FA Vase 1st Qualifying Round 2012/13 SEASON
PROGRAMME £1.50
Saturday 1 September 2012
v Cheadle Town
WELCOME to WEST DIDSBURY & CHORLTON AFC Club President Brian Cripps
First Team Manager: Andy Nelson 07952 567240 Asst Mgr and Coach: Dave Conlon
Chairman Glyn Meacher 07905 431526
Reserve Team Manager: Robert Madden 07730 655446 Asst Managers: Jim Hines & Shay Casey
Club Secretary Rob Turley 0161 448 1838 07891 298441
Physio Winston Luke
Membership Secretary Monica Creer 0161 881 1135
Club Coaches Steve Eckersley / Kris Mahon
Treasurer Dave Cooper 07961 063195
‘A’ Team Manager Chris Argent 07962 352619
Head of Fundraising Steve Eckersley 07788 112909
Vets Manager Sam Hickey 07980 521988
Community Development Davy Iredale
Programme Production John Churchman 07720 508082
ADD YOUR NAME TO OUR SPONSOR Join our growing list of sponsors, we have packages to suit your budget including:
THE CLUB
● Match Day Sponsor ● Player Kit Sponsor ● Pitch Advertising (3-year period) ● Programme Advertising
LIST
£100 £50 £250 per season £50 - £100
200
The 200 club is a vital source of income and is open to anyone. A monthly standing order payment of £2 entitles one entry into the monthly £200 of prizes to be won. If you are interested in joining please contact Brian, Rob or Monica or ask for a form in the club house. The sooner you complete a form and enter the draw the sooner you could win.
Editorial
1st September 2012 – Cheadle Town
Welcome to this afternoon's game and another 'first' in this season of new milestones in the club's history. Following our first ever NWC game against Formby and our first floodlit midweek league game against Northwich Villa, today is our first home game in the FA Vase. We welcome Cheadle Town, their officials and supporters today having made the short journey from the Park Road stadium in Cheadle to Brookburn Road. This is also the first occassion our two clubs have met and today's Vase game will shortly be followed by NWC League fixtures in September at Cheadle and back here on 15th December. The level of interest and support for our two opening fixtures has been both surprising and encouraging with 108 against Formby and just under 100 (94) against Northwich Villa. Whilst both fixtures included several guests and league officials it was good to also see so many club members from other teams turning out for both games to get behind Andy and the team. Inside are the results and summary match reports from our opening few games and overall we have got to be pleased with our start. We have adjusted to life at this level reasonably quickly, and although the first 45 minutes aganist Formby were a wake up call, our response was terrific and followed up by excellent away wins at Chadderton and Oldham Boro, a tight game against Northwich and then a scintillating first half at Darwen when we could and should have had the game in our pockets by half time. We have shown we have the quality and determination in the squad to be competitive in this league which has confirmed beyond doubt that we made the right decision for the club to join the NW Counties. The reserves have also started well with a tight game against Irlam when they went down narrowly 1-2 before responding with a thumping 4-1 home victory over Darwen. Last week we had a double header again against Nelson, the first team having travelled to Nelson were received by a tropical storm which saw the match cancelled, while the reserves lost 2-1 at home in difficult conditions and were unlucky not to at least get a point. If you are visiting us for the firts time today please make yourself known to us and if you have any suggestions as to how we might improve oyur match day experience please speak to any of our Committee or club helpers. You are most welcome to the club today and we hope you enjoy the game. Rob Turley We would like to express our thanks to our main Club sponsor‌ WEST DIDSBURY & CHORLTON AFC
www.westdidsburychorltonfc.com
From the Dugout Well we all have to be very pleased with the opening games of the season. Home crowds have been very promising and those watching seemed to have enjoyed themselves creating a good atmosphere at the club that we all hope will continue. There was much disappointment in our opening game, lack of concentration in critical areas denied us gaining a much deserved point against a very strong Formby side. We made one or two changes and followed up with two very good away wins at Chadderton and Oldham Borough where some of the football we played was very impressive. On Tuesday 14th August we welcomed Northwich Villa who came with a strong powerful and experienced side which obviously gave us problems; however we matched the physical presence and began to press hard during the second half and were unfortunate not to take all three points. We followed this with a trip to AFC Darwen a club with strong ambitions of their own and a long history to support their claim. Having spent a number of seasons with Darwen at the end of my playing career in the late 1980's the visit was of special significance to me. Although disappointed with the result it has to be said that if we had taken our clear cut chances we would have bagged the points. I have been delighted with the commitment, attitude and application of all concerned with the club at this early stage as we continue to prepare in a professional way to hopefully maintain our good start to our new campaign. Andy Nelson
WEST DIDSBURY & CHORLTON AFC
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.
