Walthamstow Football Club are a semi-professional football club based in Walthamstow, who play in the . They have played under a number of names and were known as Leyton Pennant up until the end of the 2002–03 season, and Waltham Forest until the end of the 2017–18 season.

History

Pennant Football Club was formed as a junior side in 1959 by William Bode, initially joining the South West Essex League. The league's Premier Division title was won by Pennant in 1972–73. Two seasons later the club joined the

Metropolitan League The Metropolitan League was a football league in the south-east of England between 1949 and 1971. Pennant joined the

London 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 ...

in 1983, becoming a senior club. They finished 4th in the Senior in their first season, which was sufficient to gain

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the Premier Division. In 1988 neighbours Walthamstow Avenue were swallowed up by Redbridge Forest, so Pennant changed their name to Walthamstow Pennant in order to keep the footballing name of Walthamstow alive. The 1988–89 season saw the renamed club win the Spartan League Cup and the installation of floodlights installed at Wadham Lodge. 1990–91 saw Walthamstow Pennant win the Spartan League title by a single point from

Barkingside Barkingside is an area in Ilford, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It includes the major road junction of ''Fullwell Cross'' which also gives its name to the locality near that roundabout. The area is situated 10.6 miles (17km) north east of ...

with a 4–0 defeat of Thamesmead Town in their final game. A double was achieved through the defeat of Haringey Borough in the League Cup. However, promotion to the Isthmian League was denied due to inadequate ground facilities and the league's rejection of a proposed groundshare at Leyton-Wingate. In 1995–96 neighbours

Leyton Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...

saw no future at their ground and moved to Wadham Lodge, incorporating Walthamstow Pennant. The club was renamed Leyton Pennant, and assumed Leyton's place in the Isthmian League. By 1999–2000 the club was struggling on and off the pitch, resulting in a very poor run of form and relegation to the

Isthmian League Second Division 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 tea ...

. 2000–01 saw great inconsistency in results, accompanied by one of the poorest disciplinary records in the whole of English football and the club were called before the FA to explain themselves.

The Ramis years

Following a few indifferent seasons hovering near the division's relegation zone, local businessman Harry Ramis took over as chairman in February 2003, appointing his brother, ex-professional footballer, Hakan Ramis-Hayrettin as manager and the team avoided relegation. An early decision by the new chairman and his board was to once again change the club's name to Waltham Forest, reflecting the club's location in the borough of

Waltham Forest The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is a London borough in north-east London, England. Its population is estimated to be 276,983 in 2019. It borders five other London boroughs: Enfield to the north-west, Haringey to the west, Hackney to t ...

. Following the removal of the Pennant name from the club, a revived Walthamstow Pennant began playing in the

Middlesex County Football League The Middlesex County Football League is a football competition based in England loosely drawing teams from the central, northern and western parts of Greater London. The league was founded in 1984 and initially had only one division, although it ...

.Middlesex County League 2000–2006
Non-League Matters They merged with Walthamstow Avenue 2000 in 2005, later playing under various names, the most recent being Woodford Town. The newly named Waltham Forest carried on their form at the beginning of the 2003–04 season winning their first three matches and sitting in the top 4 for much of the first three months of the season. However, the performance levels dipped soon after and the team could only manage to finish 16th. The team were then moved across to the Southern League Eastern division for two seasons and finished 9th and 8th in consecutive seasons. 2005–06 also saw the club win the Essex Senior Cup; however, the biggest story of the season was an incredible run from the club's Youth team. They reached the last 16 of the FA Youth Cup, even managing to beat Premiership club

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

's Youth team en route, under the guidance of Dave Muir and Martin Fitch.

