1988–89 Football Conference

Football Conference

Season	1988–89
Champions	Maidstone United (2nd Football Conference title)
Promoted to the Football League	Maidstone United
Conference League Cup winners	Yeovil Town
FA Trophy winners	Telford United
Relegated to Level 6/Folded	Weymouth, Newport County
Matches played	420
Goals scored	1,236 (2.94 per match)
Top goalscorer	Steve Butler (Maidstone United), 26; Mark Gall (Maidstone United), 26
Biggest home win	Maidstone United – Altrincham 7–2 (27 August 1988); Wycombe Wanderers – Stafford Rangers 6–1 (11 February 1989); Boston United – Barnet 5–0 (29 October 1988); Maidstone United – Yeovil Town 5–0 (22 October 1988); Runcorn – Aylesbury 5–0 (3 December 1988); Welling United – Aylesbury 5–0 (12 October 1988)
Biggest away win	Boston United – Runcorn 0–6 (28 September 1988)
Highest scoring	Maidstone United – Altrincham 7–2 (27 August 1988); Kidderminster Harriers – Maidstone United 3–6 (8 April 1989)
Longest winning run	Boston United, Chorley, Maidstone, Runcorn, 6 matches
Longest unbeaten run	Maidstone, 17 matches
Longest losing run	Fisher Athletic, 6 matches
Highest attendance	Wycombe Wanderers v Kettering Town, 4,890 (8 April 1989)
Lowest attendance	?
Average attendance	1195 (– 4% compared to previous season)
← 1987–88 1989–90 →

The Football Conference season of 1988–89 (known as the GM Vauxhall Conference for sponsorship reasons) was the tenth season of the Football Conference.

It was the third season that the champions of the Conference were automatically promoted to the Football League after the abolition of the election system.

Overview

Maidstone United, who had been Conference champions once earlier in the decade and once the runners-up, were finally promoted to the Football League Fourth Division after gaining their second title at this level.

Newport County, the club newly relegated to the Conference from the Football League, were wound up due to debts on 27 February 1989. They were then expelled from the Conference for failing to fulfil their fixtures; their record was expunged.

New teams in the league this season

• Aylesbury United (promoted 1987–88)
• Chorley (promoted 1987–88)
• Newport County (relegated from the Football League 1987–88)
• Yeovil Town (promoted 1987–88)

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Maidstone United	40	12	5	3	48	22	13	4	3	44	24	+46	84	Football Conference Champions, promoted to Football League Fourth Division
2	Kettering Town	40	16	1	3	35	15	7	6	7	21	24	+17	76
3	Boston United	40	12	3	5	36	28	10	5	5	25	23	+10	74
4	Wycombe Wanderers	40	9	7	4	34	25	11	4	5	34	27	+16	71
5	Kidderminster Harriers	40	10	4	6	32	32	11	2	7	36	25	+11	69
6	Runcorn	40	11	3	6	39	22	8	5	7	38	31	+24	65
7	Macclesfield Town	40	9	5	6	31	26	8	5	7	32	31	+6	61
8	Barnet	40	11	2	7	36	30	7	5	8	28	39	−5	61
9	Yeovil Town	40	8	5	7	34	30	7	6	7	34	37	+1	56	Conference League Cup winners
10	Northwich Victoria	40	8	5	7	31	30	6	6	8	33	35	−1	53
11	Welling United	40	8	6	6	27	16	6	5	9	18	30	−1	53
12	Sutton United	40	10	5	5	43	26	2	10	8	21	28	+10	51
13	Enfield	40	7	4	9	33	32	7	4	9	29	35	−5	50
14	Altrincham	40	6	8	6	24	23	7	2	11	27	38	−10	49
15	Cheltenham Town	40	7	7	6	32	29	5	5	10	23	29	−3	48
16	Telford United	40	5	5	10	17	24	8	4	8	20	19	−6	48	FA Trophy winners
17	Chorley	40	6	4	10	26	32	7	2	11	31	39	−14	45
18	Fisher Athletic	40	6	4	10	31	32	4	7	9	24	33	−10	41
19	Stafford Rangers	40	7	4	9	27	32	4	3	13	22	42	−25	40
20	Aylesbury United	40	7	4	9	27	30	2	5	13	16	41	−28	36	Relegated to the Isthmian League
21	Weymouth	40	6	7	7	27	30	1	3	16	10	40	−33	31	Relegated to the Southern League
–	Newport County	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Expelled

Source:
Notes:

