Selston chairman wants club to enjoy their success story

The village side played their first ever season at step five level last season following their East Midlands Counties League title success the previous year.

It is a remarkable success story for a community club who still do not pay players.

But chairman Deene Ball is keen for the Parishioners to keep their feet firmly on the ground and just enjoy their success.

Selston FC assistant manager Jack Havron wants team to manage games better

“Our aim is to keep the club financially stable, we are not going to get above our station,” he said.

“You have seen it at a lot of other clubs, whereby they get a big investor and then he pulls out and leaves the club in trouble.

“We are a community club and that’s the heart of the philosophy I have been brought up on at Selston and one that I am going to continue.

“As long as we are stable and able to carry on, we want to enjoy our football and go as high as we can possibly go.

“I am driven by the lads, whether that is U7 or the first team. My remit is to allow the lads to enjoy their football, it is their club as well as mine.

“I am not here to say we will do this and do that. I am going to be driven by the lads and to see where they want to go and then we will do what we can to get them there.

“We are at step five and don’t pay, there are step seven teams now that are paying players, but we are enjoying it while we can.

“Let’s achieve whatever we can.”.

Ball, who began life at Selston in charge of one of the junior sides, took over the role after former chairman Jay Clifford stepped down in June 2018.

It is a role he is honoured to hold, with Ball eager to both acknowledge and build on the excellent work done by his predecessors.

“Mark Wilson was the chairman for 10-12 years and then his assistant Jay Clifford took it over, but had to step down for other reasons,” he added.

“They have given me a good grounding through the club. The work they have done for the club is tremendous, they are really good local guys who care about the club.

“We have got some really good volunteers, the committee we have is brilliant.

“Craig Weston and Rich Smith had great success previously with the first team and the rise of the first team is massively down to Craig.

“He has got us where we are and punching above our weight. Rich also brought something extra to take us where we are.”

While the on field success is there for all to see, Selston have been busy working behind the scenes to improve their Mansfield Road ground.

“We have been trying to achieve our ground grading for step five through the summer,” said Ball.

“A lot of work has been going on prior to lockdown, and a bit during lockdown.

“We are in a healthy position with regards to making improvements to the ground and we are positive about the future.

“It is nice seeing things come together off the field as well as on it. We do not pay our players, but what we are trying to do as a club, is to try and support them and get them as high as they can go.”

That work also includes creating a strong pathway system to help bring through the next generation of local lads.

Said Ball: “We are trying to get a structure at the club where players can work their way up from juniors to the first team.

“We started a new U19 team because we felt we were lacking a pathway from the U16’s to the reserve and first teams.

“We have got that continuation this year, half the U16’s side will go to the U19’s. Quite a few of our U19’s are starting to establish themselves in the reserves.

“There is a real pathway now and communication from youth football into the senior side, which is crucial to us.”

Selston were originally formed in 1968 as a Sunday league side, before switching to senior football in 1986 when they joined the Central Midlands League.

The club left in 1992 for the Midlands Regional Alliance, but rejoined the CMFL in 1997.

And It proved to be a great move with the village side going on to lift the Notts Senor League title in the 2013/14 season.

It was the first in a number of trophies in the seasons ahead with the club lifting the Central Midlands League South Division title in successive years, starting in the 2015/16 season.

They then won the East Midlands Counties League title in 2018/19 as they continued their climb to step five.

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