Portadown F.C.

Portadown

File:Portadown.png
Full name	Portadown Football Club
Nickname(s)	The "Ports"
Founded	1888
Ground	Shamrock Park, Portadown, Northern Ireland
Capacity	3,940 (2,740 seated)
Chairman	Roy McMahon
Manager	Ronnie McFall MBE
League	NIFL Premiership
2012–13	7th
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Portadown F.C. is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club which plays in the NIFL Premiership.

The club was founded in the late 1880s and joined the Irish League in 1924. It is based in Portadown in County Armagh and plays its home games at Shamrock Park. Club colours are all red.

Since 1986 the club's manager has been Ronnie McFall.

History

Portadown's first major trophy success came in the 1933–34 season when they won the Gold Cup under manager Tommy Sloan. Their first championship success came in the 1989–90 season when they were crowned Irish League champions for the first time in their history, having come close on numerous occasions in the past. The 'Ports' then went on to have a period of continued success winning the league title a further two times within five years, including a 'double', when the Irish Cup arrived at Shamrock Park along with the league championship in 1991. They beat their County Armagh rivals Glenavon 2–1 at Windsor Park in the Irish Cup Final, with Stevie Cowan scoring both goals to take the trophy to Shamrock Park for the first time.

On 30 April 2008, Portadown, who had enjoyed senior status since 1924, was relegated to the Championship as a result of its final application form for the new IFA Premiership (due to replace the Irish Premier League for 2008–09) having been received late and thus not considered. The club unsuccessfully appealed its exclusion. Due to the drop from Northern Ireland's top domestic football league, the IFA Premiership, Portadown were forced to take on intermediate status, due to the IFA Championship, which is Northern Ireland's second tier of football, being an intermediate league. In its first season in the Championship, however, the club won promotion straight back into senior football, beating their closest rivals Donegal Celtic 2–0 in the last (and decisive) match of the season. Also after beating Newry City 1–0 at Mournview Park on 28 February 2009, Portadown became the first intermediate club to win the Irish League Cup. Scotsman Gary McCutcheon scored the winning goal.

Portadown qualified to play UEFA Europa League football in the 2010–11 season on account of being runners up in the 2009–10 Irish Cup to Linfield. They defeated the Latvian side Skonto Riga 2–1 on aggregate to advance to the second qualifying round. It was their first win in European cup competition since 1974. The second qualifying round 1st leg match was played at Shamrock Park on 15 July 2010 with Richard Lecky scoring the opening goal against the Azerbaijani side FK Qarabağ, but two second half goals from the Azerbaijanis saw them take a 2–1 lead back home for the second leg on 22 July 2010. The 2nd leg in Azerbaijan ended 1–1 which was not enough for Portadown who were knocked out 3–2 on aggregate.

The Ronnie McFall era

Since 11 December 1986, the club's current manager has been Ronnie McFall. He recently signed another five-year contract which will boost his term as manager to 28 years. He was born and raised in Portadown and played left-back for the club during the 1960s and 1970s. He has also played for Dundee United of Scotland, and afterwards Ards and Glentoran where he began his managerial career.

Problems

Northern Ireland football grounds have been described as "useful sites for public displays of political affiliations", and internal divisions between groups involved in political violence in the mid-1990s affected Portadown, whose supporters voiced vocal support for the Loyalist Volunteer Force which was based in the area. In 1999 a social club outside the stadium was the scene of a violent incident in which members from the Loyalist Volunteer Force, some of whom were out on Christmas parole, were attacked by members of the rival Ulster Volunteer Force, beginning a violent feud that resulted in multiple deaths.

In 2007 there was an incident at The Oval when rival Portadown and Glentoran fans clashed in the streets outside the ground and missiles were thrown and cars damaged. The club management condemned the incident. Portadown, like all Irish Premier League clubs have signed up to the UEFA 10 point plan on racism.

