The hardest mission in English football

What are the key ingredients of National League champions?

When Bromley got promoted to the National League for the 2015/16 season, most rational supporters assumed it would be a one or two season stay at best. 

Bromley were a hybrid part-time side then, training two mornings a week with an optional third morning that many players opted out of, yet the club finished a creditable 14^th place in the league. This was despite a managerial change from Mark Goldberg to Neil Smith in February 2016.

The following four seasons saw Bromley finish between 9^th and 13^th and included a trip to Wembley for the FA Trophy final against Brackley Town in 2018.

In 2021, with 13 games left in the season, Neil Smith was deemed surplus to requirements and Andy Woodman entered the hot seat. Picking up where Neil left off, Andy led Bromley to a 7^th-place finish and their first ever appearance in the National League play-offs. The following season, despite missing out on the play-offs, he lifted the FA Trophy with his hard-grafting team.

This is a long way of saying that Bromley are now an established top-half National League side, albeit without the promotion-challenging pedigree of others. 

But where does that pedigree come from?

Watching Bromley over the last seven seasons has given me an insight into what separates the National League promotion challengers from the also-rans. 

In that time, the following sides have won the National League:

15/16 Cheltenham Town

16/17 Lincoln City

17/18 Macclesfield Town

18/19 Leyton Orient

19/20 Barrow (pandemic halted season)

20/21 Sutton

21/22 Stockport County

While that list doesn’t immediately highlight a common thread, there are trends to be found.

Some of those sides had great goalscorers (Dan Holman, Macauley Bonne, Scott Quigley).

Some had excellent midfield generals (Asa Hall, Alex Woodyard, Danny Whitaker, Jobi McAnuff).

Some had more money than 97% of the league (Stockport County).

Some had luck with no major injuries (Sutton United).

Some possibly benefited from the pandemic’s impact (Barrow, Sutton).

Some played excellent football and popped it about all season (Macclesfield).

Some had a specific style of play that no one ever really figured out (Sutton United, Barrow).

Some had shrewd and experienced non-league gaffers (Gary Johnson, Danny Cowley, Dave Challinor).

You catch my drift.

However, a cursory look at the final league tables from each of those seasons reveals that all of those sides had mean defences. The old adage reads that defences win you championships, and that seems correct where the upper echelons of the National League are concerned.

While goalscoring matters, none of Lincoln City, Macclesfield Town or Leyton Orient were in the league’s top two in that regard. They were very frugal in the goals-conceded column, though.

Perhaps then, rather than recruiting a star striker, the key to National League success begins with the construction of a mean defence. 

In the current 2022/23 season campaign, Notts County and Wrexham top the table on points, and have the 4th and 2nd meanest defences in the league. 6th-placed Southend United have the meanest of all. Southend, however, have scored roughly half as many goals as the table-toppers, who rank 1^st and 2^nd respectively in that column.

It seems to prove that a mean defence on its own isn’t enough, but it gives you a great platform.

I could only find one side in the last seven seasons that ranked as highly as our current table-toppers in terms of goals scored versus conceded. That team was Sutton United, who frankly beat up the division in 20/21 with their smash-mouth style. Should we consider them an anomaly?

Sensing there’s more to it than mere goals scored versus conceded, I asked an Orient-supporting friend what he considered to be the key facets of their title-winning side in 18/19.

He narrowed it down to the following:

• Recruiting the right manager (with excellent knowledge of the division).

• Recruiting a core group of players who have National League promotion experience.

• Recruiting young players who appear too good for the division and have high potential and resale value.

• Ensuring the captain of the squad is a genuine leader who commands respect for what they’ve done in the game and whose place isn’t in question.

I can’t say with certainty that this blueprint is correct, but I applied it to the previous seven National League winners and it held true for the majority.

So what is the secret, I hear you ask? This is the part where Notts County and Wrexham fans prick up their ears.

For me, a humble writer and fan of a solid top-half National League club, it boils down to three things. 

1. The spine of your side must be proven top-tier National League players, or players with so much quality that they can adapt quickly to the level and dominate it.

2. You must have a stingy defence; the type that can get you points when you don’t necessarily deserve them (this is also undoubtedly linked to managers who are tactically astute).

3. The last one is something you can’t throw cash at. From the fans and support staff to the players and coaches, everyone has to buy into the club culture and be aligned with the mission. When I look back at the last seven winners, and I think about our trip to those sides that season, you could sense the promotion energy in the stadium. 

Some will look at the above and call it naïve. Some might also question why I don’t prioritise a goal-scorer as an integral part of promotion. That’s because they aren’t integral. A good side spreads the goals around and won’t need to depend on one guy. 

But let me know your thoughts. How does a team complete English football’s mission impossible and navigate their way out of the National League? 

Let me know in the comments below. 

Editor’s Footnote

This season’s Bromley squad aren’t cut out for promotion and that’s not a bad thing. Take your Raven-tinted glasses off for a second and consider, in the harsh light of a National League day, which players would consistently make the grade in League Two. If you’ve reached more than three or four names, you’re more charitable than me. 

When you watch NL teams on a promotion charge, you sense that the majority of their players could step up and do the business at the next level. That’s the difference.

If Bromley somehow work up a head of steam that earns them promotion this year, you’ll either see a total squad rebuild over the summer or a slower demolition during the season. Machel talked about the club culture being integral to long-term success and I think he’s right. But that culture is hard to maintain when you’re giving your club’s roots a bikini wax. 

I repeat: This season’s Bromley squad aren’t cut out for promotion and that’s not a bad thing. Under Robin Stanton-Gleaves, we’re seeing the slow emergence of a modern, well-integrated football club with a culture of youth development. People are definitely buying into it: just look at all of the young faces around Hayes Lane these days. 

But, as Andy Woodman keeps saying, the squad budget is equivalent to 17th in the league (though that might have something to do with his team’s cup capitulations this year). It’s going to take time, a whole lot of precious time, to build the project up to a level where the squad is bursting with players who are ready to kick on.

The question is, from the boardroom to the terraces, do we have the patience?

Please have the patience.

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