When I moved to Leytonstone in 2017, I noticed a row of 80s-built houses at the top of Granleigh Road, right next-door to Leytonstone High Road station. They stood out against the Victorian terraced properties that characterise the rest of the street, so I immediately wondered what preceded them.
A Google search revealed that, until 1986, this was the home of Leytonstone FC’s 10,500-capacity ground – a grand old non-league venue that, during its 92-year existence, hosted the Nigerian national side, Tottenham Hotspur and, er, the TV All Stars (who, to be fair, had Mike and Bernie Winters in their ranks).
Leytonstone versus Nigeria: a match that actually happened
Yep, really. In August 1949, a Nigerian squad of 18 arrived in Liverpool for a one-month tour of England (as covered by this fantastic Colonial Film Unit documentary). After defeating Marine and losing to Bishop Auckland, they travelled to the capital to play Leytonstone on 8 September.
It was quite a spectacle. 10,000 people packed into Granleigh Road to witness a “fast, quick thinking” Nigeria team bring “the best out of Leytonstone”. The score? 2-1 to the home side, but only after a last-minute winner. Among Nigeria’s starting 11 was wing wizard Titus Okere, who later became the first player from the West African nation to sign for a European club (Swindon Town, in case you’re wondering).
Leytonstone captain JJ Kavanagh shakes hands with his Nigeria counterpart, Etim Henshaw
The Daily Graphic’s Edgar Kail had this to say of the visitors:
Their ball control is … uncanny and is a form of caress that is helped by the spreading of the toes … Okere is worth £15,000 and a row of houses. Their artistry is superb, their deportment and their behaviour exemplary, and they will beat more of our leading amateur sides than will beat them.
Among the game’s talking points was that some of the Nigerians played barefoot – a disadvantage on slippery, soft pitches, but not when conditions were fine, which they most certainly were on that late summer day in E11.
Credit: Fulham Historian (via Twitter)
Kings of the Isthmian League
When they weren’t hosting national teams, Leytonstone FC were establishing themselves as one of England’s most successful amateur clubs. Between 1938 and 1952, they won the Isthmian League – the regional seventh tier of English football, from which there was no promotion until 1985 – seven times. When England lifted the World Cup in 1966, they triumphed once more.
Leytonstone’s Alan Minall lifts aloft the FA Amateur Cup at Wembley in 1968
In 1947 and 1948, Leytonstone also won consecutive FA Amateur Cups – beating Wimbledon at Highbury before defeating fellow future Football League club Barnet at Stamford Bridge 12 months later. When they won it again at Wembley in 1968, Leytonstone qualified for the newly formed Coppa Ottorino Barassi – the Italian-English Amateur League Cup – where they secured an away goals victory over S.T.E.F.E.R. Rome, in a two-legged final, to bring home the trophy.
If, like me, you’re wondering wondering what ‘S.T.E.F.E.R.’ stands for, it is thus: ‘Società Tranvie E Ferrovie Elettriche di Roma’ (the Tramway and Electric Railway Company of Rome). The second leg in Italy, it should be mentioned, was played at Rome’s iconic Stadio Olimpico, where the Italian FA presented Leytonstone’s players with gold medals. Bravissimo.
S.T.E.F.E.R. in all their stripy, vintage Italian glory. Santini and Baragatti, the manager, were clearly distracted by something going on to their right
Hosting Spurs at Granleigh Road
Winning a European cup is something Leytonstone’s opponents on December 8, 1964 have never – to this day – managed to do. Having beaten Sheffield Wednesday in the First Division three days previously, a Tottenham squad featuring Pat Jennings, Dave MacKay and Jimmy Greaves (though admittedly I’m not sure they all featured) rolled into Granleigh Road to inaugurate the ground’s new £5,000 floodlights.
Credit: Spurs Collectables
The match – which ended 5-1 to the visitors after braces from Les Allen and Terry Dyson, and a goal from Frank Saul – proved something of a false dawn for Leytonstone. After four more seasons of success, their 30-year golden period came to an end (a period which also saw the club make the second round proper of the FA Cup in 1948-49 and 1951-52 – Newport County defeating them on both occasions).
Leytonstone followed up their 1965-66 Isthmian League title with a disappointing seventh-placed finish the following season – and, after coming fourth in 1967-68 – they’d never again finish higher than eighth (at least, not as Leytonstone FC). Malaise set in among the club’s fanbase, with fewer and fewer turning up at Granleigh Road on a Saturday afternoon. In 1978-79 – when the ground resembled a “musty, barely patronised museum piece” (the words of Groundtastic’s Vince Taylor) – the club were relegated from the Isthmian Premier.
Credit: Bob Lilliman (with permission from Vince Taylor)
Hooking up with the neighbours
To prevent terminal decline and bankruptcy, Leytonstone merged with ground sharers Ilford ahead of the 1979-80 season to become not Leyford United, which would have been far more endearing, but Leytonstone Ilford. This was partly to appease Ilford fans, who were still angry about leaving their 18,000-capacity Lynn Road ground – where, two years previously, India played their first ever international match against France at the 1948 London Olympics.
Despite losing a slice of their identity and quite possibly their character, the decision paid off, with Leytonstone Ilford securing the Isthmian Division One title and immediate promotion back to the Premier Division. Further success followed in 1981-82, when they finished above Sutton United and Wycombe Wanderers to win the Isthmian Premier for the first time in their new guise.
