My Greatest Game: Mark Bett’s Farsley days during the Lee Sinnott rocket ride

Former Farsley Celtic striker Mark Bett is now the club’s assistant manager to Adam Lakeland

MARK BETT was a key player for Farsley Celtic during the Lee Sinnott rocket ride. 

The striker was an influential figure in two of the three promotions over those four glorious seasons at Throstle Nest. 

Bett helped the Celts go from the old NPL Division One to the Conference North, leaving just before Sinnott completed the miracle of leading the West Leeds village club into the top flight of Non League football in 2007. 

In terms of Bett the origins can be traced to his goals tally of around 50 for Wibsey in the West Riding County Amateur League during the 2002/03 season 

It had made him a wanted man and Martin Haresign beat other clubs to his signature, but shortly after on the night the he agreed to sign, the long-serving boss was sacked. He was literally Bett’s manager for two hours. 

Having convinced in-coming boss Lee Sinnott, the former Bradford City captain, during pre-season 2003 that he help lead Farsley’s attack.

The only snag was a 112-day ban meant he could not play competitively until December.

But when he did make his debut, he scored twice against Kendal Town, including a last minute penalty. A hat-trick against Guiseley followed the week after. 

Bett scored 53 goals in his first three-year spell. playing initially alongside former Halifax Town striker Michael Midwood and then other Celtic greats such as Tom Morgan, Simeon Bambrook, Amjad Iqbal, Ryan Crossley and Roy Stamer. 

He got two more goals in a short loan stint before the original club folded in 2010. He returned for reformed Farsley’s first season, helping them win the NCEL Premier Division at the first attempt. His vital two goals in the 2-1 win over Winterton Rangers set up the chance to effectively win the title on the penultimate week of the season at Tadcaster Albion.

Bett is back at Farsley as assistant manager to Adam Lakeland in the National National. The pair have already won the NPL Premier Division title together, but this ‘My Greatest Game’ focusses on Bett’s contribution to the Sinnott rocket ride.

Farsley Celtic (Bett 2 inc 90th minute penalty) 2-1 Kendal Town – 13th December 2003

Mark Bett’s first Farsley team under Lee Sinnott containing stars such as Tom Morgan, Andy Shields, Amjad Iqbal and Michael Midwood

“I’ve got the cutting in front of me from when I got my first two goals, ‘Gifted striker makes up for lost time with debut double’ it says with ‘Sinnott lands a winner in Bett’. 

“I had to wait for it because of the ban, but I remember my debut against Kendal. I was just excited and I walked in the changing room with a bacon and sausage sandwich because Non League was all new to me, I didn’t know how to prepare. I did what I always did to prepare for a game. It was a bit of banter, but I got a fine. 

“I was on the bench and I came on at half-time for Michael Midwood. I scored my first goal from a cross Ammers put in and I then scored a last minute penalty to win. You could say it was Roy of the Rovers stuff. I was buzzing after it. 

“Martin Haresign signed me originally (in the summer of 2003) and then got sacked the same night. I had scored over 50 goals for Wibsey and teams like Bradford (Park Avenue) and Guiseley were after me. Park Avenue were definitely after me. I picked Farsley because I got told about how good a place it was and I knew Amjad Iqbal as well, he was a big reason as well. 

“It was a bit strange when Martin Haresign got sacked the same night, but Amjad just told me to get on with and go pre-season and see what happens. Lee Sinnott came in and he seemed alright. He just told me that he didn’t know much about me and it was a learning curve for him. I was fast and I was a goal-scorer and in the pre-season that’s what he saw. But I had that 112-ban. I had got sent off three times on the spin in the County Amateur league. So I just trained twice a week with the team for the next few months and I was chomping at the bit to play. Lee Sinnott obviously saw something in me, but I was able to play in pre-season and I scored goals. I scored on my pre-season debut against Halifax, a hat-trick against Harrogate Railway and I scored against Harrogate Town in a friendly. These were good teams.

“I finally got to play in December and after scoring twice against Kendal, I scored against Bamber Bridge the following week and then a hat-trick against Guiseley just after Christmas. In my first month I scored all the time. I scored 21 goals by the end and we got promoted.