www.westdidsburychorltonfc.com
Today’s Match Sponsor: Cavendish Sport Cavendish Sports have been kit suppliers to West for many years and provide a one stop shop for all our playing kit, track suits and polo shirts embroidery and our sponsors’ logos. We are delighted they have supported us today for this first home game in the FA Vase. For more information please contact Stan at Cavendish on: 0161 747 5089 or 0161 748 8259
Match Sponsorship We are very grateful to Pennant who have helped West in a variety of ways developing and producing publicity material and artwork for different uses in the club. Tom Daniels is pictured left with Andy Nelson before our game against Northwich Villa, which Pennant supported.
Interested in sponsoring one of our matches? Then please speak to Rob, Steve or John – refer to details inside the front cover
This month the 200 Club winners are: £100 Bobby Ashcroft £60 Lee Malkin £40 Ben Simpson The next draw is on Monday 3rd September so get a form and get signed up by the end of the month if you want to have the chance of a cash prize. WEST DIDSBURY & CHORLTON AFC
CLUB NEWS… Wanted – Kit Manager We require a volunteer kit manager to take charge of our playing kit for home and away games in the North West Counties League for the coming season. This means assisting the management and coaching staff on match days, pre-checking and setting out playing kit prior to the game, attending to any kit emergencies during the game and then checking in the kit after the game ready to go to laundry. If you would like to be part of the dressing room team before the game and assist in this capacity then please contact us at www.westdidsburychorltonfc.com Or contact the secretary, Rob Turley on 07891 298441 or e-mail to: rob.turley@btinternet.com
Club Helpers Our club is dependent on the time and effort of volunteer helpers who act as club officials, manage and staff the bar and clubhouse on match days, produce the match day programme and undertake a host of other tasks around the clubhouse and grounds. We have a monthly rota system for games this season so you can still be part of things even if you can only help out for an hour or two once a month. If you’re into football and follow City or United then why not make us your second team and be part of the experience of quality grass roots football. Every little helps so if you are interested in getting involved please use the same contact details as above for Rob Turley and the club.
Match Programmes We now have very few copies of the first NWC match against Formby left after most were snapped up on the day and several have gone via website sales in the last fortnight. Sold Out - The programme for the Northwich game sold out on the night.
Follow us on Twitter As part of the clubs campaign to raise the profile and awareness we have joined Twitter. We will use this to provide updates and information (fixtures, news, events, link to NWCFL articles, link to website, results, photos etc) we have 370 followers at the moment which includes other NWCFL and non league teams, non league fans, ground hoppers, local businesses etc. Our username is WD_CFC (picture of club badge) please follow us and re tweet information so as many people see it as possible. We have received numerous messages of support and would like to thank those who have helped to increase awareness.
