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Slough Town F.C.

Coordinates: 51°35′36.41″N 0°37′46.89″W / 51.5934472°N 0.6296917°W / 51.5934472; -0.6296917
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Slough Town F.C.
File:Slough Town FC logo.png
Full nameSlough Town Football Club
Nickname(s)The Rebels
Founded1893 (as Slough)
GroundArbour Park, Slough
Capacity2,000
ChairmanSteve Easterbrook
ManagerNeil Baker / Jon Underwood
LeagueSouthern League Premier Division
2015–16Southern League Premier Division, 17th
Websitehttp://www.sloughtownfc.net/

Slough Town Football Club is an English semi-professional football club. The club was officially founded in 1890 after the amalgamation of three local clubs, Swifts, Slough Albion and Young Men's Friendly Society, who between them forged a new club, Slough F.C.. The club is a senior non-League football club representing Slough, England.

Nicknamed "The Rebels", the team currently plays in the Southern Football League Premier Division.

History

Slough F.C. was originally formed in 1890 and initially played in the Southern Alliance alongside the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Windsor & Eton before later moving on to the Great Western Suburban League. In 1921 it attempted to join the Isthmian League but lost out to Wycombe Wanderers in the voting. Instead Slough chose to join the Spartan League.

In 1936 the owners of the club's ground, The Dolphin Stadium, sold up to a greyhound racing consortium, which ordered the football club to vacate the stadium three years later. After being forced to groundshare with Maidenhead United for several years, the club agreed to a merge with Slough Centre F.C. to return to a ground in their home town. The new club took the name Slough United F.C.

After The Second World War Slough Utd was reluctant to rejoin the Spartan League and led a breakaway movement to form a new league, which became the Corinthian League. It was from this that the club derived its nickname of "The Rebels". Shortly after this the two clubs which had merged to form Slough United separated once again, with the former Slough F.C. continuing under the new name of Slough Town F.C.

Slough Town won the Corinthian League in 1950–51 but in 1964 the league folded and Slough, along with many other former Corinthian clubs, joined an expanded Athenian League. The Rebels were champions of this league on three occasions, with the third win earning promotion to the Isthmian League in 1973. During the 1980s they were league champions on two occasions, the second of which brought promotion to the Football Conference. Slough lasted four seasons at this level, were relegated back to the Isthmian League, bounced back at the first attempt, and then played three more seasons of Conference football. In 1998 the consortium which had bought the club out of receivership seven years earlier decided that they were not prepared to pay for ground improvements required to remain in the Conference, and so the club was demoted back to the Isthmian League despite having finished in 8th place.

Further relegation to the Isthmian League Division One followed in 2000–01 but the club regained its Premier Division status in 2003–04 and remained there until the end of the 2006–07 season, when they finished bottom and conceded over 120 goals. In the 2004–05 season, Slough knocked Walsall of Football League One out of the FA Cup. Highlights of the game were shown on Match of the Day, though because of the team sharing the Stag Meadow ground at the time, the programme showed overhead shots of Windsor instead of Slough when introducing the rarely featured team. Slough transferred over to the Southern Football League Division One South & West for the 2007–08 season, where they finished 21st out of 22 teams. Although initially relegated (for the second year running), they were one of the teams given a provisional reprieve after Halifax Town went into administration.[1]

In the season of 2004–05 Slough Town beat Walsall to reach the 2nd round of the FA Cup however they then lost to Yeading. Slough Town were also the Isthmian League Cup winners in 2004–05 after they beat Hampton & Richmond Borough 3–1 in the final with 2 goals from Ian Hodges and 1 from Josias Carbon to help them secure the win and the silverware.

Over the next two seasons, and now playing in the Southern Football League Division One Midlands,[2] Slough's performance continued to improve. In the 2009–10 season, Slough Town finish 5th in the table, qualifying the team for the promotion play-off matches. Having beaten second-placed Hitchin Town 2–1 in the play-off semi-final, Slough lost 4–0 to Chesham United in the final, meaning they had to remain in the same division for the 2010–11 season. Once again they finished 5th in the 2010–11 season, but lost to Hitchin Town in the play-off semi-final 4–1.

Having come close to promotion to the Premier Division in the last few seasons, including two play-off final defeats, Slough parted company with manager Steve Bateman following the 2012–13 season after four years at the helm, the last of which saw them miss out on the play-offs by a solitary point. The club looked to take a new direction in 2013–14 and appointed Neil Baker and Jon Underwood, the management duo who had taken league rivals Godalming Town to the play-offs in the previous season. With Godalming forced to relocate to the South & West Division following their failure to win the play-offs, the majority of their squad decided to follow Baker and Underwood to Slough. In their very first season, the new management team steered the club to promotion via the play-offs. Slough claimed a 3-0 victory at Rugby Town in the semi-final before winning the play-off final against Kettering Town in front of 2,331 at Kettering’s temporary home of Latimer Park on 5 May 2014. Slough trailed 0-2 at half-time before staging a second half comeback. Two goals from Johnnie Dyer brought the Rebels level before James McClurg scored the goal that ultimately returned Slough Town to the third tier of non-league football after several years away.

