History

Derrick Kinsey looks back at Gresley Rovers history...

Gresley Rovers were formed in 1882 in the small mining village of Church Gresley, which is near to Swadlincote - the biggest town in South Derbyshire.

Their first ground was at Mushroom Lane in Albert Village a mile or so from Church Gresley and they played mainly friendlies and cup games for ten years before joining the Burton Junior League for the 1892/93 season. They won their first league title in the 1894/95 season eleven points clear of their nearest rivals in the Burton Junior League.

Rovers moved from the quaintly named Mushroom Lane ground (which they shared with the local cricket club Mushroom Lane CC) to the newly acquired Church Street Ground in time for the 1895/96 season.

Despite the lack of facilities (the teams changed at the nearby Boot Hotel) they were accepted into the Midland League for the 1903/04 season where they stayed for three seasons. Some of the clubs played are now in the Football League. They struggled in this much higher standard and therefore returned to the local league in 1905 to 'gather their strength' again.

Rovers stayed at Church Street till near the end of the 1907/08 season when they had to move as the land was required for building and moved across the road onto the newly acquired Moat Ground - the ground they still play on today.
Rovers stepped up a couple of grades to join the Central Alliance and then moved up again as they joined the powerful Birmingham Combination in 1925. However, despite reaching the First Round Proper of the F.A. Cup in 1930/31, they experienced financial difficulties and these forced them to leave the Birmingham Combination and join the more local Central Alliance in 1933.

A couple of seasons later they moved to the Leicestershire Senior League and enjoyed success in the immediate post-war years as they won the title in 1946/7 and 1947/8 and were runners-up in 1948/9. At the start of the fifties the Club made the decision to join the Central Alliance. However, on this occasion, their stay in that League was only brief and they joined the Birmingham & District League in 1954/5. They then rejoined the Central Alliance in 1959/60 and stayed in that League until 1974/5 during which time the League changed its title to the East Midlands Regional League.

Gresley dominated that League and in the fourteen seasons from 1961 to 1975 the lowest they finished was in fifth place as they won the title on four occasions, finished runners-up on four occasions, ended in third place on three occasions, fourth on two occasions and fifth only once. At the start of the 1975/6, they moved to the West Midlands League, which was a much stronger League, and in the early years they always ended in the lower regions of the table. However, after much hard work off the field, runners-up spot was achieved in 1985/6 and the following six seasons saw Gresley finish 4th, 4th, 2nd, 3rd, lst and 1st. During that period they also won the Derbyshire Senior Cup on four successive occasions. Season 1990/91 was a particularly good one for Gresley. In addition to the League Title and the Derbyshire Senior Cup win they also reached the final of the F.A. Vase and so had the honour of playing at Wembley. Their opponents were Guiseley and some National Newspapers reported it as 'the most exciting Wembley Cup Final ever'. When one looks at the goals sequence one can see how the game earned that accolade: After 31 minutes the score was Guiseley - 3 Gresley - 0, but Gresley came back and grabbed a very dramatic equaliser in injury time at the end of the ninety minutes. Then in extra time Gresley went 4 - 3 in front but this time Guiseley scored a very dramatic equaliser as they levelled things in injury time at the end of the second half of extra time.

The replay at Bramall Lane saw Gresley lose by 3 - 1. However, despite that tremendous season their application to join the Beazer Homes League was not successful but they battled on to win the league again the following season. This time their application to the Beazer Homes League was successful and they were placed in the Midland Division for the 1992/3 season. That 1992/3 season had some disappointment for Gresley as they lost in the semi-final of the F.A. Vase and so narrowly missed another trip to Wembley, but in the League they confounded everyone by finishing as runners- up and so gained promotion to the Premier Division at the first attempt. The 1993/4 season saw them consolidate in 14th position but medals did come to the Club as they again won the Derbyshire Senior Cup and reached the Final of the Dr. Martens League Cup. An improved League position of 8th was achieved in 1994/5 and that season saw them reaching the First Round Proper of the F.A. Cup for only the second time ever before losing away to Crewe.

Paul Futcher was appointed manager with Garry Birtles , former England International, his assistant on 2nd November 1995. Rovers improved their League position yet again in 1995/6 as they ended the season in 5th place and had the bonus of winning the Derbyshire Senior Cup yet again.
The season 1996/7 was the best in the Club's long history because in addition to retaining the Derbyshire Senior Cup they also won the Dr. Martens Premier Division championship. Rovers were unbeaten in their first seventeen league games (won 10 drawn 7) and were league leaders for 31 weeks.

The title was finally won with a 3 - 1 home victory against Gloucester City at the Moat Ground on April 26th 1997. Gresley Rovers became the first Derbyshire side and first village side to win this prestigious trophy but ground grading meant that they were unable to gain promotion to the Football Conference.

Paul Futcher the Manager during that campaign left during the close season and his Assistant Manager Garry Birtles stepped up into the Manager's position. The disappointment of not being promoted to the Football Conference saw many of Gresley's players leave the club. The 1997/8 season saw Gresley finish in the bottom half of the Dr. Martens Premier League.

The 1998/99 season will go down in the history of Gresley Rovers as one of the worst. At the end of 1998 they were in the top six. By the end of April they were relegated. The season started well and 13 points from their September games saw them in third place just four points adrift of the leaders Nuneaton Borough. In November Gresley Rovers were drawn to meet Walsall at the Bescote Stadium in the first round of the F.A. Cup. Gresley went close to causing an upset but were denied at least a replay by a goal 11 minutes from the end. Victories over Kings Lynn and Hastings got December off to a fine start; however, three defeats saw them drop to 6th place. After a disastrous run of 6 successive defeats in January saw them slump to 17th place just 5 points above the relegation places. In February two successive draws and three defeats proved to be Garry Birtles downfall and he and his assistant, Paul Fitzpatrick were dismissed. Stuart Ford took charge temporarily and saw the team beat Atherstone 2-1 that ended a run of 14 games without a win. In March 1999 Brian Kenning was appointed manager. The opening game of April produced a comfortable 3-0 victory over Cambridge City. But three defeats followed against Nuneaton, Crawley and Rothwell. Vital game at Dorchester and Salisbury yielded only one point. The defeat on the final day against Bath City pushed Gresley into the Midlands Division just two years after winning the Dr. Martens Premier Division Championship by 11 points. The last time Gresley were relegated was in the 1958/9 season when they went down from the Birmingham League Division one to Division two.