Carlton Town - The Battle For Promotion
- danslawson
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
The destination for our latest Proper Football "On The Road" club visits was Carlton Town Football Club for their last game of the regular season in the Northern Premier Midlands Division where they had an outside chance of winning the league title!
We have struck up a wonderful relationship with The Millers in recent
years and have seen the club grow and improve on and off the pitch which is a testament to everybody involved with the Nottingham-based side.
This season Carlton Town have been excellent and have topped the league for the majority of the season, but a slight dip in form that has coincided with a remarkable run of 10 consecutive wins for Anstey Nomads has seen the Millers drop down to second place and 2 points behind the now leaders with a worse goal difference of 12 meaning Carlton need to win today and Anstey need to lose.
We caught up with Carlton Town Director of Football, Tommy Brookbanks ahead of the game.
The facilities are fantastic at Carlton and it was great to see the place buzzing, the sun was shining, and the drinks were flowing from the outside bar which is a new addition since we last visited, and was doing a roaring trade! The bar staff outside and in the clubhouse were run off their feet but they still served you with a smile!
The Roger Smith centre, which is named after the long-standing Carlton Town President who served as player, manager, and Chairman who sadly passed away in November 2024 is home to the changing rooms, club shop and snack bar which has a huge range of different offerings, I can highly recommend the cheeseburger!
Another thing to note throughout the day was the great music coming from the excellent DJ booth which was manned by Ben and his son ahead of the match followed by another excellent DJ later on in the night.
You can't beat a bit of vinyl!
Kick off
Half time rolled around with Carlton leading 2-0 and Anstey Nomads were still being held 0-0 in the other all important match.
We had a quick chat with Gary 'Boatsy' Clarke, Carlton's Commercial and Marketing Director at the interval.
(Apologies for the poor sound quality)
There was a cracking attendance on the day of 515 at The Bill Stokeld Stadium which included a wonderful group of young lads who didn't stop singing throughout!
Full time
The match finished 4-1 to Carlton Town, but sadly it wasn't to be enough as Anstey Nomads got a second-half goal against Wellingborough Town to win 1-0 and lift the league trophy.
We spoke to The Millers Chairman, Mick Garton after the final whistle to get his thoughts on the day.
Dan caught up with Ben Marsh after the game to find out about his role as Media Manager and the club.
There is a real sense of togetherness at the club which was shown in the clubhouse after the match, even though there was an obvious sense of disappointment, there was still a nice presentation for two Carlton players who have racked up 100 appearances for the club.
After the match, the players, staff, volunteers and fans all got together in The Shed end for the annual end of season photo and Ben from the media team said;
"This photo just gets bigger every season!"
This tells you everything you need to know about the direction this wonderful friendly community club is going in!
Gary has been to Carlton Town many times but this was my first visit, to say I enjoyed the day would be a huge understatement, seeing as I didn't leave the clubhouse until 9pm followed by a mad dash to Nottingham Station for the last train back to London which I made by the skin of my teeth should tell you everything!
Top people who make you feel like part of the furniture!
We wish Carlton Town all the best for the week ahead and fingers crossed for them at home to Racing Club Warwick on Tuesday in the semi-final playoff!
You can watch the match highlights from the todays game below, courtesy of the excellent Carlton Town TV.
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