A Short History

1968 - 2008

Parkside Football Club was formed in 1968 by a group of lads who used to play football together at Borough Road playing fields. If you could credit one person with the idea of forming the club it would have to be our first captain, John Barclay. A meeting was held at the Prenton Hotel early in 1968 and it was agreed that we should form a Sunday League team. In those days ,Sunday football was taking off in a big way. The members at the original meeting were John Barclay, Alan Schofield, Chris O'Brien, Len Layfield, Roy Johnson, Doug Houghton and Ian Fitzsimmons. We appointed John McDonald as our first manager, with Andy McAuslane as secretary. Our first season was a big success. We were Fourth Division Champions and finalists in the old Junior Cup, losing to Schooner 3-2. We also reached the quarter final of the Sunday Cheshire Cup, losing to the eventual cup winners, Dell F.C. Over the next four seasons Parkside stayed in Division One, gaining respectable positions each year. Len Layfield became secretary with Bill Swain as manager. For a time during this period, the players also ran the team. In 1970 Roy Johnson became secretary for the first time. In 1973 - 74 Chris O'Brien and Roy Johnson took charge of the team. They achieved promotion into the Premier league of the Birkenhead Sunday League, after finishing second behind Railway Inn. The following season, Parkside finished a very respectable fourth place in their first season in the Premier Division and reached two cup finals, only to loose in both matches. The first match was the Premier Cup Final and we were beaten by Music Hall. In our second final in a week we lost to Oaklea, although their goalkeeper did have an outstanding game. With players of the calibre of Fred Liston, Tony Parker, Bob Kelly, his brother Richie, and Len Layfield ( our current President and secretary ) Parkside were a team well respected throughout the town and county during this period. Stability followed in the ensuing seasons until the team reached the final of the Wirral Premier Cup in 1980 against the mighty Queens Park.. Leading 2-0 at half time with two goals from Glyn Salmon, we eventually lost 3-2 after extra time. Parkside flourished during the early eighties when we also formed a Saturday team in the Wirral Combination League. Len Layfield managed the team along with Terry Bryden. They won the Junior Cup and achieved promotion to the Premier League. They finished runners up in the league and beaten finalists in the League Cup. Also during the eighties, Parkside had a renowned 5-a-side team. They won many trophies all over the county as far a field as Leyland. John Traynor should be credited for the success of our 5-a-side team, along with Barry Layfield, Steve Craven, Reg Maguire, and Ernie Holden. After five seasons in the Wirral Combination, Parkside were struggling to finance the team and to find a new manager. As a result of this the Saturday team disbanded. Never the less, this remains a colourful and successful part of the club's history. The mid eighties was a quiet time for the Sunday team, with both Len Layfield and Steve Craven having spells as manager. Roy Johnson was voted Secretary of the Year for the Birkenhead Sunday League in 1983, which was a great honour for himself and the club. He took over as manager once again in 1985. The period between 1986 and 1989 proved to be the golden years for Parkside under Manager Roy Johnson, winning the Presidents Cup in 1986 and 1989 and the First Division Title in 1987. The early nineties saw John Buckley as manager for one season, then old boy Bob Kelly took over the reigns for three seasons. Bob stabilised the club, and in 1995 long time stalwart Steve Craven took over as manager with immediate success. Parkside were Division Two Champions in 1996 and runners up in Division One and Presidents Cup finalists in 1997. After Steve left in 1998 a period of transition took place, with long time servant Steve Fowlie taking over as manager, then Len Layfield taking over from him. The season 2002-3 saw Tommy McCann take over as manager and Len Layfield take over from Roy Johnson as Secretary. Tommy had an immediate effect on club moral, he boosted the squad and made many new signings. After a poor run of results at the begining of season 2005/6, Tommy resigned as manager. Peter Smith took over from Tommy and Pete "Speedy" got the team back on its feet. "Speedy" gave his all while manager and got tremendous respect from both players and committee alike. However, due to family & work commitments Speedy decided to resign as manager, while remaining on the committee. In 2008 Parkside reached a memorable milestone in the clubs history, our 40th season, Steve Close, who has been with the club for a number of years, then took over from Pete as Parkside Manager. Steve achieved the best results Parkside had for a number of years, but unfortunately resigned before the start of this season. Pete Smith has now taken over from Steve as manager, and hopefully, Parkside can improve on last season.