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Glentoran F.C.
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Glentoran F.C. is a Northern Irish football club, playing in east Belfast. The club, founded in 1882, plays in the IFA Premiership and plays its home matches at The Oval. Club colours are green, red, and black.
Glentoran's biggest rivals are Linfield F.C. Linfield and Glentoran are nicknamed Belfast's Big Two, as they have traditionally dominated local football in Northern Ireland since the demise of Belfast Celtic. The two play a league match on Boxing Day each year, which regularly attracts the largest attendance of the Irish League season.
Many former Glentoran players have gone on to play for teams in England and Scotland, such as Danny Blanchflower, Peter Doherty, Bertie Peacock, Billy Bingham, Jimmy McIlroy, Terry Conroy, Tommy Jackson and Tommy Cassidy.
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Encyclopedia
Glentoran F.C. is a Northern Irish football club, playing in east Belfast. The club, founded in 1882, plays in the IFA Premiership and plays its home matches at The Oval. Club colours are green, red, and black.
Glentoran's biggest rivals are Linfield F.C. Linfield and Glentoran are nicknamed Belfast's Big Two, as they have traditionally dominated local football in Northern Ireland since the demise of Belfast Celtic. The two play a league match on Boxing Day each year, which regularly attracts the largest attendance of the Irish League season.
Many former Glentoran players have gone on to play for teams in England and Scotland, such as Danny Blanchflower, Peter Doherty, Bertie Peacock, Billy Bingham, Jimmy McIlroy, Terry Conroy, Tommy Jackson and Tommy Cassidy. More recent examples are Glen Little, Stuart Elliott, Andy Kirk and Andy Smith, with Elliott a member of the Northern Ireland squad.
History
In 1914 Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first British team to win a European trophy, although as this competition took place several decades before the formation of UEFA, it is not recognised as such.
George Best watched Glentoran with his grandfather as a youth, but was rejected by the club for being "too small and light". However, Best did make one appearance for Glentoran, in the club's centenary match against Manchester United.
In 1964-65, Glentoran faced Panathinaikos in the European Cup and drew 2-2 at home and lost 3-2 away. In the following season's Fairs Cup, they faced Antwerp resulting a 1-0 defeat away and 3-3 draw at home. The Cup-Winners' Cup in 1966-67 saw Glentoran draw 1-1 with Rangers in front of a packed Oval before losing the away leg 4-0.
Glentoran's finest hour came in a European Cup encounter with Benfica in 1967. The tie was played over two legs, the first being at the Oval. Glentoran scored a penalty early on and held out for nearly sixty minutes until football great Eusébio equalised. The match ended 1-1. The return tie was at Benfica's famous Estádio da Luz. Part-time Glentoran were expected to crumble under the pressure of the occasion, but again held out for a famous draw. Benfica advanced to the next round on the away goals rule. Glentoran were the first team to lose out to this rule.
In 1967 the club ran the Detroit Cougars football franchise in the United Soccer Association.
In 1973-74, Glentoran reached the quarter-finals of the Cup-Winners' Cup. They faced Borussia Mönchengladbach in the quarter-finals and were beaten 2-0 and 5-0. Four seasons later they faced Juventus in a European Cup match and lost 1-0 at home (Warren Feeney missing a late penalty) and 5-0 away.
In 1981-82, Glentoran reached the second round of the European Cup and faced eventual semi-finalists CSKA Sofia. After a 2-0 defeat away, Glentoran went 2-0 up in the return leg to force the game into extra time. The final result was 2-1, Glentoran going out 3-2 on aggregate.
On the 23 April 2005 Glentoran defeated their rivals Linfield in the second last game but one of the
league season. In the 93rd minute of the match Glentoran, who needed victory in order to have a chance of clinching the league title, scored a goal via their centre forward (and former Linfield player) Chris Morgan. The goal sealed the victory for Glentoran. There were confrontations between the two sets of fans following the match. Hooliganism was commonplace at matches between the clubs in the past. However this has reduced significantly in recent years.
After eight years in charge of Glentoran, Roy Coyle resigned as manager after a string of indifferent results. On 14 February 2006 the club announced that former Newry City manager Paul Millar was to take over the manager's position. Since taking over, performances improved and he led his team into the Irish Cup final with rivals Linfield. Despite taking the lead in the first half, Linfield won the game with two goals from Peter Thompson. He also lead his new club to their biggest ever defeat against their bitter cross-city rivals Linfield in a 6-0 defeat at Windsor Park. The Glens have sought to reduce the gap between them and Linfield by signing Kyle Neill and Gary Hamilton from Portadown and re-signing former fan's favourite Gary Smyth. Also arriving was another former player, Jason Hill, former Portadown and Newry City player Cullen Feeney and promising young keeper Ciaran McLaughlin from Ards.
