It is written into the West Midlands League constitution that any club not meeting grading criteria will immediately be allowed to groundshare .

Looks like Wellington Ams won't be going up again, for a 4th consecutive season they are finishing in a promotion spot (3 times champs). Maybe if this club started to put more money into ground improvements rather than paying their players obscene amounts of money then they would be in a position to go up. It's about time the league did something about them and threw them out of their league as they are stopping other clubs from progressing.

Looks like Wellington Ams won't be going up again, for a 4th consecutive season they are finishing in a promotion spot (3 times champs). Maybe if this club started to put more money into ground improvements rather than paying their players obscene amounts of money then they would be in a position to go up. It's about time the league did something about them and threw them out of their league as they are stopping other clubs from progressing.

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Having had a look at the ground in Google Earth, Google Maps and FlashEarth.com (with Google being the more up to date coverage) I'm not sure what more they could do to their ground, it appears to be very "hemmed in". GM indicates Sheltered Housing to the west, a road to the north, a primary school & private housing to the east and workshops on the south side of the ground. There appears to be hard standing along two sides of the pitch (east & south), the pitch does appear to be fenced off (I think there are fencepost shadows visible) but apart from some bare minimal parking space by the ground's entrance, the ground perimeter seems very tight on all the three other sides. As trees & hedges don't count towards perimeter fencing I assume the amount of shrubbery that may need to be removed to enclose the ground makes it a "conservational no no". I also presume the proximity of the Sheltered Housing is a significant bar to floodlighting. I wouldn't think it mattered what other facilities they provide on matchday, the lack of ground enclosure and floodlighting is a serious bar to a Step 6 grading. Without ground-sharing, or provision of a site where the club can develop the required facilities Wellington Amateurs will only ever be a Step 7 club.

See it's not always what you can afford to do, sometimes its also what you're allowed to do.

I take it Colin, you haven't been to The Wickes Stadium for a while. There have been massive improvements to the ground and they will continue.

New Changing Rooms, Perimeter fencing a clubhouse and the support pads have been installed at the ground.

We are waiting for a funding decision for the money on floodlights. I know that everybody within the club are working hard to not only keep things running smoothly but also develop the junior section.

We are not one of these clubs that forms and jumps straight into step 7 whilst using a ground share and don't develop a club or give back to the community.

I seem to remember somebody with a same name who used to post on Shrop Footy under the same name. He was forever having a go at the Amateurs for this that and the other. He left when people started to have a go back at him about his negative comments. He was one of these people who ran a sunday league side for a couple of seasons and it inflated his ego.

Mods note - please take comments on this forum as that. Do not criticise them for something the same person may or may not have written elsewhere. Refer to the poster by the name posted and accept that name. There is nothing wrong with using the name Colin (unless, perhaps you are really Neil Warnock)

Heard from a source close to the committee that at tomorrows AGM, Wellington Amateurs (apparently lights are sorted) and AFC Wombourne (share with AFC Wulfs) are being recommended for promotion to the Premier, Willenhall will be replacing Gornal and Stafford swapping with Bartley Green from Mid Comb.

If above true, then I assume Darlaston and Bromyard will be getting relegated?

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That seems starnge as i'm pretty certain that Wellington Ams didn't have their lights installed by the end of March which is the deadline.

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Not sure details but at end April special meeting, all clubs were told by the league Chief Exec that they needed to have proof that contracts had been signed for lights and they would be operational for early next season.

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Still it seems one rule for one and one for another. Ground Grading documents from the FA clearly state the deadline is the end of March, why are the West Midlands League making their own rules?

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The deadline is the end of March in the season after promotion. Technically you only need the grade for the level you're in, except for step 5 to step 4 (where a grade E is required rather than the F for step 5), a few qualifications between step 2 & 1, and promotion into the Football League. However, it would be rather silly, both for the club and the league if a potential promotee does not have a pretty strong likelihood of obtaining the grade, particularly with floodlights, both on a planning permission and funding basis. So reasonable for the league to insist that some guarantees are in place that the work will be done, if promotion is approved.

Proposed line up for next season as presented at tonight's AGM :

Premier Division (22 teams)

AFC Wulfrunians
Bartley Green (transferred from Midland Combination with Stafford Town going the other way)
Bewdley Town
Black Country Rangers
Bromyard Town
Bustleholme
Cradley Town
Darlaston Town
Dudley Sports
Dudley Town
Lye Town
Malvern Town
Pegasus Juniors
Shawbury United
Shifnal Town
Sporting Khalsa
Wolverhampton Casuals
Wolverhampton Sporting
Wednesfield
Wellington
Wellington Amateurs (accepted as the League has written confirmation from contractors that floodlights will be installed and operational by 1st September)
Willenhall

Division 1 (18 teams)

AFC Smethwick
AFC Wombourne United
Bilston Town (2007)
Blackheath Town
Bridgnorth Town Reserves
Hanwood United
Haughmond
Leominster Town
Mahal
Penncroft
St. Martins
Shenstone Pathfinder
Stone Old Alleynians
Trysull
Wolverhampton United
Warstones Wanderers
Wem Town
Wyrley

Division 2 (18 teams - new additions in bold)

Bartestree
Ettingshall Park Farm
Gornal Athletic Reserves
Hereford Lads Club
Ledbury Town
Mahal Reserves
Malvern Rangers
Malvern Town reserves
Newport Town
Penkridge Town
Punjab United
Red Star Alma
Riverway
Sikh Hunters
Team Dudley
Tenbury United
Wolverhampton Sporting Reserves
Wrens Nest

A few points to note :

Lots of these teams will be groundsharing.Unfortunately the list I have doesn't have details of the groundshares on as it's a handwritten copy of an original.

The Premier Division constitution was accepted.However, Penkridge raised an objection that teams who finished below them had been promoted ahead of them and the first they found out about it was at this meeting.The thinking behind this was to move teams from near the top of Division 2 into Division 1 to create space for the 7 new applicants and to give equal numbers in Divs 1 and 2.There was a long and involved discussion which basically meant a decision was deferred on which division Penkridge will be in next season.The League will be discussing matters further with Penkridge but it seems that Penkridge probably don't meet the ground grading criteria for promotion whereas the other promoted teams do.

Of the 18 teams in division 1 only 3 (Hanwood, Shenstone & Wolverhampton Utd) do not have lights.There was a clear steer that with larger divisions 1 and 2 next season those who do have lights will probably play more midweek matches.

Malvern Rangers will be playing at 'an acadamy' - presumably Malvern College - but there are no floodlights.

Punjab United will be playing at 'an academy' in Pendeford - presumably the Business and Enterprise College.

The season will start on August 4th with a finish date of 27th April but with the possibility of extending this for a fortnight 'in exceptional circumstances'.

The March of promotion is the deadline, so in this case it would have been March 2012.