Eastleigh: Club history
Originally formed as Swaythling Athletic F.C. in 1946 and playing elsewhere, the club moved to the present Ten Acres site in 1957. Its first 40 years was spent playing County level football. In 1980 the club’s name was changed to Eastleigh F.C. and in 1986 it became a founder member of the Wessex League. There was another fifteen years of Wessex League football before winning the title in 2002-03 saw promotion to Southern Football League Division One East.
However, they were only to be in the Southern League for a single season, finishing 4th, before a massive restructuring of Non-League football by the F.A. saw the club being catapulted into the Isthmian Premier Division. That season, 2003-04, saw Eastleigh reach the play-offs, which they won, taking them up into Conference South.
From Wessex League to Conference South (partly aided by some restructuring) in three seasons, and one might have expected Eastleigh to stall, having outstripped their infrastructure and resources. And so they rather did, until attracting the attention of magnate Stewart Donald, then owner of Bridle Insurance, in 2010… which might be considered something of a surprise as a self-proclaimed life-long fan of Oxford United.
Donald was one of those ‘I’m going to get this club into the EFL in X years’ style owners, later suggesting in one interview he’d thrown £10 million at the project; though in another interview this claim was down-sized to a probably more realistic and likely £3 million. His time at Eastleigh certainly saw major development of the stadium, which was renamed Silverlake. On the pitch a failed play-off campaign in 2012-13 was swiftly followed by success in 2013-14 when Eastleigh were Conference South Champions and promoted into Conference National. The first season there saw more play-offs, but Grimsby Town dashed their hopes at the first stage. In 2018-19 they reached them again, this time denied by Salford City in the semi-final.
However, behind the scenes, Donald was perhaps getting itchy feet, or maybe even bored, as the project was taking longer than he’d thought. Already in 2015 he’d bought a 10% (the most allowed in another club without falling foul of conflict of interest rules) stake in Oxford United for half a million pounds. More decisively, in 2018, he bought Sunderland F.C., at which point he had to divest himself of ownership of Eastleigh. The club CEO, Mark Jewell, stepped in to the role of chairman; with he, and directors Kenny Amor, Tom Coffey and Joanne Sprigg taking up Donald’s shares.
Things went very badly at boardroom level at Sunderland, with a statement issued in early 2020 that the Black Cats would be being put up for sale again and after much rancour, and protests from fans, he finally sold what was described as a controlling stake in February 2021 to 23-year-old Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, son of the late Robert Louis-Dreyfus, former owner of Olympique de Marseille. However, after over a year of silence, in March 2022 it emerged in a supporters meeting that Donald still retained 34% of the club; and that, with his partners Juan Sartori (20%) and Charlie Methven (5%) in their joint company Madrox, thus potentially had majority control. Many fans were furious, feeling they had been misled, and “Madrox Out” banners could once again be seen at The Stadium of Light.
Possibly merely in a cynical move (as nothing appears to have happened since) to deflect the anger of Black Cat fans, Donald then announced a few days later he was indeed looking to sell his remaining stake in Sunderland: “I left a lot of friends behind at Eastleigh and it wasn’t a finished project at the time. So if I can organise myself in Sunderland in a way that worked for everybody, that frees me up so that I could go back to Eastleigh and finish the job that I started those years ago, then I think that would be a wonderful way for me to get my football fix.”
It is certainly the case that those holding 100% of the shares at Eastleigh are close associates of the former owner and chairman. However, if it transpires Donald isn’t really coming back, Eastleigh could be another of those clubs that struggles to cope when the sugar daddy has gone.
In 2018 Jewell departed as chairman, citing ill health, and Sprigg also stepped down from the board, though both have retained some financial stake.
In the curtailed 2019-20 National League season Eastleigh ended up 16th after PPG calculations; in the 2020-21 campaign they were 9th.
Last season, on 26th January 2022, the club sacked manager Ben Strevens after a poor run of results culminating with a loss to Dover Athletic the previous evening, the first team to do so for 365 days in any competition. Jason Bristow, who was in charge as caretaker for our February 2022 visit, did not get the job permanently but remains on the coaching staff. Lee Bradbury, with previous experience as the No. 1 at AFC Bournemouth (long before that club reached the heady heights it’s at now), Havant & Waterlooville and Eastbourne Borough, came in a few weeks later after departing his role as Assistant at Crawley Town. The Spitfires finished 19th.
