GONE….BUT NOT FORGOTTEN (Part One)

Featuring clubs who have disappeared.

The Southern League was formed just six years after the Football League in 1894/95.

It started with two divisions, Division One with nine clubs and Division Two with seven.

Millwall Athletic were the inaugural winners of Division One without losing any of their twelve league games, and they became the Millwall FC we know today.

Also in Division One then were Luton Town, Southampton St Mary`s, who became Southampton FC, Ilford, Reading, Chatham Town, Clapton, Swindon Town and Royal Ordnance Factories, who were a team made up from workers from the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich.

Amazingly, given the fact this was 120-plus years ago, they are one of only the only two clubs who are not still around today, having lasted barely three years before dissolving in 1896.

Division Town was won by New Brompton, who lost only once, and they became Gillingham FC.

Sheppey United, Uxbridge, Bromley, Maidenhead, Chesham and Old St Stephen`s made up the rest of the division.

Old St Stephen`s later merged with another local team to become Shepherd`s Bush FC, who played on until 1915 before disbanding, although their ground was taken over by Queens Park Rangers, who still play there to this day.

Chesham became Chesham Town five years later and left the Southern League in 1912 to become founder members of the Athenian League.

They left that league in 1914 and in 1917 merged with Chesham Generals to form the Chesham United we know today, although it wasn`t until 2004 that they finally returned to the Southern League.

During the early years of the Southern League, there were a number of forces teams, several who enjoyed success, including Depot Battalion, Royal Engineers, who joined Division Two of the Southern League in 1908, finished third and won the FA Amateur Cup, defeating Stockton 2–1 in the final.

However, they left the league at the end of the season! Talk about finishing on a high!

Go forward almost 70 years and you`ll find one of the more remarkable stories concerning ROAD-SEA SOUTHAMPTON.

The club was formed in 1973 and were named after their freight shipping company sponsors.

They were originally a Sunday side and won every possible honour as they rose up through the divisions and in 1976/77, they reached the semi-final of the national FA Sunday Cup.

With the aid of local businesses and fund-raising events, the club bought some land near Southampton and facilities quickly developed.

Under manager Peter Price, results on the field continued to be remarkable but they were still a Sunday side, and many assumed their ambitious bid to join the Southern League was merely a publicity stunt.

However, to everyone`s amazement, Road-Sea were sensationally accepted into the Southern League in 1982 despite having never played Saturday football.

This, of course, couldn`t happen today under the national Pyramid system and perhaps if Road-Sea had taken the normal route of perhaps Hampshire League/Wessex League and then Southern League, they may have lasted longer, having built a more stable background.

But whilst in the Southern League, they proved some of their doubters wrong as they immediately pushed for promotion from the Southern Division and finished a very creditable third.

Proving they were no one-season wonders, Road-Sea maintained their momentum to go on and win the Southern Division title the following campaign, finishing 9 points ahead of Crawley Town and a whopping 15 in front of third-placed Basingstoke Town.

That season also saw Road-Sea have their first taste of FA Vase action – and they certainly made the most of it!

They enjoyed comfortable wins against Pagham, Chobham, Maidenhead Town and Exmouth Town to reach the Fourth Round.

Hellenic League side Abingdon Town made it tough for Road-Sea in round four before the Southampton outfit triumphed 2-1 but they bowed out 2-1 away at Isthmian League Leyton Wingate in the Fifth Round.

Season 1984/85 saw Price`s side finish a very creditable fifth, 10 points adrift of champions Cheltenham Town

However, the cracks were beginning to appear and 85/86 saw Road-Sea finish fifth-from-bottom, 6 points in front of bottom-markers Gravesend & Northfleet.

And they stunned the league and their supporters by surprisingly deciding to pull out of the Southern League and drop two divisions to become one of the founder members of the new Wessex League which had been formed mostly from clubs in the Hampshire League with the best facilities and included the likes of Eastleigh, Havant Town, AFC Totton, Bashley and Thatcham Town.

Still possessing players such as Pat Earles, who played 12 times for Southampton and then over 250 times for Reading, ex-Bournemouth forward Dean Mooney and Malcolm Waldron, who played over 180 times for Southampton, Road-Sea finished runners-up to Bashley in the inaugural season of the Wessex League.

They also added more silverware to their bulging trophy cabinet by winning the League Cup and Russell Cotes Cup and reached the final of the Hampshire Senior Cup.

But, almost as suddenly as Road-Sea appeared, they departed, as in the summer of 1987, they lost the substantial financial backing from the shipping company and they resigned from the Wessex League and had disappeared off the football map completely.

The club's Marchwood ground was later sold to Premier League Southampton.

TEAM BATH had an even shorter period in football than Road-Sea Southampton!

