WALTZING BUGLE BOY
The tune that City run out to has been the subject of a thread on the unofficial City message board recently. Dave Clarke has passed on to me a cutting from the Essex Chronicle dated January 1954 when the tune was the subject of a letter from a City supporter.
The letter appeared in a column by the Chronicle’s City man at the time J. C. Chaplin. The letter went - “Can you tell me if Chelmsford City are the only football club in the country to take the field at home matches to a regular tune played over the loudspeaker? The City tune “The Bugler’s Waltz” is certainly a rousing one and should encourage a loud supporting cheer.” – Ardent Supporter.
Chaplin’s reply was – “I should say that seventy five per cent of the pro clubs have got signature tunes – and many amateur clubs too. But “The Bugler’s Waltz” is certainly a great choice. I wish it would bring equally stirring results.”
So City were certainly using the tune in January 1954, even if they didn’t know its correct title. Anyone got any evidence that it was used even earlier? The track appears on Frank’s debut album ‘Presenting Frank Chacksfield’ which was released by the London label in 1951. I’m not sure who composed the tune and when it was originally written, but it appears that its earliest incarnation was in 1951 so it couldn’t have been used by City before that date.
OPERATION BIRTH-DAY
3 more successes this month bringing the number of players to have played a league game for City where I do not have their birth details down to 180.
I spoke to former City player Mitchell Springett to obtain the details for his father Alan, who played for City three times, twice in the league and once in a league cup tie, in November and December 1959.
I caught up with former City Manager Chris Symes at Don Walker’s funeral during the summer. His first game in charge of the club on Wednesday December 16th 1987 saw City arrive at Leicester United shorthanded and they were forced to use centre forward Paul Wilkins in goal and Stuart Pettican at number 9. Stuart was a friend of Chris’ son and at Don’s funeral he promised to track down Pettican’s details for me. A couple of weeks ago I reminded him of this and Chris has come up trumps and got the details for me. Stuart was 16 years 11 months and 16 days old when he played for City making him one of the youngest players ever to play for the Club, but more of that later. Stuart made one further appearance for the Club, a 5-0 defeat at Grays Athletic in the Essex Thames-side Trophy played 13 days after his debut, when he came on as a substitute.
John Morris pointed out to me that Jamie Reeves details are available on Wikipedia. Jamie played 5 games for the Club, 3 being league games, in September 1979 during John Newman’s spell as Manager. One of the games was the infamous 2-0 FA Cup defeat at Parson Drove United. Jamie now lives and works in Singapore and I have e-mailed him asking for a chat about his time with the Club, but as yet have had no response.
FEEDBACK AND ERRATA
I have been corresponding with former Essex Chronicle scribe Martin Rogers, who now lives in Australia, seeking permission to include an extract from his autobiography in the first edition of ‘The Chelmsford City Historian’. Martin has been happy to give me the necessary permission and I am hoping that he will contribute regularly to the magazine with some of his reminisces of his time covering City for the Chronicle.
Martin’s latest e-mail includes some feedback on my previous Blogs.
“David. A few disconnected thoughts after reading through your posts.
Mention of Jack Parry prompts the memory that he was the goalkeeper when I first watched City in 1957 and Bill Parry (no relation) was the trainer – and father of John Parry who was in the same class when I went to the Grammar School. Even the trainer was considered a celebrity, a real life connection with the gods of New Writtle Street.
John Docherty was a great guy, a super genuine player and personality. He was unfailingly polite and considerate ‘contact’ for the up and coming Essex Chronicle football writer of the day. One terrific memory is of travelling back on the team coach from some distant away match and listening (along with a spellbound audience of players and officials) to Doc rendering ‘The Road To Dundee’ in the most brilliant singing voice. He could have been the Susan Boyle of the 1960’s!
Len Phillips was one of the finest players to wear a City shirt, even if his great days were some time past. His ability to read a situation and deliver searching and beautifully weighted passes were still something special. Another of my ‘duties’ when I was covering City in the 1960’s and 1970’s was to have a weekly audience with the Manager of the day and Harry Ferrier was a treasure trove of information about that First Division back-to-back title-winning side at Portsmouth in which he and Len played.
