Image Credit: [@GuiseleyAFC]

The Gryphon Sports Team is delighted to announce that its featured club for the 2018/19 season will be Guiseley AFC.

Founded in 1909, ‘The Lions’ play at Nethermoor Park in Guiseley, in what is just an 11-minute train ride from Leeds Station. They are currently members of the National League North, the sixth tier of English football, having been relegated from the National League last season. The National League is the highest level the club has performed at, and they spent two seasons at that level, having been promoted through the play-offs in the 2014/15 season after four consecutive failed play-off campaigns in the previous four seasons.

The club are part-time having briefly gone professional during last season, before reverting to part-time status after a club restructuring following relegation, which culminated in the appointment of Gary Douglas as the club’s new Chairman. They are currently managed by joint managers Marcus Bignot, the former QPR legend and successful manager of Solihull Moors and Russ O’Neil, who enjoyed an extremely successful 10-year period at Alfreton Town.

The club is currently lying in 13th place in the National League North, however they are just four points off the play-offs, with three wins, five draws and three defeats so far this season. Famous former players include former Republic of Ireland International, Sean St Ledger and Wayne Rooney’s younger brother, John Rooney, who both left the club in the summer. Tickets are just £9 for students!

The Gryphon will be sending reporters to Guiseley home games in the Press Box and will keep Gryphon readers updated on the goings-on of the club, on and off the pitch, throughout the season.

Will Pickworth