history

Club History

The Club was formed in 1883 making it one of Oxfordshire’s oldest clubs. Its early years were spent in Oxfordshire Leagues and in 1906, 1909 and 1910 Thame won the Oxfordshire Senior Cup and the Senior League in 1907, 1908, 1910, 1930 and 1931. A switch to the Hellenic League then brought further success culminating in the Hellenic League title in 1961-62 and 1969-70, as well as being runners up in 1960-61, 1976-77 and 1980-81. The Oxfordshire Senior Cup was won in both 1976 and 1981 but a poor spell in the mid eighties preceded a crossing of the pyramid in 1988-89 to join the South Midlands League.

The Club finished runners up in both 1988-89 and 1989-90 before eventually winning the title in 1990-91. The Club received the green light to join the Diadora League in 1991/92. The first season was relatively successful finishing in 8th place, followed by promotion the following season and a 2-1 victory against Banbury to win the Oxfordshire Senior Cup to win the Cup for the fifth time. 1993-94 was also a reasonably successful year for the Club, finishing in 6th place in their first season in the Diadora Division Two as well as reaching the last 16 of the FA Vase before falling to Whitehawk by 3-2.

1994-95 was perhaps the best year in the Club’s history. The new facilities transformed Windmill Road into one of the top grounds in the Diadora League and on the field the Club went from strength to strength, winning the Division 2 Championship with 93 points - an 11 point margin. In 1995/96 the Club reached the 3rd Round Qualifying in the FA Cup and the FA Trophy. In the league we finished a creditable 13th in our first ever season in the Isthmian League Division One.

Andy Sinnott was appointed first team manager in June 1997 and, with a dramatically reduced operating budget, the side were relegated into Ryman Division Two. Former Oxford City manager Alan Thorne was appointed as a joint manager in the summer and the 1998/99 season was very different with the Club bouncing straight back into Ryman Division One and reaching the semi-finals of the FA Vase. 1999/2000 saw the Club come within two points of achieving promotion to the Premier Division.

2000/2001 season the team lead the way for most of the season, putting together a club record of 12 consecutive league wins but a slump in form in the latter part of the season saw us finish in 5^th place. Alan Thorne departed in February and Mark West was appointed as assistant player/manager. A mid-table finish followed in 2001/2002 season but for the first time in the Club's history we retained the Oxfordshire Senior Cup after a 4-3 win over North Leigh played at the new Kassam Stadium in front of over a 1,000 spectators.

Mark West was appointed player/manager when Andy left United during the Summer of 2003. In October 2003 the club reached the 4th qualifying round of the FA Cup for the first time in its history, before being beaten 1-2 by Conference side Farnborough Town. We again finished mid table in 2002/2003, and as a result, were chosen to move from the Ryman League to the newly formed Southern League, Division 1 West. In October 2004 the club again reached the FA Cup 4th qualifying round, after defeating Weymouth, but were knocked out by Forest Green Rovers. The first team finished the season 11th in the league. Mark West left to join Slough and defender Tony Joyce was appointed player /manager.

By July 2005 the club was in financial trouble and were visited by Bailiffs acting on behalf of H.M. Customs and Excise in order to claim assets to offset an overdue VAT bill. In early August the landlord enforced a clause in his agreement and evicted the club from Windmill Road Stadium, despite the fact that the club did not owe him a penny. Neighbours Aylesbury United generously offered to ground share with Thame and with various off the field changes as well, 2005/2006 was a very difficult season. With the side struggling at the foot of the Southern League Division 1 West, Tony Joyce resigned in December 2005, with a new joint managerial partnership of Richard Searl and Alan Thorne appointed later the same month. Whilst the side continued to struggle and relegation to the Hellenic League was confirmed later in the season, it was a tremendous credit to all involved at the Club that Thame United continue to exist after the hardest season in their history.

The close season brought news that Aylesbury United had also been evicted from their home ground, again leaving Thame United homeless. Nevertheless, near neighbours AFC Wallingford stepped in with a groundshare offer for the 2006/2007. Richard Searl became sole manager in September 2006 and after varying results over the first half of the season that saw the team struggling at the foot of the table, Richard stood down at Christmas 2006. Steve Meredith took temporary charge before the appointment of former manager Mark West in late January 2007. The appointment of Mark West, with Steve as Assistant, saw the return of a number of players and improved fortunes on the field. Going in to April it looked as if the team would avoid relegation. However, the withdrawal of Hounslow Borough from the league and, as a result, the loss of six points whilst none of the other relegation candidates lost points, saw the team pushed towards the bottom of the league. Relegation to the Hellenic League Division 1 East was confirmed on the last day of the season when, with Thame having completed their fixtures, bottom club Harrow Hill came back from 2-0 down against Abingdon Town to win 3-2, thereby finishing above Thame on goal difference and winning themselves a reprieve from relegation but condemning Thame.

During the close season, Nathan Jack was named Player of the Year for the Hellenic Premier League 2006/07. In addition, Frank Thompson joined the First XI managerial team, with the Thame United Reserves team being managed by Marcus Walker, Dominic Sharman and Bertie Browne. The Club were also re-elected to the Allied Counties Youth League, with the side being managed by Steve Meredith, Gary Leach and Steve Bell.

Off the field, the Club remains determined to return to Thame and to appropriately utilise the monies it is due when planning permission is granted for the residential re-development of Windmill Road. To this end, the Thame Football Partnership, a link-up between Thame United and Thame Boys and Girls FC, has been established with a view to utilising these monies to create a sustainable, community football club on a single site in Thame. The Club are being ably assisted in this process by Sports Solutions GB. Significant progress was made over the 2006/07 season and the forthcoming season will see the submission of a planning application and the realization of the project.