Newry City F.C.

Newry City

Full name	Newry City Football Club
Founded	1923 (as Newry Town)
Dissolved	2012
Ground	The Showgrounds, Newry
Ground Capacity	7,949 (safe capacity 2,275, 1,080 seated)[1]
Home colours Away colours

This article is about the club founded in 1923 and dissolved in 2012. For the club founded in 2013, see Newry City A.F.C..

Newry City Football Club was a Northern Irish football club founded in 1923. It was based in Newry, County Down and played its home matches at the Showgrounds. Club colours were blue and white. The club was relegated from the IFA Premiership in the 2010–11 season, and after narrowly missing out on promotion back to the top tier the following season, the club was dissolved in September 2012, when a winding up petition brought against the club by former player and manager Gerry Flynn was granted, and the club decided not to appeal the decision.^[2][3][4]

A new club, under the name Newry City A.F.C. was formed in March 2013, with a view to joining the Mid-Ulster Football League for 2013–14.^[5]

History

The club was originally known as Newry Town - it was renamed in 2004, two years after Newry obtained city status.

The club's most successful period was the late 1990s. After winning the First Division in the 1997–98 season, the club managed to finish fourth in the Premier Division, thus qualifying for the Intertoto Cup. In this, their first ever appearance in European competition, Newry Town (as they were then known) were drawn against the Croatian side Hrvatski Dragovoljac. A 1–0 defeat in Croatia was followed by an historic 2–0 win at home to send the club into the second round. There they met Bundesliga side MSV Duisburg. Again, Newry were drawn away in the first leg, coming away with a respectable 2–0 defeat to the German professionals. A 1–0 win at home was not enough to force extra time but the side had exceeded expectations in the tournament.

Since the 1999–2000 season, the club went into decline, culminating in a last-place finish in the league in 2002–03. However, thanks to the restructuring of the Irish Football League they were given the chance to avoid relegation, with a play-off against Bangor over two legs. A 0–0 away draw and a 2–1 home win kept the club in the top flight.

In the 2006–07 season, big things were expected of Roy Coyle's team, with the manager seen as the most successful manager in the history of the Irish league, however poor results resulted in Coyle leaving the club. He was replaced by former player Gerry Flynn at the start of 2007. In the 2007–08 season, Flynn's first full season in charge, he and his assistant Peter Murray steered the club to 8th position in the final league table. In September 2009, after a 2–1 victory over Coleraine, Flynn resigned.

Shortly after, former Newry player-manager John McDonnell was given the job. On 13 March 2010, after an uncharacteristically unsuccessful spell McDonnell resigned as First team manager and Gerry Flynn once again took the reins. On 26 April 2011, the club lost 4–0 to Glenavon and were relegated to IFA Championship 1. Prior to this, Gerry Flynn was sacked as manager and former club captain Robbie Casey took charge on a temporary basis. Despite speculation that Roddy Collins was to get the job, former Manchester United player Pat McGibbon later took over as first team coach.

Under McGibbon's leadership Newry were unlucky not to achieve promotion after only one season in the IFA Championship. The club finished as runners-up in the league behind Ballinamallard United and lost the two-legged promotion play-off 3–2 on aggregate to Lisburn Distillery. The club also reached the semi-finals of the Irish Cup, being beaten 7–0 by eventual winners Linfield. In July 2012, McGibbon stepped down from his post as first team coach, citing personal reasons for doing so.^[6]

Dissolution

In early 2012, former manager Gerry Flynn took legal action action against the club for wrongful dismissal and breach of contract regarding his sacking in 2011. The court found in his favour and ordered the club to pay Flynn £25,050 in damages.^[7] However on 10 August 2012, the club (Newry City FC Ltd) was the subject of a winding up petition brought by Flynn, after he had not received payment. As a result, the IFA postponed the club's opening fixture of the 2012–13 IFA Championship season,^[8] but after the club gave assurances to the IFA, they allowed Newry to fulfil the upcoming fixtures. However on 21 September 2012, the winding up petition was granted at a High Court hearing.^[3] The IFA then suspended the club's membership, preventing any team affiliated with the club from playing any fixtures. The club's IFA membership was later terminated, and all of its results from the season so far were expunged once the club decided not to appeal the winding up order. This effectively led to the club dissolving.^[4]

Honours

Senior honours

• Irish League First Division (Tier 2): 1
  • 1997–98
• County Antrim Shield: 1
  • 1987–88
• Mid-Ulster Cup: 14
  • 1936–37, 1956–57, 1963–64, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1989–90, 1999–00, 2006–07, 2011–12

Intermediate honours

• Irish League B Division: 2
  • 1959–60, 1980–81
• Irish Intermediate Cup: 4
  • 1957–58, 1966–67, 1980–81, 2011–12
• Bob Radcliffe Cup: 2
  • 1978–79, 1984–85†

† Won by reserve team

Notable former players

References

External links

• Newry Town / Newry City Statistics and Results at the Irish Football Club Project