Cray Valley (PM) FC

General information

Kent FA records show that Cray Valley (PM) FC was formed in 1919 and played in the new Sidcup and Kent League Division II. Cray's first match was on September 20 1919 against Hamilton House FC, which Cray won 1-0, followed by their first away match against Sidcup Invicta, beating them 7-0. Cray won the division in their first season and were promoted to Division I. In 1920/21, Cray won the Kent County Junior Cup, beating Sittingbourne Paper Mills 3-0 and in 1936/37 season, won the 3rd Division title in the Kent Amateur League West Division. From that time they have appeared in the records in every decade, whilst from the 1950/51 season, the records show a continuous existance up to the present day.
Cray played in various leagues such as the Sidcup and District League and the team have always been known as Cray Valley (PM) FC, originally playing in green and white, which were the colours of the Paper Mills vehicles, and company banner. Cray won the Kent County Junior Cup for the second time in 1977/78 and for a third time in 1980/81, the year the mills at St Pauls Cray, where they had played their games at the sports ground, closed.
The Nash family owned the paper mills and supported the football club until the mills closure. Cray lost their ground and began a bit of a nomadic existance, playing at various venues until they found a permanent home at Badger Sports Ground in Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, South East London.
The team enjoyed a successful period in the South London Alliance, winning Division 1 in 1983/84 before moving to the Spartan League in 1991, where they were runners-up in Division 1 South in 1998. Cray then became founder members of the London Intermediate League. In the following season Cray were runners-up in the League and reached the final of the League Cup, losing 1-2 to Bridon Ropes, after extra time, and were also runners-up in the London Intermediate Cup, losing 0-1 to Canning Town.
In 2001/02 Cray were elected to Division One of the Kent County League before gaining promotion to the Premier Division in 2003/04.
Cray's most successful season was 2004/05, when they won the Premier Division by 11 points, the Kent Intermediate Challenge Shield and the Inter Regional Challenge Cup!
Between 2000-10 Cray enjoyed regular success in the London Intermediate Cup which seen the club winners on 4 occasions and runners-up once!
In an historic 2011/12 season, Cray effectively gained two promotions when they moved from the Step 7 Kent County League, to the Step 5 Kent League. In their first season they finished a creditable 11th and reached the semi-finals of the Kent Senior Trophy.
Season 2012-13 saw an improvement on the previous campaign with a 8th place finish and 13 more points on the board. They experianced there first taste of the FA Vase and welcomed some fresh young talent into the playing squad and coaching staff. A lack of consistency meant we missed out on out target of a top 6 finish. Our Under 16s brought home the double of the Kent Youth Cup, beating Maidstone United 3-1 in the final, and were undefeated in the Kent Youth League U16 North Division/
Manager Steve Chapman handed over the reins to Paul Gross at the start of 2014/15 season and despite a disappointing start to the season, Grossy emulated the achievement of his predecessor by finishing 7th in the newly named Southern Counties East Football League and reaching the semi final of the London Senior Cup narrowly losing out to Tooting & Mitcham United. Grossy resigned at the end of the 2015/16 season and the club have appointed former Corinthian and Lordswood manager James Collins into the hot seat. James has a vast knowledge of local football and we look forward to some success under his guidance.
The club also have a ‘Development’ team which plays in the Suburban Football League, a Ladies team which won the South East Counties Women’s League, Division One East last season, and Youth teams at Under 15 (Kent Youth League) and Under 12 (Selkent League) as the club look to progress more local football players into its First Team.
Updated August 2016