Leigh RMI , LEIGH RMI

Leigh Genesis Football Club, formerly known as Horwich Railway Mechanics Institute F.C. (Horwich RMI) and Leigh Railway Mechanics Institute F.C. (Leigh RMI), are an English semi-professional association football team that plays in the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League as of the 2008–09 season. The club is based in Leigh, Greater Manchester (historically in Lancashire).

[edit] History

The club was founded in 1896 and was initially known as Horwich RMI F.C., the club's name until 1995 when it relocated to Leigh and was renamed Leigh RMI.^[1] Its name was changed again in June 2008 when the club became Leigh Genesis FC.^[2]

[edit] Founding and early years

Manager Les Rigby led RMI to the final of the GMAC Cup in 1988 against Weymouth, which was played on the sloping pitch of Grundy Hill. The home advantage was credited by many, including Rigby, for spurring RMI's victory in the match.^[6]

[edit] Move to Leigh

During the 1994-1995 season,^[7] the club realised their ground Grundy Hill would not be able to help the clubs' prospects of achieving success up the football pyramid, made the decision to move from Horwich seven miles south to Hilton Park in Leigh, home of the rugby league club Leigh Centurions. As part of this deal, a new company, Grundy Hill Estates, was formed to take over the ownership of the shared ground.^[8] Once the move had been finalised and agreements had been made to share the 10,000 capacity stadium, the club officially changed their name to Leigh RMI to reflect their new surroundings. RMI lost its first match at Hilton Park in March 1995 to Boston United 4-0, and ended up being relegated at the end of the 1995 season.^[3]

In 2000, five years after this move, Leigh RMI reached the top tier of the Conference, the highest level of non-league football in England. After a few seasons at this level, and despite the fact that things seemed to be going well for the club on the pitch, Leigh RMI faced a placement in the new Conference North division for 2004-05 due to their second from the bottom finish in the 2003-04 season. The club was spared relegation that season due to two factors: that the lack of a promotable Northern Premier League club kept the team finished above in the table them from relegation and that Margate were demoted from the Conference for failing to meet ground standards. Leigh RMI's reprieve only lasted one season, however, as they were relegated after finishing bottom of the Conference table in 2004-05 with only 18 points from 42 games.^[9]

The season after this relegation, Leigh RMI hosted F.C. United of Manchester, the football club started in reaction to the purchase of Manchester United by American businessman Malcolm Glazer, for FCUM's first ever match in July 2005, a friendly that ended in 0-0 draw.^[10] Leigh RMI's ownership had previously offered to merge with FCUM prior to this friendly in 2005, but the clubs decided against such a merger. "It would seem hypocritical to some degree, in light of the Glazer events, if a team came into being by taking over another club," said Chairman of RMI Supporters' Club Peter Lowe at the time.^[11]

The 2005-06 season saw the club finish second from bottom in the Conference North, and the club thereby faced relegation to the Northern Premier League, but RMI gained yet another reprieve from relegation after Canvey Island resigned from the Conference National.^[9] In the 2006-07 campaign, RMI avoided relegation more easily, despite finishing 17th and in the bottom half of Conference North.^[9] As of 6 October 2007, Leigh RMI were again facing a relegation fight as they stood on the threshold of the relegation zone in 19th place.^[12] RMI removed manager Stuart Humphreys and his assistant Andy Roscoe on 15 October 2007 and hired Steve Bleasdale to manage due to "the fact of the current low league position and falling gates something had to be done rapidly to improve our prospects," according to a club spokesman.^[13]

[edit] Genesis

In May 2008 Leigh RMI lost their fight for survival and were relegated to the Northern Premier League. In June 2008 the club was renamed Leigh Genesis to signify a "new beginning" for the club ahead of its move to the Leigh Sports Village. The rebranding was also used to signify chairman Dominic Speakman's restructuring of the ailing club with the view of taking the club forward.^[2]

The club has introduced new colours to their kit for the 2008-09 season. The home kit comprises white shirts with black trim, black shorts and black socks, while the away kit is all blue with white trim. Both kits will be manufactured by Nike and neither will have a sponsor, instead bearing the new Genesis name.^[14] The kit colours were changed as part of the "Genesis" branding and to stand out from the many clubs in Lancashire with red kits.

It is said that the club had desired the colour of their home kit to be primarily black. However under current rules it is not permitted for clubs playing in divisions lower than The Football League to do so due to comparisons with the colours worn during a match by the match officials.

In October 2008, the clubs chairman Dominic Speakman announced his departure from the club. Genesis had been due to move into the new Leigh Sports Village Stadium (LSV). Continuing delays and unrealistic pricing, in the end cost the club. With the rising losses, and lack of home ground Speakman withdrew his financial backing from the club.

A large amount of the playing staff have agreed to play voluntarily for the time being. The board and backroom staff have also offered to stay unpaid for the immediate future. However, manager Steve Bleasdale resigned the following week, and shortly afterwards returned to former club Chester City as assistant manager. Reserve team coach Lee Merricks was appointed the club's new manager.

The LGSA (Leigh Genesis Supporters Assosiation, have begun to set up fundraising and plans to keep the club alive. ^[2]

[edit] Supporters

After moving from Grundy Hill in Horwich, this club's support has always been considered light.

With Leigh being known as a rugby league town, and the numerous Premier League football sides on the club's doorstep, not only Bolton Wanderers, but also Wigan Athletic, Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, and Manchester United, Leigh RMI averaged attendances of approximately 250 people per game in 2007.^[15] Work is almost complete on a new 10,000 seat stadium for the club as part of the Leigh Sports Village, a sporting development project sponsored by the Wigan Council for the town of Leigh. In the same vein as Hilton Park, the new stadium will be shared with Leigh Centurions, and the majority of the stadium being seated, although one end of the stadium will be a terraced area due to the demands of supporters of both clubs.

