Club History Founded in 1890 as "Nailsworth & Forest Green FC", Forest Green Rovers spent the early years of their existence in the Stroud & District League until 1922, when they became founder members of the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League. During their time in this league, Rovers were Champions in 1938, 1950 and 1951. The 1911 FGR Team This was also a period of change for Rovers' home ground "The Lawn". Initially nothing more than a field surrounded by a Hawthorn Hedge (players had to trek to nearby pub "The Jovial Foresters" to change!) a wooden and tin structure was replaced by the club's first brick changing room block, funded by the Supporters Club and opened in 1950. More development followed in the early '60's, with the ground taking on much of it's present appearance. Bob Mursell Upon the formation of the Gloucestershire County League in 1968, Rovers joined with several of their Senior League colleagues and clubs from a wider geographical spread, including several from the Bristol area. In 1974, the club carried on it's move upwards, and joined the Hellenic League. After firmly establishing themselves at this new level, Rovers went from strength to strength under the management of Bob Mersell, their rise culminating in a remarkable double in 1982. As well as winning the Hellenic League, and promotion into the Southern League for the first time, the club also enjoyed a first ever trip to Wembley, where they defeated Nottinghamshire side Rainsworth Miners Welfare 3-0, to lift the FA Vase in front of 12,500 fans Rovers found life in the Southern League Midland Division no picnic, often flirting with relegation during their 13 years there. During this time the club embarked on a short lived change of name to "Stroud FC" in an attempt to appeal to a wider local audience, but disaffection amongst supporters soon prompted the club to revert to it's traditional moniker. With a new Chairman in Trevor Horsley, a new era was to begin at Rovers, and when Frank Gregan arrived at the club as manager from Andover in June 1994, he would preside over the most successful period in the club's history. Transferred to the then "Beazer Homes League" Southern Division for the 1995-96 season, after one of the regional reshuffles common to non-league soccer, Rovers achieved a creditable eighth position in their first season, but the board's higher ambitions were evidenced by the building of the new Trevor Horsley Stand (named after the club chairman), comprising 270 seats, executive boxes and underground changing rooms. Their was also investment on the pitch, as Frank Gregan sought to build a squad capable of challenging for promotion- and this was soon achieved as Rovers finished Champions in their second season in the Southern Division. But if Rovers fans were happy enough to take their place in the now "Dr. Marten's League" Premier Division - the highest level of football the club had enjoyed in over a century of football- Frank Gregan and the Rovers board had even grander ideas. Off the pitch, the impressive Trevor Horsley stand complex was extended to 500 seats with new hospitality areas, boardroom and offices. And on the pitch Rovers had taken the "old heads" of the Dr. Marten's Premier League by surprise, storming to the top of the League with eight wins and one draw in an astonishing start to the season. Trevor Horsley Frank Gregan A temporary dip in form around Christmas was soon recovered in the New Year, and as Rovers' nearest challengers Merthyr Tydfil pulled away from the chasing pack, the leading two met in a titanic battle to decide the title as the season reached it's climax in late April. A club record crowd of 2,891 packed The Lawn to see Merthyr soundly beaten 3-1 on the final Wednesday of the season, with a victory over Bath City on the following Saturday clinching the title for Rovers. Another four figure crowd was present to see the Championship Shield presented, and to celebrate a remarkable second successive promotion, as the realisation began to sink in that this corner of Gloucestershire would be playing host to some of the biggest names in non-league football. The old stand...and the new stand The impossible dream of Conference football at The Lawn had become reality, in Frank Gregan's fourth season as manager at the club. The clubs first season at the top level of non-league football in the Vauxhall Conference was a successful one with Rovers finishing a comfortable 12th place. The run in towards the end of the season was overshadowed by a fantastic run in the FA Umbro Trophy. For the first time in the clubs history, Rovers made it to the final at Wembley in a match that attracted over 20,000 fans. On 15th May 1999 the club entered the record books by becoming the first to play in both an FA Vase and FA Trophy final. Although losing 1-0 to Kingstonian the club found