County visit close neighbours Cheadle Town tonight a 7.45pm kick-off and, ahead of this Cheshire Senior Cup tie, County Tweet-meister Gareth Evans has put together five factoids on Cheadle for you.
- 1. Our third midweek match in a row away from home – but not very far to trek this time!
Less than two miles along the B5645 and A560, in fact – albeit with a postcode-change from SK3 to SK8 along the way – which will make this Cheshire Cup-tie County’s shortest-ever trip for a competitive fixture.
- 2. Wait! You mean, we have never played each other competitively before?
No – our near-neighbours have, of course, been regular opponents since changing their name from Grasmere Rovers to Cheadle Town 34 years ago, but the dozen or so meetings we have had, all at the Park Road Stadium, were pre-season friendlies. The Hatters have won the majority of these – on one occasion, in 1994, racking up 11 without reply in front of a 1,700 crowd – but were held twice (1988 and 1990) and beaten in 1984, following Cheadle’s completion of a first season in the North West Counties League, where the club continues to ply its trade today.
- 3. How did the club fare in its earlier Grasmere Rovers guise?
From small beginnings in 1961, when teenagers Barrie Dean (14) and Chris Davies (15) formed a team – named after their street, Grasmere Avenue – to play in the Under-16s Division of the Manchester and District Sunday League, Rovers gravitated up to Saturday football 11 years later. They achieved a ‘double’ of the Manchester Football League title and the Manchester Amateur Cup in 1980, before proceeding to lift both the Manchester Challenge and Derbyshire Association Cups a year later.
Grasmere – sporting the green kit that has been revived for use by Cheadle Town since the club’s 50th anniversary celebrations during 2011 – also began a schedule, which the re-titled outfit has continued, of legendary foreign tours. These have seen teams travelling under the ‘Manchester AFC’ name take part in more than 100 games with national and club sides from over 30 different countries, as well as clocking up well in excess of 200,000 air-miles. Rovers were the first, and remain the only, English team to play in and against Cuba (in 1975), while the tourists have also graced the turf of Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium and paid a visit to the Maracanã in Brazil.
- 4. Some impressive international connections there!
You want more?! Portugal’s 1966 World Cup squad trained at Park Road – originally the home of Cheadle Rovers – and a winner from the Jules Rimet era, Brazil’s Jairzinho, hosted a soccer school for Cheadle Town in 1993. The Brazilian winger also turned up at Edgeley Park to watch a County fixture during his stay in the area, but rather carelessly forgot to bring his boots with him!
On the other hand, it is probably best not to dredge up too many memories from three years ago, when Cheadle entertained Russia’s Under-19 team, ahead of the Russians’ European Championship match against Northern Ireland. The visitors, on that occasion, won 22-0 – but, in fairness, a number of Town’s youth players who featured against them already had a game at Knutsford from the morning under their belts!
- 5. Given our proximity, there must be players who have turned out for both clubs?
There are – although perhaps not as many as you may have thought. And the two that immediately spring to mind are both full-backs! Most recently, Matthew Todd, who left EP in 2016, has played at Park Road – while, rather further back in time, Ian Ledgard, following four full and four substitute appearances as a Hatter during 1968/69, also wore the green of Grasmere.
Another connection that cannot go unmentioned is that of Chris Davies, who, having been present at Grasmere’s birth, took on the role of the club’s first manager in its Sunday League days, and, for over four decades now, has served as chairman. Chris combines his Cheadle Town responsibilities with those of County’s Match Officials Host – a function he has performed at home matches in SK3 for 28 years. If you see him at Park Road, just don’t ask him for a prediction…!
