Club Background
Fylde, it’s pronounced ‘Fy-uld‘, if you were wondering. You might be thinking you don’t recall hearing anything about this club until relatively recently – and you’d be right, you hadn’t. A.F.C. Fylde (unusually the A.F.C. prefix isn’t an indicator of a club rising from the ashes after going bust) is a renaming in 2008 of the team formerly known as Kirkham & Wesham F.C., which in turn was an amalgamation of Kirkham Town F.C. and Wesham F.C. back in 1988.
The early history can be skated over as Kirkham, Wesham or the combination of the two spent their time kicking a ball about in various Lancashire leagues and county cups for decades. Their rise began in 2007-08 when, having been Champions of the West Lancashire League for seven of the eight previous seasons, they were finally accepted into the North West Counties League. This meant they had to install some floodlights for the first time in their history. They won automatic promotion in second spot from Division Two to the Premier Division and also secured the F.A. Vase, the first time they had ever entered the competition, that season, taking 3,500 fans to Wembley. You’ll not be surprised to discover we never played any of these clubs. Buoyed by all this success they changed their name.
The man behind the change was local businessman David Haythornthwaite, whose company VetPlus which sells ‘animal pharmaceuticals’ had been main sponsor of Kirkham & Wesham since 2006, and took over the club in 2007. He’d tried twice to buy Blackpool FC and, to give you an indication of the ‘forthright’ nature of the owner, when they were promoted from the North West Counties League in 2007-08, he set an ambition to reach the Football League within 15 years. The 2022 ambition was even emblazoned on the club’s shirts – up until 2022, that is.
In 2008-09 Fylde were promoted again, into Northern Premier League Division One North; again in 2011-12 to the Northern Premier League Premier Division; and again in 2013-14 to the Conference (National League) North. After two failures in the play-offs they reached the National League as Champions in 2016-17.
2018-19 saw two visits to Wembley: losing in the play-off final to Salford City, so missing out on a place in the EFL; but beating Leyton Orient in the F.A. Trophy, to become the first club ever to win both the Vase and the Trophy.
The rise up the leagues has been accompanied by changes of playing venue. From a council-owned ground in Kirkham they first acquired their own stadium at Kellamergh Park, tucked away behind a rural pub in the village of Warton in 2006, where they played for the next ten years. Schemes to move again received a knock back when planning permission was refused in 2012. Fylde came back with alternative plans for a different site and this was agreed in 2013, with the club moving to their new home of Mill Farm Sports Village, which includes a 6,000 capacity EFL grade stadium, in 2016.
Fylde’s inexorable march up the pyramid stalled in 2019-20, the season ended prematurely by the outbreak of COVID-19, and with the club bottom of the National League for eight years Dave Challinor swiftly paid with his jobs in October 2019. He went on to do alright for himself firstly with Hartlepool United and then at Stockport County, who he continues to guide up the EFL.
Following Challinor’s exit, the man tasked with reaching the club’s self-declared goal of Football League status by 2022, was Jim Bentley, who Yeovil fans will doubtless recall from his long association with another Lancashire outfit, Morecambe. To put it simply, he didn’t start well with the club finishing second-from-bottom in the aborted 2019-20 season and being relegated back to National League North.
Remember the character of chairman Haythornthwaite mentioned earlier? He refused to remove 2022 from the club’s shirts following relegation insisting back-to-back promotions. Forthright, as we say. It didn’t happen, they did make the play-offs in 2021-22 losing to Boston United. During that same season, the club hit the headlines for the wrong reasons again after posting a job advert for a general manager which included the line: “It added: “We work hard at Fylde so again, don’t apply if you are looking for a work-life balance or have to pick up the kids from school twice a week at 15:30 BST.”
Oh yeah, then in March 2022, Bentley lost his job and was replaced by James Rowe, who had had success at Gloucester City and Chesterfield, before leaving the Spireites under something of ‘a cloud’ with investigations in to “allegations of misconduct” underway. Haythornthwaite described his new appointment as “no shrinking violet“, but Rowe lasted until September 2022 when he resigned having been charged with sexual assault. At the time of writing in August 2024, Rowe’s trial is yet to take place. You do have to wonder what the club’s fans make of it all.
Next in the hot-seat was Adam Murray, who oversaw the club’s promotion back to the National League Premier in the 2022-23 season – which ended after the end of 2022, just for reference. In October 2023, Murray lost his job with the club bottom of the National League Premier and former Carlisle United manager Chris Beech, who had been Director of Football at Fylde since December 2022, stepped in and steered the club to safety last season. He was rewarded with a new long-term contract in May 2024.
