THE HISTORY OF INGOL RANGERS FC
05 Nov 2010

INGOL RANGERS FOUNDED 1973

FOUNDER MEMBERS:- JOCK WILSON, DAVE TAYLOR
FRANK LEADLEY, PADDY SWEENEY
JACK KAY.

Founded in 1973 the name “RANGERS” was used because JOCK WILSON was and still is a fanatical Glasgow Rangers fan and to this day our colours are blue and white and that will never change.
Ingol Rangers have had some very “colourful” managers in the past starting with the man himself JOCK and going on to the likes Dereck Cropper (gone but not fogotten) whose two sons Malcolm and graham played and whose grandson wayne now plays, all of them quality (must be genetic we think). Other names such as roy Bolton, Ronnie crawley, wayne Hopkins, phil brown, barry massie, geoff wilcocks, steve flintoff (the only manager in our clubs history to take the club through a full season undefeated ! a tremendous feat not yet equalled), stuart darley, tony hesketh have all been in charge at the club up to the present day player/manager mick Donnelly.
The club reached the premier division in 1979 after being promoted every year as winners or runners up of the preceeding division and this is where we are today having won the premier division on three occasions under the managerial guidance of steve flintoff, tony hesketh & stuart darley and have been runners up on no less than 8 times. The challenge cup has been won three times under barrie massie, geoff wilcock along with malc cropper and phil brown, and have been runners up in the competition 5 times. And the club has won the coveted LFA trophy (best team in Lancashire) under the guidance of tony hesketh once.
Ingol,s committee consists of 9 members many of which have been with the club for many years. Ronnie crawley has over 34 yrs, steve flintoff, dave smithson & ken harwood 25 yrs, ivan fisher in total 13 yrs, mick Wilson (our sponsor) 10 yrs, jimmy casby & mick cox 7 yrs, and the new boy south African steve, all working extremely hard for ingol rangers. Plus many other former members over the years who are no longer at the club such as alf Murphy who has had two stints as chairman of the club and actually played in the first season in 1973 and his son neil (who also played for the club for many years) the effervescent carl longshaw, the “LOUD” but extremely committed (or is that needed committing !!) rob young who also managed the reserve team, familiar names such as john Sheridan (“cowboy”), ray farrer, tony mcmurrough, ged carberry, frank crabbe, eddie crawley john smith, bob Collins, bill Carlisle all who have served the club well and apologies to anyone who,s not been mentioned.
Mick crabbe ,eddie crawley,neil Murphy, Jason leadley, Ronnie crawley, Malcolm cropper, graham cropper, wayne cropper are all players who have had “relatives” at the club and have served the club superbly over the years.
Ingol have had many “famous” players and managers over the years namely andy whittaker who played in his teens and went on to make two £10,000 transfer fees playing for the likes of bamber bridge and southport. Players like tony greenwood who is manager at bamber bridge, tony hesketh who is manager at Lancaster and led us to Lancashire champions in 2004, mel gaynor, stu darley, les breakell, pete smith who is manager at clitheroe all pulled on the blue and white shirt and all played semi pro football. One of our most famous and one of our best is MICK BORWICK who nobody will dispute was the best striker in the history of the league and alongside him TREVOR MELLING who was a much sought after player in his playing days.
Special mention must also go to the likes of carl longshaw and rob young who came to ingol from the Falkland heroes and did a superb job for the club for many years, also Derek lowings who made the club more financially stable as a main benefactor and dedicated member of the committee must also be remembered with affection.
Former manager barrie massie had two successful stints at the club and took bamber bridge to the semi-finals of the FA vase trophy (one step from Wembley !).
Only theatre boys who are currently in the first division are longer serving members who have kept their original name than ingol rangers a fact we are very proud of.
Alan mcclean (ALBO) who played and served this club for many years now watches his young son scott play on a Sunday morning, who knows maybe one day he’ll pull on the blue and white of ingol rangers like his dad did ! Our current squad and manager have yet to add to the wonderful history of this club but they are in the process of doing so, of that we’ve no doubts…..