Fleetwood Town
The current Fleetwood Town was only formed in 1997, though it is apparently the fourth incarnation of a club that was originally formed in 1908.
The 1908 version, known simply as Fleetwood, were succeeded by Fleetwood Windsor Villa and Fleetwood Town, who folded in 1997.
Fleetwood Wanderers came into existence that same year and won the North West Counties League First Division in 1998/99. The name change to Fleetwood Town came about in 2002.
It seems the club couldn’t stop gaining promotion, from the North West Counties League Premier Division, the Northern Premier League First Division, the Northern Premier League Premier Division, the Conference North and then from The Conference to the Football League, in 2012.
A sixth promotion in ten years was achieved in 2014 when Fleetwood beat Burton Albion in the League Two play off final at Wembley to make it to League One.
Of the 14 league games played between the clubs, Rovers have won four, there has been five draws and five wins for Fleetwood. To date the sides haven’t met in any of the major cup competitions.
The first ever league meetings were in the 2012/13 campaign when the sides played out a goalless draw at the Memorial Stadium in September 2012 and Rovers were 3-0 winners at Highbury Stadium in January 2013.
The last two meetings came in 2020/21, with Fleetwood winning 4-1 at The Mem in November 2020 and then playing out a goalless draw at Fleetwood in January 2021.
Rovers players who have made their debut against Fleetwood include Neil Etheridge and Tom Lockyer (2012/13), Joe Partington (2016/17), Jamal Blackman (2019/20) and Ben Liddle (2020/21).
Players who have appeared for both clubs include Cian Bolger, Junior Brown, Paul Coutts, Lyle Della-Verde, Alex Jakubiak, Jeff Hughes, Tom Hitchcock, Ellis Harrison, Bob Harris, Steven Gillespie, Sam Finley, Harvey Saunders and Lee Thorpe.
There will be one more player to add to that list once the season starts as one of Rovers’ summer signings, Jordan Rossiter, was signed from Fleetwood. He should have no trouble settling in, as he played alongside Coutts, Finley and Saunders during his time with the club.
Rovers manager Joe Barton has, of course, also managed Fleetwood while his current first team coach, Andy Mangan, is a former Fleetwood player.
In May of this year Fleetwood appointed a new manager/head coach, former Hibernian, Celtic and Aberdeen player and the holder of 55 Scottish caps, Scott Brown. It will be interesting to see how he fares in his first post in English football.
Fleetwood visit The Mem on 12th November while Rovers make the long trip to the Fylde coast on 10th April 2023.
Highbury Stadium has a capacity of 5,327 and a round trip from The Mem is 416 miles via the M5 and M6.
Fleetwood Town FC
Highbury Stadium
Park Avenue
Fleetwood
Lancashire
FY7 6TX
Keith Brookman
(all photos courtesy of Keith Brookan)