Aldershot
Formed 1926
Elected to Division Three (South) 1932. Resigned 1992
Kit History
1926-1939 a e
1944-1948 a
1948-1952 a
1952-1954 a
1954-1956 a
1956-1960 a
1960-1961 a d
1961-1962 a
1962-1963 a
1963-1970 a
1970-1972 a h
1972-1976 a
1976-1977 a
1977-1981 a f
1981-1983 f
1983-1984 a
1984-1985 a c d
1985-1986 a
1986-1987 a c f
1987-1988 f
1988-1989 a c f
Aug-Dec 1989 g
Jan-May 1990 g
1990-1991 a b d f
1991-Jan 1992 a c
Feb-March 1992 g
Background
Aldershot were formed when
Jack White, a sports journalist working for a national newspaper who had
moved into the area, persuaded council officials that the garrison town
needed a professional football club. The chosen colours were red and blue, to reflect the garrison town's association with the Army.
The following season (1927-28) Aldershot
were admitted to the Southern League (East Section) and began their campaign
for admittance to the Football League. In 1930, they won the Southern
League Championship and two years later they were admitted to the Football
League. During the war the team benefited from numerous guest players who were stationed at Aldershot Barracks.
Further success was, however, elusive to say the least and "The Shots" languished in Division Three (South). After the war there was no improvement and it was not until 1973 that the club won promotion for the first time, finishing fourth in Division Four. In 1954 the crest of the borough of Aldershot appeared on their shirts.
In 1981 the club commissioned a new badge, a modern design based on the truncated icosahedron that was the most common design for footballs at the time.
During the 1980s, the Shots came close to promotion several times before beating Wolves in the first play-off finals, introduced in the 1986-87 season. After struggling to retain their place in the Third Division, they were relegated back to the Fourth in 1989, rock bottom and 17 points adrift. With debts mounting, the club's priority became survival and, after going into administration, they finished 22nd (out of 24). On 31 July, 1990, the club was actually wound up in the High Court, where the administrator described them as "hopelessly insolvent" with debts of £495,000 (comparatively trivial by today's standards) but were given a reprieve when 19 year-old property developer, Spencer Trethewy, bought the club for £200,000 and Aldershot were able to start the new season. It soon became apparent that Trethewy did not have the funds to keep the club running and he was removed in November 1990. (Trethewy later served a two-year sentence for fraud.) Aldershot struggled on to the end of the season (finishing next to last).
With the club continuing to struggle at the bottom of the league and debts spiraling out of control, the directors finally admitted defeat and on 25 March, 1992, Aldershot FC was wound up in the High Court for the second time. As a
result they became the first club since Accrington Stanley to resign from
the League during the course of a season. Ironically their shirt sponsor had gone bankrupt a couple of months earlier and the team played out their remaining fixtures in unsponsored shirts.
Within a few months a new club, Aldershot Town FC was formed. Playing in the traditional red and blue of their predecessors, Town joined the Isthmian League Third Division. By the new millennium they had climbed into the National Conference and in April 2008 they were promoted to the Football League as Conference champions.
Sources
- (a) aldershotfc.has.it An exceptional site that features rare team and action photographs of Aldershot created by Mark Elliott.
- (b) David King
- (c) jumpers4goalposts.com
- (d) Keith Ellis (HFK Research Associate)
- (e) Tim Hewlett
- (f) Christopher Worrall
- (g) Martin Gooday
- (h) Gary Austin