Celtic Nation Football Club (/ˈkɛltɪk ˈneɪʃən/) was an English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in Carlisle,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

. The club were members of Division One of the Northern League and played at Gillford Park.

History

The club was established in 2004 and was originally known as Gillford Park Spartans and joined Division Two of the

Northern Alliance The Northern Alliance, officially known as the United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( prs, جبهه متحد اسلامی ملی برای نجات افغانستان ''Jabha-yi Muttahid-i Islāmi-yi Millī barāyi Nijāt ...

in 2005. They finished second in the first season in the division, and were promoted to Division One. In 2006 the club changed its name to Gillford Park, winning Division One of the Northern Alliance at the first attempt, earning promotion to the Premier Division. After finishing third in the Premier Division in 2007–08, the club finished second the following season, and were promoted to Division Two of the Northern League. In 2009–10 and 2010–11 the club finished eleventh in Division Two, before finishing second in 2011–12 and earning promotion to Division One."Big Spenders" ''When Saturday Comes'', October 2012, p11 In 2012 the club adopted the name Celtic Nation, and also attracted sponsorship from Frank Lynch, a Scottish millionaire based in America. The extra money allowed the club to sign several ex-professional players, including Paul Arnison,

Adam Boyd Adam Mark Boyd (born 25 May 1982) is an English footballer who last played for Bishop Auckland. Boyd plays as a striker and started off playing in school while attending Grange Primary School, in his hometown of Hartlepool. During his studi ...

and Graeme Lee. Former Newcastle United assistant manager

Mick Wadsworth Michael Wadsworth (born 3 November 1950) is an English football coach and former player. Born in Barnsley his playing career spanned only one season in The Football League with Scunthorpe United, along with spells playing for Gainsborough Tr ...

was appointed manager in late April 2013, with Wadsworth revealing that he had turned down an assistant manager role at a

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side to take up the challenge at Celtic Nation. Wadsworth resigned after 10 matches in charge, and was succeeded as manager by Willie McStay. After financial support for the club was withdrawn, Wille McStay and the majority of the playing staff left the club. At one point in the summer of 2014 the club had only four registered players. Former Newcastle United, Barrow and Carlisle United midfielder Mark Boyd took on the role of player/manager of Celtic Nation appointing Nation forward, Jonny Allan, as assistant. On 25 April 2015, Nation confirmed that they had resigned from the Northern League and would fold due to financial problems and losing the lease of Gillford Park to

Northern Football Alliance The Northern Football Alliance is a football league based in the North East, England. It has four divisions headed by the Premier Division, which sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System. The top club in the Premier Division ...

Premier Division neighbours Carlisle City. Three days later Celtic Nation played their last ever match against

North Shields North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...

, which ended in a 1–0 defeat.

Colours

Celtic Nation played in green and white shirts, white shorts and green and white socks. Their away strip was yellow shirts, black shorts and yellow and black socks.

Honours

(as Gillford Park F.C.) **Division One champions 2006–07 **Challenge Cup winners 2008–09 **Combination Cup winners 2006–07 *Cumberland Senior Cup **Winners 2014 (as Celtic Nation F.C.)

References

{{coord, 54, 52, 37.790, N, 2, 54, 58.018, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title 2005 establishments in England 2015 disestablishments in England Association football clubs disestablished in 2015 Association football clubs established in 2005 Sport in Carlisle, Cumbria Defunct football clubs in England Northern Football League Defunct football clubs in Cumbria