2008/09 Members of Southern League Premier Division
2008/09 Average Home Attendance: 273 Highest Home Attendance: 352
2007/08 Final League Position: 8th Southern League Premier Division
2007/08 Average Home Attendance: 278 Highest Home Attendance: 716
2006/07 Average Home Attendance: 212
Ground Address: St James Park, Churchill Way, Brackley, Northamptonshire, NN13 7EJ
Telephone:01280 704077
Directions: Take A43 from Northampton or Oxford, or A422 from Banbury to large roundabout south of town. Take exit marked Brackley and follow towards the town (Tesco store on left). Pass the Locomotive public house and take first turning right, signposted Football Club, into Churchill Way - road leads into club car park.
Adults £8 OAP/Student (with valid ID) £4 Under 16s £1
Programme £1.50
The first records of Brackley Town Football Club can be traced back to 1890 and around the turn of the century they were a prominent side in the South Northants / North Oxfordshire area. At one time the name of Tottenham Hotspur appeared on the fixture list, London being a short journey away on the newly opened Great Central Railway.
The Brackley Town squad pictured before the Northamptonshire Senior Cup Final 2008
The Club then slipped into relative obscurity, competing mainly at a very junior level. Most of the time before the war was spent in the Oxfordshire League, their games being played in Manor Road, before they transferred to the North Bucks League in the post war years. Here they stayed until 1968 when they took what appeared to be a step down the ladder by joining the Banbury & District League. During this time they had moved their ground to the Buckingham Road with the changing facilities and headquarters situated in the Plough public house. In 1974 they moved back to the North Bucks League and this coincided with a move to their current St James Park ground in Churchill Way. A small clubhouse and changing rooms were built and within 3 years they had made the major step up into the Hellenic League. In 1983 they made the move into the United Counties League, winning the Division One title at the first attempt. Promotion into the Premier Division followed and as a result of this the club achieved senior status. After finishing in the bottom half of the league for the first few seasons, they then experienced their most successful season ever in 1988/89 when they achieved runners up position in the league and were beaten finalists in the Northamptonshire Senior Cup..
There followed several years of real struggle at the foot of the table with the survival of the club in real doubt at times. Drastic action was obviously necessary and accordingly the club was restructured and became a Limited Company. In 1994 they moved back across the pyramid into the Hellenic League. After a mediocre first season, things improved dramatically during the 1995 / 96 campaign. Phil Lines, who was Manager of the successful side in the late eighties, took charge again and a runners-up position was achieved in his first season. 1996 / 97 saw them go one better and win the Premier Division title.
Brackley Town keeper Richard Knight
The nucleus of the title winning side together with some astute signings saw the side finish a respectable 13 th in the Midland Division at the first attempt. Events then seemed to conspire against them during the close season with the resignation of Lines and the departure of almost all of the side he had assembled.. A move to the Southern Section was not a success and joint Managers Bob Rayner and Jon Blencowe found it impossible to field a side capable of competing at this level with the finances available to them. With finances at full stretch, the club was forced into voluntary liquidation in February 1999 with debts of over £100,000. It was saved at the last minute as Mike Bosher and Ray Styles stepped in to buy the assets and ensure that the season was completed.” The “new” club finished bottom of the Southern Section and were therefore demoted back into the Hellenic League.
Former player Terry Muckleberg was appointed Manager for the 1999 / 2000 season and he was succeeded by the experienced Peter Foley who took over during the 2000 / 2001 season and under his astute guidance the club finished in runners up position. The 2001 / 2002 season proved to be a bit of a damp squib with Foley leaving in mysterious circumstances and the reins were taken until the end of the campaign by Coach Matty Haycocks who then left to take up a similar role at Hook Norton. Tim Fowler was appointed during the close season and he guided the team to a top half finish in his first season. The 2003 / 2004 season saw the return of Phil Lines as Director of football to work alongside Tim. After an indifferent start the team worked their way up the table and in an exciting run in, lifted the championship shield on the last day of the season at Fairford Town. Midway through September of 2004/05, the Club's Directors decided that Tim had taken the team as far as he could and he was relieved of his position with Mike Ford taking over as Team Manager. Ford guided the team to the fringes of the play off positions (missing out by one goal). He departed in February 2006 with the club again just outside the promotion frame. Phil Lines and his Assistant Andy Sinnott took over and guided the club to a third place finish culminating in the heartbreak of losing in the last few minutes of the play off Final
The 2006/2007 season finally saw the team reach it’s potential and leading the table from early December the League was won at a canter with a 15 point cushion. Lines then stepped aside and the club appointed the experienced Roger Ashby as they took the step into unknown territory. Ashby assembled a great squad on paper but things did not work out as hoped, club captain Andy Williams left for Didcot Town and many others from the Championship winning side moved on. Ashby left to be replaced by David Oldfield, results improved and a sustained challenge for a play off place followed, along with a run to the Northants Senior Cup Final. Saints ultimately just missed out on both, the play-offs just being a step too far and the Cup Final, despite taking the lead, showing the difference between full and part – time, Rushden scoring two very late goals to claim victory.
In the Summer of 2008 Manager Oldfield left for Peterborough to work with Darren Ferguson at the League 1 side, former Manager Phil Lines again took the reins and spent the Summer re-building the squad, retaining many of the players such as Tom Winters, Josh Green, Richard Knight, Elliot Sandy and Dave Savage (who moved into a joint coaching role) as well as bringing in new faces, amongst them Ben Mackey, Wayne Blossom, Dean Cracknell, Aaron Parkinson, David Staff and David Stone. The Summer also saw two notable events, the first the installation of a new 250 plus seater stand at St James Park, the second the passing away of The Supporters Club President Maurice Sumner, a great advocate of local football and staunch Saint, who will be missed and remembered by many people.
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