Stockport County F.C. - History

History

For more details on this topic, see History of Stockport County F.C..

Stockport County were formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers by members of the Wycliffe Congregational Church, and played their first recorded game in October the next year. The club adopted 'The Hatters' as their nickname, owing to Stockport's history as the centre of the Victorian hat-making industry, a nickname that is shared with Luton Town.

Stockport played in the Lancashire League until 1900. They then gained admission to the Football League Second Division. Stockport's first Football league match was against Leicester Fosse

The club finished in the bottom three for their first four seasons and at the end of 1903–04 they failed to gain re-election. They spent one year in the Lancashire Combination (a league which they won) and the Midland League. At the end of the season they were re-admitted to the Football League after being re-elected through the Midland League. In their first season back in the football league Stockport reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time, However they were knocked out by Lincoln City. Stockport finished the league in 10th position that season.

Stockport remained in Division 2 of the football league for seven years until 1912–13 when once again they had to seek re-election. Stockport gained 22 votes and were therefore re-elected. Stockport were fortunate that, despite an awful 1920–21 campaign that saw them end the season bottom of the Second Division, which would normally have seen them face re-election, they were placed in the brand new Third Division North. Stockport were the first winners of The Third Division North, winning their first official football league championship in the process. After gaining 5 wins out of their first 6 matches Stockport set the standard for the division and clinched their first football league title when they beat Darlington in front of 18,500 fans at Edgeley Park. Albert Williams (the then manager) was presented with the trophy seven days later before the home game with Lincoln City.

Once Stockport returned to Division 2, they struggled and survived an automatic relegation by one point. The 1923–24 season saw Stockport County finish 13th, 1 place above Manchester United. This is the only time in history Stockport have achieved better than United. During this campaign Stockport Goalkeeper Harry Hardy was called up to play for the England national team and kept a clean sheet in a 4–0 win against Belgium. He is the only player to be capped at full level by England while on Stockport's books. Two seasons later (1925–26) Stockport returned to the bottom division after finishing bottom of the league and only picking up 25 points. Barring a couple of seasons, the club would stay in this division for more than 40 years.

The 1933–34 season saw goals galore, 115 in total, including a 13–0 win over Halifax Town, which still stands as a Football League record. Alf Lythgoe also scored 46 goals for Stockport during the season. Both of these records still stand today in the clubs history. Another first for Stockport was also seen during this season when Stockport's 2–1 home defeat to Crystal Palace in the second round of the FA Cup was shown on TV. Stockport finished 3rd in this record breaking season. In 1936–37 County won the Third Division North, gaining 60 points and 23 wins, towards the ending of this season Stockport had a ten game unbeaten run that included seven victories, prior to a last day title decider against Lincoln City in which more than 27,000 fans watched. Stockport failed to gain a foothold in the Second Division, finished 22nd out of 22 and were relegated to Division 3 (North) after only earning 31 points. During the 1939/40 season Football was stopped following Britain's declaration of war and not resumed until the end of war. This was because most British men were sent to the army. Stockport played only played two matches in the 1939/40 season before war was declared losing both and being bottom of the league. 1945/46 in English football didn't have a football season as such, however FA Cup matches were played. Stockport were eliminated from the 1945/46 FA Cup in the first round after a 3–2 aggregate loss to Rochdale The first post-war league season (1946/47) saw Stockport finish 4th in Division 3 (North) with 24 wins and 50 points

The 1950s brought little league success, but were notable for some fine goalscoring by Jack Connor, whose 140 goals in 5 seasons are still a club record, including 13 hat-tricks (three of which back-to-back – once against Crewe Alexandra and twice against Chester), two instances of four goals in a match (against Workington and Carlisle United), and two of five goals in a match (against Bradford Park Avenue and Tranmere Rovers). When the regional Third Divisions were to be combined into national Third and Fourth Divisions after the 1957–58 campaign, Stockport managed to finish in the top half of the Third Division North and so were placed in the following season's national Third Division. One season was spent at this level as Stockport were demoted. Stockport played in the first ever League Cup competition in 1966–67, losing 3–0 against Manchester City. Stockport Survived re-election in the 1964/65 season. After finishing bottom of the league with only 27 points, Stockport were re-elected by gaining 45 votes Two seasons later Stockport returned to Third Division by winning the Fourth Division in 1966–67 after gaining 64 points. After being relegated in 1969–70, the 1970s and 1980s consisted of little other than mediocrity or struggling against re-election. The introduction of automatic promotion and relegation between the Football League and the Conference was not a good sign for Stockport and, in 1986–87 they had just six points from 13 games and faced a real prospect of non-League football, exemplified by crashing out of the FA Cup to Caernarfon Town. Colin Murphy was brought in for his second spell as manager, County gained 45 points from their final 31 games and survived, although Murphy left shortly after the end of the season.

Danny Bergara was appointed as manager in March 1989, quickly transforming the team, and automatic promotion was gained in 1990–91. The next three seasons saw County make the play-offs, but failed to result in another promotion. In March 1995 Bergara was sacked after an altercation with then chairman Brendan Elwood, and Dave Jones was appointed manager. The 1996–97 campaign proved to be the most successful in the club's history, finishing 2nd in the Second Division and reaching the semi-final of the League Cup, knocking out three Premiership teams (Blackburn Rovers, Southampton and West Ham United) on the way before losing to Middlesbrough 2–1 on aggregate. Jones left for Southampton, and a succession of managers were unable to build on the success of the 1990s, former England international Carlton Palmer failing to stop County being relegated in 2001–02 or to build a team capable of challenging for a return in subsequent seasons. Sammy McIlroy followed as manager in 2003 but more poor results led to his sacking, and the appointment of Chris Turner just one year later. Another relegation followed, and Turner himself lasted just one year in charge, resigning after a 6–0 defeat to local rivals Macclesfield Town that left County five points adrift of safety & facing a third relegation in just four years.

