Knaresborough Town

Knaresborough Town AFC is a non-league football club which was formed in 1902 in the North Yorkshire market and spa town located around twenty miles north of Leeds and four miles east of Harrogate.

The club joined the York League and soon became champions for three consecutive seasons before collecting a fourth title in 1907-08 to progress to the Northern League prior to becoming founder members of the Yorkshire Combination in 1910.

Boro continued to field a side in the Northern League in 1910-11 before withdrawing after a bottom place finish. Instead, they re-joined Division One of the York League where they concentrated solely after pulling out of the Combination.

The club suffered a blow at the end of the 1912-13 campaign after finishing last as they were suspended for the following season before being granted readmission after World War One. Boro went on to win the Division One title in 1924-25 before retaining the title twelve months later.

Knaresborough finished top of the pile once more in 1928-29 but resigned at the end of the 1930-31 season prior to taking stock and joining up once again to win further Division One championships in 1933-34 and 1934-35 and then resigning again in 1938.

After a spell of local football Boro returned as York League members of Division Three B in 1951, which was won at the first attempt. The Division Two B title was lifted in 1952-53 to win promotion to Division One, from where the club moved to the West Yorkshire League in 1956.

Promotion to Division One was achieved in their debut season, but their spell at that level lasted just one season before Boro were relegated. A runners-up berth in the Division Two North season of 1960-61 earned a further promotion, but once again the team were demoted twelve months later.

The club dropped into the Harrogate & District League, becoming Premier Division champions in 1964-65 and 1965-66. Their success led to a return to the West Yorkshire League, where Boro were crowned as Division Two champions in 1969-70.

Despite this Knaresborough returned to the Harrogate & District League where they remined until 1993 before turning once again to the West Yorkshire League becoming Premier Division winners in 2008-09 and then runners-up in 2010-11.

A third place in 2011-12 was rewarded with promotion to Division One of the Northern Counties East League. The team slotted into the higher level in no time with consistent top eight finishes.

Twelfth in 2014-15 was as bad as it got before the appointment of former player and coach Paul Stansfield as manager. Eighth and then seventh places were improved upon in 2017-18 as Boro lifted the Division One title to go up to the Premier Division.

Ninth spot saw a most creditable debut campaign with Town ending sitting thirteenth in the 2019-20 season when it ended early owing to the Coronavirus pandemic, with the following campaign going the same way.

Stansfield departed to be replaced by Rob Hunter in September 2021, while a huge improvement came in 2022-23 following the appointment of Simon Parkes, which was backed up with an eighth place finish in 2023-24.

Knaresborough Town AFC will play in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division in the 2024-25 season.

My visits

Monday 12^th December 2016

I was staying at Nick and Rachel’s in York for a few days and had the Monday to myself. My brother and sister-in-law were both at work. I walked young Stan to school before continuing into the city for a look around and then decided to take the train to Knaresborough.

Although the rain was falling, I was determined to make the best of things and decided a photo opportunity at Manse Lane was in order after a pint in the town centre. It was slightly further than I thought but found the locked ground easy enough.

While there was no access inside, but the car park of Twinkles Nursery offered me a view of much of the venue. It looked tidy enough with a small-seated stand on the far side, a little cover behind the entrance goal and clubhouse and changing rooms by the way in.

Despite the weather I decided to walk down to the banks of the River Nidd and take the scenic walk back towards town before climbing the paths to Knaresborough Castle and back to the station to return back to base with the family.

Knaresborough Town 1 North Ferriby 1 (Saturday 22nd August 2020) Friendly (att: c90)

My fortnight annual Summer Leave from work was going well despite the severe restrictions in place owing to C19 regulations. I’d travelled up to York on Thursday afternoon and enjoyed some quality time with my brother Nick and family.

He was eager with young Stan to go and watch some football. The plan was to head out and then return to Heworth Cricket Club where Rachel was enjoying the afternoon with fellow mums and wives.

I took a bus to the outskirts of town from the digs at the Monks Cross Travelodge, grabbing some food from Greggs on route to the station where I was to meet the others. As I was ahead of schedule there was time to pop into the wonderful York Tap at the station for a beer.

Unfortunately, the uncertainty over opening meant that it was a meagre choice of ales rather than the usual extended list. Not to worry, the Timothy Taylor’s Landlord was outstanding. So good I had another with Nick.

The staff were short on numbers and having a real ask to keep everyone happy with drinks but did a fantastic job while retaining good humour. They were far better than I could have managed. Time went too quickly before we crossed the bridge for the train.

I regaled my slackness as I’d somehow overlooked an early kick off just up the road from our game at Harrogate Railway Athletic who were taking on Yorkshire Amateur. If I’d have seen it, I could have gone their first and then met the lads at Knaresborough station.

Never mind. We enjoyed a pleasant walk through the town centre down to Manse Lane where spectators were required to log their details on a pad for track and trace. Admission was £5 with no programmes being available.

We decided to take a seat in the stand on the far side. A couple behind me were obviously avid Boro fans but shocked me with their lack of knowledge on the visitors, who’s predecessors had won at Wembley and played in the National League only a few years earlier. They hadn’t even heard of them.

The match was keenly contested and most competitive for a friendly. The tackles went flying in, with Ferriby’s right back tackling like he’d been fed on raw meat while being encouraged by a friend or relative next to the fence. Both were most intent on offering feedback to the referee.

Back chat became widespread as the man in black struggled to stamp down his authority, perhaps being reluctant to show cards in a non-competitive match. There were also plenty of niggly fouls at times.

Chances were at a premium as a high wind blew down the pitch often seeing the Boro players play passes too strong. At the break we wandered round to the tea hut where a wonderful warm locally sourced pork pie and tea cost £2.50.

Ferriby, backed by a rather eager following, eventually went ahead after the ref correctly awarded them a penalty just before the hour mark, which was converted by Daniel East. The lead was probably deserved on the balance of play.

But it certainly wasn’t the exciting spectacular the Villagers Twitter was acclaiming. I know that wearing masks in indoor areas was becoming law, but from my angle I could only conclude that the scribe had placed his mask over his eyes.

The away fans amused us imploring their players to "take it into the corner" with five minutes left in a pre-season friendly! If we thought that a win mattered to them, then we hadn’t equated just how the team would react to a setback.

We had walked round to be near the gate for full time when Knaresborough were awarded a debatable penalty in stoppage time. The nearby Ferriby players were apoplectic, not least our favourite full back who the official must have had just about enough of.

Daniel Thirkell put away the spot kick. The home social media claimed it was a fair result. We weren’t so sure but were happy mainly because of the visitors whining. We were soon on our way to catch the train back to York.

On our return we caught the fag end of the cricket, enjoyed a lovely couple of pints of local Ainsty Ale before Nick dropped me at Monks Cross. An enjoyable early lazy night was spent watching Jimmy White come from 4-1 down to beat Ken Doherty in the World Seniors Snooker. A wonderfully relaxed day all round.