What a difference a year has made for Cheltenham Town. 12 months on from the heartbreak of dropping out of the Football League, the club sealed an immediate return to League Two last weekend with a 2-0 victory over Halifax with two games to spare.
Instant success was not guaranteed. Supporters were concerned about having to compete against other National League teams with larger budgets. And the fact Cheltenham had, in recent seasons, been knocked out of the FA Cup by teams they would now be playing on a regular basis didn’t bode too well either.
“We made such a mess of it last season, and threw it all away needlessly,” admits Murry Toms. He grew up in Cheltenham and has been following the club since the late 1980s. “We only made it into the Football League in 1999, but maybe we started to take it for granted. A lot of credit has to go to my uncle for keeping me interested in non-league football for so long.” Murry’s uncle, Raymond Jackson, took him and his own son Michael to Whaddon Road from an early age. “I distinctly remember a game with him at the end of the 1991/92 season. It was the last game of the Conference season and we beat Welling United 3-1. But we still got relegated to the Southern League Premier because Kidderminster Harriers had won elsewhere. I never stopped coming back after that!”
Raymond is now retired, but he used to work in the car industry. While Cheltenham is the club close to his heart, he wasn’t always a regular at Whaddon Road. “His son Michael signed for the club on the same day as former Northern Ireland international Michael Duff. He went on to make 12 appearances, playing under Steve Cotterill between 1997 and 2002. It was the greatest period in the club’s history. Michael is still one of the few home grown players who played professionally for Cheltenham Town. My uncle was always in the stands while he was at the club, but he then went to follow Michael at his other clubs until he retired from playing a couple of years ago. He’s now rediscovered the Robins and has been a regular at the ground this season.”
Murry reveals that other family members have also represented the club in the past. “My great uncle Reuben was a goalkeeper for Cheltenham in the 1940s. He made seven appearances during the 1945/46 and 1946/47, when the club was playing in the Southern League.”
Cheltenham Town played in the Football League for 16 years between 1999 and 2015. Before then Murry witnessed the team toil in the Southern League for five seasons in the early 1990s. They were finally promoted at the end of the 1996/97 season, when Gresley FC’s ground failed Conference requirements.
Two seasons after that they were promoted from the Conference under Steve Cotterill. “We’ve been spoilt for good times really. I think finally getting out of the Southern League at the end of the 1996/97 season kick-started the club’s recent success. Beating Southport 1-0 to clinch the 1998 FA Trophy at the old Wembley, and our two successful League Two play-off finals in 2002 and 2006 at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium were great occasions.”
Murry also relishes the big occasions in the cup, when Cheltenham have drawn big teams, and they enjoyed a couple of famous victories during their League One days. “We were so close to making the FA Cup quarter-finals in 2002, I enjoyed our cup games against the likes of Everton, Spurs, West Ham and Newcastle United. I think we’ve played 13 of the current Premier League sides which is amazing really. League One football had been unthinkable for so long. A league double over Leeds United in 2007/08 season was a high point during our four seasons in the third tier. But I guess losing to us twice during the same league campaign was equally unthinkable for them. We deserved both those wins.”
For the last 12 seasons Murry has helped the club out in a media capacity at both home and away games. He is grateful for experiencing the different press boxes around the grounds. “The Elland Road press box is vastly different to Eastleigh’s, but you normally have a better time at the smaller clubs. I love getting around to as many clubs as I can.” He also travels to and from the game with the local media. “We drive to games and split the petrol costs. Maybe a tenner each time we travel to games. I’m lucky not to have to pay to get in as I work at the games. I think the consensus is that football is still too expensive to watch at our level.”
Murry feels there is plenty clubs can still do to improve supporters’ match day experience. “While I don’t think it’s always easy for clubs to reduce their admission prices, I do believe they need to work harder at giving supporters more for their money on match days and throughout the season. Considering we had such a bad season last year our gates haven’t been too bad this year. The 22-match unbeaten run through the winter cemented our place as promotion candidates, but it certainly helped attendances from sliding as well.”
So what were the key games this season that shaped Cheltenham’s successful promotion campaign? “Two of our best performances of the season were victories both home and away over pre-season favourites Grimsby Town. My mum and dad have little interest in football, but they nearly came to the home game against Grimsby for their 44th wedding anniversary. They decided against it in the end, which was a shame. It was after that 3-1 win fans really felt promotion was going to happen. The 1-0 victory over Tranmere Rovers was a real test of character, because we’d both been relegated together from League Two last season. And our early win against Wrexham this season was a statement of real intent.”
Whether or not Cheltenham made it back up at the first time of trying, Murry feels the club is currently in good shape. Although another season outside the Football League would have had severe financial implications as the parachute payments would cease next year. “I don’t think anyone knew what to expect at the start of this season. At the final whistle against Shrewsbury last year, the defeat that sealed our Football League exit, many felt relegation would result in another lengthy stint of non-league football. Wrexham, Grimsby Town and Lincoln City are decent sized clubs, but they have for one reason or another struggled to get back for years now. You have to give all the credit to the board and manager Gary Johnson for getting us up again at the first attempt. Failure this season might well have spelt years back in the wilderness.”
Murry is now back in Cheltenham, living just around the corner from where he grew up. He is already looking forward to following the club back in the Football League. “I’ve come to really appreciate the town for what it is as I’ve got older. We’ve spent the majority of our 129-year history outside of the Football League, but it only takes one look at the ground and our training facilities to realise we’ve come a long way since that first promotion in 1999.”
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