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| Full name | Leamington Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Brakes | ||
| Founded | 1891 (as Leamington Town) | ||
| Ground | New Windmill Ground (Capacity: 2,300) |
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| Chairman | Jim Scott | ||
| Manager | Paul Holleran | ||
| League | Southern Football League Premier Division | ||
| 2008-09 | Southern League Division One Midlands, 1st (Promoted) | ||
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Leamington Football Club is the main football club in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, currently playing in the Southern Football League Premier Division.
In 2005 the team beat 5 teams (with 2 replays and penalty shoot-outs) to make excellent progress in the FA Cup, gaining significant national media coverage, culminating in a 9-1 defeat to Colchester United, a professional team six leagues above Leamington, in the First Round Proper. At the start of the 2008/09 season the senior team became affiliated with Leamington Lions, the ladies team and the Leamington Junior Brakes teams.
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History
The club was founded in 1891 as Leamington Town, becoming Lockheed Leamington, gaining their nickname "The Brakes" in 1946. By 1973 the team was known as AP Leamington, as the works team for Automotive Products.
With the club at its playing pinnacle, Automotive Products decided to sell the Windmill Ground in Tachbrook Road for housing. The last match was played in April 1988.
The club was relaunched in 2000 playing at the New Windmill Ground in Harbury Lane, Whitnash, (a suburb south of Leamington), and winning two successive promotions: the Midland Football Combination Division Two title in the first year and as runners-up in Division One a year later. Three years later Leamington gained promotion to the Midland Alliance
Famous ex-players include former Coventry City Captain Charlie Timmins, (1958-1961)
Colours and badge
Leamington FC's colours are gold and black vertically striped shirts, black shorts and black stockings.
The Leamington FC badge shows a windmill and a football. The windmill image has been associated with the club for a long time, since both the old Windmill Ground and the current New Windmill Ground were near iconic windmills.
The away kit is all blue with a white trim. Both kits are manufactured by Joma, the UK branch of which is found in Cubbington, a village just north of the town.
Ground
The Windmill Ground
Home to Leamington Town, Lockheed Leamington, AP Leamington and Leamington FC the Windmill Ground was situated on the Tachbrook Road, Leamington Spa.
The ground began its life known simply as the "Tachbrook Road Ground" with the first "Leamington FC" match taking place in late September, 1891, between "Leamington Association Football Club" and Queen's College, Birmingham.
By 1913, when Leamington Town moved back to the ground (after using various sites around the town), it had been renamed as "The Windmill Ground", the name reflecting the fact that there was a derelict windmill (which was domolished in 1968) adjacent to the site on the Tachbrook Road.[1]
In 1937 Leamington Town fell foul to money matters, the club was voluntarily wound up, and the Windmill Ground was sold to Coventry City. Coventry paid £1,739 6s and 8d for the ground which was to be used for their 'A' team. During the 2nd World War the ground also hosted Forces matches and Birmingham City matches.
Lockheed, the company situated opposite the Windmill Ground, formed a club in 1946 called Lockheed Leamington and bought the ground back from Coventry City to house their team.
It was after this time that the ground saw most of its development work - stands, terracing, etc. The floodlights were installed in 1965. By its demise it boasted a 440 seater stand running half the length of the Tachbrook Road side. At the left hand side (looking from the pitch) were the changing rooms.
To the right, and extending behind the northern goal, was terracing. The terracing gradually faded into a gently sloping gravel bank that continued round the other 2 sides of the pitch. The north end was covered, as was a very small section of the embankment opposite the stand.
The stated capacity of the ground was 5,000 - with cover for 1,600 spectators. The clubhouse (built in the late 1970s) sat behind the stand, up towards the northern end of the ground.
A First Round FA Cup tie, vs Stafford Rangers in the 1975/76 season, saw the largest attendance at the ground. 3,200 turned up to see Stafford triumph 3-2.
With the ground's owners, Automotive Products, struggling financially, property developers AC Lloyd purchased the ground in 1985. The downfall of the club could be said to have started two years previously. Despite winning the Southern League championship in 1983, the club was denied promotion to the Football Conference due to the condition of the ground. Kidderminster Harriers were promoted instead, and a sad downward spiral was put in motion.
The final league match at the ground was on 16 April 1988 against Walsall Wood. The very last match played at the ground was between teams managed by two old (AP) Leamington managers a "Farewell to the Windmill Ground".
Where the ground once stood there is now a housing development. The turnstiles were sold to VS Rugby and some of the stand went to Stratford Town. The floodlights, originally from Manchester City's Maine Road ground, were sold to a security firm.
The New Windmill Ground
The New Windmill Ground has been Leamington's home since the 2000/01 renaissance. The ground is built in the shadow of nearby Chesterton Windmill on Harbury Lane, Whitnash just outside Leamington Spa. It is fully owned by the club.
As of February 2008, the ground contains a match pitch and a practice pitch, car park, licensed clubhouse and changing rooms, a snack bar, club shop and a tuck shop, and an electronic scoreboard. There is covered terracing on the South side ("The Harbury Lane End"), covered seating on the East side ("The Sheepside"), terracing on the North side ("The North Bank"), and an uncovered stand on the West side. The ground has full floodlighting and PA facilities. Entrance is via turnstiles at the southwest and, since February 2008, northwest corners.
