Timeline

Disillusioned by the state of modern football, four friends came together with an idea to reclaim the game for everyday football fans. What proceeds is a gathering of like-minded people, tired of the corruption, of being priced out of the game, forming a football revolution to bring football back into the hands of the fans.

The hard work of finding a club to be part of this journey now begins…

Following months of searching and combing all corners of England for a club that desired a completely new approach to ownership, the Nufan board had the shortlist of clubs.

What followed was one of the biggest decisions the shareholders would have to make in their brief stints on the board; which club do we approach…

AFC Crewe were the chosen team and, after agreeing a deal with the previous chairman, Nufan took control of the club to became 100% community owned.

Within weeks of the takeover, the new ownership got their first taste of non-league ownership, as AFC Crewe faced up against Mary Dendy in the Crewe & District League. It’s a successful start, winning 6-0, setting the tone for the season to come…

The season begins with Matty Quirke as manager, and Billy Murphy as assistant. Billy would later take on the manager role in October.

Our official new club crest is adopted, designed in full by a member of the community.

Development and recruitment begins to launch our Women’s team in time for the 2023-24 season. As a board, it was agreed that the Women’s team would be given an equal share of investment, both financial and in time, that has been afforded to the Men’s

As a club intent on providing opportunities to anyone, at any level, the board voted to announce Gareth Jones as Co-Chairman of AFC Crewe, alongside Nufan co-founder, Liam Bond

As a sign of our ambitions for the future and to support our applications to join the non-league pyramid, a search for a ground share began that would set us up for seasons to come. AFC Alsager’s Wood Park Stadium stood out, and we began discussions to have the stadium as our Men’s home ground for the next three years.

We got a taste of what was to come, beating Crewe Town 10-0, all in front of German television company Posieben, who had come to document our story so far off the back of a viral tweet concerning a certain Cristiano Ronaldo.

A deal was agreed on February 2nd, 2023, that Wood Park would be our home stadium for all Men’s fixtures for the next 3 years.

Liam James is appointed AFC Crewe Club Secretary, playing a massively important role, alongside other board members, in getting the club FA Accredited, as well as submitting our registration to become a Co-operative Consortium, alongside our application for promotion into the football pyramid

AFC Crewe announce ex-Premier League footballer, Gary Taylor-Fletcher, as their new manager, after the departure of Billy Murphy.

GTF would waste no time in building his team, bringing in some familiar faces from his previous clubs to help us close out the season.

After back to back 8-2 victories against Winsford Saxons, then Sandbach Curshaws, AFC Crewe win the C&D league for the first (and last) time in our short history.

After attending their AGM, AFC Crewe’s application to join the Staffordshire County Senior League, is accepted. We bypass Division 2 North/South, straight into Division 1.

Ex-Bolton Women’s First Team Manager and Stoke City Goalkeeper Coach, Chris Stokes, is hired to lead our women’s team in their inaugural season.

Months of hard work in recruiting a team, finding the right manager and building the necessary infrastructure to launch a womens team from scratch led to us being accepted to compete in the Cheshire Women's & Youth League Premier Division from the 23/24 season.

Hope + Glory become our first technical kit supplier ahead of both teams first seasons on the pyramid. A range of designs were put to a vote to all shareholders, where the winning designs for both Home & Away kits are designed in full by two members of the board.

Although we didn’t get the result we wanted, losing 3-2 to Florence FC First Team, there was nothing but pride amongst board members that we had got this far in such a small space of time.

Thankfully, the following week we quickly made amends, defeating Audley & District Reserves 8-1.

An impressive pre-season for AFC Crewe Women’s, that saw tests against opposition such as Bolton Wanderers, Doncaster Belles and AFC Wrexham, amongst others, led to the day of our opening league fixture at home to Stockport County Ladies Development.

It wasn’t to go as planned, with the game unfortunately being abandoned due to a player injury.

AFC Crewe Men’s hosted the first Community Match Day to drive local engagement in the area, as well provide an opportunity for many of the board members to meet for the first time.

The day was a massive success, with a record attendance of 197 there to watch us defeat Warstones Wanderers 4-0.