Off The Bench: A Quarter of a Century of Non League Management

Summary

THE STORY STARTS WITH A FELLA CALLED ROY RUFFELL

Roy was First Team Manager when I was a player at Hayes in 1977. The medial ligament injury I had sustained playing for Portsmouth was still troublesome – it had curtailed a career that started at West Ham and via Portsmouth, Brentford, Slough and Denver Dynamos in the USA, Church Road was where the curtain finally came down as a player.

I wasn’t doing as well as I’d liked and Roy suggested that I should consider, as he put it, putting something back into the game. Why not be coach for the Youth Team – get into coaching, get your badges and start here. I thought about it for a while, and decided that though it wasn’t everything I wanted, I’d give it a go working alongside Barry Morris. From that point on, I started to take sessions at training and then took charge of the team for a couple of games. Boy, it was so difficult at first and so was filling ten minutes for the ‘team talk’ at half time!

Gradually, I became more involved and sufficiently self confident to apply to take my FA Coaching Badges, starting with the Preliminary qualification which I did with Alan Ackrall at Whitchurch Playing Fields, in Stanmore. I honestly felt I learnt more on that initial course over six full Sundays than I ever had as a professional player. I quickly gained and still have a great deal of respect for Alan, he really impressed me and it is his guidance that has positively influenced my thoughts on the game. My only wish is that I had taken the course whilst I still was a player because I know the knowledge I gained would have helped my career. It’s something I would strongly recommend to all young players and I’m pleased that it now seems to be normal policy at most pro clubs.

I’d played under a few managers in my career including Ron Tindall, John Mortimore, Ian St John and John Docherty, but Bobby Ross, First Team Manager at Hayes before Roy was probably the one that had most influence on my style. His expertise in dealing with people, his broad Scots accent and strong character were major assets in getting the best out of individuals and the team as a whole. I was still doing a job for the side in an unaccustomed position wide on the left and going through a bit of a bad time of it when one day, Bobby jumped on the players coach. He said he was going to drive to the game, but he wanted a bit of company. Everyone’s head went down as they tried to avoid his gaze, but I wasn’t quick enough and I got selected! He knew exactly who he wanted in the car and why.

When I got in, I felt about 4 foot 6 but on the way to the game, he chatted non-stop about me, my game and my qualities and what I could do. I got out feeling about eight feet tall. He was masterful at saying the right thing to get the best out of people, in the same way that Ron Greenwood and John Lyall had been during my youth days at West Ham. It was a lesson in emphasising the positives and forgetting the negatives, trying to get the best out of everyone and every situation.

A couple of years later, Bobby was the one that got me to QPR to do some work with their Youth set-up, coaching their U14’s on an Astroturf pitch about 100 yards further up South Africa Road from their ground. I also travelled as Assistant Manager to Bobby for the U18 South East Counties team on a Saturday morning, which was valuable experience, working with players like Gavin Maguire, Gavin Peacock and Graham Westley. At the time, Chris Geiler was Chief Scout and Head of Youth Development at Rangers but to me was something of an enigma. On one occasion he released a couple of lads very bluntly before training. I felt that it should have been done afterwards to make things easier on the lads and out of the way of their peers. I have always believed in letting people down gently and with an explanation.

This game is all about opinions and there is no guarantee that any one person’s is always right – it is just your decision. I believe you should always try to portray the good side of a club and treat people the way you would like to be treated yourself, something I strive to maintain even today.

Reverting to Hayes, this ‘interview’ with Roy happened in the March, so I saw things through to the end of the season still playing but also passed my Preliminary Coaching Badge. I then had a further season solely in charge of the U18’s but unfortunately at the end of the campaign Hayes’ management decided that they would do away with the ‘Youths’ for financial reasons. Before I’d really got going in the job, it wasn’t there anymore. Or maybe I was the reason that they folded the U18’s! In sole charge, one of my earliest management decisions that year was to tell a young lad called Dave Regis that I didn’t feel he would get a regular game because he was too young and needed to be stronger. He went on to ‘make it’ as a pro – albeit not until he was 26 – so that was a good start to my management decision making. In fairness, I did say it was because he was a bit young at the time rather than it being a decision based on his ability.

