ALVESTON
FOOT BALL CLUB
A Proud History
of Alveston Football Club
The
addition of a sports ground in 1975 to the Home Guard Club in Tiddington saw
Alveston put down roots at the Main Street site. For 20 years Alveston were
proud to be associated with The Stratford Alliance League winning pretty much
all the Divisional and Cup trophies over many successful seasons, The current
and long standing AFC President Geoff Bennett is still to this day the President
of the Stratford Alliance also.
The
best was yet to come, in the first season in “The Big League” 1998-99 the
club played the majority of the season ground sharing, the nomadic life style
seemed to suite the players and a season unparalleled in local non-league
football unfolded. Winning the Premiership title with 5 games to go, whilst
negotiating their way through many tough games to end up in all four finals of
those cups entered was outstanding.
The
first was the Birmingham County Vase the second was the Coventry Evening
Telegraph Final played at
The
climax of this fantastic season was yet to come The Challenge Cup Final at
A
superb performance saw Alveston complete the League and cup treble with a hard
earnt 2-0 victory over Coventry Sphinx. Even The Sun newspaper reported the
amazing storey comparing the clubs achievements with their Premiership
peers
Manchester United. A season to remember and a long history of great progress..
The season became complete with the erection of floodlights at their home
ground.
Ivor
Chambers with his wealth of knowledge in non-league football was appointed as
Manager and he and Chairman Martin Beese begun the job of rebuilding the team
from the roots up. The season saw a very fluid playing squad putting a lot of
commitment and hard work into the re-building job and survival in the
Premiership. The season 00/01 saw Ivor retire due to work commitments and former
Port Vale player Andy Male take on the role as Manager joined by his brother
Neil in the role as Assistant. The season ended in 3 Semi finals and a
comfortable mid table position.
The
new U18 Youth Team in 00/01 under the guidance of Des Davis started the season
flying, winning the first 6 games on the trot. Unfortunately the weather and the
Foot and Mouth outbreak from November to January cost their performance
standards and they dropped down off the top but finished a very creditable
third, not bad with a younger age team. In season 01/02 the team saw management
changes with Trevor Rudge and Marcus Easterlow picking up the challenge of
providing for Alveston’s footballing future.
The
plan by the end of last season 04/05 was to have stabilised in the Premier
Division and to have developed and grown as a club, this was achieved by
managers Bobby Hancocks and Marcus Easterlow and with notable 05/06 pre-season
signings of Mark Anderson Leamington, Jag Bahi Massey Ferguson, Jon Brant
Stratford Town and Jamie Barr Warwick, the early season optimism was fulfilled
with the club jostling for position with the big boys at the top of the table
for most of the first half up to Christmas. Martin Thompson added some much
needed experience and class up front and although not scoring many 7, he was
with great confidence a perfect foil and of great encouragement to Luke Edwards
and Bradley Reese who both ended the season as top scorers on 14 and 13 goals
respectively. Notable addition to the management ranks just after Christmas was
coach Mark Moss who with his coaching skills and knowledge of local football has
brought a fresh professionalism to the club. The season ended with a magnificent
improvement on recent years with a hugely creditable 10th place and a fine
reputation rekindled in the league of being honest, fair and competitive in the
big league once more.
The
Binswood in L/Spa have sponsored the warm up T-shirts, and with the local
Southam Budgens providing the halftime raffle prizes, on the commercial side the
club is making great strides also.
Chairman
A.F.C.