Radcliffe Borough

The club was formed on 24 May 1949 at the Owd Tower Inn in Radcliffe by Jack Pickford and a committee of 17 and became a member of the South East Lancashire Football League. It had two players (Tommy Entwistle and Bert Nutter), £1.2s.6d (£1.12½p) in the bank, and no ground, but arranged to lease a field off Ashworth Street for two years. In 1951–52 the club moved across Eton Hill Road to a pitch on Betley Street leased from the Earl of Wilton. The following year the club turned the pitch 180 degrees parallel with Bright Street which became the name of the ground.

After a short period in the South East Lancashire League, the club joined the Manchester League, playing against the 'A' teams of four professional clubs: Manchester United, Manchester City, Stockport County and Bury. The home game against Manchester Utd was lost 5-1 but three weeks later Boro’ won the return game at The Cliff 1-0 against the Busby Babes - their only home defeat in two seasons. In 1955–56, Boro’ had their best finish in second place and in 1956–57 they finished third. In 1958–59, they reached the Manchester Junior Cup Final at Old Trafford losing to Cheadle Rovers by the only goal. Five days later they faced Cheadle Rovers again, in the William Gilgryst Cup Final at Bury; the game finished 0–0 after which the Cup was shared for six months each. In 1961–62, Boro’ again reached the Gilgryst Cup Final against Buxton Reserves at Ashton United's ground but lost 1–2 AET.

In 1963–64 the Club joined the Lancashire Combination Division 2, a great wish of club founder Jack Pickford. In August 1966, the club was informed it would have to leave Bright Street and find another ground after the Earl of Wilton decided to sell the land to the Ministry of Housing. In 1968–69, having been refused a site on Bury Road in Radcliffe, the club moved to the White House sports ground on Middleton Road (outside Bowker Vale tram stop), owned by Manchester Corporation Transport Dept. A new ground was then found in Stainton Park; the old wooden stands were brought from Bright Street and erected at the new ground and a pitch was laid in June 1969.

In 1970, Radcliffe won the League Cup and finished third in the league. After one further season it was accepted into the Cheshire County League, but throughout the rest of the 1970s the team struggled and were finally relegated to Div 2 in 1979–80. The Cheshire County League subsequently became the North West Counties League and that change saw an upturn in fortunes for 'The Boro'.

The first season again brought success when Radcliffe secured the Second Division championship in front of a then record Stainton Park crowd of 1,468. After one season in the First Division, Radcliffe lifted the First Division championship in 1985 and made the step up into the newly formed Northern Premier League First Division in 1987. After many years of consolidation in the league, and at times, fighting against relegation, the 1995–96 season saw an upturn in the club's fortunes, both on and off the pitch. The club, for the first time in its history, reached the last 16 of the FA Trophy, narrowly losing to Football Conference side, Gateshead 2–1.

Radcliffe achieved its highest honour in the 1996–97 season, winning the Northern Premier League First Division title by two points from local rivals Leigh RMI. The club's stay in tier six lasted only one season.

The club reached the first round of the FA Cup in 2000, losing 1–4 to York City in a match played at Gigg Lane, the home of Bury, in front of a crowd of 2,495. Boro again missed out on promotion in the 2001–02 season. After leading the division until February, a poor run to the end of the season meant the club entered the newly formed play-offs, losing to Bamber Bridge in the semi-final at Irongate.

In the 2002–03 season Boro missed out on the championship by two points to Alfreton Town, and reached the 4th qualifying round of the FA Cup, losing to Chester City in front of 1,138 at Stainton Park. Promotion was finally won via the play-offs. Boro beat North Ferriby United in the semi-final and Chorley in the final at Stainton Park, winning 4–2 on penalties after Chorley scored two goals in the last 10 minutes to make it 2–2 and take the game into extra time. Boro's Jody Banim got 46 goals in the season.

With Boro back in the Northern Premier League Premier Division and a place in the newly formed Conference North up for grabs, promotion was the obvious aim. By November Boro were sixth thanks to 22 goals by Jody Banim, who set an English record by scoring in 14 consecutive games. Boro sold Banim to Conference promotion chasers Shrewsbury Town for a record fee of £20,000 in December 2003, and, without his goals, the club slid down the table eventually finishing 19th. In the relegation play-offs, Boro beat Whitby Town on penalties 8–7 in the quarter-finals, before bowing out to Burscough in the semi-finals. As a result, the club returned to tier seven following a pyramid restructure.

In 2004–05, the club finished ninth in the Northern Premier League. The club continued to be near the play-offs and solid midtable finishes followed but after four seasons were relegated back to the First Division in 2007, where the club remained until 2019.

In 2016, a new chairman and manager took the reins. Off the field, investment was given to the stadium, including a new stand at the Pilkington Road end, a new press area, a new director's area, a new covered turnstile block, a TV gantry, boardroom, club shop, sponsors lounge and social club. The club changed name, officially dropping 'Borough', in 2018, having earlier reached the 2017 Lancashire Cup Final. With a new manager in charge (Jon Macken, with assistant Frank Sinclair) from October 2017, the club progressed and was promoted via the play-offs back to the Northern Premier League in 2019. The 2023–24 season saw Radcliffe crowned champions of the Northern Premier League Premier Division, earning promotion to the National League North for the first time and a return to Step 2 of the National League System after a 20-year absence.