That was my first venture into management but I also had a day job, working at Perryman Sports. I took the chance to speak to Steve about management and he said, The only bit of advice I can give you as a manager is look at your team and make sure you have got more winners than losers in it. They can influence the boys that are middle of the road and who will follow the bigger group. Excellent advice that has proved so true and evidently he was told exactly the same by his good friend, Ossie Ardilles.

Steve’s brother, Bill was Manager at Perryman Sports, running the shops for him. I had been there a few years and was working as Manager of the Greenford Branch, where we always had to carry the takings with us at the end of the day, using various routes to get the money back to the main shop in Hayes from where it was banked. On a snowy windy evening leading up to Christmas I put the takings into the normal paper carrier bag and stuffed it into my jacket pocket, then I drove over to Hayes, about four miles away. I went round to the back of the shop using the little service road, drew up outside and got out of the car inadvertently dropping the paper bag with the takings. It promptly burst open and the contents were caught by the wind, so there was I stood in the middle of the service-way in the dark desperately grabbing at all these notes swirling around, just like in a cartoon!! There were fivers, tenners, twentys, cheques, everything, all blowing about with me frantically chasing them all over the place, over garage roof’s, gardens and fences – it was blowing everywhere. Sheer panic.

When I went in and saw Bill and his wife Lynne, I told them and they were very calm. We went outside and tried to pick up everything we could see, especially as nearing Christmas, there had been a good take that day too. Once we had counted everything recovered, it was about £150 short. I went back early the following morning (after a sleepless night) to see if I could find anymore. Back into the gardens and onto the roofs and I found a few more notes and eventually made up about another £100 so we were only £50 short. I offered to pay but Bill very kindly let me off. (£50 was a lot to me in those days).

MOVING ON TO SOUTHALL

With the Hayes Youth team no more, I was lucky that in July 1981, Mick McNutt at Southall approached me to see if I would join them and look after their youths although I was still trying to play a bit as well. It was all part of the process – the learning curve - and I felt it was sure to be good experience, so I agreed to join. They were playing in a Midweek Floodlight League, the Sunday Ealing Youth League and the County Youth Cup competitions. For the first time I also got involved in scouting and trying to find players and we had a reasonably successful couple of seasons. I was in that job for about three years all told, and signed a couple of players that really made a difference. The first capture from another club was a lad called Steve Jarvis, a big, strong player seventeen years old, who caused all sorts of problems playing in the middle of the park for a team called Eversheds. Remembering what Steve Perryman had said, he was exactly the sort of character that you would want in your side. He played against us one Sunday and I had a quiet word with him. We put in a ‘seven day approach’ and I got him to play for us on a Wednesday night although he remained with his Sunday side. He transformed an average midweek side into a good one, even if we didn’t match that with any silverware. We didn’t win the League or anything midweek, but on Sundays’ we had some success, which helped bring some of the players to the fore. Roy Oatway was also a very good player, and there was one that was destined to feature repeatedly in my career, Paul Sweales, a combative goal-scoring forward. His strike-partner then was a lad called Les Ferdinand who from this very small beginning went on to do quite well for himself! He was originally brought along to training for the first time by Roy as he was a mate of his and one of a number of lads that came from the Shepherds Bush area. There were some really good lads there and they transformed us as a side.

At the time, we mainly trained down at Viking Sports on the Western Avenue on the floodlight training area. One of the lads that often came along was Roy’s brother, Charlie. A right pesky little character is a fair description. In and out of everything, he always wanted to play everyone and anyone at Pool, but remember the name because he’ll feature again later as well. To this day, he would be the first player on my team sheet simply because of his character. He was an out and out winner and desperate to do well. It was the makings of a good little team, good enough in fact to win the League and the League Cup and to bring me my first trophies as Manager!

I also got an early experience of bizarre reasons why players at this level can’t get to matches. There were a couple of occasions there where players didn’t turn up, and honestly, I can’t even remember who the players were or in the most part the reasons, however there was one occasion that sticks in my mind. Three players failed to turn up for a Sunday morning game because they had been arrested on their way to the match! Apparently, they fitted the descriptions of some lads who had carried out a robbery the night before and they were stopped and held, spending the morning in the cells and missing the match before they were eventually released. Thankfully, so far, that was the only time I’ve had that as an excuse!

