Maine Road F.C.

Maine Road
Full name Maine Road Football Club
Nickname(s) 'Road',The Sky Blues
Founded 1955 as City Supporters Rusholme
Ground Brantingham Road,
Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Manchester
M21 0TT
Ground Capacity 2,000 (Seats 200)
Chairman Ronnie Meredith
Manager Derek Barber (caretaker)
League North West Counties League Premier Division
2016–17 North West Counties League Premier Division, 15th of 22
Website Club website

Maine Road Football Club are an English football club, based in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. The club was founded in 1955 by Manchester City Supporters Rusholme. They currently play in the North West Counties League Premier Division and are members of the Manchester Football Association. They play their home games at Brantingham Road.

History

The club was formed in 1955 by supporters of Manchester City under the name City Supporters Rusholme, when past Chairman Frank Thompson and a few friends formed a team and after playing a few friendlies. Soon after that, the club joined the local Rusholme Sunday League and Thompson became the Chairman.

In the late sixties they changed to the Manchester Amateur Sunday league and also moved their headquarters to the newly built Maine Road Social Club, and that's when the new name Maine Road FC was born. A man called Ronnie Meredith was the driving force behind the club in the Seventies. in 1971–72 Maine Road won their first league Manchester County Sunday Cup and Cup Double. The success prompted Meredith to look for bigger challenges and he changed the whole future of the club by moving to Saturday football in the form of the Manchester League.

Maine Road won the Manchester Premier Cup in 1975–76, beating Abbey Hey in the final and again in 1976–77, when Maine Road beat Little Lever in the final. More success followed on the field and after several years of moving grounds, Club finally settled on a permanent home in 1980. Brantingham Road in Chorlton is where the club still play today. After an initial lean spell at the new ground, The club then won the Manchester League four times consecutively from 1982–83 to 1985–86. Throughout the same decade, they set a record by winning all five Manchester County Cups.

Derek Barber took over the managerial reins in 1986 and the clubs progress continued so much so that when the Manchester County FA's new complex at Brantingham Road was built Ron's other ambition was achieved. Entry to the Bass North West Counties League.

North West Counties Football League

The club joined the North West Counties Football League (NWCFL) in 1987, playing the 1987–88 season in Division Two and finishing fifth. They also won the Manchester Premier Cup for a third time, beating Irlam Town in the final at Maine Road (home of Manchester City) in the Manchester Premier Cup to complete a unique record in the Manchester County Competitions by winning all five County Cups. The five Manchester County Cups are Premier Cup (1), Amateur Cup (4), Sunday Amateur Cup (1), Intermediate Cup (2), Challenge Cup (4).

In 1988-89 the club were runners up to Vauxhall Motors but were denied promotion due to ground grading. The following season they were promoted to Division One as Division Two champions. In 1994–95 they reached the fourth round of the FA Vase and were losing finalists in the Manchester Premier Cup in 1998–99.

At the end of Season 2001–02 after twelve seasons in the top division Maine Road were relegated to Division Two after finishing 22nd, the first time the club had ever been relegated. Two seasons in Division Two saw the club finish third and then runners up resulting in a return to Division One. Under the guidance of Chris Simms the club finished 8th and 10th in the following two seasons.

In 2005 Maine Road marked its 50th Anniversary.

Badge (1955–2005) marked 50th Anniversary Maine Road F.C in 2005

In 2007–08 The arrival of Ian Walker as Manager saw the club achieve its highest ever league finish with a 6th place swiftly followed by a magnificent 4th place. On top of that the team lifted the prestigious Vodkat League Cup for the first time. Walker left his position as manager early in the 2008–09 campaign, being replaced by former Maine Road player and coach Derek Barber, before making a return for of the 2009–10 season. After a difficult early campaign in 2008–09, the team finished in a respectable 13th position. In the 2011–12 season Manager Ian Walker lead the side to the League Cup final unfortunately losing to Bacup Borough to end Walkers tenure as Manager.

In 2012–13 season saw the arrival of a new management team in John Morrey and Chris Thomas. Their first season in charge saw he club achieve its highest ever league position finishing runners up by just one point to Padiham.