[edit] FA Cup exploits

As Horwich RMI, the club only made the FA Cup First Round proper twice. In the 1928-29 season, RMI lost to Scarborough at home 1-2, and 54 years later, in 1982, they lost at Blackpool 3-0.^[4]

Since relocating to Leigh, the club have reached the FA Cup First Round on three occasions. The first came in the 1998-1999 season when RMI defeated Winsford, Worksop, and Droylsden, the last two by the same scoreline, 2- 1, to meet Fulham, then in Division Two, at Craven Cottage.^[3] Leigh achieved a 1-1 draw against Fulham in the club's first FA Cup first round appearance in 16 years, and received attention of the British media. Leigh goalkeeper David Felgate, who was then 38 years old, received widespread plaudits for his sparkling performance in the Fulham match,^[16] which prompted then-Fulham boss Kevin Keegan to declare that Felgate's goalkeeping was "the best I've ever seen at any level."^[17]

The RMI-Fulham replay at Hilton Park, which was televised and shown live on Sky Sports,^[18] ended with Leigh losing 0-2. RMI's Cup defeat witnessed by a club record crowd of 7,125 spectators.

Leigh's second FA Cup First Round appearance in the 2000-01 season also ended in defeat. They lost 3-0 to Millwall who at that time were in Division Two. On police advice, the venue for this match was switched from Hilton Park to The New Den in Bermondsey, Millwall's home ground.

A third appearance in the FA Cup First Round Proper also ended in defeat for Leigh with a 2-1 defeat away to Conference South side Cambridge City in the 2004-05 season. This followed RMI's victory at Accrington Stanley in the Fourth Qualifying Round that year.

[edit] Grounds

[edit] Players

[edit] Current squad

[edit] Former players

[edit] Management and Coaching Staff

[edit] Notable former staff

[edit] Club Records

[edit] Honours

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c Rundle, Richard. "Leigh R M I". Football Club History Database. http://www.fchd.info/LEIGHRMI.HTM. Retrieved on 2007-10-04.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Leigh Genesis FC - A New Beginning". Non-League Daily. 2008-06-11. http://www.nonleaguedaily.com/news/index.php?&newsmode=FULL&nid=50616. Retrieved on 2008-06-12.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Longmore, Andrew (1998-11-08). "Football: Bring on the aristocrats". The Independent. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19981108/ai_n14191268. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Rundle, Richard. "Horwich R M I". Football Club History Database. http://www.fchd.info/HORWICRM.HTM. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
^ "Leigh RMI Club Profile". Ciderspace: The Independent Yeovil Town FC Website. http://www.ciderspace.co.uk/ASP/opposition/leighrmi.asp. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
^ "Les Rigby obituary". The Bolton News. 1996-03-16. http://archive.thisislancashire.co.uk/1996/3/16/856955.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
^ Latham, Mike (2006-11-02). "Traveler's Tale No. 58". Football Grounds in Focus. http://footballgroundsinfocus.com/TT67058.htm. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
^ KirkhallLaner (2006-10-07). "Leigh RMI". Football Ground Guide. http://footballgroundguide.ipbhost.com/lofiversion/index.php/t10718.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Leigh RMI League history". Official Leigh R.M.I. website at FootyMad.net. http://www.leighrmi-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadlghs.asp. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
^ Lawton, Matt (2006-08-03). "Leigh RMI vs. FC United of Manchester preview". Unofficial RMI Online. http://www.thefootballnetwork.net/main/s195/st101624.htm. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
^ "FC United in Leigh RMI merger talks". The Lancashire Telegraph. 2005-06-22. http://archive.lancashireeveningtelegraph.co.uk/2005/6/22/431816.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
^ "Football Conference - League Table - Conference North". Football Conference. http://www.footballconference.co.uk/Table/FC_League_Table_Page/0,14387,2821,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
^ Walker, Stan (2007-10-15). "Leigh RMI FC Part Company with Humphreys". Official Leigh R.M.I. website at FootyMad.net. http://www.leighrmi-mad.co.uk/news/loadnews.asp?cid=TMNW&id=358218. Retrieved on 2007-10-16.
^ "Shop Home". Official Leigh Genesis F.C. website. http://shop.leighgenesis.com/. Retrieved on 2008-10-07.
^ Kempster, Tony. "Leigh RMI Attendances". Tony's English Football Site. http://www.tonykempster.co.uk/confnatt.htm?team=107. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
^ "Meat pie, sausage roll, hefty Dave's great in goal!". The Bolton News. 1998-11-18. http://archive.theboltonnews.co.uk/1998/11/18/786829.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
^ "Felgate's finest hour". The Bolton News. 1998-11-16. http://archive.theboltonnews.co.uk/1998/11/16/786990.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
^ "Keegan back at Hilton Park". The Leigh Journal. 2004-07-29. http://archive.leighjournal.co.uk/2004/7/29/477245.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
^ "Leigh RMI squad details". Official Leigh R.M.I. website at FootyMad.net. http://www.leighrmi-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadpsqd.asp. Retrieved on 2007-10-02.
^ "Leigh RMI Team Records". Official Leigh Genesis website. http://www.leighgenesis.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
^ ^a ^b ^c Smith, Neil (2001-01-11). "Leigh R.M.I. F.C. Honours". Official Leigh R.M.I. website at FootyMad.net. http://www.leighrmi-mad.co.uk/news/loadsngl.asp?cid=ED21. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.

Leigh Genesis F.C.

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