Silverlake Stadium

Eastleigh

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Full name	Eastleigh Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Spitfires
Founded	1946;  (1946) as Swaythling Athletic
Ground	Eastleigh
Ground Capacity	3,500 (500 seated)
Chairman	Stewart Donald
Manager	Richard Hill
League	Conference South
2012–13	Conference South, 4th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Eastleigh Football Club is an English professional football club based in Eastleigh, Hampshire. The club are currently members of the Conference South and play at the Silverlake Stadium.

History

The club was formerly known as Swaythling Athletic, which then changed to Swaythling. In 1950 they joined Hampshire League, and in 1980 were renamed Eastleigh. In 1986 they were accepted as one of the founding members of the Wessex League. In 2002–03 they won the league and were promoted to Division One East of the Southern League. After finishing fourth in their first season, the club were promoted due to the formation of the Conference North and South taking clubs from the division above, and were transferred into the Premier Division of the Isthmian League.

The club finished third in its first season in the Premier Division, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating Braintree Town 2–0 in the semi-final, they were promoted to the Conference South after a 1–0 victory over Leyton in the final. In 2008–09 they finished third, but lost to Hayes & Yeading United in the play-off semi-finals despite holding 4-0 advantage at one stage.

The ownership of the club changed in late 2011. On 26 November 2011, following a meeting of the Board, it was announced that an offer for the majority shareholding of the club from Bridle Insurance Limited had been recommended for acceptance by the current shareholders, who were the primary sponsor of Oxford United.^[1] The company, based in Witney, Oxfordshire, is known for providing financial backing to Glen Hoddle's football academies. Chief executive Stewart Donald and chief operations officer Neil Fox would both come on to the Eastleigh board as directors, with Paul Murray remaining as chairman. Part of Bridle's 5 year plan for the club is to get the ground up to league standard, by looking at financing a 7,500 all-seater stadium, and to get the club into the football league.^[2]

The takeover by Bridle Insurance was eventually confirmed, when the club announced the company had acquired the club's shares on 1 February 2012.^[3] Later, on 9 February, Director of Football Dave Malone, who joined the club in May 2006, stood down from his post, in order to allow the new owners to take the club forward in the manner they see fit.^[4]

On 23 March 2012, Chairman Paul Murray stood down from his post with immediate effect. Murray had stood down as Chairman when the club was sold to Bridle Insurance, but had remained at the club in the Non Executive Chairman role. Mick Geddes was later appointed as his successor.^[5]

On Tuesday 11 September 2012, following 3 successive league defeats, the last 4–0 away to newly promoted side Billericay Town, the club announced following a meeting between manager Ian Baird and Stewart Donald, it was agreed that Ian Baird would leave the club with immediate effect.^[6] Baird's replacement was announced the following day as ex-Stevenage Borough manager Richard Hill. Hill has also had spells assisting John Gregory at both Wycombe Wanderers and QPR, and Brian Little at Aston Villa. He has also been employed as assistant manager at Gillingham, Tranmere Rovers and Northampton Town. ^[7]

Eastleigh came close to achieving promotion to the Conference Premier for the first time during the 2012-13 Season, by making the Conference South Play-Offs through finishing 4th in the league. After initially losing the 1st leg of the semi finals against Dover Athletic at home 3-1, Eastleigh overturned this with a 2-0 away win in the 2nd leg. Due to the absence of away goals advantage for either team, the match eventually went to penalties, with Eastleigh losing 4-2. ^[8]

Stadium

Eastleigh play their home games at the Silverlake Stadium, Stoneham Lane, Eastleigh, SO50 9HT.

The club have played at the Silverlake Stadium since 1957. Previously known as Ten Acres and later the Sparshatts Stadium, it has a capacity of 3,000. The 371-seat Grandstand is on the halfway line and stretches for just under a third of the pitch. To the sides of this is uncovered hard pitchside standing. To the right of this, behind the goal is the Silverlake Stand. In 2006, the roof was widened to cover the whole length of the stand, and 150 seats were added to the middle. Like the Grandstand, there is hard standing to each side. Opposite the grandstand is the Premier Telecom stand. Until 2006, this was just hard standing backing into a hedge. During the summer of 2006, a metal back and roof were added, along with an electronic scoreboard on the roof. Opposite the Silverlake Stand, behind the other goal is the Clubhouse End.

The ground's record attendance is 3,191 for a friendly match against Southampton in July 2007, whilst the record for a league match is 2,283, which was set on 28 March 2009, against AFC Wimbledon.

