Which National League team has the best shot at...?

[jcp1417]

I'm looking to starting a save with a club in the National League, North, or South that has the most realistic chance at developing into a Premier League club. Would it be another club from the London area, Manchester, or somewhere else? Any suggestions?

[JordanMilly]

Well, the team currently in the National League that has been the highest up the league, to my knowledge, is Yeovil Town, as they were up in the Championship only 7 years ago.

[djp1980]

Notts County. 

Oldest professional club in the world. Founder member of the football league. They have played top flight football, albeit the last time was in 1991/92.

 

[jcp1417]

10 minutes ago, djp1980 said:

Notts County. 

Oldest professional club in the world. Founder member of the football league. They have played top flight football, albeit the last time was in 1991/92.

 

Solid choice!

[haslertweets]

Notts County is a good shout

York City also deserve a mention, they should be in a higher league.

[djp1980]

Hartlepool (My team Wednesday beat them in a play-off final back in 2005) Hartlepool were ten minutes away from the Championship.

Barrow, Southport, Bradford Park Avenue (All Ex league clubs back in the 60's)

Darlington, Halifax, Chester, Hereford all came back from financial crisis having once been Football League clubs.

You've got Maidstone, Aldershot, Wrexham and of course Stockport.

Torquay, Dagenham & Redbridge, Chesterfield and Barnet are all clubs who've been in the league, with Chesterfield certainly the biggest from those four names.

Notts County and York gives you a huge choice of clubs to consider.

 

My top five in terms of size, history and potential would be..

Notts County

Wrexham

Chesterfield

York

Stockport

 

 

 

 

[jcp1417]

50 minutes ago, djp1980 said:

Hartlepool (My team Wednesday beat them in a play-off final back in 2005) Hartlepool were ten minutes away from the Championship.

Barrow, Southport, Bradford Park Avenue (All Ex league clubs back in the 60's)

Darlington, Halifax, Chester, Hereford all came back from financial crisis having once been Football League clubs.

You've got Maidstone, Aldershot, Wrexham and of course Stockport.

Torquay, Dagenham & Redbridge, Chesterfield and Barnet are all clubs who've been in the league, with Chesterfield certainly the biggest from those four names.

Notts County and York gives you a huge choice of clubs to consider.

 

My top five in terms of size, history and potential would be..

Notts County

Wrexham

Chesterfield

York

Stockport

 

 

 

 

Those are all good choices for league teams, but which ones have the best chance at sticking in the PREM? 

[djp1980]

Notts County

They've got a ground that's good enough for the Championship to start with.

[Kanwulf]

Aldershot because I used to be a ST holder so you should just do it.

[allezdae]

Very hard to tell who could stick around in the Premier League - not that long ago we might not have considered Bournemouth as being "big" enough to sustain a club that high for so long. Clubs like Leeds and Sunderland have been below where many think they "should" be for a long time. 

Basically, any club that is well-run and has a bit of luck has a good chance of achieving what you want. But you can never really know!

My suggestions would be the same as above really - Notts County are founder members of the League with a good fanbase, Stockport is a big area for potential with the population of Greater Manchester being enough to support a third "big" team at the top (Bolton have shown this in the past).

Chester, Wrexham, York all clubs with decent enough infrastructure and from big enough places to support a club higher up the pyramid.

[Nobby_McDonald]

On 24/03/2020 at 21:38, djp1980 said:

Hartlepool (My team Wednesday beat them in a play-off final back in 2005) Hartlepool were ten minutes away from the Championship.

Barrow, Southport, Bradford Park Avenue (All Ex league clubs back in the 60's)

Darlington, Halifax, Chester, Hereford all came back from financial crisis having once been Football League clubs.

You've got Maidstone, Aldershot, Wrexham and of course Stockport.

Torquay, Dagenham & Redbridge, Chesterfield and Barnet are all clubs who've been in the league, with Chesterfield certainly the biggest from those four names.

Notts County and York gives you a huge choice of clubs to consider.

 

My top five in terms of size, history and potential would be..

Notts County

Wrexham

Chesterfield

York

Stockport

 

 

 

 

You've pretty much listed every former Football League team, or new versions of the former club.

Two to look out for in my opinion are AFC Fylde and Harrogate Town. Fylde have been on the rise for a number of seasons and have superb facilities for the level they play at. Harrogate meanwhile have come on leaps and bounds in the past couple of seasons and have the potential to go further.