Saltdean United F.C.
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Saltdean United F.C. are a football club based in Saltdean, which is a suburb of Brighton & Hove, England. They joined the Sussex County Football League Division Three in 1984.In 1989 under the management of Mr Paul Hubbard,and the Chairmanship of Mr Michael Walker, they won Division Three and were promoted into Senior football for the first time in their history.By 1991 with Hubbard and Walker both departed,there were a couple of flirtations with relegation back into Intermediate football.A huge cash injection by Mr Rod Flavell in the mid 1990's led to an upturn in fortunes,promotion to the top league of Sussex county football,and a John O'Hara Cup Final victory.Big money was being spent on a quest for a league title and promotion to the next tier of the football pyramid. In the 1999-00 season, they reached the 4th round of the FA Vase.However,the following season Flavell withdrew his backing of the club and a sharp decline began.New chairman Greg Hadfield installed Steve Bean,a youth team coach, as manager.A disastrous move which led to the whole first team squad departing.With only youth team players available,Saltdean were unable to win a match and were well adrift at the foot of the table when Hadfield and Bean departed. Hubbard returned to the club where he had started his managerial career to briefly halt the slide between 2001-2003.His emigration to Spain in 2003 however signalled further freefall. For the 2007/08 season, they are members of the Sussex County Football League Division Three, and were the lowest ranked team to enter the FA Cup for that season. They finished the previous season rock bottom of Division Two and have been relegated back into intermediate football after 18 years in senior football. There could be a silver lining to this cloud though as many ex players from their Division One days have re-signed and they are favourites to bounce straight back into Senior football with manager Gus McBride at the helm.
