Squires Gate F.C.

Squires Gate
Full name Squires Gate Football Club
Nickname(s) Gate
Founded 1948 (as Squires Gate British Legion)
Ground School Road, Squires Gate, Blackpool
Ground Capacity 1,000
Chairman Stuart Hopwood
Manager Daniel Penswick
League North West Counties League Premier Division
2015–16 North West Counties League Premier Division, 19th

Squires Gate Football Club are a football club based in Squires Gate, Blackpool, Lancashire, England formed in 1948. After spending thirty years in the West Lancashire League in 1991 they were elected to the North West Counties Football League Division Two and are currently in the Premier Division. Their home ground is School Road.

History

Blackpool & District Amateur League: 1958 to 1961

Squires Gate were formed in 1948 as Squires Gate British Legion and competed in the Blackpool & District Amateur League. They won the leagues Rawling Shield in their first season. The name of the club was changed to Squires Gate FC in 1953. They won the leagues First Division in 1955–56 and 1956–57; also the Blackwell Cup in 1958–59 and 1959–60. They spent the 1960–61 in the Fylde District League, winning the Fylde Cup and losing finalists in the Bannister Cup.[1]

West Lancashire League: 1961 to 1991

The following season they moved up to the West Lancashire League where they spent the next thirty years. From 1961 until 1980 they were in Division Two and were promoted in 1981 as champions. In the 1986–87 season they won the Richardson Cup.[1]

North West Counties League: 1991 onward

They were elected into the North West Counties Football League for the 1991–92 season, joining Division Two for the 1991–92 season. Squires Gate won the leagues Fair Play Award for the 1993–94 season and were losing finalists in the 1997–98 Division Two Trophy.[1]

They won the 2001–02 season Division Two Trophy and then the following season they missed the runner-up spot on goal difference but were still promoted to Division One following the demise of Stand Athletic F.C. who had originally been promoted as Division Two champions. They reached their highest league placing in the 2005–06 season also reaching the quarter finals of the FA Vase.[1]

In June 2006, the clubs chairman, Phil Days, resigned with a call for the merger of the three non-league clubs in Blackpool – Squires Gate, Blackpool Mechanics (now A.F.C. Blackpool) and Blackpool Wren Rovers. All three clubs are located in the Squires Gate area of the town, with Squires Gate and Blackpool Wren Rovers grounds literally next door to each other on School Road and AFC Blackpool's ground only a few hundred yards away on Jepson Way, off School Road. Days also revealed that the three clubs had held talks in 2005 about a merger with the aim being for a new merged club to reach the Northern Premier League.[2]

On 10 March 2007 Squires Gate played a home match against FC United of Manchester at Curzon Ashton's ground. The club had approached Blackpool about playing the game at Bloomfield Road but the ground was not available. And so they played the match in Ashton-under-Lyne, as it was felt that FCUM fans were more likely to attend with the match being staged in the Greater Manchester area. A crowd of 1,650 saw Squires Gate lose 0–1 and Squires Gate earned about £7,000.[3]

In the summer of 2012 Gate changed their Stadium name to The Royal British Legion Stadium.

On Wednesday 12 November 2014 a Squires gate FC player Jack Sowerby, was released by Chairman Stuart Hopwood, and Jack signed a full-time contract with Fleetwood Town Football Club placed in the English Sky Bet league division 1,

On Saturday 25 April 2015, Gate Manager Dave McCann lead his team to gain Gate's highest record ever reaching 6th position in the NWCFL Premier Division and gained 67 points finishing playing Alsager Town, the team that played that day were.

For Gate: Fletcher, Richards, Westwood, Anderson, Ferguson, Mckenna, Penswick, Kay, Dunn, Murphy, Buchan. Subs: McCann, Lancashire, Rowley, Cunningham.

Ground.

The club's stadium is School Road which has seen some development since the club were elected to the North West Counties League. There is a clubhouse at the ground and floodlights. The record attendance at School Road is 600 for a pre-season friendly against Everton in 1995.[4]

Honours

League

Cup

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "History of Squires Gate Football Club". Squires Gate F.C. Retrieved 6 February 2008.
  2. ↑ "Gate chief resigns with call for clubs to merge". Blackpool Gazette. 1 June 2006. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  3. ↑ "Squires Gate 0 FC United 1". Blackpool Gazette. 12 March 2007. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  4. ↑ "Guide to Ground – Squires Gate". nonleaguedaily.com. Retrieved 19 September 2009.

Coordinates: 53°46′45.33″N 3°00′54.59″W / 53.7792583°N 3.0151639°W / 53.7792583; -3.0151639

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