Times of struggle

Despite the progress at the club, Chairman Harry Ramis made the decision at the end of the 2005–06 season to step down as chairman. The decision may have been prompted by the fact that his brother Hakan Ramis-Hayrettin had decided to move on to manage Thurrock. This left the club on the brink of extinction or at the very least facing a drop down to play in the Essex Senior League. However, long serving club secretary Andy Perkins managed to entice Terry Back to the club as chairman in order to provide some finance. Dave Muir and Martyn Fitch were promoted to manage the first team, and promoted a large chunk of the FA Youth Cup team with them. However, results were shambolic and after 4 heavy defeats in their first 4 games Terry Back acted and dismissed both Muir and Fitch. They were replaced by Danny Honeyball as player-manager, a position that he had held briefly at the club in 2003. Honeyball, along with assistant boss Victor Renner rebuilt the side quickly and after an outstanding run of form, finished 8th and just missed out on the end of season play-offs. Despite the excellent performance the summer of 2007 was one of turmoil at the club. Victor Renner moved on to

Potters Bar Town Potters Bar Town Football Club is an English football club based in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England. They were formed in 1960 as Mount Grace Old Scholars, and, after dropping 'Old Scholars' from the name in 1984, changed to their present na ...

and took over half of the first team squad with him, and Reserve Team manager Dave Bricknell also departed. Darren Grieves joined as Danny's player-assistant manager, but left after just 6 games. Worse was to follow when Terry Back resigned as chairman on 31 October 2007.

Ground difficulties

Terry Back's departure as chairman soon saw the 2007–08 season descend into chaos. Danny Honeyball departed as manager in November to take charge at

Arlesey Town Arlesey Town Football Club is a football club based in Arlesey, Bedfordshire, England. Affiliated to the Bedfordshire County Football Association, they are currently members of the and play at Hitchin Road. History The club was established ...

, and the club ended up having four different managers over the course of the season, with Louis Affor, Kevin Durrant and eventually Ged Searson taking charge. Boxing promoter Azumah Cofie took over as chairman; however, the club continued to suffer financial difficulties, and worse was to follow. It was eventually announced on 14 March 2008 that the club would leave their home of 12 years, Wadham Lodge, at the end of the season. However, an increase in the rent saw the club move out early, playing their final home game at the Lodge on 24 March 2008, a 1–0 home defeat to Ilford, which put the Stags back in the relegation mire; however, the team eventually secured survival in the penultimate game, a 3–0 victory at Enfield Town. For the start of the 2008–09 season, Waltham Forest F.C. moved in as tenants of Ilford, and played their home games at Cricklefield Stadium. However, on the field problems remained. With the team near the foot of the table Ged Searson resigned early on in the campaign, and was replaced by Tony Ievoli. At the beginning of 2009 Chairman Azumah Cofie handed the reins to local businessman and friend Isaac Johnson, who immediately appointed Olawale Ojelabi as player-manager. This led to a superb run of form from January to March, which dragged the club out of the relegation places and again Forest survived the drop. However, Ojelabi left the club on the eve of the 2009–10 season and was replaced by Kevin Head and Bert Hoyte and despite a solid start, and an unbeaten run, Hoyte and Head were sacked and replaced by Phil Miles and the season again soon fell apart, only for Miles himself to be dismissed just before the end of the season as Forest slipped into the bottom third of the league table.

Return to the Lodge

Tony Mercer was appointed as manager for the start of the 2010–11 season. Mercer was dismissed halfway through the 10–11 season with Ojelabi returning as manager but this was not enough as the side finished 21st out of 22 teams but they were reprieved from relegation. In July 2013, Waltham Forest F.C. announced that the club would be returning to the borough after a five-year exile in Ilford, Essex, securing a lease at their former ground at the Wadham Lodge Sports Ground on Kitchener Road, Walthamstow. As Walthamstow F.C., they won the

2021–22 Essex Senior Football League The 2021–22 Essex Senior Football League season is the 51st in the history of the Essex Senior Football League, a football competition in England. The proposed constitution for this season was published on 22 May 2021, based on allocations for ...

, the club's first league title in 37 years, with joint managers John Mackie and Terry Spillane. They were promoted to Division One Central of the Southern League. Mackie and Spillane were dismissed after four games at the start of the 2022–23 season. Former Walthamstow player and

Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...

manager, Nicky Ironton, was appointed as manager.

Honours

*Essex Senior Cup **Winners (1): 2005–06 * London Senior Cup: ** Runners-up (1): 1990–91 *Essex Senior League **Winners (1): 2021-22

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 51.5974, N, 0.008996, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in England Essex Senior Football League Isthmian League Sport in the London Borough of Waltham Forest Association football clubs established in 1868 Southern Football League clubs Football clubs in London 1868 establishments in England