Witton Albion F.C.
 | |||
| Full name | Witton Albion Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Albion, The Albs | ||
| Founded | 1887 | ||
| Ground | Wincham Park,[1] Wincham, Northwich | ||
| Capacity | 4,813[2][3][4] | ||
| Chairman | Graham Wood[5] | ||
| Manager | Jon Macken[6] | ||
| League | Northern Premier League Division One West | ||
| 2023–24 | Northern Premier League Division One West, 6th of 20 | ||
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| |||
Witton Albion F.C. are a
The club's ground was for many years in the centre of the town, just behind the library. In 1989, they moved a couple of miles to Chapel Street in nearby Wincham. Sainsbury's Supermarket now occupies the old Central Ground site.
Witton's current home, U Lock It Stadium (Wincham Park), holds in excess of 4,500 and is equipped with floodlights, segregation, a club shop and a museum.
There used to be a fierce local rivalry with Northwich Victoria.[7]
History
The first records of a Witton Albion F.C. are in 1887. The club first entered the FA Cup in
Early on in their history the club played in a number of leagues including the Northwich & District League, Crewe & District league,
In 2004, club captain Brian Pritchard enjoyed worldwide fame following his sending off during the Cheshire County F.A. Senior Cup final against Woodley Sports. He was sent off after he tripped a streaker that had run onto the pitch, incensing the Witton fans. Many football fans around the world deemed this sending off unfair, including when the referee was criticised for his decision on the BBC's Football Focus program.
The 2006–07 season saw Witton miss out on automatic promotion on the last day of the season to
Witton narrowly missed promotion again in 2007–08. After having led the Northern Premier League Premier Division since November, at one stage by 14 points, they lost the lead to Fleetwood Town in mid-April, and entered the last game of the regular season a point behind Fleetwood, but with a much better goal difference. Although Fleetwood could only manage a draw at home to Frickley Athletic in their last match, Witton lost at home 3–0 to Worksop Town and finished second. They went on to lose the first round of the promotion playoffs at home to Buxton on penalties. After the season ended, the club were wracked with management upheavals. Manager Jim Vince and assistant Nigel Deeley resigned after a disagreement with long-time charman Mike Worthington, and shortly afterwards Worthington himself severed ties with the club. Vince and Deeley were re-appointed by acting chairman Mark Harris, but Vince resigned again two weeks later on the grounds of ill-health. Nigel Deeley was appointed manager on 28 May.
A substantial reduction in the playing budget led to the departure of most of the established squad members during the 2008 close season. Manager Nigel Deeley and assistant Andy Nelson were fired on November 2, after an unprecedented sequence of nine consecutive defeats. They were replaced by former manager
Witton entered the 2009–10 season with high hopes of promotion. Consistently in the top half of the league, they were as high as third by February 2010. However, an indifferent last third of the season saw them fall to seventh, finishing 6 points out of playoff contention. Finley resigned from the club prior to the last game of the season. League restructuring saw the club relocated to
An impressive 2012–13 season saw Witton finish 4th in the league making the play-off's. A 3-1 semi final defeat to
The 2013–14 season was tougher, with Albion finding themselves in the relegation zone for most of the season. However a good run of form inspired by club favourite Alex Titchiner the club managed to finish 16th.
On Monday 25 August 2014 after beating Marine 3–1, Manager Brian Pritchard announced his resignation after 19 years at the club. He was replaced by Player/Coach Anthony Sheehan. Sheehan's reign lasted just 5 games all of which ended in defeat. He handed in his resignation and was replaced by Tony Sullivan. Sullivan moved quickly to bring in his management team appointing Kevin Hodgson and Andy Robertson to the coaching staff.
Albion were relegated on the last day of the 2014–15 season. Needing only a point to guarantee league survival away at Stamford, Albion raced into a two-goal lead, however collapsed in the 2nd half eventually losing 3-2 and finding themselves finishing 22nd. Immediately after the game both Tony Sullivan and his assistant Kevin Hodgson resigned.
The board moved quickly to replace Sullivan with former
The club also caused a stir amongst fans at the start of the 2015–16 season by allowing bitter rivals
Carl Macauley who along with his assistant Gary Martindale were the management team at Conference North Vauxhall Motors until the club's resignation. They thankfully succeeded in steadying the ship and despite the club, once again being forced to change regional divisions set about recruiting their own team, both on and off the field.
Their dedication certainly paid off in '16/17 when, in practically any other scenario picking up nigh on 100 points and scoring 100 goals along the way would secure automatic promotion, the team won their Play-off games against AFC Rushden & Diamonds and Spalding United to regain their place back in the NPL's top flight. The first season back exceeded expectations as it was only in the final month that Albion missed out on a play-off position whilst in 1’8/19, playing catch-up, the team finished in the top ten. Last season saw them well placed, with games in hand, before the season was curtailed
Rivalries
The club's
Witton also enjoy minor rivalries with other Cheshire clubs including
Notable former players
Former players include Neil McNab.[10][11] Liverpudlian comedian
Witton were also managed by former Manchester City players Ken Barnes and Ray Ranson.
Honours
Witton Albion were regular semi-finalists in the
- FA Trophy
- Runners-up: 1991–92
- Runners-up:
- Northern Premier League
- Northern Premier League Division One North
- Play-offs winners: 2011–12
- Northern Premier League President's Cup
- Winners: 1990–91
- Runners-up: 1989–90, 1994–95, 2004–05
- Cheshire County League
- Winners:1948-49, 1949–50, 1953–54
- Runners-up:1950-51, 1978–79
References
- ^ "A new name for Wincham Park as part of sponsorship deal". October 2021.
- ^ "FC United of Manchester - Opps Page". www.fc-utd.co.uk.
- ^ Wincham Park | Northwich Victoria FC | Vics Archived October 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Witton Albion FC- Fixtures, History and Club Information". Archived from the original on 10 December 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
- ^ Gordon, James (19 May 2022). "Macken Heads To Witton". Northern Premier League. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
- ^ Gordon, James (19 May 2022). "Macken Heads To Witton". Northern Premier League. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
- ^ "Great rivals reschedule first meeting in years - The Pitching In Northern Premier League". www.thenpl.co.uk. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
- ^ "New Manager can make us Smile". Northwich Guardian. 28 May 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
- ^ "Witton Albion Football Club". www.wittonalbion.com.
- ^ entered., Not yet. "Witton Albion History - Former Players". www.wittonalbion.co.uk.
- ^ Brennan, Stuart (20 August 2017). "Manchester City legend seriously ill after stroke".
