Windermere Sports Club ⚽️

Following on from Dan being appointed 1st manager, the club are looking for a new reserve team manager. If you would like to apply or enquire further please send an email to windermerescfootball@mail.com Closing date for applications is Friday 29th May 🩵🤍

Windermere SC are delighted to announce that Dan Hicks will be our new 1st team manager. After 2 years with the reserves Dan will step up to managing the club in the Westmorland Football League Division 1 and will bring his enthusiasm and commitment to the side. Our new First team manager Dan Hicks: “I feel extremely proud and privileged to have been entrusted with the task of continuing to development our youthful squad of footballers at Windermere as the new First Team Manager. Gaz Wilkinson will once again be a tough act to follow. I think he did really well this season having lost 2 brilliant footballer’s at the end of last season to pastures new, I will no doubt be pestering him for advice on what’s app as I start my new role at the club. The football side of the club are currently restructuring and there will be lots of new faces in different roles as we look to freshen things up. Big thanks go to Mike Gavin and the committee members for believing in me and for everything they all do and have done for the club. I’ve really enjoyed my 2 seasons as the reserve team manager, the lads have been exceptional for me and I’m sure we will find the right person to come in and look after them. I’m Really looking forward to getting started with the players at pre-season training.” Everyone at the club would like to wish Dan the best of luck for 2026/27 season 🩵🤍

Manager announcement 🚨 Following Wednesday’s committee meeting, our 1st Team Manager Gaz Wilkinson confirmed he will be stepping down after three years as manager (two with the first team and one with the reserves). During that time, Gaz took the club to two cup finals, guided the reserves to a mid-table finish in Division 3, and led the first team to consecutive mid-table finishes in Division 1. Speaking to Slow Sports News, Gaz said: “It’s been an honour to manage this fantastic football club. Becoming first-team manager was an ambition of mine from the day I hung up my boots. To lead the club to cup finals in consecutive seasons was very special and something I’m very proud of. I am ready for a break. I haven’t missed a game in three seasons, which, including friendlies, is about 110 games. With me being someone who is on top of the world after every decent result and rock bottom after every disappointment, I am drained and ready to support the club from behind the scenes. After announcing to the players a couple of weeks ago that I would be stepping down at the end of the season, it has given me time to reflect and realise the amount of special moments we’ve had over the last three years. If I was to pick a few, they would be: As reserves manager — hammering Ambleside 6-1 away, beating then league leaders Kendal County Reserves 5-4 on the Rec after being 3-1 down at half-time, then knocking them out of the cup and beating them again away in the league. The penalty shoot-out wins against Ibis and Burton Thistle in the semi-final at Staveley, and then managing the side in the cup final at Penrith — I couldn’t have been prouder of the team. For the first team — the semi-final penalty shoot-out win at Kirkby Lonsdale, beating Appleby 3-0 away when they were top of the league, beating Kirkoswald 4-2 when they were top of the league, and managing in a county cup final at Kendal Town, which unfortunately saw us come up against an Appleby team that were on a different level. Also, the recent 3-0 victory over Kendal United WestmorlandLeagueReserveTeamToKendalUnitedWestLancashireLeague2ndDivisionTeam (I think that’s there new name) and knocking them out of a cup for the last 2 seasons. A huge thank you to all the players who have played for the club whilst I’ve been manager, particularly my three captains — Crowdy, Sam and Luca — who were all perfect leaders on and off the pitch. Thank you to everyone who helped me on matchdays, including Riggy, Mo, GV and particularly 🚀 Ron. Thanks to the committee and the club for your support, with special mentions to Mike Gav for the work he does behind the scenes as chairman, and Chappy for everything he does for the club. Thank you to all the sponsors. Thank you to all the supporters. Thank you to the Westmorland League. Thank you to the club for giving me the opportunity and showing the faith they did in me. Good luck for next season. Windermere SC is a an amazing club, the foundations have been built for the club to grow and be successful and I will go from being gaffer to the club’s biggest fan. Up the fucking Mere 🩵🤍” The club will announce our new 1st team manager very soon….

