Mansfield Town F.C.
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| Full name | Mansfield Town Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | Stags,Yellows | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1897 (as Mansfield Wesleyans) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Field Mill Mansfield (Capacity 9,990) |
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| Chairman | Tony Egginton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager |  Paul Holland |
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| League | League Two | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007–08 | League Two, 23rd (relegated) |
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Mansfield Town Football Club are an English football club who from the 2008–09 season will compete in the Conference National. Between 1931 and 2008 they competed in the Football League.
Based in the former mining town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, the club are nicknamed "The Stags". They play in their traditional colours of amber and blue.
The club is fierce rivals with neighbouring Chesterfield. The rivalry between the two is considered by some to be amongst the fiercest in the lower leagues.[citation needed] Mansfield also enjoy rivalries with Notts County, Lincoln City and Doncaster Rovers. The fans of the club are also considered the most pessimistic in the Football League.[citation needed]
The team's home ground is Field Mill, which holds 10,000 seated spectators. In 1995 the club considered building a new stadium in the town, but opted to re-develop their existing ground instead. The re-developed ground consists of three new stands, whilst an old, now condemned wooden stand completes the ground on the Bishop Street (East) side of the ground where there are plans to build an high-tech new one for TV programmes and cameras.
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[edit] History
Mansfield Town was founded in 1897 under the name of Mansfield Wesleyans. Like many football clubs, their name derives from a local church, in this case the Wesleyan church on Bridge Street. The present name was adopted by the club in the summer of 1910. This move angered local rivals Mansfield Mechanics, but the name change went ahead nonetheless.
By this time Mansfield had moved to their present home, Field Mill. Football has been played at the ground since 1861 and is widely regarded as one of the oldest football stadiums in the world.[citation needed] After several attempts, Mansfield finally won election to the Football League in time for the 1931–32 season.
Mansfield narrowly missed promotion to the Second Division in 1964–05 season. The club's arguably most famous moment came in 1969, when they beat West Ham United 3–0 in the FA Cup. West Ham were standing sixth in the First Division and in their side were England's World Cup winners Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst along with youngsters Billy Bonds and Trevor Brooking. The game was postponed five times before it finally went ahead on Wednesday 26 February 1969 in front of 21,117 at Field Mill. Mansfield became only the fourth team in club history to knock out clubs from five different leagues in the same competition. They progressed to the quarter final stage where they eventually lost to Leicester City.
The most successful period in Mansfield's League history came during the 1970s, under manager Dave Smith. They claimed the Division Four title in 1974–75, with new signing Ray Clarke scoring 30 goals, and were then promoted to the second tier for the only time in their history in 1976–77. However, they were relegated at the end of the 1977–78 season.
Mansfield won the Freight Rover Trophy in 1987. It was their only game at Wembley Stadium to date and was played in front of 58,000 fans. After a 1–1 draw with Bristol City, they won the cup 5–4 in the deciding penalty shootout. Keith Cassells was Man of the Match.
In the 1987–88 season Mansfield were narrowly defeated 2–1 at home in the FA Cup to eventual winners Wimbledon. The club went into decline in the 1990s, being relegated back to the bottom division in 1990–91. In 1994–95, Mansfield made the playoffs, only to lose against arch-rivals Chesterfield to miss out on a place in the final.
Mansfield finished 3rd in the league in the 2001–02 season, and gained promotion to Division Two. However, they finished 23rd the following season, and were relegated back to Division Three after only one season. In 2003–04, Mansfield reached the playoff final, but lost on penalties to Huddersfield Town at the Millennium Stadium.
Several key players, including leading scorer Liam Lawrence, left the club before the 2004–05 season. In November 2004, manager Keith Curle was suspended and later sacked over allegations of bullying a youth-team player. Carlton Palmer was appointed in his place, but many supporters were upset and angry at this appointment, and started negative chants about the manager during games.[citation needed] On a brighter note, striker Richard Barker signed for the club midway through the season, and quickly became a fan favourite with his gritty, determined, and never-say-die attitude. After a topsy-turvy season, the Stags finished in a low mid-table position.
