The FA Community Club scheme builds upon the foundations of the Charter Standard scheme in placing clubs at the heart of their community. It is the pinnacle of the club development pathway and is awarded to clubs that have a high quality, multi-team set up with excellent social, training and playing opportunities for all.

As such Community Club status is one of the truest measures of success for the FA Football Development strategy and is considered by the FA to be the ultimate goal for clubs at grassroots level.

Ross Hibbert, chair of Clitheroe Wolves said:

"The announcement of the Community Club Status for both Clitheroe Wolves and Clitheroe FC has been something we have wanted to achieve for many years. It is the highest accolade any club can achieve from the FA and I am pleased to say all the hard work has been worth it.

All our coaches and welfare team have worked towards this for a couple of seasons now and to now have the link with Clitheroe FC is a massive boost for the town. Clitheroe Wolves have always wanted to cement clearer links with the town's team and this now means there is a clear pathway for all our players into Clitheroe FC, through Wolves and the recently set up Under 21 side.

Our aim is to encourage players to play at the highest Level possible and locally that is Clitheroe FC. I personally have a huge amount of respect for the local teams like Rimington, Hurst Green, Waddington, Grindleton, Chatburn, Ribchester etc and we will always continue to support these clubs, but the natural progression for us was to be linked with Clitheroe FC.

I would like to thank Peter Fletcher, Craig Nicholls who helped so much in producing the Football Development Plan. Andrew Whitaker from the LFA has been a huge help in pulling all this together and also Anne and Andrew from Clitheroe FC for allowing this to happen. I would also like to thank our dedicated team of welfare officers and coaches for continuing to improve the club in all departments to provide the best opportunities for all players in the club.

Let’s hope over the next few seasons some more local talent is on show at Shawbridge and help Clitheroe FC progress up the divisions.[/i]

Steve Entwistle, manager of Clitheroe FC’s recently launched under 21 development squad said:

"For many years I have been associated with Clitheroe Wolves and the current Clitheroe FC U 21 squad has eight former wolves players in there and we are hoping to include more in the near future. I am therefore delighted that there is a further link between the two organisations in the sharing of the FA Charter Standard awarded to us by The Football Association.

The award is a recognition of the hard work and dedication shown by the two organisations and the people inside those organisations who continue to work to bring good quality sport to the young people of our community. I am delighted to have been part of the team that has brought this about and look forward to further developments in the future."

Clitheroe FC chair, Anne Barker said:

"Clitheroe can be proud that it has a junior club and a senior club which operate at this high level. The opportunity is there for any player with enough skill, ambition and commitment to move from one to the other."

Clitheroe FC finance director, Andrew Jackson additionally commented:

"I'm very excited about finally getting an agreed link between ourselves and Clitheroe Wolves. It is something I have wanted for many years but it is only in the last few years that this has got nearer and a big thank you to Ross Hibbert and more recently Steven Entwistle for helping with this.

This now gives a clear pathway for young footballers in the Clitheroe area to progress from youth football through to the Clitheroe FC U21s and then hopefully the Clitheroe FC first team. If we can build on this relationship and the players can continue to enjoy their football locally then those players that are good enough will get their chance and who knows."