On 6th July 2022 Jewell’s successor as club chairman Kenny Amor resigned with immediate effect and stepped down from the board, revealing he had been charged under FA Rule E8 – Misconduct under FA Rule E1 (b) – concerning the placing of 13,919 bets on football between March 2015 and February 2022. In the announcement Amor conceded he had “a problem” and that “it isn’t until your gambling life is laid out in front of you that this becomes clear”. He intimated he would not be contesting the charges and accepted in advance whatever FA sanctions may be coming his way. Tom Coffey is the new chairman – pretty much last man standing from the old gang.
Eastleigh: We’ve Met Before
Previous Results for Yeovil Town First Team vs Eastleigh
| 07/07/2006 | Away | Frnd | W | 3-1 | 401 | Webb 8, 20, Welsh 69 | |
| 06/08/2019 | Home | NLP | W | 1-0 | 2812 | Duffus 2 | |
| 21/03/2020 | Away | NLP | (season curtailed) | ||||
| 01/12/2020 | Home | NLP | L | 1-3 | 0 | Quigley 68 | |
| 09/02/2021 | Away | NLP | L | 0-1 | 0 | ||
| 13/11/2021 | Home | NLP | W | 2-1 | 2494 | Knowles 42, Yussuf 76 | |
| 12/02/2022 | Away | NLP | D | 0-0 | 2760 | ||
| 13/09/2022 | Away | NLP | D | 1-1 | 1977 | Pearson 7 | |
| 07/03/2023 | Home | NLP | W | 1-0 | 2961 | Worthington 64 | |
Results Summary For Yeovil Town First Team vs Eastleigh
| Home | Away | Overall | ||||||||||||
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A |
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 7 |
Eastleigh: Club Statistics
RECENT RESULTS
| 06/08/2022 | Wrexham | Away | NLP | L | 1-2 | 9897 | Langston 14 | |
| 13/08/2022 | Wealdstone | Home | NLP | W | 1-0 | 1814 | Abrahams 59 | |
| 16/08/2022 | Dagenham & Redbridge | Home | NLP | D | 1-1 | 1776 | Carter 90+3 | |
| 20/08/2022 | York City | Away | NLP | W | 1-0 | 3624 | McKiernan 42 | |
| 27/08/2022 | Southend United | Home | NLP | W | 2-1 | 2383 | Whitehall 77, 90+5 | |
| 29/08/2022 | Barnet | Away | NLP | L | 1-3 | 1974 | Ebanks 84 | |
| 03/09/2022 | Bromley | Away | NLP | L | 1-2 | 1969 | Abrahams 2 | |
| 10/09/2022 | Scunthorpe United | Home | NLP | (POSTPONED) | ||||
| 13/09/2022 | Yeovil Town | Home | NLP |
CURRENT LEAGUE SEQUENCE STATISTICS
| Games Without A Win: | 2 | Games Without A Home Win: | 0 | |
| Games Without An Away Win: | 2 | Games Without Defeat: | 0 | |
| Games Without A Home Defeat: | 2 | Games Without An Away Defeat: | 0 | |
| Games Without A Draw: | 4 | Games Without A Score Draw: | 4 | |
| Games Without A No-Score Draw: | 7 | Games Without Scoring: | 0 | |
| Games Without Conceding: | 0 | Home Results Sequence: | WDW | |
| Away Results Sequence: | LWLL | Overall Results Sequence: | LWDWWLL |
ATTENDANCE STATISTICS
Highest League Attendance: 2,383
Lowest League Attendance: 1,776
Average League Attendance: 1,991
Eastleigh: Club Information
Silverlake Stadium,
Ten Acres,
Stoneham Lane,
Eastleigh,
Hampshire,
SO50 9NW
Click for map.
Telephone Number: 02380 613361
E-mail: admin@eastleighfc.com.
