Paulton Rovers Club History

PAULTON ROVERS CLUB HISTORY We have discovered evidence that Rovers were formed in 1890 and not 1881 as previously thought. The club joined the Western League in 1900 and the best ever position was runners up in 2003/4 securing promotion to the Southern League. They won the Somerset Senior Cup on twelve occasions, and the Somerset Senior League seven times, the last being in 1974, when they were re-admitted to the Western League after an absence of fourteen years. Their best attendance of 2,070 (deemed maximum capacity) was on the 7th of November 2009 when reaching the FA Cup 1st Round for the first time in Paulton Rovers’ history. The match, against now Premier League side, Norwich City, was televised live on ITV1 to over 30 countries. Prior to then a crowd believed to be at least 2,000, saw them take on Crewe Alexandra in the FA Cup 5th qualifying round in 1906. After playing at several venues in the village, Rovers moved to Winterfield Road in 1950's. In 1967, an old RAF hut served as the club house with a licenced bar. Soon plans were drawn up to obtain a mortgage to fund the building of bigger premises, which included a skittle alley. To achieve this the pitch was turned round 90 degrees to its present position and the Club House was built roughly where one of the penalty areas was before. A new changing room block was built behind the old covered enclosure near the half way line in 1972, and the Club was further extended. In recent years the premises and stadium have been improved immensely, with the addition of a stand, and covered terracing, training facilities also included a all weather floodlit court used by Paulton Rovers FC netball teams, and there are two mini soccer pitches for the young teams in the village. Improvements to the Stadium have been made over the past few seasons to originally facilitate Southern League standards. There are two stands, covering on three sides and a further pitch used by feeder teams. The social club is now the premier venue for many social occasions within the rapidly expanding local community. It was under the management team of Darren Perrin and Mike (Killer) Kilgour that Rovers secured promotion to the Southern League when they finished runners up to Bideford who did not wish to be promoted at that time. Rovers finished just outside the play-offs in the following season and Darren left to assume control at Premier Division, Chippenham Town.

In July 2005 Andy Jones stepped up from Reserve Manager to First Team Manager. The 2006/7 was very successful as the club finished runners up in the British Gas Business League South & West Division One. “Joner’s” team narrowly missed out on the play offs again in the 2007/8 campaign with the outcome only resolved in the final game of the season. Having felt he had taken the club as far as he could “Joner’s” departure saw former club captain, Mark Harrington take charge but he stood down after just one season to be replaced by former player, Nick Bunyard. “Bunny” was initially assisted by Paul Thorpe and later by Paul Milsom. This saw the club finish in 5th place, losing 3-2 in the play-off semi final at Hungerford Town. However the season ended successfully with Rovers winning the Somerset Premier Cup for the first time with a 3-1 win over Bridgwater Town at Clevedon Town’s Hand Stadium. In 2013/14 Rovers finished one place higher in 4th spot and having defeated Tiverton Town 3-1 in the semi final when down to 9 men, “Bunny’s” men defied the odds to win the Play off Final at Merthyr Town in front of a crowd of 2,201 and thus gain promotion to Step 3 for the first time in their history. The team initially found the step up to the Premier Division a difficult one, not least because of a series of cruel injuries, but the fixtures turned out to prove that that they faced the top sides in those opening games and after Xmas the team went on an incredible unbeaten run and eventually finished in a more than creditable 10th place. Off the field the club became a Limited Company (by guarantee). During the close season manager, Nick Bunyard, resigned for personal reasons and his assistant, Paul Milsom and player/coach, Josh Jeffries, also decided to stand down. The club appointed Richard Fey, who was previously managing local rivals, Bridgwater Town and he appointed Nathan Rudge as his assistant and Aaron Brown as player/coach. This has inevitably led to a turnover of playing staff. After a disappointing start to the season both Richard Fey and Nathan Rudge resigned their positions, which led to the appointment of coach, Aaron Brown, as caretaker manager. However his time in charge was somewhat short as the board appointed Tony Ricketts as manager at the end of October and he subsequently appointed Martyn Grimshaw as his assistant. Unfortunately they were unable to prevent the club finishing bottom and being relegated back to Division 1 South and West after two seasons in the top flight. Tony and Martyn have been reappointed for the 2016/17 season and will be hoping to bounce back at the first attempt.