Club Background
The early history of football in Slough is very messy with a number of clubs bearing the “Slough” name coming and going and sometimes merging and de-merging at various times. The view of this guide is the club we have today dates to 1947 and this is supported by its nickname: The Rebels. In that year Slough United, which had earlier been created through an amalgamation of Slough FC and Slough Centre, showed a decided lack of unity when internal disagreements saw it split into two with one of the factions forming Slough Town. It was the ‘rebel’ club that would last, the other folding in 1956.
The Rebels joined the Corinthian League where they remained until that league was disbanded in 1964 at which point they moved on to the Athenian League. Joining it at Division One level the team won that title in its first season and after promotion to the Premier Division the club was Champions three times in that between 1967 and 1973. In 1973 it was runner-up in the penultimate ever FA Amateur Cup losing 0-1 to Walton & Hersham at Wembley. It was a busy year, also seeing the move from Godolphin Stadium to Wexham Park.
With the abolition of the amateur and (semi-) professional distinction by the Football Association and the creation of a Non-League pyramid in progress Slough joined the Isthmian League for 1973-74 and rapidly worked its way up to the Premier Division. In 1978-80 it reached the FA Cup Second Round Proper for only the second time in its history to that point but went out 1-0 to Yeovil Town. Champions in 1980-81, Wexham Park didn’t reach the required standard for promotion to the Alliance Premier League and runners-up Enfield went up in their stead. Having missed out, despite being there or thereabouts towards the top end of the IPL most seasons, The Rebels would have to wait another nine years to be Champions again by which time they were in a position to take the promotion, arriving in the Conference for 1990-91.
The club found the higher level something of a struggle recording finishes (in a 22 club division) of 19th, 20th and one good season of 5th before relegation in 21st struck in 1993-94. However they bounced back at the first time of asking in 1994-95 with one of those twists of fate seeing Champions Enfield denied promotion (the Conference was not satisfied with its financial situation and subsequent history would prove it correct in this surmise) and Slough awarded its place having finished runners-up and thus swopping places with the Glovers for 1995-96.
Once again the step up in level proved difficult and there were two seasons of lowly finishes before, ironically, it being after a decent 8th place in the third that the club owners decided they wouldn’t or couldn’t meet the costs of new ground grading criteria being introduced at Conference level and chose demotion back into the Isthmian. It was the beginning of a decade and a half of mostly grim times for the Rebels.
In 2000-01 Slough was relegated to the second tier of the Isthmian and only got out in 2004 when the huge restructuring of the pyramid to accommodate the introduction of Conference North/South saw it placed back in the Isthmian Premier. In 2003 financial disagreements between the club and the owners of Wexham Park saw Slough evicted. It left the town and would be in exile for the next 13 years, the first four ground sharing at Stag Meadow home to Windsor & Eton and the remainder at Holloways Park in Beaconsfield.
In 2006-07 it only won four league games all season finishing bottom by a massive margin on 18 points. From there the club moved to the Southern League Division One South West where it finished second from bottom (fortunately for them clubs higher up the pyramid folding had a knock on effect lower down and they escaped a double relegation). This was followed by another forgettable season (16th) before the club switched to the Southern League Division One Midlands. There results improved and Slough secured the last play-off slot getting through the semi-final stage 1-2 against Hitchin Town, who’d finished 23 points ahead of them in the regular season, but then heavily beaten 4-0 by Chesham United in the Final.
More lower league restructuring saw Slough next appear in the Southern League Division One Central. There for four seasons the Rebels never finished lower than 6th but had two more failed play-off campaigns before finally getting out at the third time of asking in 2013-14, defeating Rugby Town 0-3 at the semi-final stage and Kettering Town 2-3 in the Final.
