Bringing football club back to life is family affair for former Premier League player

Three generations of a family of football fans are preparing to welcome people back to FC Farsley in Leeds for the start of the season, just nine months after buying its debt-ridden predecessor.

Former Premier League goalkeeper David Stockdale completed a takeover of non-league side Farsley Celtic in December, before liquidating it and establishing FC Farsley in its place.

Now he says he has many job titles at the club - from owner and manager to floor cleaner and toilet repairer.

It is a list as varied as the number of clubs Leeds-born Stockdale played for in his two decades as a professional player - including Sheffield Wednesday, York City, Brighton and Birmingham - during which he made almost 500 professional appearances.

"I'm a goalkeeper, so I'm a bit crazy anyway," he says.

Months of rebuilding, rebranding and renovating followed the acquisition of the club, and Stockdale says his whole family has been involved in what has been a big task.

"We've even had my mum out here with watering cans," he says.

Meanwhile, his father, also David, has played his part in getting everything ready.

"By trade, I was a painter and decorator, so I'm going around and doing all the areas after they've fixed it up," he says.

As part of the transformation, FC Farsley's ground will once again be known by its original name of Throstle Nest and the team has reverted to its traditional blue colours.

"Farsley's always been blue," Stockdale says.

He explains that he and club director John Stubbs have redesigned the dugout and the pair are especially proud of the training pitch the club will use until the original pitch is restored.

"The hours that we put into this grass is phenomenal," Stockdale says.

"We've gone from watching paint dry to watching grass grow. I don't know which one's worse."

Stockdale's son, Billy, 14, is also involved in helping to cut the grass and setting out the kit in the changing rooms.

"I like helping out," the teenager says.

The Stockdales started working on reviving Farsley when they agreed to take over the club in June last year, though that process was not completed until December.

"I was doing 16-hour days being here and then going to meetings with solicitors," Stockdale says.

"We could have lost a lot of money."

The overgrown original pitch at the club is a reminder of what is still left to do.

While the club was still Farsley Celtic, the grass was dug up with the promise of an artificial replacement - but that never came.

With no way of hosting football there, the side played its 2024-25 home fixtures 69 miles (111km) away in Buxton, Derbyshire, with many fans boycotting games.

"It's an eyesore, but there are so many memories for people," Stockdale says.

"They're like, 'I used to play here in 1980' and then you'll have a conversation about what this place means."

Stockdale says he is hopeful new 3G artificial turf can be laid at Throstle Nest next year.

"If we get this 3G down soon, it will be the only 3G with a stadium around it in Leeds."

The aim is also to free up the club's training field for FC Farsley's deaf team and its 25 junior teams, starting as young as 18-months-old in the Little Lambs, which is run by Stockdale and his 23-year-old daughter Molly.

"If you can walk, you can come," says David.

Katie, Stockdale's wife and co-owner of FC Farsley, says she "passionately" told her husband not to buy the club, but adds that she does not regret the decision.

"The thing with FC Farsley is, we're more than just a football club," she explains.

"Everybody wants it to succeed and turn it back into the great club we remember when we were growing up."

Beyond football, Throstle Nest is also becoming something of a community hub.

Stockdale's children run activities there for all ages, from netball and gymnastics to roller discos and bouncy castle parties.

Molly and younger sister Daisy, 17, also work in the café together alongside Katie, and they say it is a chance for family bonding.

"I love that I get to come to work and I get to have breakfast with my family every morning," Molly says.

Stockdale's mum, Pauline, says she is "really proud" of the whole family for what they are doing for the club.

FC Farsley men's first match, away to South Leeds Reserves on Wednesday 12 August, will take place in the Yorkshire Amateur League Supreme Division, the 11th tier of English football.

To get back to National League North, the division in which Farsley Celtic last played, will take at least five seasons.

Stockdale says that time will be dedicated to developing the club's academy.

"We wanted, before we passed the baton on, to see someone come through Little Lambs all the way through our football club to the first team," he says.

The Stockdales are optimistic about the future of the club and are looking forward to the first game.

"I have a vision," Stockdale says. "It's a 10-year vision."

"We just hope that people return that investment in coming down," he adds.

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