Tranmere Rovers F.C.
Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in, the fourth level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adopted their current name in 1885. Tranmere's regular kit is an all-white strip with blue, or occasionally blue and green trim which have been their main colours since 1962. The club moved to its current home, Prenton Park, in 1912. In 1995, the ground had a major redevelopment in response to the Taylor Report. It now seats 16,567 in four stands: the Main Stand, the Kop, the Johnny King Stand and the Cowshed.
Tranmere played in regional leagues until they were invited to become a founder member of Football League Third Division North in 1921. They finished as champions for the 1937–38 season, though were relegated out of the Second Division the following year. They dropped into the Fourth Division in 1961, before winning promotion back to the third tier at the end of the 1966–67 season. Relegation in 1975 was followed by an immediate promotion in 1975–76 under the stewardship of manager John King, and this time they survived for just three seasons in the third tier until being relegated once again in 1979. During the 1980s, they were beset by financial problems and, in 1987, went into administration. However John King returned to manage the club for a second spell and guided Rovers to promotion in 1988–89, which they followed up by winning the Associate Members' Cup in 1990 and then promotion out of the play-offs in 1991.
The 1990s would prove to be the most successful period in the club's history as Tranmere remained in the second tier, and came close to reaching the Premier League with three consecutive play-off campaigns at the start of the decade. Under King's successor, John Aldridge, Tranmere experienced a number of cup runs, most notably reaching the 2000 League Cup final. They were finally relegated in 2001 and then spent 13 seasons in the third tier, before back-to-back relegations saw them drop out of the Football League after an 94-year stay. Tranmere spent three seasons in the National League and then returned to the third tier of the Football League via successive play-off campaigns in 2018 and 2019. They were demoted from League One in 2020 after clubs voted to end the season early due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
History
Formative years
Tranmere Rovers were, initially, formed as Belmont Football Club when the football arms of two cricket clubs – Lyndhurst Wanderers and Belmont – came together in 1884. On 15 November 1884, they won their first game 4–0 against Brunswick Rovers. This was a friendly match, as there were no leagues until 1888. With James McGaul as their president, the team completed their inaugural season, losing only one of their fifteen matches. An unrelated, disbanded side had played under the name "Tranmere Rovers Cricket Club " in 1881–82. On 16 September 1885, before their second season began, Belmont F.C. adopted this name Tranmere Rovers. Tranmere was historically a large township that was subsumed within the later expansion of the town of Birkenhead.Tranmere played their first matches at Steeles Field in Birkenhead. In 1887, they bought Ravenshaws Field from Tranmere Rugby Club. In 1895, their ground was renamed Prenton Park, although it was 25 years later that the team moved into the current stadium of the same name. Tranmere first wore a kit of blue shirts, white shorts and blue socks. In 1889 they adopted orange and maroon shirts, but in 1904 returned to wearing their original kit.
In 1886, Tranmere entered their first competition: the Liverpool and District Challenge Cup; in 1889, they entered the West Lancashire League. They joined the Combination, a much stronger league, in 1897, and won the championship in 1908. In 1910, continuing their movement through the leagues, they entered the Lancashire Combination and in 1912 moved to the present Prenton Park site, with an 800-seat stand. Tranmere won the Lancashire Combination Championship in 1914, and Stan Rowlands became the first Tranmere player to receive an international cap when he was selected to play for Wales.
Rovers continued to play throughout the First World War, although their players were criticised for avoiding military service, despite being employed in the local shipyards.
Inter-war years
Following the expulsion of Leeds City Reserves in 1919, Tranmere were able to enter the Central League. Their timing was excellent as the following season, four Central League clubs – including Tranmere – were invited to join the new Division Three North. On 27 August 1921, they won their first Football League match 4–1 against Crewe Alexandra at Prenton Park. At this time the team were managed by Bert Cooke, who did so for 23 years in total, the club record for longest serving manager.In 1924, local boy Dixie Dean made his debut aged 16 years 355 days. He played 30 games for Rovers, scoring 27 goals, before being transferred to Everton for £3,000. In the 1927–28 season, Dean scored a record 60 League goals for Everton. After Dean's departure, several talented young players also left for Division One clubs, leading to Cooke's reputation as a shrewd businessman. Among those sold was Pongo Waring who – having scored six goals in the 11–1 victory over Durham City – went to Aston Villa for £4,700. As of 2010, Waring retains the record of scoring most goals for Villa in a single season.
