Getting to know the Blue Square Premier : Tamworth

Tamworth barely survived relegation last season as they only secured their Blue Square Premier place on the final day, although the Lambs would have been safe either way due to Rushden's demise. The Lambs have a surprisingly large amount of links with the Imps.

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If you were to ask people who they thought shared the most recent links with the Imps in terms of players and club personnel in this division, most would probably say Grimsby and Mansfield, however, one name you wouldn't expect to hear is Tamworth. Despite this, the Imps and the Lambs have shared a LOT of players over the last few years.

Former Imps manager Alan Buckley is a former Lamb, as was the recently departed Scott Lindsey. Tamworth had just appointed former Imp Nicky Eaden as their new assistant manager as Tom Kemp, Jude Stirling, Stefan Oakes, Dennis Bailey, Matthew Ghent, Gary Birch, Michael Blackwood, David Cameron, Rory May and Simon Weaver have played for each in the recent past, whereas former Imps trialists Simon Heslop and Armand One have been at Tamworth at one point or another.

Tamworth play at the tiny "The Lamb" stadium, the second smallest ground in the division holds just 4,065 (518 seats) and their away end was recently voted as the worst in the division amongst Blue Square Premier fans. They do have plans for a new 1,800 seater stand at the ground and according to the Conference Ground guide, this would be placed in the location of the current Main Stand, with the main stand being taken down and placed elsewhere in the ground, very bizarre.

The club founded in 1933 and they originally played at a nicely named ground known as "The Jolly Sailor" before moving to the Lamb. They were promoted to the Conference in 2003 before being relegated in 2005/6, however, in typical Conference tradition, finishing in the bottom four doesn't necessarily mean you go down, with the Lambs surviving because of Canvey Island's resignation from the division. They were however relegated two years later.

It didn't take them long to return though as a win over Hinckley in April 2009 confirmed their return to the Conference.

An decent start to the season saw five wins in their opening ten games and just one defeat in that time, however, failing to win in the League between September 21st and January 1st saw them struggle at the bottom and their form didn't exactly improve after that, infact, after September they failed to win back to back games and despite a decent run in the FA Cup, just twelve wins makes it obvious why they struggled. Only a last day win over Forest Green saved them.

They are one of the favourites for relegation next season.