THE 1874 NORTHWICH COLUMN - By Matt Waters

WITH the Football Association’s decision to null and void our season, this period of lockdown has given many of us the opportunity to reflect on everything we have achieved as a club over the past seven-and-a-half years.

Whether it’s been forming a club to call our own – owned by the fans, for the fans – or reaching the FA Vase semi-final, or winning the Macron Cup in 2018, we have seen excellent progression on and off the field since the start.

Off the field we saw a successful relationship with Winsford United which allowed us to create the foundations for the club, linking with several charities during that period such as St Luke’s Hospice.

Not only this, but this season we have worked alongside The Samaritans and Mind UK making a real difference within our local and extended community while at Barnton.

Alongside this, we have built an excellent relationship with our kit suppliers SK Kits.

Since our very first season back in 2013/14, they have made our kits, including our away kit last year designed by local artist Phil Galloway which featured in a National Football Museum exhibition.

The kit, which was inspired by everything Northwich, couldn’t have been more poignant as it also marked our move from Winsford to Northwich ground-sharing with Barnton.

On the pitch we have seen some tremendous success from winning the Supporters Direct Shield in our second ever game, to beating local rivals Witton Albion 3-0 in the Mid Cheshire Cup Final under Ian Street.

Every year we have seen vast improvements on the pitch and no more so last season.

The performances put in by the players each week was nothing short of superb.

In games where we fell behind against Longridge Town and Skelmersdale United they turned into jubilation in a matter of moments as we overturned the deficit to gain all three points on both occasions.

It’s in these moments where you realise what 1874 is all about. You see the passion from the fans matched by the love from the players and at this level that goes an extremely long way.

At 1874 you don’t just play for the team, it’s the club and the family atmosphere that has been built up over time and is never more evident than in this crisis.

As we look to the future, we may have no set date as to when football can safely return, however, the club is working extremely hard to make sure all our fans stay connected with the club.

Over the past week many positive discussions have been held regarding our new home kit, while we have seen a positive reaction to our YouTube series ‘1874 At Home’.

Alongside this we’ve seen through Sal Est Vita, new merchandise being sold such as scarves inspired by our away shirt plus a collaboration with the Culture Division for a blackout kit which is still available.