‘THE TOWN GROUND’ CLUBHOUSE TO GET INVOLVED AND ENJOY BEING PART OF OUR
The club owes its humble beginnings to long before their 1883 formation at the Rays Arms Hotel. Teams representing the town and playing under the name of ‘Heanor’ or ‘Heanor Town’ were recorded in 1878, but it was not until a public meeting was called in September 1883 that these fragmented issues were drawn together under one roof and the Club affiliated to the Derbyshire County FA.
They joined the Derbyshire League, but within a decade the Club had established itself as a top Midland League side, on one occasion finishing seventh when the top four were promoted to the Football League. And four times during this period reached the First Round Proper of the FA Cup (today’s equivalent would be the Third Round because the competition then had six Qualifying Rounds) losing to Aston Villa (away) 1-4, Nottingham Forest (away) 0-1, Bury (home) 0-3 and Southampton St. Mary’s (home) 0-1. In the latter game only a broken leg suffered by centre forward Sam Widdowson ensured that Heanor played with ten men for almost 80 minutes this after a 1-1 draw at Southampton. During this period such teams as Mansfield Town, Chesterfield, Lincoln City and Northampton Town were beaten in the Qualifying Competition. Since then, the Lions have played in the Derbyshire League, Mid-Derbyshire League, Midland League (four times), Central Combination, Central Alliance, Notts Alliance, West Midlands (Regional) and Northern Counties East. In 1986 they joined the Central Midlands and are the only Club to have held continuous membership of the Supreme Division since its formation. Last season they added the new East Midlands Counties League to the list in which they have competed. In 1958 Heanor entertained Fourth Division Carlisle United at The Town Ground in the FA Cup First Round losing 1-5 before 6,511 spectators. At the time they were members of the Central Alliance League Division One (North). But the strength of that league at the time can be judged by the fact that Ilkeston Town and Creswell Colliery was other clubs who also graced the FA Cup competition proper. In 1963 The Lions were a Midland League side and once again when they lost at the same stage away to Fourth Division Bradford Park Avenue containing one Kevin Hector and managed by Jimmy Scoular at Bradford in front of a crowd 5,799. The club’s best Midland League finish was in 1966 when they were runners-up and twelve months later, they were one of only six Midland League clubs with the best record selected to become founder members of the Northern Premier League. However, the Heanor Committee at the time declined the opportunity because of the costs involved and their place was taken by Goole Town. The Club has three times reached the Fourth Round Proper of the FA Vase; in 1989 they drew at this stage at home to Eastwood (Hanley) 1-1 but lost the replay by the odd goal of three. And the other two occasions also saw they lose by the same score to Rushden Town (Home) in 1990 and Arnold Town (away) in 2002. They have reached the Third Round Proper on two other occasions losing to Warrington Town and Eccleshill United both away. Honours decorated the Town Ground trophy cabinet at regular intervals during the 90’s with two Central Midlands League Supreme Division titles in 1995 & 1997 and the last being the Central Midlands League Cup won in a thrilling 5-3 finale against Ollerton Town in 2007. In 2009 the Club appointed Joint Managers Craig Hopkins and Glenn Kirkwood who set themselves a target to win the East Midlands Counties League championship within three years. In their first season they finished seventh, the season after they improved to third then in their third season, they achieved their goal when they were crowned champions in front of a home crowd of 154, beating local rivals Blackwell Miners Welfare 1-0 courtesy of a Josh Royce goal in the penultimate game of the season. Managers Kirkwood and Hopkins left Heanor Town giving short notice on the 12 January 2013 to join local strugglers Mickleover Sports. Jordan Hall, one of the players, was appointed as interim manager later that day and guided the club to an 11th place finish in the NCEL Premier league.
In June 2013 local businessman Geoff Clarence purchased the club and immediately spent thousands of pounds updating the facilities at the Town Ground including a complete renovation of the ageing clubhouse. Glen Clarence was appointed first team manager building a young local squad which improved the club to an 8th place finish in the league along with two semi-final appearances in the Derbyshire and League cups. With the re-shape of the football leagues from step three downwards Heanor took the sideways move to the Midland Football League. With that league folding Heanor moved to the United Counties North league. In 2024 Heanor Town reached the Derbyshire Cup Final and proudly played at Pride Park in front of a match record crowd of 1400. Then in 2025 the club reached the FA Vase quarter finals for the first time in its history.
Bright things are on the horizon for the club as a total ground upgrade including an all-weather pitch is due to finish by early 2026.
