Kettering Town F.C.
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Kettering Town Football Club are an English football club based in Kettering, Northamptonshire. They currently play in the Conference North.
They are most famous for being the first English football club to display advertising on their shirts.
Kettering Town were originally formed in 1872, turning professional in 1891. The club graduated through twelve different leagues from 1892 until they became founder members of the Football Alliance in 1979. The club has maintained its status in the top flight of semi-professional football throughout the Gola and Vauxhall sponsorships.
Many honours have found their way to Rockingham Road, winning the Midlands League title in 1896 and 1900. The Southern League Championship was won on three occasions, in 1928 and 1957 under Tommy Lawton and in 1973 under the guidance of Ron Atkinson. In the 1930's the club won the East Midlands League and in 1948 the Poppies became Birmingham League Champions.
The Football Conference has so far eluded Kettering, who have finished runners-up in 1981, 1989, 1994 and 1998. The club has finished in the top six for seven of the last twelve seasons. The GMAC Cup, now known as the Endsleigh Brokers Challenge Trophy was won in 1987 and runners-up in 1995. Local competitions have been won regularly by Kettering Town, with the Northants Senior Cup won on 28 occasions and the Maunsell Cup on thirteen.
The FA Cup has brought success and publicity to Rockingham Road with the first round proper being reached on 41 occasions. In 1901 the club reached the last sixteen and in more modern times the Poppies reached the fourth round proper in the 1988/89 season and also the third round in 1991/92 only to lose to Kenny Dalglish's Blackburn Rovers. During the 1994/95 season the club made their debut live on Sky TV in a first round tie against Plymouth Argyle, soon followed by another appearance against Wrexham at Rockingham Road.
Wembley has been reached on two occasions before. The Poppies lost 2-0 to Stafford Rangers in the 1979 FA Trophy Final. More recently of course, the FA Trophy Final in 2000 saw the Poppies lose a closely fought final with Kingstonian 3-2. Most recently, the club were narrowly relegated on the last day of the 2000/01 season which ended 30 years in the top flight of non-league football. The Poppies made a quick return to the Conference in the 2001/02 season winning the Southern Premier League with a last-day victory at Tiverton Town under Player/Manager Carl Shutt - his first full season in charge.
The following season was a major disappointment and the club, rarely out of the bottom three, were again demoted - this time to the Ryman League. Carl Shutt left the club in April 2003 and Dominic Genovese, after a short period as acting manager, took over the reins in readiness for the new season. After a poor run of home results and a disappointing defeat to Boreham Wood in the FA Cup Dominic Genovese was replaced by former Northampton Town Manager, Kevin Wilson. Changes to the team were made and the club finished the season on a 12 game unbeaten run. Ninth place was enough for the club to return to the Conference albeit in one of the two new feeder leagues – the Nationwide Conference North.
On October 27, 2005, legendary former player Paul Gascoigne was appointed as its new coach. Despite only being hired in October, Gazza was sacked on December 5, 2005. Kevin Wilson returned as manager, only to be dismissed himself in February 2006 after a poor run of results.
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