Dabbers'success                         Updated August 20, 2010

Jackson Avenue and the move to The Weaver Stadium (this page)

FA Vase win | Victory tour of the town | Club's history told in new book

THIS picture shows part of Keepers Chase (as the former football ground is now called) in May, in a similar view to the picture below). Work continues on the former stand side of the ground. More pictures can be found on this page.

A panorama of Nantwich Town F.C.'s ground at Jackson Avenue in the summer of 2007. Nantwich Town's successes here are now just a pleasant memory as Barratt develop the site.

Now a limited company

NANTWICH TOWN FC became a limited company - Nantwich Football Trust Ltd - in a move to secure its future for some years to come. The change took place in July 2010.

    Read more on http://evostikleague.pitchero.com/nantwich-change-of-status-2512/. That's on the Evo-Stik Premier League's website - the new name for the Unibond League. It is basically the Northern Premier League but a new sponsor - Evo-Stik Adhesives and Sealants - means a new name. The previous sponsors, Unibond, ended their sponsorship after 16 years.

Sponsorship deal for first team home shirts

A MAJOR sponsorship agreement for their first team home shirts during the 2010/11 season has been signed by the club with Cheshire-based County Insurance. The “Insurance4Your” logo will be emblazoned across the front of the home shirts and displayed around the Weaver Stadium and the 3G pitch.

   Tim Crighton of County Insurance said: "Insurance4Your are delighted to be sponsoring Nantwich Town. We wanted to support our local club whilst also promoting our brand and service to local residents."

   Nantwich Town F.C. Commercial manager Jon Gold said “A club such as Nantwich Town is dependent on the support and generosity of its partners and we are grateful to all of them and hopefully we will be in a position to announce further partners in the next few weeks."

   The new look shirts were worn for the first time in pre-season games with Stoke City and Crewe Alexandra". Replicas will be available to purchase from the club store.

www.insurance4your.co.uk

From a press release issued by the club.

PLAYERS Kevin Street and Darren Tinson have been appointed as the club's managerial team on a permanent basis, the Crewe and Nantwich Guardian reported on May 6, 2010.

    While they were caretaker managers, the Dabbers won five of the six matches they played and drew the other, with a clean sheet on all the four away matches.

Pete Hall leaves as Head Coach

"NANTWICH Town F.C. and Head Coach Pete Hall have regrettably parted company by mutual consent." That is the start of a statement posted on the club's official website at the end of March 2010.

   It goes on: "The club wishes to place on record its sincere thanks for all the hard work, enthusiasm and dedication Pete has given during his time at the club in both coaching and football development.

   "He leaves with the best wishes of everyone at the club and will always be very welcome at the Weaver Stadium".

    A successor to Pete Hall is not expected to be appointed until the summer. Meanwhile, players Kevin Street and Darren Tinson are acting joint managers.

   The Dabbers dropped to 15th place in the Unibond Premier League table after a number of lost matches, although they had risen to 11th place after a 3-0 away win against Whitby the Saturday after Pete left. The team finished the season in 10th position.

    Pete Hall was assistant to former manager Steve Davis through the club's meteoric rise through the leagues and their two cup wins. Pete had a brief to win two more promotions in three years - with the Blue Square Conference in 2012 as the eventual aim.

   He was helped as manager by Kevin Street, one-time Crewe Alex mid-fielder. Kevin didn't actually apply for the job of managing the Dabbers, but Pete Hall wanted him as his assistant.

   Steve Davis, who led the team through two promotions in two years - missing out on a third in 2009 - had returned to Crewe Alex, for whom he was once a player, to be assistant manager, working with the Crewe manager, Gudjon Thordarson.

Read the club's full statement here.

Congratulations, Jim

CONGRATULATIONS to Jim Kettle, the Dabbers' oldest and longest "serving" fan. Jim joined the growing ranks of the town's 90-year-olds on February 22, 2010.

