Conference Premier promotion map - 2008-09 season

Bill Turianski is back with an end-of-season map of the the 2008-09 Football Conference, also known as the Blue Square Premier League. The Conference is the 5th tier of English football, the top level of the non-league pyramid. The league was founded in 1979 as the Alliance Premier League, incorporating many leading non-league clubs from the Northern Premier League and the Southern League. Along with changing its name to the Football Conference in the 1986-87 season the league champion was granted automatic promotion to the Football League. From the 2002-03 season a second club receives promotion, the winner of a playoff between the clubs finishing 2nd through 5th. And starting with the 2004-05 season a second tier of the Football Conference was created, split into two regional groups, the Conference North and Conference South. The league is formally known as the Blue Square Premier League after title sponsor Blue Square, a gambling consortium.

Earning automatic promotion by winning the Football Conference are Burton Albion from the Staffordshire town of Burton. Led for many years by Nigel Clough, Burton Albion narrowly avoided one of the worst collapes in football history. The Brewers had a huge lead at the mid-point of the season but had to sweat until the very last day of promotion before clinching the championship.

Of the four clubs battling for the second spot, two are former Football League clubs looking to bounce back while the other two are aiming to make their League debut next-season. Torquay United have spent an anonymous 73 years in the bottom two tiers of the Football League while Cambridge United have 35 years in the League under their belt, including eight in the second-tier as recently as 1992. Cambridge United lost in the promotion playoff last season, had the highest average attendance of the four clubs and finished second place. Surely they start as favorites.

The two teams aiming for Football League debuts share remarkably little. Stevenage Borough have a long history in the Conference and in fact once won the league but were denied promotion when their ground failed to pass inspection. Meanwhile tiny little Histon from just north of Cambridge have spent only two years in the Football Conference, finishing 7th place last year and now in the mix for a chance to climb into the big-time. They also knocked off mighty Leeds United in the FA Cup this season.

Lots more details to see by clicking on the map below to see it full-size.

Bill Turianski runs the website Bill's Sports Maps - which features many, many maps, profiles of teams and a whole lot more.