Linotype Cheadle Heath Nomads FC

1) The Name

As might seem obvious the name Linotype / Cheadle Heath Nomads came from the amalgamation of Linotype F.C. and Cheadle Heath Nomads F.C. which took place in time for the start of season 2004/5.
Rather than an amalgamation, the two clubs got together in what was essentially a "marriage of convenience". By the end of the 2003/4 season at senior level, Cheadle Heath Nomads was struggling both on the field and, from a managerial sense, off it.
Linotype was struggling in terms of somewhere to play, given the prospective sale of the Silver Wings ground in Timperley, which was rented from British Airways.
At the senior level the new name / club has gone well and in its second season (2005/6) the First Team won the Stockport Cup, the second team won the Reserve Division Championship and the League Cup and came runners - up in the Altrincham Cup. The Veterans' team won the Umbro Cup at Lilleshall - although the final was only played at the beginning of this season.
For the juniors the amalgamation has not made too much difference, although the acquisition of Brian McGuinness as Secretary (ex Linotype) has been an all round benefit.

2) Pre- Amalgamation

a) Cheadle Heath Nomads (1919-1921)

The first record of a Cheadle Heath Nomads team was immediately after the First World War, when a team was formed under that name. The team was a hotchpotch of ages with a few of those who survived joining 14, 15 and 16 year olds to make a team.
One of the original players was Harry Catterick, who went on to play for Everton and then became a successful manager with Sheffield Wednesday and Everton (at the time of Alan Ball, Howard Kendall, Colin Harvey etc.) and who subsequently died at Goodison Park during a game.

b) Cheadle Heath Sports Club (Established 1921)

