Daventry Town F.C.

Daventry Town

Full name	Daventry Town Football Club
Nickname(s)	PurpleArmy / The Town
Founded	1886
Ground	Communications Park Browns Road Daventry NN11 4NS
Ground Capacity	3,000
Chairman	Iain Humphrey
Manager	Darran Foster
League	Northern Premier League Division One South
2014–15	Southern League Division One Central, 19th (transferred)
Home colours Away colours

Daventry Town F.C. is a football club based in the town of Daventry, Northamptonshire, England, formed in 1886. They are members of the Northern Premier League Division One South.

History

The club was established in 1886 as a local-town club playing in the Northampton Town League. The club moved to the Northants Combination in 1987, and their emergence began under manager Willie Barrett, who led the club to successive championships in the Combination First and Premier divisions. In 1989–90, the club joined the United Counties League Division One. Since joining the United Counties League, they have won promotion to the Premier Division on three occasions, but have also been relegated twice.

The club started at The Hollow Ground in the town, but having won promotion at the first attempt were denied because their new Elderstubbs ground was not ready in time. Their manager left, and the fortunes of the club declined with relegation alternating with promotion.

The club was threatened with extinction in 2005–06, when the Elderstubbs clubhouse and changing rooms were destroyed by fire. However, a sponsorship deal with mobile phone company Go Mobile enabled the club to survive.

2007–08 was a very successful season for Daventry Town. They won UCL Division One, losing just once, and defeated three Premier division teams en route to the League Knockout Cup final, where they were defeated by Desborough Town 3–2.

In the 2009–10 season Daventry won promotion to the Southern League Division One Central, by becoming champions of the United Counties League under the guidance of manager Darren Foster.

2010–2011, Fuller's Town finished 3rd in their first season in the Southern League Division One Central losing to Hitchin Town 2–0 in the play off final in front of a crowd of 1048.

Prior to the start of the 2011–2012 Mark Kinsella was brought in and Ady Fuller moved on to become manager of Banbury United. A majority of Fuller's team moved elsewhere. Over 40 players wore the purple shirt during the season and not surprisingly the team struggled to find any consistency until the end of the season.

During the 2011–2012, local rivals Daventry United folded and their Manager Darran Foster moved to Daventry Town as Mark Kinsella's Assistant. However, Kinsella was relieved of his duties shortly afterwards and Foster took charge of team affairs. In Foster's first season, 2012–2013, Town finished a highly respectable 8th in the table.

With a majority of the players remaining at the club for the 2013–14 season, the team made an incredible start to the campaign, winning their first 7 matches in the league whilst also qualifying for the FA Cup first round proper for the first time in their history. They were drawn away to Chesterfield from Football League Two, and ended up losing the tie 2–0.

After the playing budget was cut, manager Darran Foster resigned in early November 2014. Daventry then appointed ex Watford striker Allan Smart as his replacement .

However, in June 2015, Iain Humphrey resigned as chairman and was replaced by Allan Smart, who relinquished his role as Daventry Town's manager in the process.

Ady Fuller, who had served as Smart's assistant and had a previous spell as Daventry Town boss as well as stints as manager at Banbury United and Bedworth United, was appointed as caretaker manager in the interim period in June 2015.

However, Humphrey would make a u-turn and return as chairman just a month later, in July 2015, replacing Smart and caretaker manager Fuller who both left the club altogether. His first move was to re-appoint former manager Darran Foster who left the club in November 2014. Foster had only just been appointed manager at Woodford United in June 2015.

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Ben Heath GK Loius Porcelli GK Iustin Cerga DF Arron Parkinson DF Ash Deeney DF Craig McKay DF James Hancocks DF Joe Henderson DF Ricky Hill MF Andrew Musungu MF Aspuri Gurung MF David Parkinson

No. Position Player MF Harry Southern MF Miles Welch-Hayes – On loan from Oxford United MF Pierce Kiembi MF Ryan Howell MF Ryan Zidyana MF Simon King FW Anthony O'Connor FW Gifton Noel Williams FW Harlan Basker FW James Tricks FW James Weale FW Ryan DeSilva

Club honours

• United Counties League Premier division
  • Winners: 2009–10
• United Counties League division One
  • Winners: 1989–90, 1990–91, 2000–01, 2007–08
• Northamptonshire FA / Hillier Cup
  • Winners: 2013–14
  • Runners Up: 2007–08, 2012–13

Club records

• Highest League Position: 3rd in Southern League Division One Central 2010–11
• F.A Cup best Performance: First round proper 2013–14
• F.A. Trophy best performance: First round proper 2013–14
• F.A. Vase best performance: Fifth round 2009–10

Season-by-season record since 1989

Season	Division	Points	Position	League Cup	F.A. Cup	F.A. Vase	F.A. Trophy	Notes
1989–90	United Counties League Division One	81	1/19
1990–91	United Counties League Division One	95	1/19
1991–92	United Counties League Premier Division	64	14/24			Pre
1992–93	United Counties League Premier Division	79	5/22			Ex Pre
1993–94	United Counties League Premier Division	35	20/22		Pre	Pre
1994–95	United Counties League Division One	14	19/19
1995–96	United Counties League Division One	41	12/19
1996–97	United Counties League Division One	36	13/18
1997–98	United Counties League Division One	53	7/18
1998–99	United Counties League Division One	46	10/18
1999–00	United Counties League Division One	64	5/18
2000–01	United Counties League Division One	75	1/18
2001–02	United Counties League Premier Division	46	15/21
2002–03	United Counties League Premier Division	56	10/21			2 QR
2003–04	United Counties League Premier Division	22	22/22	R 1	Ex Pre	R 2
2004–05	United Counties League Premier Division	34	22/22	R 1	Ex Pre	2 QR
2005–06	United Counties League Division One	51	6/18	R 2		2 QR
2006–07	United Counties League Division One	53	4/16	R 1
2007–08	United Counties League Division One	81	1/16	FinalIST
2008–09	United Counties League Premier Division	70	7/21			R 3		−3 Points
2009–10	United Counties League Premier Division	102	1/21		1 Q	R 5
2010–11	Southern League Division One Central	81	3/22		PRE		2 QR	−6 Points
2011–12	Southern League Division One Central	50	16/22		3 Q		2 QR
2012–13	Southern League Division One Central	76	8/22	Finalist	2 Q		PRE
2013–14	Southern League Division One Central	86	4/22	Winners	R 1		R 1
2014–15	Southern League Division One Central		?/22	.	.		.

Key – Ex Pre = Extra Preliminary Round, Pre = Preliminary Round, 2 QR = Second Round Qualifying, R 1 = First Round, R 2 = Second Round, R 3 = Third Round

Source: Football Club History Database

Former players

1. Players that have played/managed in the football league or any foreign equivalent to this level (i.e. fully professional league).
2. Players with full international caps.
3. Players that hold a club record or have captained the club.

• David Bevan
• Liam Dolman
• Warren Donald
• Howard Forinton
• Lee Hendrie
• Stuart Hendrie
• Mark Kinsella
• Paul Lamb

External links

• Daventry Town official website
• Daventry Town on Football Club History Database