Trafford’s return to league action was disappointing this evening – losing 0-3 at home to Mossley. Dave Law’s match report will be up later, so keep an eye out for that on this website and our socials…………..

JACK DONOHUE is 18-years-old and represents Trafford FC. He is one of a number of talented young players that have been making their way through the Trafford FC Youth ranks over the last few years, and are now making an impression in the first team squad. Jack recently scored the winning penalty in the Premier Cup Quarter Final shootout at home to Glossop North End – a pressure cooker situation which didn’t phase the young man! Pete McGrath from the Trafford Media Team asked Jack a few questions a few days after that game……

PM: So the 1st question has to be about how you’ve been with Trafford since you were a kid – from Trafford Youth to 1st team squad; An amazing journey. What age were you when you started playing for the Trafford badge and how did that come about?

JD: Steve Tobin has been a big part of the journey for me. Steve has coached me since I was about 4 years old. I was with Steve in the original Trafford Youth team that was previously at Meadowside. I was 9 years old at the time (when the team moved across) and ever since then I have played for Trafford .

PM: After going through grassroots football, very successfully, in the Timperley JFL, the team became Trafford’s Youth Team/Under 18’s in 2021 joining the North West Youth Alliance. It must have been a good feeling to make that progression into the realms of semi-pro Youth competitions?

JD: Yes, you could tell the difference in football compared to grass roots, and we had a great first season. We finished 2nd in the League (playing U18’s teams from other non-league/semi pro clubs).

PM: I remember the FA Youth cup game early on that season, in Shawe View. That was a great atmosphere – that must have been a real buzz too? (The team beat Glossop North End’s Youth Team 4-1 in the in front of nearly 350 spectators!)

JD: Yes the FA Youth cup was really good for us as a team. We prepared well, and to play in a cup like that with players you have played with for so long was a very good moment. Last season we did make it to the County Cup final however we unfortunately got beat. (Versus Altrincham at FC United’s Broadhurst Park stadium).

PM: Obviously the team has developed over the seasons, players come and go, but there’s a core to the team that have been together for years & years, grown up together – yourself, Mackena, Niall Jordan, Matty Lusakueno, Jack Higgy, Will Burgess, Dexter and others – and we’ve seen those lads, particularly you, Mackena, Niall & Matty, make inroads into the first team. You seem to be top mates aswell – I guess you have a really good rapport with your team mates in that respect?

JD: Yes we have grown up together and we are all good friends. We all trust each other and are confident in one another.

PM: So what has it been like getting involved in the 1st team this season? Margy is a guy who clearly wants to develop young players, give them chances in the team, get them involved in the squad. He has a sprinkling of experienced players too – I guess you are learning so much from them?

JD: Being involved in the first team is a big step up compared to the U21s physically and mentally, and it’s good being around a team with a great bunch of lads – It does make it easier. The lads push you to the limit and they get 100 percent out of you. We train with them and we learn a lot from the senior players – we are always learning from them as they have the experience and the knowledge which they can pass onto younger players.

PM: So to the recent Premier Cup quarter final: You came on at half time if I remember rightly, had a good run out up front, got on the ball a few times, helped the team cause Glossop a few problems…. then it went to penalties. It transpired that you were the first of the “sudden death” penalties for Trafford, and you scored what proved to be the winner for us! What were your thoughts as you walked up to take that penalty?

JD: I mean I was nervous but I was confident in my ability to score the penalty, and my teammates helped me get through the nerves. When the whistle went I already knew where I was going to put the penalty. It was a great team effort.

PM: Sadly we went out in the Semi Final, but everyone’s confident that under Margy and the players we have, the youngsters coming through, we will be winning things in the seasons to come. For you Jack, what are your hopes/targets moving forward with Trafford this season, next and beyond. Obviously you play regularly for our U21’s, and I guess keep working hard, learning, knocking on the door of the first team when opportunities arrive?

JD: Yes that’s correct. For me, I’m working towards becoming a regular for the first team and to get my name out there. For the U21’s we have been performing all year round (currently 3rd in the league, 3 points off top spot) so hopefully we carry on and win trophies, but as I say, the main thing for me is to become a regular in the first team and help the club win trophies and progress in the right direction.

(Trafford’s U21’s are in the North West U21 Development League. You can follow their progress by clicking this link:

Trafford FC U21’s

Jack Donohue seems like a sensible, hard-working young man, proud to represent this Club. With him and others like him, our future is secure! Thanks Jack for giving us your time!!

