Windsor FC celebrates 10th anniversary with thanks to staff and supporters at the milestone

Windsor FC celebrated its 10 year anniversary on Tuesday with founding director Kevin Stott expressing his gratitude to the officials, players, staff, and fans that have supported the club throughout the milestone.

Founded in 2011, the club was created after former team Windsor & Eton FC wound up in heavy debt, under then-manager David Mudge, and were ultimately forced to fold. With Stott’s backing as founding director, newly-formed Windsor FC applied to enter the footballing pyramid and were placed in the Combined Counties Premier Division.

In their inaugural season, the revitalised Royalists finished as runners up - only one point behind champions Guildford City - and reached the Berks and Bucks Senior Trophy semi-final under Keith Scott. After a short, but sweet, season in charge, Scott moved on the following year allowing Mick Woodham to step into the managerial hot seat in 2012.

Under Woodham, Windsor went on to become a resolute side in the division as they repeatedly earned top half finishes in the league, and most notably, never concluded a season below 12th. A true testament to Woodham’s tenure, however, will be how he guided Windsor to victory in the Berks and Bucks Senior Trophy in both the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons. In the 2017/18 campaign, the Royalists were moved into the Hellenic League Premier Division.

After seven memorable years, Woodham departed Stag Meadow on personal grounds with former Royalist Mark Cooper taking the reins in 2019.

However, Cooper’s debut campaign was unfortunately declared null and void due to the COVID-19 pandemic with this year’s currently on pause under national restrictions.

Having seen the club evolve over the past decade, Stott was reminiscent of the club’s history when he spoke to the Advertiser this week. Now, he is hopeful Windsor can go on to create another memorable 10 years.

“I always judge a football team’s performance by where it performs and as a step 5 club; we have done pretty well as that. Over the last 10 years, we’ve had only three managers and I’m very proud that we haven’t had to fire anybody,” he laughed.

“I was involved with the previous club, Windsor and Eton, for many years. In 2010, they got into some real financial trouble that wasn’t possible to repair. I decided to set up the new club because I wanted to make sure senior football was able to continue in the town and make sure we didn’t lose the stadium. Given our business plan and the facilities on hand, we were put into step 5 by the FA and have remained there ever since.

“What has been remarkable, is that we haven’t had a plethora of managers. Keith, Mick, and Mark have all brought different strengths, different weaknesses and different skillsets to the club and we’ve been very fortunate to have those individuals involved.

“Most recently, we’ve had Mark who, god bless him, has had two false starts really. Next season, on the assumption that we can start in August and have a good run at it, we can see what he’s capable of.

“Given our sustainable resources, I want us to be the best Step 5 club in the country,” added Stott. “For me, the measures of success will be that we’ll always be in the top six in our league and that we will always be competitive in the local cups.

“I don’t have any realistic ambitions that we will do great things in the FA Cup. If I’m honest as I think that’s a step beyond, but I certainly expect us to compete in the Vase.

“The absolute measure of success at step 5 is winning that competition or getting to the final.

“When we had those two fantastic cup runs, the town came alive and it was fantastic to be part of it.”