'Chasetown Football Club' is an
English football club based in the
Chasetown area of
Burntwood,
Staffordshire. The club currently plays in the
Southern League Division One Midlands and is nicknamed ''The Scholars'', having been formed by affiliates of nearby Chase Terrace High School in the
Chase Terrace area of Burntwood.
Chasetown gained national recognition in November 2005 when the
BBC televised the club's
FA Cup first round home tie with
Oldham Athletic, in which the team held their
Football League opposition to a 1-1 draw. A peak audience of 3.2 million people watched the game live.
[1] They went on to finish the 2005–06 season as
Midland Alliance champions and thereby gain promotion to the
Southern League.
History
The club was formed in 1954 as Chase Terrace Old Scholars Youth Club, when Brian Baker – who is still involved with the club today – and schoolmaster Ray Derry formed a soccer section from the Chase Terrace Secondary Modern School. The side played their first competitive games in the Cannock Youth League, remaining there until 1958-59 when they were accepted into the Lichfield and District League. During their three-year stay in the League, the Old Scholars were runners-up in the League and Challenge Cup competition.
1961-62 saw them enter the
Staffordshire County League, while a reserve team stayed on in the former League. First-team success followed with the Lichfield and Rugeley Charity Cups, before the club were admitted to the
West Midlands Regional League Division One and changed to their current title of Chasetown F.C. in 1972-73.
The newly renamed club soon established themselves as one of the leading clubs in the division. In 11 seasons they won the title in 1977-78, finished second five times, third twice and fourth twice. Chasetown were, however, prevented from promotion because they were playing on a park pitch at Burntwood Recreation Centre, but a breakthrough came in 1983 when they re-homed with a move to the current ground, The Scholars Ground, which coincided with a move up into the West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division.
The club took their time to adapt to life at the top, finishing in the lower reaches of the table in their first three seasons. Manager Mervyn Rowe then began to bring about an improvement in the playing squad and they captured their first trophy in 1989-90 when they lifted the League Cup with a 1-0 win over
Oldbury United in the Final, shortly followed by winning the
Walsall Senior Cup, overcoming
Blakenall at
Bescot Stadium, retaining the trophy in 1992-93 beating
Pelsall Villa 3-1.
In the early 1990s, Chasetown lifted the West Midlands League Cup twice, as well as finishing runners-up in the West Midlands League twice, and lifting the
Walsall Senior Cup twice at Bescot Stadium. In 1992, the Scholars recorded their largest ever victory, beating Stoke-based Hanford Old Boys 14-1 in a Walsall Senior Cup tie. All-time leading goalscorer Tony Dixon (197 goals) notched a hat-trick in the tie and current Chasetown boss Charlie Blakemore came off the bench to net two.
The Scholars were one of the founder members of the newly formed
Midland Football Alliance but failed to make an impression in the early seasons.
In 2000-01, the side were in a transitional period after long-serving manager Mervyn Rowe had left the club. A home defeat to
Oldbury United (0-7) was quickly followed by an 0-8 drubbing at
Stratford Town, with the Scholars only escaping relegation as no-one was promoted from the leagues below that season.
Present manager Charlie Blakemore returned to the club in partnership with Michael Rowe, son of previous manager Mervyn, and the club gradually began to return to success. An excellent end to the 2002-03 season saw the club finish 9th, after languishing near to the relegation zone all season. Rowe left in Februay 2004 but, under Blakemore’s leadership, the Scholars improved again, finishing 6th.
In Blakemore’s first full season in complete control of the First Team, 2004-05, Chasetown lifted the Walsall Senior Cup for the third time and finished second to
Rushall Olympic in the Midland Alliance, after the Scholars had led the way for most of the campaign.
Chasetown were thrust into the national spotlight in November 2005 when the Staffordshire side upset all the odds by reaching the First Round of the
FA Cup for the first time in their history.
After local TV and radio had broadcast Chasetown overcoming famous non-league side
Blyth Spartans in front of a record home attendance of 2,134 the BBC, nationally, were quick to bring this feat to a Sunday lunch-time audience of 3.2 million on ''
Match of the Day Live''.
In front of 1,997 supporters, Chasetown took the lead through Nicky Harrison, only for veteran
David Eyres to level the scores a few minutes later and send the game into a replay. Chasetown took 2,436 supporters up to the replay – the highest away following that
Oldham Athletic had seen at
Boundary Park all season as the Scholars fell to a credible 0-4 defeat as the part-timers tired in the final half-hour.
The cup run saw the financial success of landing a shirt sponsorship deal with
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Holidays for the 2006-07 season, while central defender, Chris Slater, who made a dramatic goal-line clearance in the cup-tie, had trials with League sides
Walsall,
Tranmere Rovers and
Blackpool.
Several other records were set during the monumental 2005-06 season. The Scholars notched a record eight consecutive victories in the league, went 22 games unbeaten in league and cup games, and regularly smashed their record league attendance, topping 500 for the first time when Leamington came to the Scholars Ground in January 2006 and then ending the season with 839 for the visit of
Romulus.
With games-in-hand aplenty, lying in 14th place and 20 points adrift of league leaders
Malvern Town, Chasetown notched 12 wins out of 13 in December, January and February which lifted them into the top 8 of the division. 5 more wins in March put the Scholars into 4th place, just one point behind the leaders.
Still, the task seemed exceedingly difficult with 9 league fixtures and 3 cup games to play in 29 days in April! With no knowledge at that time as to how many teams would be promoted to the Southern League, the Scholars had to go for the league title seeing off the challenge of Malvern and Romulus, taking points off them both in early April.
On April 20th, Chasetown topped the league table for the first time in the season (this after losing their first two fixtures).