Trafford Football Club is delighted to announce that Andy Mitten has accepted an offer to become honorary vice-President of the club. Journalist and author Andy is often seen at our Shawe View stadium whenever he is in Manchester, and in recent seasons has taken in a few away games too. He has been a great source of advice, ideas, and support for the club for several years now, and being from the locality, Andy wants to help Trafford FC grow in its community in the north of the Borough of Trafford. I’m sure everyone will wish Andy all the best as he takes on his latest role!

After 4 intense pre-season training sessions, Trafford FC started their friendly game programme with a trip to Llandudno yesterday (Saturday 6th July).

An entertaining game ensued with both sides playing some great football and creating many chances. The home side took the lead with virtually the second kick of the game, but Trafford immediately remembered they weren’t in a training session, and built some good passing moves with Tom Beckett and Matty Lusakueno particularly dangerous on the wings/cutting in.

ON 28 minutes, it was these two who provided Trafford with an equaliser – Lusakueno with the assist, Beckett with the finish to make it 1-1. The next 6 minutes of action saw Llandudno retain the lead, and Trafford equalise again – that man Beckett sidestepping a couple of home challenges to slot it home.

Llandudno scored just before half time to lead 3-2 at the break, and a raft of changes in the second half saw several youngsters, graduates of Trafford’s thriving Youth section, given their chances alongside the calm old head of assistant manager & former Stockport County skipper Harry Winter. Trafford took the second half with Winter cool on the ball, and the returning Harrison Bickerton looking comfortable at left-back. 10 minutes into the half, Eddie Brown held the ball up well and laid it off to Ollie McKay to strike home Trafford’s 3rd equaliser of the match. Meanwhile on the left wing, a young trialist called Josh Wood was showing no fear, making some great runs, and showing quality on the ball. Wood burst into the box and was brought down for a penalty which Rio Clegg put away for the winner, 4-3 to Trafford.

After the match, the England v Switzerland game was on in the Llandudno FC clubhouse, and Trafford’s players, staff & supporters enjoyed another penalty victory!!

Trafford’s next pre-season friendly is on Tuesday 16th July away at Abbey Hey FC kick off 19:45.

TRAFFORD travel to Prescot Cables for their next Pitching-in NPL fixture, which takes place on Saturday 28th January kick off 3pm.
Cables have asked us to make our supporters aware that they have CASH TURNSTILES ONLY – there are no card facilities on the turnstiles.
Admission prices are: £10 Adults, £6 Concessions, and £3 Children (Under 16 must be accompanied by an adult).
Cables also advise that they unfortunately do not have any parking at the ground. There is usually ample space on the surrounding streets for cars – just please try and park sensibly and keep the local residents in mind.
If bringing a bus, it’s best to disembark at the Hope & Anchor Pub at the top of Hope Street. Coming all the way down the street to the ground is possible, but it’s very tight.
The address/postcode is as follows:
Prescot Cables Football Club, Hope St, Prescot, Merseyside, L34 6HD
For those Trafford supporters attending tomorrow, enjoy your day, safe travels, and represent our great club well – with pride and vocal backing!! DC and the players DO appreciate your support!

TRAFFORD are next in action on Boxing Day, as we travel to Ramsbottom United for a Pitching-In Northern Premier League fixture. Kick off is 3pm for those supporters who are missing their football fix and would like to travel to support Danny Caldecott and his team. Our next home game is January 2nd versus Glossop North End, kick off also at 3pm. It would be lovely to see as many of your there as possible to help get 2023 off to a winning start!

Matty Cooper finished his career with a clean sheet in a day of tributes to the long-standing Trafford FC keeper.

The end of a five-year spell of 142 appearances with Trafford was marked with a guard of honour, applause from the Shawe View crowd and a special presentation on Saturday 22 April.

The season ended with a goalless draw against Runcorn Linnets – the same opposition Cooper made his debut against – which granted the veteran 35 clean sheets with Trafford.

“He’s top drawer, I can’t speak highly enough of Coops,” said Trafford’s Manager Danny Caldecott.

“His attitude, his commitment, he’s a leader. He epitomises this league. He’s everything you want in a keeper.

“That’s a massive position for us to try and fill in the summer but I’m also happy for him. He’s had a tremendous career at this level. He’s represented a lot of good football clubs and wherever he’s gone everybody’s spoken really highly of him which tells its own story of the player.”

‘List of targets’

A replacement for Cooper isn’t the only objective for the Manager over the summer. “We know who we want to retain at the football club, we know the direction we want to go in. We want to keep continuing to build, we’ve already got a list of targets we’d like to speak to in the summer. We are genuinely excited.”