In 1934, an FA Cup tie between Rovers and Liverpool was watched at Anfield by 61,036 fans, a then-record crowd for Tranmere. A year later, Bunny Bell netted 40 goals during the 1935–36 season, including nine goals in the 13–4 Boxing Day 1935 victory over Oldham Athletic. As of 2011, the aggregate of 17 goals in one game remained a league record.
During this same period, Tranmere made several appearances in the Welsh Cup, reaching the final on two occasions. In 1934, they lost 3–0 to Bristol City in a replay, after a 1–1 draw. The following season, they went one better by beating local rivals Chester 1–0.
Rovers won their first championship in the Football League in 1938, with victory in Division Three North, earning promotion to Division Two for the first time. As of 2025, this remains Rovers's only championship in the Football League. However, they were relegated the next season, winning only six matches – the record for the worst performance of any team in Division Two.
Creation of the Superwhites
While the Borough Road stand received some damage, Prenton Park emerged from the Second World War largely unscathed. Tranmere rejoined the peacetime Football League in Division Three North, and stayed there until the 1958 restructuring of the football league's lower divisions. Manager Peter Farrell led Tranmere to finish 11th in the final season of the Northern Section, securing a place in the new national Division Three, where they were, again, founder members. The final match against Wrexham, also fighting for a place in the higher league, attracted a crowd of 19,615, which, as of 2010, remained the highest ever attendance at a Prenton Park league match.In 1961, Tranmere's inspirational captain Harold Bell left the club. Bell had been picked in the first game after the Second World War in the 1946 season, and did not miss a match until he was dropped on 30 August 1955, a total of 459 consecutive appearances for a British team, a record he still holds. Rovers certainly missed their captain, and were relegated to Division Four for the first time in 1961.
The club brought in Dave Russell as manager, and Russell made some changes. Tranmere had worn a kit of blue shirts, white shorts and blue socks since 1904 – the same colours as local rivals, Division One club Everton. Russell introduced an all-white strip to set the teams apart, and white has remained the primary colour on Tranmere's shirts ever since. Russell also developed a successful youth policy, with future England international Roy McFarland among its graduates. Russell guided Rovers back to Division Three in 1967, a year before a new 4,000-seater main stand was opened, and Rovers reached the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time. Three years later the club's record attendance at Prenton Park was established, with 24,424 supporters watching the Rovers draw 2–2 with Stoke City in the FA Cup.
In 1972, Ron Yeats was installed as player-manager. He strengthened Tranmere's connections with local rivals Liverpool by recruiting several former teammates such as Ian St John, and bringing in Bill Shankly in a consultancy role. This team saw one of the most memorable Rovers results of all time when, in a League Cup tie in 1973, Tranmere beat First Division Arsenal 1–0 at their former Highbury home. However, Tranmere returned to the Fourth Division in 1975. The following decade was among the bleakest times in the club's history, with the team usually in the lower reaches of the Fourth Division, beset by financial problems, and attaining crowds of less than 2,000.
In 1979, Steve Mungall joined Tranmere from Motherwell. He went on to make more than 600 appearances for Rovers over a 17-year period. This spell saw Rovers rise up the league and make several appearances at Wembley. He remained with the club, on the coaching staff, until October 2000, when he left to pursue business interests.
Another relegation to Division Four in 1979 put the club in financial difficulties. Debts mounted throughout the 1980s, with insolvency forestalled through a series of friendly fixtures, contributions from fans and a £200,000 loan from Wirral Council. The partnership with Wirral Council proved an enduring one, with their logo appearing on the shirts until 2013. In July 1984, the club was sold to a Californian attorney, making Tranmere one of the first English clubs to be bought by a foreign owner. However, in 1987, the club become the first English football team to enter administration.