Tamworth FC,

The Lamb Ground,

Kettlebrook Rd,

Tamworth

B77 1AA

Tamworth FC have enjoyed a strong few years. In 2022/23, they won the Southern League Premier Division Central on goal difference, and followed it up with another promotion in 2023/24 by securing the National League North title with two games to spare. Last season, they capped a solid return to the fifth tier with a respectable 10th-place finish, and an FA Cup run that saw them defeat league opposition in Huddersfield Town and Burton Albion before being comfortably dispatched by Tottenham Hotspur in the third round.

Though they remain a part-time side—unusual at this level—the Lambs are no strangers to the National League, having previously spent time in the fifth tier between 2003 and 2007, and again from 2009 to 2014.

The club, founded in 1933, has never reached Football League status. They’ve played at The Lamb Ground since 1934, named after a nearby pub that no longer exists. After starting out in Birmingham and West Midlands leagues, they entered the Southern League in 1972, but subsequently also spent some time in the Northern Premier League before successive relegations returned them to the West Midlands League. The Lambs were promoted back to the Midland Division of the Southern League in 1988, and during the ensuing decades the club have bounced about between the fifth and seventh tiers of English football.

Tamworth have had a handful of memorable FA Cup seasons, although last year’s, when Spurs visited the Lamb Ground (and emerged triumphant) is probably the most memorable.  The 2005/06 campaign was also noteworthy, with defeats of AFC Bournemouth and Hartlepool Utd setting up a third-round tie with Stoke City. It took a replay and penalties at the Lamb Ground before the then Championship team could defeat their non-league Staffordshire neighbours.  Tamworth reached the third round again in the following season, when Norwich City put them to the sword. In 2011/12, having played non-league teams in all of the prior rounds, Tamworth met Everton at Goodison Park in the third round, but would proceed no further.

Tamworth reached the FA Trophy final (hosted at Villa Park) in 2002/03, narrowly losing to Lancashire side Burscough. They won the FA Vase in 1988/89, defeating Sudbury Town 3-0  in a replay hosted at Peterborough Utd’s London Road ground, after the initial match at Wembley ended a 1-1 draw.

Mark Cooper—yes, that Mark Cooper—had his first managerial role at Tamworth, in charge from April 2004 to January 2007. He was dismissed during a difficult campaign, which ultimately ended in relegation. Possibly the club’s most high-profile signing was Paul Merson, who briefly joined in 2006 after being sacked as Walsall manager. However, he made just a single appearance in a Tamworth shirt.

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 – 3.15pm, Sainsbury’s Dudbridge – 3.30pm, Stonehouse Brunel Way – 3.45pm.  

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

To book a seat with the supporter’s club discount, please call 0333 123 1889  on Monday, Thursday, or Friday at 11am to 2pm.  Please try to book early.

By Road

The journey is just over 90 miles from Nailsworth and is likely to take just over 2 hours in reasonable traffic.  Tamworth is just a few miles off the M.42, not far to the north-east of Birmingham.  There is a fair-sized car park at the ground and street parking reasonably nearby.  The address and postcode for the ground is Kettlebrook, Tamworth, B77 1AA.

By train – while you can get to Tamworth quickly and easily (although not necessarily cheaply) from Gloucestershire by train, you won’t get back from an evening match without an overnight stay. A train leaving Gloucester at 5.49pm and Cheltenham Spa station at 5.59pm arrives at Tamworth at 7.05pm; the ground is about a 20-minute walk away. (The connecting train from Stroud leaves at 4.59pm).  A return off-peak fare (valid for one month, but not before 9.30am on weekdays) between Stroud and Tamworth costs around £60, but judicious use of split ticketing and/or advance purchase tickets can reduce this substantially, by as much as one-third.

Away supporters are hosted in a terrace at the East end of the ground. It is mostly open to the elements, but there is a small bit of roofing that might provide some shelter.

Prices for online purchases are as follows (including a £1.50 booking fee)

Adults: £20.50

Concessions (66+): £16.50

16/17-year olds*: £10.50

11-15 year olds*: £8.50

10 years old and under*: free (only available with an adult or concession ticket)

The Lambs’ most recent visit to the New Lawn in November 2025  was an entertaining and memorable game. The visitors went ahead in the first half, despite having been reduced to 10 men with a red card after only 5 minutes’ play. However, a Kyle McAllister penalty, a brace of goals from Temi Babalola, and a Nick Haughton effort and Rovers’ walked off victors with a final score of 4-2 after Tamworth scored a late consolation goal. That’s the way you do it…

Andy Peaks has been in charge of Tamworth since February 2022, seeing them through consecutive first-placed finishes in the Southern Premier League Central and Conference North, returning them to the fifth tier in 2023 after a nine-season absence. The Lambs are the second club Peaks has managed: he came to them after a nine-year spell in charge at AFC Rushden and Diamonds. A defender, as a player, the team he’d spent the longest period of time with was the original Rushden and Diamonds, spending six seasons with them following their establishment in 1992. He’d also played for numerous other teams, mostly in the broader East Midlands, including a short spell at Northampton Town.

Tolerably. Seemingly safely mid-table, but probably unlikely to trouble either the promotion-chasing places nor the relegation spots. While Tamworth have had little in the way of unexpected triumphs or humiliating defeats this season, their early season 2-1 victory over title-chasing Boreham Wood, and the Boxing Day 7-1 thrashing by Solihull Moors provide one of each. More recently, a 2-1 triumph over Carlisle  and a narrow 3-2 defeat by Rochdale show that the Lambs don’t lack for pluck or fight.

Defender Haydn Hollis, who joined Tamworth last year, played 20 matches in a Rovers kit in the second half of the 2017/18 season (the club’s first in League Two), scoring two goals during that time.

The current club badge has been in use since 1989, and includes numerous local historic references, including a Staffordshire knot and an image of a castle with crossed swords – representing Tamworth Castle and the title of King’s Champion given to numerous members of the local Anglo-Norman noble family, the Marmions.

Now a market town with a population of about 80,000, Tamworth’s greatest moments came when it was the leading city of the Kingdom of Mercia  – the largest kingdom in England towards the end of the first millennium AD. Æthelflæd made Tamworth her capital, and led a successful military campaign against the Danes, capturing Derby from them. She died in Tamworth in 918, and is commemorated in a statue just outside the railway station – the Union flag adorning it in the photo here is anachronistic, to say the least.

The initial structures that became Tamworth Castle were constructed by the Normans in the 11th century after their conquest of England . It subsequently became the home of the local lords of the manor, the Marmion family. Later on, in the 18th century a textile mill was set up in the castle.