Weston-super-Mare Football Club

General information

Weston-super-Mare A.F.C. was formed in 1887. The team's first record of a competitive match being against near-neighbours Clevedon Town in a "Medal Competition" organised by the Somerset FA. In 1900 they joined Division two of the Western Football League but left after two years. In 1910 they rejoined this league and played there until World War I.

Modern Day Seagulls

In the 2006–07 season of the conference south the club looked they finished in 20th position and looked seemingly relegated. However, Farnborough Town were relegated due to going into liquidation and Hayes and Yeading merged to form Hayes & Yeading United, leaving the Conference South one team short, earning a reprieve for Weston.

The 2007–08 season ended in similar fashion for Weston. A 20th place finish meant the club was eligible for relegation, only to be spared by the enforced demotion of Cambridge City, who failed a ground inspection.

2008/09 season Weston finished a respectable 17th after what seemed to be an impressive start to the season. Weston failed to beat Chesham United in the FA Cup and then were beaten by AFC Sudbury in the FA Trophy in late November. The Seagulls season from this point took an uneasy dip towards the relegation zone. Tony Ricketts left the sinking ship and it was left to caretaker manager Andy Gurney to lift the team to 17th position.

In 2009/10 season Andy Gurney was named as 1st team Manager, The start of season started well for Gurney with victories over local sides Worcester City and Weymouth. But again the Seagulls found it difficult to pull away from the bottom half of the table and with the loss of Marc McGregor to Worcester City, Jack Compton to Falkirk and Adie Harris to Bath City. It became an all too familiar path. With relegation already confirmed Weston travelled to Havant & Waterlooville and were thrashed 6-0 their worst defeat for some 35 years. The Following day Gurney left Woodspring Stadium and it was left to Youth Team manager Ryan Northmore to manage the two remaining games. The 2009/10 season became Westons worst on record having won only 5 matches and gained 23points Weston-super-Mare finished 21st.

The 2010/11 season began with renewed hope as Craig Laird was appointed First Team Manager and brought with him Jon Haile as his Assistant. The first season went onto be arguably the most successful in the clubs history with the club achieving a 12th place finish with 53 points whilst going on to win the Somerset Premier Cup for the first time with a one nil victory against Yeovil Town at Huish Park.

The 2011/12 season was almost replicated with a 13th place finish on 51 points and the defence of the Somerset Cup was achieved with a 3-0 victory against local rivals Clevedon Town FC at the Hand Stadium.

The 2012/13 season saw the highest ever finish for the Seagulls in 7th place and 67 points which only saw them miss out on a play off place on the penultimate game of the season

After a string of poor results, Micky Bell was replaced by Director of Football, Ryan Northmore at the end of November 2014 with the Seagulls at the bottom of the table. Northmore took the team on a string of unbeaten games, taking them to promotion challenging form. Unfortunately this didn’t continue and after defeating Bath City at home 4-1 in a rearranged fixture the rejuvenated Seagulls didn’t win another league game, which saw them finish 17th.

The 2015/16 season saw the side struggle to gain a win throughout August in the League, swimming just 1 point from 18, with that point coming at home in the Somerset Derby against Bath City.

Through September and October, the side couldn't maintain a consistent run of form going and continued to lay low in the dreaded depths of the relegation zone.

However, toward the end of November, Ryan Northmore's troops managed to pull themselves up to 2nd in the league's form table by going 10 games unbeaten in the Nation League South from 21st November-16th February. It came to an end when Weston couldn't maintain the run, eventually losing 2-0 to Hayes & Yeading at the Woodspring.

The side momentarily lost form with losses coming against St. Albans and Wealdstone however, over the Easter weekend, the side bagged an important 3 points over Ebbsfleet thanks to Captain Dayle Grubb's impressive strikes.

This was followed by a tough defeat to relegation rivals Bath City, with Scott Wilson firing in during the 91st minute, but Bath hit back with a penalty in the 92nd minute and the winner from half-way in the 94th minute.

