Radcliffe F.C.

Radcliffe FC
Full name Radcliffe Football Club
Nickname(s) The Boro
Founded 24 May 1949
Ground Neuven Stadium, Radcliffe
Capacity 4,000 (350 seated)
Chairman Paul Hilton
Manager Jon Macken
League Northern Premier League Division One West
2017–18 Northern Premier League Division One North, 20th of 22

Radcliffe Football Club formerly Radcliffe Borough is an English football club based in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester where they play their games at Stainton Park. The club was formed on 24 May 1949 and currently plays in the Northern Premier League Division One North. Radcliffe FC won the division in 1996–97, won the playoffs on 2002–03 and reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time in its history in 2000. The club changed its name to Radcliffe Football Club for the 2018–19 season.[1]

History

The club was formed on 24 May 1949 at the Owd Tower Inn in Radcliffe by Jack Pickford & a committee of 17 and became a member of the South East Lancashire Football League. After a short period in that league, the club joined the Manchester League before gaining access to the Lancashire Football Combination in 1963. In 1972, Radcliffe won the League Cup and finished third in the league. Two years later it was accepted into the Cheshire League, which subsequently became the North West Counties League.

The first season again brought success when Radcliffe secured the Second Division championship in front of a record Stainton Park crowd of 1,468. After one season in the First Division, Radcliffe lifted the First Division championship in 1985 and made the step up into the newly formed Northern Premier League First Division in 1987. After many years of consolidation in the league, and at times, fighting against relegation, the 1995–96 season saw an upturn in the club's fortunes, both on and off the pitch. The club, for the first time in its history, reached the last 16 of the FA Trophy, narrowly losing to Football Conference side, Gateshead 2–1.

Under previous manager Kevin Glendon who has been at the club since 1990, the playing side has gone from strength to strength. Kevin is renowned for producing young players and selling them on, in total he has made £80,000 in selling players. Radcliffe achieved its highest honour in the 1996–97 season, winning the Northern Premier League First Division title by 2 points ahead of local rivals Leigh RMI. Unfortunately, the club's stay in the 'top flight' lasted only one season. Having sacrificed all its revenue on ground development, to allow it to be promoted, it found itself without the resources to invest in quality players to stay in the division. Each year since then, however, it has competed for promotion, finishing regularly in the top six.

For the first time in its history the club reached the first round of the FA Cup in 2000, losing 1–4 to York City in a match played at Gigg Lane, the home of Bury, in front of a crowd of 2,495. Boro again missed out on promotion in the 2001–02 season when after leading the division until February a poor run to the end of the season, meant that the club entered the newly formed play-offs losing to Bamber Bridge in the semi-final at Irongate.

In the 2002–03 season Boro missed out on the championship by two points to Alfreton Town, and reached the 4th qualifying round of the FA Cup, losing to Chester City in front of 1,138 at Stainton Park. Promotion was finally won thanks to the play-offs by beating North Ferriby United in the semi-final and Chorley in the final at Stainton Park winning 4–2 on penalties after Chorley scored two goals in the last 10 minutes to make it 2–2 and take the game into extra time. Boro's Jody Banim got 46 goals in what was an unbelievable season for him.

Stainton Park during a friendly against neighbours Bury in 2006

With Boro back in the Northern Premier League Premier Division and a place in the newly formed Conference North up for grabs, promotion was obviously the aim. By November Boro were as high as sixth thanks to the 22 goals of Jody Banim who set an English record by scoring in 14 consecutive games. Boro sold Banim to Conference promotion chasers Shrewsbury Town for a record fee of £20,000 in December 2003, and without his goals the club slid down the table eventually finishing 19th and into the relegation play-offs beating Whitby Town on penalties 8–7 in the quarter-finals, before bowing out to Burscough in the semi-finals at home. In 2004–05 the club finished 9th in the Northern Premier League. In 2004–05 Radcliffe narrowly avoided the playoffs due to the Spennymoor problem in which the team was liquidated 10 games from the end, but they could not follow this as in 2005–06 they narrowly avoided relegation on the last day as Steve Foster scored the goal that kept them in the Northern Premier League Premier Division at the expense of Bradford PA. The trend continued as, in April 2007, following the 4–0 loss to Ossett, Radcliffe lost their place in tier 3 of the NLS, being relegated to the new Northern Premier League Division One North.


