Kettering Town Football Club

Welcome to the Kettering Town Football Club Thread

Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Kettering, Northamptonshire. The club plays in the Conference National after winning the Conference North in 2007–08.The nickname of the club is The Poppies.

The team plays their home fixtures at Rockingham Road. They usually play in red, white, and black, and their main local rivals are Rushden & Diamonds, a rivalry which has existed since the latter first achieved Conference football in 1996.

Kettering Town were originally formed in 1872, turning professional in 1891. The club graduated through twelve different leagues from 1892 until they became founding members of the Football Alliance in 1979. The club maintained its status in the top flight of semi-professional football throughout their Gola and Vauxhall sponsorships, until the 2000-01 season.

Many honours have found their way to Rockingham Road, winning the Midland Football League title in 1896 and 1900. The Southern League Championship was won on three occasions by the club, in 1928 and 1957 under Tommy Lawton and in 1973 under the guidance of Ron Atkinson. In the 1930s the club won the East Midlands League and in 1948 the Poppies became Birmingham League Champions.

During the 1970s, Kettering Town sought election to the Football League, coming five votes short of election in 1974. [1]

In a Southern League game against Bath City on 24 January 1976, Kettering became the first British club to play with a sponsor's name printed on their shirts after signing a deal with local firm Kettering Tyres. The deal was brokered by chief executive and manager Derek Dougan. Four days later, The Football Association ordered the club to remove the slogan, but Dougan changed the words on the shirts to "Kettering T", and claimed that the T stood for "Town". Nonetheless, the FA ordered the club to remove the words, which the club did due to the threat of a £1,000 fine. Shirt sponsorship was eventually legalised within the English game in 1977. Kettering are also the first ever British team to have their initials on their ground's floodlights.

The club finished runners-up in the Football Conference in 1981, 1989, 1994 and 1998. The GMAC Cup, (the non-league, league Cup) was won in 1987 and the Poppies were runners-up in 1995, then known as the Bob Lord Trophy. County competitions have been won regularly by Kettering Town, with the Northants Senior Cup won on 28 occasions and the Maunsell Cup 13 times.

The FA Cup has brought success and publicity to Rockingham Road with the first round proper being reached on 41 occasions. In 1901 the club reached the last sixteen and in more modern times the Poppies reached the fourth round proper in the 1988-89 season and also the third round in 1991-92 only to lose to Kenny Dalglish's Blackburn Rovers. During the 1994-95 season the club made their debut live on Sky TV in a first round tie against Plymouth Argyle, soon followed by another appearance against Wrexham at Rockingham Road.

Wembley has been reached on two occasions before. The Poppies lost 2-0 to Stafford Rangers in the 1979 FA Trophy Final. More recently of course, the FA Trophy Final in 2000 saw the Poppies lose a closely fought final with Kingstonian 3-2.[2] Most recently, the club were narrowly relegated on the last day of the 2000-01 season which ended 30 years in the top flight of non-league football. The Poppies made a quick return to the Conference in the 2001/02 season winning the Southern Football League with a last-day victory at Tiverton Town under Carl Shutt – his first full season in charge.

The following season was a major disappointment and the club, rarely out of the bottom three, were again demoted - this time to the Isthmian League. Carl Shutt left the club in April 2003 and Dominic Genovese, after a short period as acting manager, took over the reins.

After a poor run of home results and a disappointing defeat to Boreham Wood in the FA Cup Dominic Genovese was replaced by former Northampton Town manager, Kevin Wilson. Changes to the team were made and the club finished the season on a 12 game unbeaten run. Ninth place was enough for the club to return to the Conference albeit in one of the two new feeder leagues – the Conference North.

Wilson nearly led his charges to promotion in the first season of the new North division. A late spurt saw the Poppies into the play-offs, but an own goal from club legend Martin Matthews meant that Altrincham prevailed 3-2 in the regional final.

Season 2005-06 was to be one of massive change at Rockingham Road. In October 2005 it was announced that long-serving chairman Peter Mallinger was to hand over the reins to a consortium consisting of Imraan Ladak, Mick Leech and England legend Paul Gascoigne. Gascoigne was installed as manager, replacing Kevin Wilson, and ex-Arsenal stalwart Paul Davis was recruited as assistant manager.

The eyes of the world were on Gascoigne and the Poppies, and media interest was massive. However, for a variety of reasons, Gascoigne was only to remain in the job for thirty-nine days. Kevin Wilson was given his old job back, but only held onto it for two months as a run of one win in twelve games saw the Poppies slump into the bottom half of Conference North.

In February 2006, Morell Maison was appointed Kettering Town manager, and led the team to 6th place in Conference North, after a run of seven wins in the last eight games. An announcement was made in May 2006 that the playing staff for 2006-07 would be full-time, and that six new signings had been made. These included Darren Caskey from neighbours Rushden & Diamonds. The ambition was there for all to see, but after a rollercoaster of a season, saw the Poppies fall behind eventual champions Droylsden, with Maison sacked with just two games to go.

Caretaker manager Graham Westley was brought in to oversee the final conclusion of the season, that saw defeat via penalties to Farsley Celtic in the play-off semi-final. Westley left the club.

Chairman Imraan Ladak installed former Tamworth manager Mark Cooper as the new Kettering Town manager for the 2007-08 campaign.[3] The club finished the season as Conference North champions, breaking several records along the way (including seven consecutive wins at the start of the season, 30 wins overall, and a divisional record of 97 points). As a result, the club was promoted to the Conference National.

In the 2008-09 season, Kettering Town beat Lincoln City,[4][5] Notts County[6][7] and Eastwood Town[8] to reach the fourth round of the FA Cup, where they faced Fulham at home. While twice pulling even with the Premier League squad and looking like they could possibly produce a draw late in the 2nd half, they gave up two goals and ultimately lost the spirited match, 4-2[9].

As of 30 January 2009

No. Position Player

1 GK Lee Harper

2 DF Nicky Eaden

3 DF Tommy Jaszczun

4 MF Darren Wrack

5 DF Guy Branston

6 DF John Dempster

7 MF Alfie Potter (on loan from Peterborough United)

8 MF Brett Solkhon

9 FW Chris Beardsley

10 FW Jean-Paul Marna

13 GK Stuart Dorrill

No. Position Player

15 DF Luke Potter (on loan from Barnsley)

15 MF Frankie Artus (on loan from Bristol City)

16 MF Richard Graham (on loan from Daganham & Redbridge)

17 MF André Boucaud

19 FW Gareth Seddon

23 DF Exodus Geohaghon

24 FW Jason Lee (on loan from Mansfield Town)

32 FW Craig Westcarr

34 MF Dale Bennett (on loan from Watford)

Squad roundup and finances coming soon

How many threads are you going to make lol?

Gotta love Geohagon. He's freakin huge

Curse Kettering for knocking Notts out the cup Ah well, they've got Jason Lee so I think that's punishment enough

If your going to write it so many times you really should know how to spell 'welcome'.

yeah good spot!