Altrincham F.C.

Altrincham

Full name	Altrincham Football Club
Nickname(s)	Robins, Alty
Founded	1891 (1891)
Ground	Moss Lane
Ground Capacity	6,085 (1,154 seated)
Chairman	Grahame Rowley
Manager	Lee Sinnott
League	National League
2014–15	Conference Premier, 17th
Home colours Away colours

Altrincham Football Club is a football club in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England, which plays in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. The club is notable for its FA Cup history, having advancing further in the competition than any other semi-professional team.

History

Playing in the Cheshire County League for most of their early history, Altrincham achieved little success until the 1960s, when Altrincham director Noel White hired Freddie Pye as manager. A key turning point in the history of the club is often cited as the signing of Jackie Swindells in 1965, who in his first full season (1965–66) scored a phenomenal 82 goals in 63 games for the club helping Altrincham to the first of two back-to-back Cheshire League titles.^[1] The 1968–69 season saw Altrincham join The Northern Premier League (NPL) as founder members.^[2]

After 11 seasons in the NPL, Altrincham joined the Alliance Premier League (now the Football Conference) as founder members at the beginning of the 1979–80 season, going on to win the league in its first two seasons.^[2] Despite their success Altrincham failed to gain election to the Football League on both occasions due to the voting system in place at the time. In 1980, Altrincham fell short of election to the Football League by the narrowest of margins.^[3]

It wasn't until 1987 that automatic promotion was awarded to the league;^[4] since then Altrincham have only challenged for promotion in the 1990–91 season, eventually finishing 3rd behind Barnet and Colchester United, despite having promotion in their hands with three games left.^[5] Much of Altrincham's success in that season was credited to the goal-scoring prowess of Ken McKenna who scored 22 goals in the league, picking up the player of the season award in the progress.^[6]

Altrincham never regained their success of the 1970s and 1980s and in 1997 they were relegated from the top flight of non-league football to the Northern Premier League for the first time in their history. They won the NPL title two years later, only to go back down again after just one season in the Conference.^[2] It was five years before they gained promotion again, in 2005 as winners of the Conference North/Conference South playoffs beating Eastbourne Borough of Conference South at The Britannia Stadium in the final match.^[7]

Exeter City vs Altrincham, a Conference National fixture played on 19 August 2006

Altrincham were uniquely reprieved from relegation for three successive seasons (2005–06, 2006–07 and 2007–08) as a result of other clubs' issues. In the 2005–06 season, Altrincham finished 18th in the Conference, outside of the relegation zone. However, they were found to have fielded an ineligible player, James Robinson, for 15 matches, during which he scored six goals and Altrincham won 18 points. This led to an 18-point deduction. An appeal to the FA on 23 May failed, which meant that Altrincham finished in bottom place. However, with Canvey Island resigning from the league and Scarborough losing their entire points total for breach of the league's rules on club ownership, Altrincham remained in the Conference.^[8]

The 2006–07 season saw Altrincham "relegated" on the final day of the season, after a 0–0 draw with Aldershot Town,^[9] although they were later reprieved when Boston United (relegated from Football League Two) were refused permission to play in the Conference National and ordered to play in the Conference North instead, as a result of financial problems.^[10] In 2007–08, they finished in the Conference relegation zone for the third successive season but were yet again reprieved from relegation when Halifax Town were forced into liquidation.^[11]

The 2008–09 season proved to be a much better campaign for Altrincham, with the club spending much of the season in mid-table, and they eventually achieved safety from relegation with two games to spare. Altrincham did even better in 2009–10, challenging for a play-off spot early in the campaign and finishing in a relatively safe 14th place.^[2] In 2009, Ricky Ponting, captain of the Australian Cricket team, became a major shareholder of the club after striking up a friendship with club Chairman Geoff Goodwin, whose Eccles-based coach company Go Goodwins have the ECB contract to drive the Australia team coach.^[12][13] However, the club had a poor start to the 2010–11 season, earning only one point from their first eight games, which resulted in the sacking of long-time manager Graham Heathcoate in September.^[14] Ken McKenna replaced Heathcoate and the team's form gradually improved as the season went on, but their awful start cost them in the end and they were relegated in 22nd place on the final day of the season.^[2] Ironically, had they finished one place higher they would have earned a fourth reprieve from relegation due to Rushden & Diamonds being expelled from the Conference because of financial problems, but this time it was to be Southport who were reprieved.^[15] After Altrincham's relegation McKenna left the club.^[16]

Former Farsley Celtic and Port Vale manager Lee Sinnott became the club's new manager for the Conference North Campaign,^[17] with former Hyde manager Neil Tolson as his assistant. In their first season under Sinnott, Altrincham finished 8th^[2] and the season after, they narrowly missed out on promotion, losing to Brackley in the play-off semi-finals.^[18] The 2013–14 season in the Conference North saw Altrincham finish in 4th place. In a dramatic finish to their play-off final against Guiseley, Altrincham substitute Greg Wilkinson came on in the last minute of extra-time and scored with his first touch for a 2–1 win.^[19]

Rivals

Altrincham's traditional rivals are Macclesfield Town, a rivalry dating back to when both clubs were in the Cheshire League, and later the Northern Premier League and Conference. The clubs have shared the same division from 2014–present for the first time since 1996. A more recent rivalry has developed with Northwich Victoria who have been in and out of the Conference in recent times. The intensity of this rivalry was epitomised in Altrincham's 3–0 defeat of Northwich at Moss Lane of Boxing Day 2006. Despite this, many players have played for both clubs over the years, most notably Greg Young, Ryan Brown, and Lee Elam.

