Ludlow Town F.C.
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Ludlow Town F.C. was a
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club based in
Ludlow Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...
,
Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
.


History

Ludlow Town Football Club was founded in 1890 and played on council grounds around the town until 1981 when they acquired their own facilities at The Riddings Park. The club played in the South Shropshire, North Herefordshire, Kidderminster and Shropshire County Leagues until 1978 when their success in local football was rewarded with election to the
West Midlands (Regional) League The West Midlands (Regional) League is an English association football competition for semi-professional and amateur teams based in the West Midlands county, Shropshire, Worcestershire, southern Staffordshire and northern Herefordshire. It has tw ...
Division Two. In their debut season they won the title to clinch promotion to Division One. The club was mainly a mid-table side until 1990–91 when they finished as runners-up in Division One to Cradley Town, unfortunately they were denied promotion as their ground did not come up to the required standard. After ground improvements were made, the club was elected into the Premier Division in 1994 and during their first season at that level also reached the Premier League Cup Final and won the Shropshire County Cup and the Presteigne Otway Cup. In 1995 Town merged with local rivals Ludlow Colts, as the town was proving unable to sustain two clubs. In 2000 Les Bristow took over as manager and led the club to the championship of the Premier Division, dominating the division with just one loss all season and 100 goals scored. This saw the club promoted to the
Midland Football Alliance The Midland Football Alliance was an English association football league for semi-professional teams. It covered Leicestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire and also southern parts of Derbyshire and No ...
, where they spent four seasons before succumbing to relegation in 2005. During this time they also re-located to their new ground, the SBS Stadium, located on Bromfield Road on the northern outskirts of the town. Ludlow finished 10th in the Premier Division of the West Midlands (Regional) League in 2009–10. However, in 2010 the club announced its intention to withdraw from that League with immediate effect and drop three levels to the
Shropshire County Premier Football League The Shropshire County Premier Football League was an English association football league based in the county of Shropshire. The league, usually known as the Shropshire County League, was founded in 1950 and in the final season had two divisions w ...
, due to financial difficulties. The team merged with their reserve side, which already played in the Shropshire County League, and they played their final seasons in the Premier Division of that League, finishing 3rd in the 2010–11 season and 6th in their final season of 2011–12. With the folding of the Shropshire Alliance in 2011, the Colts team joined the County League's Division One in 2011–12, as Ludlow Town Reserves. In July 2012 the club entered
receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...
, with debts exceeding £400,000.Shropshire Star
Ludlow Town Football Club goes into receivership (18 July 2012)


Stadium

Town moved to The SBS Stadium which was opened by Sir
Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (11 October 1937 – 21 October 2023) was an English professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, left winger or centre-forward. Widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member ...
in 2002 after selling their previous home at The Riddings Park for housing. It boasts a well-appointed main stand with physio room and club offices, and two 'full-sized'
floodlit A floodlight is a broad-beamed, high-intensity artificial light. It can provide functional area lighting for travel-ways, parking, entrances, work areas, and sporting venues to enable visibility adequate for safe task performance, ornamenta ...
football pitches (one grass, one artificial). In 2004 it hosted an international match between the England learning difficulties football team and their German counterparts. On 3 August 2008 it also hosted a Legends Match between
Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
and
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
. A deal to sell the ground (and lease it back to the club) to cancel out the club's considerable debts in 2011 failed. This was a major factor in the club's folding in 2012. The stadium was eventually sold in April 2013 to a consortium fronted by local businessman Matt Davies. At the time, Davies said he planned to use it for various sports. However the following year Davies announced that "I'm intending to close the club – that's the long and short of it". The stadium and its several pitches, already pre-zoned for residential development, were finally closed to sports teams in July 2014. However Powys businessman Roy Delves, owner of ''Tuffins'' supermarkets, acquired a controlling stake with promises to safeguard the stadium for the foreseeable future. However, in September 2017 Shrewsbury Town in the Community struck a deal to lease the stadium to develop football across the community and to upgrade the under used facilities.


Honours

*West Midlands (Regional) League **Premier Division champions 2000–01 **Division Two champions 1978–79 *Shropshire County Challenge Cup **Winners 1973–74, 1993–94, 1994–95 and 1996–97


Club records

*Best league performance: 10th in Midland Football Alliance, 2001–02 *Best
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...
performance: 2nd qualifying round, 2004–05 *Best
FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...
performance: 1st round, 2003–04 and 2004–05


See also

* Shropshire#Football


References


External links


Official website
{{coord, 52, 22, 50.48, N, 2, 43, 54.05, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in Shropshire Association football clubs established in 1890 Association football clubs disestablished in 2012 1890 establishments in England 2012 disestablishments in England Ludlow Shropshire County Premier Football League Kidderminster & District Football League