The club was formed as Clitheroe Central in 1877 at the Swan Hotel in Castle Street by local businessmen. After playing in local leagues the club joined the Lancashire Combination in 1903 and dropped Central from their name.
The first major trophy won was the Lancashire Junior Cup in 1893 - a trophy they had to wait 92 years to win again. In 1985 at Deepdale, home of Preston North End, they defeated Barrow 1-0 with local lad Eric Geldard scoring in extra time.
Except for breaks during the first and second World Wars (1914-18 and 1939-45) Clitheroe played in the Lancashire Combination until the end of the 1981-82 season. They won the Lancashire Combination Cup in the 1934-35 season and the League Championship in the 1979-80 season.
For the 1982/83 season The Lancashire Combination amalgamated with the Cheshire County League to become the North West Counties League. Clitheroe became one of the founder members, however the state of the ground meant they started in the third division. There then followed one of the most successful periods in the club's long history when under the guidance of manager Eric Whalley they won the Third, Second and First Divisions in consecutive seasons.
The highlight of the clubs history was in the 1995-96 season when under the joint managership of local lad Dennis Underwood and ex-Norwich and Blackburn player Gary Butcher they played at Wembley Stadium in the final of the FA Vase. Some 7,500 people watched the game against Brigg Town and although beating them earlier in the season in the FA Cup the club was beaten 3-0 in the Vase Final. However the club was given a great welcome back to the town when the streets were lined with supporters waving their blue and white flags. A public appeal to help with the visit to Wembley saw a magnificent £7,400 donated by townspeople and businesses.
The last decade of the 20th Century saw most of the 10 years spent getting the ground up to scratch with £130,000 being spent in the process. The sale of 2 players, Jon Penman and Carlo Nash, helped considerably with the expenditure on the ground.
The club has seen little success on the pitch since the Wembley visit although under the managership of Steve Parry in the 1998-99 season they won the Floodlight Trophy by beating Kidsgrove Athletic 2-1 in the final.
Local lad Dave Burgess took over the management of the First Team in 2000/01 after several successful years running the second string. His assistant is central defender Lee Sculpher, now in his third spell playing for Clitheroe after stints at Accrington Stanley, Bamber Bridge and Atherton LR. In their first season they finished as league runners-up and FA Vase semi-finalists - a fantastic achievement. Work committments led to Dave standing down in 2001/02 and Lee took over, with Dave Sargent as assistant.

Head to head
Mossley v Clitheroe
P - 25 W - 13 D - 5 L - 7 F - 47 A - 25