Aldershot F.C.

Aldershot Football Club was a football club from Aldershot, Hampshire, England, that played in the English Football League from 1926 to 1992. The club was nicknamed The Shots for both the last syllable of the town name and the military links to the town. They played home games at the Recreation Ground throughout their history. Founded as Aldershot Town in 1926, they joined the Southern League the following year and were crowned champions in 1929–30. They were elected into the Football League Third Division South in 1932, where they would remain until becoming founder members of the Fourth Division in 1958. Promotion was secured at the end of the 1972–73 season, though they were relegated in 1976. Aldershot were the first ever winners of a Football League play-off competition, when they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Fourth Division play-offs in 1987. However, they were relegated from the Third Division after just two seasons. They became the first Football League club in 30 years to resign from the League during the course of a season; the club was wound up in the High Court in March 1992. In response to the bankruptcy a group of supporters set up a new club, Aldershot Town, which still plays at the Recreation Ground. History Non-League years: 1926–1932 The club was founded in 1926 as Aldershot Town FC when Jack White, a sports journalist persuaded council officials that the garrison town needed a professional football club. In 1927 the club joined the Southern League, playing their first game on 27 August 1927 in a 4–0 win over Grays Athletic in front of a 3,500-strong crowd at the Recreation Ground. They finished their first season in seventh place, and in 1932 won the Southern League title, being elected to the Football League in place of Thames who had declined to apply for re-election. The name was changed to Aldershot prior to their inaugural 1932–33 League season.