Page 9 - Almondsbury FC v Oldland Abbotonians 070123

Visitors to the Field today.....

Oldland Abbotonians FC

heights under the leadership of Alan Bush in the 1980's with the help
of former Rovers players Jeff Meacham, the late Steve Talboys
(Wimbledon) plus Rovers favourites Graham Day, Peter Aitken and
Phil Bater. Among other youngsters who left Abbots to play for Rovers
were Stuart Taylor, Phil Kite and Kevin Westaway.

Lee Gibbs had led the club into the League before passing over to
ex-professional David Hillier at the start of the 2008/09 season; Hillier
helped them become the first ever Division 1 side to win the Les
Phillips (league) cup, securing 7th place in the league as well. Having
finished 4th and been assured that promotion was imminent at the
end of 2015/16 Oldland were disappointingly not promoted and had
to start again with the squad moving away.

2016/17 was a pivotal year as although the football side
disappointed, through fundraising and grants the club spent in excess
of £70,000 on ground improvements including safety fencing, stand
covers, pitch maintenance equipment, a new stand and CCTV
system. In 2017/18 the team were led by Scott Armstrong and for
most of 2018/19 by Jon Toy before Clayton Woodman and Steve
Cains returned to the club they had played for. These two have since
stepped into the joint Chairman role with football matters being led
by Paul Weeks as Director of Football, the first team manager being
Darren Sealey assisted by ex-Saltford boss Nic Mann and Lee Lintern
on the coaching side.

The Reserves are in the Bristol Premier Combination and are
managed by Steve Cains and Craig Durnell and from 2018/19 a newly
formed adult third team who play in the Bristol & District League,
managed by Mitchell Jones. In addition to this, there is a successful
and long standing Women’s team who play in the SW Women’s
Premier Division.