[FM24] Clapton Community FC & the Old Spotted Dog

[Motlhen]

 

Clapton Community Football Club is a phoenix club that was formed by fans in February 2018 after years of mismanagement by the owner of historic club Clapton FC.
The new club is a 100% fan-owned, fan-run reincarnation of the old club that was founded as a member's club in 1878, who own the oldest senior football ground in London, the Old Spotted Dog.
 

Home & Away Kit

During the club's inaugural season in the 12th tier of English football, a whopping 15,000 shirts were sold, including over 5,000 away shirts to Spain after the kit was designed using the colours of the Flag of the Second Spanish Republic. The financial benefit from this outstanding feat helped the club purchase the ground previously owned by now fierce rivals Clapton FC.

 

Short History

After two promotions in their first 3 seasons (over 5 years - as two seasons were postponed due to covid), and making the required upgrades to the men's changing rooms to meet league requirements, Clapton CFC are about to play their first matches in the Eastern Counties League Division One South (Tier 10). I've been chosen to lead the club to new heights.

 

Rivals

Clapton FC was founded in 1878 as Downs FC, changing to its present name a year later. They began competing in the FA Cup in 1888–89, and in 1890 became the first club from Great Britain to play in continental Europe, defeating a Belgian XI 7–0 in Antwerp.

In 1894 Clapton became founder members of the Southern League, alongside Southampton, Luton Town, Millwall and Reading and were placed in the Southern League Division One. Finishing eighth in a nine-club league they were forced to play a test match to avoid relegation to Southern League Division Two, defeating Sheppey United 5–1. The following season saw them finish eighth again, but despite winning the test match against the 1st Scots Guards, the club resigned from the league as several of the other clubs turned professional.

The 1904–05 season saw Clapton reach the final of the FA Amateur Cup for the first time, losing 3–2 to West Hartlepool. The following season they became founder members of the Isthmian League, finishing as runners-up in its inaugural season. They won the FA Amateur Cup in 1906–07, defeating Stockton 2–1 in the final. In 1908–09, they won the Amateur Cup again with a 6–0 win against Eston United. The 1910–11 season saw them win their first Isthmian League title, and in 1914–15 the club won a third Amateur Cup with a 1–0 victory over Bishop Auckland in the final.

Clapton won another Isthmian League title in 1922–23. The following season saw them win their fourth Amateur Cup, defeating Erith & Belvedere 3–0 in the final. They went on to retain their title as Amateur Cup holders the following season, beating Southall FC 2–1 at the Old Den. In the same season, three Clapton players were selected for the England national team:

 

In 1925–26 the club reached the third round of the FA Cup after wins against Norwich City and Ilford in the first and second round. They were eventually knocked out, losing 3–2 at 'home' to Swindon Town, a match that was played at West Ham's Boleyn Ground and drew a crowd of 27,000. The club would go on to reach the first round of the FA Cup again in 1926–27, 1927–28 and 1957–58, losing to Brentford, Luton Town and Queens Park Rangers respectively.

In 1975–76 Clapton finished bottom of Division One of the Isthmian League, dropping down to Division Two, which was renamed Division One in 1977. At the end of the 1981–82 season they were relegated to Division Two, but bounced back at the first time of asking as champions. The club won the Essex Senior Cup for a third time in 1984, but were relegated again at the end of the 1984–85 season, dropping into Division Two North. In 1991 the club was placed in Division Three after league reorganisation, which later became Division Two due to further reorganisation. In 2005–06 Clapton finished in bottom of the league for the second consecutive season and subsequently joined the Essex Senior League after Division Two was disbanded.

After finishing second-from-bottom of the Essex Senior League in 2022–23, the club were relegated to Division One South of the Eastern Counties League.

 

 

The Old Spotted Dog Ground

Clapton FC relocated to the Old Spotted Dog Ground in Forest Gate in 1888 after it was vacated by St Bartholomew's Hospital. The first match at the new ground was played on 29 September 1888, a 1–1 draw with Old Carthusians in front of a crowd of 700. The ground was recognised by the F.A. for hosting the first floodlit amateur match in 1956.

Many famous players have plied their trade over the years at ‘the Dog’, including Walter Tull, the first black professional footballer and World War One hero, who started his career at Clapton as an amateur before playing for Tottenham. World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore also graced the turf playing for West Ham Colts, as did David Beckham, playing in a Youth cup final in the 1980s.

