History Corner - The A-Z
05.11.2022
The history of our club begins in the years just before the start of the Second World War. A.V. Roe established an aircraft factory at Chadderton, which was situated in fields at the end of Moston Lane in North Manchester.
The factory would become the home of the famed ‘Dambusters’ aircraft – the Avro Lancaster, as well as the famous Cold War ‘V’ bomber - the Avro Vulcan. A.V Roe purchased a smaller factory in Failsworth, where the Lancaster Club was located. 1936 saw the 16th century Lodge purchased by the AVRO works manager Mr Roy Dobson prior to the company opening their main Chadderton factory.
In 1950, the Lodge was opened up to all personnel of Avro and took on the Lancaster Club name. The Grade II listed Lancaster Club then became the club's headquarters for the next 67 years. We joined the Manchester League in 1954/55 season and won the Division 1 Championship in 1988/89 and re-established our junior teams, but lasted just three seasons in the Premier Division before being relegated in 1991/92. We again won Division 1 in 2003/04 and with it promotion to the Premier Division, but we were again relegated after three seasons in 2006/07.
However, we bounced back immediately, regaining our Premier Division status in 2008/09, where we remained until 2017. During that time we won the Manchester League Premier Division title in in 2009/10.
By this time Oldham Council had bought the Lancaster Club land from Oldham Athletic FC, who had purchased it as part of a plan to build a new stadium on the site which never materialised.
After a lot of hard work and numerous meetings between the council and chairman Rob Fuller, we were granted a lease on the former Whitebank Stadium in Limehurst Village, Oldham and after an enormous amount of work to bring it up to standard, this has become our new home ground: The Vestacare Stadium.
In Summer 2017 a new management team of Lee O’Brien and James Hampson took over, and along with 1st team coach Paul Armstrong and goalkeeping coach Paul Urbano, they led the team to Manchester League Premier Division title and the Manchester FA County Cup in their first season. The move to the new stadium allowed the club to pursue its ambitions of Step 6 football which was achieved in 2018 with promotion to the NWCFL Division 1 North.
In our first season in NWCFL we reached the semi-final of the Macron Cup, and the final of the First Division Cup, as well as reaching the 3rd Round Proper of the FA Vase. In the league we finished runners-up to Longridge Town and were promoted as one of the highest points per game clubs in the country. Our first season in the NWCFL Premier Division saw us consolidate and finish a respectable 12th position after 30 games, the season being curtailed of course by the coronavirus outbreak. We also made our first ever appearance in the FA Cup, losing to Litherland REMYCA in the extra preliminary round.
Another curtailed season followed in 2020-21, before we finally managed to complete our first full NWCFL Premier season at the third time of asking, finishing in a highly respectable sixth place. We also managed to record our first victory in the FA Cup before a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to defeat NPL Division 1 West side Runcorn Linnets, who triumphed 4-1 after extra time in the replay after the first game had ended 1-1.
The article was written by Avrofc.co.uk
To read it click here
Source: Avrofc.co.uk
