kingsbury

History of the Kingsbury FC

The club first saw the light of day in 1919 when a group of local ex-servicemen, recently demobbed, met in the nearby Plough public house and organised a roped off area of farmland, in Townsend Lane, Kingsbury, to play football matches on. That first pitch straddled what is now the northern end of the present ground, and is now known as Silver Jubilee Park. The original name of the club is now forgotten, but, that group of men went on and progressed to amateur status, under various guises, to become Davis Sports in the old Hellenic pre-war league and finally to Kingsbury Town in 1923. In their first season the club finished 2nd in The Willesden & District Football League, and were promoted to the Senior Division in 1935 as champions of Division 2.

In 1943 the club were elected to The Middlesex Senior League where they won the League Charity Cup in three successive seasons, 1944/45, 1945/46 & 1946/47. From here the club moved to The Parthenon League, with the Championship & Premier Charity Cup being won in successive seasons, 1951/52 & 1952/53 in addition to being finalists in The Senior Charity Cup in 1953. In 1953 the club’s pitch was resited to it’s present location, which had housed an anti aircraft installation during the war. Kingsbury entered the Spartan League in 1959/60 and were beaten finalists in the League Cup that season, losing 3-1 to Hampton F.C. One of the club’s players in that final, Mark Hart, went on to become Chairman of the club during it’s most successful period in the mid to late 1980’s and is now enjoying his second spell as Chairman of the club. During this period the club also, briefly, changed it’s name to Kingsbury 584 as part of a sponsorship deal with a local garage.

Later Years of the Club

In 1976/77 the club was again on the move, this time to The Athenian League. This proved a difficult move for the club and they were forced back into The Spartan League in 1978 for three seasons. In 1981 the stand on the west (clubhouse) side of the ground was completed and floodlights installed as the club moved back into The Athenian League. Season 1984/85 saw the club join the expanded Isthmian Football League and were placed in Division 2 (North). Season 1985/86 saw the club promoted to Division 1 as runners up to Stevenage Borough and also win the Middlesex County F.A. Senior Charity Cup. In season 1989/90 the club’s success continued, reaching the Final of both The Middlesex County F.A. Senior Challenge Cup, losing 2-1 to Enfield F.C., and The Middlesex County F.A. Senior Charity Cup. This final also resulted in defeat, this time 4-0 to Chelsea. The game was played at Stamford Bridge, with the home side being held 0-0 at the interval.

1989/90 was to see the club suffer one of it’s worst seasons with a run of poor from in Division 1, coupled with the deduction of 9 points, for fielding an incorrectly registered player, resulting in relegation to Division 2 (North). The following season the club were again “relegated” when a reorganisation of The Isthmian League saw Town needing to win their final game of the season, at home to Hertford Town, to start the following season in the newly formed 2nd Division. Sadly defeat in that game saw Kingsbury in the 3rd Division the next season, which is where they have remained ever since. Season 1996/97 saw the club beaten in the final of The London F.A. Senior Cup at Dulwich Hamlet F.C. The next season was Kingsbury’s worst ever as they finished 20th (bottom) in Division 3 and the next season, 1998/99, they fared little better, avoiding the bottom place only on goal difference.

Kingsbury FC Nowadays

Season 1999/2000 saw the appointment of a new manager, Toni Kelly, who encouraged the return of many of the players he brought to the club in his former capacity as the club’s youth team manager. Those players saw the club finish in 16th position in that season , and in so doing they collected more points than in the previous two seasons combined. At the end of season 2001/02 Kelly left the club by mutual agreement and, with the club now promoted back to Division 2, again by way of league restructuring, was replaced by former player and Wembley manager Peter Grant. His inaugural season saw the club finish in 11th position, despite a slow start, and having collected 38 points, 3 more than the previous season, from 12 fewer fixtures. At the end of the season of 2004/05 Cecil Collins and Mike Smalls were installed as co managers at the club and together with their coaching team have started rebuilding the side in 2005/06, so we are hoping for the improvement to continue on the pitch. The club was bought in March 2005 by new owners and many changes have been seen at the club since.

Season 2005/06 saw a great start, but faded away after Christmas to finish up in 12th place in a 16 team league. This was the last season for the Ryman Division 2 and with the restructuring being implimented by the FA we have been placed in the Spartan South Midlands League Premier division. With the new season 2006/07 upon we see more changes at the club. Have numerous talks we decided to merge our football with a large Organisation who were ground sharing with us in the past, a club called the London Tigers and their team will be playing under the banner of Kingsbury London Tigers. This team will be managed by Eddie Cardoso and Taf Islam. This will be a new challenge for all of us to negociate and some new clubs to visit, we all hope that it can be a successful new season for us. The Under 18's side was cancelled this season due to no commitee being formed and the theft of the club minibus. There are talks in place to have a youth side next season.