Where next for Kettering?

It's been a difficult season for Kettering Town and an especially frustrating one for the club's supporters. An indifferent start in a lower league where we were supposedly one of the favourites and by Boxing Day we were on our third manager of the season and struggling to remain in the top ten.

After a poor start under new boss Kevin Wilson things gradually picked up and Kettering finally managed to achieve an automatic qualification for Conference Division Two next season, despite at one time things looking pretty desperate.

So what will now happen in terms of who and where Kettering will be playing next season. Well the non-league is being restructured and the main affect it has on the Poppies is the formation of two 'new' divisions directly below the present Football Conference, based on geographical locations.

The two Conference (North and South) Division Two leagues will basically consist of a rehash of the 'old' three feeder leagues, namely the Northern Premier, Southern Premier and Isthmian Premier. With the unlucky teams being left a further division lower even though they 'technically' finished above the relegation positions.

It's looking very likely at this time, that Kettering will join the Conference Two North, as the teams that have applied and subsequently qualified are split geographically into the two divisions. However until the play-offs between the non-automatic qualifiers have been completed, nothing is certain.

If it is North, then Kettering will of course be facing 'new opposition' as well as some 'old foes', the likes of Southport, Barrow, Stalybridge, Runcorn, Altrincham and many more. The NPL play-offs are already well underway and the other two leagues' play-offs will begin as soon as their respective seasons end.

The new setup will ensure that once again Kettering supporters will be travelling to new grounds as well as familiar ones, but if it's confirmed as being the North section, it'll then be a case of completely in the opposite direction from this season's away travel and quite a few more miles on the clock for some away fixtures next season.

The final decisions on which teams will be playing in which divisions next season will be made at a meeting of the Conference on Sunday 9th May. The clubs will be informed via letters sent out on Monday 10th and the FA will then make the official announcement on their website on Tuesday 11th May 2004.