1988–89 Football Conference

Football Conference
Season1988–89[1]
ChampionsMaidstone United (2nd Football Conference title)
Promoted to the Football LeagueMaidstone United
Conference League Cup winnersYeovil Town
FA Trophy winnersTelford United
Relegated to
Level 6/Folded		Weymouth,
Newport County
Matches played420
Goals scored1,236 (2.94 per match)
Top goalscorerSteve Butler (Maidstone United), 26;
Mark Gall (Maidstone United), 26
Biggest home winMaidstone United – Altrincham 7–2 (27 August 1988);
Wycombe Wanderers – Stafford Rangers 6–1 (11 February 1989);
Boston United – Barnet 5–0 (29 October 1988);
Maidstone United – Yeovil Town 5–0 (22 October 1988);
Runcorn – Aylesbury 5–0 (3 December 1988);
Welling United – Aylesbury 5–0 (12 October 1988)
Biggest away winBoston United – Runcorn 0–6 (28 September 1988)
Highest scoringMaidstone United – Altrincham 7–2 (27 August 1988);
Kidderminster Harriers – Maidstone United 3–6 (8 April 1989)
Longest winning runBoston United, Chorley, Maidstone, Runcorn, 6 matches
Longest unbeaten runMaidstone, 17 matches
Longest losing runFisher Athletic, 6 matches
Highest attendanceWycombe Wanderers v Kettering Town, 4,890 (8 April 1989)
Lowest attendance?
Average attendance1195 (– 4% compared to previous season)

The Football Conference season of 1988–89 (known as the GM Vauxhall Conference for sponsorship reasons) was the tenth season of the Football Conference.

It was the third season that the champions of the Conference were automatically promoted to the Football League after the abolition of the election system.

Overview

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Maidstone United, who had been Conference champions once earlier in the decade and once the runners-up, were finally promoted to the Football League Fourth Division after gaining their second title at this level.

Newport County, the club newly relegated to the Conference from the Football League, were wound up due to debts on 27 February 1989. They were then expelled from the Conference for failing to fulfil their fixtures; their record was expunged.

New teams in the league this season

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Final league table

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Pos Team Pld HW HD HL HGF HGA AW AD AL AGF AGA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Maidstone United 40 12 5 3 48 22 13 4 3 44 24 +46 84 Football Conference Champions, promoted to Football League Fourth Division
2 Kettering Town 40 16 1 3 35 15 7 6 7 21 24 +17 76
3 Boston United 40 12 3 5 36 28 10 5 5 25 23 +10 74
4 Wycombe Wanderers 40 9 7 4 34 25 11 4 5 34 27 +16 71
5 Kidderminster Harriers 40 10 4 6 32 32 11 2 7 36 25 +11 69
6 Runcorn 40 11 3 6 39 22 8 5 7 38 31 +24 65
7 Macclesfield Town 40 9 5 6 31 26 8 5 7 32 31 +6 61
8 Barnet 40 11 2 7 36 30 7 5 8 28 39 −5 61
9 Yeovil Town[a] 40 8 5 7 34 30 7 6 7 34 37 +1 56 Conference League Cup winners
10 Northwich Victoria 40 8 5 7 31 30 6 6 8 33 35 −1 53
11 Welling United 40 8 6 6 27 16 6 5 9 18 30 −1 53
12 Sutton United 40 10 5 5 43 26 2 10 8 21 28 +10 51
13 Enfield 40 7 4 9 33 32 7 4 9 29 35 −5 50
14 Altrincham 40 6 8 6 24 23 7 2 11 27 38 −10 49
15 Cheltenham Town 40 7 7 6 32 29 5 5 10 23 29 −3 48
16 Telford United 40 5 5 10 17 24 8 4 8 20 19 −6 48 FA Trophy winners
17 Chorley[a] 40 6 4 10 26 32 7 2 11 31 39 −14 45
18 Fisher Athletic 40 6 4 10 31 32 4 7 9 24 33 −10 41
19 Stafford Rangers 40 7 4 9 27 32 4 3 13 22 42 −25 40 [b]
20 Aylesbury United[a] 40 7 4 9 27 30 2 5 13 16 41 −28 36 Relegated to the Isthmian League
21 Weymouth 40 6 7 7 27 30 1 3 16 10 40 −33 31 Relegated to the Southern League
– Newport County 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Expelled[c]
Source: [1]
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c New club in the Conference
  2. ^ Stafford Rangers were reprieved from relegation due to Newport County's expulsion.
  3. ^ Newport County were expelled from the Conference and their record was expunged.

