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 Upon the merger, Dagenham & Redbridge FC took the place of Redbridge Forest in Conference. They finished a very impressive third in their first season and but for a point deducted would have been second although well behind champions Wycombe Wanderers. The first manager appointed was John Still, previously boss of Redbridge Forest.
The new club's first game was a friendly at Great Wakering Rovers on
the 25th July 1992, won 8-0. The first competitive match was at Merthyr Tydfil
in the GM Vauxhall Conference on the 22nd August 1992, won 2-0.
During that first season, the Daggers also reached the first round proper of the FA Cup, losing 5-4 to Leyton Orient in front of a near-capacity crowd. The match is still talked about at Victoria Road as being one of the most exciting ever seen there. Also during that season, there were an unprecedented seven Dagenham & Redbridge players selected to play for the England semi-professional side.
The following season saw the Daggers finish in a respectable 6th in the Conference and managed to beat the eventual FA Trophy winners,
Woking, 8-1 at the Kingfield Stadium, a scoreline which is still the club's record win.
Still left to take over at Peterborough and the following seasons saw a decline in form
as managers came and went unable to build on Still's early successes. The
club had finishes of 15th in 1994/95 and 22nd in 1995/96.
Relegation to the Isthmian League resulted in a rebuild of the team under
"Father Ted" Hardy and the turnaround in fortunes was startling.
1996/97 saw an FA Trophy Final appearance against Conference outfit Woking at Wembley where the Daggers narrowly lost 1-0
in extra time having played two-thirds of the game with ten men, another appearance in the first round proper of the FA Cup (lost 4-3 on penalties to Ashford Town) and a 4th place finish in the league.
In 1997/98, the club reached the second round of the FA Cup, losing 3-2 at Peterborough having beaten Farnborough in the first round. A run of poor results signalled the end of their title aspirations despite having topped the table for three months. The club did, however, win it's first silverware since the merger, beating Purfleet in the Essex Senior Cup Final.
The 1998/99 season was notable mainly for the impressive run of league clean-sheets that meant the club had an unbeaten run of 14 games and went for 1114 minutes between January 31st until April 5th without conceding a goal. This run towards the end of the season caused the Daggers to climb the table dramatically, but it was not sufficient to mount a serious
challenge with the club ending up in 3rd.
The Daggers appointed Garry Hill as manager in the close season 1999 and he took
the squad that Ted Hardy had built on to new heights. The 1999/00 season was arguably the best in the clubs history, running away with the Ryman (Isthmian) league and topping the table for virtually the entire season.
With a record of 101 points 97 goals for the season the club finally earned itself a return to the Nationwide Conference for the 2000/01 season.
With the target for the season "consolidation" in 2000/01 the Daggers surprised everyone by having another excellent season, finishing 3rd in the Nationwide Conference and reaching the 3rd Round of the FA Cup for the first time.
After beating Lincoln City at Sincil Bank in the 2nd Round the FA Cup matches against Charlton Athletic will long be remembered. Leading the Addicks at The Valley by one goal to nil with only 4 minutes remaining, it took a deflected equaliser to take the game to a replay at Victoria Road. In the
frost delayed replay, the visitors won by a solitary goal in the first period of extra time to narrowly escape the giant killing. The Daggers also reached the final of the Essex Senior Cup for the second time.
During close season, the old wooden main stand at Victoria Road was pulled-down and replaced with a new stand. Other work was also
carried out, bringing Victoria Road up to the required standard for the Football League.
Prior to the start of the 2001/02 season, the held-over Essex Senior Cup Final was held at Victoria Road with The Daggers beating the FA Trophy Winners, Canvey Island 5-3 on penalties.
2001/02 was another great, if eventually frustrating season for the Daggers as they again reached the 3rd Round of the FA Cup, losing 4-1 to Premiership Ipswich Town after taking the lead. During the cup run they beat Exeter City 3-0
at Victoria Road live on Sky TV in one of the best performances ever seen from the club.
The FA Cup run that season was nearly ended before it had started when
goalkeeper Tony Roberts scored a last gasp equaliser in a 2-2 draw at
Basingstoke Town in the 4th Qualifying round. Tony remains the only
goalkeeper to have scored in open play in the FA Cup and will happily tell
you the full story if asked.
The club also reached the final of the Essex Senior Cup again, fielding a much weakened side
in the midst of the Conference title run in and losing 6-1 to Canvey Island. In the Conference they were in
the top two from September and at one point held an eight point lead before eventually finished second, missing out on promotion to the
Football League on goal difference.
