The Early Years
History 5 of 5

5. The Early Years


Warrington Town Football Club

Formed in 1949 under the eye of their late president, Jimmy Drinkwater the club began life as Stockton Heath Albion and, after playing at a ground called London Road competed in the Warrington and District league until 1953, when a move to the mid Cheshire League coincided with the appointment of Freddie Worrall as manager. During his thirteen years at the helm, Heath were one of the most feared sides in Cheshire football, winning a string of honours including the Mid Cheshire League Championship in 1960, the League Cup three times, and making the most appearances in the Cheshire Amateur Cup Final.

Several players from this successful period went on to join Football League clubs, including Ian Weir (Scotland & Hibernian), John Green (Tranmere Rovers), and Alan Foster (Crewe Alexandra). The most famous sons must, however be Roger Hunt who went on to score many memorable goals for Liverpool and gained the ultimate honour of winning a world cup winners medal with England in 1966.

At the 1961 AGM, it was decided to change the clubs name to Warrington Town, and in 1965, the club moved to their present home in Latchford. A neat, compact stadium with a capacity of around 3,500 the ground is on the banks of the Manchester Ship canal in the shadow of the imposing Cantilever bridge which dominates the areas skyline, and from which the ground takes its name.

The late sixties and early seventies were mostly spent in the doldrums, and the club continued without success until the formation of the North West Counties League in 1982 proved to be a springboard for them to start to move up the pyramid. Originally placed in the third division of the new league, Town immediately gained promotion as runners up, and quickly established themselves as one of the division two most powerful clubs, missing out on promotion by a small margins on no fewer than three occasions.

A high number of injuries together with problems behind the scenes and a disappointing lack of goals in 1993-94 hindered the team, although they reached the semi final of the Cheshire Senior Cup, beating conference side Witton Albion on the way, and were in with a chance of promotion until the last few weeks of the season.