LANCASTER City could be in a new league next season -- without winning a game!

The Dolly Blues are likely to be affected by a planned major shake-up in the football 'pyramid'.

The current plans would see the Ryman league -- serving clubs in the greater London area -- lose its 'feeder' status for the conference, meaning new Southern and Northern leagues would replace it.

On the plus side, City's promotion chances could be boosted with the introduction of a play off system for a third promotion spot, as well as more competitive teams.

But the new league would also include some of the clubs from the Doc Martens league, meaning more travel.

And, if City fail to keep up their impressive form of recent years and finish firmly in the bottom half of the table, they could be 'relegated' to a restructured league covering just the North West.

The scheme will be scuppered, however, unless the football league finally allows the conference a second promotion place.

City open the season with a fixture at Colwyn Bay on August 18. Their first home match will be against newly promoted Merseyside outfit Vauxhall Motors the following Tuesday.

The seasone ends at home to Burscough on May 3, while Barrow will, as usual, be the Christmas and New Year opponents, with the Giant Axe clash on New Year's Day.

Meanwhile, Morecambe are being tipped to have an outside chance of promotion by bookies William Hill. They are quoted at 20/1 to go up, though Jim Harvey is seen as the fourth safest boss in the league, with odds of 40/1 against him being the first conference manager to leave next season.