Club Documents - Visiting team protocol and risk assessments

Cheadle Town Stingers - Joint Managers' Statement

On behalf of Manchester Stingers WFC, we are grateful for the opportunity to join Cheadle Town Football Club. It is a great opportunity to link up with a well known established football club based in Cheadle.

Having been an independent club for 20 years, as a club we feel it’s the right time to make this move. We currently play in the Premier Division of the North West Womens Regional Football League (one league below the National League).

This season just gone, we currently sat 4th in our league, with games in hand. We had a successful run making it to the Quarter final of the Argyle Cup and the County cup (before league and cup games were postponed due to the virus outbreak).

Cheadle Town FC has a clear vision and are a club striving for success. It is an opportunity we couldn’t miss. We will work hard as a club and as a team to ensure that the women’s section of Cheadle Town Football Club brings success, by working together to achieve as many things as possible.

We as a management team also have a clear plan which we believe will bring much success to the club. Further down the line, we plan on having wildcats courses, Junior teams and development teams all feeding into the first team, creating a clear pathway for young girls/women to get the chance to play First Team football.

Finally, we would like to thank Nicola and Charlotte for their help and support this last season in making this move possible as well as all the support from our players on and off the pitch. We’d like to thank all players for their hard work and dedication towards the club and look forward to making next season as successful as possible. On we go.

We hope to bring much success to this club moving forward and look forward to the journey ahead as part of Cheadle Town Football Club.

Adam Casey and Dylan Wimbury
(First Team Managers)

Manchester Stingers WFC to Join Cheadle Town FC

We are thrilled to announce that existing women’s football team Manchester Stingers WFC will be joining the club this summer.

They will adopt the name of Cheadle Town Stingers for their first season.

The addition of a women’s team has long been on Chairman Craig Brennan’s plans for the club:

“Having a women’s team within the club was one of the first items on the agenda when I joined Cheadle Town.

It has always been part of our long term vision and the growth of the women’s game makes it a no brainer for us. We want the club to be a community hub for football within the Cheadle and Stockport area, we have already made great strides with the introduction of the Under 18s, BTEC academy and now the women’s team.

The next few years will see us make even more improvements to the ground and facilities and we are confident both the men and women’s 1st teams can push for promotion next season. We have a fantastic team of people at the club including volunteers, players, staff, board and committee members and we welcome the players and staff from the women’s team with real excitement.

I would like to thank Nicola the Chair, Adam and Dylan the managers and all the players and volunteers at Manchester Stingers for all their hard work in previous seasons.

Hopefully football can resume next season and we look forward to the first game of the season as Cheadle Town Stingers.”

2019-2020 Season Review

Well, this is not how things were supposed to have ended.

The devastating impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent cancellation of the NWCFL season has meant that this article is being written rather prematurely.

The FA have declared the NWCFL season as null-and-void but we’re not going to toss aside all of the hard work and memories that the players, coaching staff et al have put into the previous eight months.

Let’s start with a statistical look….

2019-2020 Season Review: In Numbers

Final League Position and Points
Ah, now then. How do you determine a final league position when the season was brought to a halt?

‘Points per Game’ has been a recognised way of sorting out relegation and promotion issues across non-league for a while now so it seems the logical way of mathematically forecasting a final table.

When the season ended we were in 8th place with 44 points from 30 games which gave us a PPG of 1.47. We had eight matches remaining, so multiply that by the 1.47 and then adding the 44 points gives us 55.7 points (to one decimal place).

If you do this for all clubs in the division then you get this final table….

So that’s what we will declare: a final finishing place of 8th with 56 points (let’s round it up) from the 38 games. A massive 16 points better than last season and an equally massive improvement of eight places.

Home League Record
7 wins, 2 draws, 7 defeats - too many defeats at Park Road for our liking.

Away League Record
6 wins, 3 draws, 5 defeats

Goals Scored (in all competitions)
73 - 31 at home and 42 away. We had clocked up 78 in total last season so I think we would have been well on the way to beating that.

