Established in Bury, Greater Manchester as Northern Thunder, we competed in the AENA Super Cup along with 5 other franchises including Northern Flames, London Tornadoes, London Hurricanes, University of Birmingham Blaze and Team Bath Force. Stand out players for Thunder included Tracey Neville, Karen Greig, Jade Clarke, Sara Bayman and Amanda Newton. London Hurricanes became champions in the first season.
Northern Thunder claimed the 2002 Super Cup title with a win in the Grand Final against Birmingham Blaze.
Northern Thunder came runners up, losing 49-43 in the Final against Team Bath Force.
We became one of eight founding franchises in the inaugural Netball Super League season, along with Brunel Hurricanes, Celtic Dragons, Leeds Carnegie, Galleria Mavericks, Team Bath, Loughborough Lightning and Team Northumbria. Team Bath went on to win the inaugural title.
After a hard season and a season to forget, we ended up bottom of the table, only managing 1 win our of 14 games.
Mike Greenwood and Debbie Hallas took over the Northern Thunder franchise, playing our home games at the Castle Leisure Centre in Bury (until 2011.)
Mike Greenwood served as Head Coach, laying foundations for success. In his first season in charge, we ended the season in seventh place, with 12 points and 6 wins. Team Bath won the Grand Final with a 100% winning record.
Finishing on 26 points and 13 wins, we played Hertfordshire Mavericks in the Minor Semi-Final, but fell short, narrowly losing by 1 goal (45-46.)
In Mike Greenwood’s final season, we finished second in the league (winning 14 games and losing 2,) however we lost 55-44 against Hertfordshire Mavericks in the Major Semi-Final, and lost 64-58 against Surrey Storm in the Minor Final.
Aged just 64 years old, and after 25 years of being a netball coach, Mike Greenwood passed away. Through his short 3 years at Thunder, he took us from the bottom of the table to runners up. His legacy will never be forgotten, and a stand in the Thunder venue was named after him. We also launched the Mike Greenwood Trophy as an invitation tournament in his memory.
Former player Tracey Neville appointed Head Coach and Director of Netball.
In a shakeup, the league was split up in to two phases, with each teams playing each other once in phase 1. In phase 2, the teams were split in to group stages, with the top 4 in the table going in to Tier 1, and the bottom 4 going in to Tier 2, and each team in each tier played each other twice. The winner of tier 2 played the bottom of tier 1 in an eliminator game, with the winner going in to the Semi-Finals against the winner of tier 1 (and 2nd and 3rd place playing in the other Semi-Final.) The winner of each Semi-Final then went head-to-head in the Grand Final.
Known as being the original Thunderdome, we move our home games to Wright Robinson College in Gorton, which had a seating capacity of 1,000.
After coming first in phase 1, and finishing second in phase 2, we beat Herfordshire Mavericks 57-33 in the Semi-Final. We went on to win the Super League Grand Final for the first time against Surrey Storm (57–55), with Janelle Lawson scoring 33 goals and captain Karen Greig scoring 24 goals before announcing her retirement.
We rebranded and changed our name to Manchester Thunder.
Cast and crew from both Coronation Street and Emmerdale joined up with Thunder and Yorkshire Jets at Wright Robinson College in a netball showcase in aid of the ITV charity Text Santa, with Coronation Street taking the victory 33-28.
Being brought in the Thunder pathway at 15 years old, Helen made her debut for the senior team in 2013, and became a regular starter from 2014 to 2016, before she went to Australia to play for the New South Wales Swifts.
We finished 5th in phase 1, and in phase 2 we finished top of tier 2 (named the Challenger League.) We beat Hertfordshire Mavericks 47-38 in the qualifier, but lost 43-53 against Team Bath in the Semi-Final, who then went on to win the Grand Final against Celtic Dragons.
The format returned to previous with each team playing each other twice, and the top 4 making it to playoffs.
Under the leadership of Tracey Neville, Karen was signed as Assistant Coach after being a Specialist Coach for Pathway & NSL in 2013. This is a role Karen stayed in until she took over as Head Coach in 2016.