Chairman: Tom Coffey
Club Secretary: Jamie White
Media Officer: Tom Mulholland
Safety Officer:
Team Manager: Lee Bradbury
Capacity: 5,500
Seated: 3,210
Covered Terrace: some
Record Attendance: 5,250 v Bolton Wanderers, FA Cup Third Round, 09/01/2016.
Home kit: shirt blue with white sleeves and trim, shorts and socks blue.
Nickname: The Spitfires
Programme: £3.00
Ticketing
Tickets for the National League trip to Silverlake Stadium on Tuesday 13th September, kick-off 7.45 p.m. can be bought in advance through Eastleigh’s on-line ticketing portal. This is definitely one to buy in advance as there’s a £5.00 surcharge on the gates. Cash payment is NOT accepted at the turnstiles, card only.
Away fans get blocks 1, 2 and 3 of the South (was called Mackoy Community Stand on our last visit but now seems to be Nuffield Health Community) Stand, which is around 400 seats with a behind the goal view; and the option of standing on the East (current sponsor name Reign) Terrace. Seating is unreserved and fans are able to move freely between the two different stands. Entry is via turnstiles 10 and 11 which are open from 6.15 p.m. for a 7.45 p.m. kick-off.
Note also that last season, one day before the fixture, Eastleigh suddenly announced out of the blue that they would not be selling tickets to away fans on the gate at all.
Prices are unchanged from last season:
Adult: £15.00 (£20 on gate)
Concession (60+): 10.00 (£15 on gate)
Student (aged 17-21): £5.00 (£10 on gate)
Junior (12-16): £2.00 (£5 on gate)
11 & under: FREE
There are 24 wheelchair spaces in the South (Nuffield Health Community) Stand of which 7 are reserved for away supporters. Carers (higher rate DLA/PIP) get free entry. There is a toilet in the away end which is accessible for ambulant disabled fans but it is not wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair. Wheelchair users will need to speak to a steward in order to use the wider accessible toilet at the other end of the South Stand past the home fans. Sarah Woolley, a wheelchair user herself, is the club’s Disability Liaison Officer and can be contacted to discuss any issues or clarifications at dlo@eastleighfc.com.
Official Away Travel
The Green & White Supporters’ Club is running away travel to Eastleigh on Tuesday, September 13th with a 7.45 p.m. kick-off.
Details are as follows:
Members: £18 Adults; £16 Concessions
Non-Members: £21 Adults; £19 Concessions
Coach departs Huish Park: 4.00 p.m.
To book, call Paul Hadlow on 07736 044570 or email him on paulhadlow@outlook.com.
If you are getting in touch by email, please make it clear which match you are booking for and that you give your full name, the names of people that are travelling and a contact telephone number.
You may be asked to pay a £5 deposit to reserve your seat.
Eastleigh: Directions To The Ground
General
One of shortest away trips in this season’s National League calendar for The Glovers, only Plainmoor being closer to Huish Park; but that, with our earliest visit to Silverlake Stadium being for a 2006 pre-season Friendly, is still not going to see anyone likely to call this a ‘derby’.
Silverlake Stadium is some way out of town, to the south of Eastleigh, around two miles from the centre. This relative isolation, surrounded on three sides by the looping conjunction of the M3 and M27 and Southampton Airport, compounded by the lack of buses (see Buses, below), means it’s a pain to get to from the town.
Thankfully the policy of closing the northern section of Stoneham Lane to all traffic for six hours on matchdays that was in place when we were due to visit three seasons ago appears to have been abandoned. Presumably it was causing more problems than it was solving.
Eastleigh itself, although appearing in a Top Ten Places to Live in the UK in a 2006 Channel 4 survey, is rather a ‘nothing’ place, now close to being merely another Southampton suburb with the outward sprawl of that city. Its main (probably only) claim to ‘fame’ is that Benny Hill once lived there. The population of the actual town is around 25,000, increasing to 125,000 across the wider Borough.
By Road
From Yeovil there’s little difference in terms of either mileage or time between the most obvious northern or southern routes, both being just over 70 miles and likely to take around an hour and a half; so that decision will probably be determined by where one resides in the general area.