The first two seasons in the Southern League Premier Division saw lower mid-table finishes but in 2016-17 Slough did make the play-offs, only to be knocked out at the first time of asking by Leamington. It was this season that saw the club back in the town of Slough, the first game at its new home of Arbour Park played on 29th August 2016. The following season they were back in the play-offs and this time it was success, defeating Kettering Town 3-1 and King’s Lynn Town 1-2. Up to National League South.
The Rebels have since established themselves in the NLS as a mid-table side rarely threatening either end of the table. There’s been one exception, 2019-20, when they made the play-offs only to be knocked out in the opening round despite home advantage 0-3 by Dartford.
This season Slough lost its opening four home fixtures but since then hasn’t seen defeat at Arbour Park, a run of fourteen league matches plus four cup ties. This home form sees it still eying sneaking into the play-offs.
We’ve Met Before
Previous Results for Yeovil Town First Team vs Slough Town
| 15/12/1979 | Home | FAC2 | W | 1-0 | 4362 | Williams 85 | |
| 09/04/1986 | Home | IPL | L | 3-4 | 2005 | Ritchie, James(2) | |
| 01/05/1986 | Away | IPL | W | 3-2 | 701 | Own Goal, Spencer(2) | |
| 09/121986 | Away | IPL | W | 1-0 | 630 | Zachhau | |
| 17/02/1987 | Away | ILCC2 | W | 4-3 | 510 | McGinlay(2), Randall, Miller | |
| 04/04/1987 | Home | IPL | W | 2-0 | 1744 | Donnellan, Randall | |
| 09/09/1987 | Home | IPL | W | 2-1 | 1770 | Donnellan, Ricketts | |
| 08/12/1987 | Away | IPL | D | 2-2 | 514 | Pearson 21, Wallace 55 | |
| 15/12/1990 | Away | CONF | L | 0-2 | 905 | ||
| 06/04/1991 | Home | CONF | W | 7-2 | 2311 | Wilson 10, 42, Anderson (o.g.) 23, Fry 35, Batty 37, McDermott 59 (pen), Conning 62 | |
| 10/03/1992 | Away | CONF | W | 4-1 | 584 | Boulton 47, 58, Robinson (time unknown), Spencer 89 | |
| 28/03/1992 | Home | CONF | W | 1-0 | 1763 | Spencer | |
| 08/09/1992 | Home | CLC1a | W | 2-0 | 1319 | Spencer 7, Sanderson 21 | |
| 22/09/1992 | Away | CLC1b | D | 2-2 | 528 | Spencer 3, Dang 67 | |
| 13/10/1992 | Away | CONF | L | 0-3 | 771 | ||
| 17/04/1993 | Home | CONF | W | 5-1 | 2451 | Batty 9, 25, Spencer 35, 60, Cooper 55 | |
| 21/09/1993 | Away | CONF | L | 2-5 | 1313 | Leonard 9, Wallace 87 | |
| 05/03/1994 | Home | CONF | L | 0-2 | 2021 | ||
| 08/08/1995 | Away | Frnd | D | 2-2 | 268 | ||
| 20/12/1997 | Home | CONF | W | 2-1 | 2509 | Pickard 45, 69 | |
| 13/04/1998 | Away | CONF | D | 1-1 | 912 | Stott | |
| 30/01/2024 | Home | NLS | W | 3-1 | 2902 | Worthington 47, Young 54, Nouble 82 (pen) | |
| 16/03/2024 | Away | NLS | D | 0-0 | 1533 | ||
Results Summary For Yeovil Town First Team vs Slough Town
| Home | Away | Overall | ||||||||||||
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A |
| 9 | 0 | 2 | 28 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 21 | 23 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 49 | 35 |
Club Statistics
RECENT RESULTS
| 23/01/2024 | Worthing | Away | NLS | D | 1-1 | 759 | Minhas 1 | |
| 27/01/2024 | Dover Athletic | Away | NLS | L | 0-1 | 607 | ||
| 30/01/2024 | Yeovil Town | Away | NLS | L | 1-3 | 2902 | Bayliss 70 | |
