Season Summary 2005/06
This was a transitional period for Atherton LR and the season would become a baptism of fire for new Secretary Christine Rowlands. Following the resignation of managers Tom Foster and Ian Street, LR were pleased to obtain the services of Andy Nelson and Stuart Humphreys as the new management team, Humphreys having been part of the successful Atherton LR side of the early 1990's. However, just three weeks after joining the club, the duo were offered the chance to manage Leigh RMI (now Leigh Genesis) in the Conference League. It was too good an opportunity for the two men to turn down, so they tendered their resignation. The Atherton Board was left frustrated and annoyed. Chairman Allan Grundy had been contacted by Michael Peck from Leigh and made it clear that he would have to consult with the other Directors before giving RMI permission to speak to Atherton's new managers. However, later that same day it emerged that Mr Peck had already interviewed Humphreys and offered him the job, showing a total disrespect for LR.
The Atherton Board turned to Mike Lester, who had very nearly got the job ahead of Nelson and Humphreys when discussions were first held. He accepted the job and brought in Darren Ford as his assistant. Lester had a wealth of footballing experience and most recently had been coach at Trafford FC under ex-LR coach Danny Johnson. Ford was an experience goalkeeping coach who had also been at Trafford. With the appointment being made so late, it didn't give the new management team much time to organise a completely new squad for the coming season. The club had agreed to restart the reserve team for the new season for Humphreys and Nelson and the new managers also wanted the second string back.
Unfortunately, the team went out of the Goldline Trophy in the group stages because the new management had to use the games to look at new players, something which would normally have been done in friendly games, had time allowed. Only two players remained from the previous season, Liam Donnelly and Jamie Cavanagh, although Steve Settle rejoined in the September for a month or so before being picked up by Leigh RMI and Andy Meehan returned until injury ruled him out. The other familiar face in the side was Jamie Lester, who had played under Tom Foster.
Work was done on the Crilly Park pitch over the summer to improve drainage and it wasn't quite ready for when Atherton were due to play Blackrod Town in their Goldline Trophy match, so the game was played at Atherton Town.
While the season got off to the best possible start, a win at Trafford, only one more victory was gained in the following 14 matches, a 3-2 win at Colne. However, the results didn't always reflect the performances. A well earned draw against Northern Premier League side Goole in the FA Cup, conceding a goal deep into injury time at Curzon Ashton having pulled back a two goal deficit to seemingly earn a point and a number of games where they just struggled to get the ball in the net after creating plenty of chances. Finding natural strikers was a problem. Craig Coote was often given the responsibility to play at the front, not his natural position and under the circumstances he did extremely well, but the team needed real goal poachers to take some of the many opportunities given. However, while some of the players knew each other before coming to Atherton, others weren't known and the managers were pleased with the early performances.
The club was in mourning in September when they lost a young player. Danny Young had joined LR's youth set up and made a big impression which had seen him become a Reserve Team regular as well as making some first team appearances. One of his greatest moments was being in the LR squad to face Goole, in the tunnel before kick off thinking that he was about to play a match in the FA Cup. In a youth team match the day after he had played for the first team at Colne, Danny collapsed on the pitch and despite the best efforts of everyone, later passed away in hospital. He was just 17 years old. Atherton were due to play Congleton on the following Tuesday, but once the Booth Street club heard what had happened, they immediately agreed to a postponement. Emails from member clubs flooded in, with FC United and Norton United being very quick off the mark to offer their condolences as well as supporters from a number of clubs getting in touch to express their sympathy. Manager Mike Lester publicly thanked Trafford manager and ex-LR coach Danny Johnson and Curzon Ashton manager Gary Lowe who contacted him personally. Atherton's next match was a home game against Maine Road and both teams stood around the centre circle as two minutes silence was held in Danny's memory. His parents set up a fund to raise awareness of the condition that had affected Danny, an undiagnosed enlarged heart. It's thought that there a quite a number of people with the condition but totally unaware of it. When LR's youth team met Vauxhall Motors in an FA Youth Cup match, the Vauxhall club agreed that once expenses had been paid, all the money raised at the match would go to that fund.
September also saw both Jane Wilcox and Peter Colgan elected onto the Board of Directors.
Things continued as before on the pitch, some games the team didn't perform, others they played well but didn't get their just reward and on occasions they played as well as any team in the League. While the managers had a set core of players, others came and went and with injuries and suspensions to deal with as well, at times reserve or youth team players had to be drafted in to fill the gaps. From the start of November the team went on a run of eight games without a win, but then as Christmas loomed, they went on a five match unbeaten run, including a home victory over Skelmersdale who at the time were top of the League. The change was helped by the signing of a few new players to replace the likes of Steve Settle and Colin Bennett who had left the club.
