Chasetown Football Club

THE SCHOLARS – A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHASETOWN FOOTBALL CLUB



Chasetown’s 2009/10 Squad at Cardiff City’s new multi million pound stadium THE CARDIFF CITY STADIUM.

Chasetown Football Club became part of FA Cup folklore on Tuesday 11th December 2007 when they defeated Football League Division One side Port Vale in a Second Round Replay to become the lowest ranked side to ever make the Third Round of the World’s most famous domestic Cup competition.

Their reward was a home tie against Championship side Cardiff City who boasted multi-millionaire players like Robbie Fowler, Jimmy Floyd Haslebaink and Trevor Sinclair amongst their highly rated squad. In front of a record breaking home attendance of 2,420 & the majority of the Nations press & media corps, the Scholars dared the take the dream one step further as they took the lead against Dave Jones Bluebird’s side. A Kevin McNaughton own goal in the 17th minute sending the Nation’s imagination running wild. However, the class of a team six leagues & some 136 places higher that the BGB Southern League Division One Midlands side did tell & an first half injury time equaliser from the former Aston Villa man Peter Whittingham enabled Cardiff to regroup at the interval & two further goals from 17 year old debutant Aaron Ramsey & Paul Parry finally ended Chasetown’s marathon ten game FA Cup run. But the result did not really matter. The magic of the FA Cup had been restored & Chasetown’s place in the rich history of the competition had been cemented in the hearts of all true footballing supporters.

The club were first thrust into the national spotlight in November 2005 when the Staffordshire side upset all the odds by reaching the First Round of the F.A. Cup for the first time in their history. After local TV and radio had broadcast “little Chasetown” – as they were so often dubbed – overcoming famous non-league side Blyth Spartans in front of a then record Chasetown attendance of 2,134 the BBC were quick to bring this feat to a Sunday lunch-time audience of 3.2 million on “Match of the Day Live” as they broadcast the first round proper tie against Oldham Athletic.

In front of 1,997 supporters, Chasetown took the lead through Nicky Harrison, only for veteran David Eyres to level the scores a few minutes later and send the game into a replay. Chasetown took over 2,300 supporters up to the replay – the highest away following that Oldham Athletic had seen at Boundary Park all season, but the Scholars came away on the back of a 4-0 loss, but that took nothing away from the proud achievement that had firmly placed Chasetown on the footballing map.

Several other records were set during the monumental 2005-06 season. The Scholars notched a record eight consecutive victories in the league, went 22 games unbeaten in league and cup games, and regularly smashed their record league attendance, topping 500 for the first time when Leamington came to the Scholars Ground in January 2006 and then ending the season with 839 for the visit of Romulus.

The remarkable thing about Manager Charlie Blakemore’s 2005-06 squad was that, ultimately, it will not be remembered for the cup run and the trip to Oldham! With games-in-hand aplenty, lying in 14th place and 20 points adrift of league leaders Malvern Town, Chasetown began one of the most amazing comebacks in football history. 12 wins out of 13 in December, January and February lifted Chasetown into the top 8 of the division. 5 more wins in March put the Scholars into 4th place, just one point behind the leaders. Still, the task seemed exceedingly difficult with 9 league fixtures and 3 cup games to play in 29 days in April. On April 20th, Chasetown topped the league table for the first time in the season. Stourbridge overhauled them briefly, but the final day saw Chasetown in pole position and the locals came out in support to see Karl Edwards notch two goals and Chasetown lift the Midland Alliance trophy and gain promotion to the Southern League Division 1 Midlands.

It was only five years earlier that the Scholars were at the lowest point of their recent history. In 2000-01, the side were in a transitional period after long-serving Manager Mervyn Rowe had left the club. A home defeat to Oldbury United (0-7) was quickly followed by an 0-8 drubbing at Stratford Town, with the Scholars only escaping relegation as no-one was promoted from the leagues below that season. In the early 1990s, Chasetown F.C. became a force to be reckoned with, lifting the West Midlands League Cup twice, finishing runners-up in the West Midlands League twice, and lifting the Walsall Senior Cup twice at Bescot Stadium. In 1992, the Scholars recorded their largest ever victory, beating Stoke-based Hanford Old Boys 14-1 in a Walsall Senior Cup tie. All-time leading goal scorer Tony Dixon (197 goals) notched a hat-trick in the tie and current Chasetown boss Charlie Blakemore came off the bench to net two.