It was a good spell for me personally and I felt I had found my feet as a manager. When I first took over the youth team they had been languishing towards the bottom of the Ealing Youth League, but over three years we built a successful team and had also developed ten players to a level where they made the first team. The first of these were the likes of Paul Asher, Andy Hitchings and Paul Sweales but in the next year or so, the majority were to become the nucleus of the Southall ‘FA Vase’ side. Alongside me during those early years, I had two very supportive people in ‘big’ John Moriarty (who weighed in at about 24 stone) and my Assistant Manager, Tony Clerkin. If I have one regret from my time as Youth Team Manager it was that Southall had started to give me £10 a week expenses. It wasn’t much, but to a young lad with a mortgage, it certainly helped – and I kept it quiet from Tony. One day he found out and let’s say he wasn’t best pleased. Our friendship deteriorated a little from that point which was a real shame, as friendships are far more important than money. He did end up joining me again at Yeading a few years later, but I was wrong not to tell him at the time.

In my second year in charge of Southall’s youngsters, the side managed to battle through to reach the Second Round Proper of the FA Youth Cup and played away to Charlton Athletic at their imposing ‘The Valley’ ground. It was a real experience and though we lost 4-1 to a Charlton side that included Tony Lange and Shane Westley, it was great to play at such a top stadium.

By the end of my third season with the youngsters, the First Team Manager Micky Byrne had been sacked. Micky was the local character who would come in for a chat and a cup of tea at Perryman Sports and he would entertain everyone by balancing exercise cycles or something similar on his chin. As a manager, when he took the younger players up to Brunel his balancing skills were often in evidence again, but this time it was normally one of the long gym benches positioned vertically above his chin as he wondered round the large sports hall. He just had amazing strength and balance. He was excellent with the fitness side of things and in training, and one of his other favourite antics was to stand on players stomachs as they did sit ups. This was a regular scene at Hayes and at Southall, apparently it was something he picked up in the Army as a PT Instructor.

When he got the sack (I never did find out all the reasons why) the job was offered to me. Still trying to play, I was often skipper of the side in addition to my Youth Team duties although I was still having problems with the knee. I’d played about 20 odd games in that season, normally as a sweeper and occasionally right or wing back. I’d slowly dropped back over the years (slowly being the appropriate word!) and that’s why I finally hung up my boots – I didn’t fancy my chances of getting a game in goal! In that last season we reached the Middlesex Charity Cup Final and that gave me my first taste of a final at Wembley. Unfortunately it was Wembley FC – Vale Farm – not the stadium overshadowing the ground! It was my one claim to fame as a player for Southall though, that I scored the winning goal in that final, as we beat hosts Wembley 1 – 0.

I had moved on from Perryman’s and was now working at Ealing Sports Centre which caused a few problems during the season, as I’d work in the morning and then dash away by lunchtime, or earlier for away games. Sometimes I’d be late and I soon realised that in taking on the first team manager’s role, this could only get worse, but it was a great chance and I took it. I had a chat with my boss and he agreed to allow me more flexibility with my hours. Under the circumstances, he appreciated my desire to have a crack at senior football management and he tried to be accommodating.

The first thing I did was to re-instate Micky! He was a fantastic motivator and had tremendous enthusiasm, though probably too much to be a manager and he was one of the first to admit it. He loved to be involved and get out with the boys on and off the park. Outside of his visits to the shop, I got to know him better was when I was playing at Hayes. I was one of those taken up to Brunel University and he devoted a lot of time to us, like many others I was grateful for the effort he put in. He had a heart of gold though he did some daft things at times, but without his enthusiasm and motivation we wouldn’t have achieved what we did. The fitness and technical work, the Cruyff turn and cross, shooting practice in the gym…. after all the time he spent with us I knew what he could offer. I was a naive young manager but I suppose we complemented each other and worked well together. I was grateful for that support and experience. Mick was strong on player discipline as well (though not always on himself), but for me he was the obvious choice to work alongside. He certainly had a huge influence on that first season but obviously, it wasn’t all plain sailing.