Results

Home \ Away	ALT	AYL	BAR	BOS	CHL	CHO	ENF	FIS	KET	KID	MAC	MDS	NOR	RUN	STA	SUT	TEL	WEL	WEY	WYC	YEO
Altrincham		1–0	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	1–2	3–1	1–3	0–1	2–2	1–2	2–1	1–0	0–0	3–1	2–1	2–2	2–2
Aylesbury United	1–2		1–3	1–2	0–0	4–3	2–1	1–1	0–1	1–5	1–2	1–2	2–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–0	4–1	0–2	3–2
Barnet	3–0	1–0		0–0	3–1	2–4	2–1	2–3	3–2	0–2	1–4	2–1	2–0	3–2	1–2	1–1	1–3	2–3	4–1	1–0	2–0
Boston United	3–1	2–0	5–0		1–1	2–0	3–2	2–4	1–1	0–2	3–2	1–4	2–1	0–6	2–1	3–1	1–0	2–0	2–0	0–1	1–1
Cheltenham Town	2–1	0–0	1–2	3–1		2–2	3–2	2–2	2–1	4–1	3–0	0–4	2–2	2–1	1–2	2–3	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–1
Chorley	1–0	1–1	2–3	0–1	1–4		1–2	1–1	0–1	1–3	0–1	1–3	3–1	1–3	3–1	2–1	2–0	1–1	0–0	3–2	2–3
Enfield	2–1	2–1	4–0	1–2	3–4	1–2		2–1	1–1	1–3	2–1	1–1	1–2	0–3	4–2	1–1	0–1	0–1	3–0	3–4	1–1
Fisher Athletic	1–1	0–2	1–2	1–3	2–0	4–0	1–2		3–0	2–0	2–2	0–2	2–4	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–3	3–2	3–3	4–2
Kettering Town	0–1	5–2	3–1	1–2	2–0	3–0	0–1	2–1		2–1	1–0	3–3	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–0
Kidderminster Harriers	2–3	4–3	1–0	0–2	3–2	0–2	1–3	2–1	1–1		0–1	3–6	1–1	2–1	3–2	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–0	2–2
Macclesfield Town	1–0	3–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	3–2	1–1	2–2	0–1	1–1		4–3	0–2	3–2	2–1	1–3	2–1	3–0	2–0	0–1	2–3
Maidstone United	7–2	1–1	3–2	3–0	2–0	2–0	3–1	1–0	0–0	0–3	3–3		4–1	2–2	3–0	1–1	1–3	3–0	3–0	1–3	5–0
Northwich Victoria	4–3	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–4	2–2	3–0	1–1	2–4	3–2	2–0		0–1	1–1	4–2	1–0	0–2	2–0	2–3	1–2
Runcorn	3–0	5–0	3–0	1–2	2–1	3–0	1–2	1–1	2–1	1–3	2–2	0–1	3–1		4–1	2–1	0–0	1–2	1–0	2–3	2–1
Stafford Rangers	0–2	3–1	1–2	4–1	1–1	3–2	3–1	0–1	2–1	0–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	0–4		1–1	1–3	3–0	1–0	1–1	2–6
Sutton United	3–2	5–2	5–1	0–0	1–1	1–2	3–1	2–1	0–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	3–3	3–1	2–0		1–2	0–1	3–1	3–0	5–2
Telford United	0–1	0–1	0–3	0–1	2–0	2–1	3–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–3	1–2	1–4	1–1	2–2	0–0		0–0	1–0	1–2	0–1
Welling United	0–0	5–0	1–1	3–2	0–2	1–0	0–0	3–1	2–1	0–1	2–0	0–0	0–0	4–0	1–3	1–1	0–1		4–0	0–1	0–2
Weymouth	1–3	0–0	1–1	2–2	3–2	2–3	2–3	1–0	3–0	3–1	1–2	1–3	2–2	1–1	1–0	2–2	0–0	1–0		0–3	0–2
Wycombe Wanderers	2–1	1–0	2–3	2–1	1–0	1–1	3–2	3–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	2–3	1–4	3–3	6–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	0–0		1–1
Yeovil Town	2–3	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–3	2–1	1–2	1–2	2–2	1–3	2–0	1–2	2–1	2–2	2–0	0–0	4–3	4–0	2–3	1–1

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Jack Rollin (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1989–80. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald Futura Publishers, London & Sydney, 1989.
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Altrincham

Aylesbury

Barnet

Boston United

Cheltenham Town

Chorley

Enfield

Fisher Athletic

Kettering Town

Kidderminster Harriers

Macclesfield Town

Maidstone United

Newport County

Northwich Victoria

Runcorn F.C. Halton

Stafford Rangers

Sutton

Telford United

Welling United

Weymouth

Wycombe Wanderers

Yeovil Town

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Locations of the Football Conference teams 1987–1988

Barnet

Enfield

Fisher Athletic

Sutton

Welling

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Locations of the Football Conference teams 1988–1989

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	League	FA Cup	FA Trophy	League Cup	Total
1	Steve Butler	Maidstone United	26	0	0	1	27
=	Mark Gall	Maidstone United	26	2	0	1	29
3	Chris Camden	Stafford Rangers	23	9	0	2	34
=	Mark Carter	Runcorn	23	0	0	1	24
5	Ken Charlery	Maidstone United	22	4	0	0	26
6	Steve Burr	Macclesfield Town	21	0	5	0	26
=	Don Page	Runcorn	21	1	0	3	25
8	Paul Davies	Kidderminster Harriers	20	1	0	4	25
=	Lenny Dennis	Sutton United	20	3	1	5	29
=	Mark West	Wycombe Wanderers	20	4	2	0	26
11	Ronnie Ellis	Altrincham	18	2	0	0	20
=	Derrick Parker	Northwich Victoria	18	2	2	0	22
13	Phil Power	Chorley	16	1	0	0	17
=	Guy Whittingham	Yeovil Town	16	0	0	0	16
15	Chris Cook	Boston United	15	6	1	1	23
=	Dean Neal	Fisher Athletic	15	6	0	0	21
=	Paul Wilson	Boston United	15	5	1	0	21
18	Frank Murphy	Barnet	14	2	0	2	18
=	Malcolm O'Connor	Northwich Victoria	14	6	1	1	22
20	Gary Abbott	Enfield	13	4	1	0	18
=	Phil Derbyshire	Macclesfield Town	13	0	0	0	13
=	Ernie Moss	Kettering Town	13	1	3	0	17

Promotion and relegation

Promoted

• Maidstone United (to the Football League Fourth Division)
• Barrow (from the Northern Premier League)
• Farnborough Town (from the Isthmian League)
• Merthyr Tydfil (from the Southern League)

Relegated

• Aylesbury (to the Isthmian League)
• Darlington (from the Football League Fourth Division)
• Weymouth (to the Southern League)

External links

• 1988–89 Conference National Results