News archive
Witton Albion club news, 2006–08: a digest
What the club told its supporters over eighteen months, from a race night to raise money for the manager's budget to the fortnight in May 2008 when the manager and the chairman both walked out. The stories are summarised, not reproduced.
The news section of the old Witton Albion website had five headings: club news, boardroom news, the manager's analysis, programme notes and function information. Each was a list of headlines, usually with a line or two of text and a link to the full story.
The Internet Archive kept the lists but almost none of the stories behind them. What survives is therefore a run of headlines and opening sentences, enough to follow the club through one of its two best league seasons since the championship of 1990–91. This page sets them out in order. Nothing is quoted at length; many of the pieces were match verdicts and reports written for the local press and carried on the club site.
Winter 2006–07
The earliest items date from the site's first version, when Witton were on their way to finishing second in the Northern Premier League.
| Date posted | Item |
|---|---|
| 14 January 2007 | Witton are drawn at home to Marine in the League Cup, to be played on 10 February; a match against Northwich is put back to 30 January |
| 15 January 2007 | The final of a "Miss Witton" contest is advertised for that week, at a venue in Northwich |
| 16 January 2007 | A reminder about a race night in the social club on 25 January, with all profits going to manager Jim Vince's budget |
| 20 March 2007 | The chairman, Mike Worthington, and the president, David Leather, are pictured receiving the league's club of the month award for February before the home match with Ilkeston Town on 17 March |
Autumn 2007: going top
The site was rebuilt in the summer of 2007, and from September the club news list fills up quickly. Witton lost on the opening day at Lincoln United and then went unbeaten in the league until New Year's Day.
| When | What the club reported |
|---|---|
| 25 September | A 3–0 home defeat by Altrincham in the first round of the Cheshire Senior Cup, watched by 351 |
| 29 September | A 2–1 win at Ashton United, in front of 213, that put Witton back on top of the table |
| Early October | Goalkeeper Jon Kennedy wins the league's first "Safe Hands" award after conceding three league goals in August and September |
| Early October | Jim Vince speaks warmly of a new signing, the midfielder Dean Craven |
| 9 October | Witton 6–1 Prescot Cables |
| 13 October | A 2–2 draw at Leek Town |
| 16 October | Witton 3–0 Kendal Town, with a hat-trick from Adam Warlow |
| October | Darryl Proffitt leaves for Alsager Town |
| 30 October | A goalless draw at Fleetwood Town |
| Early November | Witton are named the Premier Division's club of the month for October |
| 3 November | A 5–2 FA Trophy win at Stocksbridge Park Steels and another Warlow hat-trick, his third |
| 10 November | Witton 3–1 Hednesford Town |
| November | The full-back Liam Brownhill makes his England C debut |
| 17 November | Witton 2–0 Ossett Town, settled by Mark Peers |
| 20 November | A League Challenge Cup tie at Colwyn Bay goes to extra time and penalties, four days before an FA Trophy trip to Hucknall |
| 24 and 27 November | A 1–1 draw at Hucknall Town and a 2–1 defeat in the replay end the FA Trophy run; Peers is sent off in the replay and banned for three matches |
| Late November | Dean Crowe leaves; Kyle Wilson signs from Barrow |
December 2007 and January 2008: ten points clear
| When | What the club reported |
|---|---|
| 1 December | Witton 4–2 North Ferriby United; Warlow scores three again |
| 8 December | A 2–1 win at Worksop Town takes the lead at the top to ten points |
| 15 December | A late Stamford equaliser makes it 1–1; the lead stays at ten points |
| 22 December | A 1–0 win at Frickley Athletic, with Kyle Wilson's first league goal for the club |
| 26 December | Witton 2–1 Ashton United |
| 29 December | Witton 3–0 Buxton |
| 1 January | Eastwood Town win 1–0 and end the unbeaten league run |
| 5 January | Two goals from Rod Thornley beat Curzon Ashton 2–1 and put Witton in the last eight of the League Challenge Cup, where they are drawn against Gateshead |
| Early January | Vince signs a forward he has been pursuing for some time; other news items identify him as Tony Evans |
| 12 January | Witton 2–1 Ilkeston Town, with Alex Brown back from injury |
| Mid-January | Kyle Wilson is released after four goals in seven starts, the manager saying he has too many strikers; John Dillon also leaves, the second departure in a week |
Around the results the list carries the ordinary business of a club: a letter of thanks from the Cheshire Schools Football Association, a charity match between Witton and Northwich Victoria supporters, presentations to sponsors, and links to video interviews with the players, described on the match video page.
Spring 2008: the lead disappears
Only one news capture survives from the run-in, dated 19 March. Its lead item is a verdict on a 1–1 draw at Guiseley four days earlier, in which Alex Brown scored and Guiseley equalised in stoppage time. It notes that Fleetwood had also drawn, and that Witton's lead stood at eleven points with Fleetwood three games in hand.
What happened next is told in the club's own match reports, which are restored individually on this site:
- Witton Albion 0–3 Fleetwood Town, 24 March
- Witton Albion 6–0 Lincoln United, 29 March
- Witton Albion 1–0 Guiseley, 12 April
- Witton Albion 0–3 Worksop Town, 26 April
- Witton Albion 1–1 Buxton, lost on penalties, 29 April
May 2008: the manager goes, and comes back
The last capture of the news page, taken on 19 May 2008, leads with a single long story under a "breaking news" heading. Its facts are these.
Jim Vince had resigned within hours of the play-off defeat by Buxton, after falling out with the chairman, Mike Worthington. Worthington then left the club too. Less than a fortnight later Vince agreed to return on a two-year contract, along with his assistant, Nigel Deeley. The announcement was made by Mark Harris, a director now acting as chairman, who said that talks with supporters' representatives had secured the playing budget Vince wanted and that supporters had agreed to increase their fundraising. Vince had been linked with Southport and Altrincham in the meantime. Many players had clauses allowing them to leave if he did. A meeting for supporters was called for 29 May, at which a new commercial team was to be introduced.
The reprieve was brief. Later accounts record that Vince stepped down again within about two weeks, citing his health, and that Deeley was appointed manager on 28 May 2008. Vince became manager of the newly formed FC Halifax Town on 2 July. The budget was cut and most of the squad left; the consequences are in the 2008–09 news digest.
The other headings
The four smaller sections of the news pages were thinly used, and each is represented in the archive by one or two items.
Manager's analysis. One column by Jim Vince, written for the programme when Fleetwood Town visited in the FA Trophy in the autumn of 2006. He regrets the club's recent FA Cup exit, which he felt was undeserved, congratulates the visitors on their own cup progress and asks for support in a competition in which Witton have a tradition. Witton won the tie 2–1. A later link to this section led only to a notice that news was coming soon.
Programme notes. A piece by Keith Clayton from November 2006 about coins being thrown at football matches, prompted by an incident at Newport County in which a fourth official was struck. It calls for firm punishment of the club and the manager involved. Later headlines in the club news list show that Jim Vince's own programme notes, for the Prescot and Hednesford matches of autumn 2007, were posted there instead.
Boardroom news. The only item was a copy of the club's official history, posted in November 2006. Its content is covered on the club history page.
Function information. Notices about hiring the social club and reports of fundraising evenings, including a sportsman's dinner in November 2007. These are described on the sponsorship and commercial page.
Sources and notes
Dates in the first table are the posting dates shown on the site. In the later tables the club's list gave no dates, so each item is placed by the date of the match it refers to, taken from the club's own fixtures and results. Scores quoted in headlines agree with that list in every case. Kyle Wilson's record of four goals in seven starts is the club's figure.