Looking ahead to the 2023/24 season as Warrington Town set to create history!

AFTER securing promotion to the National League North, Warrington Town will make history in the new season whatever happens.

The Yellows have brought National League football to the town for the first time, the highest level of football we have ever seen.

That means the likes of Scunthorpe United, who were playing in the Championship less than a decade ago, Hereford and Chester are on the league programme, bringing big followings.

It’s still less than three months since Warrington Town secured promotion with a dramatic late winner in the play-off final in front of a sold out crowd at Cantilever Park.

Off the field, there is plenty of work to be done to adjust to the rise to National League North – upgrades to the ground must be done by March to satisfy the new level’s ground grading criteria, while there are plenty of additional administrative, security and commercial requirements of moving up the leagues.

Fortunately, that pressure has been eased by the fact manager Mark Beesley has been able to retain virtually all of his promotion-winning team, with only Spanish midfielder Stefan Mols having departed the club to join new league rivals Curzon Ashton.

New signings have been few and far between, although both goalkeeper Dan Atherton and highly-rated attacking midfielder Matty Grivosti have returned to the club after a season away.

At least one more permanent signing is expected before the season opener away at Southport, and there is often movement, particularly in the loan market, towards the start of the season.

The pros of keeping a settled squad was evident in the comfortable pre-season win over Morecambe, and it is hoped that this will help the Yellows have a strong start to life in the sixth tier of English football.

Several young players have been blooded in pre-season that Beesley hopes will become the future of Warrington Town, and they could be on the fringes of the first team in National League North while getting experience in the lower leagues on dual-registration or loan.

What are Warrington Town’s chances?

Settled promoted teams tend to do well in the league above, with both Buxton and Scarborough flirting with the play-off places for large parts of last season.

King’s Lynn Town, who beat the Yellows to promotion to National League North in the super play-off in 2019, achieved successive promotions to reach National League.

The tight-knit nature of the Warrington Town squad means that they might fancy a push towards the play-off places and if they can find the consistency they showed in a 22-game unbeaten run at the end of last season, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility.

However, the focus will be establishing the club on and off the field at this level, particularly given the limited resources available.

The bookmakers have unsurprisingly installed Scunthorpe United as the 5/2 favourites to win the league, just ahead of Chester and King’s Lynn.

The Yellows came in at 33/1, placing them 16th, suggesting that they should have more than enough to stay away from the threat of relegation.

Warrington Town 2023/24 fixtures

After a mouth-watering opener not too far away in Southport, the Yellows welcome Blyth Spartans for their first home game, before also hosting Buxton.

They will have to do without skipper Josh Amis for at least the first four games due to suspension, though he may well prove to be an injury doubt beyond that after picking up a knock in the Morecambe friendly.

Acquaintances are renewed with South Shields when they visit town on October 14th and a sell-out is likely when Chester are the visitors on New Year’s Day, less than a week after the reverse fixture is played on Boxing Day.

Aug 5 – Southport (A)
Aug 12 – Blyth Spartans (H)
Aug 15 – Buxton (H)
Aug 19 – Chorley (A)
Aug 26 – Boston United (A)
Aug 28 – Curzon Ashton (H)
Sep 2 – Brackley Town (A)
Sep 5 – Spennymoor Town (H)
Sep 9 – Banbury United (A)
Sep 23 – King’s Lynn Town (H)
Oct 7 – Alfreton Town (A)
Oct 14 – South Shields (H)
Oct 21 – Bishop’s Stortford (A)
Oct 24 – Farsley Celtic (H)
Oct 28 – Peterborough Sports (H)
Nov 4 – Hereford (A)
Nov 7 – Gloucester City (A)
Nov 11 – Rushall Olympic (H)
Nov 14 – Scarborough (H)
Nov 21 – Darlington (A)
Nov 25 – Scunthorpe United (A)
Dec 2 – Tamworth (H)
Dec 16 – King’s Lynn Town (A)
Dec 23 – Banbury United (H)
Dec 26 – Chester (A)
Jan 1 – Chester (H)
Jan 6 – South Shields (H
Jan 13 – Alfreton (H)
Jan 20 – Southport (H)
Jan 23 – Buxton (A)
Jan 27 – Blyth Spartans (A)
Feb 3 – Chorley (H)
Feb 10 – Boston United (H)
Feb 17 – Curzon Ashton (A)
Feb 20 – Spennymoor Town (A)
Feb 24 – Brackley Town (H)
Mar 2 – Bishop’s Stortford (H)
Mar 9 – Peterborough Sports (A)
Mar 12 – Farsley Celtic (A)
Mar 16 – Gloucester City (H)
Mar 23 – Scunthorpe United (H)
Mar 29 – Scarborough (A)
Apr 1 – Darlington (H)
Apr 6 – Tamworth (A)
Apr 13 – Hereford (H)
Apr 20 – Rushall Olympic (A)

Manager Beesley said: “Everyone is looking forward to it. That’s the joy of going up, the first thing you want to talk about is when you are playing the big teams and the local big teams.

“Looking at the fixture list, it’s all real now. There’s still a buzz around, 10 weeks after the play-offs, there’s still a buzz everywhere I go and we’re getting really good support pre-season.

“A good start is important but also having a good end as well, as proved last year losing one in 25! To give everybody confidence and everybody belief, a good start is important but it’s not the be all and end all, because you’ve still got 46 league games.

“We’ve just got to be ready and keep doing what we’re doing.”

Season Tickets remain available to buy to guarantee your place at Cantilever Park, with the club having sold almost double their previous record sales figure.

The club has also announced it will be holding a Season Launch event at the Village Hotel on Wednesday 2nd August, with tickets priced at £10.