Stamford A.F.C.

Stamford
Full name Stamford Association Football Club
Nickname(s) The Daniels
Founded 1896
Ground Zeeco Stadium, Stamford
Ground Capacity 2,000 (250 seated)
Chairman Bob Feetham
Manager Graham Drury[1]
League Northern Premier League Division One South
2015–16 Northern Premier League Premier Division, 21st (relegated)

Stamford Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Stamford, Lincolnshire and are currently members of the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League. Their nickname, the Daniels, comes from Daniel Lambert, reputedly the fattest man in English history, who died in Stamford and is buried in St Martin's churchyard close to their former ground.[2]

History

The club was established in 1896 and spent a single season in the East Midlands League. After several years without league football, the club joined the Northamptonshire League in 1909, and won the title in 1911–12. In 1933 the league was renamed the United Counties League.

They left the league in 1939, but after a season in the Peterborough & District League, they rejoined the UCL in 1946. They won the league's Knockout Cup in 1952, a season in which they also won the Lincolnshire Senior B Cup. In 1955 they left the league again to join the Central Alliance, before joining the Midland League.[3] In 1972 they returned to the UCL. They were champions in 1975–76 as well as winning the league cup and reaching the final of the FA Vase, where they lost 1–0 to Billericay Town after extra time. They won the league again in 1977–78 and the Lincolnshire Senior A Cup in 1978–79. They then went on to win the league three times in a row between 1979–80 and 1981–82, as well as the Knockout Cup in 1979–80 and 1981–82 and the FA Vase in 1979–80, when Guisborough Town were defeated 2–0 in the final. In 1983–84 they reached the final for a third time, but lost 3–2 to Stansted.

After the winning the UCL Premier Division title again in 1996–97 and 1997–98, Stamford joined the Midland Division of the Southern League, which was renamed the Eastern Division at the end of their first season. In 2003–04 they finished seventh and were promoted to the Premier Division due to league restructuring, but were relegated after a single season. In 2005–06 they reached the promotion play-offs, and after defeating Barking & East Ham United 3–2 in the semi-finals, they beat Wivenhoe Town 2–1 in the final with a goal from Mark Foster to earn promotion.

Stamford fared better in their second Premier Division stint finishing the campaign in eighth place. The season ended with silverware as the Daniels claimed their fifth different county cup, beating Brigg Town to win the Senior Shield at Lincoln City’s Sincil Bank Stadium.

After a single season in the Southern League Premier Division they were transferred to the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League. However, they were relegated to Division One South at the end of the season after losing manager Graham Drury and half the squad to Corby Town in mid season.

The Daniels were unable to bounce straight back to the Premier Division after narrowly missing out on a play off place despite a club record twenty league game undefeated streak. Although the club missed out on a play off berth they were able to defeat Boston United 4–1 in the final of the Lincolnshire Senior Shield to win the competition for the second time in three seasons.

In the 2009–10 season Stamford reached their first Northern Premier League cup final but fell to 3–1 scoreline against Belper Town in the President’s Cup at Quorn.

Stamford's 2010–11 season was largely one of disappointment as the team finished in 19th, their lowest ever league position at Step 4 but did regain the Lincolnshire Senior Shield again beating Boston United this time on penalties.

Despite making a decent start to the 2011–12 season and heading the table, they fell away and missed out on a play-off spot, finishing seventh.

Graham Drury returned to the club as manager in May 2012, replacing Tommy Brookbanks. He had been the Daniels boss prior to spending four seasons in charge at neighbours Corby Town.

The club made history when they played Rotherham United in a pre-season friendly at the start of August by becoming the first sports club in the world to wear the Twitter handle, and display a QR code, on the back of their playing shirts.

At the end of July 2012 Chris Rivett joined the board of directors and was appointed as Chairman two weeks later. Under his stewardship, during the 2012–13 season the club announced that together with the town's college they were going to move into a new stadium on Ryhall Road, Stamford for the 2014–15 season.

Drury left The Daniels half way through the 2012–13 season to take charge of Boston United so in January 2013 the board gave Wayne Hatswell his managerial debut with current player David Staff as his assistant. Hatswell guided Stamford to the play-offs, finishing 4th to set up a semi-final trip to 3rd place Belper. Recovering form 2–0 down after 10 minutes, Stamford won the game 4–2 to set up a play-off final at home to Chasetown. A bumper crowd of 864 saw Stamford win 2–1 to gain promotion to the Northern Premier League Premier Division for the first time since 2008.

