Roger Lytollis reckons the fall into semi-pro football is feared more than ever
Hold the back page: the third division wasn’t very good last season. How else could miserably ordinary sides like Hartlepool and Blackpool make the play-offs? For every quality player there were dozens of Gary Brabins and Steve Torpeys. Cheltenham were typical. In only their second League season any romance was long gone. Their reliance on negative, strong-arm tactics left most opponents looking like extras from Gladiator by the end of the afternoon’s “entertainment”.