Metropolitan Police FC vs Sutton Common Rovers
Cherry Red Records Combined Counties Premier Division South
Tuesday 4th August
Kick Off 7:45pm
Imber Court, Ember Lane, East Molesey, Surrey, KT8 0BT

The Season Starts Here — At Home

The 2026/27 season is already underway. Metropolitan Police FC kicked off the new Combined Counties Premier Division South campaign on Saturday with an away fixture at Tadley Calleva — and whatever the result at Barlows Park, attention now turns immediately to Tuesday evening and the first home league game of the season under the Imber Court floodlights.

The visitors are Sutton Common Rovers — The Commoners, or SCR as they are universally known — a club with one of the most colourful and unconventional backstories in non-league football, a shared piece of recent history with Met Police, and a management team that knows this division inside out.

Tuesday night is the moment the Imber Court faithful get their first taste of competitive league football this season. Three points on home turf. The supporters behind the team. A full campaign still to be written.

Come and be part of the first chapter at home.

Know Your Opponents: A History Unlike Any Other

Sutton Common Rovers were founded in 1978 by Alan Salmon as Inrad FC, a modest community setup in the Carshalton area of south London. What followed over the next four and a half decades was a journey through an almost bewildering sequence of names, homes and league adventures that make SCR one of the most fascinatingly nomadic clubs in Surrey non-league football.

The sponsorship names came thick and fast in the early years: Centre 21 FC, SCR Plough, SCR Grapes, SCR Litten Tree and SCR Kingfisher, each reflecting a new commercial arrangement, before the club eventually dropped the pub and sponsor names to become simply SCR — a deliberate effort to distance itself from the image of a pub team and signal more serious footballing ambitions.

The groundshare history is equally remarkable. The club moved southwest to Leatherhead upon joining the Combined Counties League in 2007, then shifted to a groundshare with Cobham FC, then moved to Sutton United's Gander Green Lane in 2015/16, then to Church Road — Whyteleafe FC's former ground — in 2022/23, before finally moving back into the London Borough of Sutton for 2024/25, groundsharing with Carshalton Athletic at the War Memorial Sports Ground. In short: more homes than most Surrey families.

Through all of it, a family connection has been the constant thread. The club was founded by Alan Salmon — who remains chairman — and today the first team is managed by his son, Darren Salmon, alongside joint manager Lee Flavin. Darren Salmon has been involved in the management of the club for many years, providing a continuity of vision and values that is rare in non-league football and goes some way to explaining how a club with such an unstable external history has retained such a clear internal identity.

The Rise, The Peak, and What Came After

The 2009/10 season saw Rovers crowned as Combined Counties League Division One champions, earning promotion to the Premier Division. After a brief relegation back to Division One in 2011/12, they regained their Premier Division spot at the first attempt.
The club's high point came in 2018/19. It was their best-ever season, finishing runners-up in the Premier Division behind the powerful Chertsey Town side, winning the Premier Challenge Cup and finishing runners-up in the Southern Combination Challenge Cup. That runners-up finish earned promotion to the Isthmian League South Central Division — Step 4 of the National League System — the highest level the club had ever reached.

The club remained in the Isthmian League until relegation at the end of the 2024/25 season. Four seasons at Step 4 brought some difficult campaigns: 17th in 2021/22, 17th again in 2022/23, 14th in 2023/24, and finally 21st of 22 in 2024/25 — relegated and back in the Combined Counties League for 2025/26.

That 2024/25 relegation season is one that will be very familiar to everyone at Metropolitan Police FC — because Met Police were in the same division, and the two clubs met on the pitch that year in what was, for both sides, a season-defining relegation battle. Met Police came out 2-0 winners on that occasion. Ultimately it made no difference to the final outcome for either club — both went down — but it is a result that sits in the shared history between these two sides, and a reminder that SCR know exactly what it feels like to be relegated from a level Met Police are now working hard to return to.

Last Season: Solid Consolidation

Back in the Combined Counties Premier Division South for 2025/26, Sutton Common Rovers finished 12th of 20 with 44 points, winning 13, drawing 5 and losing 20, with a goal difference of minus one — a record that suggests a side capable of competing on their day, but one that also conceded frequently and lacked consistency across the full season. They scored 54 goals, which speaks to attacking intent, and conceded 55, which speaks to defensive vulnerability that a well-organised Met Police side will be looking to exploit.
It was a season of re-establishment. A first year back after Step 4 is always an adjustment, and mid-table consolidation — particularly for a club working through yet another change of home ground in that same period — represents a reasonable platform to build from. Darren Salmon and Lee Flavin will arrive at Imber Court on Tuesday with a squad that has 38 competitive games of Premier Division South experience behind them and a clear idea of what this division demands.

Management: Continuity at the Helm

Darren Salmon and Lee Flavin continue in joint charge of Sutton Common Rovers for the 2026/27 season. Salmon's long connection to the club — rooted in the founding family that has run SCR since 1978 — gives him an understanding of the club's culture and identity that no incoming manager could quickly replicate. Alongside Flavin, who brings his own experience and complementary perspective to the dugout, Sutton Common Rovers head into the new season with managerial stability that some clubs in this division will envy.

The Ground

Sutton Common Rovers currently groundshare with Carshalton Athletic at the War Memorial Sports Ground on Colston Avenue in Carshalton, Surrey. The ground has a capacity of 5,000 — the largest of any club in the Combined Counties Premier Division South — a reminder of Carshalton Athletic's own storied history and a venue that feels considerably grander than the level at which SCR currently compete. For Tuesday's game of course, it is SCR making the journey to Imber Court, and we hope to see them bring a decent travelling contingent to help create the kind of opening-night atmosphere that a home first game of the season deserves.

A Note on History Between the Clubs

These two sides have met before in more than just the 2024/25 relegation campaign. In the FA Cup First Qualifying Round in 2020/21, Metropolitan Police beat Sutton Common Rovers 1-3 at their home ground — a result that demonstrated Met Police's ability to win away from home against a side competing at the same level. Tuesday's fixture at Imber Court gives SCR the chance to reverse that kind of result in a competitive setting and serve notice that their own 2026/27 ambitions are real.

Why Tuesday Night Matters

Opening home league games carry a weight that pre-season friendlies simply cannot replicate. This is the moment the division takes notice of what Met Police look like this year. This is the evening the table starts to be written — and every point matters from the very first whistle.

After the uncertainty of relegation last season, after the hard work of the summer, after the pre-season games have been played and the squad has been assembled — Tuesday night at Imber Court under the floodlights is where the real work begins. The season opens at home. The supporters are here. The players are ready.

Let's start it properly.

Imber Court. Tuesday Evening. 7:45pm kick off.
Come on you Blues.