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Weston-Super-Mare AFC - History

Weston-Super-Mare Football Club History

History

The clubs first site was known as the Great Ground at the junction of Locking Road and Hutton Moor Road; this has now been developed as a private housing estates. The Football Club came into being after players in the former Weston Aircraft side had suggested at their AGM that a team bearing the town's name should be formed.

The first record of a Weston-Super-Mare Football Club side in a competitive match was in the 1887-88 season when they lost to local rivals Clevedon Town 2-1 in a Medal Competition organised by the Somerset FA. The following year Weston were members of a County Committee of the Somerset FA. Weston's first cup win was in March 1911 when they beat Clevedon 3-0 in the Weston Charity Cup. In 1913/14 they finished third in the Bristol Charity League behind Bath City and Bristol Rovers Reserves.

In 1922/23 they played in a Bristol District League coming second behind Bristol Leather Trades winning 17 and drawing 6 of their 28 games. That season they also won the Bristol Charity Cup beating Clevedon 8-2 in the final on the 5th May 1923 at Yatton Football Ground.

The third cup victory was in the 1926/27 season when they won the Somerset Senior Cup defeating Paulton Rovers 3-2 in the semi-final after starting with only nine men because two players had been sent bogus telegrams advising that the match was off. They went on to defeat Welton Rovers in front of a 6,000 crowd.

They were also finalists that year in the Clevedon Charity Cup losing 5-1 to Clevedon. In those days Westons players were paid half a crown to play. Clevedon again beat Weston in the replay of the 1936/37 Somerset Senior League Knock Out Cup after drawing 1-1 in the first match.

As in the Great War, Weston were disbanded for the Second World War.

The present club reformed in 1948, a meeting at the town hall decided to form a semi-professional club. A committee was formed to look into the possibilty of buying the Locking Road Ground which at the time it was thought it could be acquired for around �4,000. In the following months the club were elected into the Western League Division 2 in company with Barnstaple Town and a new club Chippenham United.

Enthusiasm

Weston played their home matches at the Great Ground in Locking Road where they regularly attracted attendances of over 1,000 and even for a friendly against local side Langford Rovers over 600 turned up. The first league game at home attrached some 1,500 fans, the changing accommodation being in a large marquee. There was no cover for spectators but enthusiasm ran high and crowds rolled along. The first league match was away to chippenham United, in a side which included in their number seven professionals, some of them former football league players. Weston was beaten 6-1 but it should be noted that the Chippenham side proved too strong for most opponents that season and were really formidable opposition.

The first Weston win at Locking Road came against Cinderford Town and was followed by the first away win at Stonehouse. A further boost came with the formation of the Supporters Club in 1948 with the late Sam Wooding as its first Secretary. The club spent most of the 1950's in the Second Division going close to promotion on a couple of occasions before the division was disbanded although it was not always easy going - in 1951/52 Bideford beat Weston 11-0.

The move to Langford Road Ground came in time for 1955/56 and the first game saw Weston trounce Peasedown 7-0.

In 1960/61 along with Trowbridge Town, Exeter City Reserves and Welton Rovers, Weston were elected to Division 1 of the Western Football League, and held the unique distinction of never winning promotion or suffering relegation. The first modern taste of cup glory came in 1961 when Weston reached the First Round Proper of the FA Cup ending in bitter disappointment as they were beaten by local rivals Bridgwater Town in the replay before a home crowd of 2,500. They missed a plum home tie against Crystal Palace who were then in Division 3 of the Football League.

At Langford Road the set up was a great improvement on that at the Great Ground. Apart from the changing accommodation for the players, a licensed Social Club was eventually established in what had been a large Nissan Hut. This had been reinforced externally and at a later stage a skittle alley was built alongside the Social Club. A period of success began in the 1975/76 season with the arrival of Kim Book as team manager. During the seven seasons under his control and that of his successor Dave Stone, Weston reached second place in the league, won the League Cup and also won the Western Senior Cup on five occasions. Only once did they finish lower than the top ten and in 1980/81 they reached the Western League Goldliner Cup Final, losing 2-1 to Dawlish Town.