Micky had been manager for a couple of years in his own right and he liked to make his own decisions. He was very strong willed and we had a few disagreements, but I still say that is far better than a coach who just sits alongside and becomes a ‘yes’ man. I learnt from it as well – all through my career I have had someone alongside me contributing their own ideas – coaches or assistant managers – someone I can bounce thoughts and ideas off. It’s good to give them their say as an alternative viewpoint and certainly makes me think harder about some of the decisions that have to be made. Mick had started to build a good squad during the previous season but with the addition of Mick McGovern who we signed from Hayes, Keith James, John Richardson, Rob Holland and the nucleus of the youth team I had nurtured for a couple of years (including Swealsie and Les, Bruce Rowe and Steve Bridges), we built ourselves a good little side and were near the top of the table right from the off.

We started the season without a Physio, so we placed an advert in the local paper. There was a response from a guy who arranged to meet me at the club at 6pm one evening. I arrived and went straight up into the bar. The place was dark and gloomy as usual and with just one person sitting there, a man with grey hair. I didn’t take much notice of him and enquired of the barman whether anyone had asked for me. "Yes" he said and indicated this lonely chap over the far side of the room. As I looked over, the fella stood up and walked towards me. White hair, white eyebrows and pink eyes – an albino! My immediate thought was ‘you could be brilliant but you’ll have to know how to take stick in the dressing room!’ but suppressing my initial reaction, we had a chat. He was well qualified, a lovely guy and I was really impressed by him. I warned him of the probable reaction but he said it’s par for the course. He had taken a fair bit of stick over the years, and had become thick skinned. He felt comfortable and realised that the football environment he was joining was bound to have a few characters and more than a few comments so we had a look around the changing rooms etc, and then went out on the pitch. As we did so he asked where does the sun set It threw me as I’d never thought about it. I didn’t know and said so, only for him to explain that with his sensitive eyes, if the sun became very low, his eyes reacted and he wouldn’t be able to see where he was going across the pitch. I really didn’t have a clue and didn’t fully understand or appreciate the problem, but we continued to chat and eventually I offered him the position.

It didn’t take long for the lads to give him his nickname. He had been taking stick at training and such like, and then one day he walked in the changing room to be met with a rousing chorus of Bright Eyes and shortly afterwards, the lads re-named him ‘Buster’ after the film Ghostbusters. We were training at RAF Uxbridge at the time and one session there sticks in the mind. I had the squad outside the Gym for the session when, part way through, the lads seemed to get a bit distracted. It turned out that there was a class full of women doing aerobics in the gym and the lads had all started watching. After a few minutes their instructor invited us to join in, so in we went. About twenty minutes and it nearly bloody killed us! We were absolutely knackered afterwards!

‘Buster’ was great with the banter in the squad and there were no problems in the early part of the season, sun or not, until one afternoon, that is, in late October. With the sun dipping over the far side of the stadium, it was shining right into his eyes. The Referee had blown his whistle for an injury and waved ‘Buster’ on but he just sat there; Buster I said, What? There’s an injury Is there? Where? Ten yards to the side of the half way line. He ran on quickly and ‘aimed’ ten yards to the side of the half way line ready to treat the player, but with one small problem. He ran ten yards to the wrong side of the half way line much to the amusement of players, officials, fans and not least, us in the dugout. Eventually redirected, he treated the player then turned to come back. We all hammered on the side of the dugout so he could find his way! Thankfully, like the rest of us, he could not stop laughing!

It was a good season on the pitch but I think it could have been better. The distraction of the FA Vase meant that we lost a bit of focus in the league and we ended up finishing eighth. Getting to the Vase final really was the icing on the cake and that fantastic run sticks in the memory. Almost every tie has its place for different reasons. For instance against Kingsbury Town, I think it was the first round and the former Spurs star Terry Dyson was their manager. We were at home and they were going quite well in the Vauxhall (now Ryman) Isthmian League Division 2. Goalkeeper Stuart McKenzie was outstanding for us and we were fortunate to finish with a 1 – 1 draw. For the replay (and for all the right reasons) I selected myself to start. We had a couple of players missing and they had one in particular, Gursel Gulfer, who was a good really talented player and I reckoned that I could ‘do a job’ on him. Man to man marking? He beat me once then came back and did it again! I think it was the third or fourth time before I had half a chance of getting the ball off of him. Either he was very good, or I was very bad that night – I don’t want to remember. I think the most memorable part of my contribution was managing to get eleven stitches in my leg (so I must have got near someone) and I missed the next couple of games because of it! We ended up winning when Colin Dennison scored and Kingsbury missed a penalty with about three minutes to go. They say you need a bit of luck to win things and that season we certainly had our fair share getting to the final.