For the northerly option take the A303 up to the A36 roundabout. Take the A36 south and keep following until merging on to the M27 eastwards. Exit the M27 at Junction 5, taking the first exit of the Stoneham Interchange Roundabout. At the next roundabout take the first exit and the ground is first left along Stoneham Lane. (However, be aware there is no point driving right to the ground as there is no parking there for away fans – see Parking below.)
The southerly option is the A37 down to Dorchester; then the A31 across to join the M27. Thereafter directions to the ground are the same as immediately above.
Parking
Given the location of the stadium (see Directions to the Ground – General, above), on street parking anywhere close is problematic.
The club has a large car park with 600 spaces but there is NO parking for away fans, it’s all reserved for the great & the good or pre-sold to home fans. There is an unspecified (but limited) number of parking bays (which are free) for disabled Blue Badge holders, but apparently no way of booking them so seems to be first come first served.
The club recommends the Concorde Club (see Moldy Fig / Concorde Club below under Pubs) which offers parking for £5.00 on matchdays (though the amount of spaces on offer relies on whether it has an event on or not). Apart from that, its other suggestion is the parking at Southampton Airport Parkway Station at a flat rate of £8.50 on weekdays after 11.00 a.m. However this means around 1.2 miles (25 minutes) of walking to the stadium, mostly across Lakeside Country Park (see By Rail, below, for directions from the station to the ground).
If you’re going to have to resort to Southampton Airport Parkway Station we’d suggest you might as well try the car park in Lakeside Country Park itself first to see if there are any spaces, as the parking is free with a four hour limit (which should be just about enough) week days and no time restrictions at the weekend; and the subsequent walk to the stadium half the distance. However be aware it shuts at 10.00 p.m. so don’t loiter on the walk back post-match. This is to be found towards the end of Doncaster Drove (see By Rail, below, for where that is and how get from there to the ground, in the directions from Southampton Airport Parkway to the stadium section). The walk from this car park to the stadium is 0.6 of a mile. Be aware much of the route across the park is unlit. Locals tend to take a torch if planning to do that walk in the dark.
By Rail
The closest station to Silverlake Stadium is Southampton Airport Parkway, served by South Western Railway, Great Western Railway and CrossCountry trains, at 1.2 miles. (Should you choose to get off at Eastleigh Station in the town you’ll be just over two miles from the ground.) From Yeovil Junction services require a change at either Salisbury (with some services needing a further change at Romsey or Southampton Central).
Long potential waits to change at Salisbury at certain times of the day can actually rather bizarrely sometimes make the much longer route via Basingstoke quicker, so check against your preferred departure/arrival times which is the better option. Journey times are generally around 2 hours, plus or minus.
For an evening fixture only one service out of Southampton Airport Parkway will get one back to Yeovil on the night: the 22.26 (or 22.22 if boarded at Eastleigh Station) arriving Salisbury 23.16; then the 23.49 from Salisbury arriving Yeovil Junction at 00.36.
For fans travelling from London the significantly longer mileage is both simpler and much quicker, with direct services out of Waterloo to Southampton Airport Parkway taking around one hour six minutes. The last direct service back from Southampton Airport Parkway that doesn’t require multiple changes is the 22.08 (22.11 from Eastleigh Station) arriving Waterloo at 23.31.
As the crow flies Southampton Airport Parkway to the stadium is only about six hundred yards, but don’t be tempted as the pavement soon runs out, and there’s a slip road for Junction 5 of the M27 and then a small river, Monks Brook, in the way. Instead, turn right on exiting the station, northwards along Wide Lane (A335). After 500 yards you are looking for a small road to your left, Doncaster Drove (signed for Lakeside Miniature Railway) to cross Lakeside Country Park. About half-way along this road runs out and becomes a footpath. The footpath comes to a small bridge that gets one across the aforementioned brook. Almost immediately after crossing the brook you’re back on roads. Veer rightwards up towards the roundabout, going off along the first exit. First left off this stretch takes you along Stoneham Lane to the stadium, which is on the left.
Be aware much of the route across the park is unlit. Locals tend to take a torch if planning to do that walk in the dark.