Two weeks after the end of the 2013–14 season, the club announced that it had accepted the resignation of its management team of John Morrey and Chris Thomas, and towards the end of May announced the appointment of Lee Bennett as replacement.[1][2]

In November 2014 the club announced the resignation of manager Lee Bennett. Club secretary Derek Barber was appointed caretaker manager for the rest of the season.[3]

Stadium

Maine Road moved into their present home, Brantingham Road in 1980. They upgraded it to become eligible to join the North West Counties Football League in 1986.

Their record home attendance is 3,181 for a league match against FC United of Manchester on 4 November 2006. However, the game was played at Bower Fold in Stalybridge, the home of Stalybridge Celtic.

Manchester Football Association used to have their headquarters at Brantingham Road before they moved to Salford Sports Village. They still hold their County Cup finals at the ground.

Brantingham Road
Brantingham Road before and during a North West Counties Football League match between Maine Road and 1874 Northwich.

Players

As of June 2015.

First team squad

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

No. Position Player
England GK Lewis Fielding
England GK Ryan Livesey
England DF Josh Gittings
England DF Matty Russell
England DF Richard Gresty
England DF Alex Jay
England DF Dan Johnson
England DF John Mason
England DF James Rothel
England DF Andy Thorpe
England MF Eddie Moran
England MF Andy Kilheeney
England MF Rory Breslin
No. Position Player
England MF Billy Sutcliffe
England MF Paul Connor
England MF Martin Hill
England MF Matt Struminskyj
England MF Neil Chappell
England MF Jack Langford
England FW Mark Connor
England FW Rick Williams
England FW Daves Notages
England FW Saul Henderson
England FW Matty Beadle
England FW Thomas Bentham
England FW Daniel Doherty

Non-playing staff

Board of directors

Name Position
England Ronnie Meredith Chairman
England Colin Broadbent Vice Chairman
England Derek Barber Treasurer/Club Secretary

Team Management

Name Position
England Chris Hirst Manager (caretaker)
England Jeff Newman Assistant Manager
England Dave Wild Coach
England Steve Cheetham Reserves Team Manager
England Derek Barber Assistant Manager Reserves Team
Lucy Weir Physio

Notable managers

Name Season Honours
Ronnie Meredith1970–19861971–72 Manchester Amateur Sunday League

1972–73 Manchester Amateur Cup

1975–76,1976–77 Manchester Premier Cup

1982–83,1983–84,1984–85,1985–86 Manchester League Premier Division

Derek Barber1986–19971987–88 Manchester Premier Cup

1989–90 North West Counties Football League Division Two

G.Whittingham1997–20001997–98 Manchester Amateur Cup
Chris Simms2000–20062004–05 Manchester Amateur Cup
Ian Walker2006–20112006–07 Manchester Amateur Cup

2007–08 North West Counties Football League Challenge Cup

Chris Thomas2012–20142012–13 NWCFL Premier Division Runners Up

2013–14 North West Counties Football League Challenge Cup Runners Up

Honours

League

Cup

Junior

Records

Team records

Records for the team as a whole:

Average Attendances

Source: English football site NonLeagueMatters NW Counties Football League site

See also

References

[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

  1. ↑ "Managerial Vacancy at Maine Road". NWCFL. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  2. ↑ "Lee Bennett fills managerial vacancy". Maine Road F.C. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  3. ↑ "Managerial change at Maine Road". NWCFL. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  4. ↑ North West Counties Football League
  5. ↑ Manchester Premier Cup
  6. ↑ Manchester Football Association
  7. ↑ http://www.non-leagueclubdirectory.co.uk/index.php/clubs/maine-road-fc
  8. ↑ http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/maineroad/news/manager-of-the-month-award-for-maine-road-756341.html
  9. ↑ http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/maineroad/a/club-history-27086.html
  10. ↑ http://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/
  11. ↑ http://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/divisions/13/

Coordinates: 53°26′40.24″N 2°15′40.46″W / 53.4445111°N 2.2612389°W / 53.4445111; -2.2612389

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