Brackley Town FC,
St James Park,
Churchill Way,
Brackley
NN13 7EJ

That 1993/94 United Counties League Premier Division end-of-season in full: a reminder of how far the Saints have come since then

Brackley is in south Northamptonshire, on the very edge of the county, between Banbury (Oxfordshire) and Buckingham and Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire). It’s a road journey of about 65 miles from Nailsworth, with a journey time of around 1 hour 30 minutes. This makes Brackley Town Rovers’ nearest neighbours in the National League, placing them marginally ahead of Solihull Moors and Yeovil Town!

By Supporters Club Coach – this is by far the cheapest and easiest way to travel. For information about Away Travel, including precise details of pick-up locations – look here. For this match, the departure times are The New Lawn – 11.15 am, Sainsbury’s Dudbridge – 11.30am, Stonehouse Brunel Way – 11.45am

The prices for coach tickets to this match are as follows (Supporters’ Club members get a £3 discount): Adults £29, U-16 £17, U-11 £8

Book your coach ticket with your match ticket from FGR (a discount for FGR Supporters Club members), but note that you need to call FGR Reception to get the coach discount (phone 0333 123 1889 on Monday 22nd December 11am to 12 noon).

By Car –

For those coming by car from the west, you’ll need to leave the M40 at junction 11 and follow the A422 (signposted for Brackley). After approximately eight miles go straight over the first small roundabout and follow the signs for the A43. About a mile further on the road passes a Tesco store on the left and almost immediately take the first exit at the roundabout signposted Brackley (South). After approximately 100 metres, take the 2nd exit at the mini roundabout (Tesco store on the left, Mercedes / Petronas Formula One Racing on the right), and follow the road towards the town. The New Locomotive public house is almost immediately on the left hand side and Churchill Way is the next turning on the right as you go up the hill. (Signposted Football Club). Turn into Churchill Way and follow this road which leads directly into the Club car park.

The car park at St James Park is limited and spaces cost £3.50 per car.
Please note that car park spaces cannot be reserved and are on a first-come-first-served basis.

DISABLED SUPPORTERS:
There are a limited number of Blue Badge spaces at St James Park.
If you would like to reserve a space, please email mike@brackleytownfc.co.uk with your car registration, at least 24 hours in advance.

By train – In short: forget it. While Brackley is usually reachable by a mix of train (to Banbury or either of the stations in Bicester) and bus, Boxing Day brings extremely limited public transport—and none at all in Brackley itself.

Brackley Town play at St James’ Park. It has been their home since 1974, and currently has a capacity of 4,046 spectators. A new clubhouse, known as The Venue, to replace its predecessor that had been destroyed by fire, was opened by Sir Geoff Hurst in 2021. While modest, St James’ Park is a smart and well-maintained ground

Ticket prices for the 2025/26 season are as follows, with the discount price available for advance online listed in brackets:

• Adults – £20 (£18)
• Concessions – £15 (£13)
• U18 – £10 (£8)
• U14 – £5 (£3)
• U5 – free

If segregation is in force, away fans are usually offered the north terrace (which includes a couple of covered areas), behind one of the goals, as well part of the east stand, where there is a small covered seated stand.

Tickets can be purchased here.

There is one familiar face to Rovers fans at St James Park, goalkeeper Jonny Maxted. He played for FGR during 2015/16, making 20 appearances. After spells at several clubs, including Guiseley, Accrington Stanley and Exeter City, in 2024 Maxted signed for Brackley.

Maxted in his time at nearby Northampton Town

As far as I have been able to ascertain, this will be the first ever competitive clash between the Rovers and the Saints. (Just as well that Green Devils nickname never really caught on, then?) In the late 1990s both teams were close to being in the same divisions on a couple of occasions, but never quite were. Online sources refer to a friendly game, played at St James Park, just before the start of the 2013/14 season, which ended up in a 1-1 draw.

