Booklet looks back on Linnets centenary
shares in Widnes and Prescot, the club lacked funds to continue into the 2006-7 season, and it appeared to be game over.
Dave said that tradition would not be allowed to die and fans persuaded North West Counties League officials that they could make a success of a replacement club under the banner of an existing but remodelled supporters trust.
Life began again in Northwich as tenants of Witton Albion for its first four years.
Dave said the phoenix club achieved promotion at the first attempt and has with backing from Halton Borough Council and The Football Foundation been back in its homeland in the New Town district of Murdishaw for the last seven years.
A £1.3m purpose-built clubhouse is on track to be unveiled next month, with the existing building, once lovingly converted from a recreation club gym, is poised for demolition to make way for a retail and leisure development.
The Millbank Linnets Stadium hosts a first team with an average attendance of 300 and over, a title-winning ladies team and around 400 junior players.
Examining the happenings and events which have shaped or checked the progress of the Linnets, old and new, the 72-page booklet offers a factual, nostalgic and emotional look back at the highs and lows which affect all sporting institutions.
But it is not a sterile retrospective account, based purely on fact as Derek, now one of Runcorn Linnets’ five vice-presidents after more than 10 years as its chairman, has brought the triumphs, trials and tribulations to life.
With photographs, newspaper cuttings, rare matchday programmes, archive material, memories and statistics, the A4 publication not only charts a timeline but tells the story in words and pictures of personalities who have been the lifeblood of the Linnets – great managers, prominent club officials, leading players and well-known supporters.
Memorable matches, knockout successes and title runs are also chronicled along with the disasters – including in the 1990s the main stand fire since the formation of Runcorn AFC.
Derek Greenwood, stalwart fan and former chairman of Runcorn Linnets, has charted the history and evolution of the teams associated with the Linnets name.
Once A Linnet, Always A Linnet charts the rise and fall of Runcorn AFC and how the Linnets have lived on through the formation of a club owned and run by its fans.
The book will be launched this month in time for the anniversary year in 2018.
Publication day will also kick off a series of events to mark the 100year milestone.
Dave Bettley, club secretary, said the landmark is well worth celebrating thanks to the determination of the Linnets faithful down the years and particularly in 2006 when the final whistle could have been blown.
When Runcorn AFC announced that the sale of its Canal Street ground and the ill-fated stadium ● followed by a pitch wall collapse at a controversial FA Cup tie against Hull City which both contributed much to the downfall of the former club.
The author leads readers through the decades, back to the beginning of Runcorn AFC immediately after the First World War as a replacement for the town’s rugby team, also nicknamed the Linnets, which operated as ‘Runcorn Football Club’ and hosted and beat the touring New Zealanders in 1907-8.
Derek’s booklet also provides a running social commentary to highlight major national and global events that formed a backdrop to the contrasting fortunes of the Linnets’ long and eventful life.
Dave said Derek Greenwood has been a Linnets supporter for more than 60 years and following the club is a family concern, played out with total commitment and an uncanny symmetry as the author’s late parents were heavily involved.
Father, Eric was committee secretary, which in the 1960s had floodlights installed at Canal Street, and mum Edith a was supporter too. ●
Derek himself was a leading light on the steering group which guided Runcorn Linnets through its formative period.
He was a founder trust board member and within a few months chair of the club.
Derek’s son Neil has likewise been a lifelong fan although he has never lived in Runcorn, still travelling to almost every game home or away from his now home on the outskirts of Leeds.
Throughout his career as a secondary school teacher and ultimately deputy head, Derek lived and worked on either side of the East LancashireYorkshire border.
This was the base from which he supported the Linnets all over the country either by car or travel club coach for 40 or so years.
Even in the early part of his chairmanship, there were regular 120-mile round trips to matches and meetings before moving home with wife Jenny, also a club volunteer, to Frodsham on their retirement.
Derek said: “Runcorn Football Club has been part of our lives for as long as I can remember although the club was already 30 years old when I was born.
“I always promised myself that when I retired and had some time, I would try to explain why that should be.
“This is therefore, not an attempt to write a history of the club as such but more share through my scrapbook why the club meant so much to me, my family and so many fans I have met over the years.
“I have been lucky enough to inherit material from the club’s history.
“I have in my collection well over 2,000 Runcorn programmes and numerous scrapbooks so the hardest part was what to put in and what to leave out. I hope at least that I bring back some memories for all those who read the booklet.”
The booklet will be priced at £10 and all proceeds go to Runcorn Linnets FC. Derek hopes it will be printed and available for sale in time for The Hallmark Security League match at home to Northwich Victoria on Saturday, November 18.
Pre-order is available at the Runcorn Linnets website.