Postal & Stadium Address
Frome Town AFC, Blindmans Brewery Stadium, Berkley
Road, Frome, Somerset, BA11 2EH
Contact
Phone; (01373) 464087 | Email: info@www.frometownfc.co.uk
Structure
Frome Town AFC Limited are registered in England & Wales
(07830601). Owned as part of the ‘Frome Town Holdings’ Group’.
Registered address: 29 Bath Road, Peasdown St John, BA2 8DJ
2000/01
Town appoint Simon White as manager who brings in a new squad including two key figures in the
experienced Paul Thorpe and Tony Pounder. Mark Salter was still at the Club and he started to show his
potential netting 29 goals. The Club also put plans in place to sell Badgers Hill and move to Blatchbridge
with first draft sale terms agreed. Frome would finish in third place as the revival gathered momentum.
2001/02
Frome’s FA Cup run was filmed by BBC’s Football Focus and covered games against Street (where the
kick off was shown live), Melksham Town and Chippenham Town. Promotion and the league title were
secured along with runners-up medals in the Western League cup losing 2-1 to Premier Division
champions Bideford at Twerton Park, Bath. This season also saw the first official club website launched.
2002/03
Off field issues meant that Simon White was sacked in the summer with Paul Thorpe appointed in his
place. The first season back in the Premier Division was tough and Frome finished 11th out of 18. Salter
had made a move into professional football with Southend United & without his goals things were difficult.
2003/04
After his release from Southend and a brief spell with Bath City Frome re-signed Salter for a small fee but
with poor performances Thorpe was relieved of his duties and Bristol based manager Andy Black was his
replacement as Frome would have an eventful season. Unable to win at home they attracted national and
international media attention by brining in Titania Hardie, a White Witch, to help lift a curse on the ground.
The effects were immediate as Frome would go on an amazing run that saw them rapidly climb the table
to finish third. Meanwhile off the pitch secretary Geoff Norris resigned to be replaced by Ian Pearce who
at the time would have been one of the youngest in football at senior level.
2004/05
Frome celebrated their Centenary season in great fashion and going into the New Year they were still in
the hunt for trophies on three different fronts. Crowds had risen to over 200 as the public took to the
football on offer and in the FA Vase they reached the quarter-finals before being knocked out by Jarrow
Roofing. Heading into the closing stages of the season they were still in with a great chance of winning
the league title but a dip in form and performances saw them slip away to eventually finish third.
2005/06
The Club were still looking to the future and bringing systems in place for a future promotion and former
treasurer Ray Pearce had returned to the Club with the role of setting up a proper payroll system. An
HMRC compliance check was carried out after the first year of running it and after many meetings they
entered negotiations concerning unpaid tax over previous seasons. Without the work of Pearce in those
negotiations the Club would have folded as he managed to get the final figure owing lowered while also
having a two year period to re-pay the debt. Gavin Hares joined the Club as the new Chairman but he
was to oversee one of the bleakest days of the Clubs history as Andy Black informed the Club he was
unable to raise a side for a midweek FA Cup replay at St Blazey in Cornwall and Frome would be fined
and banned from entering the competition for the following season. Recriminations followed and Black
was sacked being replaced by reserve team manager Andy Crabtree and with the tax re-payments now
being confirmed the playing budget was cut to deal with the payments meaning the new manager had to
re-build the squad again as players left. Frome would still finish a respectful seventh.
2006/07
Mark Salter notched 46 goals from 49 appearances as Frome would finish third
2007/08
The Club continued to look towards putting people in place to help take the Club forward and a key
appointment was local businessman Gary Collinson who joined as Community Development Officer while
Ray Pearce took on the role of treasurer again to combine with the payroll duties. Former Frome player
Terry Woolf would also join the Club as Vice-Chairman and Frome would sit fourth in the table at the end
of the season.
2008/09
This proved to be one of the most important seasons in the Clubs long history both on and off the pitch.