I’m not surprised that Tony Butcher is such an accurate source of who did what – many have represented the Club with passion and pride but probably none more so than Tony, the local boy made good. There were odd periods in his career when he seemed to miss more than he scored (which is saying something) but the fact is he was an everywhere man who could sniff out those goal-scoring opportunities with uncanny perception. And the record book shows he had a strike rate which few have matched in any tier of professional football.
Martin Rogers”
YOUNGEST AND OLDEST
Claret Kim has asked on the Message board who is the youngest and oldest player to play for the Club. By necessity I have to keep this one down to league matches only, remember also that there are 180 players that I do not have the information for.
The youngest player to play a league game for the Club is George Lay who was 16 years, 5 months and 17 days old when he made his league debut on Saturday December 14th 2002, in 4-0 home defeat by Tamworth. George had already made his competitive debut in a League Cup tie at Welling United 18 days earlier, so it is highly likely that he also holds the record of youngest ever player in competitive games.
George is closely followed by David Hawes, Reg Folkard, Craig Newman, Stuart Pettican and Gareth Street.
The oldest player to play for City in a league game is Peter Taylor who was 42 years, 3 months and 7 days old when he played his final league game for City on Monday April 10th 1995. That was a 3-2 home win over VS Rugby with Lee Hunter, Tony Rogers and Mark Bellingham getting City’s goals.
Peter is followed by Mervyn Cawston, Ben Burley, Harry Lane, Len Phillips and John Taylor.
The oldest player to make his debut for City is Harry Lane who, following his transfer from Southend United, who was 40 years, 5 months and 3 days old when he made his debut in a 2-1 home win over Barry Town on Wednesday August 24th 1949.
Harry is followed by John Taylor, Rob Newman, Bob Glozier, Wally Gould and Tom Brolly.
CLEAN SHEETS
Peter Foster, again on the Message Board, asked for the Club record in terms of consecutive clean sheets. This was prompted by Ashley Harrison’s run of 6 consecutive clean sheets, including 5 league games.
Well Peter, the previous Club record in terms of competitive games was 6, and this was achieved by Paul Casey who did not concede a goal between December 14th 1988 and January 7th 1989, a run that included 5 league games and an Essex Senior Cup tie. City won all 6 games, 4 of which were at home and 2 away.
Therefore Ashley equalled this record by not conceding a goal between February 8th 2010 and March 6th 2010. These 6 games consisted of 5 league games and an Essex Senior Cup tie, with 4 games at home and 2 away, with City again winning all 6 games, a record that is identical to Paul Casey.
Ashley also equalled the record for consecutive clean sheets in league games with 5, something that had been achieved on 5 previous occasions. The record was originally set by Laurie Taylor in March 1972. This was equalled by Nicky Penn in January/February 1978, and again by Willie Carrick in March 1982. Paul Casey equalled the feat in 1989, as mentioned above, with Paul Catley again keeping 5 consecutive clean sheets in February/March 2000.
IN MEMORIAM
Sadly former City player and Manager Peter Harburn passed away on March 13th. Born in Shoreditch on June 18th 1931 Harburn originally joined Portsmouth as an amateur before embarking on a Football League career with Brighton and Hove Albion, Everton, Scunthorpe United and Workington before signing for City in the summer of 1961. He made just 37 appearances for City scoring 12 goals, originally as a centre forward but latterly as a defender. He took over as trainer during Bill Frith’s spell as City Manager being appointed as Caretaker Manager when Frith left the Club in April 1965. He was officially appointed Manager in February 1966. He was sacked in September 1966 as the side started the season badly. He moved on to Wisbech Town and Stevenage Town before taking over as licensee of the Bird In hand public house, which was opposite City’s New Writtle Street ground.
He claimed wrongful dismissal when he left City and successfully sued the Club winning £601 in damages.
MISSING LINE UPS
David Williams, a Bedford Town historian whom I mentioned in my last blog, has come up trumps after his visit to the National Newspaper Library in Colindale. He has sent me a report of the Bedford v City game played on Wednesday April 14th 1948. This mentions full back Don Walker so that is another blank filled in. To complete this line up, which now has only one name missing; I am inserting Tom Shalcross into the number 6 shirt as he played in the 2 games before and the 5 games afterwards, although with an asterisk that it needs checking. Only 3 more line ups to go!
PLEASE NOTE…
….that if you do not to want keep checking whether I have posted a new Blog then please e-mail me at the address below and I will add you to my distribution list. I will then e-mail you as soon as I have Blogged!
AND FINALLY….
