National League outright betting tips: Back Kabamba to fire Barnet to Vanarama title

The National League is often overlooked by footballing snobs who assume it’s lacking in quality, but anyone who gives it a chance will be proven wrong.

The league produces enviable amounts of drama every year, promotion challengers out of the blue, and talented players who inevitably move on to higher levels.

Barnet are widely regarded as the main contender for the National League crown this season, but as ever, there’s no shortage of threats in the chasing pack.

Join Planet Sport as we pick out our favourite outright bets for the 2024/25 Vanarama National League campaign.

Suggested bets

Barnet to win the National League

Top goalscorer: Nicke Kabambe

Oldham Athletic to finish in the top seven

Solihull Moors to finish in the top seven

 

Barnet

Can the Bees finally escape the clutches of the National League? They’ll certainly hope so. The Hive will be abuzz with optimism this campaign and the bookmakers share that hopeful outlook.

After winning the division ahead of Bristol Rovers in 2015, Barnet enjoyed a couple of seasons in the football league before slipping back to non-league mid-table obscurity and flirting with relegation to National League South.

They’ve been steadily building momentum in the last three seasons, moving into mid-table, qualifying for the play-offs and keeping Chesterfield on their toes last season.

The Spireities and Bromley secured promotion to League Two, which means that the closest remaining challengers to Dean Brennan’s side finished four wins behind them.

The experienced defensive additions they’ve made may help them tighten things up on their travels, where they could do with turning a few of last season’s draws into wins. Even then, it’s unlikely they’ll have to keep up with a team of Chesterfield’s quality.

Nicke Kabambe finished the 2023/24 season as the club's top goalscorer, adding six goals to the tally he achieved the year before. He'll spearhead the Bees' promotion push again this season.

 

Forest Green Rovers

Forest Green Rovers are back in the National League after a brief trip to the English Football League which saw them spend a season in League One.

They’ll have to navigate a big churn of players with 17 of last season’s squad departing so far this summer. Evidently, they weren’t very good. That said, many would have done well in the National League

The Green have added serious experience in the form of Liam Sercombe and Ben Tozer, who have secured numerous career promotions, including from this level.

Our main concern for Steve Cotterill’s side is their thin squad, inexperienced midfield and apparent lack of goals outside of Christian Doidge.

Their football league experience will come in handy as they make the drop back down, but they will be there to be shot at and in our opinion, they may not see the EFL again anytime soon.

 

Oldham Athletic

Some clubs belong at this level of football and others don’t. Oldham are one of those poor souls who have plunged down the pyramid since their glory days, finding themselves among a graveyard of ex-football league clubs.

The Latics were in the Premier League as recently as the late 90s and dropped out of the EFL altogether in 2022 after being poorly run for several years.

Abdallah Lemsagam may have sold the club shortly after relegation, but the downward momentum after years of his madcap management made it hard to compete.

After back-to-back mid-table finishes, this season could offer some hope for Athletic. Micky Mellon is a good appointment at this level and they’ve shown some ambition by adding Josh Kay and Manny Monthe.

The jury is still out slightly, as Athletic aren’t done recruiting and need to address a couple of holes in their squad, but the foundation for a promotion push is finally there.

 

Other contenders

Never let it be said that following Southend United is boring. In the past 20 seasons, the Shrimpers have played their part in 10 promotion races and suffered four relegations.

They’ve gone back-to-back from League Two to reach the Championship and back down again, eventually dropping out of the football league in 2021.

They’ve steadied the ship to finish ninth and eighth in recent seasons and they’ll be fancied to go one better and reach the play-offs this year.

Dagenham & Redbridge and Rochdale complete the bookmaker’s top six this campaign. Both will need to make significant strides from last season’s mid-table finish.

Instead, we’ll put some faith in Solihull Moors. They aren’t a big club and they don’t have a big budget, but they are well-run and can boast two play-off appearances in three years.

Sutton United are also worth keeping an eye on to see how they fare early in the season, but we know how hard it is to bounce back at the first time of asking.

Altrincham, Gateshead and Hartlepool United also deserve a mention as they’re in a similar price bracket to Sutton and all went well last season, but we’ve already decided where our money is going.