The club played in the Football League from 1996–97 until relegation to the Conference Premier was confirmed on 28 April 2012.
The club was formed in 1874 and the team play their home games at the 6,355 capacity Moss Rose stadium.
They were NPL champions in its first two seasons, beating Wigan Athletic to the title on both occasions.
They were Conference champions in 1994-95 but failed to gain election to the Football League.
Two years later they were champions again and gained promotion in successive years to spend 1998–99 in Division Two before falling back to the fourth tier of English football (Division Three/League Two) and then being relegated to the conference in 2012.