During Clapton's peak in the late 19th century, the club averaged a regular home crowd of 4,000 spectators. The highest attendance at the ground for a Clapton match was recorded as 12,000 for an FA Cup game against Tottenham Hotspur during the 1898–99 season. In 2012 a supporters group named the Clapton Ultras was started. The group followed the European ultras tradition and developed around local fans disengaged with modern professional football, migrants to East London and those with opposition to discrimination and far-right politics. Following the creation of the Ultras, the club's home attendance rose from an average of 20 in 2011–12 to 335 by the 2015–16 season.

After over 100 years at the ground, during the 2001–02 Isthmian League season, Clapton spent the entire season playing away from the Old Spotted Dog due to the club's failure to undertake the Isthmian League's required ground improvements, but returned to the ground in 2003. Between 2012 and 2019 London Bari FC and then Hackney Wick FC shared the ground with Clapton in a bid to distribute the maintenance costs. But in the opening weeks of the 2019–20 season, Clapton, and fellow tenants Hackney Wick, were forced to vacate the Old Spotted Dog due to non-payment of rent by the leaseholders, Newham Community Leisure Trust Limited, a charity in which Clapton FC 'Chief Executive' Vincent McBean was a Trustee/Director. Supporters won a high court injunction against McBean, who had attempted to liquidate the charity that held the lease on the Old Spotted Dog ground.

On 17 September 2019, it was confirmed that Clapton had not been awarded a lease to remain at the Old Spotted Dog, with breakaway club Clapton Community winning the lease bid.

Division One South of the Eastern Counties League

Clapton FC will face Clapton Community FC for the first time this season.

Green means promoted, red relegated,
pink means reprieved from relegation,
and purple means new club.

 

 

 

The aim for this save is to take Clapton CFC as high as possible in the English pyramid, but there are some milestones that would be significant as it would eclipse Clapton FC's records:

• Record an average attendance across the season of more than 335 (recent record).
• Record an average attendance across the season of more than 4,000 (overall record).
• Record a home attendance over 12,000.
• Record an attendance over 27,000.
• Go beyond the 2nd Round of the FA Vase.
• Go beyond the 2nd Qualifying Round of the FA Trophy.
• Go beyond the 3rd Round of the FA Cup.
• Turn Professional.
• Compete in Europe (non-friendly).
• Win a European game by more than 7 goals.
• Have more than 3 players represent England.
• Have a player score more than 3 goals for England.

Edited May 7 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

 

Fixtures & Personnel

We have a healthy squad size of 33 players who I will be getting to know and trying to form a tactic with in the next month before the league begins.
I have 2 friendlies to figure out a starting XI.

 

 

I'll also be looking to bring in some staff.
Although our wage budget is pretty tight so I will only bring in the essentials (or anyone outstanding).

 

My Contract

I was offered £45p/w but managed to raise this to £60p/w.

 

Finances

I have cut the scouting budget of £20k in half to put it into our wage budget to increase it from £199p/w to £398p/w.
We have 17 youth players on £5p/w contracts (17x5 = £85p/w) + £60p/w for my contract = £155p/w mentioned below. The rest of the players are already on non-contracts with a maximum appearance fee of £20 and I will be trying to move all of our youth players onto non-contracts when they become eligible on their 17th birthday.

 

Youth

I will be putting a lot of emphasis of developing the youth system here at Clapton.
As expected the board were not willing to immediately start with some improvements, but I'll be back in the boardroom at every opportunity to try to convince them to!

Edited May 7 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Staff In

These staff I saw as essential additions and were the cheapest contracts of those who applied to our job adverts.

 

Once we had an Assistant and Scout, we started to hear about some players who we could get on trial.
I won't ever be signing anyone without scouting them properly (as attribute masking is on), but as we're trying to minimise scouting costs right now, I won't be attempting to sign anyone without having them on trial at the club first (as this will be the only way to see more attributes than what I can right now).

For example:

 

 

Expectations

The board have outlined their expectations as matchday 1 fast approaches.

One of our save objectives is to get past the 2nd round in the FA Vase (to eclipse Clapton FC's record).
Our performances in this competition as well as in the league against Clapton FC are the big targets for this season.

 

We welcome our rivals to their old ground in late October whilst we head to their new place in late February.

Edited May 7 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Pre-Season 2023

We managed to make 2 signings prior to the first game of the season.

 

Both signings were strikers, and adding in Baird who was already at the club, we have 3 clear standouts according to the Assistant's ratings and they are all forwards.

 

 

With what little I have learnt from our friendlies (I was only in charge for 2), I have put together our first squad for our first game.

 

Edited May 7 by Motlhen