Who Are... Northwich Victoria FC?
Founder members of the Alliance Premier League, Northwich Victoria have only spent one season outside the top-flight on non-league football since the inception of the league back in 1979. But it was only a remarkable shift in fortunes in the 2007/8 season that prevented another return to the Blue Square North. When ex-Boro' striker Dino Maamria took charge of the club towards the end of 2007, the club barely had any points to their name and were certs for the drop. But the Vics rallied and eventually secured their survival in the penultimate game of the season, ironically ending Stevenage's chance of reaching the playoffs with a 2-1 win at Broadhall Way.

The club's relegation in 2004/5 ended the last record of a team who had been in the Conference as an ever-present since 1979 after Telford United fell out of the league a couple of seasons before. Since the mid-90s, Northwich have not enjoyed the easiest of rides and have on occasion stayed up as other clubs ran into difficulties. But the new facilities the club can now boast indicate a belief in their long-term future and also that it may be at the pinnacle of the non-league pyramid.

But the 2008/9 campaign will be yet another test; a tussle with relegation and the clubs in that vicinty. The question that will get asked is whether there are 20 clubs better than Northwich in the Blue Square Premier, and there's a very real possibility there will be. Maamria will demand the best out of his players week-in, week-out, but the club start as third-worst favourites for the league title with the bookies, and that may well translate into how the season pans out.

BoroGuide Prediction: 22nd