‘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 founded in 1874 and early competition was in the Midland Amateur league which was won in 1910/11. The Central alliance was won in 1924/25 and the club finished runners up to Shrewsbury Town in the Midland counties League in 1938. After the war local legend Jack McCartney scored 416 goals in just 456 appearances until his retirement in 1955 In 1964 under player manager Jim Rayner the Midland League was won with the club scoring 152 goals in the season. Rayner moved to Notts County to be replaced in 1965 by Terry Bly as player manager and the next 14 years are still remembered as the golden years for the club. The Midland League was won in 1971 and in 1972 and regular cup runs brought large crowds to the London Road ground with the most memorable being in 1973 when Jack Charlton brought his Middleborough side to London Road where a record crowd of 6578 saw Middleborough win 2-0. The club moved into the Southern League winning Division 1 North in 1978 and the following year finishing runners up in the Premier Division. Following relegation, the club bounced back the following year to win Division 1 North again Following the reorganization of non-league football, the club were moved to the Northern Premier League and finished 4th in 1984 but the following year they failed to gain re-election and returned to the Southern League. Financial problems meant the club had little success until in 1987 The board appointed Martin O’Neil as manager and along with assistant John Robertson Promotion was missed by a single point his first season and 5th spot gained the year after. Martin moved on to climb the managerial ladder at the end of that season. The following year the club was taken over by Reg Brearley through his company Antrac. Mills was replaced as manager and the club went full time, but huge financial losses saw the club’s future threatened when Antrac walked away. The club was forced to enter a CVA, and a difficult period followed as the club struggled to get back onto its feet. This was reflected on the pitch and when John Wilkinson arrived as manager at Christmas 2000 the club had just 9 points but following a tremendous run were finally relegated on goal difference on 47 points. Promotion back to the Premier division was achieved in 2002 as runners up. During season 2014/15 the club had to make the difficult decision to cut its playing budget when predicted income was not achieved. This resulted in several players leaving the club. Also departing was Jim Albans but his partner Wayne Hallcro stayed and recruited former Coalville manager Adam Stevens to replace Albans as joint manager and the pair set about rebuilding the side. Hallcro departed in late January to team up again with Albans at Belper Town to leave Adam Stevens in sole charge of team matters. Under Stevens the club finished 12th in the Premier Division and the following year 18th. 2016/2017 saw the club had its best season for many years and had a chance of reaching the playoffs right up to the final week of the season finally finishing in 8th spot. In addition, they reached the league cup final going down 2-1 to Bamber Bridge. 2017/2018 saw the club finished in 4th spot in the premier division and went on to reach the playoff final going down 2-0 at Ashton United. Manager Adam Stevens stood down after the game replaced by Ian Culverhouse for the 2018/2019 season. Culverhouse resigned in October and was replaced by former Notts County Assistant manager Richard Thomas. Richard Thomas left the club in February to be replaced by former Harrowby United managers Paul Rawden and Russ Cousins. Rawden and Cousins left the club in late February and after a game under the control of caretaker manager Danny Racchi Martin McIntosh was appointed as manager. Martin managed just two games in charge before Covid brought the season to a close. He has spent the summer rebuilding the side for the new season. With the season halted due to the Covid pandemic McIntosh left the club. Former England International Carlton Palmer was appointed as team manager and along with his assistants Jas Colliver and Matt Chatfield totally rebuilt the side for the 2021/2022 season. Carlton Palmer stood down as manager in early November with assistants James Colliver and Matt Chatfield taking charge of team affairs. The club moved quickly to appoint Dennis Greene as manager with Matt Chatfield becoming assistant. The club parted company with Greene in March with Chatfield stepping up to take charge until the end of the season. The club were relegated to step 4 at the end of the 2021/22 season after 10 years at step 3. Chatfield took the managers job permanently at the start of the season. The club have struggled this season but did win the Lincolnshire Senior cup beating Spalding United 1-0 at Lincoln City’s LNER stadium. After avoiding relegation on the final day of the season the club have underwent a complete rebuild in the summer. Matt Chatfield hws been replaced by Paul Rawden who returned to the club and along with his assistant Steve Kirkham had to build a complete side on a much reduced budget. Paul Rawden became Chairman in December and former Academy coach rejoined the club as Head Coach. A strong finish to the season secured the clubs step 4 position. The club were moved from the Eastern Division to the Midland Division in the summer which will greatly reduce the clubs travel costs. Bland left the club in October 2024 with Paul Rawden returning to the dugout on an interim basis. Nathan Arnold was appointed manager on January 1st 2025 with Paul Rawden returning to the role of Chairman. Nathan Arnold resigned in April 2025 when the club were relegated to step 5. Mitch Griffiths was appointed as manager in May.
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