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The History of Didcot Town Football Club |
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Thursday, 18 May 2006 |
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Didcot Town Football Club, like the town itself, has long been
associated with both the Railways and the Army. Didcot's railway
station was built in the 1860's and provided the town with it's main
source of employment for decades afterwards. The Army (with two major
armaments depots situated locally) rapidly increased in their number
and influence in the Town during the First World War. It is these major
influences that have given rise to the football clubs' nicknames: The
Railwaymen, The Artillerymen or The Gunners.
Originally founded in
1907, the club is affiliated to the Berks and Bucks Football
Association. After first competing in the North Berks, Reading
and District League, the club won promotion to the Metropolitan League.
Didcot Town became founder members of the Hellenic League in 1953 and
duly became the League’s first champions. In the same season the
club missed out on a league and cup double by losing in the final of
the Hellenic League cup to Amersham Town.
After four seasons in the
Hellenic League, Didcot re-joined the Metropolitan League and reached
the League Cup Final in 1961/62. In 1963 Didcot returned to the
Hellenic League, where the club have remained to this day.
Didcot waited until the1965/66 season to taste success again when they
won the Premier Division Challenge Cup (Witney Town were defeated 3-2
in the final). The following season the cup was successfully
defended but the club had to wait ten long years for further
honours. Indeed, the intervening years had seen Didcot demoted to
Division One, and season 1976/77 not only saw a return to the Premier
League as champions (from Flackwell Heath) but also success in the
Challenge Cup.
A decade later, in 1987, Didcot again returned to the
Premier Division after finishing in third place behind champions
Bishops Cleeve and runners-up Cheltenham Town Reserves. In fact,
the club benefitted from Hellenic League rules which prevented
Cheltenham Reserves from participating in the Premier Division and
Didcot took the second and last promotion spot. The season was rounded
off with success in the Division One Challenge Cup, where Cheltenham
Town Reserves, again the victims, were defeated 2-0 in the final.
The club remained in the Premier Division for the next six campaigns,
and managed a notable honour in 1992 when they lifted the Premier
Division Cup (Banbury United defeated 3-0 in the final). Despite this
success the following season resulted in disappointment with relegation
to Division One. The necessary improvements to the Station Road ground
allowed Didcot to return to the Premier Division for the start of
season 1995/96. Two years later, Didcot had arguably their most
successful season with victories in the League Cup, the Jim Newman
Trophy and the Hungerford Cup.
Following years of uncertainty, and the
eventual sale of the Station Road ground, the club finally built their
new stadium and main pitch on the town’s Ladygrove estate for the start
of the 1999 season. Didcot finished a creditable 7th in the Hellenic
Premier Division in their first season at the Loop Meadow, thanks
largely to a good last third to the campaign. The move saw a dramatic
rise in attendances, and the average home gate trebled from that at the
old Station Road ground only 2 seasons before.
After a remarkable
2000-2001 season, where the club remained
unbeaten in the League until the middle of February, the club lifted
the Berks & Bucks Senior Trophy for the first time in their history
with a memorable win over local rivals AFC Wallingford at Chesham. To
underline the ambition of the club ex-Oxford United legend Peter Foley
was appointed as First Team manager in September 2002. He made an
almost immediate impact as the club lifted both the Supplementary Cup
and the Berks & Bucks Senior Trophy in his first season in charge.
In his second year his side duly lifted the League Challenge Cup.
In
2004 Stuart Peace became First Team boss, with club stalwart Paul Noble
as assistant, and to describe their first season in charge as
incredible is an understatement. With home League attendances averaging
above 200 the club were pipped for the League title by just one point,
but second still represented the best finish for more than 50 years,
and the League Challenge Cup was retained with a resounding 5-1 win
against Carterton in the Final. But the most outstanding achievement
was realised at White Hart Lane in May when Didcot beat highly fancied
AFC Sudbury 3-2 in front of a crowd of 9000 to win the FA Vase for the
first time in the club's history.
In 2006,
and after a wait of 53 years, Peace and his players finally brought the
Hellenic League trophy back to Didcot and with it the club ensured a move up
into the Southern League for the first time. To round off another highly
successful year more silverware in the form of the Berks & Bucks Senior
trophy and the Hellenic League Challenge Cup was also claimed, the latter to
make Didcot the first club to win the competition three times in a row. The
League triumph broke all records with Town becoming the first club to reach
more than 100 points in a season in the Hellenic League and the average points
per game (2.63) gave Didcot the best record of any club at level 5 or above in
British football that year.
Didcot's
first year in the Southern League (2006-2007) ended with a satisfactory mid-table
finish and was notable mainly for a decent run in the Southern League Errea Cup
(Quarter Final) and a couple of excellent wins in the club's first appearance
in the FA Trophy.
The new
season is the club's centenary year, in many ways an achievement in itself
after some difficult times along the way.
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| Didcot Wednesday |
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| Didcot Town FC 1948.
Reading & District League. Back Row l to r: Bill Hopkins, Fred
(Tich) Goodall, Les Bailey, Jack Pictor, Bill Warr, Bill Williams (Army
man on Man Utd books) Bob Jones, ? Smith, B Arnot, Referee, J
Christopher Front Row:T Woods (Woody, Tiger & Timber) ? Sutherland
(Army man), Albert Wright, Nobby Goodall, ? Hanlin (Army man) |
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Didcot Town FC 1954.
Hellenic League Champions. Back Row l to r: N Edwards, D Belcher, Don
Woodward, Ken Rumble, Ray Warr (Captain) C Wigley, N Brown, Fred
Wigley. Front Row: W Hopkins, Robin Strange, A Bellamy, J Weston, J
Frewin, Pete Sanderson, I Broom, N Bennett (Mascot)
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| Captain Ray Warr with the Hellenic Shield won by Didcot Town FC in 1954 |
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| The Committee in 1954 Back row l to r: Mr ?, Mr Stockwell, Mr Colin Milne, Mr Les Bailey, Front Row: Mrs ?, Mrs Florrie Milne, Mrs Stockwell, Mrs Kitty Bailey |
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| FA Vase Winners 2005 |
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Hellenic League Champions 2005-2006 Back row l to r:Danny Campbell, Ray Warr, Dave Green,Matty Jack, Jack King,Matt Bianchini, Chris Webb,Paul Bedwell, Ian Concannon, Paul Powell, Andy Wallbridge, Glyn Jones, Paul Noble, Stuart Peace, Mark Roberts Front Row l to r: Darren Beckett, Stuart Beavon, Andy Parrott, Jamie Heapy, Grant Goodall, Bradley Ward
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| First Team 2006-2007 |
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