Consett A.F.C.

Consett

Full name

Consett Association Football Club

Nickname(s)

The Steelmen

Founded

1899 as Consett Celtic

Ground

Belle Vue Park
Consett
County Durham

Capacity

4,000 (400 seated & 1,000 covered)

Chairman

Frank Bell

Manager

Ben Willis

League

Northern League Division One

2015–16

Northern League Division One, 7th

Home colours

Away colours

Consett Association Football Club is a football club based in Consett in County Durham, England. Established in 1899, the club currently plays in the Northern League Division One having been promoted as Division Two Champions in the 2005–06 season. The team's home ground is Belle View Stadium, Consett, which opened in November 2013.

Founding members of the North Eastern Football League Division Two in 1926, they have reached the first round of the FA Cup twice in their history.

History

Consett A.F.C. was founded in 1899 as Consett Celtic. The town was dominated by the steelworks until 1980 and the club enjoyed their patronage. The works provided the team's first ground – the Vicarage Field, known locally as "the Vic". It was taken back by the Works in 1948, and the renamed side of Consett A.F.C. played at Eden Colliery Welfare during the construction of their new ground at Belle Vue. The Steelworks had donated an area of waste ground and slag heaps for this ground and the local community volunteered in clearing and levelling the field, a feat the people of the town were very proud of when it opened in 1950.

Early years to present day

Consett A.F.C. played friendlies for the first 20 years of their existence, but entered league football competitions after World War I. During its history, Consett have played in the following leagues:

1919 Northern Alliance – seven seasons
1927 North Eastern League
1935 Northern Alliance – two seasons
1937 North Eastern League – second occasion
1958 Midland League – two seasons, although 15 clubs left this league in 1958 to join the Central League.
1960 Northern Counties League (newly formed)
1962 North Eastern League
1964 Wearside League
1970 Northern League – presently playing in Division One

Stadium

Consett's first game at Belle Vue was against Sunderland Reserves in 1950. A club record attendance of 7,000 turned up to watch. One of the two new stands was paid for by the money Consett received for the transfer of local player Tommy Lumley to Charlton Athletic. The fee of £1,150 was a record for the North Eastern League, where Consett were playing at the time.

The main stand at Belle Vue today was largely unchanged since 1950, but the second stand has been totally dismantled. The club's 1996 FA Cup run contributed to the £30,000 needed for new floodlights, which were still in operation at the old Belle Vue. The current ground capacity is estimated to be 4,000 of which 1,000 are under cover with 400 seats. Currently, the biggest annual crowd is for the traditional friendly match versus Newcastle United or Sunderland reserves, which usually takes place before the beginning of the season and generally attracts between 500 and 1,000 people. Average gates were around 200 in the 2006–07 season. Belle Vue closed at the end of the 2012-13 season, and the Steelmen played a number of games on the road whilst their new home was under construction. On 22 November 2013 Consett moved to a new state of the art 3G pitch on the site of the old Tesco supermarket in Delves Lane. Belle View first opponents were a Newcastle United XI managed by Peter Beardsley, who officially opened the ground. The game attracted upwards of 2000 fans with the magpies running out 2-1 winners and Luke 'Sully' Sullivan scoring the steelmen's first goal at their new home.

Nickname

Consett A.F.C. was known as "The Ironworkers" until 1967, when they 'updated' their nickname to "The Steelmen". The first match with new nickname was against Gosport Borough in the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup. Consett lost at home 5–1, missing two penalties and numerous chances to score. In spite of this apparent bad luck, the nickname was not changed, and remains with the club today as one of the few public memorials to the town's now defunct steelworks.

FA Cup

On two occasions, Consett have reached the first round proper of the FA Cup. They were defeated on both occasions.

