Hanley Town F.C.
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| Full name | Hanley Town Football Club |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1966 |
| Ground | Abbey Lane |
| Capacity | 750 |
| Chairman | Paul Legge |
| Manager | Dean Owen |
| League | North West Counties League Premier Division |
| 2015–16 | North West Counties League Division One, 1st (promoted) |
Hanley Town Football Club is an association football club based in Hanley, Staffordshire, England. The team plays in the North West Counties League Premier Division which is part of step 5 of the non-league football pyramid. It takes its name from the largest of the six towns in Stoke-on-Trent, which is Hanley. Hanley Town plays home games at Abbey Lane ground which is about a mile and a half outside the City Centre.
The club's roots can be traced as far back as the mid to late 1880s and seemed to have folded in 1912. The new Hanley Town were formed in 1966 and ten years later they joined the Mid Cheshire League playing in the Second Division. This led to one of the club's most successful periods. The club gained promotion to the First Division of the Mid Cheshire League in 1978 and in 1982 they were League Champions, after losing just 2 of their 30 games. However, that success was hard to follow and despite two consecutive third-placed finishes in 1987 and 1988, Town were on the slide. The lowest point came in 1994 when the club were relegated back to the Second Division of the Mid Cheshire League after winning just once all season.
Following this setback, Hanley returned to local football and took two years regrouping as a club. However, on their re-entry to the Mid Cheshire League Second Division in 1996 Hanley still made little impact and after two mid table finishes they made the move across to the Midland League in the summer of 1998. However, the club found the transition tough and they finished their first season in 17th place out of 20.
The next six years saw steady improvement from the club and in 2003 they were beaten in the Final of the Midland League Cup by Norton Adderley Green. Success was finally achieved under the management team of David Price and Darren Stairs in 2004–05. Hanley Town completed a remarkable treble of the League Championship, the League Cup and the Staffordshire F.A. Vase.
2005–06 saw the Midland League merge with the Staffordshire County League and the combined league became known as the Staffordshire County Senior League. However, the name change didn't stop Hanley Town claiming their second consecutive title, losing just once. There was disappointment though, in the shape of the Leek and Moorland Cup, where Hanley were defeated 4–2 by Ball Haye Green in the final.
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