Telford United Football Club was an 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

Telford Telford () is a town in the Telford and Wrekin borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Shropshire, England. The wider borough covers the town, its suburbs and surrounding towns and villages. The town is close to the county's eastern b ...

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 ...

. The club existed under various names for a total of 132 years from its formation in 1872. The club was a founder member of the Alliance Premier League (later renamed 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 ...

) in 1979 and played at this level for 25 years. The club was known for memorable exploits in the FA Cup during the early 1980s and in the 2003–04 FA Cup as well as the 1970–71, 1982–83 and 1988–89 FA Trophies. After Telford United was wound up in 2004, supporters established a new club named

AFC Telford United AFC Telford United is a football club based in Telford, Shropshire, England. The club was formed in 2004 after the original Telford United F.C., founded in 1872, folded due to financial problems. They are currently members of the and play at ...

Club history

Parish Church Institute & Wellington Town

The club was formed in

Wellington, Shropshire Wellington is a market town and a civil parish in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. It is situated northwest of Telford and east of Shrewsbury, near the western terminus of the M54 motorway. The summit of The Wrekin lie ...

in late 1872 as Parish Church Institute, and in 1879 was renamed Wellington Town. They won the

Shropshire Senior Cup The Shropshire Senior Cup is a county cup football competition that is open for professional and non-professional senior football teams in the English county of Shropshire. The competition is one of the oldest cup competitions in the world, and ...

in 1881, and in 1892 were founder members of the

Shropshire 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 ...

. In 1898 they joined the Birmingham & District League. In 1901 they switched to

The Combination The Combination was a league during the early days of English football. It had two incarnations; the first ran only for the 1888–89 season for teams across Northern England and the Midlands, and was disbanded before completion. The second ...

and won the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...

, before returning to the Birmingham & District League in 1902. They won the Welsh Cup for a second time in 1906–07. They left the league again at the end of the 1905–06 season, but returned in 1908. In 1920–21 they won the league for the first time, and in 1925–26 reached the first 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 ...

for the first time, something they repeated for the next two seasons and again in 1929–30. In 1930–31 they reached the second round. The club won back-to-back titles in 1934–35 and 1935–36, before switching to the

Cheshire County League The Cheshire County League was a football league founded in the north west of England in 1919, drawing its teams largely from Cheshire, surrounding English counties and North Wales. Initially the league was dominated by the reserve teams of Fo ...

in 1938. However, they returned to the Birmingham & District League after a single season and went on to win the league and the Welsh Cup again in 1939–40. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

they joined the Cheshire County League, winning the title in 1945–46 and 1946–47 and again in 1951–52. In 1958 they moved up to the expanded Southern League, and were placed in the Premier Division for the 1959–60 season after a transitional year in the North-West Division.

Telford United

In 1969 the club was renamed Telford United in recognition of the new town which had grown around Wellington. In their first season under the new name they reached the final of the first

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 ...

, but lost 2–0 to

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an association football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 and from 1891 played home games at Moss Rose. It competed in the short ...

. They reached the final again the following year and won 3–2 against Hillingdon Borough. Following a third-place finish in 1978–79 they were founder members of the new

Alliance Premier League The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South. The National League ...

. In 1982, when Alliance Premier League champions

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

failed to meet Football League stadium requirements, Telford applied to join the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

, but their application was unsuccessful. During the 1980s the club had several good runs in the FA Cup, reaching the second round in 1982–83 when they knocked out Third Division

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

before losing to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

in a replay. They also reached the final of the FA Trophy again, winning 2–1 against

Northwich Victoria Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers River Weaver, Weaver and River Dane, Dane, east of Chester, south of Warr ...

. The following season they reached the fourth round, beating

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

and

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 ...

before losing to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

. In 1984–85 they reached the fifth round, knocking out Lincoln City,

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

before losing to Everton. They continued to claim League scalps, beating Stockport in 1985–86,

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

in 1986–87 and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

in 1991–92. They reached the FA Trophy final again in 1987–88, but lost to Enfield in a replay. The following season they reached the Trophy final for a fifth time, this time defeating Macclesfield 1–0. In the

2003–04 FA Cup The 2003–04 FA Cup was the 123rd staging of England and the world's oldest football competition, the FA Cup. The competition began on 23 August 2003, with the lowest-ranked of the entrants competing in the Extra preliminary round. In the third r ...

the club knocked out both

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 ...

and

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

before losing to eventual finalists

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

. They also reached the semi-finals of the FA Trophy, but lost on penalties to

Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames Estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics. ...

. They folded at the end of the season, due to the

business failure __NOTOC__ Business failure refers to a company ceasing operations following its inability to make a profit (accounting), profit or to bring in enough revenue to cover its expenses. A profitable business can fail if it does not generate adequa ...

of owner Andy Shaw in March, but the name was resurrected shortly afterwards by the creation of

Colours

The club's traditional colours were white shirts and black shorts, although from at least 1885 to 1906 the club wore scarlet.

Honours

As Wellington Town: *Welsh Cup **Winners: 1901–02, 1905–06, 1939–40 *Cheshire County League **Champions: 1945–46, 1946–47, 1951–52 *Birmingham & District League **Champions: 1920–21, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1939–40 As Telford United F.C.: *FA Trophy **Winners: 1970–71, 1982–83, 1988–89

Club records

*Record attendance: 13,000 vs

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

, Shropshire Senior Cup Final. *Record win: 7–1 vs Frickley Athletic, 13 February 1982 *Best FA Cup performance: Fifth round, 1984–85 *Best FA Trophy performance: Winners 1970–71, 1982–83, 1988–89

References

External links

* {{Authority control Association football clubs established in 1872 Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in Shropshire Southern Football League clubs National League (English football) clubs Association football clubs disestablished in 2004 Sport in Telford 1872 establishments in England 2004 disestablishments in England Wellington, Shropshire Cheshire County League clubs Welsh Cup winners