Well done, Chorley FC: How a club and a community saved themselves

An embezzlement scandal pushed Chorley FC to the brink of financial ruin. The local community saved the soccer club, then they became FA Cup heroes.

When Chorley fell 2-0 behind at Wigan Athletic after just 34 minutes of their FA Cup first-round game back in November 2020, no one was particularly surprised.

A part-time side, whose players only train two nights a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and maneuver their soccer careers around full-time jobs, Chorley are a quintessential non-league team. Their home field Victory Park has just 975 seats with a maximum attendance of 4,300.

Chorley are down in the sixth tier of English soccer, otherwise known as the National League North. They’ve never been above the fifth in their history. Their yearly budget just about covers the wages for all of their players and coaches, as well as the maintenance of their ground. “When I first came to Chorley in 2003, playing the likes of Wigan and Bolton Wanderers was a pipe dream,” Chorley manager Jamie Vermiglio told FanSided.

Wigan’s DW Stadium, where the game was being held, is a 25,133 all-seater stadium. As recently as 2013, Wigan had also won the FA Cup, beating none other than Manchester City in the final. While they’d been relegated a few times since then, Wigan were still in the third tier of the English soccer league system. Even though their fields are separated by just nine miles in the northwest of Lancashire, this was the first contest between the rivals since 1978.

Then, in the 41st minute, an incident occurred that would eventually result in the greatest moment in Chorley’s 138 year history — Wigan’s Adam Long was shown a straight red card after he hauled down Chorley striker Harry Cardwell.

Wigan were down to 10-men with 49 minutes left to play. Three minutes into the second half, Elliott Newby reduced Chorley’s deficit to one goal. Cardwell equalized in the 60th minute. Then Connor Hall grabbed the winner in extra-time, which he celebrated in front of a completely empty DW Stadium, as COVID-19 restrictions were still keeping fans out of the grounds.

Chorley were heading to the FA Cup second round for just the third time in their history.

“For most clubs, last season was a write-off,” says Vermiglio. “For us, it will go down as one of the most successful seasons in our history. The ripple effect that it had, I don’t think that’s sunk home to me and to everyone involved in the club.”

“We’re a local club in a local community with local people running it. The publicity and the finances from the FA Cup run, some people don’t understand the magnitude. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience getting that far in the FA Cup.”

Things were much different back in 2003, when Vermiglio originally joined Chorley as a player. The club’s connection with the town and its people had disintegrated over the last decade following a number of relegations.

“The club was in the doldrums. They were well down the non-league pyramid and were only getting 200 or 300 fans per game,” says Lancashire Evening Post sports reporter Craig Salmon.

Vermiglio soon became club captain, and impressed enough to move on to the likes of Scarborough, Telford and Northwich Victoria, who were all playing in the leagues way above Chorley.

In 2010, though, Vermiglio was lured back after they appointed a Premier League stalwart as their manager. Gary Flitcroft might not be a household name, but as a former Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers player he had both the knowledge and the respect of soccer fans from all across Lancashire.

While Chorley had previously employed former professional players like Mark Patterson and Shaun Teale as their manager, none had possessed the stature or draw of Flitcroft. Not only did the people of the town suddenly strike up an interest in the club, but everyone involved with Chorley quickly became more enthusiastic about what could be achieved.

Flitcroft had always seen the potential in Chorley, telling the press they were a “sleeping giant” when he was appointed. With a population of over 41,000 and a history that dates back to 1883, Flitcroft was able to awaken the town and the club.

“He attracted more players,” says Vermiglio. “He certainly attracted me to go back to Chorley, even though I was playing two or three divisions above the standard. It felt like something was about to happen at the club. And it eventually did. He was the catalyst for Chorley’s period of success. He put Chorley on the map.”

Flitcroft’s impact was instant, too, as he was able to use his contacts around the region to bring hugely talented players to the club. Chorley won the opening 10 games of his first season, bringing a structure and confidence to the side that had long been missing. Soon the fans started to return in their droves to Victory Park, too.

“3,000 fans were there for the playoff win over Fylde that won them promotion that season,” says Salmon. “It really felt like they were on to something.”

