National League 23-Man Tournament Squad

It’s the early hours of Wednesday morning. My three-month old needs changing, feeding, burping then easing back to sleep. During that last part, I need to keep myself entertained as she drifts off. 

I’d caught up with everything on the NTT20 squad. Caught up with Twitter notifications. Do I do another FourFourTwo quiz? Na, let’s have a read. Oo, potential England World Cup squads. Let’s see what I disagree with. No, James Maddison isn’t going the World Cup. I wonder what a 23-man National League squad might look like. Na, too elitist. Wait, there’s 24 clubs. What about one from each club. What if the manager of the remaining club has to manage it? Yeah, that’ll do. Let’s have a go. 

I didn’t go back to sleep. 

Now, I was always going to have to write down my thoughts. I can’t do stuff like this and not write. But, rather than keep this to myself, I thought I would extend the challenge to Twitter. I knew @tomhwilliams23 and @OffTheLineBlog wouldn’t be able to resist the challenge. And I’m delighted that other fans have had a go too. It’s all a bit of fun, of course, but it’s fascinating to see who people choose. There are so many ways these squads can be created based on who your early picks are. 

Now, if I was going to do this, I was always going to put a rule or two in place. So, alongside only one selection per club, I also wanted to follow proper tournament etiquette by selecting three goalkeepers and also wanted to remove loanees from the equation. 

Then there are the vanity rules. I can’t just select the best player at each club. The squad would be a mess. I could potentially end up with 12 attackers, five right backs and two centre backs. It had to work as a starting XI and the back ups had to be able to cover each position competently or provide a quality alternative. It meant a couple of clubs would have to be sacrificial lambs to benefit the overall squad. 

I started by selecting key players at top clubs and formed something of a starting XI around them. That in itself proved tricky. I had to have Rodrigues, King, Mullin, Howe, Ince and Ashmore. So, that was spine (and right back) sorted. Now it was about who might compliment them to bring out their quality. Do I go with three at the back or four? Would wingers work? How do I replace the output of my forwards if they get injured? 

I overthink this stuff far too much. And for absolutely no reason given it’s a discussion about something that will never happen. But I like structure and patterns and it’s why, when I take on little challenges like this, I spend time not just picking my favourite players but creating something plausible. 

Point is, I’m a bit odd.

Here’s the squad.

Goalkeepers

Nathan Ashmore (Boreham Wood) 

Grant Smith (Yeovil Town) 

Tom Hadler (Maidstone United) 

As above, Nathan Ashmore had to be in. He’s arguably the best goalkeeper in the division (and has been for some time). He’s a big presence, an organiser and a fine shot stopper. 

Grant Smith and Tom Hadler take the fall for me not being able to justify adding a Yeovil Town or Maidstone United player to the rest of the squad. Josh Staunton came heavily into the thinking when I tried to make this work with a back three, as did Max Hunt from a balance point of view. As for Maidstone, I’m a huge fan of Regan Booty but felt like I was shoehorning him in for the sake of it. Still, Smith and Hadler are more than competent goalkeepers should they be required – I wouldn’t have selected them if they weren’t. 

Defenders 

Jeff King (Chesterfield) 

Zico Asare (Maidenhead United) 

Callum Howe (Solihull Moors) 

Liam Hogan (Oldham Athletic) 

Kacper Lopata (Southend United) 

Tyler Cordner (Aldershot Town) 

Vincent Harper (Eastleigh) 

Bobby-Joe Taylor (Dorking Wanderers) 

Let’s start with the mandatory picks.

I’ve long been a fan of Jeff King, standing out for FC Halifax Town in a number of roles before earning his move to Chesterfield where he taken further strides – he’s their top goalscorer at the time of writing despite playing nominally as a right-back. Callum Howe is up there with the best defenders in the division and a huge benefit to Solihull Moors in both boxes, where games are won and lost. 

