Nantwich Town

1884–2004

Founded in 1884, Nantwich spent early years playing friendly and cup matches but in 1892 the club joined the Shropshire & District League, finishing as runners-up in the first season.

Nantwich moved into the stronger Combination the following season and on 15 October 1892 hosted Liverpool in the Merseysiders' first ever FA Cup match (Liverpool won the first qualifying-round tie 4–0).

In those early years, the club had A. N. Hornby as president. Hornby captained England at rugby and cricket and, as well as being President, turned out for the club on several occasions.

Before World War I, Nantwich also had spells in a variety of leagues including the North Staffs & District, the Crewe & District, Manchester and Lancashire Combination leagues. After the war, the club became founder members of the Cheshire County League in which they were perennial strugglers, though they did finish 6th in 1921–22. The season before, a record home attendance of 5,121 watched the Dabbers play Winsford United in the Cheshire Senior Cup at their temporary home at Kingsley Fields (now the location of the club's current ground). In 1933 the Dabbers won the Cheshire Senior Cup after beating ICI (Alkali) at the Drill Field, Northwich in front of 8,000 fans

After World War II, the Dabbers joined the newly founded Mid Cheshire League in 1948 and in 1952, the club entered the inaugural FA Youth Cup competition. Drawn against Manchester United in the second round, the young Dabbers crashed 23–0 on a November evening at the Cliff training ground to a United youth line up including Duncan Edwards, David Pegg, Albert Scanlon and Ronnie Cope (who joined Nantwich in the twilight of his career).

In the 1963–64 season the club completed a treble, winning the Mid Cheshire League, League Cup and Cheshire Amateur Cup under manager Alan Ball (senior). According to former player the late Mike Brookes:

"Mr Ball trained us very hard and taught us techniques that were new to us – or were rusty. He made us think ‘the game’ more. One ploy was when we were attacking – for me as centre forward to mark the centre half out of the game. The other forwards could still use me for the one–two wall pass to break through. I could still spin off the centre forward to join the attack. I did get a few bruises this way! At a corner – the other forwards would move away from the penalty spot, thus taking markers with them. I would be way out on the edge of the penalty box – running in at speed when the corner was taken – hoping the kick (as planned) ended up at head height on the penalty spot. Mr Ball used the fear factor to keep us ‘on the ball’. He would bring along ‘reputation’ players to training or ‘sign them on’ and have them turn up for matches; so we thought we could be dropped and sometimes we were."

Nantwich rejoined the Cheshire League in 1968 and in 1976 the Dabbers beat NPL champions Runcorn 5–4 in the Cheshire Senior Cup Final at Gresty Road in front of 2237. In May 1981 a crowd of 1078 saw Nantwich clinch the Cheshire League by beating eventual runners-up Hyde United 2–1 in the penultimate game of the season.

In 1982 Nantwich were founder members of the North West Counties League. The club finished bottom and were relegated to Division 2 where the club remained (except for one season in Division 3 in 1986) until 1989 when the Dabbers were promoted to Division One. In the 1993–94 season, they finished in their then highest NWCFL placing of fourth. In April 1995, Nantwich defeated Trafford 1–0 in the League Cup Final at Gigg Lane, Bury (two years earlier at the same venue Nantwich had lost 2–1 to Burscough in the same competition). In 1995, in an F.A. Cup preliminary-round tie against Droylsden, Andy Locke scored the fastest ever FA Cup hat-trick, in 2 minutes 20 seconds. This record still stands for a hat-trick in any round of the FA Cup, including the qualifying rounds before the First Round. Ex-Stoke City player Nigel Gleghorn was appointed manager in November 2001 and helped steer Nantwich to a top six finish in 2003, when the club also attained the FA Charter Standard Community Club award.

Steve Davis era (2004-2009)

Gleghorn left the club in the 2004 close season and former Crewe Alexandra, Burnley and Barnsley defender Steve Davis was appointed as head coach. Davis, assisted by former Nantwich and Macclesfield striker Peter Hall, proved to be the most successful manager in the club's history. His five years in charge saw two promotions and both FA Vase and County cup glory.

Davis led Nantwich to FA Vase victory in 2005–06 when the Dabbers beat Hillingdon Borough 3–1 in the final at Birmingham City's St Andrew's stadium. En route to the final, Nantwich kept a clean sheet in eight out of nine ties including victories over Buxton (1–0) and Cammell Laird (5–0 in the two-legged semi-final). Andy Kinsey hit two goals in the final, but dislocated his shoulder celebrating the second. Following the victory, the club paraded the Vase in an open-top bus. In the league, Nantwich equalled their highest ever finish (4th), narrowly missing promotion.

In 2006–07 they finished third and secured promotion to the Northern Premier League, amassing 95 points and 108 goals from 42 games. During the season Nantwich recorded their highest post-war league attendance (1,536) against FC United of Manchester. To sign off the home campaign, a crowd of 1,071 saw the last game at the 123-year-old Jackson Avenue ground when Nantwich beat Squires Gate 5–2 on 28 April 2007.