Windermere SC 1st Team 2025/26 The first team ended the 2025/26 season finishing 8th in the Westmorland League First Division — another solid season in the top division after a couple of years of huge transition within the squad. Our squad is the youngest in the league, yet full of quality, and they have shown that on numerous occasions, particularly at home with some headline victories. The foundations are now in place for the team to build on and push towards the top end of the league. A special thank you to our sponsors, Hackney & Leigh and The Tilly Windermere, for their continued support. Manager Gaz Wilkinson’s thoughts on the season: “On reflection, it has been another solid season in a very competitive top division. We didn’t play our first home league game until mid-December, which I felt really hindered us, with our only home game before that being a 13-0 win in the cup. Although disappointed with the league position, we have shown we have the ability to compete with and beat the best teams in the league. A major disappointment for myself and the lads was not progressing further in the cups. After last year’s Benevolent Cup Final and High Sheriff’s Semi Final, we were only able to reach two quarter finals this season (Senior Cup & Benevolent Cup) and felt disappointed with the results against Kirkby Stephen and Wetheriggs. Again, we had some major injuries to deal with, particularly Keeno’s in December, which was a huge loss. He was both a key player and our most experienced player, and it was horrible to see a friend and one of my players go through that following an unacceptable challenge on a football pitch. We certainly improved over the course of the season, which is natural with such a young side and a relatively new group of players learning to play together and gaining experience. I am very proud of our home record in the league. We have lost just twice on The Rec in our last 16 home league games (11 wins, 3 draws), stretching back into last season, which is an incredible achievement and compares with any team’s home record over that period. It is something all the lads should be proud of and look to continue next season. As a club, we are blessed with lots of exciting young talent, with an exciting group coming through from Heathwaite U16s. Between them, they have already made 24 first-team appearances while still playing junior football, which is an incredible achievement considering the standard of the First Division. I want to say a huge thank you to Hackney & Leigh for our fantastic new kit and The Tilly (Solly) for providing food on home matchdays — both of which have been major supporters of the club for a number of years. Thank you to all our matchday sponsors, whose support has helped us raise funds to continue improving the club. Thank you to everyone who has come and supported the team on matchdays, both home and away. Thank you to everyone who has supported me on matchdays and helped at training, particularly Rocket Ron. And most importantly, thank you to all the players. I have so much belief in you as a group. You are the most technically gifted Windermere side I have seen and, with experience and time playing together, hopefully you will become the most successful one too.” #UTM 🩵🤍

MIDWEEK FOOTBALL RESULT ‼️ Appleby 4-2 Windermere SC First Team finished off there season with defeat to Appleby in Penrith. Not ideal preparation for the game with bad local traffic and a break down on the M6 meaning there wasn’t much time of a warm up which showed in our first half performance. A huge thanks to Ben Close the referee for picking up 4 players from the M6 hard shoulder. Well done to Mason Shepherd making his 1st team debut & Bob Wood for bagging his first 1st team goals. Mason and Bob along with Olly Hindle & Toby Wilson making it 4 under 16s in the squad - Toby making his 11th 1st team appearance whilst still playing U16’s⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Massive shout out to Jack Gosling who having broke down on the M6 got the breakdown recovery truck to bring him to the pitch arriving just before half time, running straight to get in his kit and then coming on and grabbing his first two assists for the 1st team. 🛞💥💸 And lastly to the legend that is Andrew Crowdy playing his last game before retirement. It only lasted a few minutes as he pulled his hammy straight away after being subbed on. A credit to our football club with his commitment and attitude, happy retirement Crowdy ♥️ Goalscorers. B Wood ⚽️ Gosling 🅰️ B Wood ⚽️ Gosling 🅰️ Huge thank you to those that made the trip up to Penrith on a Tuesday night to support the lads ❤️ #UTM 🩵🤍

MIDWEEK FOOTBALL FIXTURE ‼️ Last game of the season for the first team as they travel to Frenchfields in Penrith to play Appleby on Tuesday. Get yourself through to support the lads for the last fixture for the club of the 2025/26 season. #UTM 🩵🤍

