For Glossop North End, who find themselves just on the wrong side of the dividing line, that means no more league encounters with Tameside neighbours. Instead of meeting Droylsden or Mossley on Boxing Day they could now face Sheffield or Belper.
Yet their situation isn’t without precedent. In 1997, after relegation from the NPL, Curzon Ashton found themselves cast into the Northern Counties (East) League rather than the North West Counties League.
It was a decision that compounded a host of difficulties the club was experiencing at the time. The story started in 1995 when Blackpool businessman Stuart Kay joined the Nash as chairman and made an immediate impact.
Practically his first move was to sack manager Taffy Jones. Fans were shocked but at first he looked like he might be exactly the kind of new broom Curzon needed if they were to complete the transition from a group of subs-paying amateurs to a properly functioning semi-professional outfit.
Impressive plans to make National Park a community facility were actually ahead of their time, and new boss Derek Brownbill, a former Liverpool player who had been in charge at Warrington, seemed to have a winning formula. There were long periods when the Nash looked like promotion contenders.
However, behind the scenes, there was growing discord. Brownbill, sensing what was in the air, quit as soon as the season ended, but it was only at the start of the following campaign that the cracks began to show.
Yet although the boardroom split had become apparent, Curzon still got off to a good start. Now managed by another Liverpudlian, Terry McLean, who had previously been at Vauxhall, they got off to a good start. But it didn’t last. In September McLean resigned and Kay was ousted.
Sadly, the divisions remained and despite the new boss being Dave Denby, who had led Ashton United to four trophies in 1991-92, including an NWCL clean sweep, the Nash plunged into disaster. Denby resigned in March, to be replaced by Ged Coyne, but nothing could halt the collapse. Curzon finished third-bottom and went down with Warrington and Atherton LR.
The general assumption — at least among average fans — was that all three clubs would drop into the NWCL. It wasn’t to be. Curzon were made to play in the Northern Counties (East) League.
It was a decision that seemed to defy logic but some people claimed they could make sense of it. They said it was Eric Hinchliffe’s revenge for Curzon’s decision to leave the NWCL in 1987 to join the new NPL first division.
Eric — a Cheshire League secretary and NWCL president — died in 1999 and cannot speak for himself, but he was clearly a divisive figure. His detractors would say that he neither forgave nor forgot.
When the NPL mooted its plan to extend to two divisions, clubs who wanted to join had to resign from their own league. Ashton United did so, were rejected by the Prem, and then found they couldn’t return to the NWCL rejected because the inspection committee said the main stand at Hurst Cross was sub-standard — even though it had been acceptable when Ashton were playing in the same competition only a few weeks before.
Rightly or wrongly, people blamed Eric Hinchliffe. Chief among them was veteran Robins correspondent DCN Jones who then hit back at every opportunity. Years later his match reports would suddenly go off on a tangent, ignoring events on the pitch to have a go at Eric.
Dai loved Ashton United. He had covered them since their pre-war days as Hurst and it hurt him badly to think they might be forced to fold. He also had his own individual sense of injustice. Fortunately, Tameside Council came to the rescue with a new stand.
Furious Curzon officials, who blamed Eric Hinchliffe just as much as DCN Jones, saw all their appeals ignored. Despite the distances involved, and the fact they were very evidently a North West club, they were banished east of the Pennines.
The season proved just as bad as everyone feared. The Nash, managed by Coyne and then Micky Halliday and Kojoe Taylor, never got to grips with the style of play. Each club had two very sturdy full-backs who incessantly hammered the ball forward to an extremely speedy striker. Glossop may find things have changed in the ensuing 20 years.
At the end, there was only a point in it, but the Nash suffered a second, successive relegation. This time at least it was back to the NWCL, albeit the second division.
There were some good points though — at least for me as Curzon’s match reporter. I got to see some interesting grounds such as Thackley, Hallam and Pickering, and watch the Nash face Sheffield at the Don Valley Stadium, a place with a capacity of 25,000 and only around 25 people in it.
I even got to sample the curious Yorkshire tradition of eating cheese with Christmas cake. That was at Eccleshill.
And while Yorkshire will never be better than Lancashire, I have to admit their football clubs do provide first-class tea and sausage rolls.
Hopefully Glossop’s return to civilisation will be as fast as Curzon’s — but going in the right direction.