Southall

Southall FC was founded in 1871, making it one of England's oldest football clubs, and two seasons later they entered the FA Cup.

After playing friendlies and cup competitions they joined the West London League as founder members in 1892, but only stayed for a single season. Four seasons later the club joined Division Two of the Southern Football League in 1896.

The 1904–05 season saw the club attempt to go professional, but this left them with massive debts and they dropped out of the league at the end of the season, and also stopped playing in competitions the following season. Returning to amateur status, Southall merged with another club, Southall Athletic, and moved to a new ground at Western Road. In 1907 the club entered the Great Western Suburban League, where they remained until the First World War.

After the First World War, Southall joined the Athenian League for the 1919–20 season. They stayed in The Athenian League until 1972–73, during which time they won the league once in 1926–27, two seasons after reaching the FA Amateur Cup final. Southall reached the FA Cup third round in 1935-36, beating Swindon 3–1 in the first round and Newport (IOW) 8–0 in the second round, before losing to Watford.

Southall became founding members of the Isthmian League Second Division for the start of the 1973-74 campaign. They finished as runners up in their second season in the Isthmian League and gained promotion to the league's top division. The club then changed its name to Southall & Ealing Borough.

They spent three seasons in the top division before suffering two relegations in a row and finishing in the bottom division of the Isthmian league, after which the club changed its name back to Southall. The club stayed in the bottom division until the end of the 1984–85 season.

They reached another FA final in 1986 when they lost to Halesowen Town in the FA Vase final at Wembley Stadium. When the league reorganised for the 1991–92 season the club was moved up to the new Division Two. They played for two seasons in the higher division before being relegated back to the bottom division of the league.

In 1992, the club lost the use of its Western Road ground and was forced to start ground sharing with other clubs. They remained in the lowest division of the Isthmian League until the end of the 1999–2000 season when, after finishing bottom of the table, they were relegated to the Combined Counties Football League.

Southall remained in the Combined Counties League until March 2006, when they were expelled and their records for the 2005–06 campaign expunged due to financial irregularities. However, the club was able to clear its debts and continued to operate, restarting two levels lower in the Middlesex County Football League Premier Division, from the 2006–07 season. After the division was cut from 15 to 11 teams, Southall were put in Division One Central and East. They finished runners up and immediately jumped back up to the Premier Division.

The 2011–12 season saw manager Steve Embleton guide the club to a third-place finish, securing promotion to the Spartan South Midlands Football League Division One.

With new manager Paul Palmer in charge for 2016–17, Southall reached the quarter-finals of the FA Vase, then the 2017–18 season saw the club crowned Division One champions, Southall's first league title for 91 years. They finished the season with 94 points, with 116 goals scored and a +80 goal difference. The team also broke the club record for most wins at the start of a season (7).

For 2018–19, the club were members of the Combined Counties League Premier Division and, under the management of Max Howell, finished fourth.

The 2019-20 Combined Counties League Premier Division season was abandoned as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic led to further disruption the following season, with Southall's 2020-21 campaign starting in September, before being suspended in December with Southall in fifth place in the table.

The club celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2021 and gained promotion to Step 4 by finishing runners-up in the Combined Counties Premier Division North. From 2022 the club play in the Isthmian League South-Central Division and reached the playoffs in 2024.