By Nathan Jackson
July 31 2008

Morecambe FC have vast experience of non-league football. Spending all but one season of their history in the non-League, Morecambe came into the League last season and impressed many, but it hasn't always been an easy ride for the Shrimpers, often coming close to extinction. Morecambe FC was founded in May 1920 after a meeting at the West View Hotel. They took their position in the Lancashire Combination League and shared with the local cricket club. Their first season included relatively large crowds of over 3,000 for fixtures against Lancaster and Fleetwood. However, they struggled on the pitch and finished near the bottom of the league before moving to Roseberry Park. The name was quickly changed to Christie Park in honour of J.B Christie, the President of the club.

The first few seasons were quite hard, not doing anything of merit until the 1924/5 season, winning the title before beating Chorley in the Lancashire Senior Cup in front of a crowd of well over 30,000 people. Poor results off the field meant that Morecambe were often struggling to survive, especially as they were getting no revenue off of the field.

The second World War went by and the club started to improve in the late 40s. Ken Horton took over as player-manager in 1956 and the club began enjoying a decent spell. An FA Cup third round appearances entertained the crowds in 1962, this was followed 6 years later by a 2-1 win over Burnley in the Senior Cup before an FA Trophy success in 1974, beating Dartford 2-1 at Wembley.

Despite that decent run of trophies and decent finishes in the league, the club suddenly fell on hard times. Crowds of less than 200 just years after attendances of 2,000 meant that the budget was stretched a lot further than could have been accounted for and the club were in serious danger of going out of business. However, a few cup runs and decent league positions brought the crowds back and the club were thriving again.

The club achieved promotion to the Conference and by now Morecambe was a very optimistic place to be. Morecambe became one of the names synonymous with the Conference, only Woking have a long unbroken membership in the division that Morecambe over the next few years. The club were succeeding on the pitch and make the third round of the FA Cup in both 2000/1 and 2002/3, losing to Ipswich both times. Those runs included wins over several League clubs.

A first ever spell in the Conference Playoffs saw Morecambe go into them as heavy favourites, but they were dumped at the first stage by Hereford United. The sides drew 1-1 in the final before a 3-2 scoreline for Hereford at Edgar Street sent the Bulls through. They went on to defeat Halifax Town in the final. During that season, Jim Harvey suffered a heart-attack during a match and Sammy McIlroy took over as caretaker. Harvey was sacked upon his return and McIlroy took over permanent.

Twelve months later and Morecambe were back in the Playoffs and they defeated a strong York City side in the semi finals. Over 40,000 fans saw them take on Exeter City at Wembley Stadium. Exeter scored first but two quick-fire goals saw Morecambe win the final and into the Football League.

Morecambe's performances in the League were certainly admirable. They progressed to the third round in the League Cup, winning away at both Preston North End and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Morecambe were challenging for the Playoffs nearly all season but just failed towards the end. However, an 11^th place finish was certainly respectable and caught the attention of many in the footballing world.