Grays Athletic F.C.

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Grays Athletic
File:Grays ath.jpg
Full name Grays Athletic Football Club
Nickname(s) The Gravelmen,
The Ath,
The Blues
Founded 1890
Ground Mill Field
Aveley,
Thurrock
(Groundshare with Aveley F.C.)
Ground Capacity 1,100
Manager Mark Bentley
League Isthmian League Premier Division
2014–15 Isthmian League Premier Division, 6th

Grays Athletic Football Club is an English football club that represents the town of Grays, although they play in the neighbouring town of Aveley after leaving the New Recreation Ground at the end of the 2009–10 season. The club is currently a member of the Isthmian League Premier Division.

History

Grays Juniors were founded in 1890 as an amateur club, rising through the ranks to senior status, before merging with former Southern League club Grays United to form Grays Athletic.[1] The newly formed club joined the Grays & District League Division. Other teams competing in Grays at the time were Grays Amateurs, Grays Avenue Swifts, Grays Hotspurs and Grays Wednesday – with whom they shared the Recreation Ground pitch.[1]

Grays Athletic became founder members of the Athenian League, in which they briefly played before World War I (1912–1914, and again since 1958). In 1945 they were one of the nine founder members of the Corinthian League, which they won that first season.

After playing in the Isthmian League between 1983 and 2004, they were founder members of the new Conference South. They were divisional champions at the first attempt, and also won the FA Trophy. In the 2005–06 season, they took an early lead in the Conference National, remaining unbeaten for a record equalling 15 games, but eventually finished in third place and were beaten in the semi-finals of the promotion play-offs by Halifax Town. They did, however, successfully retain the FA Trophy with a 2–0 win over Woking.

After the 2005–06 season Mark Stimson left the club (joined Stevenage Borough) and Frank Gray was appointed as the new manager. However, after just 14 games, his last being a disappointing 0–1 home defeat to Bromley, he was sacked. Micky Woodward appointed himself as manager for a short while and player/coach Jamie Stuart took charge of an Essex Senior Cup match with Woodward assisting. After this Andy King was appointed as manager. On 5 January 2007, Andy King handed in his resignation. He was replaced by Justin Edinburgh, his assistant at the time, who became the fourth manager of Grays during the season. Grays eventually finished 19th in the league, just avoiding relegation. In total Grays fielded over 50 players in all competitions.

On 20 February 2008, it was announced that Justin Edinburgh had departed the club, terminating his contract by mutual consent, leaving the club 14th in the Conference National. Chairman, Micky Woodward, took the helm for a second time until the end of the 2007–08 season.[2] Woodward promoted goalkeeping coach Gary Phillips to assistant manager, while also appointing Neil Smith and Tim O'Shea as coaches to help with training and tactics.

After resigning from the Football Conference in 2010, Grays attempted to gain entry to the Isthmian League Premier Division. This was at first accepted[3] but, on 8 July 2010, the League reversed the decision, and Grays were scheduled to play in the Essex Senior League.[4][5] However, on 15 July, it was announced that Grays Athletic would play in the Isthmian League Division One North.[6] They finished mid-table in their first year in the Isthmian Division One North. The following 2011–12 season, Grays finished fifth, losing to Enfield Town in the play-offs.

In the 2012–13 season, Grays finished as champions of the Isthmian Division One North, securing promotion to Isthmian League Premier Division, scoring a club record 102 points from 42 matches, having lost only four games. From 9 February 2013 to 27 April 2013 Grays Athletic won 18 consecutive league matches, breaking a 105-year-old Isthmian League record.

On 14 June 2013, it was announced that the club would groundshare for the 2013–14 season with Aveley at their Mill Field ground in Thurrock.[7]

Stadia

Between 1906 and 2010 the club played at the New Recreation Ground. After the ground was sold to developers, Grays Athletic ground-shared with East Thurrock United at their Rookery Hill ground in Corringham.[3]

For the 2012–13 season, Grays Athletic played at Rush Green Stadium, Rush Green sharing the ground with West Ham United's reserves who played in the Professional Development League.[8] The following season, West Ham pulled out of the deal in June and Grays promptly announced a two-year deal to ground share with Aveley at Mill Field.

Players

Current squad

As of 19 December 2015.
Total appearances (Apps) and goals (Gls) for league games only.
Position(s) Name Apps Gls Notes
Goalkeepers
GK Lamar Johnson 65 0
GK George Kamurasi 49 0 Dual registration with Ashford Town
Defenders
CB Sean Cronin 30 2
FB Tommy Cummings 6 0
CB Gus Douglas 0 0
CB Jake Hutchings 9 1
FB Luke Ifil 22 1
CB Jay Leader 62 4
FB Jey Siva 54 0
Midfielders
W Alex Addai 7 0
AM Harry Agombar 81 12
M Montel Agyemang 10 0 On loan from Leyton Orient
CM Kenny Beaney 170 12 Captain
CM Mark Bentley 35 2 Player/manager
W Joao Carlos 194 57
W Correy Davidson 13 1
CM Glen Little 29 0 Player/assistant manager
W Akwasi Marfo 12 0 On loan at Romford
W Roman Michael-Percil 20 2
W Lamar Reynolds 11 0 On loan at Heybridge Swifts
CM James Stevens 39 7
M Perry Tamburini 3 0
Strikers
ST Daniel Burnett-Williams 0 0 Dual registration with Dover Athletic
ST Dumebi Dumaka 47 25
ST Calvin Ekpiteta 2 0
ST Bradley Fortnam-Tomlinson 32 11
ST Charles Kiaku 0 0
ST Brian Moses 19 0 On loan at Barkingside

Former players

For a complete list of former Grays Athletic players with Wikipedia articles, see Category:Grays Athletic F.C. players.

League history

Season Division Position Top league goalscorer Notes
2003–04 Isthmian League Premier Division 6 Freddy Eastwood, 28 –
2004–05 Conference South 1 Leroy Griffiths, 19 Champions
2005–06 Conference National 3 Michael Kightly, 15 –
2006–07 Conference National 19 Aaron McLean, 13 –
2007–08 Conference National 10 Danny Kedwell, 13 –
2008–09 Conference National 19 Andy Pugh, 7 –
2009–10 Conference National 23 Jamie Slabber, 4 Relegated
2010–11 Isthmian League Division One North 10 Alex Osborn, 17 –
2011–12 Isthmian League Division One North 5 Joao Carlos, 10 Lost in play-off semi-final.
2012–13 Isthmian League Division One North 1 Jack West, 17 Champions
2013–14 Isthmian League Premier Division 14 Joao Carlos, 20 –
2014–15 Isthmian League Premier Division 6 Freddie Ladapo, 14 –

Honours

Club records

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Justin Leaves Grays Athletic, graysathletic.co.uk
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ http://www.thurrockgazette.co.uk/news/10487241.Grays_Athletic_to_make_Thurrock_return/
  8. ↑ Grays Athletic F.C. Official website
  9. ↑ Mansfield Town vs. Grays Athletic, 2 December 2005 – Match Details, graysath-online.com

External links

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