Winterton Rangers FC were founded in 1934. They were originally an intermediate side before becoming members of the Scunthorpe & District league following the Second World War. Rangers were quite successful in this league, winning trophies on many occasions.

Winterton have used just two grounds in their history. They were situated at Watery Lane until 1950 when a spot of land was purchased at West Street. In 1965 they joined the Lincolnshire county league but their stay was a relatively short one as they accepted an invitation to join the Yorkshire League in 1970. The next decade saw Rangers become one of the league major forces and they took the league title on three occasions. They also reached the 4th qualifying round of the FA Cup twice in 71-72 and 76-77. Their best FA Vase performance was also in the 76-77 season when they reached the Quarter Final stage. In 1978 Rangers successfully won the Philips six-a-side floodlight cup, beating that years Vase winners Newcastle Blue Star in Birmingham. The prize? Six floodlights.

In 1982-83 they became founder members of the Northern Counties East League, when the Yorkshire League and Midland League amalgamated. It was a sad time just two seasons later when the club disbanded due to financial difficulties. Rangers then re-entered the NCEL Division 2 in 1986 and after several poor seasons they won the Division 2 title in 1989-90 and were promoted directly to the Premier Division. After four average years in the top flight Rangers were finally relegated at the end of the 1993/94 season.

In 2002 Dave Crowder joined the club as Chairman and brought with him a new committee to join the few people already at the club. After many seasons struggling with such a small amount of people the club were now looking forward to a bright future. In no time at all alterations were under way with a pool table been installed and a new kitchen put in place. After securing a grant from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund, the work in phase one would include new changing rooms, toilets, turnstiles and car parks. The hard working committee continued to improve facilities, two new clubhouse bars were built and new fire and security systems fitted. Phase two included a new terraced stand along with new walls and footpaths around the ground. Extensive work was done to improve the pitch and further r clubhouse developments were completed.

During the summer of 2006 a brand new seated stand and dugouts were built along with further raised hard standing. Fencing was also erected down one side and behind one goal. The ground and facilities can now be considered one of the best in the whole league. After the excellent finish to last season, optimism was high. Manager Pete Daniels and his assistant, Dave Robinson, had built an excellent squad containing a balance of youth and experience. A great season followed in 2006/07, gaining promotion to the Premier in second place behind Parkgate.

During the summer of 2006 a brand new seated stand and dugouts were built along with further raised hard standing. Fencing was also erected down one side and behind one goal. The ground and facilities can now be considered one of the best in the whole league. After the excellent finish to last season, optimism was high. Manager Pete Daniels and his assistant, Dave Robinson, had built an excellent squad containing a balance of youth and experience. A great season followed in 2006/07, gaining promotion to the Premier in second place behind Parkgate.

The team of young lads had done us proud. Pre season saw more money spent on the infrastructure. The floodlights were brought up to Conference standard in the major spend of the summer. And things started brightly pre-season when Rangers beat Hull City 3-2 at West Street against their full squad., which set up Rangers for a superb season. The side up to Christmas was untouchable, but with a couple of players leaving for Unibond it was a worry if the start would be sustained. New blood came in and the dream season continued culminating in the league title and League Cup double. It was decided not to apply for Unibond football.

2008/09 would be a tricky one following on from Rangers explosive return to the Premiership. Pete and Dave would battle through a terrible string of injuries to reach a County Cup Final and a fifth place finish. And in pre-season Pete decided to end his superb spell at West Street.

New beginnings on 2009/10. Interviews over and Richard Sennett and Mark Turner were installed in the managers hot seat. The new team had to be built from scratch, which meant for a difficult start to the season that saw Rangers hover around the mid-table area. But a few new faces and a run in that saw Winterton pushing for a top five finish until the last game. Cup glory came with a superb win against Arnold Town in the Presidents Cup, followed by a County Cup triumph against Louth Town in the last game of the season. A major achievement for a side that had but one existing player from the season before.

In the summer of 2012 Richard, Mark and his backroom staff parted company with the club as they wanted a new challenge and Lee Danysz was given the task of carry on their good work. Lee brought in is own backroom team and had to assemble a completely new squad as the previous one followed Richard and Mark to Retford United. Because of circumstances the club knew it would be a hard season and after struggling in the lower reaches of the League Lee decided to step down due to family reasons at the beginning November. The club moved swiftly and appointed Ex Maltby Main manager Steve Adams in the hope he would turn round the clubs fortunes. After 2 months in charge Steve decided to step down and the club appointed senior players Leigh Herrick and Mark McDonagh as joint managers until the end of the season.

Winterton Rangers Football Club

Programme information

Linciln Moorlands Programme