The Belfast side went almost 70 years without a major trophy but in recent years the people's club have turned things round

In their stadium by a man-made lake with spectacular wrap-around mountainous scenery just to the north, Ireland's oldest football club Cliftonville are on the brink of a historic treble.

The north Belfast side, whose home is called Solitude, need only a point from city rivals Linfield on Saturday to secure the IFA Premiership with two matches to spare and are already 14 points ahead of their neighbours in second – Crusaders.

Cliftonville are also one game away from the treble as they face Glentoran in the Irish Cup final on 4 May, having already won the League Cup in January.

For a board comprised of its supporters who, for free, pick up the litter, write the programmes, man the turnstiles, carry out the security and sell the tickets for the half-time draw, the prospect of an unprecedented treble is the triumph of a "people's club" in an era where oil sheikhs and oligarchs across the Irish Sea treat their teams like personal train sets.

Liam Murray, who was born around the corner from Solitude and grew up during the height of the Troubles in Belfast (a quarter of all the deaths in the conflict occurred in the north of the city), describes himself as a member of the "Red Army Old Brigade".

Ahead of Saturday's match with the once-dominant Linfield, Murray quotes Fat Boy Slim lyrics when charting how the team in red have progressed from being broke and constantly relegation-prone towards the greatest season since they were founded in 1879.

"I have supported this team since I was 12 and now I'm 51. I've sat with friends of mine through the darkest days who always stood by the club. To those mates who clung to it and helped make this the greatest season ever I want to say this: 'We've come a long, long way together. I'd like to praise you like I should.'"

Until the end of the 1970s, amateur Cliftonville were the whipping boys of the Irish League and by 1979 – the year of their last cup win – the club's fan base had radically altered due to the changing sectarian demographics of north Belfast. The area around Solitude is primarily Catholic and nationalist, although the club have a strict anti-sectarian policy and maintain a small but fiercely loyal support from older fans from the Protestant community who once lived there.

Rival managers and supporters, including those drawn from the loyalist working class, have been fulsome in their praise for the Reds' attacking, one-touch, slick-passing football that has netted 88 goals in 33 matches.

The remarkable tally has been due mainly to the twin firepower of Liam Boyce (back at Solitude after a spell with Bundesliga side Werder Bremen) and local lad Joe Gormley. Boyce has scored 32 goals this season, while Gormley has netted 29. At the 3-1 home win over Ballymena United, Boyce celebrated exceeding the 30-plus goal target by making a snow angel while wallowing in impacted ice pushed up behind the Waterworks End goal.

Gerard Lawlor, the club chairman, argues that Cliftonville's phenomenal success this season has been good for a league that, in his words is "in parts in danger of dying."

He points out that Cliftonville have broken Linfield's long stranglehold on the league, thus making it interesting again. He is not, however, naive about the parlous state of Northern Ireland football, with its dwindling crowds and mounting debts.

"We are one of the few clubs where you see will loads of fans who are under the age of 30. At most Irish League away grounds I visit, there is a very old demographic going to the matches. The trick for us at Solitude is to get the huge numbers who take the boat and plane out of Belfast every weekend to places like Glasgow to watch Celtic, or pay big money for English Premiership games, to come up here and see some exciting football. I think for a club with little money and few resources, we have given some hope back to the entire Irish league."

As well as drawing its support, largely, from nationalist Belfast, the club enjoy a cult following on the continent with some Reds fans having a long-standing relationship with Hamburg side St Pauli and its leftist, "alternative" fan base. At the Ballymena game, supporters from Austria, Bulgaria and Denmark turned up at Solitude.

Austrian lawyer Christian Diemer started supporting Cliftonville the year they last won the league, in 1998. He got "hooked on the Reds" while studying law at Queen's University Belfast.

"You were made to feel immediately welcome at this place," he says, pointing to the shabby, run-down, near permanently closed, old stand at the side of the all-weather pitch.

"I come over every year for at least three games as part of my holidays, but this season is different. I'm so lucky to be over now when we are on the edge of glory."