Dover Athletic F.C.

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Dover Athletic
Full name Dover Athletic Football Club
Nickname(s) The Whites[1]
Founded 1983[1]
Ground Crabble Athletic Ground,
River, Kent[2]
Ground Capacity 6,500 (1,500 seats)[3]
Chairman Jim Parmenter[4]
Manager Chris Kinnear
League Conference South
2012–13 Conference South, 3rd
A white shirt with black trim, black shorts, and black socks
Home colours
A Pink With Light Pink Trim, Pink shorts, and pink socks
Away colours
A Yellow shirt with Green trim, Green shorts, and Yellow socks
Third colours

Dover Athletic Football Club is an association football team based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club was formed in 1983 after the dissolution of the town's previous club, Dover, whose place in the Southern League was taken by the new club. In the 1989–90 season Dover Athletic won the Southern League championship, but failed to gain promotion to the Football Conference as the club's ground did not meet the required standard. Three seasons later the team won this title again and this time gained promotion to the Conference, where they spent nine seasons before being relegated. In April 2008 the club won the Isthmian League Division One South championship and with it promotion to the Isthmian League Premier Division. The following season Dover won the championship of this division and gained promotion to Conference South.

The team usually wear white shirts and are consequently nicknamed the Whites. They have played at the Crabble Athletic Ground since the club's formation. The club's best performance in the FA Cup was an appearance in the third round proper in the 2010–11 season, while the best performance registered in the FA Trophy, the national competition for higher-level non-league clubs, was a run to the semi-finals in the 1997–98 season.

History

For a statistical breakdown by season, see Dover Athletic F.C. seasons

Dover Athletic F.C. was formed in 1983 after the town's previous club, Dover, folded due to its debts. The new club took Dover's place in the Southern League Southern Division,[2] with former Dover player Alan Jones as manager and a team consisting mainly of reserve players from the old club.[5] Initially Athletic struggled, finishing second from bottom of the table in the 1984–85 season.[5][6] In November 1985 Steve McRae, who had succeeded Jones a year earlier, was sacked and replaced by Chris Kinnear.[5]

A middle-aged man with greying hair, wearing a dark blue T-shirt and matching jogging bottoms, standing near the touchline of a sports pitch.  Some spectators are visible in the background.
Peter Taylor had a short spell as the club's manager in the mid-1990s.

Under Kinnear the club's fortunes turned round, with two top-five finishes followed by the Southern Division championship, and with it promotion, in the 1987–88 season.[6] The team started strongly in the Premier Division, finishing in sixth place at the first attempt, and then winning the championship in the 1989–90 season.[7] The club was denied promotion to the Football Conference, however, as the Crabble Athletic Ground did not meet the standard required for that league.[2] After finishing fourth and second in the subsequent two seasons, Dover won the title again in the 1992–93 season and this time were admitted to the Conference.[7]

Although Dover finished in eighth place in their first season in the Conference,[8] the following season saw the club struggling against relegation, and Kinnear was dismissed due to a combination of the team's poor performances and his own personal problems.[5][9] John Ryan was appointed as the club's new manager,[10] but his reign was a short one and he was dismissed when the club lost seven of its first eight matches in the 1995–96 season.[11] The club then appointed former England international Peter Taylor as manager, but he was unable to steer the team away from the foot of the table, and Dover held onto their place in the Conference only because Northern Premier League runners-up Boston United failed to submit their application for promotion before the required deadline.[11]

Bill Williams took over as manager in 1997 and proved to be Dover's most successful Conference manager, leading the club to the FA Trophy semi-finals in the 1997–98 season and a best ever league finish of sixth place in the 1999–2000 season.[7][12] Williams left the club to take a senior position with Conference rivals Kingstonian in May 2001.[12] By now the club was in severe financial difficulties, with a number of directors resigning and debts exceeding £100,000. Amid the crisis the entire board of directors resigned, forcing the club's Supporters' Trust to take over the running of the club,[13] and manager Gary Bellamy was sacked after just six months in the job.[14][15] Former Everton goalkeeper Neville Southall took over but was dismissed just three months later, with Clive Walker taking over in March 2002 with the club rooted to the foot of the table.[16] The club finished the season bottom of the Conference and was relegated back to the Southern League Premier Division.[17] The club's ongoing financial problems led to it entering a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), a process by which insolvent companies offset their debts against future profits, due to debts that were now estimated at £400,000.[18]

Two teams competing in a football match, one weraing white shirts and black shorts and the other yellow shirts and blue shorts.  A stand full of spectators and another low brick building are visible outside the playing area.
Dover (white shirts) playing Staines Town in 2009

