Nuneaton Town F.C.

Nuneaton Town

Full name	Nuneaton Town Football Club
Nickname(s)	Boro, The Boro
Founded	1889 (as Nuneaton St Nicholas)
Ground	Triton Showers Community Arena Liberty Way Nuneaton (Capacity: 4,314 (514 seated))
Chairman	Ian Neale
Manager	Kevin Wilkin (IDST)
League	Conference North
2010–11	Conference North, 6th
Home colours Away colours

Nuneaton Town Football Club is an English football club from the town of Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The team compete in the Conference North. This is the 2nd level of Non League Football. In the 2007–08 season they competed in the Conference North division, but due to a liquidation they were demoted to the Southern Football League Division One Midlands.

In 1889 Nuneaton St. Nicholas were the first team to play senior football within Nuneaton. Five years later they changed their name to Nuneaton Town, and played until 1937 when the club was disbanded. However, two days later Nuneaton Borough F.C. were founded but in 1992, the club was renamed Nuneaton Borough AFC. It was reformed as Nuneaton Town in 2008. The club is still known as Boro to those who support the team.^[1]

The club play their home fixtures at Liberty Way in their home kit of blue & white vertical stripes.

Local rival teams include Tamworth, Burton Albion, Leamington, Bedworth United, Hinckley United and Coventry City.

History

1889–1937

The club was formed in 1889 as Nuneaton St. Nicholas, nicknamed The Saints, changing their name to Nuneaton Town five years later. Also known as The Nuns and The Townies, Nuneaton Town were founder members of the North Warwickshire League, also playing in the Coventry and District League, Coventry and North Warwick, Leicestershire, Nuneaton and District, and Trent Valley Combination. In 1902–03 Nuneaton Town won the Nuneaton League, and were Coventry and North Warwick League champions in 1904–05. For the 1906–07 season the club joined the Birmingham Junior League, winning the league at the first attempt. A further title in the renamed Birmingham Combination followed in 1914–15. From 1919 until 1924 Nuneaton competed in the Birmingham & District League, in the Southern League from 1924 to 1926, before returning to the Birmingham Combination in 1926. The club went on to win two further Birmingham Combination titles, in 1928–29 and 1930–31. Nuneaton rejoined the Birmingham League in 1933, competing there until 1937 when the club were disbanded after the club's directors had sold the club’s Manor Park ground to the Nuneaton Corporation the previous December.

1937–1991

Old Main Stand at Manor Park

Two days after the original Nuneaton Town were disbanded, the newly named Nuneaton Borough F.C. took their place. Nuneaton spent the 1937–38 campaign in the Central Amateur League playing at the former Nuneaton Town ground Manor Park and were assisted by several of the 'Nuns' younger players. The following season the club turned semi-professional while also moving to the Birmingham Combination. During the clubs tenure in the league finished as runners-up three times, never finishing below sixth place between 1945 and 1956. In 1952 Nuneaton Borough moved to the Birmingham League where they won the championship back-to-back in 1954–55 and 1955–56. Then in 1958 the club switched to the Southern League, and the following year they were founder members of the league's Premier Division. They spent the next 16 years in the Premier Division, finishing second in 1966–67 and runners-up to Wimbledon in 1974–75. In 1979 they were founder members of the Alliance Premier League, which later became the Conference National. Their stay was short lived, and after 2 seasons the club was relegated. However, they won the Midland section of the Southern League at the first attempt and were duly promoted back to the Alliance Premier League. In 1983–84 and 1984–85 they finished runners-up but failed to capitalise. Then in 1987 they were relegated back into the Southern League Premier Division due to irregularities off the field and went into freefall. The club lasted just one season in the Southern League Premier Division, suffering a second successive relegation. A new board of directors took over, and in 1991 Nuneaton Borough A.F.C was formed.

Nuneaton Borough A.F.C.

