Chesham United - The Meadow

Chesham United FC

The Meadow
Amy Lane
Chesham

Bucks

HP5 1NE

01494 783964

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Ground Number: 7
Chesham United 1-0 Dover Athletic

Saturday 30^th January 1993

FA Trophy 2nd Round

CHESHAM UNITED FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was founded in 1917 as a merger of Chesham Generals and Chesham Town. The latter, initially known as Chesham were by far the more successful of these sides and were longtime members of the Southern League, albeit with little success. The new club joined the Spartan League in 1919, which the Generals had been members of before the war. They succeeded here and won the title four times in the next 15 years. After the Second World War, the club played in the Corinthian League until 1963 when it was disbanded. They then spent another ten years in the also defunct Athenian League.

Chesham United joined the Isthmian League in 1973. Starting in its second-tier Division 1 they remained there until 1986 when a season to forget saw them relegated to Division 2. They bounced back immediately as champions and this was a springboard to success. By 1991 they were Division 1 Champions, earning them promotion to the step 2 Isthmian Premier. After a 4th place finish in their first season, they were Isthmian Premier Champions in the 1992/93 season which is their best finish to date. However, due to ground grading, they were unable to take promotion, along with close challengers St Albans City. Despite a 4th place finish the following season, Chesham were relegated in 1995 to Division 1. The hangover continued the following season with a 12th place finish but they won the title in 1997 to return to the Premier Division. Despite reaching as high as 3rd in 2000, by 2003 Chesham were relegated back to Division 1 but bounced straight away with a 4th place finish.

Due to a geographical shift following the establishment of the Conference North & South, the club was moved to the Southern League in 2004. A couple of seasons were spent in the Premier Division before they finished bottom in 2006. Four seasons were spent at step 4, the lowest level that Chesham United have played in since the establishment of the non-league pyramid. The nadir came in 2007 when they finished 15th in Division 1 Southwest. However, by 2010 they were in Division 1 Central and following a 4th place finish, they beat Burnham and Slough Town in the playoffs to win promotion to the Premier Division. They made the playoffs three seasons in a row between 2012 & 2014 but were unsuccessful on each occasion. A relative low came in 2015 when they could only finish 12th but by 2023 they'd earned another bash at the playoffs, losing to Bracknell Town in the semis. Last season, they put that right as they won the title to earn promotion to the Conference South and a return to step 2 for the first time in 21 years.

The club's best run in the FA Cup came during the 1979/80 season as they beat Borehamwood, Haverhill Borough, Bedford Town, Maidstone United, Minehead and Merthyr Tydfil before drawing Cambridge United in the 3rd Round. They lost 2-0 to the second-tier side but did attract their record crowd of 5,000. In recent times, 2015 saw another great run. After beating Aylesbury, Paulton Rovers, North Leigh & Enfield they were handed a very tough-looking tie at League 2 Bristol Rovers. Ryan Blake shocked the Pirates with his second-half goal to give his side a shock 1-0 win in Bristol. They lost 4-0 to Bradford City in the next round to end their great run.

Other cup exploits include reaching the FA Amateur Cup Final in 1968 only to lose 1-0 to Leytonstone at Wembley. Their best run in its successor, the FA Trophy came in 1997/98 as they lost 2-0 to Hendon in the 4th Round. In terms of local cups, they are one of the most successful sides in the Berks & Bucks Cup with 16 wins - only Maidenhead United and Wycombe Wanderers can claim to have more wins with 18 and 29 respectively. Chesham United can also claim a couple of Athenian League Memorial Cups to their name. Their record transfer income came in 2002 when they received £20,000 from Oldham Athletic for Fitz Hall.

