| Full name | Alfreton Town Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | The Reds | ||
| Founded | 1959 | ||
| Ground | North Street, Alfreton (Capacity: 3,600 (1,500 seated)) |
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| Chairman | Wayne Bradley | ||
| Manager | Nicky Law | ||
| League | Conference National | ||
| 2010–11 | Conference North, 1st | ||
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Alfreton Town F.C. is an English football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire. The club was reformed after a merger between Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfreton United in 1959. The new club was admitted into the Central Alliance North Division One in 1959, and within two seasons entered the Midland Counties League.
In 1970, after a few seasons of finishing near the top, they won the league title, and won it again in 1973 and 1977. After the Midland League and the Yorkshire League merged in 1982, they won the Northern Counties East League in 1985, division champions in 1987, and joined the Northern Premier League in 1988.
In 2003, the club won the First Division and the Derbyshire Senior Cup. After this turn of events, they won promotion to the Conference North.
January 2007 saw Gary Mills and Darron Gee depart to join their former club Tamworth. Marcus Ebdon stepped in to Mills' shoes as manager.[1]
Alfreton will be playing in the Conference National in the 2011–12 season after sealing promotion against Redditch. During pre season they recorded a 14-0 victory against a Sheffield Wednesday representative XI.
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The present Alfreton Town Football Club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfreton United Football Clubs. The newly constituted club, playing on a new ground on North Street provided by the local council, was admitted directly to the Central Alliance Division One (North) and progressed sufficiently in the first two seasons to gain entry to the re-formed Midland Counties League.
The record attendance at the North Street ground of 5,023 was recorded for the visit of Matlock Town in 1960. After holding the wooden spoon in 1961–62 Alfreton seldom looked back and took the Midland League title in 1969–70 after several near misses.
The triumph was repeated three years later and again in 1976–77. Alfreton won the Midland League Cup in three successive seasons in the 1970s and the trophy was presented to the club as a permanent memento of the feat.
Further success came in the Northern Counties East League following the merger of the Midland and Yorkshire Leagues in 1982. They won the League Cup in season 1984–85 and were champions in 1986–87 before accepting a place in the newly formed First Division of the Northern Premier League for season 1987–88.
Early seasons in the new League were not very successful and Alfreton finished bottom of the League in 1990–91. However, re-organisation of non-league football in Wales meant a number of clubs left the NPL and Alfreton were saved from relegation. In the 1994–95 season, after leading the table for most of the season, the Reds missed out on promotion as they contrived to lose three of their last four matches.
This disappointment was forgotten the following season when they finished runners-up to Lancaster City and were promoted to the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League for the first time ever.
A two-year tenure proved difficult and after escaping a return to the Northern Premier League Division One in the 1996–97 campaign, a downward spiral struck and successive relegations saw the club slip back into the Northern Counties (East) League at the end of the 1998–99 season. After a slow start, a great run of results at the turn of the year saw the Reds still in with an outside chance of promotion but they eventually finished 5th.
The same campaign saw the club enter the FA Vase for the first time and they reached the last 16 of the competition before bowing out 1–0 at Mossley of the North West Counties League, after extra time.
The 2001–02 campaign saw Jason Maybury replaced as player/manager in late October by Chris Wilder and unprecedented success followed as the Reds landed four trophies - the Northern Counties (East) League Premier Division championship, League Cup, President's Cup and Derbyshire Senior Cup.
Wilder departed to manage former club Halifax Town in the summer of 2002 but, in his first full season in charge, manager Dave Lloyd and assistant Charlie Williamson guided the Reds to a second successive championship when they lifted the 2002–03 Northern Premier League First Division title.
The season contained many highs as the side set new club records of 17 straight victories in all competitions, and went 26 games unbeaten. After a three-year absence from the competition, they also reached the FA Trophy 4th round for the first time - only bowing out after a replay to eventual competition winners Burscough.
A sound start to the 2003–04 Northern Premier League campaign saw them lead the way at the top for 51 days before eventually finishing a very creditable fourth as the team ended the campaign with just one defeat in their last 13 outings.
The club's highest ever finishing place comfortably earned the Reds a place in the brand new Conference North division.
After a great start to the season in the new Conference North the Reds led the table until the turn of the year when a complete reversal in form saw them slide down the table to eventually finish 14th.
A good run in the FA Cup saw them beat local rivals Matlock Town 5–0, Cammell Laird 3–2 and Worksop Town 2–1 in a replay after a 1–1 draw away to reach the First Round Proper for the first time in 30 years. Football League Two side Macclesfield Town provided the opposition at the Impact Arena and 2251 spectators saw Mark Sale bundle the ball over the line for a last minute equaliser that earned a replay in Cheshire. Unfortunately, despite giving a very good account of themselves Alfreton went down 2–0 in the replay.
At the end of the 2004–05 season the club parted company with the successful management team of David Lloyd and Charlie Williamson who ended their three year tenure at the end of a season which promised much.
A European Cup winner with Nottingham Forest and former Notts County manager, Gary Mills was installed as the first full time manager at the Impact Arena in the summer of 2005.
His is assisted by Darron Gee who has previously worked with Gary in successful management spells at Grantham Town, King's Lynn and Tamworth. Indeed, it was Gee who took Tamworth into the Conference National and to an FA Trophy final appearance in the 2002–03 campaign. The pair faced a huge rebuilding job with several senior players being released and a dozen new players being brought in prior to the kick-off.
A much improved run of form saw some notable wins achieved in the final third of the campaign and safety was achieved well before the final day of the season with the Reds finally finishing 17th out of 22, six points clear of the relegation zone.
The 2006–07 season saw a decent-looking rebuilt squad, albeit somewhat light in numbers, following summer budget cuts in a bid to keep the club on an even keel. A second budget cut came in a couple of months into the campaign and this was followed by manager Gary Mills departing 20 months into a three year full time contract when former club Tamworth came calling in January. His assistant Darron Gee presided over one game, a win, before teaming up again with his long term managerial and social best mate.
Marcus Ebdon was handed his first managerial reins as player–manager and guided the club to the end of the season where the team finished a very creditable 14th, matching their best ever placing in non league's second highest tier.
For the 2007–08 season, former Chesterfield and Bradford City boss Nicky Law took over as Reds manager in June having had two highly successful seasons with Buxton. He too has had to rebuild the vast majority of the squad, but there look to have been some astute signings.
Holding a professional coaching licence, Law is the highest ever qualified manager to have held the Impact Arena post and the general consensus amongst fans and officials alike is that this could well be an exciting campaign.
The club attracted publicity in July 2011 after beating a Sheffield Wednesday XI 14-0 in a pre-season friendly.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Source: Alfreton Town at the Football Club History Database