Shifnal Town

for this in May 2019 the FA asked all Step 5 and Step 6 Leagues in the
Country to apply to run Divisions in 2020/21.
The FA has also said that Nationally 24 Step 5 clubs will be promoted to help
create the new Step 4 Division. Twelve clubs will also be relegated from
Step 5. To accommodate all of the changes and make the Leagues
geographically sensible and viable many clubs will be "laterally moved" to
other Leagues. The FA has also said that Nationally there will be 76 clubs
promoted from Step 6 to Step 5 including 4 clubs being promoted from the
West Midlands Regional League at the end of this season. So to create the
two new Step 5 Divisions 36 Step 5 clubs will be promoted or relegated out
of Step 5 and 76 clubs will be promoted from Step 6. This leaves 40 new Step
5 clubs with 20 in each of the two new Divisions.
The FA has recently announced the results of the Step 5 and Step 6
application process. For the 2020/21 season the East Midlands
Counties League and the West Midlands Regional League will no longer run
Step 6 Divisions. Following a recent League meeting the WMRL with full
support of member clubs will appeal the FAs decision.
The exact position at the end of this season will be determined by promotion
and relegation issues as well as decisions made by the FA involving the
lateral movement of clubs . However should the appeal fail then my view of
what is likely to happen is described below. If the appeal is successful what I
say below is likely to change dramatically.
We know that the Midland League was successful in their application to the
FA to run a Step 6 Division. With that in mind I expect that several clubs
based in North Staffordshire and Shropshire currently playing in the Midland
League Division One (also Step 6) and WMRL Premier Division are likely to
be laterally moved to the North West Counties or Northern League. I also
expect that some clubs from the Derbyshire/Nottingham/ Leicestershire
and Coventry area currently playing in the Midland League
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