History
Gravesend & Northfleet F.C. was formed in 1946, following the Second World War, after a merger between Gravesend United (originally formed in 1893) and Northfleet United (originally formed in 1890) with the new club retaining the red & white home colours (and the Stonebridge Road stadium) of Northfleet United. From 1969 and 1971, Roy Hodgson, who later became manager of the national teams of Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Finland and England, was a player at the club, making 59 appearances.
In 1979, the team was one of the founder members of the Alliance Premier League (now today's Conference National), but were relegated back into the Southern League Premier three seasons later.
For the 1997–98 season, Gravesend & Northfleet left the Southern League and joined the Isthmian League. They played in the Premier Division of the league until the 2001–02 season, when they finished as champions and earned promotion back into the Conference, where they remained until being relegated to the Conference South at the end of the 2009–10 season.
The current head coach is former Coventry City defender Liam Daish, and the assistant manager is Paul McCarthy, a former player for the club. Gravesend and Northfleet have also been managed in the recent past by Andy Ford, who resigned after a GLS Cup game after an extended run of poor fixtures, only to pursue a coaching job at Stevenage Borough a few months later.
On 10 May 2008, Ebbsfleet United won the FA Trophy, defeating Torquay United 1–0 in the final on the club's first trip to Wembley, becoming the first Kentish team to win this trophy. Ebbsfleet United went on to win the Kent Senior Cup in the same season, with a 4–0 victory over Cray Wanderers on 26 July 2008.
On 15 May 2011, Ebbsfleet United won the Conference South playoff final 4–2 against Farnborough and were thus promoted back to the Conference National at the first time of asking.
Read more about this topic: Ebbsfleet United F.C.
Famous quotes containing the word history:
““And now this is the way in which the history of your former life has reached my ears!” As he said this he held out in his hand the fatal letter.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“I saw the Arab map.
It resembled a mare shuffling on,
dragging its history like saddlebags,
nearing its tomb and the pitch of hell.”
—Adonis [Ali Ahmed Said] (b. 1930)
“Let it suffice that in the light of these two facts, namely, that the mind is One, and that nature is its correlative, history is to be read and written.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)