Croydon F.C.

For the Isthmian League Division One South club, see Croydon Athletic F.C..

Croydon

Full name	Croydon Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Trams
Founded	1953 (as Croydon Amateurs)
Ground	Croydon Arena Croydon (Capacity: 8,000)
Chairman	Dickson Gill
Manager	Dickson Gill
League	Combined Counties League Premier Division
2010–11	Combined Counties League Premier Division, 20th
Home colours Away colours

Croydon F.C. is an English semi-professional football club based in Croydon, London, England. Until 2006, they played in the Isthmian League, but lost their place in that league as part of the 2006 re-structuring of non-league football, and now play in the Combined Counties League. They play at Croydon Sports Arena in South Norwood. The club was founded in 1953 as Croydon Amateurs.

History

The club was founded in 1953 as Croydon Amateurs FC, the club spent their first 10 years in the Surrey Senior League but failed to win the championship. In 1963-64, they joined the Spartan League, winning the league title in their only season in the competition. 1964 saw them join the Athenian League where they spent the next ten years, winning the Second Division title in 1965-66, being relegated four years later and then gaining two successive promotions to the Premier Division as runners-up to Herne Bay (1970–71) and Harlow Town (1971–72) under Jimmy Rose. 1973 saw the suffix Amateurs dropped due to the impending changes to the status of players and a year later, under the management of Ted Shepherd, election to the expanding Isthmian League.

Two seasons later, after an unbeaten 1975-76 campaign, the club gained promotion to the Isthmian's top division - initially titled Division One but then retitled the Premier Division where they spent twelve seasons before deserved relegation to the First Division in 1989. A further relegation followed in 1994, but following reorganisation, they were promoted back to Division One within two seasons. The club's first Isthmian League title - champions of Division One followed in 2000, before relegation back two years later.

The non-league scene was reorganised at the end of the 2005-06 season and this restructuring saw them placed in the Kent League where following a third place finish in 2006-07, the club has finished in mid-table the last two years. 2008-09 culminated with success in the Kent League Cup after a penalty shootout win over Erith Town.

That turned out to be the club's final Kent League fixture as they have now shuffled sideways into the Combined Counties League (a competition which evolved from the Surrey Senior League) for the 2009-10 season, effectively back where they spent their first ten years.

A change in manager led to a change in personnel and the man tasked with giving the Trams stability and then guiding them back up the pyramid was ex-Tunbridge Wells manager Mike Robbins who was appointed in June 2009. His reign started with a single goal victory in the Kent League's Challenge Shield against champions VCD Athletic. However, his period in the hotseat ended soon after the season began and he was replaced by Dickson Gill.

Nickname

The club's nickname "The Trams" was adopted around 2000 when the Croydon Tramlink system was installed and runs round the back of the ground, Arena being the closest stop less than five minutes walk from the turnstiles.

Club honours

• FA Women's Cup Winners: 1996
• Isthmian League Division One Winners: 1999-00
• Isthmian League Division Two Runners Up: 1975-76 (undefeated) (retitled Division One 1977-78), 1995–96
• Isthmian League Cup Finalists: 1974-75, 2000–01
• Isthmian League Full Members Cup Winners: 1999-00
• Isthmian League Youth Cup Winners: 1978-79
• London Senior Cup Winners: 2001-02 - Finalists: 1977-78
• Surrey Senior Cup Winners: 1981-82 - Finalists: 1976-77, 1999-00
• Kent League Cup Winners: 2008-09
• Kent League Challenge Shield Winners 2009
• Athenian League Division One Runners Up: 1971-72
• Athenian League Division Two Winners: 1965-66 - Runners-Up 1970-71
• Spartan League Champions: 1963-64
• Surrey Senior League Runners Up: 1956-57, 1960–61, 1962–63
• Surrey Senior League Cup Winners 1960-61, 1962–63 - Finalists: 1953-54, 1959–60, 1961–62
• Surrey Senior League Charity Cup Winners: 1962-63 - Finalists: 1957-58 Shared with Dorking: 1953-54
• Best league position: 4th in Isthmian League, Premier division (then level 6), 1985–86
• Best FA Cup performance: 2nd round, 1979–80
• Best FA Trophy performance: 2nd round, 1981–82, 1982-83 (last thirty two) competition reorganised

Club records

• Record attendance:
  • At The Arena - 1 November 1975 - 1450 v Wycombe Wanderers (FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round)
  • At Selhurst Park - 15 December 1979 - 9809 v Millwall (FA Cup Second Round)

• Record Goalscorers - Fred Morris (1959-64 - 159 goals), Tony Luckett (1962-73 - 125 goals), Peter McCluskey (1953-63 - 124 goals), Alec Jackson (1977-88 - 111 goals)

• Record Appearances - Alec Jackson (1977-88 - 441 plus 9 as sub), Tony Luckett (1962-73 - 409 plus 1 as sub)

• Record Win - 21 January 1961 home v Banstead Athletic 11-0 Surrey Senior League

• Record Defeat - 19 March 1994 away v Staines Town 0-14 Isthmian League, 2 April 1994 away v Berkhamsted Town 1-14 Isthmian League

References

• Croydon at the Football Club History Database

External links

• Official site