Burscough Football Club is an English
football club based in
Burscough
Burscough () is a town and civil parish in West Lancashire in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, England. It is located to the north of Ormskirk and northwest of Skelmersdale.
The parish also includes the hamlet of Tarlscough and the Marti ...
, Lancashire. The club is a member of the
North West Counties League, and competes in the
Premier Division. Its home ground is The Community Stadium, in Burscough.
History
Early days
The first Burscough Association Football Club was formed in 1880, playing in the Liverpool and District League football before folding in 1900.
In 1905 Burscough Rangers were founded and moved to the present Mart Lane ground in 1908. They established many of the traditions carried on by the current club, playing in green and known as the Linnets. In the 1920s they had success winning the
Liverpool County Combination
The Liverpool County Football Combination was a football league based in Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1908 and had its first season in 1909–10. A second division was quickly formed, and the league ran with two divisions for the majorit ...
Championship three times. In 1926 Rangers purchased a grandstand from
Everton and erected it on Victoria Park. The following year they joined the
Lancashire Combination but never experienced the same level of success and began to run into financial difficulties, finally folding in 1935.
Following
World War II the present Burscough club was founded in 1946, starting life in the Liverpool County Combination. In their second season, 1947–48, they achieved a
treble, winning the
Lancashire Junior Cup
The Lancashire Football Association Challenge Trophy is an English football competition for senior non-league clubs who are members of the Lancashire County Football Association. The trophy was first played for in 1885, when it was known as the L ...
, George Mahon Cup and the Liverpool Challenge Cup. Two years later they again claimed the Junior Cup and also won the County Combination title for the first time. In 1952 they won the Liverpool Challenge Cup for a second time.
In 1953–54 they joined the Lancashire Combination winning the Second Division Championship in their first season and scoring 155 goals in the process. 1955–56 saw probably the club's greatest ever achievement as they won the First Division Championship. Another milestone was reached in 1959 when they reached the first round of the
FA Cup for the first time before going down 3–1 to
Crewe Alexandra
Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...
in front of 4,200 at Victoria Park.
Another trophy winning spell commenced in 1966–67 season under manager
Bobby Langton
Robert Langton (8 September 1918 – 13 January 1996) was an English footballer who played for the majority of his career for Lancashire clubs. He played mostly on the left wing. He represented his country eleven times between 1946 and 1950. Aft ...
, the former
England winger, as the club completed a hat-trick of Junior Cup successes against
South Liverpool at
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...
. The Lancashire Combination First Division title was regained in 1969–70 season.
1970s and 1980s
In 1970–71 Burscough joined the
Cheshire County League
The Cheshire County League was a football league founded in the north west of England in 1919, drawing its teams largely from Cheshire, surrounding English counties and North Wales.
Initially the league was dominated by the reserve teams of Footba ...
, finishing runners-up to
Rossendale United. The following season they won the Liverpool Non-League Senior Cup and in 1974–75 the Cheshire League Cup was lifted. The 'Linnets' also reached the
FA Cup first round proper on three other occasions. In
1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Re ...
, a 1–0 defeat at
Blyth Spartans
Blyth Spartans Association Football Club is a football club based in Blyth, Northumberland. They are currently members of and play at Croft Park.
They were founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club's first secretary before f ...
, in
1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
, a 3–0 defeat at
Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
in front of 14,000 spectators and in
1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC.
* January 9 – In ...
, a 2–1 defeat against
Altrincham
Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...
.
In 1981 the club became founder members of the North West Counties League, and had the distinction of becoming the league's first ever champions under
Bryan Griffiths
Bryan Griffiths (born 26 January 1965) is an English former professional footballer. He played as a left winger.
Born in Prescot, Lancashire, Griffiths began his career with St Helens Town in the 1980s. He signed professional forms with Wiga ...
. A new grandstand seating 250 was built in 1986 to replace the old wooden stand which had stood for 60 years and no longer met ground safety regulations. In the 1989–90 season the club were relegated to Division Two of the league.
1990s
The appointment of Russ Perkins as manager in 1991 was to bring about a change in the club's fortunes as Burscough reached the League Cup final and gained promotion back to Division One. In 1992–93 Burscough lost 2–1 to
Southport in the Liverpool Senior Cup Final at
Goodison Park
Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...
before 2,000 spectators. Success was achieved by winning the League Challenge Cup with a 2–1 victory over
Nantwich Town. 1993–94 was one of the most eventful seasons in Burscough's history as three players, Gary Martindale,
Kevin Formby
Kevin Formby (born 22 July 1971) is a former English footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Can ...
and
Alex Russell, joined Football League clubs for substantial fees. Further covered standing accommodation for 500 spectators was erected at Victoria Park during the close season.
