Carnforth Rangers: 'We're ambitious and we're here for the ride'

A WEST LANCASHIRE League side who are on the up have recently taken to the airwaves.

Last month, coaches from Carnforth Rangers spoke to Beyond Radio about the season so far and much more.

The club have four senior teams - the first's compete in the West Lancs Division One, the reserves in Reserve Division Two and the third team (A Team) and fourth team (Youth) are in the Westmorland Football League.

First team coach Steve Lancaster and reserve team coaches Dan Parkinson and Vernon Middleton appeared on the Saturday Sport Show and talked to me in depth, reflecting on recent times both on and off the pitch.

Steve began helping out the club in 2013 as a junior coach and parent and has worked his way up through the ranks to become first team manager, being a part of the senior team management for four years now and, before this season, he was managing the reserves with assistant Neil McCole.

Dan arrived in 2018 from Slyne with Hest as assistant manager, enjoyed league and cup success with the firsts and has now moved to help with the reserves.

It’s Vernon’s third season as a manager at Carnforth and his first with the reserves, having spent the first two with a successful A Team.

Carnforth Rangers joined the West Lancashire Football League in 2020 after previously playing in the league some years ago, starting out initially in Division Two,

They became an association football club in 1906 but it’s in recent years where their success has become consistent, regularly finishing top of the tree in the now folded North Lancashire and District Football League in the years prior to their switch to the WLFL.

On joining the West Lancs League five years ago, Steve told Beyond Radio: “The club has got big ambitions, not just the first team but throughout the senior and junior teams.

“We performed really well in the North Lancs and felt like the time was right to go back into the West Lancashire League.”

The 2021/22 season saw Carnforth Rangers earn promotion from Division Two to Division One and Dan, who was manager at the time, said that the move up was largely down to a strong squad, the majority of which stayed through the COVID pandemic.

“We like to get the players that want to play for the club and we had a great side, young and full of potential and our minimum aim was promotion.”

The previous two seasons has seen the first team stabilise in Division One and also record two Challenge Cup victories, beating Dalton United in the final in 2023 and dramatically winning in the 95th minute against Chipping a year later.

Those victories, Steve says has “without a doubt” helped improve the club and boost the confidence around the dressing room.

“Winning trophies is what all players aspire to do, that’s why we play football: to win something.

“It becomes a habit and we want to bring that mentality into the league.”

Vernon enjoyed league and cup success with the thirds and has been pleased to see success from all across the club in the last few campaigns.

“Cup competitions are one off games and we want to be more consistent in the league, that’s what we want to do but the cups help along the way.”

With regards to this season, the firsts are seventh in Division One and progressed in the second round of the Richardson Cup on Saturday with a tense shootout win over Lytham Town.

Steve said: “It’s taken a little bit of time for the players to gain our trust and our way of thinking but at the end of the day, we’ve turned it round.

“We won three of the first nine games but we’ve won 10 of the last 12 games (at the time of recording).

“There’s been a mindset charge since that first month and that’s down to the players, the belief in their own ability, the confidence and the togetherness.”

Steve added that the side “haven’t ruled out promotion this year”.

As for the reserves, managed by Dan and Vernon, they found themselves top of the Reserve Division Two table with a perfect home record - eight wins from eight - to boot.

The performance of both the firsts and the reserves at Quarry Park has meant that Carnforth Rangers have one of the strongest home records of any club across the West Lancashire League.

Dan said: “It maybe sounds weird saying it at our level but you like to make your home ground a bit of a fortress, you want to make it hard for teams to come there and take points off you.

“To win every game at home is just testament to the mindset of the players, Vernon and I have instilled a winning mentality into them.”

Vernon followed up: “We said to the players in the first couple of games: ‘trust us, trust me and Dan’. We make every decision together, sometimes you’ll like it, sometimes you won’t, but come along for the ride.”

On the natural progression of players at the club, Vernon said: “Because I’d been running the third team for the last couple of seasons, I’ve seen the progression of certain players who I felt could progress even more and could handle it in the reserve team.

“A lot of the players who brought up have picked up from where they left off, they have progressed but there’s a lot more to the come and that’s the fulfilling part of it.

“The lads have come on leaps and bounds this season.”

The club are incredibly ambitious and the coaches and players are all-in with their hopes for the future.

Steve said: “The club doesn’t want to stand still, we have a very ambitious and long-standing committee.

“The short-term ambition is to get into the (WLFL) Premier Division but long-term we would like to get into the North West Counties Football League.

“We know it’s not going to happen overnight and we have to take it season by season.”

Dan said: “I wouldn’t be sat here now if I didn’t think the club wanted to move forward, I’m not here to make up the numbers and I don’t think the club are.

“A lot of work goes into things like Quarry Park and credit to (club secretary) Casey Bragg.

“We’ve got to move forward with the times.”

Vernon added: “The club have a very ambitious vision but it’s very achievable.

“We have four senior teams and like any club, the main priority is the first team and the objective is to push that team as high as they can go.

“Then, we can push the other teams up and keep them progressing at the same time.

“We’re ambitious coaches and we’re here for the ride.”

To hear the discussion in full - which also includes in-depth conversations about junior football, club volunteers, recruitment and more - scroll down to the 18th January edition of ‘Saturday Sport with Ross Chapman’ on the Beyond Radio website’s ‘Listen Again’ tab.