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| Full name | Slough Town Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | The Rebels | ||
| Founded | 1890; 135 years ago (1890) | ||
| Ground | Arbour Park,Slough | ||
| Capacity | 2,000 | ||
| Chairman | Mike Lightfoot (acting) | ||
| Manager | Scott Davies | ||
| League | National League South | ||
| 2024–25 | National League South, 16th of 24 | ||
| Website | www | ||
 Current season | |||
Slough Town Football Club is a semi-professional Englishfootball club based inSlough,Berkshire. Nicknamed "The Rebels", the team competes in theNational League South, at the sixth tier of English football, following promotion from theSouthern League at the end of the 2017–18 season.
The history of the club began in 1890 when three teamsSwifts[citation needed], Slough Albion and Young Men's Friendly Society formed a new club,Slough F.C., between them. The team initially played in theSouthern Alliance alongside the likes ofTottenham Hotspur andWindsor & Eton before later moving on to theGreat Western Suburban League. During this time, Slough developed its first major rivalry, withWindsor & Eton. The rivalry is still known today as theThames River Derby and is played between Slough andWindsor & Eton (2023). In 1921, Slough attempted to join theIsthmian League but lost out toWycombe Wanderers in the voting. Instead Slough chose to join theSpartan League.
In 1936, the owners of the club's ground, TheGodolphin Stadium, sold up to a greyhound racing consortium, which ordered the football club to vacate the stadium three years later. After being forced to groundshare withMaidenhead United for several years, the club agreed to a merge with Slough Centre F.C. to return to a ground in their home town. The new club took the nameSlough United F.C.
After The Second World War Slough United was reluctant to rejoin the Spartan League and led a breakaway movement to form a new league, which became theCorinthian League. It was from this that the club derived its nickname of "The Rebels". Shortly after this the two clubs which had merged to formSlough United separated once again, with the former Slough F.C. continuing under the new name ofSlough Town F.C.
Slough Town won the Corinthian League in 1950–51 but in 1964 the league folded and Slough, along with many other former Corinthian clubs, joined an expandedAthenian League. The Rebels were champions of this league on three occasions, with the third win earning promotion to theIsthmian League in 1973. During the 1980s, they were league champions on two occasions, the second of which brought promotion to theFootball Conference. Slough lasted four seasons at this level, were relegated back to the Isthmian League, bounced back at the first attempt, and then played three more seasons of Conference football. In 1998, the consortium which had bought the club out of receivership seven years earlier decided that they were not prepared to pay for ground improvements required to remain in the Conference, and so the club was demoted back to the Isthmian League despite having finished in 8th place.
Further relegation to the Isthmian League Division One followed in 2000–01 but the club regained its Premier Division status in 2003–04 and remained there until the end of the 2006–07 season, when they finished bottom and conceded over 120 goals. In the2004–05 season, Slough knockedWalsall ofFootball League One out of theFA Cup. Highlights of the game were shown on Match of the Day, though because of the team sharing the Stag Meadow ground at the time, the programme showed overhead shots of Windsor instead of Slough when introducing the rarely featured team. Slough transferred over to theSouthern Football League Division One South & West for the 2007–08 season, where they finished 21st out of 22 teams. Although initially relegated (for the second year running), they were one of the teams given a provisional reprieve afterHalifax Town went into administration.[1]
In the season of 2004–05, Slough Town beatWalsall to reach the 2nd round of theFA Cup however they then lost toYeading. Slough Town were also the Isthmian League Cup winners in 2004–05 after they beatHampton & Richmond Borough 3–1 in the final with 2 goals from Ian Hodges and 1 from Josias Carbon to help them secure the win and the silverware.
Over the next two seasons, and now playing in theSouthern Football League Division One Midlands,[2] Slough's performance continued to improve. In the 2009–10 season, Slough Town finish 5th in the table, qualifying the team for the promotion play-off matches. Having beaten second-placedHitchin Town 2–1 in the play-off semi-final, Slough lost 4–0 toChesham United in the final, meaning they had to remain in the same division for the 2010–11 season. Once again they finished 5th in the 2010–11 season, but lost toHitchin Town in the play-off semi-final 4–1.
Having come close to promotion to the Premier Division in the last few seasons, including two play-off final defeats, Slough parted company with manager Steve Bateman following the 2012–13 season after four years at the helm, the last of which saw them miss out on the play-offs by a solitary point. The club looked to take a new direction in 2013–14 and appointed Neil Baker and Jon Underwood, the management duo who had taken league rivalsGodalming Town to the play-offs in the previous season. With Godalming forced to relocate to the South & West Division following their failure to win the play-offs, the majority of their squad decided to follow Baker and Underwood to Slough. In their very first season, the new management team steered the club to promotion via the play-offs. Slough claimed a 3–0 victory atRugby Town in the semi-final before winning the play-off final againstKettering Town in front of 2,331 at Kettering's home of Latimer Park on 5 May 2014. Slough trailed 0–2 at half-time before staging a second half comeback. Two goals from Johnnie Dyer brought the Rebels level before James McClurg scored the goal that ultimately returned Slough Town to the third tier of non-league football after several years away.
The 2017–18 season was one of their best for many years. In December, they reached the second round of theFA Cup againstRochdale at home. The game was televised byBT Sport and Slough lost 4–0. With records broken for points attained and goals scored they went on to finish 3rd in the league. Slough were in play off action again. After a home 3–1 win againstKettering Town, they played away toKing's Lynn Town in the final. By virtue of an 89th-minute winner fromManny Williams, they won 2–1 and thus secured promotion to theNational League South for the forthcoming season.
Slough Town started the 2016–17 season playing their early home games at Holloways Park, Windsor Road, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. They moved back into the borough of Slough for the first time in over a decade on 29 August 2016 when they played their first game at the new ground, Arbour Park, againstHayes and Yeading United, winning 2–1.[3][4]
The pitch at Arbour Park is 3G and has been approved by FIFA, one of only 24 to be so in the UK.[5][6]
For many years since the 1930s, Slough Town played at the Godolphin Stadium, just to the east of the town centre. From 1973 Slough Town played at the Wexham Park Stadium. At the end of the 2002–03 season, financial disagreements with the stadium's owners led to the club's eviction. The Stadium is still in existence, but has since fallen into a state of serious disrepair. During the next four seasons (2003–04 to 2006–07) the club was based inWindsor, ground-sharing withWindsor & Eton at their Stag Meadow ground. In the summer of 2007, the club agreed a three-year ground-share withBeaconsfield SYCOB. This was extended to cover the 2010–11 season,[7] and continued until Slough moved into their new ground, Arbour Park, on 29 August 2016.[8]
In June 2009, Slough Town made a proposal that was submitted toSlough Borough Council for permission to build a new stadium within the Borough of Slough. The proposed location for the development was the Arbour Vale school site on Stoke Road, to the north of the town. In addition to a state-of-the-art stadium, the plans included affordable housing and sports fields.[9][10] An artist's impression of the new ground was released in March 2012.[11] In 2018, after opening two years prior, Arbour Park hosted a number of games in the2018 CONIFA World Football Cup.[12]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager | Scott Davies |
| Assistant Manager | Tony Fontenelle[14] |
| Coach | Alex Tokarczyk |
| Goalkeeper coach | Alex Wines |
| Physio | Chiko Mvula |
| Physio | Alex Moore |
| Sources:[15] | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
51°31′11.4528″N0°35′17.4156″W / 51.519848000°N 0.588171000°W /51.519848000; -0.588171000
