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When the final whistle for the Football League season was blown last Saturday, Lincoln City were the team joining Stockport County in tumbling into the Conference. Gary Andrews assesses what they can expect from a stint in non-league.

For Stockport County, this season has probably gone on far too long. For Lincoln City, they’ll be wishing the season ended a few weeks ago. For fans of both clubs, though, the end of the regular Football League season leaves them chewing over starting life in non-league.

Lincoln have been here before. Back in 1997, the Imps were the first team to be automatically relegated into the Conference.

Two months ago, when Steve Tilson’s men sat 14th in League Two on 46 points, they probably didn’t think they’d be returning to non-league but a miserable run that saw them earn just one more point did for them. They will find the Conference a very different beast from the last time they graced the league.

Stockport, meanwhile, have known for a while they’d be heading out of the Football League, and their relegation was confirmed with a 2-0 loss to Crewe at the end of April.

While Lincoln almost sleptwalked into relegation, the Hatters’ demise is a more familiar tale of financial woes that culminated in a second successive relegation. Non-league may be uncharted territory for County, but they and Lincoln will find many familiar names in the Conference.

Back in 1987, Lincoln opted to remain full-time after their relegation and won the league at the first attempt. These days, it’s more surprising to find teams in the Blue Square Bet Premier, as it now is known, who aren’t fully professional.

In the Blue Square Bet South, Eastleigh have just announced plans to go full time. A division Bath City in 10th were the highest placed part-time team in the country, while Altrincham, Histon and Eastbourne Borough departed non-league’s top flight.

The latter’s manager, Garry Wilson, has gone on record expressing his belief that it is nearly impossible for part-time clubs to compete at Conference level. Had Eastbourne stayed up, Wilson would have resigned, given he combines managing with a day job at an electrics company.

At the top of the league, Crawley Town spent their way to the title. Next season, Mansfield Town’s chairman John Radford has made noises about investing up to £2m to secure the Stags promotion back to the league.

Elsewhere, AFC Wimbledon and Luton both pull in crowds that put some League One clubs to shame, while nine of the 24 clubs are ex-Football League sides (that rises to 11 if you include Wimbledon and Newport County).

How, then, will Lincoln and Stockport fare in the Conference next season? Obviously, there will be plenty of rebuilding so it’s too early to make an entirely accurate prediction, but it’s not hard to see where they’ll fit into the general non-league narrative.

Since a second relegation spot from the Football League was introduced, only Shrewsbury and Carlisle have bounced back at the first attempt.

Of the other teams relegated, Exeter City took five years to escape, Oxford four years and Torquay United two. Others are yet to return. Cliched as it is, the Conference is a difficult league to get out of.

Of the two teams, Lincoln seem best equipped to have a tilt at promotion next season, despite Imps chairman Bob Dorrian warning of impending budget cuts.

There is no impending financial crisis at Sincil Bank - at least not at the moment - and, providing there’s no bloodletting of moments of madness, are as stable as a club that’s been relegated out of the league can be. While not the biggest club in the division, they should still reasonably be expected to challenge.

Not that throwing money at promotion is necessarily the solution, despite Crawley’s vast transfer outlay this season.

The Non-League Paper put Grimsby’s budget at around £1.2m, one of the largest in the Conference, but this only took them to 11th place, while both Oxford and Cambridge have gambled on a big budget bringing them promotion, with the latter slipping from promotion contenders to relegation strugglers after losing out in the playoff final.

Stockport are harder to predict, having lost their league status in the face of a lengthy and painful financial crisis. The Hatters spent the 2009/10 season in administration and despite a takeover from the 2015 group, there are still serious financial concerns hanging over the the club.

Stockport still do not own Edgeley Park, meaning their matchday income is severely limited, and despite exiting administration, the club is still in a financially perilous position.

Perhaps the closest comparison can come with Wrexham, the financially troubled former league club who also don’t own their own stadium and have suffered numerous off-the-field problems this season. Yet there is also hope for Stockport as, despite protracted ownership issues and threats of administration, the Red Dragons have still reached the playoffs.

What Stockport will be keen to avoid, though, is falling foul of the Conference’s tightening up of financial rules. This season Histon, Kidderminster and Rushden & Diamonds have already fallen foul of these and have all been docked five points for supplying inaccurate quarterly information to the authorities.

Ex-league reputation counts for nothing for troubled clubs at this level as well, with Halifax and Scarborough going under in recent years, while Boston suffered two enforced demotions to the Northern League due to their financial issues.

But amongst the worry are some more positive aspects of non-league. For many clubs relegated to non-league, it’s provided a chance to regain some pride and reorganise.

They will no longer be a team getting beaten week-in-week-out, but instead a big club with a reputation. It’s amazing what this can do to galvanise the fanbase. In recent years, Carlisle, Exeter and Doncaster have emerged stronger from spells in non-league.

There’s also a genuine chance of some silverware in the form of the FA Trophy and while Darlington would undoubtedly prefer to be playing in the Football League, no supporter would have wanted to miss out on their FA Trophy win over Mansfield at Wembley last weekend.

And finally, there’s the fans. Speak to supporters of any side that’s spent a period in the Conference and they retain a fondness for their non-league days.

Again, at risk of lapsing into cliche, there’s more of a sense of fraternity in non-league, as you get closer to grassroots football and further away from the detatched excesses of the Premier League.

Sure, it might be a little bemusing to have fans of a Evo-Stick Division One North side try to swap ends at half time during an FA Trophy tie, but there’s plenty to enjoy with the whole non-league experience.

Non-league, then, is ready to welcome Lincoln and Stockport to its ranks. It’s up to the Imps and the Hatters what they make of their stay in the Conference.

Tags: Blue Square Bet Premier, Cambridge United, Crawley Town, Eastbourne Borough, Football Conference, League Two, Lincoln City, Oxford United, Stockport County, Wrexham