West Auckland Town F.C.

West Auckland Town

West Auckland
Capacity	2,000 (75 seating)
Manager	Gary Forrest
League	Northern League Division One
2022–23	Northern League Division One, 11th of 20
Home colours Away colours

West Auckland Town Football Club is a

The Trophy was initiated by businessman and sporting enthusiast

One plausible explanation for West Auckland's entry was that an employee of Sir Thomas Lipton's had contacts in the Northern League and put out an appeal for a team to take the English spot. An alternative explanation, popular in the town itself, is that Lipton had wanted to send

West Auckland duly made the journey to Turin, where the first tournament was being held, many of the players paying out of their own pocket to do so. They beat Sportfreunde Stuttgart in the semi-finals 2–0; in the final, on 12 April 1909, West Auckland faced Swiss side FC Winterthur and beat them 2–0 as well to take the trophy.

Two years later, West Auckland returned, and after beating

Upon their return home, the club was forced to pawn the trophy to the landlady of the local hotel because of financial problems. It remained with her family until 1960 when a village appeal raised money to return the cup to the club. The cup was then stolen in 1994 and despite the best efforts of local police and a £2,000 reward it was never found. An exact replica of the cup can now be found in a secure cabinet in the West Auckland Working Men's Club.

The story of the club's first success was turned into a

In the 1998–99 season West Auckland reached the first round proper of the F.A. Cup for the third time with an away tie against Yeovil Town. After a 2–2 draw at Yeovil and a 1–1 draw at West Auckland, a penalty shoot-out saw Yeovil through. David Bayles took charge in the summer of 2005 and led the side to 5th place in his first season (2005–06) and then 6th place in the following season. 2007–08 began with an FA Cup run that saw West within minutes of a place in the final qualifying round of the FA Cup before defeat in a replay to Bamber Bridge. After his shock resignation, Lee Ellison had a short lived spell as manager before Phil Owers took over and steadied the side and led them to escape the drop zone. Owers departed early in the 2008–09 season with Brian Fairhurst appointed as the new player-manager. However, after 10 games without a win, Ray Gowan came in but even he was unable to arrest the slide and promptly resigned at the end of the campaign. West Auckland were able to retain their First Division status, however, due to Sunderland Nissan folding. The club then received the news that, to celebrate their centenary of winning the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, Juventus had agreed to a re-match in Italy, which the Italian club's under-20 team won 7–1.^[4] Shortly afterwards Hartlepool legend Brian Honour was appointed the new manager in the hot seat.

Fairhurst and his successor Wilf Constantine struggled to get West back on track and both had short lived spells in charge. For the third season in a row, a new manager was appointed – Peter Dixon arrived on 7 December 2009, swapping a promotion push with Crook for a relegation battle. West finished the season in 16th place despite having a −41 goal difference and 5 points from 19 matches when Dixon took the reins.

In both 2011–12 and 2013–14 West Auckland reached the final of the

Honours

• Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy Winners – 1909, 1911
• Northern League Champions – 1959–60
• Northern League Cup
  Winners – 1959–60, 1962–63, 2018–2019
• Durham Benevolent Bowl Winners – 1960–61, 1962–63
• Durham Challenge Cup Winners − 1963–64, 2020-2021, 2023-2024
• FA Amateur Cup Finalists – 1960–61
• FA Cup 1st Round Proper – 1959, 1961, 1999
• FA Vase Finalists – 2011–12, 2013–14
• Northern League Division 2 Champions – 1990–91
• JR Cleator Cup Finalists – 2021

See also

References