Marine

Marine Association Football Club is an English football club based in Crosby, Merseyside. The club, which was founded in 1894, is a member of both the Liverpool County and Lancashire County Football Associations, and currently plays in the Northern Premier League Division One West.

Marine is notable for having the longest serving manager in postwar English football. Roly Howard occupied the post from 1972 to 2005 and oversaw a total of 1,975 games.

History

The club was formed in 1894 by a group of local businessmen and former college students. Marine takes its name from a hotel on the River Mersey sea front at Waterloo, seven miles to the north of Liverpool city centre, where the founders of the club met. Marine moved to its present ground, Rossett Park, in 1903.

Marine quickly won multiple titles in the I Zingari League and the Liverpool Combination. The club's greatest success as an amateur team in this period culminated in an FA Amateur Cup Final appearance in 1931–32, when they lost 7–1 to Dulwich Hamlet in front of a 22,000 crowd at the Boleyn Ground.

In 1935–36 the club moved to the all-professional Lancashire Combination and enjoyed limited success before moving to the Cheshire County League in 1969–70.

In 1972 Roly Howard was appointed first team manager and completed 1,975 competitive games over a 33-year period before he retired at the end of the 2004–05 season. He was recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the longest serving manager in world football as Marine enjoyed their most successful period, winning some 30 trophies.

The club relinquished its amateur status and became professional in 1974. Three Cheshire League Championships were won in five seasons, before Marine progressed to the Northern Premier League in 1979–80. They have twice been Champions (1993–94 and 1994–95) as well as twice being runners-up and have won the League Challenge Cup on four occasions (1984–85, 1991–92, 2002–03 and 2015–16).

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