Lancashire non-league legend excited by new role at Fulwood Amateurs

A well-known former manager in Lancashire non-league football has become chairman of Fulwood Amateurs AFC.

Tony Hesketh assumed the role last week following the resignation of Brian Hersee, who had been in post for four years.

That period had been one of, if not the most, exciting in the club’s history, as they moved from the West Lancashire League, after a 32-year stay, to the North West Counties Football League. They compete in Division One North of that league - tier 10 of the English football pyramid.

Hesketh, 70, has managed a number of non-league clubs since retiring from playing aged 26. He was once on the books at Preston North End as a young midfielder, as well as Wigan Athletic and Chorley.

The clubs he took charge of in a 42-year coaching career include BAC Preston, Netherfield - and, following its name change, Kendal Town - Barrow, Morecambe, Lancaster on two occasions, Chorley and, finally, Fulwood Amateurs.

He became Fulwood boss in 2014 and was in charge for a decade before stepping down and becoming general manager.

The local non-league legend is delighted to be in his new role.

“It’s very exciting,” Hesketh told the Lancashire Post.

“I’ve got to be honest, I never saw myself as a chairman going through my football career as a young player, as a manager for 40 years. I didn’t think the chairman’s role was one I’d ever fulfil.

“We’re in a position where the former chairman [Hersee] has steered us superbly over the last four or five years. He’s got us into the North West Counties, with the help of others, but he feels he needs to stand down just to carry on with the business development side of the club, and allow somebody else to come in and just try and take the club further.

“That was what I was asked to do. I considered it, I considered it again, and then I thought ‘well, why not?’ So that’s how it’s come about, and I say I’m very excited to be in the position.”

Hesketh has overseen huge strides forward in his time at Lightfoot Green. In his first full season as manager in 2014/15, he led them back to the West Lancashire League Premier Division following relegation the previous season.

After consistent seasons in and around the top four of the division - winning it on two occasions - the club took the leap to the North West Counties in 2025 and finished 12th in their first season in the Division One North.

“It’s been an incredible journey. This is my 13th year with the club. I had a back operation 13 years ago and I was managing Lancaster at the time.

“I decided that long bus trips from the North East on a Tuesday night, sat in a coach for two, three, four hours, wasn’t really going to be beneficial to my health, so I decided to come local.

“Fulwood Amateurs is only maybe a couple of hundred yards from where I live. Paul Eastwood was the chairman at the time, and he did wonderful things for the club. He developed the junior system that is now in full flow at the club, and we’ve borne fruit from that junior system, with players going through all the teams and eventually playing in the first team, so that was his vision.

“Brian Hersee took over the club four years ago, and the club has progressed beyond belief, really, with floodlights, stands, new changing rooms, a clubhouse, things we could never have dreamed of when I first arrived at the club 13 years ago, so it’s very exciting.

“We rely on volunteers. Blackpool Football Club’s under-18s rent our ground for a dozen games a season as well, and we have eight to nine volunteers down at the ground helping when they play. We’ve got a great atmosphere, we’ve got something going here.

“It doesn’t just happen, and I say it’s through the hard work and the goodwill of many, many people. We’re very much in an upward spiral.“

Phil Blackwell took over the reins from Hesketh in May 2024 after six years as his assistant, and has guided the team through the transition from the West Lancs to the NW Counties.

“I’ve known Phil for a long, long time,” said Hesketh, “Phil played for me as a 16-year-old. He was on the bench at the play-off final for Kendal versus Telford.

“Phil’s in his early 40s now, so we’re talking a long association! I’ve followed Phil’s career. He’s been at Fulwood Amateurs for many, many years now, twice as long as I have.

“He was my assistant in my last few years, and he was shown to have leadership qualities, a very well-organised lad, a very level-headed lad, somebody whose feet are firmly on the ground, knows where he wants to be, but has his own quite efficient manner of doing that. I’m more than happy that our footballing future is in Phil’s hands.”

The club still have two sides in the West Lancs League - the reserves and the A team, who both earned promotion from their respective WLFL divisions last season. Alongside their senior section, which also includes the under-23s coached by Danny Horton, the club have a strong junior setup which runs from under-7s to under-18s.

“The West Lancs League, I can’t speak too highly of its organisation and the people who run the league. They’ve been attached to the league a long, long time.

“We were sorry to leave it, but we’re delighted that we still have two teams operating in that league every weekend and that keeps us well in touch with our old friends.”

“Paul Eastwood, around seven years ago now, when he was chairman, he introduced the junior section.

“We do provide them with good facilities, good training facilities. It’s very much a reciprocal arrangement because a lot of the players from the junior section have gone on to play in our first team, so much so that we very rarely go outside of the club to bring new players in.

“We have some great managers in place with our reserve sides. Lee Ward’s been here as long as I have. Tom Treuberg has joined that group. Daryl Collinson, Martin Monks.

“We have players with our A team and there is a real continuity of it. We don’t see coaching jobs change very often, people get in the Fulwood way of life, it gets in your blood.

“I thought I was only passing through 13 years ago before my next job came along, but it becomes part of you, and we’re all excited about the potential for our future.

“One of the big reasons we can be so excited is because of the funding we receive and the support we get.

“We rely on our sponsors and we have two incredible sponsors, Nugent Santé, the insurance group, and Dentistry by Cure Clinics.

“That’s Paul Nugent and Michael Ball, who are extremely good supporters of our club. Without their help, we probably wouldn’t survive. We have many other sponsors who we’re grateful to for our pitch-side boards, and we rely on that.”

As for the future, Fulwood Amateurs are optimistic, while staying realistic, about what can be achieved.

Last season’s 12th-place finish in the Division One North, coupled with successful runs in both the FA Vase and the Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy - which included a 3-1 victory over AFC Fylde in the second round, before reaching the semi-finals - provides strong foundations for the future in the North West Counties. They currently sit 13th in a league of 22.

“When we joined the league last season, it was our first season at Step 6. We weren’t quite sure what to expect but we survived the season in a very healthy mid-table position with an excellent FA Vase run, taking us through four rounds.

“At the time, we thought it would take three or four years to settle into this league. But having seen it for a season, there are some very good signs, I must say.

“[Last season’s promoted sides] Nelson and Droylsden were outstanding last season. They’re proving that again, they top of the division above us, they sit first and second as we speak, but there are many strong sides in our division at the moment.

“I really feel that we can push for a playoff place this season, though. I’m not saying we’re going to win it, but I do know that Phil’s got a good group of lads together that are working hard.

“We’ve just suffered one or two injuries and that’s maybe cost us four or five points, but we’re well-placed. We’re sat in mid-table but the ambition for the club is to get one division higher at least.

“With that, you obviously have to improve your ground and the gradings as you get closer to the Northern Premier League and that’s a whole new ballgame and we’re not going to run too fast. We want to walk first of all, but I think we’ve settled in very well.

“I said to Phil that the remit is to keep us afloat. We’re still finding out about the standard, but I think we all agree that we have a side that’s certainly capable of finishing top half.

“Why not push for the playoffs? We’d be ready for it if we did get promotion. The requirements of the division above are not too distant from what we have already in place, so that’s our short-term aim, but you’ve got to be realistic with these things.

“With promotion comes an increased cost, and as I say we rely so heavily on our sponsors, but long may our progress continue.”

Fulwood Amateurs host Colne in the first round of the inter-league Macron Cup on Saturday (September 26), with a 3pm kickoff at Lightfoot Green (PR4 0AE).