Farnham Town F.C.

Farnham Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Farnham, Surrey, England.

History

Established in 1912, the club was one of the founder members of the London Spartan League in 1975. They reached the Fourth Round of the FA Vase in the 1976–77 season.

During the early 1990s, they were one of the biggest names in local football and won the Combined Counties League in successive seasons. However, the lack of funds to compete with increasing player wage bills and continuous need for upgraded facilities landed them with numerous financial problems and they continue to ply their trade in the Combined Counties League Premier Division.

From 1995–98 Farnham finished in the top six of the Premier Division for three consequitive seasons, in 1998–99 they finished in 13th position, then 10th in 1999–2000 before suffering relegation from the Premier Division in 2000–01 season. They bounced straight back the following season but then endured four tough seasons back in the Premier Division, with bottom four finishes every season culminating in relegation back down to Division One in 2005–06. Again the club bounced straight back and in 2006–07 they won the Division One title but were denied promotion due to the Memorial Ground not meeting the desired grading by the league. The club then spent another four seasons in Combined Counties Division One.

Farnham gained promotion from Combined Counties Division One in the 2010–11 season after finishing second behind Worcester Park. In Paul Tanner's first season at the helm he gained automatic promotion back to the Premier Division at the first attempt, which after only retaining four members of the side from the previous years squad - who finished mid table, was quite an achievement. Paul Tanner's side also won the Combined Counties Fair Play Award for 2010–11 after going the whole season without having a man sent off, a record to be proud of. Also in their ranks, they had the leagues top scorer for the season in the prolific Mark Corbett who amased a career best of 32 league goals in 34 league matches to propel Farnham to promotion after signing from Sandhurst in the Summer of 2010.

In a very successful year for the club on the whole, Dean Nelson's reserve side finished second behind Mole Valley in the Combined Counties Reserve Division, improving on fourth position the previous season. Farnham ladies also finished second in their respective league to cap quite a remarkable season in Geoff Chapple's final season as Chairman. At the end of season presentation evening Darren Wilson won the Players Players award, with Ben Williams scooping Manager's Player, Fans Player and the coveted tourist award for his all round performance in Magaluf. Dan Errington picked up the Young Player of the year in his first full season in senior football.

The chairman of Farnham Town for 2011–12 is Ray Bridger replacing Geoff Chapple, who previously managed Woking and Kingstonian and because of his continued involvement with BSS side Woking coupled with Farnham Town's promotion back to the Combined Counties top-flight, Geoff is sadly ineligible to continue both roles.

Current first team manager and now in his second season at the club is Paul Tanner, alongside coaches Sean Birchnall & Nick Sowden with Dean Nelson and Andy Sharratt continuing to run the reserve side. Also for the first time the club has an Under 18 Youth Team managed by Andy Warner in the Southern Youth League.

External links

• Official site