"For Wrexham, 87 years of league football could be brought to an end with relegation to non-league obscurity."

Not my words, but the words of one reputable news organisation this week. God forbid, Non-League obscurity for the likes of Wrexham and Mansfield just a snifter away. How will they survive?

Well, I'm not entirely sure they will. Record support, record money from TV rights, 90 percent full-time teams and hundreds of years of Football League experience between them, means that a drop into the fish-pond that is the Blue Square Premier could be a little like drowning in a big vat of your enemy's cast-offs. Cling onto what you can grab, not what you can afford.

The truth is, for any team dropping out of the Football League, as Oxford United and Torquay United will testify, it's proving almost impossible to claw your way out. For Non-League obscurity read the toughest battle you're likely to face.

The bookies may have already paid out this season on Aldershot Town winning promotion, but who would have laid money on them at the start of 2007-08? Many believed with a new manager at the helm in Gary Waddock, the Shots - the very first supporters-run club in senior English football - would be facing a season of consolidation. Now look at them. So, without question the highest league in grassroots football is one of the most competitive, and not an easy ticket back up for any relegated Football League sides.

Then there are the teams hoping to be promoted to the Blue Square Premier Division who will also provide hearty competition. Take a closer look at the likes of Step Two and you'll see a whole host of sides ready to re-establish their big-time credentials. Kettering Town (remember they've got their own shopping centre now) and then Eastbourne Borough or Lewes, they've all got lofty ambitions and hopes to punch above their weight.

The danger for any club who thinks Non-League football is an amateur game is probably most aptly shown in this year's FA Cup.

Think of the sides that caught colds facing the ignominy of exits against part-time 'pub' teams, such as Chasetown, Horsham and Staines? In fact, even my friend who knows nothing about football (the one who once famously pondered "they won on aggregate, surely that hurt?") when rooting through my phone and coming across a picture of Staines in action, asked, "Is that Brazil?".

Non-League may not be what fans of Wrexham and Mansfield had hoped for, but with World Champions amongst our ranks, they should be wetting their beds.

BBC Non League Football Show

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