ALBION Sports have confirmed that star striker Robbie Fox will be departing the club for a side in the National League North.

The move represents quite the step up for the prolific forward, three divisions in total, but his 33-goal season for Albion last time around has had several clubs watching his progress intently.

Farsley Celtic have won the race t acquire his services ahead of next season.

Albion manager, Neil Sibson admitted that the club were made known of interest from elsewhere at the beginning of last season.

He said: “We know that Robbie had offers last season to go and play at a higher level.

“However, our advice to him was to see the season out with us, bang some more goals in and up your profile even more, which he certainly did, and then go with our blessing.”

Fox’s goal record speaks for itself, scoring 50 goals in 105 matches for Albion, but after working with the talented forward alongside Mohammed Rizwan last season, Sibson admitted that there was far more that stood out to him in regard to the striker’s game.

He said: “What impressed me the most about Robbie was his willingness to work.

“He was always looking to improve whether that was in gameday or training situations.

“On the pitch, he works tirelessly at the top end of the field and he’s always looking to stretch defences.

“Effectively, we built our team around him; pulling in the defence and then looking to get in behind and exploit the space was a key element of how we played, and Robbie was the perfect player to do that.

“It worked for us on numerous occasions last season.”

He added: “Then, of course, he has the talent to go with it.

“His left foot is a thing of beauty, and he was able to score some fantastic goals for us.

“I don’t think he scored one tap-in!”

Robbie Fox (left) was a man on fire last season for Albion SportsRobbie Fox (left) was a man on fire last season for Albion Sports (Image: Alex Daniel)

Replacing a 33-goal striker (last season’s NCEL Premier Division tally) is never easy and although Sibson has conceded that, he feels they’re in a good position to fill the void left by Fox.

He said: “Robbie will be a big miss because he’s a very good player, he’s a likeable guy and he was big part of the changing room. His dad was our kitman too, so he’ll be leaving us, which will be a big loss.

“He’s said his goodbyes and he’s had some great responses from everyone at the club.

“We’ve now got to replace 34 goals, which is not easy, but we’ve got faith in the current squad.

“If we’re not scoring goals, then we’ve got to go and have a look at someone who can score goals for us.

“There may well be news regarding a potential arrival in the coming days, so we’ll see.”

Giving his thoughts on whether Fox will succeed in the National League, Sibson said: “I think he will (succeed), yes.

“I think that if he gets a good run of games and plays regularly, then he’ll score a lot of goals.

“We’d have liked to keep him for another season because I do see strikers go up to that level after a couple of very strong seasons at a lower level and not cut it.

“However, with that being said, I’ve got every faith that Robbie has the talent to succeed at a higher level.”

Albion returned to pre-season training on Monday and are scheduled to have their first friendly in two weeks’ time.