By James Wood
After the travails of last season in which ’74 finished rock-bottom of the NPL Division 1 (West), recording just four wins in total and scoring a paltry tally of 24 goals whilst conceding 89, it might not be too surprising that the ’74 faithful chose to adopt the now legendary anthem ‘Things can only get better’ by D:Ream as their refrain!
Having acquitted themselves well in their first two years at Step 4, the task of competing against clubs with far higher budgets, better facilities and greater resources, maintaining this status proved to be a step too far for the club.
Sadly, one consequence of the downturn in the clubs’ fortunes was that in the November the long –serving and widely admired management team of Paul Bowyer and Wayne Goodison left the club after approaching seven years in charge. Unfortunately, their replacement – Damien Crossley – lasted just 10 weeks before he too departed the club.
So, towards the end of the season the club appointed former Runcorn Town, Conwy Borough, Cefn Druids and Flint Town United manager Chris Herbert as Crossley’s replacement. And better news was to follow as just weeks later when Herbert announced that none other than Steve Burr would be joining him at Townfield as his Assistant. Burr has a huge wealth of knowledge and experience from being Assistant Manager for the England’s C squad, to managing Chester, Northwich Vics, Hereford FC and Kidderminster Harriers in the National League.
So, everyone at 1874 is hopeful that Chris, Steve and the rest of his backroom team will soon help banish the memories of the last twelve months and get ’74 back to winning ways!
But whilst the 2023/24 campaign will be one that everyone connected with the club will want to forget very quickly, it was actually far from representative of the previous ten seasons that the club has played competitive football. Indeed, since the clubs’ formation in November 2012 the number of successes and good news stories emanating from the club has far outweighed the negative ones.
The first of these occurred in November 2012 when disaffected members of the Northwich Victoria Supporters Trust voted 141 to 4 to create a new club. And two weeks later they agreed that it should be called ‘1874 Northwich’. Whilst this might not have been the member’s intention, by doing so the fledgling club became the only one in Europe whose name starts with wholly numeric characters!
But exactly what had happened to bring so many long-standing and loyal Vics supporters 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. I mean, much very 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 on that dark, cold, and wet autumn night, 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.
Suffice to say that by late 2012 such were the state of affairs with 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.
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.
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 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.
This cup win proved to be a springboard for the club as from the very outset of the 2019/20 season 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 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.
As covered earlier, our third season proved to be a difficult and at many times dispiriting watch. But whilst every fan wants their club to do well and succeed on the pitch, when it comes to ’74 it’s not all about what happens on the 6000 square metres of turf. You see, as a democratically owned and operated community focussed club, from the get-go, we made it a key priority to forge positive links and partnerships with the local voluntary and business sectors.
So, over the past decade not only have we forged beneficial partnerships with many well-respected local companies including Britannia Carpets, Oxyl-Pro and our newest sponsors Shadow Foam, but we’ve also developed excellent relationships with our chosen charity partners, which have included the Mid Cheshire based Neuromuscular Centre, St Luke’s Hospice, and the children’s hospice ‘The Joshua Tree’. In addition, regular collections have also taken place for local food banks, homeless people shelters, The Samaritans, Armed Services veterans, and a myriad of other deserving causes as well as attendance at community events.
The 2014/15 season also saw the club run an U21 side and since then, several of their number have now progressed to the First-team squad and beyond. More recently, 1874 have fielded sides at junior level and the establishment of these teams has acted as a stepping stone towards the creation of other sides covering all age groups, genders, and abilities.
’74 also played a major role in establishing local ‘walking football’ sessions each week which have proved to be hugely popular with the ‘more mature’ ladies and gentlemen of Cheshire, most of whom had probably thought that their playing days were well behind them!
2019 was also a landmark year off the field as for the first time the club finally played within the boundary of the town of Northwich following the signing of a 2-year agreement to share Barnton’s Townfield Lane stadium. A huge amount of work was undertaken to improve the facilities for players, officials, and supporters alike as well as meeting the ground-grading requirements that were necessary for promotion to Step 4. The agreement was extended for a further 5 years last season and both clubs are now working to develop a longer-term vision for the ground that will improve facilities for fans, players and officials alike.
But any investment that we make on or off the park will be done in a responsible and sustainable manner. Indeed, one of our main principles has always been that we will not jeopardise the long-term interests of the club by spending money just in order to ensure success on the pitch.
As last season demonstrated, at times such a policy makes matters difficult and frustrating but given the memories and experiences we all shared as fans the club we once followed, it is a path from which we will not deviate.