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      BLUE SQUARE CONFERENCE 
2011/12
      P W D L F A Pts
 

Leading League goalscorer:
Jamie Vardy
(Fleetwood Town)
 31  goals

The Conference season belonged to Fleetwood Town. A century of both goals and points saw them take the championship and their place in the Football League for the first time. League football at Highbury again!  They also enjoyed a good FA Cup run. After victories over Wycombe and Yeovil they had a dream Third Round draw - at home to near neighbours Blackpool. But the dream turned to a nightmare with Blackpool winning 5-1 at Highbury.

Behind Fleetwood the Conference certainly had a 'Division 5' look about it with a host of ex-League sides fighting for the second promotion place. York City came out on top to reclaim the Football League place they lost in 2004. York beat Luton 2-1 in the play-off final and made it a Wembley double with a 2-0 victory over Newport in the FA Trophy Final.

Well, it was always going to be a memorable season for
Alfreton Town - their first in the Conference. But they enjoyed their 15 minutes of world-wide fame before the competitive season even started. They entertained Sheffield Wednesday in a pre-season friendly - and won 14-0. OK it was a very youthful Wednesday side but hey, the internet is all about headlines and the score was 14-0!

 

   1 Fleetwood Town 46 31 10 5 102 48 103 Promoted
    2 Wrexham 46 30 8 8 85 33 98 Play Off
    3 Mansfield Town 46 25 14 7 87 48 89 Play Off
    4 York City 46 23 14 9 81 45 83 Promoted
    5 Luton Town 46 22 15 9 78 42 81 Play Off
    6 Kidderminster Harriers 46 22 10 14 82 63 76

    7 Southport 46 21 13 12 72 69 76
    8 Gateshead 46 21 11 14 69 62 74
    9 Cambridge United 46 19 14 13 57 41 71
    10 Forest Green Rovers 46 19 13 14 66 45 70
    11 Grimsby Town 46 19 13 14 79 60 70
    12 Braintree Town 46 17 11 18 76 80 62
    13 Barrow 46 17 9 20 62 76 60
    14 Ebbsfleet United 46 14 12 20 69 84 54

    15 Alfreton Town 46 15 9 22 62 86 54
    16 Stockport County 46 12 15 19 58 74 51
    17 Lincoln City 46 13 10 23 56 66 49
    18 Tamworth 46 11 15 20 47 70 48
    19 Newport County 46 11 14 21 53 65 47
    20 AFC Telford 46 10 16 20 45 65 46
    21 Hayes & Yeading United 46 11 8 27 58 90 41 Relegated
    22 Darlington 46 11 13 22 47 73 36 * Relegated
    23 Bath City 46 7 10 29 43 89 31

Relegated
    24 Kettering Town 46 8 9 29 40 100 30 * Relegated
     
   

Promoted Champions Fleetwood Town were promoted automatically to the Football League, Promoted York City were promoted to the Football League through the Conference play-offs. Hereford United and Macclesfield Town were relegated from the Football League to the Conference.

Relegated Hayes & Yeading and Bath City both suffered 'traditional' relegations with both dropping to the Conference South. Sadly the same wasn't true for the other two relegated sides with financial problems.....

* Darlington went into administration for the third time and so suffered a 10 point deduction which put them into a relegation position. They failed to enter into a Creditors Voluntary Agreement to pay off the debts of the club and so suffered a four division relegation, to the Northern League First Division. To make matters worse still they were unable to afford the cost of staying at their magnificent Arena ground and for the start of the 2012/13 season and had to find a ground-share partner - originally Shildon which later changed to Bishop Auckland.

* Kettering Town's financial problems during the season saw them erratic in paying players' wages, they transfer listed all their first team squad and nearly had to play behind closed doors at their Nene Park ground when unable to pay a policing bill. Although avoiding administration they suffered a 3 point penalty when they failed to pay their football creditors and realising they would be unable to afford to compete in the Conference in 2012/13 they resigned from the competition at the end of the season and were accepted into the Premier Division of the Southern League.

The relegated clubs were replaced by Woking (champions) and Dartford (play-offs) from the Conference South and Hyde (champions) and Nuneaton Town (play-offs) from the Conference North.
   
   
Play Off Semi Finals Play Off
1st Leg
Wed May 2 York City 1 - 1 Mansfield Town
Thu May 3 Luton Town 2 - 0 Wrexham
2nd Leg
Mon May 7 Mansfield Town 0 - 1 York City
Mon May 7 Wrexham 2 - 1 Luton Town
Aggregate scores
York City 2 - 1 Mansfield Town
Luton Town 3 - 2 Wrexham
Play Off Final
(at Wembley Stadium)
Sun May 20 York City 2 - 1 Luton Town
York City were promoted to the Football League