Former player Jim Gannon was placed in charge, initially as caretaker-manager. He led the club to safety in 2005–06 and County sustained a promotion challenge the next season, eventually missing out on the League Two playoffs on goal difference. They also set a new Football League record on 3 March 2007 when they beat Swindon Town 3–0, recording nine consecutive wins without conceding a goal. County continued their winning ways in the 2007–08 season and, despite losing an FA Cup match to non-League Staines Town, finished 4th in the league and beat Rochdale 3–2 in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium to earn promotion to League One.

During the 2008–09 season, Stockport defied the odds by challenging for a play-off place, but their form dipped during the final months of the season which saw them slip to mid-table. Jim Gannon was approached by Brighton & Hove Albion and the approach was accepted by Stockport, but after talks with the chairman of Brighton, Gannon rejected the job and stayed at Stockport. After he rejected the job, the following game v Huddersfield Town on the Saturday, Gannon got a standing ovation when he came out of the tunnel before the game.

On 30 April 2009, Stockport County were placed into administration following a battle to repay creditors. It followed a petition by a creditor to repay a loan of around £300,000. Recently, the club has struggled to repay a tax debt of £250,000 to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. On 16 December 2009 the team's training ground was put up for sale.

On 12 June 2009, Leonard Curtis, administrators of Stockport County Football Club, announced that they had agreed terms with the Melrose Consortium for the sale of the club. Paul Reeves, one of the joint administrators commented that: "Whilst a deal has been agreed, it is subject to the Melrose Consortium obtaining landlord approval. This is a positive step to safeguarding the club's future." The Melrose consortium, consisiting of 'a group of businessmen with a sporting background' headed by ex Manchester City player Jim Melrose said: "We look forward to developing a fruitful relationship with Sale Sharks and Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council which will provide the basis for a successful future for Stockport County Football Club." The immediate aims of the Melrose Consortium are to "... guarantee football at Edgeley Park next season and to secure the services of redundant manager, and Stockport legend, Jim Gannon". On 3 July 2009 Administrators agreed to a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) with previous shareholders and creditors.

Gannon however took over as manager at Scottish Premier League side Motherwell, giving County fans cause to worry that he'd be poaching County's young players in the forthcoming weeks. Gary Ablett, former manager of Liverpool reserves, was appointed manager on 8 July 2009 following talks with the (prospective) new owners, even though they'd still not taken over, and in fact never did take over the club. In March 2010 it was announced that a new consortium, the '2015 Group' had been given exclusivity to work towards a takeover of the club. The Group were approved by the Football League at their May 2010 meeting.

It was announced on 17 June 2010 that the takeover of Stockport County was completed by the 2015 Group at a press conference held the same day at 11.00am. It was also announced that Gary Ablett had been relieved of his duties as Stockport County Manager after just one season in charge, which saw them relegated from the third division of the English Football League, (League One), with just 5 wins from 46 league matches. It was widely reported that fans' favourite, and former manager Jim Gannon, who was made redundant in April 2009, would return to the club. However, Gannon decided to take a break from the game.

Following the takeover of the club by the 2015 Group, the consortium pledged to "rebuild the club from top to bottom".

On 12 July 2010, former Carlisle United manager Paul Simpson was unveiled as Gary Ablett's successor as the new manager of the club at a press conference at Edgeley Park. Simpson's Assistant Manager was Peter Ward, who was previously assistant manager at the club between 2005 and 2009 under former manager Jim Gannon, and who also played over 100 games for the club in the 1990s. On 4 January 2011 Simpson was sacked, his place taken by Peter Ward on a caretaker basis. Ward was replaced by Ray Mathias after twelve games and two wins. Stockport's relegation from the Football League after 106 years was confirmed after a 2–0 away defeat against Crewe Alexandra.

The 2011–12 season started with County appointing Ray Mathias as permanent manager. However, before a ball was kicked, he was replaced by former Liverpool, Newcastle United, Bayern Munich and German international midfielder, Dietmar Hamann after Liverpool-based businessman Tony Evans attempted an ultimately unsuccessful takeover of the club. Hamann did poorly, winning just three games out of 19, and resigned in November citing the failed takeover as the reason. He was replaced by former player and manager Jim Gannon, who returned to the club as Director of Football and First Team Manager through the 'Your Town Your Team' Group. John Fitzpatrick also joined the Board of Directors simultaneously. In November 2011, Spencer Fearn also bought a stake in the football club, and was appointed Vice – Chairman in August 2012.

In Gannon's first match back at the club, they lost a hard-fought match to joint-leaders Fleetwood Town, 2–1, who achieved a record attendance in the fixture at Highbury. Gannon managed County to their first back to back wins in over 3 years – since his last stint as manager – with successive 1 – 0 victories over Wrexham and Darlington. Gannon steered County away from the drop zone, winning 8 of the last 15 league games – remarkable form for a side that had only managed to win 9 games throughout the whole of the 2010/11 campaign – to finish 16th in the final table.

Gannon is once again focusing on youth development, inducing young talents such as Danny Whitehead, Cameron Darkwah, Danny Hattersley and Ian Ormson into the starting eleven.

County regained sole tenancy of their Edgeley Park stadium for the first time in 9 years from the beginning of the 2012/13 season, after Sale Sharks relocated for a second time, this time sharing with Salford City Reds at Barton.