They started out in 1999 as the University of Bath`s football and education programme – one of the forerunners of the system that has boomed in recent years in colleges throughout the country.

Under the University of Bath`s director of sport Ged Roddy, the team gained admittance to the Western League Division One in 2000/01 and won the title at the first attempt, scoring 108 goals and conceding just 22 in 36 matches.

Their first season in the Premier Division saw Team Bath finish a very creditable fourth behind Bideford AFC, Taunton Town and Brislington.

They also had their first crack at the FA Vase, reaching the Third Round before losing to Arlesey Town.

Whilst Roddy continued to be the manager, the more day-to-day and matchday coaching was being undertaken by former Southampton and Bristol City defender Paul Tisdale.

An injury forced him to end his career early, and he took a coaching role with Team Bath in 2000.

In the 2002/03 season, Team Bath won the Western League title by an eleven-point margin, scoring 109 goals along the way.

They also became the first university team to enter the FA Cup since Gonville & Caius in 1881.

Team Bath entered in the Preliminary Round stage and advanced through four qualifying rounds to the First Round Proper before losing to Mansfield Town in a game televised live on Sky.

Promoted to the Southern League Division One West, they finished a decent sixth in 2003/04 before the restructuring of the non-League Pyramid saw them pushed straight into the Premier Division the following season.

Team Bath finished 14th in their first season as a Premier Division side, also reaching the Third Round of the FA Trophy, and 17th the following season.

At the end of 2006/07, the club lost their influential head coach Paul Tisdale, who left to take over as manager of League Three side Exeter City, where he had a spell on loan towards the end of his time with Bristol City.

He went on to have a hugely successful twelve-year career in charge of the Grecians and then a slightly less happy time of it at MK Dons more recently.

Taking Tisdale`s role as head coach was defender Andy Tillson, who was already with the club as a player-coach.

Tillson started his career at Grimsby Town and then went on to play for Kettering Town, Queens Park Rangers, Bristol Rovers, Walsall and Rushden & Diamonds and made over 500 League appearances.

He joined Team Bath in 2003 as a player then as a coach.

Team Bath`s third season in the Southern League was a much more successful one as they finished runners-up to…..fierce rivals Bath City!

Team Bath now had to face the play-offs for the first time in their short history and they won their semi-final against Hemel Hempstead Town 3–1 and played Maidenhead United in the final.

Maidenhead, who had been relegated from the Conference South the season before, went on to win a hard-fought game 1–0, consigning Team Bath to another season in the Southern League.

In 2006/07, Bath City finished 12 points in front of their student neighbours, but in 2007/08, Team Bath again finished second, but this time had a real scrap for the title with King`s Lynn, who eventually pipped them by two points.

So, it was another crack at the play-offs for Roddy and Tillson`s side and a 4–1 victory against fifth-placed Bashley in the semi-final, aided by a hat-trick from the league's top scorer Sean Canham, saw Team Bath reach their second successive final.

This time they won it, beating the side who finished third, Halesowen Town, 2-1 with Canham grabbing a last-gasp winner to secure Team Bath a fifth promotion in just nine seasons!

In a strong Conference South, which was eventually won by AFC Wimbledon and also included the likes of Hampton & Richmond Borough, Bromley, Newport County, Eastleigh and Braintree Town, Team Bath finished a very creditable 11th.

However, the Football Conference ruled that the club could not, in its current format, win promotion to its Premier division – and hence on to the Football League.

So, it was the end of football in the non-League Pyramid for Team Bath, although they now, ironically, work alongside former rivals Bath City, giving the university`s top players the opportunity to feed into City’s under-21 development squad and first team.

Blink and you may have missed ASHTREE HIGHFIELD`S spell as a Southern League club!

Because as Ashtree Highfield, they only spent one season – the 1988/89 campaign – as a Midland Division side.

However, the club had been in existence since just after the Second World War when it was known then as Smethwick Highfield and played in the Worcestershire Combination until 1968 when it moved into the Midland Combination.

Smethwick Highfield were relegated to the Combination`s second tier in 1973 and, apart from winning its place back in the top division in 1980 as runners-up, success was very limited – indeed, the highest they finished in the First and Premier, as it became in 1983, was 11th.

At the end of the 1985/86 season, Smethwick finished second-from-bottom of the Midland Combination and changed its name to Ashtree Highfield, named after another part of the local area.

The `new` club finished tenth in its first season under its new guise, but 1987/88 saw Ashtree finish third behind Racing Club Warwick and Boldmere St Michaels under Alf Bowerman.

However, it was Ashtree who won promotion to the Southern League Midland Division for 1988/89 and they finished 14th out of 22 in a section that included the likes of Forest Green Rovers, Tamworth, Halesowen Town, Nuneaton Borough, Hednesford Town, King`s Lynn and eventual champions Gloucester City.

