Northern Premier League Division One West
The Northern Premier League Division One West is a football league in England, positioned at Step 4 of the National League System, making it the eighth tier of the English football pyramid.
The league covers all of Northern England, the northern and central Midlands, and the western parts of East Anglia.
Similar to its counterparts in the East and the Midlands, the league generally includes 22 clubs, all competing for the opportunity to gain promotion or to stay in the division.
More about the Northern Premier League One West
The Northern Premier League was established in 1968 and serves as the northern counterpart to the Southern League in southern England. At first, it had only one division. In 1987, the league added a new division called Division One.
In 2007, it further expanded by adding a third division, which was divided into two regional divisions: Division One North and Division One South.
In 2018, Division One was divided into East and West Divisions. The following year, the leagues were realigned into the North West and the South East. Finally, in 2021, non-league football was revamped, resulting in Division One being split into its existing format: One East, One West, and One Midlands.
Clubs that are promoted from the Northern Premier League Division One West move up to the Northern Premier League. The team that finishes at the top of the table earns promotion to the higher league, provided it meets the criteria for Step 3.
A second promotion spot is available for the team that wins the playoffs, which includes the teams finishing in second to fifth place in the regular league season.
At the other end of the table, the teams that finish in 19th to 22nd place in the division face relegation to one of the following leagues: the Eastern Counties League, the Midland League, the Northern League, the Northern Counties East League, the North West Counties League, or the United Counties League (North or South).
Successful Clubs in League One West
| Season | Champions |
|---|---|
| 2018/19 | Morpeth Town |
| 2019/20 | Leek Town* |
| 2020/21 | Colne* |
| 2021/22 | Warrington Rylands 1906 |
| 2022/23 | Macclesfield |
| 2023/24 | Leek Town |
| 2024/25 | Widnes |
With the division relatively new, it is not surprising that not many teams have successfully won the league on multiple occasions. In fact, only Leek Town have finished top of the table on numerous occasions.
Even then, one of those occasions was in the 2019/20 season, when Town were not officially crowned champions, as the campaign was terminated on 26th March 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Leek was in the Northern Premier League One East the following season and topped the table again when the league ended in February due to the Coronavirus. Therefore, in two consecutive seasons, they topped a league table but were not officially crowned as champions.
Back in the West, Colne topped the table when the league ended. Despite being top of the table when the league stopped, Colne were not officially announced as champions.