Ланкастер / Lancaster City FC

Full name Lancaster City Football Club

Nickname(s) The Dolly Blues
Founded 1905 (as Lancaster Athletic)
Ground Giant Axe, Lancaster
Capacity 3,064 (513 seated)
Chairman Charlie Moore
Manager Gary Finlay
League Conference North
2005-06 Conference North, 15th

Lancaster City F.C. is a semi-professional English football team based in the city of Lancaster. They play their home games at the Giant Axe Stadium.
They play in the Conference North league at level 6 of the English football league system.

The club was originally founded as Lancaster Athletic Football Club in 1905, but disbanded in 1911 to be reformed as Lancaster Town Football Club the same year. Although successful in the Lancashire Combination Division One, Lancaster Town was denied entry to the Third Division (North) for the 1921-22 season. The team changed its name to Lancaster City for the 1937-38 season, to match the changed status of Lancaster itself.
Since then it has been a case of many ups and downs for City. The 1930s were a very successful period, with wins in the Lancashire Combination, Lancashire Junior Cup and some excellent F.A. Cup runs; however, Lancaster often found themselves playing second fiddle to local rivals Morecambe and also their more prestigious neighbours Preston North End, Blackpool, Burnley and Blackburn Rovers. Even so, their gates still regularly reached 3000+ and in 1968-69 the club became founder members of the Northern Premier League.

The next fifteen years became a struggle, with crowds dropping from a regular 1,500 to a lowly 200, and although City managed adequately enough on the pitch, financial difficulties led to the club resigning from the league in 1981-82.
Having joined as founder members of the North West Counties League for the start of the 1982-83 season, things went from bad to worse with results on the pitch worsening, ending with City being relegated, in 1984-85 for the first time in their history.

The 1987-88 formation of Northern Premier League First Division represented a new start with City being accepted into the new league due mainly to their ground status rather than their recent league positions. Healthier crowds and even healthier league positions and cup runs followed over the next few seasons, culminating with the club under the management team of Alan Tinsley and Mick Hoyle winning the First Division title in 1995-96, their first league title for nearly 60 years.
Numerous cup wins and cup-final appearances, as well as excellent F.A. Cup runs, followed and the crowds started to return. With Tony Hesketh and former player Barrie Stimpson now in charge of team affairs, results continued to improve, with gates regularly topping 500. City even managed to attract crowds of over 2,000 for the numerous cup games they played against arch rivals Morecambe, and even though, financially, things could have been easier, the club as a whole was in a much better position overall. For the 2004/5 season, the club was accepted into the newly-formed Nationwide Conference North via their league position in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.

The start of the 2006-07 season saw Gary Finley and ex-Blackpool and Tranmere Rovers midfielder Micky Mellon taking over team affairs from Phil Wilson and Peter Ward. Also, new owners Charlie Moore and Ian Clarke are now adding some much-needed financial stability via new sponsorships and wise investment, enabling the club to go out and sign the players they need to mount a serious challenge on the league.