Manchester club's success shows non-league football experiencing post-pandemic boom

Non-league football in the North has experienced a post-pandemic boom, with fans flocking to games in record numbers.

Supporting a club in the top four divisions of English football costs more now than ever before. Season tickets can cost over £2,000 each, match tickets as much as £97 each, memberships in order to get match tickets £75, replica tops £70, and then TV subscriptions on top of that around £600 a year.

Clubs seem to squeeze fans for cash like the last bit of toothpaste in the tube. Add that to aloof and fabulously wealthy footballers, and it’s not hard to see why fans might start to feel alienated from the sport they love.

And that’s where non-league football comes in, as discussed in Reach's latest North in Numbers podcast:

Northern clubs in tiers nine and 10 of the English football pyramid welcomed a combined total of 544,489 people through their turnstiles this season.

Average gates in the Northern Counties East League - which covers Yorkshire - are up by 28% compared to 2018/19, the last season before the pandemic.

In the Northern League - which covers the North East - they’re up by 16%.

In the North West Counties League - which, unsurprisingly, covers the North West - pre-pandemic figures aren’t available, but its attendances make up more than half of the Northern total.

“I think we've had a very welcome increase,” said Mike Snowdon of the Northern Football League, which covers the North East of England and is the world’s second-oldest league after the EFL.

“Last season was obviously badly affected by the pandemic. But even then, people were just desperate and glad to get out of the house and go and see some football. And I think that's carried on into this season where attendances in the first