With no disrespect to Farnborough, who won the Premier Division South play-off final, the Turbines` reaching Step 2 level and the Vanarama National League North is a story that would be hard to believe if it was written as a fictional novel!
Farnborough have been there and done it before, but for Jimmy Dean’s squad, it will be really unchartered waters.
Their amazing story deserves a look at in full.
Peterborough Sports Football Club was founded in 1908 and were initially known as Brotherhoods Engineering Works a non-competitive factory side for the company that was founded by Peter Brotherhood in 1867 that was famed for designing and manufacturing the first steam turbine engine in the world.
The club honours its heritage to this day with the turbine engine featuring in the club badge and “The Turbines” as the club nickname.
They were called Bearings Direct in the 1990s and then changed to Peterborough Sports all at the same Lincoln Road ground which has undergone a major revamp since 2012 funded by a combination of Parkway Social Club, the Football Foundation and former manager and chairman Tommy Cooper.
The club started competitive life in the Northants League in 1919 (which became the United Counties League in 1934) winning the title in that first season before joining the Peterborough League in 1923.
The club once entertained Tottenham Hotspur at Lincoln Road before the Second World War in front of a crowd of 4,000 at a time when a stand went down the whole length of the ground and drew over 3,000 for the visit of local rivals Peterborough & Fletton United (now Peterborough United).
Without doubt the club’s most famous player is Victor Watson, who played in the Northants League title-winning team of 1919/20 before moving onto West Ham United for £50 via Wellingborough Town in March 1920.
He remains the Hammers's record goalscorer with 326 goals from 505 appearances.
Watson also played 5 times for England, scoring 4 times between 1923 and 1930, including a brace against Scotland in 1930, and played in the first FA Cup Final at Wembley in front of 200,000 fans against Bolton Wanderers.
Much of the club’s early years were notably unsuccessful. The Northants League win in 1920 was followed six years later with a Peterborough League Division Three title in 1926, with a gap then to the Peterborough Football Association Minor Cup win in 1940.
The barren spell of success continued right up until 1976 when the Peterborough Division Three title was secured again, which was repeated in 1981.
The club enjoyed a brief golden period at the start of the 1990s with promotion secured back to the Peterborough Premier Division and two Northants Lower Junior Cups being landed in 1994 and 1995 under the management of current advisor to the Board of Directors, Tommy Cooper.
The club again had some barren time before the Turbines suddenly became successful in the 2006/07 season when both the Peterborough Premier Division and Northants Junior Cup were secured for the first time in the club’s history under the management of Al Lenihan and Tommy Flynn.
Unfortunately, the club did not follow up on this success and in the ensuing years almost went out of existence. It was only the efforts of current life president Colin Day - who has been at Sports over half a century - secretary Roger Martin and manager Chris Bartlett that kept the club running.
Tommy Cooper returned to the club in the role of chairman in January 2011 and in that 2010/11 season the club secured its first PFA trophy since the Second World War when lifting the Challenge Cup and were promoted back to the Peterborough League Premier Division for a short two season stay.
Bartlett was replaced as manager by Seamus Morgan for the 2012/13 season and the former Peterborough Northern Star reserve manager steered the club into the United Counties League with a third-place position in 2012/13 when Netherton United turned down their promotion having finished in second.
The club`s first season at UCL level started well but ultimately ended in a disappointing 16th-place finish with Morgan replaced as manager by former Queens Park Rangers and England under-21 defender Chris Plummer in January 2014.
The following season 2014/15 saw the side challenging for promotion right to the end of the season, but a run of seven away games to finish saw them eventually finish in fifth.
At the end of that season, Plummer stood aside, and his assistant Jimmy Dean took the reins for the 2015/16 campaign.
In his first year, the club won the title at a canter by a huge 21 points, helped by winning their first 23 games.
The side also picked up the UCL League Cup, becoming the first side from Division One to ever do so, after a penalty shoot-out triumph against Premier Division Holbeach United.
The side also added the Northants Junior Cup for a second time and the prestigious Hinchingbrooke Cup for the first time and were to be forever dubbed the 'Fourmidables'.
That success was continued into the 2016/17 as the team won the UCL Premier Division with a league record point tally of 112 and were the top scorers in the top eleven levels of English football with 150 in the league and 205 in all competitions!
The Hinchingbrooke Cup was also retained with a 2-1 victory over second-placed Deeping Rangers and the side had its best ever run in the FA Vase reaching the Fourth round.
The side entered the Northern Premier League for the 2017/18 season and initially found the going tough – indeed the side went into 2018 bottom of the table before a dramatic turnaround saw the Turbines finish a most respectable 12th with that summer seeing the side transfer across to the Southern League, with Grant Biddle replacing Tom Cooper as chairman and Paul Venters joining as vice-chairman
With an additional Step 4 league implemented for 2018/19, Sports were moved into the Southern League to play in the Division One Central section where the side duly won their third title in four years under Dean.
The side only lost three games all season (which included twice to runners-up Bromsgrove Sporting) which was mark of their consistency.
The side also had probably the best win in its history when beating Vanarama National League North and former Football League side Boston United 2-0 away in the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round.
Their reward was a home tie with unbeaten National League North side Chorley with the game screened on the red button on the BBC which attracted a peak viewing figure of 240,000 and a club record 404 in attendance.
Unfortunately, Sports went out 3-0 on a dreadful day weather-wise, which was replaced with the glorious weather at Easter and the raising of the championship, secured on the Saturday with a 2-0 win away at Kidlington with the trophy presented on the Monday before the derby win over Cambridge City.
Sports went onto beat the Southern title winners Blackfield & Langley 5-1 in the Championship Match
Season 2019/20 was to be spent in the Premier Division Central at Step 3 for the first time in the club’s Centenary year and Sports were leading the way when the league for declared null and void due to COVID-19.
The 2020/21 season was again greatly affected by COVID-19, but this did not stop Sports progressing well in both the FA Cup, where they reached the Third Qualifying Round, and the Buildbase FA Trophy where they reached the Fifth Round.
And now another chapter must be added to the Turbines remarkable history.
Who would stand up and say that Peterborough Sports won’t be able to kick on and achieve more success – Forest Green Rovers would be a terrific example to them of what can be done by a small club – and they are on the cusp of playing League One football in 2022/23.
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