Club History
IN THE BEGINNING
The origins of senior football in Maidenhead can be traced
back to October 1870 with the formation of Maidenhead
Football Club, who subsequently played their first ever
fixture in December 1870 against Windsor Home Park. The York
Road site is now officially acknowledged as the oldest
continually used football ground in the world, eclipsing
Northwich Victoria's old claim by several years. The Club
were one of the original 15 entrants for the first ever FA
Cup competition in 1871-72. The following season they
reached the last four before losing to Oxford University.
Maidenhead reached the quarter-finals in the next two
seasons, but in 1876 withdrew, returning the following
season. They also entered the first ever Berks & Bucks Cup
competition in 1878 and the first FA Amateur Cup in 1893.
THE EARLY YEARS
Maidenhead entered the Southern League in 1894 but competing
with the likes of Watford, Brentford, Fulham and Brighton
proved too demanding and eventually dropped into the West
Berkshire League, which they won, and the Berks & Bucks
League, in which they finished bottom ! In 1904 Maidenhead
joined the Great Western Suburban League.
Maidenhead Norfolkians, meanwhile, were founded in 1884 and
were successful members of the South Bucks & East Berks
League before also joining the West Berks League and the
Berks & Bucks League. In 1904 they joined Maidenhead FC in
the Great Western Suburban League.
MERGERS AND SUCCESS
After the Great War the two clubs amalgamated and had
immediate success winning the Great Western League. In 1920
the name "United" was adopted and two years later they
entered the Spartan League. They won the title three times
in their nineteen year stay. In 1936 Maidenhead reached the
semi-final of the FA Amateur Cup losing 4-1 to Ilford at
West Ham in front of 18,000 spectators. It was that year the
ground record attendance of 7,989 was set when Southall came
to York Road in the quarter-final. In the 1929-30 season the
club's goal-scoring record for a season was set when Jack
Palethorpe scored 65 goals in 39 games. He went on to play
for Sheffield Wednesday and scored in the Owls FA Cup win in
1935.
Following the end of the Second World War the club entered
the Corinthian League. In six seasons between 1956 and 1962
the club won the title three times, were runners-up twice
and also reached the 3rd Round of the FA Amateur Cup, losing
to West Auckland at York Road in front of a post-war record
attendance of 5,597. They also made three appearances in the
First Round Proper of the FA Cup.
BLACK DAYS & SUCCESS
In 1963 United joined the Athenian League, but were unable
to repeat their success, but in 1973 were elected into the
new Isthmian League 2nd Division. This is where they stayed
until 1987 when the Club suffered relegation for the first
time in its history, the black days made worse with the
destruction of the main stand by an arson attack and
financial problems. It took four seasons to get out of
Division Two, which was achieved under the guidance of
Martyn Spong in 1991. An Isthmian League record of 13
straight wins at the start of the season was the springboard
to success, but the title was lost to Abingdon Town on the
last day of the season.
Following the departure of Spong to Enfield, Gary Goodwin,
then John Clements and then John Watt took on the manager's
job with mediocre results, the club regularly finishing
mid-table.
THE DEVONSHIRE YEARS
So, in the Summer of 1996, in an attempt to break that run
of mediocrity, the Club hired a new management team of
Martyn Busby, the former QPR and Notts County midfielder and
Alan Devonshire the former West Ham and England midfielder.
Although Busby left midway through the season, Devonshire
guided United to their first Cup success since 1970 by
winning the Isthmian League Full Members Cup. The 1997-98
season saw the Club have one of their most successful
campaigns since Corinthian days. They won all three County
Cups, beating Reading 2-1 in the Senior Final, reached the
semi-final of the Full Members Cup and captured the Isthmian
Fair Play Award. The season was nearly rounded off with
promotion, but the Club finished fourth and an agonising one
point behind Hampton despite clocking up 81 points. More
silverware was won the following season, when the Magpies
strolled home 4-1 against Wycombe Wanderers to retain the
Berks & Bucks Senior Cup.
The Millennium season saw United make a solid start to the
League campaign, losing just one of their opening eleven
games – and that on the opening day. By late March the Club
remained in the promotion hunt with just five League defeats
and a place in the Isthmian League Cup Final to look forward
to at the end of the season. A late season rally followed a
short, jittery, slump in results. The club took its place in
the Premier Division on Thursday May 4th following a 1-0
home win over champions Croydon just days after losing 1-0
to Farnborough Town in the Final of the Isthmian League Cup
at Basingstoke.
Life in the Premier Division was tough to begin with but
spirits were lifted by a memorable FA Trophy run which came
to an end at Blyth Spartans. A good late run eased the
Magpies well clear of relegation – at no point in the
season, strangely, were they ever in the bottom three.
A new 700 capacity enclosure was completed in May 2001
which increased York Road capacity to 4,500 and covered
terracing for 1,700. The York Road ground, though, has long
been the target for developers being a town centre site only
30 miles from London, making it one of the most desirable
pieces of real estate in England! But United’s move to a new
stadium has always faltered due to a lack of available sites
in an area locked in by green belt.
United continued to consolidate their place in the top
division in the last two years of Devonshire’s reign,
winning the County cup in both seasons
New Beginnings…
At the start of the 2002-03 season Chairman Roger Coombs
announced he would step down at the end of that season. In
April 2003 Manager Alan Devonshire stated his intention to
leave the club after the final match of the season.
The summer of 2003 naturally then saw a hive of activity at
York Road with new manager John Dreyer and Assistant Manager
Phil Gray having to bring in virtually a new squad. Off the
field new Chairman Jon Swan was busy organising the
redevelopment of the Magpies Social Club into Stripes bar.
The summer also saw the return of the youth team managed by
Steve Beard and they proved to be an instant hit by winning
the Allied Counties League East Division at the first
attempt.
The 2003-04 season, unsurprisingly saw a shaky start and
after seven games the Magpies found themselves bottom of the
league and winless. However a run of seven wins in nine
games saw United shoot up the table and gave themselves a
platform to secure a top half finish which guaranteed
Nationwide South football, the highest level the club have
played at since the Southern League days in the late 19th
century.
Away from the League, John Dreyer made his mark on the
club’s history by leading the Magpies to the quarter finals
of the FA Trophy, beating Conference full timers Halifax
Town on the way.
The Magpies struggled to adjust to life in the Nationwide
South and following a slide into the bottom three in
November, the club parted company with Dreyer and Gray. In
December a new management team arrived from Windsor
consisting of Dennis Greene and Colin Ferguson but despite a
significant improvement in results United could not break
clear of the relegation struggle. On the last day of the
season a defeat in a relegation shootout at Newport combined
with a win for fellow strugglers Carshalton sent the Magpies
down. However within a fortnight of the final whistle
Maidenhead were reprieved following the demise of Hornchurch.
Following a disastrous start to last season Greene was
sacked after seven games and replaced by Alan Devonshire’s
former assistant Carl Taylor. Taylor and his assistant Tony
Choules were no more successful than their predecessor in
maintaining Nationwide South status and so the club have
returned to the Southern League after an absence of over a
century.
Another consequence of the struggle to retain Nationwide
South status has been mounting debts and as 2005 drew to a
close a financial crisis loomed. This was swiftly resolved
when the members voted to wind up the existing club and
transfer ownership to a new Limited Company set up by
sponsors Pharmalink.
A 5-0 thrashing by bottom club Clevedon, compounded by a
mediocre start to the current season led to manager Carl
Talyor leaving the club in September to be replaced by
Johnson Hippolyte. |