List of Mansfield Town F.C. seasons
Mansfield Town Football Club is an English association football club based in the Nottinghamshire town of Mansfield. Founded in 1897 as Mansfield Wesleyans, the team first entered the Mansfield & District Amateur League in 1902. Four years later, the club turned professional, tweaked its name to Mansfield Wesley, and joined the Notts & District League. The team made their debut in the FA Cup in 1909–10, and joined the Central Alliance in 1911, by which time the club had adopted its current name of Mansfield Town. In the first post-First World War season, they moved to the Field Mill ground and won the Central Alliance title, and in 1921, they were accepted into the Midland League. Three years later, they won the Midland League title, repeated the feat the following year, and were runners-up the next. Applications for election to the Football League were unsuccessful, but in the hope of a better class of football, they had one season in the Midland Combination, primarily a reserve league for Football League clubs, before returning to the Midland League. In 1928–29, Mansfield won the Midland League title by a nine-point margin and beat two Football League clubs on the way to their first appearance in the fourth round of the FA Cup, in which they lost 2–0 to Arsenal at Highbury.
History of Mansfield Town F.C.
Mansfield's performances picked up, with finishes of 3rd, 5th and 3rd again in the following seasons. In preparation for the 1906–07 season, the league dropped the 'Amateur' tag from its name. The Church refused to have anything to do with this new-found professionalism, abandoning the club. The club replied by changing its name to Mansfield Wesley, and operated from then on as a professional club. Mansfield took advantage of this new-found freedom from the church by moving up into the Notts and District League, where they finished i a respectable 6th position in their first season. The final of the Mansfield Hospitals Charity Cup was also reached, however local rivals "Mansfield Mechanics" won 4-1. After a similar season the following year, the club showed signs of progression in 1908–09. Local lad Jack Needham was the star, picking up 46 goals in 35 games - earning himself a move to Birmingham FC - as Wesley finished 4th in the table.