Having defeated Stalybridge twice on home turf this season the Shaymen are hoping that it won’t be a case of third time lucky for the Celtics. As the game continues to build in anticipation we continue our build-up to the game with 10 facts about Stalybridge Celtic.
· 1) Stalybridge Celtic were original founding members of the football league in 1921, though they were the first club to leave after only two seasons. The club didn’t feel that their average attendance of 5,800 was enough, despite neighbouring Rochdale averaging 2,000 less in the same league.
· 2) It wasn’t until 1992 that the club would reach the heights of the Conference again, playing six seasons until relegation.
· 3) 2001 saw the cub achieve an unlikely treble after winning the Northern Premier League Premier Division, the Cheshire Senior Cup and the Presidents Cup.
· 4) With the foundation of the then Conference North, things became increasingly difficult to reach promotion to the fifth tier of English football. But the Celtics surprisingly managed to get one game away, losing the playoff final to Barrow 1-0 in the 2007-08 season.
· 5) 2014-15 saw a different kind of success with Stalybridge surviving on the final day of the season; needing a point to survive following Brackley and Colwyn Bay’s final day victories, the Celts drew 4-4 with Gainsborough and were able to survive on goal difference.
· 6) Bower Fold is the only ground in Britain to face a perfect north.
· 7) The record attendance at Bower Fold, the home of Stalybridge since 1906, came in 1921 when Dick Kerr Ladies beat a Rest of Lancashire XI 10-0 – the attendance was officially 10,400, though estimations say the attendance was anywhere between 12,000 and 14,000.
· 8) The record attendance for a Stalybridge game came in 1923 during an FA Cup 1st Round Replay against West Brom, the Celts lost 2-0 in front of 9,753 people.
· 9) A bizarre occurrence during a Stalybridge Celtic Colts game (the junior side) saw one of the strangest goals ever scored. 13 year-old Danny Worthington struck from distance, when, with his shot going well over the bar, the ball hit a seagull and dropped into the net!
· 10) Stalybridge holds the Guinness World Records for the longest and shortest pub names; the simply titled ‘Q Inn’ opposes ‘The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn’. The two are situated a mere fifteen minutes from one another.
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