Town

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It is four weeks since our last home game, which itself was the first since August. On the rare occasions we have glimpsed Ruskin on Saturdays this season, the attendance and support has been great. The players and coaching staff feel it, everyone present feels it and we all appreciate it. Thank you!

We have a few more things in mind to help improve the matchday experience further, and you should see the results when the home games start coming thick and fast later in the season.

When we secured control of the club in the Summer, we knew we had a lot to do. In the first instance that was about assembling a squad and doing all the other things necessary to start the playing season in good order. Addressing those matters was the top priority, and doing so occupied most of our attention.

It’s now time to start looking at the things we need to do to develop the club towards a community-owned model, fully connected with our wonderful support and our town. As first steps, we intend to strengthen the off-the-pitch team by adding more of the skills and experience we need, and to tidy some governance and administrative details, before going on to complete our development plan for the next several years.

These things may not seem the most exciting, but they must be done if we are to achieve our ambitions. Successful clubs are well-run clubs, off the pitch and on it – even if the latter can take some time.

We know that results to date haven’t been what we wanted, though we were pleased to secure our first win recently. Performances are improving, and we are moving back to two training sessions per week to ensure that they continue to do so. Hard work pays off.

At the end of the season we will be traveling to Stuttgart to play our friends TSV Uhlbach, celebrating their 120th anniversary as a club, and the 75th anniversary of the twinning arrangement between St. Helens and Stuttgart.

It will also be the 5th anniversary of us hosting Uhlbach here at Ruskin, for a remarkable 4-4 draw on the same day that England defeated Sweden 2-0 in the World Cup 2018 Quarter Final. That was a special day.

An awful lot has happened since then, much of it unimaginable at the time. We can never know everything that the future will bring, but we can do our best to shape it by setting long-term plans and working to achieve them. That is what we are doing.

Now back to the short term, namely this afternoon: come on the Town!

Ste Lingard

A word with the manager

First off, myself and the club would like to welcome everyone from Admiral Park to Ruskin Drive today.

We're looking forward to another tough challenge, and it should be an enjoyable, entertaining game. No matter what the score is, we hope you’ll join us after the game for refreshments in The Wicket bar.

It's been 4 weeks since our last home game and it’s been a tough few weeks on the road. We’ve had to chop and change players at times, with work commitments etc, and we’ve brought in a few new players to strengthen the squad - but we’ve got a more settled squad now, and that’s starting to show on the pitch.

As well as the losses, we got our first win a couple of weeks back which was massive for the lads. Although it was against fellow strugglers Frames, we didn’t have the rub of the green and they could easily have been down to 9 men before half-time. In the end it did end up with us playing against nine, but to their credit, they made us dig in and work hard for the three points.

It was good to see smiles on faces afterwards, and you could sense the relief in the lads at getting off the mark.

Unfortunately, when we wanted to push on we had to face a team with ex-Liveprool player Adam Morgan up front. Even so, our performance in that game was not up to scratch. But we regrouped, had a good chat, and went in to Saturday’s game with confidence.

I thought we started well, but a combination of a baffling refereeing decision and individual errors saw us 3-0 down at the break. The second half was very impressive and we completely bossed

the game, a bit more composure and a little luck could easily have seen the result reversed.

We need to back that performance up today, and show what we’re capable of for the full 90 minutes. I’m glad to say that there is a really good attitude and commitment in the dressing room which is coming through more and more on the pitch.

Everyone knows we have a massive challenge ahead of us. We knew it would be tough to build a team that could compete against the established sides in this league, but every game sees us growing into a side worthy of the name St Helens Town.

Thanks again to everyone for your support on and off the pitch.

#Tellinstown #mertz

Paul "Peo" Piert

Ruskin

Admiral Park FC

Established in 2022, Admiral Park, formerly The Empress, are located in the heart of Toxteth, an area of Liverpool famed for producing football talent. Led by Paul Mcinerney, a dedicated stalwart of amateur football both as a player and manager, the newly formed team are aiming to emulate the many successes of The Empress and carry on their winning traditions.

