Association football club in England

football clubhouse
Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English master association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the one-fourth incarnation of the club ; it was primitively formed in 1908. The team compete in League One, the third base tier of the English football league system. Their home strip is loss shirts with white sleeves and white shorts, their home ground is Highbury Stadium in Fleetwood and the supporters of the club are dearly known as the Cod Army, which is besides the dub of the club. [ 1 ] They contest a competition with nearby Blackpool known as the Fylde Coast bowler hat.

The master clubhouse founded in 1908 were known just as Fleetwood and won the Lancashire Combination in the 1923–24 season, though would resign from the league in February 1928 due to fiscal difficulties. Fleetwood Windsor Villa took their place in the Lancashire Combination and won three Lancashire Combination Cups in 1933, 1934 and 1935. The baseball club became fall through members of the newly created Northern Premier League in 1968, though folded in 1976 and reformed the watch year as Fleetwood Town. They initially competed in the Cheshire County League and then joined the North West Counties League in 1982. They were promoted as First Division champions in 1983–84 and reached the final of the FA Vase in the 1984–85 season. however, this embodiment of the club besides folded in 1997. The current embodiment of the baseball club came into being as Fleetwood Wanderers in 1997 and won the North West Counties League First Division title in 1998–99. They changed their list to Fleetwood Town in 2002 and were taken over by Andrew Pilley two years late, who would transform the golf club ‘s fortunes with significant fiscal investments. Fleetwood won the North West Counties League Premier Division title in 2004–05, forwarding out of the Northern Premier League First Division in 2005–06, the Northern Premier League Premier Division title in 2007–08 and the Conference North play-offs in 2010. Fleetwood won the Conference National championship in 2011–12 to secure a place in the Football League for the first time. In May 2014, Fleetwood beat Burton Albion at Wembley in the League Two play-off final examination to gain promotion League One ; the club ‘s sixth promotion in ten years .

history [edit ]

1908–1997 : early years and struggles [edit ]

The stream club was officially established in 1997 but, in three previous incarnations, the club ‘s history dates back to 1908. The original club, Fleetwood F.C., were champions of the Lancashire Combination in 1923–24. This club resigned from the Lancashire Combination in February 1928 because of fiscal difficulties. [ 3 ] In the 1928–29 season Fleetwood Windsor Villa F.C. were members of the Fylde and District Football League. [ 4 ] At the end of that season they were elected to the West Lancashire Football League [ 5 ] and were members for two seasons. They were then elected to the Lancashire Combination [ 6 ] for temper 1931–32, changing their name to Fleetwood F.C. They registered a hat-trick of Lancashire Combination Cup wins in 1932, 1933 and 1934. The side ‘s goalkeeper in the first gear of those victories was Frank Swift, then lone eighteen years previous. After about sixty years as a Lancashire Combination club, they became founder members of the newly created Northern Premier League in 1968. Great players of that era include Jack Ainscough and the late Percy Ronson, after whom one bandstand is named. The cabaret finished in 10th station in its first season. [ 7 ] As the NPL was one of respective leagues immediately below Division Four of the Football League, this was effectively the fifth tier of English football, and the club would not surpass this success until 2010–11. Despite winning the Northern Premier League Cup in 1971, the baseball club languished in the lower half of the table, finishing bottom for two consecutive seasons ( 1974–75 and 1975–76 ) before folding in 1976, again due to fiscal difficulties. The club was re-established in 1977 as Fleetwood Town F.C., with many of the original personnel. initially placed in Division One of the Cheshire League, it was moved in 1982 to the North West Counties League Division Two in its inaugural address year, and promoted to Division One in 1984. The team reached the final of the FA Vase in 1985, losing 3–1 to Halesowen Town in front of a 16,000 crowd at Wembley. The club was placed in Division One ( second tier ) of the Northern Premier League when the league established a moment tier in 1987, becoming the inaugural address Division One Champions in 1988. In 1990–91 the club finished fourth in the NPL Premier Division, at the time effectively the sixth tier. [ 7 ] however, by 1996, this third base club had besides folded due to fiscal issues .