We’ve Met Before
Previous Results for Yeovil Town First Team vs AFC Fylde
| 14/09/2019 | Home | NLP | W | 3-2 | 2,395 | Rhys Murphy 5, Myles Hippolyte 14, Jimmy Smith 78 | |
| 21/12/2019 | Away | NLP | D | 2-2 | 1,472 | Courtney Duffus 79, 80 | |
Results Summary For Yeovil Town First Team vs AFC Fylde
| Home | Away | Overall | ||||||||||||
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 |
Club Statistics
RECENT RESULTS
| 10/08/2024 | Solihull Moors | Home | NLP | W | 3-2 | 1,090 | Haughton 10, 57, 83 | |
| 17/08/2024 | Eastleigh | Away | NLP | L | 4-2 | 1,820 | Haughton 20, 27 | |
| 20/08/2024 | Oldham Athletic | Away | NLP | D | 1-1 | 5,682 | Riley 36 | |
| 24/08/2024 | Maidenhead United | Home | NLP | D | 0-0 | 1,004 | ||
| 26/08/2024 | Wealdstone | Away | NLP | L | 1-0 | 1,325 | ||
| 31/08/2024 | Southend United | Home | NLP | Game postponed | ||||
LEAGUE ATTENDANCE STATISTICS
Highest League Attendance: 1,090
Lowest League Attendance: 1,004
Average League Attendance: 1,048
CURRENT LEAGUE SEQUENCE STATISTICS
| Games Without A Win: | 4 | Games Without A Home Win: | 1 | |
| Games Without An Away Win: | 5 | Games Without Defeat: | 0 | |
| Games Without A Home Defeat: | 1 | Games Without An Away Defeat: | 5 | |
| Games Without A Draw: | 1 | Games Without A Score Draw: | 2 | |
| Games Without A No-Score Draw: | 1 | Games Without Scoring: | 2 | |
| Games Without Conceding: | 0 | Home Results Sequence: | WD | |
| Away Results Sequence: | LDL | Overall Results Sequence: | WLDDL |
Club Information
Address :
Mill Farm Sports Village, Coronation Way, Wesham, Lancashire, PR4 3JZ (click for map)
Tel. 01772 682593
Chairman: David Haythornthwaite
Club Secretary : Jack Tomlinson
Head Coach: Chris Beech
Capacity : 6000
Seated : 2000
Covered Terrace : 4000
Surface : Grass
Record Attendance : 2,694 – vs King’s Lynn Town – 26/12/2022
Colours : White, blue and red – but mostly white
Nickname : The Coasters
Programme : £3.00
Away supporters get a small corner section of seating (Block A in the Main (West) Stand) with a side-on view and the whole of the 900 capacity covered terrace behind the goal at the southern end of the stadium.
Tickets are on sale now – CLICK HERE – and also available to buy from the ticket windows adjacent to the away turnstiles. Pricing looks to be very simple, with no surcharge on the day.
Ticketing
In the Terrace, Adults are £18 and Junior “Under 18s” are £9, whilst if you want the privledge of a seat, that’ll cost you.
West Stand tickets are £22 for Adults and £10 for Juniors.
Terrace (South Stand)
Adult: £18
Junior (Under-18): £9
Seated (West Stand)
Adult: £22
Junior (Under-18): £10
There is no obvious discount available to disabled supporters, but the club’s website does state a lift is available in Main Reception at Mill Farm for fans accessing the West Stand. Disabled car parking is also available to request with supporters asked to email jordan.dixon@afcfylde.co.uk.
Official Away Travel
The Green & White Supporters’ Club is running away travel to AFC Fylde on Saturday 7th September, 3p.m. kick-off.
Details are as follows:
Members: Adult £41; Concession £39
Non-Members: Adult £44; Concession £42
Coach departs Huish Park: 7am
To book, call Paul Hadlow on 07736 044570 (after 6.00 p.m. please).
If you are getting in touch by email, please make it clear which match you are booking for and that you give your full name, the names of people that are travelling and a contact telephone number.
You may be asked to pay a £5 deposit to reserve your seat.
Directions To The Ground
General
Kirkham and Wesham is a large village (small town if you’re feeling generous) of around 3,500 souls roughly halfway between Preston and Blackpool. Mill Farm Sports Village, home to A.F.C. Fylde, is on the northern outskirts and easily accessible from the M55. Kirkham is a fairly standard market town, a few shops, a few pubs, a big factory which makes fighter jets in nearby Warton, but if you’re looking for much more you’re probably better off heading to Blackpool.
By Road
For Yeovil fans resident in the West Country this is a long, but very simple trip. Once you get on the M5 in Somerset, changed for the M6, then leave at Junction 32 to get on the M55. Leave the M55 at Junction 3 (A585, first exit, southwards) and Mill Farm Sports Village is on your right off the next roundabout a mile down the road. It really is that simple.