| 03/02/2024 | Weston-super-Mare | Home | NLS | W | 2-0 | 935 | Lench 27, Prosper 49 | |
| 10/02/2024 | Torquay United | Away | NLS | W | 4-3 | 1798 | Jackman 28, Goddard 61, Bayliss 82, Chambers-Parillon 90+1 | |
| 17/02/2024 | Chippenham Town | Home | NLS | D | 2-2 | 906 | Ogbonna 84, Minhas 86 | |
| 20/02/2024 | Dartford | Home | NLS | W | 3-2 | 659 | Minhas 1, Goddard 18 (pen), Ogbonna 44 | |
| 24/02/2024 | Tonbridge Angels | Away | NLS | W | 2-1 | 1077 | Lench 1, Ogbonna 90+1 | |
| 02/03/2024 | Bath City | Home | NLS | 1406 | (match abandoned with Slough leading 4-2) | |||
| 05/03/2024 | Taunton Town | Away | NLS | (postponed) | ||||
| 09/03/2024 | Braintree Town | Away | NLS | D | 1-1 | 815 | Cook 73 | |
| 13/03/2024 | Havant & Waterlooville | Away | NLS | L | 1-2 | Ogbonna 45 | ||
| 16/03/2024 | Yeovil Town | Home | NLS | |||||
LEAGUE ATTENDANCE STATISTICS
Highest League Attendance: 1,127
Lowest League Attendance: 398
Average League Attendance: 777
CURRENT LEAGUE SEQUENCE STATISTICS
| Games Without A Win: | Games Without A Home Win: | 0 | ||
| Games Without An Away Win: | Games Without Defeat: | |||
| Games Without A Home Defeat: | 14 | Games Without An Away Defeat: | ||
| Games Without A Draw: | Games Without A Score Draw: | |||
| Games Without A No-Score Draw: | Games Without Scoring: | |||
| Games Without Conceding: | Home Results Sequence: | WDW | ||
| Away Results Sequence: | DLLWW | Overall Results Sequence: | DLLWWW |
Club Information
Address : Arbour Park, Stoke Road, Slough, Berkshire, SL2 5AY.
Telephone Number : 07792 126124
Email : gensec@sloughtownfc.net
Chairman : Mike Lightfoot
CEO : Ashley Smith
Matchday Secretary: Mark Hunter
Fixtures Secretary : Tony Randall
Team Manager : Scott Davies
Capacity : 2,000 *
Seated : 250
Covered Terrace :
Surface : artificial
Record Attendance : 2,205 v Grimsby Town, FA Cup First Round Proper, 05/11/2023
(* Every source can find still has Arbour Park capacity as 2,000 but it clearly isn’t and must have been expanded at some point, see Record Attendance.)
Colours : Amber with navy blue sleeves shirt, navy blue shorts, navy blue socks
Nickname : The Rebels
Programme : £3.00
Ticketing
Our allocation is only 500. Generally, on the very rare occasions segregation is in force, away fans get given the covered South Terrace and a small number of seats in the East Stand (on a first come first served basis). This will be a segregated game so make sure you select the appropriate option at the online portal. Slough have confirmed that away supporters enter through turnstile 2 (with turnstiles normally opened from 1.30 p.m.). Please note there will be no tickets available in away sections on the day – so please buy before you arrive.
Prices :
Adult (18-64): £13.00 (+£1.16 booking fee)
Concession (65+): £8.00 (+£0.91 booking fee)
Age 14-17 / Student: £3.00 (+£0.69 booking fee)
Under 14: £1.00 (+£0.59 booking fee)
Aged 0-4: FREE (no ticket required)
In the usual fashion, fans with pre-paid tickets should present them, either in printed form or on your smartphone of choice, for scanning. Any person found to have purchased tickets for the wrong area of the ground will be refused entry.
