Player stats to <strong>and</strong> including 2nd <strong>April</strong> <strong>2016</strong>
HYTHE TOWN A BRIEF HISTORY <strong>Hythe</strong> <strong>Town</strong> Football Club was formed in August 1910 <strong>and</strong> started playing in the local junior leagues. After the First World War the club soon joined the Kent Amateur League with limited success. This continued until the 1970's when the club won the league title three times in succession <strong>and</strong> won the Kent Junior Cup. <strong>Hythe</strong> were granted senior status <strong>and</strong> elected to the Kent League in 1977, playing at the newly-acquired Reachfields, an old army training ground on the edge of the town’s firing ranges. The club were runners-up in the Kent League on three occasions but it was not until property developer Tony Walton took over <strong>Hythe</strong> <strong>Town</strong> in February 1988 that things really started to happen. That summer saw the ground developed to Southern League st<strong>and</strong>ard with seats <strong>and</strong> a social club, with viewing balconies, above new dressing rooms. St<strong>and</strong>ing cover extended behind one goal <strong>and</strong> for the whole of the far side, <strong>and</strong> floodlights were installed. The ground capacity still remains at 3,000 with the majority under cover. <strong>Town</strong> won the Kent League title by 14 points <strong>and</strong> set a league record of 133 goals. The club gained promotion to the Southern League. The next season saw the club reach the FA Vase semifinals losing out to the eventual winners Yeading, winning the home leg 3-2 in front of the club’s record attendance of 2,147, but cruelly losing the second leg 2- 0. They did win the Eastern Professional Floodlight Cup at their first attempt. In 1991/2 money was beginning to run out <strong>and</strong> the club was put into liquidation. Supporters rallied round <strong>and</strong> entered a scratch side, as <strong>Hythe</strong> United, into the following season’s Kent County League <strong>and</strong> negotiated continued use of Reachfields Stadium. After three seasons the club regained senior status <strong>and</strong> in 1995 were elected back into the Kent League where the club struggled for a number of seasons. In 2001 <strong>Hythe</strong> dropped the “United” suffix, reverting to “<strong>Town</strong>” <strong>and</strong> in November 2002 appointed Paul Fisk as Manager. Paul Fisk stepped down at the end of the season due to the illness of his wife Pam <strong>and</strong> assistant, Scott Porter took over as manager for the 2009-10 season with the help of Clive Cook <strong>and</strong> Martin Ch<strong>and</strong>ler. The 2010/11 season was possibly the most successful in the history of the club, with Scott Porter <strong>and</strong> his management team, winning promotion to the Ryman League <strong>and</strong> negotiating their way through six rounds of the FA Cup, before losing in the first round away to League Two side Hereford United. The 2011/12 season saw the club defeat Dartford at Princes Park by a single goal to lift the Kent Senior Cup for the first time ever, beating Ebbsfleet utd <strong>and</strong> Dover Athletic on the way. Captain Dave Cook secured the Ryman South Golden Boot during season 2012/13 with a brilliant twentyseven league goals, the midfielder also being named in the Ryman South 'Team of the Year.' The season ended with the resignation of long-serving Chairman, Paul Markl<strong>and</strong> with John Dowsett taking over. Despite flirting with relegation for the first ever time during the 2013/14 season Manager Scott Porter, freshened up his squad one final time to produce a stunning run of results to end the season in eighth place but Porter resigned at the end of the season deciding that he had taken the club as far as he could. Former Ramsgate manager Tim Dixon took over as manager for the 2014/15 season. The campaign began with an attractive br<strong>and</strong> of football, but a n injury crisis hampered the progress of the new set-up. Key new signings <strong>and</strong> some much-improved form in the New Year comfortably saw off the threat of relegation, as the newly nicknamed ‘Cannons’ secured a record fifth consecutive season in the Ryman South. Sadly Dixon’s reign came to an end as the 2015/16 campaign began with a twelve game winless run, the Board of Directors appointing former Assistant Manager Clive Cook (who for a short time joint-managed the side with Tony Beckingham). Cook, with the support of Assistant Manager Mark Lane, has now overseen an impressive rebuilding process.
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