Our prize was a match away to Pirton and to be honest we gave a poor performance, but we did enough to come away with a 2 – 0 win, to take our place in the next round and a home tie with Feltham. Local derbies are always difficult matches and this was no different. We drew 2 – 2 at home and frankly were fortunate again but then we went over to their place and won the replay 3 – 1. We were lucky to get home draws in the third, fourth and fifth rounds and in each of these, we ran out fairly comfortable winners without conceding a goal. Hanwell Town, Barton Rovers and Abingdon Town, who were managed by my former Slough Town teammate, Paul Lee, were the opponents as we made our way to the Quarter Final stage. Between the Hanwell tie in mid December and the Barton game in January, there was a scheduled league game against Hungerford. Throughout that winter, the temperatures had been very low and we’d lost a couple of games to the weather. In my programme notes from the Barton Rovers game in the 4th Round of the FA Vase I wrote;

Since my last column, we have played two and a half games, and overall things have not gone too well for us. The first match, at home to Newbury, saw us lose 2 – 1 as things certainly went against us with both Steve Croad and Stuart MacKenzie forced to go the Hospital in the first half leaving us 2 – 0 down and with only ten men for sixty minutes. This obviously looked a daunting task, so all credit must go to the lads as we outplayed Newbury in the second half, pulled a goal back and if not for a couple of strange refereeing decisions, we could certainly have salvaged at least a point from the game.

Next came the visit of Hungerford to Western Road, a game we all felt should have been postponed due to the adverse conditions. However, after the referee’s inspection we were told ‘Game On’ and we proceeded to hammer six goals past them before half-time on a surface that I felt played better than anyone expected. To our amazement, the Referee called both managers in at half time and told us that, in the interests of player safety, he was going to abandon it. I pointed out that the trainers had been needed only once in the first half, that for an incident that could have happened in any conditions, and also how easy it could be to make the conditions look a lot worse when you are trailing by early goals, but to no avail. It was all a question of player’s application. Ours were tremendous but Hungerford’s very questionable. To say we were disappointed would be the understatement of 1985. For those of you that witnessed the game – I bet it is the first time you’ve seen a football team declare!

In the FA Vase Quarter Final, we got another home draw this time against the ‘Southern’ favourites, Stevenage Borough, the match to be played in late February when hopefully the weather would have eased somewhat. As it turned out, there was a tremendous amount of work done by everyone to actually get the game played as the weather had remained freezing. The ground was so hard that the colourful Chairman, ‘Jack the Wad’ Davis hired a steamroller to roll, flatten and break up the surface of the pitch! (He was known as ‘Jack the Wad’ as he always walked round with a big wad of cash in his pocket, wrapped in an elastic band). The ground staff and supporters worked tirelessly to get the game on laying hay on the surface to try and get some warmth into it and to prevent too much damage from the steamroller. It was a success and we were the only game played locally that weekend as everything else was frozen off. With no other local games being played it was a great chance to increase the revenue as well and that was (and still is) important to clubs at this level.

On the playing side, I think Stevenage had a couple of players out, so getting the match on helped our cause a little bit and we repaid all of the effort with an excellent performance that afternoon in front of a crowd of 1,109 – more than in the semi final against Wisbech (1,038). Two Keith James goals took us through in freezing temperatures of around minus 5! We hadn’t given the Stevenage side (featuring ex-pro’s like Steve Driver and Nigel Johnson) a chance and certainly hadn’t let them get into their stride during the whole game. It was a great effort all round and I still have the image in my mind of that Steamroller going up and down the pitch from about 8am.

We were again the underdogs as we were drawn against Wisbech Town in the semi final. It was the second year running they had got to this stage and as it transpired the second year running they lost out. I watched them play Havant in their delayed Quarter Final and was very impressed as they won 5 – 1. They looked a very decent experienced side. The downside for us was that we had to play them at home in the first leg and away in the second; we’d have preferred it the other way round.