Goals Conceded (in all competitions)
66 - 30 at home, 36 away. We had conceded 92 in total last season; I don’t think we’d have got anywhere near that so a major improvement when all is said and done.

Goals Scored Half-by-Half (in all competitions)
Fairly even. 36 in the first half, 37 in the second half. Nothing to see here.

Top Scorer
The one and only Pat Davin.

Biggest Win
6-1 vs St Martins (away) - NWCFL Division One South

Heaviest Defeat
0-7 vs Wythenshawe Town (home) - NWCFL Division One South

Most Consecutive Wins
7 - from the Boxing Day 3-1 home win vs Cheadle Heath Nomads to the 2-1 home win over Stockport Town at the end of January, a run that earned us the ‘Club of the Month’ Award.

Most Consecutive Games Unbeaten
8 - that same run with the 2-2 draw at Maine Road attached on to the end of it

Most Consecutive Games Without a Win
7 - those first seven matches of the season that only brought a solitary point

League Doubles
Just the one at the time the season was stopped - Abbey Hulton United

Percentage of League Points Gained by Venue
52% at home, 48% away

League Points Gained as a Percentage of Total Points Possible
49%, going off the total gained from 30 games. Far better than last season’s 38%

So that’s it in terms of facts and figures. I think overall, despite the season’s curtailed nature, you can see an improvement over last season, a trend that will hopefully continue into the 2020-21 term.

2019-20 didn’t get off to the best of starts as the poor form at the end of the previous campaign carried over.

Just the solitary point from the opening seven matches was rounded off with the season’s nadir on the August Bank Holiday Monday: a 0-7 home shellacking at the hands of Wythenshawe Town.

Wythenshawe Town (h) - Brian Matthews and Ben Brooks sum up the mood. Thankfully it wouldn’t get any worse after that.

That meant a run of only 1 win in 22 matches and Will Griffiths was relieved of his managerial duties.

Goalkeeping coach Steve Piggott took charge on a temporary basis for the next four games and brought about an instant upturn in fortunes. Two FA Vase ties - versus Staveley and East Hull - were safely negotiated as was a First Division Cup tie at Cleator Moor and a tricky away league match at Wythenshawe Amateurs.

Danny Meadowcroft and Liam Brownhill were brought in as the new managerial pair in time for the away match at Vauxhall Motors where we were unlucky to come away with a 2-4 defeat.

They got their first win when Abbey Hulton United were seen off 4-1 at Park Road with further progress being made in the First Division Cup with a 5-2 win at Alsager Town.

There was a major blip in the form in the FA Vase at Selby Town as the hosts ran out 5-1 winners but overall the progress was steady, culminating in the post-Christmas run that looked like we were making a late tilt for the promotion places.

After Cheadle Heath Nomads were defeated 3-1 on Boxing Day we went on a run of 7 consecutive victories and deservedly earned the NWCFL Club of the Month Award for January 2020.

Following the late, late win over Stockport Town, though, the form had started to fall away a little bit.

Our first defeat in what seemed ages came at a disappointing afternoon at Wythenshawe Town. That was then followed by an exit from the First Division Cup and an unlucky 0-1 home defeat by champions-elect Vauxhall Motors.

Our last action of the season came at Park Road where missed chances cost us in a 1-1 draw at home to New Mills.

Our Boxing Day crowd vs Cheadle Heath Nomads - we’re looking forward to seeing you all again at Park Road in the future

Looking forward to next season, whenever that may be, we have the nucleus of a squad that can hopefully sustain a push for promotion. After last season’s finish of 16th, our place in 8th is not to be sniffed at and shows the progress that we have made since the start of September.

But I suppose that, in the grand scheme of things, football doesn’t really matter that much at the moment. Everybody here at Cheadle Town FC hopes that you and your families are staying safe and we hope to be seeing you all again at Park Road when our lives return to business as usual. Which it will.

