GOOLE AFC A BRIEF HISTORY

Goole AFC was formed in 1997 following the demise of Goole Town AFC after almost 100 years. The old club worked its way up through the Yorkshire and Midland Leagues to become founder members of the Northern Premier League in 1968. Results were variable especially in the early years when there was no automatic relegation but eventually Town established themselves a useful outfit with a highest placing of sixth in 1976 and winning the League Cup in 1988 after a penalty shoot out with Barrow. Around this time though debts began to mount and after two relegation’s in three years Goole found themselves in the North East Counties League in 1995.Although a mid table finish was achieved, the management committee of the club decided that they could not run up further debts especially in face of impending relegation due to the appalling state of the Victoria Pleasure Grounds and the club played its last match at Glasshoughton in May 1996, winning 1-0 with a Paul Gibbon goal.
Within a year a new club was formed with Leeds businessman Mike Norman as Chairman and experienced manager John Reed in charge of the playing side. The club was accepted into the Central Midlands League and played its first game in August 1997, beating Blackwell Miners Welfare 8-0, Paul Gibbon this time scoring five. The club romped home with the Premier Division Title in front of crowds of 250+, losing just one game in the process.
The second season was much harder as Goole had to settle for third place behind Mickleover Sports and Dunkirk in an extremely tough division. That was good enough for promotion though and with the Cox’s League Cup and Wakefield Floodlight Cup both won and a run to the Fourth Round of the FA Vase all in all another excellent season.
On the field the 1999-2000 season was another success with a comfortable victory in the North East Counties First Division Championship with just three defeats. Off the field was another matter with death of Mike Norman in January casting a shadow which would last for some time.
So, after four years Goole were back in the North East Counties Premier Division and although they began reasonably well there was another setback in October when John Reed left to take up the reigns at Harrogate Town. Former England Under-21 international Peter Daniel took over the hot seat and guided The Vikings to a very satisfactory fourth place. The close season saw the loss of several of the clubs better players and with no adequate replacements the club soon found itself at the wrong end of the table and out of both cup competitions. Daniel was replaced by the experienced Steve Richards who led the club to a mid table finish.
2002-03 was ultimately disappointing as the club missed out on promotion by finishing third after leading the table for many weeks and only losing second place on the final day of the season. Richards left in October 2003 to join Ossett Town and a new joint management team of Paul Marshall, who led Harrogate Railway to FA Cup glory and Jimmy Reed the former Pickering Town boss saw the Vikings once again just miss out on promotion to the Unibond League.
By the summer of 2004 Paul Marshall was in sole control of team affairs and put together a mixture of youth and experience to finally win the Premier Division title on the final day of the season with a 3-1 win over Long Eaton United.
With a strong board of directors led by Chairman Des O’Hearne, excellent sponsorship from EITI and Portside, and a vibrant youth team, the future looked better for the club than ever as Northern Premier League football returned to Goole after a ten year absence.
Sadly though a lack of close season recruitment left the club at the wrong end of the table and Paul Marshall was relieved of his duties on November 1st with Nigel Danby taking over as Caretaker Manager. After a successful spell as Caretaker, Nigel has been appointed until the end of the season with former Eccleshill manager John Price as his number two and the experienced former Bradford PA man Wayne Benn as player coach.