F.C. Isle of Man
Football Club Isle of Man is an amateur football club based in Douglas, Isle of Man, that competes in the, the 9th tier of English football. The club was founded in 2019 but did not play its first competitive match until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. F.C. Isle of Man plays their home games at The Bowl in Douglas and covers the costs of visiting clubs' and match officials' travel and hotel expenses for the games.
The club is not affiliated with the Isle of Man Government; it is owned by its parent company Sporting Club Isle of Man. The club is owned by the local community, funded by the sale of various memberships which offer exclusive benefits, including early and discounted access to match day and season ticket sales.
History
In August 2019, F.C. Isle of Man confirmed their intentions to enter a team into the English football league system at step six of non-league. On 8 October 2019, the club announced it had become affiliated with the Isle of Man Football Association, following the backing of clubs in the Manx football system. However, there was opposition to the move from some local clubs and supporters over F.C. Isle of Man cherry-picking the best players from teams around the island and other clubs losing out on potential spectators. To ease this concern, F.C. Isle of Man kicks off its games at 18:30 to avoid any potential fixture clashes with the local league, which consists of 26 clubs, with 49 teams between them.On 18 February 2020, St Georges manager Chris Bass was announced as the club's first manager. On 7 November 2022, following a run of mixed results, an announcement was made that the club and Bass had parted company with Director of Football Paul Jones taking over from Bass until the end of the season. The beginning of the 2025-26 season saw the club endure a poor start to the campaign, and it was announced on September 23, 2025, that Paul Jones had relinquished his managerial role at the club.
With Paul Jones having stepped down, on 24 September 2025, it was announced in a press release that Rick Holden had replaced Jones as manager on a 'caretaker basis' until the club could undertake the relevant procedure to appoint a permanent replacement.
On 21 February 2020, the North West Counties Football League confirmed F.C. Isle of Man had submitted an application to join the league in time for the 2020–21 season.
On 21 July 2020, it was announced that the club would participate in the North West Counties Football League First Division South. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the team withdrew from the 2020–21 FA Vase before their first qualifying round match. On 7 December, the club was temporarily suspended from the league as it had become apparent that they would not be able to complete all their fixtures by 31 May 2021, as required by The Football Association.
They won their inaugural match 1- 0 at their home ground, The Bowl, against Guernsey F.C. on 15 August 2020. Jack McVey scored a 33rd-minute penalty in front of an estimated 2,700 attendance. Following the success of the game, on 28 August 2020, Skipton International Managing Director Jim Coupe announced they had signed a 3-year agreement to sponsor an annual 'tournament' between the teams, for the Skipton International Cup.
The inaugural Cup match took place at Footes Lane, Guernsey on 12 September 2020 resulting in a 1–1 draw, Sean Doyle the Ravens scorer. The tie then went to penalties, with both team having one saved. Ultimately a miss by Sean Quaye saw the Green Lions lift the trophy.
On 23 July 2022, Sean Quaye made amends for his previous penalty miss as both he and Lee Gale scored in a 2–0 victory at the Bowl, in front of an estimated 500 attendance.
Wem Town advised the NWCFL that they were withdrawing from the league for season 2021/2022 which enabled F.C. Isle of Man to enter the NWCFL for the start of the 2021–22 NWCFL Division One South season. F.C. Isle of Man played their first competitive league match against Maine Road F.C. on 31 July 2021, with Frank Jones scoring the club's first competitive goal after 8 minutes. The match ended in a 1–1 draw. Their first season ended in success as despite a second-placed finish, a 4–2 victory over New Mills FC on 16 April 2022, saw the club promoted to the ninth tier of English football through the play-offs. The Ravens completed the season with a second piece of silverware, beating Cammell Laird 1–0 on 21 May 2022 to lift the First Division Edward Case Cup. The only goal of the game was from a Jacob Crook header in 79th minute, in front of 3,018 attendance.
During February 2023 the club began the process to find a permanent manager for the 2023-24 campaign. With Paul Jones still in his interim role the club were keen to ensure that should he wished, Jones would be able to apply for the job on a full-time basis.
