Cheltenham Town were found in 1887, and play their home games at ‘The Abbey Business Stadium’ following a rename. To most fans of course it is still known as Whaddon Road.
Their current manager is ‘Mad’ Martin Allen, however Allen was placed on gardening leave on 20 October 2009 because of racism allegations. So assistant manager John Schofield has been put in charge until further notice. Schoey is obviously familiar to Imps fans having played for us in two spells as well as guiding us to a play off place in 2007 as manager.
Cheltenham have only played as high as League One, and have played a total of four seasons there. Their manager during that spell was another ex Imp, John Ward who built a solid side. Their best FA Cup run saw them reach the last 16 (fifth round) in 2002. The last piece of silverware won by the club was the Football Conference title in 1999.
The appointment of Steve Cotterill as manager during the 1996-97 was the start of a revolution at the club. Up until then Cheltenham had meandered around the non league scene without making any serious impact. However he is Cheltenham Town's most successful manager. Four months after taking charge he guided the club to runners-up spot in the Southern Football League Premier Division, but they won promotion to the Football Conference because champions Gresley Rovers were unable to meet the required ground capacity for Conference membership.
In 1997-98, Cheltenham surprised all the observers by finishing runners-up in the Conference pushing Halifax Town all the way. They then secured a place at Wembley in the FA Trophy final, beating Southport 1-0 in front of a crowd of some 27,000, allegedly 19,000 of which were from Cheltenham. In 1998-99 Cheltenham went one better and secured the Conference title - their passport to the football league.
After two mid-table finishes in Division Three, Cheltenham finally won promotion to Division Two (via the Division Three playoffs) at the end of the 2001-02 season. Shortly after winning promotion, Steve Cotterill left Cheltenham to pursue his career by joining Stoke City as manager.
John Ward, was appointed in 2003 after relegation back to League Two, following a bad spell for the Robins under Bobby Gould.
On 28th May 2006 Cheltenham made the play off finals facing Grimsby Town, who only days earlier had beaten The Imps. The match at the Millennium Stadium was attended by 29,196 people, making it the club's largest ever stadium audience. The Robins beat our fishy rivals 1-0 to secure promotion under Wardy. However despite promotion, the average attendance did not increase as the club had hoped, though it increased to 4359. The club were knocked out of the various cup competitions in early stages and were finding it difficult to muster up the funds to invest in additional players..
Despite one more year in League One, John Wards departure meant the clubs stability took a knocking. Martin Allen came in as manager just a year after Ward left, but The Robins were relegated last season having used 51 players and conceded over 100 goals. So far this season they have struggled again.
As well as Schofield Cheltenham also have The Imps ex Goalkeeper Barry Richardson on the coaching staff.