In June 2007, planning permission was granted for further development, intended to bring the ground to the standards required by the Southern League. This planned development includes a new stand on the west side of the ground, and an extension to the clubhouse.
In December 2007 terracing to the North Bank was completed and first used on 26 December for a league game against Romulus, which ended as a 1–1 draw.
In April 2008 the ground was awarded a 'D' grading making it suitable for use in the Southern League Premier Division.
New terracing to the Harbury Lane end, comprising of six steps, was unveiled in a pre-season friendly against Conference South team Newport County on July 19, 2008.
Managers
- Jason Cadden (2000-2009)
- Wayne Powell (2009) (caretaker)
- Paul Holleran (2009-present)
Supporters
Leamington used to enjoy a high level of support for the club's position in the league system. The average attendance for home matches for the 08/09 season was 666. The highest attendance at a New Windmill Ground match was 1,634 when Stourbridge visited on 5 May 2008. Below are the top five ever attendances at the NWG:
| Attendance | Opponents | Match | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,634 | Stourbridge | Southern Football League Division One Midlands |
May 2008 |
| 1,380 | Retford United | FA Vase | February 2007 |
| 1,263 | Rugby Town | Midland Football Combination Division Two |
May 2001 |
| 1,204 | Rugby Town | Midland Football Combination Division One |
April 2002 |
| 1,161 | Chasetown | Southern Football League Division One Midlands |
April 2009 |
Leamington does not have an official club song but in the early seasons "Pomp 'n' Gold", a fusion of Elgar and Spandau Ballet was used prior to the teams walking out onto the pitch. Two songs used by the club during the 2008/09 season were Ready to Go by Republica and Gold by Spandau Ballet. The former is the one that the teams ran onto the pitch to at the start of the match. In addition a popular song on the terraces is 2Bods adapted from an FC United of Manchester song with the words changed to suit the club. To celebrate the FA Cup run of 2005 the Warwickshire Beer Company, a local microbrewery based in Cubbington produced a special ale called Brakes Fluid especially for the club which is still sold today. The clubs fanzine is entitled Windmill Wonderland.
Rivals
Leamington's primary rivals are Rugby Town and Nuneaton Town. Other rivals are Bedworth United, Racing Club Warwick from the nearby town of Warwick, and Stratford Town from Stratford-upon-Avon.
Honours
League Championships
- Coventry & North Warwickshire League Division One: 1912/13 (Leamington Town)
- Birmingham Combination: 1925/26 (Leamington Town)
- Birmingham & District/West Midlands League: 1961/62, 1962/63 (both Lockheed Leamington)
- Midland Counties League: 1964/65 (Lockheed Leamington)
- Southern League Premier Division: 1982/83 (AP Leamington)
- Midland Football Combination Division Two: 2001/02 (Leamington)
- Midland Football Combination Premier Division 2004/05 (Leamington)
- Midland Football Alliance 2006/07 (Leamington)
- Southern Football League Division One Midlands 2008/09 (Leamington)
Cups
- Birmingham Junior Cup: 1912/13, 1920/21 (both Leamington Town)
- Birmingham Senior Cup: 1951/52, 1955/56, 1960/61, 1969/70, 1971/72 (all Lockheed Leamington)
- Southern League Cup: 1973/74 (AP Leamington), 1983/84 (Leamington)
- Southern League Champions Cup: 1973/74 (AP Leamington), 1983/84 (Leamington)
- Jack Mould Trophy: 2001/02 (Leamington)
- Tony Allden Memorial Trophy: 2005/06 (Leamington)
- Midland Football Alliance League Cup: 2006/07 (Leamington)
- Joe McGorian Cup: 2007/08 (Leamington)
In 2006/07 Leamington were the first team to win the Midland Football Alliance League, and League Cup in the same year. Leamington later went on to win the J. McGorian Cup, the division's equivalent of the Community Shield.
Current squad
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References
- ^ "Leamington Spa. Tachbrook Road, windmill and Windmill Inn". Windows on Warwickshire. http://www.search.windowsonwarwickshire.org.uk/engine/resource/exhibition/standard/child.asp?txtKeywords=&lstContext=&lstResourceType=&lstExhibitionType=&chkPurchaseVisible=&txtDateFrom=&txtDateTo=&x1=&y1=&x2=&y2=&scale=&theme=1118&album=&resource=1054&viewpage=%2Fengine%2Fresource%2Fexhibition%2Fstandard%2Fdefault%2Easp&originator=%2Fengine%2Ftheme%2Fdefault%2Easp&page=&records=&direction=&pointer=1039&text=0&exhibition=741&offset=0. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
Sources
- Mike and Tony Williams (2006). Non League Club Directory 2006. Tony Williams Publications Ltd. ISBN 1-869833-54-6.
- "Leamington F.C. Programme Notes". http://www.leamingtonfc.co.uk/LFCDetails.doc. Retrieved 2005-11-15.
External links
- Leamington FC Official Homepage
- The Banter - Independent Fans' Forum
- Leamington FC Blog - Leamington FC Blog
- Leamington Brakes FC - Leamington FC Youth Teams
- Leamington FC Unofficial Affiliation Site
Coordinates: 52°14′39.39″N 1°30′10.31″W / 52.244275°N 1.5028639°W
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