Source: North East Manchester Advertiser

 Trials for the new FC United of Manchester women’s football team will be taking place on Sunday 10 June.

They are from 11am until 1pm at The Manchester College Nichols campus, which is just off Hyde Road, Manchester M12 6BA. Women footballers over 16 years of age are welcome at the trials.

The new FC United women’s team will be playing in the Greater Manchester Women’s Football League next season and will be managed jointly by John Marsden and Lee Sutton.

Sutton said: "Since we announced that FC United would be forming a women’s team for next season, the response has been brilliant.

"John and I are hoping that the interest will result in an excellent attendance at the trials."

Marsden is a former manager at Birkdale United Ladies and Sutton is the manager of Denton Girls.

Both have valuable coaching knowledge and experience in women’s football and both are looking forward to building a competitive team at FC United next season.

Marsden said: "I’m personally delighted that FC United will have a women’s team next season. It will be good for the club and it adds to our vision of working in and across all communities."

Manchester FA’s Get into Football strategic football manager, Fiona Callaghan, added: "This is a welcome boost for women’s football especially in the north of the city of Manchester.

"Football is the biggest team sport for females in England at the present time, so if clubs within the male game such as FC United with their passion and track record in community football are looking to create new teams, inevitably it will enable more women to play competitive football and further raise the profile of the game."

 Source: North East Manchester Advertiser

 FC United's newly-crowned fans’ player of the season Adam Jones insists he has no regrets about joining the Rebels – despite having suffered promotion heartbreak for the fifth year running.

Centre-half Jones’s debut campaign with FC ended just as his previous four had at Curzon Ashton – with defeat in the play-offs.

But, having been chosen by United’s fanatical supporters as the club’s top performer of 2011/12, the towering defender is adamant he made the right choice in swapping the Tameside Stadium for Gigg Lane.

Jones said: "Even though the season didn’t end the way we’d hoped, it was still really enjoyable for me personally.

"I’m not one for change, so leaving Curzon after six years was a big decision, but the way I was welcomed by everyone here was amazing and it has been fantastic for me ever since.

"Being named supporters’ player of the season is the icing on the cake and it has left me with a massive sense of achievement. FC United, as everyone knows, is all about the fans, so for me to have been singled out by them is really special.

"I can’t describe how it feels when they sing my name – it means so much."

Meanwhile, winger Carlos Roca has also spoken of his delight at being voted player of the year by FC’s junior fans.

He said: "This award means an awful lot to me because I try to be an exciting player and to do things which are a little bit out of the ordinary. Sometimes they come off, sometimes they don’t.

"But if our young supporters enjoy watching me that’s really great because hopefully it will inspire a few of them to try to play the same way."

Roca’s 25-yard screamer in FC’s FA Trophy victory over Altrincham was chosen as the club’s goal of the season by the Didsbury and Withington branch of the Rebels’ supporters’ club.

Striker Matthew Wolfenden was voted player of the year by his team-mates, while keeper James Spencer, who missed the Evo-Stik Premier play-off final defeat to Bradford Park Avenue with an injured hand, was manager Karl Marginson’s choice as FC’s star turn.

Spencer, Jones and skipper Kyle Jacobs each collected other branch awards while FC’s under-18s boss Dave Brown named James Brooks as his top player, with Alex Stones carrying off the players’ player prize.

 Source: North East Manchester Advertiser

 FC United manager Karl Marginson has scoffed at suggestions the Rebels can count themselves lucky to be preparing for a second successive Evo-Stik Premier play-off final appearance this weekend.

Marginson’s men, who lost to Colwyn Bay in last season’s final, visit old foes Bradford Park Avenue on Saturday (3pm) to decide who joins champions Chester in going up to Blue Square Bet North.

Having narrowly missed out on automatic play-off qualification in finishing sixth, FC are only appearing in the promotion knockout thanks to runners-up Northwich Victoria being barred from taking part for financial reasons.

But, having seen his side book their red-letter date at the Horsfall Stadium with a stirring 2-0 semi-final victory at Chorley, Marginson insists there’s nothing fortunate about the Rebels once again being just 90 minutes away from a place alongside fellow Mancunians Altrincham, Droylsden and Stalybridge in the Conference’s northern tier.

He said: "I absolutely think we deserve to be in the play-off final against Bradford.

"Every single one of my lads was excellent against Chorley and, as for what happened to Northwich, we can hardly be blamed for having put ourselves in a position which meant we were the ones to benefit from their misfortune.

"We’ve been in this situation before and we certainly don’t want to experience the same disappointment as we did at Colwyn Bay 12 months ago.

"It was a horrible feeling – we can’t go through that again.

"Bradford hold no fears for us. They used to be our bogey-team, but we’ve now well and truly ended that hoodoo.

"We won 2-0 there in last year’s play-off semi-final and have thumped them 5-2 home and away this season.

"Bradford thrashed Hednesford 5-0 in their semi-final, so we know what they’re capable of.

"But, in spite of that result, I think they’ll fancy meeting us a lot less than we do them."

Marginson also hailed star striker Mike Norton (above) after he broke the deadlock at Chorley with a stunning 63rd minute goal when he curled delicious left-footer past Magpies keeper Russ Saunders.

Sub Astley Mulholland then added an equally well-taken second late on as FC triumphed over Magpies side who had finished seven points and three places above them in third place in the table. Marginson added: "So often games like Saturday’s are decided by a scruffy goal but Norts’ finish was straight out of the top drawer.

"That’s what he does – he’s simply a born goalscorer."