Ilford F.C.

First Ilford F.C.

The first Ilford F.C. were a famous amateur side, founded in 1881 playing in the Southern League and FA Amateur Cup. The club won the Isthmian League three times and were twice winners of the FA Amateur Cup. They played at Lynn Road in Newbury Park, until they merged with Leytonstone to form Leytonstone and Ilford in 1979, the ground being sold to make way for a housing development Dellow Close (named after R Dellow – an Ilford FC player of the 1930s). They played in Granleigh Road by the railway arches. The Lynn Road ground was used for two football matches in the 1948 Summer Olympics, France v India and Turkey v Yugoslavia.

Current Ilford F.C.

The current incarnation of Ilford F.C. was formed in 1987 by Peter Foley, Michael Foley and Eddie McNally and first played senior football in the Spartan League in the 1988–89 season. They dropped out of this league in 1991, rejoined in 1993, but dropped out again after one season.

In 1996 the club resurfaced in the Essex Senior League, where they played until 2004 when a second-place finish was enough to gain them entry to the Isthmian League Division Two, where they were champions at the very first attempt. Due to a realignment of the English football league system they were placed in the Southern League Eastern Division for the 2005–06 season, but after further realignment found themselves back in the Isthmian League for 2006–07, this time playing in Division One North. The team was in the relegation zone of the Isthmian League First Division North at the end of the season, but were offered a reprieve from relegation, after Enfield resigned from the league. They finished in the relegation zone again in 2007–08 but received another reprieve after the resignation of Edgware Town. The following season was Ilford's best season since reforming in 1987, with a finish of 17th recorded under the leadership of former player and reserve manager Chris Wood. On 12 October 2009 after a 0–3 defeat at home to VCD Athletic Chris Woods resigned as manager ending a ten-year association with the club, Assistant Manager Colin Walton and coach Michael Thompson were soon after appointed to continue on an interim basis until the end of the season after which Bert Hoyte joined the club as assistant for the start of the 2010–11 season. Walton remained as manager until the end of season 2011–12 with his main achievement being keeping the club above the relegation places on one of the lowest budgets in the league. He was replaced by Kevin Lucas former manager of Enfield 1893 of the Essex Senior League for the start of the 2012–13 campaign. This season proved one of the worst in the clubs history as they finished bottom of the league with only four wins and 32 goals scored, and were relegated to the Essex Senior League. Following relegation, the club has now appointed Martin Haywood as the new manager for the start of the 2013-14 campaign.

Ground

Ilford play their home games at the Cricklefield Stadium on the High Road in Ilford. Their previous ground, Lynn Road, was used during the 1948 Summer Olympics to host two matches in the football tournament.

League honours

Cup honours

Club records (current club)

Former players

1. Players that have played/managed in the football league or any foreign equivalent to this level (i.e. fully professional league).
2. Players with full international caps.