Brentwood Town F.C.

Brentwood Town
Full name Brentwood Town Football Club
Nickname(s) The Blues
Founded 1954 (as Manor Athletic)
Ground The Brentwood Centre Arena, Brentwood
(Capacity: 1,800 (150 seated))
Manager Steve Witherspoon
League Isthmian League Division One North
2010–11 Isthmian League Division One North, 5th
Home colours
Away colours

Brentwood Town F.C. are an English football club based in Brentwood, Essex. The club is currently a member of the Isthmian League Division One North.

Contents

History

Football in the town of Brentwood goes back to the 19th century when the original Brentwood Town in 1886 reached the quarter finals of the FA Cup where they were beaten 3-1 by the eventual winners Blackburn Rovers.

In 1920 Brentwood & Warley FC owed their origins to a Junior team, Records United, a team of clerks from the Pay Office at Warley Barracks. One of the first players and also the first Hon. Secretary was H.C. Bear (Sonny) and his association with the club was to continue into the 1960s. The club became Seniors in the early thirties gaining admission to the Spartan League. Later it joined with the Brentwood Mental Hospital, but some time in the 1930s the club disbanded. In 1939 the Club was reformed, but only for a few games, owing to the war. In the 1940s 50s and 60s the town had a successful amateur club, Brentwood & Warley FC, who were three times winners of the Delphian League. In 1946 it was decided to kick off again even though the Club had no ground. This lack of a ground led to the Daily Express famously dubbing them the "Homeless Wanderers", but through the kindness of Hubert Ashton, the Club was able to play on three grounds - the County Ground, the Brentwood School Ground, and the Brentwood Mental Hospital Ground. Application was made for election to the London League, but this was not successful, so the club entered the South Essex League and, captained by Joe Harvey, they carried all before them. They won the League without dropping a point, scoring 162 goals to 19. The League Cup was also won. In the next season, 1947/48, the Spartan League accepted the club into the Eastern Division, not the Premier Division as they had hoped, and it was another highly successful season. The Club won the Division, beat the winners of the West Division, Willesden 4-2, and also beat Cambridge Town, the winners of the Premier Division, to carry off the Dunkels Cup. The following season they finished runners up in Premier Division to Cambridge Town. During the Second World War a few of the Officials raised nearly £1,000 for the purchase of The New Hive ground, and it was with this "nest egg" that the Hurstwood Estate was purchased.

The original Brentwood Town Football Club was reformed in 1965, replacing the amateur club Brentwood & Warley who were disbanded at the end of the 1964-65 season to make way for the new club. In those days there was still a strong distinction between the amateur and professional game and the new club was to be professional team and joined the Metropolitan League. That competition included the 'A' teams of Spurs, Arsenal and West Ham. When Brentwood Town were reformed in 1965 Tommy Wilson was appointed as player/manager. Tommy was Ex-Nottingham Forest FC Forward where he had spent ten years, helping them to win promotion from the old Second to the First Division. The highlight of his career was when he scored the second goal in Forest's 2-1 FA Cup final victory over Luton Town FC at Wembley in 1959. He later joined Walsall FC who won promotion from the Third to Second Division, then won a Southern League championship with Cambridge City FC. Prior to joining Brentwood Town he had captained Chelmsford City who had been runners-up. In the 1969-70 season Brentwood Town reached the third round proper of the FA Cup, however at the end of that season the club effectively folded and amalgamated with another Southern League club Chelmsford City.

