Elsby graduated from the Port Vale youth team to sign as a professional in May 1978.
[1] He was immediately sent out to the USA on loan with Jimmy Melia's American Soccer League side Cleveland Cobras, but returned to Vale Park by August of that year.
[1] He played five Fourth Division games under Dennis Butler in 1978–79 before becoming a first-team regular under new boss John McGrath from February 1980 to the end of the 1979–80 season.
[1] He was voted Macclesfield's Player of the Year in 1981–82 and won the Cheshire Senior Cup in 1983.
[3] In summer 1986 he was in a car crash with teammates Nigel Shaw, Steve Waddington and Trevor Brissett.