Leatherhead

Leatherhead FC is a non league football club from the town in Surrey of the same name, which is located on the River Mole just south of the M25. The club was formed in 1907 as Leatherhead Rose, playing in local league competition. Another club also existed in the town; Leatherhead United playing at Fetcham Grove.

Following World War Two the two clubs joined forces and became members of the Surrey Senior League for the 1946-47 season. After being crowned champions for four consecutive seasons ‘The Tanners’ moved to the Metropolitan & District League for the 1950-51 campaign. However, after just one season Leatherhead became founder members of the Delphian League.

1958 saw another change in competition with a move to the Corinthian League, where the club won the title in 1962-63, before the league was disbanded meaning joining yet another league. The Athenian League expanded to two divisions with Leatherhead winning it at the first attempt, winning promotion to the Premier Division.

The Tanners cup pedigree was born in 1970-71 as the lost 3-0 in the semi final of the FA Amateur Cup to eventual winners Skelmersdale United at Burnden Park, Bolton. A year later the club moved to the Isthmian League, before reaching the last four in the last ever Amateur Cup in 1974; this time losing to Ilford by the only goal at Millwall. Nobby Skinner was the goal scoring hero of that era, but he was to be outdone soon after.

The 1974-75 season would see Leatherhead make national headlines. After seeing off Croydon, Hornchurch, Dagenham and then Walton & Hersham they reached Round One of the FA Cup, where Bishop’s Stortford after a replay and then Colchester United were beaten at Fetcham Grove. 

A trip down to the coast resulted in a 1-0 win at Brighton & Hove Albion with Leatherhead rewarded with a tie against top tier Leicester City. The star of the show was the charismatic goal scorer Chris Kelly who was christened as ‘The Leatherhead Lip’ as he willingly talked up his team. 

The fourth round clash was moved from Fetcham Grove to Filbert Street where a crowd of 32,000 as well as the Match of the Day cameras turned out. Leatherhead went 2-0 up and Kelly had a goal bound shot scrambled off the line to make it three, before Leicester eventually wore down the non leaguers resistance to go through 3-2.

To see Kelly’s solo goal at the Goldstone Ground, click here:

Further conquests in the FA Cup followed including another second round appearance, but the 1977-78 campaign finally saw Leatherhead reach Wembley Stadium. After defeating Spennymoor United over two legs in the semi final, The Tanners lined up against Altrincham, but lost out 3-1 in front of the Twin Towers.

Gradually the team dismantled before Leatherhead were relegated for the first time in 1982-83. A further demotion came seven years later. In 1996-97 the club returned to Division One but went back down four years later. Serious financial concerns hit the club in 1999, but supporters rallied to secure a new long term lease at Fetcham Grove.

Following league re-organisation Leatherhead were placed in Division One South for the 2002-03 season, before going on to reach the FA Cup first round for the first time in twenty six years before bowing out to Torquay United. In 2009-10 the team lost out to Folkestone Invicta in the play offs.

However, The Tanners were not to be denied for much longer as they went up in May 2011 in a dramatic play off final against Dulwich Hamlet. Leatherhead were 3-1 down going into injury time before Kevin Terry scored twice to take the game to extra time. Terry completed his hat trick in the additional period as the club won promotion to the Premier Division.

Unfortunately their spell lasted just one season before the club returned with Richard Brady as boss to try and win promotion from Division One South. Leatherhead suffered from terrible flooding in January 2014, but soon pulled together to get the show back on the road.

Despite having six points deducted the Tanners reached the play-offs defeating Guernsey and then Folkestone Invicta on penalties to win promotion to the Premier Division, where the club consolidated their place with three mid table finishes.

Former Premier League midfielder Jimmy Bullard took over as team manager in September 2016, taking the team from a place near the relegation places to a safe finish. He was replaced in May 2017 by player-manager Sammy Moore; the former AFC Wimbledon and Leyton Orient midfielder.

Leatherhead FC will play in the Isthmian League Division One south in the 2013-14 season.

My visits

Friday 3^rd November 2006

With the weekend off work and heading to Droyslden v Scarborough the following day I decided to get out and about and see some new places and football clubs on a bright winters day.

After calling at Dorking’s Meadowbank ground I caught the no.465 bus to Leatherhead. I found the ground easily enough as the bus went past the lane to the entrance. The ground was open so I could go inside and take some pictures.

Fetcham Grove was a smart venue, though a little less underdeveloped for what I had expected. Two low stands with seating and standing accommodation ran down the length of one side, with the clubhouse and changing rooms behind. There was another small cover behind the near end goal but the rest of the ground was open hard standing with grass, some of which sloped towards the pitch, beyond.