Stourbridge overhauled them briefly, but the final day saw Chasetown in pole position and the locals came out in support to see Karl Edwards notch two goals and Chasetown lift the
Midland Alliance trophy to gain promotion to the
Southern League Division One Midlands.
There was only one down-side to the season. Immediately after the Oldham game, Chasetown were knocked out of the
F.A. Vase 0-1 by
Nantwich Town. The Cheshire side went on to lift the trophy at St. Andrews,
Birmingham City.
Honours
★
Midland Football Alliance
★
★ Champions: 2006
★
West Midlands (Regional) League Division One
★
★ Champions: 1978
★
West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division Cup
★
★ Winners: 1990, 1991
★
Walsall Senior Cup
★
★ Winners: 1991, 1993, 2005
★ Joe McGorian Cup -
Midland Football Alliance Winners v. Polymac Services League Cup Winners
★
★ Winners: 2006
Crest
Chasetown's crest features a deer, in reference to nearby
Cannock Chase, and a
Stafford Knot.
Ground and supporters
The Scholars' Ground
The Scholars Ground has been Chasetown's home since 1983. The highest attendances recorded at the ground are as follows:
Attendance levels in recent years have been as follows:
| 2004–05 | 2005–06 | 2006–07 |
|---|
| Average home league attendance | 108 | 243 | 305 |
| Highest home league attendance | | 839 | 482 |
| Lowest home league attendance | | 77 | 207 |
Total home attendance
(league and cup) | | 11,706
(33 games) | 10,422
(35 games) |
Average home attendance
(league and cup) | | 355 | 298 |
''Note: 4,134 of the 2005–06 total attendance represents the games against Blyth Spartans and Oldham Athletic. Attendance figures correct as 1st May 2007.''
Famous supporters
★ Premiership and FA Cup Final 2006 Referee
Alan Wiley is a regular supporter at Chasetown's matches
★ Comedian
Frank Carson is friends with current Chairman John Donnelly and attended the Oldham Athletic cup tie covered live by the BBC
[2]
★ Former
PA announcer Paul Burrell also does the PA for Arsenal and for the 2006 FA Cup Final
Statistics and records
League Record
★ 1954-1958 - Cannock Youth League
★ 1958-1961 - Lichfield & District League
★ 1961-1972 - Staffordshire County League
★ 1972-1983 - West Midlands (Regional) League Division One
★ 1983-1994 - West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division
★ 1994-2006 - Midland Football Alliance
★ 2006-
Southern Football League Division One Midlands
National Cup Record
★ Best
FA Cup performance : First Round Proper - 2005/2006
★ Best
FA Vase performance : Fifth Round Proper - 1999/2000
★ Best
FA Trophy performance : Third Qualifying Round - 2006/2007
Team records
(1972/73 Onwards)
★ Most league goals (season) : 94 (West Mids Div 1 ; 1975/76)
★ Most points scored :
★
★ Two points for a win : 64 (West Mids Div 1, 40 Games, 1975/76)
★
★ Three points for a win : 94 (Midland Alliance, 42 Games, 2005/06)
Individual Records
★ Most goals scored (career) : Tony Dixon - 197
★ Most goals scored (match) : Keith Birch - 11 versus
Lichfield Laundry (21-1)
★ Highest transfer fee received : £200 for Chris Aullet (
Telford United)
Current squad
;Goalkeepers
★ Simon Bryan, Lee Evans,
Ryan Price, Martin Taylor
;Defenders
★ Neil Aulton, John Branch, Mark Branch, Richard Huckfield, Chris Slater, Vaughan Thomas, Kevin Thompson, Joe Williams,
Ian Wright
;Midfielders
★ Grant Beckett, Dave Egan, Craig Harris, Craig Holland, Duncan Horler, Lee Parsons, Sam Smith, Paul Spacey, Ben Steane, Mark Swann,
Andy Turner
;Strikers
★ Lee Bullimore, Daniel Dubidat, Karl Edwards, Paul McMahon, Ashley Robinson, Danny Smith
★ Leading goalscorer 2006-2007 : Karl Edwards 16 goals
★ Leading goalscorer 2005-2006 : Lee Bullimore (34)
★ Most appearances 2005-2006 : Chris Slater
★ Karl Edwards once scored in 10 consecutive league games - a club record
★ Danny Smith was Chasetown's youngest modern day goalscorer aged 17 years and 143 days
Notable players
★
Andy Turner is ranked alongside
James Vaughan,
James Milner,
Wayne Rooney and
Michael Owen as a former Premiership youngest goalscorer when he was with
Tottenham Hotspur, aged 17 years and 166 days
[3]
★ Chris Slater had trials with
Blackpool,
Walsall and
Tranmere Rovers[4]
★ Youngster Sam Smith has been on trial with Scottish club Dundee (February 2007)
[5]
Managers
★ J. Garbett
★ Brian Baker
★ M. Boot
★ L. Percival
★ B. Murray
★ Bryn Scorey
★ Paul Darby (two spells)
★ Mervyn Rowe (two spells)
★
Graham Smith
★ Benny Brown
★ Cliff Painter
★ Kevin Foster
★ Mick Rowe
★ Charlie Blakemore
Chairmen
★ Ray Derry
★ A. Heath
★ F. Sarsfield
★ A. Stratton
★ J. Selvey
★ Arthur Scorey
★ Graham Rollins
★ Brian Baker
★ John Walker
★ Bryn Scorey
★ Bernard Davies
★ John Donnelly
References
1. The FA
2. BBC Sport
3. footballnetwork.org
4. Official website
5. Official website
★
Non League Club Directory 2006, Mike and Tony Williams, , , Tony Williams Publications Ltd, 2006, ISBN 1-869833-54-6
External links
★
Chasetown FC Official Site
★
Chasetown Official Forums
★
Chasetown Unofficial Fans Forum
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