Season Preview
Toolstation NCEL Division One
Selby Town
Selby Town have reloaded after disastrous form during the aborted 2020/21 campaign. Liam Flanagan is back and Christian Fox has made several good signings in the likes of Kain Rogerson, Harry Clapham and Liam Flanagan so Selby, on paper, are capable of challenging again near the top.
Manager
Christian Fox
The former York City star was appointed in May 2017 and he has transformed Selby’s on-field fortunes. Fox was on the brink of guiding them back to the Premier Division in 2020 for the first time since 2012 until the campaign was expunged.
Opening Five Fixtures
Rainworth Miners Welfare (a), Rossington Main (h), North Ferriby – League Cup (a), Brigg Town (a), Hall Road Rangers (h).
Notable Movement
In: Kain Rogerson (Tadcaster Albion), Gracjan Klimczak, Harry Clapham, Liam Flanagan (Yorkshire Amateur).
One to Watch
Liam Flanagan
Flanagan is back from Yorkshire Amateur and he’s bound to add to goals tally for Selby which already stands at more than a 100.
Interview
Selby Town manager Christian Fox admits the lack of multiple automatic promotion spots leaves little room for error.
Selby want to win promotion, but it is not going to be easy.
“The aim is to be at the top end of the table,” Fox told Non League Yorkshire.
“There’s one automatic spot and one through the play-offs, I was hoping for four places again.
“It obviously gives you a better chance.
“You just have to make sure you’re spot on every week rather than having blips.
“It isn’t ideal because it also takes away the incentive from some teams at Christmas when you see budgets getting slashed.
“There’s some good teams going to be up there like Hallam, North Ferriby, Brigg.
“It is going to be tough, but it is every year.
“I’m really determined to hopefully finally do what we set out to do (in 2017).
“The club has been out of the Premier Division for too long.
“We missed out in 2020 when we probably would been promoted (had the season not been expunged), but we move on.”
Selby were riding a crest of a wave prior to the pandemic as crowds peaked at 410 in the match before the first lockdown.
Now restrictions have been lifted on capacity, Fox hopes the fans flock back to the Fairfax Plant Hire Stadium.
“The crowds have gone up from 100 (in 2017) to nearer 500 during the first season which was null and voided,” he said.
“So hopefully we can get back to those levels.”
Prediction
Promotion Contenders
If you have enjoyed reading Non League Yorkshire over the past few months, please consider making a donation to the not-for-profit organisation NLY Community Sport which provides sport for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. CLICK HERE to visit the JustGiving page. There is a video at the bottom of the page showing our work.
NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams.
Our work is playing an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.
We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
You can learn more about the organisation HERE and on our Facebook page.
Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.