West Auckland Town F.C. - History - History Since

History Since

Debts forced the club to leave the Northern League in 1912 and fold, although in 1914 it was reconstituted as West Auckland Town F.C., which remains to this day. Although it has never quite reached the same heights it did at the start of the 20th century, it did win the Northern League in 1960 and 1961, and were FA Amateur Cup runners-up in 1961, losing to Walthamstow Avenue. They still remain rivals with Bishop Auckland to this day. Having been founded in 1889, the Northern League is the oldest surviving league after The Football League.

1998–99 was a very exciting season in the Club's history when they reached the 1st Round proper of the F.A. Cup for the third time, (Barnsley 1959 & Stockport 1961) with an away tie against Yeovil Town. After a 2–2 draw at Yeovil and a 1–1 draw at West Auckland, a penalty shoot-out saw Yeovil through. The Club also finished a credible 5th in the League that season as they did also in 1999–2000 and 2005–06.

David Bayles took charge in the summer of 2005 and led the side to 5th place in his first season (2005–06) and then 6th place in the following season. 2007–08 began with an FA Cup run that saw West within minutes of a place in the final qualifying round of the FA Cup before defeat in a replay to Bamber Bridge. After his shock resignation, Lee Ellison had a short lived spell as manager before Phil Owers took over and steadied the side and led them to escape the drop zone.

Owers departed early in the 2008–09 season with Brian Fairhurst appointed as the new player manager. However after performances slumped to a worryingly low and 10 games without a win, Ray Gowan came in but even he was unable to arrest the slide and promptly resigned at the end of the campaign.

Exciting news filtered in throughout the summer of 2009. Firstly, West Auckland were able to retain their First Division status due to Sunderland Nissan folding. The Club then received sensational news that, to celebrate their Centenary of winning the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, Juventus had agreed to a re-match in Italy. Shortly afterwards Hartlepool legend Brian Honour was appointed the new manager in the hot seat.

Brian and his successor Wilf Constantine struggled to get West back on track and both had short lived spells in charge. For the third season in a row, a third manager was appointed – Peter Dixon arrived on Monday 7 December 2009, swapping a promotion push with Crook for a relegation battle. West stunned the Northern League with some superb results and finished the season in a scarcely believable 16th place despite having a -41 goal difference and 5 points from 19 matches when Peter took the reins.

During the 2010–11 season West finished in a very credible 6th place. Key signings such as Mark Bell (Blyth Spartans) and John Parker (Ryton) sured up the defence, whilst forwards Daniel Hindmarsh and Chris Lunn provided an attacking prowess which saw the side score 96 league goals. West Auckland also enjoyed a good FA Cup run beating Whickham, Billingham Synthonia in the preliminary qualifying rounds. A 3–1 win at home to Northern Premier League side Bradford Park Avenue set up a 2nd Qualifying round tie away to Conference North side Workington. West were beaten 2–1 despite taking the lead through Adam Nicholls in the first half.

In memory of the 1909 Thomas Lipton trophy final, West Auckland Town F.C. and Italian giants Juventus F.C. met once again in 2009 for a friendly match 100 years later, with Juventus F.C under 20 winning 7–1.