History


Glossop North End has an interesting and varied history since its formation back in 1886.
1886 – Club Founded
Glossop North End were founded in 1886, when they played friendly amateur matches. They played at a variety of grounds, including Pyegrove, Silk Street, Water Lane and Cemetery Road before settling at North Road.

1890 – Cheshire League
The club joined the North Cheshire League in 1890

1894 – Turned Professional
Moved to The Combination in 1894 and became a professional club. In their first season, 1894–95, in the Combination they were runners-up.

1896 – Midland League
The club moved to the Midland League in the 1896–97 season, finishing as runners-up.

1898 – Second Division
The club was elected to the Second Division of the Football League. Finished as runners up and gained promotion to the First Division.

1899 – First Division
Club name changed to Glossop before spending their one and only season in the top flight of English football.
Finished in last place and were relegated back to the Second Division, having won only 4 matches, all at home, against Burnley, Nottingham Forest, Blackburn and Aston Villa.

1904 – Manager Archie Goodall
For the 1904/05 season, Glossop were managed by former international player Archie Goodall.

1906 – Squad

1908 – FA Cup Quarter Final
They then spent the next fifteen seasons in the Second Division, during which time they reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1908–09 where they lost to 1–0 to Bristol City in a replay on 10 March 1909. The club’s chairman and benefactor at the time was Sir Samuel Hill-Wood, who was later to become chairman of Arsenal. However, the club struggled for several seasons in the Second Division.

1913 – Record Attendance
The 1913–14 season saw a club record attendance of 10,736 for an FA Cup second round match against Preston North End on 31 January 1914. However, the following season they finished bottom of the league and they failed to be re-elected.

1914 – Football League Closed Down
The League was suspended for four seasons during World War I and resumed in

1919.
1919 – Post World War I
Glossop were re-formed toward the end of the war by Oswald Partington. Glossop then joined the Lancashire Combination, playing just one season, 1919–20. Northern Nomads ground-shared with Glossop for several years during this time. The club then dropped out of the Lancashire Combination and into the Manchester League.

1939 – World War II Stops Football League
The League was suspended once more in 1939 with the outbreak of World War II. The league resumed in 1944.

1955 – Move To Surrey Street
During 1955, the club moved from its original home of North Road to their currently ground Surrey Street.

1957 – Lancashire Combination League
In 1957 Glossop rejoined the Lancashire Combination, finishing in eighth in 1957–58. They spent nine seasons in the league before dropping back down once more to the Manchester League after the 1965–66 season.

1978 – Joined Cheshire League
They joined the Cheshire County League as founder members of Division Two in the 1978–79 season, finishing in 17th. In 1980–81 they were Division Two runners-up, only losing out on the title on goal difference, but still winning promotion to Division One.

1982 – North West Counties League Is Formed
The club became founder members of the North West Counties Football League in 1982 when the Cheshire County League merged with the Lancashire Combination. In 1986, the club marked their centenary with a match with sister club Arsenal. They joined Division One, however they struggled in the league for the next six seasons and after finishing bottom in 1987–88 were relegated to Division Two.

1990 – Dark Days
The 1990–91 season saw the club reach the fourth round of the FA Vase where they lost to Cammell Laird 2–1 in a replay. They also won the North West Counties Football League Division Two Cup, beating Cheadle Town 2–1 in the final. However, the club almost folded in 1990–91 when their then Chairman sold the ground to the local council and left the club with large debts.

1991 – Glossop North End
The present Board of Directors took over in January 1991. After a sixth place finish in 1991–92 they were promoted back to Division One over higher-placed clubs and after the season the directors reverted the club’s name back to Glossop North End.
In their first season under the club’s original name, 1992–93 they finished 16th in Division One. In the 1992–93 season, they reached the semi-finals of the North West Counties League Cup, before losing to Nantwich Town 5–2 over two legs. They reached the semi-finals of the league’s Floodlit Cup in 1994–95 losing to Penrith 3–1 over two legs. In the 1996–97 season they beat Trafford in the final of the Manchester Premier Cup at Old Trafford, before winning the competition again the following season, this time beating Radcliffe Borough in the final at Maine Road. They also reached the semi-finals of the North West Counties League Cup losing to Vauxhall Motors 4–1 over two legs. The 1999–2000 season saw the club reach the fourth round of the FA Vase where they lost to Chippenham Town 1–0.

2001 – The Chris Nicholson Years
In the 2000–01 season they won the Derbyshire County Football Association Senior Challenge Cup beating Glapwell in a two-legged final, drawing 3–3 away and 2–2 at home before winning 4–2 on penalties. In the league the club struggled to avoid relegation from Division One throughout much of the early 2000's, before finishing ninth in 2006–07, the highest position attained by manager Chris Nicholson in his six seasons at the club. The highlight of the season was a four match FA Cup run. In the extra preliminary round they beat North Shields 2–0, then after a 2–1 home win over Seaham Red Star they were drawn against local rivals New Mills in the first qualifying round, a match which Glossop led 1–0 at half time, only for the Millers to equalise with ten minutes to go. Glossop then quickly regained the lead, before adding a third to win 3–1 in front of a season highest crowd of 430.

2007 – Steve Young Appointed As Manager
Nicholson had announced in March 2007 that he was to step down at the end of the season following confirmation of his emigration to Perth, Australia. As a result the vacancy was advertised and his assistant Steve Young was eventually appointed manager for 2007–08. In 2007–08 North End made excellent strides on the pitch, finishing in seventh, which might have been fifth but for a last game defeat at the hands of champions Trafford. It took a while for the team to gel, which led to early cup exits at Malvern Town in the FA Cup and Coventry Sphinx in the FA Vase. However, they hit their stride in early November, including a run of wins that propelled them up the league. Darren Hamilton who scored 22 goals during the season, and who had been at the club for ten years, won the Supporters Player of the year award.