Caldecott insists that a play-off position, building on the tenth-place finish this season, is a realistic target next year with the right additions to the squad and more experience for a young group of players who he says “have learnt a lot” in often difficult season.

“If we can keep the group of players together again and add a little bit more quality, we will be better again for it. We’ll be better equipped for the league and hopefully the play-offs.

“It’s now time to show that consistency and I believe that if we can do that, for even two thirds of the season, that would be enough to be in contention for the playoffs.”

‘Consistency’

The Manager does not shirk questions about the team’s consistency, describing it as the “Achilles” heel of this season.

“We’ve just not been consistent enough in each aspect of the season and that’s what’s really hurt us. You don’t go and win six games on the bounce through pure luck, but equally you don’t lose the amount of games we have without any luck.

“I understand the reasons why – this is only the group’s second season at this level and in this league. I understood when I took the job that the project we were going to start was going to be with younger players and with that comes mistakes. We have to accept that.

“I get frustrated more than anybody in this ground, believe you me, when we make mistakes and we concede goals and we don’t win football matches – because I know what we’re working with week in week out.”

One positive sign Caldecott pointed to was the spirit of the group to emerge from a disastrous run in the winter.

Arguably the most precarious moment of the season was with the team 2-0 down with fifteen minutes to go home to Glossop, days after the Boxing Day defeat to Ramsbottom, hovering above the relegation zone. The comeback that day was the “catalyst for us to produce the run of results that we did.”

At our recent home game versus City of Liverpool, the Trafford FC Supporters Club were finally able to present their two most recent “Player of the Month” awards – Max Hazeldine won the November vote (and has since been injured!) and Astley Mulholland picked up the December award following several 2nd places in the vote so far this season. Well done to both players, and we hope to see Max back in action soon. Trafford supporter Carly Law made the presentations to each player, a remarkable young lady who is recovering from major spinal surgery! We wish Carly a speedy and complete recovery!

We are writing this as an open letter to the supporters and friends of Trafford FC. As you know full well, we are facing unprecedented times. Not just for our football club, but for our families, friends, and communities. Because we feel that the club is very much a part of your community and your lives, we think it a good time to express our gratitude to you all.

It was back on 22nd February, a home win over Marine, that football ended at Shawe View and did not return for exactly six months – 22nd August when Ashton Athletic were the visitors in a pre-season friendly. During that half-year, Lockdown saw the entire country stopped in its tracks. However, this didn’t mean the grass stopped growing or the paint stopped flaking at our beloved stadium. There remained work to be done, even in Lockdown…….

The enforced hiatus not only lost us nine league games in the abandoned season (including four home fixtures) AND the Manchester Premier Cup Final, but we also had to cancel all the amateur and junior finals we host annually in May. This was a sad loss to grassroots teams across the district and costly to the club in terms of vital post-season income. We were able to acquire some financial support from Trafford Council and Sport England in the form of grants, which went some way towards mitigating the loss of income due to the cessation of all footballing activities.

However, what was THE most positive and uplifting occurrence during these uncertain times was the way that Trafford FC’s supporters and friends rallied together to help save the club. The Supporters Club was instrumental in setting up a “JustGiving” crowdfunder which exceeded its £5,000 target and went on to raise £7,302. Donations came from far & wide – not just what we call the “Trafford Family” but also fans of other clubs, former Trafford players and managers, local businesses, and the greater Urmston community….. It was heart-warming to feel the love for the club and to see everyone rallying to keep us afloat. It is a testament to all of you amazing fans and friends of TFC. From the bottom of our hearts, the Committee thanks every single one of you who were involved in organising this, and every single person who contributed, no matter the size of the donation.

But that wasn’t all, oh no! Some crazy “virtual match days” involving online Subbuteo and Playstation fun as substitutes for lost fixtures raised just over a thousand pounds. Then, later in the summer as Lockdown restrictions started to be relaxed, we saw Shawe View become a hive of activity (within the social distancing rules of course!) as volunteers got to grips with the jobs that are needed to maintain our high standards. In particular, the grounds team of Graham and Adrian maintained a mini-rota for cutting, seeding and fertilising the pitch. As the break from football continued, deep cleaning of the bar, kitchen and clubhouse areas was undertaken whilst outside jobs were completed including the painting of buildings and barriers, the of fixing roofs, pressure-washing the concrete panels around the pitch, and generally keeping the place spotless.

