| Full name | Ebbsfleet United Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Fleet | ||
| Founded | 1946 (as Gravesend & Northfleet) | ||
| Ground | Stonebridge Road Kent (Capacity: 5,011 (500 seated)) |
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| Chairman | Phil Sonsara | ||
| Head Coach | Liam Daish | ||
| League | Conference National | ||
| 2010–11 | Conference South, 3rd (promoted via play-offs) | ||
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| Current season | |||
Ebbsfleet United Football Club is an English professional football team currently playing in the Conference National. The team plays their home matches at Stonebridge Road in Northfleet, Kent. However, the club is now looking to build a new stadium in the Ebbsfleet Valley vicinity in Gravesham.
Prior to May 2007 the club was called Gravesend & Northfleet. The change was announced at a public consultation meeting on the evening of 1 May 2007.[1] The club is sponsored by Adams & Moore, a local firm of Audit, Accounts, Tax and Business Advisers based in Dartford.
Since February 2008, the club has been owned by the web-based venture MyFootballClub, whose members vote on player transfers, budgets and ticket prices among other things instead of those decisions being made exclusively by the club's management and staff as at most other clubs.[2]
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Gravesend & Northfleet F.C. was formed in 1946, following the Second World War, after a merger between Gravesend United (originally formed in 1893) and Northfleet United (originally formed in 1890) with the new club retaining the red & white home colours (and the Stonebridge Road stadium) of Northfleet United.[3]
In 1979, the team was one of the founder members of the Alliance Premier League (now today's Conference National),[4] but were relegated back into the Southern League Premier three seasons later.[5]
For the 1997–98 season, Gravesend & Northfleet left the Southern League and joined the Isthmian League. They played in the Premier Division of the league until the 2001–02 season, when they finished as champions and earned promotion back into the Conference, where they remained until being relegated to the Conference South at the end of the 2009-10 season.
The current head coach is former Coventry City defender Liam Daish, and the assistant manager is Paul McCarthy, a former player for the club. Gravesend and Northfleet have also been managed in the recent past by Andy Ford, who resigned after a GLS Cup game after an extended run of poor fixtures, only to pursue a coaching job at Stevenage Borough a few months later.
On 10 May 2008, Ebbsfleet United won the FA Trophy, defeating Torquay United 1–0 in the final on the club's first trip to Wembley, becoming the first Kentish team to win this trophy.[6] Ebbsfleet United went on to win the Kent Senior Cup in the same season, with a 4–0 victory over Cray Wanderers on 26 July 2008.
On 15 May 2011, Ebbsfleet United won the Conference South playoff final 4–2 against Farnborough and were thus promoted back to the Conference National at the first time of asking.[7]
On 13 November 2007, it was announced that the website MyFootballClub had entered a deal in principle to take over the club.[8] Approximately 27,000 MyFootballClub members each paid £35 to provide an approximate £700,000 takeover fund and all own an equal share in the club but make no profit nor receive a dividend. Members have a vote on transfers as well as player selection and all major decisions. Because of the nature of MyFootballClub, it was announced that manager Liam Daish would become instead the first team Head Coach. His backroom staff would remain at the club.[8]
Between 16 January and 23 January 2008, MyFootballClub members were given the choice to vote on whether to proceed with the takeover and whether to allow Liam Daish to continue with his plans for the January transfer window. Both resulted in overwhelming "Yes" votes: 95.89% voted to proceed with the takeover while 95.86% voted to allow Daish to continue his transfer plans. The deal was ratified at an Extraordinary General Meeting of the club's board on 19 February.
However, after one year of ownership a majority of MyFC members failed to renew, with membership numbers dropping from a peak of 32,000 at the time of the takeover to just over 9,000 on deadline day 2009. The club had previously stated that 15,000 was the minimum required.[9] As of September 2010, two and a half years after the takeover, there were around 3,500 members.[10]
In an October 2010 vote among MyFC members, the earlier decision to allow the team manager autonomy in transfer dealings was rescinded by a majority of 35 on a total vote of 132, meaning that the membership would have 48 hours to endorse a proposed signing or sale before it can be finalised. Both the manager and the club secretary opposed the change.[11]
On December 23 2011, it was announced that the club needed to raise £50,000 by the end of the 2011/12 season or risk going out of business.[12]
Ebbsfleet's home colours are red shirt with white detailing, white shorts and red socks. Away colours have typically been yellow shirts with black detailing, black shorts and yellow socks.
Since taking ownership in 2008, Myfootballclub members have voted [13] on kit manufacturer and designs for each season. For the 2008/2009 season, white with red detailing was chosen as the away colour, but a clash with the home colours of Woking F.C. and other clubs was not spotted until after the kit had been supplied, so a third shirt with green body and white sleeves was used with the white shorts and socks. For the 2009/2010 season, Vandanel were chosen as kit suppliers [14] and the away colours were again chosen as yellow and black. After Vandanel went into liquidation[15] and unable to supply the kit for the 2010/11 season, Lotto were given the contract, and members made the unusual choice of purple for the away kit. Another provider, XBlades, were chosen to provide the kit for 2011/12, with the colours unchanged.
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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