History

North Leigh were formed in 1908, but it was only following the Second World War that the club started to make its mark in Witney and District League. The club won the Witney and District League Premier Division title seven times in the 1950’s and also enjoyed success in the Oxfordshire Senior Cup.

In the 1980s the club resumed its trophy winning habits with five successive Witney and District League titles earning it a place in the Hellenic League Division 1 for the season 1990/91. The club enjoyed a good first season in the Hellenic League, finishing in 4th position and being the Division’s highest goal scorers apart from Champions Cinderford Town. In the club’s second season it again achieved 4th position averaging two points per game, scoring 84 goals in the process. In the third season, the club finished runners up to Tuffley Rovers in Division 1 and so took its place in the Hellenic League Premier Division along with the champions.
In 1997/98 the club reached the second round of the FA Vase for the third time before losing to Elmore. They finished the season in 4th place in the Hellenic League Premier Division, and capped their season off by reaching the final in the Oxfordshire Senior Cup where they were only narrowly beaten by their Oxfordshire rivals Witney Town 1-0 after extra time.

The season 2001/02 was without doubt been the most successful in the club’s history to date. After a superb season of consistently high performances and an epic struggle with both Gloucester United and Yate Town throughout the season to occupy top spot, the club eventually succeeded in winning for the very first time, the Premier Division title. The club also reached the final of both the Oxfordshire Senior Cup and the Hellenic League Challenge Cup.

In season 2002/03 the club went one better and with smaller squad than the previous year and arguably stronger league opposition, retained the title with a winning margin of 10points over Yate Town (the team pipped the previous year) and local rivals Carterton. Unfortunately the ground at this stage was not up to required standard for the team to take promotion to the next level.

In season 2003/04 a disappointing eighth place in the league was offset by a tremendous run in the FA Vase where club reached the last 32 and with reasonable luck would have progressed further.

In 2004/05 the club finished in seventh place in the league but the highlight was the truly memorable run in the FA Cup as the last Hellenic team left in the competition defeating Deal Town, Walton Casuals and Edgware Town and only losing out to Conference South outfit Newport County in Wales after holding them to a draw at Eynsham Park.

In season 2005/06 after an excellent start and leading the table during the early part of the season the club narrowly missed out on promotion to the Southern League finishing in fourth place after a disappointing late run.

In season 2006/07 after a head to head contest with Slimbridge and narrowly finishing behind them after an epic struggle and a particularly strong finish to the season including a double win home & away against them, the club were severely disappointed to learn of their withdrawal from promotion to the Southern League at a stage too late for them to be replaced them even though North Leigh’s home ground had by now received the necessary FA approval to play at the higher level.

In season 2007/08 in the club’s centenary year it looked to be a minor image of the previous year with the team vying for the top spot throughout the season and just losing out in the final push for promotion. However in a truly magnificent finish to the season the team overhauled the long term leaders of the division, Almondsbury Town in their very last league game, winning the league title and promotion on goal differences. In addition and a few weeks later prior to winning the league title, the club won the Oxfordshire Senior Cup for the first time in history defeating on Oxford United team in the QF and Banbury United (Southern League Premier in the final.

So the club climbed to its highest ever position in the non-league pyramid by joining the Southern League S&W in 2008 and during its membership over the past eleven years has been a model of consistency finishing in a top ten position in every season until last. Major changes occurred in 2016 with the departure of long serving Manager Mark Gee and the appointment of John Brough who had just won the league with Cinderford Town. John had a successful first season steering the club to its best ever FA Cup and Trophy run and just missed out on a play off place in the league.

2018/19 saw North Leigh fighting for their survival both in the Southern League and as a club with financial struggles impacting every decision made on and off the pitch. With the departure of John Brough, joint Managers Craig Dore and Darren James took the helm with an almost impossible task ahead. Arriving from years working in the Oxford City youth programme, they had a strong desire to play young attacking football but a very limited playing budget meant a lot of hard results to swallow including an 8-1 home defeat to Corby Town. Despite occupying a relegation zone spot for most of the season and being 8 points from safety with 6 games to go, the Millers completed the great escape with a final day draw against league champions Peterborough Sports.

Following a season of restructuring and consolidation, the Millers started the 19/20 season in a much-improved position. A number of familiar faces returned to the first team fold, following spells playing elsewhere and these were joined by a couple of standout additions. The first team were clearly much stronger as the team hovered around mid-table and looked well positioned to make a late push towards the play-offs as the season came to a conclusion. However, nobody would have foreseen in August of 2019 how the 19/20 season would be curtailed and in what manner. The season still deemed a success by the club; highlights included reaching the Second Qualifying round of the FA Cup and a trip to local rivals Oxford City and young starlet Henry Landers notching all 5 goals in an away victory at Bedford Town.

Only a handful of matches were completed during the 20/21 season, with the club sitting second bottom of the league when proceedings were halted in November 2020. It had been a difficult start to the season for the Millers, exiting the FA Cup in the first competitive match of the season at Marlow and only registering a single victory in the seven completed league matches. The undoubted highlight was an FA Trophy run to the First Round proper, equalling the club’s best run in the competition.

Much of 2020 and 2021 has seen North Leigh consolidate and safeguard the club’s future during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has worked hard to ensure the club remains on a sound financial footing, whilst where possible working hard to continue modernising and ensuring the club is in a positive position for the resumption of competitive football for the 2021/22 season.

We then had the season of all seasons in 2021/22 in Southern League Div 1 Central. It was manager Eddie Odhiambo's first season in charge. A last minute chance to compete in the playoffs due to Welwyn's expulsion due to ground gradin failure. North Leigh won 1-2 away in Berkhamstead in semi final. The final was against Ware and played in front of over 1500 fans. It was the outsiders North Leigh who stole the show and promotion to step 3 for the first time in the club's history winning 2-4. The opening goal by George Nash was also selected as goal of the season.