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Let's Look At: ALFRETON TOWN

Last updated : 18 June 2013 By Jaybee

ALFRETONTOWN

 

The coming season will be Alfreton’s third in the Conference National following their promotion, as champions, from Conference North in 2011. The Reds, who play at the North Street ground, finished 15th and 13th respectively in their first two seasons at this level.

Alfreton were formed in 1959 out of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfreton United and first played in the Central Alliance Division One before joining the Midland Counties League in 1961. The club were champions in 1970 and 1974 and again in 1977 in the expanded, Midland Counties League premier Division.

In 1982, the Midland Counties league and Yorkshire Leagues were merged into the Northern Counties East League and Alfreton, who had finished as runners up the previous season in the Midland Counties League, were placed in the Premier Division.

In 1987, Alfreton were champions and were promoted to the Northern Premier League Division One where they generally struggled for the first few seasons but in 1996 they won promotion to the Northern Premier League Premier Division after finishing runners up. However, the club struggled in the higher division and after narrowly escaping relegation straight back in 1997, successive relegations saw them tumble back into the Northern Counties East League by 1999.

The next couple of seasons saw the club fare better and in 2002 they were promoted back to the Northern Premier League Division One as champions and the following season, they repeated this feat by winning the Division One title and gaining promotion to the Premier Division.

This time around, the club were much more successful and after having finished 4th in the Premier Division, Alfreton were elected to the new Conference North, an amazing turnaround after the dark days of the late 90’s. The club took a few seasons to really consolidate their place in the new league but in 2009 and 2010 they finished 3rd and making the play-offs in both seasons before going up as champions in 2011.

Alfreton are managed by Nicky Law who took control in 2007 and has taken them to the top level of non-league football for the first time in their history.

AlfretonTown and Barnet will be meeting for the first time next season.