By James Wood
Unless a major event in your life occurred on this day – for instance, the birth of a baby, the passing of a family member or very close friend, maybe even you moving house or starting a new job, then I very much suspect you will have little or no recollection of what you were doing on the evening of 15 November 2012.
But for a number of former and current residents of the small Cheshire market town of Northwich – all of whom had been long-standing, ardent and loyal supporters of the town’s oldest, most famous and successful football club – Northwich Victoria – that day was a truly significant. For on that dark, cold, and wet autumn night, disaffected members of the Vics Supporters Trust voted 141 to 4 to collectively turn their backs on the Vics and create an entirely new club!
But exactly what had happened to bring people together to even discuss this radical proposal? After all, the vast majority of football fans would never even countenance the thought of ditching their club. Much like your dog, your football club is supposed to be for life: isn’t it?
Well, if you wish to fully acquaint yourself with the events that led up to the historic vote you can do no better than turn to Mark Bevan’s book ‘Twenty Years of Madness’ that was published in 2013. This excellent tome sets out the history of the Vics from 1992 – which is where Ken Edwards’s earlier history of the Vics ‘A Team For All Seasons’ ended – to mid-2013, six months or so after the date that ’74 was formed.
In short, by late 2011 such were the state of affairs within the club that many Vics fans were utterly sick and tired of the manner in which their club had been ‘managed’ over the previous decade or more by successive regimes. In short, they had been belittled, demeaned and lied to by those who had chosen to take on the task of running the oldest football club in Cheshire, but frankly had collectively made a complete and utter pig’s ear of things.
The straw that finally broke the camel’s back had occurred on Thursday January 19th January 2012 when the club were evicted from club’s home of just 7 years, The Victoria Stadium. It transpired that it had been purchased by a neighbouring company and, quite understandably, they now wished to push ahead with the plans they had for the site which oddly didn’t include having a football stadium on their newly acquired land!
So, the fans decided to take things into their own hands and create a truly democratic, open, inclusive fan’s run club in which they had a direct say in. The name they chose for the new club – 1874 Northwich – was a nod to the distinguished history of the club that they had supported, followed and loved. Whilst this might not have been the member’s intention, by doing so the fledgling club actually became the only one in Europe whose name starts with wholly numeric characters!
Following the vote a massive amount of hard work was put in by the fans to ensure that the club could commence playing at the start of the 2013/14 season. This included
- Applying to join the North West Counties Football League
- Appointing our first ‘Gaffer,’ Ian Street
- Signing our first ground sharing agreement with Winsford United
The level of support shown for the new club wasn’t a flash in the pan either as during our first season 1874’s average home league attendance was 320 – which put the club in the top 100 best supported clubs in non-league football.
That first season ended with the club being promoted to the Premier Division and the second proved to be equally successful with the club finishing in third place.
The 2015/16 season proved to be a steady campaign in the league with an eventual finishing spot of 4th, but it ended in a truly memorable manner when Ian Street’s side outclassed local rivals and Step 3 outfit Witton Albion by a 3-0 score-line on their own turf to lift the Mid Cheshire District Cup for the first time.
This trophy was retained the following campaign with a 1-0 win over rivals Northwich Vics, but by this time the management of the club had passed into the hands of Paul Bowyer and Wayne Goodison – both of whom had been part of Ian Street’s back-room team.
The impact of the new management team was truly remarkable, as the 2017/18 season proved to be by far the most exciting and memorable in the short history of 1874, during which the ‘Go-Bo’ Green Army.
- Defeated National League North and former FA Trophy winners North Ferriby in the FA Cup
- Finally exited the competition on penalties in a 3rd Qualifying Round replay
- Reached the semi-finals of the FA Vase, only for eventual winners Thatcham Town to deny ‘74 a trip to Wembley by triumphing 4-2 on aggregate.
- Took hundreds of fans to away ties at Leighton and Thatcham
- Recorded a record home attendance of 1674 in the second leg of the semi-final against the Wiltshire outfit
- Ended the season by playing a mammoth 26 games in just 57 days and 69 games overall
Given the successes of the 17/18 campaign, it would have been astonishing if ’74 had been able to equal the achievements of the previous season. After all, even the top clubs in the country struggle to repeat their immediate past triumphs – so why should this not be true for ’74?
So, a final position of 10th – the lowest that the club had finished in since being promoted to the Premier Division– did seem to suggest a decline in the clubs’ fortunes. But that would be completely wrong, as 1874’s final standing was hugely influenced by a difficult start to the season in which the loss of key players from the 17/18 campaign – allied to a cruel run of injuries to many of the clubs’ key creative and attacking players – resulted in a somewhat disjointed first few months of the season and early exits in both the FA Cup and Vase.
Another factor that we probably didn’t fully appreciate at the time was the impact that the untimely death in December 2017 of our inspirational and dearly loved Chairman Paul Stockton had on the club. It was therefore perhaps a fitting tribute to this wonderful man when, on the afternoon of Saturday 4 May 2019, his name was chanted aloud by the 500 or so ’74 fans who had just witnessed their side lift its first major piece of silverware, an 88th minute goal by the Greens gave a deserved 1-0 victory over league champions City of Liverpool FC in the final of the NWCFL League Cup.
