Fleetwood Football Club

The club has played in different places, had different names, and risen and fallen through the leagues. Find out more about Fleetwood Football Club.

Fleetwood Football Club Today

Today, Fleetwood Town FC play at the now 5327 capacity Highbury Stadium. The ground opened in 1939 at the end of the most successful three-year period in the club’s history, after they completed a hat-trick of Lancashire Combination Cup wins.

At the time of writing (Jan 2024) the team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club – originally formed in 1908. 

Highbury Stadium

This is the clubs headquarters and site of match fixtures. There’s a club shop, executive hospitality boxes, conference and hospitality facilities. It’s adjoining the attractive green open spaces of Fleetwood Memorial Park.

Address: Fleetwood Town Football Club, Highbury Stadium, Park Avenue, Fleetwood, FY7 6TX
Website: https://www.fleetwoodtownfc.com/

At the south side is the Percy Ronson Stand, opened in 2007. The Highbury Stand is at the West side and against the park in the North the Memorial Stand – both opened in 2008. The Eastern Parkside Stand with the Parkside Suite of executive boxes and function suite opened in April 2011.

Along with the facilities of the Parkside Suite, you can also enjoy Jim’s Bar and Highbury Soccer Social Club.

Pitch Renovation

Did you know that the gorgeous green sward of the finest football pitches goes through incredible maintenance every year?

At the end of each season, the grass surface is mechanically stripped off to reveal bare earth beneath. An advanced process sees re-seeding, sand and root-zone applications which will result in a strong, sturdy sward ready for games to commence in just a few weeks time, usually pre-season friendlies.

Poolfoot Farm

This is Fleetwood Football Clubs purpose-built training centre in Thornton. Sir Alex Ferguson performed the official opening on 20 April 2016.

The complex comprises 12 grass pitches, two full-size FIFA 2-star standard artificial pitches, a fully fitted gym, fitness studio, physiotherapy suite, dedicated classrooms, meeting rooms, a bar and restaurant, seven changing rooms and offices.

History of Fleetwood Football Club

Fleetwood Rangers

Fleetwood Rangers was the town’s first football club, back in 1881. Mainly ex-military men who played at their own Copse ground – where Siding Road and Station Road are now. It was here that the team played the forerunners of Manchester United – then called Newton Heath. They also met Everton in an English cup-tie and also Ardwick – forerunner of Manchester City. They also played a new team, Liverpool, at Anfield and beat Woolwich Arsenal, now simply Arsenal, on tour in the South.

Fleetwood Amateurs

When they folded in 1899 Fleetwood Amateurs filled the gap after the dissolution of the Rangers at the Copse Ground. The Amateurs were another really formidable side with a well developed ground on Warrenhurst Park. This was after TG Lumb laid out the former gardens of Warrenhurst / East Warren Farm.

They had a railed, enclosed pitch with a seated grandstand very close to the present big Parkside stand at Highbury Stadium. Part of the playing surface was shared with Fleetwood Cricket Club. They also had their pavilion on Warrenhurst Park, close to present Park Avenue. The Amateurs won the Lancashire Amateur Shield during their time at Warrenhurst.

Fleetwood Football Club – v1!

Fleetwood Football Club came a while later, formed in 1908. Their original colours were amber and black but changed to red and white around 1919 as part of an arrangement with a trawler fleet whose colours were red and white.

The new North Euston Ground was their pitch, where the courts and police station are of today. But the pitch was too small to be allowed to play in the FA (formerly English) Cup. So the club built a new Queens Ground in 1920 opposite the side of The Queens Hotel when they reformed in 1920 after the War. With the grounds designed to hold over 20,000, they won the Lancashire Combination League there in 1924. A wall still exists behind the houses alongside Beach Road garage. The ground was too far out of town though and after the Great Flood of 1927 the club shut. The ground closed in February 1929 when the club folded. Rented by Fleetwood Rugby Union Club and later sold off, it’s now Romney and Leighton Avenues.

Windsor Villa – becoming Fleetwood Football Club

Soon after, the North Euston pitch re-opened for a team called Windsor Villa representing the town. They joined the Lancashire Combination, changing in 1931 from Windsor Villa to Fleetwood Football Club and enjoyed their greatest success until the Andy Pilley era.

This image was published to celebrate the visit of HRH Prince George, during Fleetwood’s Charter Week, on 4 October 1933. The football ground alongside the North Euston was the third possibly the fourth occupied by the town team.

The Present Home of Fleetwood Football Club

The present Highbury Stadium opened the week before World War II broke out in 1939. Football resumed again in 1946 when the war was over. A crowd of over 4,500 witnessed a 5-5 draw against local rivals Morecambe, in a Lancashire Combination fixture.

Within two years the stadium saw a remarkable transformation when it was re-modelled to host British League 2 speedway. Huge crowds, at times topping 11,000, packed Highbury to see home favourites, the Fleetwood Flyers. The football club played inside the speedway track – the corners of the pitch being returned for matches.

As you can imagine, five summers of speedway left a lasting impression! This only disappeared with the development of the present day Highbury Stadium.

Fleetwood Museum has a little post-war football and speedway memorabilia, amongst other local sporting items. Here are a few photos showing Highbury in the 1950s and comparative present day views.

There have been various versions of a town team. One of them folded in 1976 after being wound up by the Inland Revenue.

In 1977 Fleetwood Town Football Club had another brief reprieve, rising from the ashes of two local league sides. Although they joined the Cheshire County League they folded soon after.

