Goole A.F.C.

Goole
	File:Gooleafc.jpg
Full name	Goole AFC
Nickname(s)	The Vikings
Founded	1912 (Goole Town); 1997 (Goole AFC)
Ground	Victoria Pleasure Grounds,; Goole
Capacity	3,000 (300 seated)
Chairman	Desmond O'Hearne
Manager	Nigel Danby
League	Northern Premier League; Division One South
2007-08	Northern Premier League; Division One South, 9th
Home colours	Away colours

Goole AFC is a semi-professional English football club based in the town of Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, it was founded in 1912. They currently compete in the Northern Premier League Division One South, which is at Step 4 on the football pyramid.

The club has spent its entire existence in non-league football to date, where they have won various championships over the years. Perhaps Goole's crowning achievement so far was reaching the FA Cup third round in 1956-57 before going out to Nottingham Forest.

History

The club was originally founded in 1912 as Goole Town Football Club when they entered into the Midland Football League. Town played in that league for three seasons, finishing each season respectably and with a highest position of 4th place in 1914-15. That same season they reached the First Round of the FA Cup, but lost to Middlesbrough 9-3 at Ayresome Park.

Play was suspended because of the First World War and Goole did not re-enter the Midland League afterwards. However, just after the war, as Goole Shipyards Football Club they became founding members of the Yorkshire Football League for the 1920-21 season.

In 1924 the club had reverted to the Goole Town name and were back in the Yorkshire League. By the late 1920s Goole had proved themselves at this level, their pinnacle in this period being their championship-winning season in 1927-28. Goole continued in the Yorkshire League throughout the 1930's and 1940's, picking up the championship during both the 1936-37 and 1947-48 seasons.

Return to the Midland League

In 1948, Goole Town decided to return to the Midland Football League, which they had not competed in since the start of the First World War. At the end of 1950-51, they finished in 3rd place above the likes of Peterborough United and Boston United.

For the rest of the 1950's however, Goole lingered in the lower regions of the league, but had one very notable FA Cup run. In the 1956-57 season Goole Town reached the Third Round of the FA Cup, having previously knocked out Wigan Athletic 2-1 away and Football League Third Division North side Workington, before finally going out to Nottingham Forest^[2].

The 1960's for Goole Town was largely uneventful in the league; the majority of the time they finished around mid-table, with a decent 5th place finish in 1967-68 being the highlight. That season they had also taken Spennymoor United to a first round replay in the FA Cup.

Northern Premier League

Goole Town became one of the founding members of the Northern Premier League in 1968, where they played against the likes of Macclesfield Town, Scarborough and Stafford Rangers - alongside old rivals Boston United and Wigan Athletic. During the first-ever season of the league, they finished in 8th place.

Goole Town's best finish in the Northern Premier League was 6th place on two occasions these were the 1976/77 season and then again in the 1988/89 season.

Goole Town's worst finishes in the Northern Premier League were in the 1970/1, 1985/6 and 1992/3 season's when they finished in last place on each occasion.

The club folded at the end of the 1995-96 season due to financial difficulties

Goole AFC: 1997 - present

Goole AFC was formed in its place during 1997, though the club is generally seen as an official continuation of their predecessor.

Recently the club have been successful, having become champions of the Northern Counties East League in 2005 and are currently playing in the Northern Premier League Division One.

A re-organisation of the non-league structure during the summer of 2006 saved them from an immediate return to the Northern Counties East League, as they finished in the relegation places at the end of the 2005/6 season.

The 2006-07 season saw a major upturn in form, with a 7th place finish earned after collecting just 5 less points than was needed to reach the play-offs.

The 2007/08 season was much the same but Goole AFC missed out on the play-offs again after a faltering last quarter to the season.

In 2008/09 Goole AFC will start the season on -10 points for entering Adminstration.

Goole's best season in the FA Vase was getting to the 4th Round in 1998-99, where they lost 0-1 to Bemerton Heath Harlequins in front of a crowd of 592.

Recent events

The club announced that they had changed their name to Goole Town in June 2006, however the West Riding FA rejected the name change thus forcing them to remain as Goole AFC. It is expected the name change clearance will be given to the club in time for the 2007-08 season.

At the start of 2006-07, Goole made a major signing in Chris Tate who had been playing in Sweden last season after being released from Leyton Orient.

Just before the start of the 2008-09 season it was announced that Goole AFC have an unpaid bill of £30,000 to the Inland Revenue. The Inland Revenue issued a Winding-Up Notice on the 17th July 2008. Goole AFC decided to enter into Administration to enable a CVA to agreed with the Inland Revenue. For season 2008-09 Goole AFC are expected to start with -10 points for going into Administration.

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	GK	ENG	Craig Parry
—	DF	ENG	Ian McLean
—	DF	ENG	Luke Smith
—	DF	ENG	Chris Jenkinson
—	MF	ENG	Andy Jackson
—	MF	SCO	James McDaid
—	MF	ENG	James O'Neil


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ENG	Craig Marsh
—	MF	ENG	Danny Buttle
—	MF	ENG	Brad Hill
—	FW	ENG	Duncan Bray
—	FW	ENG	Steve Rollinson
—	FW	ENG	Karl Rose
—	FW	ENG	Joe Brown
—	FW	ENG	Chris Tate
—	FW	ENG	Andy Parton

Notable former Goole AFC players

Notable former Goole Town FC Players

Records

Goole AFC's top attendance in any game since formation was against a Leeds United side in 1999, when 976 turned up to watch Leeds win the game 5-3.
Goole AFC's top attendance for a competitive game was against FC United of Manchester in the Unibond President's Cup Semi-Final in 2008 when 967 fans turn out, FC United of Manchester won the game 3-1. This was also the largest competitive attendance since 1987 when Goole Town lost to Nuneaton Borough in the FA Cup the attendance that day been 868.
Goole Town's top attendance in any game was against Scunthorpe United in the 1949/50 season, when 8,700 packed into the VPG for this important league match.
The largest crowd in recent years was when Manchester United played a friendly against Goole Town in March 1987, the match which Manchester United narrowly won 4-3 was watched by 1,759 supporters.
The largest league crowds in recent years was a 2-0 defeat against Barrow when 786 turned up, a few weeks earlier Goole Town beat Witton Albion 3-0 in front of 730 supporters.

Biggest Wins

Goole AFC's biggest win came in their very first competitive game when they beat Blackwell Miners Welfare 8-0.
Goole AFC's biggest Unibond League win was against Kidsgrove Athletic when they won 6-2 in 2008

Ground and Colours

They play their home games at the ageing Victoria Pleasure Grounds. Plans to upgrade the VPG to Conference standards are being put together at the time of writing. Although an option is available to move the club to the proposed new Westfield Banks Sports Academy, which will enable the local Council to sell the VPG and put funds into the new venture.

The team's colours are strongly reminiscent of Arsenal's traditional kit of red shirts and white sleeves, with white shorts and red socks. The away colours are a tribute to the Goole Town kit of the mid 1980's before they changed to Barcelona colours.