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WELCOME to WEST DIDSBURY & CHORLTON AFC
The Recreation Ground, Brookburn Road, Chorltonville Manchester M21 8FE Club Committee: Glyn Meacher; Rob Madden; Dave Cooper; Rob McKay; Monica Creer; Steve Eckersley; John Churchman; James Doxford; Davy Iredale; Dan Iredale; Tim Manley and Matthew Durrant Ownership: In accordance with THE Football Association Rule 2.13 Publication of ownership in relation to Step 1 to Step 6 clubs in the Football Pyramid we hereby confirm that the legal status of WEST DIDSBURY AND CHORLTON ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL CLUB is as not for profit private members club. Any gain arising from the carrying on of the Club shall be applied for the benefit of the Club or for some charitable or benevolent purpose or purposes approved by resolution at a general meeting of the Club.
To contact the club please use the club website: www.wdcfc.co.uk Main Club Sponsor:
Ground Safety In the interest of spectator comfort and safety, the following conditions apply at the clubs Brookburn Road ground and must be observed at all times. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
In case of fire or other emergency that requires the clubhouse or ground to be evacuated instructions will be given over the public address system, and we ask that you comply with those instructions immediately. The chanting of racist or obscene chanting is strictly forbidden. Glasses, bottles, gas canisters, knives, darts, tools, flag poles or any other articles likely to cause injury are not permitted into the ground. Alcohol may be purchased and consumed in the bar area only. Children are not allowed in the Club House unless accompanied by an adult. Encroachment onto the playing area is forbidden at all times. Standing is not allowed in front of the seated areas. All forms of transport on the clubs car park is at the owners’ risk.
The club reserves the right to remove any person from the ground who is in breach of these rules or whose presence is a source of danger or annoyance to others. We hope you understand the reasons for the above are in order for the game to be enjoyed in safe and pleasant conditions.
Thank you, West Didsbury and Chorlton AFC Committee.
A welcome to Maine Road FC West and Maine Road will put aside their South Manchester rivalry for one day as we honour inarguably the most important figure in our club’s history and compete for the Rob Turley Trophy. Rob Turley played a pivotal role in turning West into what it is today, working tirelessly to craft the club to his meet his own vision. Over the course of his life, he took up almost every role within the club it is imaginable to take: starting out as a star player, with his final role being as Vice-Chairman having been involved with almost every other position you could imagine before sadly passing away in 2016. Aside from his loyalties to West, Rob also appreciated Maine Road, and we’re honoured that our nearest rivals will contest this pre-season trophy in his name. This will be the second time the clubs have competed for the trophy, having first done so in 2018 when West ran out 3-2 winners. You can read Glyn Meacher’s memories of Mr West Didsbury & Chorlton on page 4. We’d once again like to thank Maine Road for playing this game in honour of Rob, and wish them all the best for the season ahead. Thank you for visiting Brookburn Road and have a safe journey home
Match Report Saturday 20th July
West 3 Salford City 1 A pair of Matty Boland free kicks inspired West to a pre-season win over a Salford City XI. West took the lead inside 60 seconds when a trialist converted a cross from the left, but the young Ammies restored parity with a close-range effort on the half-hour mark. Boland put West back in the lead shortly before half time with a curled effort from just outside the area, before repeating the trick after the interval to seal a confidence-boosting win. Brad Cooke’s side have just two more friendlies before the start of the NWCFL season, welcoming Maine Road for a Rob Turley Trophy match today, before Cooke’s old side Atherton Collieries visit the following Tuesday.
