Gosport Borough F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Gosport Borough


fullname = Gosport Borough Football Club
nickname = The Boro'
founded = 1944
ground = Privett Park, Gosport (known as Kawns Stadium)
capacity = 4,500
chairman = John Stimpson
manager = Alex Pike
league = Southern League
Division One South & West
season = 2007–08
position = Southern League
Division One South and West, 11th
Ground = Privett Park pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=FFFF00|body1=FFFF00|rightarm1=FFFF00|shorts1=2F5FD0|socks1=FFFF00| pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FF0000|body2=FF0000|rightarm2=FF0000|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=000000

Gosport Borough Football Club are a semi-professional football club based in Gosport, England. They were founded just two weeks after the D-Day landings in 1944 (as Gosport Borough Athletic Club) in an initiative to bring back organised football, athletics, swimming and cycling to the town of Gosport after a break of several years.

The early years

In their first season (1944-45), the football section of the Club won the Portsmouth and District League Division 1 under the guidance of former Southampton F.C. player, Stan Cribb. The line-up at that time included Jimmy Scoular and Peter Harris who both went on to become full internationals.

For their second season, the club were accepted into the Hampshire League and won the Division 1 title at their first attempt. This feat was not repeated for thirty-one seasons despite being a major force in Hampshire football during that period.

The Southern League years

After winning the Hampshire League title in successive seasons (1976-77 and 1977-78), Gosport was elected to the Southern League. In the team's first four seasons they never finished outside the top four and when the League was restructured for the start on the 1982-83 season, Gosport were placed in the Premier Division.

Two years later Boro' lost their Premier Division status and wererelegated to the Southern Division. However the next season saw the team bounce straight back after an incredible run of sixteen wins in the final nineteen matches. In fact, Gosport still needed to win the final match to be certain of promotion and in front of a home crowd in excess of 1,500 they demolished Salisbury 5-0.

In the 1987-88 season the team were once again threatened with relegation. In fact until the April of that season Boro' had looked odds-on favourites for the drop. However, a run in the Hampshire Senior Cup that took them all the way to the Final at The Dell lifted the players spirits. A thrashing of the favourites Farnborough Town in the Final was followed by a good run of results in the League lifting the team out of trouble to remain in the Premier Division.

The Club enjoyed their highest ever finish in the 1988-89 season when seventh place in the Premier Division was achieved. Unfortunately, a mass exodus of players and a change in the management saw the Club relegated to the Southern Division and two years later (1992) to the Jewson Wessex League.

Restructuring The Boro'

Following relegation the Chairman at the time, Ian Hay, appointed Roger Sherwood as manager. Although Boro' had three good seasons with Roger, the Wessex League Cup in 1992-93 was his only major success.

After the departure of Roger Sherwood at the start of the 1995-96 season, the Management Committee undertook a review of the Club's policies. It was decided to commence a period of financial consolidation and re-structuring. Three former Gosport players (John Hawes, Dave Pitt and Barry Cook) took up the running of the team with a new emphasis on forming a team of locally based players and developing an extensive youth policy.

In 1997, Boro' approached Gomer Football Club, a successful youth club to form an affiliation. Not only did it given the senior club the ability to tap into local talent as it emerges through the ranks, but it also gives boys the opportunity to aim for a higher standard of football than they might normally achieve when youth football ended. Nevertheless, Boro's position in the Jewson Wessex League continued to deteriorate. Dave Pitt and Barry Cook resigned in October 1999 after a particularly difficult start to the season. John Hawes became Chairman of the Club but resigned from that position after one year to return to his coaching role.

During this period, Ian Hay restructured the Club's finances and implemented a new and relatively unique Trustee Scheme which it is hoped will give Gosport Borough a firm financial base for the future. Dave Taviner (another former player) took over as Caretaker Manager until former Reserve Manager Mick Marsh was appointed as the new First Team Manager in December 1999.

On the way back

At the start of the 2000-01 season, Vice-Chairman John Stimpson was elected to the Chairmanship of the Club. He immediately agreed with Mick Marsh that the Club should continue to develop young local players and also look to include a mix of a few more experienced players in the First Team.

Marsh, along with his assistant Gary Lee had five seasons at the helm. In that period the Club's gradual decline was halted and Boro' were once again heading in the right direction. In Marsh's five seasons the club finished in the top four on four occasions and reached the quarter-finals of the FA Vase in 2003-04.

With Marsh retiring from the game at the end of the 2004-05 season to move to Spain, the club appointed John Robson his successor but Robson's tenure only lasted a few months and in December 2005 the Club appointed Alex Pike as first team manager.

Pike has the honour of being the Wessex League's most successful manager having won league and league cup honours on several occasions with his teams and also winning the FA Vase with Wimborne Town in 1992.

With Pike at the helm, the Club looked forward to an exciting future and that didn't take long to come. In his first full season in charge (2006-07), Pike guided the team to the Wessex League Premier Division title - their first Championship in 29 years.

The season went down to the wire as Boro' met title rivals AFC Totton in the final game of the campaign in a game that Totton had to win by two clear goals to claim the Championship for themselves. In a tense afternoon at Totton's Testwood Park, Boro' kept the hosts at bay until the 85th minute but they held on - losing the game 1-0 but claiming the Wessex League title on goal difference and with it promotion back to the Southern League.

outhern League return

The team made a great start to their new life in the Southern League Division One South & West in 2007/08 but an awful run of results during the winter months saw them slip down to well below mid-table. But as the Club and manager Alex Pike became more experienced in the ways of the league, the team lifted themselves in the final months of the campaign and finished a creditable 11th.

Records

Highest league position: 7th in Southern League Premier Division 1988-89
Best FA Cup run: Fourth qualifying round Vs Windor & Eton (a) 1980-81
Best FA Trophy run: First round proper Vs Windor & Eton (a) 1988-89
Best FA Vase run: Quarter Final replay Vs Barton Rovers (a) 1976-77
Largest attendance: 4,770 Vs Pegasus in the FA Amateur Cup, 1953

Current squad

External links

* [http://www.gosportboroughfc.co.uk Gosport Borough Football Club] Official website
*fchd|name=Gosport Borough|id=GOSPORTB
* [ [http://wikimapia.org/#lat=50.794923&lon=-1.156558&z=19&l=0&m=s&v=2 See Privett Park] in Wikimapia] Geo Links for Privett Park
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/cake_slr/sets/72157603926923241/ GBFC 2007 - 2008 Season] Pictures of Gosport Borough Football Club 2007/2008 Season by [http://www.kfphotos.co.uk KF Photography]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/cake_slr/collections/72157606802628282/ GBFC 2008 - 2009 Season] Pictures of Gosport Borough Football Club 2008/2009 Season by [http://www.kfphotos.co.uk KF Photography]