Bilston Town F.C.

The club was founded in 1894 as a merger of Bilston Rovers and Bilston Wanderers, and was initially known as Bilston United. In the same year they joined the Walsall & District Junior League. After finishing fourth in their first season, they won the league in 1895–96. Bilston remained in the Combination until the end of the 1920–21 season, when they joined the Birmingham & District League. They were runners-up to Shrewsbury Town in 1922–23 and spent the rest of the 1920s in mid-table before finishing second-from-bottom in 1929–30. dropping into the Walsall & District League and changing their name to Bilston Borough. Their first season back in the Walsall & District League saw Bilston win the league title, a feat they repeated in 1935–36, before finishing the 1937–38 season as runners-up. after which they rejoined the Birmingham Combination in 1948, finishing second-from-bottom of the league in 1950–51. In 1968–69 the club reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time, losing 3–1 at home to Halifax Town. They were Premier Division runners-up in 1984–85, earning promotion to the Midland Division of the Southern League. The division was renamed the Western Division in 1999, with the club missing out on promotion to the Premier Division by two points in 2000–01. They finished seventeenth the following season, after which the club resigned from the league, dropping into Division One North of the West Midlands Regional League. At the end of the 2020–21 season Bilston were transferred to Division One of the Midland League when the Premier Division of the West Midlands (Regional) League lost its status as a step six division. ==Ground==

Early in the club's history they played at Prouds Lane, using the nearby Spread Eagle pub as their changing room. They moved to Queen Street after in 1919, with the opening game played against Tamworth Castle in the FA Cup, with Bilston winning 1–0. Floodlights were installed in 1953 and were first used for a match against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 10 March 1953, with a record attendance of 8,000 seeing Wolves win 4–2. In 2008 plans were announced to refurbish and reopen the ground, Work was complete ready for the 2008–09 season, with the club signing a 99-year lease. The Queen Street ground has also been used by Bustleholme, Dudley Town (who shared the ground for a season in the mid-1980s after subsidence caused by old mineworkings led to the closure of their ground), Wolverhampton Wanderers Reserves, Wolverhampton Wanderers Women and Willenhall Town. ==Honours==

4–1 to gain promotion to the WM(R)L Premier Division in May 2013 • West Midlands (Regional) League • Champions 1960–61, 1972–73 • Division Two champions 1956–57 • Premier Division League Cup winners 1972–73 • Division One League Cup winners 2003–04 • Bilston Charity Cup • Winners 1900–01, 1913–14 • Birmingham Junior Cup • Winners 1895–96 • John Martin Trophy • Winners 2009–10 (joint), 2010–11, 2013–14 (joint) • Rugeley Charity Cup • Winners 1966–67 • Smedley Crooke Memorial Charity Cup • Winners 2017–18 • Staffordshire Junior Cup • Winners 1900–01 • Walsall Charity Cup • Winners 1901–02 • Walsall Hospital Cup • Winners 1900–01, 1901–02 • Walsall Junior/Challenge Cup • Winners 1900–01, 1905–06, 1932–34 (shared), 1934–35, 1935–36, 1946–47, 1947–48, 1948–49 • Wednesbury Charity Cup • Winners 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85 • Willenhall Nursing Institute Cup • Winners 1908–09 • Wolverhampton Charity Cup • Winners 1895–96, 1899–1900, 1900–01, 1903–04 ==Records==

• Best FA Cup performance: Second round, 1972–73 • Heaviest defeat: 19–1 vs Worcester City, 21 November 1931 • Record attendance: 8,000 vs Wolverhampton Wanderers, friendly match, 10 March 1953 ==See also==