Club History


[History of Tadcaster Albion

Formed in 1892
The club is believed to have been formed in 1892 as John Smith’s FC. It wasn’t until 1923 that the Tadcaster Albion AFC name was adopted. In the early years the club played in the local York League, which they won in 1948 . They continued competing in the York League during the 1950’s & 60’s.
Tadcaster Albion, in the early days, played home games on the site of the cricket ground on Station Road, before moving to the Ings ground, near to where the present Samuel Smith Brewery Packaging Block now stands.
Changing facilities were in the town, at the rear of the Falcon Public House on Chapel Street, and it was a common Saturday afternoon sight to see nets, corner flags, buckets, oranges, players and officials trekking through the town.
Down the years the club has played in several leagues. In early times, Barkston Ash and later still, the Yorkshire and Northern Counties East Leagues.
Football continued on the Ings ground until 1960, when the club moved 100 yards up river to its present home at the Park.
In 1973 the club joined the Yorkshire League Division 3 and were promoted in 1975 & 1977 to reach Division 1, relegation was to follow in 1979 & 1980.
In 1982/83 they became a founding member of the Northern Counties East League, originally in the NCEL Division Two North before league reorganisations led them to Division One in 1991. They rarely finish in the top half of the league in the 1990’s and finished bottom in 2001/02 & 2003/04.
At the start of 2004/05, Jim Collis became manager and at this point fortunes on the pitch started to improve dramatically. In his first season, Albion finished 5th in the league, the following year a 3rd place finish meant promotion was missed by one point.
Jimmy Reid took over as manager in 2006, but his time was blighted by off the field problems. An attempted hostile takeover by dissident committee members took a massive amount of money to fight. Then in Nov 2007, an attempted arson attack on the clubhouse caused a lot of damage.
Paul Marshall took over at the start of 2008/09, in his first season he played mostly local players and the team struggled and finished 17th.
In 2009/10, with an influx of a few new key players, Albion won the NCEL Division One title. In 2010, Rob Northfield, took over as Chairman of Tadcaster Albion (2010) Ltd, and the club became a company limited by guarantee.
Albion finished fourth in their first season in the NCEL Premier Division and won the NCEL President’s Cup, beating Farsley AFC 5-1 in the final. That was followed by an 8th place finish in 2011/12 and 6th in 2012/13.
In the 2013/14 season Rob Northfield resigned a few days before the start of the season and i2i Sports Ltd agreed to take effective control of the club and company, with Matthew Gore becoming the new chairman.
In 2014/2015 the Brewers lead the NCEL Premier for most of the season, but a poor run of games in March led to them finally finishing in third. An excellent run in the FA Vase saw them make history by making it through to the Quarter Final of the FA Vase where they drew a record - breaking crowd of 1,307, but were narrowly beaten by Highworth Town. At the end of the season manager Paul Marshall left and former Harrogate Railway boss Billy Miller was unveiled as his replacement.
In 2015/2016 the Brewers lead the NCEL Premier for most of the season once again, but this time they held their nerve and finished Champions with a 2-1 home win over Armthorpe Welfare. They also made it to the League Cup Final but were beaten in a thrilling 3-2 game against Cleethorpes Town.
In 2016/2017 the Brewers started their first ever season in the Northern Premier First Division North. With a mix of old and new players Billy Miller was back in his old stomping ground and his experience and knowledge of this division was needed. The Brewers started the season well and were in the play-off spots, then injury problems hit the team and the season seemed to run away from them. They finished 19th in the league which spelt the end of the management team with Michael Morton and Simon Collins taking over.
2017/18 season saw the team quickly finding it’s feet as the fortunes took a turn for the better after the new year with Michael & Simon steering the club to its highest ever finish reaching the play-offs after a dramatic final day. This once again brought massive excitement amongst the club and town but unfortunately it ended in semi-final defeat 2-1 at Bamber Bridge despite taking the lead and putting in a valiant performance.
The 2018/19 season saw the Brewers move into the Northern Premier East Division after the league switched from a North/South divide to an East/West split. It was another positive one for the club finishing just outside the play-off places in 7th having been in the top six for most of the season. At the end of this campaign Manager Simon Collins decided to step down and several players moved onto new clubs.
2019 / 20 Former professional footballer and boxer, Curtis Woodhouse took charge, initially having only four players on the books. He built a new squad and for the first 3 months of the season we began to look like promotion contenders. Curtis left the club at the end of October and Paul Quinn inherited the mantle with Steve Waide as his assistant. The second half of the season was overshadowed by four devastating floods at the Stadium , before Covid 19 brought everything to an impromptu finish .
2020/21. Paul and Steve reorganised the playing Management over the summer months with support teams to deal with the analytical side of things, with fitness and injuries and with emerging talent. Thirteen of the previous season’s squad renewed their contracts and six exciting new players joined. It was looking good for a play off place when Covid struck again.
2021/22 With the unexpected departures of Paul Quinn and Steve Waide, the opening matches were a great disappointment. However, the appointment of the experienced John Deacey as team Manager plus Andy Monkhouse as his Assistant, ensured that we were able to maintain our NPL status, in what proved to be a challenging season.
2022/23 John Deacey left the club following a poor start to the season to be replaced by Neil Sibson and Craig Ogilvie as Joint managers. They too failed to turn around the poor results and from January 2023 Andy Monkhouse stepped up to the Manager’s position with Steve Roberts as his Assistant. At the time of his appointment only a miracle would stave off relegation but despite a mighty effort we were down with a meagre 21 points from 38 games. A feeling of doom pervaded the club
2023/24. Mick O’Connell and his management team from Harrogate Railway have taken over the running of the squad. Only one of last seasons’ players has survived (Corey Roper). Many of Mick’s previous team have made the decision to follow him here. Garry Plant who over a ten year period helped mastermind Harrogate Town’s unbelievable rise to EFL 2, is our new Chairman.

Club Honours:

NCEL Premier Division:
• Champions: 2015-16
West Riding County Cup:
•Runners-Up: 2016-17
NCEL League Cup:
• Runners Up: 2015-16
Northern Counties East Football League Division One:
•Champions: 2009-10
Northern Counties East Football President’s Cup:
•Winners: 2010-11
Yorkshire League Divison Two:
•Runners-up: 1976-77
Yorkshire League Divison Three:
•Runners-up; 1974-75
York Football League:
•Champions: 1947-48
•Runners-up: 1953-54
York Football League Division One:
Champions: 1909-10, 1923-24, 1932-33

Club Records:

Highest Home Attendance: 1,312 v Leeds United, Pre-Season Friendly, 2016-17; 1,307 v Highworth Town, FA Vase 6th Round Replay, 2014-15
Record Home Victory: 13-0 v Blidworth Welfare, NCEL Division 1, 1997-98;
Record Away Victory: 0-10 v Blidworth Welfare, NCEL Division 1, 1997-1998
Record Defeat: 10-2 v Thackley, 1984-85
FA Cup: Third Qualifying Round: 2012-13, knocked out by Boston Utd 2-0
FA Vase: Sixth Round (Replay): 2014-15, knocked out by Highworth Town 0-1