Cheadle Town F.C.
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| Full name | Cheadle Town Football Club | ||
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| Founded | 1961 (as Grasmere Rovers) | ||
| Ground | Park Road Stadium Cheadle Stockport (Capacity: 2,000) |
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| Chairman | Chris Davies | ||
| Manager | Steve Brokenbrow | ||
| League | North West Counties Football League Division One |
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| 2007-08 | North West Counties Football League Division One, 7th |
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Cheadle Town F.C. are a football club based in Cheadle, in the Metropolitan Borough 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 from 2008-09[1]). Their home ground is Park Road Stadium.
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[edit] History
[edit] 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 Road). 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 1979-1980 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. Maine Road were the first ever visitors on Saturday 21 August 1982, running out 3-1 winners on the day. This would be the last season that the team would be known as Grasmere Rovers.
[edit] 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 2008-2009 season was merely down to a renaming of the NWCFL leagues.
[edit] Current Campaign (2008-2009)
Cheadle's 2008-2009 campaign started on Saturday 9 August 2008 with a 2-0 home victory over Norton United and ended on Saturday 2 May 2009 with a 0-1 home defeat by Darwen. The club's final position of 7th was its highest league finish for ten seasons.
Cheadle Town have taken part in five cup competitions, being eliminated in each case at the first hurdle with their opponents and progress as follows:
- FA Cup (Extra Preliminary Round): defeated 1-4 by Newcastle Town at home on Saturday 16 August 2008
- FA Vase (1st Qualifying Round): defeated 2-5 by Worsbrough Bridge Athletic away on Tuesday 9 September 2008
- League Challenge Cup - also known as the Vodkat League Cup (First Round): defeated 1-3 by Stone Dominoes at home on Saturday 11 October 2008
- NWCFL Second Division Trophy (Second Round) : defeated 1-2 by Holker Old Boys at home on Saturday 29 November 2008
- Cheshire Senior Cup (First Round): defeated 2-5 by Witton Albion from the Unibond Premier League at home on Wednesday 24 September 2008
[edit] 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 has returned to its traditional colours for the 2008-2009 season[2]
[edit] 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.[3] The club managed to have the damage repaired in time for the start of the 2008-09 season.
[edit] 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 hope to make a start on their planned refurbishment of the stadium towards the start of the 2010-11 season which will see improvements made to the main stand and the clubhouse along with a fieldturf pitch, similar to that at their near-neighbours Woodley Sports.
[edit] Supporters
Cheadle Town's average home attendance for the 2008-09 season was 55, exactly the same as the previous season[4]. Most of this support consists of the players' friends and families.
[edit] Playing Squad
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[edit] Players Who Went On To Play For Football League Teams
(club in brackets is the one joined by player after leaving Cheadle Town)
- Ashley Ward (Crewe Alexandra)
- Steve Bushell (York City)
- Dean Crowe (Stoke City)
- Colin Little (Crewe Alexandra)
[edit] Honours
[edit] 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
[edit] As Cheadle Town
- Lamot Pils Trophy
- Runners-Up 1990-91
- North West Counties Division Two Trophy
- Runners-Up 1995-96
[edit] League Performances
| Season | League | Position | No. of teams | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983-1984 | North West Counties Division 3 | 15th | 18 | |
| 1984-1985 | 12th | 18 | ||
| 1985-1986 | 7th | 15 | ||
| 1986-1987 | 8th | 13 | Division 3 merged with Division 2 at end of season | |
| 1987-1988 | North West Counties Division 2 | 12th | 22 | |
| 1988-1989 | 14th | 18 | ||
| 1989-1990 | 6th | 16 | ||
| 1990-1991 | 7th | 18 | Lamot Pils Trophy Runners-Up | |
| 1991-1992 | 9th | 18 | ||
| 1992-1993 | 12th | 18 | ||
| 1993-1994 | 12th | 18 | ||
| 1994-1995 | 11th | 16 | ||
| 1995-1996 | 6th | 18 | NWCFL Division 2 Trophy Runners-Up | |
| 1996-1997 | 9th | 20 | ||
| 1997-1998 | 4th | 21 | Promoted | |
| 1998-1999 | North West Counties Division 1 | 17th | 21 | |
| 1999-2000 | 18th | 22 | ||
| 2000-2001 | 22nd | 22 | Relegated | |
| 2001-2002 | North West Counties Division 2 | 17th | 21 | |
| 2002-2003 | 13th | 19 | ||
| 2003-2004 | 16th | 20 | ||
| 2004-2005 | 12th | 19 | ||
| 2005-2006 | 14th | 19 | ||
| 2006-2007 | 12th | 18 | ||
| 2007-2008 | 14th | 18 | ||
| 2008-2009 | North West Counties Division 1 | 7th | 18 | Division 2 renamed to Division 1 |
| 2009-2010 |
[edit] Foreign Tours
Despite being near the bottom of the football pyramid, Cheadle Town are famous throughout non-league football for their foreign tours and has a record of playing 96 games in 30 different countries in front of 312,000 people, scoring 111 goals in the process. They have even graced the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, playing to a crowd of 65,000. The foreign tours have seen Cheadle Town FC travel just over 200,000 miles around the world and meet people such as Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ronnie Biggs and Rajiv Gandhi.
[edit] 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 will allow Inter Cheadle to use the facilities at Park Road for some of their seven teams and will assist Cheadle Town's application for funding in relation to the ground's planned refurbishment[5][6]
[edit] References
- 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
