Advertise Your Business Here
Just £75 for the whole of the 2008/09 season
Ring 07938948629 or 07773194876
Last Result: Saturday 12th April 2008 Sheffield 2 Gresley Rovers 0 Northern Premier - Division One South Attendance: 365
Current League Position: 10th
Average Home Attendance 2007/08 204
Average Home Attendance 2006/07 249
Ground Address: The Moat Ground, Moat Street, Church Gresley,
Swadlincote, Derbyshire, DE11 9RE
Telephone: 01283 216315
Ground Directions:
From the South
Follow the M42 northbound to Junction 11, turn off onto the A444 toward Burton Upon Trent. Turn right onto the A514 (Castle Road) toward Gresley and follow the road up the hill to the traffic island at the top. Continue on the A514 over the island and take the second road on the left (School Street), the next left into Moat Street where the Moat Ground is located.
From the North-East
Follow the M1 south to junction 23a, turn off on to the A42 southbound. Continue on the A42 to Ashby-de-la-Zouch then turn off onto the A511 toward Swadlincote. At Woodville turn off the A511 onto the A514 toward Church Gresley, follow the road signs to Gresley, the School Street turn off is second on the right after the Gresley island. Take the first turn on the left in School Street to take you to the ground.
From the North-West
From Stoke-on-Trent follow the A50 toward Burton-Upon-Trent, turn on to the A511 and continue through Burton. Turn off the A511 onto the A444 toward Nuneaton. Follow the A444 until you reach the turn off for the A514. Turn left onto the A514 (Castle Road) toward Gresley and follow the road up the hill to the traffic island at the top. Continue on the A514 over the island and take the second road on the left (School Street), the next left into Moat Street where the Moat Ground is located.
Fans Forum: To chat to the Gresley Rovers fans click here
Club History
 Gresley Rovers were formed in 1882 in the village of Church Gresley, South Derbyshire. Rovers moved to the Church Street Ground in time for the 1895/96 season.
Despite the lack of facilities (the teams changed at the nearby Boot Hotel) they were accepted into the Midland League for the 1903/04 season where they stayed for three seasons. Some of the clubs played are now in the Football League. They struggled in this much higher standard and therefore returned to the local league in 1905.
Rovers stayed at Church Street until near the end of the 1907/08 season when they had to move as the land was required for building and went across the road onto the Moat Ground - the ground they still play on today. Rovers stepped up a couple of grades to join the Central Alliance and then moved up again as they joined the powerful Birmingham Combination in 1925.
However, despite reaching the First Round Proper of the F.A. Cup in 1930/31, they experienced financial difficulties and these forced them to leave the Birmingham Combination and re-join the more local Central Alliance in 1933.
A couple of seasons later they moved to the Leicestershire Senior League and enjoyed success in the immediate post-war years as they won the title in 1946/7 and 1947/8 and were runners-up in 1948/9. At the start of the fifties the Club made the decision to join the Central Alliance again. However, on this occasion, their stay in that League was only brief and they joined the Birmingham & District League in 1954/5. They then re-joined the Central Alliance in 1959/60 and stayed in that League until 1974/5 during which time the League changed its name to the East Midlands Regional League.
 Gresley dominated that League and in the fourteen seasons from 1961 to 1975 the lowest they finished was in fifth place as they won the title on four occasions, finished runners-up on four occasions, ended in third place on three occasions, fourth on two occasions and fifth only once.
At the start of the 1975/6, they moved to the West Midlands League, which was a much stronger League, and in the early years they always ended in the lower half of the table. However, after much hard work off the field, runners-up spot was achieved in 1985/6 and the following six seasons saw Gresley finish 4th, 4th, 2nd, 3rd, lst and 1st again. During that period they also won the Derbyshire Senior Cup on four successive occasions.
