Non-League and Academy football writer

Some of the fixtures (the first fixtures at this moment in time are in early August)  for the early stages of the 2024/5 Middlesex County Football League Premier Division, are now out on the football.mitoo website. So I thought that it was a good time for me to write my season preview of the 2024/25 season, for this respective step 7 league. A league which is one of my favourites in non-League/grassroots football, last season (2023/24) was a great season, with many a twist and turn in the league, especially in the title race. Pitshanger Dynamo won this league last season, but it was PFC Victoria London, who won promotion to step 6, as league runners up.

The 2024/25 Middlesex Premier Division season promises to be a great and very competitive season, with so many teams (in my opinion) potentially being league title challengers this season. There weren’t any teams relegated to this step 7 league for 2024/25, from step 6, but there were three newly promoted sides who will be joining the 17 team league this season (Feltham and Slough Town (JFC) were relegated from the Premier Division, last season). The first of which were the winners of the Middlesex Division One North/West – FC Irish of London. A side that has a lot of Irish (first and second generation) players, FC Irish of London won their respective step 8 league on the final day of last season. 

FC Irish of London are a side who have real variety to their playing style. I attended their final league match of last season, against Celtic FC 1995, and it was a match in which they needed to win by six clear goals, in order to win the league. They won that match 7-0. The club who play in Hertfordshire, are a very physical and  tenacious side, and they work very well as team. However, they also play good and effective football, and they are a side who I think will do well in the Premier Division, in 2024/25. Soccer Stars Fennecs went unbeaten throughout the 2023/24 season, in the Division One Central/East, with them ending that season as a league champions.

Soccer Stars Fennecs are a club who have a number of players from London’s Algerian community in their team, and the club will this season also be entering a reserve team into the Middlesex League, at step 8. However, I have seen their first team on two occasions this year, and they are a really good team, both in and out of possession. They press really well as a team, but they also play their football really well as a team and I personally think that they’ll be right up there, challenging for the league title this season. Soccer Stars Fennecs play really good football, and they have had good experience of playing step 8 football during the last couple of seasons, and they will now be relishing the challenge of this season (2024/25).

SL Benfica (Sport London e Benfica FC) won their respective step 8 league last season (Division One South/West) as well as winning the Jim Rogers President’s Division One Cup. In that cup final last season, Ricky Nelson’s side won 4-1 against London Cheetahs, playing some superb football in that game. A very good footballing side, SL Benfica will be ground-sharing with Amersham Town for this season, and are they are yet another club who will be looking to win the league, this season. They were excellent at step 8 last season. Eagles Land FC have merged with Cricklewood Wanderers for the 2024/25 season, and they will be playing their football at the home of Wembley FC, this season.

Eagles Land Cricklewood are another club, because of where they are ground-sharing, who could potentially go up to step 6, were they to win the league, or finish runners up to a side who are unable to win promotion, because of ground grading. I saw Eagles Land Cricklewood in a recent pre-season, and although they lost that particular friendly match, Valentino Qoku’s side were good during stages of that friendly match. From the 2023/24 season, league champions Pitshanger Dynamo will be looking to retain the league title this season. With Marco Persano’s side playing superb football last season, and they also had by far the top scorer in the league, in the excellent Bilal Butt. Pitshanger Dynamo had a really experienced squad of players, last season.

Shepherds Bush have been unlucky not to win promotion to step 6 during the last couple of seasons, and Aaron Morgan’s side has some very good players, and they will definitely be up there challenging again for the league title, this season. Slightly further down in last season’s league table, was Premier Division debutants Camden & Islington United. James Goldsmith and Kat Craig’s side had an excellent first season at step 7, in 2023/24. And there was a time towards the latter stages of the season when it was looking like they had a chance to win the league, as they had a lot of games in hand. However, they are another real footballing side, as they also had one of the top scorers in the league last season, in Ryan Pickles.

Hayes & Hillingdon and also Kodak (Harrow), were other sides who did well in the Premier Division in 2023/24. Kodak (Harrow) were a club who I saw on a good number of occasions last season, and they are a side who have some really good players, and who also play some great football as a team. They won the 2023/24 season’s The Alec Smith Premier Division Cup, and Sajad Mohammed’s team are a team who play fast and very effective football, and I look forward to covering some more of their games, this season. Such is the competitiveness of this league, which makes it in my opinion one of the best step 7 leagues in England, you really couldn’t predict how this season will go, because of the fact that they are all strong teams, who are in this league.

Stonewall FC (they were finalists in the 2023/24 The Alec Smith Premier Division Cup) and Kensington Dragons are other good sides, who finished in seventh and eighth place respectively, last season. And they’ll both be looking to improve further in the league this season. A little bit further down in the league standings from last season, were Indian Gymkhana Club, Larkspur Rovers, Camden United and Jolof Sports, and they are all sides who can beat anyone in this league, and they are sides who will be looking to improve further on last season. As will Hilltop Reserves and London Tigers, this season.

I wouldn’t want to make any predictions as to how the 2024/25 Middlesex County Football League Premier Division season will go, such is the quality of the league, and also of the newly promoted sides. However, one thing that is a certainty, is that it will be a brilliant season, and I look forward to covering a lot of games in the  league again this season. I would also like to wish all of the clubs in the league all the very best for the season ahead.

The clubs who will be competing in the 2024/25 Middlesex County Football League Premier Division season:

• Camden & Islington United
• Camden United
• Eagles Land Cricklewood (Formerly Cricklewood Wanderers. Eagles Land merged with Cricklewood this summer)
• FC Irish of London (Promoted from the Division One North/West)
• Hayes & Hillingdon 
• Hilltop Reserves 
• Indian Gymkhana Club
• Jolof Sports 
• Kensington Dragons
• Kodak (Harrow)
• Larkspur Rovers
• London Tigers 
• Pitshanger Dynamo 
• Shepherds Bush 
• SL Benfica (Promoted from the Division One South/West)
• Soccer Stars Fennecs (Promoted from the Division One Central/East)
• Stonewall