National League
At last weekend’s National League end of season congress the club was recognised for its runners-up spot in National League North and for winning the Fairplay Award, a third such award in four years.

Other awards went to Gateshead’s Macauley Langstaff as NLN Player of the Season and Golden Boot winner, and Boston United for best programme. We believe that the Brackley Town programme ran The Pilgrims very close - a wholly home grown and lovingly produced traditional match-day programme packed with news, articles and information by our dedicated team.

Next season the number of teams competing at Steps 1 and 2 increases from 66 to 72. Fixtures will be released on 6 July with the first game on 6 August. 25 games are scheduled before Christmas and 21 after. The regular league season concludes on 29 April with the play-off eliminators on 2/3 May, the semi-finals on Sunday 7 May and the National North final on Sunday 14 May. Further dates for your diary are the FA Trophy final on Sunday 21 May and FA Cup final on 3 June.

Attendances
Official attendances for last season have St James Park averaging 757 per league match. 12 teams averaged above 1000 spectators per league game. In National South 8 teams exceeded 1000 and at Step 1 all but Dover beat the thousand mark with 12 teams exceeding 2000, Wrexham topping this particular table on 8692.

Player update
Club captain Gareth Dean, long-serving players Jimmy Armson and Glenn Walker, wide-man Wes York and the NLP National Games Award Goalkeeper of the Year, Danny Lewis, are all back in Kevin Wilkin’s squad for the new season. Meanwhile Matt Lowe has signed a two year deal with Accrington Stanley – we wish Matt every good luck at a higher level of football. Matt was in our 2018 Wembley winning side and has played almost 300 games for Saints in which time he has developed as a footballer. Those mazy dribbles and theatrical style will grace EFL One.

Further announcements re. player signings will come next week.

St James Park
Both the pitch and the AGP have undergone major works in the pre-season. The AGP has been completely re-laid and will be available once again for bookings from 27 June. Meanwhile the grass pitch is looking stunning after its first cut with further works to follow.

New kit
Our new Puma kit for 2022-23 will shortly be unveiled so look out for details.

Best wishes to all supporters for the week ahead.