Southwick F.C.


Southwick Football Club is a football club based in Southwick, West Sussex, England. The club was founded in 1882 and was among the founding members of the Sussex County League, which they have won six times. Nicknamed The Wickers, they are currently members of the and play at Old Barn Way.
Southwick play in red and black stripes with black shorts and socks. The club's traditional rivals are near neighbours Shoreham, however the two clubs have not competed in the same division for some years. However, both clubs will be competing in the same league for the 2019/2020 season. Southwick currently enjoy a fierce, if good natured, rivalry with nearby Mile Oak.

History

Founded in 1882, the club became founding members of the West Sussex Football League in 1896. They became the first winners of the league, and successfully defended the title the following season. In 1920 they joined the Sussex County League as one of its founder members. They went on to win the championship four times between 1923 and 1948, and finished runners-up on a further four occasions.
In 1952 the club left the league for two seasons to compete in the Metropolitan & District League but, after finishing bottom in 1954, rejoined the County League. The following season saw Southwick relegated to Division Two. John Shepherd took over as player manager in 1964–65 and the club were promoted to Division One after finishing as runners-up to Sidley United. In 1968, Shepherd led the club to victory in the Sussex Senior Cup, beating Athenian League Horsham 5–3 in front of a crowd of 4,261 at the Goldstone Ground, and the following season they finished as Division One Champions.
In the 1974–75 season, they reached the FA Cup first round for the first and, to date, only time in its history but lost 5-0 away to AFC Bournemouth. Under Ray McCarthy in 1982–83 they were Division One runners-up and runners-up in the County Challenge Cup.
In 1984 Southwick left the County League to join the Combined Counties League. The following year the Wickers were promoted to Division Two of the Isthmian League after finishing as runners-up. At the end of the 1985–86 season, Southwick were promoted to Isthmian League Division One as champions of Division Two South.
In January 1990 the club was incorporated into a company registered as Southwick football club Limited Two successive relegations from 1990–91 and they opted to rejoin the County League for a third time in 1992–93, taking their place in Division Two.
Charismatic chairman Roy Pollard arrived promising "A brave new world" in 1993. He installed Barry Noonan as his right-hand man, but a succession of managers came and went including Russell Bromage and Paul Hubbard. Pollard left in 1997 moving to Southern Spain leaving Noonan at the helm. Southwick finished bottom of Sussex County Football League Division One in 2005–06 and was relegated to Division Two.
New managers Lloyd Saunders and Roger Feest took charge for the 2010–11 season.
John Kilgarriff took over as manager midway through the 2013-14 season and guided the club to safety. The Company registered as Southwick football club Limited was dissolved on 11 May
2014, the last day of the season - Assets were transferred to Southwick F.C. Limited The 2014-15 season was a success as he guided them to the Sussex County Division 3 title and a cup win in the Sussex Intermediate Cup. The good form continued into the 2015-16 season and a 5th-place finish was secured. With the recent success the club entered the FA Cup for the first time in some years in the 2016-17 season however fell at the first hurdle against Cray Valley PM. Silverware was nearly gained as the team made it through to the Southern Combination Division One Cup Final however Langney Wanderers came out 3-0 winners. The club finished in a safe mid table finish however John Kilgarriff left the club with 1 game remaining.
For the 2017/18 season the club appointed Tony Gratwicke and Jeff Piner as joint managers. In September 2017 the club appointed former Brighton & Hove Albion Ladies coach Curtis Foster as manager of the first team.
Foster left the club in December 2017, the position of manager was taken up by experienced player Justin Gregory on a temporary basis which was made permanent in January 2018.
The club had a difficult season, being bottom of the league for most of the year and eventually finished bottom of the table. Justin Gregory left the managers position in May 2018. Former Mile Oak manager Ben Shoulders took over as manager soon after, ready for the 2018/19 season which will once again be in Division One after the club gained a reprieve from relegation.
After a difficult start to the season, Ben Shoulders left the managerial position in December 2018 and the experienced Sammy Donnelly was appointed on New Year's Eve to try and stabilise the club.
The club's main shirt sponsor is Lextons, an estate agency.

Ground

The club stadium is at Old Barn Way, Southwick, BN42 4NT. Currently, in addition to a standing capacity of 1,950, there is seating at the ground for a further 50 supporters in the John Shepherd Stand.
The stadium was the first in the Sussex County Football League to install floodlights, in 1968.
A £100,000 grant from the Football Stadia Improvement Trust in 2003 enabled the club to build a new, modern changing room block. The new building incorporated a directors' and officials' lounge, with windows fronting on to the pitch, and also a brick-built press box which has since been demolished.
The ground used to feature a small wooden grandstand flanked either side by terracing, however the grandstand was lost to a fire in the 1990s and the terracing was taken away in the early 2000s. There also used to be cover at the Old Barn End at the ground but this fell into disrepair in the early 2000s.

Honours

League honours

  1. Players that have played/managed in the football league or any foreign equivalent to this level.
  2. Players with full international caps.