Bishop's Stortford

Bishop's Stortford FC is a non-league football club that was  formed in 1874 and are based in the market town of the same name in Hertfordshire, close to London Stansted Airport.

Originally the club started out in local league football before becoming members of the Hertfordshire County League in 1921. Ten years later 'The Blues' or 'The Bishops', as they are nicknamed, switched to the Spartan League. They remained there for twenty years, when the club joined the Delphian League, lifting the title in 1954-55.

When that league disbanded The Bishops moved to the Athenian League in 1963. In 1969-70 they lifted the league's Premier Division title. In the same year The Blues also reached the FA Cup First Round for the first time. In 1971 they moved to the Isthmian League from where they reached the second round of the FA Cup in 1972-73, where Peterborough United put them out after a replay.

The Main Stand at Rhodes venue taken from the internet

In 1973-74 Bishops Stortford won the last ever FA Amateur Cup, defeating Ilford 4-1 at Wembley as Dave Lawrence, Peter Leakey, Dennis Murphy and Martin Smith scored the goals in front of a crowd of 30,000.

The victory came after reaching the semifinals the previous season. 1980-81 saw a great season for the club as they regained top flight Isthmian League football and lifted the FA Trophy at Wembley as Sutton United were defeated 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Terry Sullivan.

In 1982-83, a Football League side were defeated for the first time after many previous attempts as Reading were defeated in Round One at Elm Park. Slough Town were beaten in the next round before The Blues held Middlesbrough 2-2 at Ayresome Park. Boro won the replay at Rhodes Avenue.

Former Arsenal star John Radford, who starred in the 1981 Wembley win returned as manager in 1987 prior to Terry Moore who played in goal in both Wembley wins taking over the reins. However, the Blues were relegated again to Division One of the Isthmian League in 1991-92.

They regained their status following a title win in 1992-93 under the managerial control of the returning Radford. 1997 saw the club leave their Rhodes Avenue home, having to play home games at Boreham Wood, St. Albans City, Hitchin Town, Dagenham & Redbridge, and Ware, with Martin Hayes becoming manager in 1998.

His team was relegated in 1998-99 prior to the club’s new stadium on the town's outskirts at Woodside Park finally opened, with the Stortford winning the last competitive game of the millennium played in England when they won 5-3 at Chertsey Town on 30^th December 1999.

Promotion to the Premier Division was secured in 2001-02 prior to the Blues becoming founder members of the Conference South with star striker and future Wales international Steve Morison as part of the team. The team was heading towards relegation in 2008-09 when Hayes was replaced by Mark Simpson, with the team turning form around.

In 2011, with former England keeper Ian Walker as manager, the club was based the furthest north after Rushden & Diamonds went bust leading to transfer to Conference North. It meant many long journeys, increased expenses and a loss of sponsorships. The Conference agreed to pay the club compensation in lieu of the move. 

Manager Walker lamented the travelling involved and how it restricted his signings. He departed in December 2011 with the side struggling. Rod Stringer took over the reigns as the sides fortunes immediately improved with Dwight Gayle scoring regularly. 

The clubs’ endeavours were rewarded when they were transferred to Conference South after two seasons of long journeys. At the end of the 2015-16 campaign, Stringer resigned after doing a fine job which included a couple of appearances in the first round of the FA Cup.

A couple of managerial appointments failed to work before Kevin Watson was given the job in March 2017. The side failed to avoid relegation and went down to the Premier Division of the Southern League for a season before being transferred to the Isthmian League.

Adam Flint arrived as the new manager in the summer of 2018, lasting just a few months before club owner Steve Smith and Jamie Cureton took over with the former topflight forward taking solo charge in October 2019 as player-manager. He departed in February 2020 with Smith taking up the position.

The 2021-22 season saw playoff semifinal defeat to Cheshunt, but the disappointment was soon forgotten as Stortford became Isthmian League champions in 2022-23. Their joy was tempered by being placed in National League North from where they were relegated after just one season.

Steve Smith resigned May 2024 to be replaced by Steve Castle as the club was placed in the Premier Division Central of the Southern League.

Bishop's Stortford FC will play in Southern League Premier Division Central in the 2024-25 season.

My visit

Bishop's Stortford 3 Blyth Spartans 3 (Saturday 3rd December 2011) Conference North (att: 297)

I had been meaning to get to a game at Bishop's Stortford for some time as my old mate Dave Cammish and his lad Ashley went along to Woodside Park whenever they could. I was on night shift and Dave had the day off, so I grabbed the opportunity. While it was going to take me a bit of time to get there, it was nothing to the lunacy created by the placing of Stortford would mean to the days visitors from Northumberland.

