Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
Former Clubs
Minety
Ground
Minety Playing Fields, Silver Street, Hornbury Hill SN16 9QR

Seasons in League (Number and period)
26 Seasons (1984-85 to 2009-10)

Status
Were in Cirencester & District League Division 1 (Season 2019-20) but have applied to join the Stroud League for next season and will be in Division 3 of that league.

League & Cup Honours (when in WSL)
Junior Division 1 Winners 2007-08
Wiltshire Junior Cup Winners 2007-08
Fountain Trophies Junior Cup Runners-up 2007-08
Junior Division 1 Winners 2008-09
Junior Division 1 Winners 2009-10
Wiltshire Junior Cup Winners 2009-10


Club Notes
Minety Football Club were initially formed in 1899, the formation being announced in the Wiltshire Times & Trowbridge Advertiser of 4 March 1899. Initially, like many clubs at the time they played just friendly matches. At some point in the early 1900’s they must have folded, as was frequent at the time, as there were further announcements of a team being formed in 1910 and 1913.

After the First World War the club were playing in the Cirencester & District League at the start of the 1920’s and they went close to their first honours in Season 1922-23 when they finished in third place, with local rivals Ashton Keynes taking the title. During the 1920’s they also played in both the VWH League and the Malmesbury & District League but returned to the Cirencester & District league at the end of the decade winning their first league title in 1929-30 as they won Division 2 of the Cirencester & District League. Further Division 2 honours were achieved in Season 1936-37 when they finished runners-up to Stanton Fitzwarren.

They were again Division 2 runners-up in the second season after the Second World War, being pipped to the title by Bibury. Having been promoted to Division 1 they were to achieve their highest position in the Cirencester & District League when they were runners-up to Siddington in 1950-51. This was to be the last time their first team would win league honours in the Cirencester & District League.

The start of the 1970’s saw the club move to the Swindon & District League starting in the lowest division and it was a period of relative success as by Season 1976-77 they were playing in the Premier Division of the Swindon League. However, they were unable to maintain Premier status and were relegated back to Division1 of the Swindon & District League where they spent their last few seasons before joining the Wiltshire County League. In Season 1982-83 they finished second from bottom and climbed one place their final season in the Swindon & District when they finished third from bottom in 11th place.

Given they had not been one of the leading sides in the Swindon & District League Minety struggled in their first season in the league, winning just 5 of their 30 league games in Division 4 in Season 1984-85 to finish second from bottom, just ahead of near neighbours Oaksey. An improvement the following season saw them climb five places to finish in 11th place in their second season in Division 4. They continued to lose more than they won in 1986-87 but things started to pick up from 1987-88 with a fourth-place finish just one point behind Plessey Semics who were occupying third spot and the last promotion place. Promotion was not far away though, after two further top half finishes in Division 4, Season 1990-91 saw Minety secure third place behind Ramsbury and West Swindon to secure promotion to Division 3. Star striker Richard Chandler led the way in the promotion season, scoring 32 goals to finish as the second highest scorer in the division.

The first season at the higher level saw Minety adapt well and as the 1991 calendar year ended they sat top of the Division 3 table with ten wins and one draw from their opening twelve fixtures. However, 1992 did not turn out to be a championship winning season as their remaining fourteen league games saw them win just four times and suffer some heavy defeats, including a 6-1 loss to eventual champions Sunray Badbury and 5-1 against runners-up Salisbury Manor, as they slipped to a final sixth place finish. The start of the 1992-93 season saw the poor run in the 1992 calendar year continue as Minety won just one of their opening twelve matches. They never really recovered from this poor start and finished second from bottom and were relegated at the end of the season.

Minety were to spend just one season back in Division 4 as a fourth-place finish saw them promoted back to Division 3. However, they once again struggled in the top Junior division, finishing third from bottom in consecutive seasons, the second occasion condemning them to relegation again to Division 4.

Back in Division 4 Minety had a much better season, winning more than they lost and finishing in fifth place. The following season they dropped a place in the table and the key feature was the high number of drawn games, with 11 of their 26 league games finishing all square. They also made the semi-final of the Fountain Trophies Cup but suffered a heavy defeat at home against eventual winners Wroughton Reserves. In the end, with an influx of new Junior sides for the following season, sixth place was enough to earn Minety a return to the top Junior division, now re-branded Junior Division 1. A top half of the table finish just behind local rivals Ashton Keynes was accompanied by another cup semi-final appearance, but again it was a heavy defeat as the young pacey Westside United side ran out 5-1 winners to inflict another semi-final heartache. Minety repeated their fifth place finish the following season with Will Wood ending the season as the club’s top scorer for the fourth consecutive season but the next three seasons saw them slide down the table each season culminating in a second from bottom finish in an enlarged combined Junior division in Season 2002-03. With the FA removing Intermediate status for the following season the league again reverted to two Junior divisions and Minety found themselves in Division 2 because of the previous season lowly finish.

