Cheadle Town

As Grasmere Rovers

Cheadle Town's history can be traced back to 1961 when a 14-year-old boy called Barrie Dean asked his neighbour, Chris Davies, to help his friends form a football team. This team was called Grasmere Rovers after the name of the street that both Dean and Davies lived on (Grasmere Avenue). Chris Davies took on the role of team manager and on 3 September 1961, Grasmere Rovers took to the field for the first time, losing 0–5 to Sutton Boys.

Grasmere started out in the Manchester Junior Football League - a league they would eventually win in the 1967-68 season - playing their games on a Sunday afternoon at The Mellands Playing Fields in Belle Vue. They joined the Manchester League in 1972, allowing them to play their football on the more regular Saturday afternoon. Now under the managerial guidance of Albert Pike, with Chris Davies as chairman and now playing their matches at Surrey Street in Glossop, Grasmere Rovers went from strength-to-strength; the peak of which was the 1979-80 season where they won the Manchester League, the Gilchrist Cup, the Manchester County Amateur Cup and the Derbyshire Junior Cup. In that same season striker Peter Tilley ran in 43 goals.

The team moved to their present-day home of Park Road for the 1982-83 season. Al Sadd were the first ever visitors on Saturday 12 August 1982, running out 4-1 winners on the day. This would be the last season that the team would be known as Grasmere Rovers.

As Cheadle Town

The club joined the North West Counties Football League (NWCFL) for the 1983–84 season as Cheadle Town, under the managerial guidance of Gerry Clewes. They finished their first season a lowly 15th in Division Three but were promoted "by default" at the end of the 1986–87 season when Division Three was incorporated into Division Two.

Cheadle Town have spent most of their NWCFL life in Division Two; 1998 saw the start of a three-year escape from Division Two as the club were promoted to Division One. The club struggled with lowly finishes during their three seasons and were ultimately relegated back to Division Two in 2001 after finishing bottom. They stayed at this level until season 2022/23; the fact that Cheadle Town found themselves in Division One for the start of the 2008–09 season was merely down to a renaming of the NWCFL leagues.

Hopes were high for season 2022/23 following the appointment of Paul Marshall and Steve Yarwood in the close season. Paul brings with him a wealth of experience having played football at a professional level for Manchester City, Blackpool, Port Vale, Aberdeen, Walsall and Rochdale before moving to semi-professional football with FC Halifax Town, Stockport County, Alfreton Town and Curzon Ashton. Whilst Steve Yarwood is well known in the Manchester area having played for Salford City, Mossley, Abbey Hey and Wythenshawe Town.

And what a season 2022/23 was... for the first time in over 20-years Cheadle Town were finally promoted to the top tier of the NWCFL. In a season which saw the Football Club awarded 'Club of the Month' on three separate occasions and break records for unbeaten runs and consecutive victories. The season came down to the lottery of the Play-Offs which saw Cheadle Town defeat Stockport Town 2-0 in the Semi Finals, leading to a Final against Sandbach United. In front of a crowd of 1,375, Cheadle Town won 3-1 with Martin Pilkington confirming victory in injury time to the delight of the travelling supporters. An occasion that will long live in the memories of all involved with Cheadle Town.

Cheadle Town now look forward as they embark on a new era for this Football Club at Step 5 of the football pyramid.