| Full name | Gainsborough Trinity Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Trinity, The Holy Blues, The Recreationists | ||
| Founded | 1873 (as Trinity Recreationists) | ||
| Ground | The Northolme, Gainsborough (Capacity: 4,304 (504 seated)) |
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| Chairman | Peter Swann | ||
| Manager | Steve Housham | ||
| League | Conference North | ||
| 2010–11 | Conference North, 18th | ||
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Gainsborough Trinity Football Club are an English football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.
Between 1896 and 1912 they were members of the Football League. They are currently in the Conference North, and play their home matches at The Northolme, which has a capacity of 4,304 (504 seated, 3,800 standing). They are known as "Trinity" or the "Holy Blues".
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The club was formed in 1873 by The Reverend George Langton Hodgkinson, Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Gainsborough, and was originally known as Trinity Recreationalists. In 1889 they joined the Midland League, and finished 7th in their first season. In the 1890–91 season the club finished as Champions, but had to wait until 1896 to be elected to the Second Division of The Football League. Also Trinity were the first team to play Manchester United in a competitive fixture – on 6 September 1902 in a Second Division match – after they had changed their name from Newton Heath.
After several years of struggle, the club was voted out of the league in 1912, being replaced by local rivals Lincoln City, and returned to the Midland League. During the 1940s, the club recorded its record attendance, when 9,760 saw a match against local rivals, the then non-league Scunthorpe United. The club won three Championships (1928, 1949 and 1967 – by which time the league had become the Midland Counties League) before becoming founder members of the newly-created Northern Premier League in 1969, where it remained until 2004.
At the end of the 2003–04 season, the club finished in a high enough position to become founder members of the newly-created Conference North.
As a non-league club, Trinity have recorded five wins against Football League opposition (a feat known in English football as giant-killing). Victories were recorded against Crewe Alexandra in 1928 and 1931, Port Vale in 1937, Gateshead in 1938 and Mansfield Town in 1946. .
Trinity claim to be one of the few English clubs never to have experienced a relegation, as they were voted out of the Football League rather than being directly relegated. They were also the first and last opponents of Middlesbrough Ironopolis. The club recently was bought out by new chairman Peter Swann, who owns the majority of the shares in the club after buying out long serving chairman Patrick Lobley. Swann also secured a new 10 year lease on the clubs home ground by agreeing terms with the ground's owners the Blues Club.
In 2009 money provided by the new chairman was able to bring in a large number of professionals from the Football League. The biggest coup though was when the club announced that former Aston Villa boss Brian Little would be taking over as manager.
Despite Little's expertise in the professional game, Trinity have struggled in the Conference North under his guidance. After finishing 14th in 2009–10, the club faced a relegation battle in 2010–11, eventually pulling away from the drop-zone after a late run of victories to finish 19th.
In May 2011, the club hired Brigg Town manager Steve Housham as Football Development Manager – a full-time role in which Gainsborough born Housham will oversee player recruitment and youth development.
Since the arrival of Housham, the squad has taken on a much younger look. As well as the signings of Dominic Roma, Shane Clarke and Jonathan D'Laryea, the club have also signed former Grimsby Town youth team captain Mark Gray, as well as Andrew Pettinger and Ryan Paczkowski from Housham's former club Brigg Town
After a poor start to the 2011/12 campaign, Little was sacked and replaced by Housham, who signed a deal until the end of the season. The club saw an immediate turn-around, losing just one of the next nine games and moving into a play-off position.
Trinity have played their home games at The Northolme since the birth of the club in 1873.
In November 2009, Peter Swann announced that he intends to build a new 4,000 seat stadium for the club in order to cement it's ties with the community.[1] Since the proposal, several sites have been mooted for the new facility, including land belonging to Queen Elizabeth's High School and an area on Corringham Road near the Trent Valley Academy.
Despite the fact a site has yet to be finalized, the club is hopeful that the new stadium will be open for the beginning of the 2012–13 season.
Chairman: Peter Swann
Director: Patrick Lobley
Director of Football: Peter Swann
Caretaker Manager: Steve Housham]
Football Development Manager: Steve Housham
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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| Dates | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ?-? | Bobby Ham | |
| 197?-1980 | Roy Ellam | |
| 1980-1981 | Neil Warnock | |
| 1991-1993 | Gary Simpson | |
| 1993-1994 | Leighton James | |
| 1994-1995 | Gary Brook | |
| 1995-1998 | Ernie Moss | |
| 1998-1999 | Steve Richards | |
| 1999-2000 | Ernie Moss | |
| 2000-2001 | Phil Tingay | |
| 2001-2002 | Dave Norton | Player/Manager |
| 2002-2003 | Phil Stant | Player/Manager |
| 2003-2007 | Paul Mitchell | |
| 2007-2009 | Steve Charles | |
| 2009 | Dave Reeves & Steve Blatherwick |
Caretaker Managers |
| 2009 | Adie Moses | Caretaker Manager |
| 2009-2011 | Brian Little | |
| 2011- | Steve Housham |
Gainsborough Trinity's location on the bank of the river trent pitts them against a host of clubs from Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. The most noted local derby's for Gainsborough are against Boston United and Worksop Town, as both clubs have spent numerous seasons in both the Northern Premier League and Conference North divisions with Trinity. Games with either Boston or Worksop are traditionally played on Boxing Day and New Years Day.
Professional clubs in traditional Lincolnshire such as Lincoln City, Scunthorpe United and Grimsby Town have rarely played Trinity outside of pre-season tournament's such as the Lincolnshire Senior Cup. The last competitive match between Trinity against a professional Lincolnshire club was when they played Lincoln City in the first round of the FA Cup in the 1996-97 season, with Trinity eventually losing 3-2 in the replay following a 1-1 draw at Sincil Bank.
Other clubs in Trinity's geographical region are Retford United, Lincoln United, Sleaford Town and Lincoln Moorlands Railway but all operate in league's lower than Trinity's on the football pyramid.
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