The 2015–16 season was a history defining season off the field for the boro. Events on it were not exactly dull either. At the beginning of the season it was decided that the supporters committee that was tasked to run the club was no longer required and the owner Bernard Manning would look to find new management for the club but would run the club in the meantime.

August started Poorly for Boro 5 straight defeats including a cup shock defeat away at AFC Liverpool of the North West Counties in the FA Cup in which boro led 2–0 and threw the game away at the death. A huge shock for the club and worries of financial implications dominated the talk of the next few weeks.

September started with again poorly a 4–1 reverse at Harrogate Railway including a red card, which would be a common theme through the season as poor discipline cost boro points in games as well as finances. But boro started to finally win games, a 1–0 win away at Prescot Cables and a 4–0 home win against Ossett Town among the highlights.

October was a mixed bag for boro they started to hit form and win games but when they lost they lost heavily. Fine wins over Droylsden and Witton Albion in the FA Trophy as well as a 5–0 win at New Mills were overshadowed by thrashings against Northwich and Spennymoor.

Boro also won 3–1 at National League North Side Curzon Ashton in the Manchester Cup, just highlighting the inconsistency of Boro in October.

The New Year rang in the Changes at Stainton Park. Chairman Bernard Manning announced his resignation after 25 years with the club with the view to finding a successor, something which took months to happen but was resolved by the end of the season.

On the field inconsistent Boro were suffering from a mixture of Bad Luck in some games, and poor discipline in others. Highlights included a 5–1 Hammering of Ashton United in the Manchester Cup Quarter Finals in January. February Proved to be an explosive month on and off the field. Boro re-signed club legend Jody Banim but Boro could not find a win no matter how hard they tried. A loss in the semi final of the Manchester Cup by Stalybridge again showing the frustration of almost. But the highlight of the month was a vital 2–1 win at Ossett Town. A bad tempered match another red card but boro sensationally got a 92nd-minute winner from Steve Foster to earn 3 vital points at the foot of the table. This though was as good as it got. A 6–1 thrashing at home to Clitheroe and a 1–0 loss at Scarborough proved the end for Danny Johnson who resigned as manager immediately after the game, but stayed on until the end of the season to keep boro safe.

Boro then went on a great run to secure survival, fantastic wins over Prescot, Ossett Albion and Farsley Celtic and a comeback from 3–0 down at Droylsden to draw was enough to secure early safety from Relegation.

Boro's season ended with a 4–0 win over New Mills and a hat trick from Jody Banim and a win over Ossett Albion. The final game was a 2–1 loss at Farsley Celtic.

New chairman and new era

Before the New Mills game in April boro announced their new Chairman as Paul Hilton who took over at the end of the 2015–16 season. His first task was to re-appoint Bill Pendergast as manager, which was not a popular choice with supporters but it's the off field announcements that had the cause for excitement, including a new stadium sponsor and a shirt sponsor.

The 2016/17 Season The First Season Of The New Era

Pre-season was a blistering start for Boro, a brand new look team where only 2 players remained. Jack Hindle became club captain and Elliot Rokka had an excellent season. Pre-season Boro looked like they may compete once again for honours. Blistering pace down the wings and strength upfront causing issues for teams including a 4-0 demolition of Bury in pre-season. But the season started off slowly. Two defeats at the start was not what was expected but progress in the FA Cup was assured after an extraordinary 4-4 draw with Droylsden. Boro won the replay 2-1 at the newly-named Taurus Park. Boro exited the FA Cup in the next round after a thrilling 5-3 defeat at home to Spennymoor. League form started to pick up including a 5-1 win over Goole, excellent performances from Raul Correia after a 4-0 demolition of Hyde soon had the scouts visiting Radcliffe.