Next Committee Meeting Our next meeting is this Monday 3rd September, at the clubhouse starting at 6.30pm.
www.westdidsburychorltonfc.com
WEST DIDSBURY & CHORLTON AFC
Our visitors… Cheadle Town Cheadle Town was formed in 1961 as Grasmere Rovers playing in the Manchester & District Sunday Football League in their Under-16s Division. As the team developed the Under-21 Championship was won in 1968, followed by the Premier Division title two years later. In 1972 the club made the significant decision to play their football on Saturdays and joined the Manchester Football League. Success on the playing field coincided with the arrival of Albert Pike as manager in 1978. In Albert’s first, full season he led the team to a terrific double of First Division Champions and Manchester Amateur Cup Winners; this was the prelude to even more success as the club won both the Manchester & Derbyshire F.A. Cups. Grasmere Rovers moved into their own ground at Park Road Stadium in 1982 and, a year later, changed their name to Cheadle Town when they also joined the North West Counties Football League. Membership has mainly been in the Second Division but in 1996 the club was promoted to the First Division. Sadly, relegation back to the second tier occurred in 2001, a position they still occupy in the now-named First Division. Park Road Stadium has a fine history with, initially, Cheadle Rovers being the owners. On their demise Manchester City used it as their training ground. Portugal, along with Eusebio trained there during the 1966 World Cup and, in 1993, the world-famous Brazilian player, Jairzinho, hosted a Soccer School for Cheadle Town. Floodlights were installed in 1995 and Manchester United provided the opposition for the official ‘switch-on’ when, on a memorable evening, Town beat United’s youngsters, 3-2 in front of almost 2,000 fans. The biggest gate to watch Cheadle on domestic soil came ten years later against FC United of Manchester. Due to the huge interest in the game Town officials moved the fixture to Stockport County’s Edgeley Park, and they were rewarded with a bumper 3,227 attendance that witnessed a pulsating 3-3 draw. The club is famous for its legendry foreign tours, having played 96 games in 30 different countries in front of over 312,000 fans and scoring 111 goals. Playing under their tour name, Manchester AFC, they have played against SEVEN national sides and once played in front of 65,000 people in Mexico City’s world-famous Aztec Stadium. Their epic journeys have taken them just over 210,000 miles all over the world. Alfredo di Stefano, Ronnie Biggs, Brazilian superstar Jairzinho and Rajiv Ghandi have all met the touring side as exotic locations such as Cannes, Acapulco, Rio de Janeiro, the Bahamas and Phuket have mixed with non-exotic places like Dar es Salaam, Haiti and Guangzhou in China. The club celebrated its 50th birthday in 2011 and, if the next 50 years are anything like the first, then there is a lot of excitement to come.
www.westdidsburychorltonfc.com
WEST DIDSBURY & CHORLTON AFC
First team match reports… Wednesday 8th August: Chadderton 0 WEST 3 West secured all 3 points with a fine performance in their first away game in the NWCFL at Chadderton. West then went ahead with a header from Potts from a Schofield corner after 25 minutes and that goal seemed to settle us down and give the whole team confidence. We had a couple of further half chances before the break but turned round with the 1-0 advantage intact. We were quickly out of the blocks at the start of the second half with Liam Beckford sent clear to round the keeper and just when we thought the shot was coming he checked, squared the ball across to switch play via Schofield who played in Scott Jones whose perfect cross was headed home by Tommy Walsh – a quality goal from some quality play to put us 2-0 ahead after 46 minutes. Chadderton had no answer to the pace and movement of West and resorted to hopeful long balls forward with these ably dealt with by Baird and Potts. West’s compression of play was constant giving the home defence no respite and this resulted in our third goal of the evening when Tommy Walsh and Liam Beckford harried Chadderton into losing possession and as Beckford surged forward he drew two defenders before slipping the ball to Walsh who pushed on into the box, and fired home clinically to make it 3-0. Chadderton had a couple of efforts from distance late on, one of which drew a good save from Jordan Hitchen, but on the night we were worthy winners. Tommy Walsh was named ‘Man of the Match’ by Chadderton and deserved the accolade for a tireless performance before being replaced by Joe Warmington. The back four looked very solid with fine performances also from Woodcock, Summers, Schofield and Beckford, solid debut games for Potts and Hitchen and a welcome return and all round excellent display from captain Aston.
