Long Eaton United

Long Eaton United FC is a non-league football club, formed in 1956, from the town of the same name in Derbyshire. The club has been based at Grange Park since their formation. However, their history is linked with a previous club in the town.

Long Eaton St Helens joined the Derbyshire Alliance in 1907, playing in other leagues before becoming founder members of the Central Alliance in 1911. They were crowned champions in 1912-13 before being renamed Long Eaton Town.

Between 1925 and 1927, they played in the Midland League and went into abeyance before being re-established in 1949 to compete in the Central Alliance. They escaped relegation in 1954-55, before rebranding themselves as Long Eaton United in 1956.

The ‘Blues’ were placed in Division One South of the Central Alliance, finishing as runners-up in 1956-57 and then winning the title in 1958-59, before progressing to the Midland League for the 1961-62 season.

The Blues' most famous former player was local lad Gary Birtles, who was spotted by Nottingham Forest and went on to a glorious career after paying just £2,000 for his services in 1976. The ‘Stripes’ ended runners-up in the Midland League in 1976-77.

The competition merged with the Yorkshire League to form the Northern Counties East League for the start of the 1982-83 season. United were placed in Division One South, winning the title in 1985-85 and with it, promotion to the Premier Division under manager Pete Johnson.

Hampered by having no floodlights, the club joined the Supreme Division of the Central Midlands League in 1989-90, where they were relegated to the Premier Division in their debut season because of issues with their Grange Park ground.

Promotion back to the Supreme Division was achieved in 1992-93, with Jim Fairley Jr leading the side, while his father held the position of chairman. Grange Park was gradually upgraded, along with a third-place finish, leading to a return to Division One of the Northern Counties East League for 2002-03.

Junior sides were set up, with the club becoming a hive of activity. A league runners-up spot was sealed in 2003-04 to win promotion to the Premier Division, where they ended in second place in the 2008-09 season under the management team of Mark Harvey and Glyn Stacey.

Harvey was left in sole command in June 2009 before he was replaced by Stacey a few months later, being succeeded by Craig Weston in August 2011, who had previously been manager until the duo had been appointed. Mick Galloway became manager in January 2012.

Charlie Palmer, the former Football League star, took on the role in April 2013, remaining in charge until October 2015. This was after overseeing the Blues’ first season in the Premier Division of the Midland Football League, where the side finished third.

The club experienced a couple of years of turnover in its managerial roles before Mark Clarke and Willis Francis were appointed as joint bosses in 2017-18, with Paul Holland and Andy Todd taking over from December 2018. Rudy Funk was appointed as manager in May 2019.

Ian Deakin was next in charge from early 2020 before the club was moved laterally to the United Counties Football League Premier Division North, which they won in their debut 2021-22 season, to move up to Division One East of the Northern Premier League.

Further ground improvements were made, as Long Eaton reached the playoffs, where they defeated Hebburn Town and Stockton Town, both on penalties, to win promotion to the Premier Division Central of the Southern League. However, the step up was to prove too severe.

Brad Munn was at the helm as the Blues were relegated back to Division One Midlands of the Northern Premier League, where they lost to Corby Town in the semi-finals of the playoffs in 2024-25.

Long Eaton United FC will play in the Northern Premier League Division One Midlands in the 2025-26 season.

My visits

Long Eaton United 1 Scarborough 0 (Tuesday 15th September 2009) NECL Presidents Cup Round One (att: 91)

After an afternoon looking at grounds and a few beers in excellent boozers thanks to Nottingham-based Boro fan, Pete Moss, who did the driving, we arrived at an impressive Grange Park. We had picked up Simon and Paul, who were neutrals, but decided to come along as they worked with Pete.

Long Eaton had a very well-regarded youth set up, and they were finishing training on the practice pitch when we arrived. Grange Park was open behind both goals with a couple of steps of terracing. The far side has a small seated stand, which has blocks on either end that used to be the changing rooms. 

The fourth side has a decent-sized main stand called The Big Jim Stand after the club's founder. To the right stands a small covering, while on the other side, there is open terracing. The whole ground was in decent condition and well cared for. My only fault was that it seemed very open to the wind.

Boro had won at Grange Park the previous Saturday in the league, and as a consequence, there were only around 30-40 away fans for the cup game. The home side took the lead in the first half, and after the Seadogs had a lot of pressure for fifteen minutes, the Blues were never really troubled. 

They probably could have won by more. I was personally not too worried about the result, as the league was certainly Athletic's priority. The manager lambasted his charges in the local paper the following evening, which I thought was a bit unfair.

Two days later, Long Eaton admitted to fielding an unregistered player and would face some penalty from the NCEL committee.

Long Eaton United 2 Scarborough Athletic 1 (Saturday 16th October 2010) Northern Counties East League Premier Division (att: 142)

I had been in Dublin for a few days' rest and groundhopping before taking a flight to East Midlands Airport early on Saturday morning. The plane was packed with fellow football fans from the Irish capital, with many attending that afternoon's match at Old Trafford. So many try to get to Man Utd matches that all seats are booked on flights to Manchester. 

Instead, supporters have to go to the Midlands, where a bus awaits to take them the rest of the way. There were even two Blyth Spartans fans aboard who were going to their fixture at Eastwood Town. I was extremely jaded owing to the excellent hospitality I'd encountered at the Bohemians match the previous evening. 

By the time I'd got the bus to Nottingham, it was still only 10.30am. Under normal circumstances, I'd have been tempted to 'get back on the horse' with a livener, but I was to carry out co-commentator duties at the game for the Seadogs Live internet broadcast. I had a wander around and got some food before meeting with Nottingham Seadog, Pete Moss.

We were the first spectators to arrive at Grange Park. The club official let us into the clubhouse and came to collect our cash later. We were sitting chatting when Pete's phone went off. It was Ken on the team/supporters coach. It was soon evident that not all was going to plan.

The coach driver had decided to take the A1 south for reasons best known to himself when the M1 was only a few miles from the ground. They were on the far side of Nottingham with not much time to spare. Matt Lawson, my commentary colleague, turned up as did our IT guru Steve Smith, along with plenty of travelling Seadogs, yet there was still no sign of the team. 

The Boro club officials were not impressed. I was getting a little concerned as I was on a pre-booked train to Liverpool at 5.45 from Nottingham to continue my grounds trek. Eventually, the team arrived, and the game was put back ten minutes. Long Eaton really did set a good example with their community projects, but the Grange Park pitch took a hammering as a consequence. 

It was extremely bumpy, and it made any passing football difficult at best. Boro went in at half time one-nil up. My halftime summary said that they should increase their lead as the game continued, as long as they defended sensibly. The team were having a bad run at the time with caretaker boss Paul Olsson trying his best while Brian France was recuperating from a serious head injury.

In the second half, the home side scored twice without playing particularly well. Boro simply capitulated, with the team set up not looking right. It was extremely awkward for me whilst commentating. I always try to be rational and unbiased and not go for extremes. Matt was most upset with what he was seeing and told our audience as much. 

I tried desperately to remain balanced, but it really was poor fare from the Seadogs. Pete gave me a lift back to the station with plenty of time for me to meet my train. He also cheered me by remaining unaffected by the result. It is only a game after all! I sat aboard the packed train to Liverpool for a great few days. 

On the way, plenty of Man Utd fans got on in a really bad mood because their side couldn't beat West Brom. What a shame!