• In 1993 Nuneaton Borough A.F.C, nicknamed The Boro, won the Southern League Midland Division title and were promoted back into the Premier Division, but were relegated after only one season.
• In 1994/1995 season, Nuneaton Borough took on Bedworth United away for the first time in 16 years on the 2nd December. A crowd of 5,204 turned up for a league game at The Oval. 4,000 of that figure were believed to be from Nuneaton.
• In the 1995–96 season the club won the Midland Division and the Southern League Cup.
• Three years later in 1999 when Brendan Phillips took over Nuneaton Borough finally won the Southern League Championship, earning themselves a place in the top flight of English non-league football. Whilst playing in the Conference the club improved and achieved a top ten finish. Nuneaton attained top position for a few weeks, technically one place from full football league status, and this remains their highest ever league position to date.
• Then on the final day of the 2002–03 season the club suffered another agonising relegation, which saw the club yet again in the Southern League.
• A year later the league structure was changed dramatically; and a fourth place finish saw the club achieve a position in Conference North.
• In the first ever season in 2004–05 Nuneaton Borough finished second and earned themselves a place in the play-offs They eventually lost to Altrincham in the play-off semi-finals. The club were also awarded the Fair Play Award for having just one player sent off all season.
• In January 2006 boro made a big FA cup run to reach the third round, they draw premiership side Middlesbrough. to Manor Park. After beating AFC Telford United, Chelmsford City, Tiverton Town, Ramsgate and Histon. Borough got a 1–1 draw against Middlesbrough in front of a ground of 6,000 with 800 fans from Middlesbrough. Borough went to the Riverside Stadium for a replay to see their team lose 2–5.
• In May 2007, the curtain came down on Manor Park as they drew the last game 1–1 against Vauxhall Motors, Gez Murphy taking the honour of being the last Nuneaton Borough scorer at the ground with a penalty.
• In the 2007–08 season, owner Ted Stocker planned to sell his shares as he was suffering from ill health and in March 2008 local business man Ian Neale planned to take ownership of the club for a trial period but he then took 100% ownership of the club in April.
• In May 2008, Ian Neale found some irregularities in the finances of the club and fears raised that the club would have to be forced into administration.
• On 2 June 2008 Nuneaton Borough A.F.C went in to liquidation.

Nuneaton Town F.C

In June 2008, the club was reformed as Nuneaton Town F.C. Following Nuneaton Borough's liquidation The FA insisted that the new club have a different name, accompanied by a double relegation to the Southern League Division One Midlands.

On Saturday 2 May 2009, Town clinched promotion via the play-offs of the Southern League Division One Midlands, beating Chasetown 1–0 through top scorer, Rob Foster, this was in front of a Liberty Way record crowd of 3,111.

In August 2009 Nuneaton returned to the Southern League Premier Division. In November 2009 reached the first round of the FA Cup and took on Exeter City. On their way they beat Brigg Town, Carlton Town, Gainsborough Trinity and Kendal Town.

On Saturday 1 May 2010, Town clinched a second successive promotion, beating Chippenham Town in the Southern League Premier Division play-off final. Next season, due to their promotion, they will be playing in the Blue Square North with other teams in the North and the Midlands of England.

At the start of the season 2010–2011 two new directors joined the board of the club. Former Halesowen Town Chairman, Coventry City and Spurs player Kirk Stephens and Neil Hodgson who is Managing Director of the International freight company Fortec Palletts, joined Ian Neale and Ian Brown as a four man board. This moved kicked off phase two of the clubs development plans to establish both a commercial and football pipeline into the club. Stephens and Hodgson concentrate on establishing business links and sponsorship opportunities for the club and Brown heads up the development of new players entering from the newly established Youth Development Centre.

The Youth Development Centre's new head is Ben Pateman, a local coach who has previously played non league football and been a successful coach within the English Schools FA system. Pateman's overal area of operation is to guide and develop the clubs Community Section's streaming for players aged 14 to 18. The new program has already started to provide dividends with the club attracking numerous players from local Premier and Football League clubs. These players have been integrated in the Nuneaton Town Community Football Club, a Charter Standard Community Club that provides football for children aged 4 through to adults.

Cup Competitions

F.A. Cup

Nuneaton Town first entered the FA Cup in 1899 but never progressed to the competition proper. This is something which Nuneaton Borough have achieved twenty-one times, including victories over Football League sides Watford, Swansea, Oxford and most recently Stoke.

Nuneaton Borough have progressed to the FA Cup Third Round Proper three times, in 1949–50, 1966–67 and 2005–06. Their 1966–67 run carried them further than any other non-league club that season. A crowd of 22,114 were in attendance at their Manor Park ground on January 28, 1967 when Rotherham were held to a draw in a Third Round tie. Rotherham beat Boro 1–0 at Millmoor in the closely fought replay.

