National Football Museum

National Football Museum

Urbis, home of the National Football Museum
Established	February 2001
Location	Urbis, Manchester (2012–) Deepdale, Preston (2001–2010)
Type	Sports museum
President	Sir Bobby Charlton
Public transit access	Manchester Victoria station Metroshuttle – Green Route
Website	www.nationalfootballmuseum.com

The National Football Museum is a museum at the Urbis building in Manchester city centre, founded to preserve, conserve and interpret important collections of football memorabilia. The museum was originally in Deepdale, Preston, Lancashire, but moved to Manchester in 2012.

The idea for what became the National Football Museum goes back to 1994 when Baxi Partnership, a local company, acquired Preston North End Football Club (PNE) and began the redevelopment of Deepdale Stadium. A chance conversation between Bryan Gray, Chairman of PNE, and the Football League, led to a meeting with Harry Langton, the man who over thirty years put together what is now called the FIFA Museum Collection. FIFA recognised the importance of the collection and acquired it from Harry Langton with a view to finding a permanent home. FIFA saw the proposed museum at Preston as an ideal permanent location for the FIFA Museum Collection.

Bryan Gray formed a small team of people to work on the project including Keith Cooper of FIFA, David Fleming, Director of Tyne and Wear Museums, Brian Booth, formerly Vice Chancellor of the University of Central Lancashire, and Chris Newbery, director of the Royal Marines Museum in Portsmouth. The Football Association was represented by David Davies. The National Football Museum was incorporated as a private limited company in June 1995 and became a registered charity in November 1995.

After much hard work, an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund was successful and a grant of £7.5m was awarded in November 1997. The total project cost was estimated at £12m. A ground breaking ceremony took place on 26 September 1998 by Sepp Blatter of FIFA with the Rt Hon Chris Smith in attendance. The foundation stone was laid by Bryan Gray and Ben Casey (who had persuaded Baxi to buy PNE) in April 2000. Finally the National Football Museum was officially opened on 21 June 2001 by HRH The Duke of Kent. Bryan Gray, the founding chairman of trustees, stood down in September 2001 to be succeeded by Brian Booth.

Rob Pratten was the first employee of the Football Museum: he joined the team in May 1995 and for some time was the only employee. Kevin Moore was appointed Director in August 1997 and was later joined by Mark Bushell, Hugh Hornby and Lindsey Jones. The museum's first site was outside Deepdale, Preston, Lancashire. Deepdale was particularly significant as it is the oldest continuously used football league ground in the world. The museum's president is World Cup winner Sir Bobby Charlton.