MFL Weekly Round Up (Division One)

Birstall United

Birstall have appointed former captain Paul Pallett as their new manager for their upcoming season in MFL Division One. It’s a huge move by the Leicester club and was announced last Friday. The new manager will be looking to bring in players over the summer, and it will be interesting to see how they get on.

​They finished comfortably in mid table at the end of the 23/24 season in UCL Division One, securing a 10th place finish.

The Leicester club also came close to promotion back in the 22/23 season where they just missed out on promotion to Aylestone Park and finished 2nd in UCL Division One. They were one game away from promotion to step five and lost out in the play-off final to Hucknall Town on penalties that season. 

Cradley Town

Cradley have signed Lee Chilton this week for the upcoming season. It’s an excellent signing for the Hammers and offers the squad experience and leadership in MFL Division One. 

Lee Chilton played for the likes of AFC Wulfrunians and Stourport Swifts throughout the 23/24 season and went on to make 30 starts at step five. He’s been an ever present in the MFL with 111 starts over the last three seasons in the premier division.

​Ingles

Ingles have appointed Adam Boulter as their new first team manager and have gone in house to ensure some continuity going into next season. He’s been at the club since 2018 and was the assistant manager to Shaun Wilkes throughout last season. Jordan Allen and physio Carter Limb are also staying on board to assist the new manager.

It looks like a good move by Ingles in preparation for next season in MFL (Division One). The key question will be if he can continue the success of Ingles as the first team manager and step up to the pressure of the role. None the less, the club have given him the best chance to succeed as he knows the set up and has that continuity in place from last season.

Another boost for the club has been club captain Billy Blackshaw committing for the new season who was such a big part of their play off run throughout 23/24.   

​Nuneaton Town

Nuneaton Town announced their new management team last weekend in preparation for step six. They have appointed Darren Acton and Russell Dodd as joint first team managers for life in MFL Division one for the 24/25 season.

Darren Acton is a club legend at Nuneaton and made 347 appearances in goal for the Warwickshire club between 2003 and 2010.  He’s also coached for the likes of Solihull Moors and Alvechurch and is a well-respected figure in the non-league scene.

Russell Dodd has a history of playing and managing in steps five to seven of the national league pyramid and has an extensive network in non-league circles. He’s been part of the management team at the likes of Lichfield City and Highgate United and was most recently the manager for Coton Green last season in MFL Division One.

It’s a clever appointment by Nuneaton Town and provides the club with some stability in step six.  

Wednesfield

John Griffiths stepped down as the manager of Wednesfield following an eye-catching campaign in MFL Division One.
It was a brilliant season for the club in 23/24 and they just fell short of the play offs on goal difference to Droitwich Spa at the end of the campaign, finishing in 6th.

Wednesfield were one of the standout teams in division one throughout 23/24 and they notably improved on their 15th place finish at the end of the 22/23 season. They took the play-off hunt to the final game and lost just ten out of 38 games in the league.

John Griffiths took up a managerial role with AFC Wulfrunians earlier in the week following a successful spell at Wednesfield and the step six side are a good platform for managers to develop and progress up the pyramid.

The club are accepting applications in their search for a new manager, and it should be a competitive post for aspiring managers in step six. To finish in 6th last time out was an excellent achievement and there capable of challenging for the play offs again if they can keep their existing squad together or make some clever additions during the summer.     

Round up feature written by Rhys Beardmore for the Midland Football League