By Bus
For a ground well out of town, buses could be of use. Unfortunately, only a single service, Bluestar 2 (destination Southampton City Centre), runs near the ground. Services depart from outside Eastleigh railway station twice an hour early evening, with the nearest stop to Silverlake to ask for being St Nicolas Church. Journey time is around 15 minutes (depending on traffic). From the church it’s a three minute walk to the stadium. Post-match you’ll need to get out sharpish if requiring a bus back to the town centre to catch a train as by then the services have reduced and after the 21.41 there’s not another for an hour, which by then will be far too late.
By Taxi
There are taxi ranks at both the nearest railway station to the ground, Southampton Airport Parkway, and at Eastleigh Station. Apart from that the numbers of various local taxi firms can be found here.
Web Sites
Eastleigh FC Official Twitter Account
Spitfires unofficial – a forum.
Local Press
Daily Echo – obviously, being little more than a suburb of Southampton, and a Non-League club to boot, the Echo focuses vastly more on the Saints, but there is some coverage of the Spitfires.
Eastleigh : Food & Drink
General
As mentioned previously, Silverlake Stadium is in a somewhat isolated location. It’ll therefore come as no surprise to discover there’s a shortage of food and drink outlets in the area around the ground. Closest are the Moldy Fig and the Cricketers Arms (both below). Apart from those two, everything else is up in the town centre. Most of the pubs and bars there are much of a muchness so, being around two miles from the ground, may well not be worth the trouble. There is a Wetherspoon, The Wagon Works (28 Southampton Road, Eastleigh, SO50 9FJ), right opposite Eastleigh Station, with all the usual pluses and minuses that chain offers. For beer geeks, the best option by far in Eastleigh is Steam Town Brew Co. (below), but we’re now talking nearly two and half miles from the stadium, so probably only to be considered by the seriously committed.
Club Bar
The ground has two hospitality venues, The Hangar and Sherwoods, at the other end of the stadium from the away area. Sherwoods is home fans only – but as there’s a £3.00 charge just to get in, no loss there. The Hangar may or may not be open to away fans (“THIS MAY CHANGE ON A GAME BY GAME BASIS“) so don’t be that surprised if turn up and find are not allowed in.
On our last visit Eastleigh announced the day before the fixture that Yeovil supporters would not be allowed to use The Hangar and that a temporary bar had been set up at the away end. That was a Saturday afternoon fixture and this an evening one, so certainly a smaller travelling contingent, but at time of writing the club has not specifically revealed whether it will be maintaining that policy or allowing away fans to use The Hangar. My best guess would be we won’t be allowed in. If that is the case, the provision in the temporary away bar last time was (to the best of my recollection) a lager and Guinness on draught at £4.50 a pint and some bottles/cans of other stuff at £4.00.
If we are allowed to use The Hangar (which is free to enter – how generous of them) the entrance is external to the ground. You will be required to exit the bar 15 mins prior to kick-off and once entering the stadium it cannot be accessed from the away area. Thus during half-time it’s only available to home fans. Has wheelchair accessible adapted toilet provision. (The club states that at matches where it has closed this bar to visiting fans away disabled supporters will still be allowed on request to access that toilet if needed).
While nothing to get too excited about, draught keg range in The Hangar appears to be a notch or two above the norm: in recent times there’s been Greene King’s East Coast IPA and Beck’s Vier amongst others joining such football ground dismal standards as Carling and Carlsberg. The house badged “Spitfire Lager” is a generic product brewed by Greene King for outlets to stick their own brand on – you have been warned. There’s also sometimes that rather rare luxury at football stadiums, cask ale. True, the most regular offering appears to be Greene King IPA but the odd offering from local micro-breweries has appeared. And the can/bottled selection can dabble with a bit of ‘craft’ on occasion, with options from Red Cat Brewing of Winchester and Flack Manor of Romsey sometimes to be seen.
Inside the stadium the food/drink provision is the usual range of Burgers, Hot Dogs, Chips, tea, coffee etc.; though there is something called a ‘Spitfire Special’ (a cheeseburger with bacon and pulled pork).