Players

Current squad

As of 26 January 2016.^[20]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Stuart Coburn 2 DF Shaun Densmore (captain) 3 DF Adam Griffin 4 MF Jake Moult 5 DF Gianluca Havern 6 DF Scott Leather 7 FW James Lawrie 8 MF Simon Richman 9 FW Michael Rankine 10 FW Damian Reeves 11 MF Nicky Clee 12 MF Sam Heathcote 14 MF Josh O'Keefe 15 MF Josh Ginnelly (on loan from Burnley)

No. Position Player 16 DF Tom Marshall (dual registered with Stafford Rangers) 17 GK Tim Deasy 18 FW George Bowerman (dual registered with A.F.C. Telford United) 19 MF Ryan Crowther 20 MF Jordan Sinnott 21 FW Joel Swift 22 MF Harry Cain 23 GK Callum Williams 24 MF Rhain Davis 25 FW Ioannis Stoupis 26 MF Dylan Mottley-Henry (on loan from Bradford City) 27 FW Jonny Margetts (on loan from Tranmere Rovers) 28 DF Marcus Holness (on loan from Tranmere Rovers)

Club records

Altrincham's most expensively signed player was Keith Russell, who joined them from Blackpool in the summer of 1998 for £15,000.^[21] Their most expensively sold player was Ian Craney, who joined Swansea City for £150,000 from Accrington Stanley in January 2007. Altrincham received £75,000 of this figure due to a sell-on clause in his contract.^[21]

Altrincham's record attendance was 10,275 for a friendly against Sunderland on 28 February 1925.^[21]

Their top scorer was Jackie Swindells, who scored 56 goals in 42 games in the 1965–66 season.^[22]

FA Cup giant-killers

Altrincham have a proud history of giant-killing in the FA Cup, holding the record of knocking out more League sides than any other team that has spent its history playing non-League.^[23] Seventeen FA Cup victories against Football League clubs have been recorded by non-league Altrincham, as follows:

1. 1921–22 Tranmere Rovers^[24]
2. 1965–66 Rochdale
3. 1973–74 Hartlepool
4. 1974–75 Scunthorpe United
5. 1979–80 Crewe Alexandra
6. 1979–80 Rotherham United
7. 1980–81 Scunthorpe United
8. 1981–82 Sheffield United
9. 1981–82 York City
10. 1982–83 Rochdale
11. 1984–85 Blackpool
12. 1985–86 Blackpool
13. 1985–86 Birmingham City
14. 1988–89 Lincoln City
15. 1992–93 Chester City
16. 1994–95 Wigan Athletic^[25]
17. 2015–16 Barnsley

Altrincham, uniquely for a non-League team, made the third round of the FA Cup on four consecutive occasions between 1979 and 1982.^[26] Altrincham drew with Everton in 1975 and Tottenham Hotspur in 1979, Altrincham lost the replays in both cases.^[25] The 1992 giant-killing of Chester City at Moss Lane is remembered for a spectacular goal by Clive Freeman.

Honours

• Alliance Premier League (now Conference)
  • Champions: 1979–80, 1980–81

• Bob Lord Trophy
  • Winners: 1980–81

• Cheshire Amateur Cup
  • Winners: 1903–04

• Cheshire County League
  • Champions: 1965–66, 1966–67

• Cheshire League Cup
  • Winners: 1932–33, 1950–51, 1963–64

• Cheshire Senior Cup
  • Winners: 1904–05, 1933–34, 1966–67, 1981–82, 1998–99, 2004–05, 2008–09

• Conference North
  • North / South playoff winners: 2004–05 (winning 2–1 against Conference South playoff winners, Eastbourne Borough, at Stoke's Britannia Stadium)
  • Promotion Final winners: 2013–14 (winning 2–1 after extra time against Guiseley AFC)

• FA Cup
  • 1st Round: 1933–34, 1963–64, 1968–69, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2012–13, 2014–15
  • 2nd Round: 1967–68, 1973–74, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1992–93, 2001–02
  • 3rd Round: 1965–66, 1974–75, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1994–95
  • 4th Round: 1985–86

• FA Trophy
  • Winners: 1977–78, 1985–86
  • Runners up: 1981–82

• Manchester League
  • Winners: 1904–05, 1906–07

• Northern Premier League
  • Champions: 1998–99

• Northern Premier League Challenge Cup
  • Winners: 1969–70, 1997–98

• Northern Premier League Challenge Shield
  • Winners: 1979–80

• Cheshire Cup (Altrincham youth team)
  • Winners: 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08

League history

Former players

1. Players that have played/managed in the Football League or any foreign equivalent to this level (i.e. fully professional league).
2. Players with full international caps.
3. Players that hold a club record or have captained the club.

• John Fielding
• Duncan Watmore
• Colin Little

References

• Altrincham at the Football Club History Database

External links

• Altrincham F.C. official website
• Altrincham F.C. Supporters' Trust