Onwards.

Republic of Ireland International Goalkeeper Keiren Westwood Joins Cheadle Town

Kieren (right) with club chairman Craig Brennan

Kieren, who has developed his reputation on the pitch, brings his playing experience from the Premier League, Championship and at International level to the board of Cheadle Town and will be helping to drive the club to its next phase of development.

Our vision to reach the national league is no secret and so Chairman Craig Brennan has set out to build a high performing board to drive the club strategy forward. Cheadle Town FC’s  off the pitch performance is just as important as what the club achieves on the pitch. 

The club’s board already includes an operations director, a lawyer, a serial entrepreneur and now a successful professional athlete, that coupled with an amazing team of staff, players and volunteers means the club is well-placed to achieve its goals. 

Keiren, a local lad who grew up down the road in Wythenshawe, is no stranger to non league football having played for Mossely AFC at the age of 16, when he was released from Manchester City, before joining Carlisle United. He went on to play for Coventry, Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday where he still plies his trade, winning a place in the PFA team of the year in 2014-15 season. Keiren has also made 21 appearances for the Republic of Ireland.

Keiren said, “Non-league football is something I have always followed, having played non-league myself very early I my career and also having lots of friends who play non league football means I’m always checking results and interested in what’s happening. When Craig explained his vision for the club and how he wanted to create a professional football club whilst keeping the community ethos, it really interested me and I know my experience, knowledge and network will add plenty of value.

The club is delighted to welcome Keiren to the club and Chairman Craig Brennan said “Keiren has had a brilliant career as a professional footballer and his level of achievement and professionalism will add so much value to the club, Keiren has plenty of ideas and will no doubt want to start seeing these implemented. Keiren is sharp and doesn’t like things done half-heartedly, exactly the sort of person we want involved in Cheadle Town FC!”

Welcome the club Keiren!!

Selby Town 5-1 Cheadle Town

The advent of half-time can sometimes be a good thing, sometimes it can be a bad thing.

Neil Chappell playing to the camera in the pre-match warmup

This time it looked as though it was a bad thing.

With the momentum swinging slightly in our favour and level at 1-1, the peep of the referee’s whistle for the break seemed to do us no favours at all as our second half simply unravelled.

We allowed Selby Town to suffocate us and reduce us to very little in the way of chances with them rolling in four goals to boot.

The match was arguably lost within the first ten minutes of the restart. A poor touch from us on the edge of our own area on 49 minutes allowed Selby’s Daniel Walker to make space for himself and slot home before the hosts’ Chris Jackson then won the race versus our Daniel Whiting to a ball that had been planted on the edge of the area, lifting it over him into an unguarded net.

Danny Whiting then had to make a decent stop at his near post and then make a double-save from a corner before Neil Chappell made an excellent block with his head to a shot that was heading goalbound.

On 68 minutes it was 4-1 as Walker latched onto a flick at the near post before beating Whiting from close range with the defeat made to look worse with two minutes remaining when Burton’s neat turn on the edge of the area bought him enough room to rifle home.

A penny for your thoughts, Mr Meadowcroft…..

And all of that was in such contrast to the first half where it looked like being an evenly-matched contest.

Selby had gone ahead as early as the second minute when a corner in from the right evaded the arms of Whiting and was headed home at the far post by Gothard.

Shortly after that we had two decent chances. On the 4th minute we whipped in a corner that found Warren Gaskin unattended at the far post only for him to misjudge his header and put it wide with Warren then side-footing wide five minutes later when he got onto the end of a free-kick.

Andrew Lunt looked to have a stonewall penalty denied on 26 minutes when he was felled just as he was about to pull the trigger with us then going level just after the half-hour mark.

Ben Brooks - the eyes have it

A foul right on the edge of the area gave us a free-kick square onto goal with Paul Sunderland doing the honours and drilling us level.