In May 1995, Burscough appointed John Davison manager. In his first season Burscough went on to win the League Challenge Cup for the second time, beating League champions
Flixton 1–0 at
Bury.
Flixton were again beaten as Burscough also won the annual Champions v Cup Winners Challenge Trophy.
In 1997–98, after finishing runners-up in the North West Counties League, the club were promoted to Division One of the
Northern Premier League. They also won the League Floodlit Trophy and reached the final of the Liverpool Senior Cup against
Liverpool.
The Linnets achieved seventh position in their first Northern Premier League season, also reaching the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup and the final of the Liverpool Senior Cup for the third time in six seasons. In July 1999 nineteen-year-old striker Michael Yates signed for
Scottish Premier League side
Dundee for a five-figure transfer fee which was a club record at the time.
2000s
1999–2000 saw The Linnets gain promotion to the
Premier Division after losing only two games all season and remaining unbeaten away from home, finally finishing in runners-up spot. In their first season in the Premier Division Burscough finished in 15th position, had good runs in the FA Cup and
FA Trophy then in July 2001 won the Liverpool Senior Cup for the first-ever time with a 1–0 victory over Conference neighbours
Southport.
During this period the club had a youth development programme game and one graduate, 19-year-old
Lee McEvilly
Lee Richard McEvilly (born 15 April 1982) aka 'The Sheriff' is a retired footballer who played as a striker. Although born in England, he won one cap for the Northern Ireland national team in 2002 and also played for Northern Ireland at under ...
, signed for
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Boroug ...
in December 2001 for a club record £20,000 fee. Within 116 days of signing McEvilly had won full international honours for
Northern Ireland against
Spain.
Following the resignation of John Davison the club appointed
Shaun Teale
Shaun Teale (born 10 March 1964 in Southport) is an English football manager and former professional footballer.
He played as a defender from 1983 until 2004 and was notably part of the League Cup winning team of Aston Villa in 1994.He also ...
as player/manager in May 2002 and the ex-Aston Villa defender went on to lead the club to its greatest-ever achievement as Burscough became the smallest club to win the FA Trophy following a 2–1 victory over
Tamworth at
Villa Park on 18 May 2003. Played in front of a crowd of 14,296, it was the Linnet's twelfth game in the competition, including a 2-0 quarter final win over holders, and eventual Conference champions,
Yeovil. Despite the win, Teale was sacked six weeks later. Former
Liverpool,
Galatasaray
Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...
and
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, ha ...
midfielder
Mike Marsh was appointed manager but after a poor start to the season Marsh resigned and ex-Southport defender Derek Goulding took over in October 2003.
The
2003–04 season saw Burscough finish with a run of victories that allowed them to move from the relegation zone into the promotion play-off positions. Despite playing all their games away from home the Linnets went on to reach the play-off final where they only went down at
Bradford Park Avenue following extra-time. The
2004–05 season ended in controversy as the Linnets were denied a play-off place following a decision to award three points to other teams for unplayed games against
Spennymoor United
Spennymoor United Association Football Club was an association football club based in Spennymoor, County Durham, England.
History
Spennymoor United Association Football Club was formed in 1904 as an amalgamation of Spennymoor Town and Weardale ...
who could not complete their fixtures.
In
2005–06 the club reached the second round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history. In reaching that milestone they defeated League One side
Gillingham 3–2 at Victoria Park, before losing to
Burton Albion
Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...
.
At the end of the 2006–07 season Burscough enjoyed one of their most successful in history when the Linnets won the Northern Premier League Premier Division and the Lancashire Junior Cup for the first time in 40 years when neighbours
Marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military ...
were defeated. The league success was only confirmed on the last day of the season when the Linnets won at
AFC Telford United
AFC Telford United is a football club based in Telford, Shropshire, England. The club was formed in 2004 after the original Telford United, founded in 1872, folded due to financial problems. Currently members of the National League North, they ...
. The victory meant they overtook Telford at the top of the table and won the title on goal difference by a single goal from
Witton Albion. Further and final success came when NPL First Division champions
Buxton
Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level. were defeated 3–1 in the
Peter Swales Shield
The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Division ...
