2006-2012: Up, Then Down and Out
The 2006-07 season started poorly, with the club picking up just five points from the first eight league games of the season, and back where they had spent most of the previous season, in the relegation zone,also losing 1-0 at home to Derby County in the first round of the League Cup.
Results slowly improved through the rest of the calendar year, and by the time County were knocked out of the FA Cup at the third round stage (4-1 away to Premiership club Watford), County had risen to mid-table.
During the January transfer window, two players - goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey (on loan for three months from Wolves) and striker Anthony Elding (from Boston United) signed for County; beginning with their debut against Elding's former club, County won nine games in a row without conceding a goal. Both the nine game winning run and the nine consecutive clean sheets were and remain club records, whilst the combination of nine wins without conceding a goal set a Football League record, eclipsing the eight such games that had been achieved four times previously, most recently by Hartlepool United earlier in the 2006-07 season.
At the end of the record-breaking run, County had climbed to sixth in the table, but following the end of the run, County's form dipped, picking up only one point from a possible fifteen. County remained sixth, however, and picked up four points over the Easter weekend, but the team failed to win again in April, resulting in a drop to 8th place before the final game of the season. That game resulted in a 5-0 victory away at Darlington, but it was not quite enough to secure a place in the play-offs, as a win for Bristol Rovers combined with a draw for Shrewsbury saw County finish in 8th place, losing out to Shrewsbury on goal difference.
The 2007-08 season started on a somber note, with a friendly between Stockport and Dave Jones' Cardiff marking the passing of Danny Bergara. Stockport played promisingly and were just three points off the top of the table at the end of September, but a downturn in form throughout October and November saw County slip as low as 17th in the division. Despite losing top scorer Anthony Elding to Leeds in the January transfer window, the New Year saw a sharp upturn in fortunes as the club lost only three further games until the end of the season, climbing into the playoffs by mid-February. The new year also saw Stockport equal a league record of eight consecutive away victories. Approaching the end of the season they had an outside chance to qualify for promotion automatically but missed out, finishing the season in 4th place. However, after beating Wycombe Wanderers 2-1 on aggregate in the play-off semi-final, Stockport played Rochdale at Wembley in the final, coming from behind to secure a 3-2 victory and their place in League One for the next football season.
On 30th April 2009, Stockport County FC announced that they had been placed into administration by a creditor, and Leonard Curtis were appointed as administrators of the club. Jim Gannon and his team were made redundant as cost-cutting measures, and the new season saw Gary Ablett take over as manager. The season was one of the worst in Stockport County history, winning only five league games all season and breaking the club record for the most consecutive league defeats. A consortium led by former Manchester City player Jim Melrose attempted to buy the cash-strapped club out, a process which dragged on for 14 months, as they were not able to fulfilled the Football League Buy-Out Criteria.
Another consortium, led by supporter Dave Schofield, was put together comprising a group of local Stockport based business people, calling themselves the '2015 Group'. It was announced on Thursday 17 June 2010 that the 2015 Group had taken control of the club. On the same day, it was announced that Gary Ablett had been relieved of his managerial duties by 'mutual consent'.
The following season in League 2 began with Paul Simpson as manager, before being replaced by Peter Ward as caretaker manager. He too was replaced in the same season by Ray Mathias and although there was an upturn in performance, it was not sufficient to prevent the club from dropping out of the Football League for the first time in 106 years.
The 2011-2012 season began with Mathias being given the manager's role, but a week later, with the (ultimately failed) takeover by a Liverpool based consortium, he was replaced by Liverpool and Germany international former player, Dietmar Hamann. He was unable to stop the ongoing slump of the club, and resigned in November 2011, to pave the way for the return as Director of Football Jim Gannon, who had been made redundant by the administrators of the club whilst they were in League One. It took until New Year's Day 2012 for him to record a first win.
Read more about this topic: History Of Stockport County F.C.