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The club was formed as Clitheroe
Central in 1877 at the Swan Hotel in Castle
Street by local businessmen. After
playing in local leagues the club joined the
Lancashire Combination in 1903 and dropped
Central from their name.The first
major trophy won was the Lancashire Junior Cup in
1893 - a trophy they had to wait 92 years to win
again. In 1985 at Deepdale, home of Preston North
End, they defeated Barrow 1-0 with local lad Eric
Geldard scoring in extra time.
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Except for breaks during the first
and second World Wars (1914-18 and 1939-45)
Clitheroe played in the Lancashire Combination
until the end of the 1981-82 season. They won the
Lancashire Combination Cup in the 1934-35 season
and the League Championship in the 1979-80 season. |
For the 1982/83 season The
Lancashire Combination amalgamated with the
Cheshire County League to become the North West
Counties League. Clitheroe became one of the
founder members, however the state of the ground
meant they started in the third division. There
then followed one of the most successful periods
in the club's long history when under the
guidance of manager Eric Whalley they won the
Third, Second and First Divisions in consecutive
seasons.
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One of the highlights of the clubs
history was in the 1995-96 season when under the
joint managership of Dennis Underwood and Gary
Butcher they played at Wembley Stadium in the
final of the FA Vase. Some 7,500 people watched
the game against Brigg Town and although beating
them earlier in the season in the FA Cup the club
was beaten 3-0 in the Vase Final. However the
club was given a great welcome back to the town
when the streets were lined with supporters
waving their blue and white flags. A public
appeal to help with the visit to Wembley saw a
magnificent £7,400 donated by townspeople and
businesses. |
The last decade of the 20th
Century saw most of the 10 years spent getting
the ground up to scratch with £130,000 being
spent in the process. The sale of 2 players, Jon
Penman and Carlo Nash, helped considerably with
the expenditure on the ground.The club
saw little success on the pitch after the Wembley
visit until manager Steve Parry led them to the
Floodlight Trophy by beating Kidsgrove Athletic 2-1
in the 1998-99 final.
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Local lad Dave Burgess took over
the management of the First Team in 2000/01 after
several successful years running the second
string, with player Lee Sculpher as his assistant.
In their first season they finished as league
runners-up and FA Vase semi-finalists.
Work commitments led to Dave standing down in
2001/02 and Lee took over and again finished as
league runners-up before losing 1-2 to Mossley in
the League Cup final at Bury's Gigg Lane ground.
Early cup exits the following
season enabled the Blues to concentrate on the
league and superb away form saw the 2003/04 NWCFL
championship won on the final day of
the season with a 3-2 victory at Nantwich Town -
a memorable late goal from Neil Reynolds sealing
a fantastic achievement.
Shock news was received November '04 when Lee
Sculpher resigned as manager and short spells in
charge by Paul Byron, Tommy Lawson and Mark
Smitheringale followed before Chris Stammers was
appointed manager on 18th September 2006. A
further shock was received immediately after the
1-10 loss to Kettering Town in the FA Trophy on
25th November when Chris tendered his resignation
citing he had taken the club as far as he could.
His assistant Ash Berry took temporary charge of
team affairs before the club appointed popular
Neil Reynolds and Kendal's veteran player Peter
Smith as the new management team on December 6th.
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