Prior to the start of the season the club announced a £5,000 sponsorship deal from local stone cladding company Everstone. Banbury United Chairman John Rogers said “This is a lifeline for us and gives us every incentive to work harder and continue our efforts on behalf of Banbury United.” The deal had been negotiated by then newly appointed Banbury United Commercial Director Ronnie Johnson, now 37 years later an active Club Ambassador and a recent Chairman of the club.

There follows a photo from the sponsorship launch day with Ronnie and our current Chairman Phil Lines (showing off his heading skills!) in the picture. Phil was player/coach at the club at this time, working under manager Dave Matthews.

The photo shows (left to right): Everstone Chairman Mike Townley, United Vice-Chairman Mike Cross, United Chairman John Rogers, Club Secretary Ray Alcock, Townley Group Sales Director Tom Bramble, United Commercial Director Ronnie Johnson and United Player/Coach Phil Lines.
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The club’s finances may have received a boost but it was nevertheless a disastrous start to the season, the Puritans picking up just two points from their first seven games. At this point Dave Matthews was relieved of his duties and Phil Lines put in charge as caretaker manager.

United continued to find points hard to come by as the season progressed but after the New Year Holiday games United had climbed to 17th place out of the 20 teams. By this time, main sponsor Mike Townley had taken over the club (early December) but he seemed reluctant to give the manager’s job on a permanent basis to Lines and at the end of December, after a Boxing Day 3-3 draw away to VS Rugby, the caretaker manager decided to quit.

Wilf Tranter the former Witney Town boss, was appointed the new United manager prior to the home league game with Tamworth on January 28th. Results improved for a brief period after his appointment but just two points from United’s last 11 League games saw United finish down in 18th place with just 29 points from 38 games. Fortunately, there were two teams with a worst playing record than Banbury (Milton Keynes City and Tamworth) and United were to therefore remain in the Southern League Midland Division for the following season. Tranter would quit as United manager that summer.

Below is an early season team photo of Banbury United for season 1983/84. The players are:

Back Row (Left to Right): Brian Robinson (Assistant Manager), M. Simpson, Ian Bowyer, Mark Taylor, Dave Bristow, Mark Boyland, Phil Lines (Player/Coach), Dave Matthews (Manager), Harry Smilie (Trainer).

Front Row (Left to Right): Shaun Bradbury, Percy Hickman, Mike McFarlane, Kenny Smith, Bob Stockley, David Woodland, John Thorne, Cliff Cousins.
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