History
Originally founded in 1946 as Wythenshawe Lads' Club by Reg Gauntlet, a local window cleaner, gathering together a group of kids kicking a ball about in the street, held meetings with parents in a wooden hut in the grounds of Cringlewood House, Yew Tree Lane. They then set up home by hiring a room in the old farmhouse in Daine Avenue, Rackhouse. A couple of years later Noel Timpson purchased two ex war Nissen huts and sited them within the farmhouse grounds.
Wythenshawe, their first kit being White shirts, Black shorts, Black socks, first manager Bob Collins, progressed through the Manchester Federation of Lads' Clubs League 1946-49.
In 1949 as the lads grew into maturity and no longer eligible for Lads Club football Harry Dalton developed them into 'The Ammies', managed by Jim Cooper, to provide football for all ages. Dalton was a Sheffield Wednesday supporter hence the Ammies Royal Blue & White striped kit.
They became members of the South Manchester and Wythenshawe League 1949-53 racing through the lower divisions, top goalscorer being Bob Halliday with an incredible 72 goals in season 1951-52, before securing the 1st division championship in 1953.
They then entered the Altrincham and District League 1953-54.
In 1956 Wythenshawe played Manchester United, including Bobby Charlton, in the Altrincham District FA - Whitaker Cup Final. This was a great day for Wythenshawe because not only did they hold a very talented United team to a draw but according to press reports at the time were quite as good as their opponents. After two lots of extra time the score was 1-1, the cup was shared with each team holding it for six months.
Climbing the football pyramid they were accepted into the Lancashire and Cheshire League 1954-72 winning the double in their first season, the 3rd Division 'A' and Hellawell Shield, between 1955-57 they achieved the distinction of promotion in successive seasons, 1955 3rd Division 'A' champions, 1956 3rd Division runners-up, 1957 2nd Division champions, Hellawell Shield winners 1955, three times winners of the Rhodes Cup (1958, 1961, 1972), 1st Division champions 1962.
They established themselves in the Manchester League in 1972-73 season, winning automatic promotion to the Premier Division by becoming champions of the 1st Division in their first season, three times champions of the Premier Division (1990, 1993, 2003) runners-up ten times (1980, 1985, 1992, 1994, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2017, 2018) and record winners (7) of the Gilgryst Cup (1986, 1987, 1990, 1999, 2001, 2009, 2018) twice finalists (1980, 1988).
Three times winners of the Lancashire Amateur Cup (1976, 1990, 1996) finalists six times (1982, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1994).
The senior section alone have won over 50 trophies. Their most successful season came in 1989-90 when the first team, managed by Ray Mallalieu, achieved the treble by winning the Lancashire Amateur Cup, Manchester League Premier and Gilgryst Cup, whilst the reserves added the second division title and the Sunday team winning the Wythenshawe and District Sunday League Challenge Cup.
Although youth teams have sporadically existed since the Lads' Club days, In 1990 John Walker, 'Mr Wythenshawe Amateurs', asked Stephen Hall and Jim Roberts to formalise a Junior Section at the club, entering one team in the Timperley and District Junior League, this has grown and is now one of the largest Junior clubs in the North West, currently having teams aged 5 to 18. In 2019 the youth team entered the FA Youth Cup for the first time.
The club led a somewhat nomadic existence, playing their games at Cleveland playing fields 1946-49, Wythenshawe Park 1949-58, The Christie playing fields 1958-61, Federation of Lads' Club Ground Chorlton, later called Harry Dalton playing fields 1961-83, then in 1983 they became tenants at Wythenshawe Cricket Club, Longley Lane, albeit when the football and cricket seasons overlapped the club had to find alternative venues, Flixton FC 2015, St Paul's High School 2016-17, settling at Hollyhedge Park in 2017.
From season 1967-68 the first team took part in the FA Amateur Cup, which in 1974 became the FA Vase, in 1985 they reached the 5th round narrowly losing 2-1 away to the eventual winners Halesowen Town. The previous round saw the Ammies win 6-0 at home to Rushall Olympic before its then largest attendance of 255, tenfold their average, and producing their first ever match programme.