Finishing second after the league had concluded, we qualified for the playoffs and beat Team Bath 43-37 in the Semi-Finals. In the Grand Final, we won over Surrey Storm (49–48), with Helen Housby scoring a last-second winner.
On 18th April, we played in the Manchester Arena for the first time, and introduced the first Netball Manchester Live event. We played Yorkshire Jets and blew them away with a 67-43 win.
This season saw extra time introduced for drawn matches, and at the end of the regular season we were top of the table having won all 14 games. However in the Semi-Final we lost 41-48 against Hertfordshire Mavericks.
At the end of the season, Tracey Neville departed, and Australian Dan Ryan was appointed as Head Coach.
This saw all eight teams play all four round 1 games in the Genting Arena in front of a 7,500 crowd for the first time. Sky Sports also broadcast several matches live on Monday nights.
We came top of the table at the end of the season, only losing one game. In the Semi-Final we beat Team Bath 53-46, however we lost in the Grand Final to Surrey Storm (53–55), after a late comeback attempt. Goals came from Helen Housby, Kathryn Turner and Eleanor Cardwell.
Karen Greig appointed as Head Coach and Director of Netball.
The season saw the number of teams expand from eight to ten, with Severn Stars, Scottish Sirens and Wasps joining.
Finishing 3rd in the league, we played Wasps in the Semi’s, however we lost 48-63. We played Team Bath in the 3rd/4th place play-off, and won 56-48.
After Karen signed Gabs Towell as her assistant coach at the start of the 2018 season, we finished third (behind Wasps and Lightning) with 15 wins and 3 losses. However we lost in the Semi-Finals.
After the withdrawal of Team Northumbria and the introduction of London Pulse, we came second in the league. We defeated Team Bath (57–54) in the Semi-Final and went on to beat Wasps (57-52) in the Grand Final, claiming our third title.
After the 2019 season, local business man David Jennings invested in Manchester Thunder, becoming a co-owner along with Debbie Hallas.
Ahead of the 2020 season, we moved home venue to the National Basketball Performance Centre in Belle Vue Sports Village, increasing our capacity from 1,000 to 2,000 seats.
With new investment in to the club to take it to the next level, a brand new board was set up consisting of David Jennings, Debbie Hallas as Franchise Director, Tracey Neville as Director of Netball, Ben Jennings as Marketing Director and Gary Young as Commercial Director.
After just three rounds, the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the 2020 season cancelled, we wanted to bring live netball back, and Netball's Rise Again Festival was born. On 19th December 2020, live from Belle Vue, we streamed games from 6 of the 8 teams (with the other 2 teams having to cancel due to COVID-19 protocols) to hundred of people online, and it was the first time netball had been played professionally since the season had been cancelled.
Initially announcing her retirement in 2019, this was short-lived for Kerry Almond due to the late withdrawal of Loreen Ngwira ahead of the 2021 season, and Kerry returned stronger than ever.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, 2021 season games were played behind closed doors in a central venue (first nine weeks at Studio 001 Wakefield and the remaining games held at the Copper Box in London.) With Leeds Rhinos joining the league, we finished the league 2nd on goal different (on level points as Loughborough Lightning and Team Bath) however we lose 38-41 against Team Bath in the Semi-Finals.
At the end of the 2021 season, legends Emma Dovey (13 years at Thunder) and Kathryn Turner made the decision to hang up their dresses and announce their retirements from netball to concentrate on their family lives (although Emma made a brief return in 2023 to replace an injured Elia McCormick.)
With pandemic restrictions lifted and fans allowed to watch the matches live, we completed a perfect 20-0 season. We beat Team Bath 64-54 in the Semi-Finals, before facing Loughborough Lightning in the Grand Final and winning 60–53, claiming our fourth title.
Just before the start of the 2023 season, we entered into a strategic partnership with AO, the UK’s most trusted electricals retailer, that will see them become the club’s principal sponsor for the 2023 season and beyond.
November saw the launch of our Manchester Thunder’s ParaNetball sessions, in partnership with Nichols Plc.
