Longwell Green Sports F.C. - Club History

Club History

Pre-2003
The club was formed by workers from Longwell Green Coachworks, whose name was adopted for the team in 1966 after the great upsurge of interest in football following England's World Cup success against West Germany in the World Cup Final at Wembley. The team, then known as Longwell Green Sports FC, started in the old regional Bristol Saturday League and then moved to the Bristol and District League in the mid-1970s gaining promotion at regular intervals until winning their first major championship in 1983 when lifting the Division Four crown.

This success followed the arrival as a player of the current general manager John Gibbs in 1978, which was the start of a 34-year association with the club. Gibbs took over as player-manager in 1984, leading the team to promotion five times in nine seasons.

One of several successes during this period included becoming Bristol and District League Senior Division champions in 1990. Further success was achieved when they became Bristol Premier Combination Division One runners-up for three successive seasons, resulting election to the Premier Division. In 1995, their first season at the new level, they finished two points behind Bitton, while a 3–2 victory over Highridge in the final of the Premier Combination Cup completed a successful opening campaign.

The team remained in the Premier Division for nine seasons, often pushing for promotion but never reaching the top spot before making two important changes. Firstly, Chris Wyrill was brought in as chairman and his business skills were to help develop the club and move it forward off the pitch, and then Matt Hale returned to the club where he had first played as a 15-year-old schoolboy. Hale had enjoyed a professional career with Bristol City, Yeovil and Weymouth before coming back to assist Gibbs as player-coach.

In 2002 Sports were runners up in the GFA Senior Amateur Cup, losing on penalties to Nicholas Wanders.

2003–04
In 2003 the club changed its name from Longwell Green Sports FC to Longwell Green Sports, to reflect their partnership with Longwell Green Juniors and the formation of Senior & Junior Netball teams to form a broader community sports club.

At the end of the 2003–04 season, the team finished runners-up in the Bristol Premier Combination and carried out the necessary work to step up to the Gloucestershire County League, thanks mainly to the hard work of Gibbs, backed by the committee. Gibbs moved up to general manager and Hale took over as first team boss who guided them to runners-up spot to Highridge on goal difference in their first season.

2004–07
At the end of the 2004–05 season Longwell Green Sports finished as runners up in the Gloucestershire County League and were promoted to Division One of the Western League for the first time. As a result of the promotion they made further improvements to their home ground at Shellards Road. The team spent the next 3 seasons (2005–2008) in the Western League First Division.

2008–09
In the 2008–09 season Longwell Green Sports were promoted to the Premier Division of the Western League after finishing Division One runners-up to Larkhall Athletic.

2009–10
The 2009–10 season saw Longwell Green Sports finish in their highest ever league position of 11th in the Western League Premier Division and play in the F.A. Cup for the first time, losing 2–0 to Almondsbury Town F.C. in the extra preliminary round.

2010–11
Former Tiverton coach Martyn Grimshaw, joined the club as assistant to manager Julian Harmer for the start of the 2010–11 season. However, in November 2010, after a run of ten successive defeats, Harmer was replaced by Paul Britton. Martyn Grimshaw retained the assistant managers role and was joined by Gary Brown. Britton and Brown had previously been the management team for Mangotsfield United Reserves.

Despite the appointment of the new management team, results only marginally improved and the team languished in the bottom half of the league for the remainder of the 2010–11 season. Matt Hale took over the management role for the last six games of the season but it was not until a 2–1 victory in the last game of the season, against fellow strugglers Wellington, the club secured 17th position in the league and thereby retained their Premier Division status for the 2011–12 season.

The team defeated New Milton Town after a replay of an Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup, eventually losing 3–0 at home to Hamble Aerostructures Sports & Social Club in the Preliminary Round.

The clubs crowd attendances for the 2010–11 season were still strong despite the lack of on-field success. The club finished the season with the highest home average attendance of the Western League Premier Division with an average attendance of 136. Their highest home attendance for 2010–11 was 383 for the match against local rivals Bitton AFC.

2011–12
Matt Hale was appointed team manager for the 2011–12 season. Hale's assistant was Martyn Grimshaw.

In October 2011 Hale stood down as first team coach to take up a full time position with the Southampton F.C.Youth Academy. As a result, Martyn Grimshaw was appointed manager with ex-Bristol Rovers player Simon Bryant being installed as assistant manager.

In March 2012, after a poor run of results in which Sports won just one of fourteen games, former Hanham Athletic and Oldland Abbotonians manager Spencer Thomas and his assistant Justin Cartledge were brought in to assist Martyn Grimshaw At the same time, the Sports board announced that Thomas would take over the team management role for the 2012–13 season. However, in early April 2012 Martyn Grimshaw stepped aside as co-manager to enable Spencer Thomas to take charge for the club's final two games of the 2011–12 season.

Paul Milsom was added to the coaching staff in April 2012.

In the FA Cup Sports defeated Bristol Manor Farm 3–2 after a replay of the Extra Preliminary round but for the second year running were unable to progress past the Preliminary round losing away to Merthyr Town 1–0

There was improvement in the league as Sports finished the 2011–12 season in 13th position. Attendances also saw a small improvement as the average attendance increased on the 2010/11 season to 139.

2012–13
After a 0-0 result at home in the first game, Sports were eliminated from the F.A. Cup in the preliminary round replay going down 3-1 at Melksham Town.