On 20 December 2012, concerning the situation regarding the stadium, the club announced that an offer had previously been made to the board at ‘Ten Acre Holdings’ (the current owners). Following discussions the board of Ten Acre Holdings felt that they were willing to accept the offer presented to them as long as the remaining shareholders also felt a desire to sell the ground at this stage. On this basis a full shareholders meeting was called and the outcome was that a clear large majority were in favour of accepting the offer and that the sale of the freehold should progress.

Ten Acre Holdings had been set up to safeguard the club and enable it to get back on a sound financial footing, which it has achieved over recent years. The proposed purchase is intended to provide the football club with the strongest possible opportunity to continue its progression.^[9]

Former players

Amongst the players who have played for Eastleigh and went on to play in The Football League are:

• Mark Marshall
• Aaron Martin
• Damian Scannell
• Brett Williams

Squad

As of 9 September 2013^[update][10]

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Jack Dovey GK Ross Flitney DF Damian Batt DF Dean Beckwith DF Chris Dillon DF Michael Green DF Dan Spence DF Chris Todd MF Jamie Collins

No. Position Player MF Will Evans MF Jai Reason MF Romone Rose MF Glen Southam (Captain) FW Stuart Fleetwood FW Craig McAllister FW Yemi Odubade FW Ben Strevens FW Sam Wilson

Non-playing staff

According to Club website^[11]

• Acting Chairman Stewart Donald
• Directors Stewart Donald, Neil Fox, Mike Andrews, Derik Brooks, John Dunn, Mick Geddes, John Russell, Pete Vickery
• Vice-Chairmen Mick Budny, Stuart Deas, Alan Harding, Allen Prebble
• Life President Derik Brooks
• 1st Team Manager Richard Hill
• Assistant Manager Guy Butters
• Reserve Team Managers Dan Wright, Dave Hazlegrove
• Academy Manager Dan Wright
• Treatment of Injuries Andy Cook

Notable Managers

Name	Nationality	From	To	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win%[12]	Honours
Trevor Parker	England	TBC	November 2001[13]	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC
John Diaper (Caretaker Manager)	England	November 2001[13]	1 May 2002	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC
Paul Doswell	England	1 May 2002[13]	4 December 2006[14]	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC
Jason Dodd	England	4 December 2006[14]	9 July 2007	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC
David Hughes	England	9 July 2007	3 October 2007	11	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC
Ian Baird	England	3 October 2007	11 September 2012	255	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC	2012 Hampshire Senior Cup
Richard Hill	England	12 September 2012	Present	55	32	8	16	106	70	+36	61.5%

As of 14:20, 12 October 2013

(Up to and including match vs Ebbsfleet United on 07 October 2013)

League and Cup History

Last Updated: 13:22, 24 August 2013

Q = Qualifying Round; R = Round Proper; P = Position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points;

Club Records

• Top Goalscorer – Andy Forbes – 146^[36]

(as at 15.00, 28 April 2012)

Most appearances

Competitive matches only. As of 16 October 2012^[37]

#	Name	Nationality	Position	Eastleigh career	Appearances	Goals
1	Ian Knight	England	Unknown	Unknown	599	12
2	Keith Cooper	England	Unknown	Unknown	574	5
3	Johnyy Williams	England	Unknown	Unknown	449	3
4	Bill Ragan	England	Unknown	Unknown	428	10
5	Terry Rawlins	England	Unknown	Unknown	374	27
6	Mel Davolls	England	Unknown	Unknown	372	6
7	Frank Mew	England	Unknown	Unknown	370	0
8	Malcolm Harris	England	Unknown	Unknown	351	0
9	Barry Joslin	England	Unknown	Unknown	343	4
10	Ray Light	England	Unknown	Unknown	325	17

Player of the Year

Year Winner 2013 Glen Southam[38]

Honours

• Wessex League
  • Premier Division champions: 2002–03
• Hampshire League
  • Division Two champions: 1967–70
  • Division Three champions: 1950–51, 1953–54
• Southampton Senior League (West)
  • Champions: 1949–50
• Russell Cotes Cup
  • Winners: 2005
• Hampshire Intermediate Cup
  • Winners: 1951
• Hampshire Midweek Floodlit Cup
  • Winners: 1979
• Hampshire Senior Cup
  • Winners: 2012^[39]
• Wessex League Cup^[40]
  • Runners up: 2002–03

References

External links

• Official Blog
• Official Facebook page
• Official Twitter page
• Match Commentary
• Match Pictures

Coordinates: 50°57′08.26″N 1°22′18.37″W / 50.9522944°N 1.3717694°W / 50.9522944; -1.3717694