Our sessions offer a unique inclusive netball opportunity to people in the SEND community who live with a disability. This is the first time that a NSL franchise had launched an official ParaNetball programme.
With Wasps Netball being placed in insolvency and withdrawing from the league, all teams were allowed special compensation to sign Wasps players as training partners. This lead to the signing of Wasps captain Josie Huckle.
With 10 teams now win the league, we finished 3rd in the league, qualifying for playoffs. Unfortunately we lost the Semi-Final to Lightning (59-65); but defeated Surrey Storm (55–38) to claim third place.
After the 2023 season, David Jennings increased his share holding in Manchester Thunder, becoming the majority shareholder.
Debbie Hallas stepped down as Franchise Director, with Head Coach Karen Greig stepping up and taking on a dual-role.
At the end of the season we finished in first place, six points clear from second place Lightning.  In the Semi-Final we beat Severn Stars 63–54), but lost in the Grand Final 54-70 to Loughborough Lightning.
After an exceptional 15 season career with Thunder and being involved in all four Netball Super League titles, Kerry announced her official retirement (again.)
After an impressive 14 seasons with Thunder and 61 caps with England, and after a season in New Zealand with Mainland Tactix, Laura Malcolm decided to officially step back from centre court and focus on the role of Technical Support Coach at Thunder (which turned in to Assistant Coach at the start of the 2025 season.)
At the end of the 2024 season, we partnered with VX3 to become our official kitwear partner.
In October 2024, we become the first netball franchise in the world to integrate a men's and mixed team, setting a new standard for inclusivity, growth and talent development within the sport.
With the league launching NSL 2.0, the number of teams was cut from 10 to 8, with Team Bath, Surrey Storm, Strathclyde Sirens and Severn Stars losing their place, and Nottingham Forest and Birmingham Panthers being introduced as new franchises, as well as Saracens Mavericks changing their ownership and renaming to London Mavericks.
Also introduced was:
- Super Shot
- No draws
- Timeouts
- Squad sizes reduced from 12 to 10 players
- No training partners
- New NXT Gen U23s league
- New playoff format
Going in to the season, we were plagued with injury, with Lois Pearson, Paige Reed and new signing Nicola Smith all out with injuries. South African Ané Retief was brought in as a temporary replacement player for Nicola Smith, and NXT Gen players Lucy Herdman, Shannon Mahlik and Anya Williams stepped up for Lois and Paige. Natalie Metcalf also announced her pregnancy, and Indya Masser was brought in as a permanent replacement for the season.
12 years after the first soap star game (with the score tied at 1-1 due to Emmerdale’s win in 2014) the two soaps clashed once again, but this time at the AO Arena before our opening game of the season against Loughborough Lightning, with Emmerdale taking full bragging rights and winning the game.
On 18th May, we played in Liverpool for the first time at the M&S Bank Arena, which was also the first time professional netball had been played there since the 2019 Netball World Cup. Playing league newbies Birmingham Panthers, we won 67-61in front of an electric crowd.
Throughout the challenges the season brought, we finished 3rd in the league qualifying for playoffs. We beat London Mavericks 79-49 in the minor Semi-Final, before facing Loughborough Lightning in the Preliminary Final after their narrow loss to London Pulse.
The Semi-Final ended with Lightning taking a 69-57 win, before losing 53-45 to London Pulse in the Grand Final.
After 3 years in Australia, Eleanor Cardwell returned home to play in the black and yellow once again.
We also welcomed Australian shooting sensation Sophie Fawns in to the squad, after Elmeré van der Berg secured a contract in the SSN.
After 17 years at the helm of Manchester Thunder, Debbie Hallas announced her decision to step down as a director and away from day-to-day involvement of Thunder.
At the beginning of the 2025 season, we rebranded, introducing a new modern logo, look and feel, as well as a new website.
We announced a significant evolution in our strategic partnership with AO, the UK’s most trusted electricals retailer.
Building on their successful collaboration, AO will extend its title sponsorship for another five years, cementing its commitment to the club and the sport, and will become the franchise name sponsor.
From today, Manchester Thunder will officially be known as AO Manchester Thunder.
