The History of Magpies 2001

Magpies 2001 FC was founded in 1998 as a colts side under the name Cambridge Magpies after the break up of Cherry Hinton Lions. In the same year a men's team of that name was also formed, so in 2001, when the colts team were ready to graduate into men's football, a new name had to be chosen. Magpies 2001 FC was the chosen new name, and the Tucker Gardner Partnership Sunday League was the team's new home for the next three seasons.
The first season was a bit of a struggle as the team adjusted to the requirements of adult football, the physical side of the game at times putting the young side at a dis-advantage, but nevertheless a decent finish well away from the foot of the table was achieved.

In the 2002/2003 season Magpies reached the final of the league cup, losing out 3-2 to Falcons Reserves, and finished in third place in the first division of the Tucker Gardner League, a huge improvement on the first season. They also picked up their first team of the month award. In November of this season, Chris Beament joined the club, and as a reward for reaching the cup final, he started to sponsor the team through his business, buying the club a new kit for the coming season.

In the 2003/2004 season Magpies won the first division title by a margin of eight points, their first trophy, and lost just the one league game all season. They also reached the quarter final of the Centenary Cup and picked up another team of the month award.

For the 2004/2005 season Magpies moved to the Halls of Cambridge Sunday League, winning Division 4A at the first attempt, again losing just the one game all season. They also reached the final of the inaugural Edward Cup in the summer of 2004 and gained team of the month awards for both September 2004 and March 2005. The club also sported a new away kit for the season, and this website was designed and created during that season, going online in October 2004. Both were given to the club by benefactor Chris Beament.

Magpies had their best season to date as they won Division 3A of the Halls League by a margin of nine points, conceding just seven goals in the process, and going the whole season unbeaten in the league. They also won the second Edward Cup in the summer of 2005 and reached the quarter finals of both the Millennium Cup and the Shelford Cup. Garth Brewer won the safe hands award for being the best goalkeeper in the entire league, and as a result, the club won the most silverware in any one season so far. They also received new home and away kits as club benefactor Chris Beament took his involvement with the club still further.

The 2006/2007 season saw Magpies fail to win their division for the first time in four years. Nevertheless, a second place finish was good enough for promotion and the club also reached a cup final for the first time in four years, again losing out to Shelford Falcons Reserves, this time by a score of 2-0. The club also reached the semi-finals of the M&E Freeman Junior Cup. Club benefactor Chris Beament promised the club another new kit if they reached a cup final, and they were duly presented with it on the day of the final. At the end of the season, the club were informed by Hills Road Sixth Form College that they would have to find a new ground for the next season and a search for a suitable new home began.

The 2007/2008 season took Magpies to new heights as they secured both promotion and the Division 1A title on the final day of the season in dramatic fashion. Needing a win at home to Bar Hill Reserves and for Ely Park Rangers Reserves to lose away at Exning United, both results went Magpies way to leave them champions of their division for the fourth time in five years and complete a remarkable rise through the Cambridge and District Sunday League. The club also moved to a new ground at the start of the season, Downing College Sports Ground where they to this day they remain extremely difficult to beat, the ground becoming as much of a fortress as Luard Road had been in the previous eight seasons. Magpies had a slightly disappointing time in the cup competitions, going out in the first round of the Challenge Cup at home to Fen Ditton, losing to Ely Park Rangers Reserves in the second round of the M&E Freeman Junior Cup and only a run to the semi finals of the VB Trophies League Cup gave them any cup cheer but that semi final saw them suffer their heaviest defeat ever as they went down 7-0.

Magpies made a fine start to their first season of top flight football as they not only beat reigning champions Ashwell 3-1 on the opening day of the season, they remained unbeaten up to Christmas in the league at which point they topped the table. The only defeats they suffered up to this point were a narrow 1-0 home defeat to Sawston Keys in the Cambridgeshire FA Challenge Cup in November and a 5-3 away defeat at Barnwell Rangers in the League Cup just before Christmas. The new year brought a wretched run of defeats, the worst in the club's history as they plummeted down the table, eventually finishing in sixth place. They lost seven games on the bounce before salvaging some pride with a 3-2 away win at Barnwell Rangers on Easter Sunday in their penultimate game of the season. Their final game was a 4-1 loss at Triple S and that was the last ever game for half of Magpies squad as a succession of players indicated their desire to leave. The club appeared to be in turmoil and many feared for it's future at the time.