Following promotion, Wayne Hastwell left the Daniels to become a coach at newly promoted League Two side Newport County with assistant manager David Staff named as his successor.

After a shaky start to life back in the Premier Division and spending a period of time in the drop zone, Stamford soon found their feet and secured survival with three games to go following a 3–0 victory at Droylsden, thus securing Premier Division football will be played at their new stadium eventually finishing in a respectable 18th place, 9 points clear of relegation. Stamford ended the season with some silverware after beating Brigg 5–4 on penalties to claim Lincolnshire Senior Shield for the fourth time after the match had ended 3–3 after 90 minutes.

Stamford's second season in the Premier Division was a much tougher affair. Despite being top and having won the first 5 games, Stamford ended the season involved in a relegation scrap. On 13 December 2014, Stamford moved out of their old home at Wothorpe Road after playing there for 118 years and moved into the brand new Zeeco Stadium. The first match at the brand new stadium was a 2–2 draw with Nantwich Town in front of a crowd of 819. Stamford headed into the final day of the season in the relegation zone needing to beat fellow relegation strugglers Witton Albion in a winner takes all match. Stamford found themselves 2–0 down at half time only for a tremendous fight back in the second half and scored a late goal to win 3–2 and stay up by a solitary point at the expense of Witton Albion. The season also brought some silverware back to the Zeeco Stadium as Stamford retained the Lincolnshire Senior Shield as they beat Louth 3–0 at Lincoln City's Sincil Bank.

Stamford were relegated from the Northern Premier League on 20 April 2016 after Mickelover 1–1 draw against Nantwich left them 4 points off safety with only one game remaining, but reprieved when Cinderford Town declined promotion.

They have reached the First Round Proper of the 2016-17 FA Cup after winning a replay at Wrexham.

Ground

The new pitch at the Borderville Sports Centre

From the formation of the club in 1894 until the end of 2014 the club played on Hanson's Field in Kettering Road, St Martins.[4] When the Burghley Estate, owners of the land, decided to redevelop that site for housing a new stadium was built in conjunction with the nascent Sports Institute of New College, Stamford[5] at Borderville on Ryhall Road, to the north of town.[6][7] The stadium has a terrace behind one of the goals as well as an all-seated stand along one side of the pitch with room for 300 spectators.

The first game at the Zeeco Stadium was on 13 December 2014 in an Northern Premier League match against Nantwich Town in a game that ended 2–2 drawing a crowd of 819. The first goal was scored after 2 minutes by Nantwich's Aaron Burns and the first goal scored by a Stamford player was by Jorrin John to equalize after 16 minutes.

The current highest attendance at the Zeeco Stadium is 1264 set on 15 October 2016 when Stamford played National League side Wrexham in a FA Cup 4th qualifying round match.


Squad

As of 16 October 2016[8]

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 Paul Bastock
England GK Sam Donkin
England GK Taylor McMillan
England DF Tom Batchelor
England DF Delroy Gordon
England DF Curtis Hartley
England DF Oliver Luto
England DF Kern Miller
England DF Chris Salt
England MF Lee Beeson
England MF David Bell
England MF Jon Challinor
No. Position Player
England MF Jake Duffy
England MF Sam Hill
England MF John King
England MF Niall Mather
England MF Elliot Sandy
England FW Jevani Brown
England FW Ollie Brown-Hill
England FW Keenan King
Saint Kitts and Nevis FW Ryan Robbins
England FW Grant Ryan
Antigua and Barbuda FW Jordan Smith

Honours

Records

References

  1. ↑ "Midfielder Jon Challinor named as Daniels caretaker manager". Rutland and Stamford Mercury. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  2. ↑ Stamford Pyramid Passion
  3. ↑ Stamford at the Football Club History Database
  4. ↑ "Club History". Stamford A.F.C. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  5. ↑ "Borderville Sports Centre". New College, Stamford. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  6. ↑ "Stamford AFC's new home is almost ready". Stamford Mercury. 31 August 2014.
  7. ↑ "It is all systems go as Borderville sports complex nears completion". Stamford and Rutland Sports News. Stamford And Rutland Sports Network. 4 August 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "First Team – The Team". Stamford A.F.C. Retrieved 16 October 2015.

Coordinates: 52°38′50″N 0°28′46″W / 52.64722°N 0.47944°W / 52.64722; -0.47944

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