Over 100 years of Football in Selby
Selby Town Football Club play their football at the Fairfax Plant Hire Stadium in Selby. The club has proud history so join us as we take a look back at the history of this successful and long-standing club.
The History of Selby Town Football Club
Selby Town Football Club was formed in 1919 and adopted the nickname “The Robins”.
STFC were the first senior club in the town since World War 1, and one year later in 1920, they became founding members of The Yorkshire League and hold the record of being the only club to have played all 62 seasons of its existence.
The thirties saw the club win the league 3 times, the West Riding Trophy 3 times and the League Cup once. The fifties were equally as exciting, with the club winning the league twice, the League Cup twice, and also the achievement of reaching the first round of the F.A. Cup 4 times.
In 1953, the club moved from the bowling green across town to the current Richard Street ground – ‘The Fairfax Plant Hire Stadium’ which was purpose built for the club. Shortly after, in 1954 they achieved their highest ever attendance of 7,000 at home to Bradford Park Avenue in the F.A. Cup 1st Round. Since moving to the new ground, the club’s record goal scorer in the modern era is Graham Shepherd who managed to notch up 158 goals between 1963 and 1982, and more recently Liam Flanagan who currently tops 100 goals for the club.
Since the turn of the century, Selby Town FC flourished under the guidance of former player Bob Lyon, winning the President’s Cup, the Barkston Ash Cup, and The Vets over 40s all in 2001, and in 2004/05, the team finished runners up in the NCEL Premier Division. A year later and the first team were runners up were runners up in the Presidents Cup, and semi-finalists in the league cup. Since then the club has seen its fortunes go up and down and in 2011/12 the club was unfortunately relegated back down to division one, where it has remained since. A period of instability followed with new managers unable to find that winning formula.In 2017, former player Christian Fox joined Selby Town as manager. He brought with him new ideas and a new management team. Together, they built a squad of almost completely new players, and in their first season in charge they achieved a seventh place position in the league which was the club’s highest place finish since their relegation six years previously. Christian also led the club to the final of the West Riding County Cup, losing the game 4-1 against Farsley Celtic. Since then, promotion looked imminent in 2019/20 until the season was cut short due to the onset of the pandemic. Covid would continue to have an effect on the performance of the team in the following seasons, with the team unable to capitalise on their earlier success.
In 2022, Fox and his management team left the club, and his former deputy Ryan Cooper took control along with Nigel Danby.
In 2024 the club faced a great deal of change, with returning chairman David Haddock heading a fifteen strong committee of passionate volunteers, determined to help the club return to its former glory.