Where Southend United were concerned, I was torn on whether to go with Cavaghn Miley in midfield or Kacper Lopata. I went with the latter. I wanted a partner for Howe that could be similarly resolute and effective and there is little denying the impact he has had on the Southend United defence. Backing them up are Liam Hogan, a promotion winning captain, and Tyler Cordner, who is coming on leaps and bounds having been exposed to so much regular football from a young age. 

As for the other full-backs, I’m torn on who gets the nod at left-back. I’m a huge fan of both Vincent Harper and Bobby-Joe Taylor, the former a real whippet down while the latter has wonderful delivery. They may have to be selected on a game-by-game basis. Zico Asare has been selected to back up Jeff King, a young man who has had an excellent start to life in the fifth tier having stood out for Oxford City last term. 

Midfielders 

Rohan Ince (Woking) 

Dale Gorman (Barnet) 

Greg Olley (Gateshead) 

Matt Robinson (Dagenham and Redbridge) 

Kian Spence (FC Halifax Town) 

Max Kretzschmar (Wealdstone) 

I really like Woking’s squad this season but Rohan Ince has stood out to me ever since he returned to the National League, a huge presence in midfield that breaks up play, adds natural height and power and can progress with the ball from a deep position. He’s my midfield muscle. 

Dale Gorman is my alternative at the base of midfield, or an option to partner Ince in a two. A fine technician, capable of switching play and has a nasty side that I like. Matt Robinson has long been a key player for Dagenham and Redbridge, his athleticism and willingness to get into the box desired. And Kian Spence has come on leaps and bounds at FC Halifax Town, shown more so while playing for a poorer team this season. 

I’ve also added Greg Olley and Max Kretzschmar. I wanted players who could link up with or replace the uber-talented Rodrigues and they are two of the finest chance-creating attacking midfielders in the division. 

Attackers 

Ruben Rodrigues (Notts County) 

Maziar Kouhyar (York City) 

Ryan Colclough (Altrincham) 

Paul Mullin (Wrexham) 

Michael Cheek (Bromley) 

Joe Nutall (Scunthorpe United) 

Ruben Rodrigues. For me, the best player in the division. Highly intelligent, fun to watch, produces in the final third. Fantastic footballer. And another who ought to be playing higher is Paul Mullin, a striker that works hard, scores goals and can produce from very little. 

There is a chance that my manager goes two up top. Mullin has often worked best alongside a target man type (Joe Ironside, Ollie Palmer) so I’ve gone for Michael Cheek and Joe Nuttall, two players that offer physicality while also being goalscorers at the level. Bromley have a number of strong National League players but Cheek has proven time and again he’s a top National League striker. As for Nuttall, it was either he or Jacob Butterfield, and I had to select one with them having no manager and a loanee as first-choice goalkeeper. Nuttall fit the bill for this squad and provides a different dynamic to the forward line. 

Truthfully, I was left with Aldershot Town (Ryan Glover or Tyler Cordner), York City (Sam Sanders or Maziar Kouhyar) and Altrincham (Toby Mullarkey or Ryan Colclough). I couldn’t not go with the option of wingers so plumped for Colclough and Kouhyar. Both are direct, inventive and capable of racking up numbers. They both like to stay wide and stretch play too, which is handy. 

Manager 

Gary Johnson (Torquay United) 

Ordinarily, selecting the manager of the team bottom of the league table would be a weird thing to do but Gary Johnson has long proven that when he’s got good players, he can get a lot of out of them. That he is my manager also makes a point regarding the current Torquay United squad. I like that he’s not set on one style of play so he can mix and match during pre-tournament friendlies to find the balance that best fits this group while also having the bravery to mix it up if he needs to. 

And there we have it. My 23-man National League squad made up of one player per team. I’ve no idea who this team will be playing against, so it’s a pretty pointless exercise, really.

If anybody wants to provide another challenge, contact me @nlmusings on Twitter and I’ll have a bash when I get the chance.