A few outstanding matters of business will be settled when the Football League regular season ends this weekend.

Two relegation places remain to be filled in League One, while either Wycombe or Shrewsbury will claim the third and final automatic promotion spot in League Two.



Torquay, Stevenage and Gillingham are battling it out for two play-off places in the same division, but without question the most significant issue is to be found at the bottom of English football's fourth tier.

Stockport have already been consigned to the uncertainty of life outside the Football League, their 106-year stay ending on 30 April, and either Lincoln City or Barnet will follow them into the Blue Square Bet Premier next season.

The club that survives will be able to dust itself down over the summer and start again with renewed hope next season, but the consequences for the club that joins the Hatters will be severe.

"It will have a huge impact, in football today there are huge steps between divisions and relegation is really a disaster at any level," Barnet chairman Tony Kleanthous told me.

"The real problem for the team that joins Stockport is that they will be dropping from the Football League into the Blue Square Bet Premier. It is a change of competition, with different rules and governance, and it affects funding."

Barnet last slipped out of the Football League in 2001. Photo: Getty images

The relegated club will instantly lose half of the available £180,000-per season funding for its youth development programme. The reduced payment will last for two seasons. After that it drops to nothing.

There is a form of parachute payment. Clubs in League Two currrently receive £430,000 every season from the Football League. This includes the money generated from areas such as sponsorship and any television deals. Relegated clubs are given half of this amount - but only for one season.

No wonder that the local media in Lincoln are describing the Imps' game as the most important in the club's history, while media manager John Vickers showed a mastery of understatement when he described survival as "vital".

The club have slashed ticket prices to £7 for adults and £3 for concessions and juniors in an attempt to tempt a bumper crowd to Sincil Bank on Saturday as they try to avoid relegation from the League for the first time since 1986.

On paper at least, Lincoln go into the final round of fixtures as the favourites to survive. They are 22nd in the table, one place and two points above Barnet. The Imps have a home game against an Aldershot team lodged firmly in mid-table and probably starting to think about those two weeks in Ayia Napa with the boys or a fortnight in Florida with the family.

"It is ours to lose," said Lincoln boss Steve Tilson. "Barnet are still trying to catch us up and that is a position they have been in for a while now."

The problem for Tilson is that since his team's 1-1 draw at Macclesfield on 15 March they have taken one point from nine fixtures. In that period they have scored four goals but conceded a whopping 22.

The slump can, to a large extent, be traced back to the moment target man Delroy Facey dislocated a shoulder in that draw at Moss Rose. The talismanic skipper has not played since then and his strike partner Ashley Grimes has scored just once.

It is a far cry from the heady days of late January and early February when Tilson's team won five in a row to climb into the comforting reaches of mid-table. Some supporters started to speak in whispered tones about a push towards the play-offs but Tilson preferred to speak about the need to reach the 50-point barrier. He is still waiting.



"We have to believe we can do it," added Tilson of Saturday's match. "The pressure is there and the players have to deal with it or we will be playing non-league football next season."

Tilson is an experienced manager, having spent seven years at Southend before his appointment at Sincil Bank in October 2010. During his time with the Essex club he experienced promotion and relegation, as well as the threat of administration. In contrast, Barnet go into their final game of the campaign against Port Vale with a rookie at the helm.

Six weeks ago Guliano Grazioli's main responsibility on a matchday at Underhill was sorting out the ball boys. Now he is the manager.

He spent five years as a player at Barnet between 2003 and 2008 and was the top scorer in the Conference with 29 goals in 2005 as the Bees won promotion back to the Football League after a four-year absence. Grazioli hung up his boots two years ago and had been working as Barnet's community development officer from April 2010 until new manager Martin Allen made him his assistant when he took over in March.



The Bees' battle against survival seemed to be gaining momentum under Mad Dog Allen, who had returned for his second spell in charge, but after picking up seven points from three games he controversially jumped ship, taking over at another struggling club in the form of League One side Notts County.

Grazioli found himself in charge, with five games left to try to haul his team out of the bottom two. He became the fourth person at the helm this season after Mark Stimson, who was sacked on 1 January, and Paul Fairclough, who was put in temporary charge but remained until Allen's arrival.

"Is management the right role for me - I am not sure," said a candidly honest Grazioli as he looked ahead to Saturday's match.

"I thought I would be a number two and learn under somebody for a few years. You could say I have been thrown into the deep end and maybe I would like it to be not quite as deep, but I would not change it for the world. There are hundreds of coaches out there who would happily swap with my position."

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A popular figure at Underhill, Grazioli sounded upbeat and enthusiastic when he discussed his team's prospects this weekend. He would like to be kept on as manager and would like a decision on that fairly soon. After all, his boss in the community department needs to know whether he will be returning to his old job.

The Bees are playing a Port Vale side that thrashed Morecambe 7-2 in their last outing, while Grazioli's side lost their last match 3-1 at Accrington. However, Barnet are unbeaten in three home games and have scored in six of their last seven fixtures. They are in much better form than Lincoln and also have a vastly superior goal difference - if Lincoln draw and the Bees win, then the north London side will survive. Barnet also know how to deal with a close shave after their experience last season, when they defeated Rochdale on the final day to stay up.

"The difference from last year is that this time it is not really in our hands and that is what is most annoying," added Kleanthous, who has been chairman of the Bees since 1994.

Kleanthous claims that he has never known a season like it, pointing to injuries to crucial players such as defender Darren Dennehy and striker Steve Kabba, as well as Allen's decision to walk out when the club finally looked set to climb the table.

"I do not get much sleep at night and have not had much for the last month," added Kleanthous. "The stress levels are so high; it affects every part of your life, things like how you interact with people."

Kleanthous has much to lose if Barnet are relegated. He is the Football League representative on the Football Association board and also has a seat on the Football League board.

"I am proud of the fact that clubs vote me to represent them," added Kleanthous. "It has been a great honour and I have been happy to do so, but leaving the positions with the FA and the League is not a problem, it is not my living.

"Whatever the outcome on Saturday we will just have to deal with it - and if that means a long and difficult summer then we will have a long and difficult summer."

Recent history does not offer much encouragement. Torquay were relegated in 2007 and have since returned but Grimsby, Darlington, Chester, Luton Town, Mansfield Town and Wrexham have gone down since then and none have bounced back.

The glory at the end of any season is to be found at the top end; in the title and promotions celebrations.

At Sincil Bank and Underhill on Saturday there will be a compelling drama of an entirely different kind; the battle for survival.

You can follow me throughout the season at twitter.com/Paul__Fletcher