Bath City F.C.

Football club infobox | clubname = Bath City


fullname = Bath City Football Club
nickname = Stripes/City/The Romans
founded = 1889 as Bath AFC.
ground = Twerton Park, Bath
capacity = 8,800
chairman = flagicon|England Geoff Todd
manager = flagicon|England John Relish
managing director = flagicon|England Paul Williams
Life President = flagicon|England Frank Entwistle
league = Conference South
season = 2007-08
position = Conference South, 8th
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=_blackstripes|pattern_ra1=

leftarm1=000000|body1=FFFFFF|rightarm1=000000|shorts1=000000|socks1=000000
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=3BB9FF|body2=3BB9FF|rightarm2=3BB9FF|shorts2=ffffff|socks2=3BB9FF
shirtsupplier= Jooma
shirtsponsors= SN Scaffolds shirtsupplier= Jooma
shirtsponsors= SN Scaffolds

Bath City F.C. are a football club based in Bath, Somerset, currently playing in the Conference South. They play in a strip of black and white shirts, black shorts and black socks. Their manager (since June 2005) is John Relish. Over the last 10 years they flirted with both relegation and promotion from the Southern League but neither had occurred since 1997 prior to promotion recently achieved in the 2006-7 season. They have an excellent cup tradition, reaching the FA cup third round no less than six times. In 2004 they continued this when they lost in the FA Cup second round to Peterborough United and in the third round of the FA Trophy by Canvey Island F.C.. In the 2005-2006 season they finished second in the league but lost to Bedford Town in the playoff semi final. In 2006-07 they went one better and won the Southern League championship.

History

Bath City's history is confined entirely to non-league football partly because of the election system formerly used to control entrance to the Football League.

In 1889 Bath City were formed as Bath AFC and in 1908 joined the Western League Division Two. For the 1921-22 season they moved up to Southern League, English section. Here they remained until the Second World War when they were by chance accepted to join the temporary Division Two Northern Division competing with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Everton, finishing the eventual champions, thereby becoming the only semi-professional side ever to win a Football League trophy. After the War they were forced to resume playing in the Southern League which they won in the 1959-60 season. A year later were runners up in the same league. Over the next thirteen years they were three times relegated into and again promoted from the Southern League Division one. In the 1977-78 season they won the Southern League title for a second time. For the next season they fell short of election to the Football League by a narrow margin [http://www.footballsite.co.uk/Statistics/LeagueTables/Season1977-78/Div41977-78.htm] so they became founder members of the Alliance Premier League, now the Blue Square Premier. In 1989 however they were relegated back to the Southern League but were promoted back next season. Here they remained until they were relegated once more to the Southern League in 1997.

They narrowly missed out on promotion to the Conference South in the season 2005-06 season finishing second in the Southern League and lost to Bedford Town F.C.. However the following season they won promotion as winners of the Southern League under new manager John Relish.

They finished in 8th position in the Conference South in the 2007-08 season. In the same season they developed a local arrangement to establish a junior footballing set-up called Bath City Youth.

Ground

Twerton Park became Bath City's ground in 1932. It can hold nearly 9,000 spectators with over 1,000 seated. It is currently shared with Team Bath F.C. who are a full-time professional team, who play in the Conference South . This is larger than most grounds of clubs in equivalent divisions and is known to be one of a few of the last remaining 'classically British' football grounds in England. In the past it has been shared with Bristol Rovers, a Football League club and has hosted an epic league decider between Rovers and Bristol City, a fiercely competitive derby. Twerton Park is located in Twerton, a suburb of Bath. Bath City's Main Sponsors are SN Scaffolds, a local scaffolding firm.

Club records

* Best league position: 4th in Conference (level 5), 1984-85
* Best FA Cup performance: 3rd round replay, 1963-64 and 1993-94
* Best FA Trophy performance: 3rd round replay, 1991-2 and 1995-96

Notable former players

*flagicon|England Tony Book
*flagicon|England Jason Dodd
*flagicon|England Ray Drinkwater
*flagicon|England Stan Mortensen
*flagicon|England Bobby Zamora
*flagicon|Northern Ireland Paddy Sloan
*flagicon|Scotland Charlie Fleming
*flagicon|Wales Paul Bodin
*flagicon|England Alan Skirton

Notable former managers

*flagicon|Northern Ireland Paddy Sloan
*flagicon|England Malcolm Allison
*flagicon|Wales Paul Bodin

Current squad

ources

*
* [http://www.southern-football-league.co.uk/directory0607/clubsPrem/history/bathHist.rtf Club history]
* [http://www.bathcityfc.com/index2.htm Player lists]

External links

* [http://www.bcyfc.co.uk/ Bath City Youth FC Website]

* [http://www.bathcityfc.com/ Unofficial Website]