Ian Selley (born 14 June 1974) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

former professional footballer, and manager at

Hartley Wintney Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It lies about northwest of Fleet and east of Basingstoke. The parish includes the smaller contiguous village of Phoenix Green as well as the ham ...

. He notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

for Arsenal, winning the 1994 UEFA Cup Winner's Cup with them, and in the Football League for Fulham, Wimbledon and

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

. Beleaguered by a number of serious injuries which cut-short his professional aspirations, he thereafter forged a career in non-league football with clubs such as Woking, Lewes, Grays Athletic, Maidstone United, Croydon Athletic, Dorchester Town and Kingstonian. During his time at Arsenal he made three appearances for the England Under-21 international team. He was a member of the last time Arsenal fielded an all English team in a Premier League game, in a 1–1 draw at home against Wimbledon on 19 April 1994.

Playing career

Arsenal

Selley joined Arsenal in 1990 as a trainee and won a South East Counties League title medal and Floodlit Cup Winners medal in his first season. He made his first-team debut at the age of eighteen in a 1–0 defeat against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

in September 1992. Selley played nine games for Arsenal in the

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

season and fifteen games in the 1993–94 season. Injuries to several key players gave Selley his most famous appearance for the club, when he was the youngest player on the field in Arsenal's

1994 European Cup Winners' Cup Final The 1994 European Cup Winners' Cup Final was a football match on 4 May 1994 contested between Arsenal of England and Parma of Italy. It was the final match of the 1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup and the 34th European Cup Winners' Cup final. T ...

victory over

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

. He had previously been an unused substitute in the 1993 League Cup final and in the 1993 FA Cup Final replay, both games against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

, as Arsenal won the Cup double that season. He scored two goals for Arsenal, both coming in the Cup Winners' Cup. His first came against Standard Liege in 1993–94 and his second against Brondby the following season. In February 1995 Selley broke his leg playing against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, which forced him out for most of the 1996–97 season, playing just once under new manager Wenger as a late substitute against Chelsea. Despite reports that he would be a part of Arsène Wenger's new side he was sold to Fulham in 1997 for £500,000, after playing 42 games for Arsenal.

Fulham and Wimbledon

Unfortunately for him, he broke his leg a second time after playing just three games for Fulham and moved to Wimbledon in July 2000. However Wimbledon were facing financial difficulties, and a bonus payment clause in his contract meant the club couldn't always afford to play him. Selley started just one game with three substitute appearances for Wimbledon.

Southend United

In February 2002 he was loaned to

, where he enjoyed more success, playing fourteen games in the 2000–01 season. He went on loan to Southend again in the 2002–03 season, playing 11 times. In all he played more than 30 times for Southend in all competitions.

Woking

Selley was released by Wimbledon in May 2003, and signed for Woking where he became an integral member of the team. Despite an injury against Kettering Town in the FA Trophy in 2004 which kept him out for ten games, he featured consistently and earned a reputation as a dead-ball specialist – he converted six goals from the spot in the 2003–04 season and two free kicks. At the start of the 2005–06 season his form was rather indifferent and it was revealed that he was recovering from a

hernia A hernia is the abnormal exit of tissue or an organ, such as the bowel, through the wall of the cavity in which it normally resides. Various types of hernias can occur, most commonly involving the abdomen, and specifically the groin. Groin herni ...

operation. This did not prevent him from playing and he signed another one-year deal to keep him at Woking and provide much needed experience as the club sought a play-off place for promotion from the Conference National to

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

. He picked up nine yellow cards in his time at Southend United and picked up 10 bookings in his first season at Woking, six the season after that and four in the following season. Injury ruled him out of much of the 2006–07 season, and he was eventually released by Woking at the end of the season.

Further non-League career

Following his release from Kingfield Stadium, Selley joined Lewes in July 2007. In September 2007, Sam Jeremiah of St Francis Rangers FC pulled away from Selley at the near post to head in the equaliser in what was eventually a 4–1 defeat. He then signed non-contract terms for Grays Athletic on 22 November 2007, reportedly wanting first team football. It was revealed that

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional football club in Sutton, South London, England, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They play home games at Gander Green Lane in Sutton about 11 miles so ...

manager, Ernie Howe, tried to sign Selley as a player-coach but he proved to be too expensive. Selley left Grays Athletic to join

Isthmian League Premier Division The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 teams ...

side Maidstone United on 7 March 2008, helping them to avoid relegation. He then joined Croydon Athletic in December 2008. Selley's next move was to Conference South club Dorchester Town before his release in January 2010. After his release in January 2010, he signed for

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the ...

, where he made a good impression. He was released in July 2011. He later signed for Kingstonian. During his time at Kingstonian, he had loan spells at Chertsey Town and

Whyteleafe Whyteleafe is a village in the district of Tandridge, Surrey, England, with a few streets falling inside the London Borough of Croydon. The village, in a dry valley of the North Downs, has three railway stations (on two parallel lines). Neighbouri ...

. He ended his playing career in the summer of 2012 and was appointed as the new head coach at Arsenal Soccer Schools Dubai. In 2021, he came out of retirement to play for non-league Dial Square.

Management career

On 1 November 2021, Selley was appointed as manager of his home town club Chertsey Town. He departed the club in May 2022 after leading the team to the Isthmian South Central play-off final. He was previously in charge of Sandhurst Town. In November 2022, Selley was appointed manager of

International career

Selley earned a bronze medal as a member of the squad that won third place at the

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 wh ...

, of which is now known as the Under 20 World cup, of

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

that was held in Australia.

Honours

Club career

;Arsenal *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

* UEFA Cup Winners Cup:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

International career

;England *

: Third Place-

References

External links

*
FA Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Selley, Ian 1974 births Living people People from Weybridge English footballers England under-21 international footballers Association football midfielders Arsenal F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Woking F.C. players Lewes F.C. players Grays Athletic F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players Croydon Athletic F.C. players Dorchester Town F.C. players Havant & Waterlooville F.C. players Kingstonian F.C. players Chertsey Town F.C. players Whyteleafe F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players England youth international footballers Sportspeople from Chertsey Chertsey Town F.C. managers Hartley Wintney F.C. managers Southern Football League managers