A sixth place finish in Season 2003-4 was enough to see them promoted from that position for a second time as once again there was an influx of new Junior sides. However, again Minety found the going tough in the higher division, finishing bottom in 2004-5 and then third from bottom the following season having been reprieved from relegation.
Season 2006-7 was when Minety went from being a side that fluctuated between the two Junior divisions, to one that challenged for league and cup honours in the top Junior division. That season, but for having three points deducted from their points tally, they would have finished as runners-up to AFC Castrol. The three seasons that followed under manager Albert Dearing were to be the most successful in the history of the club as they twice did the double of Junior Division 1 champions and Wiltshire Junior Cup winners and also won the league title again in the one season they did not win the County Cup.

Season 2007-8 saw Minety storm to the league title as they remained invincible in their twenty-two league fixtures, winning nineteen of them and drawing the other three to finish a massive eighteen points ahead of second placed SKS Blyskawica. They secured the championship as early as February and also went close to winning the Fountain Trophies Junior Cup, losing on penalties to KC in the final after the game had finished level at 1-1 after extra time. They did however secure the Wiltshire Junior Cup for the first time in the club’s history, defeating Stratton Juniors 2-0 in the final thanks to goals from Michael Lawson and substitute Ashley Williams.

Minety defended their league title the following season but it was a much closer affair this time round as they battled it out with AFC Castrol, KC and SKS Blyskawica at the top of the table. In the end just four points separated the top four sides and it would have been just three if Blyskawica had not suffered a points deduction. The title race went to the last game of the season with Minety eventually edging out AFC Castrol on goal difference. Once again Minety had a good run in the Fountain Trophies Cup reaching the semi-final only to suffer the heartache of another penalty shoot out defeat, this time at the hands of Chalke Valley. Their defence of the Wiltshire Junior Cup ended at the quarter final stage.

Season 2009-10 was to be Minety’s last season in the Wiltshire League, but they were to go out of the league in style as they lifted the Junior Division 1 title for the third consecutive season. The title was not settled until May when Minety caught up with their games in hand to pip long time leaders, SKS Blyskawica.  They once again made the final of the prestigious Wiltshire Junior Cup and an Andy Mitchell first half double and further efforts after the break from Steve Shaw and Anthony Packer handed Minety a deserved 4-2 victory over Redlynch & Woodfalls and their second triumph in the competition in three years and their fifth trophy under the management of Albert Dearing.

As often happens when a team has had such great success at Junior level but is unable to move up to Senior level the successful side broke up and the decision was made by the club to return to the Cirencester & District League where the club had started and where their reserves had played for many years. A sixth-place finish in Division 2 of the Cirencester league was to be the last action at Minety Playing Fields for a couple of seasons as the side folded at the end of the season and would not return until Season 2013-14. 

On their return, it was again in the Cirencester & District League Division 2 where Minety would remain for four seasons until the Cirencester & District League shrunk down to just one division. The highest position achieved in that period was a fourth-place finish in 2016-17, a season that also saw them winning the Mills-Roberts Cup defeating Sherston 2-1 in the final. Season 2017-18 was the first in Division 1 saw them finish third from bottom, but the club was once again made a cup final, this time in the Cirencester Junior Charities Cup, going down 2-0 in the final as Sherston extracted revenge for their cup final defeat the previous season. An excellent fourth place finish in 2018-19 was the foundation for a title challenge in Season 2019-20. At the time the season was ended due to the Cornavirus Minety sat in second place in the table, seven points behind leaders Intel with a game in hand. The COVID-19 situation denied them potential honours. Next season sees Minety embark on a new venture in the Stroud League, where they will play in Division 3 of that league which has seven divisions in total.

Team Record
Minety FC 1990-91
Minety FC 1996-97
Minety FC 1997-98
Minety FC 1998-99
Minety FC 1999-00
Minety FC 2007-08
Some Minety line-ups in programmes from different seasons in the 1990's
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