Early years (currently known as One Call Stadium) since the end of the First World War. Mansfield Town was formed under the name of Mansfield Wesleyans in 1897, the name of the club coming from the local
Wesleyan church. The club played
friendlies up until the
1902–03 season, when it joined the Mansfield and District Amateur League. When the league dropped its amateur tag in 1906, the church abandoned the club, which changed its name to Mansfield Wesley and moved into the Notts and District League. In the summer of 1910, despite having lost the previous season to Mansfield Mechanics in the second qualifying round of the
FA Cup, the team changed its name to Mansfield Town (much to the disgust of the Mechanics). In the following years, Mansfield Town swapped between the Notts and District League,
Central Alliance League and Notts and Derbyshire League, before
World War I brought a halt to proceedings. After the war, Mansfield became occupants of the
Field Mill ground, after Mansfield Mechanics failed to pay their rent. In 1921, the club was admitted into the
Midland Counties League, and celebrated by reaching the sixth qualifying round of the FA Cup twice in a row. The club won the league in
1923–24 and was the runner-up the following season, but on both occasions failed to win
election to the
Football League. In
1928–29, Mansfield won the Midland League again, but more famously reached the fourth round proper of the FA Cup, losing 2–0 to
First Division club
Arsenal, after a cup run which saw them beat
Second Division side
Wolverhampton Wanderers. He joined from Middlesbrough F.C. where he had spent nine successful seasons. He went on to make 115 League appearances for Mansfield, scoring 27 goals. In
1959–60 the club was relegated to the recently created
Fourth Division, before gaining promotion back to the Third Division in
1962–63. This promotion was later tainted by life-time suspensions handed out to players
Brian Phillips and
Sammy Chapman for bribing opponents, including players of
Hartlepools United in a vital match which Mansfield won 4–3. Two seasons later, the club again narrowly missed out on promotion to the Second Division. The season after avoiding relegation due to a points deduction for
Peterborough United, Mansfield made another headline-grabbing cup run. Mansfield beat First Division
West Ham United 3–0 in the fifth round of the
1968–69 FA Cup, before narrowly losing to
Leicester City in the quarter-finals. In
1971–72 Mansfield were relegated, again, to the Fourth Division. By
1976–77, the club was back in the Third Division, and despite the distraction of a 5–2 FA Cup defeat to
Matlock Town, beat
Wrexham to the
Third Division title. The club went straight back down, and only a good run of form at the end of the
1978–79 season saved Mansfield from a double relegation. Mansfield won the
Football League Trophy in front of 58,000 fans in May 1987, beating
Bristol City on
penalties after a 1–1 draw. However, the years that followed were inconsistent, with Mansfield becoming a "yo-yo" team between the Third and Fourth Divisions. Also at that time, the controversial
Keith Haslam bought the club.
21st century In
2001–02, Mansfield were again promoted to the third tier of English football, beating
Carlisle United to take third place from
Cheltenham Town, who lost at
Plymouth Argyle. A poor season in Division Two did not pick up even with the arrival of
Keith Curle as manager, as the club was relegated straight back to the fourth tier of English football. In
2003–04, Mansfield beat
Northampton Town in a penalty shoot-out in the Division Three play-off semi-finals, but lost to
Huddersfield Town on penalties in the
final. In
2007–08, Mansfield's 77-year stay in the Football League came to an end as the club was relegated to the
Conference. A fluke goal in a 1–0 loss to rivals
Rotherham United in the last home game of the season all but guaranteed relegation. Ugly scenes erupted at the final whistle, with controversial owner Keith Haslam being attacked by fans. Haslam left the club, with the trio of Perry, Middleton and Saunders purchasing the club (but not the ground) for £1 and installed
Billy McEwan as manager. He was replaced after Christmas by
David Holdsworth. Holdsworth's less than two-year reign bought little improvement to the club and he was dismissed as manager in November 2010.
Duncan Russell led Mansfield to an
FA Trophy final appearance in
2010–11,
Louis Briscoe scoring a late
extra-time winner against
Luton Town in the semi-final second leg. However, the Stags lost 1–0 to
Darlington at
Wembley Stadium in the final after a 120th-minute extra-time goal by Chris Senior. A league position of 12th was not good enough for Russell to keep his job. His replacement,
Paul Cox, led Mansfield to their highest Conference finish in his first season. A good run of form after Christmas saw the Stags finish in third in the league, although they lost 2–1 on aggregate to
York City after extra time in the promotion play-off semi-final. but a brave display from the Mansfield team gave the team momentum in the weeks to follow. Following the cup game the Stags won 20 of their last 24 games, including a club record run of 12 consecutive wins, to clinch the
Conference Premier title, and promotion back to the Football League. The title was sealed with a 1–0 victory over
Wrexham on 20 April 2013. Mansfield finished their first season back in the Football League in 11th place. In
2018–19, the Stags narrowly missed out on promotion on the final day of the season after a defeat to promotion rivals
MK Dons. They lost in the
play-off semi-finals to
Newport County on penalties. In
2021–22, Mansfield reached the play-offs again but lost 3–0 to
Port Vale in the
final. In the
2023–24 season, Mansfield were promoted to League One, finishing in 3rd place. ==Ownership==