Clitheroe

Twice Clitheroe finished top of the North West Counties Football League's first tier, in 1985–86 and again in 2003–04, but the run that still gets talked about locally is 1995–96, when the club reached the FA Vase final. They lost 3–0 to Brigg Town at Wembley, in front of 7,500 people. The goalkeeper that day was Carlo Nash, sold on to Crystal Palace soon after for £45,000; he went on to play in the Premier League and won the title with Manchester City in 2011–12.

The current club dates to 1924, though football under the Clitheroe name in the town goes back further, to a Clitheroe Central formed in 1877 and a string of shorter-lived sides before that. The 1924 club joined the Lancashire Combination the following year and built a run of honours through it and its successor competitions: the Combination Cup in 1934–35, both divisional titles either side of 1980.

Sean McConville took over as manager in December 2024, succeeding Jimmy Bell, and this season the club has already had its moment: a Fourth Round run in the FA Trophy that included knocking out National League side York City on penalties. They now play at Step 4, in the Northern Premier League Division One West, at a ground known these days as the EcoGiants Stadium under sponsorship. Padiham remain the derby opponents, the fixture that matters most regardless of the division either club finds itself in.