Saltdean United F.C.

Saltdean United F.C. are a football club based in Saltdean, which is a suburb of Brighton & Hove, England. They joined the Sussex County Football League Division Three in 1984.In 1989 under the management of Mr Paul Hubbard,and the Chairmanship of Mr Michael Walker, they won Division Three and were promoted into Senior football for the first time in their history.By 1991 with Hubbard and Walker both departed,there were a couple of flirtations with relegation back into Intermediate football.A huge cash injection by Mr Rod Flavell in the mid 1990's led to an upturn in fortunes,promotion to the top league of Sussex county football,and a John O'Hara Cup Final victory.Big money was being spent on a quest for a league title and promotion to the next tier of the football pyramid. In the 1999-00 season, they reached the 4th round of the FA Vase.However,the following season Flavell stopped paying players, a move that ultimately led to most of them leaving the club. New chairman Greg Hadfield saw Saltdean United achieve its best performance in the FA Cup qualifying rounds, before resigning shortly afterwards. With only youth team players available, Saltdean were unable to win a match and quickly found themselves well adrift at the foot of the table. Hubbard returned to the club where he had started his managerial career to briefly halt the slide between 2001-2003.His emigration to Spain in 2003 however signalled further freefall. For the 2008-09 season, they are members of the Sussex County Football League Division Three, and were the lowest ranked team to enter the FA Cup for that season. They finished the previous season rock bottom of Division Two and have been relegated back into intermediate football after 18 years in senior football.There could be a silver lining to this cloud though as many ex players from their Division One days have re-signed and they are favourites to bounce straight back into Senior football with manager Gus McBride at the helm.Season 2008/2009 sees a new manager at the helm in the shape of Ex Hurstpierpoint manager and Whitehawk coach Paul Stevenson.He will surely be looking to attract some fringe players from Whitehawk,but will find it very hard to take the club back up to Senior level.