The journey to Aldershot is about 87 miles.  This is a road journey of around 2 hours via Swindon & Reading.

By Supporters Club Coach.  For full details of Away Travel including pick up times: – look at FGR Away Travel – Forest Green Rovers Supporters Club (fgrsc.com)  For further information, including pickup point locations see Away travel arrangements 24/25 – Forest Green Rovers Supporters Club (fgrsc.com)

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 Monday to Friday, between 9am and 3pm).  Please try to book early.

By Car – The Recreation Ground (also known as the EBB Stadium or ‘The Rec’) The EBB Stadium is close to Aldershot town centre at High Street, Aldershot, Hampshire – postcode for satnavs GU11 1TW.  The club say ‘parking is available in the town centre multi-storey car park on Wellington Avenue, which is a five-minute walk from the EBB Stadium’.

By Train – It is possible to take the train from Stroud to Aldershot and to return the same day.  Return fares seem to range from about £40-50 for an adult but there are bus replacement services for the last part of the journey and you will likely have 3 changes to negotiate.  The journey time is about 2 hours 30 minutes.  The station is only a 5 minute walk to the ground.

The EBB Stadium is also known as The Recreation Ground, or simply The Rec.  The ground has been Aldershot’s home since 1926.  The capacity is 7,100, including about 2,000 seats.  Average attendance last season was 2,684.

Away fans are housed in the South East corner of the ground alongside a touchline.  This includes 212 covered seated places and a portion of open terrace extending around to the East Bank Terrace.  Despite the club having done significant work to improve facilities for away supporters, they apparently remain pretty basic. Refreshments are provided via a mobile catering unit, selling the usual fayre of Cheeseburgers, Jumbo Hot Dogs and Chips.

Disabled Supporters – Disabled Tickets can be purchased for £17 (£19 on the day) and include a carer FREE of charge in both Terrace & Seating.  Proof of eligibility for a disabled ticket is needed.  Wheelchair Users: £17 (£19 on the day), carer admitted free – tickets must be purchased in advance by telephoning the club on 01252 320211.

Admission prices

Advance prices are on the left – the increased prices on the right apply to tickets purchased on the day.  Remember that, this year, you buy your tickets through the home club – visit https://www.theshots.co.uk/

The away end at the EBB Stadium.

It’s the first game of the season and there have been many player moves, so it’s hard to know what FGR will face.

Last season Aldershot finished 8th in the league, missing the play-offs by one place and 2 points.  Just one victory in their final 8 games turned promise into disappointment.  There was some brief hope of sneaking in to the play-offs when Gateshead were removed from play-off contention (after they failed to meet EFFL entry requirements).  But the brief hope came to nothing when the play-offs were reduced from 6 teams to 5.

Manager Tommy Widdrington has been in place since April 2023.  Last season The Shots were free-scoring (74 goals in their 46 games).  But they had one of the leakiest defences in the league, conceding 83 goals.  They were much stronger at home than they were on the road – 43 of their 69 points were at home.

The Shots have been pretty busy in the transfer market so far.  11 players have left the club while 9 have come in.  These incomers are –

Haydon Vaughan (from Bracknell Town)
Pat Nash (Farnham Town)
Emmanuel Maja (Banbury United)
Marcus Dewhurst (Wealdstone)
Luke Jenkins (Chelmsford City)
Cameron Hargreaves (King’s Lynn Town)
Ryan Jones (Bristol Rovers)
Kai Corbett (Peterborough United)

Lachlan Byrd (Welling United)

FGR have had 16 departures and 6 arrivals.

Last season’s FA Cup run was great for Aldershot.  They beat Swindon 7-4 at home (after being ahead 7-0) in the 1st round.  They then defeated Stockport away 1-0 (in a replay) before succumbing to West Bromwich Albion in the 3rd round.

Shot’s manager Tommy Widdrington.

Aldershot’s slightly scary mascot, The Phoenix.

The history of Aldershot Town is actually quite recent with the club only being formed in 1992 (new by most football club standards) out of the ashes of Aldershot FC which folded earlier the same year.

On March 25, 1992, Aldershot FC became the first Football League club to go out of business during a season since Accrington Stanley 30 years before. Its record expunged, a phoenix club was formed taking the name Aldershot Town, reviving the suffix that had been dropped in 1932. The new club was placed five divisions lower in Isthmian League Division Three.

After successive promotions, 16 years later in 2008, the club finally returned to the football league.  In 2013 they were relegated back to the National League where they have been ever since.  Aldershot featured unsuccessfully in the National League play-offs in 2017 & 2018.  However, in subsequent seasons they bumped around the lower reaches of the league.  Last season’s 8th place finish was their best in 6 seasons.

Aldershot is in the top right-hand corner of Hampshire.  It has a population of 37,000 but, together with Farnborough and Camberley, is part of a much bigger urban area.

It may have been alder trees that contributed to the town’s name but it was becoming the home to the British Army that propelled it from a village into a Victorian town.  In 2014 it was the largest army camp in the country with 20% of the British Army based there.  Nowadays, Aldershot Military Town is a garrison town located between Aldershot and North Camp (near Farnborough).

Martin Freeman (The Office, Sherlock, The Hobbit) is one of Aldershot’s most famous sons.