Statistics

Match Summary
Biggest Home Win	4-0	29/07/23 v Steeton (First Division North)
Biggest Away Win	3-0	23/09/23 v Armthorpe Welfare (The Isuzu FA Vase)
Biggest Home Defeat	1-3	09/09/23 v FC St Helens (First Division North)
Biggest Away Defeat	1-3	19/09/23 v FC St Helens (Lancashire Challenge Trophy)
	0-0	28/08/23 v Shelley (H) (First Division North)
Highest Aggregate Scoreline	5	02/08/23 3-2 v Garstang (A) (First Division North)
		12/08/23 3-2 v Ilkley Town (A) (First Division North)
		15/08/23 3-2 v Runcorn Town (H) (First Division North)
		26/08/23 2-3 v FC St Helens (A) (First Division North)

 

Season at a Glance
	Home		Away		Total
	#	%	#	%	#	%
Played	8		8		16
Won	4	50.00%	6	75.00%	10	62.50%
Drawn	1	12.50%	0	0.00%	1	6.25%
Lost	3	37.50%	2	25.00%	5	31.25%
Scored	14	1.75	20	2.50	34	2.13
Conceded	9	1.13	13	1.63	22	1.38

 

Progression in Cup Competitions
The Isuzu FA Vase	1st Round	v	Parkgate	(H)
	To be played on Sat 21/10/23
The Isuzu FA Vase	2nd Qualifying Round	3-0	Armthorpe Welfare	(A)
The Macron Cup	1st Round	v	Ashton Athletic	(H)
	To be played on Tue 17/10/23
Lancashire Challenge Trophy	1st Round	1-3	FC St Helens	(A)

 

Home Attendance Summary
Highest Attendance	143	28/08/23 v Shelley (First Division North)
Lowest Attendance	83	15/08/23 v Runcorn Town (First Division North)
Average Attendance	8 games	119

 

Number of Games Since
Last Win	1 game
Last Defeat	0 games
Goalless Draw	6 games
Score Draw	20 games
Scored A Goal	1 game
Fail To Score	0 games
Clean Sheet	1 game

 

Scored / Conceded This Season
	Scored		Conceded
	#	%	#	%
None	2	12.50%	4	25.00%
One	3	18.75%	5	31.25%
Two	3	18.75%	4	25.00%
Three	7	43.75%	3	18.75%
Four	1	6.25%	0	0.00%
Five or more	0	0.00%	0	0.00%

 

When the Goals Went In
	For		Against		Total
	#	%	#	%	#	%
0-15	4	11.76%	0	0%	4	7.27%
16-30	10	29.41%	3	0%	13	23.64%
31-45	4	11.76%	4	0%	8	14.55%
46-60	4	11.76%	5	0%	9	16.36%
61-75	9	26.47%	5	0%	14	25.45%
76-90	3	8.82%	4	0%	7	12.73%
90-105	0	0.00%	0	0%	0	0.00%
105-120	0	0.00%	0	0%	0	0.00%

 

History

Laburnum Rovers were founded in 1956 by Joe Riley as an under 14s side and after a difficult first season in the local Briarcroft Junior League, they went on to enjoy much success in League and Cup competitions. Joe was persuaded to carry on into Senior football and after a brief spell in the Leigh League the club joined the Bolton Combination.

More success followed, but the ground at Hag Fold prevented further progress so a farmers field was found and despite footpath criss-crossing and duck ponds either side, hard work by everyone at the club turned this unpromising field into a football pitch. In 1966 the club moved into its new ground and were able to take their place in Division One of the Combination.

Jack Crilly succeeded Joe as Chairman and worked tirelessly for the club, supervising the erection of new changing rooms (an improvement on the old air raid shelters they had been using) and a small social club. Jack died suddenly in 1980 and as a tribute to the work he did the ground was renamed from Greendale to Crilly Park.

In the summer of 1980 the club joined the non-league pyramid when their application to join the Cheshire County League was successful. A stipulation of the League was that the towns name had to be in the clubs title, so links with the past were retained with the new name of Atherton Laburnum Rovers.

