Radcliffe Borough F.C.
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| Full name | Radcliffe Borough Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | The Boro, The Cliff, The Blues | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 24 April 1949 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | The Inn2gether Stadium Stainton Park Radcliffe Manchester |
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| Capacity | 3500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Bernard Manning Jnr |
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| Manager | Kevin Glendon/Andy Johnston |
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| League | Northern Premier League Premier Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006-07 | 17th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Radcliffe Borough F.C. are an English football club based in Radcliffe, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester. They were formed on 24 April 1949. They are currently playing in the Northern Premier League. They reached the First Round of the F.A. Cup for the first time in their history in 2000.
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[edit] History
The Club was formed on the 24th April 1949 at the Owd Tower Inn in Radcliffe by Mr. Jack Pickford, and became members of the South East Lancashire Football League. After a short period In that league, We moved on to the Manchester League before gaining access to the Lancashire Football Combination in 1963. In 1972, success came, winning the League Cup and finishing third in the league. Two years later, the Club applied, and were accepted into, the Cheshire League, which subsequently became the North West Counties Football League The first season again brought success, when Radcliffe secured the Second Division championship, in front of a record, Stainton Park Crowd of 1,468. After one season in the 'first Division, we lifted the First Division championship and we then made the step up into the newly formed, Northern Premier League, now the Unibond League, where we have since after many years of consolidation in the league, and at times, fighting against relegation, season 1995-96 seen an upturn in the Club's fortunes, on and off the pitch. In that season the Club, for the first time in its history, reached the last 16 of the prestigious F A. Umbro Trophy, narrowly losing to Nationwide Conference side, Gateshead 1-2.
[edit] Division One Champions
Under present manager Kevin Glendon who has been at the club for 16 years since 1990, the playing side has gone from strength to strength. Kevin is renowned for producing young players and selling them on, in total he has made £80,000 in selling players. In season 1996/1997 Kevin and the Boro team achieved its highest honour, in winning the Unibond First Division title by 2 points ahead of local rivals Leigh RMI. Unfortunately, our stay in the `top flight' lasted only one season. Having sacrificed all our revenue on ground development, to allow us to be promoted, we left ourselves without resources to invest in quality players to stay in the division. Each year, since then, however, we have competed for promotion, finishing regularly in the top six. Missing out on promotion in season 1999/2000 when a win at home against eventual champions Accrington Stanley would see us promoted again. After leading 2-0 with 15 minutes to go, Accrington did the unthinkable and came back to win the game 3-2 and Boro missed out on promotion.
[edit] Start of the Millennium
Our best was saved for the Millennium year, in which, for the first time in the history of the Club, we reached the first round of the AXA sponsored FA Cup. Although we lost 1-4 to York City, played at Gigg Lane, the home of Bury F C. and in front of a record crowd of 2,495 - what a fabulous day it was for everyone connected with the Club. A true measure of the progress made in such a short time. Boro again missed out on promotion in season 2001/2002 when after leading the division until February a poor run to the end of the season, meant that the club entered the newly formed play-offs losing to Bamber Bridge in the semi's at Irongate.
[edit] Play-Off winners
2002-2003 was a great year for Boro, missing out on the championship by two points to Alfreton Town, we had a fantastic run in the FA Cup when we reached the 4th Qualifying round losing to Conference giants Chester City in front of 1,138 at Stainton Park. Promotion was finally won thanks to the play-offs by beating North Ferriby United in the semi final and Chorley in the final at Stainton Park winning 4-2 on penalties after Chorley scored two goals in the last 10 minutes to make it 2-2 and take the game into extra time.. Boro legend Jody Banim got 46 goals in what was an unbelievable season for him.
With Boro back in the UniBond Premier Division and a place in the newly formed Conference North League up for grabs, in which we had to finish in the top 13, that was obviously the aim. By November Boro were as high as sixth thanks to the 22 goals of Jody Banim who set an English record by scoring in 14 concecutive games. Boro sold Banim to Conference promotion chasers Shrewsbury Town for a record fee of £20,000 in December 2003, and without his goals they slid down the table eventually finishing 19th and into the play-offs beating Whitby Town on pens 8-7 in the quarter finals, before bowing out to Burscough in the semi finals at home. In 2004/2005 the club finished 9th in the UniBond Premier League.
[edit] Famous players
Over the years, many former league players have appeared for the Boro, names such as Frank Worthington, Alan Kennedy, Peter Barnes, Len Cantello, Ian Bishop, Paul Gascoigne and many more, all enhancing the Club's reputation. In recent times we have gained a reputation for producing our own youngsters and seeing them progress to higher levels of football.
[edit] Off the pitch
Under the hard work and guidance of Chairman Bernard Manning JNR, Manager Kevin Glendon and the board of directors Boro have gone from strength to strength. Off the field we are widely recognised as having made more progress than many other non-league clubs. With the help of grants from the Football Association, Football Foundation, Lottery Sports Fund, Club Funds and personal investments, they have so far been able to provide the following: Floodlit all weather pitches, Upgrade the terracing, New car park, Purchase the Social Club & Refurbish the building. Build a New Sponsors Lounge, Changing Room Block, A new 350-seated stand and six brand new Nationwide Conference Standard floodlights. These along with many more, smaller projects, show you why the Club's reputation has grown and we now have one of the best non-league grounds at our level. In 2006 the club took massive strides to upgrade their exsiting facilities and now boast two brand new 3G Sythetic 6 a-side football pitches, brand new Sports Bar, brand new Sports Injury Clinic, brand new Conference and Meeting room and a re-furbished Function room which centainly gives the club their moto 'More than just a football club'.
[edit] Notable players
- 1990s: Kevin Glendon (1990), Andy Kilner (1992), Levi Edwards (1995), Jason Astley (1995), Ian Lunt (1995), Simon Whittle (1995), Graham Haddon (1995), Colin McCory (1995), Joe Connor(1995, Andy Johnston (1995), Mike Farrely (1996), Andy Brown (1996), Paul Mullin (1998), Simon Kelly (1998), Simon Carden (1998), Richard Battersby (1998), Mark Dempsey (1998), Tony Whealing (1998)
- 2000s: Neil Hardy (2000), Danny Hurst (2000), Scott Wilson (2000), Jody Banim (2001), Lee Duffy (2003), Steve Foster (2003), Ian Bishop (2003), Andy Heald (2004), Scott Warner (2006), Ian Fiztpatrick (2006)
| Northern Premier League Premier Division 2006/07 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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AFC Telford United | Ashton United | Burscough | Fleetwood Town | Frickley Athletic | Gateshead | Grantham Town | Guiseley | Hednesford Town | Ilkeston Town | Kendal Town | Leek Town | Lincoln United | Marine | Matlock Town | Mossley | North Ferriby United | Ossett Town | Prescot Cables | Radcliffe Borough | Whitby Town | Witton Albion edit |
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