New Leadership
Early in the 2008–09 season Keith Downing parted company with Cheltenham Town and was replaced—within two days—by Martin Allen, who had been a candidate after Ward's departure a year earlier. Allen's team started poorly with a club-record seven defeats in a row, part of a 15-game run without a victory. The club narrowly avoided administration, and the 10-point penalty that would go with it, before Allen revealed that all the players at the club were up for sale.
The season finished on a low note: even though Cheltenham had used 51 players, they had conceded over 100 goals in all competitions, and they were relegated back to League Two on the penultimate day of the season after three seasons in League One.
As the 2009–10 season started in July, Allen sold a few players and brought in new ones, including Robins legend Julian Alsop and former Tottenham Hotspur winger David Hutton. Although they would be thought of as one of the favourites to make an immediate return to League One after being relegated, most bloggers and league analysts said that a mid-table finish would be the most realistic scenario. Cheltenham won their first match of the season against Grimsby Town 2–1, but fell dramatically down the table soon after. On 20 October, Martin Allen was put on gardening leave amid allegations he racially abused a nightclub bouncer, and assistant manager John Schofield took temporary charge. Allen was formally cleared of misconduct but still left the club by mutual consent in early December. Cheltenham put out an advert for a new manager, which attracted "healthy interest".
Kidderminster boss Mark Yates was appointed manager on 22 December 2009. Neil Howarth, Yates' assistant at Kidderminster, also joined the League Two side as first-team coach. Cheltenham continued to struggle through the rest of the season, only managing to avoid relegation on the final day of the season, although they finished four points ahead of the relegated sides. John Schofield, who was in caretaker charge of the club while Allen was on gardening leave, returned to the post of assistant manager until the end of the season.
Yates, ahead of his first full season with Cheltenham, revamped the squad, releasing eight players, including defender Shane Duff, who had just completed his tenth year with the club. The season proved to be successful to begin with, with the Robins remaining close to the play-off positions, but they collapsed in the second half of the season and finished 17th, with only five wins in 26 games in 2011.
Despite some fans calling for Yates to resign, Cheltenham started the 2011/12 season impressively, with a side including new signings Darryl Duffy, Luke Summerfield, and highly-rated England U-21 goalkeeper Jack Butland. Despite losing in the first round of the League Cup, they reached the Football League Trophy south quarter-finals and were handed a lucrative tie at Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup third round. Yates won the Manager of the Month award for November after three wins from three and then defeated the so-called "Manager of the Month curse" with a 3–0 win over then-leaders Southend United to secure a club record fifth consecutive league win. The Robins ended the season in 6th and defeated Torquay United 2–0 at home and then 1–2 away to secure a 4–1 aggregate victory in the League 2 Play-Off Semi-Finals. The Play-Off Final was contested at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, 27 May 2012. Crewe Alexandra defeated Cheltenham Town 2–0 with goals from Nick Powell and Byron Moore in front of a crowd of 24,029.
During the off-season, Cheltenham only lost Luke Summerfield from their first choice team, whilst signing ex-Premiership midfielder Darren Carter until January as he battled back into football following over a year out of the game with a knee injury. Former League Two top scorer Shaun Harrad was also signed, on a season-long loan from Bury. Billy Jones was also signed, with the left back leaving Exeter. Despite the relatively settled squad, Cheltenham made a stuttering start to the 2012/13 season, putting in some poor performances that were a far cry from the highs of the previous season, including poor back-to-back home defeats to Accrington Stanley and Southend United. Results began to improve, however, once captain Alan Bennett returned from injury to solidify the defence, and the Rubies had climbed the table to reach third place by the start of November, as well as progressing to the second round of the FA Cup, where they were drawn at home to local rivals Hereford United. On 6 November 2012, Cheltenham took on league leaders Gillingham, who topped the league by 5 points, and had scored four goals in each of their previous three games. The match was Mark Yates 150th game in charge of the team. The game had an extra edge for the Rubies fans and board as ex-boss and general hate-figure Martin Allen was managing Cheltenham's opponents for the first time since he left the club 3 years earlier. The Rubies did their fans and board proud as they produced their best performance of the season so far to stop the Gills scoring at home for the first time this season, going close to scoring themselves on several occasions, as the teams drew 0–0.
Read more about this topic: Cheltenham Town F.C., History
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