…..don’t forget that if you want to contact me with any help, feedback or requests you can e-mail me at chelmsfordcityhistory@googlemail.com.
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Sunday, 28 February 2010
WELCOME….
……again to my latest blog.
FEEDBACK AND ERRATA
Gary Mixture has e-mailed me regarding the four missing line ups. He points out that if a little detective work is to be undertaken then a list of those sources already tried would be helpful. Well Gary the Essex Chronicle and Essex Weekly News microfilms held at Chelmsford Library have already been tried and this is where the main information has been gleaned from. You will notice that, with the exception of the Dartford match, the games were played on Wednesday or Thursdays, too late for that weeks papers and old hat by the time the following weeks editions were out. As a result coverage was minimal with no line ups included. As mentioned last time Dave Clarke has looked at the East Anglian Daily Times whilst I have e-mailed all four of the Clubs, but without success. I have also contacted Kidderminster Library, am awaiting a response from Dartford Library and will be contacting Bedford Library and Llanelly Library in due course. The only ‘local’ paper left is the Essex County Standard, which although Colchester based, did cover City from time to time. I’m pretty certain that the ‘Green ‘Uns’ files have also been checked.
In my piece last time on Friday 13th I omitted the month from the date of the game against Folkestone. This game, which City won 2-0, was played on Friday 13th October 1972.
MY FAVOURITE CITY STAT
Apologies for mentioning this again, it pops up in my programme columns from time to time, but after beating Alvechurch 2-0 on Saturday 21st April 1990 City did not win another home league game on a Saturday until 11th January 1992, when they beat Burton Albion 3-1. That’s a run of 21 home Saturday league games without a win. The run consisted of 13 draws and 8 defeats.
That is a remarkable enough statistic in itself, but this is what makes it so special for me. During the same spell City played 10 league games at home on days other than a Saturday and did not lose one! The 10 games were played on Mondays, 7, and Wednesday’s, 3, and City won 5 games and drew the other 5. Must have been something to do with the floodlights!
ARISE SIR JOHN MORRIS……
John Morris has become a real star when it comes to tracking down players on what I am now calling ‘Operation Birth-day’, that is a project to record the birth details of every player who played a league game for City. John has really taken this on board and is e-mailing me, almost on a daily basis, with potential leads. Please see further down for details of those players I have tracked down with John’s help. Keep up the good work John.
IN MEMORIAM
Sadly former City ‘keeper Brynley John ‘Jack’ Parry died on January 20th. Jack, who was born on 11th January 1924 in Pontardawe, joined City in the summer of 1955. He started his league career with Swansea Town just after the Second World War and made 98 appearances before being transferred to Ipswich Town for £750 in August 1951. He spent four years at Portman Road making 138 league appearances before being released and signing for City. He won a full Welsh international cap whilst with Swansea. In all he spent 4 seasons at New Writtle Street making 149 appearances, although he had spells on the sidelines after breaking an arm in August 1956 and again in November 1958.
ESSEX SENIOR CUP
City have appeared in the final of this competition for the last two seasons and have reached the semi final again this season. Consequently since losing 3-0 at Braintree Town in a 3rd Round tie on Tuesday 7th November 2006 the only defeat City have suffered was the Final at Roots Hall against Southend United in April 2008. That’s a run of 13 games with 12 wins and just the solitary defeat. If only our form was as good in the FA Trophy!
RICKY HOLMES – 200 up
City’s recent 0-0 home draw with Newport County saw Ricky Holmes make his 200th appearance for the Club. Ricky made his debut when he came on as a substitute in a 3-1 home League Cup win over Horsham on Wednesday 9th November 2005 at New Lodge. He made his full debut in an Essex Senior Cup tie at Brentwood Town in November 2005. His full league debut did not come until August 2006 in a 1-1 home draw with Bromley. Coincidentally his first goal was scored against Bromley in the second game played at Melbourne Park when he scored with a header after coming on as a substitute. The breakdown of his first 200 games is:
Apps Gls
League 150 43
League Cup 9 0
FA Cup 14 4
FA Trophy 11 4
Essex Senior Cup 13 8
Play Offs 3 0
Totals 200 59
MISTER CONSISTENCY?
