Season Summary 2003/04
There was a change over the summer months as joint manager Denis Haslem left the club to take over as manager of local club Stoneclough. Tom Foster moved quickly to bring in the experienced Ian Street to work with him. It was a bit of a late decision by Haslem, at the time leaving Foster wondering what to do, but Ian Street was happy to join the club. It was a baptism of fire for Street though. He joined just two weeks before the season started and having had just two weeks to get to know the players, he was left alone as Foster went off on a pre-arranged holiday. It may seem an odd time for a manager to go away, but it was booked for a specific reason, and at that time Foster had assumed that Denis Haslem would be there to look after the team.
There were changes to the team too. The entire defence moved on, the "Young Player of the Year", Adam Lucas also left and after a few pre-season games Barry Massey took the opportunity to move on to Bamber Bridge in the Northern Premier League. However, he was already registered to play for Laburnums in the Goldline Trophy so was available to help the club reach the final this season. It was fitting that the Atherton management invited him along for the night at the Reebok Stadium to be part of the experience. The start of this season saw Ross McNair join the club, a player who was to be so influential over the next seven years.
The work on the pitch, which had been delayed in part because of the events at the end of the previous season and in part because of weather conditions, meant that Atherton were unable to play any home games. The drainage of the pitch was being completely redone and replaced and while the work was successful the club would still have occasional problems in the years that followed, such as the railway company completely blocking the drains from the pitch when work was done on the embankment behind one of the goals. However, at this time, with events beyond the clubs control delaying the work, they approached the League and asked if they could play away matches for the first month of the season, a request which the League granted, so Laburnums first home game wasn't until 6th September when Trafford came to Crilly Park.
The League season was the best the club had had in the top division since returning to the North West Counties League. After the successful final run in the previous season, hopes were high but things didn't get off to a good start. The team played well enough and looked a strong side, but they only managed one win in their opening seven games. As often happens at this level of football, a few new faces took time to gel and along with suspensions from last season and holidays, it wasn't a settled side. The management were able to reach an agreement with Northern Premier League side Prescot Cables to have a few players on loan over the course of the season and especially earlier in the campaign when they really struggled to field their preferred first team. However, the team eventually started getting the results their performances deserved. Some good runs were made, winning five consecutive games in October and in April winning all four League matches played, a feat which saw Tom Foster awarded the North West Counties League Manager of the Month award. At times though, while there were enforced changes in the team, a very similar side would have an excellent victory and then put in a poor performance. An example being at the end of September when the team collected a very good 3-1 win at Nantwich. Three days later at Salford, Jason Kay returned from suspension, but Matty Dunthorne started a suspension and Karl Jones was ill and the team performed poorly to deservedly lose 4-0. After a good first part of the season, results took a dive in the winter months. Injuries and suspensions meant that key players were missing and while the managers brought in quality players such as Chris Curley, Simon Band and Steve Cunningham, home supporters didn't see a win between 29th November and 3rd April. While just one victory was gained in the five games played in March, performances were improving and the teams confidence growing. The catalyst was the Goldline Trophy final and that led to the great run of results in April. Although the results mid season meant that the team finished lower in the table than they were capable of, everyone at the club was still more than happy with the season. For the first time in a while the club had no relegation battle, the team was clearly progressing and the season ended on a high with the four straight victories, including a final day win over Woodley Sports who were to be promoted to the Northern Premier League.
The League confirmed that Atherton's 3-1 away win at Nantwich Town towards the end of the season was the clubs 100th Away win in the North West Counties League and Ben Obong's goal at Woodley Sports in February was the clubs 1,000th goal in the North West Counties League.
Results in the bigger cup competitions were disappointing. The team went out at first stage in FA Cup, FA Vase and Lancashire Trophy. In League Cup they won their first game against Trafford but then were well beaten by Second Division side Great Harwood Town. They had more success in local cups. The team won the Goldline Trophy for the second time, with the clubs first ever appearance at Reebok Stadium and then returned to the same venue to win the Bolton Hospital Cup.
Goalkeeper Ashley Timms, who came to LR during the course of the season, made the national newspapers after a bizarre match against Nantwich Town. Manchester City scouts had come along to watch Timms in action and with five minutes of the game remaining, Nantwich led 5-1. By the end of the match Nantwich had won 6 - 5 with Timms coming up for a corner and hammering home a superb strike from the edge of the area. Despite the scoreline, the City scouts were impressed enough to take Timms on to give him a trial and as Timms wasn't on contract at Atherton, they promised LR a friendly as compensation - but all these years later the club are still waiting for Manchester City to come good with their promise.
The club once again ran a successful youth set up with teams at seven different age groups. Unfortunately the Under 15's season ended early uncompleted. With a shortage of clubs it was decided that all teams should play each other three times, but part way through the season the FA told the Bolton Boys Federation that all member clubs needed to agree to that decision. Westhoughton Rangers were unhappy about a decision which had gone against them in the League and decided to retaliate by refusing to play clubs three times, thus bringing the season to an abrupt end and spoiling everything for all the young people at every club. A very out of character decision for a club which has done so much for young people over many years.
Off the pitch there was more progress at Crilly Park with the building of a brand new perimeter wall. Like a number of clubs, Atherton LR had suffered at the hands of local youngsters and the new wall was designed to combat this. The cost was over £50,000 but hard work by Brian Seddon meant that the bulk of the money was obtained from the Football Foundation and the remainder from the local Coalfield Trust. Planning permission was granted in December 2003 by the local council and work started shortly afterwards. Another change was the removal of the old bucket seats from the main stand. These had been vandalised over the previous few years, with some seats being unusable and a few missing altogether. The club decided the best move would be to replace these seats and over the summer of 2003 they were removed and new bench style seating was fitted. Unfortunately, the problems the club were having with local youngsters were only part of a major problem on the local estate and it took collaboration between police, councillors and local community groups to sort the problems out.
Despite the disappointment of the cup results and the mid-season dip, there were no negative comments about the season. Supporters had seen the club move from almost certain relegation candidates half way through the previous season, to becoming a strong mid-table side capable on their day of beating anyone. With more consistency, a top six placing would have been achievable. Also, two appearances at the Reebok Stadium and two pieces of silverware to add to the clubs collection all made it the best season back in the top division.