There was a close call for Chairman Alan Grundy and his partner Julie on New Years Eve as rounding a corner they found a car on the wrong side of the road heading towards them. The accident left them needing to be cut from their vehicle and having treatment in hospital, but while it took a long time for all the injuries to heal, they weren't away from the club for too long.
There was some friction behind the scenes between the management and some club officials, which at times made things awkward and the management weren't happy about the work that was being done regarding the state of the pitch and organising fundraising to increase the budget for the following season. After a disappointing defeat to Congleton in February, they held a meeting with Chairman Allan Grundy to discuss their concerns. They weren't happy with the answers they received so tendered their resignation. As their decision came after a particularly disappointing defeat to Congleton, Mr Grundy asked them to consider their decision over the next 24 hours, to allow a cooling off period, but they were adamant that without the assurances they were looking for, they would leave with immediate effect.
The club promoted the reserve team management of Brad Wright and Lee Spratt as caretaker managers until the end of the season, but there was another twist to come. Wright was only in charge for two games before resigning. All bar four players had agreed to stay on after the departure of Lester and Ford. However, over the next couple of weeks, a number of others changed their minds. Some were offered positions at other clubs, some had only been at Laburnums to play for Mike Lester and moved to clubs nearer to home, while a mix-up with player expenses led some to believe they hadn't been treated fairly and decided to move on. That meant for Wright's second game in charge, he had to field a number of reserve and youth players to make up the side. After the game he decided it was too big a job and despite the best efforts of everyone at the club to change his mind, resigned with immediate effect.
That left the club with a problem, a League match with Nantwich two days away with no manager and a quarter of a first team remaining with no guarantee that the reserve players would remain now that their ex-manager had left. Fortunately, Scott Westwood said he would take over running the team for the rest of the season. Westwood had contacted the club just a few weeks before about joining them. He had played for a number of NWC and Northern Premier League clubs, but had been suffering from a back injury which had prevented him from playing. He wanted to play for LR to get his match fitness back and had quickly been taken on by Mike Lester. Although he had no managerial experience, his playing experience was of great benefit and the club gratefully accepted his offer of help. With the help of League officials and the co-operation of Blackpool Mechanics who agreed to postpone a reserve team game to ensure LR had enough players to fulfil their first team game, the club were able to put out a team at Nantwich. Although the game ended with a heavy defeat, the result was irrelevant to LR. Two days earlier it had looked as if the club would be unable to fulfil the fixture at all.
Scott brought LoL McMahon in as his assistant and the two of them set about bringing new players into the club. It wasn't an easy job, trying to find players who would commit to the club from mid-March to the end of the season and at first a few players came and went before the side settled with a mixture of experienced and younger players. They also had to help find players for the reserve side after a number either left or were drafted into the first team. Although the new look team didn't manage to win any of their games, they were never made to look bad and put a lot of effort and work into their performances. The only game in which they were outplayed was the final match of the season when, after a gap of two weeks without a match, they met the big spending Cammell Laird side which was clearly two steps above any other team in the League. Fortunately for the club, enough had been done earlier in the season to ensure that despite only picking up three draws in their last 15 games, they were safe from relegation.
The club had a decision to make then on the management team for next season. There were three strong contenders including Westwood who decided he'd like to carry on in the position. In the end the Directors decided to appoint Mark Cox as the new manager. Cox had plenty of experience in managerial roles and a good sized contact list for players. However, the club didn't want to lose Westwood after the hard work he had put in, so he was asked to become joint manager of the reserves and to liaise with the first team managers, a position he accepted.
There were financial problems this season as well. Atherton LR had been part of a fund raising scheme known as the "Saturday Yankee", but when one of the people running the competition died suddenly in October 2005, the club made no money from Yankee for almost five months. It came to a point where Directors had to put their hands into their own pockets to make a sizable loan to the club to keep things going.
It had been a long hard season with the club almost being unable to fulfil its fixtures at one point, but while they seemed to have come out the other side in one piece, everyone was glad to see the end of this season.
There was some good news, Atherton's matchday programme won three awards, "Best in League" from the NWCL, Soccer Club Swap Shop and Programme Monthly. It was also placed 3rd Nationally behind Exeter City and Chelmsford City by Soccer Club Swap Shop.