Last season, our league was made of ten clubs but three of them have opted to pull out the league. Out have gone Accrington Stanley, Bury and Shrewsbury Town leaving only ourselves along with Macclesfield Town, Morecambe, Oldham Athletic, Preston North End, Tranmere Rovers and Wrexham.
The Clarets' second string have the option of entering the reserve team cup competition and the Lancashire Senior Cup. Recent seasons have seen us not bother with these competitions but the lack of any sort of competitive games next season will surely bring about a rethink.
The reserve league is now reduced to 21 teams in 3 different divisions. Why on earth they haven't reduced it to 2 leagues only they know but the composition of the leagues for the 2011/12 season is as follows:
West Division
Burnley, Macclesfield Town, Morecambe, Oldham Athletic, Preston North End, Tranmere Rovers and Wrexham
Central Division
Burton Albion, Derby County, Nottingham Forest, Port Vale, Sheffield United, Stoke City, Walsall
East Division
Bradford City, Gateshead, Hartlepool United, Hull City, Middlesbrough, Rotherham United, Scunthorpe United