The Saints must be delighted—if not outright relieved—to have finally secured promotion to the National League. They sealed the deal in emphatic style, with a 5–0 demolition of relegated Farsley Celtic on the final day of the 2024/25 season, edging ahead of Scunthorpe Utd and Kidderminster Harriers.

The relief comes not just from going up, but from avoiding the dreaded play-offs. Since their promotion to the Conference North in 2012, Brackley have become perennial nearly-men—almost always in the mix, but repeatedly falling short. They reached the play-offs on no less than seven occasions, and narrowly missed them on one other, but never made it through. Two seasons (2014/15 and 2015/16) were spent battling relegation, and even the COVID-hit campaign of 2020/21 had them in the play-off places at the time when the season was abandoned.

All told, it’s been a decade of drama for this small market town—anything but boring.

Hopefully this decade-long history of coming close to reaching the fifth tier has been accompanied by the necessary preparations to enable the Saints to thrive at this level.

The club strengthened over the summer with several new arrivals: goalkeeper Cameron Gregory (Boston United); defenders Michael Nottingham (Livingston), Ryan Haynes (Cheltenham Town), and Kyle Morrison (Kidderminster Harriers); midfielders Jack Price (Shrewsbury Town) and Zak Brown (Kidderminster Harriers); and forward Danny Waldron (Southend United).

However, all that said, and despite having been knocking on the doors of the National League for the best part of a decade, the Saints have struggled a bit in their first season in the fifth tier so far. Of 21 games to date, Brackley Town have won five, drawn five, and lost 11, although their goal difference, of -12 is not terrible. As things stand, they are hovering just above the relegation zone, but could easily fall into it. The early part of the season went pretty well for them – with August seeing a 2-1 defeat of high-flying Rochdale and a draw with Scunthorpe. FA Cup defeats of Woking (6-2 in a replay) and Notts County (on penalties) have been highlights of the Saints’ season so far, while a home league match against York City, which ended in a 3-2 defeat, was hard-fought and memorable. A defeat of Boreham Wood in the FA Trophy, again on penalties, is another triumph – but the league performances recently have mostly been little to write home about.

Gavin Cowan joined the Saints at the end of the 2023/24 season, following their 2-1 defeat by Boston Town in the National League North promotion final. With a clear mandate to get the club promoted, Cowan delivered the goods at the end of his first season in charge, bringing Brackley to the fifth tier for the first time in their history. Cowan’s only previous managerial experience was at AFC Telford Utd – also the team he made most appearances for as a player, although he also spent time as a professional playing for Shrewsbury Town.

Cowen has his own podcast alongside two former Salop teammates , entitled In The Stiffs. Although less frequently updated than it once was, it’s still live, and can be found here.

The club crest is based upon that of Brackley Town Council, comprising the arms of two local families of importance, the Egertons (represented by the lions), and the Stanleys, Earls of Derby (represented by the bucks’ heads)

Brackley Town Hall

Brackley is a historic market town in south Northamptonshire, just a few miles from the Oxfordshire border. Though modest in size, it boasts a rich and fascinating heritage stretching back to Saxon times. Once a key centre on the wool and lace trade routes, Brackley’s prosperity grew during the medieval period after it was granted a charter in 1260, although much of the town was destroyed by fire in 1649.

One of the town’s most prominent landmarks is Brackley Town Hall, a striking 18th-century building at the top of the High Street, recently restored and now housing a café, visitor centre, and event space. Nearby, St Peter’s Church has elements dating back to the 11th century, including a Norman doorway, although it was extensively restored in the 19th century.

In the early 13th century, Brackley was a venue for negotiations between King John and the barons that would lead to the sealing of Magna Carta – and was the initial intended site at which the document was to be signed. Brackley was also one of several towns in what is now Northamptonshire in which the sick sought healing – there were as many as three holy wells nearby, with the local water being rich in iron, although not much remains of them today. More recently, the area become associated with high-tech engineering and motorsport – just a stone’s throw from Silverstone, the home of British Grand Prix racing. In fact, the town is the base for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, bringing a touch of global prestige to this quiet corner of England.

St Peter’s Church, Brackley