Portadown in Europe

Main article: Northern Irish football clubs in European competition

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Agg
1962–63	Cup Winners Cup	R1	OFK Belgrade	3–2	1–5	4–7
1974–75	UEFA Cup	R1	Valur	2–1	0–0	2–1
		R2	Partizan Belgrade	1–1	0–5	1–6
1990–91	European Cup	R1	F.C. Porto	1–8	0–5	1–13
1991–92	European Cup	R1	Red Star Belgrade	0–4	0–4	0–8
1992–93	UEFA Cup	R1	Standard Liège	0–0	0–5	0–5
1994–95	UEFA Cup	PR	ŠK Slovan Bratislava	0–2	0–3	0–5
1996–97	UEFA Cup	PR	FK Vojvodina	0–1	1–4	1–5
1999–00	UEFA Cup	QR	CSKA Sofia	0–3	0–5	0–8
2002–03	UEFA Champions League	QR1	FC Belshina Bobruisk	0–0	2–3	2–3
2003–04	UEFA Cup	QR	Malmö FF	0–2	0–4	0–6
2004–05	UEFA Cup	QR1	FK Žalgiris Vilnius	2–2	0–2	2–4
2005–06	UEFA Cup	QR1	Viking FK	1–2	0–1	1–3
2006–07	UEFA Cup	QR1	FBK Kaunas	1–3	0–1	1–4
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	QR1	Skonto Riga	1–1	1–0	2–1
		QR2	FK Qarabağ	1–2	1–1	2–3
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	QR1	FK Shkëndija	2–1	0–0	2–1
		QR2	NK Slaven Belupo	2–4	0–6	2–10

By competition

Competition	P	W	D	L	GF	GA
European Cup / UEFA Champions League	6	0	1	5	3	24
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	2	1	0	1	4	7
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League	28	3	7	18	16	62
Total	36	4	8	24	23	93

Last updated on 26 July 2012

Honours

Senior honours

• Irish League: 4
  • 1989–90, 1990–91, 1995–96, 2001–02
• Irish Cup: 3
  • 1990–91, 1998–99, 2004–05
• Irish League Cup: 2
  • 1995–96, 2008–09
• Gold Cup: 6
  • 1933–34, 1937–38, 1952–53, 1971–72, 1978–79, 1992–93
• Ulster Cup: 2
  • 1990–91, 1995–96
• Floodlit Cup: 3
  • 1990–91, 1992–93, 1994–95
• Texaco (All-Ireland) Cup: 1
  • 1973–74
• Tyler Cup: 1
  • 1977–78
• Mid Ulster: 21
  • 1898–99, 1899–00, 1902–03, 1905–06, 1907–08, 1909–10, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1960–61†, 1962–63†, 1964–65†, 1969–70†, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2002–03
• Irish FA Charity Shield: 1
  • 1999–2000

† Won by Portadown Reserves

Intermediate honours

• IFA Championship: 1
  • 2008–09
• George Wilson Cup: 1
  • 1996–97†
• Bob Radcliffe Cup: 2
  • 1982–83†, 1983–84†

† Won by Portadown Reserves

Junior honours

• Irish Junior Cup: 1
  • 1898–99

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	NIR	David Miskelly
2	MF	SCO	Sean Mackle
3	DF	NIR	Ross Redman
4	DF	NIR	Keith O'Hara
5	DF	NIR	Chris Ramsey
6	DF	IRL	Garry Breen
7	MF		Aaron Burns
8	DF	NIR	Richard Clarke
9	FW		Darren Murray
10	FW	NIR	Kevin Braniff
11	MF		Tim Mouncey
12	MF		Joe McNeill

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
13	GK		Jamie McArdle
14	MF	NIR	Ryan Burns
15	DF		Matthew Paget
16	FW	NIR	Michael McLellan
17	DF	NIR	Chris Casement
18	FW		Richard Lecky
20	MF		Shane McKinney
21	DF		Andrew Burns
22	MF	IRL	Neil McCafferty
23	MF		Matthew Brown
27	FW	SCO	Gary Twigg

Sponsors

The clubs current shirt sponsor is MET Steel Group, a steel manufacturer, steel stockholder and distributor within N.Ireland and Republic of Ireland. Other notable sponsors include Charles Hurst Group (Car Sales), the David Jameson Group (Construction) and Dalzell's of Markethill (Electrical Appliance Retailer).

External links

• Portadown FC website
• Portadown Statistics and Results at the Irish Football Club Project