They say, of course, that modern day players play too much football and that they need a rest from time to time. Try telling that to John Docherty who joined City in the summer of 1965. He missed just one first team game in his first two seasons at New Writtle Street. Nothing too amazing in that you might say, until you realise that thanks to taking part in the Eastern Floodlight Competition City played 67 games in 1965-1966, Docherty missed one game, and 73 in 1966-1967. That’s 140 competitive games in two seasons and Docherty played in 139 of them! Of course there were substitutes in the latter season but John started all 139 games not once appearing as a substitute, a quite remarkable record. The game he missed? Well that was an Eastern Floodlight Competition game at Cambridge United on January 5th 1966 after which he played in 117 consecutive games. It’s not as though Docherty was a youngster either, he was already 30 when he signed for City!
OPERATION BIRTH-DAY
Before I come on to the exploits of John Morris I have to mention that Dave Clarke has also been digging around and come up with a couple of nuggets. He has tracked down the birth details of James McCombe who played for City in 1938-1939 after spells with Clapton Orient and in Scotland. He has also done the same and confirmed details for Hopkin John ‘Jack’ Roberts who appeared as a guest for the Club in the 1945-1946 season.
So on to John Morris. He has managed to conform the birth details for Jack Coulter, listed in many books as 1912. John has been in contact with Marshall Gillespie, the Editor of the Northern Ireland Football Yearbook, who has confirmed that Jack was in fact born in 1910, and he has also confirmed the actual date.
John has also provided leads that ended with me speaking to Dave Weights, Harry Yardley and Trevor Inch and confirming their respective birth details. Further details below. The number of players left has now dropped to 183 with more leads from John to follow up.
DAVE WEIGHTS
I had an excellent chat with Dave Weights who confirmed to me that, along with Tottenham Hotspur and Dagenham and Redbridge, he looks for the City result each Saturday. Dave made 39 appearances for the Club scoring 10 goals in the 1979-1980 season, finishing as joint top scorer along with Frank Bishop with 7 league goals. Originally with Fulham he joined Barking and then Leytonstone, where he struck up a friendship with John Still. He enjoyed a short loan spell at Grays Athletic before joining City in October 1979. It was not a great season for City as Manager Don Walker’s side finished 21st in the 24 team Southern League Southern Division. After leaving City Dave suffered with a back injury that prompted an early retirement from playing football, although he did some coaching in local football. Dave will always be remembered by City fans for his 4 goals at Gosport Borough in March 1980, a game that City won 5-3. By doing so he equalled the efforts of Frank Peterson who had scored 4 in a 5-2 league win at Guildford City in September 1971. This has subsequently been equalled by Alec Gallagher, who got 4 at Ruislip in a 9-0 win in December 1988 and Steve Portway, who did the same in a 5-1 win at Burnham in September 2000. The Club record in away games is 5 scored by Syd Plunkett in an 8-1 win at Exeter City Reserves in October 1949.
For many years an Executive with the Whitbread Group Dave and his wife have recently purchased a swimming pool and established a business that specialises in courses for schools. He tells me that it hard but very enjoyable work.
TREVOR INCH
Originally an apprentice and full time professional with Portsmouth Trevor signed for City in August 1986 after spells at Southend United and Crawley Town. Unfortunately an injury suffered whilst he was at Fratton Park always hampered his career and he played only 37 games in goal for City before leaving in January 1987. He had a short spell at Basingstoke Town before hanging up his boots at a relatively young age.
Trevor told me that the highlight of his time at City was the FA Cup 2nd Round tie at Gillingham in December 1986. Two goals from Tony Cascarino were enough to see the Gills through, in front of a crowd of 5,843. It was certainly an improvement for City who just 3 years earlier had lost at Priestfield 6-1 in another 2nd Round tie.
HARRY YARDLEY
Alive and still living in Galleywood is Harry Yardley who made 4 appearances for the Club in September and October 1952, making his debut when just 18 years of age. Originally on the books of West Ham United he played for City under Ben Burley but after being dropped he refused to sign a professional contract and left the Club, never to return. Whilst on National Service he was approached by both Plymouth Argyle and Torquay whilst playing for the United Services but was unable to fit in any games owing to his other commitments.
Once his National Service had finished he returned to Chelmsford and played for Chelmsford Swifts preferring local football with all its social side to the professional game. He also played for Park Avenue in the early days of the Chelmsford Sunday League.