GAME	DATE	HOME		AWAY		COMPETITION	ATT
45	Sat, Jan 30, 1993	Chesham United	1	Dover Athletic	0	FA Trophy 2nd Round	2055
51	Sat, Feb 27, 1993	Chesham United	4	Marlow	3	Isthmian Premier	1107
85	Sat, Dec 11, 1993	Chesham United	3	Harrow Borough	0	Isthmian Premier	655
289	Thu, Apr 22, 1999	Chesham United	3	Bromley	1	Isthmian Premier	171
291	Mon, May 3, 1999	Maidenhead United	4	Wycombe Wanderers	1	Berks & Bucks Cup Final	750
334	Tue, Apr 11, 2000	Chesham United	1	Billericay Town	1	Isthmian Premier	202
540	Tue, Oct 28, 2003	Chesham United	3	Wycombe Wanderers	2	Berks & Bucks Cup 2nd Round	250
621	Wed, Jul 14, 2004	Chesham United	1	Wycombe Wanderers	0	Friendly	300
695	Sun, May 15, 2005	Harchester United		Luther Blissett XI		Friendly
948	Thu, Jul 31, 2008	Chesham United	5	Wycombe Wanderers	0	Friendly	177
954	Mon, Aug 25, 2008	Aylesbury United	2	Chesham United	1	Southern D1 Central	503
1068	Tue, Jul 13, 2010	Chesham United	0	Wycombe Wanderers	3	Friendly	544
1134	Mon, May 2, 2011	Maidenhead United	2	Wycombe Wanderers	3	Berks & Bucks Cup Final	336
1818	Wed, Aug 17, 2016	Chesham United	0	Wodson Park	2	Spartan South MIdlands D1	65
2304	Sun, Oct 27, 2019	Chesham United Ladies	3	Wycombe Wanderers Ladies	0	Womens FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round	160
2359	Fri, Sep 11, 2020	Chesham United	2	Wycombe Wanderers	1	Friendly	383
2606	Fri, Jul 29, 2022	Chesham United	4	Wycombe Wanderers	2	Friendly	371
2617	Fri, Aug 19, 2022	Aylesbury United	1	Ardley United	0	FA Cup Preliminary Round	161
2634	Fri, Sep 16, 2022	Chesham United	2	Bracknell Town	2	FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round	369
2973	Sun, Jul 28, 2024	Aylesbury United	2	Milton Keynes	1	Friendly	120
3023	Tue, Oct 8, 2024	Chesham United	4	Bishops Cleeve	0	FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round Replay	564

MY PREVIOUS VISITS

My first couple of visits to The Meadow were certainly memorable and really showed the club at its best. Chesham United were an excellent team at the time and they were sitting pretty at the top of the Isthmian Premier, which at the time was the second tier of non-league football, prior to the Conference South being formed. The Generals would go on to win the Isthmian Premier that season, 5 points ahead of nearest rivals St Albans City. However, both were to be denied the chance to ply their trade in the Conference, due to ground grading regulations. This was despite several similar or worse stadiums being in the league at the time.

The first game was against Dover Athletic, who were at the time top of the Southern Premier which was also at step 2. They'd narrowly lost out to Bromsgrove Rovers the previous season for promotion but would make no mistake this year, finishing 13 points ahead of Cheltenham Town. This was billed as the tie of the round and drew a huge attendance. My Dover-supporting relatives were up for the weekend, so I went with my Dad, Uncle, brother and cousins to see Chesham triumph 1-0 in a tight game, in front of a crowd of around 2000.

My second visit came a month later and was a rip-roaring local derby against Marlow in front of another large crowd. Football in Buckinghamshire was going through somewhat of a golden period with a lot of local teams doing well. It was certainly the best time in Marlow's history - permanent fixtures in the Isthmian Premier and regulars in the FA Cup 'proper' rounds. Earlier that year they had played Spurs, and despite losing 5-1, a great David Lay goal for them will live long in the memory. This game was a corker too with Chesham United winning 4-3. Sadly I don't have a report to hand, but I do remember there being seven penalties awarded and a number of sending-offs in a feisty encounter.

Another notable clash came in 1999. I'd learned from my schoolmate Jeff Hall that Chesham and Bromley had a bit of a rivalry back in the early '90s, owing to one incident or another. So it must have delighted Chesham's fans to relegate their foes, albeit if the needle had died down by then. Bromley were awful that night, and team spirit was most certainly not in evidence. After the second goal went in, two visiting defenders had a heated discussion over whose fault the goal was. This led to fisticuffs and the referee had no option but to send both players off, putting them down to 9 men after around 40 minutes. The rest of the team held firm though, not capitulating and managing to keep the score to a fairly respectable 3-1. The same could not be said of Wycombe's capitulation to Maidenhead in the Berks & Bucks Cup Final later that year. Nor us getting humped 5-0 in a pre-season friendly in 2008, depressing even if it was just a youth side. I also saw a Harchester United charity game at the ground around that time, the side from Sky One's football soap looking to raise money for the Iain Rennie Hospice. 

Visit 16 was the first attempt at renewing this blog, a Spartan South Midlands Division 1 game against Wodson Park.  Entry was a reasonable £4 plus £1 for a thin but well-presented programme with a decent amount of information in it. I met my next-door neighbour Sam unexpectedly as he was with his Chesham supporting friend. It wasn't a good evening for the home side, though they started slightly the better side. The Chesham keeper Matt Nolan had already scuffed a clearance to the feet of an opposing player and got away with it. He'd made a couple of good saves to redeem himself but could only parry a header in the 33rd minute. Jordan Halls followed up, rifling into the net to give Wodson Park the lead. They doubled their lead on 51 minutes following a foul just inside the area. Pete Sawyer stepped up and netted into the bottom right-hand corner from the resulting spot-kick. Chesham would go on to play some good stuff, coming very close on a number of occasions but all to no avail. The visitors had another penalty right on full time, but it was wasted, being blasted over the bar and out of the ground.

