Belper Town F.C.

Belper Town
Full name Belper Town Football Club
Nickname(s) The Nailers
Founded 1883
Ground Christchurch Meadow, Belper
Ground Capacity 2,400 (500 seated)
Chairman Alan Benfield
Manager Charlie Palmer
League Northern Premier League
Division One South
2015–16 Northern Premier League
Division One South , 13th

Belper Town F.C. are a football team based in Belper, Derbyshire, England. The club plays in the Northern Premier League Division One South.

History

They were established in 1883 and joined the Midland League in 1961. After the 1981–82 season, Belper Town joined the Northern Counties East League Premier Division, winning the title in 1984–85. After a second-place finish in 1996–97, they were promoted to the Northern Premier League First Division.

Belper Town football ground entrance

Although the establishing year of 1883 appears on the club badge, the team has folded three teams through lack of finance. The current, fourth incarnation of the club, was formed in 1951. The first club played Sheffield Wednesday at home in the First Round of the FA Cup in 1887, losing 3-2. It is the only time that a side from Belper has ever progressed beyond the Preliminary Rounds. The current team has reached the 4th (and final) Qualifying Round on four occasions but the long overdue 1st Round appearance remains tantalisingly out of reach. In 1994–95, they reached the semi-finals of the FA Vase, losing to Oxford City.

In 2007, Belper Town competed in the inaugural season of the Northern Premier League Division One South.

In 2008, they won the Derbyshire Senior Cup beating Alfreton Town 4-3 on aggregate.

They finished 8th in the Northern Premier - First Division South in its inaugural year in 2007-08, then after finishing 2nd in 2008/2009, they lost in the playoff final by 1-0 to Stocksbridge Park Steels. The following season they just missed out on the playoffs, finishing 6th. Then 14th in 2010-11, and 6th again in 2011-12.

Belper finished the 2012-13 season in 3rd place and missed out in the playoffs, beaten by Stamford Town who went on to gain promotion.

Belper finally gained promotion to the Northern Premier League Premier Division in the 2013-14 season. Finishing 4th on 81 points, to claim a place in the Northern Premier League Division One South play-offs. The semi-final tie was played away against Leek Town, Belper beating them 2-0 to set up an all Derbyshire final against Mickleover Sports in which they won 1-0.

However the following 2014-15 season saw Belper finish bottom on 32 points, suffering relegation back to the Northern Premier League Division One South for the 2015-16 season. In September 2015, the club confirmed that it had relieved Jimmy Albans of his responsibility as Manager, replacing him with Charlie Palmer who begun with a 2-0 win over Daventry Town on 11 October. The club made national news in April 2016 when they advertised a match against Real Madrid as an April Fools', receiving numerous requests for information and tickets before revealing it was a hoax.

Stadium

Two views of the club's home stadium, showing the new stand built in 2003 (left) and the Reg Walker Stand, on the opposite side of the ground (right)

The club originally played at the Acorn Ground before moving to their current residence at Christchurch Meadow in 1951 when they were reformed for the fourth time. The freehold to the ground was bought by Belper Town in 1986 for £6,000.

Major refurbishments to the stadium including the changing rooms, clubhouse and conferencing suite were completed in 1999 at a cost of £250,000. In 2003, more than £200,000 was spent on constructing a new 500-seater stand so the ground could meet league standards. There is also covered standing for a further 300 spectators. In 2014 the club also spent £80,000 on new floodlights partly paid for by a grant from The Football Stadia Improvement Fund .

The record attendance for a Belper Town home match is 3,600 who turned up to see them play Ilkeston Town in 1951, the year the club were reformed.

Current squad

As of 29/03/2016.[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
England GK Dan Haystead
England GK Charlie Mansfield
England GK Mark Rathbone
England DF Dominic Allen
England DF Samuel Weston
England DF Yuyi Kabanje
England DF Gerome Palmer
England DF Jack O'Brien (on loan from Burton Albion)
England DF Louis Keenan
England DF Ross Parker
England DF Ben Turner
England DF Phil Watt
England MF Declan Taggart
England MF Matt Richards
No. Position Player
England MF Michael Armstrong
England MF Ben Watkis
England MF Kyle Bryant
England MF Sam Leggitt
England MF Eric Graves
England MF Jonathan Williams
England MF Sam Dockwray
England FW Alex Steadman
England FW Scott Taylor
England FW Rob Stevenson
England FW Laurence Constable
England FW Luke Edwards
England FW Sam Vickers
England FW Bradley Wells

Honours

References

  1. "First Team". Belper Town F.C. Retrieved 29 March 2016.

External links

Coordinates: 53°1′37.819″N 1°29′14.370″W / 53.02717194°N 1.48732500°W / 53.02717194; -1.48732500

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