Celtic Nation Football Club (/ˈkɛltɪk ˈneɪʃən/) was an English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

club based in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

. The club were members of Division One of the

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

and played at Gillford Park.

History

The club was established in 2004 and was originally known as Gillford Park Spartans and joined Division Two of the

Northern Alliance The Northern Alliance, officially known as the United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( prs, جبهه متحد اسلامی ملی برای نجات افغانستان ''Jabha-yi Muttahid-i Islāmi-yi Millī barāyi Nijāt ...

in 2005. They finished second in the first season in the division, and were promoted to Division One. In 2006 the club changed its name to Gillford Park, winning Division One of the Northern Alliance at the first attempt, earning promotion to the Premier Division. After finishing third in the Premier Division in 2007–08, the club finished second the following season, and were promoted to Division Two of the

. In 2009–10 and 2010–11 the club finished eleventh in Division Two, before finishing second in 2011–12 and earning promotion to Division One."Big Spenders" ''When Saturday Comes'', October 2012, p11 In 2012 the club adopted the name Celtic Nation, and also attracted sponsorship from Frank Lynch, a Scottish millionaire based in America. The extra money allowed the club to sign several ex-professional players, including

Paul Arnison Paul Simon Arnison (born 18 September 1977) is an English former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He last played for National Premier League Queensland club Sunshine Coast FC, where he was also employed as a coach. He is a forme ...

Adam Boyd Adam Mark Boyd (born 25 May 1982) is an English footballer who last played for Bishop Auckland. Boyd plays as a striker and started off playing in school while attending Grange Primary School, in his hometown of Hartlepool. During his studies ...

and Graeme Lee. Former

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional Association football, football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football league system, English football. The club was ...

assistant manager Mick Wadsworth was appointed manager in late April 2013, with Wadsworth revealing that he had turned down an assistant manager role at a

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side to take up the challenge at Celtic Nation. Wadsworth resigned after 10 matches in charge, and was succeeded as manager by Willie McStay. After financial support for the club was withdrawn, Wille McStay and the majority of the playing staff left the club. At one point in the summer of 2014 the club had only four registered players. Former Newcastle United, Barrow and Carlisle United midfielder Mark Boyd took on the role of player/manager of Celtic Nation appointing Nation forward, Jonny Allan, as assistant. On 25 April 2015, Nation confirmed that they had resigned from the Northern League and would fold due to financial problems and losing the lease of Gillford Park to

Northern Football Alliance The Northern Football Alliance is a football league based in the North East, England. It has four divisions headed by the Premier Division, which sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System. The top club in the Premier Division is ...

Premier Division neighbours Carlisle City. Three days later Celtic Nation played their last ever match against

North Shields North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...

, which ended in a 1–0 defeat.

Colours

Celtic Nation played in green and white shirts, white shorts and green and white socks. Their away strip was yellow shirts, black shorts and yellow and black socks.

Honours

(as Gillford Park F.C.) **Division One champions 2006–07 **Challenge Cup winners 2008–09 **Combination Cup winners 2006–07 *

Cumberland Senior Cup The Cumberland Cup is the current senior county cup in the ancient county of Cumberland. It is administered by the Cumberland Football Association (CFA). According to the current rules of the competition, it is open to all clubs whose first affi ...

**Winners 2014 (as Celtic Nation F.C.)

References

{{coord, 54, 52, 37.790, N, 2, 54, 58.018, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title 2005 establishments in England 2015 disestablishments in England Association football clubs disestablished in 2015 Association football clubs established in 2005 Sport in Carlisle, Cumbria Defunct football clubs in England Northern Football League Defunct football clubs in Cumbria