Local Pubs
Cricketers Arms: Nearest ‘proper’ pub (see caveats about the Moldy Fig below) at 0.8 of a mile (15 minutes walk) due north of the stadium. Quite why its website gives Chandlers Ford in the address is a bit of a mystery – perhaps they think it sounds posher than Eastleigh. Its core cask range is naturally Greene King beers, with Abbot, GK IPA and Old Speckled Hen as the regulars. It’s been noticeable over the last couple of years that the GK tie has got more relaxed across its estate of pubs, with more tenants (possibly realising a lot of drinkers don’t actually rate Greene King’s beers very much) thus taking the opportunity to stock alternatives from other brewers. As this hostelry has seven more hand pumps (not all always in use) it’s possible there might be some better options to the three mentioned above available. Keg is from GK’s own lines and multinationals. Food is the usual mid-range fare familiar of chain pubs, served from noon to 10.00 p.m. every day. Disabled access and adapted toilet, children allowed until 9.30 p.m., patio area, beer garden, car park. Opens at 11.00 a.m. every day, closing 11.00 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and at midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Cricketers Arms, 232 Chestnut Avenue, Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO53 3HN. Tel: 02380 629878. Map: Cricketers.
Moldy Fig / (Concorde Club): (The Concorde Club part is for ticketed music and comedy events.) Closest pub/club/hotel complex to the ground at a little under half a mile (7 minutes walk). For those using the Lakeside Country Park car park option or Southampton Airport Parkway Station it’s only about fifty yards off the route from there to the stadium once you’ve left the Park and hit the roads again. Same entrance to both aspects, then turning left for the Moldy Fig. Larger restaurant area, smaller bar area. Has three cask beers pumps, with tedious Doom Bar the regular. However, if pouring, and they aren’t always, the other two can sometimes offer something more interesting – there’s been beers from Exmoor Ales, Palmers and Flower Pots Brewery in the last few years. Serves breakfast, brunch, morning coffee, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner from 7.00 a.m. weekdays and 8.00 a.m. at weekends through to 9.00 p.m. The bar is generally open to serve alcohol from noon to 11.00 p.m. (though sometimes closes to members of the public at 6.00 p.m. for particular events or private hire) every day. Disabled access, woodland terraced garden, riverside patio, car park. From the above description it might be fair to surmise this venue is not necessarily natural away-day country. However, there’s no indication football supporters are banned – and there’s a few comments around the net from fans who’ve used it. But suffice it to say, entry as a large group chanting and kicking up a storm would be more than likely to produce a very short stay.
Moldy Fig at the Concorde, Stoneham Lane, Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO50 9HQ. Tel: 02380 613989. Map: Moldy Fig.
Steam Town Brew Co.: Microbrewery and Taproom that started up at the end of 2017. Opening hours are a straightforward noon – 11.00 p.m. throughout the week. Has from four changing cask beers on at a time, some of their own brews and usually something from other small independent breweries; up to sixteen changing ‘craft’ keg options from many different small breweries; a range of their own bottled and canned beers; two real ciders or perries; around thirty craft gins. Food (including children’s options) is a range of seven different Burgers (two vegetarian) and eight different varieties of Fries, available from noon until 8.45 p.m. every day. Disabled access, family friendly, outside tabled area. The venue expanded by opening an upstairs area in late 2021. Couple of hundred yards from Eastleigh Railway Station, but on the east side of the tracks, away from the town centre; and just under two and half miles from Silverlake Stadium. There is a bus stop for the Bluestar 2 service (see By Bus, above) right outside.
Steam Town Brew Co., 1 Bishopstoke Road, Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO50 6AD. Tel: 02382 359139. Map: Steam Town.
Likelihood the Natives Will Understand You:
Benny Hill was once a milkman here – there’s a plaque, and a new road called Benny Hill Close, in the town centre to prove it. Seems the actual residents who bought dwellings in the development were less than impressed and raised a petition for a name change – to no avail. Sing along with the locals: Ernie, Ernieeeeeeeeeee, and he drove the fastest milk cart in the West…
Top-Tip: Those making their way independently rather than on one of the coaches, put your walking boots on.
Other Points Of Interest: Nope, Benny Hill is all there is.
[No responsibility is taken for any inaccuracies. This page is entirely the product of bias and prejudice.]