Wednesfield Football Club History 1961-2020
Formed in 1961 as Wednesfield Social Club, the club began playing in The Wolverhampton and District Amateur League where quick progression to the Premier Division brought four Championships and three League Cup wins. In 1976 the club joined the West Midland League First Division winning it in the first season and runners up in the second delivering promotion to the Premier Division.
A high point in the clubs history came in 1985 in the Birmingham Senior Cup, winning away at West Bromwich Albion 1-5 before losing the final to Aston Villa 2-0 at Villa Park. Floodlight were added to the Cottage Ground in 1990 and with back to back premier division titles in 1995/96 and 1996/97 the club gained promotion to the Midland Alliance League.
The 2001/02 season saw a healthy third place finish and a fine run in the Birmingham Senior Cup beating Birmingham City before losing 0-1 to West Bromwich Albion in the semi final. Season of 2002/03 saw relegated to re-enter the West Midland Premier Division.
After four years of consolidation on and off the field, in mid season 2006/07 a fresh management team was appointed pulling the club clear of relegation to a creditable thirteenth place finish. The 2007/08 season saw the club finish fourth in the league and winning the JW Hunt Cup at Molineux.
A new management duo of Robert Morris and Paul Sullivan saw in the 2010/11 season in the West Midland (Regional) League Premier Division, with a top five league finish and good runs in both the F. A Cup and the F. A Vase. The following season saw the club finish in the top six and reach the Premier Division League Cup Final again with a youthful attacking team.
Season 2014/15 saw the team hit an all time low with relegation to Division One.
2015/16 saw the appointment of D. Gill as manager following ten years working for the club at youth levels. He hoped to change the clubs ethos and philosophy from top to bottom by giving local young talent a platform to succeed.
2016/17 saw a change in fortune for the club having good cup runs, winning two and losing the third to Alvechurch at the Molineux. One of our young players then made the move to Alvechurch for the following season showing that players can progress through the ranks of the lower league teams. The team also won promotion by coming runners up in League One.
2017/18 season saw an established team hold there own against some strong teams. Wednesfield played some good football and finished in a creditable fifth in the league. The management team then decided that they wanted to go to pastures new and left the club in turmoil taking all of the players with them.
2018/19 a new management team was appointed an ex Wednesfield player, D Carter. He bought in some good players and we played in the Extra Preliminary Round of the F. A cup and then the Extra round of the F. A. Cup. We drew with Chasetown at home but lost to them in the replay.
Again at the end of the season the management team decide to move on to pastures new and left again taking all of there players with them.
2019/20 saw another ex Wednesfield player take the helm, J Griffiths. He bought in a lot of young players and again we were in the F.A. Cup this time losing out in the Extra Preliminary Round. We had a mixed season winning some hard matches before Covid 19 took us all by surprise and the season had an early end to it. We are again in the process of rebuilding but this time with the same manager and a lot of the players from last season.
2020/21 this season we started with the same management team for a change, we were unlucky and missed the draw for the FA Cup, but we were in the FA Vase. We were drawn away to Bridgnorth and took a good crowd over there to watch the match. It was a good game that Wednesfield should have won but despite the home team going down to ten men they eventually ran out winners. We were having a decent season when again we were put into lock down due to Covid 19.
2021/22 again we saw the season start with the same management team. We did not set the league of fire but we held our own and the management team had a revamp with fresh blood being bought in to try and strengthen again for the next season.
2022/23 season saw us yet again have the same manager John Griffiths. This saw the season have a new turn where we got to the Midland League Cup semi final. We played Dudley at Sporting Khalsa which went to penalties. We held our nerve to come out winners had to play against local rivals Darlaston FC. The final was held at Solihull Moors and we took a coach load of supporters with us besides the many fans who had made there own way there.
The final was a tense affair for Wednesfield as we were the underdogs and not expected to give our local rivals a game . Our centre forward on the night, Jack Dew, ran there defence ragged on his own