Radcliffe Borough FC

The Club was formed on the 24th April 1949 at the Owd Tower Inn in Radcliffe by Mr. Jack Pickford, and became members of the South East Lancashire Football League. After a short period In that league, We moved on to the Manchester League before gaining access to the Lancashire Football Combination in 1963. In 1972, success came, winning the League Cup and finishing third in the league. Two years later, the Club applied, and were accepted into, the Cheshire League, which subsequently became the North West Counties Football League The first season again brought success, when Radcliffe secured the Second Division championship, in front of a record, Stainton Crowd of 1,468. After one season in the 'first Division, we lifted the First Division championship and we then made the step up into the newly formed, Northern Premier League, now the Unibond League, where we have since after many years of consolidation in the league, and at times, fighting against relegation, season 1995-96 seen an upturn in the Club's fortunes, on and off the pitch. In that season the Club, for the first time in its history, reached the last 16 of the prestigious F A. Umbro Trophy, narrowly losing to Nationwide Conference side, Gateshead 1-2.

Under present manager Kevin Glendon who has been at the club for 15 years, the playing side has gone from strength to strength. Kevin is renowned for producing young players and selling them on, in total he has made £60,000 in selling players. In season 1996/1997 Kevin and the Boro team achieved its highest honour, in winning the Unibond First Division title by 2 points ahead of local rivals Leigh RMI. Unfortunately, our stay in the `top flight' lasted only one season. Having sacrificed all our revenue on ground development, to allow us to be promoted, we left ourselves without resources to invest in quality players to stay in the division. Each year, since then, however, we have competed for promotion, finishing regularly in the top six. Missing out on promotion in season 1999/2000 when a win at home against eventual champions Accrington Stanley would see us promoted again. After leading 2-0 with 15 minutes to go, Accrington did the unthinkable and came back to win the game 3-2 and Boro missed out on promotion.

Our best was saved for the Millennium year, in which, for the first time in the history of the Club, we reached the first round of the AXA sponsored F A.Cup. Although we lost 1-4 to York City, played at Gigg Lane, the home of Bury F C. and in front of a record crowd of 2,495 - what a fabulous day it was for everyone connected with the Club. A true measure of the progress made in such a short time.
Boro again missed out on promotion in season 2001/2002 when after leading the division until February a poor run to the end of the season, meant that the club entered the newly formed play-offs losing to Bamber Bridge in the semi's at Irongate.

2002-2003 was a great year for Boro, missing out on the championship by two points to Alfreton Town, we had a fantastic run in the FA Cup when we reached the 4th Qualifying round losing to Conference giants Chester City in front of 1138 at Stainton Park. Promotion was finally won thanks to the play-offs by beating North Ferriby United in the semi final and Chorley in the final at Stainton Park. Boro legend Jody Banim got 46 goals in what was an unbelievable season for him.

With Boro back in the UniBond Premier Division and a place in the newly formed Conference North League up for grabs, in which we had to finish in the top 13, that was obviously the aim. By November Boro were as high as sixth thanks to the 22 goals of Jody Banim who set an English record by scoring in 14 concecutive games. Boro sold Banim to Conference promotion chasers Shrewsbury Town for a record fee of £20,000 in December 2003, and without his goals we slid down the table eventually finishing 19th and into the play-offs beating Whitby Town on pens 8-7 in the quarter finals, before bowing out to Burscough in the semi finals at home.

Over the years, many former league players have appeared for the Boro, names such as Frank Worthington, Alan Kennedy, Peter Barnes, Len Cantello, Ian Bishop and many more, all enhancing the Club's reputation. In recent times we have gained a reputation for producing our own youngsters and seeing them progress to higher levels of football.

Under the hard work and guidance of Chairman Bernard Manning, Manager Kevin Glendon and the board of directors Boro have gone from strength to strength. Off the field we are widely recognised as having made more progress than many other non-league clubs. With the help of grants from the Football Association, Football Foundation, Lottery Sports Fund, Club Funds and personal investments, we have so far been able to provide the following: Floodlit all weather pitches, Upgrade the terracing, New car park, Purchase the Social Club & Refurbish the building. Build a New Sponsors Lounge, Changing Room Block, A new 350-seated stand and six brand new Nationwide Conference Standard floodlights. These along with many more, smaller projects, show you why the Club's reputation has grown and we now have one of the best non-league grounds at our level