Cheadle Town F.C.
 | |||
| Full name | Cheadle Town Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1961 (as Grasmere Rovers) | ||
| Ground |
Park Road Stadium Cheadle Stockport | ||
| Capacity | 2,000 | ||
| Chairman | Chris Davies | ||
| Manager | Terry Hincks | ||
| League |
North West Counties Football League Division One | ||
| 2012–13 |
North West Counties Football League Division One, 7th | ||
| |||
Cheadle Town F.C. are a football club based in Cheadle, a suburb of Stockport, Greater Manchester. They were established in 1961 and joined the North West Counties Football League in 1983. They are currently members of the North West Counties Football League Division One (the new name of the "old" Division Two as of 2008–09[1]). Their home ground is Park Road Stadium.
History
As Grasmere Rovers
Cheadle Town's history can be traced back to 1961 when a 14-year-old boy called Barrie Dean asked his neighbour, Chris Davies, to help his friends form a football team. This team was called Grasmere Rovers after the name of the street that both Dean and Davies lived on (Grasmere Avenue). Chris Davies took on the role of team manager and on 3 September 1961, Grasmere Rovers took to the field for the first time, losing 0–5 to Sutton Boys.
Grasmere started out in the Manchester Junior Football League – a league they would eventually win in the 1967–68 season – playing their games on a Sunday afternoon at The Mellands Playing Fields in Belle Vue. They joined the Manchester League in 1972, allowing them to play their football on the more regular Saturday afternoon. Now under the managerial guidance of Albert Pike, with Chris Davies as chairman and now playing their matches at Surrey Street in Glossop, Grasmere Rovers went from strength-to-strength; the peak of which was the 1979–80 season where they won the Manchester League, the Gilchrist Cup, the Manchester County Amateur Cup and the Derbyshire Junior Cup. In that same season striker Peter Tilley ran in 43 goals.
The team moved to their present-day home of Park Road for the 1982–83 season. Al Sadd were the first ever visitors on Saturday 12 August 1982, running out 4–1 winners on the day. This would be the last season that the team would be known as Grasmere Rovers.[2]
As Cheadle Town
The club joined the North West Counties Football League for the 1983–84 season as Cheadle Town, under the managerial guidance of Gerry Clewes. They finished their first season a lowly 15th in Division Three but were promoted "by default" at the end of the 1986–87 season when Division Three was incorporated into Division Two.
Cheadle Town have spent most of their NWCFL life in Division Two; 1998 saw the start of a three-year escape from Division Two as the club were promoted to Division One. The club struggled with lowly finishes during their three seasons and were ultimately relegated back to Division Two in 2001 after finishing bottom. They have stayed at this level ever since; the fact that Cheadle Town found themselves in Division One for the start of the 2008–09 season was merely down to a renaming of the NWCFL leagues.
In December 2013, Terry Hincks was appointed first team manager.[3]
Club colours & badge
Cheadle Town's traditional colours are white and black (as reflected on the club badge), worn in the combination of white shirts, black shorts and black stockings. However, over recent seasons they have appeared in yellow shirts, blue shorts and yellow stockings and sky blue and white striped shirts, navy blue shorts and stockings. The club returned to white-and-black for the 2008–09 season.[4]
As part of the club's 50th anniversary celebrations the club decided to revert to the original colours of Grasmere Rovers – green and white – on a permanent basis.[5]
Stadium
Park Road Stadium has an official capacity of 2,000; its record attendance is 1,700 for a friendly match against Stockport County in August 1994. During the 1966 World Cup it was used by the Portuguese national team as a training ground and has also had the honour of hosting a soccer school run by Brazilian legend Jairzinho during the summer of 1993.
It has a covered main stand on the west side of the pitch that can seat approximately 250 and contains the changing rooms underneath; the other three sides of the pitch are uncovered and surrounded by nothing more than a railing. Other facilities at the stadium include a clubhouse and a portable building that doubles up as the refreshments kiosk and hospitality room.
These facilities were severely damaged by a spate of vandalism during the last two weeks of June 2008. The catalogue of damage included fencing being ripped down, the away dug-out being destroyed and outside lighting being smashed.[6] The club managed to have the damage repaired in time for the start of the 2008–09 season.
Planned refurbishment
All of the facilities mentioned above at Park Road stadium were already in a state of disrepair before the June 2008 vandalism. The club had hoped to make a start on their planned £1.9m refurbishment of the stadium towards the start of the 2011–12 season which would have seen improvements made to the main stand, a new clubhouse, new changing facilities for teams and officials, a new all-weather football pitch, two new five-a-side pitches, new perimeter fence and railings plus a new 60m x 40m grass pitch.[7] In October 2010 members of Stockport Council's Cheadle Area Committee backed the club's proposal to purchase the ground from the council.[8]As of February 2013 the club had managed to build just one five-a-side football pitch on-site and still had plans to replace the clubhouse with one that would have space for a nursery and a small sports hall.[9]
Supporters
Cheadle Town's average home attendance for the 2008–09 season was 55, exactly the same as the previous season.[10] Most of this support consists of the players' friends and families.