Saturday 11th August: Oldham Boro 2 WEST 4 Oldham Boro are currently homeless and so West travelled to Atherton for this game as added another useful 3 points after a comfortable away win. We started well with good possession and plenty of movement during the early stages and had a couple of half chances as we began to control the game. Delivery from wide left positions was causing Oldham all sort of problems and it was no real surprise when we eventually went ahead when a Beckford corner was hoisted to the back post where Mike Aston climber well above everyone else to power home a great header. The goal settled us down and we then added a second before the break when Schofield sent a superb cross from the left touchline into the path of the advancing Callum Jones who scored with a powerful shot across the advancing keeper to give us a comfortable 2-0 interval lead. Oldham pulled a goal back against the run of play when a mix up on the goal line near the left corner flag saw the Oldham forward send a hopeful cross towards goal and over the head of Hitchen. The ball bounced on the line and then into the net to the surprise of everyone on the pitch. This gave West the shock that was needed to spur more effective action and the immediate response was a Walsh header from a Schofield cross which hit the post with the keeper beaten. The game then became very scrappy but we restored the 2 goal advantage after 75 minutes when Lewis Schofield skinned his marker and hit a sweet low cross from the left into Tommy’s path and this time he made no mistake. Ten minutes later and it was 4-1 when Liam Beckford collected the ball in the centre circle just inside our half and began to surge forward through the centre with Theo Warmington in the clear and racing down the right flank. The repeated calls of ‘play him in’ were ignored as Liam had other ideas and weaved his way past the tiring home defence to score a great individual goal. In the last minute Oldham scored an unlikely second goal when a corner to the near post was flicked off the heel high into the air to end up in the West net at the far post. This was another effective team performance but we again found to our cost that if we switch off for a second or fail to concentrate throughout we will get punished.
www.westdidsburychorltonfc.com
Tuesday 14th August: WEST 1 Northwich Villa 1 Our first home midweek game saw another encouraging attendance of just under 100 to witness a tight game against a well drilled Northwich team who were very difficult to break down. We didn’t get off to the best of starts as the visitors took advantage of a rash challenge in the penalty area to take a 10 minute lead from the spot kick. We responded well and took the game to Northwich and looked to have ‘equalised’ when Tommy Walsh powered a header past the keeper from a Schofield free kick only for the referee to rule this out for a push – a decision which left everyone rather mystified as the perfectly place assistant saw no infringement. A couple of further half chances came and went before another Schofield free kick caused confusion in the Northwich defence and Alex Baird was at hand to equalise, which is how the core remained until the interval, despite a scare in the home goal when Hitchen tried unsuccessfully to dribble round the Northwich forward around the penalty spot and was nearly made to pay the price. Half-time 1 - 1 In the second period West played confidently and had the majority of possession but without being able to open up the stubborn Northwich back line. When we did get through there were few clear cut chances and the visitors always looked dangerous on the break. The nearest to a winner was a cracking effort from Lewis Schofield which fizzed narrowly wide with the keeper stranded but the game ended with honours even after an end to end second half. This was another competent performance against difficult opposition and another encouraging round of complimentary post match comments about our play and the standard of our facilities and hospitality from many of our visitors.
