Bristol Manor Farm F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Bristol Manor Farm
fullname = Bristol Manor Farm Football Club
nickname = The Farm
founded = 1968
ground = The Creek,
Bristol
capacity = 1,200
chairman = Geoff Sellek
manager = John Black
league = Western Football League
Premier Division
season = 2007–08
position = Western Football League
Premier Division, 16th

Bristol Manor Farm F.C. is an English football team who play in the Western Football League. They play their home games at The Creek, Bristol.

Club History

Bristol Manor Farm Football Club came to prominence in the local football scene in the late 1960's when they took over their ground at The Creek in Sea Mills, Bristol, which until then had been the site of the Port of Bristol Authority Sports and Social Club.

This enabled the club to apply successfully to join the Somerset Senior League where they were to progress rapidly through the divisions before deciding to advance further to the Western League in 1977. The club was to join the First Division for the 1977-78 season and remained there until the 1982-83 season when they won the First Division championship and gained promotion to the Premier Division, until relegation under Pete McCall's management team in 2001- 02. In 1983-84 they were to reach the final of the G.F.A. Challenge Trophy where they went down to Hellenic League side Shortwood United. They were also to lose in the final a few years later when they lost to Mangotsfield United, but the trophy did make its way to the Creek in 1987-88.

The pitch at the Creek has always been notorious for its sloping surface but work has been undertaken in recent years to eliminate the slope. This caused the club many problems initially, but they now appear to have achieved their aim. With seating and floodlights added since 1980, the club now boasts excellent facilities alongside a spacious clubhouse. For many years, Mike Fisher was manager at the Creek and brought the club much success, success that was carried on by Chris Rex. After a spell under former Bristol City player Alan Crawford, Chris Rex returned to the hot seat but parted company with the club during the summer of 1997, to be replaced by the management team of Geoff Bryant and John Black. Pete McCall was appointed manager for the 2001-02 season, which was to prove a particularly difficult one, with changes in administration, poor results and Pete himself leaving just before the end of the season. The result of all this upheaval was that the first team was relegated to the First Division.

2002-03 season saw Geoff Bryant back in charge, assisted by Steve Beecham, but after nine games of poor results they decided to resign. In their place came Shaun Bond as manager and Nicky Johns as coach. In addition we had a ladies team, no longer with us, managed by Terry Buffery, a return to the old club colours, new administration with Jon Scriven as secretary and a change of direction for the reserve team to the Suburban League with Steve Camm in the managers hot seat assisted by Nick Baldwin. The season also saw the return of the youth team, managed by Mike Shopland and Steve Wailer. With a new 100 seater stand named after our chairman Geoff Sellek , who has guided the club off the pitch and help from then vice-chairman Charlie Baldwin the club were again heading in the right direction.

This was proved the following season when the first team regained Premier Division status and the youth team also enjoyed success with promotion to the Somerset Floodlight Youth League Premier Division. The beginning of the 2004/05 season saw Manor Farm riding high at the top of the table for the first couple of months before dropping off the pace by Christmas. Their early season form never returned which eventually saw the departure of manager Shaun Bond from the club and the appointment of former Clevedon Town boss Steve Fey, although he mainly took a back seat until the last few games of the season allowing players Matt Baird and Mark Buxton to take on a dual caretaker-manager role.Seventh place was still a satisfactory final position despite their blistering start to the campaign and the success of the reserves in gaining promotion to the Suburban League Premier Two under Charlie Baldwin, as well as an impressive year for the youth team under Dale Dempsey and Andy Marshall in finishing third in the league and being losing finalists to Paulton Rovers in the Somerset Floodlight Youth Cup meant that the future was looking bright.

Only three of the previous squad remained for the start of the 2005/06 season as the appointment of former Brislington boss Nigel Gillard as assistant to Steve Fey heralded the start of a new era at Bristol Manor Farm.Their management brought Manor Farm its highest ever league position of 3rd place in the Premier division and this success resulted in an application from the club to join the Southern League which was turned down. Geoff Bryant rescued the youth teams season by taking charge after previous manager Dale Dempsey resigned just before the first league game. After keeping the team in the Premier division Geoff was rewarded by leading them to cup glory, defeating Mangotsfield United 3-0 in the Somerset Floodlight Youth League cup final.

September 2008 the club were expelled from the FA Vase for playing a suspended player against Fareham Town FC, a match which they won 3-0.

Reserve and Youth Teams

The reserve team has played in the Bristol & Suburban League since gaining promotion to the Premier Division 2 in the 2004/05 season. The youth team, who were formed in 2003, achieved promotion in their inaugural season to the Somerset Floodlight Youth League Premier Division and were beaten Somerset Cup finalists in 2005. The youth team won the Somerset Cup the following year [2006] beating Mangotsfield United in the Final.

Club details

*First team manager: John Black
*Assistant manager: Geoff Bryant
*Club Secretary: Andy Radford
*Biggest victory: 9-0 versus Weston St Johns in the Les Phillips Cup. Tuesday 29th January 2008.

References

*fchd|id=BRISTOMF|name=Bristol Manor Farmhttp://www.bristolmanorfarm.comOfficial Website