Stone Old Alleynians vs Stafford Rangers
Wednesday 4 April • 7:45PM KO
Burton Albion FC, Pirelli Stadium Princess Way, DE13 0AR

TICKETS
Adults £10 • Concessions £5 • U16s FREE

Burton Albion have confirmed they will accept cash and card on the turnstiles only. No tickets are available to purchase in advance. Turnstiles ABC and DEF will be in operation in the South Stand at the Pirelli Stadium.

Gates will open at 6:15pm. Snack bars in South East and South West concourses will also be open from 6:15pm.

PROGRAMME
All of this season’s match programmes will be digital only, meaning there will be no wastage of printed paper at any of our finals. Spectators will be able to view, read and download a copy of each matchday programme from StaffordshireFA.com.

This means that, wherever you are in the world, you will be able to read the latest edition of the matchday programme right from your fingertips.

VIEW THE PROGRAMME

STONE OLD ALLEYNIANS
Stone Old Alleynians Football Club was founded in 1962 by Dave Bonnet, a teacher at and former pupil of Alleynes Grammar School, Stone. The Club received a donation from the Old Alleynians Society to purchase shirts and pay League Fees etc.

They entered the Stafford Amateur League [later to become the Mid Staffs League] Division IV and due to the terrible winter of 1963 league fixtures were not completed and there was no promotion or relegation.

In 1964 they were runners up and promoted. They also reached the final of the Staffs FA Presidents Cup, losing to Division I Champions Kingston YC at Stafford Rangers.

The following season they came third in Division III and were promoted to Division II.

Season 1965-66 saw the Club win its first silverware by becoming champions of Division II. Honours became harder in Division I and the only other notable success was defeating local rivals Stone St Michaels in the Final of the Stone Charity Cup in 1969.

The 1970’s were the golden years starting in season 1971-72. That season they became Division I Champions by 2 points, winning their last 6 games. Between 1972 and 1979, Stone Old Alleynians were Division I Champions 3 times and Borough [Div I] Cup winners once and runners up twice. They also won the Stafford Pageant Cup twice and were runners up twice. Another success was the Stone Charity Cup, winning it 3 times and beaten finalists once.

The Old Alleynians joined the North Staffs Alliance League in 1980 with a second team entering the Mid Staffs League Division II, of which they became champions. In season 1981-82 third place was achieved in the North Staffs Alliance League and beaten finalists in the League Cup. The Uttoxeter Cup was also a good venture, being runners up in seasons 1981-82 and 1983-84. The second team also won the Mid Staffs Div II Cup and were runners up in the Pageant Cup in season 1983-84.

Having been relegated to Division I in the Staffs Alliance when the league was split into 2 divisions, a Premier and Div I, they came back in 1988, by being Division I runners up.

Seasons 1992 to 1995 saw the Old Boys with teams in the Staffs County League and the Staffs Alliance, the club having to change the second team name to Alleynians FC due to Alliance League rules.

With the demise of the Alliance League, the first team were in the Staffs County and the second in the Leycetts Leagues between 1995 and 1999. The second team was then dropped with the firsts continuing in the Staffs County, the only success being beaten finalists in the Bourne Sports Trophy in 2005.

The club entered Division II of the West Midland League, with a second team in Division II of the County League in 2007.

The First Team reached the final of the Staffs FA Challenge Cup but were beaten by Kidsgrove Athletic at the end of the 2009/10 season. They were promoted to the West Midland League Division 1 the same season.

In the season 2014/15 the first team were runners up in WMRL Div 1 and promoted to the Premier Division. They also had success in the JW Hunt Cup where they lost the final, at Molyneux, after leading for over an hour to Tividale [who were 3 levels above them in the pyramid] after extra time and defeated a couple of higher level teams to reach the semi-final of the Staffs FA Vase losing to WMRL Premier Div champions Sporting Khalsa, by the only goal.

The FA moved them sideways in 2018 from the WMRL to the NWCL South and they finished the first season in 3rd place. The following season due to coronavirus the club was denied probable promotion to the Premier Division when the leagues were 
cancelled early.

With the pandemic still causing major disruption to grassroots football, the 2020-21 season saw the club manage to play about 6 league games along with an FA Cup game and a mini-run in the FA Vase.

However, there was a major reorganisation of football’s National League Pyramid taking place. In view of the Old Boys’ combined league performance over these two disrupted seasons we were rewarded with promotion from Step 6 to Step 5 football which resulted in the club being placed in the Midland Premier League for the 2021-22 season.