Once I’d finished I walked to the railway station and took a bus westerly to my next port of call; Chessington & Hook United.

Leatherhead 2 Horsham 1 (Wednesday 26^th February 2014) Isthmian League Division One South (att: 245)

I’d had my eye on heading to Fetcham Grove for some time for a game. Just a couple of weeks earlier I’d been thwarted by the weather as the match had been called off because of a waterlogged pitch. The club had been terribly hit by flooding at the turn of the year, so they’d done really well to have any games staged for some time.

It was my day off, but my adventures at the Carshalton v Dulwich game the night before had left me extremely jaded. Eventually I dragged myself up and got to Waterloo to take a packed surface towards the Surrey commuter belt for the second night running.

I’d read that Chapeltom, another regular poster on the invaluable Non League Matters Forum was heading to the game. His posts also revealed he enjoyed a real ale or two, so I got in touch with him by Twitter. We ended up meeting in the rather posh Wetherspoons Assembly Rooms in Epsom, where my Sambrooks Wandle Bitter was in top order.

We arrived at Fetcham Grove after negotiating several awkward crossings in a town where there didn’t appear to be a speed limit. Because of the backlog of fixtures, Leatherhead reduced admission to a very welcome £5, with the decent programme setting me back another couple of quid.

Tom headed round to the grass bank on the far side while I went in search of much needed nutrition. The two ladies in the snack bar were surprised as to the size of the queue, which meant a bit of a wait, but they sorted it with good humour. The cheeseburger and chips were excellent for £4.

Following the food I had a look along the main side. The three covers had been cleverly placed so that everyone including those in the seats, had a full view of the pitch, which had a few yards of turf up to the wall at the front. The rooms either side of the toilets showed terrible signs of the floods. The cleaning process had begun.

The atmosphere created by both sets of fans was friendly but they also got behind their side. One home fan gave a resigned groan as the referee pulled over The Tanners manager Richard Brady for his feedback. 

I got the impression that this was not an unusual occurrence. Predictably enough, the ref gave the away side most close calls and who could blame him? Horsham deservedly took the lead as they were making a mockery of the league table. 

The Hornets were towards the bottom of the table. I’d seen them concede five at Worthing a couple of weeks previously. Leatherhead were in second place and hoping to put pressure on leaders Peacehaven & Telescombe.

The goal came through some fine football on eighteen minutes as Jamie Cade gave and received a return ball before smashing home. The Hornets created plenty of other scares to go with it and missed a really good opportunity to double their lead, while Leatherhead huffed and puffed without getting too far.

I met up with Tom who’d kept a close eye on proceedings. His impression was that the game was of a good quality, but lacking in goalmouth action. At the interval we walked round and took up a position on the covered terrace near to the end the home side hoped to attack.

Brady made a couple of smart half time changes; in particular bringing on Theo Fairweather-Johnson up front on the right. He immediately livened up play and gave the Horsham rearguard something to think about.

The equaliser came on sixty three minutes as Fairweather –Johnson exchanged passed with Kev Terry to fire home from just inside the box to the joy of the ageing locals alongside us. Soon after he scored what would turn out to be the winner as his first touch set him up to send an angled volley past Kieron Thorp in the visitors net from the edge of the box.

Horsham nearly snatched a late leveller but defender Jerry Nnamani hooked the goal bound effort off the line. The full time whistle was met with cheers as The Tanners closed the gap at the top of the lead to just one point.

We headed into town for a post match pint in Wetherspoons Edmund Tylney outlet, before dashing off for the train back to the metropolis. It had been a decent night out for the second evening in a row, again enhanced by being in good company.

Leatherhead 1 Hendon 2 (Wednesday 25^th April 2018) Isthmian League Premier Division (att: 449)

What a night! I’d enjoyed myself no end the previous evening seeing Scarborough Athletic more or less seeing the runners-up spot and promotion the Northern Premier League Premier Division and the night in Leatherhead more than matched it.

I met Steve Barnes at Kingsbury station to take the tube down to Waterloo where we met Gerry my voluntary colleague at Silver Jubilee Park and Neil the long term Hendon and Middlesex supporter. The 4.39 train got us to our destination in around 40 minutes.

We’d done some research in advance of the potential pubs; starting off in The Penny Black. This was a lovely old building with modern décor inside and plenty of attractive young people. It appeared to be the trendy place in town.

