Leyton Hotspur FC

Leyton Hotspur FC
Club Name	Leyton Hotspur FC
Founded	28 June 2006
Ground	Brisbane Lane Stadium
Capacity	70,000
Chairman	Vic Mackey
Manager	Mark James
League	Premiership
Kits
Sponsor

Leyton Hotspur Football Club, is an English professional football club based in North East London which currently plays in the Premier League. The club's home stadium is Brisbane Lane.

History

On 28th June 2006 in season 3 Leyton Hotspur Football Club was formed by local police officers from the Metropolitan Police Service based in East London and Essex.  

At first Leyton played in navy blue and red shirts. The club colours then varied from light blue and white halved jerseys, to red shirts and blue shorts, through chocolate brown and gold and then finally, in season 6 and onwards, they kept to their traditional white shirts and either navy blue or white shorts as a tribute to the late Danny Blanchflower.

In season 3 Leyton moved their home fixtures from the Hackney Marshes to Brisbane Lane where the club was able to charge for spectator admission.  They turned professional just before the commencement of season 3 and were admitted to English division 4.1 League structure and attracted crowds nearing 4,000. In season 6, a slump in the property market left the club on the verge of bankruptcy.  Vic Mackey, former US cop became chairman after promotion to the EPL, having gained a share-holder majority 70% stake and thus control in the overall running of the club.

Leyton won division 4.1 English League title and crowned this achievement in successive seasons by winning division 3.1 title and becoming division 2.1 Runners-Up respectively, thus gaining promotion to the EPL.  Leyton continued their success by finishing 3rd in the EPL in season 6 just behind Broughton Citizens and Champions Seattle Blue FC.  Quite a remarkable achievement for their first attempt.  Qualification to the European Champions League beckoned. 

Season 7 saw Leyton eliminated in the domestic cup and unable to progress from the group stages of Europe.  Leyton finished 6th in the EPL, but disqualification for Hereford City meant that Leyton would again qualify for European competition. 

Season 8 was more successful, although actually finishing 7th after being in 4th position for the last game of the season, Leyton managed to get all the way to the Domestic Cup Final and beating FC Mossley 1-0.  An incredible achievement and again securing European football.  In Europe saw Leyton eliminated Round of 64.  Young starlet Brian Skeate received the U-21 Player of the Year award.

Season 9 saw an improvement in Leyton's league form and finished in style as 5th placed team.  Leyton broke their club's history and again reached the Domestic Cup Final by beating Shots XI convincingly 3-0, lifting the trophy for a second successive year.  Leyton were again eliminated Round of 64 in Europe.  A purchase of Robert Bitri saw him link up with Mikkjal Berg in central midfield, who received Senior Player of the Year award, whilst Haakon Hanes received the Golen Boot Award for top goalscorer.

Season 10 saw Leyton progress from last season and finish in 4th position, but were eliminated in the Domestic Cup thus relinquishing their trophy.  In the UETA Cup saw Leyton steam roll their way to the Quarter Finals, before eventually getting eliminated.  Haakon Hanes was in superb form once again receiving the top goalscorer award.

Season 11 was an unforgettable year that will go down in their club's history.  Leyton battled with Pathetic Athletic until the last game of the season and came out as EPL Champions.  Leyton also, for a third time won the Domestic Cup Final by seeing of Bromley Ravens 2-1 in an epic encounter, after being a goal down. 

Leyton now proud record holders of the first English side to win both the the English League and Cup double.  In Europe, many football pundits expected Leyton to complete the treble, but it wasn't to be and again reached the Quarter Finals before being eliminated.  Playing heroes at the time included Solomon Kvirkvelia, Haakon Hanes, Mikkjal Berg and Brian Skeate.  Andrian Pringle was purchased towards the end of the season to replace the ageing Mohammed Kara in goal.

Season 12 saw Leyton bounce straight back down to earth.  They finished a miserable 12th in the EPL and missed the relegation play-off place by one position.  Eliminated in the Domestic Cup and Round of 64 in Europe ended a forgettable campaign.  Not even signings of Nyle Mitchell, Balazs Molnar and Shurland Hislop (replacing club legend Haakon Hanes) could stop the rot.

Season 13 was back to normal business as Leyton again battled with their arch rivals Pathetic Athletic for the English Premier League Title.  This time Leyton had to settle for Runners-Up as PA were just to strong in the final third and were crowned Champions of the EPL.  No Europe and eliminated in the Domestic Cup.  Left-back Simon Sadler was bought to shore up the defence and super-star Oscar Amaro was brought in as the attacking option to replace the impending retirement of Kvirkvelia.  Oscar made an instant impact up front netting 17 goals and 7 assists in his first season receiving the adulation of the fans.

Season 14 saw Leyton's ruthless streak and blitzed their way to an early 12-point lead in the EPL.  Leyton held strong against the might of Pathetic Athletic, after dropping an impressive lead and won their second EPL title, equalling the records of FC Mossley and IFK Norrköping.  Eliminated in the Domestic Cup and again reaching Round of 64 in Europe.  Fans favourite Oscar, continued with his relentless finishing netting an impressive 19 goals.  But it was Shurland Hislop who hit top form receiving the Golden Boot award for being the top goal scorer of the league.

Season 15 was unfortunately a trophyless season for Leyton Hotspur Football Club.  Wimpering to a final position of 6th in the EPL and missing out on Europe for a second time in their club's history, also saw them duplicate yet another faltering display in the Domestic Cup.  In Europe, Leyton managed to progress to Round of 32.  Foreign import of Izaokas Tarnauskas and the purchase of English Right-back Peter Wilcox could not see them push into a European place.  Pre-season saw Leyton splash the cash again in their pursuit and hunger of a third EPL trophy.  They signed French International midfielder Ludwig Basso for a club record fee of 728.9 million.

Stadium

Trophy Cabinet