This high was soon interrupted by an almighty low, though. In September, 2011, the club’s part-time accountant Philip Haslam was arrested for stealing over £70,000 from Chorley FC’s finances . Between March 1, 2011, and Sep. 4, of the same year, the then-23-year-old stole £40,901 directly from the club. During this same period, Haslam is also believed to have taken £22,221 from Chorley Sporting Club and an additional £6,000, too.

It later emerged that Haslam took the money to pay off his increasing gambling debts.

Chorley were now on the cusp of financial ruin. Flitcroft allegedly put some of his own money into the club, while over a period of several months, several fundraisers and a “Save The Magpies” campaign were held to keep Chorley FC afloat.

What made the news even more disappointing and desperate was that Chorley were leading their division and heading toward their second promotion in a row at the time of its discovery.

“The theft really killed us,” Flitcroft told The Non-League paper back in December, 2013. “We had to cut the budget, lads were playing for half their money.”

Chairman Ken Wright told the Chorley Citizen in March, 2013, “For a club of our means £70,000 is a considerable amount of money. We are still in recovery from this. We are still managing to keep our heads above water but we have only been able to do that with the ongoing support of local business directors and supporters who have pulled together to enable the club to still compete at the level that we are at.”

The town stepped up and helped keep Chorley FC afloat

It was the town that really rallied around the team to save it. Dozens of local companies all put in £200 each to stop Chorley FC going out of business, with car dealership Chorley Nissan “very integral” to the club’s survival, says Vermiglio.

“You talk about [soccer], family, community and things, when something like that does happen to a club like Chorley, you take a few steps back, you get support from people who empathize with what you’re going through and they conform. That’s what happened in the town of Chorley,” he adds. “They saw what was happening and they wanted to help and they really did help. It brought people closer to the club.”

Chorley’s results suffered, though, and by the end of the 2011-12 season they were eighth. They’d eventually gain promotion in the 2013-14 season, only for Flitcroft to depart the following campaign. He was replaced by another former Blackburn Rovers player, Matt Jansen, who also had the added glitz of representing the England under-21 team on six occasions, as well being called up to the senior squad.

“Every season for Chorley has been successful over the last 10 years,” says Salmon. “They’ve either been getting promoted, pushing for promotion, or getting beat in the playoffs, or just missing out.”

Vermiglio was made Jansen’s assistant. But Chorley kept on just missing out on promotion during his three years in charge. When Jansen decided to leave, Vermiglio was the only choice to step into the hot seat. This was despite the fact he split his time as manager with his career as the principal at Locking Stumps Primary School in nearby Warrington.

“I’ve always had my education. When I was at university, getting my degree, that’s when I started playing [soccer],” says Vermiglio. “So it was always parallel with my teaching career. I moved up at the same time. If [soccer] was to stop, I feel like I’m in such a fortunate position, because I’ve still got the teaching. Other managers, when they’re sacked, they’re scratching around for something to fall back on.”

Just like his former manager Flitcroft, Vermiglio instantly found success. In 2018-19, his debut season as a manager, Chorley were promoted to the National League, the fifth tier of English soccer, for the first time in decades. However, it was just for one season.

Chorley couldn’t compete with the other teams in the National League, 95 percent of which were made up of full-time professional soccer players. More than that, Chorley weren’t custom to playing teams across the length and breadth of England, as the divisions below the National League are split into regions

Suddenly, they had to make numerous long-haul trips to places like Torquay United, Dover Athletic, Maidenhead United and Yeovil Town. The travel costs, as well as accommodation, additional training facilities and various other expenses, reportedly saw Chorley lose close to a million pounds after they gained promotion.

Then, on April 22, 2020, clubs voted to end the season early as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the bottom of the league, Chorley were relegated.

They were also once again in a precarious financial situation. It wasn’t just Chorley, though, as all of the clubs in tier 5 or below of the English soccer system rely entirely on their matchday revenue to survive.

The Football Association decided the 2020-21 season should proceed without fans in the stadium. By not selling any tickets, or the likes of scarves, pies and beers at Victory Park, Chorley’s money was shrinking by the week. On Oct. 21, 2020, Chorley’s chief executive even openly described their finances as “a major concern.”

