Slough Town Football Club is a semi-professional English
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
Slough
Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...
,
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
. Nicknamed "The Rebels", the team competes in the
National League South
The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National League (English football), National Leagues and step ...
, at the sixth tier of English football, following promotion from the
Southern League at the end of the 2017–18 season.
History
The history of the club began in 1890 when three teams
Swifts, Slough Albion and Young Men's Friendly Society formed a new club, Slough F.C., between them. The team initially played in the
Southern Alliance alongside the likes of
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...
and
Windsor & Eton before later moving on to the
Great Western Suburban League. During this time, Slough developed its first major rivalry with
Windsor & Eton. The rivalry is still known today as the
Thames River Derby and is played between Slough and
Windsor & Eton (2023). In 1921, Slough attempted to join the
Isthmian League
The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs.
Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...
but lost out to
Wycombe Wanderers
Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system.
Founded in 188 ...
in the voting. Instead Slough chose to join the
Spartan League
The Spartan League was a football league in England covering London and adjacent counties. Established in 1907, it merged with the South Midlands League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands League.
History
The Spartan League was establi ...
.
In 1936, the owners of the club's ground, The
Godolphin Stadium, sold up to a greyhound racing consortium, which ordered the football club to vacate the stadium three years later. After being forced to groundshare with
Maidenhead United for several years, the club agreed to a merge with Slough Centre F.C. to return to a ground in their home town. The new club took the name Slough United F.C.
After The Second World War Slough United was reluctant to rejoin the Spartan League and led a breakaway movement to form a new league, which became the
Corinthian League. It was from this that the club derived its nickname of "The Rebels". Shortly after this the two clubs which had merged to form
Slough United separated once again, with the former Slough F.C. continuing under the new name of Slough Town F.C.
Slough Town won the Corinthian League in 1950–51 but in 1964 the league folded and Slough, along with many other former Corinthian clubs, joined an expanded
Athenian League
The Athenian League was an England, English amateur association football, football league for clubs in and around London. The league was originally to be called the Corinthian League,Athenian Football League minutes 1912-1921 (National Football ...
. The Rebels were champions of this league on three occasions, with the third win earning promotion to the
Isthmian League
The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs.
Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...
in 1973. During the 1980s, they were league champions on two occasions, the second of which brought promotion to the
Football Conference
The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...
. Slough lasted four seasons at this level, were relegated back to the Isthmian League, bounced back at the first attempt, and then played three more seasons of Conference football. In 1998, the consortium which had bought the club out of receivership seven years earlier decided that they were not prepared to pay for ground improvements required to remain in the Conference, and so the club was demoted back to the Isthmian League despite having finished in 8th place.
Further relegation to the Isthmian League Division One followed in 2000–01 but the club regained its Premier Division status in 2003–04 and remained there until the end of the 2006–07 season, when they finished bottom and conceded over 120 goals. In the
2004–05 season, Slough knocked
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...
of
Football League One
The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...
out of the
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 ...
. Highlights of the game were shown on Match of the Day, though because of the team sharing the Stag Meadow ground at the time, the programme showed overhead shots of Windsor instead of Slough when introducing the rarely featured team. Slough transferred over to the
Southern Football League Division One South & West for the 2007–08 season, where they finished 21st out of 22 teams. Although initially relegated (for the second year running), they were one of the teams given a provisional reprieve after
Halifax Town went into administration.
In the season of 2004–05, Slough Town beat
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...
to reach the 2nd round of the
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 ...
however they then lost to
Yeading
Yeading ( ) is a settlement in west London, forming part of the London Borough of Hillingdon, having been developed after the Second World War.
Etymology
Yeading is very early Saxon and was originally ''Geddingas'' or ''Geddinges'', meaning " ...
. Slough Town were also the Isthmian League Cup winners in 2004–05 after they beat
Hampton & Richmond Borough 3–1 in the final with 2 goals from Ian Hodges and 1 from Josias Carbon to help them secure the win and the silverware.
Over the next two seasons, and now playing in the
Southern Football League Division One Midlands, Slough's performance continued to improve. In the 2009–10 season, Slough Town finish 5th in the table, qualifying the team for the promotion play-off matches. Having beaten second-placed
Hitchin Town 2–1 in the play-off semi-final, Slough lost 4–0 to
Chesham United in the final, meaning they had to remain in the same division for the 2010–11 season. Once again they finished 5th in the 2010–11 season, but lost to
Hitchin Town in the play-off semi-final 4–1.