Playing squad
As of 28 August 2013: Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Players who went on to play for Football League teams
(club in brackets is the one joined by player after leaving Cheadle Town)
Honours
As Grasmere Rovers
- Manchester & District Cup
- Winners 1972–73
- Manchester League Division One
- Winners 1979–80
- Runners-up 1980–81, 1981–82
- Manchester County Amateur Cup
- Winners 1979–80
- Gilchrist Cup
- Winners 1979–80
- Derbyshire Junior Cup
- Winners 1979–80
As Cheadle Town
- Lamot Pils Trophy
- Runners-up 1990–91
- North West Counties Division Two Trophy
- Runners-up 1995–96, 2009–10
- Stockport Senior Cup (the club uses the Reserves squad to compete in this tournament)
- Runners-Up 2009-10
- Winners 2012-13
League performances
| Season | League | Position | No. of teams | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983–84 | North West Counties Division 3 | 15th | 18 | |
| 1984–85 | 12th | 18 | ||
| 1985–86 | 7th | 15 | ||
| 1986–87 | 8th | 13 | Division 3 merged with Division 2 at end of season | |
| 1987–88 | North West Counties Division 2 | 12th | 22 | |
| 1988–89 | 14th | 18 | ||
| 1989–90 | 6th | 16 | ||
| 1990–91 | 7th | 18 | Lamot Pils Trophy Runners-Up | |
| 1991–92 | 9th | 18 | ||
| 1992–93 | 12th | 18 | ||
| 1993–94 | 12th | 18 | ||
| 1994–95 | 11th | 16 | ||
| 1995–96 | 6th | 18 | NWCFL Division 2 Trophy Runners-Up | |
| 1996–97 | 9th | 20 | ||
| 1997–98 | 4th | 21 | Promoted | |
| 1998–99 | North West Counties Division 1 | 17th | 21 | |
| 1999–2000 | 18th | 22 | ||
| 2000–01 | 22nd | 22 | Relegated | |
| 2001–02 | North West Counties Division 2 | 17th | 21 | |
| 2002–03 | 13th | 19 | ||
| 2003–04 | 16th | 20 | ||
| 2004–05 | 12th | 19 | ||
| 2005–06 | 14th | 19 | ||
| 2006–07 | 12th | 18 | ||
| 2007–08 | 14th | 18 | ||
| 2008–09 | North West Counties Division 1 | 7th | 18 | Division 2 renamed to Division 1 |
| 2009–10 | 14th | 17 | NWCFL Division 1 Trophy Runners-Up | |
| 2010–11 | 10th | 18 | ||
| 2011–12 | 8th | 18 | ||
| 2012–13 | 7th | 18 | Stockport Senior Cup Winners |
Foreign tours
Cheadle Town are famous throughout non-league football for their foreign tours. When abroad the club travels under the name of AFC Manchester and have clocked up over 200,000 airmiles, 96 games in 30 different countries, a total aggregate crowd of 312,000 and 111 goals. Opponents have included seven national teams with the club being the first and only English outfit to play in and against Cuba (in 1975) – a match that was shown on Cuban national television. They have even graced the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, playing to a crowd of 65,000 and met people such as Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ronnie Biggs and Rajiv Gandhi.
Link with Inter Cheadle JFC
Towards the end of March 2008, the club announced a mutually-beneficial association with local junior football side Inter Cheadle JFC. The partnership allows Inter Cheadle to use the facilities at Park Road for some of their seven teams."Inter Cheadle Junior Football Club".</ref>[11]
References
- ↑ "Cheadle Town profile at NWCFL official website".
- ↑ "PARK ROAD 'OPENED' 30 YEARS AGO". pitchero.com. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
- ↑ "New Management Team at Cheadle Town". Cheadle Town F.C. 27 December 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
- ↑ http://www.cheadletownfc.com/2008/07/ebony-and-ivory.html
- ↑ "New Sponsorship Deal for Cheadle Town". NWCFL. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
- ↑ "Vandals threaten Cheadle Town FC – News – Stockport Express".
- ↑ "Cheadle Town F.C. – a new stadium?".
- ↑ "Boost for Cheadle Town FC's bid to buy ground". Stockport Express (M.E.N. Media). 13 October 2010.
- ↑ "Cheadle Town FC looking to improve facilities". 15 March 2013.
- ↑ "Attendances".
- ↑ "The Cheadle Town FC Blog: Official CTFC Press Release".
- Williams, Tony (2005). The Non-League Club Directory. Tony Williams Publications. ISBN 1-869833-49-X.
- Cheadle Town Football Club. Memories of a Local Football Team.
- RSSSF Football Statistics
- Cheadle Town at the Football Club History Database
- Tony Kempster's English Football Site
External links
Coordinates: 53°23′31.69″N 2°12′12.18″W / 53.3921361°N 2.2033833°W