1997–2011 : reform and promotions [edit ]

Re-formed in 1997 as Fleetwood Wanderers F.C., the golf club was placed back in Division One of the North West Counties Football League ( now the one-tenth grade of the English League system ) and a sponsorship bargain saw the club ‘s name immediately changed to Fleetwood Freeport. The club was promoted to the Premier Division of the North West Counties League in 1999 and the name was reverted to Fleetwood Town in 2002. Tony Greenwood was appointed director in 2003 ; soon afterwards, Andy Pilley took over as chair. With his fiscal stimulation, the golf club gained consecutive promotions as north West Counties League champions in 2005 and Northern Premier League First Division runner-up in 2006. This saw the clubhouse reach the Northern Premier League Premier Division. Fleetwood Town won the Northern Premier League Challenge Cup in the 2006–07 season, beating Matlock Town 1–0, and finished the season equitable shy of the play-offs in eighth space with 67 points. In the 2007–08 season Fleetwood won the Northern Premier League, gaining promotion to the Conference North. Along the manner they set a modern attendance phonograph record for the part, and were well the best-supported team in the Premier Division. Fleetwood started the 2008–09 Conference North season ill ; with the cabaret at the bottom of the league, director Tony Greenwood, along with his adjunct, Nigel Greenwood and coach Andy Whittaker, were sacked. [ 10 ] Greenwood was replaced by Micky Mellon, who besides remained as Under-15 and Under-16 coach at Burnley. [ 11 ] His position at Fleetwood was made full-time in January 2009, a first for the club. [ 12 ] Fleetwood reached the Second Round Proper of the F.A. Cup for the first prison term in their history, but were beaten 3–2 by Hartlepool United at Highbury, in front of a then criminal record crowd since the club ‘s reclamation of 3,280. The death of Farsley Celtic partway through the 2009–10 was damaging to Fleetwood ‘s campaign, as Farsley ‘s stallion 2009–10 playing record was expunged. Fleetwood were chasing promotion along with local rivals Southport, and the rule monetary value Fleetwood three points relative to Southport. Fleetwood appealed against the decision but the appeal was rejected the day before the last catch of the season, leaving Southport one point ahead. Both teams won on the final day, giving Southport the championship. Fleetwood alternatively had to contest the play-offs, and after beating Droylsden on penalties in the semi-final Fleetwood won promotion to the Football Conference by beating Alfreton Town 2–1 in the final. For the 2010–11 season the club made all of its players full-time professionals, though this resulted in a few players leaving the club, including farseeing serve club captain Jamie Milligan. The club spend most of the season in or near the play-off positions, finally qualifying by finishing in fifth invest. In the play-off semi-finals, against Wimbledon, a new attendance phonograph record of 4,112 was set in the home peg, [ 13 ] but Fleetwood lost both games with an 8–1 aggregate scoreline. [ 14 ]
Fleetwood ‘s 2011–12 season was very successful. In the FA Cup, they reached the Third Round for the first meter. After beating Mansfield Town, Wycombe Wanderers, and Yeovil Town, they were drawn at base to neighbours Blackpool, but lost 5–1 to the Championship club, with Jamie Vardy scoring Fleetwood ‘s lone goal in front of 5,094 supporters. In the league Fleetwood went on a 29-game unbeaten run, [ 15 ] and were declared champions with two games remaining, giving them promotion to the Football League for the first time. [ 16 ] At the end of the temper Vardy moved to Leicester City for a tip of £1,000,000, which subsequently rose to £1,700,000 — a criminal record transplant fee for a non-league club. [ 17 ] Fleetwood had a good start to the 2012–13 season, and had risen to third in the league after 10 games. however, they only won two of the future 10 games, slipping to sixth put ; chair Andy Pilley and director Micky Mellon had a falling out after Mellon allegedly shown interest in the Burnley and Blackpool managerial vacancies. On 1 December 2012, following a 3–2 frustration against Aldershot Town in the FA Cup, Mellon was sacked [ 18 ] as director of the League Two side. Former Preston North End and Burnley defender Graham Alexander was appointed as coach on 6 December 2012. [ 19 ] Fleetwood were unbeaten for the next five games, and after a steady run of results had risen back to fourthly invest after 11 games under his command. however, Fleetwood entirely won two of the remaining 15 games, and consequently slipped down the table to finish 13th in League Two ; this resulted in a large rebuild of the team. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] The 2013–14 season was another successful matchless. Having been in and around the automatic forwarding places all season and getting to the League Trophy area final, the golf club narrowly missed out on automatic promotion, finishing in one-fourth locate. After beating York City 1–0 on aggregate in the play-off semi-final, Fleetwood beat Burton Albion 1–0 from an Antoni Sarcevic free-kick in the play-off concluding at Wembley on 26 May to win promotion to League One for the first gear meter. [ 22 ] Playing at the club ‘s highest level, the 2014–15 season was very successful. After three games the team was acme at the league, and apart from a couple of occasions remained in the top half of the league for the entirety of the season, finally finishing in a very creditable tenth rate. luminary results were excellent away victories against Sheffield United and Rochdale and thoroughly home draws against Bristol City, Preston North End, Swindon Town, Sheffield United, Rochdale and Chesterfield. besides in 2014, the club purchased a 57-bedroom hotel in Blackpool for the youth team ; the following year, the baseball club started to move into its new train ground at Poolfoot Farm in nearby Thornton. [ 23 ] 2015–16 was a difficult temper. In July 2015, president Andy Pilley announced that the baseball club ‘s strategic guidance would move more towards a self-sufficient model utilising the development and sell-on of homegrown endowment to attempt to climb the league pyramid further quite than more expensive player signings. [ 24 ] The play budget was trimmed heavily. After a poor get down to the season with only two wins in 10 league matches, Graham Alexander was sacked on 30 September 2015, with the club one decimal point above the delegating zone after being beaten heavily 5–1 by Gillingham. On 6 October 2015 Steven Pressley was appointed director. [ 25 ] After a season flirting with the delegating zone, Pressley guided the clubhouse to safety, five points above the relegation partition, with 10 wins in 35 league matches and an appearance in the Football League Trophy Northern Area Final. On 20 April 2016, Sir Alex Ferguson officially opened the club ‘s £8,000,000 Poolfoot Farm train reason complex, [ 26 ] which has 12 denounce pitches and 2 floodlit 4G artificial pitches, with a gymnasium, cafe, bar, and offices. [ 27 ] [ 28 ] merely before the starting signal of the 2016–17 season, on 26 July 2016, Steven Pressley resigned from his stead as director. [ 29 ] Uwe Rösler was appointed director on 30 July 2016 [ 30 ] and managed to guide the baseball club to its highest ever finish up of 4th rate, but they were narrowly perplex 1–0 on aggregate by Bradford City in the act off semi-finals. [ 31 ] however, during the 2017–18 season Rösler was sacked on 17 February 2018 after seven consecutive defeats in all competitions and the club just outside the delegating zone on goal remainder alone. [ 32 ] On 22 February 2018, former Oldham Athletic director John Sheridan was appointed on a short-run contract until the end of the season. [ 33 ] He successfully guided the club aside from relegation to finish mid postpone in 14th stead. [ 34 ] At the beginning of the 2018–19 season Joey Barton was appointed as coach. [ 35 ] [ 36 ] He guided the club to an 11th-placed polish. [ 37 ] In 2019–20, the coronavirus pandemic ( COVID-19 ) caused an early end to the regular season in March 2020. Teams that were in promotion play-off positions after points per game were applied entered the play-off matches in July 2020. [ 38 ] Fleetwood Town were in 6th status and were unbeaten since losing to Burton Albion on 7 January 2020. however, they lost to Wycombe Wanderers 6–3 on aggregate in semi-final matches played behind close doors. [ 39 ] The 2020–21 season was besides overshadowed by coronavirus with matches played behind closed doors for the huge majority of fixtures. [ 40 ] On 4 January 2021, Joey Barton was sacked as director with Fleetwood in 10th place with president Andy Pilley describing the decision as “ a tough one for me to make, but I felt immediately was the right time for the cabaret to go in a unlike direction. ” [ 41 ] Barton was replaced by Simon Grayson who guided Fleetwood to a fifteenth place finish. [ 42 ]