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Todays Fleetwood Town Football Club

But it was next time lucky and in 1995 Fleetwood Town Football Club came into existence again. Reformed by Jim Betmead in 1997 with a name change to Fleetwood Wanderers, and soon after Fleetwood Freeport Football Club. They won the Northwest Counties League and Cup double in 1999 – before changing the name back to Fleetwood Town Football Club in 2002.

Local businessman Andy Pilley took over in 2004. The club then won the Northwest Counties Division One title in 2005.

A period of development began at the ground – with new stands opening in 2007, 2008 and 2011. In 2012 they were promoted to the Football League for the first time. They didn’t even kick a ball – a draw between Wrexham and Grimsby meant promotion for the runaway league leaders.

23 April 2012 – Fleetwood Town win Promotion!

Fleetwood Town Football Club thrilled supporters and people of the Fylde Coast alike in 2012. They secured promotion to the football league for the first time in the clubs history.

Todays Fleetwood Town Football Club formed in 1997, but two previous incarnations of the club go right back to 1908. After over 100 years of football in Fleetwood it’s what can only be called a historic achievement. Everyone in the port was behind the team, whether they’ve got an interest in football or not. It also saw Fleetwood make the headlines. The achievement brought tv cameras, press reporters and photographers to the grounds and the town, to gauge public opinion and put the town in the spotlight. A great boost to the area.

Micky Mellon was Manager in charge, leading the team from the Blue Square Bet Premier to the League, their fifth promotion in eight years. Mellon said “Any manager that’s ever been successful will tell you that you have to have good players and I’m certainly blessed”.

The Jailing of the Chairman

On 4 July 2023, Andy Pilley, the owner and former chairman of Fleetwood Town Football Club was jailed for a multi-million pound fraud which “duped” firms into expensive energy contracts. A trading standards investigation found that he mis-sold gas and electricity contracts and posted fake customer comments on websites.

Pilley, 53, of Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire, resigned as chairman and club director of the League One side following his conviction. He was jailed for 13 years. Read the full article here.

Jim Betmead MBE – A Big Part of the History of FTFC

At the time of writing I was a member of the Business Club at Fleetwood Town FC. Jim Betmead, newly named MBE, was invited along to a meeting to share his story. I’d already started this page about the history of Fleetwood Town FC through the decades, so I got my pen ready to add Jim’s story. The thing that quickly struck me was what a lovely bloke: full of enthusiasm and va-va-voom. I can see why a) he revived the club and set it on its present course and b) why he’d been awarded an MBE.

Jim’s Affair with Fleetwood Town

Jim’s love affair with Fleetwood started when he was 17 and started playing for the club. That went on until he was 32 and then, as footballers do, he found another career as an electrical technician at ICI. They were then the big-name at what is now Hillhouse Industrial Estate at Thornton.

ICI started their long decline which eventually saw them leave the Fylde Coast, but Jim and his wife didn’t want to take the relocation package. Instead they preferred the severance package which enabled him to stay here in Fleetwood – you can understand why. But that left him with a problem – what to do next. After a look around he finally decided what he wanted to do.

Fleetwood Town FC was in one of its periods of closure at the time, but that didn’t stop Jim. He went home one day and said to his wife ‘I’m going to have a crack at Fleetwood Town. I’m going to see if I can get it going again’. A tolerant and understanding wife she must be – because that’s just what he did next. A public meeting at Highbury Club attracted over 200 people. Thanks to the help of an ICI colleague he’d analysed what the future might bring. The gathered crowd would discuss what might be done, and where the benefits and challenges would lie.

Nothing worth having is easy…

I can’t imagine that it was easy, because these things never are. I would also imagine that he gave himself many a headache from banging his head on a wall, trying to secure the use of Highbury. At the time it was unused and under threat of becoming a housing estate.

Phil Brown, now Vice Chairman, was one of the first contacts he made. Together they, and numerous others, have worked tirelessly from the start to set the club on the path it now follows. Jim says “getting into the NW Counties 2nd division and then going on to win that division was a big highlight.”

The Andy Pilley Era

Andy Pilley then came along and the club entered a new era. Jim had taken it as far as he could, but with Andy’s backing and investment it’s entered a whole new level. Jim adds “For me the biggest achievement was coming through the pyramid and winning the Conference League. What a feeling that was, and to get to Wembley was unbelievable.”

Jim summed up what makes Fleetwood Town so special, and why it’s managed to come so far so quickly in recent years. He says “On the field and off the field the club have got everything right. All the staff, players, management team. Everyone wants the same thing – to keep going forward and to be successful. Everyone has got the same ideals and it’s a great atmosphere that makes for a well run and solid club. Long may it continue.”

He went on to add that for a town with a community built on a fishing industry which has declined significantly, the club has given the town its community pride back. It also employs about 400 people thanks to the business interests of Andy Pilley.

Back to Jim’s MBE…

So how did the MBE come about?

After spearheading the club for five years, Jim joined DWP and ended up at Fleetwood Job Centre, where his new boss was a woman called Helen Crosier. She heard about Jim’s success at Fleetwood Town and what he’d done. Getting together with his old mate Phil Brown, between them they nominated Jim for the MBE. They completed the paperwork and collected the endorsements required for the successful nomination.

In an interview with the Club website, he said: “I received my MBE at Buckingham Palace for recognition of my work in the local community. It was partly to do with me reforming Fleetwood Town Football Club but also with my work at DWP in the town centre.

Jim is, of course, also the man after whom Jim’s Bar is named. He’s got his MBE, and he’s President of Fleetwood Town Football Club. As Jim says “life doesn’t get much better than this”. Well done Jim Betmead – you deserve it.