The History of St Albans City FC

The history of St Albans City FC

The current Hertfordshire outfit were formed in 1908, which followed the demise of the previous St Albans existence four years earlier. To date, the 1920’s have proved to be the clubs most successful era, and the movement of the club into the Athenian league at the start of the decade laid the platform for these achievements. The Saints won the title twice in three years which led to their election into the Isthmian league, where they again found glory, winning the division at the first time of asking. They repeated this feat twice more before the decade was out.

Whilst the Saints were dominant in the league, mirroring this success in cup competitions was too much to ask for the Hertfordshire side. They navigated their way to the semi-finals of the amateur cup on three occasions, although securing a place in the final proved an impossible task as they lost all three of these fixtures. By going out in the semi-finals once again in 1970, the club has since held the competitions unenviable record for reaching the semi-final the most times without ever going through. St Albans also hold the record for having the player with the highest goal tally on the losing side in the FA Cup. This came in 1922 when Wilifred Minter scored seven with the side losing the game 8-7. The club did however manage their one league scalp in 1924 when they beat Brentford in the FA Cup 5-3.

Following the addition of a division in 1973, the club became one of the two first relegated clubs in the Isthmian league. A second relegation followed 12 years later and the club appointed former Fulham player John Mitchell to halt the clubs slump. Mitchell, whose FA Cup semi-final goals took Fulham to the 1975 final, did just that and managed the club to two promotions within three years.

During his second spell in charge, Mitchell led the side to runners up spot in the Conference South in the 1992-93 season. He was however denied promotion to the Conference National with St Albans due to a 140 year old oak tree which stood within the terrace behind the goal at one end. In 1998 the diseased tree was felled.

In 2003-04, the Saints finished just three points clear of relegation in the Isthmian league, but did enough to make the playoffs, finding success and promotion after remarkably beating Heybridge Swifts and Bedford Town 4-3 and 5-4 respectively. Struggling initially in the Conference South, St Albans appointed experienced manager Colin Lippiatt, who brought the team to safety. He moulded a team that pushed for the Championship in the 2005-06 season, but eventually had to settle for a runners up spot which saw the side enter the playoffs. The Saints found success in the final against Histon, the resulting promotion seeing the team embarking on a Conference National campaign.

This proved to be short lived as the side were relegated that season and almost suffered back to back drops in 2007-08. The club twice changed managers in a bid to halt the slide, with both Ritchie Hanlon and Dave Anderson dismissed within the first six months of the season. However, the return of former goalkeeper Paul Bastock helped to steer the club away from relegation, only managing to secure their place in the division on the final day. St Albans were relegated from the Conference South in 2010-11 and currently compete in the Southern League Premier Division