The start of the 2021-22 season saw Alleynians make progress in the FA Cup for the first time ever when they won 4-0 at Racing Club Warwick in the Extra Preliminary Round.

This is Stone Old Alleynians first Staffordshire Senior Cup final appearance.

STAFFORD RANGERS
Rangers struggled in the newly formed Alliance Premier League and were relegated to the NPL in 1983. In 1985, Manager Ron Reid led the club to a record 20 games unbeaten and the NPL title and followed this with the Bob Lord Trophy the following season.

Rangers went on to record their best ever Conference finish (6th) in 1988 but life was largely a fight against relegation. This, despite the likes of future internationals Stan Collymore (England) and Paul Devlin (Scotland) making their names at Rangers.

Dennis Booth matched the 6th place finish in1993 and also took the club to the 2nd Round of the FA Cup with victory over Lincoln City before leaving for Bristol Rovers.

Rangers suffered a second consecutive relegation after picking up just two points from their opening 19 games in the Southern Premier League.

Rangers bounced back in 1999/2000 as Ian Painter led the club to the Dr Marten’s League  Western Division title, setting a new club record with a 23 game unbeaten run in the process. 2001/2 saw another club record broken as Rangers beat Kidsgrove Athletic 15-0 in the Staffs Senior Cup 

After topping the table for much of the 2005/06 season, Rangers eventually finished runners up  but won promotion back to the non league top flight after a play-off victory over Droylsden. Rangers’ stay In the Conference Premier lasted just two seasons before they were relegated back to Conference North, but the cost of those two years lingered and once more the future of the club was in doubt.

Neil Kitching took the managerial reins for the start of the 2014/15 season following his move from Rushall Olympic and major changes were also made at Boardroom level. However the season started badly with the untimely death of Secretary and Director Mike Hughes who had guided the club through difficult times. Rangers narrowly missed out on the play-offs on goal difference but did win the Staffordshire Senior Cup beating Leek Town in the final at Vale Park and on a positive note gates were up by 25%.

In 2015/16, Neil Kitching and his management staff Nick Amos and Martin Prentice led the ‘Boro to the Evo-Stik First Division South title, which went right to the wire with a draw away to Coalville Town. Gates were again up and the club had turned the corner both on and off the field of play.

In 2016/17, Rangers consolidated their position in the Evo-Stik Norther Premier League finishing a creditable 13th The season was marred by passing of the club’s patron Roly Tonge, who for many years had been instrumental in keeping the club afloat. A mention here also of the demise of President Leon Douglas and Director Cliff Went during past 18 months. These gentlemen were for many years the backbone of Stafford Rangers Football Club.

Rangers fared a little better in 2017/18 finishing just one place above that of the previous season. A win against local rivals Hednesford Town in the Staffs Senior Cup final brought the season to an end.  Off the field the excellent work continued both in the Social Club and in the stadium.

The start of the 2018/19 brought about another managerial change as long time Rangers favourite Steve Burr moved into the hot seat. The FA’s re-structuring of the non-league pyramid also brought many changes in the playing squad. Rangers struggled however in the lower end of the table and at  the start of 2019, Burr resigned and was replaced by his two assistants Alex Meechan and Andy Fearn as joint managers. The pair worked wonders and the team moved away from the relegation positions.

In October 2018 Rangers were saddened by the passing of their President and former Chairman Jon Downing. Jon had suffered for two years from motor neurone disease. Jon had been an inspirational figure at the club for many years.

Meechan and Fearn were retained as joint Managers for the 2019-20 season and built what was on paper a strong squad. However as the season progressed an unprecedented succession of injuries hampered Rangers progress. In March 2020 football was halted by the Corona Virus Pandemic. At this time Rangers were at the foot of the table and looked odds on for relegation. However, the Northern Premier League, with a resumption looking very unlikely, decided to make the league null and void with no promotions or relegation. A decision which certainly came to Rangers rescue. The Managerial duo of Meechan and Fearn were relieved of their duties 

The following season 2020-2021 the league season was again declared null and void with Rangers again at the foot of the table. New Manager Jody Banim’s reign was short lived and he left the club. Former assistant Manager Andy Fearn joined the Board of Directors in a new role of Director of Football.

This season, 2021/22, former player, Matty Hill, took over as Manager with Dale Belford as his assistant.

The duo have built a side which has had a very successful season finishing in 8th place in the Northern Premier League and reaching the Staffs FA Senior Cup Final. Rangers have held this Trophy since 2017/18. 

Rangers will be looking to win the competition for the 14th time.