Abbey Hey F.C. - History

History

Abbey Hey FC were formed in 1902 in the Abbey Hey district of Gorton, some three miles away from the centre of Manchester. During their formative years and through the two World Wars, the club was disbanded and reformed on a number of occasions. Starting in the Church Sunday Leagues, they progressed through the Manchester Amateur Leagues during the intervening years but the club really came into its own in the 1960s after it took in the players of the Admiralty Gunning Engineering Department (AGED) following its closure. Alf Gentry, the manager of Abbey Hey at this point, decided that with the influx of new players he would step down in favour of the AGED Manager, Danny Danson. However, Gentry did stay on in a senior position. The new players made up the backbone of the club during the decade with some staying on after their playing careers had ended.

Most notable of these was Allan Vaughn, who occupied the positions of treasurer and secretary. Ken Brown also stayed on, becoming manager after Danny Danson had retired, and won numerous honours culminating in 1978 with the club deciding to apply for a position in the Manchester League. The application was successful and the following year the club began playing in the 2nd Division of the Manchester League, achieving promotion in their first season.

Reaching this position meant that the club had to find an enclosed ground suitable for playing their home games. The nearest ground available at the time was in Chorlton at Werburghs Road. The ground was owned by a car dealership, Lookers, but was being used by a local school. It was agreed that if Abbey Hey FC carried out some improvements, such as installing showers in the dressing rooms, they could rent the ground. After two years, Lookers reneged on the deal and the club was forced out, this time to a ground at Godfreys, an area named after a prominent local councillor, Godfrey Erman, who donated the ground to the local populace of Abbey Hey for their use as a recreational area.

The next eighteen years were fairly successful with the club winning the Gilchrist Cup (under managers Jim Whittaker and Dave Denby) and a League title, but this ended when Abbey Hey FC were told that as from the start of the new season they would not be allowed to use Godfreys. This was despite the large amounts of money that the club had spent on drainage and despite assurances when they had taken over the derelict ground that as long as Abbey Hey had a football team this would be their ground. The club were not asked to pay an increased rent nor were they involved in any discussion about the future of the ground. It became apparent that a local company had offered £10,000 to use the ground which the administrators, on behalf of the local residents, accepted. The club was forced to move away or fold.

A temporary home, at the old English Steel ground, was arranged on a season to season basis but after only 2 years, the ground was sold. During the two years the club were based at the ground, negotiations with Crossley Motors Ltd had been taking place to buy a disused ground in Goredale Avenue, Gorton. Unfortunately, the land was not in good order and was becoming an eyesore with fences falling down and people using it for fly-tipping. Contractors working for the council had tipped 1,000 tons of hardcore onto the car park to prevent access to the ground.

Matters had reached an impasse between Abbey Hey FC and Crossleys when Manchester City Council stepped in, They informed Crossleys that if an agreement was not made with the people that they were dealing with, the ground would be the subject of a compulsory purchase order. This tipped the scales in favour of the football club who were asked to make an offer for the ground which was promptly accepted. Legal representation and a bank loan were quickly arranged and in 1984 the club had their own home. The bank loan was paid off and the ground was improved including having the fly tipped hardcore removed from the ground.

Jim Clark was to join during these turbulent times as manager, a position he was to occupy for the next 18 years. The club went on to gain success in the Manchester League during the late eighties and early nineties, winning the Premier Division Championship on five occasions during this period.

In 1997, after finishing 2nd in the Manchester League Premier Division, the club applied for membership of the North West Counties Football League. Following a ground grading visit by League Officials, the club was accepted into the 2nd Division for the 1998 season. In the clubs first season, Jim Clark managed to clinch the runners-up spot after a fantastic last day of the season when Abbey Hey had to win to gain promotion. This they did and were promoted to the 1st Division, as runner-up to Fleetwood Freeport, at their first attempt.

Promotion to the 1st Division meant that the club had to install floodlights. True to form, they designed, ordered, erected and wired them within a couple of months. The biggest job during the ground improvements was the building of the new clubhouse and dressing rooms. Planning permission was given with the majority of work once again being carried out by the clubs own members. To finance this project, low interest loans were taken out from the FA with the remainder of the money achieved through fund raising schemes.

The club has played in the FA Cup for the first time since the turn of the millennium, but have only won one tie, a victory over Bamber Bridge on penalties in 2002–03, to reach the first qualifying round for the only time. They have had more success in the FA Vase, their best campaign being again in 2002–03 when they made the third round (last 64).

In 2002–03 the club celebrated their centenary year with their highest placed 1st Division position at the time (13th). In 2004 ten members of the committee were given long service awards for their 25 years of service in grass roots football by the Manchester FA.

In 2009–10 Abbey Hey were struggling halfway through the season with only 4 points to their name and bottom of the league after 25 games. However, following the appointments of Barrie Walker as Manager and Andrew Harris as Assistant Manager in November 2009, Abbey Hey made several new signings with the likes of Jon-Paul Lewis, Gareth Wager, Daniel Cocks, John Hardy, Darren Evans, Lee Knowles and Nathan Finnigan joining the club. This signalled a turn in fortune for the club as they picked up 30 points in the 2nd half of the season as they nearly performed a miracle by climbing out of the relegation zone however they were relegated from the North West Counties Premier Division. The improved form in the second of the season saw Abbey Hey going all the way to the final of the North West Counties League Challenge Cup beating the likes of Ashton Athletic and Bootle along the way. Abbey Hey beat Winsford United 3–0 in the final and lifted the trophy.