There has been football in the village of Mangotsfield since 1888 and four years later, Mangotsfield FC became a founder member of the Bristol & District League - later to become the Western League in 1895 - but the club folded after ten years.
From 1898 until the 1950s, Mangotsfield FC was disbanded and subsequently re-formed on several occasions and then in January 1951, the parent club dispensed with the reserves for financial reasons, leaving many local players without a team to play for.
These players decided to form a new club in the village and at the start of the 1951/52 season, the newly established Mangotsfield United was entered into the Bristol & District League, Division Seven.
They achieved five successive promotions and gained entry to the Bristol & District Premier Combination in 1957 and remained there until 1972/73 when it was accepted into the Western League.
The club became established in the Western League during the 1970s and despite being relegated to the First Division in 1981/82, The Field, as they were affectionately known, bounced straight back the following season and under the guidance of the charasmatic Ralph Miller, who as chairman, undertook the task of improving the ground and its facilities, became a force in the Premier Division, mainly featuring in the leading positions.
In 1991, the club, managed by former Bristol Rovers stalwart Harold Jarman and assisted by Terry Rowles, achieved regional glory by taking the Premier Division title ahead of runners-up Torrington.
Disappointingly, they were denied promotion to the Southern League as their ground failed to meet the grading requirements and there followed several lean seasons as the team disbanded.
Under newly elected chairman Richard Davis, however, off the pitch, things were improving.
Terry Rowles returned to manage the club himself in 1995 and kept them in the spotlight by consistently finishing in the top three/four in the Western League and an appearance in the FA Vase semi-final (losing to Clitheroe), but their ambitions of promotion and Southern League football were always thwarted by the continual success of Taunton Town and Tiverton Town.
It was considered very important to establish a sound working base, improve ground facilities and secure a long-term tenure on their Cossham Street ground.
In earlier years, the Roger Pullin/Richard Davis partnership had seen many improvements take place, with the installation of National League-style floodlights and at the end of the 2003/04 season, the Cossham Street end of the ground was covered, together with new toilet blocks and social club improvements.
Former player Andy Black returned to the club as manager in 1999 and guided the club to promotion to the Southern League and three successful campaigns when they finished fifth, seventh and sixth.
The 2003/04 campaign did not go too well, however, and just before Christmas, Black was replaced by Martyn Grimshaw.
Towards the end of the campaign, Nigel Webb came in as his assistant, but the club could only finish in 13th place, which was not high enough for the planned re-structuring of the non-League Pyramid.
The management duo made promotion their priority in 2004/05 and the club headed the table for most of the campaign, eventually taking the Division One West title with a 21-match unbeaten run.
After 28 seasons at Western League level, the club had spent just five campaigns at Southern League level before reaching the Premier Division.
In April/May 2005, Roger Pullin left the club and Mike Richardson took over as chairman, with a new Board. The club have looked for financial stability in recent years, with the need to reach out to the community and attract a broader fan-base and local sponsorship. There has been only limited success in that area with the Cossham Street ground.
The 2020/21 campaign, started with Glyn Ashton, at the helm. He had previously been in charge of the under-18 Floodlit Youth side, then took over as temporary manager, with the immediate aim of survival at Step 4 level.
The ultimate aim is to stabilise the club, linking it to the SGS College and a re-introduction of the youth team, and eventually return to the Southern Premier Division, where they spent four seasons from 2005 to 2009.
Mangotsfield`s record appearance holder and top scorer is John Hill and his record will surely never be surpassed!
Hill started playing for the club in 1960/61, and whilst records cannot be confirmed, it is thought he played 700 games, and scored over 600 goals!
This was mainly in the Bristol & District League, Bristol Combination and the early days of the Western League.
John, whose son Sam also played for the club in recent seasons, sadly passed away in November 2019, aged 75.
Darren Edwards
Another striker, Darren Edwards, began his career in local football before signing for Bristol Manor Farm where his performances led to a move to Mangotsfield United.
A prolific goalscorer for the club, he made the switch to Tiverton Town in January 2004 only to return to Mangotsfield the following September.
His stay proved to be a short one, however, when he was tempted to local rivals Yate Town.
His scoring exploits earned a £4,000 move to Bath City in 2006 where he played a major part in the club`s rise to the National League, making 185 appearances and netting 59 times.
He left Bath in November 2010, signing for National League North side Gloucester City where he remained until January 2014, making 125 appearances and scoring 54 goals.
He re-joined Mangotsfield for a third spell in January 2013 and then spent 2014/15 with Cadbury Heath and Chippenham Town before re-joining Yate.
In March 2016, Edwards was appointed as caretaker manager of Yate after the departure of Craig Laird.
In 2001/02, Mangotsfield boasted a striker who beat the likes of Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to a national award!