   It was at the tender age of nine that Jim stood on the sidelines at Jackson Avenue, supporting his favourite team, who were then playing in the old Cheshire League.

   The ground was just round the corner from his home. But his parents wouldn't let him travel to away games, he told Michael Chatwin for the book "Proud to be the Dabbers''.

   Jim's Dad wasn't interested in football, but his son, Graham, grandson, Peter, and great grandsons Sam and Josh are all keen fans.

 ''Proud to be the Dabbers''

Marketing Executive

THE club has appointed Helen Alton as Marketing Executive for its events suite. Read about her here.

Weaver Stadium could be World Cup team training base

NANTWICH Town F.C.'s ground could be used as a training base for one of the teams in the 2018 World Cup, if the event comes to this country. For more details see this page.

Get the right site

THE official club website is www.nantwichtownfc.com. There is a similar website domain name which, of course, takes you to a different website.

Stadium address

NANTWICH Town FC's stadium address is Nantwich Town F.C., The Weaver Stadium, Waterlode, Nantwich, Cheshire, CW5 5BS. The phone number is 01270 621771. 

The Weaver Stadium story

WORK on Nantwich Town F.C.'s long-awaited £3.75 million new ground started on August 21, 2006. It was two years since the plans for the new ground in Kingsley Fields were first announced, but it was not until July 11 that Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council planners gave the go-ahead for the project.

  The announcement on the website (www.nantwichtownfc.com) said:

   "Nantwich Town FC have announced that they have completed the purchase of the site for their new ground at Kingsley Fields and the sale of their Jackson Avenue ground to Barratt Homes. After lengthy legal delays, a start is now expected on site on 21st August, 2006.
   "Main contractor Bossons will start work on the £3.75million project which is expected to take 40 weeks to complete. It means that the scheduled match against Squires Gate on 14th April, 2007, will be the club's last at Jackson Avenue. Further updates will appear on the website as work progresses."    

   Previously the website had said the club had received almost £1 million from the Football Foundation - "the U.K.'s largest sporting charity" - which announced it had awarded the club "one of their largest ever grants." The actual sum was £959,995 which also included £100,000 for a football development officer "to create more opportunities for players of all ages and abilities to play the national game." The Football Stadium Improvement Fund was also behind the grant.

   Forty weeks after the starting date, the club can expect to have "a superb new stadium . . . a community sports facility . . . a full-size floodlit 3rd Generation pitch and a modern, two-storey changing pavilion, housing male and female changing  rooms for players and match officials,

medical rooms and a huge social and function suite." I won't quote the website at length. Read it for yourself by following the link above. But here is just one more quote from the site. "Nantwich Town Chairman, Clive Jackson said 'We have worked very hard over a number of years at the club to develop

the infrastructure to support our football development  plan. The final stage of this was to provide facilities for the use of our own sides and the community in general. This would never have been possible without support and funding from The Football Foundation. . . and the other contributors to the project - Nantwich Town Council (£100,000) and Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council (£60,000).

" 'We would further wish to thank the organisations and individuals who have worked along side us to make this project possible, namely the local Football Development Forum, Cheshire County F.A., Clare Wilson (Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council), and South Cheshire Youth league.

The stand at Jackson Avenue

   " 'On a personal note, I would like thank all of our supporters  for their patience - Jon Brydon (Vice-Chairman) and Michael Chatwin (President), Bob Melling and the Youth Committee who have made my visions and dreams for this project turn into reality.' "  

   The Nantwich Chronicle of July 11 quoted Mr Jackson as saying: "It has taken a long time but good things come to those who wait. It is a great foundation to build on and the ground will finally give our 28 teams a place to call home.

   "We are aiming to get promotion this season and then consolidate what we have got and push forward with the aim of achieving Conference football in the next few years." 

Another view of the London Road ground

   The newspaper said the ground "will have a capacity of 3,500, a 350-seat grandstand and covered standing accommodation for a further 700 spectators, making it amongst the best non-league grounds in the country".