Originally named Black Horse Dynamos, the team was started down the Black Horse pub in Addlestone by a couple of blokes called Tim and Damian in 1998, originally just wanting to have a kick around on Sunday afternoon they in listed the services of any bloke down the pub who could kick a football (and alot that couldn't!) to become part of their squad. It was at this point my affiliation with the team started, a few weeks later I was to be joined by the now POB regulars Steve MaClennan, Neil Calver and Ross Reynolds. The first season was a shambles at best, managing to scrape the odd win here and there, when going out to play the best we could hope for was a 5-0 thrashing!! POB supporters are probably thinking that I should really start slating the old Dynamos players and saying how bad they were (and there were some absolute rubbish ones!!) but I won't put down a fellow sportsman so I shall leave that, yeah I’ll leave that for a whole new column!!! Some of them don't class as sportsmen, I just have the piss taking and slatings planned for its own page.........
The second season started and within a couple of weeks Dynamos needed a new manager. Tim, the big man (literally) behind the foundation of the team walked out after a few bad results and some dodgy decisions. It was an unfortunate turn of events, one of the main reasons behind Tim's departure is the influx of players that were brought in by the two Steve's (MaClennan & Williams), this left Tim with the choice of sticking with the rubbish that he had at the time or picking the better players coming into the club, hmm that's a difficult one!!!!
A new manager was named, Ian, an alcoholic with no football ability, what a perfect choice for a manager!! The Dynamos were playing some good football but we were being held down be dead weight players who just couldn’t cut it in an improving team and a manager that had no idea what he was doing, this season we managed to finish mid table and had the basis of a good team, if only we could remove the things that were holding us back…….
It was during the boat cruise to Bilbao for goalkeeper John Lanes 21st birthday that we decided to take over the team and reform under a different name. After many discussions on what the team name would be we decided on the name of the cruise ship we were on, The Pride of Bilbao. After clearing all of the Dynamos debts incurred by Ian (and there were loads of those, Ben Heather rescuing the club with a cash injection at the final hours!) Stephen MaClennan and Steven Williams went about getting the team sorted for the 2001-2002 season. Jim Matthews agreed to manage the team before health problems meant he had to step down. The start of the season saw Bilbao go straight to the top of the league, a few new signings and the removal of the dead weight from seasons past saw Bilbao start challenging for honours.
The 2001-2002 season is the most successful season so far for the team (including POB and the Dynamos) In the league we were unfortunate not to get promoted after losing out on the final day of the season, needing a draw to go up, we lost 4-3 and so finished third. In the cups we played very well and gave a few Premier division teams a run for their money but only managed to reach he quarter finals both times.
The start of the 2002-2003 season saw a change of secretary, Andy Blyth taking over from Stephen MaClennan. A new manager was also named, caretaker manager for the last few games of the 2001-2002 season, Keith Legge stepped up to take on the role of POB general manager. We started off as the last season had finished in the top 3 and had some raging battles with the other Promotion Candidates Walton Town & White Horsealona, This 3 way battle went to the wire with Bilbao sneaking into 2nd spot and promotion when all seemed lost and Horsealona collapsed before the finishing line, allowing us to finish behind Walton Town. A team that we have now become our biggest rivals, after the first match resulted in a court case for one of their players & later in the season a classic cup Semi defeat. Keith had to resign half way through the season due to work commitments, so Wilf and Skippy got us through the second half of the season. Overall it was a triumphant campaign.
The 03-04 season is looking like being our best yet Keith Legge has returned full time and is proving a great help, while the organisation and financial aspects are looking up thanks to Phil & Ben with some early guidence from Steve. On the playing side of things we had a good pre-season with Macca’s boot camp’s even getting Ross & Jonesy to run, and a fleshed out squad of 20 players was in place. Phil Also won us a new away strip sponsored by The Daily Star & Wash & Go… how smooth. We started the season 10 games plus unbeaten and sitting pretty atop of the 1st Division… and have since reached the Semi-final of the Junior Charity Cup losing 2-0 to Byfleet while being in a 4 way fight for the two promotions spots.We are waiting confirmation but it looks like we have secured 2nd place for the 2nd consecutive season, which hopefully means Premiership Football next year. The Bilbao Legend continues to grow
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