Just two minutes later Oliver Hatfield-Banton tossed in a free-kick for the head of Patrick Davin, only for the ball to loop onto the top of the crossbar.

Paul Sunderland had another similar free-kick opportunity in the second half that was beaten away by the keeper, but by then it would have only been a consolation as the tie had already run away from us.

Back to the league action we go this Wednesday as we face a tricky match at Stone Old Alleynians and a chance to put things right.

Good luck to Selby Town in the next round of the FA Vase.

TEAM: Whiting, Machado Le Gal, Hamzat, Hatfield-Banton (Johnson), Gaskin, Chappell, Clayton (Russell), Lunt, Davin, Sunderland, Brooks (Jenkinson). SUBS: Jenkinson, Piggott (gk), Naughton, Johnson, Russell, Brownhill, Meadowcroft.

Cheadle Town 2-2 Eccleshall

One of those draws that felt like a defeat.

In the third of five minutes of injury time, 2-1 ahead and with a lively Eccleshall side exactly where we wanted them, a misjudged clearance attempt leads to a penalty for the visitors and all the hard work of the previous ninety minutes, and the opportunity to enter double figures on the points tally, is swept away from twelve yards.

Frustrating.

For those with a mathematical leaning, the penalty offered perfect symmetry to the match, providing the purest of bookends given that we had taken the lead with virtually the first attack.

With barely a minute gone Warren Gaskin found himself in the unfamiliar territory of the opposition half, placing a sumptuous cross from the right for Ben Brooks to steal in at the far post and nod us into a very early lead.

Eccleshall’s first attempt on goal came on 11 minutes when a long-range effort drifted wide with our next half-decent chance coming shortly afterwards when Justin Pickering’s shot from the right cannoned off the keeper and was just begging for somebody to tap it home as it rolled across the face of goal.

Justin then saw a free-kick go just wide of the upright before another ball across the face of goal wasn’t converted just after the half-hour mark; Paul Sunderland providing for Andrew Lunt this time, the latter just failing to get his legs around the ball.

And that was that in terms of clear-cut chances for the rest of the half with both sides poking and prodding each other.

Five minutes into the second half the match was suddenly level.

Seemingly in a non-threatening position some 40+ yards out, Eccleshall’s Jake Langridge unleashed a vicious shot that sailed in over Martin Blain’s head.

Eight minutes later, we provided a response.

Having just come on as substitute, Patrick Davin made an absolute nuisance of himself in the goalmouth, ultimately recovering a stray ball on the left before feeding it to Hamzat who planted a cross to the far post for Paul Sunderland to nod home our second of the evening.

Just five minutes after that, Eccleshall looked set to draw things level again as they raced clear on goal only for Martin Blain to come out and make an excellent block.

They then volleyed over a loose ball from a corner before the match went into a lull with neither team creating anything and Eccleshall going down to ten men on the 87th minute after their no9 was sin-binned for dissent.

But then, as stoppage time loomed, all manner of action.

Eccleshall had a penalty claim turned down and, as the protests and histrionics were still audible, we went down the other end where Ben Brooks stooped low for a cross but couldn’t quite bundle his header home from close range.

There was even time for one more chance for us after Louis Downs had converted Eccleshall’s late penalty; Lord knows to what level the celebrations would have reached had Justin Pickering’s shot from the right not been blocked by the keeper.

Anyhow, 2-2 it finished. It keeps the decent form going - just the one defeat in eight matches in all competitions now - and we hope that the frustration of dropping two points is channelled into our performance this Saturday as we travel to Selby Town in the 1st Round of the FA Vase.

Onwards.

TEAM: Blain, Hendley, Hamzat, Clayton (Chappell), Gaskin, Hatfield-Banton, Pickering, Lunt (Johnson), Russell (Davin), Sunderland, Brooks. SUBS: Chappell, Whiting (gk), Machado Le Gal, Johnson, Davin.

