THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF PETERBOROUGH SPORTS FC
THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF PETERBOROUGH SPORTS FC
CHAIRMAN - TIM WOODWARD
VICE CHAIRMAN - DAVID ANDERSON
FINANCE DIRECTOR - NATALIE WOODWARD
DIRECTOR - ADAM WOODWARD
PETERBOROUGH SPORTS LIMITED IS AN INCORPORATED COMPANY NUMBERED 8544721 AND WERE INCORPORATED ON MAY 24TH 2013.
SHAREHOLDER - TIM WOODWARD (100%)
PETERBOROUGH SPORTS IS VAT REGISTERED (NUMBER 164000457)
Peterborough Sports football club was founded in 1908 and were initially known as Brotherhoods Engineering Works a non-competitive factory side for the company that was founded by Peter Brotherhood in 1867 that was famed for designing and manufacturing the first steam turbine engine in the world. The club honours its heritage to this day with the turbine engine featuring in the club badge and “The Turbines” as the club nickname. We were called Bearings Direct in the 1990's and then changed to Peterborough Sports all at the same Lincoln Road ground which has undergone a major revamp since 2012 funded by a combination of Parkway Social Club, the Football Foundation and former Manager & Chairman Tommy Cooper and now current owner Tim Woodward.
The club started competitive life in the Northants League in 1919 (which became the UCL in 1934) winning the title in that first season before joining the Peterborough League in 1923. The club once entertained Tottenham Hotspur at Lincoln Road before the 2nd World War in front of a crowd of 4,000 at a time when a stand went down the whole length of the ground and drew over 3,000 for the visit of local rivals Peterborough & Fletton United (now Peterborough United).
Without doubt the clubs most famous player is Victor Watson (pictured) who played in the Northants League title winning team of 1919/20 before moving onto West Ham United for £50 via Wellingborough in March 1920. He remains the Hammers record goalscorer with 326 goals from 505 appearances. Watson played 5 times for England scoring 4 times between 1923 & 1930 including a brace against Scotland in 1930 and played in the first FA Cup Final at Wembley in front of 200,000 fans v Bolton.
Much of the club's early years were notably unsuccessful. The Northants League win in 1920 was followed 6 years later with a Peterborough League Division 3 title in 1926, with a gap then to the Peterborough Football Association Minor Cup win in 1940. The barren spell of success continued right up until 1976 when the Peterborough Division 3 title was secured again, which was repeated in 1981.
The club enjoyed a brief golden period at the start of the 1990’s with promotion secured back to the Peterborough Premier Division and 2 Northants Lower Junior Cups being landed in 1994 & 1995 under the management of Stephen “Tommy” Cooper.
The club's 1st season at UCL level started well but ultimately ended in a disappointing 16th placed finish with then manager Shay Morgan replaced by former QPR & England Under 21 manager Chris Plummer in January. The following season 2014/15 saw the side challenging for promotion right to the end of the season, but a run of 7 away games to finish, saw them eventually finish in 5th.
At the end of that season Plummer stood aside and his assistant Jimmy Dean took the reins for the 2015/16 campaign. In his first year the club won the title at a canter by a huge 21 points, helped by winning their first 23 games. The side also picked up the UCL League Cup, becoming the first side from Division 1 to ever do so, after a penalty shoot-out triumph against Premier Division Holbeach United. The side also added the Northants Junior Cup for a 2nd time and the prestigious Hinchingbrooke Cup for the 1st time and were to be forever dubbed the 'Fourmidables'.
That success was continued into the 2016/17 as the team won the UCL Premier Division with a league record points tally of 112 and were the top scorers in the top 11 levels of English football with 150 in the league and 205 in all competitions. The Hinchingbrooke Cup was also retained with a 2-1 victory over 2nd placed Deeping Rangers and the side had its best ever run in the FA Vase reaching the 4th round.
The side entered the Northern Premier League for the 2017/18 season and initially found the going tough – indeed the side went into 2018 bottom of the table before a dramatic turnaround saw the Turbines finish a most respectable 12th with that summer seeing the side transfer across to the Southern League, with Grant Biddle replacing Tom Cooper as Chairman and Paul Venters joining as Vice Chairman
With an additional step 4 league implemented for 2018/19 Sports were moved into the Southern League to play in the Division 1 Central section where the side duly won their 3rd title in 4 years under Dean. The side only lost 3 games all season (which included twice to runners up Bromsgrove Sporting) which was mark of their consistency. The side also had probably the best win in its history when beating National League North and former football league side Boston United 2-0 away in the FA Cup 2nd qualifying round. Their reward was a home tie with unbeaten National League North side Chorley with the game screened on the red button on the BBC which attracted a peak viewing figure of 240,000 and a club record 404 in attendance. Unfortunately Sports went out 3-0 on a stinking day weather wise, which was replaced with the glorious weather at Easter and the raising of the Championship, secured on the Saturday with a 2-0 win away at Kidlington with the trophy presented on the Monday before the derby win over Cambridge City. We then went onto beat the Southern title winners Blackfield & Langley 5-1 in the Championship Match.
Season 2019/20 was to be spent in the Central Premier Division at Step 3 for the first time in the clubs centenary year and Sports were leading the way when the league for declared null and void due to COVID-19.
The 2020/21 season was again greatly affected by COVID-19 but this did not stop Sports progressing well in both the FA Cup (reached 3rd Qualifying Round) and the FA Trophy (Reached 5th Round).
The 2021/22 season was to become another landmark season for the club as we reached Step 2 of the Non-League pyramid, the National League North, by finishing second in the league and gaining promotion by winning the play-offs, beating Coalville Town 2-0 in the final.
In our inaugural season at National League North level, Sports finished a pleasing 14th, with many people writing them off as relegation favourites at the start of play. Another landmark moment came for the club at the backend of the 2022/23 season when Chairman and Owner Grant Biddle stood down from his roles and the club was taken over by another local businessman, Tim Woodward. Woodward comes into the club with ambition and has recently helped the club complete a significant amount of impressive groundwork, changed the club colours and also renamed our stadium PIMS Park.