Skelmersdale United

The first 75 years

The club had its genesis in a team of players brought together by the teachers of the Skelmersdale Wesleyan Day School and was first called "Skelmersdale Young Rovers", the school headmaster at the time being Mr. Ritson. Riston was succeeded by Mr. Forster of St Helens, a keen football enthusiast. Under his guidance, the team became a much stronger organization and the name was changed to "Skelmersdale Wesleyans", subsequently the minister expressed his disapproval of this name and the team became "Skelmersdale United".

Nearly 10 years after their formation, United joined the newly created Lancashire Combination in 1891–92. Skelmersdale was a small mining community with a population of a little over 5,000, and they were paired up with the reserve sides of clubs that were in the top flight of English football, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End. The club won its first major trophy in 1908 when they defeated Portsmouth Rovers in the final of the Lancashire Junior Shield. They joined the Liverpool County Combination in 1909 and won the first of their Championship titles in 1911. They competed in the League until 1955, during which time they were Champions on 10 occasions, Liverpool County FA Challenge Cup Winners on 8 occasions and George Mahan Cup Winners 5 times. For the majority of their first 70 years the club played at Sandy Lane, which is now the site of an office block.

Tom Tinsley, who played for just four seasons (either side of the war), created a record by scoring 214 goals despite many games missed due to Army call ups.

For the 1955–56 season, the club moved into the 2nd Division of the Lancashire Combination, and in their first season, they lifted the Championship. It was at this time they also moved into their new home - White Moss Park.

A new team for a new town

Skelmersdale became a designated new town in 1961 and ushered in a whole new era for the area. Around the same time, in August 1961, Wesley Bridge was made Secretary and Manager of United and began the radical restructuring of the club. In 1966–67, the changes began to pay dividends on the pitch. The FA Amateur Cup quarter final victory against Slough Town saw record attendance at Whitemoss Park (Sandy Lane) – 7,500 – in March 1967. That same year, United won their way to the FA Amateur Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in front of 75,000 spectators (which, at the time, was the biggest Wembley attendance for any game other than an FA Cup Final, League Cup or international game). A 0–0 draw with Enfield F.C. resulted in a replay at Maine Road, Manchester. Whilst United lost 3–0, the experience was the basis of an extraordinarily successful period in their history. The following season, United lost away to Football League club Scunthorpe United in the first round of the FA Cup. In 1968–69, United again qualified for the FA Cup first round only to lose away to Football League club Chesterfield. The same season, after transferring from the down-graded Lancashire Combination to the Cheshire County League, United won the league championship, a feat they would repeat the following year. The club also got through to the semi-finals of the FA Amateur Cup, another feat that they would repeat the next year. In 1970–71, United won the FA Amateur Cup in a 4–1 thrashing of Dagenham at Wembley. Despite only finishing third in the Cheshire County League, United also secured promotion to the Northern Premier League, the highest level the club had ever played. In 1971–72, United finished in the top half of the Northern Premier League, and qualified again for the first round of the FA Cup where they were beaten at home by football league club Tranmere Rovers.

Decline and revival

By 1976, United had dropped back into the Lancashire Combination. In 1982, when the Combination was amalgamated with the Cheshire County League to form the North West Counties League (NWCL), United found themselves in Division Two of the NWCL. The club reached the inaugural League Challenge Cup Final, only losing in a replay to Darwen. In 1987, the NWCL was restructured when a large number of clubs left to join the Northern Premier League. This restructuring saw the club move up to the NWCL First Division, United struggled for three seasons before being relegated.

Russ Perkins was named as manager and the club quickly regained promotion and the start of the long road back to the club's former glory. Winning the League Challenge Trophy in May 2000, the club left their spiritual home of White Moss Park in 2002 and eventually moved to the newly named Westgate Interactive Stadium (also known as Stormy Corner) in 2004. Stuart Rudd broke the goal-scoring record, netting 230 goals. With Paul Gallagher in charge, the club moved forward, securing a second-place finish and promotion to the Northern Premier League in 2006.

Northern Premier league

Following several years on the management committee, Frank Hughes was appointed as the new Chairman, as Arthur Gore stepped to one side. Frank swiftly appointed the experienced manager, Tommy Lawson, to take the club to a new level, and apart from a mid-table position in 2006–07, the club finished in a play-off position in the next 5 seasons. In 2008, Skelmersdale United finished third in the inaugural season of the Northern Premier League Division One North. They were only 4 points off the top spot and won the semi-final of the playoffs against Curzon Ashton 3–1. The final was a 4–1 loss against FC United of Manchester, despite scoring first in front of 4,000 fans at Gigg Lane. The 2009 season saw Skelmersdale finish 2nd by 1 point and lose in the semi-finals of the playoffs to Newcastle Blue Star 1–0. Both teams that were promoted that season went into administration in the off-season. The 2010 season saw Skelmersdale finish in 5th place and lose in the semi-final of the playoffs 2–0 to Lancaster City.

In the 2011 season, Skelmersdale again finished in 2nd place to Chester. Skelmersdale were 3 points behind and had a worse goal difference, but having scored significantly more goals than Chester. The final day of fixtures saw Skelmersdale needing to win and Chester to lose, with an 8-goal swing in Skelmersdale's favour. Chester did, in fact, lose to mid-table Garforth Town by a 2–1 score line, but Skelmersdale only won their game 7–2 against bottom team Ossett Town, so missed out on promotion by 2 goals. Their misery was completed by losing in the semi-finals yet again to AFC Fylde 1–0. At the end of the season, Frank Hughes stepped down as chairman, citing personal reasons, with Paul Griffiths stepping up from vice chairman. The 2012 season saw Skelmersdale finish outside the playoffs for the first time in 7th place.