In Dover's first season back in the Southern League Premier Division the Whites finished in third place, albeit 17 points adrift of Tamworth, who claimed the one promotion place available that season.[6] A poor start to the following season saw Walker replaced by Richard Langley.[19] Dover finished the season in 19th place, before being switched to the Isthmian League Premier Division in the summer of 2004 following a re-organisation of the English football league system.[7] The new season started with six successive defeats, which saw Langley sacked, and the financial problems continued, with the club coming within two months of being closed down.[20][21] Dover were relegated to the Isthmian League Division One at the end of the season,[7] but were saved from possible extinction in January 2005 when former director Jim Parmenter returned to head up a consortium that took over the club.[22] Parmenter quickly sacked manager Steve Browne and convinced Clive Walker to return to the club to replace him,[23] and also arranged for the club's outstanding CVA debts to be cleared, putting the club on a firm financial footing for the first time in many years.[24]

Dover Athletic narrowly missed out on an immediate return to the Premier Division in the 2005–06 season, reaching the play-offs for promotion but losing out to Tonbridge Angels.[25] The following season Dover again reached the play-offs but lost in the semi-final to Hastings United,[26] after which Walker did not have his contract renewed and was replaced by former Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler.[4] In his first season in charge he led the club to the Division One South championship and promotion to the Isthmian League Premier Division.[27] The following season Dover won a second consecutive championship and thus gained promotion to Conference South.[28] In the 2009–10 season, Dover reached the play-offs for promotion to the Conference National, but lost at the semi-final stage to Woking.[29] The following season the club reached the third round of the FA Cup for the first time after wins over Kent rivals Gillingham in the first round[30] and another League Two club, Aldershot Town, in the second round.[31] In the 2012–13 season the club again reached the play-offs, but this time lost in the final to Salisbury City.[32]

Colours and crest

Dover Athletic's traditional colours are white and black,[33] which were also the colours worn by the earlier Dover club.[34] Away colours worn by the club have included red,[33] yellow and blue.[1] The club's crest contains a stylised representation of the town's two most famous landmarks, Dover Castle and the white cliffs, enclosed in a circle bearing the club's name. The club's shirts have been sponsored by companies including Criccieth Homes, Paul Brown of Dover, Jenkins and Pain and cross-channel operators Hoverspeed and SeaFrance.[1][33][35]

Stadium

Various people walking towards the entrance to a brick-built sports stadium.
The Crabble Athletic Ground

Dover Athletic's home ground since the club's foundation has been the Crabble Athletic Ground, which was also the home of the former Dover club.[2] The word Crabble, which is also found in the name of a local corn mill,[36] may derive from the Old English crabba hol, meaning a hole in which crabs are found.[37] The stadium, commonly known simply as "Crabble"[38] or, imprecisely, as "The Crabble",[39][40] forms part of a larger council-owned complex,[41] and the earlier Dover club originally shared the lower pitch with a rugby club, but moved to the upper pitch in the 1950s, adding a grandstand in 1951, followed soon after by terracing and floodlights.[2]

Dover Athletic continued to make improvements to the ground, although not in time to allow the club to take its place in the Football Conference in 1990. Subsequently new turnstiles were installed and two new terraces and a second grandstand added. These improvements meant that the club was able to gain promotion after its second Southern League title in 1993.[2] The stadium's modern capacity is 6,500, with 1,000 seats and 4,900 spectators under cover.[1]

In 2007 the club announced that under the new sponsorship deal with SeaFrance the stadium would be known officially as the SeaFrance Crabble Stadium, but a year later it was announced that the deal would not be renewed due to the ferry operator's financial constraints.[33][42] On 1 July 2008 local car dealership Perry's was announced as the club's new main sponsor and the stadium rebranded as the Perry's Crabble Stadium,[41] an arrangement which lasted until 2012. Between 2003 and 2004 it was known as the Hoverspeed Stadium under the terms of another such agreement.[43] Margate played their home matches at Crabble for two seasons from 2002 until 2004, while their own Hartsdown Park ground was being redeveloped.[44]

Supporters

In the club's early days Athletic struggled to attract crowds of over 150,[5] but by the time the club reached the Conference, crowds at Crabble were averaging around 1,000.[45][46][47] After the club's relegation to the Isthmian League Division One South, the average attendance fell to just over 800,[48] but when the club returned to the Premier Division for the 2008–09 season, the average attendance at Crabble was 1,293, the highest in the division.[49] The highest home attendance in the club's history was 4,186 for a match against Oxford United in the first round proper of the FA Cup on 16 November 2002.[50] Although Athletic's improved monetary position means that the Supporters' Trust is no longer required to financially support the club, it remains active as a fundraising organisation.[51]

Statistics and records

A line graph depicting positions on a year-by-year basis from 1983.  The graph is divided horizontally into leagues from level 1 to level 8.  The line starts in the Level 7 area, rises into Level 5 around 1993, where it remains until around 1999, before dropping sharply into Level 8 then returning to Level 7.
Dover's league positions since the club's formation. Yellow lines represent breaks between divisions, levels refer to the overall English football league system.