Highbury Stadium [edit ]

The original 1908 club played on a pitch next to the North Euston Hotel, where the police station now stands. apart from two years after the beginning World War – when the club played on a establish opposition from the Queen ‘s Hotel on Poulton Road ( Queen ‘s Ground ) – they remained at the North Euston Ground until moving to the present grate next to the Memorial Park in 1939. In February 2007 the newly all terraced Percy Ronson Stand was opened at a cost of £500,000. in the first place stated to have a capability of 1,240, this has since been revised downwards by Lancashire County Council to 621. [ 2 ] In July 2007, far plans for the renovation of the stadium were announced, including three new stands. The plans were finalised in December 2007 and in March 2008, planning permission was given for the first phase – the construction of the north and west stands. construction began in May 2008, and the two stands were opened for Fleetwood ‘s first gear home bet on of the 2008–09 season, on 22 August 2008. The west stand, known as the Highbury Stand, has 550 seats in concert with disabled and iron facilities and the union stand, known as the Memorial Stand, is a terrace rack with an official capability of 1,473. [ 2 ] A newly Football League standard floodlight system and circumference fencing were besides installed .
Exterior of the chief stall of Highbury Stadium The second phase development, the structure of a modern East Stand, to bring the grind capacity over the 4,000 minimal required for Conference National football, was primitively scheduled for the 2009 close season, but was postponed, and a £125,000 project to relay the pitch and improve drain was rather implemented. [ 43 ] Plans for the stand were revised and resubmitted in December 2009, and approved in March 2010. The capacity was increased to 2,000, increasing the overall grind capacity to over 5,000 and meeting the requirements of Football League membership. The stand had a proposed cost of £4,000,000. [ 44 ] Construction began in May 2010, ahead of Fleetwood ‘s successful Conference North play-off concluding against Alfreton Town. The stand, now named the Parkside Stand, was completed in the spring of 2011, and in full opened on 16 April for Fleetwood ‘s game against Altrincham, which they won 3–1. The stadium ‘s current capacity is 5,327 ; it is the 112th largest stadium by capacitance in England and the smallest in their division. [ 2 ]

Read more: Sevilla FC

Rivalries [edit ]

Although they have only met 13 times in a competitive fixture as of the end of the 2020–21 season, Fleetwood have a growing competition with Fylde Coast neighbor Blackpool who, followed by Morecambe and Preston North End, are the nearest football League clubs to Fleetwood. Fleetwood besides have more traditional local rivalries against Morecambe, [ 45 ] Southport [ 46 ] and Barrow, all of whom have competed against Fleetwood fairly regularly when all four were non-league clubs. other rivalries with nearby clubs have included those with Accrington Stanley, [ 47 ] Chorley and Lancaster City. According to a 2019 survey called ‘The League of Love And Hate ‘, Fleetwood supporters named Blackpool ( 83 % ), Morecambe ( 74 % ) and Accrington Stanley ( 62 % ) as their biggest rivals, with Preston North End ( 51 % ) and Wigan Athletic ( 47 % ) be. It may not be an entirely accurate representation, however, as the survey did not give the choice of choosing non-league clubs, of whom some would more than probable feature. [ 48 ]

Players [edit ]

As of 27 October 2021[49][50]

note : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .

Out on lend [edit ]

notice : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .

staff [edit ]

As of 1 February 2021[ citation needed]

Position
Name

Caretaker Manager
Stephen Crainey

First Team Coach
Barry Nicholson

Goalkeeper Coach
Lee Kendall

Head Physiotherapist
Liam McGarry

Physiotherapist
Richard Baron

Academy Director
Jack Higgins

Lead Development Coach
Simon Wiles

Chief Scout
James Wallace

Kit Manager
Robbie Bromley

Fleetwood Town ‘s independent kit sponsors include commercial Power Ltd [ 51 ] and Business Energy Solutions .

Honours [edit ]

league [edit ]

Football League Two
Conference National
Conference North
Northern Premier League Premier Division
Northern Premier League First Division
North West Counties Football League Premier Division
North West Counties Football League First Division

  • Champions – 1983–84, 1998–99

Lancashire Combination

  • Champions – 1923–24
  • Runners-up – 1933–34, 1934–35

Lancashire League West Division Reserve League

  • Winners – 2008–09

cup [edit ]

Northern Premier League Challenge Cup

  • Winners – 1971, 2007
  • Runners-up – 1989

Northern Premier League President’s Cup

  • Winners – 1990
  • Runners-up – 1991

North West Counties Football League First Division Trophy

  • Winners – 1999

FA Vase

  • Runners-up – 1984–85

Lancashire Combination Cup

  • Winners – 1926, 1932, 1933, 1934
  • Runners-up – 1953, 1967

Peter Swales Memorial Shield

  • Winners – 2008

Records [edit ]

Most appearances [edit ]

  • 181 – Ashley Hunter

Record all-time goalscorer [edit ]

  • 101 – David Barnes
  • 43 – Paddy Madden

Most capped musician [edit ]

Attendances [edit ]

last 10 seasonal worker Averages [edit ]

As of 17 March 2020

The 2018–19 median in terms of share of grate capacity ( which is presently given as 5,327 ) is 59 %. It is a 1 % increase over the previous season ‘s average attendance. source : english football site

References [edit ]