History

A brief history of St Albans City FC.

Founded in April 1908, the golden period in the club history of St Albans City FC came during the 1920s.

THE EARLY DAYS
Football had been played at the Saints Clarence Park home for 14 years prior to the formation of the present day club. The original St Albans, which also played home matches at three other venues within the old Roman stronghold, met its demise in 1904 having come into existence back in 1881. After a four year lapse a senior ...club bearing the name of the city rose again in 1908 and during its formative years competed in the Herts County and Spartan Leagues. A move to the Athenian League in 1920 heralded the start of the Saints halcyon days as that championship was won twice in three years paving the way for election to the Isthmian League. St Albans City won the Isthmian at the first attempt and followed it with two further successes before the decade was out. City remained in the Isthmian League until 2003 but never again did the title return to Clarence Park.

THE FAMOUS OLD TREE
When an extra Division was added in 1973 St Albans, along with Corinthian Casuals, had the dubious honour of being the first club to be relegated within the Isthmian League. When a second relegation followed 12 years later the club turned to its former player John Mitchell, whose semi-final goals took Fulham to the 1975 FA Cup final, to lead it to better days. Mitchell duly obliged with two promotions in three years. During a second spell in charge he took the Saints to the runners up position in 1992-93 only to be denied promotion to the Conference at that time due to a 140-year old oak tree standing within the terrace behind one of the goals. In 1998 the diseased tree was felled.

CUP SUCCESS
Along with the Saints five championship successes in eight years during the 1920s the club also enjoyed its greatest days in the Amateur Cup. Three times in that decade St Albans reached the semi-final but progress through to the final proved to be beyond them. The same fate befell the club in 1970 leaving them with the unwanted record of having made more semi-final appearances without going on to play in the final than any other club. City’s unsuccessful semi-final FA Trophy appearance in 1999 suggests that, given time, a new record could be set in that competition.

The 2nd Round or equivalent, of the FA Cup has been reached on five occasions but, to date, just one league scalp has been claimed when Brentford were defeated 5-3 in 1924. The most prestigious cup won by the Saints was the London Senior Cup in 1971while ten other cups have been won a total of 49 times.

FAMOUS SAINTS
Wilfred Minter, with a staggering return of 356 goals in 362 games, is the Saints all time top goalscorer and can be found in record books as the player to have scored the most goals for the losing side in a FA Cup tie. The Amateur England international struck seven times as City went down 8-7 to Dulwich Hamlet in a 4th Qualifying Round replay on 22 November 1922. Seventy-two years later Steve Clark became the second City player to hit a double hat trick in the FA Cup and his day ended more joyously as the Saints hammered Hillingdon Borough 11-1.

Down the years a number of players have progressed into the Football League from St Albans City, including Arthur Grimsdell, captain of the 1921 Tottenham Hotspur FA Cup winning side and full England international; Harold Miller another England international who spent 14 years with Chelsea; Dean Austin whose transfer to Spurs from Southend United earned St Albans over £90,000; and Allan Cockram who played almost 100 games for Brentford.