Editing FA Trophy (section)

==History==
The competition was created by [[the Football Association]] in 1969 to afford [[semi-professional]] teams an opportunity to compete for the chance to play at the [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]]. Fully-amateur clubs took part in the long-standing [[FA Amateur Cup]], but most of the leading [[Non-league football|non-league]] clubs made at least some form of payment to their players and were therefore ineligible to enter the Amateur Cup.<ref name=fahistory/> The first winners of the competition were [[Macclesfield Town F.C.|Macclesfield Town]] of the [[Northern Premier League]], who defeated [[Telford United F.C.|Telford United]] of the [[Southern Football League|Southern League]] in the final.<ref name=fchd>{{cite web|url=https://www.fchd.info/cups/fatrophysummary.htm|publisher=The Football Club History Database|title=F A Trophy Summary|access-date=27 December 2011|archive-date=5 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705040332/http://www.fchd.info/cups/fatrophysummary.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Northern Premier League clubs dominated the first decade of the competition, with [[Telford United F.C.|Telford United]] the only [[Southern Football League|Southern League]] team to break the northern clubs' hold on the competition.<ref>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Tony|title=The FA Non-League Football Annual 1978–79|year=1978|publisher=MacDonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd|pages=7}}</ref> In the early years of its existence, the competition struggled to achieve the same level of prestige as the long-established Amateur Cup.<ref name=rsssf/>
[[File:Altrincham v Leatherhead 1978.jpg|left|thumb|268x268px|[[Altrincham F.C.|Altrincham]] v [[Leatherhead F.C.|Leatherhead]] FA Trophy final in [[1977–78 FA Trophy|1978]] ]]
In 1974 the FA abolished the distinction between official professional and amateur status and discontinued the Amateur Cup, and the Trophy soon had 300 entrants.<ref name=rsssf>{{cite web|title=England – FA Trophy Finals 1970–2003|url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablese/engfatrophyhist.html|access-date=15 June 2011|author=Gwidon S. Naskrent|website=[[RSSSF]]|date=17 January 2004|archive-date=20 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220820005858/https://www.rsssf.org/tablese/engfatrophyhist.html|url-status=live}}</ref>  This figure was gradually reduced until by 1991 only around 120 clubs took part.<ref name=rsssf/>  In 1978 the FA moved the final of the Trophy to the Saturday immediately following the [[FA Cup Final]], so as to give it a longer build-up and avoid conflict with clubs' league programmes, which had previously reduced the competition's prestige.<ref>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Tony|title=The FA Non-League Football Annual 1978–79|year=1978|publisher=MacDonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd|pages=13–14}}</ref>

In 1979 the leading Southern and Northern Premier League teams formed the new [[Football Conference|Alliance Premier League]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fchd.info/lghist/conf/conf1980.htm |title=Alliance Premier League 1979–80 |publisher=The Football Club History Database |access-date=10 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328223843/http://www.fchd.info/lghist/conf/conf1980.htm |archive-date=28 March 2008}}</ref> and teams from this league dominated the Trophy during the 1980s, although in the [[1980-81 in English football|1980–81 season]] [[Bishop's Stortford F.C.|Bishop's Stortford]] of the comparatively lowly [[Isthmian League]] First Division entered at the preliminary round and won twelve matches to reach the final, where they defeated [[Sutton United F.C.|Sutton United]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fchd.info/BISHOPST.HTM|title=Bishop's Stortford|publisher=The Football Club History Database|access-date=10 November 2008|archive-date=23 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523202231/http://www.fchd.info/BISHOPST.HTM|url-status=live}}</ref>  [[Telford United F.C.|Telford United]]'s win in 1989 made them the second team to win the Trophy three times.<ref name="Nat">{{cite book|first=Stuart|last=Barnes|title=Nationwide Football Annual 2008–2009|pages=155|publisher=SportsBooks Ltd|isbn=978-1-899807-72-7|year=2008}}</ref>  Between 1990 and 2000 three more teams claimed multiple wins.  Former [[Northern Ireland national football team|Northern Ireland]] international [[Martin O'Neill]], in his third managerial role, led [[Wycombe Wanderers F.C.|Wycombe Wanderers]] to two wins, and Geoff Chapple managed [[Kingstonian F.C.|Kingstonian]] to victory twice and [[Woking F.C.|Woking]] three times, all within the space of seven years.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/k/kingstonian/1134156.stm|publisher=BBC|work=BBC Sport|title=Chapple seeking Cup solace|access-date=10 November 2008|date=24 January 2001|first=Gabrielle|last=Lewis|archive-date=4 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904214005/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/k/kingstonian/1134156.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/k/kingstonian/1321818.stm|publisher=BBC|work=BBC Sport|title=K's and Chapple part company|access-date=10 November 2008|date=9 May 2001|archive-date=16 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116222540/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/k/kingstonian/1321818.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>  After Chapple's period of success, [[Mark Stimson]] became the first man to manage the Trophy-winning team in three successive seasons, when he led [[Grays Athletic F.C.|Grays Athletic]] to victory in 2005 and 2006 and repeated the feat with his new club [[Stevenage Borough F.C.|Stevenage Borough]] in 2007.<ref name="Stim">{{cite news
| title = Gillingham name Mark Stimson as new manager
| url = https://www.thetimes.com/article/gillingham-name-mark-stimson-as-new-manager-bf007fkvjnn
| work = [[The Times]]|publisher=[[News International]]
| date = 1 November 2007
| access-date=10 November 2008 | location=London}}</ref>[[File:Crowd wembley FAT 08.jpg|right|thumb|[[Ebbsfleet United F.C.|Ebbsfleet United]] fans at the 2008 final|275x275px]]Originally the competition included as many qualifying rounds as were required to reduce the number of teams to 32. In 1999 the format was amended to match that of the [[FA Cup]], with six rounds prior to the semi-final stage, albeit without qualifying rounds. Teams from the [[Football Conference]] received byes through the early rounds, in a similar manner to the way in which the leading clubs receive byes in the FA Cup.<ref name="rsssf" /> As of 2001 the competition was sponsored by Umbro; in the 2007-08 season it was sponsored by Carlsberg.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1415397.stm|publisher = BBC|title = FA Umbro Trophy draw|work = Football|date = 4 August 2001|access-date = 12 November 2008|archive-date = 22 November 2002|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20021122133036/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1415397.stm|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2300055/Web-fans-log-on-to-Ebbsfleet-FA-Trophy-glory.html|work = Daily Telegraph|title = Web fans log on to Ebbsfleet FA Trophy glory|date = 11 May 2008|first = Simon|last = Hart|access-date = 4 April 2018|archive-date = 21 May 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180521201504/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2300055/Web-fans-log-on-to-Ebbsfleet-FA-Trophy-glory.html|url-status = live}}</ref>