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Southampton City Football Club - a Brief History
New Feature - Trophyman - The Early Years - Please Click Here |
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| The club was founded in February 1989 by Andy Hargreaves and Andy Simpson, who had been playing 5 a Side Football for the Trophyman works team in a regular Saturday Night League at St Mary's Sports Hall. | ||
| The Trophyman team merged with another 5 a Side Team, Emery Down, and a few mates persuaded to join in and new club was born !! | ||
| Initially, the club named Trophyman entered the much maligned Solent Conference League where the club enjoyed moderate success as well as two name changes !! Firstly to Whitley Bay Social Club and then to Southampton City Unison. | ||
| In 1992, the club were runners up in the Solent Conference Cup. The following year they were winners of the Solent Conference 7 a Side Shield. | ||
| The club also represented Southampton City Council in various small sided tournaments finishing as Plate Runners Up in the National Authorities 5 a side held at Rushden in Northamptonshire in 1994 and winning the Hampshire Local Authorities 5 a side tournament in Portsmouth in 1995. | ||
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With these successes and the need for more competitative football, the club joined the City of Southampton Sunday League for the 1995 /96 Season and made a winning start in Junior Division Four with a 4 - 3 victory over Cosmos Sports Reserves on the 17 September 1995. The season ended in disappointment though as they were relegated finishing 2nd bottom. The following season was better with the club finishing 3rd in Junior Division Five, securing promotion back to Division Four. The 1997/1998 Season was no doubt the best season in the club's history. They saw off a strong challenge from SAS and Fawley to become Division Four Champions by 4 Points. The club reached the last 16 of the Hampshire Junior B Cup and Quarter Finals of the Southampton Junior B Cup. Striker Brad Cron finished Runner Up in the League's Golden Boot Award. The club was rewarded with promotion to Junior Division Two. The next two season's consolidated the club's position in Junior Two with mid table finishes. In 1999 the club lost their "Unison" tag and became simply Southampton City. The club did however secure generous sponsorship from a local family business, Aerohold Limited. In the 2000/01 Season, a equal fourth place was good enough to see the club promoted to Junior One, following a restructure of the League. During the 2001/2002 season and Southampton City, supported by their sponsors Redbox IT Consultants, found it somewhat of a struggle. The Division was extremely close, with the exception of run away Champions Real Sholing. Southampton City found themselves in the relegation positions needing at least a point from their final match against Real Sholing to maintain their Division One status. Fortunately, they chose this Sunday morning to put in their performance of the season to beat the previously undefeated Champions, 2 -0 to end the season on a real high. Things did not improve much in the following season, with wins at a premium, City left it until the second to last match of the season to secure their place in Junior One with Dan Stacey scoring the winning goal in a 3-2 over Hamwih. A season which started with so much promise fizzled out into disappointment again. After two close scrapes with relegation, there were no such heroics in 2003/2004 as City finished 2nd bottom with 16 points and drop into Junior Two. City, under new manager, Dan Stacey, never recovered from a terrible start to the season but the signing of several new players and a very strong finale to the season all bodes well for the new campaign. The 2004/2005 started poorly and City lost their newly appointed manager. Cliff Cron was asked to step into the role again. The biggest problem to Cliff was not being able to name a consistent team due to injuries, family and work commitments. The club finished mid-table in Junior 2 but had a good cup run to the Quarter Finals in the DR Ryder Trophy where thay lost out to eventual winners, Hunters Blaze. City lead the way during the early part of the 2005/2006 Season and lost just once in the first two months. This run included a superb 8 - 0 win in the Hampshire Cup where Chris Mills scored six. The club suffered a blip around Christmas and the early part of 2006 but finished strongly to win their last five league matches to finish 4th and gain promotion back to Junior One after an absence of two years. Chris Mills finished top scorer with an amazing 35 League and Cup goals.
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