article

Scarborough Football Club are an English football team who will compete in the Conference North for the 2006-07 season. Scarborough will start the Conference North season with a 10-point deduction, for a breach of league rules. They are based in the seaside resort of Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

History

The life and homes of Scarborough Football Club

They were formed in 1879 and played their first games at North Marine Road, which is now the cricket ground. In 1898, the club made the move across town to the Athletic Ground, which is now known as the McCain Stadium. However, at the start of the 2007/08 season, they hope to move to a new stadium in Eastfield, which will wipe all the club's long-term debts and provide facilities to provide additional revenue for the club, allowing it to break even. It is hoped that in future a Supporters' Trust will take over the running of the club, and to this end an open meeting will be held on July 22 to discuss this. The club is currently unable to sign players for the new season due to late payment of wages to the 2005/06 squad.

Scarborough reach the league

In the 1970's, Scarborough FC won the FA Trophy three times at Wembley Stadium, beating Wigan Athletic, Stafford Rangers and Dagenham in the process. In 1987, under the management of Neil Warnock, they were the first team to win automatic promotion to the Football League and started the 1987-88 season in Division Four.

Life in the Football League

During their twelve year stay in the Football League, Scarborough reached the playoffs twice but often struggled near the bottom of the League. Their first venture into the play-offs, in the 1988/89 season, saw them pitted against Leyton Orient in the semi-finals. Scarborough went down 2-0 in the first leg at Brisbane Road and despite a spirited display in the 2nd leg they lost 2-1 on aggregate. Nine years later, under the management of Mick Wadsworth, Scarborough's play-off opponents were Torquay United. This time it was not nearly as close, with Torquay strolling to a comfortable 7-2 aggregate victory.

Cup runs

In 1989/90 they defeated Chelsea in the League cup 3-2 on aggregate before crashing 7-0 at Oldham Athletic in the following round. In 1992/93, only Arsenal could stop Scarborough from progressing to the Quarter Final of the League Cup after already beating Bradford City, Coventry City and Plymouth Argyle.

Relegation from the league

A last-minute goal from Carlisle United goalkeeper Jimmy Glass on the last day of the 1998-99 season brought about the first relegation in the history of Scarborough FC. The 1999-2000 season would begin for Scarborough in the Conference—the same league they had won twelve years earlier. Although in their first season Scarborough finished a creditable fourth place, they have yet to equal or better this.

Reynolds and Slade arrest the decline

Poor results saw Scarborough at the bottom of the Conference by Christmas 2001. With relegation to the Northern Premier League threatening, new chairman Malcolm Reynolds and manager Russell Slade oversaw a turnaround in the club's fortunes; the team finished 12th at the end of the 2001/02 season. This was followed up by a 7th-place finish the following season.

Cup tie with Chelsea

2003-04 brought a 15th-place finish in the Conference, with the highlight of the season being an FA Cup 4th-Round tie with Chelsea at the McCain Stadium. Chelsea and England defender John Terry scored the only goal of the game. Slade left to join , Nick Henry was appointed his successor and brought in his former Oldham team-mate Neil Redfearn as his assistant. Despite only finishing 13th in the league, Scarborough managed to go through the whole season unbeaten at home.

Change of manager

Nick Henry was sacked as Head Coach at Scarborough on Monday 24th October 2005, with the club bottom of the Conference and having been knocked out of the FA Cup by Harrogate Town with a 1-0 scoreline. Neil Redfearn took over as caretaker manager and was appointed full-time manager after his first game against Aldershot. His first signing was former Barnsley coach Eric Winstanley as assistant manager.

Relegation and deduction

Despite having finishing bottom of the table in 2005/06, Scarborough were not initially relegated, as Canvey Island F.C. resigned from the league and Altrincham were deducted 18 points for fielding an ineligible player. However the Conference were not convinced of the club's financial stability, and Scarborough ended up suffering the same fate as Northwich had the previous year by losing all their points and falling to the Conference North. Worse still, as the club had been in administration, they were also told that they would start their first Conference North season on minus ten points. Promotion will be very difficult to achieve under this penalty, even via the playoffs, and 2006-07 could well be spent fighting to avoid relegation.

2006 - 2007 Season:

Well with Scarborough facing an uphill battle to get out of the Conference North they have been dealt another blow by manager Neil Redfearn resigning along with assistant Eric Winstanley. This came about after Neil and Eric held a meeting with Chairman Ian Scobbie to talk about coaching staff for the forthcoming season. Former Scarborough skipper and assistant manager Mark Patterson was being drafted in as a coach, which seemed to leave Eric Winstanley without a role at the club. Neil Redfearn refused to agree to any changes to the coaching set-up and resigned. Mark Patterson has assumed temporary charge of first team affairs, with a view to taking charge on a permanent basis. On July 3rd they also lost young starlet Michael Coulson to Barnsley F.C. after he impressed in a trial spell last season. One of the first things Mark Patterson did as head coach was to re-sign striker Tony Hackworth and defender Mark Hotte with former defender Steve Baker expected to re-sign by the end of the week.

Board of Directors

  • Chairman: Ian Scobbie
  • Director: Malcolm Reynolds (Majority Shareholder)
  • President: John Birley
  • Vice-President: Tony Scott
  • Associate Directors: Martin Bell, Andy Borrie, Brian Ewer, Rod Robinson & Tony Stockdale
  • Club Secretary/Commercial Director: Derek Megginson

Coaching Staff

  • Caretaker Manager: Mark Patterson
  • Assistant Manager: Lee Cartwright
  • Community Officer/Reserve Team Coach: Mitch Cook
  • Sports Therapist: Martin Woodmansey
  • Kit Manager: Brian Hodgson

Current squad

As of 9 July 2006

(Current squad of the club)

Honours

Club Records

Biggest Win - 11-0 over Stamford, 14 Dec 1963
Biggest Defeat - 1-16 by Southbank, 15 November 1919
Biggest Football League Win - 5-2 over Torquay United, 24 September 1988
Biggest Football League Defeat - 1-7 by Wigan Athletic, 11 March 1997

External links

English football clubs | Football Conference | Sport in North Yorkshire

Scarborough Football Club | Scarborough F.C. | Scarborough FC

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Scarborough F.C.".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world