Northallerton Town
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| Nickname(s) | Town |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1895 |
| Ground | Calvert Stadium, Northallerton North Yorkshire |
| Capacity | 3,000 |
| Chairman | Peter Young |
| Manager | Darren Trotter |
| League | Northern League Division Two |
| 2016–17 | Northern League Division Two, 9th of 21 |
Northallerton Town Football Club is an English football club based in Northallerton, North Yorkshire. They were established in 1895 and continue on to this day. They are currently playing in Northern League Division Two.
Nobody knows the exact formation date of Northallerton Town Football Club, but The Elliott Bowl, a trophy donated by local M.P. Sir George Elliott, was contested for the first time in 1895 carries the clubs name as its first winner.
Joining the Northern League was a big step for the club as something like £150,000 had to be raised to upgrade the Ainderby Road Ground to Northern League standards. The Club’s first game in the Northern League was on August 28th 1982 when they were defeated 4-1 at Ryhope. A week later, Town gained revenge with a 2-0 home victory when Ryhope became the first Northern League visitors to Ainderby Road.
Early years in the Northern League were difficult but they reached the final of the North Riding County Cup in the 1983-84 season, unfortunately losing 2-1 to York Railway Institute. The appointment of former Burnley, Leeds United and Middlesbrough star Ray Hankin as manager in March 1989 saw an upturn in the club’s fortunes. Hankin guided them to promotion to the First Division in 1989-90 having finished runners-up in the Second Division behind champions Murton. Season 1990-91 saw the club consolidate itself in Division One, but at the end of that season Hankin resigned and his number two Geoff Cane was appointed manager.
Under Cane, the Club enjoyed great success in both the F.A Trophy and the F.A Cup - reaching the last sixteen in the F.A Trophy in 1992-93 before going out to Farnborough of the Vauxhall Conference - and in the same season they reached the fourth qualifying round of the F.A Cup before narrowly losing at Accrington Stanley.
Major ground redevelopment was carried out while Cane was in charge - a new grandstand with seating for 150 spectators was erected together with covered terracing for a further 400 spectators. The open ends behind both goals were also terraced, making the Ainderby Road ground the envy of many. Off-field disagreements resulted in Cane leaving the club at the end of the 1992-93 season. He died in 1995, aged 46.
Town were now a force to be reckoned with in the Northern League and they won the League Challenge Cup in 1993-94, when they beat Blyth Spartans 2-0 in the final at Brandon. But this was to be the last game that Northallerton Town Football Club was to play.
Disaster struck during the summer of 1994 when they were declared financially insolvent in the High Court and were ordered to close down. Had this happened during the playing season then there is not much doubt that the club would have folded. Fortunately there was still time before the new season started for a local businessman to come forward and rescue the club, this despite vandals breaking into the ground and daubing slogans on the stand walls and breaking all the windows in the clubhouse.
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