Lee Sinnott led Farsley to three promotions in four seasons
Andy Shields
Pakistan International Amjad Iqbal was friends with Mark Bett and persuaded him to join Farsley
Andy Watson is rated as one of the best Non League footballers never to have played in the Football League

“We had great times and we had a great squad. Morgs (Tom Morgan) was in goal. There was players like Matthew Smithard, Graham Mitchell, Jon Dyson, Andy Watson and Roy Stamer. We had a solid defence and a solid midfield with people like Ammers and Andy Shields in there. Ammers was quality and he used to get kicked all the time by the other team. We either played a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. Originally when I played it was 4-4-2, but as the years went on Lee Sinnott played 4-3-3. I used to chase lost causes and I didn’t stop running all game. When you didn’t think I’d get it I would. I played with Michael Midwood in my first season and he was different class. He brought me on leaps and bounds. He taught me a lot, like scoring from the halfway line. When he used to go for throw-ins in his own half and he’d peel off and know where the goalkeeper was and he’d have pot shots from the halfway line score them. Andy Watson was class too. He just floated across the pitch. 

“People like Carl Serrant, Simeon (Bambrook) and Ryan Crossley came later and they were class. I enjoyed playing with Kevin Sanasy who came a bit later. Michael Midwood was my best partnership, but me and Kevin played well together and scored a lot of goals. I played for Farsley for three years  under Lee Sinnott until they signed Ryan Sugden from Halifax.

“For me Lee Sinnott had the right balance of players. There were two players for each position and he managed players well. He is my top manager from the ones I played for. I learned so much from him. He told us to be never say die, don’t give up and you’re never beaten which it what that Farsley team was like at the time. 

“(John) Deacey was the assistant manager at the time and he’s one of those lads who encourages you all the time. However much I was a laugher and joker, he was always there helping you out. 

“I loved my playing days at Farsley and it was my best time. I have liked it at a lot of clubs I have been at like Guiseley and Park Avenue, but Farsley is the one. I read an article in the Non League Paper a few years ago with Lee Sinnott and he said ‘jokers’ and he put me, Chris Stabb and James Walshaw.

“I don’t really have any regrets from my playing career, drinking on a Friday night before an FA Cup game, that’s it. It was Prescot Cables away and I was steaming at the back of the coach. I was getting told to warm-up all the time even though I didn’t think I’d go on. Then he put me on for the last five minutes and I was really struggling. It was a learning curve and I got a telling off. It was my young and dumb days. 

Bett during his second spell with Farsley
Lee Sinnott and his assistant John Deacey during their Farsley days
Farsley Celtic manager Adam Lakeland with Mark Bett. The pair guided Farsley to the NPL Premier Division last year

“If someone had said to me in 2003 that in 2020 I would be assistant manager of Farsley when they had won a league, I would have said they were messing about. A lot of people who know me didn’t think I’d get into football management, never. I never did either. It came about because I went to Curzon Ashton for a season with Ryan Watson and I was their third top goal-scorer. I only went to sit on the bench because they didn’t have any strikers. I was 31 and I had had a couple of knee-ops so I wasn’t fully fit. Adam Lakeland who was the coach at the time said if he ever got a manager’s job he would ask me to be his assistant and he did because we went to Northwich. Now we’re at Farsley and we’ve had a good start to our management careers together. He’s one of my best friends now. 

“With Farsley we have had an unbelievable three years, winning the NPL Premier Division was an unbelievable feeling. We did it because of the players we brought in. When we signed Danny Ellis it was a big statement. We reshaped the team and we brought in a lot of youth. These were young lads who are all friends and we got a good dressing room and that is what spurred us on. We’re like a family. We’ve kind of copied the kind of team spirit during Lee Sinnott’s time as manager. That’s what I was brought up on. We had a great dressing room then and after games people like myself, Andy Watson, Tom Morgan and others, we’d stay in the clubhouse until the death. We’d leave our bags there and go clubbing. We weren’t just team-mates, we were friends. Now we have people like Chris and Ben Atkinson, Luke Parkin and others. All big friends.

“Because I can’t play anymore I love being the assistant manager. You see all these ex-footballers who become alcoholics and gamblers and end up losing all their money, you can see why. Something you have done all your life is gone. My life now is working my socks off with my window-cleaning business and then going to football and enjoying it like I always have.” 

Mark Bett was interviewed by James Grayson

One thought on “My Greatest Game: Mark Bett’s Farsley days during the Lee Sinnott rocket ride

  1. Top lad Bettsy. Twas a very smart move on Lakeland’s part, when he got the Celtic job as someone unknown to us at Throstle Nest. Turn up with a very very popular former player as assistant, and it bought him time with supporters. Not so sure about not able to play. He was turning out last season in the NPL as sub and scored 1 or 2 good goals. Always well liked at Throstle Nest due to exactly what he described – never say die and always chasing lost causes.

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