During the last month of the season, the Seagulls once again turned on the style and ended the season with 6 unbeaten games from 7, with Scott Wilson and Dayle Grubb netting in a 2-0 win over Maidstone to spark manic celebrations from the home fans at The Woodspring knowing that the Seagulls had avoided relegation.

With the season ending in a party atmosphere in Havant on the 30th April, with fan favourite Scott Wilson sliding home at the far post to ultimately send Havant down and keep Margate down.

The 2016/17 league season started off promisingly, with three wins and a draw from the first four games, putting Weston at the top of the table. Shawn McCoulsky, who joined the Seagulls on loan from Bristol City days before the season began, scored four goals in the opening four games to see Weston start off stronger than ever expected.

Then, a run of seven league games and a 2-1 defeat to North Leigh in the Second Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, despite the re-signing of Brad Ash on loan from Barnsley in the middle of the run, saw the sacking of Head Coach Ryan Northmore, with his replacement being former Weston player and current Forest Green Rovers Head of Youth Scott Bartlett as his replacement, with Chris Barker joining the side as Player/Assistant Manager.

Bartlett and Barker were given the task of keeping the Seagulls in the National League South, and a tricky November saw things look bleaker than before, despite a 4-3 win away to Eastbourne Borough. The defensive signing of Rollin Menayese in December saw an upturn in Weston’s form, with new signing Gethyn Hill poking home away to Truro on Boxing Day for a vital three points.
As 2017 rolled around, Weston got into their stride thanks to Dayle Grubb’s two trademark free-kicks against Truro on New Year’s Day, with the team going on a good run of form to start off the second half of the season, a 3-2 loss away to Dartford in January being the only blemish to their good form.

March saw the games come thick and fast, with the majority of the fixtures against teams at the top end of the table. Weston lost out to Bath 2-1 thanks to McCoulsky’s 88th minute winner for the Romans, but Weston still had survival to secure after the trickiest month the club endured all season.

Grubb turned on the style heading into April, scoring four times in a 5-0 rout against Bishops Stortford, before Ash was at the double to relegate Margate on Good Friday, with a 3-0 loss to St Albans, and results going Weston’s way, enough to keep the side up on Easter Monday. Weston ended the league season with a 5-0 win away to Hemel Hempstead, with Grubb being named the National League South Player of The Month for April.

In his final game in charge, Bartlett saw Weston lose 4-2 to Taunton Town in the Somerset Premier Cup Final.

Rollin Menayese left to join the Bristol Rovers U23 side, with him appearing to be the U23s captain, with Bartlett then taking up a full-time role as FGR Head of Youth upon their promotion to League Two. Barker opted to terminate his contract as well, and has since joined FGR as Head of Academy to Bartlett, with Weston appointing new manager and former player Marc McGregor two days after Bartlett’s departure. Rob Boyd joined Weston as first-team coach and assistant to Macca.

The Ground

The Club moved to the new purpose-built Woodspring Stadium in August 2004. They previously played at the similarly named Woodspring Park a short distance away. The move marked the third time in the past 40 years that Weston-super-Mare have changed venues. The capacity of Woodspring Stadium is 3,500 in which 2,000 is covered and 350 are seated.

Woodspring Park had been built almost entirely by supporters and boasted a clubhouse costing £100,000. The Park had been the home of Weston-super-Mare since 1983 and had floodlights installed in 1986. Weston-super-Mare sold this ground to a residential home builder when it became apparent the club was going to move the short distance to Woodspring Stadium. The last home fixture was played in April 2004.

The ground for what is now Woodspring Stadium was formerly a sporting complex owned by Westland Aircraft known as Westland Sports Ground. It was home to cricket and football in addition to social buildings. Difficult financial times forced Westland to reconsider their place in town and put the ground up for sale. Weston-super-Mare purchased it for £270,000 in 2001. The Stadium opened 14 August 2004, with its first match against Conference South opponent (and now defunct) Hornchurch drawing only 500 people to the game.