Manor Fields
Bletchley
Milton Keynes
Bucks
MK2 2HX
Official Website
Twitter
Ladies Twitter
Bletchley
Milton Keynes
Bucks
MK2 2HX
Official Website
Ladies Twitter
Ground Number: 460
Wednesday 18th February 2015
Buckingham Town 1-4 Northampton ON Chenecks
United Counties League - Division 1
MILTON KEYNES IRISH FC - A BRIEF HISTORY
The club was established in 2020 as a three-way merger between Milton Keynes Irish Veterans, United MK and Milton Keynes Robins. Despite being very much the junior side in the partnership, the new team took the Milton Keynes Irish name, which made sense as they play at the Irish centre in Milton Keynes. It is fair to say that the marriage has been a successful one. Despite forming in the midst of a pandemic, they were promoted thanks to results over the two aborted seasons, after taking Milton Keynes Robins' spot in the league. They progressed from the Spartans South Midlands Division 1 to the Premier Division and, from 2021 until 2025, played at step 5, with one of those seasons being in the United Counties South. In 2024, they were runners-up to Real Bedford but lost in the playoffs to FC Romania. The following season they won the title and, with it, promotion to the Southern League D1 Central, where they remain to this day.
Cup exploits include reaching the FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round twice, but they have exited at the first hurdle of the FA Trophy on each occasion that they have entered. They fared better in the FA Vase. In 2020, they won 6-0 at Thame Rangers and 2-1 at Broadfields United before a 2-0 home win over Stansted. I was present as they drew 3-3 at Wroxham before triumphing on penalties in a thrilling match. Finally, their run came to an end in the 3rd Round after drawing 2-2 at Fakenham Town before losing on penalties. The club is technically based in Fenny Stratford, which has a population of 23,500, including its neighbour Bletchley. A mixture of old buildings and new developments, Fenny Stratford is a small town on the edge of Milton Keynes. The market is no longer active, but the town still features a variety of shops, restaurants, pubs, newsagents, and hotels, primarily along Aylesbury Street. Pink Punters, an LGBT nightclub, is on Watling Street. Fenny Stratford railway station, one of the seven railway stations that serve the Milton Keynes urban area, is on the (Bletchley - Bedford) Marston Vale Line.
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I have kept my Buckingham Town research below. Since I last saw them, they remained in the United Counties Division 1, enjoyed three more seasons under that name, then switched to Milton Keynes Robins in 2018 to reflect their new location. This did little to change their fortunes, and the new identity lasted less than two years. The other club in the merger, United MK, was originally known as Wolverton Town, a reformation of the famous club that folded in 1992 after financial difficulties. The club was founded in 2004, joining the Milton Keynes Sunday League before switching to Saturday football in the North Bucks & District League in 2005. They won the Division 1 League Cup in 2008 and made good progress through the leagues. They spent four seasons in the Spartan South Midlands Division 2 from 2016 until 2020 before the merger. They even entered the FA Vase a couple of times, and I saw them in 2019 as they put up a good fight before losing 3-2 at Holyport. Milton Keynes Irish Veterans (MK Irish Vets) were established at the start of the 2010–11 season and went on to become one of the most dominant sides in local veterans' football. Over their 10-season history prior to the 2020 merger, the club won 14 major trophies, which included four league-and-cup doubles and one quadruple.
Buckingham Town FC was formed in 1883, but their most famous moment came over 100 years later when they had a huge run in the FA Cup, whilst still members of the United Counties League. They beat higher league teams in Braintree Town, Aylesbury United, Heybridge Swifts and Braking before facing Leyton Orient. This put them in the eye of the national media. They did themselves proud, battling hard but going down to a 2-0 defeat. There is some great footage on YouTube of the game, and some of the typical media coverage that you get when a non-league club comes good in the Cup.
The season before that, they were on the march, winning 4 trophies including the United Counties League and the UCL Knockout Cup. They do not have much history in the FA Trophy, but in the FA Vase they have had plenty of good runs, most recently in the 1992-93 season when they got to the quarter-final before going out to Devon side Tiverton Town, who themselves go on to play Leyton Orient in the FA Cup a few years later.