MISSING LINE UPS
Dave Clarke has introduced me to a chap called David Williams who is an expert in all things Bedford Town. David is concentrating on the post 1950 seasons, so he is unable to help with the missing players from the April 1948 game. However he is visiting the National Newspaper Library at Colindale shortly and has promised me that he will hunt through the Bedfordshire papers of the time to see if anything turns up.
PLEASE NOTE…
….that if you do not to want keep checking whether I have posted a new Blog then please e-mail me at the address below and I will add you to my distribution list. I will then e-mail you as soon as I have Blogged!
AND FINALLY….
…..don’t forget that if you want to contact me with any help, feedback or requests you can e-mail me at chelmsfordcityhistory@googlemail.com.
FEEDBACK AND ERRATA
Gary Mixture has e-mailed me regarding the four missing line ups. He points out that if a little detective work is to be undertaken then a list of those sources already tried would be helpful. Well Gary the Essex Chronicle and Essex Weekly News microfilms held at Chelmsford Library have already been tried and this is where the main information has been gleaned from. You will notice that, with the exception of the Dartford match, the games were played on Wednesday or Thursdays, too late for that weeks papers and old hat by the time the following weeks editions were out. As a result coverage was minimal with no line ups included. As mentioned last time Dave Clarke has looked at the East Anglian Daily Times whilst I have e-mailed all four of the Clubs, but without success. I have also contacted Kidderminster Library, am awaiting a response from Dartford Library and will be contacting Bedford Library and Llanelly Library in due course. The only ‘local’ paper left is the Essex County Standard, which although Colchester based, did cover City from time to time. I’m pretty certain that the ‘Green ‘Uns’ files have also been checked.
In my piece last time on Friday 13th I omitted the month from the date of the game against Folkestone. This game, which City won 2-0, was played on Friday 13th October 1972.
MY FAVOURITE CITY STAT
Apologies for mentioning this again, it pops up in my programme columns from time to time, but after beating Alvechurch 2-0 on Saturday 21st April 1990 City did not win another home league game on a Saturday until 11th January 1992, when they beat Burton Albion 3-1. That’s a run of 21 home Saturday league games without a win. The run consisted of 13 draws and 8 defeats.
That is a remarkable enough statistic in itself, but this is what makes it so special for me. During the same spell City played 10 league games at home on days other than a Saturday and did not lose one! The 10 games were played on Mondays, 7, and Wednesday’s, 3, and City won 5 games and drew the other 5. Must have been something to do with the floodlights!
ARISE SIR JOHN MORRIS……
John Morris has become a real star when it comes to tracking down players on what I am now calling ‘Operation Birth-day’, that is a project to record the birth details of every player who played a league game for City. John has really taken this on board and is e-mailing me, almost on a daily basis, with potential leads. Please see further down for details of those players I have tracked down with John’s help. Keep up the good work John.
IN MEMORIAM
Sadly former City ‘keeper Brynley John ‘Jack’ Parry died on January 20th. Jack, who was born on 11th January 1924 in Pontardawe, joined City in the summer of 1955. He started his league career with Swansea Town just after the Second World War and made 98 appearances before being transferred to Ipswich Town for £750 in August 1951. He spent four years at Portman Road making 138 league appearances before being released and signing for City. He won a full Welsh international cap whilst with Swansea. In all he spent 4 seasons at New Writtle Street making 149 appearances, although he had spells on the sidelines after breaking an arm in August 1956 and again in November 1958.
ESSEX SENIOR CUP
City have appeared in the final of this competition for the last two seasons and have reached the semi final again this season. Consequently since losing 3-0 at Braintree Town in a 3rd Round tie on Tuesday 7th November 2006 the only defeat City have suffered was the Final at Roots Hall against Southend United in April 2008. That’s a run of 13 games with 12 wins and just the solitary defeat. If only our form was as good in the FA Trophy!
RICKY HOLMES – 200 up
City’s recent 0-0 home draw with Newport County saw Ricky Holmes make his 200th appearance for the Club. Ricky made his debut when he came on as a substitute in a 3-1 home League Cup win over Horsham on Wednesday 9th November 2005 at New Lodge. He made his full debut in an Essex Senior Cup tie at Brentwood Town in November 2005. His full league debut did not come until August 2006 in a 1-1 home draw with Bromley. Coincidentally his first goal was scored against Bromley in the second game played at Melbourne Park when he scored with a header after coming on as a substitute. The breakdown of his first 200 games is:
Apps Gls
League 150 43
League Cup 9 0
FA Cup 14 4
FA Trophy 11 4
Essex Senior Cup 13 8
Play Offs 3 0
Totals 200 59
MISTER CONSISTENCY?
