History
Ramsbottom United F.C. are a football club based in Ramsbottom, Lancashire, England. In the 2003-04 season, they reached the third round of the FA Vase. They are currently members of the Vodkat North West Counties Football League Premier Division. Their home is the Harry Williams Riverside Stadium, and their nickname is The Rams.
Foundation
In 1966, Ramsbottom United Football Club was founded by the club�s present chairman Harry Williams who has without doubt been the driving force that has taken the Rams from the public park pitch and the Bury Amateur League to today�s Riverside Ground and the North West Counties Football League.
Semi-pro football
The club moved leagues in 1967 and ended up playing the next eighteen years in the Bolton Combination before the move in 1987 to the Manchester League. At the end of the 1994-95 season, the club applied to the North West Counties Football League and following substantial ground improvements, were admitted into the `pyramid` in June 1995. The Rams first season in the North West Counties Football League couldn�t have been much better. Although finishing in 12th position, they managed to bring in their first silverware at semi-professional football by lifting the Second Division Trophy after a fine 2 - 1 victory of Cheadle Town Football Club at Darwen FC�s Anchor Ground.
Champions
During the 1996-97 season the club made great strides in achieving their goal of becoming one of the valley�s top side. After one of the most dramatic endings to a season, they lifted the Second Division Championship by pipping local rivals Haslingden Football Club on goal difference on the last day of the season Throughout the season, they broke all previous club records with winning victories of 9 - 0 (Stantondale), 8 - 1 (Oldham Town) and they also went on an amazing league run of winning all of their first 17 home fixtures.
During the back end of the 1996-97 season, the club started the mammoth task of erecting floodlights at their Riverside Ground. The lights had to be in place way before the start of the new season, as without them no admittance would be given and promotion would not have been possible.
FA Vase
For the very first time in their history, the club entered the FA Vase but were defeated in the preliminary round by Tetley Walker. A slight disappointment but nevertheless it was another step forward for the club and its supporters.
The 1997-98 season saw the club play football at a much higher standard, and with it came some difficulties. The first couple of months saw the team struggle on the field, but as time went bye, they produced some excellent football which saw them climb the first division. Most notable of performances was against local rivals Darwen FC, Rossendale United FC and Clitheroe FC, all of whom could not defeat the Rams at home or away in any competition played - a feat worthy of praise.
The season ended with the club finishing in 17th position in division one, but once again they managed to bring in more silverware, albeit with the Reserve side who managed to beat Maine Road FC Reserves in the Final of the Reserve Division Trophy. This result meant the club had brought three trophies back to the Riverside in their first three seasons!
The magic of the FA Cup
In 1998-99 the club once again stepped forwards by entering the FA CUP for the very first time. A fine run in the worlds oldest cup competition saw the Rams make it to the Third Qualifying Round, only to lose to Conference side Southport FC. 829 visitors turned out in atrocious conditions, easily breaking the previous record of 464.The 1999-2000 season turned out to be one of the best seen since the club's championship winning season of 1996-97. After a slow start, the Rams managed to finish the season in third position, on 79 points - easily their best in the clubs history. Russell Brierley became the clubs top scorer in any one season with 39 league and cup goals. However, more was to come during the 2000-01 season...!
Championship contenders
After the euphoria of finishing third the previous season the Rams now had standards to maintain. No-one could really believe that during the course of the 2000-01 season the Rams could turn out to be title contenders... or could they?
After another poor start to the season, two wins and three defeats the Rams slipped into mid-table obscurity but in the ranks hopes were still high. As for the cup competitions, the Rams never got any consistency going and exited most of the competitions at the Second round.
By mid-November the team had slowly started to catch up on the top clubs but with the atrocious weather conditions, games were now starting to be postponed and at one stage the Rams only played one game in four weeks.
But, as always with Ramsbottom United, they managed to grind out some excellent results with the most notable one being the 3 - 0 win over local rivals Rossendale United on Boxing Day. As Easter arrived the team were only 9 points adrift of the top team (Rossendale) but with four games in hand the result of the season came along - another victory over Rossendale but this time away at Dark Lane. Russell Brierley scoring the Rams winning goal late in the second half. With the points difference now down to only 6 points the Rams were serious title contenders.
As it was, the Rossendale victory only spurred on the `Dale as they managed to win their remaining 5 games to take the title. The Rams fell 0 - 3 at home against Kidsgrove Athletic to end any hopes of winning the league. Sandwiched in-between the Rossendale win and the Kidsgrove defeat came two draws against lower opposition. Did over-complacency dent the Rams hopes? The season ended like the last. A league placing of third was excellent and again, with more points on the table the Rams have bettered themselves just as they have done ever since entering the North West Counties League.
The lean years
Whilst enjoying many successes in such a short space of time, the Rams also went through much turmoil after the sad loss of manager Ken Bridge.
Mike Kelly took over the reins in May 2001 but he could not keep the Rams going near the top of the league and as the 2001-02 season came to a close, they finished in 15th position. Whilst this is a credible achievement, many felt that after finishing 3rd in their last two seasons, this was somewhat a poor season.