In the 1983/84 season Weston moved to a new ground, Woodspring Park, which was built almost entirely by supporters. The Woodspring Park Ground was greatly developed in subsequent years with a clubhouse costing �100,000 and floodlights installed in 1986.

In 1989 John Ellener was appointed manager and in three seasons he took the club to two Cup Finals and for the first time since they were reformed, Weston won the Western League Championship and were promoted to the Southern League Midland Division.

In 1993 team coach Peter Amos replaced John Ellener as manager and guided the club to eleventh position in their first season in the Midland Division.

A club record was set at the beginning of the 1993/94 season with an undefeated run of ten matches, the seagulls flight ended in a 4-1 defeat by VS Rugby. The run also included an appearance in the first round proper of the FA Cup for only the second time in the clubs history, being drawn against non-league Woking. History repeated itself, Weston drawing 2-2 at Woking before losing in the replay at Woodspring Park in front of a crowd of 2,623 supporters - a new ground record!

A new record was also acheived that season by reaching the first round proper of the FA trophy in the same season. The league record attendance was broken with a 1,260 gate against Clevedon Town. Ninety-one points were collected in the league but promotion was missed by just 1 point from VS Rugby.

During that season Matt Lazenby wrote his name into the Seagulls history book by becoming the clubs highest goal scorer with 180 goals.

1994/95 was less successful and resulted in the recuitment of Len Ashurst who took the side to fourth place in his first season. This success was affected in the following season due to enforced budget cuts. The sale of Danny O'Hagan to Dorchester and Stuart Jones to Sheffield Wednesday, for a club record fee of �20,000 left the need for team rebuilding and saw the club finish in a disappointing 19th place.

The start of the 1998/99 season saw the promotion of John Relish and a move back to the Midland Division. The season started poorly in the league, but a run in the FA Trophy saw Weston reach the fourth round and a tie against Hitchin Town. Defeat in this game saw the club miss out on a plum home tie against Conference side Forest Green Rovers.

In the league the side plunged to the bottom three of the table but an improvement inconsistency after Christmas produced a string of good results. During this season Weston made yet another sale, this time Ryan Souter departed to Bury.

Promoted

In 2000 Weston secured the purchase of the Westlands site only a stones throw away from Woodspring Park. The aim of the club was to progress to the Premier Division of the Dr. Martens League and in the longer term, to the Nationwide Conference.

At the end of October 2001 the board decided that to acheive their ambitions of gaining promotion it was time for a new progressive management team. As an interim measure, Director of Football Alan White took over first team affairs.

In November 2001 the club appointed Frank Gregan as manager, although due to his contractual commitments with Aberystwyth he did not take up the position until 2002. During this time Gregan's assistant Chris smith took control of first team affairs with confidence at the club high that ambitions on and off the field would be met.

In 2002/03 the club made history when they won promotion to the Dr. Martens League Premier Division, finishing runners up in the Western Division behind Merthyr Tydfll. Weston won promotion at local rivals Clevedon Town following a 1-0 victory.

In 2003/04 the club had a very successful season gaining entry into the newly formed Nationwide Conference South The team also reached the second round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in their history eventually losing 4-1 at Northampton Town. A tremendous run in the FA Trophy was ended when the team lost 4-2 to Telford United in the fourth round. Farnborough Town and Gravesend & Northfleet were amongst Conference sides beaten during the two cup runs.

In August 2004, Weston moved into their new purpose built ground - Woodspring Stadium. In their first season in the new ground, and in the new division, they finished a credible 11th with 58 points.

Last season Weston struggled for consistency - wins at promotion chasing St Albans City and Dorchester Town being undermined by heavy home defeats to Yeading (0-3) and Thurrock (0-5) - and ultimately finished in another mid-table position.

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