Cheadle Town 4-1 Abbey Hulton United

Three points at the foot of this particular rainbow

As results in the “first win for new management team” canon go, this wasn’t too bad at all.

An imperious display with a scoreline that was a fair reflection; Abbey Hulton would have had no complaints whatsoever if it would have been more emphatic.

It was a case of one chance after another, with the first coming on the 10th minute mark when Paul Sunderland beat the advancing keeper and managed to stab the ball beyond him; alas it didn’t have enough gas to go over the line and was cleared.

Paul Sunderland

No matter. Just one minute later we took the lead.

In the Abbey Hulton half Paul Sunderland turned and planted a lovely though ball into the path of Patrick Davin who shook off the attentions of a defender and stroked home from the edge of the area.

The returning Justin Pickering then got in on the action twice within the space of as many minutes.

He curled a shot inches wide and then he, like Paul Sunderland before him, managed to poke the ball beyond an advancing keeper; yet again this effort was to bear no fruit as Ben Brooks just couldn’t get to the ball in time to guide it home.

Abbey Hulton’s best period arguably came towards the end of that first half as Ollie Hatfield-Banton had to be on-hand to make two blocks when it looked as though the visitors were going to hurt us.

Within the opening ten minutes of the second half we had effectively put the match to bed.

In the opening minute Ben Brooks had managed to get his head to a low cross but the keeper somehow managed to flap it away with a Patrick Davin brace then giving us a three-goal advantage.

The first of those - and his second of the game - came on 53 minutes from a corner when he gathered the ball on the far side of the area; with his back to goal he managed to turn and strike home with it taking a deflection on its way in.

Hat-trick man Patrick Davin

His hat-trick came three minutes later.

Substitute Thomas Hendley broke out of defence, drove forward and placed a through ball for Patrick to advance on goal, draw the keeper and coolly round him before slotting home.

After an Abbey Hulton header had hit the post on the hour mark there was a glut of opportunities for us to stretch our lead even further.

Justin Pickering found himself clean through and took his shot (perhaps too) early with the keeper parrying; the loose ball fell kindly for Justin again but he put it wide.

Ben Brooks was then through on goal but put his effort high and wide with Patrick Davin then unmarked in the box and uncharacteristically misjudging his shot.

Ben Brooks had another close-range effort blocked by the keeper before Tokia Russell burst clear into the area only for a heavy touch to let him down.

With three minutes remaining we got the fourth goal we deserved. Substitute Jake Phelan travelled down the right before feeding the ball inside for Andrew Lunt to check, eye up a shot and drill home from the edge of the area.

The only shame of the day was that Danny Whiting didn’t go home with a clean sheet. He had made an excellent point-blank stop on 88 minutes only for a penalty to beat him in the third minute of stoppage time for Abbey Hulton’s consolation.

After a run of 1 win in 22 matches we’re now on one of 1 defeat in our last 6 in all competitions.

What a difference a month can make in football.

Onwards.

TEAM: Whiting, Machado Le Gal, Hamzat, Hatfield-Banton, Gaskin, Chappell (Hendley), Pickering (Phelan), Lunt, Davin, Sunderland (Russell), Brooks. SUBS: Phelan, Blain (gk), Russell, Hendley, Johnson.

Job Vacancies

There are three roles available at the club:

• Events Manager

• Leisure Assistant

• Part-Time Cafe Manager

Click on the buttons below to download a copy of the job descriptions.

In each case send your CV along with a covering letter to General Manager Mark Brennan via email at mark@cheadletown.co.uk

New First XI Management Team Appointed

Cheadle Town are pleased to announce the appointments of Danny Meadowcroft and Liam Brownhill as joint First XI managers.

Danny is already well-known to the NWCFL and certainly to Cheadle Town as he was part of the management setup at Barnton when they defeated us in the Division One play-off semi-final at the end of the 2015-16 season, adding the First Division Trophy and all to the cabinet that same season.