But we ended the season on a high and secured a 5th place finish winning our last 3 games and finding a really good rhythm which bodes well for next season. We played 26 games and only one team managed to stop us scoring. We scored 89 league goals. We also managed to beat 12 of the 14 teams in the league. If we start strong and maintain it then I’m convinced we will be fighting for the league title next season such is my confidence in the players available to us. Honourable mentions- Crowdy pulling out the drogba celebration when he scored at Carnforth. gorras bicey at Ibis. Goal of the season. Jindle 14 goals Deano OG at Arnside. WTF Tom Nic hatrick at Arnside. Maty hatrick on the rec Robbie hatrick on the rec. Lew missing sitters on the rec But getting 9 assists. Bams goal on the rec Catfish suddenly being able to launch the ball out of his hands for miles. Alfie Owen goal at Lunesdale Trev goal on the rec. Mason goal on the rec Bob goal on the rec Olly goal on the rec Leo goal on the rec Leo Taylor being brilliant in goal 7 under 16’s getting debuts. Sometimes playing with 5 u16’s in the team. Thanks to all the sponsors, Lindeth Howe Hotel, Brookside for food Popeyes for food. Thanks to Chappy for setting the bar up every week, Riggy for getting the pitch marked. Gaz and Ron for looking after the pitch. Jim Wilkinson for being involved in getting the u16’s from Heathwaite to come to us. Thanks to all the supporters who turn up rain or shine. Thanks to all the lads from the club who turn up to cheer each other on when they don’t have a game or aren’t selected. It’s great that we have that team spirit at the club. Thanks to my wife for recognising that I need to be involved in the game and supporting my endeavours.” As a club we want to say a huge thank you to Dan for all his effort and commitment, the players for representing the club in the manor they have and all the support over the course of the season 🩵🤍

indermere SC Reserves 2025/26 Wednesday’s comprehensive 5-2 win away at Lunesdale Reserves completed the 2025/26 season for the reserve team. After a tricky 24/25 season the side regrouped for a season in Divison 4 and have brought a real feel good factor to the group and club. Scoring lots of goals and entertaining football, the youthful reserves side were top of the league as recently as January. Although promotion wasn’t to be with very good Brough and Cartmel Reserves sides taking the top 2 spots in the league, everyone should be proud of the season and the foundation is built with the aim for next season being promotion. A special thank you to our sponsors Lindeth Howe & Popeyes pizzeria&grill windermere for your support. Manager Dan Hicks’ thoughts on the season - “Since the start of this season the reserves have used 50 different players. The oldest being Keith Taylor born in 1981 and the youngest and also the last one to get his debut, Bobby Wilkinson who was born in 2010. At one stage during our last game against lunesdale,the average age of the players on the pitch was 18.55 years old. Which tells you how young this team is and points to a bright future. Yet most of them have at some point been involved with the first team too. Which gives them invaluable experience. Most games this season we have been lucky enough to have had an experienced player or 2, Sam fletcher, LewRT, Matt Dawson, Crowdy, Robbie or Matt Parkinson alongside our younger players and I think it’s really helped bring them on. We got off to a great start this season beating the eventual league winners Cartmel away with the help of a few first team lads, only to get thrashed away by the team that finished 2nd in our next game. We then lost again at Millhead before going on an 8 game unbeaten run in the league scoring 42 goals in the process. My own personal highlight of that run was the game on the rec where we put 9 past Ibis with Maty Taylor getting a hatrick. This was the game where I think everything clicked and we began playing what I would call proper football. As usually happens during the season some lads become unavailable for a game or 2 and the wheels seem to fall off for a bit. This definitely happened to us a couple of times but it meant we could give debuts to some of the young lads that had been training with us. I remember throwing Toby on at Ibis without a doubt in my mind that he was gonna do well and he didn’t disappoint and hasn’t since. That same game in December saw Olly and Bob make their debuts too with Bob being unlucky not to get on the score sheet and Olly causing havoc down the left. We lost 4-3 in the end but the signs were so encouraging. Our next game away at Burneside brought debuts for Isaac and Mason too. It was a rough game but we held on to win 3-2 with all 5 U16’s coming on from the bench and playing a big part in it. A week later we played Burneside again this time on the rec. They were after revenge and fielded a strong side but this time one of our veterans, the Vice Captain Robbie Moore had his shooting boots on and he fired in a hatrick. We went 3-2 up Subbed Robbie off for another U16 player to make his debut for us, Trev. He was just 8 minutes into his debut when he lit the rec up with a dazzling little dribble in the box and brilliant finish that cemented the win for us 4-2. We then lost our way and 3 games in a row before a very good performance on the rec saw us draw with Brough. We then thrashed the unbeaten at the time Kirkby Stephen 4-1 on the rec. A brilliant game where we dug in and got exactly what we deserved playing football our way. A disappointing draw with Staveley was next on the rec before we came out on the wrong end of a 6-5 thriller away at Arnside and Milnthorpe. A tough night match away at Ingleton followed where we battled bravely but were beaten 3-1.