The Club was formed in 1966 (1964 as a Sunday League team) and tasted glory in their first season. Based at Maxey Road, the Club won both the Peterborough and District League Division Three (North) title as well as the PFA Minor Cup in their opening campaign. The first team were crowned champions of Peterborough and District League Division Two in 1968/69 and followed this success with the Division One title the year after. In 1995/96Deeping Rangers were runners-up in the Peterborough and District Premier Division, and again in 1998/99, under the management of Mel Landin, to earn their historic promotion to the United Counties League Division One (UCL). Maxey Road was our home until 1982 when we moved to the Deepings Leisure Centre. Since 1985 the Club has been based at Outgang Road. 2008/09 Rangers were top for many weeks but eventually claimed fifth spot. Tuncay stepped down as Manager at the end of the season with three top 7 finishes in three years, including our historic first UCL Premier League title, to his name. 2009/10 Saw Paddy Rayment take over, assisted by Danny Hussey. With a changed squad a poor start saw early cup exits but a mid season unbeaten run of games resulted in an excellent fourth place finish. 2010/11 Wholesale changes were made at the Club, but a poor start saw players come and go with the seasons highlight being a 2-1 defeat of Kings Lynn in front of a then record crowd of 307. Poor results saw Rayment and Hussey leave and Tuncay Korkmaz return as caretaker manager where he helped the club stabilise and results improved greatly for an eventual 14thplace League finish. 2014/15During the close season Rangers were rocked by the sad deaths of President Norman Fowler and Secretary Haydon Whitham within the space of 2 weeks. The season started with the first UCL Groundhopper weekend and saw a crowd of 307 watch Rangers beat Harborough Town on a Friday night. A quick exit was made in the FA Cup as Rangers lost at eventual Eastern Counties Champions Norwich United but better luck was had in the FA Vase as wins against Wivenhoe and Oxhey Jets saw us reach the 3rdRound for only the second time losing out against Heanor Town 2-1 after extra time. A fine 9thplace finish in the UCL but Tuncay decided to step down at the end of the season with his swansong being a 2-1 defeat by Peterborough Northern Star in the Hinchingbrooke Cup Final. In 7 seasons as a manager, ‘Tunch’never finished outside the top 10 – a fantastic achievement at any level of football. The seasons highlights saw some excellent football played with a much younger squad that pushed hard all season but faded towards the end. A new Club record attendance of 310 was reached for the League visit of AFC Rushden and Diamonds. During the season the Club renamed our ground The Haydon Whitham Stadium which also incorporated the Norman Fowler Stand, both as marks of respect to the highly respected and much-loved Club stalwarts. 2015/16 The season started with a new Manager for Rangers but a familiar face as Michael Goode made a welcome return to Outgang Road as First Team manager. ‘Goodey’was previously a player at Junior and Senior level for the club and he was also manager of our Midweek U18 team that saw success with many of his side progress into Senior Football. Despite a bright start to the UCL League campaign, the team struggled after Christmas winning just two more League games that season to end up 10thin the League. A mixed bag in the Cup competitions saw us knocked out of the Lincs Senior Trophy at the quarter final stage and in the semifinal of the Hinchingbrooke Cup. An exciting FA Cup run saw us reach the second qualifying round for the first time and included a 4-2 extra time win in a replay against higher league Leek Town, this after being 2-0 down at half time in the original tie. Our reward for the Leek win was a home tie against AFC Rushden & Diamonds. Despite a new record crowd at The Haydon Whitham Stadium of 635 (over double that of the previous record), we sadly bowed out of the FA Cup with a 3-0 defeat. 2017/18It was always going to be difficult to top the previous seasons efforts, and so it proved as Rangers finished fifth in a competitive UCL Premier League that ebbed and flowed throughout the season. Once again, a run of adverse results saw us fade away from the lead pack despite being in and amongst them for most of the season. The FA competitions saw some highs and lows and brought another first for the Club when our FA Cup 2ndQualifying Round tie at home to National League North outfit Kidderminster Harriers was chosen by the BBC to be streamed live on their website. A memorable day also saw the FA Cup trophy make a visit to The Haydon Whitham Stadium and to top it all, a new record crowd of 696 graced the ground as Kidderminster ran out 4-2 winners. We equaled our furthest run in the FA Vase when we reached the 3rdRound. The previous round was a 7-goal thriller away to Godmanchester Rovers as we turned around a 3-1 half time deficit to claim a 4-3 win, with the winner coming in the 4thminute of injury time. With our sights set firmly on a good Vase run, we were brought back down to earth with a 3-1 defeat away to AFC Hinckley and so end our Wembley dreams for another year. Progress was made off the pitch with the completion and official opening of our new hospitality suite, The Clarets Lounge, which has given the Club a new dimension for visiting officials and sponsors and cements our place as one of the more progressive and forward-thinking Clubs at our level. 2018/19 Was a season when Rangers played some scintillating football, travelled many miles in pursuit of FA Vase glory and finally broke our silverware drought. Another UCL Premier League runner up position was achieved for the second time in three seasons, this time we finished behind runaway winners Daventry Town. Rangers also excelled in Cup competitions – despite an early exit from the Hinchingbrooke Cup at Potton United. We should have played in the UCL KO Cup Final after a memorable 6-2 win over Daventry in the semifinal. However, due to a well-documented administrative error over an ineligible player, we were denied the chance of facing local rivals Holbeach in the Final. Our exploits in the FA Vase will live long in the memory as Rangers reached the last 16 of the competition (5th Round) for the first time in our history. Home wins vs Blackstones, Eastwood Community and FC Clacton coupled with away day successes at Walsham le Willows, Newmarket Town and Wantage Town eventually led us to a snowbound Devon early in February to tackle Willand Rovers. Despite our best efforts and leading twice in the game, Rangers agonisingly succumbed 3-2 in front of a crowed of over 900. Despite this setback, Rangers galvanized themselves and continued their excellent League form and, on a wet and windy night in Lincoln, we won the Lincolnshire Senior Trophy beating Grimsby Borough 4-3 on penalties following an entertaining but goalless 90 minutes.
A HUGE THANK YOU TO OUR CLUB AND TEAM
YOUR COMPANY NAME ON SOCIAL 4 TICKETS FOR THE MATCH INCLUDING COMPANY NAME AND LOGO ON THE YOU GET TO CHOOSE THE MAN OF THE CONTACT THE CLUB THROUGH THE SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES IF YOU WISH TO SPONSOR A MATCH. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
