rich_m wrote:
it's 25 years since i lived in the UK so anyone living there may have a more current perspective.
i think there is a big difference between clubs like Wrexham, that were traditionally in the football league, and clubs like Salford City, (or Harrogate for example) that weren't. There would have been thousands of passionate supporters in Wrexham, people who lived and breathed the team. Then they were relegated and put in the same league as the part-timers. Just getting Wrexham back into League 2, then maybe League 1, and staying there would be transformative for the town.
In places where there wasn't traditionally a league club, such as Salford, it will be different. i bet most football fans in Salford are not that invested in Salford City as they already had different football teams they supported before the Man U guys arrived.
I think that's a great point.
I grew up, and now live in, (different) small towns with a 'non-league' clubs as we'd term it in England (and parts of Wales !) - but folks around both would by-and-large support the league team in the big town (small city) 10 miles away as their league team. Whilst my local semi-pro team (in about the 7th tier) getting into the Premiership would be a right larf, folks supporting the nearby league team since they were 3 years old will continue to support that league team. Football support is very tribal compared to almost anything else.
(Anything below the 4th tier - current called 'league 2' - is what would be referred to as 'Non-League' ( yes even non-league still play in leagues ! It's a throwback to when the top 4 tiers were under the control of the 'football league' as a separate organisation / entity to the game's English governing body the Football Association (FA).