Paul Millar was sacked as manager on May 17 2007 after less than fifteen months in the job, having steered the club to two successive seasons finishing second in the League behind Linfield. He had the backing of chairman Stafford Reynolds, but the majority of the board and fans wanted his departure. The start of his second season in charge had looked promising. As Glentoran led the league summit, they were five points clear of Linfield at Christmas. Arguably ten minutes of football wrecked what looked to be a very successful campaign. Glentoran were leading Portadown 2 - 1 with eighty-five minutes gone. Two late goals sealed Glentoran's first defeat of the season and ultimately led to successive defeats, and the slight climax (8-0 vs. Armagh City). Fans were disappointed with the style of football displayed by the team in the later months of Millar's reign.
On May 24 2007 former Crusaders and Glenavon manager Roy Walker was appointed as Glentoran manager along with assistant manager Billy Sinclair. Walker previously led Crusaders to two league titles in 1995 and 1997. After leaving football management for seven years, Walker became a football analyst with BBC Radio Ulster. He was quoted as saying, "Glentoran were my boyhood team and are probably the only club which could have attracted me back."
However, on May 26 2007 it was revealed that Walker would not be able to take up the post, due to not possessing the necessary UEFA coaching qualifications.
Less than one week later Glentoran appointed head coach Alan McDonald as manager. Roy Walker gracefully walked away but stated in the Belfast Telegraph that he would not rest until director of football Tom Dick stood down. Mr Dick then did so, but also criticised the club chairman Stafford Reynolds. Reynolds replied with a statement confirming that he would step down, but only if the right man could be found to take over. Alan McDonald, the new manager, has so far secured former Glentoran player Rory Hamill, Daryl Fordyce from Portsmouth, winger Jamie McGovern from West Bromwich Albion and Dungannon Swifts winger David Scullion and has given Chris Morgan and Tim McCann new contracts. Darren Lockhart left the club at the same time to join Crusaders on a one year load deal along with defender Gary Smith. In January Glentoran managed to bring in Shane Mcabe from Dungannon and Darren Boyce from Coleraine.
A New Hope?
After three successive seasons at finishing second to Treble Double Champions Linfield. Glentoran and manager, Alan McDonald, are setting their sights on bettering this to claim the "Champions" position. Glentoran have again made notable signings including Matthew Burrows, from Dundela (where he scored fifty-three goals last term), Johnny Taylor (from Hearts) and former Lisburn Distillery front man, Andy Waterworth for a fee of £30,000. Glentoran's build up to the season was filled with glamorous friendlies against Hearts, Burnley and Ipswich. Yet, Glentoran's start to the season was delayed. The referees led by their associations Chairman, David Malcolm, went on strike for higher wage demands this ultimately postponed all week one fixtures. The next week, against Glenavon, Glentoran's pitch was declared unplayable. Glentoran had faced numerous problems throughout the opening to their campaign. Matches against Bangor and then Linfield, who were not over unduly disappointed given their depleted team, were cancelled and this led to a "milestone" in Irish League Football, where Glentoran faced Bangor on a Sunday, ensuring that the last country in Christendom to allow the playing of matches on a Sunday. The historic scoreline was a rather unsatisfying 1-0. Yet Glentoran have shown stability and Alan McDonald looks capable of taking Glentoran to the crown at the end of April.
Glentoran have also shocked football fans and bookmakers by reaching the final of the Setanta Sports Cup 2008, a cup in which the top four clubs from both the Irish League and Eircom League play each other. Glentoran were all but out of the competition when they arrived at Windsor Park, home of eternal rivals Linfield. The official Linfield match day programme declared that, Glentoran were already out of the competition, but would be doing their utmost to stop the "only team from Northern Ireland still capable of qualifying - Linfeld". At best this was amateurish ignorance at worst, and probably closer to the mark, typical arrogance. A strong XI for the Glens took the Linfield second team apart, a 4-1 win blowing the group wide open. This was followed up by a 1-0 in the home match again St. Patricks' Athletic. On 13 October 2008, Glentoran reached their first ever Setanta Cup Final, defeating Eircom League Champions Drogehda, at United Park 1-0, the scorer being Jason Hill who, ironically, was sent off, as well as captain Paul Leeman.
Redevelopment
In March 2003, the club's board of directors advised the shareholders of Glentoran Recreation Company Ltd to sell the Oval to a property development holding company called Girona. To date no new ground has materialised. A campaign waged by a group of volunteer supporters called Rest In East, was then set up to keep the club in east Belfast. The club's Board of directors have suggested moving close to a town called Comber, well outside the city bounds of Belfast, which the majority of supporters firmly oppose.
