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warrington Town History |
Formed in 1949 under the eye of their late president, Jimmy Drinkwater the club began life as Stockton Heath Albion and, after playing at a ground called London Road competed in the Warrington and District league until 1953, when a move to the mid Cheshire League coincided with the appointment of Freddie Worrall as manager. During his thirteen years at the helm, Heath were one of the most feared sides in Cheshire football, winning a string of honours including the Mid Cheshire League Championship in 1960, the League Cup three times, and making the most appearances in the Cheshire Amateur Cup Final.
Several players from this successful period went on to join Football League clubs, including Ian Weir (Scotland & Hibernian), John Green (Tranmere Rovers), and Alan Foster (Crewe). The most famous sons must, however be Roger Hunt who went on to score many memorable goals for Liverpool and gained the ultimate honour of winning a world cup winners medal with England in 1966.
At the 1961 AGM, it was decided to change the clubs name to Warrington Town, and in 1965, the club moved to their present home in Latchford. A neat, compact stadium with a capacity of around 3,500 the ground is on the banks of the Manchester Ship canal in the shadow of the imposing Cantilever bridge which dominates the areas skyline, and from which the ground takes its name.
The late sixties and early seventies were mostly spent in the doldrums, and the club continued without success until the formation of the North West Counties League in 1982 proved to be a springboard for them to start to move up the pyramid. Originally placed in the third division of the new league, Town immediately gained promotion as runners up, and quickly established themselves as one of the division two most powerful clubs, missing out on promotion by a small margins on no fewer than three occasions.
In 1985-86 saw town's first serious attempt at winning the F.A. Vase, but following a tremendous run, they bowed out to eventual winners Halesowen in an epic semi-final replay. Promotion to division one of the NWCL was achieved in 1986-87 and the club again excelled in the F.A Vase, making it all the way to Wembley sadly losing 3-2 to local rivals St Helens Town.
Promotion to the Northern Premier League was gained in 1989-90, but the club had very little success after that until 1992-93 when a fantastic FA Trophy run ended in the quarter finals at Sutton United, earning them a cool £5.000 for being the furthest non-exempt team left in the competition. On the away to Sutton, Town had beaten Conference Side Merthyr Tydfil, which earned them a team of the round prize. In the Cheshire Senior Cup, they were victorious at Macclesfield Town and Hyde United on way to a Semi Final Place, while in the League Cup, they went one further becoming the first ever Division One Side to reach the final, In front of a large crowd at Maine Road, town matched premier league runners up Winsford United all the way, but Winsford took the trophy home following a penalty shoot out. To cap the clubs most successful season ever, Neil Whalley equalised the NPL transfer fee record when he moved to third division side Preston North End for a £25,000 and just a few weeks later Liam Watson shattered the fee record, also moving to Deepdale for a staggering £60.000. Town were named "Team Talk Magazine" team of the year 1992-93.
A high number of injuries together with problems behind the scenes and a disappointing lack of goals in 1993-94 hindered the team, although they reached the semi final of the Cheshire Senior Cup, beating conference side Witton Albion on the way, and were in with a chance of promotion until the last few weeks of the season.
The 1994-95 season was another successful year for Town, who made it into the draw for the F.A. Cup first round proper for the first time ever, a last gasp equaliser at Hyde United forcing a replay. The winners of the tie would entertain Darlington but sadly Town have still to play in the first round proper, as Hyde won the replay 2-0. Town also took Chorley to a replay in the league cup, having beaten Barrow along the away, but once their interest in that competition was over the club, were able to focus on their main aim of the season, namely promotion to the premier Division. An amazing run saw them win eleven games of their last fifteen games but this was not quite good enough. Town finished in third place, missing out on promotion by just one point.
Major problems behind the scenes over the close season resulted in the management team and most of the players moving to Curzon Ashton, and a completely new-look Town side lined up to face Alfreton for the first
game of the 1995-96 season. Town lost 5-1, but new boss Tommy Lawson turned things around, and by Christmas, Town were once more a match for anybody. The close season 1996 saw yet another change of management as Tommy left for pastures new to be replaced by Alan Lord, unfortunately the partnership parted just before Christmas and Simon Rudge came back and brought Ray Birch as his assistant. The change came too late to save Town from relegation but the run did show some promise.
Financial problems both on and off the pitch beset Town in 1996-97 and a new committee was formed under Chairman Harry Boden & Steve Jones. Relegation to the NWCFL Div 1 was followed by demotion on ground grading criteria to Division 2 and a rationalisation of the clubs finances coupled with the appointment of Dave Hughes as Football Manager & Ian Dick as his secretary has seen Town's image improve dramatically. Sadly though Ian had to return to Scotland, and Dave stepped down to assistant manager, with Alan Blair becoming manager.
In the 99/00 season saw Town win the Second Division Trophy beating Tetley Walker 2-0 at Prescot Cables. In 200/01 Warrington won the Second Division Title to return to Division One, and with a lot of work going on at the ground Town are progressed forward. Town finished 16th in their second season back in Div 1 and Alan Blair stepped down, Glenn Walker & Derek Brownbill took over and saw Town finish 5th in the league to gain promotion back into the UniBond Division One after the league restructuring process had taken place.
Town’s first season back in the UniBond League was something of a struggle but safety was guaranteed on the final day of the season with a 2-0 win over Shepshed Dynamo. The club also won the UniBond League Fair Play Award, picking up a prize of £1000 in the process. We also reached the semi-final of the Liverpool Senior Cup losing 3-2 to Everton in front of 505 spectators and had the honour of picking up the Wirral Programme Award (the last one) for best overall and Division One UniBond League programme.
In 2006/06 Town again struggled in the UniBond League but made things safe with a bit more to spare this time. The Youth team won the South Lancs Counties Youth Division championship. WE repeated the feat of the previous season in picking up the best programme in the UniBond League, this time judged by Programme Monthly magazine, who had taken over from the Wirral Programme Club.
The 2007/08 campaign proved to be a disappointing one for the first team as we spent the whole campaign in the lower reaches of the table, although never actually occupying a relegation position. Cup football brought more cheer as progress was made in every competition entered, the highlights being an FA Cup run to the third qualifying round and a crowd of 1347 against Liverpool in the Senior Cup. The Reserves just missed out on promotion once again but won the prestigious Guardian Cup. The Youth team retained the South Lancs Counties (U-18’s) Championship and won the league cup.
Previous Leagues:
Warrington & District 1949-52 - Mid Cheshire 1952-78 - Cheshire CO 1978-82
N.W.C 1982-90 & 1997-2004 - N.P.L (UniBond) 1990-97 & 2004/05-present
Previous Name: Stockton Heath 1949-62
Previous ground London Road, Appleton, Warrington, Cheshire.
Best performance in
F.A Cup: 4th Qual Rd 1994-95 - F.A Vase: Runners Up 1986/87
FA Trophy: Quarter Finalists 1992-93
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