THOUGHTS FROM THE DUGOUT
Good evening and a welcome to Rakesmoor Lane for tonight’s North West Counties Football League fixture against Chadderton FC.
Tonight is the start of 5 big home games in rapid succession that will define our season, and hopefully, you can all be here to support us and give us an additional push to end it in those playoff places.
Saturday’s performance was just what was needed for the lads and now gives us something to try and build on in these games.
We all know what we set out for at the beginning of the season. It is still in our gift to achieve it with five games to go, so we have to look forward and approach every game like a final, make sure we recover and prepare appropriately between games and get the most out of our strong squad.
Chadderton will pose a formidable challenge as they have pushed Pilkington all the way and been on an impressive run until Saturday, and let’s hope we can now repeat both teams’ fortunes from Saturday.
KEVIN WATKIN
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ON THE OPPONENT
THEIR HISTORY
Chadderton FC was formed in 1946 under Burnley Lane Estate Juniors, who joined the Middleton Youth League and played on Parkway on the Parkway Estate.
In 1947, an Open Age team was also formed, and both teams moved to Mill Brow and adopted the name Millbrow Football Club. They played at the side of the canal at Mills Hill and changed at the Rose of Lancaster Pub.
Later they moved to Broadway, changing their name to North Chadderton Amateurs and changed at the Chadderton Arms Pub.
The Club adopted its present name, Chadderton FC, in 1957. Life started in the Oldham Amateur League, winning the Challenge Cup in 1954/55.
The following season 1955/56, the Club joined the Manchester Amateur League and won the League Championship in their first season.
After winning the League Championship again in 1962/63, Chadderton joined the Manchester League, winning the Second Division title in their first season in 1964/65 and gaining promotion to the First Division.
The Club won the League’s Murray Shield in 1965/66, their first season in Division One, and then the Div 1 League title in 1966/67.
1969/70 Chadderton FC won the Manchester League Gilgryst Cup
During the 1970s, the Club’s only honours came in the form of the Manchester Challenge Trophy, which they won in 1971/72 but failed to retain in the following season, finishing runners-up.
Chadderton stepped into a higher grade of football in 1980 when they joined the Lancashire Combination. The Club made a good start in this league, finishing runners-up in 1981/82.
In 1982, Chadderton became one of the founding members of the North West Counties Football League following the merger of the Lancashire Combination and the Cheshire County League.
The Club gained promotion to Division One in 1989/90 after finishing third in the league but were relegated the following season.
Promotion came again in 1992/93 but, after failing to meet ground grading requirements, were relegated in 1998/99.
Chadderton’s proudest moments have come in seeing the progression of its former players, such as former England captain David Platt, Former Leeds United and Crystal Palace player John Pemberton and Northern Ireland International Steve Jones.
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The Falcon Fire Stadium, Chadderton
Former player Mike Ford forged a successful career in both codes of Rugby, and Mark Owen of Take That also once pulled on the red shirt of Chadderton FC!
Off the field in 2007, the Club was the subject of a take-over by local businessmen Craig Halliwell and Tony Bhatti, the joint owners of The HB Property Group Limited (previously The Halliwell Bhatti Group) which is the parent company of the local property development company Hillstone Developments Limited.
The members of Chadderton voted overwhelmingly in October 2006 for the take-over to go ahead, and after ten long months, the legalities were finally completed in August 2007.
In August 2009, Chadderton’s association with The HB Property Group Limited was terminated, and Chadderton Football Club reverted to a members club run by the people for the people. In 2013 Paul Buckley, Chadderton FC Manager since December 2005, was forced to retire due to ill health after steering the Club to several top 5 positions in his time at the Club, also reaching the semi-finals of the League Cup and the Divisional Cup.
Steve Patterson and Mark Cook were appointed as Joint Managers from the 2013-2014 season, with Ben Greenidge as Player/Assistant Manager and Matthew McNeill as Team Coach. The duo led Chadderton to a good run in the FA Vase in 2014/15 and reached the NWCFL Division One Play-Offs in the same season where AFC Darwen defeated them. The duo stood down at the end of 2015/16 due to family and work commitments.
In May 2016, ambitious Mark Howard was appointed as manager, bringing with him, as his assistant, Ian Hulme. Mark joined the Club after three years at Royton Town in the Manchester League, where he had achieved success, including the Gilchryst Cup and an appearance in the Lancashire FA Amateur Shield Final.
In 2016/17, his first season at the Club, Mark led the team to a final league position just outside the play-offs, and a narrow defeat on penalties to City of Liverpool FC in the semi-final of the Macron League Cup, scoring a club record 128 goals along the way. With a new playing surface being laid in the 2017 close season and lots of plans for the development of the Club, the future looks very bright indeed.
EYES ON OPPONENT
Season 2017/18 did not go well for Mark and Phil, who parted company with Chadderton. In came David Fish and Lee Ashworth, with having to put together a new team with most of the players following Mark Howard, Dave and Lee did a good job securing Chadderton to a mid-table position.
Season 2018-19 was another hard season with players coming and going. It took a lot of work to keep a settled side in Season 2019-20. Everyone knows about it, with Covid19 putting a stop to the season finishing. It was the last we would see of Dave and Lee, who were offered the job of managing Mossley. Dave and Lee left on good terms with Chadderton, and we wished them well on their new venture.
Season 2019-20 was marked null and void by the Football Association due to Covid-19.
Season 2020-21 Chadderton announced their new Management Team of former players has joint Managers Ben Greenidge, Carl Taylor, and Mark Cook.
Unfortunately, the Football Association marked the 2020-21 Season null and void due to Covid-19.
Season 2021-22 started well for Ben Carl and Mark, gaining points at the beginning of the season, then losing critical players to Clubs playing in higher Leagues, and started dropping points, so new players had to be brought in for players that had left, started picking up points again and challenging for a top six finish only to finish a respectable mid-table position.
vs Holker Old Boys
12
JAMIE HODGSON
JOE AMISON
SAM JOEL
JAY BARKER
HAKAN MCCRACKEN
JOE MCGLADDERY
TOM DAWSON
WILL MCGLADDERY
ELLIOT MOORE
CALLUM FAWCETT
LUKE MITCHELL
GARETH SMITH
JASON WALKER
KEVIN WATKIN
JOSH WOODEND