League-wise, they started out in local leagues before becoming founder members of the Hellenic League in 1953. They stayed there for 4 years before joining the South Midlands League. Before transferring to the United Counties League in 1974. Joining at Division 2 level, they earned 2 consecutive promotions to find themselves in the UCL Premier. After a few seasons of consolidation, they launched a real assault on the league and in 1986 they won the UCL for a second time and accepted promotion into the Southern League. Switching between the Southern and Midlands Divisions of that league, they had their best ever finish in 1991 when they won the Southern League Southern Division, which at the time was step 3 of non-league.
However, they were denied promotion due to ground grading issues and a period of decline followed. They actually enjoyed top half finishes all the way until 1997, but that season they finished rock bottom of the Southern League Southern Division with just two wins all season. Back to the United Counties League, they went, and despite a 2nd-placed finish in 2004, they were relegated again in 2007. They have never really looked like coming back and with the loss of their ground around this time, they have found the going tough. The last game saw them hammered 9-1 at Thrapston Town. I actually saw the corresponding fixture last season at Thrapston when they managed a 1-1 draw. They had actually seen back-to-back wins before this thrashing, and at the start of play sat 15th in the table with their opponents in 3rd place and looking good for a shot at promotion.
MY BUCKINGHAM TOWN VISIT
I had been meaning to visit Buckingham Town for a while. The good thing about them was that they played Wednesday nights, so there were few conflicts with other games. It was one of the nearest that I still had to do, so we had been on the lookout for a while. The ideal opportunity for me came on this date, and to make things even better, my parents were out for the night, meaning I would have to be sorting my own dinner anyway. It would be the second of my five games in 5 days if all went to plan, which was proving to be a very busy week, football-wise. On the day of the game, I woke up slightly dazed after a couple of hours of sleep due to my footballing adventures last night. However, after taking a couple of energy pills and having some Irn-Bru, I was right as rain. I was glad that it was a short day at work; I was out by 10am, and I went home and did some of last night's blog. I then had a bath and some lunch before completing and publishing the entry.
I had an unwelcome expense as I needed a couple of tyres and tracking done on my car - cost £140 and a consequence of me going here, there and everywhere in the name of groundhopping. At least I got to go down Wycombe while it was being done and get the few bits that I needed. With my wallet a fair bit lighter I made my way home and did some research on tonight's teams before getting myself some dinner and leaving at around 6PM. In the end, I didn't get out of the house until 6.10 due to eating my dinner of pasta. I still got to Anwar's just after 6.30 and we were soon on our way. There were a couple of slow coaches on the single carriageway, but we still got there at 7.10. It was at this point that I realised I had left my bag at home with my camera and everything in. Luckily it was only a local trip so it didn't matter so much, but it was still annoying.
I got my programme before going into the bar to keep warm, but I wasn't drinking tonight. There were a group of old people enjoying line dancing sessions and watching that killed the time before kick-off. 10 minutes to go, I paid my £4 to get in and got some pictures of the ground on my phone. As I was watching the game, I noticed that my groundhopping pal Laurence was there, and as usual he was a mine of information and entertainment. I stood with a few hoppers and watched what a sporadically entertaining first half was. The second half got a lot better, as you can see from the match report from the Buckingham Town website at the bottom of this page. After the game, I said my goodbyes to my fellow groundhoppers and went and met up with Anwar and his sun Hicham to start the journey home. It was quite cold by now, and I was glad to get to the warmth of my car. The journey home was decent, and after dropping Anwar and Hicham home at 10.10, I was back home by 10.30. I read the programme as soon as I got in, though there wasn't much to look at. Some of the printing on the inside pages was not great either, but at least it filled in some of the gaps in their history that I hadn’t been able to find out on the web. I checked Facebook and then watched Coronation Street before going to bed at 11.30.
MY MK IRISH VISIT
Originally on this Sunday, I was going to visit the Watchet Lane 3G pitch for Holmer Green Women v Kidlington Youth Blacks. I had been a few times before, although it had only just been added to Futbology. However, it appeared as if the struggling visitors had forfeited the game, just as they had the home leg. I had a feeling that this would happen and at least they gave good notice. But it was annoying as I was looking forward to it; I've not seen much Sunday football and was hoping to change that. Initially I thought that a revisit to Leatherhead would be in order as I need the Wetherspoons. It's a fairly easy motorway trip from work and perfect for the standard 14:00 kickoff. But for some reason, all of their games kick off at 1 PM, making a pre-match meal impossible. MK Irish was about the same distance away, but on crap roads. However, I fancied a revisit as a lot had changed since by last visit over a decade ago, when they were known as Buckingham Town. Plus, it would allow me to tick Bletchley Spoons, all being well, plus I could stop at a shop I like to visit in Aylesbury after. I could have done with more time before the game, but decided to go for it, having originally had a revisit pencilled in for Boxing Day.
