[4] The run ended in the third round to Bolton Wanderers, just before the Trotters started paying players in breach of regulations.

[5] The club reached one stage further in 1881–82, losing in the quarter-finals to a Blackburn Olympic side which dangerously under-estimated the growing strength of the Leverites, and came to the tie with some key players missing.

The referee, Mr Duxbury of Darwen, was suspected by many of the home fans in the 1,000 crowd of favouritism and the spectators "acted in a most unbecoming manner" to him.

[7] One problem the club had was that it had recently brought in players who were ineligible for the tournament as they had not lived in the area long enough, requiring the Leverites to play a reserve side in the competition.

[9] The improvements in the first team were shown by Great Lever beating Accrington 4–1,[10] a 13-man Bolton Association 11–0,[11] and the Birmingham side Excelsior 9–0,[12] although the club went down to Walsall Town in another friendly before a crowd of 1,500.

[15] This financial help is borne out by the club moving to a new, enclosed ground, Woodsides, enabling charging of admission fees.

[16] However, the club was unlucky, in the second round of the FA Cup, to be drawn away to Preston North End, who had received even more funding for its team.

Worse, Reuben Wilson, the Leverites' goalkeeper, was injured during the match, so the 10-man Great Lever went out by 4–1, in what was considered a shock result, as it was not yet apparent how good the Preston team was.

[19] The club got to the 4th round of the Lancashire Cup, but a reserve side lost 7–1 at Astley Bridge, the newcomers not allowed to play as "not having resided in the county sufficiently long".

[24] The club's other victims that year included some of the best in the country; 3–0 over West Bromwich Albion and Burnley, 4–0 over Stoke, 3–2 over Third Lanark on a tour of Scotland, 5-0 and 5–1 over Halliwell, 7–0 over Walsall Swifts, 3–1 over Aston Villa, and a draw against Preston North End.

Even worse, the club got the worst possible draw in the first round of the FA Cup - Preston North End away.

Preston had been recruiting professionals before Great Lever chronologically, and the North Enders had more players "grandfathered" in as being eligible to play.

The following week, the club turned up 90 minutes late for a match at Blackburn Olympic, despite the distance between the two grounds being around 20 miles; this suggests there was a deeper issue involved.