Rushden & Diamonds F.C.
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Rushden and Diamonds were formed in 1992 by Max Griggs, the owner of the Dr Martens shoe company who bought two non-league clubs (Rushden Town and Irthlingborough Diamonds) and merged them to form a team which would compete in the Southern (Beazer Homes) League Division One and play its home games at Nene Park near Irthlingborough in Northamptonshire.
Rushden and Diamonds won promotion to the Beazer Homes Premier League in 1993 and GM Vauxhall Conference in 1996. In the season following promotion to the Conference, Brian Talbot was appointed as the club's new manager. As a player, he had turned out for Arsenal in the early 1980s. His managerial spells with West Bromwich Albion (February 1989-January 1991) and Aldershot (February-November 1991) were disappointing, but at Rushden and Diamonds he was a huge success. After two near-misses they finally won promotion to the Football League as Conference champions in 2001. In their first season they reached the Division Three playoff final but lost to Cheltenham Town. In 2003 their promotion challenge was successful, they pipped Hartlepool United to the Division Three championship on the last day of the season and won their third promotion in eight seasons.
2003-04 was a difficult season for Rushden and Diamonds. The club's board and supporters were hopeful of another promotion challenge, and some promising results in the early part of the season suggested that this could be achieved. But a run of bad results during the winter saw the club slip down the table and in March 2004 Brian Talbot left the club after seven years as manager to take charge at Oldham Athletic. Barry Hunter, with no previous managerial experience, was appointed as the caretaker player-manager until the end of the season but the club continued to slide further down the Division Two table and they were relegated in 22nd place after losing their last game of the season.
Rushden and Diamonds, now members of the Coca-Cola Football League Two, (which, until the end of 2003-04 was called Division Three). Ernie Tippett was appointed manager of the team at the start of the 2004-05 season and, after a dismal run of results which saw the team the media predicted as promotion contenders fall to 22nd place in League Two, he was sacked. Barry Hunter became caretaker manager again, and although there were many applicants for the position, he was appointed full-time manager towards the end of the season. The club staved off relegation but released several players at the conclusion of the campaign.
Recently, Max Griggs has handed over power to a supporters' trust, pledged £250,000 per season for the next two seasons, and written off any debt the trust may have had due to Griggs' investments over the years he has been chairman.
External links
- Rushden & Diamonds Official Website (http://www.thediamondsfc.com)
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