But that was Ashtree Highfield`s only season as a Southern League club because in the summer of 1989 it changed names for a third time to become SANDWELL BOROUGH, hoping that the new identity would catch on with the Sandwell public.

Results didn’t help Sandwell attract many new supporters though as they finished bottom of the Midland Division table, four points adrift of second-from-bottom Banbury United.

Relegation back to the Midland Combination followed and for three seasons, Sandwell performed well, finishing fourth and fifth twice in succession.

In 1993/94 Sandwell ended in 13th position when it had been revealed that a new league, the Midland Alliance, would be formed for the start of the 1994/95 season.

The league drew ten member clubs from the Midland Combination and West Midlands (Regional) League for its inaugural season.

The clubs selected to join from the Midland Combination were Barwell, Boldmere St Michaels, Bolehall Swifts, Pershore Town, Sandwell Borough, Shepshed Dynamo, Shifnal Town, Stapenhill, Stratford Town and West Midlands Police.

Those selected from the WMRL were Brierley Hill Town, Chasetown, Halesowen Harriers, Hinckley Athletic, Knypersley Victoria, Oldbury United, Paget Rangers, Rocester, Rushall Olympic and Willenhall Town.

Sandwell found it tough in their new surroundings and ended in 14th spot in the league`s opening season.

And, apart from 1995/96 when they finished a creditable seventh, Sandwell struggled to 17th, 15th, 18th, 16th and then, in 2000/01, rock-bottom along with West Midlands Police.

That proved enough for the hardworking few at Sandwell Borough and the club folded at the end of that campaign.

BLETCHLEY TOWN have had almost as many comeback attempts as Frank Sinatra!

Formed originally in 1914 as Bletchley Sports and playing in the Bedfordshire & District League and then, as Bletchley Town Sports, in the South Midlands League until the end of the 1933/34 season, when they finished bottom of Division One and left the league.

After the Second World War, the name Bletchley LMS appeared (London, Midland & Scottish Railway) – Bletchley being known as a railway town.

They gained promotion to the Premier Division as champions in only their first season.

From 1954/55 - the last season of their first period in the South Midlands League - they played under the name of Bletchley & WIPAC Sports Club and two seasons later, for the 1956/57 campaign, changed their name to Bletchley & WIPAC by which time they had joined the Hellenic League.

The name Bletchley & WIPAC was due to a sponsorship deal with design and manufacturing company WIPAC who specialised in high technology exterior LED lighting.

In 1957, the club changed name again, this time to Bletchley Town and after two seasons in the Hellenic League – the last of which saw them finish sixth – they switched to the United Counties League where they ended up in third spot in their first season.

Top five finishes followed the next two seasons and then a drop to 12th before former Luton Town stalwart Bob Morton arrived, initially as player-manager.

Morton made 495 League appearances for the Hatters before bowing out as a 36-year-old in 1964 after he`d enjoyed a testimonial match against then-FA Cup holders West Ham United.

Bletchley finished third, fifth, third again and second in the UCL before switching to the Metropolitan League in 1968/69.

Their three seasons in the Metropolitan League saw third, fifth and third-placed finishes which earned them a place in the expanded Southern League in 1971/72 and put in a strong Division One North which was eventually won by Ron Atkinson`s Kettering Town side.

Bletchley struggled amidst the likes of the Poppies, Burton Albion, Cheltenham Town and Wealdstone, with only Barry Town and Dunstable Town finishing below them.

The following campaign saw Bletchley switched to Division One South to accommodate more `northerly` sides in the other section.

And now with former Colchester United and Gillingham forward Brian Gibbs in charge, they fared better and ended in ninth spot to champions Maidstone United, with the likes of Crawley Town, Salisbury, Bognor Regis Town and Metropolitan Police below them in the table.

Bletchley`s geographical position meant they were prime candidates to move to allow in new arrivals, and they were switched back to Division One North the following season and again struggled in that section, ending up in 17th spot.

Once again, in 1974 the club changed its name, this time to Milton Keynes City and continued in the Southern League Division One North until 78/79 when, due to the loss of clubs to the new Alliance Premier League, they became members of the Midland Division.

But they struggled to compete and in 1980/81, finished bottom of the table with only 13 points from 42 matches – with just three wins.

They struggled on, finishing second-from-bottom the next season, bottom again in 83/84 and 19th out of 20 in 84/85.

Then during the 1984/85 season, the club folded, and their record was expunged.

However, once again the club was re-born and as per usual with a change of name back to Bletchley Town for the 2005/06 season.

The club started life in the North Bucks League and two seasons later were in the Spartan South Midlands League Division Two.

But by March 2014, the club had disbanded again, although the name was re-registered as a private limited company.