Other achievements in 2001/02 were the granting of a Football League
"A" grading to Victoria Road and new attendance records overall (5,949
v Ipswich Town) and for a league game (3,939 v Chester City).
2002/03 again proved frustrating in the end with some fabulous
highlights. The summer saw the controversy of "Bostongate" when
Boston United, who had pipped the Daggers to the title the previous
season, were investigated and found guilty of financial irregularities
during their Conference Championship season by the FA. In July they were fined and docked points for the offences, but from the 2002/03 season, meaning they kept their promotion. Once the actual football resumed after a volatile
summer the Daggers started fast and topped the table in August then fell to 15th by mid October.
Once again the FA Cup worked it's magic though and the Daggers worked
their way past Aldershot Town, Havant & Waterlooville, and Crawley
Town to the 3rd Round again. After drawing at Plymouth Argyle the club
finally made it to the 4th Round by beating Argyle 2-0 in a televised
replay. In the last 32 of the cup they drew Norwich City at Carrow Road
and lost 1-0 to a last minute winner, goalkeeper Tony Roberts winning the
FA's player of the round award.
The FA Cup run inspired the Daggers league form too, where they broke
the all time record for consecutive Conference victories with eleven in a
row between the end of December and mid March. This lifted them to finish
5th and a place in the first ever Conference promotion play off. After an
epic two leg semi final win over Morecambe on penalties, the final was
lost 3-2 against Doncaster Rovers at Stoke City's Britannia Stadium to a
golden goal leaving the club missing out having been so close to promotion once again.
During the close season 2003 Garry Hill changed the squad significantly
with eight players out and seven in as the club chased for the elusive promotion place in
2003/04. The moves were in vain though and the Daggers run of success was
broken. Further player movements in and out meant that their was no stable
team and matters were made worse following a controversial incident when
Hill was accused of racism by Telford's Fitzroy Simpson in September.
Although the charges were never proven the incident resulted in the
departure of two of the clubs black players including the top scorer for
the previous two seasons, Mark Stein. The team struggled and took early
exits in all the cups including a painful FA Cup 4th round qualifying exit
at Thurrock. When the Daggers lost 9-0 to Hereford at home live on Sky TV
in late February, the writing was on the wall for Hill and he resigned in
late March.
Dagenham & Redbridge Squad 2003/04 (c) Dave Simpson
The club went back to its roots in re-appointing John Still as its
manager once again in mid April 2004 and John had the task of
re-building the momentum behind the Daggers in 2004/05 having seen his new
charges end up 13th on the Conference at the end of a very forgettable
2003/04.
With a reduced playing budget the club was forced to go for youth in
2004/05 and because of this the team were inconsistent with some great results and some dire ones along the way. After starting with three wins and
topping the table the Daggers slumped to 16th around New Year before a
better second half of the season and an unbeaten run of seven games to end
up in 11th place, but closer to the play offs than the team in 12th. The
club made it as far as the first round proper of the FA Cup where they
lost 3-1 at neighbours Leyton Orient and took an early exit from the FA
Trophy also.
With John Still keeping the heart of the team that finished so well
together heading into 2005/06 with the addition of some carefully chosen
new talent, the young side looked well placed to head into the new season
with some confidence but again was inconsistent. A slightly unfortunate FA
Cup defeat at Hartlepool was followed by a decent run in the FA Trophy for
the first time for a while. The club eventually bowed out in a Quarter
Final replay
against local rivals and eventual winners Grays Athletic. In the
Conference the team was again inconsistent but improved its final position
once again to finish 10th but some way off a play off place.
Going in to 2006/07 no one could have predicted that the Daggers would
be challenging once again for the Conference title. With the addition of a
couple of key signings and the maturing of some of the youth that John
Still had
been nurturing, the Daggers kept pace with early leaders, relegated Oxford
United. Despite being up to 8 points behind in October and losing at home
to them in the league and FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round, the Daggers kept plugging away
and, as Oxford's form dipped in December and January, they caught and
passed them. This was despite being forced to sell two of John Still's finds in
Craig Mackail-Smith and Craig Blackett to Peterborough in January 2007 for a club record
fee estimated at £250,000.
