Cradley Town Football Club is a football club based in Cradley, near

Halesowen Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of West Midlands, England. Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, the town is around from Birmingham city centre, and fro ...

in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

. They are currently members of the and play at Beeches View.

History

The club was established in 1970 by a merger of Albion Rovers and Haden Rangers.Club History
Cradley Town F.C. The new club played in the Premier Division of the West Midlands Metropolitan League, which they won at the first attempt. Under the name Albion Haden United, they joined Division Two of the Midland Combination in 1971.Midland Combination 1968–1982
Non-League Matters The club went on to win the division in 1972–73, although they were not promoted to Division One due to a narrow pitch. In 1975 the club was renamed Cradley Town. They were Division Two runners-up in 1975–76 and again in 1977–78. After finishing fourth in 1978–79 and having widened the pitch, the club were promoted to Division One. In 1983 Cradley transferred to the Premier Division of the

West Midlands (Regional) League The West Midlands (Regional) League is an English association football competition for semi-professional and amateur teams based in the West Midlands county, Shropshire, Worcestershire, southern Staffordshire and northern Herefordshire. It has tw ...

. They finished bottom of the Premier Division in their first season in the league and were relegated to Division One. In 1989–90 the club finished bottom of Division One, but were not relegated and went on to win the division the following season, earning promotion back to the Premier Division; the season also saw them win the

Wednesbury Charity Cup The Wednesbury Charity Cup was an early football competition held from 1880 - eight years before the foundation of the Football League - for teams from the West Midlands region of England. The competition was conceived and initiated by Isaak G ...

. In 1998–99 they were Premier Division runners-up and were promoted to the

Midland Alliance The Midland Football Alliance was an English association football league for semi-professional teams. It covered Leicestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire and also southern parts of Derbyshire and Not ...

. Cradley finished bottom of the Midland Alliance in 2001–02, but were not relegated. They finished bottom again in 2006–07 and 2007–08, but remained in the division until being relegated at the end of the 2009–10 season, which had seen them finish bottom of the league for a fourth time and fail to win a league match; the club then dropped back into the Premier Division of the West Midlands (Regional) League. At the end of the 2020–21 season they were transferred to Division One of the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History T ...

when the Premier Division of the West Midlands (Regional) League lost its status as a step six division.

Ground

The club play at Beeches View, which had been the home ground of Albion Rovers prior to the 1970 merger. A small stand was built in the late 1970s and floodlights were erected during the 1990–91 season.

Honours

*West Midlands (Regional) League **Division One champions 1990–91 *Midland Combination **Division Two champions 1972–73 **Presidents Cup winners 1974–75, 1975–76 *West Midlands Metropolitan League **Premier Division champions 1970–71 *Wednesbury Charity Cup **Winners 1990–91

Records

*Best

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 ...

performance: Second qualifying round, 2008–09 *Best FA Vase performance: Second round, 2005–06, 2007–08 *Biggest win: 9–1 vs Wolverhampton United, 1990–91 *Heaviest defeat: 11–0 vs Boldmere St. Michaels, 2007–08

References

External links