As the possibility of a start to the new season emerged, we had to up-our-game in making the stadium Covid-safe. We were assisted in this by one of our loyal supporters, Mike Jones, whose day-job is in the discipline of industrial health and safety. The professionalism and thoroughness of his advice helped us produce a full Covid-19 “Risk Assessment” document which is published on our website. This, along with the measures implemented around Shawe View saw us pass with flying colours all the stipulations set for us by the authorities and enabled us to open our doors again to paying customers for the aforementioned friendly on 22nd August. The work that was carried out in the run up to this game was immense – all done by a band of volunteers who stepped up and did themselves and the club proud. We would like to thank each and every one of you for your hard work and support. It will not be forgotten.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Supporters Club had a few projects ongoing as a result of their fantastic fundraising outside of the JustGiving page. Having been raising funds since the SC’s relaunch about three years ago, the new PA system was completed this summer and if you thought THAT was enough, they then decided to undertake a project to install additional concrete steps on the west side of the stadium, behind the Pennybridge Lane end. This is the first stage of a medium-term project that will eventually see the building of another fixed covering to protect supporters from the elements. The cost has been met with around £4,000 of fundraising efforts over the last three years, plus a grant of £2,000 for which the SC submitted a successful bid to the Manchester FA. The Committee wish to add their thanks to the TFC Supporters Club for all the hard work carried out to complete those successful projects.

For those of you who have managed to return to Shawe View for the first few games of this new season, you will have witnessed the results of the hard work done over the summer. You will have seen the rules which we must adhere to, and you will have experienced the new ways of accessing the stadium with E-ticketing and capped capacity. We have had considerable help in this from one of our numerous local sponsors, Shocal. We cannot exaggerate the benefits that their ticketing App has brought to the management of admissions to the stadium and the requirements for track & trace. It is looking likely that for the foreseeable future we will need a traceable E-ticketing system and the Shocal app has worked very well from the outset. Indeed, all home games so far have sold out to the capacities that we were allowed by our local council.

The success of everything we describe above has been possible through the actions and compliance of you, our loyal fans. As we continue with the season it is critically important that we do not relax our match day protocols relating to Covid-19. We have had communication from the League reminding us that unless every club implements its Risk Assessments diligently, and manages social distancing effectively, there is a very real risk that the government will restrict access to football further. We are also subject to scrutiny from Trafford Council with regular spot checks and reviews. As such, can we remind you all of the strict rules regarding the bar and drinking up times. The authorities will not hesitate to apply sanctions on any club found to be disregarding government and FA guidance.

We are ending this message by reiterating the Committee’s gratitude to every one of our loyal fans and friends. You have all done amazingly well so far and we want that to continue. From being seriously concerned that there might be no Trafford FC after the Locked-down spring/summer of 2020 we actually feel like we’ve gone from strength to strength thanks to the efforts and commitment from everyone in and around our Club. Please keep up the good work. Spread the word that football is continuing, and Trafford FC needs your support. We will continue to provide a safe and welcoming environment to our local community as long as we are able to, and we hope you enjoy this for many seasons to come.

Thank you!

Trafford Football Club

THE FUNERAL of Paul ‘Tin Tin’ Thomas will take place on 20th January – we have had a message from the family which reads as follows:

“Everyone who knew Paul is invited to join his family for a celebration of his life at Peel Green Crematorium, M30 7LW on 20 January 2022 at 10.20am followed by refreshments at Patricroft Conservative Club, M30 7AW. Can we please ask that as Paul was a big Man City fan that anyone attending wear something sky blue. Family flowers only please as the family would like donations to Trafford FC.”

Universally known as Tin Tin (and sometimes Tommo), Paul passed away in Wythenshawe Hospital on Christmas Eve following a period of ill health. He was 71. His time at TFC began over 20 years ago when his son Gareth joined the club as a player. Paul and his wife Gail soon became active members of the club helping out wherever they could.

In only their second season as volunteers their supreme efforts saw them jointly awarded “Clubman of the Year” – an award which Tin Tin would go on to receive many times in future years. It is to his great credit that our annual volunteer-of-the-year honour bears his name alongside Foxy’s.

There weren’t many jobs that Paul wouldn’t put his hand to over the years, from divotting the pitch, ground maintenance, helping and cooking in the tea hut, turnstile operator, etc. etc. and even during his recent illness he continued to wash the kit.

The wit and wisdom of Tin Tin was a vital part of the team spirit behind the scenes at Shawe View, and he will be sadly missed by all who knew him and experienced his razor sharp humour. Rest in peace Tin Tin (a true Trafford Legend).