Middlesbrough visited Manor Park On 7 January 2006, and could only achieve a 1–1 daw with Nuneaton, Gez Murphy scoring an equalizing penalty in the 90th minute, earning Nuneaton a replay against a Premier League side approximately 100 places above them. Middlesbrough won the replay at the Riverside Stadium 5–2.

Other giant killings of note came against Stoke City in 2000, Marc McGregor with a 90th minute winner, and in 1993 a win over Swansea City, with Tony Simpson netting both goals.

The club made its first appearance in the FA Cup First Round in its current guise of Nuneaton Town, on 7 November 2009 when they entertained Exeter City. This was also be the first time that Liberty Way had hosted a game in the FA Cup competition proper. The game ended with Exeter winning 4–0. In 2010 they also reached the first round of the Cup with an away tie against Lincoln City, but were once again beaten - this time 1–0.^[2]

F.A. Trophy

Nuneaton Borough’s best run has seen them reach the quarter-final three times: In 1977 (a replay), in 1980 and 1987. They endured an awful run in the competition between 1995 and 2006 however. In this time they did not win a single FA Trophy game. In 2006 the run ended with a win at Bradford Park Avenue. The previous win was in 1995 at Spennymoor United.

Birmingham Senior Cup

The Boro won the Birmingham Senior Cup for the first time in 1931 and have won it a total of nine times since, most recently in 2010.

Stadia

Manor Park

Nuneaton's former home ground, Manor Park

From the club's early years until 2007 Boro played at Manor Park; a 6,000 capacity stadium at the time of its closure. The record attendance was 22,114 spectators who had packed into the ground for an FA Cup tie against Rotherham United in 1967.

The club played their final game at Manor Park, on 28 April 2007, in a 1–1 draw with Vauxhall Motors. Gez Murphy scored Boro's last goal at the ground from the penalty spot.

The Stadium has now been knocked down and is being redeveloped for housing by former shirt sponsors Bloor Homes.

Liberty Way

Nuneaton Borough moved into their new purpose built ground, Liberty Way, during the 2007–08 season. The ground is shared with Nuneaton Rugby Club. The ground was built in three phases by local building firm Ian Neale Construction and was completed at the end of 2007.

The move to Liberty Way was not straightforward. Originally the club planned to move from Manor Park to the new ground for the 2005–06 season but ended up having to wait 2 seasons before work was completed. Also the club hit a snag over the covenant protecting Manor Park which was eventually cleared so the club could move to Liberty Way. The ground-share plan with Nuneaton RFC was planned by former Owner Ted Stocker after many new ground plans across Nuneaton were rejected by the local council.^[3]

Liberty Way Nuneaton

The club have recently completed a permanent steated stand for 514 supporters on the north side of the stadium, which has improved the stadium in line with the standards required for participation in the Blue Square Premier. They have also outlined plans to extend this stand by adding a further 500 or so seats by the summer of 2012. Facilities ancillary to football and the clubs community initiatives will be housed in a two storey building behind the new stand, adjacent to the remembrance garden for families of the people who had their Ashes scattered at Manor Park. The new stand replaces the various smaller temporary stands that have been erected on the North side of the stadium since Nuneaton Borough first moved to Liberty Way in 2007.

The groundshare with the Nuns effectively died with the liquidation of stadiasafe, leaving no agreement in place between the two clubs. Nuneaton Town Football Club put a deal on the table that would allow the Rugby Club to play inside the stadium in return for a realistic rate. Under the old agreement with Nuneaton Borough AFC, the Rugby Club paid £35 to hire the pitch, a fee that also covered the use of the flood lights and markings this sparked disagreements over the fee which is paid to the Football Club by the Rugby Club to play its games in the stadium.^[4][5][6]

At the start of the 2010–11 season a deal was struck with the nuns where the Rugby Club are able to play several games per season inside the stadium.

For the start of the 2011–12 season, blue and white stripes were bought back to the home kit.