Mr. West Didsbury & Chorlton Former chairman and current committee member Glyn Meacher wrote his thoughts on Rob Turley, whose memory today’s game will be played in honour of Today gives our club the opportunity to compete for the Rob Turley trophy against Maine Road for the second time, although everyone who visits the ground will be aware of Robs name given the stand at the clubhouse end is named in his honour. However, given the massive growth in the club over the past three years, there will be many players, fans and parents who didn’t know Rob, nor will fully understand the impact he had on the club and how it is run. As we enjoy the facilities we have at the club, compete at Counties level and look forward to our latest ground improvements, all were only made possible through his vision, skill and 100% commitment to the club. It was Rob who: ●
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Had a dream of us playing in the FA Cup, before we had even bought Brookburn Road and saw it come true Had a vision of playing at Counties level and persuaded a sceptical committee that this was an achievable goal, given we were playing in the Lancs and Cheshire League at the time 20 plus years ago, together with Brian Cripps, our club President, led on the purchase of the ground from East Chorlton FC and the securing of lottery funding to build the clubhouse Led on every subsequent ground development; floodlights, club extension, pitch rails, stands etc Purchased the land where the changing rooms and Hardy Farm sit on with the sole intention of creating a base for our junior section
Rob Turley Rob also put the name of West Didsbury and Chorlton FC on the non-league map, long before non- league dog day and chants about hummous and broccoli raised our profile. He did this through spending his time taking on the role of being President of the Lancs and Cheshire league and helping other clubs meet ground grading requirements, examples being Litherland Remyca and Prestwich Heys. All the above was achieved in a calm and dignified manner and in a way that provides a litmus test for the way the club will always be run. That being, if every action that the club takes, is done in a way that Rob would approve, it will be the ‘right way’. No-one in the history of the 111 years that the club has been in existence has done more for it, and Rob fully deserved the nickname, given to him by a previous chairman of being ‘Mr West Didsbury and Chorlton’ Glyn
MATCH ACTION - ​West 3 - 1 Salford Courtesy of Simon Cook
History of Maine Road FC The club was formed in 1955 as ‘City Supporters Rusholme’ when our past Chairman Frank Thompson and a few friends formed a team and after playing a few friendlies, joined the local Rusholme Sunday League. In the late sixties the club changed to the Manchester Amateur Sunday League and also moved its headquarters to the newly built Maine Road Social Club and hence the new name Maine Road FC was born. Ronnie Meredith was now running the club and in 1971-72 we won the Manchester County Sunday Cup and both the club’s sides won their respective leagues. This prompted Ron to look for a new challenge and he changed the whole future of the club by moving to Saturday football in the form of the Manchester League. Success followed success on the field and after several years of moving grounds we settled on our present home at Brantingham Road in 1980. After a lean spell, one of Ron’s ambitions was realised in Season 1983-84 when we won the Manchester League Premier Division. In fact, we won the league four years running. Derek Barber took over the managerial reins in 1986 and the clubs progress continued so much 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. In only our second season (1989), we finished runners up to Vauxhall Motors. Regrettably we were denied promotion due to ground grading, so in 1990 we went one better to win the 2nd Division Championship and take our rightful place in Division One. In Season 1987-88 we beat Irlam Town 1-0 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 (5), Sunday Amateur Cup (1), Intermediate Cup (2), Challenge Cup (4). At the end of Season 2001-02, after twelve seasons in the top division, Maine Road were relegated to the 2nd division. This was the first time a Maine
Road side had ever been relegated and we hope it will be the last. After two seasons in the 2nd division under the guidance of Chris Simms when our very young side finished 3rd and runners up, we returned to the top division, (2004) and the club finished 8th and 10th in the following two seasons. The arrival of Ian Walker as manager (2006) saw Maine Roads improvement continue with 3 top 6 finishes in 4 seasons and the winning of the prestigious League Challenge Cup (2008). In 2012-13 John Morrey/Chris Thomas took over the managerial reins and in 2 seasons continued the improvement with a magnificent runners up spot (2013), followed by a 4th position (2014). Chris Hirst in his 2nd full season of management has finished in a very creditable 15th position with a very young & inexperienced team. Maine Road has a long and proud reputation for attracting young players to the club. This began in the late 1980’s, which brought a succession of fine young players to the club. This success in spotting and nurturing the best young talent has continued over the past decades with Maine Road’s domination of the Umbro International Tournament at Under 19 level. Over 11 seasons our Under 19’s have taken on and regularly outplayed talented youngsters from around the world. They have won the competition an amazing 6 times and been runners up 3 times. The record set by the team of 2003 may never be surpassed when 8 of the squad regularly played 1st team football in the same season. Another factor in the continued success of the club is the outstanding loyalty shown by many players. The best examples are the appearances made by the following players Ian Walker 637, Chris Simms 556, Gordon Woods 465, John Morrey 421, Robin Gibson 386, Alex Jay 382 and Neil Chappell 377 (The top 5 players have also gone on to run the first or reserve teams). Another amazing record is that in our 60 year history we have had only 9 managers of which 8 have been ex players.
OUR SPONSORS We would like to express our sincere thanks to our current pitch side board sponsors for their support. Without you we wouldn’t be where we are today.
West
Andrew Jones (GK) Ashley Woods Benjamin Steer Bradley Cooke Callum Jones Christopher Middleton # Daniel McLaughlin Dylan Moloney James Cottee Jordan Henry Joshua Tinker Kristian Holt Lee Gavin Lee Grimshaw Matthew Boland Matthew Cook Matthew Eckersley Neil Chappell Thomas Horner Zachary Cooper Management Team Brad Cooke Robert Sadler Warren Jones
Come on, West!
Maine Road Conrad Betton (GK) Ben Davison Ben Mooney Benjamin Phillips Daniel Burgess David Brown Jack Langford Jamie Hill Jamie Roe Louie Inniss Marc Duffy Matthew Flynn Matthew Morgan Max Scragg Oscar Campbell Owen Pollitt Rory Breslin Ryan Smith Sam Barnett # Thomas Markham Zachary Curtis Management Team Raymond Barnett Hugh Devlin Jeffrey Newma