Club History Deal Town Football Club
The club started out as Deal Cinque Ports FC in 1908. The switch to Deal Town FC occured sum 12 years later, Deal's first matches were played in the Thanet League and the East Kent League. In 1909, the club joined the eatern section of the Kent League. In 1959 We became the founder members of the Aetolian League after the Kent League was disbanded. Deal ended up as runners up in the first season. In 1963, we were elected to the Southern League but, after a torrid three seasons, we moved on to the Greater London League. In 1967-68, Deal won the Greater London League Cup. However the 1971-72 season saw the club return to the Kent League. Our first Kent League Championship had come in 1953-54 season, we finished runners up in 1988-89. We have won the Kent League Cup on three occasions - 1957-58 (versus Margate), 1981-82 (versus Erith & Belvedere), and then the last success was a 1-0 win against VCD Athletic in 1998-99 season, They reached the final once again in in 1999-2000 but due to fixture congestion they did not contest it. In the Kent Senior Trophy we have been twice beaten finalists (in 1982-83 losing to Fisher Athletic of the Southern League), then in 1990-91 they lost to southern League outfit Hythe Town 1-0 at Ashford Town's Homelands ground. It was a case of third time lucky when in 1994-95 season we beat local rivals Folkestone Invicta on penalties after a 2-2 draw after extra time at Dover Athletic's Crabble Ground. We then lifted the Kent Senior Trophy once again in 1999-2000 when we beat Chatham Town 5-1 at Sittingbourne's Central Park Stadium. We ended up as runners up in the Kent League once again in 1998-99 season behind local rivals Ramsgate, in the same year the reserves won their League for the first time and were beaten finalists in both the League Cup and Kent Intermediate Cup. By this time local buisness man Roy Smith was at the helm as Chairman having taken over in 1997. The following year he appointed a full time manager in the form of Tommy Sampson. Tommy Sampson is still to date the most succesfull manager, as everyone will be aware, the 1999-2000 season was a remarkable campaign for Deal, Roy Smith pumped money in to the club and it paid off. Along with the afore-mentioned Trophy success we walked of with the Kent League title. But the real glory came on the national stage when we became the first Kent League club to win the FA Vase. This was achieved at Wembley with a 1-0 win against Chippenham Town in front of the then 2nd highest attendance in the history of the competition of 20,083. However Roy Smith was less succesful in his of the field battles with the council, with his planning applications to redevelop phase two of the Charles ground, Phase 1 had already been completed with moving the pitch over and other improvements, however Roy Smith and his finacial assistance and plans departed, along with Tommy Sampson and the Vase winning squad, leaving us in turmoil and to rebuild. Things looked very precarious for a while for us and were forced to withdraw our reserves from the League, However under the re-appointment of Dave Dadd as manager and without any financial backing, we battled through. Our attendances remained relatively healthy, but we had a fairly tough time on the pitch finishing 15th. Dave Dadd stepped down as manager and became Simon Bryant's number two the following the season, there was a marked improvement in perfomances, as were proving to be one of stronger sides in the league and finishing 3rd behind Maidstone United and VCD Athletic. Off the pitch there was considerable work carried out at the Charles Sports Ground , including the delivery of a new 170 seater stand. Funding was then put in place for other improvements. The money included £20,000 from Dover District Council and an FA Football Stadia improvement frant of £60,000. The following season it was another succesful one for us, where we finished up in 4th place despite a torrid run of form after christmas. Simon Bryant left for Herne Bay taking Dave Dadd and most of the squad with him. Derek Hares replaced Simon Bryant as manager after guiding the reserves to the league title and kent Intermediate and Kent League Cup double. It was another case of rebuilding for the club, Deal found life difficult the following season despite one or two good results they finished at the foot of the table with only the whipping boys of Sporting Bengal below them and Slade Green well adrift above them. The following season saw a return of respectabitlity the management duo of Derek Hares and former Deal striker Andy Bigginton managed to guid them to 13th in the league and an impressive run in the FA Vase, Deal reached the last 32 and on the way they despatched Sevenoaks, Petersfield, Witney United and Fareham Town, Deal bowed out when they travelled away up to the North East to play Jarrow Roofing BCA, Deal left the Charles Sports Ground at 11am the previous day! The long journey ended in a 3-0 defeat but it had been an enjoyable adventure while it lasted, the season also witnessed assistant manager Andy Bigginton pass the milestone of 100 goals finishing his career with 101 goals for the club. In the season 2005-06 started with a hammering 5-1 at home by Maidstone United which suggested another season of struggle but it wasnt as bad as that as that result against the eventual league winners as they finished 9th in the league, In the FA Cup they a relitively good run they travelled away to Sidley United in the prelimary round and were trailing 1-0 until 5 minutes from time until a John Utterson penalty saw Deal take them to a replay where they beat them 2-1. This was then followed up by probably the best game of the season when they travelled down to Dorking and recorded a 3-1 victory courtesy of strikes from Marc Pollard, John Utterson and a Dave Bathgate penalty, However a 3-1 defeat to Ryman Premier outfit Hitchin Town at home saw them bow out of the competition. In the FA Vase due to the previous years run the were exempt until the 2nd round starting with 3-1 victory over Mile Oak, however they bowed out in the following round at home to Tavistock Town from Devon 4-2, Deal were 2 down at the break and rallied to bring the tie level but the visitors won the game with two late strikes in the final stages. Season 2006-07 looked precarious once again for Deal, as they lost both their Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively in the summer break due to family and work commitments, they aslo lost their club sponsor, the club was held together by the Supporters Club and their Chairman Danny Philpott and secretary Bob Chivington who were both instrumental in appointing Steve Catellani as Chairman. Steve Castallani was appointed as Chairman of Deal Town on september 11th of that season, Deal however had already crashed out of both the national competitions with a 5-0 defeat away at Ash United in the FA Cup, and then they were sent crashing out of the FA Vase by a strong Eastbourne Town 2-0 at home, Deal finished 8th in the league and finished with the best away record in the League but only managed to win 4 games at home all season.The season also witnessed three encounters with eventual winners of the league Whitstable Town where Deal lost 5-4 it proved great entertaintment value for both sets of supporters. Deal also appointed Lee Bosson as the manager of the reserve side with Freddy Doncaster as his assistant, after a patchy start a fine run of form after Christmas saw them finish mid table and in two Cup Finals playing Division 1 champions Thamesmead Town Reserves, Deal lost the League Cup encounter 2-1 at Lordswood, but got revenge by winning the Kent Intermediate Cup 4-0 at the Charles Sports Ground. Season 2007-08 see's Deal equipped with probably the strongest squad since the Tommy Sampson era, with the Chairman citing the title and promotion success, alot of work has been carried out in the summer break with a new perimetre fence errected and a new turnstile being built, plans are due to be put in place for a new stand behind the St Leonards Road end goal, and a 2nd turnstile at the Mill Road end. Under the guidance of Steve Castallani and his board of directors and a thriving Supporters Club the future looks very bright for Deal Town Football Club!
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