Barton Town Old Boys F.C.

Infobox Football club
clubname = Barton Town Old Boys


fullname = Barton Town Old Boys Football Club
nickname = The Swans
shortname =
founded = 1995
chairman =
manager = Neil Buckley
Ian Durnian
ground = The Euronics Ground
Barton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire
capacity = 3,000
league = Northern Counties East League Division One
season = 2007-08
position = Northern Counties East League Division One, 9th
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pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=000088|body2=000088|rightarm2=000088|shorts2=000088|socks2=000088

Barton Town Old Boys Football Club is a football club based in Barton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire, England. For the 2008-09 season, they are members of the Northern Counties East League Division One.

The club was formed in 1995 after a merger of two of the most established clubs in Barton upon Humber; Barton Town FC and Barton Old Boys FC.

History

Barton Town was originally formed in 1880, and since 1927 played at Marsh Lane (a ground used to this day by the current club). Town was a founding member of the Lincolnshire League, winning it in 1960-61, before playing in higher leagues. They played in the Midland League and then, particularly, in the Yorkshire League. The club returned to the Lincolnshire League in the early 1980s, winning the first division title in 1981-82. Just 10 seasons later they folded due to lack of finances.

Barton Old Boys had been a member of the "Scunthorpe and District League" since 1959, eventually boasting two sides in the first and second divisions. Over a ten year period from the mid-1980s, Old Boys were one the most consistently successful teams in that league, culminating in 1994-95 when they won all four of the major Scunthorpe League competitions, a first at the time.

Merger

In order to progress the two clubs merged and started the 1995-96 season in the Lincolnshire League. After a disastrous start, the new Barton Town Old Boys finished a very creditable fourth and won the Lincolnshire County Senior "B" Cup. The following season saw the team's fortunes rise, winning the League and Challenge Cup double, since then another County Cup triumph and two more Challenge Cup titles had been added to the list of honours.

After five seasons in the "Lincolnshire League", things were starting to stale on and off the pitch for the club. They decided to move on to a new league in the form of the newly-formed Humber Premier League for the start of the 2000-01 season. Despite being the only side from south of the River Humber, the team performed well, finishing third.

However, in order to gain a foothold on the football pyramid, the decision was made to move on again. Consequently, the club joined the Central Midlands League for the start of the 2001-02 season, bringing in Leigh Palin as first team coach to work alongside manager Peter Mitchell. The move paid off as the team finished runners up in the Central Midlands League Premier Division, gaining automatic promotion to the Central Midlands League Supreme Division for the start of the 2002-03 season.

Changes in the early 2000s

Managerial changes were numerous during the early 2000s, first Palin left the club in October 2002 and was succeeded by Alex Irvine and former Hull City player Neil Buckley. The following season Buckley remained in sole charge of the club with long-serving Old Boys player Ian Durnian as assistant manager.

The club narrowly missed out on a top three finish in the 2004-05 season by drawing on the final day of the season. In the summer 2005 installation of state of the art floodlights took place at the Marsh Lane ground. Barton Town Old Boys stepped up and were crowned champions of the Central Midlands League Supreme Division in 2005-06.

Initially the club were prohibited promotion to the Northern Counties East League, because the ground was not up to the requirements. They spent another season in the CML Sumpreme Division and were allowed into the Northern Counties East League Division One for the 2007-08 season after improving their ground.

Honours

*Yorkshire Football League Division Two
**Champions: 1971-72, 1979-80 [Honours prior to 1995, achieved by Barton Town]
**Runners-up: 1964-65

*Central Midlands League Supreme Division [ [http://www.fchd.info/BARTOTOB.HTM FCHD.info] ]
**Champions: 2005-06

*Central Midlands League Premier Division
**Runners-up: 2001-02

*Humber Premier League
**Promoted: 2000-01

*Lincolnshire League
**Champions: 1996-97
**Runners-up: 1997-98, 1998-99
**Promoted: 1999-00

References