Disabled :
There is a limited number of allocated spaces for Blue Badge holders at Arbour Park so please contact the club in advance if require a space by emailing gensec@sloughtownfc.net.
There are wheelchair bays at the top of the West Stand, and an elevator allowing access to the bar area and top of the stand, accessed via the front entrance. Kay Lathey is the contact point, either by the previously mentioned e-mail address or on 07792 126124 and, particularly as this is segregated match, should be contacted in advance as to what arrangements will be in place for away fans.
Assistance dogs are allowed – call in advance so adequate provision can be made.
Disabled fans pay the relevant ticket price with any necessary carer free of charge. Again, one needs to contact the club in advance in order to receive the registration form and terms & conditions that apply.
Official Away Travel
The Green & White Supporters’ Club is running away travel to Slough on Saturday 16th March, 3.00 p.m. kick-off.
Details are as follows:
Members: Adult £22; Concession £20
Non-Members: Adult £25; Concession £23
Coach departs Huish Park: 9.30 a.m.
To book, call Paul Hadlow on 07736 044570 (after 6.00 p.m. please) 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.
Directions To The Ground
General
Slough is one of those towns whose reputation has become a longstanding joke, fairly or unfairly, as to its horribleness. In Berkshire, just off the M4, it had a population of 143,148 at the last census. The stadium is just under a mile North of central Slough and Slough Railway Station.
By Road
Huish Park to Arbour Park is 115 to 118 miles depending on the route chosen. Basically one has the option of A303/M3/M25/M4 or A303/M3/A33 (cutting across from Basingstoke to Reading)/M4. Which one chooses will likely depend on what something like Google Maps has to say about roadworks, traffic flow, etc. on the day. Note: ALL lanes in both directions on the five miles stretch of the M25 between Junctions 10 & 11 will be CLOSED from Friday 15th March to Monday 18th March. The section of M25 for supporters using that route from Yeovil is just North of this, from Junction 12 to 15, and the M25 being what it is could easily see congestion spilling over that far. For Glovers travelling from other locations who would have been using that section of the M25, you will need to find an alternative route.
If travelling the M4 eastwards exit at Junction 6 onto the A355 northwards (Tuns Lane). Go straight on at the first roundabout/traffic lights road intersection staying on the A355; at the second intersection turn right at the lights onto the A4 (Bath Road). After 0.4 of a mile turn left onto Stoke Poges Lane. After another 0.4 of a mile at the first roundabout take the second exit onto Belgrave Road. At the next roundabout take the first exit onto Shackleton Road. At the traffic lights at the crossroads turn right onto Elliman Avenue. At the next set of lights turn left onto Stoke Road (B416). Arbour Park is a couple of hundred yards along on the right.
If travelling the M4 westwards exit at Junction 5 onto the A4 northwards (London Road). Follow the A4 across the first roundabout then almost immediately turn right into Wexham Road. After a third of mile turn left onto St Paul’s Avenue. At the end of St Paul’s Avenue at the traffic lights turn right onto Stoke Road (B416). Arbour Park is a couple of hundred yards along on the right.
Parking
There is no parking at Arbour Park itself for away fans with all spaces reserved for players, officials, invited guests, permit holders or Blue Badge holders.
In its Friday update, Slough confirmed that “a limited number of spaces” will be available to Yeovil supporters at St Joseph’s School which is on Shaggy Calf Lane (no, seriously!). They advise “turn right upon entering the car park” and say supporters will be able to head to Turnstile 2 in the north-east corner of the ground. All spaces are available on a first come, first served basis.
On-street parking in nearby residential roads is described as limited. If you can’t find anywhere there then the nearest public car parks are down in the centre of town and around the Railway Station about a mile away.
By Rail
The station is on the Great Western Main Line about halfway between London Paddington and Reading (there are two non-stop Paddington-Slough trains an hour each way, plus various slower stopping services). It is also now served by the Elizabeth Line (eight trains an hour off-peak to and from various destinations). Additionally it is the terminus for the short branch line running down to Windsor & Eton Central (three trains an hour). There is a taxi rank outside the station.
