History
Romsey Town were founded in 1886 when a meeting took place at the Town Hall "to consider the desirability of forming a football club in the town". [2] Initially, they played at Alma Road and in 1889 began playing in local league football where they had successful spells in a number of competitions before joining the Southampton League as founder members in 1908. [3]
The 1920's were a good decade for Romsey Town, and after winning the Hampshire Intermediate Cup and Senior League title they gained entry into the Hampshire League but struggled in the West Division and returned to local football after just one season. In 1930, Romsey moved to Priestlands, which is now Romsey School, and returned to the county league where they were placed in Division 2. Here the club were better prepared as they went on to produce some of their best attacking sides, featuring well in both league and cup competitions. Financial problems forced them to drop-out in 1937 and return to local football. [4]
After World War II, Romsey Town reformed and in 1946 returned to the Hampshire League where they won promotion from Division 3 as runners-up. After a series of steady seasons, they were relegated in 1956. That same year they then moved to their current home, The Bypass Ground. Romsey continued in Division 3 but the early 1960's saw a further decline in fortune, eventually being relegated in 1964. Because the football pyramid was not yet in existence, the club were forced to drop right down to replace their reserves in Junior Division 1 of the Southampton League and it was not until 1968 that they won promotion back to the senior section. [5]
The 1970's saw Romsey re-surface out of the doldrums with three successive promotions and a Southampton Senior Cup triumph in 1974. [6] This saw the club regain their Hampshire League status in 1975 where they promptly won the Division 4 title at the first attempt. They proceeded to end the decade on a high note, again winning promotion and the Hampshire Intermediate Cup in 1978, then a year later, in arguably their finest hour they won the Division 2 title and unexpectedly defeated Farnborough Town 1–0 in the Hampshire Senior Cup final played at The Dell. [7]
The 1980's saw Romsey consolidate in Division 1 before becoming founder members of the Wessex League in 1986. Here they soon became a strong force, and after some encouraging campaigns, they clinched the title in 1990 and enjoyed numerous good cup runs, most notably in 1990 when they lost 1–2 at home to Littlehampton Town in the 4th Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.
A change of personnel saw Romsey fall into decline, and after a nightmare season in 1993 they were relegated back to Division 1 of the Hampshire League, from where they were again relegated. [8] This was despite the club running an extremely successful Youth System with Phil Glass' Under 18's winning the Hants Youth League and reaching Quarter final of FA Youth Cup where they were narrowly beaten by Yeovil Town's full-time Apprentices, The team captained by Paul Mabey were expected to boost the club for years to come but reluctance by senior management to pick youth meant players were lost for several years, Despite these setbacks, Romsey bounced back and within two years with high-profile local players returning such as Mabey, Paul Glass, Glenn Burnett, Peter Kelly, Stuart Carpenter & James Kirby the good times returned to the Bypass Ground and they won the Southampton Senior Cup and promotion back to the Wessex League. However, they struggled in what had become a much harder competition. In 1998, Romsey were again relegated back to the Hampshire League and a series of managers and large turn-over of players saw them slip into the third division. In 2003, the club hit an all-time low when they finished rock bottom. Fortunately, they were re-elected, and have since enjoyed a remarkable upturn in fortunes.
In 2004 the Wessex League absorbed the original Hampshire League [9] and due to their facilities Romsey were placed in Division 1 and former club stalwart Trevor Holmes became manager, he kept the club together finishing mid table. 2005–6 season Trevor Holmes was joined by Julian Walters from Hamble Club FC, who brought a large number of players to Romsey, and saw them consolidate again in Division 1. 2006-7 saw Romsey gain promotion to the Premier division with Holmes and Walters at the helm. 2007-8 saw Glenn Burnett and Lee Harrison join the managerial team eventually taking the managers roles later that season, with Holmes and Walters stepping aside having consolidated the club. Now with an encouraging 2007–08 season with new manager pairing Glenn Burnett and Lee Harrison at the helm Romsey's team spirit was at an all-time high. The team were performing well on the pitch as well with two consecutive mid-table finishes really consolidating Romsey's position in the Wessex Premier League. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Glenn Burnett decided to step down blaming his decision to leave on how much he had to do at the club. Assistant manager Lee Harrison soon followed suit, as well as a large percentage of the squad that Glenn had been crafting over the last few seasons. In the 2010–11 season, backed by the new management duo of Wayne Mew and Stuart Long, began with many trials as Romsey searched to rebuild a team. In the end, Romsey finished in 16th position in the league despite a lack of players. One of the high points of the season was Romsey's longest-serving and most prolific player in their history, Simon De'ath, who finished with 25 league goals, placing him seventh in the goalscorer charts. [10]
Wayne Mew continued at the helm for the 2011–12 and managed to keep hold of striker Simon De'ath despite interest from numerous other clubs. [11]
Following one of Romsey's most successful seasons, where Simon De'ath was once again top scorer, [12] after finishing in 8th place alongside two cup quarter finals, manager Wayne Mew decided to resign from the Bypass Ground. [13] Francis Benali also resigned from the post as reserve team boss.
On Thursday 31 May, Romsey appointed Danny Barker as manager taking over from former boss Wayne Mew. [14] In his first full season in charge of the club, the side finished second bottom in the league [15] but were spared relegation after Hayling United were relegated due to ground grading issues. [16]
On 22 October 2013, manager Danny Barker resigned from his post with the club sitting in 22nd place in the league. [17] Carl Bennett and later John McFarlane took over as co-managers but on 30 April 2014, James Phillips was appointed the new head coach, after the club finished bottom of the league. [18]
The club then appointed Andy Samuels as Manager and whilst they finished second bottom in 2014/15, there has been steady improvement, with mid table finishes in 2015/16 and 2016/17, leading to a promotion challenges in 2017/18 and 2018/ 19 which resulted in a sixth and fourth-place finishes. During the summer Andy Samuels stepped down and has been replaced by Chris McGinn, a former professional footballer and international coach.
In 2023 Romsey announced a new women's football team.
