Chorley Football Club - A Brief History

The appointment of former Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers captain Garry Flitcroft as manager in May 2010 heralded a massive upturn in fortunes for Chorley Football Club who for many years been drifting through many seasons of mediocrity. Securing such a high profile manager helped increase interest from both supporters and local businesses and this in turn helped Garry to assemble a promotion-winning squad in his first season, the club’s first in 23 years. Since the heady days of Conference football between 1988 and 1990, Chorley FC had slowly drifted down the divisions with little success to cheer the dwindling number of supporters along the way. In the season before Garry’s appointment the club finished in 16th place in the First Division North with an average attendance of just 271.

In Garry’s first season in charge the club lead the First Division North for the opening months before finishing in third place. Crowds shot up too with an average home attendance of 757, an increase of 179%. The play-offs themselves saw astonishing crowds flock to Victory Park with 1,515 witnessing the semi-final 2-1 victory over Curzon Ashton then 2,950 turned up to see the Magpies defeat AFC Fylde 2-0 in the final. The following season in the Northern Premier League Premier Division the Magpies were again contenders and again finished third in the league table, qualifying for the end of season play-offs. Again crowds increased with the average reaching 957 (26% up on the previous season), but this time there was to be no promotion as FC United of Manchester won the semi-final tie at Victory Park two-nil in front of an all ticket 2,754, however the club lifted the Lancashire Challenge Trophy for the first time in 29 years at the Reebok Stadium after beating Kendal Town in the final 2-1 in front of a crowd of 2,674.

The club’s origins were in Rugby Union, but after eight seasons of the oval ball game the club converted to association football in 1883, and it was also around this time that the club adopted its famous black and white colours. After a series of friendly matches against clubs like Wigan, Preston North End and Blackburn Rovers in the 1880s, Chorley joined the Lancashire Junior League in 1889 and has since competed in the Lancashire Alliance, the Lancashire Combination, the Cheshire County League, the Northern Premier League and the GM Vauxhall Conference, one step away from the Football League. The first title honour saw the club win the Alliance in 1892-93 and they have lifted league titles at fairly regular intervals ever since, including 11 Combination titles, two Lancashire League championships and one NPL title win, along with a competition record 14 Lancashire FA Trophy (formerly known as the Lancashire Junior Cup) successes.

Victory Park has been the home of the Magpies since 1920, with the ground being named to commemorate the end of the First World War. Prior to 1920 the club had a relatively nomadic start to life having had three previous home; Dole Lane, Rangletts Recreation Ground and St George's Park. In 1945, shortly after a crowd of over 4000 had watched the Magpies beat Third Division team Accrington Stanley in the first leg of the FA Cup First Round, the club’s wooden main stand was destroyed by fire. A fund was set up to finance its replacement, and local journalist Tom Gillett wrote the book “Magpie Parade”, a history of the club to that date, with all proceeds from its sale going to the fund. Two years later the replacement stand was opened and it is still the focal point of Victory Park. The club enjoyed great success between 1958 and 1965, winning the county’s league title three times, finishing runners-up three times as well, and lifting the Junior Cup five times from their six appearances in the final. For good measure there were also two Combination Cup successes and another runner-up spot, plus an appearance in the 1st Round of the FA Cup in 1963. It’s no coincidence that this was the era of Peter Watson, Chorley’s legendary prolific marksman, scoring an incredible 372 goals in his 450 appearances for the club.

In 1968 the Magpies became one of the founder members of the Northern Premier League and the club has competed in this competition for the majority of the seasons ever since, with the exception of one season in the Lancashire Combination, nine in the Cheshire League and two in the Conference. The mid-to-late 1980s were undoubtedly the club’s most successful period on the larger stage, with promotion to the Football Conference and repeated appearances in the FA Cup ‘proper’. The club only remained in the Conference for two seasons before dropping back to the NPL in 1990, then down into the First Division in 1998-99. In 2002/03 the club came close to regaining Premier Division status but lost out on penalties to Radcliffe Borough in the play-off final.

The Magpies have tasted glory down the years in the FA Cup and the FA Trophy. They knocked out Wolverhampton Wanderers, twice post-war Wembley winners, 3-0 in the First Round second replay at Burnden Park, Bolton, in 1986-87. In the Second Round they drew 0-0 with Preston North End at Ewood Park, Blackburn, before going out 5-0 on Deepdale’s artificial pitch before a crowd of 16,308. Chorley have appeared in the FA Cup First Round Proper nine times, in 1899-1900, 1938-39, 1945-46, 1963-64, 1978-79, 1985-86, 1986-87, 1987-88 and 1990-91. In that last season they reached the Second Round with a 2-1 home win over Bury before going out 1-0 at Shrewsbury. The club's best season in the FA Trophy was 1995-96, when they reached the semi-finals, losing over two legs to eventual winners Macclesfield Town. They reached the Trophy quarter-finals in 1976-77, going out in an away replay to Dagenham Town, who went on to Wembley. The Magpies had knocked out non-league giants Wimbledon 2-0 in a Second Round second replay at neutral Walsall a few weeks before the Dons were elected to the Football League. The first replay, at Victory Park, attracted Chorley's highest Trophy attendance of 6,310.

Over the years many Chorley players have progressed to the Football League, including two who went on to play for England, winger Arthur Cunliffe (signed by Blackburn Rovers in 1927) and striker Paul Mariner (snapped up by Plymouth Argyle in 1972). Mariner played in the 1982 World Cup finals and helped Ipswich Town to FA Cup and UEFA Cup glory. Former Chorley forward Teddy Hodgson was in Burnley's 1914 FA Cup-winning side only to lose his life in the First World War.

The 2013/14 season marks the clubs 130th anniversary.