Following the war a group of individuals banded together to raise money to buy the piece of land on what is now Norbreck Avenue, Cheadle. A fund was steadily accumulated and the owners of the land, the Mainwairing family agreed to sell the land at a knock down price.
Work was undertaken to install drainage, build tennis courts etc. and when the club opened in 1921 cricket, tennis, ladies hockey and football were included with the football section being known as Cheadle Heath Nomads. All the sports were played at the open age level.<
(The tennis courts were at the far end of the ground near the children's playground and if you dig down in the goalmouth at that end you will come across the red shale that was the tennis courts.
The football pitch was alongside what is now Emlyn Grove / Aber Road and the hockey pitch was alongside the railway.
The Cricket Square was more or less in the middle of the site with part of the hockey pitch and part of the football pitch doubling as the cricket outfield.
The houses on Norbreck Avenue, Aber Road and Emlyn Grove had not been built at this time and the border of the club's land was determined by a small stream which flowed from the corner near Aber Road, along what is now the back gardens of the houses, between the club land and the playground and then under the railway)
As the money had been raised in any way possible and did not belong to any individual or group of individuals the land was put into a Trusteeship and that is still the case today.
The men who raised the money for the purchase of the land etc. became the first Trustees of Cheadle Heath Sports Club and also became its first Management Committee. Sub committees were formed to run the different sports.
The Trustees subsequently stepped down as a Management Committee and handed the day to day management of the club to a committee with representatives from each sport included. The Trustees remained responsible for the land etc.
It remained the same for several years but after the club ran into financial difficulties in the mid 30s, when interest free loans saved the club, it reverted to a structure where the Trustees were more involved and it remained so until the Second World War. (The Second World War saw some of the club land being used / rented as allotments (round the periphery) which helped to keep the club going financially, and the club was saved from going to seed by a Mr. Bailey who would cut the grass, often with a push mower, when petrol was not available.
It is only in recent years that the club has recovered the rough land that circled the site as a result of the allotments.)
After the Second World War the club reverted to a multi-section management committee with the Trustees taking a back seat. It thrived both off the field and on it in all the respective sports.
(A Nissan Hut was acquired from the Army. It was dismantled in Yorkshire, transported to Cheadle and erected on a concrete base alongside Norbreck Avenue with services for water, gas and electricity. It had gas heaters in the roof, a composition dance floor and a bar. It cost very little with all the work being done by volunteers. The club had "arrived" and was ahead of its time in having a bar, but it was closed inside ten years due to persistent financial impropriety)
Also by the early 60s the tennis courts had fallen into disrepair and there wasn't the money to do anything about them. The Tennis Section died.
In 1963/4 the Water Board decided to run a major sewer through the club's land, coming through from Carrs Road, alongside the railway and exiting through the gates onto Norbreck Avenue - right through the then hockey pitch. The pitch, which had actually staged an England Ladies International match never recovered.
The Water Board also knocked down a wooden cricket pavilion, which was also used for football changing.
(Alongside the pavilion there was a large outdoor boiler with a direct water supply. On football match days the boiler was filled and heated by wood collected from off the railway embankment. At the end of the game each team was presented with a zinc bath full of boiling water carried in by the likes of Les. Noden, Bob Stewart (who still lives on Emlyn Grove) Doug Peplow, Johnny Whittaker etc. There were no showers in those days and there was competition to wash as best you could before the water got filthy. Those who could stand really hot water did best.)
The ladies hockey section returned, but it was short lived due to the state of the pitch and the ladies hockey section left to play elsewhere.
Nevertheless the club did receive enough compensation to knock down the Nissan Hut and erect a pre-fabricated structure with changing rooms and showers, using the services installed for the Nissan Hut. It is still there today and comprises the "back room" the laundry, the office (formerly the home team changing room); the toilets, showers and current home team dressing room (formerly the away team changing room)
Finance was simple. The club had an arrangement with Avondale School, which paid the bills, and the sections financed themselves.
In the early 70s the country was hit by hyperinflation, the three-day week etc.
The costs of running the club spiralled out of control whilst the income stood still.
The Trusteeship was revamped with three trustees standing down (due to age) and George Melville and Gordon Lingard (cricket) and Roy Welsh (football) appointed in their place .The Trustees were then: - Les Noden, Doug Berry, George Melville, Gordon Lingard and Roy Welsh.
Once more the Trustees took over the management of the club and a strict financial discipline was imposed, part of which involved the two sections (football and cricket) having to raise significant sums of money to give to the club to keep it afloat.
Football struggled but some private donations helped to keep the game of football going without which the chances are that the club would have become exclusively a cricket club!
Having survived, the Trustees considered that if the club as a whole were to continue to survive / move forward, it needed a new income stream. It was decided to try to install a bar once again! The kitchen (currently the laundry) became a bar/kitchen and what is now the "back room" became the so-called lounge. It was a little primitive but it did become a significant money earner.
(The bar was scheduled to open officially with a presentation evening with a Hot Pot on the Monday after Cup Final day 1977. The event was almost derailed by a major fire in the adjoining wooden store hut in the early hours of the Saturday morning, which singed the end of the building, but after some emergency repair work, which caused certain people to miss United winning the cup, the bar opened on time.
A subsequent barbecue with a Jazz Band went a long way to help to recover from the fire and it also brought Jim Hardie to the club.)
Furthermore this attracted the attention of Edgeley Ladies Hockey Club and Offerton Ladies Hockey Club and both joined the club the season after. The club once again reverted to having a Management Committee and Dennis Lowe, the Chairman of Edgeley LHC, became Chairman of the Management Committee. He was also appointed a Trustee.
The Hockey Section departed after about ten years with the requirement to play on Astroturf being a major factor. Dennis Lowe remains a Trustee of the club.
Once again the club relied on some interest free loans to secure its future, only half of which were subsequently repaid, when the loanees insisted on them becoming donations.
Extra space was required and as a step in that direction the club managed to get a grant from the then Sports Council and built onto the changing rooms what was to become the store, the away team dressing room, the officials changing room and an extra toilet.
(What was the home team dressing room and is now the office became a dance floor,
Subsequently the mercurial Joe Mercer OBE (one time player with Everton, Arsenal and England and a former manager of Manchester City and England) officially opened the new changing rooms, accompanied by his wife, Elsie. It was one of the most enjoyable and entertaining nights in the club's history.)
This was the start of a remarkable recovery by the club as a whole and it was done entirely by volunteers. Debts were erased and the club was being run on an even keel, but further development was limited by the size of the premises.
In the mid 80s the Trustees, which by this time included Jim Hardie, therefore agreed to sell the piece of land along Norbreck Avenue for the building of houses. The reasons were several but included: -
A significant part of the land was not being used - it was still rough land from the wartime allotments.
- The fencing had disintegrated and the land was being used as a public park
- Better premises were needed.
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