Chasetown were formed in 1954 as Chase Terrace Old Scholars Youth Club, when Brian Baker – who is still involved with the club today – and schoolmaster Ray Derry formed a soccer section from the Chase Terrace Secondary Modern School. The side played their first competitive games in the Cannock Youth League, remaining there until 1958-59 when they were accepted into the Lichfield and District League. An impressive debut season saw them finish third. During their three-year stay in the League, the Old Scholars were runners-up in the League and Challenge Cup competition. 1961-62 saw them enter the Staffs County League, while a reserve team stayed on in the former League. First-team success followed with the Lichfield and Rugeley Charity Cups, before the club were admitted to the West Midlands (Regional) League Division One and changed to their current title of Chasetown FC in 1972-73.

The newly renamed club soon established themselves as one of the leading clubs in the division. In 11 seasons they won the title in 1977-78, finished second five times, third twice and fourth twice to earn a much-respected record. Chasetown were, however, prevented from promotion because they were playing on a park pitch at Burntwood Recreation Centre, but a breakthrough came in 1983 when they re-homed with a move to the current ground, The Scholars Ground, which coincided with a move up into the West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division. The club took their time to adapt to life at the top, finishing in the lower reaches of the table in their first three seasons. Manager Mervyn Rowe then began to bring about an improvement in the playing squad and they captured their first trophy in 1989-90 when they lifted the League Cup with a 5-2 win over Halesowen Harriers in the Final, shortly followed by winning the Walsall Senior Cup, overcoming Blakenall at the Bescot Stadium, home of Walsall F.C. Both trophies were retained. The League Cup came the Scholars way the very next season as they defeated Oldbury United 1-0, The Walsall Senior Cup became Chasetown’s once again in season 1992-93 beating Pelsall Villa 3-1.

The Scholars were one of the founder members of the newly formed Midland Football Alliance in season 1994/95 but failed to make an impression in the early seasons. However, striker Shaun Bradbury did win the leagues golden Boot Award, (which is now sponsored by Kevin Keegan) in season 1997/98 with 23 league goals.

Present Manager Charlie Blakemore returned to the club in partnership with Michael Rowe, son of previous manager Mervyn, and the club gradually began to return to success. An excellent end to the 2002-03 season saw the club finish 9th, after languishing near to the relegation zone all season. Rowe left in Februay 2004 but, under Blakemore’s leadership, the Scholars improved again, finishing 6th. In Blakemore’s first full season in complete control of the First Team, 2004-05, Chasetown lifted the Walsall Senior Cup for the third time beating Tividale 2-1 and finished second to Rushall Olympic in the Midland Alliance, after the Scholars had led the way for most of the campaign. Season 2006-07 saw the club finish third in the Southern Midland Division One but suffered the heartbreak of losing out in the play-off semi-finals, losing 1-0 to local rivals Willenhall Town.

After the remarkable FA Cup run and after losing several key personal including the influential Chris Slater and Kyle Perry who were quickly snapped up by Chasetown’s Second Round opponents Port Vale, the Scholars just missed out on the play off places by a single point in season 2007/8

Last season again saw Chasetown amongst the front runners throughout the season and a fourth place finish ensured that they would contest the play offs. In the semi-final the Scholars demolished third placed Atherstone Town at Sheepy Road 5-0 to take their place in the play off final. A record crowd of 3,111 at Nuneaton Town’s Liberty Way stadium witnessed a tight, tense game, but a solitary strike in the 49th minute from Ben Foster ended the Scholars dream of Premier football for another season at least.

The club again made history on Friday July 10th 2009 when they became the first team to play a competitive match at the Bluebird’s new multi million pound home the Cardiff City Stadium in front of 5,270 spectators. The Scholars face new challenges this season as the side were relocated due to regional boundary changes into the Unibond Division One South where they eagerly await the chance to test themselves against new opposition.