December saw a fire destroy the press box and PA room damaging part of the stand, two days before a Lancashire Cup Quarter-Final against West Didsbury & Chorlton. The clean-up operation began the day of the game and went ahead thanks to the fantastic help from the people of Radcliffe as well as supporters. 297 supporters arrived to support the club that night and saw Boro progress on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Boro got their first win of the month after Jack Hindle scored in the last minute on Boxing Day in a 2-1 win against Ramsbottom. Raul Corriea was sold to Blackpool in the January transfer window for an undisclosed fee. Results still started to be poor and the performances suffered, the pressure was increasing on Pendergast and eventually after a 2-1 defeat at Mossley plunging Boro into the relegation scrap in mid-February. He was dismissed and they appointed Joe Gibbons as interim manager which was eventually made permeant in the summer. Gibbons tenure as Boro manager got off to the perfect start, with a fine 4-2 win at Glossop including goal of the season from Elliot Rokka as Boro's first win in two months. Boro started picking up points and climbed away from danger, and for the very first time, finally won a match at Leyland to reach the Lancashire Cup Final. Boro beat Clitheroe 2-1 in a tense semi-final and made it to the Macron Stadium in Bolton.

Boro reached the cup final and faced Ashton Athletic of the North West Counties. Boro took the lead through Hindle in the second half and looked to be getting their hands on silverware. But Ashton equalised and won the game cruelly in added time after a slip in defence allowed the winner to deny Boro a first trophy since 2008.

The season finished with a bit of a downward curve. A poor run since the cup final dropped Boro from 13th down to finish in 20th. Joe Gibbons was appointed manager and optimism once again gripped the club. Player of the Year Elliot Rokka left to join Tranmere Rovers. Again showing the commitment of the club to develop young talent on to higher levels of the game.

On 28 May 2017, chairman Paul Hilton announced at the end-of-season awards that the club's name will change to Radcliffe Football Club, dropping the Borough from its title after 68 years. Complete with a new badge and image which still has Boro' as its nickname. The name change was ratified by the Football Association for the 2018–19 season.

Club facilities

Off the field, the club has made much progress. With the help of grants from the Football Association, Football Foundation, Lottery Sports Fund, club funds and personal investments, it was one of the first clubs at that level to get floodlit all-weather 3G pitches. The Club has also put substantial funding into the stadium: new floodlights, a newly refurbished main stand (following a fire in November 2016), a new press area and PA system, and a covered terraced stand at the Pilkington Road end of the Stadium (now known as the Fell End). The ground is in better condition after the much needed investment. The Club also has a training centre in Longsight, Manchester

Notable players

The following players have played for Boro and at the highest levels of English football.

Honours

League

Cup

Statistics and records

Simon Kelly has made the most appearances for the club, making 502 starts.

Ian Lunt has scored the most goals for the club, scoring 147 times. The record for the most goals in a season is 46 by Jody Banim.

Their highest attendance overall came in the FA Cup first round in 2000 when they faced York City. 2,495 people went to see the game. Their highest attendance at home was against Caernarfon Town when 1,468 people went to the game. The ground record, however, stands with a non-Radcliffe game when 2,200 turned up to watch FC United vs Castleton Gabriells (now known as Rochdale Town).

Their highest transfer fee they received was from Shrewsbury Town for £20,000 for Jody Banim; however, the club has received more in add on fees from the sale of Craig Dawson to Rochdale AFC although the total sum remains undisclosed.

The highest transfer fee they paid was for Gary Walker for whom they paid £5,000 to Buxton.

References

  1. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45259061

Facebook Page. www.Facebook.com/Radcliffeborough

Coordinates: 53°34′3.299″N 2°20′26.542″W / 53.56758306°N 2.34070611°W / 53.56758306; -2.34070611

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