David Seal
The Aussie forward, capped at under-20 and under-23 level for his country, started out with National Soccer League sides Sydney Olympic and Marconi Fairfield and was the league`s top scorer in 1989/90 and 1990/91.
He moved to Belgian side Eendracht Aalst in 1993 and trialled with Norwich City but was not regarded as being of high enough quality to meet the Canaries' goalscoring requirements.
He did move to England though in October 1994, joining Bristol City for £80,000 but found a first team place hard to secure, although he did make 51 appearances and score 10 goals.
He joined Northampton Town for £90,000 during 1997/98 and after a successful first season, also found it hard to break into the Cobbler's first team in 1998/99 and following their relegation to Division Three, he was released.
He returned to Australia to play for Northern Spirit but in July 2000, he returned to the Bristol area and signed for Mangotsfield.
Seal enjoyed a successful time at Cossham Street, making over 250 appearances and scoring 166 goals.
At the beginning of May 2006, Mangotsfield announced that they would not be exercising the contract extension on Seal's contract, freeing him to find another club, an in July 2006, he joined Yate Town.
He returned to Mangotsfield in December 2006 but left in March 2007 to join Western League side Bitton.
He remained in the Western League for his next move which was to Melksham Town in 2008 as player-coach.
Seal was later assistant manager to Wayne Thorne at Cossham Street before leaving in January 2018.
Another forward to have worn Mangotsfield colours was Jason Eaton.
Jason Eaton
He began his career at Bristol Rovers as a highly rated youngster but having narrowly failed to make the grade with the Gas, he was plucked from a brief spell in non-League football with Clevedon Town and Trowbridge Town to get a second chance at making it as a professional and becoming one of relatively few players to wear the colours of both Bristol clubs.
He fared better at Ashton Gate and scored the winner for Bristol City against Notts County in the old Division Three.
Despite making 13 appearances in the side, Eaton found his progress to a regular first team spot blocked and in November 1990 he was persuaded to return to non-League football with Gloucester City, but it took a then-club record fee of £10,000 to take him to Meadow Park.
Eaton netted 42 goals in 93 games in just under two years with the Tigers, who twice went agonisingly close to a place in the Conference.
Having rejected several offers to move, City fans were stunned when Eaton announced he was off to bitter rivals Cheltenham Town for a £20,000 fee.
He went on to enjoy phenomenel success at Whaddon Road, his goals helping the Robins to two promotions and FA Trophy success.
He helped the club to promotion from the Southern League and then into the Football League in 1999.
That success ironically led to Eaton parting company with Cheltenham as he did not wish to leave his job and turn professional - the same decision also leading to his departure from his next club Yeovil Town.
After spells with Newport County and Forest Green Rovers, Eaton returned to Gloucester on a month's loan from Southern Premier rivals Merthyr Tydfil in November 2004, more than 12 years after his acrimonious departure to bitter local rivals Cheltenham.
Now at the veteran stage of his career, he was released by Bath City and having found the net just once in 12 games in 2004/05 at new club Merthyr, he found some return to form and fitness with 4 goals in as many games on loan with Western League outfit Brislington.
He joined Brislington on a more permanent basis before finishing off his career with Mangotsfield.
He is club and spa director of The Cube and Cadbury House in Congresbury, near Bristol.
Attacker Gary Penrice was another to have represented both Bristol clubs.
Clayton Fortune
He began with Rovers as a schoolboy until 1980 when he was handed an apprenticeship with City.
However, City decided he was too small to make it as a professional and released him in 1981.
It was then that the now 17-year-old Penrice signed for his home village of Mangotsfield and worked as a plumber for two years.
Then, in November 1984, Bristol Rovers came calling and he this time went on to make almost 200 appearances and score 54 goals for the club.
Penrice's 20 goals helped Rovers into the Third Division play-off final in 1989, only to be beaten 2–1 on aggregate by Port Vale.
After leaving Rovers in 1989, Penrice went on to play for Watford and then Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers in the Premier League before he and school pal Ian Holloway joined forces once again as player/coaches in the late 1990s.
Since working with Holloway at Plymouth Argyle and Leicester City, Penrice has established a career as one of the most in-demand and respected scouts in the game, emphasised by his appointment as Glasgow Celtic's Head of Recruitment in 2020.
A team-mate of Penrice`s at both Mangotsfield and Bristol Rovers for several years was midfielder Phil Purnell.
Unlike Penrice, however, Purnell wasn`t spotted by any professional clubs as a youngster and played for Forest Green Rovers and Frome Town before signing for Mangotsfield in 1983.
Like Penrice, Bristol Rovers spotted him wearing Mangos colours and signed him in September 1985.
He went on to help them reach the Third Division play-off final in 1988/89 and featured as they won the Third Division title and were Leyland/DAF Cup finalists in 1989/90.