Ground

Slough Town will start the 2016-17 season playing their early home games at Holloways Park, Windsor Road, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. They are due to move back into the borough of Slough for the first time in over a decade on 29 August 2016 when they play their first game at their new ground Arbour Park against Hayes and Yeading United.[3]

The pitch at Arbour Park is 3G and has been approved by FIFA, one of only 24 to be so in the UK.[4][5]

For many years since the 1930s, Slough Town played at the Dolphin Stadium, just to the east of the town centre. From 1973 Slough Town played at the Wexham Park Stadium. At the end of the 2002–03 season, financial disagreements with the stadium's owners led to the club's eviction. The Stadium is still in existence, but has since fallen into a state of serious disrepair. During the next four seasons (2003–04 to 2006–07) the club was based in Windsor, ground-sharing with Windsor & Eton at their Stag Meadow ground. In the summer of 2007, the club agreed a three-year ground-share with Beaconsfield SYCOB. This was extended to cover the 2010–11 season,[6] and will continue until Slough move into their new ground, Arbour Park, in August 2016.[7].

Since June 2009, Slough Town have been progressing a proposal submitted to Slough Borough Council for permission to build a new stadium within the Borough of Slough. The proposed location for the development is the Arbour Vale school site on Stoke Road, to the north of the town. In addition to a state-of-the-art stadium, the plans include affordable housing and sports fields.[8][9] An artist's impression of the new ground was released in March 2012.[10]

Current squad

August 2016.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules, some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
— GK England ENG Mark Scott
— DF England ENG Guy Hollis
— DF England ENG Sean Fraser
— DF England ENG Dan Hicks
— DF England ENG Mark Nisbet
— DF England ENG Paul Stonehouse
— DF England ENG Brad Hewitt
— DF England ENG Adam New
— DF England ENG Josh Jackman
— MF England ENG Lee Togwell
— MF England ENG Nathan Webb
No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF England ENG Warren Harris
— MF England ENG Simon Dunn
— MF England ENG Harrison Gilkes
— MF Turkey TUR Gurkan Gokmen
— MF England ENG James Dobson
— FW England ENG Lewis Putman
— FW England ENG Charlie Moone
— FW England ENG Lee Barney
— FW England ENG Gavin James
— FW England ENG Charlie Losasso

International players

In the 2007–08 season, Slough's first team included several international players – something which is very rare for the level at which STFC are currently playing. Three players, Jermaine Gumbs, Romell Gumbs and Brian Connor, won their second caps for Anguilla in a World Cup qualifying match against El Salvador in March 2008.[11] For the 2009–10 season, the squad included another Anguillan international player, Roy Gumbs.

Slough Town vs Hampton & Richmond Borough in the Isthmian League Cup final in 2005.

Club records

  • Record League Win: 17–0 v Railway Clearing House, Saturday 4 March 1922
  • Record Cup Win: 16–0 v Wolverton, Saturday 7 December 1935
  • Record League Defeat: 9–0 v AFC Wimbledon, Saturday, 31 March 2007
  • Record Cup Defeat: 11–1 v Chesham Town Saturday 5 Feb 1910
  • Record Transfer Fee Paid: £18,000 for Colin Fielder from Farnborough Town in 1991
  • Record Transfer Fee Received: £25,000 for Lloyd Owusu from Brentford in 1998

Former players

1. Players that have played/managed in the Football League or any foreign equivalent to this level (i.e. fully professional league).
2. Players with full international caps.
3. Players that hold a club record.

Sources

References

  1. ^ Corlett, Patrick (15 May 2008). "Slough receive initial reprieve". Slough & Langley Observer. Retrieved 15 May 2008.
  2. ^ The divisions at this level are arranged geographically. After the promotions/relegations have been determined, the league has to ensure that the teams are in the most appropriate division, which can mean some changing between 'South and West' and 'Midland', or vice versa, to balance numbers.
  3. ^ http://www.sloughexpress.co.uk/gallery/slough/102622/slough-town-s-new-home-almost-ready-for-kick-off.html
  4. ^ http://www.sloughexpress.co.uk/gallery/slough/102622/slough-town-s-new-home-almost-ready-for-kick-off.html
  5. ^ http://www.sloughobserver.co.uk/sport/14578617.Arbour_Park_to_join_FIFA_elite_of_pitches/
  6. ^ Slough Extend SYCOB stay (accessed 27 May 2010) Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ http://www.sloughexpress.co.uk/gallery/slough/102622/slough-town-s-new-home-almost-ready-for-kick-off.html
  8. ^ Corlett, Patrick (18 June 2009). "Slough Town to submit proposals". Slough & Langley Observer.
  9. ^ Mayo, Nick (20 November 2010). "Slough stadium proposal to bring football home". Maidenhead Advertiser. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  10. ^ Pattinson, Terry (1 March 2012). "Arbour Park: What the stadium and estate will look like". Slough & South Bucks Express. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
  11. ^ STFC Official website – Rebels trio win second caps (Accessed 27 May 2010)
  12. ^ http://www.sloughtownfc.net/profile/1668/Ted-Norris
  13. ^ http://www.sloughtownfc.net/profile/1741/Trevor-Bunting

Official site

Unofficial sites

51°35′36.41″N 0°37′46.89″W / 51.5934472°N 0.6296917°W / 51.5934472; -0.6296917

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