1958–59 Doncaster Rovers (away) 5–0
1996–97 Mansfield Town (away) 4–0

Management

Consett A.F.C. are currently managed by Colin Myers who began his management career as assistant manager to Previous Consett manager Kenny Lindoe at Brandon United winning the Northern League title in 2003. He then joined Jarrow Roofing as joint Manager leading them to the semi final of the FA Vase losing over two legs to eventual winners Didcot Town. He then spent a season as assistant manager at Shildon AFC helping them to the Northern League Cup Final in 2007. In February 2008 he joined Bishop Auckland FC as Manager when they were bottom of the Northern League looking certainties for relegation, 12 points adrift from the 2nd bottom placed team and remarkably guided the team to 18th place and eventual safety. He continued to develop the squad year on year culminating in Bishops winning the Durham Challenge Cup against Spennymoor Town in 2012 and finishing in 5th place their highest league position for a considerable number of years. In 2013 he joined Blyth Spartans of the Northern Premier league as assistant manager. In his first season they reached the final of the Northumberland Senior Cup losing to Newcastle United at St James Park and just missed out on the premier division play offs. The following season saw Blyth achieve a remarkable run in the FA Cup reaching the 3rd Round before going out to Birmingham City 3-2 at Croft Park despite leading the championship side 2-0 at half time. In the previous round they beat Hartlepool United 2-1 at Victoria Park live in front of the Match of the Day cameras. Blyth also reached their second successive Northumberland Senior Cup final beating Morpeth Town 2-0 to finally lift the trophy after a 10-year wait and agonisingly missed out on the Northern Premier League Premier Division play offs by 1 point after losing their final game of the season at home to Marine. In 2015 he joined Consett AFC and has assembled a talented squad in preparation for the 2015/16 season bringing with him a number of players and staff from the successful Blyth Spartans FA Cup squad. They are John Bottenschein as assistant manager and Bev Docherty as Physio and Ben Cole was retained as GK Coach to complete the line up.

Myers also has International experience as part of the management team with English Colleges Football Association (ECFA) National Squad competing in the Roma Caput Mondi tournament in Rome, Italy in 2011 playing against the national sides of Croatia, Italy and Romania and in 2012 was again part of the management team that competed in the 6th international Youth tournament in Umbria, Italy playing against the national sides of San Marino, Romania and Slovenia. He was also part of the ECFA National Squad management team that won the Anglo Welsh Shield in 2012 after a two leg aggregate win over Wales.

Honours

North Eastern League Champions 1939–40
North Eastern League 2nd Division Champions 1926–27
North Eastern League Cup Winners 1950–51, 1953–54
North Counties League Champions 1961–62
Sunderland Shipowners Cup Winners 1967–68
Sunderland Shipowners Centenary Cup Winners 1997–98
Monkwearmouth Charity Cup Winners 1967–68
Durham Challenge Cup Winners 1948, 1950, 1959, 1961, 1969, 2007
Northern League 2nd Division Champions 1988–89, 2005–06
Northern League Challenge Cup Winners 1994–95

External links

Official Consett A.F.C. website
Consett at the Football Club History Database

Northern League

Division One	Ashington Bishop Auckland Chester-le-Street Town Consett Dunston UTS Guisborough Town Jarrow Roofing Boldon Community Association Marske United Morpeth Town Newcastle Benfield Newton Aycliffe North Shields Penrith Ryhope Colliery Welfare Seaham Red Star Shildon South Shields Sunderland Ryhope Community Association Washington West Allotment Celtic West Auckland Town Whitley Bay

Division Two	Alnwick Town Bedlington Terriers Billingham Synthonia Billingham Town Blyth Town Brandon United Crook Town Darlington Railway Athletic Durham City Easington Colliery Esh Winning Heaton Stannington Hebburn Town Northallerton Town Norton & Stockton Ancients Ryton & Crawcrook Albion Stockton Town Team Northumbria Thornaby Tow Law Town Whickham Willington

Seasons	1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

Coordinates: 54°51′29.131″N 1°49′42.830″W / 54.85809194°N 1.82856389°W / 54.85809194; -1.82856389

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