Just how well can ultra consistent Stevenage do?

Stevenage FC have finally joined the Football League after being the most consistent non-League sides in recent memory. They've been knocking on the League Two door for some time and finally won promotion as Blue Square Champions last season, but how well can they cope in the Football League?

I've never personally believed that the gap between League Two and the Blue Square Premier was as small as some would make it out to be. The non-League teams would point to examples of Doncaster, Carlisle and Yeovil, whom all gained promotion again after being promoted, however, when you consider the amount of teams that have gone down and come back within a few years, that's when you start the realise the gap isn't that small.

Despite this, I think that Stevenage have the best chance of back-to-back promotions out of any team that has come up in recent years. The sides that have come up and done well have been the sides who had done consistently well for some years, but none of the previous teams even come close to Stevenage.

You'd have to go all the way back to 2002/3 to find the last time they finished outside of the Blue Square's top ten. They had won promotion to that division in 1993/4 and in their time in that division, they recorded twelve top ten finishes, an extremely impressive feat. They have also record 20 or more wins in each of the last four seasons and five of the last six. That record also included finishing first in 1995/6, but they were denied promotion due to an insufficient ground.

It was actually common at the time for the top Conference side not to be promoted due to the quality of their ground. It does make you wonder how of the grounds coming up these days would actually qualify if the standards of 15 years ago were still used, Accrington would never have made it.

Last season saw them lose just five games, only one of those at home, and they won a total of 30 games overall in the League, very impressive indeed. That one home defeat came towards the end of the season with a visit from in-form Luton. Their record was amongst the best in the country and only Tamworth were undefeated against them. Their away record at the other top six teams was disappointing, picking up just five points from a possible fifteen, but they did beat Oxford, Rushden, York, Kettering and Crawley at home.

After several managers came and failed to win promotion with Stevenage, it was Westley who finally managed it. The man who took Farnborough to an FA Cup day with Arsenal in the early 2000s was reappointed as manager in 2008, following on from a spell between 2003-2006. He wasn't a popular choice amongst some Stevenage fans though (source Wikipedia). He did well in his first season, making the Playoffs but throwing away a 3-1 first leg League in the second leg, and Stevenage would draw three of their first four games of last season.

They did win the FA Trophy that season with a 2-0 win over York and they were made one of the favourites for the title last season, that despite selling 30-goal Steve Morrison to Millwall. Westley guided them to a 17 game unbeaten run that stretched from August to December and by the end of last season, Westley's management record in his second spell at Stevenage reads at 70 wins from 114 games, a winning total of 61.4%.

Stevenage haven't been overly active in the transfer winning at all, most of their signings coming from non-League clubs. Darius Charles joined from Ebbsfleet, Robbie Sinclair from Salisbury and John Mousinho joined from Wycombe. They also signed a former Imp by the name of Luke Foster. Foster had played for City in the 2005/6 season and generally impressed, most were surprised when he wasn't even given a chance under John Schofield. He went onto play for Stalybridge, Oxford and Mansfield before joining Stevenage.

Most of Stevenage's squad have Football League experience, with a few even playing regularly in the Championship at one point during their careers, including Chris Day, another former Imp, who played regularly for QPR at that level.

They also seeming have a lot of fire power at the club. Lee Boylan (left) has scored 17 goals in 52 appearances for Stevenage, although he did suffer an injury that kept him out for long parts of last season. Yemi Odubade scored 13 in 35 appearances. Infact, I've always been impressed with Odubade, a young fast striker with a decent finish, Odubade has played in the Football League for Yeovil.

I have a feeling that Stevenage are going to do well in the Football League and I can see them challenging for promotion again. Having knocked on the door for so long, and being considerably better than some of the other teams who've come up in recent years, I'd be pretty certain they're not going to be anywhere near the relegation zone and I can see them finishing around 4th.

The one issue they might have is that Westley has never managed in the Football League and it does make you wonder how much he actually knows about the division. The difference between League Two and the Conference is that you can near enough guarantee points against the bottom teams in the Conference, you can't do that in League Two.

Having so many players with league experience will come in handy though and I think Foster, Odubade and Boylan will all be amongst the division's better players next season.