The current club was formed in 1954 under the name of Manor Athletic, playing at King Georges Playing Fields, in 1957 the club moved to Larkins Playing Fields and in 1967 the club joined the Essex Olympian League. When the original Brentwood Town folded in 1970, Manor Athletic changed its name to Brentwood Athletic in recognition that it was now the most senior club in the district. Another name change to Brentwood took place in 1972, in 1974 the club joined the Essex Senior League. In 1975-76 the club surprisingly signed former England international Jimmy Greaves. Greaves went on to help his side to a League Cup Final 3-0 victory over Basildon United after scoring a hat-trick to knock Bowers United out of the same competition, and to break a number of Brentwood attendance records at Larkins. Over 880 turned out on a midweek summers evening for the Billericay v Brentwood League game with a 6.30 kick off such was his "pulling power". Greaves left for Chelmsford City at the end of the season having added 150 to every ESL ground's gate where he played. The emergence of Brentwood as a force in Cup football came about with their own 2-0 win over Brightlingsea United having ko'd the Bees in the semi-final. In 1987-88 season Brentwood’s Len Cook won the Leading Scorer competition with a record, at the time of 37 goals. In 1992 Larkins Playing Fields lost its senior status and the club entered in to a ground sharing arrangement with East Thurrock Utd. With the support of the local council a new home was found next to The Brentwood Leisure Centre, the first game was player on 9 October 1993. Finally the circle was complete when in 2004 the name Brentwood Town was adopted.

The 2006/07 season the clubs most successful thus far, The Blues won the treble with Essex Senior League Cup, Gordon Bransted Cup, Essex Senior League title and also won promotion to the Isthmian League Division One North.In 2007-08 and the first season in the Isthmian League Brentwood Town narrowly missed out in reaching the play-offs finishing 6th on 76 points, in the following season In 2008-09 season The Blues managed to reach the play-offs after finishing 3rd on 83 points only to full down at the first hurdle losing to Waltham Abbey in the semi-final. In 2010–10 after finishing 5th Brentwood qualified for the promotion play-offs. After beating promotion favourites Needham Market, unbeaten in the league at home for 18 months, in the semi-final the Blues lost 3-2 afte extra time in the final..

Stadium

The club play their home games at The Arena adjacent to the Brentwood Centre located in Doddinghurst Road, Brentwood, approximately one mile north of the town centre. The Arena which has an enclosed pitch, perimeter barrier, perimeter path, a clubhouse and changing rooms. Floodlights were installed in 1999. There is cover and seating for 150 people outside the clubhouse and a covered standing area for approximately 100 people behind one goal. The largest attendance in recent history was over 1,200 for a veterans charity game Brentwood Town v West Ham Boys of '86, 14 October 2007, while 417 watched the Isthmian League Division 1 North play-off semi-final against Waltham Abbey in April 2009. The record gate of recent times stands at 763 for an Isthmian League Division 1 North game against Cheshunt on 23 April 2011 and in the same season 748 watched the FA Cup 3rd Round Qualifier against Woking on 9 October 2010, exactly 17 years from the first ever game at The Arena.

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 GK Elliot Justham
2 DF Ryan Doyle
3 DF Ted Llewellyn
4 DF Richard Ketchell
5 DF Darren Blewitt (captain)
6 MF Danny Dafter
7 MF James Love
8 MF Jason Mason
9 FW Emmanuel Osei
10 MF Dean Green
11 MF Luke Croll
12 DF Ryan O'Rawe
No. Position Player
13 FW Ryan Edgar
14 MF Robbie Rees
15 DF Martyn Stokes
16 MF Olly Hadlee
17 MF Steve Butterworth
18 FW Kieran Ogunkoya
19 FW Jacob Dingli
20 FW Tyler Campbell
21 GK Tim Pitman
22 DF Mitch Seymour
23 MF Ashley Webb
24 MF Lee Hyun Jin

Coaching staff

Position Name
Manager Steve Witherspoon
Assistant Manager Mark Boxall
First Team Coach Graham Wood
First Team Coach Colin Payne
Goalkeeping Coach Phil Skelton
Physiotherapist Steve Carmichael-Brown
Capital League Team Manager Peter Morrison
U18 Manager Nick Carroll
U16 Manager Jason Webster

Honours

Previous managers

Years Name
2011-? Steve Witherspoon
2009-2011 Les Whitton
2008-2009 Carl Griffiths
2006-2008 Steve Witherspoon
2005-2006 Tony Myers
2004-2005 Andy Macdonald
1999-2004 Paul Delea
1978-1999 Derrick Stittle
1972-1976 David Emerick

External links

Premier Division
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