On April 24, 2023, following the conclusion of the recruitment process, the club confirmed that Jones had been appointed to the post full-time with effect from that date. Following the resignation of Jones in September 2025, the club issued a statement to the effect that the appointment of a new manager would be announced in due course.
An announcement was made the following day, September 24, that Rick Holden would be acting a manager until the end of the 2025-2026 season following which a recruitment process to replace Jones on a fulltime basis would be undertaken.
Colours and crest
F.C. Isle of Man play their home games in a red and black strip with the sponsors logo displayed in white, and their away games in either a blue and white, or green and blue kit.In July 2020, Hope & Glory was announced as the club's kit manufacturer and the club asked supporters to vote via social media on three different kit options. After a 10-day voting period, option one was the favourite choice of the official supporters, garnering 55% of the vote.
On 27 February, F.C. Isle of Man unveiled their club crest, stating "In line with the philosophy of our parent company Sporting Club Isle of Man, the crest has been carefully crafted to not only reflect the essence of our Island's history, colours and community but also, importantly, to represent our confident sporting approach." Featuring a black raven in an attack posture, one of the island's national birds, synonymous to the Celts and Vikings with battle, intelligence and problem solving. The crest also includes red and white colours, which represent the island's sunsets and Manannán's cloak. The four water lines represent the four sides of the Island, symbolising unity and community.
The club's motto, "Bee ny Share" also features on the club's crest and sleeve of the shirt, which is Manx for "Be Better".
The crest did not include the triskelion of the Island's national flag and coat of arms. In an interview published on the website of the North West Counties Football League, then sporting director Paul Jones stated, "We also decided early on not to use the 3 legs of man. This was to ensure we differentiated ourselves from the National teams. The 3 legs is subtly included in our kit but we felt being on the badge could send the wrong message. We needed to make sure we promote ourselves as a club not a national team."
Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors
Prior to the commencement of its first season the club signed a three-year sponsorship deal with Manx Telecom, a local telecoms provider, part of which saw Manx Telecom's IT infrastructure and managed services subsidiary Synapse 360 appearing on the away shirts. On 30 July 2020, F.C. Isle of Man announced a three-year deal with Rex Motor Company to become the team's first sleeve sponsor. On 23 May 2022 it was announced that the club would sport a third kit for the 2022–23 season, which would be sponsored by OV powered by Manx Telecom and include Rex Motor Company on the sleeve The sponsorship deal with Manx Telecom terminated at the end of the 2023-24 season following which a new sponsor for the Home Strip, FRP, was unveiled.| Season | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor | Shirt sponsor |
| 2020–21 | Hope & Glory | Home: Manx Telecom Away: Synapse 360 | Home: Rex Motor Company Away: Rex Motor Company |
| 2021–22 | Hope & Glory | Home: Manx Telecom Away: Synapse 360 | Home: Rex Motor Company Away: Rex Motor Company |
| 2022-23 | Hope & Glory | Home: Manx Telecom Away: Synapse 360 Third: OV powered by Manx Telecom | Home: Rex Motor Company Away: Rex Motor Company Third: Rex Motor Company |
| 2023-24 | Hope & Glory | Home: Manx Telecom Away: Synapse 360/IOMSPC Third: None | Home: Newfield Away: Newfield Third: None |
| 2024-25 | Hope & Glory | Home: FRP Away: Isle of Man Steam Packet Holidays Third: TBA | Home: Newfield Away: Newfield Third: None |
Supporters
The club is well supported on its island home, frequently pulling in crowds that are larger than the league average for steps 5 and 6. In their first season in the North West Counties First Division South they recorded an average home attendance of 1,612, which compared favourably to the league average for the season of 214. In the 2022–23 season the average attendance fell to 758 compared to the league average of 281. Home attendance improved in the 2023-24 season, averaging 882.At the beginning of the 2022–23 season supporters of the club started to be referred to as "The Conspiracy", in reference to one of the collective nouns for a group of Ravens. The first record of the terms usage was in a supporter's pre-season report on the supporters group's Facebook page on 23 July 2023, but the term was adopted by more mainstream media outlets in their reporting later in the season.