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POTTON UNITED F.C. HISTORY |
Potton United were, unusually, formed in Wartime 1943. Although only limited football was played at this time they soon made their mark on the local football scene by winning the Bedfordshire Intermediate Cup in 1944.
When football returned to normality after the war, United joined the South Midlands League and remained there until 1955. The club then applied to join a London based league but were refused entry so they were forced to take a break from competitive football for one season.
They spent a short period in the Central Alliance League before finally joining the United Counties League where they remained in the Premier Division until the end of the 2000/2001 season when they were relegated into Division One.
Potton were very successful in the local cup competitions in the 1960’s and 70’s but had to wait until the 1986/87 season to win their first league title. During this season they remained unbeaten on their travels. Two years later this achievement was repeated and Ray Seekings scored a club record 56 goals. It is also interesting that those players have retained a keen interest in the club.
The 1989/90 season saw Potton reach the fifth round of the FA Vase, before losing 2-1 away to Billericay in front of a 1000 plus crowd. Potton had a good following that day and many remember the after match activities.
The 1991/92 season saw a major change within the club when long serving Manager, Terry King, resigned. His assistant, Andy Lloyd, took over and guided the club to win the Hunts Premier and Hinchingbrooke Cup competitions.
1993/94 was the first season for many years that Potton failed to win any silverware and ended with Andy Lloyd announcing his resignation.
Kenny Davidson took over the reins for four seasons and won a number of cup competitions, but failed to make any real impact in the league. The 1996/7 season was the most impressive with the club participating in six cup finals, winning four of them.
After Kenny left in 1998 the club went through a bad spell on the pitch and were eventually relegated. After a poor season in Division One, it was decided that the club should look for a new manager.
Former club captain and fans favourite, Dick Newman returned to the club at the start of the 2002/2003 season. After spending most of the season in second place in the league, a poor run in at the end of the season cost the club promotion. However, it was good to see such a great team spirit on and off the pitch.
The Reserves had the most successful year in their history in the 2002/03 season. Under the guidance of John ‘Chippy’ Charter, they finished runners up in the league and County Cup and won the Biggleswade Knockout Cup.
At the start of 2003/4, the clubs 60th Anniversary, the club played a Rushden and Diamonds X1 that consisted mainly their youth side. The match attracted about 450, and this in spite of the wooden stand being burnt down one month earlier.
Dick was well prepared for 2003/4 and expected a lot from the squad. At the start of the season he had set them a target in the league of 100 goals, 25 goals against and 80 points. Going into the last game of the season at Olney the first team needed to win to secure the league title, and they did so in style winning 5-0. The league playing record for the season was played 34, won 24, drawn 5, lost 4, goals for 99, goals against 25, points 80—which was extremely close to Dick’s targets. This then secured promotion back to the Premier Division.
The Reserves played in the newly formed Bedfordshire County Reserve League, and finished a creditable third. It was possibly disappointing that only 12 teams were in this league (and one dropped out during the course of the season).
Having gained promotion the club was looking to consolidate their position in the league, but November onwards found them challenging for honours. Eventually they had to settle for runners-up to Cogenhoe. The reason for this was the failure of the floodlights twice when playing Cogenghoe, which led to the match being replayed as the last game of the season when they had to beat Cogenhoe to win the league. They could only manage a 2-2 draw, in front of the largest crowd of the season (325), although they had the majority of the play they could not just score the winning goal.
The first team won the UCL Knock-Out Cup, for the first time since 1972/3, and also won the Hinchingbrooke Cup and North Beds Charity Cup. The team played 63 matches during the season and won 48, scoring an incredible 163 goals (111 in the league and 52 in cup matches). Joint Managers Dick Newman and Roy Bloxham won three Manager of the Month’s awards as well as winning Manager of the Season award.
It came as a surprise in mid-June when Joint Managers Dick Newman and Roy Bloxham along with Coach Neil Rodney handed in their resignations. Dick and Roy had taken the club forward in the last three years and with Neil’s aid last season added another ingredient to make us a major force in the UCL. Their efforts in putting us back to where we want to be, after several years in the doldrums cannot be praised enough.
We are pleased that we have subsequently been able to appoint Ian Donnelly as Manager. Ian has had successful career both as a player and latterly in management locally with such clubs as Hitchin, Barton and Stotfold. We are also pleased that Roy Bloxham has agreed to stay with the club.
Ian has enlisted the help of former Langford Manager, Pete Hayes, to assist with the coaching although his commitments with the Hertfordshire FA prevent him from attending on Saturdays. Martin Beech has taken over the running of the Reserve team and will be assisted by John Menzies and Gary Brinkler.
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TEAM CREST
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