Droylsden F.C.
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| Droylsden | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Droylsden Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | The Bloods | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1892 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Butcher's Arms Ground Droylsden (Capacity 3,000 (500 seated)) |
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| Chairman | Dave Pace | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Dave Pace | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Conference North | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007-08 | Conference National, 24th (relegated) |
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Droylsden Football Club of Conference North are based in Droylsden, Greater Manchester, a few miles from FA Premier League side Manchester City.
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[edit] History
Droylsden were originally formed at the invitation of Joseph Cropper, Landlord of the Butchers Arms, to play behind the pub. After twenty years of friendlies and local leagues, disbandment, reformations and changes of strip, the club emerged from the First World War the sole survivors amongst the village teams, and as members of the Manchester League.
The club also adopted their now traditional colours of red and white, the inspiration for the unusual nickname of 'The Bloods'.
Two games in the 1921 Manchester Junior Cup Final against Hyde United of the Manchester League attracted over 1,500 people to see Hyde prevail but the Bloods had their revenge two years later, taking the Cup from their local rivals.
The thirties was the era of Droylsden's record goal scorer, Ernest 'Gilly' Gillibrand, scorer of 275 goals in just four seasons. Gilly's goals saw Droylsden to the Manchester League Championship in 1931 and again in 1933, and in the latter season he aided Droylsden to the Third Qualifying Round in their first season in the FA Cup. That benchmark would take over 40 years to pass!
In 1936, the club successfully applied to join the Lancashire Combination and, a season later, became a nursery club to Manchester City. City's 'A' team played at the Butchers Arms and their surplus players were available to Droylsden, although the Bloods were disqualified from the FA Cup.
When other competitions were suspended in 1939 at the start of World War II, Droylsden entered the prestigious Cheshire League, reaching their highest ever league position as runners-up in their second season (1945/6). But the club couldn't build on that start and, four seasons later, failed in their second successive bid for re-election. Worse was to come; the sale of the Butchers Arms lease to Belle Vue Football Club - who renamed themselves Droylsden United - saw the Bloods forced out to the nearby Moorside Trotting Stadium. The town wasn't big enough for two clubs, especially with bad feeling between them, and after the local council bought the ground, a merger was negotiated.
Droylsden came home in 1952 to a renovated ground whose pitch had been rotated to its present position, finally eradicating a long-standing drainage problem.
Two decades in the Combination ended in 1968 with a return to the Cheshire League, after the formation of the Northern Premier League. The club won the Manchester Senior Cup in 1973, 1976 and 1979 and enjoyed considerable FA Cup success, reaching the Fourth Qualifying Round four times in five seasons and the Cup proper twice.
In 1976 Droylsden lost 5-3 in a First Round Replay at Grimsby Town, after a late home 'goal' was disallowed, but in 1978 Dave Taylor's goal at Rochdale sent the Bloods through to a Second Round tie at home to Altrincham, who ended the run with a 2-0 win. But when the late seventies side broke up, Droylsden's fortunes slumped. The club finished a distant bottom of the First Division in 1982 and were placed in Division 2 of the new North Western Counties League. The unstable period ended with the appointment of Mark Fallon as player-manager. In his second season Fallon guided his team to the Second Division Championship - Droylsden's first senior honour.
After finishing 3rd in the Conference North's inaugural season (2004-05), Droylsden were looking go one better and reach the top tier of non-league football for the first time in their history.
A fourth-place finish in the 2005-06 season gave Droylsden a second chance to reach the Conference through the play-offs, but they narrowly missed out on penalties in the final against Stafford Rangers. They finally reached the Conference for season 2007/08 when a 2-0 win at home to Harrogate Town gave them the Conference North Championship.
On March 29 2006 Droylsden lost 2-1 to Hyde United in the final of the Manchester Premier Cup.
On April 18 2007 Droylsden beat Flixton 3-0 in the final of the Manchester Premier Cup.
On April 21 2007 Droylsden beat Harrogate Town F.C. 2-0 to be crowned Conference North Champions 2007 and win promotion to the Conference National with 2 games in hand. The team struggled in the Conference National in 2007-08 though, and were relegated back to the Conference North on April 8, despite winning 2-1 over Farsley Celtic, due to Weymouth's draw against Grays Athletic the same night. Bizarrely, many (including the players) were unaware of this until the following day, as it seemed that Droylsden could have theoretically survived by winning all their remaining games and hoping other results went their way. However, since Weymouth's final match of the season was against fellow strugglers Altrincham, there was no way that Droylsden could catch the winner of that match (or either of them, in the event of a draw).
[edit] Players
[edit] Current squad
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[edit] Record Attendances
(League) 15,000 Vs Hyde - Cheshire League, 1921
(Cup) 4250 Vs Grimsby Town, FA Cup 1st round, 1976
[edit] Honours
- Conference North
- Champions 2006-07
- Northern Premier League
- Division One Champions 1998-99
- North West Counties League
- Division Two Champions 1986-87
- Manchester League
- Champions 1931, 1933
- Manchester Junior Cup
- Winners 1923
- Manchester Senior Cup
- Winners 1973, 1976, 1979
- Manchester Premier Cup
- Winners 1981,1993,2000,2006,2007
- Tony Downes Memorial Cup
- Joint Winners 2007-08 (with Chester)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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AFC Telford United | Alfreton Town | Blyth Spartans | Boston United | Burscough | Droylsden | Farsley Celtic | Fleetwood Town | Gainsborough Trinity | Gateshead | Harrogate Town | Hinckley United | Hucknall Town | Hyde United | King's Lynn | Nuneaton Borough | Solihull Moors | Southport | Stafford Rangers | Stalybridge Celtic | Tamworth | Workington |
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