HISTORY

Cheadle Town was formed in 1961 as Grasmere Rovers playing in the Manchester & District Sunday Football League in their Under 16s Division. As the team developed the Under-21 Championship was won in 1968, followed by the Premier Division title two years later.

In 1972 the club made the significant decision to play their football on Saturdays and joined the Manchester Football League. Success on the playing field coincided with the arrival of Albert Pike as manager in 1978. In Albert’s first, full season he led the team to a terrific double of First Division Champions and Manchester Amateur Cup Winners; this was the prelude to even more success as the club won both the Manchester & Derbyshire F.A. Cups.

Grasmere Rovers moved into their own ground at Park Road Stadium in 1982 and, a year later, changed their name to Cheadle Town when they also joined the North West Counties Football League. Membership has mainly been in the Second Division but in 1996 the club was promoted to the First Division. Sadly, relegation back to the second tier occurred in 2001, a position they still occupy in the now-named First Division.

Park Road Stadium itself has a fine history with, initially, Cheadle Rovers being the owners. On their demise Manchester City used it as their training ground. Portugal, along with Eusebio trained there during the 1966 World Cup and, in 1993, the world-famous Brazilian player, Jairzinho, hosted a Soccer School for Cheadle Town.

Floodlights were installed in 1995 and Manchester United provided the opposition for the official ‘switch-on’ when, on a memorable evening, Town beat United’s youngsters, 3-2 in front of almost 2,000 fans.

The biggest gate to watch Cheadle Town on domestic soil came ten years later against FC United of Manchester. Due to the huge interest in the game Town officials moved the fixture to Stockport County’s Edgeley Park, and they were rewarded with a bumper 3,227 attendance that witnessed a pulsating 3-3 draw.

The club is famous for its legendry foreign tours, having played 96 games in 30 different countries in front of over 312,000 fans and scoring 111 goals. Playing under their tour name, Manchester AFC, they have played against SEVEN national sides and once played in front of 65,000 people in Mexico City’s world-famous Aztec Stadium. Their epic journeys have taken them just over 210,000 miles all over the world.

Alfredo di Stefano, Ronnie Biggs, Brazilian superstar Jairzinho and Rajiv Ghandi have all met the touring side as exotic locations such as Cannes, Acapulco, Rio de Janeiro, the Bahamas and Phuket have mixed with non-exotic places like Dar es Salaam, Haiti and Guangzhou in China.

The club celebrated its 50th birthday in 2011 and, if the next 50 years are anything like the first, then there is a lot of excitement to come. It was at this time that Cheadle Town made the decision to change their kit colours to green which commemorated the colours worn by Grasmere Rover 50 years ago.

Cheadle Town are an FA Charter Standard Community Club acknowledging the most advanced level of club development and football provision.

At the turn of the year in 2018 a new future for the club was heralded when it became part of the Little Sports Group, owned by ex-Cheadle Town player Craig Brennan.

In May 2018 we were awarded a £50,000 improvement bursary from Buildbase that will enable us to realise our vision to improve the matchday experience and develop footballing facilities for the surrounding area.

Unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic brought a temporary stop to playing football, as the FA declared seasons 2019/20 and 2020/21 null and void.

Hopes were high for season 2022/23 following the appointment of Paul Marshall and Steve Yarwood in the close season. Paul brings with him a wealth of experience having played football at a professional level for Manchester City, Blackpool, Port Vale, Aberdeen, Walsall and Rochdale before moving to semi-professional football with FC Halifax Town, Stockport County, Alfreton Town and Curzon Ashton. Whilst Steve Yarwood is well known in the Manchester area having played for Salford City, Mossley, Abbey Hey and Wythenshawe Town.

And what a season 2022/23 was... for the first time in over 20-years Cheadle Town were finally promoted to the top tier of the NWCFL. In a season which saw the Football Club awarded 'Club of the Month' on three separate occasions and break records for unbeaten runs and consecutive victories. The season came down to the lottery of the Play-Offs which saw Cheadle Town defeat Stockport Town 2-0 in the Semi Finals, leading to a Final against Sandbach United. In front of a crowd of 1,375, Cheadle Town won 3-1 with Martin Pilkington confirming victory in injury time to the delight of the travelling supporters. An occasion that will long live in the memories of all involved with Cheadle Town.

Cheadle Town now look forward as they embark on a new era for this Football Club at Step 5 of the football pyramid.