LAST WEEKEND AND THIS EVENING FOOTBALL RESULTS ‼️ Apologies for the late post. Last Tuesday a shortened first team side travelled up to Wetheriggs and lost out 4-0, made a few good chances but lost to the better team on the night. On the Wednesday the Reserves thrived under ‘new management’ beating Arnside and Milnthrope Town 3-0, a team they’d lost to 2 weeks prior 6-5. Credit to the 3 16 year olds on the scoresheet. Goal Scorers O. Hindle ⚽️ S. Fletcher 🅰️ M. Shepherd ⚽️ B. Wood ⚽️ M. Shepherd 🅰️ On the Thursday evening the first team hosted Cartmel and District to the rec, with the warm weather we’ve had the surface was difficult and it wasn’t the prettiest affair, regardless, the lads battled well and came out with a point after a 2-2 draw. Goal Scorers L. Rands - Trevor ⚽️ P. Czechura 🅰️ P. Czechura ⚽️ J. Dalzell 🅰️ Huge thanks to our kit sponsor Hackney and Leigh for sponsoring the game. 🫶🏼 Sponsors Man of the Match 🥁 P. Czechura 💙 The reserves returned to action Saturday for their first weekend game in a month and welcomed Greystoke Reserves. A good side Windemere side dismantled Greystoke and came out 5-1 winners Goal Scorers J. Hindle ⚽️ L. Webster 🅰️ B. Wood ⚽️ P. Czechura 🅰️ J. Hindle ⚽️ J. Gosling 🅰️ L. Webster ⚽️ J. Gosling 🅰️ J. Gosling ⚽️ A. Baxter 🅰️ Finally this evening the first team faced Appleby at home, some nice passages of football played alongside a few long balls from Sando and the lads came out 3-2 winners. Goal Scorers S. Burke ⚽️ P. Czechura 🅰️ S. Burke ⚽️ P. Czechura ⚽️ L. Wood 🅰️ Big thanks to the gaffer Gaz Wilks for sponsoring our last home game of the season. Sponsors Man of the Match 🥁 S. Burke 💙 Thank you all for your support in all the games above and your continued support through out the season. #UTM 💙

WEEKEND CRICKET FIXTURE ‼️ The lads look to make it 3 wins from 3 as they travel down to Bare for our first Saturday fixture of the year. 📆 Saturday 2nd May ⏰ 1:00pm 📍 2 Powder House Ln, Lancaster LA1 2TT As always, thanks to our player sponsors and Andrew Johnson Joinery for providing kit. Get down and support the lads. #UTM 💙

Remaining fixtures for the 2025/26 season for both the firsts & reserves including 4 games in the next 7 days at home on the rec ⚽️ All your support is much appreciated 🩵🤍

Super subs @windermerefc at table topping @WetheriggsUtdFC Might need them 0-2 down Photo StuartRoyClarke/HomesOfFootball

WEEKEND CRICKET RESULT ‼️ Mere make it 2 wins from 2 in Division 2. Losing the toss and being asked to field, which we wanted to do regardless, bowled out Heysham for under 100 and knocked them off in style. Heysham 94ao L. Rands-Trevor 4-21 Dan Sykes 3-19 W. Aspinwall 2-35 Windermere 97-2 O. Killiner 48* D. Sykes 31 M. Henderson 6 Captains Man of the Match 🥁 O. Killiner - Sponsored by RSJ Gardens Thanks for your support #UTM 💙

WEEKEND FOOTBALL RESULT ‼️ First Team missed out on the points away at Kirkby Stephen, conceding in the last minute to lose 3-2, not our best game conceding easily and not massively capitalising on chances but also plenty of positives. Including young lads getting the opportunity to step up and gain valuable experience. All the best to Kirkby Stephen for the rest of the year. Goalscorers. J. Hindle ⚽️ L. Wood 🅰️ L. Rands-Trevor ⚽️ P. Czechura 🅰️ Thanks to Helen Vinall for making the journey to support the lads. #UTM 💙

WEEKEND CRICKET FIXTURE ‼️ After a great start last weekend the lads make the trip to Heysham for the first time, hoping last weeks momentum will take them to the points again. 📆 Sunday 26th April ⏰ 1:00pm 📍 12 Carr Lane, Heysham Village, LA3 2RL Thanks to all our player sponsors and Andrew Johnson Joinery for Sponsoring our whites. Get down and support the lads. #UTM 💙