As defending champions of last season’s Challenge Cup, Admiral Park have gone into the 2022/23 season intent on competing for silverware on all fronts. A respectable start to this current campaign has seen Admiral Park enjoy some excellent results, and they’ll be looking to build on that platform as the season progresses.

Old Boys Return

Today's match sees the return of three of last season's Town side to Ruskin Drive. Jesse Robinson (left) was last year's team captain and is a very attacking minded wing back who is capable of scoring goals.

Another defender capable of scoring goals is Colyfa Kamara (center), an absolute rock in our central defence last season. Expect him to be a handful from corners at both ends of the pitch.

Last, but not least is Lewis Hassan (right), who came in to the team half way through last season and cemented his place immediately with a string of excellent performances. Seems to only score worldies this lad, so we'll have to be on our toes to keep him at bay today.

We're sure everybody around the club will give the lads a warm welcome today, but hopefully they don't go away too happy at the end of the game.

HISTORY OF

The original St. Helens Town club was formed in 1901 and played at Park Road, behind the Primrose Vaults public house. Although it was known as the Primrose Ground, the players changed further down Park Road at the Black Horse pub. Playing in the Lancashire League and Lancashire Combination, the team enjoyed some early success, but struggled after the Great War and appears to have folded midway through the 1928/29 season.

The club was re-formed by George Fryer and a group of local businessmen in 1946. They took out a lease of the former cricket ground at Hoghton Road, Sutton, adjacent to the St. Helens Junction railway station and, although it entered in the FA Cup in the 1946/47 season, a team could not be raised in time to fulfil its tie with Prescot Cables.

Friendly games were played, then local team Derbyshire Hill Rovers were taken over in April 1947, those players forming the nucleus of the team which entered the Liverpool County Combination at the start of the 1947/48 season. St. Helens Town soon began to prosper and early results included a sensational 10-4 win over Everton “A” on 6th December 1947. Former German prisoner-of-war Bert Trautmann joined the club in the Summer of 1948, the strapping goalkeeper helping the team to win its first trophy, the George Mahon Cup, which was secured with a 2-1 win over Runcorn at Prescot on 7th May 1949. Crowds averaged over 2000 that season, peaking with a league record attendance of 3012 against Burscough in October 1948.

The following season, 1949/50, Town entered the Lancashire Combination and, despite losing Trautmann to Manchester City in October 1949,

they won the Second Division title in some style the following season, three players, Albert Leadbetter (36), Harry McCann (32) and Terry Garner (31) all netting over 30 goals apiece. An all-time club record attendance of “between 8000 and 9000” witnessed a friendly game against Manchester City, arranged as part of the Trautmann transfer deal, in April 1950 and another 4000 witnessed a second match with City the following season.

Although relegated by a slender margin from the First Division in 1951/52, the club continued to look forward, even contemplating Football League status and, in order to further its ambitions, moved to the former St. Helens Recs. rugby league ground at City Road. Initial crowds were encouraging but, despite success, the club decided to move back to Hoghton Road in October 1953, where they remained until April 2000.

Town produced a number of fine players who joined Football League clubs, including Bill Foulkes (Manchester United), John Quinn (Sheffield Wednesday) and John Connelly who joined Burnley, later transferring to Manchester United and who played in the England 1966 World Cup

winning squad. More recently, Dave Bamber scored goals in all four divisions of the league with a host of different clubs, starting and ending his league career at Blackpool and in more recent times, Karl Ledsham, who had a productive career at conference level with Southport, Lincoln City, Barrow and Stockport County before moving to the USA.

Following a second relegation in 1956, St. Helens Town continued to play in the Lancashire Combination, winning the Championship in 1971/72, by nine points ahead of Accrington Stanley.

from Phil Layhe and one from Brian Rigby.