They needed a miracle. It arrived just a few weeks later when, on Nov. 8, Chorley beat Wigan. That was followed on Nov. 28 with an even more impressive victory, as Chorley overcame Peterborough, who would go on to finish second in League One and gain automatic promotion to the Championship.

“They were at the top of League One and Chorley dominated,” says Salmon. “Even after they went one-nil down, Chorley outplayed them. It could have been four or five one to Chorley. That performance, beating such a good side away, really gave the manager and the players so much more belief.”

Not only were Chorley in the FA Cup third round, but their wins over Wigan and Peterbrough earned them just just under £250,000.

Their next match was against Derby County of the Championship, who were now being managed by Manchester United and England’s record goalscorer Wayne Rooney.

Chorley’s chances of victory increased dramatically just days before when Derby’s entire team, including their coaches, had to be isolated following a COVID-19 outbreak. Derby were forced to field their under-23 side with an average age of just 19. They never stood a chance and Chorley secured an easy 2-0 victory.

For that game, Chorley earned £61,500 in prize money for getting into the Fourth Round of the FA Cup, while they were also given a £70,000 payment from the broadcasters.

Even when Chorley’s fairytale FA Cup run did come to an end, they far from disgraced themselves. Premier League side Wolves, who Chorley had previously knocked out of the FA Cup first round in 1986, only overcame the minnows thanks to a stunning 35-yard strike from Vitinha in just the 12th minute.

After that point of the contest, Chorley were the better team. “We were quite unfortunate,” says Vermiglio. “If you look at the statistics, if that had been a league game, we’d have been frustrated not to have got anything from it.”

The final sum that Chorley got from their FA Cup adventure hasn’t been revealed, but it’s believed to be around £500,000, and has saved them from financial ruin. “Chorley have made so much money now that they’ve plugged the gap on their lost revenue,” says Salmon.

Now they can turn their attention to the future, which, after the renaissance under Flitcroft and the exposure under Vermiglio, has never looked brighter.

For the time being, particularly in the wake of the COVID crisis, Chorley’s main ambition is to get fans back into Victory Park and become a sustainable club that can function from season to season.

Then they want to gain promotion again and establish themselves as a National League side.

“We want to be a full-time National League side that can compete regularly season after season,” says Vermiglio, who also wants to create a genuine pathway for local players who have been dropped from bigger clubs.

Chorley have spent the last few years pivoting from part-time into a professional side, a process that is still not complete.

“When they last got promoted, they were unprepared, “says Salmon. “They had part-time players, who still had jobs and they were coming up against players who were full-time and played at Championship and League One clubs. They realized that they needed to move away from part-time. They’re more of a hybrid model now. If they got promoted again they would be more prepared.”

Chorley’s growth hasn’t just been reserved for the first-team. Over the last decade, they’ve opened up a number of academies in the town, which accommodate children as young as four and as old as 15, as well as summer and school camps, educational programs and scholarships.

“They’re the next generation. They’re our fans. Their parents are our fans,” says Vermiglio. “When we just had our die-hard group of 200-300 supporters, we had to reach out to local businesses and sponsors to try and help out. Now they come to us. We’re building an infrastructure. It has become more of a community.”

In the wake of the European Super League scandal, which saw the owners of Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur try to take their teams out of the Premier League so they could play against Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan instead, Vermiglio believes more fans might soon start turning to non-league clubs like Chorley.

“There’s a disassociation with these big clubs,” says Vermiglio. “You can see and smell the realness of the sport when you come to non-league games. You’re so close to it. You can literally hear the sounds, the screams, the shouts, the slide tackles, you can hear players running past you. You’re that close to it.”

“With the recent shenanigans in regards to the European Super League, people are feeling that less and less now actually. It’s the club of the owners. They will make the decisions. The owners says the supporters are important. There’s nothing to show that. At this level of soccer, the support is vital. We need it to exist.”

Having already taken Chorley to heights they never thought possible, you wouldn’t bet against more fans being seduced by Vermiglio’s contagious passion and vision for the club and the sport.

“Our long term goal is to become a football league team. We want to play in League Two against Bolton Wanderers and Wigan. We’re not that far away. That is a realistic vision and goal for the club. Our motto in school is to inspire each other everyday and anything is possible. As cheesy as that sounds, when you look at what we’ve already done, it makes you think it’s possible.”