Having come close to promotion to the Premier Division in the last few seasons, including two play-off final defeats, Slough parted company with manager Steve Bateman following the 2012–13 season after four years at the helm, the last of which saw them miss out on the play-offs by a solitary point. The club looked to take a new direction in 2013–14 and appointed Neil Baker and Jon Underwood, the management duo who had taken league rivals
Godalming Town to the play-offs in the previous season. With Godalming forced to relocate to the South & West Division following their failure to win the play-offs, the majority of their squad decided to follow Baker and Underwood to Slough. In their very first season, the new management team steered the club to promotion via the play-offs. Slough claimed a 3–0 victory at
Rugby Town in the semi-final before winning the play-off final against
Kettering Town in front of 2,331 at Kettering's home of Latimer Park on 5 May 2014. Slough trailed 0–2 at half-time before staging a second half comeback. Two goals from Johnnie Dyer brought the Rebels level before James McClurg scored the goal that ultimately returned Slough Town to the third tier of non-league football after several years away.
The 2017–18 season was one of their best for many years. In December, they reached the second round of the
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 ...
against
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...
at home. The game was televised by
BT Sport
TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched as B ...
and Slough lost 4–0. With records broken for points attained and goals scored they went on to finish 3rd in the league. Slough were in play off action again. After a home 3–1 win against
Kettering Town, they played away to
King's Lynn Town in the final. By virtue of an 89th-minute winner from
Manny Williams, they won 2–1 and thus secured promotion to the
National League South
The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National League (English football), National Leagues and step ...
for the forthcoming season.
Ground

Slough Town started the 2016–17 season playing their early home games at Holloways Park, Windsor Road, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. They moved back into the borough of Slough for the first time in over a decade on 29 August 2016 when they played their first game at the new ground, Arbour Park, against
Hayes and Yeading United, winning 2–1.
The pitch at Arbour Park is 3G and has been approved by FIFA, one of only 24 to be so in the UK.
For many years since the 1930s, Slough Town played at the Godolphin Stadium, just to the east of the town centre. From 1973 Slough Town played at the Wexham Park Stadium. At the end of the 2002–03 season, financial disagreements with the stadium's owners led to the club's eviction. The Stadium is still in existence, but has since fallen into a state of serious disrepair. During the next four seasons (2003–04 to 2006–07) the club was based in
Windsor, ground-sharing with
Windsor & Eton at their Stag Meadow ground. In the summer of 2007, the club agreed a three-year ground-share with
Beaconsfield SYCOB. This was extended to cover the 2010–11 season, and continued until Slough moved into their new ground, Arbour Park, on 29 August 2016.
In June 2009, Slough Town made a proposal that was submitted to
Slough Borough Council for permission to build a new stadium within the Borough of Slough. The proposed location for the development was the Arbour Vale school site on Stoke Road, to the north of the town. In addition to a state-of-the-art stadium, the plans included affordable housing and sports fields. An artist's impression of the new ground was released in March 2012. In 2018, after opening two years prior, Arbour Park hosted a number of games in the
2018 CONIFA World Football Cup.
Players
Current squad
:''Updated 16 June 2025''
Club staff
Club records
*Record league win: 17–0 v Railway Clearing House, 4 March 1922
*Record cup win: 16–0 v Wolverton, 7 December 1935
*Record league defeat: 9–0 v
Aylesbury United, 20 April 1929 and 9–0 v
AFC Wimbledon
AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system.
The club was founded in ...
, Saturday, 31 March 2007
*Record cup defeat: 11–1 v
Chesham Town 5 February 1910
*Record transfer fee paid: £18,000 for
Colin Fielder from
Farnborough Town in 1991
*Record transfer fee received: £25,000 for
Lloyd Owusu from
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has dive ...
in 1998
*Best
Berks & Bucks Senior Cup run: Winners 11 times (1902–03, 1919–20, 1923–24, 1926–27, 1935–36, 1954–55, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1976–77, 1980–81, 2018–19)
*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 ...
run: Second round proper 8 times (1970–71, 1979–80, 1982–83, 1985–86, 1986–87, 2004–05, 2017–18 and 2018–19)
*Best
FA Trophy
The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...
run: Semi-finalists (1976–77 and 1997–98)
*Best
FA Amateur Cup
The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status.
History
Following the legalisation of professionalism within footb ...
run: Finalists (1972–73)
*Youngest ever player in a match day squad: Oliver Spicer, 16 years 11 months (12 August 2023 vs Dover Athletic)
Former players
Sources
*
*
*
References
External links
Official site
*
Unofficial sites
RebelsOnline– independent Slough Town FC websitegoal
Slough Town Soapbox – Matchday Programme feature articlesHorshamRebel – Slough Town Match Photo website
{{Coord, 51, 31, 11.4528, N, 0, 35, 17.4156, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title
Football clubs in England
Southern Football League clubs
Sport in Slough
Association football clubs established in 1890
Isthmian League clubs
Corinthian League (football)
Athenian League
Football clubs in Berkshire
1890 establishments in England
National League (English football) clubs
Great Western Suburban League