Saturday 18th August: AFC Darwen 2 WEST 0 As we settled down in warm sunshine to watch this one there was little indication of the Jekyll and Hyde performance that was to follow. We made another impressive start, playing some great attacking and possession football as Darwen just could not get the ball or get out of their half. After 5 minutes Callum Jones finished a flowing move with a decent shot which the keeper held high to his left. A minute later the Darwen centre back almost opened the score for us when heading over his own bar and from the resultant corner Tommy Walsh went close. On 10 minutes Lee Malkin made a great run but shot straight at the keeper and on 12 minutes another good move saw Malkin play in Danny Summers whose cross went high over the bar. Darwen were just not in the game but after 15 minutes took the lead completely out of the blue when a hopeful long ball saw Hitchen colliding with Potts to leave the home forward the easy task of walking the ball into the empty net for the opening goal. The WEST response was terrific with more flowing football marred by a catalogue of missed chances for the reminder of the first half. It was just not Lee Malkin’s day when on 22 minutes he cut in from the left only for his cross to be turned behind for a corner, and 5 minutes later he shot high over the bar when he and Tommy were 2 on 1 with the keeper. 29 minutes and a great run by Callum Jones set up a good chance which went wide of the stranded keeper and the post. Then on 35 minutes everyone in the ground thought parity would be restored when Lee went round the keeper only to hit the post with the goal open. A minute later it was Tommy’s turn to again blaze over with 2 waiting in the middle, and just before the break to hit the post again. The final action was a Callum Jones header over from a Schofield cross on the stroke of half time, and during the interval and some excellent hospitality, the Darwen officials and support agreed we should have been 3-0 ahead. The second period was to deteriorate very quickly despite an early chance to get level on 46 minutes when Tommy Walsh shot straight at the keeper. Worse was to come when after 52 minutes Darwen effectively made the game safe when a good cross from the right was turned home from 6 yards. We then began to struggle to maintain composure and possession and then lost Alex Baird with a split lip after 70 minutes. On 81 minutes we hit the post again when Matt Eckersley was unlucky from the edge of the area and Darwen were first to the rebound and when we eventually found the net after 85 minutes Callum Jones was adjudged offside.
WEST DIDSBURY & CHORLTON AFC
Reserve team match reports‌ Saturday 11th August: WEST 1 Irlam FC 2 This game saw our Reserve team play their much awaited first fixture in the North West Counties against Irlam FC. From the kick off Irlam pressed West whenever they could. However, West responded with some good defending and hard tackling and continued to compete with Irlam in every department. Midway through the first half West conceded a corner and from the resultant kick the ball found its way into the net and the teams went in at half time with the score 0-1. After the break West came out the stronger and started to press Irlam in the final third and with 60 minutes gone West equalised through Tre Willis following good work from Bobby Ashcroft and Joel Hunter. The game remained evenly balanced until 5 minutes before time when Irlam regained position of the ball in their own third and played a 30 yard diagonal ball splitting the West defence to score the second. A disappointing result but a reasonable overall performance.
Saturday 18th August: WEST 4 AFC Darwen 1 Our next game also at home game saw the visit of AFC Darwen. West started the stronger putting pressure on the Darwen goal early on and coming close on several occasions. West opened the scoring from a superb shot from Stephen Madden that curled into the top corner from outside the box. The second half started much in the same vain with West putting pressure on the Darwen goal and forcing their keeper to pull off a number of good saves. West increased their lead through a free kick from John Crimes who saw the Darwen keeper unsighted and hit the ball into the net. It was not long before man of the match, Alex Fawcett made the score 3-0 with a header from a corner. Darwen pulled one back from a punt over our defence allowing the Darwen substitute to strike the ball from outside the area. With 5 minutes left on the clock West finished off the game by beating the offside trap and the ball being laid square to Nathan Sharples who scored with ease. A far more pleasing performance with some very good individual performances from Graham Bryant and Alex Fawcett .
Saturday 25th August WEST 1 Nelson 2 West had a third consecutive home game, this time against Nelson Reserves, in which we began well controlling the game and winning much of the early exchanges. We moved the ball well, building steadily from the back and pressing Nelson at every opportunity. Whilst controlling the game West did not capitalize on the amount of ball we had and from a long clearance from the Nelson defence West didn't manage to clear the ball and the Nelson striker was brought down in the penalty area, Daniel McLaughlin back in goal for West had little chance with the subsequent spot kick. Being 1-0 down did not stop West from playing, however a needless free kick just outside the centre circle towards the end of the first half and poor marking of the Nelson No.7 saw West go in at the break 2-0 down. After the break West rallied and with the introduction of Gary Lilley more and more pressure was put on the Nelson defence. This pressure soon resulted in Bobby Ashcroft scoring his first goal of the season. A ball swung in from the left which Bobby got his head to, went in off the post. Despite continued pressure and West coming close on several occasions Nelson managed to see the game out as 2-1 winners.
