Club History - A Complicated Tale
Pennant FC
Pennant FC was formed in 1959 by William Bode. They became champions of the South West Essex League before joining the Metropolitan League in 1975, which they also won.
Pennant joined the London Spartan League for the 1983-84 season, winning promotion at their first attempt from the Senior to Premier Division. In 1988, the historic Walthamstow Avenue FC were swallowed up by the complicated Redbridge Forest merger, which went on to become Dagenham & Redbridge FC.
Walthamstow Pennant
Pennant changed their name to Walthamstow Pennant FC to keep the name of Walthamstow alive in senior football while playing at Wadham Lodge. The Spartan League and cup double was collected in 1990-91, but promotion was denied because Wadham Lodge was deemed not up to the required standards.
Leyton FC
Leyton FC were formed in 1868 and soon became a prominent amateur club. They merged in 1975 to become Leyton Wingate. The Wingate members of the club later asked for their name to be dropped before they became part of the Wingate & Finchley FC merger in 1991.
Back as Leyton FC, the club decided they had no future at their dilapidated Hare & Hounds Ground on Lea Bridge Road, so they merged with Pennant to become Leyton Pennant FC and keep their place in the Isthmian League.
Controversy and Opinions
The fallout from the merger continues to be controversial regarding club histories, especially because another Leyton FC was created at the Hare & Hounds in 1997. They won the rights to the former clubs’ history in court, further polarising opinions. The story is covered in more depth on the Leyton FC page for you to decide.
Leyton Pennant FC
In the Isthmian League, the Stags were relegated to Division Two in 1999-00. They were placed in Division One North following league restructuring as a succession of managers came and went while the team played in front of low crowds.
Harry Ramis bought the club in February 2003 and appointed his brother, former Football League player Hakan Ramis-Heyrattin, as manager. The team narrowly avoided relegation before the club changed its name to Waltham Forest FC to reflect the borough they represented and to try to encourage more support and sponsors.
The club was switched to the East Division of the Southern League following non-league reorganisation for the 2004-05 campaign. The manager and owner departed before club stalwart Andy Perkins managed to persuade former chairman Terry Back to return, along with manager Danny Honeyball.
The turmoil continued with the chairman, managers and many players leaving. Despite avoiding relegation, things became desperate off the pitch. Owing to financial problems, Forest had to leave Wadham Lodge and instead share Cricklefield Stadium with Ilford FC and a local athletics club.
Managers continued to be appointed and leave after a short time in charge. New chairman Turgut Esendagli negotiated a return to Wadham Lodge and managed the team for the 2013-14 season. It transpired to be a far from jubilant return as the side were relegated to the Essex Senior League.
The side narrowly avoided another relegation before tragedy struck the club in October 2017, as Turgut Esendagli died suddenly. Andy Perkins took over as chairman and brought in Ryan Maxwell as manager.
Walthamstow FC
Ironton departed as short-term appointments followed before Mitchell returned to the post at the start of the 2026-27 campaign.
I’d popped into the centre of London for the morning, from where I took the tube up to Walthamstow Central, alongside plenty of Spurs fans on their way to their home match with Wimbledon. The 97 bus took me up to the ground after a walk through the vibrant local market.
After alighting at the Cazenove Road stop, it was a five-minute walk down Brookscroft Road and then Kitchener Road to the gates of the Wadham Lodge complex. There were several football pitches through the gates as well as an all-weather court, a bowling green, and a changing room block with a clubhouse upstairs near the entrance to Pennant's enclosed arena.
I had a couple of pre-match beers and read my programme, which contained some interesting thoughts about which club held the history of Leyton FC, before entering the neat enough main venue. Low covers were behind each end of the ground, with a seated stand along the touchline by the clubhouse.
The rest of the ground consisted of flat, open, hard-standing and grassy areas. A nice and rare touch for a club at that level was a small club shop near the turnstiles. The visitors from Middlesex had a sprinkling of fans in the low crowd who enjoyed their halftime refreshments.
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| My drawing of Wadham Lodge from my visit. Click on the image to enlarge it. |
Their day was made when Uxbridge won 1-0 against a persevering but ineffective home side, who would end the season bottom of the table. I retraced my steps at full-time, but instead of waiting for a bus back to Walthamstow, I headed the other way near Walthamstow Stadium, where I took a bus to Blackhorse Road station.
From there, I took the North London line, as it was called back in the day, to West Hampstead to avoid the busy city centre. It took a bit longer, but it was far more interesting, plus I built up a thirst by the time I got back to Willesden Green!
Wednesday 26th September 2007
I was out and about in North East London and Essex on a marathon day of groundhopping, returning to grounds I didn’t have photos of on previous visits. Wadham Lodge was to be my twelfth and final call. After taking the bus from my previous call at Leyton FC, I found the gates locked.
I walked all the way around the surrounding roads looking for an alternative entrance to no avail. I'd got all the way to the end of Garner Road and onto the North Circular Road, where I'd just about given up. Then I saw a gap in the fence where some young locals had taken advantage of to play in the goalmouths of one of the outer pitches.
I think they were a bit concerned to see a stranger coming through the bushes and approaching them, but they needn't have worried! The ground was padlocked, but the fences were low enough to enable me to get a decent view to take my snaps. I headed home with plenty of aching limbs for a nice lie down and a most welcome meal!
