Crook Town are again organising their popular Herbert Hutchinson memorial trophy at the end of July. The club has invited Consett, Willington and Shildon to play in the knockout competition between Monday 17th and Sunday 23rd July.

The Cleator Cup game between the Albany League champions Bedlington and League Cup winners, Dunston respectively, will be played at Bedlington on Saturday August 12, kick off 3pm.

The Albany League kicks off a week later on August 19, and will have 21 teams in the First Division following the relegation of Whitley Bay from the UniBond League. Whitley return to the league after a 12-year absence, and are the first club to be relegated to the Northern League since it joined the pyramid system eight years ago.

Hebburn, promoted to the First Division at the end of last season, will be known as Hebburn Town, while Thornaby on Tees will be known as Thornaby.

The league's AGM voted to adopt the Golden Goal rule to settle games in the Craven Cup and League Cup when the scores are level after 90 minutes. Thirty minutes of extra time will be played in which to score the golden goal, after which penalties will be used to settle games. Northern League chairman Mike Amos believes that there should be a restructuring of the pyramid in the North. Amos told the Annual General Meeting that he feels there should be a new set up for the clubs east of the Pennines, although he admitted it would need the co-operation and agreement of all the leagues affected.

He has suggested a Northern League Premier Division between the Tweed and the Humber, with North and south divisions feeding into that Premier Division, whose champions would go into the UniBond League Premier Division, missing out the UniBond First Division.

"I certainly feel that there will have to be some sort of restructuring," said Amos. "The whole point of the pyramid is to enable clubs to progress. There is no point in going into UniBond Division One, and then travel to far away places in North Wales.

"I believe that the standard of grounds, and the standard of play in that division is at much the same level as the Northern League, but is at much greater cost.Dunston carried out some research, and they discovered that it would have cost them at least £10,000 on travel alone in the UniBond First Division. That is one of the reasons why they withdrew their application for promotion. "

And clubs like Blyth, Bishop Auckland, Spennymoor and Whitby, all former Northern League clubs, all progressed through the UniBond First almost immediately, and are holding their own in their Premier Division. "North-East clubs clubs are discovering that the other man's grass is not only no greener, but it grows over a minefield. We don't discourage clubs from seeking promotion - perhaps they themselves look around and see the extra financial burden, the vastly greater mileage and the generally no different level of football. "Apart from possibly a couple of exceptions, north east clubs won't consider moving up now."

Whitley Bay, who left the league 12 years ago, will return this season after financial problems hit them badly last season in the UniBond League