Worksop Town F.C.

First club

The club claims it was originally founded in 1861, which would make it the fourth oldest football in the world. Although there is no contemporary evidence for this claim, the club's 1911 minute books do state that the organisation was in its fiftieth year.^[4] The earliest record of football being played in the town comes from 1873, when a group of 15 Worksopians took on 15 from a local church.^[5] The first recorded use of the Worksop Town name came in 1882, when a team using that name played Eckington on 18 February^[6]

The club joined the Sheffield & District Football League in 1892 and also played in the Sheffield Association League during the late 1890s after an unsuccessful one-year stint in the Midland League.

Worksop re-joined the Midland League in 1900 and would become prominent members of the competition before the First World War. They finished as high as 3rd in the league in 1903, and in 1908 they reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup for the first time, losing 1–9 at Stamford Bridge to Chelsea in front of 18,995 spectators.^[7]

After the First World War put a halt to football activity in the town, the game returned in 1919 when Worksop Town and Manton Athletic merged to become Worksop and Manton Athletic,^[8] although the Worksop Town name remained in popular usage. The club joined the Midland League and in 1921 won the competition for the first time. The 1920s provided the club with their best spell in the FA Cup, reaching the 1st Round in four out of six seasons from 1921. In 1923 they drew Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane – the Tigers pulled off a shock by holding Spurs to goal-less draw. The Worksop board decided against hosting the replay at Central Avenue, and they were beaten 0–9 in the replay two days after the original tie, again at White Hart Lane. In 1926 they reached the 2nd Round for the first time after beating Coventry City at Central Avenue in the 1st Round – eventually losing by the odd goal in three to Chesterfield in the next round.

In 1930 the club withdrew from the Midland League and disbanded, with a new club being formed a week later.^[9][10]

Current club

The new club initially had to play in the Sheffield Association League and Central Combination before joining the Yorkshire League in 1935.

After the end of World War II the club again folded, and a new club called Worksop Town Athletic was formed, initially competing in the Sheffield Association League, but later joining the Midland League. In 1956 they progressed to the 3rd Round of the FA Cup for the only time in their history, beating Skegness Town and Bradford City before losing out to Swindon Town at the County Ground. Worksop picked up their second Midland League title in 1966 before becoming founder members of the Northern Premier League (NPL) two years later. They would return to the Midland League after just one year however, as the Tigers finished bottom of the pile in the NPL's inaugural season.

They won their third and last Midland League title in 1973, and a year later re-joined the NPL, eventually finding their feet at this higher level. In 1978 they once more reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup, losing 1–5 to Barnsley at Oakwell. In 1989 they were relegated to Division 1 of the NPL, and had to move to play in Gainsborough when they were evicted from their Central Avenue home. They would spend three years in Gainsborough before returning to the newly built Sandy Lane ground in Worksop in 1992.

The Tigers regained NPL Premier Division status in 1998, by which time Chris Waddle was pulling on a Worksop shirt, and in 1999 they finished as runners-up in the NPL, only just missing out on promotion to the Football Conference. In 2004 they were founder members of the Conference North, but they only lasted three years in the division before being relegated back to the Northern Premier League, and it was around this time that the club fell into financial difficulties and lost ownership of their home ground at Sandy Lane, being forced to rent the grounds of Hucknall Town, Ilkeston Town and Retford United for three years.

In 2011 the club finally returned to Sandy Lane, but this time as tenants of Worksop Parramore, who had bought the ground and allowed the Tigers to play there. The 2013–14 season almost saw Worksop clinch promotion back to the Conference North but they were beaten in the league play-off semi-finals. At the end of the season owner Jason Clark revealed he would no longer be funding the club, plunging Worksop into a financial crisis, and shortly afterwards the decision was taken to resign from the Northern Premier League and join the Northern Counties East League (NCEL), entering the NCEL's Premier Division.^[11][12]

The drop to the ninth level of the English football league system also meant a first foray into the FA Vase, having previously competed in the FA Trophy. They have gained considerable success in another cup competition, the prestigious Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup – as of 2014 they had won the competition eleven times.

Managers

Notable former players

The following players played in the top flight of English football either before or after joining Worksop Town –

League and cup history

* League play-off final drawn with Parkgate United and title shared
** League play-off semi-finalists

Gallery

A series of pictures taken at the Worksop Town vs. Sheffield Wednesday friendly in July 2011.

• 
  The main stand.
• 
  The north end of the ground.
• 
  The west end of the ground.
• 
  The east end of the ground, with clubhouse.