrow, Burton, Crawley, Harrogate, Eastleigh couldn't support a football team back when they were playing regional football and getting 900 on a good day?

Some momentum and a winning factor and they now do 2/3,000.

Even the likes of Alty who we used to follow around the leagues now get 1,800 home fans in.

Let's try winning before writing the town off.

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

It's true that we'd get better crowds if we hadn't been shite for most of our history, and all of the last decade. Top-level football continues to eat itself, anr I think there is a real appetite for lower-league football that wasn't there before - clubs who've had cup runs and success are reaping the rewards.

[Ralphy Rylance]

There’s quite an interesting ward profile for Dukes on the interweb thingy. There do seem to be a lot of elderly poor and families on benefits, though unemployment is quite low.Not a part of Southport I visit very often.
Nevertheless the town as a whole is prosperous enough and certainly places like Formby still seem well-heeled. It’s got to be better than Alfreton - who made the playoffs and have walloped us several times in recent years. Or King’s Lynn, at the edge of the known Universe. Or Barrow, ffs.

Dukes ward covers probably the most financially diverse part of the town, from the town centre and its bedsit land to the leafier parts of Birkdale and Hillside shore side of the railway. From Victoria St and Bank Square to Selworthy Road and Waterloo Rd.

[Ralphy Rylance]

It genuinely puzzles me why Southport, a relatively prosperous place with a substantial catchment area, has remained in the doldrums so long when clubs in much less favoured locations seem to steam effortlessly past us.

This is very true but what is even more puzzling is that Southport is a town that appreciates sport. It somehow manages to successfully host Championship golf and County cricket. Why is football the loser?

Not sure you can compare once a year county cricket matches and once a decade golf tournaments to a football club that's permanently based here.
What sort of crowds do Southport & Birkdale CC get?
I did attend my first ever game at Southport rugby club last season on a day our game was postponed and there couldn't have been much more than 100-150 there.
Of course people will come from far and wide for county cricket and a British Open.