Southport F.C.
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- For the Australian rules club, see Southport Football Club (Australia)
| Southport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Southport Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | The Sandgrounders | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1881 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Haig Avenue Southport |
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| Capacity | 6008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | Charlie Clapham | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Peter Davenport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Conference National | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | Conference National, 19th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Southport Football Club are an English football club, based in Southport, Merseyside. They are currently in the Conference National, and play their home matches at Haig Avenue, which has a capacity of 6,008 (1,884 seated, 4,124 standing). They are known by their nickname "The Sandgrounders".
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[edit] History
[edit] Foundation: 1881-1921
The club were founded in 1881, and originally played their home matches at Ash Lane. At the start of the 1905/6 season, the club moved to its present home, Haig Avenue. In 1911, the club became founder members of the Central League. In 1918, the club was renamed as Southport Vulcan - having been bought by the Vulcan Motor Company - becoming the first club to take a sponsor's name. They are fierce rivals of Lancaster City F.C.
[edit] League history: 1921-1978
In 1921 the club joined The Football League became a founder member of the Third Division North. In 1931, Southport became the first club from the Third Division North to reach the sixth round (quarter-finals) of the FA Cup, where they lost 9-1 to Everton. A year later the club recorded its record attendance, when 20,010 watched them play Newcastle United in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Having finished in the bottom half of the table at the end of the 1957/8 season, the club dropped into the Fourth Division following the reorganisation of the Third Division North and Third Division South into Third and Fourth Divisions. The club's first promotion came at the end of the 1966/7 season, when they finished as runners-up in the Fourth Division behind Stockport County under the guidance of Billy Bingham, who later went on to manage the Northern Irish national team. They were relegated back to the Fourth Division in 1970, but won promotion again in 1973 when they finished as Fourth Division Champions. Relegation back to the Fourth Division followed the previous season.
Disaster struck in 1978, when the club were voted out of the Football League following three consecutive 23rd (out of 24) placed finshes, and were replaced by Wigan Athletic.
[edit] Non-league football: from 1978
The club dropped into the Northern Premier League, where they remained until finishing as Champions in the 1992/3 season, and were promoted to the Football Conference. In 1998 the club had its first (and only) trip to Wembley, when they lost 1-0 to Cheltenham Town in the final of the FA Trophy. 10,000 Southport fans made the trip to London to see the match.
The club were relegated back to the Northern Premier League at the end of the 2002/3 season. They became founder members of the new Conference North in 2004/5, and were the league's first Champions, earning promotion back to the newly-renamed Conference National. In the 2005/6 season, Southport spent much of their time at the bottom of the table, but managed to secure survival with a five-game unbeaten run culminating in a scoreless away draw with third-placed Grays Athletic on 25th April. The manager at the time, Liam Watson, stated that this feat was more impressive than their title winning accomplishments the season before.
[edit] Change to Full Time: from 2006
In 2006 the club changed to full time, replacing Liam Watson with new manager Paul Cook. This also lead to a massive overhaul on the squad, with many players not willing to go full time. However Cook only lasted just over half a season, and after a run of poor results, his contract was terminated on the 3rd January 2007.
The first match after Cook's departue saw Dino Maamria and Steve Whithall take over as caretaker manager team and they suceeded in leading the team to a 3-1 home win over free-falling Grays, a match which also saw Carl Baker make his 100th appearance in a Southport shirt.
The only other match which saw the Maamria-Whitehall manager team was a 2-1 defeat in the FA Trophy at the hands of Salisbury before Peter Davenport, who had previously had an unbeaten spell as caretaker-manager of the club in 2001, was named as Cook's successor two weeks later.
Several fans were aggrieved with Davenport's appointment, bearing in mind he had come from a Unibond Premier side, but his new teams, aided with decent signings in the transfer window, started to churn out decent results. This did not last long however, and due to Southport's ability to concede late goals in every game the club now look certain to drop down into the Conference North.
[edit] 2006/07 squad
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[edit] Notable Youth Team Players
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[edit] Notable players and managers
- Billy Bingham - manager of Northern Irish national team and Everton
- Luther Blissett - England international and AC Milan player
- Peter Davenport - England international and Manchester United player
- Hughie Fisher - winner of an FA Cup winner's medal with Southampton in 1976
- Jimmy Melia - led Brighton & Hove Albion to the 1983 FA Cup Final
- Jimmy Meadows - England international
- Stan Mortensen - England international and FA Cup winner with Blackpool in 1953
- Andy Mutch - England B international
- Bill Perry - England international and scored the winning goal for Blackpool in the famous 1953 FA Cup Final, "The Matthews Final"
- Cyril Robinson - also part of the Blackpool team in the 1953 FA Cup Final
- Mark Wright - England international and Liverpool player
[edit] External links
- Official Club Website
- Port Chat: A forum for Southport Fans and pissed people who act silly
- Full Record of Southport's League Positions
- Excellent Statistics website
- Trust In Yellow, Independent Supporters Trust
- Unofficial website
| Conference National 2006/07 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Aldershot Town • Altrincham • Burton Albion • Cambridge United • Crawley Town • Dagenham & Redbridge • Exeter City • Forest Green Rovers • Gravesend & Northfleet • Grays Athletic • Halifax Town • Kidderminster Harriers • Morecambe • Northwich Victoria • Oxford United • Rushden & Diamonds • Southport • Stafford Rangers • St Albans City • Stevenage Borough • Tamworth • Weymouth • Woking • York City edit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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