[1] The Trophy was initiated by businessman and sporting enthusiast Sir Thomas Lipton, who wished to see a competition between the leading football clubs of Europe.

One plausible explanation for West Auckland's entry was that an employee of Sir Thomas Lipton's had contacts in the Northern League and put out an appeal for a team to take the English spot.

However, a review of the facts casts doubt on this theory; at the time Woolwich Arsenal had only just been promoted from the Second Division and were not the famous club they are today, being relatively small and unsuccessful compared to many other Football League sides.

In addition, there is no documentary evidence to suggest any sort of link between Sir Thomas Lipton and Woolwich Arsenal, so it is unclear why he would have chosen them ahead of any other English team.

Two years later, West Auckland returned, and after beating FC Zürich 2–0, they ran out 6–1 winners in the final over future Italian giants Juventus.

[3] Although it has never quite reached the same heights it did at the start of the 20th century, it did win the Northern League in 1960 and 1961, and were FA Amateur Cup runners-up in 1961, losing to Walthamstow Avenue.

After his shock resignation, Lee Ellison had a short lived spell as manager before Phil Owers took over and steadied the side and led them to escape the drop zone.

For the third season in a row, a new manager was appointed – Peter Dixon arrived on 7 December 2009, swapping a promotion push with Crook for a relegation battle.

In 2017–18 Gary Forrest joined the club; in the 2018–19 season West Auckland reached the FA Vase quarter-final before losing to Chertsey Town.