Despite that we fitted in and enjoyed a reasonable couple of pints of TEA from the Hogs Back Brewery, albeit at expensive prices. Simon Cope and then Lee Cousins and his drinking mates soon joined us along with other Dons fans.

We headed down the hill to The Running Horse, which was a historic old building with a fantastic selection of ales. The Ranmore from Surrey Hills Brewery and a rare southern chance of IPA from Clarks of Wakefield were given the thumbs up.

We left for the short walk to Fetcham Grove over the River Mole in good time. Admission was £10 with the programme a further couple of quid, once I’d located someone selling them. A good turnout of Hendon fans were in the bar and on the terraces for this huge game.

Leatherhead desperately needed a win to propel themselves into the play-offs, while Hendon needed just one point. However, if they won their final two matches and Folkestone Invicta failed to win their final match at Billericay it would lead to a home semi-final.

Simon and I decided to go behind the goal the Dons were attacking, but went all the way around when it was possible to go out of the back of the clubhouse and around to the cover at that end. The walk probably did us good!

The venue had been added to since my previous visits with the addition of the extra cover behind the top goal. The whole ground was neat and a proper non-league football ground.

The excellent visiting support was soon in good voice when a ball came into the area and into the net via Sam Murphy’s knee to make it 1-0 on eleven minutes. This was a great start in a game the majority in our end would settle for a draw from.

The Tanners pressed forward, but passing and controlling the ball was difficult on a poor playing surface which had plenty of grass but bobbles as well. Both teams saw many potential attacking moves come to nothing.

The Dons looked good on the counter attack but it was the hosts who had the majority of the play. Hendon conceded lots of corners and free kicks but defended like heroes from them, with Arthur Lee and Rian Bray in belligerent moods.

It looked like Leatherhead had equalised when Tom Lovelock made a stop but the ball had escaped him before he landed on it. The home fans celebrated as they thought the ball had crossed the line. My Soccerway App indicated a goal before correcting itself. Once again the Dons keeper had come to the rescue.

The pressure continued, but I was pretty confident that Hendon would break away and score again. Not everyone was as convinced. My beers had quelled any nerves. I tried a Pale Ale on keg from the bar just to make sure during the interval.

We headed down to the far end after the break passing quite a few Hendon fans in the seats. Fetcham Grove did look well as the sun dropped, with the trees in full bloom surrounding the arena. However, the floodlights were not the brightest.

The pressure was cranked up by the hosts after the restart, with the Dons struggling to retain possession. The defence was holding firm but the amount of balls going into the area was increasing all the time.

Being confident that they could hold out, I was disappointed when the leveller came. Another cross went across the Hendon box where Jack Midson headed home on sixty three minutes. Lovelock pulled off two more top stops as nails were being bitten among the away following.

Gary McCann rung the changes for Hendon to try and firm up the midfield that was in danger of been completely overrun. The Head continued to pour forward as the vocal fans increased the noise and offered feedback to us at the other end.

A major characteristic of a fantastic Hendon season was the character of the team and how that they had belied their age by showing the strength of veterans. They never knew when they were beaten and scored many late goals. This was to be another occasion.

Niko Muir hadn’t stopped working all night up front, and he put pressure on a central defender in the last minute of normal time. Josh Walker capitalised to win the ball and slot it past keeper Manny Agboola.

It was absolute bedlam behind the goal. Strangers were jumping around and hugging each other. It was an amazing moment and matched Walker’s debut winner in stoppage time away to Dulwich earlier in the season.

It knocked the stuffing out the home side and their supporters who were offered return observations. Hendon saw out the four minutes injury time without little worry. That said the final whistle was still greeted wildly between fans and players alike.

We gathered after giving the players a deserved ovation. Elation was high and Steve and Simon were more than happy to continue the evening. Gerry wasn’t used to drinking so he headed back to the station with other fans.

Steve had bumped into an old friend from speedway at the game so we reconvened in the Running Horse for more fine ale and conversation with Andy and a Head and Leyton Orient fan. The locals were fantastic all evening.

We left for the ten minute walk to the station and came across the jubilant management of Hendon with a few players in the Leatherhead Grill takeaway which led to lots of noise and more celebrations. It was a fantastic moment.

Fortunately Simon remembered the way through the park and we found the station with a few minutes to spare before the last train, with Lee and his gang cutting it even finer. We chatted with a couple of really nice Head fans for a few stops who’d also enjoyed a few beers.

It was as well that Steve had travelled with me or I could well have ended up at the northern end of the Bakerloo or Jubilee line if my mate hadn’t given me a couple of nudges. It had been a brilliant and memorable evening.