Salford Victoria FC began life when local Boys Brigade leader Chris Carney took it upon himself to start a football team when a bunch of 'his lads' became too old for the BB. He bought a kit, paid the annual pitch fees,paid the league fees and took care of all the paper work.

In the first 2 years Chris was basically Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Kit man, manager, coach and even on occasion pulled on a shirt himself!


The Manchester 53rd Boys Brigade.

If you look closely you can just about make out Ammo, Dave Denton, Scott Williams, Steve Sherliker, Clemmo and a few other of the current players. Nice uniforms lads!

For the first few years we played in the Manchester Amateur League and floated from pub to pub looking for a home but it wasn't until June 2000 when we were invited to play in the Lancashire and Cheshire AFL that we realised that we were in a position to go places. And go places we did!!

(Back row, left to right) Dave Denton, Chris Brown, Steven Clemans, Martin Knowles, Mark Hanbridge, Jason Rostron, Wayne Taylor, Adam Garner.
(Front row, left to right) Brian Garrett, Steven Gorst, Steven Beaumont, Rob Faiyaz, Scott Williams, Dave Beaumont

  Red socks, green and white hoops, and black shorts...what were we thinking?

At our first ever AGM we changed our name to Salford Victoria FC after a suggestion by one of our players and we decided on our new Club colours...Royal blue, black and white.

As a Club we decided that we didn't want to be just a pub team anymore and we wanted to let our visitors know that they were coming to Salford to play football.  We felt that we could be a good advert for the City and it's people.

The Management Committee

The people who make it all happen at Salford Victoria FC

(back row, left to right) Chris Carney, Chris Brown, Steven Gorst

(front row, left to right) Claire Gorst, Debbie Gorst

Chris Brown, Steven Gorst, Claire Gorst and Debbie Gorst joined the Management Committee in January 2000 and the Club just took off.

We applied for loads of Government Grants and appealed for local sponsors but it wasn't until July 2000 when Chris Brown secured a grant from 'The Seedley and Langworthy Initiative' that we were in a position to buy new kits, new equipment and arrange proper training sessions.

In our first season as Salford Victoria FC, 2000/2001, we finished a very respectable 5th in our new division and things were gathering momentum very quickly on and off the pitch. A local businessman finally got his hand in his pocket (Dave Denton from Wharf Motors) in January 2001 and Salford Victoria Reserves were born.

Salford Victoria with Malc Beaumont...2001/2002

We had in the space of 12 months gone from 11 mates to 25 footballers playing in 2 Divisions in The Lancashire and Cheshire.  We had regular training sessions and through Chris Brown's contacts we were introduced to someone who would prove to be very influential to our progress as a Club, Paddy Harverson, the then Communications Director of Manchester United.

Paddy arranged coaching sessions with the Manchester United coaches at The Cliff and also gave us hundreds of pounds worth of training equipment, which was fantastic. His help also proved instrumental in attracting lots more players.

Ryan Giggs presents Salford Victoria with a cheque for £5000 on behalf of Manchester United. 

From left to right: Claire Gorst, Ryan Giggs, Debbie Gorst and Chris Brown

By this stage we were getting very well known in Salford (thanks to our regular match reports in The Salford Advertiser) and for the beginning of the 2002/2003 season we had three teams and three spanking new kits, all in our Club colours.

The summer of 2002/2003 was also one of the turning points for Salford Victoria FC and we were soon to be catapulted to dizzy heights in the Lancashire and Cheshire as well as securing a new Clubhouse and some of  the best pitches in Salford...we moved to The Boathouse, Littleton Road. Chris and Chris jumped at the chance and (with Salford Beechfield United) we were in before the summer was over. The newly formed Salford Football Development Partnership asked Salford Council to build the 'best pitches in Salford' for us on the adjacent field. They did.

The 2002/2003 season was one of the most successful in the Club's short but distinguished history winning it's first ever trophy in the form of 'The Lancashire and Cheshire Division F Championship' under the management of Steven Gorst in only his second full season as Manager. Both the first and Reserve teams also did remarkably well finishing 5th and 6th in their respective Divisions scoring more goals and conceding less than ever before!

Steven Beaumont and Brain Garrett with the first ever trophy won by Salford Victoria FC.

You would think they would crack a smile wouldn't you?

The Reserves also did remarkably well securing promotion to Division B and taking their Cup run all the way to the semi-finals.

Paul Taylor, front row centre, and his lads

The progress of the Club is probably best shown by the venues of our presentation and this year topped it all off. To those of you familiar to Salford we started off having or annual presentation at 'The Weaste' tagging onto a BB event, the next year we had it in the 'snug' in The Welly (on the Height). The next season we had it at the 'Chandos Club.'  The following 2 season we were in the Banqueting Suite at 'The Willows', home of Salford City Reds and in July 2005 we will be holding it in The Salford Suite of Old Trafford, home of Manchester United.

So from the snug in the local to Old Trafford in just 7 seasons...not bad by anyone's standards.

The 2003/2004 season was fantastic, even by our standards. 

Under the Management of Anthony Jackson the first team secured their highest ever position, missing out on promotion on goal-difference and enjoyed a fantastic run in the Rhodes Cup.

The Reserves did equally well under Paul Taylor and secured their highest ever finish, scoring more goals than ever before.

The A team won their Divisional Championship and promotion for the second year in a row and were unlucky to be beaten in the final of the Cup. 

The young B team (pictured below) took the League and Cup double in their first ever season together!

The double-winning Salford Victoria B team 2003/2004

It was during this season that we had the pleasure of introducing Salford Victoria Ladies, under the keen supervision of Claire Gorst who went on to win 'The City of Salford Young Volunteer in Sport 2003' and 'The Greater Manchester Young Volunteer in Sport 2003' for all her hard work and dedication. From thousands of applicants from dozens of Club and sports Claire was selected as the overall winner!

Salford Victoria's club presentation 2004, held at the Willows

In the 2003/2004 season the Club introduced Club jackets, club t-shirts and made a substantial investment into new changing facilities at our Clubhouse and have still had the time to become a Charter Standard Club, proving to the outside world that Salford Victoria has been approved by the FA as a safe, friendly, well-organised Club for anyone to play football.  We want to move away from and dispel the stereo-typical image that has unfortunately fallen on the youth of Salford.  We strive towards professionalism both on and off the pitch.

The trophies from the 2003/2004 season

The 2004/2005 season was unbelievable. 

A new First team manager, Ronnie Mills, was introduced and it was a record breaking season for the first team.  Not only did they score over 150 goals in all competitions and secure the Division 3 Championship by a country-mile but they got to the final of the Manchester County Cup and semi-final of the Rhodes Cup. 

The Reserve team, after a shaky star, ended up in fifth position and with such an impressive end to the season look likely to be pushing for the title next season.

The A team took even more silverware, under Steven Gorst, and secured their third promotion in three seasons

The B team did really well in their new division in what was a difficult season.  They secured their place for next season and look forward to a good pre-season and hope to be up chasing silverware again next season.

Summer 2005

The Management Committee 1998-2005

Chris Brown entered Salford Victoria FC into the award for Charter Standard Adult Club of the Year and didn't think anything off it as it was our first full season as recipients.  Little did he know that the club would become Manchester FA, Northwest Regional and NATIONAL winners!!!!!

 

Ian Treadwell, the new Club Developmet Officer, worked his freakishly large calf-muscles off and secured a fantastic sponsorship deal with Superstore TV-see the Sponsor's page for details.

 

All that and we still had time to go out and win The Umbro cup!!!

Bring on the start of the season...