Magpies sixth season in the Cambridge & District Sunday League was a huge disappointment as well as being by far the most difficult season the club has yet experienced. A mass exodus of players in the summer of 2009 left the club's future in the balance but with some new signings and some old players returning, Magpies future looked to be assured, but then so much more conspired against the club during the campaign including injuries to vital players, terrible winter weather and financial difficulties. There were times when the club was down to the bare bones and both veteran striker Chris Beament and 53 year old Phil May could never have imagined they would appear so many times in the course of the season to make up the numbers. Wins were hard to come by as a result and the club only managed four, two of which came in the first month of the season as Magpies finally beat old adversaries Shelford Falcons 2-1 on the opening day. Six points from their first three games was a very decent start but as the problems started to mount just the one further league win saw Magpies finish bottom of the table. They avoided relegation only due to three others teams withdrawing from the Senior Division through the season and had just the one cup win to savour, a 5-1 triumph at Cambridge Cosmos which was the club's only victory by more than a single goal since a 3-1 home win over Ickleton a year earlier. Magpies also had to forfeit a game through lack of players for the first time in their history late in the season, an event which ultimately cost the club any hopes it had of finishing higher in the table. The club vowed to put things right in the summer of 2010, had a major recruitment campaign, and appointed Phil May as coach to work with club sponsor Chris Beament and manager Geoff Argent.

The summer of 2010 proved to be traumatic for Magpies as family issues forced the resignation of Geoff Argent in mid-August. With the new season just weeks away Chris Beament appointed himself manager with no other option apparent. The players responded well to this and the club had a reasonably successful pre-season. The new season started with a narrow defeat at Fulbourn Sports before problems surfaced. Magpies were unable to field a side for their second game and once again the future looked bleak. However the club rallied in the ensuing days and their third game saw them rout Barnwell Rangers 7-0. That was followed by a win at Girton Eagles and briefly things looked good. A poor cup defeat at home to Cambs Fire & Rescue was followed by heavy defeats at Exning and Coton and then a home defeat to Ashwell. Only a big cup win at Newmarket Town Sunday gave the club any glimmer of success as they ended the year bottom but one in the table. After the first weekend of the new year they were bottom, but a fine second half of the season saw the club gain sixteen points from eleven games to eventually finish seventh. This was by far the best run the club had seen in over two years and suggested that the club's future was somewhat brighter. However in the summer of 2011 more players left and once again the club was forced to re-build. A new manager, Phil Diver, was appointed and he has brought new players with him, and on the brink of the new season, Magpies appear to have a future.

The 2011-2012 season began well as Magpies recorded a famous win over reigning champions Falcons on the opening day and followed it up with a win at Girton. Top of the table after two games was as good as it got as problems soon surfaced again. Faced with playing with no recognised keeper for many of their games Magpies began to struggle and new manager Phillip Diver had his work cut out as the players became unhappy with his style of management. With the club on a very bad run Phill left the club and secretary Chris Beament took on the mantle of manager again. The club endured an awful league run, the worst in thier history, as they failed to win in thirteen league games but a late rally saw them gain enough points to stay up and that late surge along with the promise of some quality players returning to the club full time in the summer suggested the club had a brighter future. One of those, Kevin Jones, was appointed player-manager in August but the club were still struggling as several of the longest standing players decided to leave. A hopeless pre-season where the club failed to have enough players to play all but their last pre-season game made life very difficult for Magpies but a strenuous recruitment campaign saw the club able to field a decent side in the opening game of the new season as they lost narrowly at Coton in a spirited performance.