 | |||
| Full name | Hanley Town Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1966 | ||
| Ground | AFFORD Rent A Car Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent | ||
| Chairman | Ron McIlreavy | ||
| Manager | Ryan Shotton | ||
| League | Northern Premier League Division One West | ||
| 2023–24 | Northern Premier League Division One West, 13th of 20 | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
| |||
Hanley Town Football Club is a football club based in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England. They are currently members of the Northern Premier League Division One West and play at AFFORD Rent A Car Stadium.
The original Hanley Town were established in the 19th century, with their first recorded game being in 1882.[1] They joined the Combination in 1894, but left the league after a single season and subsequently folded in 1912.[1][2] The modern club was established in 1966,[3] based on an existing Sunday league pub team named the Trumpet.[1][4] The new club joined the Longton League for the 1966–67 season, winning it at the first attempt.[5] They then moved up to the Staffordshire County League, winning Division Two in 1967–68 and then Division One the following season, earning promotion to the Premier Division.[5]
Hanley were Premier Division runners-up in their first three seasons in the division, also winning the Premier Cup in 1969–70. They won the league title in 1972–73 and again in 1975–76, after which they joined Division Two of the Mid-Cheshire League. They won the Division Two Cup in 1976–77 with a 1–0 win over Knutsford in the final,[6] and a third-place finish the following season saw them promoted to Division One.[4] They were Division One champions in 1982–83, but after several seasons of mid-table finishes and being refused entry to the North West Counties League in 1988 due to failure to meet the ground grading requirements,[6] they finished bottom of Division One in 1993–94 and dropped into junior football.[4]
In 1996 Hanley returned to the Mid-Cheshire League, joining Division Two. However, after two seasons they switched to the Midland League and in 2004–05 they were Midland League champions.[4] At the end of the season the league merged with the Staffordshire County League to form the Staffordshire County Senior League. Hanley were placed in the Premier Division and were the league's inaugural champions in 2005–06 before finishing as runners-up the following season.[7]
Hanley were Premier Division runners-up again in 2010–11, before winning back-to-back titles in 2011–12 and 2012–13, after which they were promoted to Division One of the North West Counties League;[4] the 2012–13 season also saw them win the League Cup, the Staffordshire FA Vase and the Leek Cup.[8]In2014–15 the club finished fourth and qualified for the promotion play-offs; after a 3–1 win over Holker Old Boys in the semi-finals, they lost 5–3 to AFC Darwen in the final.[9] However, the club were Division One champions the following season, earning promotion to the Premier Division.[4]
At the end of the 2020–21 season Hanley were transferred to the Premier Division of the Midland League. They went on to win the Premier Division title in 2021–22, earning promotion to Division One West of the Northern Premier League.
The modern Hanley Town initially played on a pitch on Victoria Road which was leased from the Copestick & Farrell engineering company.[10] Changing rooms were built at the site once the club joined the Staffordshire County League.[10] However, the club was forced to leave the Victoria Road ground in 1971 when developers took over the site and moved to Eastwood Hanley's Trentmill Road ground.[10] However, when Eastwood Hanley attempted to increase the rent in 1974, the club relocated to Leek Town's Harrison Park. They played there until 1976 when the club moved to its current Potteries Park ground.[10]
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