They were regular promotion candidates for many years, largely due to the scoring exploits of Steve “Pellet” Pennington, who grabbed 216 goals in 351 games, his season’s best hauls of 45 in 1993/94 and 46 in 1997/98 just failing to beat the club record of 47 scored by Phil Stainton in 1963/64. Former club captain Andy Gillespie won the NW Counties’ golden boot with 34 goals in the 2015/16 season and netted another 24 times the following season.

Town moved from Hoghton Road in 2000 and groundshared with Saints Rugby League club pending an intended move to their new stadium, which took many years longer than anticipated and finally moved out of Knowsley Road when it closed in September 2010. Plans for the move were shelved following a disagreement and Town went on a nomadic existence, playing out of town at Ashton Town, Ashton Athletic, Prescot Cables and odd games at Atherton Collieries, before St. Helens Council redeveloped the Ruskin Drive multi-sports complex and St. Helens Town moved back home there in August 2017, playing on an artificial 3G surface.

However, the formation of the Northern Premier League in 1968 led to a gradual drain of stronger clubs from the Combination and St. Helens joined the Cheshire League in 1975, becoming founder members of the North West Counties League seven years later. They held the proud record of being the only club to play in the NW Counties’ top flight every season until they were relegated in April 2015, conceding an injury-time equaliser to Silsden in the last game of the season, a match they had to win to stay up.

Town enjoyed a golden era in the late 1980s, just missing out on an appearance in the First Round proper of the FA Cup in 1985/86, losing to Morecambe in a Fourth Qualifying Round Replay, but they obtained ample compensation by winning the FA Vase at Wembley in 1987, beating near neighbours Warrington Town 3-2, with two goals

2021-22 saw Town in their eighth season at Step 6, the NWCFL First Division North, and it proved to be a disastrous campaign which Town record only four wins and four draws from 36 league games. Town finished 21 points adrift of Atherton LR in eighteenth place, 24 points from guaranteed safety. The bottom place finish confirmed the club’s relegation to step 7 and the start of a new journey in the Liverpool County Premier League.

Significant changes took place on a off the field over the Summer of 2022; a new consortium purchased the club from St Helens RLFC and they have joined forces with a number of existing club officials to start a rebuilding programme.

Paul ‘Peo’ Piert was appointed as Town manager and he will be assisted by Lee O’Connor.

John McKiernan

CULTURE VULTURE

Town on eBay

Club secretary Paul Styles and I are currently hell-bent on collecting as much Town memorabilia as possible. A regular on eBay are matchday programmes, but recently something a little more interesting cropped up.

That being programmes from the Bert Trautmann era, with the famous German named on the team sheets. This prompted much excitement from myself and Paul as we raided our piggybanks to raise the funds to return these vital pieces of the Town’s history back into the club’s hands. It was with this in mind that prompted me to share a piece from a 2013 programme where former player Ray Welding returned to Town (then playing at Brocstedes Park home of Ashton Athletic).

St. Helens Town renewed acquaintances with a player from the club’s distant past when 87-year old Ray Welding paid a visit to Brocstedes Park for the Colne game on 7th December 2013. “Rammy”, as he was known locally, was a former team mate of Town and Manchester City legend Bert

and he played the second half of the 1948/49 season at the club’s former ground, Hoghton Road.

Ray told club historian Glyn Jones that he remembers the day Bert Trautmann was sent off in the local derby at U.G.B. Former German prisoner of war Bert was subjected to terrible taunts by sections of the home crowd and one U.G.B. player in particular and the normally mild-mannered German lost his temper, retaliated and was dismissed for the only time in his career. Rammy himself deputised in goal, but it was not a happy event, as Town went down 7-1 to the Bobby’s Lane side.

He also remembers well how heavy the ball would get on the heavy, wet pitches in those days. The laces on the ball had to be tied together and, in one match, he managed to head the knot in the laces and he was so badly concussed that during the second half, he had forgotten the score and found himself playing in the wrong direction.

A former player with Newton YMCA, Ray turned out against his former club in back to back games for Town in March 1949, having made a goal-scoring debut in the match against Haydock C & B on 12th March that year. He was the hero of the George Mahon Cup semi-final, scoring both Town goals against Burscough, which took St. Helens through to the Final, where they beat Runcorn Reserves at Hope Street, Prescot before a crowd of 9000 on 7th May 1949, the club’s first trophy success in only their second season.