Due to a change to the FA's ground grading requirements in 1996 they were no longer eligible to enter the FA Vase, on top of that they could not seek promotion in the National League System from the Step 7 Manchester League to the Step 6 North West Counties League.
Wythenshawe were not deterred by this setback and planning permission was granted by Manchester City Council in October 2007 to build a 150 seater floodlit stadium in Hollyhedge Park. Raising sufficient funds to build this facility, even to simply fence in the ground, was an on-going problem, being adversely affected by a recession.
In 2009 a Ladies team was formed, managed by Paula Mercer, becoming champions of Division 2 Cheshire & Manchester Women's League 2011 and transferring to the Cheshire Women’s & Youth League. In 2018 they finished runners up in the CW&YL and promoted to the North West Women’s Regional League, also entering the Women's FA Cup for the first time, beating Accrington Stanley 5-1 in the preliminary round then bowing out in the 1st Qual.Rd v. Accrington Girls & Ladies 1-3 before the women's then record attendance of 142, itself subsequently surpassed.
In June 2011 the club changed its legal entity from an unincorporated association to that of a private limited company by guarantee, with charitable status. The company dissolved in November 2019.
The Sunday team was reintroduced in 2012, managed by Paul O'Keefe, immediately winning the double in the Altrincham Sunday League 2013, they joined the Stockport Sunday League, becoming Division 4 champions in 2015, Division 3 champions in 2016 with 100% win record, latter two seasons scoring 359 goals.
In July 2013 Committee member John Cotton noticed an article for a Budweiser £50,000 regional grant he felt the club could win, he passed the article to Vice-Chairman Carl Barratt who took up the mantle. Fortune struck on Halloween that year, which changed the future of the club forever, when Barratt received the news that he was successful in winning the grant, this also enabled the club to compete against seven other clubs nationwide for an additional £100,000 in a public Facebook vote during February 2014, they obtained the most votes and secured the additional funds.
In October 2014 Barratt won the unsung hero in sport award at the prestigious Manchester Sports Awards for his work with the club and in turn the community.
The club in 2015 introduced the 'John Walker Tournament', an annual nationwide summer festival of football for children and youths aged 7-15, attracting over 100 teams with over 1,000 players.
The football and cricket clubs workable relationship, in its latter years, became strained and subsequently the Ammies were rendered homeless when evicted by the cricket club in May 2015 after 32 years use.
The Hollyhedge Park Project was now, more than ever, an increasingly important chapter in the clubs future. Whilst the project was coming to fruition games were played at Flixton FC and St. Paul's High School, with hospitality at the Winston Conservative Club and Northenden Social Club.
The penning of this crucial chapter recommenced in July 2016 when the club secured funding of £812,000, which included £382,317 from the Premier League & The FA, the £150,000 from Budweiser, £146,000 from the National Lottery, building work began in earnest in February 2017 for a clubhouse, new pitch, drainage, car park and fencing when a new long term lease was finally agreed with Manchester City Council.
In March 2017 the club became a Community Benefit Society, its first Board of Directors being Basil Kabbani (Chairman), Carl Barratt (Vice-Chairman), Peter Andrews, John Cotton, Stuart Furnival, Ray Gibson, Stephen Hall, Neil Owen.
The stadium was completed in September 2017, the first match was played on 30th, drawing 1-1 v. Hindsford in the Manchester League, the 32 year old record attendance was broken with 277. Further improvements brought the ground up to Step 6 standard and was officially opened on 6th May 2018 by former England & Manchester United captain Bryan Robson.
Promotion was gained in May 2018 when the FA allocated the first team to a restructured North West Counties Football League. This meant that the club was competing at semi-professional level for the first time, whilst retaining their amateur status they finished a creditable fourth in the First Division South in their first season.
In 2019 the first team returned to the national stage when they re-entered the FA Vase.
The following season in 2020 they were accepted, for the first time, into the FA Cup.
The first team have never been relegated in its 74 year history.
