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| While Cliftonville were key players in the formation of the very first Irish Football League back in 1880, the Club overcame something of a struggle to work its way into the Premier League, which debuted in 1995. Qualification for the new elite division was obtained by virtue of a Club's league position in both the 1993/94 and 1995/96 campaigns and the Reds - who changed Manager from Frankie Parkes to Marty Quinn during that period - finished on a combined 90 points and in fifth position. There had been genuine cause for concern during the 1993/94 season when the Club's ineligible fielding of a midfielder by the name of Michael Crowe in a 2-0 defeat to Ballymena United saw three points deducted from our total, in spite of the fact that none had been collected in the fixture. Even so, the decision stood but Cliftonville sealed their place in the new-look top flight with a 2-1 victory over Coleraine at Easter 1995 and finished that particular season in sixth place - although it would have been third had we not surrendered a two-goal advantage to draw with Crusaders on the final day. Our first ever Premier League game took place at Solitude in August 1995 but, in spite of the hype created by the big changes in local football, failed to entertain the crowd in a scoreless draw with Ards. And Ards were a Club with whom we were to forge relationships with both on and off the pitch over the years, facing them in Relegation Play Offs in 1999 and 2000 before offering the North Down Club use of Solitude for their 'Home' fixtures in their First Division title-winning term of 2000/01. As for ourselves, our first Premier League season saw us qualify for the InterToto Cup and we repeated that feat in both 2000/01 and 2006/07 and also booked our first ever venture into the UEFA Cup with a third-placed finish in 2007/08 before securing back-to-back qualification for the Europa League thanks to our efforts throughout the 2009/10 and 2010/11 campaigns. Our finest season picks itself. April 18, 1998 is a date etched on the mind of every Cliftonville fan the world over and is still fondly recalled by those who were packed into Solitude to see Mickey Donnelly lift the Gibson Cup - and even by those who were not. Donnelly may have been the first (and, thus far, only) man to skipper the Club to the title, but Gary Sliney has the honour of being the scorer of our first Premier League goal - even if it did come in a record 6-1 defeat. Shaun Strang hit our first winning strike (a 2-1 success over Bangor), while Paul Rice was the first - but not last - goalkeeper to get his name on the scoresheet. All such trivia and stats can be found by viewing our complete Premier League history, available using the dropdown menu above, left. |