Early years Gresley Rovers were formed in 1882 in a small mining village of Church Gresley, near Swadlincote, Derbyshire. The club's first ground was at Mushroom Lane in
Albert Village. Gresley played only
friendlies and cup games before joining the Burton Junior League for the 1892–93 season, winning their first title in 1894–95. Rovers acquired a new home, the Church Street Ground, in time for the 1895–96 season. Despite the ground's lack of facilities - with teams even having to change at the nearby Boot Hotel The replay at
Bramall Lane saw Gresley lose 3–1 and denied a treble-winning season.
Southern League Successful application placed Gresley in the
Southern League Midland Division for the 1992–93 season, achieving promotion to its Premier Division at the first time of asking as well as reaching the FA Vase semi-final. Life in the Premier Division began as Derbyshire Senior Cup winners and Southern League Cup finalists in 1993–94, an
FA Cup First Round Proper appearance against
Crewe and the appointments of
Paul Futcher (and ex-England international
Garry Birtles as assistant) in 1994–95,
a Derbyshire Senior Cup win yet again in 1995–96. 1996–97 records the current highest ever league position achieved by Gresley as Southern League Premier Division champions. Rovers were unbeaten in their first seventeen league games (won 10 drawn 7) and were league leaders for 31 weeks. The title was finally won with a 3–1 home victory against
Gloucester City on 26 April 1997. Gresley Rovers became the first
Derbyshire side and first village side to win this prestigious trophy but ground grading meant that they were unable to gain promotion to the
Football Conference. The game was also notable for serious crowd disorder between the two sets of fans after Gresley's opening goal led to the game being suspended for 25 minutes as fighting spilled onto the pitch. Derby County were willing to lend Gresley their recently vacated
Baseball Ground until the required standards could be met but this was rejected by the footballing authorities. This disappointment of not being promoted to the Football Conference saw many Gresley players leave the club. Manager, Paul Futcher, also left and replacement Garry Birtles (former Assistant Manager) could only achieve a bottom half finish in 1997–98. Relegation struck in 1998-99 during a season that saw Gresley collapse from a top six position in December. The season started well with 13 points and third place in September. Gresley went close to causing an FA Cup 1st-round upset against Walsall in November and victories over
King's Lynn and
Hastings Town got December off to a fine start. Rovers still sat in sixth by New Year but six successive defeats in January saw them slump to 17th place. In February two successive draws and three defeats led to the dismissal of Manager Garry Birtles, and
Stuart Ford taking temporary charge. Ford ended the rout of fourteen games without a win against
Atherstone United (2–1) before
Brian Kenning was appointed permanent manager in March 1999. The opening game of April produced a comfortable 3–0 victory over
Cambridge City but then followed by three defeats against Nuneaton Borough,
Crawley Town and
Rothwell Town. Vital games at
Dorchester Town and
Salisbury City yielded only one point. The defeat on the final day against
Bath City pushed Gresley into the Midlands Division just two years after being crowned Premier Division by 11 points. The last time Gresley had been relegated was in the 1958–59 season (from the Birmingham League Division One to Division Two.)
Reformation After financial difficulties, Gresley Rovers liquidated at the end of the 2008–09 season, forming a new football club, Gresley F.C. In the 2009–10 season, they were placed in the
East Midlands Counties League. After finishing their first season in second place they went one better by winning it in 2010–11. The following season they also won the Midland Football Alliance earning a place at Step 4 of the pyramid. In the 2013–14 season, Gresley finished 9th in the
Northern Premier League Division One South. In the following season, Gresley F.C. achieved their biggest ever league win, 10–0 at home to
Brigg Town on 13 September 2014. However, a week later manager Martin Rowe resigned for personal reasons. After a successful Caretaker Manager reign, Wayne Thornhill took charge with hopes to reach the play-offs by the end of the season. The 2014–15 season also saw Gresley go on their best Derbyshire Senior Cup run since reformation, finishing runners up and knocking out holders
Ilkeston. The Moatmen reached the play-off semi-finals in 2014-15 but lost narrowly away to
Leek Town. In pre-season, the Moatmen lost key players Mitch Hanson and Kieran O'Connell to long-term injuries and several influential players left the club including Eric Graves. After a tough start to the 2015-16 campaign, Wayne Thornhill resigned on 22 September 2015. Dave Langston enjoyed a successful interim campaign but could not take on the job full-time due to work commitments. His interim spell lasted until 17 October when Scott Goodwin took charge. Scott Goodwin achieved one win and six losses in his short tenure at the club and was relieved of his duties on 5 December 2015. Between 28 November and 26 January, the Moatmen had no home league games due to numerous postponements. Gary Ricketts immediately took over as Player/Manager with Dave Langston appointed as assistant. His tenure started in promising fashion, with a victory over
Mickleover Sports booking the Moatmen a semi-final berth in the Derbyshire Senior Cup and five straight home NPL Division One victories - their best run of the season - giving them faint hopes of a play-off push. Gresley had a thin squad due to the loss of income the postponements brought and were also playing twice a week most weeks from February to the end of the season. A lot of the re-arranged home games were on Tuesday nights meaning attendances fell but this was also due to poor form. A run of nine straight losses came in March, as injuries, suspensions and availability issues - as well as some below-par displays - took their toll, Gresley eventually ending the season in 16th place. On 23 May 2016, Gary Ricketts resigned for personal reasons and Dave Langston left the club to become manager of
Lichfield City. For the 2016–17 season the main stand was renamed after Pat Murray, a local councillor, as he agreed to donate £1,500 to the club. Pre-season saw the departure of the two best performing 2015-16 players as voted by supporters. Supporters player of the year runner-up Jack Langston and the Supporters'
player-of-the-year John Guy both moved to
Belper Town to join up with former Moatmen Eric Graves, Alex Steadman, Jordan Ball, Kyle Bryant, Luke Edwards and Bradley Wells. On 10 June 2016, Gresley appointed, former St. Kitts and Nevis international, Damion Beckford-Quailey as their new manager. Damion named
Hannah Dingley as his assistant manager and
Brian Quailey and Chris Cowan as coaches. Further players departed the club including highly rated teenager Ryan King. The 2016–17 season began strong with 16 points from the first 8 games. However, only five wins followed from the next 32 games which lead to influential forwards Pearson Mwanyongo and Tendai Chitiza leaving the club. Damion's side went on a good run in the Derbyshire Senior Cup reaching the final. However, Gresley finished the season in 18th place. The following pre-season saw star forward Reece Morris leave the club after picking up 4 awards for the 2016–17 season. The 2017–18 season was one to forget for Gresley supporters. Gresley featured towards the bottom of the table all season but they retained their place in the
Northern Premier League Division One South with 4 games remaining. The following week saw the chairman, vice chairman and manager all step down with most of the first team squad leaving with 3 matches still to play. ==Stadium==