History
The club was established in 1896 by a merger of Aldworth United and Basingstoke Albion. They won the North Division of the Hampshire League in 1911–12 and 1919–20, but did not win another title until winning Division One in 1967–68, feat they repeated in 1968–69 and 1970–71, a year in which they were unbeaten in the league, and also won the Hampshire Senior Cup. At the end of the season they were promoted to the South Division of the Southern League South.
The club finished eighth in their first season in the Southern League, and they also reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time. A then-record attendance of 3,400 saw them lose 5–1 at home to Northampton Town. In 1984–85 the club won the title, and were promoted to the Premier Division. In 1988 they switched to the Premier Division of the Isthmian League, where they were relegated in their first season. However, they made an immediate return to the Premier Division after finishing as runners-up. In their first season back in the division they won the Hampshire Senior Cup for a second time, and reached the second round of the FA Cup, losing 3–2 at home to Torquay United.
They were relegated to Division One again in 1993–94. In 1996 they won the Hampshire Senior Cup with a 2–0 win over Waterlooville, and retained it the following season with an identical result. That season the club finished second in the league to earn promotion to the Premier Division, and also reached the second round of the FA Cup, beating Wycombe Wanderers 5–4 on penalties in a first round replay, before losing 4–3 on penalties to Northampton Town in another replay. They reached the first round again the following season, but lost 2–1 at home to Bournemouth.
In 2003–04 they finished fourteenth in the Premier Division. Despite losing in the play-offs for a place in the newly-established Conference South, the club was placed in the league after Hendon chose not to join. In 2006–07 they reached the second round of the FA Cup again, beating Chesterfield 1–0 away from home, before losing 3–1 in a replay to local rivals Aldershot Town. In 2007–08 they won the Hampshire Senior Cup for a fourth time, beating Farnborough 1–0 in the final.
In 2008, Rafi Razzak took over as Chairman of the club. Frank Gray was installed as manager but despite an increased budget from the disbanding of the reserve team, progress on the field has to date been hard to come by. Chairman Rafi stated his wish for a minimum play-off finish in the Conference South for the 2011/2012 season. Basingstoke Town unveiled plans to relocate to a new 5,000 capacity community stadium in December 2011 on land to the west of the Hilton Basingstoke hotel, that would be funded by the development of the club’s current Camrose home. with a view to move into their new home in time for the start of the 2014/15 season. Frank Gray was sacked as manager on 20 February after a poor run of form which left the club, realistically, too far off a play-off place to challenge for them come May. Academy Manager Jason Bristow was handed the job of First Team Manager at least until the end of the current season, considered by many the obvious choice for the job. Bristow's first game in charge was a 3–1 win at The Camrose over Thurrock. Basingstoke Town F.C finished the 2011/2012 season in 5th place, which put them in the play-off semi-finals, but unfortunately they lost to Dartford over the two legs.
Read more about this topic: Basingstoke Town F.C.
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“Psychology keeps trying to vindicate human nature. History keeps undermining the effort.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“The history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Literary works cannot be taken over like factories, or literary forms of expression like industrial methods. Realist writing, of which history offers many widely varying examples, is likewise conditioned by the question of how, when and for what class it is made use of.”
—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956)