Results

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Home \ Away ALT AYL BAR BOS CHL CHO ENF FIS KET KID MAC MDS NOR RUN STA SUT TEL WEL WEY WYC YEO
Altrincham 1–0 1–1 0–0 0–1 1–2 0–0 1–1 1–2 3–1 1–3 0–1 2–2 1–2 2–1 1–0 0–0 3–1 2–1 2–2 2–2
Aylesbury United 1–2 1–3 1–2 0–0 4–3 2–1 1–1 0–1 1–5 1–2 1–2 2–0 1–2 1–1 1–0 2–0 0–0 4–1 0–2 3–2
Barnet 3–0 1–0 0–0 3–1 2–4 2–1 2–3 3–2 0–2 1–4 2–1 2–0 3–2 1–2 1–1 1–3 2–3 4–1 1–0 2–0
Boston United 3–1 2–0 5–0 1–1 2–0 3–2 2–4 1–1 0–2 3–2 1–4 2–1 0–6 2–1 3–1 1–0 2–0 2–0 0–1 1–1
Cheltenham Town 2–1 0–0 1–2 3–1 2–2 3–2 2–2 2–1 4–1 3–0 0–4 2–2 2–1 1–2 2–3 0–1 1–1 1–1 0–1 1–1
Chorley 1–0 1–1 2–3 0–1 1–4 1–2 1–1 0–1 1–3 0–1 1–3 3–1 1–3 3–1 2–1 2–0 1–1 0–0 3–2 2–3
Enfield 2–1 2–1 4–0 1–2 3–4 1–2 2–1 1–1 1–3 2–1 1–1 1–2 0–3 4–2 1–1 0–1 0–1 3–0 3–4 1–1
Fisher Athletic 1–1 0–2 1–2 1–3 2–0 4–0 1–2 3–0 2–0 2–2 0–2 2–4 0–1 0–1 1–1 0–1 1–3 3–2 3–3 4–2
Kettering Town 0–1 5–2 3–1 1–2 2–0 3–0 0–1 2–1 2–1 1–0 3–3 2–1 2–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 2–1 1–0 2–1 1–0
Kidderminster Harriers 2–3 4–3 1–0 0–2 3–2 0–2 1–3 2–1 1–1 0–1 3–6 1–1 2–1 3–2 1–0 1–1 2–1 1–0 2–0 2–2
Macclesfield Town 1–0 3–1 1–1 0–1 0–0 3–2 1–1 2–2 0–1 1–1 4–3 0–2 3–2 2–1 1–3 2–1 3–0 2–0 0–1 2–3
Maidstone United 7–2 1–1 3–2 3–0 2–0 2–0 3–1 1–0 0–0 0–3 3–3 4–1 2–2 3–0 1–1 1–3 3–0 3–0 1–3 5–0
Northwich Victoria 4–3 1–1 1–1 0–1 1–0 0–4 2–2 3–0 1–1 2–4 3–2 2–0 0–1 1–1 4–2 1–0 0–2 2–0 2–3 1–2
Runcorn 3–0 5–0 3–0 1–2 2–1 3–0 1–2 1–1 2–1 1–3 2–2 0–1 3–1 4–1 2–1 0–0 1–2 1–0 2–3 2–1
Stafford Rangers 0–2 3–1 1–2 4–1 1–1 3–2 3–1 0–1 2–1 0–1 1–1 0–2 0–1 0–4 1–1 1–3 3–0 1–0 1–1 2–6
Sutton United 3–2 5–2 5–1 0–0 1–1 1–2 3–1 2–1 0–2 1–1 1–2 1–1 3–3 3–1 2–0 1–2 0–1 3–1 3–0 5–2
Telford United 0–1 0–1 0–3 0–1 2–0 2–1 3–0 1–1 0–1 1–0 1–3 1–2 1–4 1–1 2–2 0–0 0–0 1–0 1–2 0–1
Welling United 0–0 5–0 1–1 3–2 0–2 1–0 0–0 3–1 2–1 0–1 2–0 0–0 0–0 4–0 1–3 1–1 0–1 4–0 0–1 0–2
Weymouth 1–3 0–0 1–1 2–2 3–2 2–3 2–3 1–0 3–0 3–1 1–2 1–3 2–2 1–1 1–0 2–2 0–0 1–0 0–3 0–2
Wycombe Wanderers 2–1 1–0 2–3 2–1 1–0 1–1 3–2 3–0 0–1 1–0 1–1 2–3 1–4 3–3 6–1 2–2 1–0 1–1 0–0 1–1
Yeovil Town 2–3 1–0 2–1 1–1 1–3 2–1 1–2 1–2 2–2 1–3 2–0 1–2 2–1 2–2 2–0 0–0 4–3 4–0 2–3 1–1
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Jack Rollin (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1989–80. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald Futura Publishers, London & Sydney, 1989.[1]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
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Locations of the Football Conference teams 1987–1988
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Locations of the Football Conference teams 1988–1989

Top scorers

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Rank Player Club League FA Cup FA Trophy League Cup Total[1]
1 Steve Butler Maidstone United 26 0 0 1 27
= Mark Gall Maidstone United 26 2 0 1 29
3 Chris Camden Stafford Rangers 23 9 0 2 34
= Mark Carter Runcorn 23 0 0 1 24
5 Ken Charlery Maidstone United 22 4 0 0 26
6 Steve Burr Macclesfield Town 21 0 5 0 26
= Don Page Runcorn 21 1 0 3 25
8 Paul Davies Kidderminster Harriers 20 1 0 4 25
= Lenny Dennis Sutton United 20 3 1 5 29
= Mark West Wycombe Wanderers 20 4 2 0 26
11 Ronnie Ellis Altrincham 18 2 0 0 20
= Derrick Parker Northwich Victoria 18 2 2 0 22
13 Phil Power Chorley 16 1 0 0 17
= Guy Whittingham Yeovil Town 16 0 0 0 16
15 Chris Cook Boston United 15 6 1 1 23
= Dean Neal Fisher Athletic 15 6 0 0 21
= Paul Wilson Boston United 15 5 1 0 21
18 Frank Murphy Barnet 14 2 0 2 18
= Malcolm O'Connor Northwich Victoria 14 6 1 1 22
20 Gary Abbott Enfield 13 4 1 0 18
= Phil Derbyshire Macclesfield Town 13 0 0 0 13
= Ernie Moss Kettering Town 13 1 3 0 17

Promotion and relegation

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Relegated

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Jack Rollin (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1989–90. Queen Anne Press, MacDonald & Co., London and Sydney, 1989.
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