Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adopted their current name in 1885. In 1887 the club moved into a ground at Ravenshaws Field, which was later renamed Prenton Park. In 1889 Rovers adopted a spectacular orange and maroon shirts but these were abandoned in 1904 in favour of the earlier blue and white kit. In 1912 they moved to a new ground at the junction of Temple Road, Prenton Road West and Woodcurch Lane and retained the name Prenton Park: this remains their home to the present. After competing in the Liverpool & District League and then the Lancashire Combination, Rovers stepped up to the Central League in 1919. Their timing proved providential because the following season, four central league clubs were invited to join the new Division Three (North), Rovers among them. They finished as champions for the 1937–38 season, though were relegated out of the Second Division the following year. They dropped into the Fourth Division in 1961, before winning promotion back to the third tier at the end of the 1966–67 season. After struggling for eight seasons, Rovers were relegated back to the Fourth Division in 1975 but sprang straight back in 1976. Three years later Tranmere were again relegated to Division Four and faced oblivion due to mounting debts. Rovers won promotion to Division Three in 1989 and then, in 1991 they beat Bolton Wanderers in the play-off final to secure promotion to Division Two. That summer ex-Liverpool goal scoring hero John Aldridge was signed from Real Sociedad for £250,000. Over the next eight years Aldridge scored 170 goals for the club who reached the play-offs three seasons in succession (1993-1995). Aldridge took on the role of manager in 1999 and led the team to the Worthington (League) Cup final in 2000 where they lost 1-2 to Leicester City. Tranmere Rovers have always existed in the shadow of neighbours Liverpool and Everton. The club's form continued to decline during the twentieth first century and successive relegations meant they lost their place in the Football League in 2015 after 94 years. Tranmere spent three seasons in the National League and then returned to the third tier of the Football League via successive play-off campaigns in 2018 and 2019. They were relegated from League One in 2020 after clubs voted to end the season early due to the COVID-19 pandemic.