Have been looking forward to the big reveal of the new fixtures with more than the usual enthusiasm. This is partly because I just bought a car and partly because I'm moving out of London to Lincolnshire, and so will be much closer to a lot of grounds (or so I thought).
I pulled up a map of the League Two grounds for next season, expecting it to show a heavy northern bias. If anything, the opposite seems to be true:
Other than Cov, bang in the middle, there is a definitely a split between the southern grounds and those in the “north”, although of the 10 grounds in the “north” I’d argue that only 4 are in the “true north” because Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Staffordshire, which account for Notts County, Mansfield, Chesterfield, Grimsby, Lincoln and Port Vale, are actually Midlands counties. The map does show though that they are “northern” compared to the rest of the clubs.
I do wonder if this is the most “south west” heavy season we have ever had – if you lump Newport, just over the border, into “south west” then you have 6 clubs down there. No London days other than Barnet which is barely on the tube and inside the M25 (unless we get a cup game or another Wembley appearance, of course).
For me though it's not all bad news as at least half the grounds will be within easy reach of my new house (down the M1/M11 to Barnet/Stevenage/Cambridge/Luton, Lincoln, Grimsby, or west to Notts, Mansfield or Chesterfield), or from my mum's house in Cheshire (just down the road from Vale and Crewe, an hour from Accrington and Morecambe) and driveable to Carlisle.
Also, have got family in South Wales so would be good combine trips to Newport, FGR, Swindon etc to away days there. My dad lives in Marlow just up the road from Wycombe so that's another easy one.
There are also some places which would be good for a weekend away such as Exeter, Yeovil and Colchester (don't laugh at the latter, had a day out there recently and it's very nice).
All in all, looking forward to it - can't see a crap away day with the possible exception of Crawley....
I pulled up a map of the League Two grounds for next season, expecting it to show a heavy northern bias. If anything, the opposite seems to be true:
Other than Cov, bang in the middle, there is a definitely a split between the southern grounds and those in the “north”, although of the 10 grounds in the “north” I’d argue that only 4 are in the “true north” because Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Staffordshire, which account for Notts County, Mansfield, Chesterfield, Grimsby, Lincoln and Port Vale, are actually Midlands counties. The map does show though that they are “northern” compared to the rest of the clubs.
I do wonder if this is the most “south west” heavy season we have ever had – if you lump Newport, just over the border, into “south west” then you have 6 clubs down there. No London days other than Barnet which is barely on the tube and inside the M25 (unless we get a cup game or another Wembley appearance, of course).
For me though it's not all bad news as at least half the grounds will be within easy reach of my new house (down the M1/M11 to Barnet/Stevenage/Cambridge/Luton, Lincoln, Grimsby, or west to Notts, Mansfield or Chesterfield), or from my mum's house in Cheshire (just down the road from Vale and Crewe, an hour from Accrington and Morecambe) and driveable to Carlisle.
Also, have got family in South Wales so would be good combine trips to Newport, FGR, Swindon etc to away days there. My dad lives in Marlow just up the road from Wycombe so that's another easy one.
There are also some places which would be good for a weekend away such as Exeter, Yeovil and Colchester (don't laugh at the latter, had a day out there recently and it's very nice).
All in all, looking forward to it - can't see a crap away day with the possible exception of Crawley....