My programme notes at the time reflected on the disappointment of recent poor league results and most people were blaming the run on the Vase and the front three were coming in for a fair bit of stick but in a run of nearly fifty matches we had failed to score only four times. In fact, in the Vase we’d scored twenty goals and we had ten different scorers, a record we hoped would continue for just a few weeks more! On the day, once again there were over 1000 people at the match, unheard of at Southall for many years. We went a goal down after about 15 minutes, then Les Ferdinand equalised against the run of play late in the first half. Robbie Holland then put us 2 - 1 up but a lad called Mark Mitchell scored the equaliser with a couple of minutes to go. A 2 - 2 draw in the first leg against a well fancied side wasn’t the result we’d hoped for but we were still very much in with a shout.

We were desperate for sponsors and the build up to the away leg turned out to be great. We had a luxury coach to a nice hotel then on to the game. We even had a gentle training session on the morning of the match on a green area outside the hotel. It all added to the atmosphere and I’m sure helped relax the players and give them confidence. Steve Croad and I with our respective partners visited the local Madhus Brilliant Restaurant in Southall in the week following the game to say ‘Thank You’ to the owner, Sanjay Anand who paid the hotel bills for the semi-final squad!

We had travelled to Wisbech without experienced goalkeeper Stuart McKenzie who was injured and eighteen year old Steve Bridges had taken over between the sticks. He had an outstanding game in front of 3216 people baying for blood. We won 3 – 1, despite play being stopped for five minutes in the second half due to fighting on the pitch between the Wisbech supporters and the Police! I think it was the first time they had lost that season. Les had scored a couple of goals in the 42nd and 48th minutes, sandwiching a goal on the 45th minute from John Powell. Three goals in a six minute spell either side of half time was a fantastic boost and Les’s second goal was his 20th of the season. It was probably the start of his rise to fame as from then on people started to take notice. If that league game against Hungerford hadn’t been abandoned, he would have had three more on his tally as he had scored a first half hat trick that day as well. After the game, I was interviewed on Radio London but I didn’t quite realise the magnitude of the achievement at the time. It was tremendous, but personally, I didn’t get an immediate feeling or reaction. Looking back now probably gives me a greater feeling of satisfaction. At the time, the emotion of the achievement needed to be shared and we hadn’t taken many fans to the match to justify a celebration on the day.

When we left the ground on the coach, we needed a Police escort out of the County due to some of their fans being a bit upset. After the fighting on the pitch, they then pelted our coach with stones but eventually, coming down the motorway we were all singing, full of our success. (Later in the year, many of the Wisbech fans were prosecuted at Court and several Southall fans were called as witnesses having been attacked from behind while cheering on the side). Then we got back to the club. Remember that we had just reached the FA Vase Final at Wembley Stadium, the final of a national competition, by far the biggest game and the greatest achievement in the recent history of the club. It was around 8-30pm and we pulled into the car park to find that the bloody club was shut! Not a soul there to greet us and we couldn’t even have a drink. Talk about an anti-climax, so we decided to go off to Mick’s local, The Crown and Treaty pub in Uxbridge. They laid on some grub for us and we had a memorable night celebrating but it still amazes me that Southall weren’t there to celebrate one of the biggest nights in their history.

The following morning I was due to play. It was only a Sunday League game, I was ‘ticking over’ just enjoying the game and keeping a bit sharper in case I was needed in the run-in. Having won the previous day, I’d been asked to do an interview for the in house radio at Hillingdon Hospital and I’d said no problem. As it happened, we were due to be playing just down the road so I promised to pop in after the game. Coincidence? During the game, a long ball came over and I was being clever, so instead of simply passing back to the goalkeeper as I was being chased down, I decided to flick the ball over the forward’s head and make him look silly. He crashed straight into the back of me and knocked me to the floor. Crack! I had my wrist underneath me. It had broken my fall and my fall had broken it so I duly arrived at Hillingdon Hospital about 1pm, had my arm plastered and then wandered down to the Radio interview room. Pro-active broadcasting! Many of the listeners had a good laugh at the circumstances but it meant that for the FA Vase Final a month or so later, I definitely wouldn’t be playing but to be honest I wouldn’t have selected myself anyway. It did mean that at 29 years of age, in my first year of ‘Senior’ management, I was going to lead my team out at the Wembley Stadium. What a great honour, but it did make me think that it was likely to be downhill from then on. I also wondered if I was going to be the first manager to lead a side out with an arm in a sling but to avoid this dubious accolade, I discarded the sling and just hid the plaster cast under my jacket.