He was loaned to Swansea City in December 1991 and scored once in 5 outings while at the Vetch Field.
But a broken leg ended his playing career in April 1993.
He got a job in the insurance business, also assisting former Rovers` team-mate Ian Alexander at Southern League Yate Town and also at Winterbourne United.
Defender or midfielder Steve Cross joined Shrewsbury Town after he handed in a written trial request.
A trial was granted and after impressing he was offered terms as an apprentice in 1976.
However, it wasn`t until April 1977 that Cross would make his first Shrewsbury appearances as a substitute against Mansfield Town.
Cross also saw his opportunities limited in the 1977/78 season and it wasn’t until midway through the 1978/79 season that he would become a regular at Gay Meadow.
Cross had made just one start before March that season, but after injury to Graham Turner, Cross played 13 of the final 14 games of the season as Town marched to the Third Division title.
Cross would stay with Shrewsbury for a decade in total, scoring 33 goals in 262 games before being sold to Derby County for £70,000 after a tribunal.
He made 73 appearances for the Rams and a further 43 for Bristol Rovers before calling time on his professional career in 1993, having been caretaker manager for a while earlier that year following the departure of Malcolm Allison.
He signed for Mangotsfield in the summer of 1993 and a year or so later, turned out for Bath City before calling it a day.
Cross is now an ambassador for Shrewsbury Town in the Community.
In June 2012, then-Mangotsfield manager Richard Thompson pulled off a major coup by capturing the signature of the sought after Clayton Fortune.
Jamie Shore (Photo: Alan Marshall)
The defender or midfielder agreed to sign for Mangotsfield, despite interest from a string of clubs.
Fortune started out at Tottenham Hotspur as a youth and went on to play for Bristol City, for whom he played over 50 times, Port Vale, Leyton Orient, Darlington, Rushden & Diamonds and Aldershot Town during his career.
He signed for Clevedon Town in September 2011, after playing at Aldershot the previous season.
He left Clevedon for short spells at Mangotsfield and Chippenham Town before returning to the Hand Stadium in November 2012.
In June 2014, Fortune accepted a player-coach post a few miles down the M5 at Weston-super-Mare.
He left Weston in November 2016 and signed for Hereford FC, who he helped to win the Southern Division One South & West title in 2016/17.
He re-joined Mangotsfield in the summer of 2018 and spent the next two seasons at Cossham Street before calling it a day.
Luke Spokes is a Mangotsfield success story.
Coming through South Gloucestershire College, he signed for the Mangos in 2018 and scored 5 goals in 30 games in 2018/19.
In August 2019, Spokes stepped up a division to join Southern Premier South outfit Yate Town and then signed for Taunton Town in January 2020
Trials at Burnley, Watford, Ipswich Town, Brentford and Bristol City all proved unsuccessful, but it was at Grimsby Town where he finally found his new home.
Then-Mariners boss Ian Holloway gave him his professional chance in September 2020 and to date he has made 8 first-team appearances and has scored once.
Midfielder Jamie Shore had a short spell with Mangotsfield at the end of his playing days.
A product of the FA's National School of Excellence at Lilleshall, he was regarded as one of the promising youngsters of his age group and won him England under-16 caps.
He had joined Norwich City at the age of 14 despite interest from Arsenal and Southampton, and the offer of a contract from Manchester United.
He had previously played for Whitchurch and Milton Nomads as a boy in his native Bristol.
<7r>Within the first three months of his professional contract at Carrow Road, he suffered a terrible knee injury in a youth match against Arsenal that almost destroyed his career.
Revolutionary new techniques restored his knee and was the subject of a BBC documentary and he began playing competitively again during 1997/98 for the reserves but did not break into the first team.
He was released in May 1998 and following a trial with Aston Villa, he signed with his home-town side of Bristol Rovers.
He made 24 appearances for the Gas and scored 2 goals before taking up a coaching role with Team Bath.
He also worked for BBC Radio Bristol as an expert summariser on their football coverage and has his own soccer coaching school.
In December 2003, he returned to playing, joining Western League side Brislington after he was spotted in a charity match.
He left them in March 2004 to join Mangotsfield.
In addition to his own soccer school, he was appointed head of youth at Blackpool in January 2011.
He then had a successful term in Finland as academy director and manager of SJK 2007 before returning to Britain in the spring of 2013 to run the elite player performance programme for North Somerset’s young talent on behalf of West Bromwich Albion.
In March 2015, Shore teamed up again with Norwich as a talent scout in the South West.
Jimmy Wring was an adaptable player who started his career as a youngster with Bristol Rovers.
He spent a short time with Bath City before spending a couple of seasons with the Mangos.
He moved to Cheltenham Town in 1992 and went on to make in excess of 250 appearances for the Robins.
Now a successful businessman in finance.
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