Having agreed what was initially a 2 year groundshare deal with Barnton, during the summer of 2019 the club moved loc-stock and barrel from Winsford to their new home at Townfield and thereby kicked off the 2019/20 season playing within the boundary of the town that bears the club’s name. Both clubs are now working to develop a longer-term vision for the ground that will improve facilities for fans, players and officials alike.
The NWCFL Macron Cup win proved to be a springboard for the club as from the very outset of the it was clear that ’74 would be one of the main contenders for the NWCFL title.
Another good FA Cup run – which was halted at the 2nd Qualifying Round by an admittedly fortunate Whitby Town side – was the precursor to an astonishing league campaign that included a 15-game unbeaten league run – another club record.
But it wasn’t just the results that were impressive, it was the swash-buckling, stylish passing and pressing style of play in which ’74 played the game that brought them so many plaudits and admiration from other clubs and commentators from all quarters. But in addition to their verve and panache, the side also possessed a steely, never-say-die, attitude that that gained them several precious points from seemingly difficult positions. This left ’74 in the box seat at the head of the league with 9 games left and 8 points ahead of second placed Rylands with a game in hand.
So, if there was ever a bunch of players and back-room staff that deserved to end a season celebrating a league title, then it ought to have been those fantastic bunch of players. But as you will know, the Covid 19 outbreak resulted in a sudden cessation to grassroots football and, heartbreakingly, players, officials and fans alike were denied seeing the league trophy being paraded around Townfield.
Although we didn’t know it at the time, ‘74’s elevation to Step 4 was only to be delayed by 12 months as due to the re-organisation of the National League Pyramid, 74 became eligible for promotion to the newly created Northern Premier League West! And to celebrate this elevation, on 24 July 2021 the Greens became the first club in the 40+ year history of the competition to retain the NWCFL Macron League Cup by convincingly defeating Runcorn Town 6-3 in the much delayed 2019/20 final.
Life during our first campaign as a Step 4 club was inevitably challenging at times. As a small fish in a much bigger pool, almost each week we faced by clubs with far greater resources than we have at our disposal. So, a final finishing spot of 12th out of 20 was a highly satisfying end result. It might have been even more impressive had our home form had been a little more consistent!
At one stage in our second season, it seemed as if we’d comfortably better this showing, but a lacklustre end to the season eventually saw ’74 slip to 14th place. The undoubted highlight was the deserved 1-0 away win at eventual champions Macclesfield, a game that was witnessed by over 3500 fans – which remains the biggest crowd to have witnessed a game involving ‘74.
Unfortunately, our third season at Step 4 proved to be a difficult and at many times dispiriting watch with just 4 league wins being recorded – which was double the number of managerial changes!
Towards the end of the season the club appointed former Runcorn Town, Conwy Borough, Cefn Druids and Flint Town United manager, Chris Herbert and he was given the task of almost building a side from scratch which would be capable of competing the Premier Division of the Midland Football League.
And Chris – who was ably assisted in this task by non-league ‘legend’ Steve Burr – almost got ’74 back into Step 4 at the first time of asking as they made it through to the play-off final against Shifnal Town. However, the Shropshire side proved to be the better side on the day and so ’74 were consigned to play at Step 5 for another year.
Fast forward exactly 12 months and ’74 again found themselves facing the same task – needing to beat the Premier League runners up in the play-off final at their ‘home’ ground to secure a spot back in Step 4.
But unlike the tussle with Shifnal a year earlier, this game had some real extra spice as ‘74’s opponents were none other than a certain Northwich Victoria!
Well over 1200 fans poured through the turnstiles of Vics’ home ground in Runcorn to watch the showdown between the two Northwich clubs. Unsurprisingly given both intense rivalry between the two and the prizes on offer – a place at Step 4 and local bragging rights – the match was a tight, cagey affair with few goalmouth chances. In fact, it was settled by the only true piece of quality play during the game when ‘74’s Mike Hayes turned the ball into the net from an acute angle having been fed by a delicious through ball from Craig Pritchard.
When the final whistle sounded the players in Green fell to their knees in despair – an emotion that was no doubt shared by the Vics fans present that afternoon. In contrast, those clad in violet started a celebration with the hordes of ecstatic ’74 fans that went on well into the night!
But things in life – and particularly football – are never simple and just weeks after this triumph Its architect Chris Herbert announced that he had agreed to join Vauxhall Motors as their new manager and he was quickly followed by the majority of the squad that had secured ’74 their spot back at Step 4.
Faced by this huge and unexpected exodus, ‘74’s Board acted quickly to secure the services of Rory Fallon who led Wythenshawe to promotion from the NWCFL in 2025. Having manged to retain several key and experienced members of the promotion winning squad Rory has already started to add to this number by making several astute signings.
So, whilst it’s certainly been a summer of unexpected upheaval at Townfield, everyone associated with ’74 is anticipating that Rory will be able assemble a squad of sufficient quality that will ensure our 4th season at this level will be significantly more successful than the last one!