The injury also meant that I was going to miss out on the Middlesex Senior Cup Final at the end of March. We had had an excellent run in that competition not least a good win over Hayes 1 – 0 in the semi-final. The final against Premier Division Hendon wasn’t the best though. We were massive underdogs and lost 2 – 0 after extra time but looking back I suppose, that was probably a result of the players having one eye on Wembley.

The lead up to the final wasn’t all plain sailing. Trying to do things professionally, the committee had decided that players and officials would get suited and booted for the final, and we duly assembled for a fitting at the club on Saturday 12th April, two weeks before the game. The first team had beaten Ruislip Manor 6 – 3 at home with Swealsie bagging four and everyone was in good spirits as the reserve team squad returned from their match to join us all in the back bar upstairs. The tailor was there fitting out the first team and management, but in the midst of all this banter and activity we received a tragic phone call. Dave Gething our reserve team skipper had died on his way home from the match at Hendon at the age of 24. He had collapsed at the wheel of his car and died shortly afterwards. It had a devastating effect on everyone. We were all looking forward to Wembley and then one of our own teammates had tragically passed away. There was a stunned silence around the room as the news broke. Evidently, he had seemed fine during the game and had played well and he was on his way back to join us. Now we were all mourning his death with a sense of disbelief. It was even worse for Reg Short, our reserve team Manager as Dave was engaged to his daughter. Fitting of suits and even the final were the last things on our minds that night.

Everyone gets excited about the prospect of a Wembley final. It has to be every player and manager’s dream and a fantastic occasion for all concerned, but you don’t think about the ones who are left out. When I look back now and reflect on the circumstances surrounding that game and the build up there were so many aspects to consider, not least all of the guidance and instructions from the Football Association. We looked at the opposition, the FA Vase holders, Halesowen Town. We saw them in a replay at Telford where they won comfortably and looked a very good side. Two people stood out - the Joinson twins, they looked telepathic. Dave Rees and I travelled up to run the rule over them and these two boys just seemed to have an uncanny understanding between them. It was frightening. It was a cheap trip though – it had to be! Dave had a company car and he volunteered its use as it was the best way to save money we didn’t have, as it meant his company paid the petrol bill. Just looking back through all this I’ve realised that every club I’ve been at has been skint! Southall, Hounslow, Yeading and Wealdstone. In all those years I’ve never ‘managed with money’ with the possible exception of my first season at Wealdstone, when our budget was probably bigger than most in the division. I wonder what it’s like to be able to compete on a financially level playing field…..

Anyway, when we got back from the replay I had long discussions with Mick about what we could or should do. We finally came up with a plan of how to play to nullify the threat posed by the ‘terrible twins’ yet at the same time we had to cause them enough problems to come out on top. Some hard decisions had to be made. Number 1 – literally, Goalkeeper. Stuart Mackenzie was fit again but Stevie Bridges had done really well in the semi-final and to be honest, had kept us in the competition. Stuart was probably an all round better goalkeeper, more experienced and mentally stronger, but that meant that Stevie had to be told. I decided that the best way to deal with the situation was to go round to his house. I knocked, saw Mum and Dad first and then spoke to Steve. I knew he would be upset with every right to be, but it was one of those terribly hard decisions you sometimes have to make, it was a matter of whom we felt would be better for the club on the day. Steve was devastated and I still feel that making that visit was probably one of the hardest situations I have had to deal with as a manager. I can still picture his dejected face and that of his parents. It was made worse by the fact that he had been my youth team goalkeeper for two years and was a really nice lad. I believed I owed it to Steve to explain the reasons behind our selection and to do it away from everyone else. Even now I will always explain my reasoning to any player I leave out – it is not easy, and sometimes it’s not possible, but I always try. To be honest the most difficult explanations are those based purely on gut feeling. I’ll always offer the player the chance to talk things over but not until after the game as by then, you’ll both know if it was the right or wrong decision on the day.

