The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The competition was instigated in 1969 to cater to those non-league clubs that paid their players and were therefore not eligible to enter the FA Amateur Cup.
John Allen King was an English football player and manager. He is widely regarded as being the most successful manager in the history of Tranmere Rovers and had a stand at Prenton Park named in his honour in 2002. In November 2014, a statue of King was unveiled outside the ground.
The FA Cup semi-finals are played to determine which teams will contest the FA Cup Final. They are the penultimate phase of the FA Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world.
Graham Abel is a retired English professional footballer who played in the Football League as a central defender for Chester City and Crewe Alexandra. He appeared at Wembley Stadium three times with Northwich Victoria in FA Trophy finals.
Ian Howat is a Welsh former professional footballer who played in The Football League for Chester and Crewe Alexandra. He later appeared for several non-league clubs.
The 2000–01 FA Cup was the 120th season of the world's oldest knockout football competition, the FA Cup. The competition was won by Liverpool, who came from 1–0 behind against Arsenal to eventually win 2–1 in the final. The final was played outside England for the first time, at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, because Wembley Stadium was being knocked down to be replaced with a new stadium.
The 1996–97 FA Cup was the 116th season of the FA Cup. The tournament started in August 1996 for clubs from non-league football and the competition proper started in October 1996 for teams from the Premier League and the Football League.
The 1984–85 FA Cup was the 104th staging of the world's oldest football knockout competition, The Football Association Challenge Cup, or FA Cup. The competition was won by Manchester United, who defeated Everton 1–0 at Wembley, thus denying Everton the double just 3 days after winning the European Cup Winners' Cup. The final was also notable for seeing the first sending off, with Kevin Moran obtaining the unwanted distinction.
The 1971–72 FA Cup was the 91st season of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. Leeds United won the competition for the first time, beating holders Arsenal 1–0 in the final at Wembley, London.
Mark Dean is an English former professional footballer who played in The Football League for Chester. He later played for hometown club Northwich Victoria in the Conference National.
Alan Morris was an English footballer. He made an appearance in The Football League for Chester and also played at Wembley Stadium for Bangor City. He played as either a midfielder or striker.
Northwich Victoria Football Club are a semi-professional football club based in Northwich, Cheshire, which compete in the Midland League Premier Division. They play home games at Barton Stadium, in a groundshare agreement with nearby rivals Winsford United. They had played at the same Drill Field ground between 1875 and 2002, which was at the time of its demolition was believed to be the oldest ground in the world on which football had been continuously played. They played at the short-lived Victoria Stadium between 2005 and 2011, and have since been forced to share grounds with nearby clubs.
The 2009–10 FA Cup was the 129th season of the world's oldest football knockout competition; the FA Cup. As in the previous year, 762 clubs were accepted for the competition. One club, Newcastle Blue Star, folded before the fixtures were released. As they were scheduled to enter the competition in the first round qualifying, their opponents in this round received a walkover.
The 1971–72 season was Stoke City's 65th season in the Football League and the 41st in the First Division.
The 2007 FA Trophy Final was the 38th final of The Football Association's cup competition for levels 5–8 of the English football league system. It was contested by Kidderminster Harriers and Stevenage Borough, both of the Conference National — the highest tier of the non-league football pyramid.
The 1889 Welsh Cup Final, the 12th in the competition, was contested by Bangor and Northwich Victoria at the Racecourse Ground. Bangor, in their first Welsh Cup final, won 2–1 in a match that would mark the first time these two teams, future founders and rivals of the Northern Premier League and Alliance Premier League would meet in a major final. The most recent was the 1984 FA Trophy Final.
The 2012 FA Trophy Final was the 43rd final of the Football Association's cup competition for levels 5–8 of the English football league system. The match was contested by Newport County and York City. York City were beaten finalists in 2009, but it was Newport County's first final and their debut visit to Wembley in their 100-year history.
The 1983–84 FA Trophy was the fifteenth season of the FA Trophy. The final was held at Wembley Stadium, with a replay being played at Stoke City's Victoria Ground.
The 1994–95 FA Trophy was the twenty-sixth season of the FA Trophy.
The 2015–16 FA Cup was the 135th edition of the oldest recognised football tournament in the world. It was sponsored by Emirates, and known as The Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship purposes. It began with the extra preliminary round on 15 August 2015, and concluded with the final on 21 May 2016. The FA Cup winner qualifies for the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League group stage.