I caught the tube down to Finchley Road, where I transferred to the London Overground service to Highbury & Islington. After another tube ride to Tottenham Hale I got aboard the train to Bishops Stortford. I was already in a good mood, as my niece Sally had scored her first ever goal that morning after seasons of trying!

Dave and Ashley were waiting for me at the station and before long we had paid our £12 admission and were sat in the cosy clubhouse watching the Newcastle v Chelsea game on a foreign channel. The bar served a decent enough pint of Greene King IPA to aid my dry throat and the service was very friendly.

The home gaffer, Ian Walker popped in and out to watch the game on TV. Dave asked him about a player who he rated, but had left The Blues of late. Ian explained how difficult it was to keep players on the budget he had because of offers from elsewhere and owing to the considerable distances to many of the away games. He came across as a decent bloke.

We went outside and Dave and Ashley went into the Main Stand, while I had a walk around to take photos (see bottom of the page!). I aren't the biggest fan of a lot of new stadiums, but I really liked Woodside Park. The Main Stand was on the half way line above the changing rooms and clubhouse. 

It had flat standing at either side to allow for future developments if they are required. There was terracing behind both goals with a roof over both centre sections. The far side had terracing at each end and a second seated stand in the centre, stood back from the touchline.

I went to join my friends after trying one of the very nice, but pricey cheeseburgers for £2.50. The game was fairly scrappy, with both defences being generally on top. The match was a real six pointer at the wrong end of the table, with Blyth bottom of the pile and Stortford a couple of places above. 

Chances were generally limited to longer range efforts, but Stortford went one up through skipper Reece Prestedge who Dave rated as their best player. We went downstairs for a warm at half time, where unfortunately no half time scores were being shown. It was the only downside I found on the whole matchday experience.

Well I say that, but I was a bit down from the news coming via texts from Queensgate where top of the table Scarborough Athletic were two down at the break against Liversedge. This was definitely not good news.

Actually it was just like being at a Scarborough game sat in the stand with the regulars, as they bemoaned anything that went wrong and blamed the officials - though without the harsh cynicism found in the north! Their team cheered them up by doubling their lead just after the hour when David Adepipe slid home. Around the same time Boro had gone three down a couple of hundred miles away.

Spartans were cheered on by around thirty to forty hardy travellers, including a very loud gent in the directors box who amused the locals, and the gradually got back into the game. Dave forecasted that Stortford were poor at closing out games and he thought manager Walker was reactive rather than proactive with his substitutions.

A lovely move sent in Neal Hook to reduce the arrears to upset the home fans around us. The pressure gradually built and Glen Taylor was given time without anyone challenging as he ran and then fired home from the edge of the box. The Blues fought back, but it was of no surprise to me when Lee Mason fired Blyth ahead with a powerful shot. I thought the Blues keeper Jordan Archer could have kept it out. It was a shame as the youngster on loan from Spurs looked pretty good, save for that.

There were another couple of hopeful northerners in the stand in Dave and I, as news was coming through that Boro had rallied and were now only 3-2 down. There was still hope!

The home fans were not best pleased, whereas the northerners were in jubilant mood. One old local bemoaned the fact he'd turned down a couple of free tickets to have gone to Newcastle for the lunchtime game, to watch "this lot". Just before we went downstairs to the flat standing near the gate for the last few minutes, so we could make a quick getaway at full time, a text arrived to say Boro were now drawing 3-3.

Some Spartans fans were giving the linesman hell over one or two of his decisions, and then lack of them. The home fans also offered plentiful feedback, much of which was directed to their team.  The board went up showing that there would be a minimum of three added minutes added on, and seconds later the skipper Prestedge headed the equaliser from close range.

How the emotions changed amongst the fans! They could have done even further as Stortford pushed for an injury time winner, but the visitors held firm. A draw was the correct result in my opinion, but sadly it wasn't of much use to either side who looked likely to face a battle all season against relegation.

We had parked by the gate and were back at the station in plenty of time for me to catch the 5.09 train back to Tottenham Hale. My journey home meant coming into contact with plenty of happy Spurs fans on their way home from their victory against Bolton Wanderers as I received plenty of texts telling me Scarborough had got away with murder.

It had been a good match, nice ground amongst decent folk and lovely to catch up with Dave and Ashley. I was happy to see them supporting a local club. If only Boro had of got a late winner I'd have been really chipper, but the odds on the two games I was following closely both ending 3-3 must have been large!

I took lots of photos at the game, and consequently deleted them when downloading the next day when half asleep after nights. Some extra pictures have been taken from the internet to complete views of the ground.