Goalkeeper wasn’t the only selection problem for the final as we also left out Randy Richmond. This was even more difficult because he had played in every round. On the Thursday night before the final I decided to go in by train for some obscure and long forgotten reason, but it was an easy journey from Ealing where I worked to the club and then home to Langley. I spent the journey mulling over all the things we had to do that evening, one of which was to tell Randy you’re not playing mate. As I got off the train at Southall and started walking up the stairs, I looked up and there was Randy, bag over his shoulder, making his way to the ground some fifty yards ahead of me. It was about three quarters of a mile walk from the station to Western Road and all sorts of thoughts were buzzing through my head. I willed him not to turn round and even thought I should walk slowly for a while and let him get well in front or should I stop for a few minutes, looking for any opportunity that would allow me to avoid such a difficult conversation walking along the street. All those things were going through my mind when he decided to cross the road. He turned and looked straight at me, waved and worse still, he waited for me to catch him up. I had fifty yards of wondering how the hell I was going to handle this one then his opening comments were how much he was looking forward to Saturday and the final and then he said but you’ve got a bit of a problem haven’t you? – have you picked the side yet? I hesitated for a while, said yes and followed it with you are not going to be very happy with our decision, you are the one we are leaving out and making sub. Surprise, surprise, I walked the rest of the way on my own. He was upset and had every right to be, but we had had to make the decision. Someone had to be disappointed and Mick and I felt this was the best thing for the balance of the side. Decisions like that are one of the least enjoyable aspects of management, particularly when you are responsible for taking away someone’s dream.

Eventually I arrived and I had a chat with Micky, telling him what had happened and about ten minutes later there was a knock on the door of the Referee’s Room where Mick and I changed. It was Randy. Absolutely typical of the fella, that although so disappointed he came in and said I may not agree with it, but I respect your decision and you’ll still get 100% backing from me. A great attitude. If management meant you could just select the players you admired or picked on sentiment, Randy would have been in the side every game. It was ironic that at the end of that season I moved onto to Hounslow FC and the first player I signed was Randy. I’m pleased to say he didn’t hold a grudge and he did at least get the chance to play on the ‘hallowed turf’ when he came on as a sub during the second half.

Strangely, with everything going on in the build up, one thing that does stick in my mind was that Keith Chamberlain, then Manager at Harrow Borough was the only manager that actually picked up the phone to call and wish me and the team all the best. His call meant a lot to me and it has stayed with me all these years. It’s something else I always endeavour to do when people have big games or whatever. It’s nice when you know that other people are thinking about you. Keith set the trend and I try to continue it. It doesn’t always happen as sometimes you get overtaken by circumstances, but the thought is there. Also in the last couple of days leading up to the match I got a good luck letter from Wandsworth Prison. It was from one of our old youth team players at Southall, a goalkeeper, who had been involved in an armed robbery and he was the driver. They got caught and he was serving his time at Her Majesty’s pleasure. I won’t name him because it could all be a long time in his past now and I wouldn’t want to cause him any problems, but to this day I’m astounded that he got involved in anything like that. He was genuinely a really, really nice lad and I hope that since then, he’s learnt his lesson and he’s doing well for himself.

For the night before the final we booked into a hotel in Hemel Hempstead and we tried to do all the right things like applying a curfew, but I still have a feeling that not all of the squad were tucked up in bed by midnight. We allowed them a couple of drinks in the bar and sent them off to bed at about 11. Excitement, nerves or just a bunch of young lads enjoying themselves? Who knows, but the narrow corridors of the hotel were still busy until the early hours. We had been to Wembley on the Friday to get used to the surroundings, take pictures and to savour the atmosphere of the historic stadium. The feeling as we drove down Wembley Way and seeing the ‘Twin Towers’ sent a tingle down my spine. Suddenly I had the realisation that in 24 hours we would be living every footballer’s dream and playing in this historic stadium. As we walked out on the immaculately prepared surface, I looked around at some of the youngsters in the squad as they stood spellbound in the middle of this vast arena. It almost looked as if the School Bus had arrived and lots of excited youngsters had wandered onto the pitch. It was such a young side with a strike force of three teenagers and though there was some valuable experience with Mick McGovern, John Richardson and ex Portsmouth player Keith James (who had been such a positive influence), even he was still only 24. Once the lads had got over the initial impact, the banter started to flow and they began to relax which was important