Football has been played in the Arnold area for over a hundred years and the Eagles can trace their proud history back to its beginnings. The current club, formed in 1989, was born out of the merger between the old established Arnold FC (who began life as Arnold St Mary’s in 1928) and near neighbours Arnold Kingswell.
Initially the newly formed club competed in the Central Midlands League (Supreme Division) and then moved into the NCEL Division One and then swiftly to the NCEL Premier after two successive Championship seasons in 92/93 and 93/94. On a roll, the Eagles almost made it three in a row but ended 94/95 as runners up in the NCEL Premier. Season 2010-2011 saw Arnold compete for the 17th successive season in the NCEL Premier Division.
The Eagles have managed to lift the prestigious Notts Senior Cup trophy no less than five times since 1989 and have been runners up once. The most recent success came in 2005 when spectacular long range effort from Scott Huckerby was enough to give the Eagles a 1-0 victory over Eastwood Town in front of a crowd of more than 650 at Notts. County’s Meadow Lane ground.
A number of fine runs in the FA Cup and FA Vase have also been achieved over the years. In 2002 the Eagles had their best run in the FA Cup since reforming when they reached the 4th Qualifying Round before narrowly going out to Scarborough in front of 900 at Gedling Road. During the 05/06 season the Club equalled their best FA Vase performance by reaching the 5th Round where they lost out by a single goal to Crook Town , again at Gedling Road, in front of 560 spectators. They had earlier reached the same stage in 01/02 going out 1-3 at Wroxham.
The 2007-08 season saw the curtain finally come down at the Club’s Gedling Road ground which had been their home for over fifty years. They spent part of 2008-09 playing home games at various local Clubs whilst waiting for their move to their new home. The Eagles finally moved into their new £2 million home in January 2009. The first game saw the Eagles win 3-2 against Thackley with Craig Mitchell scoring the first ever goal at EV.
2008/09 saw the Eagle Valley Facility officially opened with friendlies against Notts County with a Club record attendance of over 1300, Nigel Clough’s Derby County with over 700 in attendance and an official opening day with Sven Goran Eriksson doing the honours cutting the ribbon outside the Clubhouse.
A real strength for the Club has been the strong fan base and the support provided by the Supporters Club which has existed for over 25 years.
The Club has consistently maintained links with the professional game. Chris Freestone (Middlesbrough - 1994) Tristram Whitman (Doncaster Rovers - 2000) and most recently (2006) Ben Hutchinson (Middlesbrough) all moved from the Arnold team into the professional ranks. Chris Freestone returned to us in 2005/06 and is now the Clubs top goal scorer with over 100 goals. Freestone, together with Martin Carruthers (Aston Villa, Stoke City), took over the management reigns midway through season 2009-2010.
Former Eagles managers include Ray O’Brien (Notts. County & Rep. of Ireland), Iain McCullough (Notts. County), Bill Brindley (Notts. County and Forest) and Phil Starbuck (Forest).
The Club has had its fair share of professional players wearing the Arnold shirt including the likes of Nigel Jemson, Jason Lee, Brett Williams and Bryn Gunn (Forest) and Adrian Thorpe (Notts County).
2012/13 Will go down in history for the wrong reasons with Gary Hayward at the helm but with the club languishing near the bottom Graham Walker and Frank Corrigan took the reins and despite a 13 point penalty, Arnold still made up the points to finish 3rd from bottom but unfortunately we still faced relegation hence our drop into the EMCL.
Secretary Graham Peck took over as Chairman due to the sad passing of MR Arnold himself, Roy Francis and as if this couldn’t get any worse they did with an automatic relegation.
2013/2014. After a great first half of the season Arnold were sitting in the top two, but after Xmas inclement weather saw a 9 week break from the game and a significant dip in form and 6th was the final placing.
2014/2015. A rather up and down season which saw the departure of Graham Peck as Chairman and at the end of the season both Managers left the Club. A solid mid table finish.
2015/2016. Ray Chilton appointed manager. Ray has connections with the Club mainly with the Youth teams winning several League and Cups along the way. Ray was one of the committee who brought the Club to Eagle Valley after many years at our former home at Gedling Road (King George v).
A disappointing season saw us finish second from bottom and Ray decided to step down as manager.
2016/2017. Dave Marlow joined us from Linby CW as our new manager. Dave brought us stability during a much better season finishing 15th, sadly with things seemingly on the up Dave decided to move on to Eastwood CFC at the end of the season.
We also lost Peter Chapman our Chairman and Treasurer who had helped steady the ship after losing Roy Francis a few years previous.
2017/2018. Another new start see’s Tom Richardson take the reins for this coming season. Tom and his assistant Chris Galley have joined us from Real Utd. Also joining us from Real Utd as player/coach is former Eagle, Tristram Whitman who returns to the Club. We wish them well…

CLUB HONOURS

As Arnold Town FC – Since Reformation in 1989

NCEL Premier Division Runners Up 1994/95
NCEL Presidents Cup Winners 1994/95
NCEL Division One Champions 1993/94
CML Supreme Division Champions 1992/93
Wakefield Cup Winners 1989/90
CML League Cup Runners Up 1990/91
Notts Senior Cup Winners 92/93, 95/96, 96/97, 98/99, 04/05
Notts Senior Cup Runners Up 2006/07
NCEL Presidents Cup Runners Up 2009/2010
Best Season in FA Cup – 4th Qual Round 2002/03
Best Season in FA Vase – 5th Round 01/02, 05/06