Later on the same day, Town travelled to face Orrell in their final league game and nine of the team who had played in the final earlier that day turned out again. However, there is a twist in the tale, as although the records show R. Welding played in both games, it was actually his brother Ron, who was not officially signed on with Town, who played in the Orrell fixture. The only other team change saw club secretary George Fryer take over from Jackie Hughes. Rammy played 16 games for St. Helens, netting 19 goals. In back-to-back rough-house derby matches against Prescot BI in April 1949, he came in for some heavy treatment and had to come off injured in both games, the last time having to go to hospital for attention.

After leaving Town at the end of that season, Ray was signed by Matt Busby to play for Manchester United. He was an apprentice on the railways at the time, working 44 hours a week, including Saturday mornings and it was difficult to get to Manchester for matches. He appeared in a number of “A” team games at The Cliff, but faced with the choice of permanent full-time work, or the possibility of a career in football, heart had to bow to head and he drifted out of the game, despite a number of offers from a variety of club scouts.

If anyone has any information on where we might find a copy of the matchday programme from the infamous UGB 7-1 derby or any other vintage programmes and other Town memorabilia, please do contact me at sthelenstownafc@outlook.com.

Once we get hold of the other 1940s programmes, I’ll share them with you here. Enjoy the game and “C’mon the Town”.

Mike Bagshaw

Ray Welding back in 2013

Team sheet from the infamous UGB game at Bobbies Lane.

1949 George Mahon Trophy Winners

1951 Lancashire Comb Division 2 Champions

1972 Lancashire Combination Champions

1973 Bass Charrington Cup Winners

1974 Watson Trophy Winners

1978 St Helens Hospital Cup Winners

1979 St Helens Combination Div 1 Runners Up

1979 St Helens Hospital Cup Runners Up

1980 St Helens Combination Div 1 Champions

1985 NWCFL Reserve Division 2 Runners Up

1986 NWCFL Reserve Division 1 Runners Up

1987 FA Vase Winners (Wembley)

1994 League Challenge Cup Finalists

1994 NWCFL Reserve Division Runners Up

1995 NWCFL Reserve Division Champions

1996 NWCFL Reserve Division Runners Up

1998 Floodlit Trophy Finalists

1999 REALCO Fair Play Award Winners

2009 Bert Trautmann Trophy Winners

2014-15 South Lancs League U17s Cup Finalists

2014-15 Cheshire FA U21 League Champions

2015-16 Cheshire FA U21 Premier Cup Finalists

2016-17 Cheshire FA U21 League Cup Finalists

2016-17 Cheshire FA U21 Premier Div Runners Up

2017-18 NWYA U18s President’s Cup Winners

2020-21 NWYA U18s President’s Cup Winners

Record Attendances:

3012 at Hoghton Road v Burscough (1948)

8000 at Hoghton Road v Man City (1950)

1723 at Knowsley Road v FC United of Man (2006)

9000 at Prescot Cables v Runcorn (1949)

Programme Awards:

NWCFL Programme of the Year 1993-94, 1995-96, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01

NWCFL Premier Division 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15

NWCFL First Division / First Division North 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20

Wirral Programme Club National Survey NWCFL Programme of the Year 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99

Programme Monthly NWCFL Programme of the Year 2007-08

Soccer Club Swap Shop National Programme Awards 2010-11 28th, 2011-12 8th, 2012-13 7th, 2013-14 8th, 2014-15 5th, 2015-16 8th, 2016-17 2nd, 2017-18 5th 2018-19 6th 2019-20 5th

M60 Programmes

NWCFL Division One North Programme of the Year 2019-20

INFO

Honorary Life President: Alan Wellens

Vice Presidents: Jim Barrett, Steve Ball and David Watkins

Chairman: Ste Lingard

Vice Chairman: Gavin Scott Secretary: Paul Styles

Youth Secretary: Stacey Savage Treasurer: Ste Lingard

Commercial Manager: Gavin Scott Media Manager: Michael Bagshaw

Committee

Michael Bagshaw, Steve Ball, Daniel Castrogiovanni, Michael Featherstone, Andy Langley, David Morris, David O`Keefe, Ste Lingard, John McKiernan, Gavin Scott, Paul Styles, Stacey Savage and David Watkins.