www.westdidsburychorltonfc.com
WEST DIDSBURY & CHORLTON AFC
NWCFL fixtures 2012-2013 Division One Saturday 8th September Abbey Hey v Nelson Ashton Town v Leek CSOB Atherton LR v West Didsbury & Chorlton Cheadle Town v Atherton Collieries Daisy Hill v Chadderton Formby v Eccleshall Holker Old Boys v Northwich Villa Oldham Boro v Irlam Rochdale Town v AFC Darwen Division One League Table: Please refer to: www.nwcfl.com First Team Cup games: League Challenge Cup 1 Eccleshall, Saturday 6th October 3.00pm (H) FA VASE – 2nd Qualifying Round Today’s winners will play Pontefract Collieries away in the 2nd Qualifying Round on Saturday 15th September.
Reserve team fixtures: NWC Reserve Division Padiham Res, Saturday 1st September 3.00pm (A) New Mills Res, Saturday 8th September 3.00pm (H) Silsden Res, Saturday 22nd September 3.00pm (H)
Recent milestones in NWCFL Matthew Warburton's goal for Maine Road in their 4-1 win at Stone Dominoes, Road's final goal of the evening, was their 1700th League goal. West Didsbury and Chorlton's 1-1 draw against Northwich Villa was their first midweek home fixture in the League, and the evening also saw the club's floodlights in action for the first time in the NWCFL! Nelson's 2-2 draw at Daisy Hill was their 900th League game. Ashton Athletic achieved two landmarks in their 1-0 win over Glossop North End. The club notched their 50th home League win, and Matthw Ward's 38th minute winner was their 250th home League goal. Formby's 7-3 win at Leek CSOB also saw them pass two landmarks - they passed 1200 League points and the third goal scored by Emini Adegbenro was their 750th away League goal. Winsford United's 8-1 win over AFC Liverpool was a club record - the Blues had never scored eight goals in a NWCFL game before today.
www.westdidsburychorltonfc.com
FA VASE Programme from last year… Today we look at the 'programme' for last year's FA Vase game when we travelled away to Wallasey to play Ashville FC from the West Cheshire League, when we had just been promoted to the Premier Division of the Manchester League. This was a simple folded A4 sheet containing the date of the fixture and Ashville badge on the outside cover with the two squad lists reproduced inside. This was a rather different product from previous programmes produced by the Ashville club for FA Vase games including 16 pages with club news and a feature on their opponents. We managed to get a few copies including one for the archive, and these were issued free of charge on the gate. ‘The FA Vase replaced the FA Amateur Cup competition some years ago and is open to clubs from Steps 5, 6 and 7 of the National League system with floodlights and facilities of the appropriate ground grading standard. FA Amateur cup games have been played at Brookburn Road before when our predecessors here, East Chorlton FC [now defunct], played in the FA Amateur Cup for a number of seasons in the 1970’s. During that period 3 ties were played here against Prescot, Kidsgrove and Stork FC. Their home record was disappointing and all 3 home ties were lost: In 1976-77 v Prescot 1-5, 1978-79 v Kidsgrove 1-3 and in 1979-80 v Stork 0-3. So we have the chance to make history today and record the first ever home win in an FA competition at The Recreation Ground at Brookburn Road. Our thanks to Mike Fryer for provide pictures for the club to use in the programme and on our website.
Wishing West Didsbury and Chorlton AFC a successful season Parrs Wood High School and 6th Form Proud printers of the Match Programme
WEST DIDSBURY & CHORLTON AFC
Carlsberg FA VASE
Saturday 1st September 2012
Today’s squads
West Didsbury & Chorlton
Cheadle Town
White shirts, black shorts & socks
Green shirts, shorts and socks
Jordon Hitchen (gk) Callum Jones Anthony Potts Dave Conlon (Capt) Alex Baird Graham Bryant Danny Summers Mike Aston Mark Woodcock Lee Makin Tommy Walsh Tre Willis Joe Warmington Joel Hunter Matt Eckersley Steve Mellor (gk)
Manager: Andy Nelson Assistant: Dave Conlon
Stephen Piggott (gk) Sam Dee Ben Roberts Adam Roberts Warren Gaskin (Capt) Paul Walley Matthew German Josh Taylor Ben Brooks Arron Carroll Paul McCormack Paulo David Andrew Lindon Arron Riley Adam Tiffany Callum Jones Myles Livesey Anthony O’Keefe (gk)
Manager: Steve Brockenbrow Assistant: Charles Henry
OFFICIALS: Referee: Gary Dinsmore Assistants: Kenneth Jones & Jonathan Rigby NEXT HOME GAME: Saturday, 8th September 2012 – Kick-off: 3.00pm
WEST Res v New Mills Res Please check the club website weekly at www.westdidsburychorltonfc.com and www.nwcfl.com for up to date information www.westdidsburychorltonfc.com
WHAT’S OUR
STORY?