Worse was to come during the end of 2002 as the club where hit with resignations from firstly John Maher (club secretary) and then Graham Dobson (commercial manager). Following on from this manager Mike Kelly resigned, saying that he thought he could not take the club back to the top.
In stepped Andy Grimshaw to take over as manager and whilst results were still not great, he was slowly starting to put a team together capable of challenging with the big `boys` in the league. He brought in Ged Walsh as his assistant and instantly the club found themselves once more moving up the league and playing some attractive football in the process.
So, it came as a huge blow to the club and supporters when Grimshaw resigned in November 2003. He had just seen his side triumph over Salford City in the League Challenge Cup but his mind was already made up before this important victory.
Once again, the club found themselves interviewing prospective managers and in November, in stepped Vince Overson, who was the manager of Padiham FC at the time.
A lot of expectations were placed on Overson from the outset and as the 2003-04 season came to an end, the results failed to materialize. Although he took the club to the Semi-Finals of the League Cup, it was the clubs league form that continued to slide. They finished the season in 17th position and everything seemed to be going against the Rams. Overson was involved in many ugly scenes during and after games with the clubs supporters and this only made everything worse.
In May 2004 Overson resigned saying that work commitments were the main reasons for his decision.
So, yet again the club had to appointment a new manager. Although they received many applications, it was Derek Egan who took over. His appointment sent shock waves through the supporters of the club as they had never heard his name before.
A new hope
However, many officials within the game had and they all said he was definitely a promising `new` manager and he would bring in players of high calibre. How right they were!
Egan brought an entire new squad to the Riverside during the 2004-05 season and they played some of the best football scene in years as they marched up the table. By December 2004 they were in 6th position and everything was going well. They had just completed a famous league double over eventual champions Fleetwood Town and they seemed destined to finished as possible runners-up.
However, one or two poor displays towards the end of the season meant the Rams finished in 5th position in the league. After recent poor seasons, this was a truly fantastic performance by the side but inside the camp, they all felt a little dejected as they knew that they had thrown away finishing in 3rd position after losing their last two league games of the season.
Gloomy period
More gloom was to descend on the Riverside shortly after the season ended as the club and Egan failed to compromise on what each other wanted for the 2005-06 season. Egan resigned saying the club lacked commitment, the club responded saying they simply could not offer Egan the money he wanted.
In May 2005, the club appointed Lee Sculpher as their 5th manager in 4 years but this time many feel they have now finally landed the one person who will bring the good times back to the Riverside.
Lee has an excellent pedigree in non-league football and he guided Clitheroe FC to the NWCFL league division one championship in 2003-04.
Although the 2005-06 season did not live up to the high standards and expectations as the previous season, Sculpher nevertheless brought some silverware back to the Riverside, albeit the Bolton Hospitals Cup after a thrilling 2-1 victory over Eagley FC at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton. Whilst the team finished in their lowest ever position in division one (18th), many feel that this season (2006-07) will see the Rams once again rise to the top and will be there challenging for further honours. However early in the 2007-08 season Sculpher resigned as manager.
In October 2007 saw Neil Hart and Ian McClellan appointed as first team manager and assistant manager. Again, hopes are high that the club can finally bring success back to the Riverside.
Neil was formally manager of Turton Football Club whilst Ian McClellan was assistant manager of Salford City Football Club.
However, despite winning the Hospital's Cup for the 3rd consectutive season, results once again proved to be unconvincing and both Neil and Iain resigned from the club at the end of the 2007 season.
During May the club interviewed many prospective managers and it was Andy Feeley who was overwhelmingly voted in as the new manager.
He has had to start from scratch as many of the players who played under Neil Hart have decided to join their former manager at Turton but the club are still optimistic that a serious challenge for silverware during the 2008-09 season can finally materialise after such a barren period of success.
However, Feeley left the club in January 2009 and Paul Williams, his assistant, was handed the job in a caretaker role. A disappointing run of results towards the end of the 2008-2009 saw Williams not offered the full time job and he was released.
A positive current
Two weeks later, however, two former players � Anthony Johnson, returning to the club after a spell at Clitheroe and Bernard Morley, who had already rejoined the Rams in January 2009 from the same Unibond outfit, were given the full-time position in a player-manager capacity with John Hunter assisting them as coach.
After a disappointing 5-0 defeat in the opening day of the season to the eventual run-away champions Newcastle Town, the Rams finished an outstanding fourth in the table and climbed to second at Christmas � not bad considering we were bottom after the first round of games!!! The side completed a ten-year best points total of 81 and a club-record of 14 away victories (only Newcastle performed better in 2009/10).
And the dual management team were also rewarded for an unbeaten April 2010 by being given the Vodkat League Premier Division Managers of the Month award, the first such award for many years whilst Andrew Sensale received the Player of the Month gong in October 2009, again the first player to be recognised in this way for some time.