Management Staff

1st Team Manager: Paul 'Peo' Piert

1st Team Coaches: Lee O'Connor & Danny Hughes

U18s Development Team Manager: James Kelly U17s Manager: Paul Hilton U16s Manager: Dave Morris U14s Manager: Drew Kordinzki U12s Manager: Nick Quirk

Main Club Sponsor: Paramount Digital 1st Team Kit Sponsor: Paramount Digital, AE Holland Memorials, The Griffin Inn Charity Partners: St Helens Mind, Teardrops & Tunza's Pride

Legal

St Helens Town Limited Private Limited Company Company No. 04392840 Date of Incorporation 12.03.2002

Ground

Ruskin Sports Village, Ruskin Drive, Denton’s Green, St Helens WA10 6RP Website: sthelenstownafc.com Twitter: @sthelenstownfc Facebook: facebook.com/StHelensTownAFC Instagram: sthelenstownafc

THE SQUAD

Paul Piert

Alex Pettersen

Ruairi McDaid

Michael Rowlinson

Michael Lacey

Will Burrows

Thomas White

Ciaran Lea

Harry Long Michael Dunn

Daniel Leyland Michael Newton

Patrick Dunne

Lee O'Connor

Kyle Rugg

Kenny Dixon

MANAGER DEF

GK

MID MID

GK

DEFDEF

DEF DEF DEFDEF

DEF

ASSISTANT MANAGER GK DEF

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Gerard Songsters Claire Garvey & Phil Smith

Flat Back Four Sandy McGowan NGUP Fitness

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Delph Tevern

Scott McGregor

Danny Hughes Kyle Ross Chris Greene

Ethan McHugh

Bradley Coy

Alex Higham

Oghenetega Okeregha

Andrew Mines Daniel Popoola

Ethan Woodcock Steven Scahill

Danny Greene

Graham Ashton Ryan Cook FWD

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Michael Featherstone AvailableRJG Architecture

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John McKiernan

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the warm feeling you get

your local team), you will also receive a season ticket

presence

programme as well as on social media and the website.

HALF-TIME QUIZ

League of Wales club

The current Prince of Wales

Which League 2 club

FC

Q10. North West Counties League

European city?

LEAGUE

ST HELENS TOWN ADMIRAL PARK

KYLE RUGG

HARRY LONG

MICHAEL NEWTON

MICHAEL DUNN KENNY DIXON

MICHAEL ROWLINSON CHRISTOPHER GREENE

ANDREW MINES

DALE WHITEHEAD

ALEX HIGHAM KYLE ROSS LUKE DIGGLE MICHAEL LACEY THOMAS WHITE

ALEX PETTERSEN RYAN COOK

SCOTT MCGREGOR ETHAN WOODCOCK

DANIEL GREENE

OGHENETEGA OKEREGHA

Manager

PAUL PIERT Assistants

BEN COOK LUKE DENTON LEWIS HASSAN JOHN KEATLEY JOSEPH MCDONAGH JESSE ROBINSON PHILLIP THOMPSON KIERON KEITH NIALL MACKLIN JOHNATHON PARKINSON NABEEL SALEM JOSEPH JOHNSON COLYFA KAMARA CONNOR MCCARTHY RONNIE MCCARTHY ARRAN MOORE ALEX SPEED MICHAEL STANDISH

JOHN TOWNER Manager PAUL MCINERNEY Assistants

LEE O'CONNOR DANNY HUGHES MATCH OFFICIALS

CHRIS WALKER AARON MOORE

J. ATKINSON, C. FOULKES, B. MCEVOY

Match