Parking
There’s a limited amount of free parking at the ground but realistically that’s going to be nabbed early by the locals. The stadium’s ‘overflow’ car park will charge you £5.00. Be aware that as a Sports Village complex there are other businesses on the site – an Aldi supermarket, a hotel etc. – with their own car parks. These are – naturally – restricted to their own customers and a fine may well result should you park there, whether accidentally or deliberately.
Bearing in mind the site is an out-of-town (village) one, if you don’t mind a bit of walking you should be able to find some free on-street parking down in Wesham.
By Rail
The train station is Kirkham & Wesham, served by Northern Rail. Wesham is north of the railway line, Kirkham to the south. The closest mainline station to pick up a local connection is Preston; there are three an hour during the day with a journey time of nine minutes. The local service from Manchester Piccadilly to Kirkham & Wesham takes an hour. How you get to Preston is another thing and, if you’re travelling from Yeovil, your best bet is the train from Pen Mill to Bristol Temple Meads and from there it’s a change at Birmingham New Street through to Preston – you’re probably talking six hours of a journey though. If you can get to Taunton, you can cut that to something more like four hours, still changing at Birmingham and Preston to get to Kirkham & Wesham. The ground is just under a mile from the railway station, probably about a 20-minute walk.
By Bus
Stagecoach and Blackpool Transport both have services which run to Kirkham and Wesham from both Preston and Blackpool:
Stagecoach – Route 61 – gets you to the Lane Ends pub which is maybe a 15-minute walk to the ground.
Blackpool Transport – Route 75 – runs between Preston and Fleetwood via Kirkham & Wesham.
By Taxi
Kirkham Macs: 01772 683003
Whitesides Taxis (Blackpool): 01253 711611
Millers Cititax (Preston): 01772 884000
Uber – there are usually a few Uber drivers in the Preston and Blackpool area, so it might be worth a check.
Web Resources
Web Sites
AFC Fylde – Official Site
The Fylde Guy – a blog from Fylde supporter, Jack Connor.
Social Media
@AFCFylde – Official X/Twitter account
AFC Fylde Official – Official Facebook account
AFC Fylde Official – Official YouTube channel
Local Press
Food & Drink
General
The area in the immediate vicinity of the stadium, being a ‘Sports Village’, has facilities. In the stadium itself there is Bradley’s Sports Bar (below), Milano’s (Italian restaurant) and the Aroma Café, then next to the stadium you can also find a KFC, Burger King Greggs, Starbucks and Costa Coffe, and an Aldi supermarket. All very sporting.
Further away in the village, on the Wesham side of the railway line, there are three pubs (all below), a chippy (called, to avoid any confusion, Wesham Chippy), a Chinese restaurant (Hans Chinese House)… and that’s about your lot.
For the more determined beer geek the area’s micropub style outlet is the Tap & Vent Brewhouse (below), half a mile from the railway station but in the wrong direction for the stadium, in Kirkham.
For those coming in by road there is an option up by Junction 3 of the M55, The Fairfield Tavern. From the Rural Inns chain, this means it’s neither rustic, nor rural, nor indeed an inn, but a shiny soulless mid-range family dining pub.
Club Bar
Bradleys Sports Bar, around a hundred yards northwards along Coronation Way, is a full-time establishment but also acts as Fylde’s ‘club house’. It is detailed below.
Food on offer inside the ground is the usual standard fare of Pies, Burgers, Hot Dogs, Sausage Rolls and Chips.
Local Pubs
Bradleys Sports Bar: Closest outlet to the stadium, about a hundred yards away. TV screens everywhere showing… Sports… up to four different events at any one time. As well as the usual Extra-cold-Extra-smooth-Extra-whatever offerings from the Multi-nationals so beloved by sports bars this one surprisingly also has four Real Ales, from Bowland Brewery and Moorhouse’s. Food is of the pub grub/grill sort, served from noon to 9.00 p.m. There are children’s options on the menu. Disabled access. Opening hours: 11.00 a.m. – 11.00 p.m. Sunday to Thursday; 11.00 a.m. – 1.00 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
Bradleys Sports Bar, Coronation Way, Wesham, Lancashire, PR4 3JZ. Tel: 01772 598850. Map.
Lane Ends: Owned by Trust Inns. Roughly in the centre of the Wesham, thus half mile from the stadium. Opening is a very straightforward noon to midnight every day. Food of the pies/bar snacks variety available lunchtimes. Couple of Real Ales, Black Sheep Best and Doom Bar, and has Bass and Boddington’s (amongst others) on keg, according to a photograph of the bar. Disabled access, Sports TV, pool table and darts, beer garden, family (and football fan according to reports) friendly, car parking.