Newly elected North West Counties League side West Didsbury and Chorlton FC, have come a long way in their 105 year history which began back in 1908 when the club was founded as Christ Church A.F.C. by Mr R F Hartley, a Sunday School Superintendent at the church on Princess Parkway, West Didsbury. West first played in the Manchester Alliance League until the outbreak of the First World War (1914-1918). After the War the club joined the Lancashire and Cheshire League for the 1920/21 season and had to change its name to West Didsbury AFC, as the League did not permit association with any other body. The club was placed in Divisions 1 and A and stayed in the top flight for 25 seasons. The first honours were double runners up in Div 1 and Rhodes Cup in 1922/23, and the club remained in that league until 2006, winning many honours and providing 4 League Presidents along the way. Many of the current committee were players in that league. The club played at Christie Playing Fields from before 1914 but had to relocate when given notice to quit by the Playing Fields Society in the mid 80’s when that body decided to sell the land for commercial gain. After several years nomadic existence the club kicked off the 1997-98 season at their splendid new home at The Recreation Ground at Brookburn Road, and began to develop a vision for a community club. This was down to the hard work of a core of players and Committee who refused to let the club fold and secured the new facilities via a Lottery grant, new sponsors and fundraising, but without a penny of help from the Playing Fields Society proceeds. Further name change followed in 2003 to reflect our new location in Chorlton and we were elected to the Manchester League in 2006. In 2007/8 Season West won Manchester League silverware for the first time, lifting the Murray Shield in the last game of our centenary year. That team was the nucleus of the previously successful junior team and the following season West just missed promotion to the Premier Division and again reached the Murray Shield Final.
With a new management team led by Andy Nelson, who had previously managed at Leigh RMI, the 2009/10 season was very successful and honours spread throughout the club. The 1st team won the Murray Shield, (the third consecutive year we have been in the final) and finishing runners-up in the league. The second team won the Bridgewater League Cup and the U17 Youth team won their League. In 2010/2011 the 1st team won the Manchester League First Division title in style with a fantastic points total (65 points out of 72 possible). This ranks as one of the highest points totals per game in the history of the Manchester League dating back over a century. The clubs reserve team and youth teams also had terrific seasons, resulting in promotion and for the second year reaching the Bridgewater Cup Final. The clubs ‘A’ team finished and the Youth team reached yet another final where they were just pipped to the trophy by New Mills. The Veterans were runners up in the Premier Division of the Cheshire Veterans League and then started a second veterans team such was the interest in the club. Plans were also made to formally integrate junior football as the club Vision is to be a FA Charter Standard Community Club in every sense. In recent seasons several players who started at West have been signed by top non league clubs, but such is the spirit of the club that many players return to what they see as a family club. The club now looks forward to fulfilling its ambition to play at the highest possible level it can whilst continuing to be run as a community club and transition to the NWCFL. The ground and facilities have been further improved and floodlights erected to meet grading requirements and West competed in the FA Vase for the first time in 2011-2012 as a Step 7 club. The club was duly elected to the NWCFL at the AGM on 16th June 2012.
MATCH DAY‌
CLUB INFO To contact the club please use the club website. West Didsbury & Chorlton AFC The Recreation Ground, Brookburn Road, Chorltonville, Manchester, M21 8FF
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