Dover Athletic F.C.
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox football club
Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the Template:English football updater, the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1983 after the dissolution of the town's previous club, Dover F.C., whose place in the Southern League was taken by the new club.
In the 1989–90 season Dover Athletic won the Southern League championship, but failed to gain promotion to the Football Conference as the club's ground did not meet the required standard. Three seasons later the team won the title again and this time gained promotion to the Conference, where they spent nine seasons before being relegated at the end of the 2001–02 season. The club was transferred from the Southern League to the Isthmian League in 2004, competing in that league's Premier Division for one season before mounting financial problems led the club to a further relegation. In the 2007–08 season, Dover won Division One South of the league, before winning the Premier Division in 2008–09 and thus gaining promotion to the Conference South. They spent five seasons in this division, reaching the play-offs three times, before defeating Ebbsfleet United in the 2013–14 play-off final to finally return to the Conference Premier after a twelve-year absence. At the end of the 2021–22 season Dover were relegated back to the National League South, after finishing the season with one point.
The team usually wear white shirts and are consequently nicknamed the Whites. They have played at the Crabble Athletic Ground since the club's formation. The club's best performance in the FA Cup was reaching the third round proper in both the 2010–11 and 2014–15 seasons, while the best performance registered in the FA Trophy, the national competition for higher-level non-league clubs, was a run to the semi-finals in the 1997–98 season.
History
Template:For Dover Athletic F.C. was formed in 1983 after the town's previous club, Dover, folded due to its debts. The new club took Dover's place in the Southern League Southern Division,<ref name="Cr2">Template:Cite web</ref> with former Dover player Alan Jones as manager and a team consisting mainly of reserve players from the old club.<ref name="Husk" /> Initially Athletic struggled, finishing second from bottom of the table in the 1984–85 season.<ref name="Husk" /><ref name="RSSSF">Template:Cite web</ref> In November 1985 Steve McRae, who had succeeded Jones a year earlier, was sacked and replaced by Chris Kinnear.<ref name="Husk" />
Under Kinnear the club's fortunes turned round, with two top-five finishes followed by the Southern Division championship, and with it promotion, in the 1987–88 season.<ref name="RSSSF" /> The team started strongly in the Premier Division, finishing in sixth place at the first attempt, and then winning the championship in the 1989–90 season.<ref name="FCHD">Template:Cite web</ref> The club was denied promotion to the Football Conference, however, as the Crabble Athletic Ground did not meet the standard required for that league.<ref name="Cr2" /> After finishing fourth and second in the subsequent two seasons, Dover won the title again in the 1992–93 season and this time were admitted to the Conference.<ref name="FCHD" />
Although Dover finished in eighth place in their first season in the Conference,<ref name="Conf1">Template:Cite web</ref> the following season saw the club struggling against relegation, and Kinnear was dismissed due to a combination of the team's poor performances and his own personal problems.<ref name="Husk" /><ref name="CK" /> John Ryan was appointed as the club's new manager,<ref name="Ryan1" /> but his reign was a short one and he was dismissed when the club lost seven of its first eight matches in the 1995–96 season.<ref name="Ryan2" /> The club then appointed former England international Peter Taylor as manager, but he was unable to steer the team away from the foot of the table, and Dover held onto their place in the Conference only because Northern Premier League runners-up Boston United failed to submit their application for promotion before the required deadline.<ref name="Ryan2" />
Bill Williams took over as manager in 1997 and led the club to the FA Trophy semi-finals in the 1997–98 season and a best league finish to date of sixth place in the 1999–2000 season.<ref name="FCHD" /><ref name="UB" /> Williams left the club to take a senior position with Conference rivals Kingstonian in May 2001.<ref name="UB">Template:Cite web</ref> By now the club was in severe financial difficulties, with a number of directors resigning and debts exceeding £100,000. Amid the crisis the entire board of directors resigned, forcing the club's Supporters' Trust to take over the running of the club,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and manager Gary Bellamy was sacked after just six months in the job.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref name="Tele2">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> Former Everton goalkeeper Neville Southall took over but was dismissed just three months later, with Clive Walker taking over in March 2002 with the club rooted to the foot of the table.<ref name="Nev" /> The club finished the season bottom of the Conference and was relegated back to the Southern League Premier Division.<ref name="Conf02">Template:Cite web</ref> The club's ongoing financial problems led to it entering a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), a process by which insolvent companies offset their debts against future profits, due to debts that were now estimated at £400,000.<ref name="CVA">Template:Cite web</ref>