. This rounded the season off and confirmed Burscough as Treble winners.
2010s
In the
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
season, Burscough finished 19th but were reprieved from relegation due to
Ilkeston Town folding. In September 2011 former manager Derek Goulding returned to the club, replacing Chris Stammers.
[http://www.osadvertiser.co.uk/west-lancashire-sport/burscough-fc/2011/09/08/new-burscough-fc-boss-derek-goulding-delighted-to-pick-up-first-win-of-season-80904-29380192/ ?]
In the 2014–15 season Burscough were relegation favourites, however they went on to reach the play off semi-final in which they were beaten by a strong Spennymoor side.
Stadium
The club used to play their home games at Victoria Park, in Burscough which had a capacity of 3,054, with a 250-seat grandstand. Opposite the grandstand was a sheltered terrace. At the Crabtree Lane end of the ground was another sheltered terrace, with a smoking area between these two shelters. These two stands could provide cover for up to 1,000 standing occupants. The Mart Lane end of the ground had the main turnstiles. In 2020, the ground was demolished to facilitate a move to The “New Victoria Park”.
Honours
*
Northern Premier League
**Premier Division champions
2006–07
*
North West Counties League
**Champions
1982–83
**League Cup winners 1992–93, 1995–96
*
Lancashire Combination
**Champions 1955–56, 1969–70
**Division Two champions 1953–54
*
Liverpool County Football Combination
The Liverpool County Football Combination was a football league based in Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1908 and had its first season in 1909–10. A second division was quickly formed, and the league ran with two divisions for the majori ...
**Champions 1949–50
*
FA Trophy
**Winners 2002–03
*
Liverpool Senior Cup
The Liverpool County Football Association Senior Cup, commonly known as the Liverpool Senior Cup, is a football knockout tournament involving teams from the city of Liverpool, England and surrounding areas.
It is the County Cup competition o ...
**Winners 2000–01
*
Cheshire Senior Cup
The Cheshire County Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Cheshire Senior Cup, is a football knockout tournament founded in the 1879–80 season and involves teams from Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, England. ...
**Winners 1974–75
*
Lancashire Junior Cup
The Lancashire Football Association Challenge Trophy is an English football competition for senior non-league clubs who are members of the Lancashire County Football Association. The trophy was first played for in 1885, when it was known as the L ...
**Winners 1947–48, 1949–50, 1966–67, 2006–07
Notable former players
# Players that have played/managed in the Football League or any foreign equivalent to this level (i.e. fully professional league).
# Players with full international caps.
*
Michael Branch
*
John Coleman
*
Alan Cocks
*
Ryan Lowe
Ryan Thomas Lowe (born 18 September 1978) is an English football manager and former professional player, who is manager of Championship side Preston North End. His playing career, as a striker, began at Burscough in 1999 and he became a Footbal ...
*
Mike Marsh
*
Lee McEvilly
Lee Richard McEvilly (born 15 April 1982) aka 'The Sheriff' is a retired footballer who played as a striker. Although born in England, he won one cap for the Northern Ireland national team in 2002 and also played for Northern Ireland at under ...
*
Craig Noone
Craig Stephen Noone (born 17 November 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger for A-League club Macarthur FC. He has also played professional football for Plymouth Argyle, Exeter City, Brighton & Hove Albion, Cardiff C ...
*
Connor Roberts
*
Alex Russell
*
Shaun Teale
Shaun Teale (born 10 March 1964 in Southport) is an English football manager and former professional footballer.
He played as a defender from 1983 until 2004 and was notably part of the League Cup winning team of Aston Villa in 1994.He also ...
*
Lee Trundle
Lee Christopher Trundle (born 10 October 1976) is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Cymru South side Ammanford. He also works as the club ambassador and youth team coach for Championship side Swansea City.
Trundle's career beg ...
*
Liam Watson
References
External links
*
Unofficial Forum*
{{coord, 53, 36, 16, N, 2, 50, 43, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title
National League (English football) clubs
Sport in the Borough of West Lancashire
Association football clubs established in 1946
Lancashire Combination
Football clubs in Lancashire
1946 establishments in England
North West Counties Football League clubs
Northern Premier League clubs
Football clubs in England
Burscough
Liverpool County Football Combination
Cheshire County League clubs