Prior to that, Danny’s footballing career has seen him ply his trade in the higher tiers of non-league, winning promotion two years in a row with Colwyn Bay and also playing for Chester, Droylsden, Northwich Victoria and Morecambe where he was part of the squad that won promotion to the Football League at Wembley in 2006-07.

Danny joins us from Congleton Town and will no doubt see his time at SK8 2AN as a “return home” as he started out down the road at Stockport County where he was captain for both youth and reserve teams.

Liam Brownhill joins us from Division One stablemates Wythenshawe Town and – like Danny – brings with him plenty of experience at the higher echelons of non-league having played for Trafford, FC United of Manchester, Ashton United, Chester and Droylsden.

His time at Bangor City also brought some European experience as he played in both legs of a UEFA Europa League Qualifying Round versus Zimbru Chisinau of Moldova.

Danny and Liam will start with immediate effect. Steve Piggott – who has done sterling work with the squad as interim manager – will be kept on as goalkeeping coach.

Cheadle Town 4-0 East Hull

A fortnight’s a long time in football.

After the funk of that horrendous run of 1 win in 22 matches, the past two weeks couldn’t have been any different. Progress in the FA Vase via two wins, progress in the league’s First Division Cup and the first league win of the season.

This particular victory wasn’t Cheadle Town at their recent best if truth be told but it was sufficient to comfortably dispose of a struggling East Hull and put us in the velvet bag for the First Round draw.

Ben Brooks knowing exactly when to smile

We dominated this one from start to finish and our first effort in anger came on the 9th minute when Paul Sunderland had a long-range effort tipped around the post.

Ben Brooks was then denied by a last-ditch tackle as he was about to pull the trigger before Pat Davin gave us the lead on the 18th minute; he was put through on goal down the left after great work by Andrew Lunt and, having seen his initial effort saved, managed to quickly re-adjust his feet and round the keeper before slotting home into an unguarded net.

On the half-hour we increased our lead with Pat Davin being instrumental once again.

He managed to work his way into the box with his close-range effort being pushed away to the feet of Ashley Woodhead; surrounded by bodies Ashley still had a lot of work to do but kept his calm by controlling the ball and then prodding home with the outside of his right boot.

Just five minutes later a reverse pass from Ashley Woodhead set his namesake Curran on his way down the right but his shot hit the side netting.

Just three minutes later our lead was extended even further. With the ball on the left side, Paul Sunderland cut inside and hit one towards the near post hoping to catch the keeper out; it looked as though he hadn’t succeeded but the keeper made a hash of his save and allowed the ball to squirm over the line.

Ashley Curran dealing with some close attention

The opening of the second half saw us put more pressure on the East Hull net.

Pat Davin fizzed a cross in from the left that nobody could get a leg to, Ashley Woodhead had an effort superbly blocked by the keeper at the near post and then clipped an effort inches over the bar and Ben Brooks was put through but just couldn’t lift the ball over the advancing keeper.

A mad five or ten minutes which saw a volley of substitutions, a yellow card for Ben Brooks and a red for Hamzat was broken by a penalty for us; Pat Davin duly stepping up to blast home our fourth of the afternoon.

And that was pretty much that in terms of chances bar Callum Knight’s effort on 75 minutes that was blocked by the keeper.

The draw for the First Round is made today [Monday 16th] and will be released at 1.00pm. The tie will be played on Saturday 12th October.

The turnaround in the players’ confidence over those past two weeks has been remarkable and Steve Piggott deserves the plaudits he is getting. The squad will fancy anybody in the draw now!

Onwards.

TEAM: Whiting, Machado Le Gal, Hamzat, Lunt (Naughton), Gaskin, Hatfield-Banton, Curran (Knight), Sunderland, Davin, Brooks (Johnson), Woodhead. SUBS: Johnson, Piggott (gk), Naughton, Knight.

A bit of “spot the ball”….

Staveley Miners Welfare 2-5 Cheadle Town

In lieu of a match report we will let a highlights video package tell the full story….