NEW MILTON TOWN - HISTORY
The club was established in 1998 under the name Lymington & New Milton as a merger of AFC Lymington from the Wessex League and New Milton Town from Division Two of the Hampshire League, with the new club playing at New Milton Town's Fawcetts Field ground.
The amalgamation of the two clubs also led to the formation of Lymington Town, who entered Division Three of the Hampshire League, and a new, New Milton club based in Milford-on-Sea, who joined Division Two for a single season before folding. In their first season, Lymington & New Milton retained the Wessex League title won by AFC Lymington in 1997–98.
However, they were unable to take promotion as their ground failed to meet the requirements. They were runners-up in the league in each of the next two seasons, making another failed application for promotion in 1999–2000.[2]
In 2003–04 Lymington & New Milton were Wessex League champions, earning promotion to Division One of the Isthmian League. However, after a single season in the Isthmian League, they were transferred to Division One South & West of the Southern League.
Despite finishing above the relegation zone in 2006–07, the club resigned from the league at the end of the season after most of the club's officials resigned. Dropping back into the Premier Division of the Wessex League, the club were renamed New Milton Town. In 2012–13 they finished bottom of the Premier Division and were relegated to Division One after rescinding their resignation from the league when a proposed merger with Bashley fell through.
In recent years there have been numerous managers to take the hot seat, but no one making a real improvement on or off the pitch.
Lou Fern took over as Chairman at the beginning of the 2018/19 season and set out to get the club running in a more professional manner. Whilst things improved off the pitch the results did not improve on. With the 2019/20 season curtailed early because of the Covid Pandemic, Lou set out to get the right man into the hot seat. Enter Paul Turner from Poole Town FC who has brought with him a whole new management team and playing squad.
With a whole new management team and playing squad in the 2020/21 season the club endured a stop-start season with the rest of the country due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The season subsequently came to a close at the halfway stage.
However, in the same season, the club had their best run in the FA Vase by reaching the third round, eventually being eliminated by Clevedon Town in the division above.
With normal service resumed for the 2021/22 season, the Linnets had a cracking season with a 9th place finish in the league and making it further in the FA Vase by reaching the 4th round before losing 2-0 to Brockenhurst from the division above. The game also saw the club’s highest attendance with 952.
The 2022/23 season brought DMW Glazing into the Linnet’s family as stadium sponsor. The season saw the club have another strong campaign, narrowly missing out on promotion, finishing 3rd in the league before losing the Playoff Final 4-2 on penalties at home to Petersfield.
In the 2023/24 season the club saw significant challenges. Paul Turner and his management team resigned, leaving the club struggling to find a suitable replacement and managing only 3 points from the first 20 league games.
This led to a mid-season change in management, as well as John Breaker being drafted in as emergency chairman following Lou Fern’s departure.
The second half of the season ended in stark contrast to the previous one, with New Milton Town finishing third from bottom after amassing a brilliant 30 points from their remaining games. It meant that the club narrowly avoided relegation to the county leagues.
Looking ahead, New Milton Town anticipates a fresh start for the 2024/25 season under new Chairman Dan Wills, from DMW Glazing, and a new management team led by Matt Maybury.
Significant improvements are being made behind the scenes and the future at the club looks bright.
