Tobey Mason
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A Little Introduction
Romsey Town F.C. our based in Romsey in Hampshire on the south coast of England. The club competes in the Sydenhams Wessex League Division One which is the tenth tier of English football. The club is affiliated to the Hampshire Football Association and is an FA chartered Standard club. Formed in 1886, Romsey have always been around the 9th and 10th tiers of English Football but have once in their history reached the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup in the 1990–91 season. They were among the founding members of the Wessex League in 1986. The club plays at the Bypass Ground which they moved to in 1956.
A Brief History
The club was formed in 1886 when a meeting took place at the Town Hall “to consider the desirability of forming a football club in the town.” Initially they played at Alma Road and in 1889 began playing in local league football where they had successful spells in a number of competitions before joining the Southampton League as founder members in 1908.
The 1920s were a good decade for Romsey Town and after winning the Hampshire Intermediate Cup and the Southampton Senior League they gained entry into the Hampshire League but struggled in the West Division and returned to local football after just one season. In 1930, Romsey moved to Priestlands, which is now Romsey School, and returned to the Hampshire League where they were placed in Division 2. Here the club were better prepared as they went on to produce some of their best attacking sides, featuring well in both league and cup competitions.
In 1956, they were relegated and moved to their current home, The Bypass Ground. Romsey continued in Division 3 but the early 1960s saw a further decline in fortune, eventually resulting in relegation from the league in 1964. Because the football pyramid was not yet in existence, the club were forced to drop right down to replace their reserves in Junior Division 1 of the Southampton League and it was not until 1968 that they won promotion back to the senior section.
By the 1970s, the club started to re-surface out of the doldrums of lower league football and after three successive promotions and a Southampton Senior Cup triumph in 1974. Romsey regained their Hampshire League status in 1975 where they promptly won the Division 4 title at the first attempt. Romsey proceeded to end the decade on a high note, again winning promotion and the Hampshire Intermediate Cup in 1978 followed by arguably their finest hour a year later when they won Division 2 title and unexpectedly defeated Farnborough Town 1–0 in the Hampshire Senior Cup final played at the The Dell (The previous home of Southampron Football club.
The 1980s saw Romsey consolidate in Division 1 before becoming founder members of the Wessex League in 1986. Here they soon became a strong force, and after some encouraging campaigns, they clinched the title in 1990 and enjoyed numerous good cup runs, most notably in 1990 when they lost 1–2 at home to Littlehampton Town in the 4th Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.
A change of personnel saw Romsey fall into decline, and after a nightmare season in 1993 they were relegated back to Division 1 of the Hampshire League, from where they were again relegated. Despite these setbacks, Romsey bounced back and within two years they had won the Southampton Senior Cup and promotion back to the Wessex League. However, they struggled in what had become a much harder competition. In 1998, Romsey were again relegated back to the Hampshire League and a series of managers and large turn-over of players saw them slip into the league's third division. In 2003, the club hit an all-time low when they bottom but the club were re-elected, and since then they have enjoyed a remarkable upturn in fortunes.
In 2004 the Wessex League absorbed the original Hampshire League and due to their facilities Romsey were placed in Division 1 and after some encouraging final placings they won promotion in 2007 back to the top flight, now known as the Premier Division. In the 2007–08 season with manager Glenn Burnett at the helm Romsey's team spirit was at an all-time high. The team were performing well on the pitch as well with two consecutive mid-table finishes really consolidating Romsey's position in the Wessex Premier League. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Glenn Burnett decided to step down blaming his decision to leave on how much he had to do at the club. Assistant manager Lee Harrison soon followed suit, as well as a large percentage of the squad that Glenn had been crafting over the last few seasons.
In the 2010–11 season, backed by the new management duo of Wayne Mew and Stuart Long, began with many trials as Romsey searched to rebuild a team. In the end Romsey finished in 16th position in the league despite a lack of players. One of the high points of the season was Romsey's longest-serving and most prolific player in their history, Simon De'ath, who finished with 25 league goals, placing him seventh in the goalscorer charts.
Wayne Mew continued at the helm for the 2011–12 and managed to keep hold of striker Simon De'ath despite interest from numerous other clubs.
Following one of Romsey's most successful seasons, where Simon De'ath was once again top scorer, after finishing in 8th place alongside two cup quarter finals, manager Wayne Mew decided to resign from the Bypass Ground. Francis Benali also resigned from the post as reserve team boss.
On Thursday 31 May 2012, Romsey appointed Danny Barker as manager taking over from former boss Wayne Mew. In his first full season in charge of the club, the side finished second bottom in the league but were spared relegation after Hayling United were relegated due to ground grading issues.
On 22 October 2013, manager Danny Barker resigned from his post with the club sitting in 22nd place in the league. Carl Bennett and later John McFarlane took over as co-managers but on 30 April 2014, James Phillips was appointed the new head coach, after the club finished bottom of the league.
Romsey Town finished 14th and had a miserable season. James Phillips retired and the club was in total disarray once again.
Current Day
Luckily in June 2015 local businessman and entrepreneur Clay Mason decided to buy the club and quickly installed his son James Mason in the managers role. Clay, a Romsey lad from childhood went on to leave Romsey School and has made his money in the marketing world and he's guessed to be worth a couple of million nowadays.
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James Mason another local Romsey boy followed in his fathers footsteps by going to the local school but it was football which consumed him and not the marketing world. Even at school teachers would comment on the fact that James was always playing with a ball. James had to look outside of school to play for a team though as Romsey School played rugby rather than football.
From the age of six he played for Tadburn a local team in the area. James played mainly in midfield and enjoyed many years playing for the side. Coaches commented on his performances and stated that if he applied himself then he could become quite the talented player. After trials with Southampton, Portsmouth and Reading failed to materialise into anything Mason found himself playing at Eastleigh at the age of 16. He however never made a single senior appearance after severely injuring his anterior cruciate ligament in an Under 18's game.
Mason struggled with his injury, he tried to rush his recovery and ignored his physio's advice. After three months Mason was seen out and about in Romsey, jogging, running and attempting to work out. This was sheer stupidity though as he once again injured his anterior cruciate ligament, this time the doctors told him that football wouldn't be an option for him anymore. Eastleigh quickly terminated his contract and the young boy who was full of promise was now full of regret.
Mason dragged his heels and spent the next few years working a couple of dead end jobs. He did however get his coaching badges and on Sundays he would coach at his old childhood club Tadburn. His interest in coaching was so intense that he would have files and files packed with tactical strategies and coaching techniques. He was somewhat of a cult hero when his Tadburn Under 16's side won their league and the local cup.
Mason was spotted by Bournemouth and was offered a job working for their academy which he enjoyed. Again Mason's stock once again grew as the staff there were impressed with his intricate knowledge of the game and his statistical based training regimes. It was at this point that Mason was given a choice, His father had now bought Romsey Town and knowing his son had management prowess he offered James the job as the clubs newest manager. James took the job and with his father, they totally stripped it back for the current season. Both men removed all of the current backroom staff and players from the club and instead would now embark on searching for new personnel to help improve Romsey Town.
The Bypass Ground
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Romsey Town play their home games at the Bypass Ground in Romsey.
Romsey Town first played on fields which have since been built on at Alma Road but now play their home matches at the Bypass Ground and have done so since 1956 after they were successful in their application for a 99 year lease on the area of the land the ground is built on from the nearby Broadlands Estate.
The ground now has a stand on the far side of the pitch, a smaller stand on the near side as well as a fence which covers a large section of the near side. The ground has also re-built the changing rooms, the refreshments bar and a club house which include a bar.
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. Especially as I am the current manager of RTFC. 