2008 – The FA Vase Year
In the 2008–09 season they reached the final of the FA Vase where they lost 2–0 to Northern League First Division side Whitley Bay at Wembley Stadium, on May 10, 2009. Due to this achievement, Arsenal, with whom they retain connections due to Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood’s grandfather Sir Samuel Hill-Wood having owned and bankrolled Glossop during their run in the Football League, invited them to their state-of-the-art London Colney training ground during their stay in London, to prepare for the FA Vase final.

2011 – 125 Years Young
In April 2011 Glossop parted company with their manager Steve Young and while Assistant Terry Hincks took charge as caretaker until the end of the season the search started for a long term successor. May 24, 2011 saw Paul Colgan appointed as the new manager. He brought with him Assistant Paul Williams and First team coach Darren Green.
In 2011/2012, the 125th year of Glossop North End, the team adopted a ‘retro’ first team kit. Black and White halves, worn by the team when they played in the English First Division back in 1899/1900, was worn as the first team kit all season.
2011 – New Clubhouse
In the summer of 2011 the club upgraded more of the facilities at Surrey Street. With the help of many supporter volunteers this was not only done to improve the game day enjoyment of both fans and players but to achieve the ground grading needed for potential promotion to the Evo Stik league. The new Clubhouse, dressing rooms, pie hut and hospitality room were completed in a relatively short amount of time being ready for the first pre-season game of 2011/12. Glossop can now boast some of the best facilities and playing surface at their level and the league above them

2012 – Managerial Change
2012 saw Paul Colgan leave the club after a year and a half in charge. After a disappointing run of results, he was replaced by his former assistant managers Paul Williams and Garry Brown.

2013 – Chris Willcock Appointed
After joint managers Paul Williams and Garry Brown left the club at the end of the 2012/13 season, Chris Willcock was appointed as 1st Team manager. The other members of Willcock’s team are Lee Donafee, Steve Murphy, and Mike Langhorn. The last member of the team is Surrey Street legend and housewives favorite – Dave Young.
During the season Glossop succeeded in producing an unbeaten run in the league of 22 games without a loss, with only 5 draws along the way. This run ran from 5th Nov 2013 until they were finally beaten by Bootle on 8th Apr 2014. Glossop finished the season in a club best 3rd position.
At the end of the 2013–14 season Glossop were approved a grant from the Football Foundation to replace the aged pitch perimeter fence with a new sports rail with mesh panel infill.

2014
Glossop North End reached the final of the Derbyshire FA Senior Cup 2013/14, only to suffer defeat 2-0 against Ilkeston FC.
2014/15 – Evo-Stik Bound
What a season 2015/16 was. Glossop North End, after 32 years in the North West Counties league finally achieved promotion to the Evo-Stik league. Not content with a league title, Glossop North End also won the NWCFL League Cup. They reached the semi final of the Derbyshire cup, but were beaten by Matlock Town.
And of course who can forget, the FA Vase. Glossop reached the final of the FA Vase in 2015, only to lose 2-1 against North Shields in extra time beating teams along the way including St Austell, Shaw Lane Aquaforce, Dunston UTS, Worksop Town, 1874 Northwich, Ryhope Colliery Welfare and West Didsbury & Chorlton.

2015/16 – Hello Step 4
In their first season the Evo-Stik Northern First Division they reached the playoffs but were beaten by Northwich Victoria.

2016/17
Finished 8th in the league after stuttering end to the season. Manager Chris Willcock resigned shortly after the end of the season and the board replaced him with Paul Phillips and Steve Halford.

2017/18
Glossop started well under the new management duo. Starting with almost a new squad they maintained a solid payoff position through until mid season. Unfortunately with the team suffering multiple injuries, including Keeper/manager Philips, the management had to play almost 60 players throughout the year. With a result the team's position started to slip into mid table. On 12th March the management pair left the club to join local rivals Buxton FC, leaving the club managerless for the remaining half dozen games. The board acted quickly to appoint Mark Canning, former GNE player and latterly goalkeeper coach under Halford/Philips, as caretaker manager until the end of the season. Mark was assisted by Andy Bishop, of Bury FC fame, in the role of Joint Manager/Player. The team finished a respectable 11th when the final table was drawn up.

2018/19
Andy and Mark's role was made a permanent position at the start of the 2018-19 season. The start of the season saw a very young squad attempt to play at the NPL level with a few highlights of recording the first win of the season after beating Radcliffe at Stainton Park. Few other highlights on the pitch saw Mark and Andy's reign come to an end after a Widnes match on 13th Oct 2018. After a short search the board appointed ex Mossley due Peter Band and Lloyd Morrison as joint managers a couple of days later. The duo's task was to keep the club in the NPL and with wins against relegation rivals this was achieved with a few weeks to go in the season.

2019/20
After another change in league boundaries, set by the league, Glossop found themselves in the new season in a South Eastern division. In an unprecedented move the majority of football activities were ceased mid March 2020 due to the coronavirus, and by the end of March the NPL took the decision along with all step 4 and lower divisions to end the season early and expunge all results with no promotion or relegation taking place.

2020/21
Due to the Null and Void end to the previous season Glossop found themselves still in the South East Division rather than the re-aligned league which should have been introduced in the 20/21 season.
At the beginning of August Joint Manager Lloyd Morrison departed the club to become Cheadle Town's manager.