Winsford United Football Club are a
football club based in
Winsford
Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining industr ...
,
Cheshire,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. The club was founded in 1883 and are nicknamed ''The Blues''. The club is currently a member of the , with home matches played at
The Barton Stadium. Their all time top scorer is Perry Plowman with 256 goals in all competitions.
History
Winsford United was founded in 1883, as Over Wanderers'' and played football in the
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
Combination Football League. They changed their name and moved to their current ground, the Barton Stadium (then called the Bean Latham Playing Field), a few years later. However, after excessive spending, the club soon folded.
They re-formed just before the outbreak of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, and re-grouped after this had finished under a committee led by Mr. R. G. Barton, becoming a founder member of the
Cheshire League. From then until the late 1970s, Winsford United played football locally in Cheshire. Highlights of this period included one
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
first round appearance, against
Peterborough United
Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...
, and Cheshire league wins in 1920–21 and 1976–77. During this period, in the late 1970s, the club also reached the quarter finals of the
FA Trophy and featured future
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
international
goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
Neville Southall
Neville Southall (born 16 September 1958) is a Welsh former international footballer. He has been described as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation and won the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 1985.
He joined Bury from Winsford ...
.
The Cheshire League merged with other regional divisions to become the North West Counties Football League in 1982, with Winsford doing sufficiently well to enter the
Northern Premier League Division One
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 ...
upon its formation in 1987. They were promoted from that in 1992, and enjoyed their highest ever finish as runners up of the
Northern Premier League Premier Division
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 ...
in 1992–93. They also reached the FA Cup First Round for a second time, losing to
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
, and won the
Northern Premier League Challenge Cup
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 ...
.
The successful team was broken up, however, when manager Mike McKenzie moved on to local rivals
Witton Albion. After a few more seasons in the bottom half of the Northern Premier League Premier Division, and another local derby in the FA Cup first round – this time against
Chester City – the club were relegated three times in four seasons. At the start of the 2003–04 season, they found themselves in the North West Counties Division Two.
They were finally promoted, on 24 April 2007, to the
North West Counties Football League Division One and secured the Division 2 title on 28 April 2007. Manager Joe Gibiliru left in the Summer of 2009 and Terry Murphy, former
Middlewich Town F.C. manager, was brought in as replacement. Although at the back end of August 2009 Murphy left the club due to family reasons and his assistant, Mike Alcock, was promoted to Manager.
Alcock did not, however, last long as at the beginning of September 2009 he was forced to resign due to ill health and coach Tony Ledwards was promoted to manager. In March 2010, Ledwards stepped down as manager after a poor run of results and the club was taken over by a co-management team of Mike Alcock and Dave Twite, who effectively saved the team from relegation. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Alcock and Twite decided not to continue as managers and became involved in coaching and scouting roles instead.
Chris Willcock was announced as the new manager and later named Ian Street as his assistant, it was to be Willcock's second spell in charge of the club after leading them to promotion from North West Counties Division Two in 2007, Chris Willcock resigned as the Blues manager in early 2011 and assistant Ian Street was appointed as the new boss.
Street was to remain in charge of the team in for the rest of the season and under his management, Winsford won the North West Counties Football League Challenge Cup, defeating
New Mills F.C. in the final.
Street managed the team for the whole of the 2011–12 season, guiding them to 7th place. However, in June 2012 it was announced Street had left the club to take over as manager of
Ashton Athletic F.C.
Ashton Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester, England. They are currently members of the and play at Brocstedes Park. They are full members of the Lancashire County Football Association.
...
On 17 June, it was announced that Lloyd Morrison had joined the club as the new manager, he had been at
Flixton F.C.
Flixton F.C. were an English football club based in Flixton, near Urmston in Greater Manchester. They played in the North West Counties Football League Premier Division until 2012 when they resigned from the league. In the late 1990s they spen ...
for the past two seasons. Kevin Bircumshaw decided to stay on as assistant manager. Winsford have boasted many local talents over the years such as Lee Duckworth, Joe Roberts, Les Miranda, Steve Warburton and Lee Jones
Winsford finished 5th in the North West Counties Premier Division in Morrison's first year in charge, just five points off league winners
Padiham F.C.
Padiham Football Club are an English football team based in Padiham, Lancashire. As of 2019–20, they play in the .
History
When the club was formed in 1878 it was among the first football clubs in Lancashire and was well supported, attractin ...
Despite missing out on promotion in 2012–13, the club did win the Mid-Cheshire Senior Cup for the fifth time in their history, beating
Northwich Victoria F.C.
Northwich Victoria Football Club are a semi-professional football club based in Northwich, Cheshire, which compete in the . They play home games at Wincham Park, in a groundshare agreement with nearby rivals Witton Albion. They had played at th ...
2–1 after extra time in the final.
Two weeks prior to the start of the 2013–14 season, Eddie Haslam was appointed as manager following Lloyd Morrison's departure for
Mossley
Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, southeast of Oldham and east of Manchester.
The historic counties of Lancashire, Cheshir ...
, but after a series of poor results in the autumn, he was replaced by Rob Byrne in December 2013. In 2015 the club introduced their new Under 21s side managed by Chris Appleton.
Stadium
The club play at the Barton Stadium, which is located off Kingsway in the Wharton area of Winsford town. The stadium formerly had a
greyhound racing. It was formerly known as the Great Western Playing Field, but was renamed in honour of R.G. Barton, who led the committee to re-establish Winsford United after the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The stadium played host to
1874 Northwich F.C., who, like Winsford, also compete in the North-West Counties League.
Current squad
Management
*Manager:
**Lee Duckworth
*Assistant Manager:
**Marc Feighery
*Physiotherapist:
**Steve Foden
Goalkeeper Coach
**Daniel Osbourne
First Team Coach
**Kevin Bircumshaw
Honours
*
Northern Premier League(Level 7)
**Challenge Cup
***Winner: 1992–93,
**President's Cup
***Winner: 1992–93,
*
North West Counties Football League(Level 9)
**Division One (Level 10)
***Winners: 2006–07,
**Challenge Cup
***Winners: 2010–11,
*
Cheshire League
**Winners: 1920–21, 1976–77,
**Runners–up: 1974–75, 1979–80,
*
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. It ...
**Winners: 1958–59, 1979–80, 1992–93,
*Mid-Cheshire Senior Cup
**Winners: 1991–92, 1992–93, 1994–95, 2007–08, 2012–13, 2013–14,
References
External links
Official SiteWinsford United history*
{{North West Counties 1
Football clubs in England
Football clubs in Cheshire
North West Counties Football League clubs
Association football clubs established in 1883
1883 establishments in England
Cheshire County League clubs