[Darran]

With the Bury acceptance isn't it usually the FL strong arming the NL into accepting their rubbish with the threat of withholding promotion places?

I'm pretty sure it's up to the FA where they get placed and the National League don't have much of a say. Look at what happened with the new Bury and the Isle Of Man their league didn't want them and were annoyed the FA had placed them both there. So Alex can contact the League all he wants, but it's the FA who make the decision.