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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 (now Chairman of
Accrington Stanley) they won the Third, Second
and First Divisions in consecutive seasons.
Captained by Mick Ashcroft the team regularly
attracted bumper gates, with the championship
winning season seeing three crowds of over 1000.
Cracks started to appear when
Whalley took over the manager's seat at
Accrington Stanley and took almost the whole
first team with him. To compound matters, the new
UniBond Division 1 was formed but a lack of
floodlights meant the Blues could not take their
rightful place and they found teams effectively
leapfrogging them.
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It was not until the mid-1990s
that the club recovered from this setback and
started to fulfil its potential and not only to
become a force in the NWCFL Division 1 again but
also make itself known on the national FA Vase
stage.
Possibly the highlight of the club's history came
when the Blues reached the 1995-96 FA Vase Final
under the joint managership of Dennis Underwood
and Gary Butcher after an epic two legged Semi
final win against Mangotsfield United from
Bristol. 2000 people were on Shawbridge for the 2nd
leg when a deflected goal saw the Blues home with
7 minutes of extra time remaining. The Wembley
final pitted the Blues against a powerful Brigg
Town side and a 0-3 reverse in front of 7500 fans
was a fair reflection of the play. |
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 to Southport and Carlo Nash to Crystal
Palace (within a month of the Vase final), 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
2006. Neil stood down towards the end of the 2008/09
season and Peter Smith brought in Kenny Mayers as
his assistant. The partnership led the team to
the club's highest ever league placing at the end
of the 2009/10 season. Just one match into the
2010/11 campaign Kenny Mayers returned to Squires
Gate to continue a playing career and Peter Smith
moved swiftly to bring in Phil Eastwood as his
playing assistant.
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Over
the past two years the club has started to invest
again in its infrastructure both on and off the
pitch. Some £50,000 has been spent on a new
canteen and clubhouse, the latter being completed
one day prior to the first game of the 2008/09
season.
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