From Club Website:
The origins of Quorn Football Club can be traced back to 1924 when a group of local lads from the Village Wesleyan Chapel formed a football team. In 1937 the Club, then known as Quorn Methodists gained access to the Leicestershire Senior League with a final name change to Quorn Football Club taking place in 1952.
Throughout its history Quorn FC has consistently been a high flyer among Leicestershire’s senior teams, producing several players that have progressed to higher levels of excellence. Jackie Lee a Centre Forward went on to play for Leicester City and Derby County becoming an international, when he played for England v Ireland and scored. Richie Barker, who went on to play for Derby County and Notts County later managed Stoke City, Dion Dublin, who enjoyed a great playing career joining Manchester United, Aston Villa, Coventry, Leicester City, and Norwich as well as playing for England.
In recent times Luke Varney, who was sold by the Club to Crewe Alexandra FC, and who developed into one of their most exciting players scoring 25 goals for them in the 2006/7 season, his quality was then recognised by Charlton Athletic who signed him for £2.5 Million in July 2007. Luke is currently playing for Portsmouth after spells at Derby County and a season long loan period for Blackpool in the Premiership.
Over the years Quorn Football Club has played at several grounds in and around the village, but it was in 1960 that it relocated to Warwick Avenue, there it enjoyed the reputation of always providing good hospitality and due to the pitch’s natural drainage, games were very seldom called off.
Quorn moved to its present ground on Farley Way in 1994 with the establishment of a new modern Clubhouse large enough to cater for the demands of a progressive Football Club both on and off the field, a football pitch with a playing surface that is second to none, and a large Astroturf training area.
Driven by the Clubs ambition to have a ground satisfying the facility criteria of Leagues at a higher level in the Football Pyramid, the following 14 years has seen remarkable progress, with the development of a 350 Seat Grandstand, built with the potential of increasing it’s future capacity to 500, large spectator car parking facilities, outside spectator toilets, and the establishment of a large grass training pitch to compliment the Astroturf.
The sale of Luke Varney from Crewe Alexandra to Charlton Athletic brought a hefty windfall for the club following the Chairman‘s Stuart Turners astute sell on clause that was part of the deal that took the striker to Crewe five years ago and the committee have invested the money wisely developing the ground even further with the construction of a new stand at the Farley Way end and a new extension to the clubhouse bringing the ground up to near Conference level.
On the football playing side 2000/01 saw the Club under Manager Bob Steel gain promotion from the Leicestershire Senior League to the Midland Football Alliance, where it more than held it’s own until the 2006/7 season which saw Marcus Law replaced the departed Doug Keast as Manager and along with assistant Paul O’Brien, they steered the club to a promotion winning third place, securing promotion to the Unibond Northern Premier League.
Under the new management the team also enjoyed exciting runs in both the FA Cup and the FA Vase, progressing further in both competitions than ever before and along with the shrewd deal mentioned above that our Chairman struck with Crewe for Luke Varney, the club can look back on the 2006/7 season as the most exciting in its history.
The following 2007-8 Season saw a few managerial changes with Gavin O’Toole given the task of steadying the ship in early January. Following the loss of several senior players Gavin along with Assistant Charlie Palmer gave opportunities to the younger players and a respectable league position was achieved.
The end of the 2008/9 season saw the departure of Gavin O’Toole and Charlie Palmer, and former Manager Dougie Keast was approached to come back, along with his Assistant Mickie Cotter.
The following two seasons saw the Club finish in the bottom half of the division, and following a poor start to the 2011/12 campaign the management pair offered their resignation, leading to the appointment of former professional player Lawrie Dudfield. Lawrie appointed his assistant Calum Osborne, who joined following a successful coaching role at Arnold Town fc.
A string of poor results led to a further change in Management with Craig Armstrong appointed along with Reserve team Manager, Denis Moran in place of the departed Dudfield. Craig and Denis were placed in charge with 6 matches remaining and relegation almost inevitable.
Following the Clubs relegation to the Chromasport & Trophies United Counties League, a new management team were appointed ahead of the 2012-13 season. Tommy Brookbanks and assistant Mark Harvey were appointed to change the Clubs fortunes and looked to achieve promotion back to Step 4, at the first attempt. The departure of Brookbanks and the majority of his squad in December led to the Club appointing Reserve Team Manager Denis Moran as caretaker Manager until the end of the season. Denis along with assistants Jim Harrison and Gary Hayward steadied the ship and did a sterling job, finishing the season in 7th position despite having to field a side comprising the majority of players who started the season in the Reserve side.
The 2013/14 Season saw Quorn return to the Midland Football Alliance, following a sideways move. The new management of John Folwell and assistant Karl Brennan, both former players, began the rebuilding of the club, virtually starting from scratch, after the previous season’s upheaval. A very successful first term ensued with a respectable 5th place in the League and lifting the MFA League Cup Trophy at Walsall fc. Disappointment came in the Westerby Cup Final defeat at the KingPower Stadium. The Reserve side, under the Management of Ricky Nurse and Rich Burford, also having a great season, finishing runners-up in the League, Winning the League Cup and also reaching the Leicestershire Senior Cup Final.
The 2014/15 season saw Folwell and his team resign with 2 months of the season remaining, Dougie Keast returned as Caretaker Manager and saw out the season with a depleted squad. Following the upheaval in early March, the Club were forced to withdraw their Reserve side from the MFL.
The 2015/16 season sees the Club again going through a rebuilding process, Dougie Keast was appointed Manager on a permanent basis and added Chris Gray as his Assistant, the former skipper returning to the club after 3 years to take up a player/coaching role. Dave Clay also joins the Management as First Team Coach. Chris left to join Gresley in October and was replaced by Russell Hoult, Russ settled in really well and together with Dougie and Dave formed a great working relationship. The Reserve side have reformed and joined the Leicestershire Senior League and the Club have appointed Garry Smith as Manager with Leigh Daniels coming in as his assistant.
During the close season Quorn lost the services of Dave Clay, who took up a role as joint manager at Oadby Town fc. Quorn also lost Garry Smith and Leigh Daniels, with both taking up a joint role at Loughborough United fc, all at Quorn wish all three every success at their new clubs.
2016/17 saw Doug and Russ build on the previous seasons improving squad and despite a mid-season struggle, the team finished the season in style, losing just once in the last eight games, to finish in 11th spot in a very competitive League.
With the addition of a brand new 3G surface at Farley Way during the summer, Quorn look to the future with optimism. The management have retained the majority of last year’s side with the addition of a few new faces and will look to improve on last season’s mid-table finish. Quorn welcome Tom Carlin on to the coaching staff and also welcome a new physio, Rachel Clark replacing Gina Tymm, who has stepped down after two seasons looking after the squad.
The 2017-18 season also sees the Club welcome more new faces, Russ Allardyce joins as Manager of the newly introduced Under 21 side, they will compete in the MFL Under 21 League. The 3g surface also allows the club to re-introduce a Under 18 team, Ade Draycott and Frank Benjamin will be running the side that will compete in the Midland Junior Premier League. Both sides will play their games on a Saturday Morning with Home games kicking off at 10-30. We wish both new sides every success in their debut season at the club.
