Sandiacre Town F.C.
Saturday
Senior Teams
Secretary : Joanne James
First Team Manager : Graham James
The Saturday Senior started off in the Central Alliance League where it
competed in the late 70's and early 80's. The club then moved to the Central
Midlands League but lost their place in this League at the end of season
1989/90 due to the lack of ground facilities.
After missing one season the Saturday side was started again in 1991/92,
merging with Lace Web United of the Midlands Regional Alliance. The Club went
on to finish runners-up in the Premier Division that season.
The following season the club was re-admitted to the Central Midlands
League and had a very successful season, winning both the Premier Division
Championship and the League Cup. The season ended with a remarkable record of
winning the last 24 League and Cup games. Unfortunately, in the summer of
1993, the sponsor, manager, and the majority of that successful team, moved to
Shepshed Albion of the Midlands Combination with only Captain, Ged Le Blond,
and goalkeeper, Dave Buxton, remaining at Sandiacre.
In July 1993 Paul Baxter and Mick Rodgers were appointed as joint
managers with the job of rebuilding the side but other commitments forced Paul
to step down. Mick Rodgers continued as manager until the end of the 1995/96
season, his last game in charge was the Final of the League Cup where
Sandiacre went down 3-1 to Killamarsh Junior.
Geoff Barrowcliffe, the former Derby County player was appointed Manager
at the start of the 1996/97 season. However after a poor run of results he was
replaced by Ged Le Blond at the end of October. Ged returning to Sandiacre as
Player Manager after a short spell as a player at Borrowash Victoria. In his
first season in charge he led the team to the semi-finals of the Derbys FA
Senior cup losing 1-0 to Ilkeston Town in a close encounter at St. Giles Park.
The 1997/98 season began promisingly but following the loss of key
players through injury and transfers form deteriorated and saw the team
finish next to bottom. However they did reach the First Round Proper of the FA
Vase for the first ever time by defeating West Midlands Police away in the
Second Round Qualifying 2-1, this despite conceding a goal in the opening two
minutes. Unfortunately the team were put out of the competition losing 3-0
away at Knypersley Victoria.
A mention must also be made here to superfans Nick Perkins & Kevin
Price who walked the 54 miles to the match at West Midlands Police raising
funds for the club. Nick also gets a further mention achieving national press
notoriety after walking to a league match at Grimethorpe, enduring a night in
a tent in the middle of nowhere and heavy downfalls of snow only to here the
match had been called off just miles from the ground.
For the 1998/99 season manager Ged Le Blond was joined by former
Kimberley Town manager Andy Freeman. A number of the previous seasons
successful Kimberley Town team also joined Sandiacre and despite a
disappointing end to the season a highest ever points total was easily
achieved.
At the start of this 1990/2000 season saw Andy Freeman taking sole
control of the senior team. Under Andy the team achieved it’s highest ever
placing in the league – 3rd, just 4 points behind winners Lincoln
Moorlands.
During the summer of 2000 Andy announced he was resigning just hours before the league registration meeting taking the nucleus of the team with him. ‘A’ team manager Tony Roe agreed to take over as manager and use his squad of players who won the Reserve Division One title. The young team struggled at the beginning of the season but following the signing of a few experienced players the teams form improved finally finishing 11 points above the relegation zone.
The start of the 2001/2002 season saw an indifferent start but a good mid season run resulted with a final position of 11th . During the season Tony Roe bought in Glyn Stacey as joint manager and Dave King as coach but both soon moved on to Long Eaton. At this time goal keeper Mark Harvey joined the club to take over the role of joint manager.
More new players were bought to the club during the 2002/2003 season in which improvements continued as the team finished 8th, the clubs second highest finish.
Further improvement was made during the 2003/2004 season when the team finished fourth, reached the Floodlit Cup Final and the League Cup Semi-finals.
Form during the 2004/2005 season was up and down which resulted in a mid table finish. The team however were much more consistent in the League Cup in which a 1-0 victory saw the Saints beat League champions Dunkirk in the Final.
Manager Tony Roe shocked everyone by suddenly resigning at the end of June. Mark Harvey took over as manager with Steve Mellors taking on position as assistant. This season has seen a few changes behind the scenes, Graham James (reserve team manager) has taken over as secretary from long serving Mel Williams