Sports Telegraph | Football | Barton Town | Club history
Barton Town Old Boys FC was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the two clubs in the town, Barton Town FC (the Swans) and Barton Old Boys FC.
The former began in 1880 and earned their nickname after holding meetings in the town's The White Swan pub. They later moved to a new clubhouse at Marsh Lane in 1927.
The Old Boys comprised a group of young friends who used to play together at local youth level in the early 1950s.
To further their progress, the two clubs merged and began the 1995/96 season in the Lincolnshire League, finishing fourth and winning the Lincs County Senior 'B' Cup.
The following season the club did the League and Challenge Cup double and have since added the County Cup and two more Challenge Cups to their honours list.
At the start of the new millennium Barton joined the newly-formed Humber Premier League in the 2000/01 season.
Although they finished third, a decision was taken to move on after only one season and the club climbed up the football pyramid by joining the Central Midlands League.
Manager Peter Mitchell was joined by Leigh Palin, as first team coach, with spectacular resultS as Barton finished runners-up in the Premier Division, gaining automatic promotion to the Supreme Division for the 2002/03 season.
Palin left the club in 2002 and was succeeded by Alex Irvine, who became joint-manager alongside Neil Buckley.
Irvine departed the following summer, leaving Buckley in charge with Ian Durnian as assistant manager. The pair took the club to a Supreme Division league title in 2006.
Barton were prevented from moving up to the Northern Counties East League due to their ground not meeting the sufficient requirements.
Twelve months later though, the Swans did move up the ladder, securing a place in division one of NCEL after finishing as runners-up to Bottesford Town in 2007.
The club are currently undergoing an extensive redevelopment programme.