Following the Wycombe Wanderers win on Saturday, it was really no hardship to get up at 3 am. In fact, I awoke early but still managed to be a couple of minutes late to work due to fog. It was hard work, but I didn't mind that as it made time go quickly. When the large-nosed micromanager insisted that I go home early and stay late tomorrow due to workflow, I didn't mind too much. Flexibility may only work one way at my store, but it gave me more time. I drove to MK Irish and parked up, getting there at 12.20. It was a large parking area, but the MK Irish part was fenced off with a bloke guarding it. There were plenty of spaces elsewhere, so I parked up and walked just over 20 minutes to Wetherspoons 565, Captain Ridley's Shooting Party. As well as getting my steps in for the day, it allowed me to have a pint of Black Dragon with my Shawarma chips. The place was full of families with children, so my drink took sixteen minutes to come and the food 25 minutes. I was glad I'd had plenty of time but both food and drink were nice. The pub name came from a secret cover name used on September 18, 1938 by an undercover group of around 150 British intelligence officers, secretaries, and cryptologists from MI6 and the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS). The team were based at nearby Bletchley Park. The walk back to the ground was nicer than the reverse one and took me past Bletchley Rugby Club where a well-attended (presumably kids) game was going on. I was there at 1.40, paying £3 to get in, plus £7 for a tasty Mexican burger.
The two clubs play in the Northamptonshire Women's League Premier Division. This sits at the seventh tier of the women's football pyramid. MK Irish had played the fewest games in the league and had won both, 7-2 against Newport Pagnell Town and 11-0 at Bugbrooke St Michaels. NN United were a team from Podington, a Bedfordshire village near the Northamptonshire border. They were based in Wollaston originally, and the NN part of their name reflected the postcode that they represent. They had played the most games in the league - six, winning one, drawing one and losing six. Since a chastening 12-1 defeat at Moulton on the opening day, they managed a 0-0 draw at home to the same opponent in game three and won 1-0 at Harpole. In their last game, they lost 6-0 to Corby Steelers. It was MK Irish who were edging the game. It was 1-0 on 27 minutes, Cara Brooker with a well-taken penalty that was awarded for handball. On 35 minutes, it was 2-0, a good run down the left and a strong finish by Niamh Morris. NN United reduced the arrears with a penalty of their own on 37 minutes, the keeper getting hands to it, but it squeezed in. It was 3-1 to the hosts on 50 minutes, another Cara Brooker penalty. NN United pulled a late goal back from close range to make it 3-2 in a competitive game and came close to equalising.
I went to the shop at half-time, getting a nice Tote bag for a quid. The attendance was 82, and the club hosted well with a nice atmosphere and pretty much all of the facilities open. Not a huge lot had changed ground-wise between my two visits, but the difference between the two clubs was stark. MK Irish were a vibrant and go-ahead club and definitely the club to support if you live in the Milton Keynes area. The merchandise was especially excellent. I made my way home via Farmfoods in Aylesbury, my MK Irish tote bag proving useful. I picked up a lot of well-priced stuff, and it was well worth stopping off. I was back home at 5.30, having had a decent day out.
THE GROUND (BUCKINGHAM TOWN)
MANOR FIELDS is a pretty big ground for step 6 level, and although it’s a bit scruffy in places, it still has 2 seated stands. The biggest of the 2 runs the whole length of the pitch and is 3 rows deep. There is also another seated stand on the other side that straddles the halfway line and is about 5 rows deep. All in all, I’d guess that there were around 700 seats in all, with the rest of the ground uncovered. There is a clubhouse outside the ground, and that offers your usual range of clubhouse drinks. They also serve tea, coffee and snacks in there. The entry is great value at £4, and although the programme is not the best, it’s OK for a quid.
MK IRISH PICTURES
