Margate

Ramsgate is a few miles along the Thanet coast, and when Margate meet them the match is called the Thanet Derby. For a club that has spent much of its life short of money and stability, the derby is one of the few fixtures whose meaning has not changed with the division.

Margate have folded more than once. The first collapse came in 1923, over financial irregularities, and the club reformed as Margate Town. It went under again and came back a third time in 1929. In 1981 it became Thanet United, hoping a broader regional name would attract funding; the name lasted until 1989, when it reverted to Margate Football Club. Blue and white hoops arrived in 1949, after black and white and a spell in amber and black in the 1930s.

A record crowd of 14,169 saw Tottenham Hotspur win 6–0 in the FA Cup Third Round in 1972–73. Thirty-seven years earlier, in 1935–36, Margate had also reached that round and lost 1–3 to Blackpool. They won the Southern League Premier Division in 2000–01, and the Kent Senior Cup has come back to Hartsdown Park nine times, most recently in 2022–23.

That promotion led to the Conference National, and the club was expelled from it in 2004 because the stadium did not meet the requirements. The ground holds 2,100, with 400 seats, and Alistair Bayliss has been chairman since 2016.

Japhet Tanganga developed at the club before Tottenham Hotspur's youth setup took him. Gerrit Keizer went from Margate to Arsenal.