Stockport Town F.C.

Stockport Town
Full name	Stockport Town Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Lions, Town
Founded	2014
Ground	Stockport Sports Village, Woodley, Stockport
Capacity	2,384 (192 Seats)
Owner	Mark Stott
Chairman	Carlos Roca
Manager	Paul Turnbull
League	North West Counties League Premier Division
2023–24	North West Counties League Division One South, 2nd of 18 (promoted)
Website	www.stockporttownfc.co.uk
Home colours	Away colours

Stockport Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Woodley, a town just outside of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. They are currently members of the North West Counties League Premier Division, the ninth tier of English football, and play at Stockport Sports Village. Nicknamed "the Lions", the club was founded in 2014 and were accepted into the North West Counties Football League a year later.^[1]

History

Stockport Town was founded in 2014. Based at Stockport Sports Village, the club began with ambitious aims to begin life at the tenth tier of the English football league system. Stockport Town suffered a setback in their plans after being unsuccessful in applying for the league. After positive meetings, the FA told Stockport Town they were not convinced that the club met the required standards for a new club attempting to join the North West Counties. Despite this, the club board were convinced that a year of development would only benefit the club's application chances. On 29 April 2015, three of the club's representatives travelled to Wembley to meet with the Leagues' Committee. They highlighted how the club had been successfully run over the past year, with encouraging results against some high-profile clubs from the region.^[2]

On 14 May 2015, was accepted into the North West Counties Football League Division One for the 2015–16 season.

Early beginnings

Calum Sykes was manager of the club for its first two full seasons. On 17 December 2016, Sykes announced that he was to resign, and later that same day he was announced as the manager of nearby club New Mills.^[3] On 6 January 2017, the club announced that Dave Wild, with previous experience of coaching at Northwich Victoria and Maine Road, would replace him.^[4] Wild's reign began away at FC Oswestry Town, where a rebuilt squad put a stop to consecutive defeats and earned a point in a 0–0 draw.

Wild would lose just 4 out of 18 matches in his half-season in charge of the Lions, ending with a win rate of 50%, securing a tenth-place finish having scored 92 goals throughout the season.

On 29 March 2018, it was announced by the club that Wild and his backroom staff were to depart with immediate effect, joining Division One North club Mossley with U21s boss, Jake Davies, put in interim charge alongside his assistant Tom Upton. During their 11 games at the helm Jake and Tom finished with a better win percentage of previous managers Dave Wild and Calum Sykes combined in which concluded a tough season for the Lions.

Concluding the 2017–18 season, the club appointed Alan Lord as manager for the new 2018–19 season with interim manager Jake Davies and Tom Upton taking up first team coaching roles for the upcoming season.

Robbie Savage signing

Former Wales international Robbie Savage signed for the club in November 2019. He signed because he "wants to help young players to get back into football after they have been released by a club". His last professional game had been in May 2011.^[5]

In October 2020, Macclesfield Town's stadium and all available assets were purchased by Robert Smethurst, the owner of Stockport Town, with the aim of returning professional football to Macclesfield by creating the phoenix club as Macclesfield F.C.^[6] Smethurst appointed Savage as a member of the board for the new phoenix club.^[7]

Stadium

Stockport Town play their home matches at Stockport Sports Village, in Woodley, on a 3G Pitch (artificial turf). The stadium has a capacity of 2,384 spectators which includes 192 seats. In addition to the first-team pitch, the Stockport Sports Village Campus also accommodates 16 floodlit 3G pitches which are used by the local Charter Standard football teams and members of the public. The stadium was previously used by Stockport Sports before the club was liquidated in 2015.

The ground has two stands, the seated main stand located along the halfway line, which houses the club’s changing rooms, bar and toilet facilities, and a terrace located on the southern end of the ground.

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Period	Kit Manufacturer	Shirt Sponsor
2015–2016	Joma	Metro Taxis
2016–2017	Joma	Leemic
2018–	Nike	kitlocker.com

Current squad

^[8]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	GK	MDA	Andrei Stinca
—	GK	ENG	Alex Gorst
—	DF	ENG	Connor Hancock
—	DF	ENG	Kieran O’Connell
—	DF	ENG	Tom Whitty
—	DF	ENG	Jack Taylor
—	DF	ENG	Chiek Thiam
—	DF	ENG	Tom Greenfield
—	DF	ENG	Josh Robinson
—	MF	ENG	Rourke Neil
—	MF	ENG	Paul Turnbull


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ENG	Dahomey Raymond
—	MF	ENG	Lee Constantine
—	MF	ENG	Dale Jennings
—	MF	ENG	Reece Skelton
—	MF	ENG	James Vincent
—	FW	ENG	Liam Mottram
—	FW	ENG	Jardel Depeiaza
—	FW	ENG	Jesrun Uchebegulam
—	FW	ENG	Alex King
—	FW	ENG	Rhys Turner
—	FW	ENG	Aaron Knight

Club officials

Board and management officials

Position	Staff
Chairman	Rob York
Secretary	Rob Clare
Director	Ian Dixon Seb Rowe

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Coaching staff and support staff

Position	Staff
Head of Management team	Alan Lord
Player Manager	Paul Turnbull
First-team Coach	Jordan Robinson
Goalkeeping Coach	Jim Nasium
Physiotherapist	Tanya Audas Chris Pownall
U-21s Head Coach	Lesley Clayton
U-21s Assistant Manager	Josh Bramely
Head of Scouting and Recruitment	Christian "Bigsy" Batt