many new friends in their performance. The second season proved more of a struggle for Forest Green who were confidant of a top half finish after such a successful debut season. However, eight defeats from the first nine games left Rovers rock bottom and everyone's tip for the drop. Respite was provided with Rovers producing an amazing run in the FA Cup. Previously, the furthest Forest Green had ever gone was twice reaching the 3rd qualifying round. With a bye to the 4th qualifying round due to their Conference status, Rovers travelled to Worcester City and recorded a worthy 5-2 win that put them into the 1st round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in the club's history. The goals from a 6-0 thrashing of Guiseley with Paul Hunt scoring a hat-trick at The Lawn during a torrential deluge were shown on Match of the Day that evening. The 2nd round proper draw gave Rovers another home match, this time against Football League 3rd Division Torquay United. In front of 2962 fans Rovers fantastic FA Cup run sadly came to an end, Torquay winning 3 nil. For the remainder of the season Rovers fought to avoid finishing in the relegation zone, and several top class performances were needed if they were to stay in the top flight of non-league football. It all came down to the last match of the season, Rovers were down if they lost against Kettering Town on 6th May 2000. In fact, it was as close as you could get, with only 6 minutes of the season left substitute Paul Hunt put Rovers 1 nil in front and seconds later Marc McGregor increased the lead to 2 nil and with favourable results at Altrincham and Welling, Rovers fans were in heaven as Forest Green survived. Rovers third season in the Nationwide Conference saw major changes at the club and yet another successful run in the FA Trophy. A disappointing start to the league marked the end of an era for one of Forest Green Rover's most successful managers. Frank Gregan was sacked in November after Rovers were knocked out of the FA Cup losing 3-0 at home to fellow Conference team Morecambe. For the remainder of the season players Nigel Spink and David Norton were appointed joint Managers and they served as good replacements guiding the club to a safe position in the Conference and winning the club's third appearance in a national final. Having won through to reach the final of the FA Trophy, a disappointing display saw Rovers lose to Canvey Island 1-0 at Villa Park in front of a crowd of just over 10,000. Nigel Spink was named as sole manager for Rover's fourth season in the Conference. And it proved to be another memorable year as Rovers entered the record books again thanks to a record penalty shoot-out in the FA Cup. Forest Green were drawn against 3rd division Macclesfield Town in the second round proper and secured a 2-2 draw away in the first match. The replay at The Lawn saw the two teams draw again and the tie had to be decided by a penalty shoot-out. With the spenalty shoot-out balanced at 10-10, Rovers missed their next one and Macclesfield were through to the next round against Swansea. Over the two ties, a total of 27 penalties were taken, with 24 of them being scored which beat the previous FA Cup record of 22 penalties scored in set in 1997 when Marlow beat Littlehampton in a FA Cup qualifying round. Nigel Spink Colin Addison Rovers made a terrible start to the 2002-03 season losing their first five games in a row, and as the previous season had ended in a similar fashion it was decided the Nigel Spink era was over and Colin Addison was then appointed as the Manager. He guided Rovers to their highest ever finish that season, they finished 9th in the Nationwide Conference, but the following season saw Rovers struggle again and at Christmas time Addison's time was up and assistant manager Tim Harris was placed in charge until the end of the season. Harris did very well to keep Rovers in the Conference and was rewarded with being named as 1st team manager for the 2004-05 season. However things did not start well and with Rovers rooted to the bottom of the Conference with no wins the Board of Directors took the choice to dispence with Harris.

Alan Lewer was awarded the managers job in mid-September with Alan McLoughlin as fisrt-team coach. Alan played for seven years at Aldershot when they were members of the Football League. He also played at Bournemouth, and for Woking at Non-League Level. His managerial career includes working with Mark Wright at Chester City. He spent some time at Telford and took them to the Quarterfinals of the FA Trophy.

Known throughout the non league scene as the ‘Friendly Club on the Hill’, the club have now started work on a new stadium, located 200 yards from ‘The Lawn’ at a cost in excess of £3m and hope to move in to it sometime during the 2005/06 season. For details on the new stadium see new stadium webpage.