After a poor start to the 2005–06 season, Carlton Palmer resigned in mid-September, giving in to intense pressure from the supporters.[citation needed] With the club propping up the whole of the football league, Palmer's assistant Peter Shirtliff was appointed manager, after impressing during his spell as caretaker manager. Shirtliff managed to guide the club to a mid-table finish after an eight-match unbeaten spell in February and March 2006. The highlight of the club's season was an FA Cup third round tie against Newcastle United at St. James' Park, a game they eventually lost 1–0. Peter Shirtliff parted company with the club on 19 December 2006 after a poor run of form. Paul Holland briefly took over as caretaker manager, before former manager Bill Dearden was re-hired by the club nine days later.
Mansfield had a poor 2007–08 season, sitting second bottom and in the relegation zone midway through the season, five points adrift of safety. Despite this, they had a FA Cup run, beating League One side Brighton & Hove Albion with a 2–1 victory at the Withdean Stadium. This set up a home-tie against Premiership side Middlesbrough in the fourth round, which they lost 2–0. Mansfield's poor form in league continued, however. Manager Billy Dearden was sacked, and replaced by Paul Holland. Their 77 year stay in the Football League was ended on 29 April 2008 when Chester City drew with Stockport County.
[edit] Ownership
The 2006–07 season saw the creation of the 'SFFC (Stags Fans for Change)' an organisation aiming for the removal of then owner, Keith Haslam, from the club. The organisation undertook many projects over the year to get their message over in a different and non-aggressive way. This included hiring a plane to fly over the local derby match with Notts County towing a banner declaring that the club was for sale and calling for Haslam to leave. On 29 November 2007 Haslam rejected a bid from James Derry's consortium and the Mansfield fans pledged to have a TV protest against him on 2 December 2007 against Harrogate Railway live on the BBC's Match of the Day programme.
In March 2008, it was reported that John Batchelor, a bidder for Mansfield Town, planned to rename the club to Harchester United[1] after the fictional squad from the TV series Dream Team to make the club "more promotable"[2] if his bid were a success. Fans and executives within the club both stated that they would oppose the name change.[3][4]
[edit] Players
[edit] Current squad
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[edit] Notable players
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This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (April 2008) |
The Mansfield Town youth system was very successful between 1998 and 2005, producing players such as Liam Lawrence, Craig Disley, Lee Williamson, Bobby Hassell and Alex John Baptiste. In the 2003–04 season the club signed a deal with a local youth football league, MTYFL, to contribute to football in the community and also to find future stars.
Established football league players such as Gordon Hodgson, Chris Greenacre, Paul Holland, Kevin Horlock, Colin Calderwood, Richard Barker, Luther Blissett and Keith Cassells have played for Mansfield over the course of their history.
[edit] Player Records
- Most league goals in a season - 55 Ted Harston (1936-37)
- Most league goals in total - 104 Harry Johnson (1931-36)
- Most league appearances - 440 Rod Arnold (1970-83)
[edit] SSA (Stags Supporters Association) Player of the Season Award
- 2001–02 - Bobby Hassell
- 2002–03 - Liam Lawrence
- 2003–04 - Rhys Day
- 2004–05 - Alex Neil
- 2005–06 - Richard Barker
- 2006–07 - Alex Baptiste
- 2007–08 - Johnny Mullins
[edit] Local Rivalries
[edit] References
- ^ Mansfield Town to be renamed Harchester United. Harchester.net. Retrieved on 2008-03-31.
- ^ Mansfield against Dream Team name change. Telegraph.co.uk (2008-03-31). Retrieved on 2008-03-31.
- ^ Mansfield fans could have final say on Harchester United renaming idea, says Batchelor (2008-03-30). Retrieved on 2008-03-31.
- ^ Mansfield Town slam name change move. Times Online (2008-03-31). Retrieved on 2008-03-31.
[edit] External links
- Mansfield Town F.C. on BBC Sport: Club News - Recent results - Upcoming fixtures - Club stats
- History of football kit
- Mansfield Town Official Website
- Official Website of the Stags Supporters Association
- Stags Fans For Change (SFFC), a protest group set up in early 2007, campaigning for an end to Keith Haslam's ownership of the football club
| Preceded by Bristol City |
Football League Trophy Winners 1986-87 |
Succeeded by Wolverhampton Wanderers |
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