Tonbridge Angels F.C.

Tonbridge Angels Football Club is an English football club who play at Longmead Stadium in Tonbridge, Kent, since moving from the Angel Ground in 1980.

The club will play in the Conference South in the 2011-12 season after beating Lowestoft Town 4-3 in the play-off final of the Isthmian League Premier Division in the 2010-11 season.

Notable ex-players include England international Malcolm Macdonald, Aston Villa's league championship winning manager Ron Saunders and ex-Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson.

History

Formation and early history

Tonbridge Football Club was formed in October 1947 following the suggestion of local businessman and founder chairman Mr. Herbert Portch, and was one of four clubs to be elected to the Southern Football League for the 1948-49 season. The club took out a lease on the Angel Ground, formerly the home of Kent County Cricket Club and named after the nearby hotel, 'The Angel'. Hence Tonbridge FC became known as 'The Angels'. A crowd of around 5,000 turned up for the club's opening league fixture against fellow newcomers Hastings United but the match was lost 2-1, with Albert Robson scoring the club's first ever goal. Progress was slow in the early days, with the club rock bottom at Christmas and with Harold Hobbis taking over as manager from Dunoon and Marshall Raybould, but the club would improve their form in the second half of the season to finish third from last.

Throughout the 1950s the Angels (as they were nicknamed at the time, although it...
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