Braintree Town Football Club is a semi-professional
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 ca ...
club based in
Braintree, Essex
Braintree is a town and former civil parish in Essex, England. The principal settlement of Braintree District, it is located northeast of Chelmsford and west of Colchester. According to the 2011 Census, the town had a population of 41,634, ...
, England. They are currently members of and play at Cressing Road.
History
The club was formed on 24 September 1898 as Manor Works, the
works team
A works team (sometimes factory team, company team) is a sports team that is financed and run by a manufacturer or other business. Sometimes, works teams contain or are entirely made up of employees of the supporting company.
Association footb ...
of the Crittall Window Company, from which they gained their nickname ''Iron''. The new club took over the fixtures of the recently defunct Braintree F.C. in the North Essex League, and also took on most of the former club's players.Blakeman, M (2010) ''The Official History of the Eastern Counties Football League 1935–2010, Volume II'' They left the league in 1900, but returned in 1901. They won the title in 1905–06, 1910–11 and 1911–12, also winning the Mid-Essex League in 1909–10 and 1910–11.League Handbook Mid-Essex League In 1911 they also joined Division 2A of the Essex & Suffolk Border League, remaining in the league until 1928.
In 1921 they were renamed Crittall Athletic to be more closely identified with their parent company. After winning Division Two (Western) in 1922–23 and 1923–24,2016-2017 Official Handbook Essex & Suffolk Border League they were promoted to the Senior Division of the Border League in 1925. In 1928 they joined the
Spartan League
The Spartan League was a football league in England covering London and adjacent counties. Established in 1907, it merged with the South Midlands League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands League.
History
The Spartan League was establ ...
, and in 1935 were founder members of the
Eastern Counties League
The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suffolk ...
, although they also continued to play in the Border League. They won the Border League in 1935–36 and both the Border League and the Eastern Counties League in 1936–37, but then left the Eastern Counties League to join the newly established
Essex County League
The Essex County League was a short-lived football league in England in the 1930s. The league was established in 1937 and seen as a threat to the viability of the Eastern Counties League, which had only been formed two years earlier. However, it ...
. The new league folded after a single season (in which Crittall were runners-up) and the club returned to the Eastern Counties League.
After World War II the Eastern Counties League did not resume in 1945, so Crittall joined the Eastern Division of the London League instead. After finishing second in their first season, they were promoted to the Premier Division. They were invited to rejoin the Eastern Counties League in 1947, but turned the offer down and remained in the London League, where they won the League Cup twice before returning to the Eastern Counties League in 1952. In 1954 they turned professional, but financial problems forced them to revert to amateur status and drop back down into the Border League at the end of the 1954–55 season.
In 1959–60 they won the league and League Cup double. They switched to the
Greater London League
The Greater London League was a football league for clubs in and around London. It was formed in 1964 by a merger of the London League and the Aetolian League, after the two leagues had run a joint league cup the previous season due to both strug ...
in 1964, and then to the
Metropolitan League
The Metropolitan League was a football league in the south-east of England between 1949 and 1971.Southern League. In 1996 the club asked
the FA
The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...
to switch leagues to reduce their travelling. After initially being refused, they were allowed to move to Division Three of the
Isthmian League
The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs.
Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 teams ...
, although it was an effective drop of two divisions. They were promoted as runners-up in their first season, and repeated the feat the following season. After three seasons in Division One they were promoted to the Premier Division with a third-place finish in 2000–01. They won the Premier Division in 2005–06 to earn promotion to the
Conference South
The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the Na ...
. The season also saw them reach 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 competit ...
for the first time, eventually losing 4–1 at
Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mov ...
.
Braintree qualified for the promotion play-offs in their first season in the Conference South, but lost 1–0 to Salisbury City in the final. They also reached the play-offs the following season, but lost to Eastbourne Borough in the semi-finals. In
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
they finished as Conference South champions, earning promotion to the
Conference Premier
The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-professi ...
. The next four seasons saw the club reach the FA Cup for the first round, losing to
Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...
Oxford United
Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...
in successive seasons. In 2015–16 they finished third in the renamed National League, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. Despite winning the first leg at
Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...
1–0, they lost the home leg 2–0 after extra time. In 2016–17 the club reached the second 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 competit ...
for the first time after beating Eastbourne Borough in the first round; they eventually lost 5–2 to
Millwall
Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...
in the second round. They were relegated from the National League at the end of the season after finishing in the bottom four.
The 2017–18 season saw Braintree finish sixth in the National League South. In the play-offs they defeated Hemel Hempstead Town and
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and
is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in E ...
to reach the final, in which they beat Hampton & Richmond Borough 4–3 on penalties to earn promotion back to the National League. However, they were relegated to the National League South the following season after finishing second-from-bottom of the National League.
Reserve team
Braintree Town reserves joined Division One of the Eastern Counties League in 2012, remaining in the league until the end of the 2018–19 season.
Ground
After being founded, Manor Works initially played at the Fair Field, now the site of the town hall, library and bus station. They moved to Spaldings Meadow in Panfield Lane in 1903. In 1923 the club moved to a new ground on Cressing Road which had been built by their parent company. Due to problems with the pitch in 1975, the club were forced to play matches at several other venues, including Heybridge Swifts' Scraley Road (a single match on 26 April arranged at such short notice that many fans arrived at Cressing Road for the match and only 50 attended the game), Braintree Rugby Club's Tabor Avenue (at the start of the 1975–76 season) and the Courtaulds Sports Ground in Church Street in Bocking (a single match against
Gorleston
Gorleston-on-Sea (), known colloquially as Gorleston, is a town in the Borough of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, England, to the south of Great Yarmouth. Situated at the mouth of the River Yare it was a port town at the time of the Domesday Book ...
on 6 September 1975 with a crowd of 73).
Current squad
Honours
*Conference South
**Champions
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
*Isthmian League
**Premier Division champions 2005–06
*Metropolitan League
**League Cup winners 1969–70
*Eastern Counties League
**Champions 1936–37, 1983–84, 1984–85
**League Cup winners 1987–88
*London League
**League Cup winners 1948–49, 1951–52
*Essex & Suffolk Border League
**Champions 1935–36, 1936–37, 1937–38, 1959–60
**League Cup winners 1959–60
**Division Two (Western) champions 1922–23, 1923–24
*North Essex League
**Champions 1905–06, 1910–11, 1911–12
*Mid-Essex League
**Champions 1909–10, 1910–11
*
Essex Senior Cup
The Essex Senior Cup is a knock-out system football competition that has been running since 1884, and is the most prestigious cup competition in the county of Essex. The competition is run mainly for non-League clubs in the region, although leag ...
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 competit ...
performance: Second round, 2016–17
*Best
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 ...
performance: Fifth round, 2001–02
*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 football ...
performance: Fifth round, 1984–85, 1987–88
*Biggest victory: 12–0 vs
Thetford
Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24,34 ...
, Eastern Counties League, 1935–36
*Heaviest defeat: 14–0 vs
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London at ...
, North Essex League, 1923
*Record attendance: 4.5 vs Barking, Essex Senior Cup, 1935–36; 4,000 vs
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...
, testimonial match, May 1952Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) ''Non-League Club Directory 2013'', p39
*Most appearances: Brad Quinton, 546
*Most goals: Chris Guy, 211 (1983–1990)
**Most goals in a season: Gary Bennett, 57 (1997–98)
*Record transfer fee received: £40,000 from Barnet for Simeon AkinolaAkinola leaves Braintree Town to sign for Barnet Braintree & Witham Times, 1 January 2017