Dover Athletic's highest finish in the English football league system was in the 1999–2000 season, in which the team finished in sixth place in the Football Conference, the highest level of non-league football and the fifth level overall. The Whites have made 12 appearances in the final qualifying round of the FA Cup, but only twice progressed to the first round proper. In the 2010–11 season, Dover reached the third round for the first time, defeating Football League Two teams Gillingham and Aldershot Town in the first two rounds before losing to Huddersfield Town of Football League One. In the 1997–98 season the Whites reached the semi-finals of the FA Trophy but missed out on an appearance at Wembley, losing to Cheltenham Town. The largest number of points the team has accrued is 102 in the 1989–90 season, and the highest total number of goals scored in a season is 89, scored in 40 matches in the 1985–86 season.[7] The team's biggest ever win was a 8–0 defeat of East Preston in September 2009,[52] and the heaviest defeat was a 7–1 loss to Poole Town in April 1984.[53]

The holder of the record for most appearances for Dover Athletic is Jason Bartlett, who played in 539 matches, and the all-time top goalscorer is Lennie Lee, with 160 goals.[50] The club's record signing is Dave Leworthy, who joined the club from Farnborough Town in 1993 for £50,000,[1] which at the time was the highest transfer fee ever paid between non-league clubs.[54] The highest confirmed fee received by the club was also £50,000, paid by Brentford in 1997 for Ricky Reina.[1]

Players

updated 18th November 2013[55] 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
England GK Lee Hook
England GK Mitch Walker
England DF Terrell Forbes
England DF Lloyd Harrington
Sierra Leone DF Michael Kamara
England DF Richard Orlu
England DF Sean Raggett
England DF Craig Stone
England DF Tom Wynter
England MF Liam Bellamy
England MF Ashley Carew
No. Position Player
Republic of Ireland MF Barry Cogan
England MF Chris Kinnear
England MF Ricky Modeste
England MF Dave Pilcher (dual registration with Ramsgate)
England MF James Rogers
England FW Moses Ademola (on loan to Canvey Island)
England FW Michael Bakare
Grenada FW Elliott Charles
England FW Nathan Elder
England FW Jeff Goulding
England FW Tom Murphy
  • N.B. The Conference South does not use a squad numbering system.

Former players

For a list of former Dover Athletic players with Wikipedia articles, see Category:Dover Athletic F.C. players.

Managers

Dover Athletic have had 17 permanent managers (excluding caretaker managers) in the club's 25-year history, with Chris Kinnear's 10-year stint being the longest. The shortest stay was Ian Hendon who was announced as manager on 28 May 2010 and resigned only 18 days later to join Andy Hessenthaler at Gillingham.

A blond-haired man in his 40s, wearing a white T-shirt and black shorts, stands near the edge of a football pitch.
Andy Hessenthaler was appointed manager of Dover in 2007.
From To Manager Notes
19831984 Alan Jones[5]
19841984 Graham Sawyer (caretaker)[56]
19841985 Steve McRae[5]
19851995 Chris Kinnear[9]
19951995 Nigel Donn and
Dave Leworthy (caretakers)
[9]
19951995 John Ryan[10][11]
19951996 Peter Taylor[57]
19961997 Joe O'Sullivan[58]
19972001 Bill Williams[59]
20012001 Gary Bellamy[60]
20012001 Clive Walker (caretaker)[15]
20012002 Neville Southall[16]
20022003 Clive Walker[16][19]
20032004 Richard Langley[20]
20042004 Gary Whittle (caretaker)[20]
20042005 Steve Browne[61][62]
20052007 Clive Walker[23]
20072010 Andy Hessenthaler[63]
20102010 Ian Hendon[64][65]
20102011 Martin Hayes[66][67]
20112013 Nicky Forster[68]
2013present Chris Kinnear[69]

Honours

Two men in white football shirts and black shorts receive a silver trophy from an elderly man in a dark blazer.  More players look on, as do several more men in blazers and a crowd of spectators of all ages.  Several photographers are taking pictures of the presentation.
Dover receive the Isthmian League championship trophy in 2009

Rivalries

Dover Athletic's main rivalry is with nearby Folkestone Invicta.[70] A meeting between the two teams in 2004 was watched by a crowd of 2,278, a record attendance for a league match at Invicta's ground.[71] The club also has a rivalry with Margate.[72] In the 2001–02 season, when both teams were in the Football Conference, the two games between Margate and Dover were watched by a combined total of more than 6,000 spectators. The game played at Margate's Hartsdown Park stadium drew a crowd of 3,676, and 2,325 were in attendance for the game at Dover.[73]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Williams, Tony; Mike Williams (2007). Non-League Club Directory 2007. Tony Williams Publications Ltd. p. 515. ISBN 1-869833-55-4. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Dover Athletic F.C.". Pyramid Passion. Retrieved 2008-01-02. 
  3. Stuart Croll (2007-09-25). "Ground of the Week : The Crabble Stadium". BBC. Retrieved 2008-02-02. 
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