On the 7th April 2007 the Daggers beat Aldershot Town at home in front
of a then new record league crowd (4,044) to clinch the Nationwide Conference
title with five games remaining, becoming the first team promoted in all
the English leagues. With the title came promotion to the Coca-Cola
Football League Two. This magnificent achievement came five years after it
should have in 2001/02 but this time there was little to no nail biting
for the Daggers faithful who celebrated long and hard.
John Still and assistant, Terry Harris after the Conference Championship was clinched
April 2007 (c) DiggerDagger.com
The Daggers first season in the Football League was a bit of a struggle with the club in a relegation fight up to March, before going on a run of five wins and finally finishing a relatively comfortable 20th.
2008/09 was a much better season for the Daggers with the club chasing a play off spot for most of the season. Going in to the last game the Daggers lay in the last play off spot in 7th and needed just a draw to seal a place in the play offs, but lost 2-1 at home to Shrewsbury who sneaked above them as a result in front of a new record league attendance at Victoria Road (4,791). The 8th place finish is still a huge achievement for the Daggers who remain one of the smaller, if better run, Football League clubs.
Football League regulations, which insist on a minimum of 2,000 seats, meant that the Daggers were forced to invest further in the ground during the close season of 2009 and a new stand was buit at the Pondfield End of the stadium, seating 1,240. This is allocated to away fans and has changed the look and feel of the ground considerably.
Dagenham & Redbridge Squad 2006/07 (c) Dave Simpson
With the team doing so well, almost inevitably half a dozen of the players were lured away to pastures new during the close season and the first half of 2009/10. John Still continued to find unpolished diamonds from the ranks of Non-League football to fill the breaches while battling on the field with the various "money" clubs and administration basket cases that infest much of League Two.
In 2009/10 the Daggers continued to punch above their weight, topping the table twice before dropping to mid table early in 2010. A late run meant that once again they sat in the final play off place going in to the last day of the season, and this time a 2-0 win at already relegated Darlington clinched 7th spot.
No one could seriously have believed what would come next as Morecambe came to Victoria Road and were demolished 6-0 in a game that broke all Football League Play-off records. The return game, the last one at Morecambe's Christie Park before they moved to a new ground, was lost 2-1 in a late flurry of goals to clinch a place at Wembley against Rotherham United 7-2 on aggregate.
The final at Wembley, the last game of the English domestic season and the last ever game in the Coca Cola sponsored Football League, was another classic with the Daggers hanging on to win 3-2 in the end to clinch an unlikely promotion to League One for 2010/11. Celebrations continue right now, but the Daggers are coming to a League One ground near you next season, be warned!
Wembley salutes the Play off winners (c) DiggerDagger.com
Click
here to see a list of the honours won by Dagenham & Redbridge FC
Click
here to see Dagenham & Redbridge's season-by-season record
Click
here to see Dagenham & Redbridge's club records
Click
here to see details of the men that have managed Dagenham & Redbridge
Click
here to see a history of Dagenham & Redbridge's home, Victoria Road
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Founded
in 1881, Ilford were one of the original entrants in the FA Amateur Cup competition when, after beating Ipswich Town, West Herts and
Whitby, they lost 2-4 at Bishop Auckland. They were also finalists in the last ever Amateur Cup final
at Wembley in 1974. Progressing through the Southern and London Leagues, they were
founder members of the Isthmian League in 1905 and remained there for a total of 61 seasons.
Leytonstone themselves were founded as Cedars FC in 1886 and renamed as Leytonstone in 1892. 
In 1979, upon amalgamation of Ilford FC and Leytonstone FC, they became known as Leytonstone & Ilford, winning the Isthmian League championship in 1981/82. In 1983, the name was changed to Leytonstone/Ilford.
Walthamstow Avenue were founded in 1900 by local schoolmaster Parkin Davidson. The theory behind the name is that all the players had to live in 'Avenues' in Walthamstow. They played in the Walthamstow & District League until 1921 when an application to join the Spartan League was accepted.
They then transferred to the Athenian League in 1929 and proceeded to win the league title five times before the war. Joining the Isthmian League in 1945/46, they spent 42 seasons there, winning the championship in 1945/46, 1952/53 and 1953/54. 
Dagenham, the youngest of the founder clubs also had a relatively illustrious history. 
After
one season of playing as Leytonstone/Ilford (incorporating Walthamstow Avenue
FC), the club was renamed to Redbridge Forest to fully reflect the inclusion of Walthamstow Avenue in the mix.