In Dover's first season back in the Southern League Premier Division the Whites finished in third place, albeit 17 points adrift of Tamworth, who claimed the one promotion place available that season.<ref name="RSSSF" /> A poor start to the following season saw Walker replaced by Richard Langley.<ref name="LangIn" /> Dover finished the season in 19th place, before being switched to the Isthmian League Premier Division in the summer of 2004 following a re-organisation of the English football league system.<ref name="FCHD" /> The new season started with six successive defeats, which saw Langley sacked, and the financial problems continued, with the club coming within two months of being closed down.<ref name="LangOut" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Dover were relegated to the Isthmian League Division One at the end of the season,<ref name="FCHD" /> but were saved from possible extinction in January 2005 when former director Jim Parmenter returned to head up a consortium that took over the club.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Parmenter quickly sacked manager Steve Browne and convinced Clive Walker to return to the club to replace him,<ref name="Clive2" /> and also arranged for the club's outstanding CVA debts to be cleared, putting the club on a firm financial footing for the first time in many years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Dover Athletic narrowly missed out on an immediate return to the Premier Division in the 2005–06 season, reaching the play-offs for promotion but losing out to Tonbridge Angels.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The following season Dover again reached the play-offs but lost in the semi-final to Hastings United,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> after which Walker did not have his contract renewed and was replaced by former Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler.<ref name="BBC1">Template:Cite news</ref> In his first season in charge he led the club to the Division One South championship and promotion to the Isthmian League Premier Division.<ref name="champs">Template:Cite news</ref> The following season Dover won a second consecutive championship and thus gained promotion to Conference South.<ref name="champs2">Template:Cite web</ref> In the 2009–10 season, Dover reached the play-offs for promotion to the Conference National, but lost at the semi-final stage to Woking.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The following season the club reached the third round of the FA Cup for the first time after wins over Kent rivals Gillingham in the first round<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and another League Two club, Aldershot Town, in the second round.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the 2012–13 season the club again reached the play-offs, but this time lost in the final to Salisbury City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
During the following season, the team reached the second round of the FA Cup, losing 1–0 to Milton Keynes Dons.<ref name="FCHD" /> They also made the last 16 of the FA Trophy, narrowly losing 3–2 to Eastleigh, and reached the play-offs once more.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A 4–1 aggregate victory over Sutton United in the semi-final set up a match with fellow Kent team Ebbsfleet United in the final.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 10 May 2014, Dover beat Ebbsfleet 1–0 at Stonebridge Road with a goal from Nathan Elder, enough to seal the club's return to the top flight of non-league football for the first time since 2002.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the 2014–15 season, Dover went on another FA Cup run, beating Morecambe 1–0 in the first round and Cheltenham Town 1–0 in the second, to reach the third round proper for only the second time ever.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, they lost 4–0 at home to Premier League side Crystal Palace.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During the following season, the team qualified for the play-offs for promotion to League Two.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
During the 2020–21 season, the team only played 15 fixtures, with none played after 30 January 2021, due to staff being furloughed because of the costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the club had all of its results expunged in March and was fined £40,000. In addition, the club was handed a 12-point deduction for the 2021–22 season and fined £40,000 by the National League.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=ruin>Template:Cite news</ref> Template:As of, the club had released all but four players, who were reduced from full to part-time.<ref name=ruin/> The 2021–22 season saw Dover start with the points deduction and after picking up only eight points in 33 matches, a 2–0 home defeat to Yeovil Town confirmed Dover's relegation back to the National League South after eight seasons in the top flight of non-league football.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In their second season back in the sixth tier, they were relegated to the Isthmian League, finishing bottom of the table having only won four games all season.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They achieved an immediate promotion back to the National League South in the 2024–25 season, defeating rivals Dartford in the play-off final.<ref> Template:Cite web</ref>
Colours and crest
Dover Athletic's traditional colours are white and black,<ref name="SF">Template:Cite web</ref> which were also the colours worn by the earlier Dover club.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Away colours worn by the club have included red,<ref name="SF" /> yellow and green, pink, and blue.<ref name="CD">Template:Cite book</ref> The club's crest contains a stylised representation of the town's two most famous landmarks, Dover Castle and the white cliffs, enclosed in a circle bearing the club's name. The club's shirts have been sponsored by companies including Criccieth Homes, Paul Brown of Dover, Jenkins and Pain, cross-channel ferry operators Hoverspeed and SeaFrance, local car dealership Perry's, and Gomez, the company owned by Dover Athletic chairman Jim Parmenter.<ref name="CD" /><ref name="SF" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Stadium
