How far can Margate Football Club get you? Certainly a long way for FMTacticus, winner ofour FM2007 for PSP competition!

Read the first part of the story below 

History

Founding of the Club

Margate Football Club was originally founded in 1896 as an amateur club, playing friendly matches on local school grounds. In the years prior to World War I the club played in several different amateur leagues and moved around various grounds in the Margate area before settling on a pitch at the Dreamland Margate|Dreamland amusement park which became known as the Hall-by-the-Sea Ground.

The Link-Up With Arsenal

After the war the club stepped up to the original Kent League but in 1923 was suspended from the league due to financial irregularities and promptly folded. A year later the club was reformed as Margate Town and returned to the Kent League, still playing at Dreamland, but folded again. In 1929 the club reformed once again and moved to its present home at Hartsdown Park.

In the 1930s Margate, by now playing in the Southern League, became the official nursery side for Arsenal. This arrangement ran until 1938 and saw promising young "Gunners" regularly sent down to Hartsdown to gain experience.

Glorious FA Cup Runs & Thanet United

After World War II the Gate returned to the Kent League until it folded in 1959, at which point they returned to the Southern League. Around this time the club had a number of successful FA Cup runs, extensively developed the ground, and took the bold step of turning full-time professional, although this was a financial disaster and was quickly dropped.

During the 1970s Margate were involved in two famous FA Cup ties. The Gate went down 11-0 to A.F.C. Bournemouth in 1971 with Ted McDougall scoring a cup record nine goals. Then, a year later, Margate saw off Swansea City and Walton & Hersham to set up an FA Cup 3rd Round tie at Hartsdown against a star-studded UEFA Cup winning Spurs side. A record crowd of over 14,000 packed into Hartsdown Park.

For much of the 1970s the club discussed a merger with neighbours Ramsgate F.C. to form a new team representing the whole Isle of Thanet but when Thanet United F.C. was finally formed in 1981 Ramsgate had no involvement and it was essentially purely a name change for Margate, which lasted until 1989, when a new board took over.

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The Chris Kinnear Era

In May 1996 - the club's centenary year - Chris Kinnear was appointed manager. He immediately guided the club to a fifth place finish in the Southern League Southern Division. The following season saw the club's best FA Cup run for a quarter of a century. Fulham, boasting a multi-million pound squad under the management of future England boss Kevin Keegan, were the visitors to Hartsdown Park for a First Round Proper tie that drew a crowd of 5,100. The match was shown live on Sky Sports on the Sunday afternoon. Although the Gate took the lead, the Cottagers eventually squeezed through with a 2-1 win after a late second half strike.

Season 1998/99 saw the club win promotion to the Southern League Premier Division. This was immediately followed up with a third place finish. The 2000/01 season was to see the club storm to the Southern League Premier Division title ahead of Burton Albion, taking them into the Conference for the first time.

Subsequent seasons have been dominated by the saga of the redevelopment of Hartsdown Park. The second season of Conference football saw the Gate groundsharing at Dover's Crabble Ground while redevelopment was carried out at Hartsdown Park. However, various issues meant that the planned redevelopment stalled, and in June 2004, despite finishing 16th in the Nationwide Conference the Gate were forcibly relegated one division due to the ongoing delays and problems with the redevelopment plans.

Margate spent the 2004/05 season in the Conference South, this time groundsharing at Ashford Town F.C. Amidst continued ongoing issues with the redevelopment work, which at one point made it seem very likely that the club would fold completely, Margate were again relegated to the Isthmian League Premier Division.

Back at Hartsdown Park & All Change

In August 2005, Margate returned to Hartsdown Park after three years in the wilderness. An indifferent season saw Margate once again flirting with the threat of relegation. Long-serving managerial pairing Chris Kinnear and assistant Kevin Raine were suspended and told that their jobs were to be advertised after a disastrous run of form in Spring. Physio John Griffin and kit-man Kevin Martin walked out because of the decision.

Player/Manager Robin Trott was placed in temporary charge in April 2006 and after an unbeaten five game run was given a 1 year contract after the final game of the season at the end of April.

Trott had an excellent 2006/2007 Season guiding the club along with his mostly amateur team winning the Isthmian League Premier Division and gaining promotion to the Conference South. Unfortunately Trott and the then current chairman (Josh Holmes) were unable to agree terms on a new contract (considering Trott's ability to get the team promoted) especially as the board wanted to move the team towards a semi-professional club after several years at amateur status but were not willing to provide any investment.

As a result Trott left Margate a new manager was required, the man they brought in was an unknown manager from the local area, had previously played at a Isthmian League Division One level though since retiring had a reputation of being a good coach and could well step up to take a role in management.

June 20th 2007. A new season in English football is just on the horizon, new manager Mark Nash was unveiled to the half dozen fans and the amateur squad.