How many fans would come for the first men’s game at their Throstle Nest ground in more than two years? David Stockdale, the owner and first-team manager, was cautious, predicting 140. After all, the old club, Farsley Celtic, played in Buxton for much of the 2024-25 season and missed the 2025-26 campaign after going into liquidation.
When 480 came through the gates to watch the all-new FC Farsley play Collegians FC in a Yorkshire Amateur League contest, Stockdale realised the scale of his achievement in getting the club back on their feet. There remains an enormous amount of work still to do – and Stockdale was operating a digger before this interview – but it was the first step of a fresh journey for the Leeds-based club. The former Premier League goalkeeper, once of Birmingham, Brighton and Fulham among a host of other clubs, is aware his situation is abnormal.
He never expected to be running a club when he took on the job of Farsley Celtic manager 19 months ago. By that stage, the club, playing in the National League North, owed about £750,000 in debts and was on the verge of being wound up. Players were not getting paid.
I helped out as manager because I live in the area. But it was in a sad, sorry state. It was about managing people and getting through the season.
You might get £5,000 per game, but we were playing in Buxton – that was a deal made by the last owner. A lot of money was going out.” By the summer of 2025, Stockdale was putting in his own money in an effort to save the club. Farsley Celtic were relegated from the sixth tier initially to the ninth tier, then the 11th, before withdrawing from competition in June.
Six months later Stockdale was forced into liquidating the club and established FC Farsley. Stockdale says: “The bank was going to repossess it, so I had a chat with the bank, stakeholders and my financial guy to see if it was possible … and my wife was last on that list! It was a very worrying time for those three or four months, and it was ironic that we bought it on Mad Friday [the last before Christmas Eve], which I think sums it up.
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