With murmurings of promotion from the Isthmian League to the heady heights of the Football Conference, this was an exciting time to be a Leytonstone Ilford fan. Could they sustain their momentum? Would the glory days return? Well, not exactly. When promotion finally became a thing in 1984-85, Leytonstone Ilford did successfully exit the division… by finishing 21st and dropping back into Isthmian Division One. Oops.
Credit: Bob Lilliman (with permission from Vince Taylor)
And that, sadly, was just about it for Granleigh Road. Its final season witnessed a hugely disappointing 12th-placed finish in a league Leytonstone had only competed in five times previously. That summer, the ground’s seats were ripped out and its crumbling stands razed to the ground, soon to be replaced by the houses and flats you can see there today.
That’s not to say Leytonstone Ilford’s few remaining fans didn’t put up a fight. They did. There was an on-pitch demonstration during the last home game of the 1985-86 season, with a large ‘LIFC RIP’ flag draped over the terraces. Those in attendance knew, however, that Granleigh Road’s time – possibly even the club’s – was up.
Long-awaited promotion to the Conference. Kind of, in a way
So, what happened to Leytonstone Ilford? Well, after moving to Walthamstow Avenue’s Green Pond Road ground – taking a few of Granleigh Road’s seats with them – they didn’t do too badly at all. Their first season in E17, 1986-87, saw them comfortably win Isthmian Division One (their closest challengers were neighbours Leyton Wingate, whose abandoned ground can still be seen off Lea Bridge Road).
Green Pond Road as it was in the mid 80s. Credit: Malcolm Dixon (via Vince Taylor)
After a fourth-placed finish back in the Isthmian Premier the following season, 1988-89 brought another title – and with it, a long-awaited promotion to the Football Conference. It should have been the most celebrated moment in the club’s history, but that’s not quite how it panned out.
Why? Well, partly because the title-winning season came on the back of another merger with Walthamstow Avenue. Leytonstone Ilford kept their name (though club programmes referred to them as ‘Leytonstone Ilford incorporating Walthamstow Avenue’), but they were effectively three clubs playing in a ground that wasn’t theirs – a ground that, sadly, wasn’t deemed suitable for Conference football, and which had already been sold to developers. Second-placed Farnborough Town, who Leytonstone defeated 5-2 on the final day of the season at Green Pond Road, were promoted in their place – to chants of “We’re going up, we’re going up; you’re not, you’re not.”
Bye bye Leytonstone Ilford, hello Redbridge Forest
The final nail in Leytonstone’s coffin was hammered in a few weeks later, when the club changed its name to Redbridge Forest and moved all the way to Dagenham FC’s Victoria Road. To be fair, this wasn’t the intention – the original plan was to move a site in Chingford, which was semantically suitable given the boundary line between Redbridge and Waltham Forest ran directly through the proposed pitch. The respective councils, though, couldn’t agree how to proceed.
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Victoria Road, home of Dagenham & Redbridge FC (credit: David Ingham)
After a mid-table finish in 1989-90, Redbridge Forest matched Leytonstone Ilford’s 1988-89 triumph by winning the Isthmian Premier and, because Victoria Road wasn’t at risk of blowing down in a mild gale, promotion to the Conference. Leytonstone/Leytonstone Ilford/Leytonstone Ilford incorporating Walthamstow Avenue had finally made it. As Redbridge Forest.
Fortunately, Leytonstone’s identity hadn’t been completely compromised. Former defender John Still – who played for the club before moving to Dagenham FC – returned as manager to oversee Leytonstone Ilford’s 1981-82 Isthmian League title. It was he who took the reins at Redbridge Forest ahead of their inaugural 1989-90 season, and who steered them to promotion in 1990-91. In 2007, Still got Dagenham & Redbridge (Redbridge Forest and Dagenham merged in 1992, after Redbridge Forest finished seventh in their first Conference season) into the Football League.
When Still left Dagenham & Redbridge (for the third time, it should be said) in 2018, the club’s only tangible link to Leytonstone FC was lost.
What’s left of Granleigh Road today?
Where Granleigh Road once stood: a 1953 Ordnance Survey map overlaid with a modern-day Google Maps view
Well, not much. A section of the white retaining wall, which once ran along the southern side of the pitch, is still there (see the middle of the below photo) – as are the nets above it that once caught stray balls. Otherwise, there’s no trace of this magnificent old ground, nor its relatively illustrious history.
Left: Looking towards where the centre circle once was (from the Overground station platform) // Right: Some of the netting used to catch stray balls
Which is a crying shame. Fortunately, there’s a large brick wall right at the top end of Granleigh Road, by the corner of Trinity Close, that’s crying out for a blue plaque. What say you, Waltham Forest Council?
IBWM has published an amazing collection of photographs from Leytonstone Ilford’s last game at Granleigh Road on 26 April 1986, taken by Roger Estop.
I wouldn’t have been able to write this article without the Football Club History Database Index. Thanks, also, to Vince Taylor, co-editor of Groundtastic.
Got this far and want more? Check out my post on Leyton FC, which covers their abandoned ground (which you can still visit), star players who went on to manage Athletic Bilbao, and their league history in gloriously abridged detail.