St Neots Town F.C.

St Neots Town

Full name	St Neots Town Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Saints
Founded	1879
Ground	New Rowley Park, St Neots (Capacity: 2,000)
Owner	Mike Kearns
Chairman	Mike Kearns
Manager	Dennis Greene
League	Southern League Division One Central
2010–11	United Counties League Premier Division, 1st (promoted)
Home colours Away colours

St Neots Town F.C. is an English football club based in St Neots, Cambridgeshire. The club are currently members of Division One Central of the Southern League and play at New Rowley Park.

Contents 1 History 2 Grounds 3 Honours 4 References 5 External links

History

St Neots F.C. was formed in 1879 and were the first winners of the Hunts Senior Cup in 1888–89.^[1] They went on to win the cup again in 1892–93, 1894–95, 1895–96, 1896–97 and 1901–02. During this period they played in the Biggleswade & District League. In 1924 the club was renamed St Neots & Distict and won the Hunts Senior Cup again that season. In 1927 they joined the Bedfordshire & District League, which became the South Midlands League in 1929. They won the league in 1932–33 and in 1936 moved up to the United Counties League. After World War II they rejoined the South Midlands League, before becoming founder members of the Metropolitan League in 1949.^[2] They won the league and league cup in its first season, but returned to the UCL in 1951.

In 1956 they switched leagues again, joining Division One Souh of the Central Alliance. The following year the club was renamed St Neots Town. In 1960 they returned to the Metropolitan League and won the Professional Cup in 1964–65. In 1966 they rejoined the United Counties League, winning the league and league cup in 1967–68. The following season they retained the league cup and also won the Hunts Senior Cup for the twelfth consecutive season, a record for senior cups in England.^[1]

In 1969 the club transferred to the Eastern Counties League, but returned for a fourth spell in the UCL in 1973.^[3] They were relegated at the end of the 1981–82 season, but made an immediate return to the Premier Division after finishing as runners-up in Division One the following season. During the 1987–88 season the owner of their Shortsands ground sold it to a housing developer, which forced the club to disband at the end of the season. They reformed in 1990 and joined the Huntingdonshire Junior League, playing in Priory Park. After four consecutive titles, they returned to Division One of the UCL in 1994. They won Division One at the first attempt and were promoted to the Premier Division.

The club's ambition to move on was shown with the 2009 addition of former and Northern Ireland internationals Steve Lomas and Michael Hughes as a player managerial team, where they were joined by Sylvain Legwinski, formerly of Fulham.

Whilst these star names moved on, new manager Dennis Greene was able to bolster his side in late 2010 with the audacious signing of former Aston Villa striker Stefan Moore, fresh from scoring 39 goals for higher-level Halesowen.^[4]. Moore helped fire St Neots to the 2010-11 UCL Premier Division title, with the club breaking a number of records^[5] on the way to promotion to the Southern League.

Grounds

St Neots originally played on the top part of the town common before moving to the Shortsands ground in the town centre in 1899.^[1] After being reformed in 1990 the club played in the Hunts Junior League and on the communal pitches within Priory Park. In 1993 the club re-entered the United Counties league and moved to a new ground at Rowley Park, with Arsenal providing the opposition for the ground's official opening, where they remained until the opening of New Rowley Park in 2008. The stadium was funded and constructed by the site developers Gallagher Estates, who were building 1,250 homes on the Loves Farm site, which included the existing football ground.^[6] The new ground saw the addition of a 3G Astroturf pitch to the club's facilities. For sponsorship purposes, the ground is currently known as the Huntingdonshire Post Community Stadium.

Honours

• United Counties League
  • Premier Division champions 2010–11, 1967–68
  • Division One champions 1994–95
  • League Cup winners 1967–68, 1968–69
• Metropolitan League
  • Champions 1949–50
  • League Cup winners 1949–50
  • Professional Cup winnes 1964–65
• South Midlands League
  • Champions 1932–33
• Huntingdonshire League
  • Champions 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94
• Hunts Senior Cup
  • Winners 1888–89, 1892–93, 1894–95, 1895–96, 1896–97, 1901–02, 1924–25, 1927–28, 1935–36, 1936–37, 1937–38, 1938–39, 1953–54, 1955–56, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1973–74, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1997–98, 2009–10, 2010–11

References

External links

• Club website

Southern League Premier Division Arlesey Town AFC Totton Banbury United Barwell Bashley Bedford Town Brackley Town Cambridge City Chesham United Chippenham Town Cirencester Town Evesham United Frome Town Hemel Hempstead Town Hitchin Town Leamington Oxford City Redditch United St. Albans City Stourbridge Swindon Supermarine Weymouth Division One Central Ashford Town AFC Hayes Aylesbury Barton Rovers Beaconsfield SYCOB Bedfont Town Bedworth United Biggleswade Town Burnham Chalfont St. Peter Chertsey Town Daventry Town Fleet Town Leighton Town Marlow North Greenford United Northwood Rugby Town Slough Town St Neots Town Uxbridge Woodford United Division One South & West Abingdon United Bideford Bishop's Cleeve Bridgwater Town Cinderford Town Clevedon Town Didcot Town Gosport Borough Halesowen Town Hungerford Town Mangotsfield United North Leigh Paulton Rovers Poole Town Sholing Stourport Swifts Taunton Town Thatcham Town Tiverton Town Wimborne Town Yate Town Seasons 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12