Early years Football emerged in Shepshed in the late 19th century and records exist of a violent encounter between the Albion club and
Loughborough Corinthians in 1899, but it was not until 1907 that the club joined the
Leicestershire Senior League (LSL). Albion had almost immediate success, winning the League in 1911 and again in 1921. They remained in the Leicestershire Senior League for the next 60 years, being promoted and relegated between its two divisions numerous times.
1975–1992: The Charterhouse years Having been taken over and given significant financial backing by Maurice Clayton, the founder and managing director of Charterhouse Holdings plc, the club became
Shepshed Charterhouse in the summer of 1975. The club won the LSL Second Division in 1977–78 following that immediately with three successive LSL First Division titles in 1978–79, 1979–80 and 1980–81, and were admitted to the
Midland League for the first time in 1981. Charterhouse won the Midland League title at the first attempt and when this league merged with the
Yorkshire League to form the
Northern Counties East League (NCEL) in 1982, they were placed in the NCEL Premier Division. They won their sixth successive league title to earn promotion to the
Southern Football League Midland Division for the 1983–84 season. This season also gleaned success in cup competitions, with Charterhouse winning the NCEL Cup as well as successfully negotiating the
qualifying rounds of the FA Cup to reach the
first round proper, where they lost 5–1 to
Preston North End at
Deepdale on the 20 November 1982. A fourth successive promotion was secured with a second-place finish in the Southern League Midland Division in 1983–84. It is often erroneously stated that Charterhouse gained seven successive promotions during this period, due perhaps to the club achieving six successive first-place finishes, followed by a second place. However, the
non-league pyramid was not as formalised at the time as it has subsequently become, and the club won the LSL Premier Division three seasons running. Playing in the Southern League Premier Division for the first time, the club were able to secure four safe mid-table finishes, finishing as high as seventh in 1985–86. However, they struggled to replicate that form after being transferred to the
Northern Premier League Premier Division in 1988, despite appointing arguably their most famous manager, former
Nottingham Forest player
Martin O'Neill, in July 1989. O'Neill would only be at the club for a few months before going on to forge a highly successful managerial career with
Leicester City and
Celtic amongst others. Charterhouse however would find no such success, finishing bottom of the league in 1990–91 and 1991–92 resulting in relegation to the NPL Division One.
Decline and reformation Following relegation, the club changed their name back to
Shepshed Albion in 1992, but a year later they were relegated again, to the
Midland Football Combination. Despite their single season in the Combination being relatively successful, finishing fourth in the 22 team league, off-field problems saw the future of the club in doubt. With help from local side
Loughborough Dynamo the club were able to restructure and chose to signal a new era by adopting the name
Shepshed Dynamo. The club were placed in the
Midland Football Alliance for the 1994–95 season and performed strongly; finishing the season in fourth.
Brief resurgence The 1995–96 season started with an impressive 23 game unbeaten start. The club went on to win the league by eight points and were promoted to the
Southern League Division One Midland for the 1996–97 season. Promotion brought its own difficulties and Shepshed were forced to seek financial help from
Charnwood Borough Council to complete the necessary improvements to the club's facilities to allow them to take their place in the Southern League. Their first season back in the Southern League resulted in a safe mid-table position, but it was in the
FA Cup that they caused their fans the most excitement. Having seen off
Stratford Town,
Sandwell Borough,
Solihull Borough,
Knypersley Victoria and
Bromsgrove Rovers, the club visited
Carlisle United in the First Round Proper eventually going down 6–0 to the
Football League side.
Back in decline A re-organisation of the Southern League for the start of the
1999–2000 season saw Shepshed moved to Division One West. A poor season spent fighting relegation resulted in a final position of 18th. Shepshed finished bottom of the
Southern League Division One West in 2003–04. However, due to the expansion of the
English Football Conference to three divisions, and the subsequent reorganisation of the
National League System Shepshed avoided demotion to a regional division and found themselves placed in the
Northern Premier League Division One for the 2004–05 season, now at
step eight of the pyramid. Further reorganisation of the lower leagues in 2007 left the club in the new
Northern Premier League Division One South. The 2010–11 season finished with Shepshed in the relegation places. However, they were reprieved from relegation to the
Midland Football Alliance at the end of the
2010–11 season due to
Rushden and Diamonds being expelled from the
Football Conference. The previous season's reprieve from relegation did not last long, with the club finishing bottom of the
Northern Premier League Division One South in 2012 and therefore being relegated to the
United Counties League at step nine of the
English football league system, the lowest level of football Shepshed has played at since the
non-league system was first formalised in 1979. Following one season in the United Counties, the club was moved into the
Midland Football Alliance. In 2014, the
Midland Football Alliance and the
Midland Football Combination merged to form the new
Midland Football League and Shepshed were placed in the Premier Division of the new league. ==League history==