Template:Main Dover Athletic's home ground since the club's foundation has been the Crabble Athletic Ground, which was also the home of the former Dover club.<ref name="Cr2" /> The word Crabble, which is also found in the name of a local corn mill,<ref name="crabblemill">Template:Cite web</ref> may derive from the Old English crabba hol, meaning a hole in which crabs are found.<ref name="crabble">Template:Cite web</ref> The stadium, commonly known simply as "Crabble"<ref name="crabble11111">Template:Cite web</ref> or, imprecisely, as "The Crabble",<ref name="crabble8">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="crabble9">Template:Cite news</ref> forms part of a larger council-owned complex,<ref name="crabble2">Template:Cite web</ref> and the earlier Dover club originally shared the lower pitch with a rugby club, but moved to the upper pitch in the 1950s, adding a grandstand in 1951, followed soon after by terracing and floodlights.<ref name="Cr2" />
Dover Athletic continued to make improvements to the ground, although not in time to allow the club to take its place in the Football Conference in 1990. Subsequently, new turnstiles were installed and two new terraces and a second grandstand added. These improvements meant that the club was able to gain promotion after its second Southern League title in 1993.<ref name="Cr2" /> The stadium's modern capacity is 5,745<ref name="southend">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2007 the club announced that under the new sponsorship deal with SeaFrance, the stadium would be known officially as the SeaFrance Crabble Stadium,<ref name="SF" /> but a year later it was announced that the deal would not be renewed due to the ferry operator's financial constraints.<ref name="SFout">Template:Cite web</ref> On 1 July 2008 local car dealership Perry's was announced as the club's new main sponsor and the stadium rebranded as the Perry's Crabble Stadium,<ref name="crabble3">Template:Cite web</ref> an arrangement which lasted until 2012. Between 2003 and 2004 it was known as the Hoverspeed Stadium under the terms of another such agreement.<ref name="hov">Template:Cite web</ref> Margate played their home matches at Crabble for two seasons from 2002 until 2004, while their own Hartsdown Park ground was being redeveloped.<ref name="mar">Template:Cite web</ref> The stadium had further development in 2016, when a new family stand was built.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Supporters
In the club's early days Athletic struggled to attract crowds of over 150,<ref name="Husk" /> but by the time the club reached the Conference, crowds at Crabble were averaging around 1,000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After the club's relegation to the Isthmian League Division One South, the average attendance fell to just over 800,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but when the club returned to the Premier Division for the 2008–09 season, the average attendance at Crabble was 1,293, the highest in the division.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The highest home attendance in the club's history was 5,645 for the match against Crystal Palace in the third round of the FA Cup on 4 January 2015. Although Athletic's improved monetary position means that the Supporters' Trust is no longer required to financially support the club, it remains active as a fundraising organisation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Statistics and records
Dover Athletic's highest finish in the English football league system was in the 2015–16 season, in which the team finished in fifth place in the National League, the highest level of non-League football and the fifth level overall. The Whites have progressed through to the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup to reach the first round proper eight times. In the 2010–11 season, Dover reached the third round for the first time, defeating Football League Two teams Gillingham and Aldershot Town in the first two rounds before losing to Huddersfield Town of Football League One. In the 1997–98 season the Whites reached the semi-finals of the FA Trophy but missed out on an appearance at Wembley, losing to Cheltenham Town. The largest number of points the team has accrued is 104 in the 2008–09 season, and the highest total number of goals scored in a season is 89, scored in 40 matches in the 1985–86 season.<ref name="FCHD" /> The team's biggest ever win was an 8–0 defeat of East Preston in September 2009,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the heaviest defeat was by six goals when they lost 7–1 to Poole Town in April 1984<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and 6–0 to Grimsby Town in October 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The holder of the record for most appearances for Dover Athletic is Jason Bartlett, who played in 539 matches, and the all-time top goalscorer is Lennie Lee, with 160 goals.<ref name="NLD">Template:Cite web</ref> The club's record signing is Dave Leworthy, who joined the club from Farnborough Town in 1993 for £50,000,<ref name="CD" /> which at the time was the highest transfer fee ever paid between non-league clubs.<ref name="lew">Template:Cite web</ref> The highest confirmed fee received by the club was also £50,000, paid by Brentford in 1997 for Ricky Reina.<ref name="CD" />
Cup records
- Best FA Cup performance: Third round, 2010–11, 2014–15<ref name="FCHD" />
- Best FA Trophy performance: Semi-finals, 1997–98<ref name="FCHD" />
Players
Current squad
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Former players
Managers
Alan Jones was the first manager of Dover Athletic. Chris Kinnear's first stint as manager was the longest in the club's history. The shortest stay was that of Ian Hendon, who was announced as manager on 28 May 2010 and resigned only 18 days later to join Andy Hessenthaler at Gillingham.
