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Aldershot F.C.
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Aldershot Football Club was an English Football League club which went out of business in 1992. The club was nicknamed The Shots for both the last syllable of the town name and the military links to Aldershot.
Non League Years: 1926 - 1932
The club was founded in 1926 as Aldershot Town, and in 1927 joined the Southern League, playing their first game on 27 August 1927 in a 4-0 win over Grays Athletic in front of a 3,500-strong crowd at the Recreation Ground.
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Encyclopedia
Aldershot Football Club was an English Football League club which went out of business in 1992. The club was nicknamed The Shots for both the last syllable of the town name and the military links to Aldershot.
History
Non League Years: 1926 - 1932
The club was founded in 1926 as Aldershot Town, and in 1927 joined the Southern League, playing their first game on 27 August 1927 in a 4-0 win over Grays Athletic in front of a 3,500-strong crowd at the Recreation Ground. They finished their first season in seventh place, and in 1932 won the Southern League title, being elected to the Football League in place of Thames who had declined to apply for re-election.
Early league years: 1932 - 1939
Aldershot's first Football League season ended with a 17th place in the Third Division South, and a year later they improved slightly to finish 14th. They failed to make much of an impact in the league until they finished 11th in 1935-36, but in 1936-37 they finished bottom of the league and had to apply for re-election in order to avoid slipping back into the Southern League. Good progress over the next two seasons saw them climb to 10th in the league in the 1939 final table. Their 16th place finish in 1958 meant that they would be played in the new Football League Fourth Division for the 1958-59 season, following a restructuring of the Football League which saw an end to the regionalised two sections of the Third Division.
The Fourth Division years: 1958-1973
Aldershot F.C. were among the founder members of the Fourth Division in the 1958–59 season. An FA Cup match against Carlisle United on 28 January 1970 saw Aldershot's record attendance of 19,138.
They finished 22nd in the first season of the Fourth Division and once again had to apply for re-election.
Promotion to the Third Division was finally achieved in 1973, their first promotion in 41 years of league football. They went up in fourth place after finished ahead of Newport County on goal average.
The Third Division years: 1973 - 1976
1973-74 brought Aldershot's highest-ever finish as they came eighth in the Third Division. This gave hope that Aldershot could soon be playing Second Division football - this was all the more anticipated as the mid to late 1970s saw several big clubs - including Manchester United, Tottenham Hotpsur, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and Newcastle United - playing at least one season in the second tier. However, it was not to be, as Aldershot finished 20th in the Third Division in 1975 and only avoided relegation on goal average. They were relegated by a single point the following year.
Back in the Fourth Division: 1976 - 1985
Two years after relegaton, Aldershot almost returned to the Third Division in 1978, but were pipped to promotion by Brentford. More significantly, they were also pipped to promotion by Watford and Swansea City, who were both playing top division football within the next five years. A similar disappointment followed a year later, as they were pipped to promotion by a single place - this time by a Wimbledon side who were First Division remembers and FA Cup winners less than a decade later. On the plus side, Aldershot finished above two much more illustrious clubs - Portsmouth and Huddersfield Town - who were both former winners of the league title and FA Cup.
In 1981, Aldershot suffered their third promotion disappointment in four seasons as they finished sixth - once again being beaten to a place in the top four by Wimbledon. In the 1981-82, Aldershot struggled badly and finished 16th. It was the first season of the Football League's "3 points for a win" system, and they finished just eight points outside the "re-election zone".
They continued to struggle in the Fourth Division, until the appointment of new manager Len Walker in June 1985. However, 1983-84 had brought a brief respite, as Aldershot finished fifth , before another setback saw them finish 13th.
In 1984-85, Aldershot took a young striker on loan from Millwall - Teddy Sheringham. Millwall manager George Graham had been willing to sell Sheringham to Aldershot on a permanent basis, but they couldn't raise the £5,000 fee. Sheringham went on to be a great success for both club and country, playing a big part in England's run to the semi-finals of Euro 96 as well as Manchester United's treble glory in 1999, after maturing as a consistent goalscorer with Millwall, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur. After collecting an FA Cup runners-up medal with West Ham United, he finished his playing career at Colchester United before finally retiring from playing in 2008 at the age of 42. At the time, he was the final remaining Aldershot FC player in professional football.
The final years: 1985 - 1992
The arrival of Len Walker as manager in June 1985 sparked a brief revival in Aldershot's fortunes. Although they finished 16th in 1985-86 and re-election was a threat right up to the final few games of the season , they emerged as strong promotion contenders in the 1986-87 season, finishing sixth on 70 points and occupying the final playoff place in the division. It was the first season of the Football League play-offs, which in their first two seasons operated as a promotion/relegation decider between the First/Second, Second/Third and Third/Fourth divisions before a reorganisation saw them operate solely as promotion deciders. In the semi-finals, they condemned Third Division Bolton Wanderers (four times winners of the FA Cup, and First Division remembers as recently as 1980) to Fourth Division football for the first time in their history. This gave them a place in the final, against another historic side - Wolverhampton Wanderers, three times league champions, four times FA Cup winners, and twice Football League Cup winners, who had only been relegated from the top flight in 1984. Aldershot gave Wolves one of the most humiliating defeats of their history by winning 3-0 on aggreggate over two legs.
Aldershot were predicted to go straight back down to the Fourth Division in 1987-88, but managed to avoid automatic relegation by two places and three points, finishing one point and one place ahead of the relegation play-off place.
However, a disastrous season in 1988-89 saw Aldershot go down in bottom place with just eight wins and 37 points all season placing them 17 points adrift of safety.
By this stage, a financial crisis was dawning upon the club as debts were mounting and as the 1989-90 season began, the task at Aldershot was to avoid being relegated or expelled from the Football League, rather than mount a promotion challenge. Aldershot finished 22nd in the Fourth Division that season, and were in danger of a second successive relegation right up to the end of April. However, the financial crisis was worsening and it seemed highly doubtful that Aldershot would be able to start the 1990-91 season.
On 31 July 1990, Aldershot were wound up in the High Court as the Official Receiver condemned them as "financially insolvent" with debts of £495,000. However, the winding-up order was lifted on 7 August 1990 when 19-year-old property developer Spencer Trethewy paid £200,000 to save the club and allow them to start the new Fourth Division campaign. However, the board of directors soon realised that he didn't have the funds to keep the club running, and he was dismissed on 1 November 1990. Trethewy's shady dealings finally caught up with him in 1994 when he was convicted of fraud and received a two-year prison sentence.
Aldershot's problems continued as they finished the 1990-91 season second from bottom in the league. There was no relegation this season due to an expansion in the league's size to 93 clubs from the previous total of 92.
Len Walker had stepped up the role of general manager in March 1991, with Brian Talbot taking over as player-manager.
However, Aldershot's debts were mounting and although they were able to begin the 1991-92 Fourth Division campaign, as the season wore on it looked more and more likely that the club would go under. As well as that, the problems were showing on the field as Aldershot struggled near the foot of the league.
Manager Brian Talbot resigned in November 1991 to be succeeded by Ian McDonald.
On 25 March 1992 Aldershot F.C. finally went out of business and were obliged to resign from the Football League. The final game played was a 2-0 defeat against Cardiff City at Ninian Park on 20 March.
The new Aldershot club : Since 1992
In response to the bankruptcy a group of supporters set up a new club, Aldershot Town, which started in the Isthmian League Division Three, five levels below the division in which Aldershot F.C. had been playing. Aldershot Town won promotion to the Football League on 15 April 2008 by winning the Conference National.
See also
Aldershot Town F.C.
- Category:Aldershot F.C. players
External links
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