Hopping all over the World: Winsford United

Saturday, 30 September 2017

Winsford United

Winsford United F.C. is a non-league club from the town of the same name, which is located in Mid-Cheshire. ‘The Blues’ were formed in 1883 as Over Wanderers FC and playing in the the Welsh Combination Football League.

The team played at the Bean Latham Playing Field; which would later become Barton Stadium and soon changed their name to Winsford United, as they joined a local competition; The Combination for the 1902-03 season.

The club folded due to excessive spending, but re-formed around 1914 under a committee led by Mr. R. G. Barton once World War One was over. United became founder members of the Cheshire County League in 1919-20; going on to be crowned champions in 1920-21.

For several decades the club continued its membership of the Cheshire County League, with the team finishing no higher than third place. The mid 1970’s were to see the beginning of a successful little period; starting with a league runners-up position in 1974-75.

The 1975-76 campaign was one of relative success in the FA Cup as the first round was reached for the first ever time following victories against New Brighton, Witton Albion, Chorley and then Telford United after a replay.

Winsford were paired with an away tie at London Road against Peterborough United; which ended in a 3-1 defeat. The season ended in a second Cheshire County League title being delivered to the Barton Stadium.

In 1977-78 wins against Northwich Victoria, Slough Town and Bangor City took United to the quarter finals of the FA Trophy; where they went out 4-2 away to Altrincham. The team gave future Welsh international and Everton legendary keeper Neville Southall his senior debut.

Winsford became founder members of the North West Counties League in 1982-83; where they were given a position in Division One. Consistent high finishes led to the club becoming members of Division One of the Northern Premier League when it was extended in 1987-88.

Promotion to the Premier Division followed in 1991-92 before finishing as Northern Premier League runners-up the following season. The campaign also saw United reach the first round of the FA Cup; at which stage they went out 5-2 at the Racecourse Ground against Wrexham.

Manager Mike McKenzie moved on to local rivals Witton Albion; with many of the players following. In 1997-98 Winsford battled all the way from the FA Cup first qualifying round to the first round proper before going out 2-1 away to Chester City.

The team began to descend in the final league table before being relegated to Division One in 1999-00. The slide continued as the Blues went down for a second successive season to re-enter the North West Counties League.

At the end of the 2002-03 season the team were demoted to Division Two of the league. The Division Two title was secured in 2006-07 under manager Joe Gibiliru; who then led the side to a second successive promotion as Winsford headed to the Premier Division of the North West Counties League.

Gibiliru departed in the summer of 2009 to be replaced by Terry Murphy and then Mike Alcock, who lasted just over a month before Tony Ledwards took over as manager. Ledwards lasted until March 2010 before joint-managers Mike Alcock and Dave Twite helped to stave off relegation.

Chris Willcock arrived as the new manager at the Barton Stadium during the summer break of 2010; where he remained in charge until January 2011 when his assistant, Ian Street took over; remaining in place until June 2012 when he departed and was replaced by Lloyd Morrison.

Morrison took the team to a fifth place finish in 2012-13 before he departed to take the managers job at Mossley. Eddie Haslam was appointed as the new team boss at Winsford, before being replaced by Rob Byrne in December 2013.

Newly formed 1874 Northwich became tenants at Barton Stadium from the 2013-14 campaign, before Byrne resigned in November 2015; to be replaced by player-manager Lee Duckworth who led the team to two mid table finishes.