If travelling from Yeovil the Pen Mill option seems the obvious choice for this one and is generally quicker. However it is considerably more expensive than going from Yeovil Junction (but that does require cutting across on the branch line between Basingstoke and Reading which is where time is lost).
By Bus
The most useful bus is the WP1 operated by Redline which goes from Slough Bus Station (tucked between the Railway Station and the town centre) and runs along Stoke Road with stops just before (Shaggy Calf Lane) and just after (Lismore Park) the ground. There are two an hour on a Saturday with a journey time of under five minutes (traffic permitting).
By Taxi
A selection of Slough taxi companies can be found here.
Web Resources
Web Sites
Slough Town FC – credit where it’s due, this the best Official Site have come across so far this season in National League South by some margin.
Slough Town FC – Official YouTube channel of the club.
Slough Town Forum – unofficial message board.
Social Media
@sloughtownfc – Official Twitter account.
Local Press
Slough & South Bucks Express – pretty decent coverage of the local club especially for this day and age when much local press goes little beyond cutting & pasting national items, angling for gullible clicks by adding a single line pretending a story somehow involves their town.
Slough & South Bucks Observer – has a section dedicated to the club with occasional items.
Food & Drink
General
For its size Slough has few pubs and those that remain are mostly bog standard chains. Sadly the most interesting, a Desi pub The Three Tuns, closed down June 2023. If you’ve never been to a Desi style pub the best ones are great even if the beer in almost all is restricted to pretty standard keg. There are no pubs near the ground.
Club Bar
The last time segregation was in place at Arbour Park – the visit of Grimsby Town in the FA Cup – the away support got its own temporary installations of a bar, food stand and tea bar in the away area. There was no access to the clubhouse and other permanent outlets etc. Smoking/vaping is banned throughout the stadium.
On the day, the club has confirmed that Yeovil supporters will be able to “enjoy the offerings of Barbarian Grill and will also have an outdoor bar.” If this vendor is serving the same stuff it did when Braintree Town visited Berkshire in November, you can expect “smoked beef brisket, Texas style pulled pork, ribs, pork sausages, pork belly burnt ends and gourmet beef burgers.” Fill your boots!
Local Pubs
Moon and Spoon: The Slough Spoons, five minutes walk to the South of Slough Railway Station, even closer to the Bus Station, and 0.8 of a mile (18 minutes walk) from the stadium. It’s (presumably) unique, and somewhat bizarre, feature is a sculpture made out of 1,148 spoons it’s claimed – if there’s significance to that particular number I’ve failed to work it out. Food served until 11.00 p.m., children allowed up to 9.00 p.m. Opening hours: from 8.00 a.m. every day, closing midnight Sunday to Thursday and 1.00 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
The Moon and Spoon, 66-68 High Street, Slough, Berkshire, SL1 1EL. Tel: 01735 531650. Map: Moon and Spoon.
Likelihood the Natives Will Understand You: Expect they are seriously tired of The Office references and David Brent impressions, but if you must…
Top-Tip: Unless you can cope with lengthy hours in Spoons (many will be happy enough but that amount of time in Timmy’s emporiums overstretches my tolerances for those establishments) then Windsor (and Eton), very touristy but still retaining some decent pubs, is just six minutes away on a local branch line (see By Rail, above).
Local Amenities: Expect it has some but no reluctant visitor to Slough stays long enough to experience any of them.
Other Points Of Interest: A whole guide to Slough without mentioning Sir John Betjeman and his famously derogatory opinion of the town… oh, I just have: “Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!” (Full poem – apparently in later life he did slightly regret having been so mean to the place.)
[No responsibility is taken for any inaccuracies. This page is entirely the product of bias and prejudice. ]