For the first time in the clubs history the naming rights to the ground were sold with it being named the
AlderSmith Stadium and property developer Jeremy Alderman elected as president, a move that would be
shown to be crucial over the coming seasons. With Andy Crabtree and his assistant Derek Graham
overseeing a title charge events would turn to off field issues as the Club Secretary received a phone call
from the Official Receivers Office to inform him that former Chairman Paul McGuinness who had no
involvement in the Club but still ran the social club had been declared personally bankrupt and that they
would be closing the business and seizing assets. The football club agreed to take on the running of the
social facilities with a new limited company quickly formed headed by Alderman and Gary Collinson and
buoyed with the news the Club decided to apply for promotion to the Southern League. After spending
significant money again on upgrading the facilities Frome would go on to finish second in the league
beating Dawlish on the last day of the season to clinch promotion and also would beat Paulton Rovers to
claim the Somerset Premier Cup.
2009/10
The step-up in standard saw Crabtree sacked shortly after the season started and he was replaced by
Darren Perrin, a move that once again would later prove to be crucial as Frome recovered and from
relegation candidates went on a long run that saw them finish just three points outside of the play offs. Off
the field the Club replaced chairman Gavin Hares who had presided over the Robins rise into the
Southern League and President Jeremy Alderman would take over to put the Club on a more businesslike
level. However it would prove to be the end of the road for Mark Salter who decided his future lay
elsewhere after scoring 292 goals fort he Club in 450 appearances which meant he would hold both
records for the Club.
2010/11
Frome’s improvement continued under Perrin as the Club secured a play off spot and after beating
Mangotsfield United 3-1 at Cossham Street in the semi-final the Robins found themselves just 90 minutes
away from reaching the Southern Premier Division. On a memorable day Frome travelled to Sholing and a
Dean Evans early goal proved enough and the Robins, backed by a growing band of supporters, looked
forward to the start of another journey - one that was just a dream a short few years earlier. Also this
season the Club, who for the first time in their history had started going out into the community and would
form their own youth section, became an FA Charter Standard Community Club
2011/12
Frome’s first season in the Southern Premier Division was always going to be an exciting adventure and
the Robins would finish a very creditable 12th. Promotion to the league was also going to see some new
challenges with more ground improvements needed and after a frantic six months the Club raised almost
£60,000 including a £27,000 grant from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund to install a new 250 seated
stand which was placed at the Berkley Road end of the ground. All manor of fund raising activities were
undertaken as failure to comply would have seen the Robins automatically relegated.
2012/13
Following the Robins FA Community Club award further honours were bestowed on the Club as the
Community work continued to increase as they were first named the Somerset FA Team of the Year and
then picking up the regional award as well which took them to the national finals and while not winning the
national title it meant the club would be in the top six ranked clubs in the entire country. On the pitch
Frome would struggle in the league and although reaching the final of the Southern League Cup they
decided to part company with manager Darren Perrin with relegation looking a distinct reality. Derek
Graham who had been assistant manager to both Perrin and former manager Andy Crabtree took on the
job and in a great end to the season avoided relegation by two points and missed out on winning the cup
losing 2-1 on aggregate to Arlesey Town. Further development off the field saw the Club win a national
competition organised by the Football Pools giving them £50,000 to spend within 90 days on a facilities
make-over and the money was spent wisely by renovating the old wooden stand ready for additional
seating, new fencing and a complete make-over of the social facilities. The Club received national media
attention and had visits from notable football personalities such as Kenny Dalglish, Trevor Francis, Lee
Sharpe, Nigel Winterburn and Paul Walsh.
2013/14
Just like many seasons in the Clubs history the Robins would have plenty of highs and lows as after a
poor start to the season they made the difficult choice to part company with Derek Graham who had
undertaken so much work for the Club on an off the pitch and had been with the Club since the Western
League. After an improvement under caretaker manager Lloyd Chamberlain Frome would appoint Brian
O’Donnell but the appointment proved to be short lived as after just 12 games he was relieved of his
duties and was replaced by former professional footballer Adrian Foster who had cut his managerial teeth
with Gillingham Town in the Western League and again with relegation looking likely the season was
turned around and with a waive of new found optimism and momentum they finished the season in 14th
place and reached the final of the Somerset Premier Cup where they played Taunton Town losing 1-0.
The Club continued to look towards the future and made a landmark decision as the Clubs board agreed
to change the natural grass surface at the stadium to a 3G artificial surface and plans were started to be
put in place for funding this important change seen as crucial to the future success of the Club.
