Stockport County Football Club - The Hatters

Stockport County History

2006-07 Season

8th in League Two
League Cup: 1st round; Derby County h. 0-1
FA Cup: 3rd round; Watford a. 1-4
JP Trophy: 2nd round; Chester City a. 0-3

Highlight:
3-0 win over Swindon Town, 3/3/07

Low Spot:
2-7 home drubbing by Rochdale, 24/3/07

Good:
Anthony Elding
Knocked in 11 goals in 20 games after joining from Boston and was an instant hit with the fans.
Jason Taylor
Strapping young midfielder who established himself in the first team and impressed with his strong running style.

In Brief:
There was something of a nightmare start to the season with only 5 points coming in the first 8 games and a 0-3 defeat at home to Shrewsbury left the club 23rd.
The Hatters managed to win consistently from that point on and began to fly up the table from the middle of January when nine games were won on the trot without conceding a goal.
The 3-0 win over Swindon that completed that sequence presented on loan keeper Wayne Hennessey with a league record and saw the club move up into 6th position.
The club also enjoyed a nine point advantage over the clubs outside the play off places at this stage.
The club then collapsed somewhat and ended up missing out on the play offs despite a 5-0 win at Darligton on the last day of the season after collecting only 9 points from the last 11 games.
Stocky are obviously a club that needs to decide whether they are good or crap and get on with it.

Stockport County Football Club was formed in 1883 by members of the Wycliffe Congregational Chapel. The club was originally known as Heaton Norris Rovers but became Stockport County in 1890, the year before the club turned professional.

Stockport were elected into Division Two of the Football League in 1900 but failed to be re-elected in 1904. The club was re-admitted into the league after just a one year absence, however.

Stockport remained in Division Two until 1921 when they suffered relegation into the newly formed Division Three North. They earned an instant return to the second division as champions ahead of Darlington.

After four seasons of toil in Division Two, however, the Hatters dropped back into Division Three North in 1926 and, despite several near misses, spent the next eleven seasons at that level.

In 1934-35 Stockport progressed to the 5th round of the FA Cup. They drew 1-1 at West Ham in the 3rd round before beating them 1-0 in the replay and also got a draw on their travels in the 4th round at Bradford before finishing the job with a 3-2 win at Edgeley Park.

In the 5th round, however, Stockport crashed to a 5-0 defeat at home to West Bromwich Albion.

The club returned to the second division in 1937 after winning the Division Three North championship ahead of Lincoln City but they were relegated at once in 1938.

Stockport again reached the FA Cup 5th round in 1950 before going down 2-1 at home to Liverpool.

The club then remained in Division Three North until the north and south sections merged in 1958 when they were placed in Division Three. They were relegated straight away into Division Four in 1959 and stayed there for eight seasons.

In 1966-67 the Hatters were Division Four champions ahead of Southport but could only manage three seasons before dropping back into the fourth division in 1970.

Stockport then spent over two decades in the fourth division and these were mainly grim years. The unusual appointment of the Uruguayan Danny Bergara as manager in 1989 heralded a remarkable upturn in the clubs fortunes, however.

The Hatters reached the fourth division play offs in 1990 on the back of 23 Brett Angell goals but then took a 6-0 aggregate beating from Chesterfield in the semi finals.

The following season they made no mistake, winning promotion to Division Three as runners up behind Darlington.

Stockport instantly found their feet in Division Three and were never outside a play off position throughout the 1991-92 season. They also progressed through to the final of the Autoglass Trophy to set up a dramatic end to the season.

Stockport beat Stoke City on a 2-1 aggregate in the play off semi finals but then lost to them by the only goal of the Autoglass final at Wembley.

Eight days later they were back at the home of football but suffered more heartbreak against Peterborough United in the play off final. Kevin Francis brought the scores level at 1-1 with only three minutes remaining only for the Hatters to concede a winner two minutes later.

It was a similar story at the end of the 1992-93 season. This time they fell at the semi final stage in the play offs, losing on a 2-1 aggregate to Port Vale and then the same opponents beat them 2-1 in the final of the Autoglass Trophy. Harsh.

Stockport completed a hat trick of play off failures in 1994. This time they negotiated the semi finals after edging past York City on a 1-0 aggregate only to lose 2-1 to Burnley in the final.

County finally escaped the third tier in 1997 when they gained promotion as runners up behind Bury. Even more creditable was their League Cup run which saw them reach the semi finals.

The Hatters saw off Chesterfield, Sheffield United (7-3 on aggregate including a remarkable 5-2 win at Bramhall Lane), Blackburn Rovers (1-0 at Ewood Park), West Ham United (2-1 in a replay at Edgeley Park after a 1-1 draw away) and Southampton (2-1 at the Dell after a 2-2 draw at home).

This set up a semi final meeting with Middlesbrough and County slipped to a 2-0 home defeat in the 1st leg. Although they then travelled to Teesside and won 1-0 it was not enough.

Stockport finished 8th in Division One in 1998 but then began to slide down the table before suffering an emphatic relegation in 2002. They finished a full 22 points adrift of Barnsley in the second bottom position but did at least have the consolation of taking four points off their neighbours Manchester City as they marched towards the championship.

Last season saw the club suffer a similarly comprehensive relegation from League One and there will be obvious concerns about the immediate future until this alarming slide is arrested.

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