The 2009–10 season was the 42nd season for the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

Premier Division, and the third season for the

Division One North and South. For Sponsorship reasons, the leagues were more formally known as the Unibond Premier, Unibond 1st Division North and Unibond 1st Division South This was the last season that the three Northern Premier League divisions were sponsored by Henkel Unibond, ending a record 17 seasons relationship. The final allocations of teams following the 2008–09 season was released on 29 May 2009. With the restructuring of the

national league system The National League System comprises the six levels of the English football league system immediately below the level of the English Football League. It comes under the jurisdiction of the Football Association. The National League System has a ...

complete, all three divisions of the Northern Premier League had their full complement of twenty-two teams until the withdrawal of Newcastle Blue Star (see below).

Premier Division

The Premier Division featured seven new clubs: *

Burscough Burscough () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of West Lancashire, Lancashire, England. The town is located approximately north-northeast of Liverpool and southwest of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. Its north ...

, relegated from the

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

Hucknall Town Hucknall Town Football Club is a football club based in the town of Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, England. The club is a member of the and plays at the RM Stadium. History Hucknall Town were renamed from Hucknall Colliery Welfare in 1987 and for ...

, relegated from the

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

, demoted under stadium quality rules from the

* Durham City, promoted from NPL Division One North *

Newcastle Blue Star Newcastle Blue Star F.C. is a association football, football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was established in 1930 and joined the Wearside League in 1973. In 1978, the club won the FA Vase. They won promotion to the Northern Prem ...

, promoted via play-offs from NPL Division One North *

Retford United Retford United Football Club (also known as 'The Badgers') are an English football club based at Cannon Park in Retford, Nottinghamshire. They currently play in the . History The club was founded in 1987 by Retfordian Brian Jackson to give t ...

, promoted from NPL Division One South * Stocksbridge Park Steels, promoted via play-offs from NPL Division One South

League table

Results

Play-offs

* After extra time

Stadia and locations

Division One North

The Division One North featured three new clubs: *

AFC Fylde AFC Fylde is a professional football club based in Wesham in the Borough of Fylde, Lancashire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Farm. Originally known as Kirkham & Wesham following a merger of Kirkham Town and Wes ...

, promoted as champions from the NWCFL Premier Division * Leigh Genesis, relegated from the NPL Premier Division * Prescot Cables, relegated from the NPL Premier Division

League table

Results

Play-offs

Division One South

The Division One South featured five new clubs: * Witton Albion, relegated from the NPL Premier Division *

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

, demoted under stadium quality rules from the NPL Premier Division * Chasetown, transferred from the Southern League Division One Midlands * Mickleover Sports, promoted as champions from the Northern Counties East League Premier Division *

Market Drayton Market Drayton is a market town and civil parish on the banks of the River Tern in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders. It is located between the towns of Whitchurch, Shropshire, Wh ...

, promoted as champions from the

Midland Football Alliance The Midland Football Alliance was an English association football league for semi-professional teams. It covered Leicestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire and also southern parts of Derbyshire and No ...

League table

Results

Play-offs

Resignations and their effects

On 20 June 2009, three days following the league's AGM which confirmed the 2009–10 allocation, Newcastle Blue Star resigned from the league. As division placements had been confirmed be then, no replacement team could be entered and the Premier Division was reduced to twenty one teams for the season. On 9 December 2009,

were officially wound up by the High Court in London over debts and an overdue tax bill, and they will play no further games in the season. The League released a table on 21 December with King's Lynn's playing record expunged from it, and leaving the Premier Division with twenty clubs and only two relegation spots. Then, in March 2010 Chester City F.C. and Farsley Celtic A.F.C. were removed from the

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

and

respectively. Promotion from the First Divisions to the Premier Division took place as planned. Relegation from the First Divisions to the county level was reduced from the planned two per division to one. Relegation from the Premier Division was reduced from two to one on account of developments in the Conference. The final decision on relegations were made during the close season by the FA's

National League System The National League System comprises the six levels of the English football league system immediately below the level of the English Football League. It comes under the jurisdiction of the Football Association. The National League System has a ...

Committee which left this method completely redundant as Chester City, Farsley Celtic (now Farsley A.F.C.),

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Chadfields in nearby Tilbury. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former ...

(lost their ground),

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of K ...

(expelled), VCD Athletic (ground grade fail) and Rothwell Town (resigned) were all demoted to Level 8.

Cup results

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

: Teams from all 3 divisions. *''Boston United'' 2–0 Retford United President's Cup: Teams from lower 2 divisions. *''Belper Town'' 3–1 Stamford Chairman's Cup: Between Champions of NPL Division One North and NPL Division One South. *Halifax 2–2 ''Mickleover'', Mickleover win 3–1 on Pens

Peter Swales Shield

The Peter Swales Shield has changed format several times, and the 2010 version saw the champions of the 2009–10 NPL Premier Division,

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is an area in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-west ...

, play against the winners of the 2010 NPL Chairman's Cup,

North Ferriby United North Ferriby United Association Football Club was a semi-professional football club in North Ferriby, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. At the time of their demise they were members of the Northern Premier League and played at Grange Lane. F ...

. It was decided before the match that no extra time would be played and would go straight to penalties after regulation. Guiseley won the game 5–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw after 90 minutes.

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial Northern Premier League Match Photo Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:2009-10 Northern Premier League Northern Premier League seasons 7