Kingstonian F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Kingstonian


fullname = Kingstonian Football Club
nickname = The K's
founded = November 9, 1885
ground = Kingsmeadow (Shared)
Kingston upon Thames
Surrey
England
capacity = 4,500
chairman = Mark Anderson, Malcolm Winwright
manager = Alan Dowson
league = Isthmian League Division One South
season = 2007-08
position = Isthmian League Division One South, 7th
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pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
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Kingstonian Football Club are an English, semi-professional football club that are playing in the Isthmian League First Division South for the 2008-09 season.

The club plays at Kingsmeadow in Kingston upon Thames - a complex built by the club with local council backing in 1989, after leaving their traditional Richmond Road ground. The club now shares Kingsmeadow with AFC Wimbledon, who in 2004 purchased the lease to the ground from Kingstonian's controversial Chairman at the time, Rajesh Khosla.

History

Kingstonian has a proud tradition dating back to 1885. The club had a lot of success in the 1930s winning the FA Amateur Cup in 1933 along with numerous other competitions in that decade. They also enjoyed a period of great success more recently, winning the Isthmian League in 1998 and the FA Trophy in 1999 and 2000 at Wembley Stadium under renowned manager Geoff Chapple, before beating two Football League clubs - Brentford 3-1 away and Southend United 1-0 away - on their way to the FA Cup fourth round proper in 2001, where they were seconds away from beating Bristol City before succumbing to a late winner in the replay.

Relegation and financial problems saw a sharp downturn in the club's fortunes between 2001 and 2005. However, in February 2005 Khosla stepped down as Chairman, selling the club to Jimmy Cochrane. While this did not save Kingstonian from relegation that year, the 2005-06 season saw Kingstonian Football Club revitalised. They only narrowly missed out on the promotion playoffs after an excellent run of form after Christmas and finished their season by beating AFC Wimbledon in the final of the Surrey Senior Cup at Woking FC's Ground by one goal to nil.

Changes continued during the summer of 2006 with Mark Anderson and Malcolm Winwright taking charge of the club, installing Stuart McIntyre as successor to Ian McDonald in the role of head coach. However McIntyre's stay in the role was brief and unsuccessful with he himself being replaced by Alan Dowson at the start of 2007 after a run of poor results. Under Dowson the club has stabilised and has seen an improvement in its fortunes. The season ended with a 2-1 defeat to Eastbourne Town and coupled with a win by Dulwich Hamlet, Kingstonian ended the season in seventh.

Due to an administrative oversight Kingstonian were expelled from the 2007-8 Surrey Senior Cup final for fielding an ineligible player. Ironically their opponents Tooting and Mitcham FC, who had lost the match 4-0, were also thrown out of the competition for a similar offence that could only occur in the semi finals and finals of this cup.

They have reached the fourth round proper of the FA Cup in season 2000-01.

Current squad

"As of September 21 2008:"

Managers

"As of 25 June, 2008."

League history

Honours

*FA Trophy winners 1999, 2000
*FA Amateur Cup winners 1933; runners up 1960
*Conference League Cup runners up 2000, 2001
*Conference Charity Shield winners 1999; runners up 2000
*Isthmian League winners 1934, 1937, 1998; runners up 1948, 1963
*Isthmian League Cup winners 1996; runners up 1982
*Isthmian League Charity Shield winners 1995, 1998
*Surrey Senior Cup winners 1911, 1914, 1926, 1931, 1932, 1935, 1939, 1952, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1998, 2006; runners up 1907, 1937, 1948, 1950, 1973, 1991, 2003
*London Senior Cup winners 1963, 1965, 1987; runners up 1924, 1926, 1931, 1947, 1984
*Trevor Jones Memorial Trophy winners 2003, 2006; runners up 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008

Notable former players

*flagicon|England Dave Leworthy (1997-2000, 2006) - David has played league football for Portsmouth, Tottenham Hotspur, Oxford United and Reading F.C., before being the subject of a record non-league transfer fee when moving to Dover Athletic from Farnborough Town. He remains Kingstonian's record signing, joining for £18,000 from Rushden & Diamonds at the start of the 1997/98 Isthmian League winning campaign, going on to score 66 goals in 146 appearances for the K's.
*flagicon|England Gavin Holligan (1998, 2001) - Gavin Holligan, a young promising striker for the K's, was sold to Premiership club West Ham United for a club record fee of £150k
*flagicon|France Amara Simba (2000) - Amara Simba was a former full international for France, winning 3 caps and scoring 1 goal for his country under the reign of Michel Platini in 1991/1992, Simba won the FA Trophy with Kingstonian in 2000.
*flagicon|New Zealand Scott Smith (2003-2005, 2006) - Scott became the first K's player to gain full international honours since the 1930s when he appeared for the Kiwi's during their 2003 Confederations Cup campaign in France.
*flagicon|England Giles Coke (2004-2005) - Midfielder who played for Kingstonian in the 2004/05 season before progressing to league football with Mansfield Town.

External links

* [http://www.kingstonian.net/ Official Site]
* [http://www.geocities.com/kingstonianfc/index.html Kingstonian.co.nr - unofficial fansite of the K's!]