Kings Langley F.C.

History

Kings Langley Football Club was founded in 1886, with the village doctor, Frederick Fisher, as its first Chairman. Founder members of the West Herts League in the 1891–92 season, Kings Langley also won the St. Mary’s Cup in front of 3,500 people at the Watford Recreation Ground that season, retaining it the next year and losing the final on a replay the year after that. Early pitches included Groomes Meadow, Blackwell Meadow, and Kings Langley Common, and although it has been stated that the club did not settle at Home Park until 1913, the ground is known to have hosted a 1898–99 match against Hemel Hempstead Town in front of 300 spectators.

After slipping down the divisions, Kings Langley’s first league honour came in 1911–12, winning the Division 3 title, followed by the Division 2 Championship in 1919–20. The following two seasons saw an uncomfortable time in the Herts County League, before returning to the West Herts Division 1 in 1922–23. A similar drop down the divisions led to the club folding in February 1930, only to be reformed four months later, with a Division 2 Championship and Webster Cup triumph at the end of the first season. The return to the top flight lasted only two seasons, but two years later Kings Langley topped Division 2 for their fourth divisional title.

1934 saw a new pavilion built on Home Park, opened by future FIFA president Sir Stanley Rous. With the Herts County League undergoing reformation, Langley took the radical step of joining the Southern Olympian League, taking the second and first division titles in successive years and spending two seasons in the Premier until the outbreak of the Second World War.

A 1939 application to play in the FA Cup was accepted prior to the 1945-46 edition, leaving Kings Langley just four weeks to put a team together. The club succeeded, making it to the first qualifying round before getting knocked out. When league football resumed the following year, Kings found themselves back in the Herts County League, gaining promotion from Division Two that year. In the five seasons that followed, Kings Langley won the First Division title twice, came runners-up twice, and won the St. Mary’s Cup after a 58-year gap.

Kings Langley regularly competed in the FA Amateur Cup, and in September 1949 they entertained the famous amateurs of Corinthian Casuals, a match that generated significant local interest. A crowd of over 500 watched as Corinthians ran out 3-1 winners.

Three successful seasons in the Parthenon League followed, but travelling expenses were high, so in 1955-56 the club returned to the Herts County League and would remain there for the next 45 years. Gradual improvement led to back-to-back Premier League titles in 1965–66 and 1966–67, plus a Herts Charity Shield triumph in the latter year, and the Aubrey Cup in 1967–68. This was perhaps the "golden period" of the club’s history, and although the club won the St. Mary's Cup again in 1971–72, relegation followed a year later. The club began yo-yoing between Division One and the Premier League, before another promotion was overshadowed by the loss of Home Park to redevelopment in 1980. A nomadic existence followed, the club playing at Oxhey, Rolls Royce & Buncefield Lane, and finally the Leavesden hospital ground.

In March 1997, Kings Langley finally gained a new permanent home on Hempstead Road. The reformation of the club's youth team in 1989 helped play a part in this, as junior and senior supporters joined forces to help obtain the land, lay the pitches, and build a pavilion. Sponsors of the project included the National Lottery, the Hertfordshire FA, Dacorum Borough Council, Kings Langley Parish Council, and Graham Gaywood, a well-known benefactor of the club who died soon after the stadium's completion. The ground was named Gaywood Park in his honour.

However, the new home did not bring an immediate turnabout in results and despite winning the Rickmansworth Charity Cup, Langley were embroiled in relegation battles for the next two seasons. The club's form improved at the turn of the millennium, finishing fourth in 1999-2000 before losing the title race on goal difference in 2000–01, and the decision was taken to apply for a higher level of football. The club was accepted to the Spartan South Midlands League at Division One level, and while the club held its own with three mid-table finishes, the club's finances were drained in order to upgrade the stadium to league standards, and the club were relegated in 2003-04.

Kings Langley's first season in the lower tier was disappointing, and Steve Heath was appointed manager for the next campaign. A sixth-place in 2005-06 was followed by a runners-up spot the next season, but ground standards were still an issue and promotion was denied. 2007–08 saw a magnificent treble success of League, Division 2 Cup, and the retention of the Herts Intermediate Cup; Kings Langley were unbeaten in all competitions from September 2007 until October 2008, an incredible run of 47 consecutive matches. In the meantime, the club continued to upgrade their facilities to the required standard, a task completed by the start of the 2009–10 season, by which time Heath had moved on. He was succeeded by the experienced Paul Hobbs, who took a new young side to an encouraging 7th placed finish, as well as the semi-finals of the Herts FA Senior Centenary Cup and the quarter finals of both the Challenge Trophy and Division One Cup. 2010–11 saw his emerging side further improve to third, narrowly missing out on promotion as the club celebrated its 125th anniversary.

In 2011–12 the club finished fourth in Division 1 and won the Herts Senior Centenary Trophy for the first time, as well as finishing runners-up in both the Herts Charity Shield and the Division One Cup. Paul Hobbs retired at the end of the season, and Ritchie Hanlon and Paul Hughes were appointed joint managers. The club won the Division 1 Cup in each of the next two seasons, and in the latter season they also won promotion to the Premier Division for the first time, finishing runners-up behind Sun Postal Sports. The club were also granted FA Charter status during this time.

Kings Langley won the Premier Division at the first attempt in 2014-15, earning back-to-back promotions to the Southern Football League. They then went on to win the Southern League Division One Central the following season, pipping Egham Town and Royston Town to the title in the final game of the season. After three successive promotions, Kings Langley will play in the Southern Premier Division for the first time in their history in 2016-17. In doing so, they became only the fourth club in England and the first since 2013 to achieve three or more promotions in successive seasons.

After rumoured impending budget cuts early into the club's first Southern Premier Division season, joint managers Hughes and Hanlon stepped down after four years in charge, later taking over at Hayes & Yeading. Paul Hobbs returned to the club on a caretaker basis. Hobbs then later decided to stay with the club until the end of the 2016-17 season

Crest

The club's crest consists of a white rose on a black shield trimmed with white with the abbreviation "K.L.F.C." on a white scroll underneath the shield outlined in black. The white rose, which is the emblem of the House of York appears due to the village being the location of Kings Langley Palace, a royal palace of the Plantagenet Kings of England. The 12th century parish church of All Saints' contains the tomb of Edmund of Langley, the 1st Duke of York.

The club have used variations of this crest since the club's founding in 1886.

Kit and Colours

The Club's main colours consist of predominantly white with black-trimmed shirts, with black shorts and white hose although historically the club have used mainly white shirts with black stripes with black shorts and hose. The club have also used white shirts trimmed with red with two red horizontal stripes. As away colours, the club vary between blue, amber and red.

Honours

Records