Brackley Town Football Club is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club in Brackley,

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. They are currently members of and play at St. James Park. The club won the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

in 2018.

History

Established in 1890, the club spent much of the pre-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

era in the Oxfordshire Senior League.Brackley Town Corporate Brochure
The Park Suite After the war they switched to the North Bucks & District League, where they remained until transferring to the Banbury & District League. However, they rejoined the North Bucks League in 1974. In 1977 the club joined Division One of the Hellenic League. They won the league's Knock-Out Cup in 1982–83, after which they switched to Division One of the

United Counties League The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''Uhlsport United Counties League'') is an English football league covering Northamptonshire, Rutland and Bedfordshire and most of Leicestershire as well as parts of Buckinghamshi ...

in 1983. They went on to win the division at the first attempt, earning promotion to the Premier Division. Although they finished as runners-up in 1988–89, the following season saw them finish twentieth, and after finishing bottom of the division in three successive seasons between 1991–92 and 1993–94, the club rejoined the Hellenic League and were placed in the Premier Division. Although Brackley finished third-from-bottom of the Premier Division in their first season, the 1995–96 season saw them end the season as runners-up. The following season the club were league champions, earning promotion to Division One Midlands of the Southern League. After one season they were transferred to Division One South, but were relegated back to the Hellenic League at the end of the 1998–99 season, which saw them finish bottom of the division. In 2003–04 Brackley won the Hellenic League for a second time, as well as the Supplementary Cup, and were promoted back to the Southern League, this time to Division One West. A third-place finish in 2005–06 saw them qualify for the promotion play-offs. However, after beating Marlow 2–1 in the semi-finals, they lost 3–2 to Hemel Hempstead Town in the final. The club were transferred to Division One Midlands for the following season, and went on to win the division, earning promotion to the Premier Division. In 2008–09 they reached the first round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

for the first time, losing 2–1 at

Eastwood Town Eastwood Town Football Club was an English football club based in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire. The club last participated in the Northern Premier League Division One South, the eighth tier of English football. A new club, Eastwood C.F.C., was f ...

. After finishing fifth in 2009–10 the club qualified for the promotion play-offs again, but lost 6–0 to Nuneaton Town in the semi-finals. The 2011–12 season saw Brackley win the Premier Division, earning promotion to the Conference North. They finished third in their first season in the division. In the subsequent promotion play-offs, they beat

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

4–2 on aggregate in the semi-finals before losing 1–0 to FC Halifax Town in the final. The following season the club reached the first round of the FA Cup again, and after drawing 1–1 against Gillingham at Priestfield, they won the replay 1–0. In the second round the club lost 3–2 at

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

. Brackley reached the first round again in 2015–16, losing 4–1 to Newport County in a replay after a 2–2 draw in the first match. The

2016–17 FA Cup The 2016–17 FA Cup (also known as the FA Challenge Cup) was the 136th edition of the oldest recognised football tournament in the world. It was sponsored by Emirates, and known as The Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship purposes. 736 clubs were accep ...

saw the club reach the second round after again beating Gillingham 4–3 in a first-round replay. In the next round they lost 1–0 at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. In 2017–18 Brackley won the

, beating

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

5–4 on penalties in the final after the game had ended 1–1. They also finished third in the National League North and reached the play-off final after defeating

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

1–0 in the semi-finals, before losing 3–0 in the final to

Harrogate Town Harrogate Town A.F.C. is a professional association football club in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the Sulphurites, due to the ...

. In

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

the club reached the second round of the FA Cup again; after defeating

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

3–2 on penalties after a 3–3 draw in the first round, they lost 1–0 at Tranmere Rovers in the second. In 2021–22 the club were runners-up in the National League North, subsequently losing 1–0 to York City in the play-off semi-finals.

Reserve team

The club's reserve team played in the Hellenic League between 2015 and 2020. They joined Division One East of the league in 2014 under the name Brackley Town Development. After finishing as runners-up in their first season, they were promoted to the Premier Division and were renamed Brackley Town Saints. The team left the league at the end of the 2019–20 season.

Ground

Brackley Town Football Club - St James Park

The club played at Manor Road from their establishment until 1968, when they moved to Buckingham Road, where the players changed in the nearby Plough pub.Brackley Town
Pyramid Passion In 1974 they moved to St. James Park on Churchill Way. Floodlights were installed during the 1988–89 season. During their first spell in the Southern League a 300-seat stand was built on one touchline. The ground currently has a capacity of 3,500, of which 300 is seated and 1,500 covered.Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) ''Non-League Club Directory 2013'', p177

Current squad

Men's team

Women's Team

Current staff

Management Board

Football Management

Honours

*FA Trophy **Winners 2017–18 *Southern League **Premier Division champions 2011–12 **Division One Midlands champions 2006–07 *Hellenic League **Premier Division champions 1996–97, 2003–04 **Knock-Out Cup winners 1982–83 **Supplementary Cup winners 2003–04 *United Counties League **Division One champions 1983–84 *Northamptonshire Senior Cup **Winners 2010–11, 2011–12, 2014–15 *Maunsell Cup **Winners 2011–12, 2012–13

Records

*Highest league position: Second in the

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

, 2021–22 *Best

performance: Second round, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2020–21 *Best

performance: Winners, 2017–18 *Best

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

performance: Third round, 1987–88 *Record attendance: 2,604 vs

F.C. Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

, 12 May 2013, Conference North play-off final *Most appearances: Glenn WalkerFearsome front two strike to earn Brackley Town a point
Northampton Chronicle, 14 November 2020 *Most goals: Paul Warrington, 320 *Record transfer fee received: £2,000 from Oxford City for Phil Mason, 1998

References

External links

* {{Authority control Football clubs in England Football clubs in Northamptonshire Association football clubs established in 1890 1890 establishments in England Oxfordshire Senior Football League North Bucks & District Football League Banbury District and Lord Jersey FA Hellenic Football League United Counties League Southern Football League clubs National League (English football) clubs Brackley