Lane Ends Hotel, Weeton Road, Wesham, Lancashire, PR4 3DH. Tel: 01772 383848. Map.
Royal Oak: End of terrace ‘local’ close to the railway station. Little info on this one: supposedly has/had Sports TV and a pool table. Has a recent Food Hygiene Rating so presumably does some food – though nothing to say what and when. Allegedly does one Real Ale but no indication what it might be. Hours are claimed to be noon to midnight every day except Wednesday when it doesn’t open until 4.00 p.m.
Royal Oak, 14 Garstang Road South, Wesham, Lancashire, PR4 3BL. Tel: 01772 681276. Map.
Stanley Arms: Even closer to the railway station (by about fifty yards) than the Royal Oak (above). Owned by Admiral Taverns, which has around 800 pubs across the country, the husband and wife tenants have been running the pub for over twenty years and it was the area CAMRA branch’s ‘Pub of the Season’ for Spring 2019. Serves four Real Ales with, slightly oddly given their respective geographical locations, Butcombe Original as the most ‘regular’ and the others changing but also sourced more from traditional small independent breweries rather than the new wave ‘Crafties’. 20p discount a pint on Real Ales with a CAMRA card. Food is served 4.00 p.m. – 7.30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, noon – 8.30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 11.00 a.m. – 8.30 p.m. Saturday and 10.00 a.m. – 8.30 p.m. Sunday. Has Sky and BT Sports, pool table and darts, smoking yard to the rear and is disabled and family friendly. 0.8 of a mile from the stadium. Opening hours: 3.00 p.m. – midnight Monday to Wednesday; noon – midnight Thursday and Friday; 11.00 a.m. – midnight Saturday; 10.00 a.m. – midnight Sunday; (but do vary seasonally, which is always tremendously helpful – NOT – when no further details are given).
Stanley Arms, 8 Garstang Road South, Wesham, Lancashire, PR4 3BL. Tel: 01772 469495. Map.
Tap & Vent Brewhouse: In the wrong direction from the railway station (in Kirkham) so one and half miles from the stadium. Although owned by Lytham Brewery it’s independently operated and looks (a converted shop) and feels very much like a micropub. Been running since December 2017. Has up to eight changing Real Ales, with several options from Lytham Brewery as the ultimate owners always on and the rest sourced from small independent breweries. Also stocks two Real Ciders, continental Lager options on keg and a range of bottled beers. Opening hours are 4.00 p.m. – 11.00 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, noon – 11.00 p.m. Thursday to Sunday.
Tap & Vent Brewhouse, 26 Poulton Street, Kirkham, Lancashire, PR4 2AB. Tel: 01253 725440. Map.
Kirkham Bierhaus: Converted from the former Santander bank opened in February 2022. A range of German beers draft & bottled as pub name would infer. They also serve food – German and Lancashire fayre, as you do. Regular beers: Six Rotating Ales sourced regionally. Opening times: 12pm-midnight (Saturdays).
Kirkham Bierhaus, 36 Poulton Street, Kirkham, PR4 2AH. 01772 417792. Website – here. Map.
Stable Bar: Converted stables on the main road out from Kirkham centre. Converted stables on the main road out from Kirkham centre. The front of the pub is plush and contains many photos of old Kirkham, The rear turns into a sports area. A multi-level suntrap garden is out the back of the pub. Regular beers: Two regular Ales + Three rotating Guests. Opening times: 12pm-midight (Saturday).
Stable Bar, 48 Preston Street, Kirkham, PR4 2ZA. 01772490689. Map.
Likelihood the Natives Will Understand You: Ask The Boy Coates to translate – been up there so long he must be fluent in the dialect by now?
Top-Tip: Don’t look for Fylde, it’s an area roughly 13 miles by 13 miles, not a place; it’s Kirkham or Wesham you want.
Local Amenities: Blackpool’s just down the road, or Lytham St Anne’s if you’re after something a bit more refined. Blackpool has a tower, Lytham has a windmill.
Other Points Of Interest: Fylde is largely a rural, agricultural place, so there’s lots of fields and not a great deal else until you get to either Lytham St Annes or Blackpool. It’s actually be around a time since about 8,000 BC it is estimated. In the 70s, they apparently found an elk with two harpoons in it and dated it from there. The elk is no longer available to see. Oh, and there’s a Fox’s Biscuits factory near the train station in Kirkham – or is it Wesham?
[No responsibility is taken for any inaccuracies. This page is entirely the product of bias and prejudice. ]