In 1982 the club became founder members of the North West Counties League, being placed in division two until the league was reorganised in 1987 when ongoing ground improvements saw them placed in division one. 1989 saw floodlights erected and the club enter the FA Cup for the first time, while in 1991 the changing rooms and clubhouse were completely rebuilt.

Towards the end of 1990/91 season Dave Morris took over as team manager and it was the start of the best period in the clubs history. In 1992/93 the club won the League title with 106 points from 42 games and also won the League Championship Trophy. Promotion to the Unibond League was denied them because of grading requirements, but undaunted the club repeated their double the following season as well as reaching the semi-finals of the FA Vase. This time the club was promoted to the Unibond League.

Two good seasons saw steady progress, but then financial troubles struck and the club was relegated for the first time in its history.

Three seasons of struggle back in the North West Counties League culminated with the relegation to Division Two. However, the appointment of Alan Lord as manager saw a remarkable turnaround in form and nine successive victories helped the club win back promotion to Division One at the first attempt. In November 2002 Tom Foster and Dennis Haslem took over as managers after having to rebuild the team from scratch, they secured Division One football for another season. Dennis moved on in the summer and Ian Street joined the club.

A period of stability and success followed but at the end of 2004/05 season Foster and Street left the club to be replaced by Mike Lester and Darren Ford, They set about building a new squad but, in February 2006, Lester and Ford resigned sparking a difficult time for the club on the pitch with no less than six managers at the helm over the next two years. The most successful period came in spring 2007 under Roy Sweeney when the club moved away from the relegation zone after doubling its points total from 21 to 42 in the final two months of the season, finishing in 16th place and having a record league attendance of 1,325 for the visit of FC United of Manchester.

Sweeney resigned in December 2007, with Malcolm Anderton taking temporary charge for four months until ex-LR player and Leigh RMI manager Stuart Humphreys was brought in to ensure the club retained its top division status and it was fortunate that 21st place was enough. With changes elsewhere in the pyramid system, LR avoided relegation from Division 1 by finishing 19th at the end of 07/08 season.

The club then brought in Dave Hughes as the new manager with a brief to keep the team in the now rebranded Premier Division while the club was reorganised behind the scenes. Hughes brought in a very experienced coaching team and set about building a squad which has proved very successful. The season ended with one of the highest league placings for several years, victory in the Goldline Trophy and another Reebok appearance in the Hospital Cup final. This season the side had a promising opening to the campaign recording another FA Cup giant-killing before injuries took a severe toll, with the team battling in the relegation dogfight. Victory once again in the Goldline Trophy Final gave the team enough belief to collect the points they needed to stay in the Premier Division.

Dave Hughes resigned as manager at the beginning of September 2010 and the position was immediately offered to the Head Coach Glenn Moses to ensure stability within the team. Moses led the club to its third Goldline Final in three years and our highest mid-season points tally for the past few seasons. Phil Priestley was appointed as manager at the start of the 2011-12 season and remained in charge until he resigned in the summer of 2013.

One week before the start of the 2013-14 season the club appointed Michael Clegg as manager who took the team to a 7th place finish, but resigned as manager at the end of the same season to take up his the managers position at Atherton Collieries. The next four seasons saw new management teams each season with Ross McNair taking charge for the 2014-15 season, the management duo of Craig and Adam Jones for the 2015-16 season and Shaun Lynch took over for the 2016-17 season.

The 2018-19 season proved to be one to forget, with a number of managers taking charge of the team and the team being reprieved from relegation from Division 1 North. However off field issues were being brought to a head towards the end of the season that resulted in significant positive changes in how the club was to be taken forward. Shaun Lynch was appointed Chairman and together with new committee members set about regenerating the club.

After a difficult few seasons, at the beginning of the new season 23/24 Atherton LR appointed David Jones as the first team manager and he brought along an experience back-room team with him. Pre season results has proven that he has built a strong squad who are raring to go with the new season.