Stockton Town F.C.
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| Full name | Stockton Town Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | The Anchors | ||
| Short name | STFC, Stockton | ||
| Founded | 1979 | ||
| Ground | Bishopton Road West | ||
| Capacity | 1800 (200 Seated) | ||
| Chairman | Martin Hillerby | ||
| Manager | Michael Dunwell | ||
| League | Northern Premier League Premier Division | ||
| 2023–24 | Northern Premier League Division One East, 2nd of 20 (promoted via play-offs) | ||
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Stockton Town Football Club is an English football club based in Stockton-on-Tees, England. They are currently members of the Northern League Division One, having been promoted from Division Two in the 2016–17 season; the club currently play at Bishopton Road West. The club reached the Buildbase FA Vase Final in 2018 played at Wembley Stadium, losing 1–0 to Thatcham Town from Berkshire. The manager of the club is Michael Dunwell, who previously played for the club, and decided to retire from his playing career in 2014 in order to take up the full-time managerial position at the club. Their club badge includes their club motto "Fortitudo et Spes" (Italian for "Strength and Hope"). The Club nickname is ' The Anchors' taken from the Stockton coat of arms indicating the Shipbuilding history of Stockton and becoming a busy port in the 1700/1800's.
History
Stockton Town F.C. was initially formed in 1979 as Hartburn Juniors and entered a 5-a-side league in Middlesbrough to give youngsters an opportunity to play organised football. The club changed to their name to Stockton Town F.C. in 2003.
For the 2009–10 season, a senior team was entered into the Teesside League Division Two and finished in fourth place in their first season. In the summer of 2010 the club applied for membership to the Wearside League and were accepted for the 2010–11 season where they finished in tenth place. In the 2011–12 season, the club finished third place in the league and lost in the final of the League Cup.
The club won their first league title in the 2012–13 season, and repeated the feat in the 2013–14 season, finishing the season with a league record of 104 points. For the end of the 2014–15 season, the club applied for promotion to the Northern League Division Two. However, despite winning the league title for a third time, the promotion application was withdrawn due to legal issues.[1]
In the 2015–16 the club won the league for the fourth time in a row to gain promotion to Northern League Division Two.[2] In the 2016–17 season, the club played their first ever FA Vase tie, beating Eccleshill United in a 2–0 victory,[3] before gaining their most famous victory to date, beating four time winners, Whitley Bay FC, 2–0 in the next round.[4] On 14 April, the club won 2–1 at Team Northumbria, to clinch the Division Two title and gain promotion to the Northern Football League Division One.[5]
In only their second ever campaign Stockton Town reached the 2018 final of the Buildbase FA Vase against all the odds. They played Thatcham FC of the Hellenic League, Berkshire. The Final was played at Wembley Stadium on May 20th. The score was 1–0 to Thatcham FC. The semi final versus League title favourites, Marske United was unique as both legs were played at Stocktons Bishopton Road West ground because of Marskes ground being unfit. Stockton won the first leg 2–0 and although they lost 2–1 in the second leg went through on aggregate. The games were watched by a combined 3300 fans with Stockton hosting a ground record of 1800 for the Anchors.
Ground
In 2015, the club moved to Bishopton Road West, for a cost of £800,000. The new stadium had a 200-seat stand, floodlighting, artificial (3G) turf pitch, pay booth, changing facilities, toilets and refreshment areas. [6]
Players
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Youth teams
The club has a variety of youth teams: under-7s, under-8s, under-9s, under-10s, under-11s, under-12s, under-13s, under-14s, under-15s, under-16s, and the official reserve team.[7]
Management team
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager |  Michael Dunwell
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| Assistant manager | J.D. Briggs
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| First team coach | John Fielding
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| Goalkeeping coach | Jason Hamilton
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| Physiotherapist | Sam Higgins
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Honours
FA Vase Runners Up 2017–18
- Northern Football League Division 2
- Winners (1) 2016–17
- Northern League Ernest Armstrong Trophy
- Runner's Up (1) 2016–2017
- Wearside Football League[8]
- Winners (4) 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16
- Wearside League Cup
- Winners (2) 2014–15, 2015–16
- Monkwearmouth Charity Cup
- Winners (2) 2014–15, 2015–16
- Shipowners Charity Cup
- Winners (1) 2014–15
References
- ^ "Cup finalists Stockton Town will have to put Northern League promotion disappointment behind them". The Gazette. 2 April 2015.
- ^ "Only Champions of the Wearside League again and promoted to Northern League". Twitter. 4 May 2016.
- ^ "Stockton Town FC 2 Eccleshill United 0 – Stockton Town Football Club". Stockton Town Football Club. 10 September 2016.
- ^ "FT Whitley Bay 0 Stockton Town 2". Twitter. 24 September 2016.
- ^ "Football Matters on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2017-04-16.
- ^ "Stockton Town FC narrowly win approval for controversial £800,000 expansion plans".
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Stockton Town Football Club – Teams". STFC Official Website. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
- ^ [1]
External links
54°34′5.4624″N 1°20′39.8898″W / 54.568184000°N 1.344413833°W