Shepshed Dynamo F.C.

Shepshed Dynamo Football Club is an English football club based in the small town of Shepshed in the north west of Leicestershire, England. Founded as Shepshed Albion towards the end of the 19th century, the team played for the majority of their early history in the Leicestershire Senior League before a series of league wins and promotions the late 1970s and early 1980s, when they were known as Shepshed Charterhouse, took them within two promotions of The Football League. The club encountered financial difficulties in 1994 and reformed under the new name in recognition of the help provided by local side Loughborough Dynamo. They currently play in the Northern Premier League Division One Midlands.

Football emerged in Shepshed in the late 19th century and records exist of a violent encounter between the Albion club and Loughborough Corinthians in 1899, but it was not until 1907 that the club joined the Leicestershire Senior League (LSL). Albion had almost immediate success, winning the League in 1911 and again in 1921. They remained in the Leicestershire Senior League for the next 60 years, being promoted and relegated between its two divisions numerous times.

Having been taken over and given significant financial backing by Maurice Clayton, the founder and managing director of Charterhouse Holdings plc, the club became Shepshed Charterhouse in the summer of 1975. The club won the LSL Second Division in 1977–78 following that immediately with three successive LSL First Division titles in 1978–79, 1979–80 and 1980–81, and were admitted to the Midland League for the first time in 1981.

Charterhouse won the Midland League title at the first attempt and when this league merged with the Yorkshire League to form the Northern Counties East League (NCEL) in 1982, they were placed in the NCEL Premier Division. They won their sixth successive league title to earn promotion to the Southern Football League Midland Division for the 1983–84 season. This season also gleaned success in cup competitions, with Charterhouse winning the NCEL Cup as well as successfully negotiating the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup to reach the first round proper, where they lost 5–1 to Preston North End at Deepdale on the 20 November 1982.^{[citation needed]}

A fourth successive promotion was secured with a second-place finish in the Southern League Midland Division in 1983–84. It is often erroneously stated that Charterhouse gained seven successive promotions during this period, due perhaps to the club achieving six successive first-place finishes, followed by a second place. However, the non-league pyramid was not as formalised at the time as it has subsequently become, and the club won the LSL Premier Division three seasons running.

Playing in the Southern League Premier Division for the first time, the club were able to secure four safe mid-table finishes, finishing as high as seventh in 1985–86. However, they struggled to replicate that form after being transferred to the Northern Premier League Premier Division in 1988, despite appointing arguably their most famous manager, former Nottingham Forest player Martin O'Neill, in July 1989. O'Neill would only be at the club for a few months before going on to forge a highly successful managerial career with Leicester City and Celtic amongst others. Charterhouse however would find no such success, finishing bottom of the league in 1990–91 and 1991–92 resulting in relegation to the NPL Division One.

Following relegation, the club changed their name back to Shepshed Albion in 1992, but a year later they were relegated again, to the Midland Football Combination. Despite their single season in the Combination being relatively successful, finishing fourth in the 22 team league, off-field problems saw the future of the club in doubt. With help from local side Loughborough Dynamo the club were able to restructure and chose to signal a new era by adopting the name Shepshed Dynamo. The club were placed in the Midland Football Alliance for the 1994–95 season and performed strongly; finishing the season in fourth.

The 1995–96 season started with an impressive 23 game unbeaten start. The club went on to win the league by eight points and were promoted to the Southern League Division One Midland for the 1996–97 season. Promotion brought its own difficulties and Shepshed were forced to seek financial help from Charnwood Borough Council to complete the necessary improvements to the club's facilities to allow them to take their place in the Southern League.