On November 3, 2005 a fans forum voted 417-0 in favour of forming Glentoran Community Trust, the first supporters' trust to be formed in Northern Ireland. It was officially formed on 15 May 2006 and registered with the Registry of Companies Belfast under the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts 1965 -1978. The trust sits completely independent of the parent club, giving the ordinary non-shareholding supporter a voice. On the 29th of January 2008, the GCT took another historic step in giving the fans a voice, when one of its members, Stephen Henderson was elected to the board of directors by the shareholders of Glentoran FC.
Trivia
- In 1995 Glentoran played their traditional Boxing Day match against Linfield on a snow-covered pitch. In the first half the orange ball was damaged, and not having a replacement the teams were forced to play with a white ball for the remainder of the game. The incident was used as a "What Happened Next" question on the BBC's A Question of Sport.
- The 1985 Irish Cup final between the big two saw another famous incident. Glentoran supporters brought a cockerel, the club's emblem, to the match. Glentoran supporters also brought a pig, painted in the blue of rivals Linfield. The two animals stayed on the sidelines for the duration of the match. Glentoran fans also brought a cockerel to the 2006 Irish Cup final, it too stayed on the sidelines for the duration, Glentoran eventually won the game 2-1 to maintain their unbeaten post-war record against Linfield in Irish Cup finals. This run of 5 victories over Linfield in post-war finals which started in 1966 continued until Glentoran's defeat in the 2006 final.
- In Roy Coyle's first cup final in charge he gave up the right to lead the team out, instead he asked long serving Kitman Teddy Horner have this honour.
Honours
Senior honours
- Irish League/Irish Premier League: 22
- 1893/94, 1896/97, 1904/05, 1911/12, 1912/13, 1920/21, 1924/25, 1930/31, 1950/51, 1952/53, 1963/64, 1966/67, 1967/68, 1969/70, 1971/72, 1976/77, 1980/81, 1987/88, 1991/92, 1998/99, 2002/03, 2004/05
- Irish Cup: 20
- 1913/14, 1916/17, 1920/21, 1931/32, 1932/33, 1934/35, 1950/51, 1965/66, 1972/73, 1982/83, 1984/85, 1985/86, 1986/87, 1987/88, 1989/90, 1995/96, 1997/98, 1999/00, 2000/01, 2003/04
- Irish League Cup: 6
- 1988/89, 1990/91, 2000/01, 2002/03, 2004/05, 2006/07
- City Cup: 18
- 1896/97, 1898/99, 1910/11, 1911/12, 1913/14, 1914/15, 1915/16, 1916/17, 1918/19, 1931/32, 1950/51, 1952/53, 1956/57, 1964/65, 1966/67, 1969/70, 1972/73, 1974/75
- Gold Cup: 15
- 1916/17, 1941/42, 1950/51, 1959/60, 1961/62, 1965/66, 1976/77, 1977/78, 1982/83, 1986/87, 1991/92, 1994/95, 1998/99, 1999/00, 2000/01
- Ulster Cup: 9
- 1950/51, 1952/53, 1966/67, 1976/77, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84, 1988/89, 1989/90
- Floodlit Cup: 2
- County Antrim Shield: 25
- 1900/01, 1901/02, 1910/11, 1915/16, 1917/18, 1924/25, 1930/31, 1939/40, 1940/41, 1943/44, 1949/50, 1950/51, 1951/52, 1956/57, 1967/68, 1970/71, 1977/78, 1984/85, 1986/87, 1998/99, 1999/00, 2000/01, 2001/02, 2002/03, 2007/08
- Vienna Cup: 1
- Inter-city Cup: 1
- Blaxnit Cup: 1
Intermediate honours
- Irish League B Division/B Division Section 2/Reserve League: 9
- 1958/59†, 1985/86†, 1986/87†, 1989/90†, 1992/93†, 1995/96†, 1997/98†, 2001/02†, 2002/03†
- Irish Intermediate Cup: 9
- 1894/95†, 1898/99†, 1909/10†, 1913/14†, 1916/17†, 1918/19†, 1931/32†, 1941/42†, 1962/63†
- George Wilson Cup: 8
- 1965/66†, 1966/67†, 1979/80†, 1986/87†, 2000/01†, 2001/02†, 2002/03†, 2004/05†
- Steel & Sons Cup: 9
- 1904/05†, 1908/09†, 1910/11†, 1914/15†, 1918/19†, 1932/33†, 1937/38†, 1957/58†, 1965/66†, 1966/67†, 1989/90†, 2000/01†, 2001/02†
† Won by Glentoran II (reserve team)
Junior honours
† Won by Glentoran II (reserve team)
Current squad
Notable former players
External links
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