Championship
Dynamo Burnley 2 Torpedo Tranmere 2
Excelsior Marlow 2 Bohemians 4
Gainsborough Trinity 7 Blyth Spartans 1
Hungaria 1 Stalybridge Celtic 2
Liverpool St Helens 2 Spartak-Slavia 0
Manchester Central 1 South Liverpool 1
Marine 2 Red Star Wrexham 3
Northwich Victoria 2 Red Star Mossley 0
Second Division
Cowdenbeath 2 Hibernian 1
Crewe Alexandra 3 Stromness Celtic 1
Crystal Palace 5 Bradford Comrades 2
Gateshead Trinity 3 Audenshaw Ajax 0
Hartlepool Petrochemical 6 Sheffield Wednesday 0
Hendon Hotspur 2 St Johnstone 2
Marxist Polytechnic 2 Prescot Cables 1
Matlock Town 5 Newcastle Blue Star 1
Third Division
Inter-Stella Rossa 3 Wimbledon Tooting & Mitcham 2
Locomotive York 2 Oxford Albania 2
Manchester Newton Heath 2 Newcastle United 1
Merthyr Tydfil 2 SG Caernarfon 2
Nelson Proletariat 3 Red Star Sunderland 5
Partick Thistle 1 White Star Waterloo 1
Red Star Bootle 2 Arbroath 2
Stenhousemuir 4 Everton Stanley 1
Fourth Division
Bishop Auckland 5 Pegasus 3
Blackburn Rovers 2 Étoile Rouge 1
Červená Hvězda 4 Dynamo Dundee 0
Crumpsall/Harpurhey 1 Atletico Espanol 0
Czerwona Gwiazda 1 Solway Star 1
Hapoel 1 Mersey Ironworks 2
Red Flag Rochdale 2 CPD Porthmadog 1
Sporting Skelmersdale 4 East Fife 1
The expanded Second Division for 2017-18 features the top four Scottish clubs to join the Football Alliance - Cowdenbeath, Hibernian, St Johnstone and Orkney's Stromness Celtic, who will of course be the league's most northerly outpost - in addition to Crewe Alexandra - who have reverted to their original name after incorporating 'Locomotive' into their title in recent seasons - and Marxist Polytechnic, relegated from the Championship, and the promoted Gateshead Trinity and Matlock Town.
Audenshaw Ajax
green and white checks/white/green, white tops
white with broad vertical red central stripe/black/black, green tops
Bradford Comrades
claret and amber stripes/black/claret, amber tops
white with claret and amber chest band/white/black, claret tops
Cowdenbeath
blue with white sleeves and collar/white/blue and red hoops
yellow with blue trim/blue/yellow
Crewe Alexandra
red with white sleeves/white/red
green with black sleeves/black/green
Crystal Palace
blue and red checks/white/blue and red hoops
white with LH blue and red checked stripe/blue/white
Gateshead Trinity
green and black halves, red trim/white/black, red tops
red with green and black central stripe/black/green, red tops
Hartlepool Petrochemical
light blue and white halves/white/navy blue, red tops
red/navy blue/red
Hendon Hotspur
purple with green sash/white/green
white with purple and green sash/black/purple
Hibernian
green with white sleeves and collar/white/green, white tops
amber with green trim/green/amber
Marxist Polytechnic
red and white halves/white/navy blue, red tops
yellow/dark blue/red
Matlock Town
blue with amber chest band/blue/blue, amber tops
amber with blue chest band/white/amber, blue tops
Newcastle Blue Star
blue and black halves/black/black, blue tops
white with blue and black chest band/white/blue
Prescot Cables
amber and black halves/black/amber and black hoops
white with amber and black chest band/white/amber, black tops
St Johnstone
blue and white halves/white/red
white with blue and red sash/blue/white
Sheffield Wednesday
blue and white stripes/black/blue, white tops
amber with blue trim/blue/red, blue tops
Stromness Celtic
green and white hoops/black/green
red with yellow-bordered blue cross off-centred to right/white/red
The Football Alliance have today announced a major development following lengthy negotiations with the Scottish League, which is that the ten clubs constituting Scotland’s Championship will join the existing national structure from the beginning of the 2017 - 18 season to form a new mainland-wide ‘UK Football Alliance’ competition.
In a further development, the ten clubs from north of the border will be joined by the addition of another dozen from the English regional divisions and two from the Welsh League, bringing the national total to 64 which will be organised into four divisions of 16 teams each. Four of the Scots will play in the newly-expanded Second Division with three each in the also-increased Third and new Fourth Divisions, with champions SG (‘Seren Goch’ = Red Star) Caernarfon and runners-up CPD Porthmadog from Wales joining the Third and Fourth respectively.
Whilst the decision not to place any of the Scottish clubs at the top level, in the Championship, was the subject of a degree of controversy, it was considered that the comparative performance of English and Scottish teams in European competition should be a decisive factor in determining such an outcome, with the Scots’ lack of progress in a continental context - including when in direct opposition, for all that St Johnstone earned a narrow first leg lead over Marine in last season’s Champion Clubs’ Cup before succumbing on aggregate - and its consequent perception of a certain inequality thus resulting in them beginning life in the second tier as their highest point of entry. In the future, it has been proposed that the domestic champions of Scotland will be elevated to national level, replacing the lowest-placed Scottish finisher in the structure unless that club has earned promotion from the Fourth Division in which case they will be immune from demotion and an additional Scottish club will join the national Football Alliance.
The ten Scottish clubs - including one from the Orkney Isles - to feature in the new Alliance will be:
Second Division
Cowdenbeath
Hibernian
St Johnstone
Stromness Celtic
Third Division
Arbroath
Partick Thistle
Stenhousemuir
Fourth Division
Dynamo Dundee
East Fife
Solway Star
