Blackstones F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Blackstones
fullname = Blackstones Football Club
nickname = The Stones
founded = 1920 (as Mirlees Blackstones)
ground = The Blackstones Sports & Social Club,
Lincoln Road,
Stamford,
Lincolnshire.
PE9 1SH
capacity =
chairman = Kevin Boor
manager = Tony Lowther
league = United Counties Football League
Premier Division
season = 2007-08
position = United Counties Football League
Premier Division, 4th
pattern_la1=_whitecuffpiping|pattern_b1=_denh06|pattern_ra1=_whitecuffpiping
leftarm1=F28500|body1=F28500|rightarm1=F28500|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=F28500

Blackstones F.C. is a football club based in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, who play their home games at Lincoln Road coord|52|39.7025|N|0|28.1355|W|scale:2400.

The club was founded in 1920 as the works team for the Stamford engineering manufacturer Mirrlees Blackstone [ [http://www.enginemuseum.org/mrindex.html Brief History and Development Of Mirrlees Blackstone] ] and adopted the company's name. They joined the United Counties Football League Division One in 1984. Finishing second in 1987/88, they were promoted to the Premier Division from the start of the 1988/89 season. where they have remained.

Recent History

2003/04 was a particularly successful season for the club, and they reached four cup finals. The only one which they won was the Lincolnshire F.A Senior 'A' Cup. This success spurred the club on in the following seasons; in 2004/05 they finished fifteenth in the UCL Premier Division, rising to tenth in 2005/06, eighth in 2006/07 and fourth in 2007/08. In 2007/08 they reached the First Preliminary Round of the F.A. Cup, losing 2-1 at Northern Premier League Division One South team Grantham Town in a replay. They have also reached the final of the of the Lincolnshire FA Senior Trophy.

Lincoln Road

The clubhouse, which stands behind the near goal, was extended in 1984, the year which saw the club join the UCL. In 1988, the parent company was taken over, and the club changed its name to Blackstones F.C. For several years the club was seen as the poor relation of Stamford F.C. (the Daniels) until Stamford secured promotion from the UCL. For a number of years during the 1990s, the club's future seemed in jeopardy, as the new owner of the Mirlees Blackstones company seemed intent on selling the ground where the club is based for housing development, but fortunately this did not happen. On one side of the ground there is a pleasant-looking wooden stand, which has a some rows of benches and a mini terrace behind it. Trees on either side of the ground make Lincoln Road a very pleasant site, with a couple of smart dugouts opposite the stand on the far side. Floodlights were erected in 1989, along with a perimeter fence and other sundry buildings.

Club statistics

{| class="wikitable"{| border="1" cellpadding="1" style="border-collapse: collapse;"
- bgcolor="#F28500" color=white align="center"
width="80px" | Season
width="100px" | Division
width="50px" | Points
width="50px" | Position
width="50px" | League Cup
width="50px" | F.A. Cup
width="50px" | F.A. Vase
width="250px" | Note
-
1990 – 1991
UCL Premier
58
12/22

Pre
R1
as Mirlees Blackstone
-
1991 – 1992
UCL Premier
81
6/24

2 QR
Pre
″
-
1992 – 1993
UCL Premier
50
16/22

Pre
R1
″
-
1993 – 1994
UCL Premier
71
6/22

Pre
R1
″
-
1994 – 1995
UCL Premier
52
7/19

Pre
Pre
″
-
1995 – 1996
UCL Premier
57
11/20

1 QR
R1
″
-
1996 – 1997
UCL Premier
53
11/20

Pre
2 QR
″
-
1997 – 1998
UCL Premier
67
9/21

1 QR
R 2
″
-
1998 – 1999
UCL Premier
53
12/20

Pre
R 1

-
1999 – 2000
UCL Premier
74
6/20

Pre
2 QR

-
2000 – 2001
UCL Premier
55
12/21

1 QR
2 QR
Ex Pre = Extra Preliminary round
-
2001 – 2002
UCL Premier
53
12/21

Pre
R 2
Pre = Preliminary round
-
2002 – 2003
UCL Premier
48
16/21

1 QR
1 QR
1 QR = First Qualifying round
-
2003 – 2004
UCL Premier
58
11/22
R 2
Ex Pre
1 QR
2 QR = Second Qualifying round
-
2004 – 2005
UCL Premier
47
15/22
Q-F
Pre
2 QR
R 1 = First Round
-
2005 – 2006
UCL Premier
57
10/22
R 1
Pre
2 QR
R 2 = Second round
-
2006 – 2007
UCL Premier
63
8/21
R 2
Ex Pre
R 1
Q-F = Quarter-final
-
2007 – 2008
UCL Premier
79
4/21
S-F
Pre
R 4
S-F = Semi-final
-
-}

Source: Football Club History Database (www.fchd.btinternet.co.uk)

players

Andrew Collin

References