VISIT 22: Chesham United 0-4 Lincoln City (FA Cup 1st Round - 04/11/24)

This game was decided upon when the FA Cup draw came out. I wanted to carry on my run of seeing a game in every round of the FA Cup and this was the perfect time to do so. It also freed up  Saturday to go elsewhere, rather than Wycombe Wanderers v York City. I was able to get a ticket with the help of Chesham fan Giles, who also runs the brilliant club shop at The Meadow. I had long decided that I would be doing this game on the bus, as I couldn't be arsed with the hassle of driving and parking. Having a look around Chesham Town centre was something I'd wanted to do for a while and a couple of pubs were planned in. I would also have Colin with me which was both a blessing and a curse. I planned the day on Saturday but it wasn't until Monday that I decided to update my blog entry. This was a whole load of work on the afternoon of the game as I wanted to get it right for an excellent local ground.

 After spending the morning at work, I finished at midday and had the afternoon at home. I used this to refresh the club history part of my blog and also had a pint to help me relax before getting ready to go. I left just before 4.10 and made my way to my local bus stop. After just over ten minutes walk, I arrive a few minutes before the 1B is due to depart, on time according to Google Maps. It's busy on board, but no one obviously heading to the game. I met Colin at Amersham station and a complete change of plan was enacted as we headed to meet fellow Chairboy Paul at The Red Lion. That was fine by me as I wasn't especially fussed where I went. It wasn't the greatest for drinks, I had a pint of Old Mout but I was in good company. A few convivial pints later, I headed to Peri Peri Original, keen to avoid chronic food poisoning from the adjacent Chinese takeaway. They, as every business in Chesham were doing good business. My strips meal was brilliant and I was happy with my choice.  I also got a match scarf for a tenner on the walk up to the ground but everything was superbly handled by Chesham and they were a credit to Non-League.

 

Chesham United were 10th in the level 6 Conference South and had beaten Cray Valley PM, Bishops Cleeve and Yeovil Town to get this far. Lincoln City were 5th in the level 3 League 1 and were making their bow in this season's FA Cup. It was a credible showing by Chesham. But Lincoln were dominant, Jack Moylan just before halftime, Jovan Makuma just after it giving them a comfortable lead. The game appeared sealed on 65 minutes, with Conor McGrandles on the scoresheet. A scrappy goal a few minutes from time made it 4-0, an unfortunate own goal. It had been all one-way traffic and the day trippers departed as quickly as they'd arrived. Chesham did come close with a free kick in the last minute but it wasn't to be. We then headed to the bus stop, arriving 20 minutes before it was due to depart. But it never turned up and half an hour after the departure time, the 20 people at the bus stop gave up and got taxis.  Hardly a great advert for public transport, a waste of money for people and damage to the environment, thanks very much Carousel Buses. But incompetence and unreliability is just accepted as the norm in this country and whilst there is no accountability or consequences, nothing will change. But let's focus on the positives, despite the results, Chesham were excellent hosts and I was glad to support them tonight.

THE GROUND

THE MEADOW is a great non-league ground, and well worth a visit for any hopper. It's not seen too many changes in the years that I've visited, but this is for the better. It is situated a brisk 10-minute walk from the town, which has a range of decent takeaways and pubs. At the ground is a pretty standard club bar in terms of drinks, though it is nice to visit. There is a basic tea bar on the far side and for first-team games a burger van visits and parks behind the near-end goal. The club shop has recently returned and has an excellent range of programmes. Car parking wise, there is plenty at the ground, as well as a nearby National Trust car park with free spaces just under 10 minutes away. In addition, the town has more and is well linked with buses and an underground station.

THE MAIN STAND SIDE is comprised of a 224-seater stand and is probably the oldest part of the ground. It is flanked by extensive open terracing on both sides and contains the majority of the facilities including the dressing rooms and clubhouse. The stand is looking very tired nowadays and is probably the worst part of the ground in terms of aesthetics.

Opposite is the RYAN MORAN TERRACE. It was renamed in 2013 in tribute to former Chesham player Ryan Moran who lost his battle with cancer at the young age of 31. It has extensive cover for around 600, plus another 300 uncovered. It also houses toilets and a tea bar for hot drinks and snacks. This is probably the best place to watch the game from. 



THE MEADOW END is a part-covered terrace. It can hold around 2500 under cover and around 500 in all.

 

Finally, THE TOWN END. This was uncovered on my first visit but around the turn of the century, a metal terrace was added with a covered capacity of around 300.