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 id ...

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 haml ...

. 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 Foo ...

for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, winning the 1994 UEFA Cup Winner's Cup with them, and in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswo ...

, 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 Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre ...

, Grays Athletic, Maidstone United,

Croydon Athletic Croydon Athletic Football Club was an English football club based in Thornton Heath in the London Borough of Croydon, London, England. It was founded in 1986 and initially named as Wandsworth & Norwood until 1990. The club progressed through ...

Dorchester Town Dorchester Town Football Club are a semi-professional football club, based in Dorchester, Dorset, England. They currently play in the . The club is affiliated to the Dorset County Football Association and is a FA chartered Standard club. They ...

and

Kingstonian Kingstonian Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London which currently plays in the Isthmian League Premier Division. The club was founded in 1885 by YMCA ...

. 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

in 1990 as a trainee and won a

South East Counties League The South East Counties League (SECL) was a football league for the youth teams of clubs from Southern England. The competition grew out of the Middlesex Youth Invitation Cup Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in sout ...

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. T ...

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 th ...

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 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 Nation ...

, 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 Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (; born 22 October 1949) is a French former football manager and player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development. He was the manager of Arsenal from 1996 to 2018, where he was the l ...

's new side he was sold to

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

where he became an integral member of the team. Despite an injury against

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts ...

in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

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 hern ...

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 The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. 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

in July 2007. In September 2007, Sam Jeremiah of

St Francis Rangers FC St Francis Rangers F.C. is a football club based in Haywards Heath, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Colwell Ground. History The club was founded in 2002 from the amalgamation of St Francis FC and Ansty Rangers. The ...

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 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 team ...

side Maidstone United on 7 March 2008, helping them to avoid relegation. He then joined

in December 2008. Selley's next move was to Conference South club

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 2 ...

, where he made a good impression. He was released in July 2011. He later signed for

. During his time at Kingstonian, he had loan spells at

Chertsey Town Chertsey Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chertsey, Surrey, England. The club currently competes in the Isthmian League South Central Division. The home of Football The club was established as Chertsey Football ...

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). Neighbou ...

. 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 Sandhurst Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England. Formed in 1910, the club plays at their temporary home ground sharing with Bracknell Town. They play in the . History After the club's ...

. 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, 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 peace ...

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 competit ...

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 The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

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 Ma ...

International career

;England * FIFA World Youth Championship: 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