Mascot

The official mascot now is Tribune Tiger, due to sponsorship with the local newspaper, The Nuneaton Tribune. Brewno the Bear was formerly the official mascot of Nuneaton Borough A.F.C. The Tribune Tiger is now a permanent feature for the club now as Brewno The Bear has been officially retired forever in a move that is a further break from the old club. It can be argued that this move is a further attempt by the board to disassociate itself from the mismanagement of the past.

Current squad

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 GK Danny Alcock DF Mark Albrighton DF Gareth Dean DF Guy Hadland DF Aaron James DF Ed Matthews DF Eddie Nisevic MF James Armson MF Richard Lavery

No. Position Player MF Luke Taylor MF Robbie Burns MF Mark Noon MF Adam Walker MF Graham Ward FW Danny Glover FW Justin Marsden FW Lee Moore FW Lee Smith

Backroom Staff

Club Officials

Position	Staff
Chairman	Ian Neale
Directors	Ian Brown Kirk Stephens
Secretary	Ian Brown

Coaching and Medical Staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Kevin Wilkin
Assistant Manager	Ken Gillard
Head of Youth Development	Ben Pateman
Physios	Paul Egan Richie Norman
Kit Manager	Darryl Strong

Top scorers

6 players have scored over 100 league goals for the club.

• John "Goal Buster" Jones
• Paul Culpin
• Martyn Twigger
• Tony Cutler
• Tony Jacques

Rob Straw scored 100 goals for Nuneaton, though not all in the league.

Notable former players

See Nuneaton Town F.C. Players

Terry Angus Darren Bullock George Catleugh Malcolm Christie Roy Cross Paul Culpin Tom Curtis Paul London Neil Moore Trevor Morley

Terry Angus Trevor Peake * Kevan Potter David Pleat Mark Quayle Tony Richards Tommy Robson Stuart Whittaker Eddie McGoldrick Jim Blyth John Jones Sam Ricketts

Honours

• Conference National
  • Runners Up: 1983–84, 1984–85
• Conference North
  • Runners Up: 2004–05
• Southern League Premier Division
  • Champions: 1998–99
  • Runners Up: 1966–67, 1974–75, 2009–10
• Southern League Midland Division
  • Champions: 1981–82, 1992–93, 1995–96
  • Runners Up: 2008–09
• Southern League Cup
  • Winners: 1995–96
  • Finalists: 1962–63
• Birmingham Senior Cup
  • Winners: 1931, 1949, 1956, 1960, 1978, 1980, 1993, 2002, 2010

Records

• Best League Position
  • 2nd Southern League Premier Division (Level 5) - 1966–67, 1974–75
  • 2nd Conference National (Level 5) - 1983–84, 1984–85
• Best FA Cup performance: 3rd Round
  • 1949–50 (vs. Exeter City)
  • 1966–67 (vs. Rotherham United)
  • 2005–06 (vs. Middlesbrough)
• Best FA Trophy performance: Quarter Final
  • 1976–77 (vs. Scarborough)
  • 1979–80 (vs. Dagenham)
  • 1986–87 (vs. Dartford)
• Record Attendance
  • Manor Park - 22,114 (January 28, 1967 v Rotherham United, F.A. Cup Third Round)
  • Liberty Way - 3,111 (May 2, 2009 v Chasetown, Southern League Division One (Midlands) Play Off Final)
• Record Signing
  • Marc McGregor - £35,000 from Forest Green Rovers, June 2000
• Record Sale
  • Andy Ducros - £100,000 to Kidderminster Harriers, July 2000

References

1. ^ http://www.boro-chat.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3074
2. ^ "Nuneaton Town beat Workington in FA Cup replay". BBC Sport (BBC). 27 October 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/9130167.stm. Retrieved 27 October 2010. 
3. ^ http://www.cwn.org.uk/sport/football/nuneaton-borough/2001/02/010213–stadium-refusal.htm
4. ^ http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/north-warwickshire-news/2008/09/15/liberty-way-pitch-row-nuns-v-nuneaton-town-92746-21819699/
5. ^ http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/north-warwickshire-news/2008/09/10/nuneaton-town-and-nuns-at-war-over-state-of-liberty-way-92746-21717740/
6. ^ http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/north-warwickshire-news/2008/09/05/liberty-way-pitch-battle-in-nuneaton-92746-21681188/

External links

• Official Website
• Community Football Club Website
• NBFC messageboard
• Fans Forum
• Nuneaton Borough Supporters Club