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The
Club was formed in 1895 at St Michael’s Church in Yorktown and were
called St Michael’s Camberley and initially played friendlies. As St
Michaels they won their first trophy within two seasons of formation, when
in the 1897/98 season the Club reached the final of the Surrey Junior Cup
where they beat Norwood & Selhurst 2-1 in the final. In 1900 St
Michaels looked set to fold and Camberley & Yorktown was formed by
members of the St Michaels committee to maintain a footballing presence in
the town. Camberley & Yorktown initially competed in the East &
West Surrey League and then the Ascot & District League, winning the
league title in 1904/05, 1907/08, 1908/09 and 1909/10 as well as finishing
runners up in 1903/04, 1905/06 and 1906/07. The Club went on to appear in
three Surrey Junior Cup Finals. The first of which came in 1907/08 when
Camberley & Yorktown took on Kingston at Woking and were beaten 2-0.
The 1908/09 season saw Camberley reach their second final where they
narrowly lost to Selhurst Park 1-0 The1909/10 season saw victory at last
as Camberley & Yorktown beat Sutton United 2-1 to win the trophy for
the first time.
The
1913/14 season saw Camberley & Yorktown make their first appearances
in the F.A. & F.A. Amateur Cups. On September 13th Camberley &
Yorktown played host to Sutton United and won 5-3 in their first F.A. Cup
match. The first F.A. Amateur Cup game did not have as good a result as
Camberley & Yorktown were soundly beaten 7-0 by the Royal Army Medical
Corps.They went on to win the West Surrey title that season. After the
Great War, Camberley & Yorktown decided to concentrate their efforts
on the Aldershot Senior League. They started the 1919/20 season well
scoring 26 goals in three pre-season friendlies which included a 15-0
record victory over a Royal Engineers side on September 20th, a record
that still stands today. In
1922 the Club submitted an application to join the Surrey Senior League
which was accepted and Camberley & Yorktown became founder members of
the league. They celebrated this by moving into the present ground at
Krooner Park. The 1930's saw unequalled success at Camberley &
Yorktown as the side won the Surrey Senior League Championship three times
in a row. Between 1930/31 and 1932/33 Camberley & Yorktown narrowly
missed out on another piece of silverware when they lost 2-1 to Beddington
Corner in the Surrey Senior League Charity Cup Final. The Club reached their 40th
anniversary in 1935/36 and celebrated it by reaching the Surrey Senior Cup
Final for the first time where they were beaten 3-1 by Wimbledon.
Camberley & Yorktown followed up the following season with another
appearance in the Surrey Senior League Charity Cup Final where they played
Walton on Thames and lost 5-0. In the 1937/38 season they went one
further, winning the Surrey Senior League Charity Cup with a 3-2 win over
Hersham. Upon
resumption Camberley & Yorktown dropped the Yorktown part of the name
and became known as Camberley FC. Krooner Park was not ready for use again
by the time the League resumed so the Club started the season at the
London Road Recreation Ground. Success was hard to obtain with only a
victory in the Surrey Senior Charity Cup in 1952 against Chertsey and a
further appearance in the same final three seasons later to show for their
efforts in the fifties and sixties. In 1967 discussions took place between the
two senior teams in the town, Camberley Wanderers and Camberley FC . The
two clubs decided that it made sense to merge and on 2nd June 1967 became
Camberley Town FC. The first success of the new Camberley Town came in the
1972/73 season when third place was achieved in the league and the League
Charity Cup Final was reached. They lost 3-2 to Westfield in the final at
Weybridge. In their bid to bring a higher grade of football to Camberley
Town joined the Spartan League in 1973, the Athenian League in 1975 and
then the Isthmian League in 1977. Promotion was achieved in 1979 along
with victory in the final of the Surrey Senior Cup where Leatherhead were
beaten 4-1 after extra time. Collapse followed and within three seasons
Camberley found themselves back in the Athenian League. The expansion of
the Isthmian League in 1985 gave Camberley a route back into the league
where they have remained ever since. Cup
success followed. In 1986 the Club enjoyed their best run in the F.A. Vase
reaching the quarter finals where they went out to eventual winners
Halesowen Town. In the nineties cup success continued, winning the
Aldershot Senior Cup two seasons running in 1996/97 and 1997/98. 1997/98
also saw Camberley reach the 4th Qualifying Round of the F.A. Cup
equalling their best performance since the thirties and they missed out on
promotion to Ryman Division 2 on the final day of the season after a run
that saw them lose one and draw twice in a run of 26 matches. In 1998/99
Camberley went one better in the F.A. Cup, reaching the 1st Round Proper
for the first time where they were knocked out by League Division 3 side
Brentford. The
1999/2000 season saw John Robson and Hugh Doyle appointed as the new
management team but Camberley struggled to pick up points in the league
and finished in the bottom five. John felt he had taken the side as far as
he could with the available finances and has decided to move on. Under his
guidance Camberley reached the final of the Aldershot Senior Cup where
they lost on penalties after a 3-3 draw. Recent season's have seen a number of managerial changes 2000/01 saw Trevor Norris hold the post. He held the post until October 2001 when Martin Pattison moved up from Assistant Manager to take over the team. Martin resigned a season later and was succeeded by Les Ryder who held the post until a few games into the 2003/04 season. Camberley's management team from early September consisted of the highly experienced Ken Ballard, who has been in non-league management for over 30 years with clubs including Staines Town and Kingstonian. Ken was assisted by a former Camberley player, Steve Atkins, and also Matt Palmer. Mixed results followed with a 9th Place finish in 2003-2004 and 12th in 2004-2005. Due to work commitments Steve Atkins announced his departure at the end of season function and Ken Ballard resigned in June 2005. Koo Dumbuya was appointed by the Chairman in July 2005 and he was assisted by Bob Barnes and Paul Barry. Paul Barry took full control of team affairs in Early March 2006. With the disbanding of Ryman League Division 2 Camberley were placed in the Cherry Red
Records Combined Counties League for the start of the 2006/07 season, and had
a good first campaign, finishing 7th after being just below
mid-table before Christmas. During the 2006/07 season, Ronnie Wilson took
over from Ian Waldren as Chairman in order to try and take Camberley on to
bigger and better things. Ronnie was instrumental in persuading former Welsh
International and Chelsea, Barnsley and Aldershot Town player Darren Barnard
to join the Club as Director of Football. While Darren has helped things
improve on the pitch, Camberley finished 3rd last season as well as
reaching the last 16 of the Vase last season, Ronnie has led the way behind
the scenes. For the start of the 2008/09 season, following extensive work on
the playing surface, Krooner Park will be in the best condition it has ever
been. Paul Barry, along with his assistants, Neil Woodyer and Keith
Benjamin, have strengthened the squad over the summer and will be looking
for a good season in 2008/09. |