Season 1990/91 was a particularly good one for Gresley, in addition to the League title and the Derbyshire Senior Cup win they also reached the final of the F.A. Vase and so had the honour of playing at Wembley. Their opponents were Guiseley and some National Newspapers reported it as 'the most exciting Wembley Cup Final ever'. When one looks at the goals sequence one can see how the game earned that accolade: After 31 minutes the score was Guiseley - 3 Gresley - 0, but Gresley came back and grabbed a very dramatic equaliser in injury time at the end of the ninety minutes. Then in extra time Gresley went 4 - 3 in front but this time Guiseley scored a very dramatic equaliser as they levelled things in injury time at the end of the second half of extra time.
The replay at Bramall Lane saw Gresley lose 3 - 1. However, despite that tremendous season their application to join the Southern League was not successful but they battled on to win the league again the following season. This time their application to the Southern League was successful and they were placed in the Midland Division for the 1992/3 season. That 1992/3 season had some disappointment for Gresley as they lost in the semi-final of the F.A. Vase and so narrowly missed another trip to Wembley, but in the League they confounded everyone by finishing as runners- up and so gained promotion to the Premier Division at the first attempt.
The 1993/4 season saw them consolidate in 14th position but honours did come to Gresley as they again won the Derbyshire Senior Cup and reached the Final of the Dr. Martens League Cup.
An improved League position of 8th was achieved in 1994/5 and that season saw them reaching the First Round Proper of the F.A. Cup for only the second time ever before losing away to Crewe.
Paul Futcher was appointed manager with Garry Birtles , former England International, his assistant on 2nd November 1995. Rovers improved their League position yet again in 1995/6 as they ended the season in 5th place and had the bonus of winning the Derbyshire Senior Cup yet again.
 Season 1996/7 was the best in the Club's long history because in addition to retaining the Derbyshire Senior Cup they also won the Dr. Martens Premier Division championship. Rovers were unbeaten in their first seventeen league games (won 10 drawn 7) and were league leaders for 31 weeks.
The title was finally won with a 3 - 1 home victory against Gloucester City at the Moat Ground on April 26th 1997. Gresley Rovers became the first Derbyshire side and first village side to win this prestigious trophy but ground grading meant that they were unable to gain promotion to the Football Conference.
Paul Futcher the Manager during that campaign left during the close season and his Assistant Manager Garry Birtles stepped up into the Manager's position. The disappointment of not being promoted to the Football Conference saw many of Gresley's players leave the club. The 1997/8 season saw Gresley finish in the bottom half of the Dr. Martens Premier League.
 The 1998/99 season will go down in the history of Gresley Rovers as one of the worst. At the end of 1998 they were in the top six. By the end of April they were relegated. In November Gresley Rovers were drawn to meet Walsall at the Bescote Stadium in the first round of the F.A. Cup. Gresley went close to causing an upset but were denied at least a replay by a goal 11 minutes from the end. After a disastrous run of 6 successive defeats in January saw them slump to 17th place just 5 points above the relegation places. In February two successive draws and three defeats proved to be Garry Birtles downfall and he and his assistant, Paul Fitzpatrick were dismissed. Stuart Ford took charge temporarily and saw the team beat Atherstone 2-1 1978/79 Programme
that ended a run of 14 games without a win. In March
1999 Brian Kenning was appointed manager.
The defeat on the final day of the season against Bath City relegated Gresley into the Western Division of the Southern League just two years after winning the Premier Division Championship by 11 points.
 Rovers stayed in the Western Division from 1999/00 until the end of the 2003/04 season. The highest finish acheived being 5th in 2002. Gresley Rovers started life in the Northern Premier League - Division One in 2004/05, achieving a highest finishing position of 5th in 2006. During thje lat few years honours for the Derbyshire club have been a little thin on the ground, however they did win the Millennium Cup in 2000 and were runners-up in the Derbyshire Senior Cup in both 2000 and 2002.
Gresley currently play in the Northern Premier League - Division One South.
Honours
Special thanks to Matt Mansfield and the Gresley Rovers website for the pictures and the majority of the information on this page.
Best Performance in the FA Cup: 1st Round Proper 1991/92, 1994/95, 1999/00
Best Performance in the FA Trophy: Quarter-Finals 1995/96
Search for more on Gresley Rovers on Google here
| 