| From | To | Manager | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 1984 | Alan Jones | <ref name="Husk">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1984 | 1984 | Graham Sawyer (caretaker) | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1984 | 1985 | Steve McRae | <ref name="Husk" /> |
| 1985 | 1995 | Chris Kinnear | <ref name="CK">Template:Cite news</ref> |
| 1995 | 1995 | Nigel Donn and Dave Leworthy (caretakers) |
<ref name="CK" /> |
| 1995 | 1995 | John Ryan | <ref name="Ryan1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Ryan2">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1995 | 1996 | Peter Taylor | <ref name="PT">Template:Cite news</ref> |
| 1996 | 1997 | Joe O'Sullivan | <ref name="OS">Template:Cite news</ref> |
| 1997 | 2001 | Bill Williams | <ref name="triggs">Template:Cite book</ref> |
| 2001 | 2001 | Gary Bellamy | <ref name="Bell">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2001 | 2001 | Clive Walker (caretaker) | <ref name="Tele2" /> |
| 2001 | 2002 | Neville Southall | <ref name="Nev">Template:Cite news</ref> |
| 2002 | 2003 | Clive Walker | <ref name="Nev" /><ref name="LangIn">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2003 | 2004 | Richard Langley | <ref name="LangOut">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> |
| 2004 | 2004 | Gary Whittle (caretaker) | <ref name="LangOut" /> |
| 2004 | 2005 | Steve Browne | <ref name="BrowneIn">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="BrowneOut">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2005 | 2007 | Clive Walker | <ref name="Clive2">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2007 | 2010 | Andy Hessenthaler | <ref name="Hess">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2010 | 2010 | Ian Hendon | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2010 | 2011 | Martin Hayes | <ref name="hayes">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="hayesout">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2011 | 2013 | Nicky Forster | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2013 | 2018 | Chris Kinnear | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2018 | 2023 | Andy Hessenthaler | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2023 | 2023 | Mitch Brundle and Mike Sandmann (interim) | <ref name=hess23>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2023 | 2023 | Mitch Brundle | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2023 | Present | Jake Leberl |
Honours
source:<ref name="FCHD" /><ref name="champs" /><ref name="champs2" /><ref name="CD" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Conference South (level 6)
- Play-off winners: 2014
- Southern League Premier Division (level 6)
- Southern League Southern Division (level 7)
- Champions: 1987–88
- Isthmian League Premier Division (level 7)
- Isthmian League Division One South (level 8)
- Champions: 2007–08
- Kent Senior Cup
- Winners: 1990–91, 2016–17
Rivalries
Dover Athletic's main rivalry is with nearby Folkestone Invicta.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A meeting between the two teams in 2024 was watched by a crowd of 2,906, a record attendance for a league match at Invicta's ground, with the two league games being watched by more than a combined 5,400 spectators in the 7th tier of English football.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The club also has a rivalry with Margate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the 2001–02 season, when both teams were in the Football Conference, the two games between Margate and Dover were watched by a combined total of more than 6,000 spectators. The game played at Margate's Hartsdown Park stadium drew a crowd of 3,676, and 2,325 watched the game at Dover.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
References
External links
Template:Commons category Template:Spoken Wikipedia
- Template:Official website
- DAFCtv website (archived)