History
The club was established in 1886 as a local-town club playing in the Northampton Town League. The club moved to the Northants Combination in 1987, and their emergence began under manager Willie Barrett, who led the club to successive championships in the Combination First and Premier divisions. In 1989–90, the club joined the United Counties League Division One. Since joining the United Counties League, they have won promotion to the Premier Division] on three occasions, but have also been relegated twice.
The club started at The Hollow Ground in the town, but having won promotion at the first attempt were denied because their new Elderstubbs ground was not ready in time. Their manager left, and the fortunes of the club declined with relegation alternating with promotion.
The club was threatened with extinction in 2005–06, when the Elderstubbs clubhouse and changing rooms were destroyed by fire. However, a sponsorship deal with mobile phone company Go Mobile enabled the club to survive.
2007–08 was a very successful season for Daventry Town. They won Division One, losing just once, and defeated three Premier division teams en route to the League Knockout Cup final, where they were defeated by Desborough Town 3–2. That same season the newly formed ladies team lifted the Northants County League Trophy losing only 1 game all season and then also the League Cup, beating Kingsthorpe Ladies 4–0 to complete the "Double".
Daventry have been entering FA national competitions intermittently since the early 1990s. Their best FA Vase run came in 2008–09, when they reached the Third Round, while have also entered the FA Cup on three occasions, but have not yet managed to score a goal in any tie.
Daventry was also the home town of now-defunct UCL members Ford Sports Daventry (later known as Daventry United) and British Timken Athletic (formerly British Timken Duston) who were based in the town. For several seasons Daventry Town was regarded as the "poor relation". Following their fire, it was widely suggested that Town would merge with Ford Sports Daventry. However, the Ford Motor Company has recently scaled down its operations in the town, which had an effect upon the fortunes of Ford Sports Daventry, who in 2006–07 were relegated to Division 1, and after Town's phœnix experience, the two clubs had a more equal and healthy local rivalry.
In the 2009–10 season Daventry won promotion to the Southern League Division One Central, by becoming champions of the United Counties League. They have since remained in the Southern league.
Read more about this topic: Daventry Town F.C.
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