They say, of course, that modern day players play too much football and that they need a rest from time to time. Try telling that to John Docherty who joined City in the summer of 1965. He missed just one first team game in his first two seasons at New Writtle Street. Nothing too amazing in that you might say, until you realise that thanks to taking part in the Eastern Floodlight Competition City played 67 games in 1965-1966, Docherty missed one game, and 73 in 1966-1967. That’s 140 competitive games in two seasons and Docherty played in 139 of them! Of course there were substitutes in the latter season but John started all 139 games not once appearing as a substitute, a quite remarkable record. The game he missed? Well that was an Eastern Floodlight Competition game at Cambridge United on January 5th 1966 after which he played in 117 consecutive games. It’s not as though Docherty was a youngster either, he was already 30 when he signed for City!
OPERATION BIRTH-DAY
Before I come on to the exploits of John Morris I have to mention that Dave Clarke has also been digging around and come up with a couple of nuggets. He has tracked down the birth details of James McCombe who played for City in 1938-1939 after spells with Clapton Orient and in Scotland. He has also done the same and confirmed details for Hopkin John ‘Jack’ Roberts who appeared as a guest for the Club in the 1945-1946 season.
So on to John Morris. He has managed to conform the birth details for Jack Coulter, listed in many books as 1912. John has been in contact with Marshall Gillespie, the Editor of the Northern Ireland Football Yearbook, who has confirmed that Jack was in fact born in 1910, and he has also confirmed the actual date.
John has also provided leads that ended with me speaking to Dave Weights, Harry Yardley and Trevor Inch and confirming their respective birth details. Further details below. The number of players left has now dropped to 183 with more leads from John to follow up.
DAVE WEIGHTS
I had an excellent chat with Dave Weights who confirmed to me that, along with Tottenham Hotspur and Dagenham and Redbridge, he looks for the City result each Saturday. Dave made 39 appearances for the Club scoring 10 goals in the 1979-1980 season, finishing as joint top scorer along with Frank Bishop with 7 league goals. Originally with Fulham he joined Barking and then Leytonstone, where he struck up a friendship with John Still. He enjoyed a short loan spell at Grays Athletic before joining City in October 1979. It was not a great season for City as Manager Don Walker’s side finished 21st in the 24 team Southern League Southern Division. After leaving City Dave suffered with a back injury that prompted an early retirement from playing football, although he did some coaching in local football. Dave will always be remembered by City fans for his 4 goals at Gosport Borough in March 1980, a game that City won 5-3. By doing so he equalled the efforts of Frank Peterson who had scored 4 in a 5-2 league win at Guildford City in September 1971. This has subsequently been equalled by Alec Gallagher, who got 4 at Ruislip in a 9-0 win in December 1988 and Steve Portway, who did the same in a 5-1 win at Burnham in September 2000. The Club record in away games is 5 scored by Syd Plunkett in an 8-1 win at Exeter City Reserves in October 1949.
For many years an Executive with the Whitbread Group Dave and his wife have recently purchased a swimming pool and established a business that specialises in courses for schools. He tells me that it hard but very enjoyable work.
TREVOR INCH
Originally an apprentice and full time professional with Portsmouth Trevor signed for City in August 1986 after spells at Southend United and Crawley Town. Unfortunately an injury suffered whilst he was at Fratton Park always hampered his career and he played only 37 games in goal for City before leaving in January 1987. He had a short spell at Basingstoke Town before hanging up his boots at a relatively young age.
Trevor told me that the highlight of his time at City was the FA Cup 2nd Round tie at Gillingham in December 1986. Two goals from Tony Cascarino were enough to see the Gills through, in front of a crowd of 5,843. It was certainly an improvement for City who just 3 years earlier had lost at Priestfield 6-1 in another 2nd Round tie.
HARRY YARDLEY
Alive and still living in Galleywood is Harry Yardley who made 4 appearances for the Club in September and October 1952, making his debut when just 18 years of age. Originally on the books of West Ham United he played for City under Ben Burley but after being dropped he refused to sign a professional contract and left the Club, never to return. Whilst on National Service he was approached by both Plymouth Argyle and Torquay whilst playing for the United Services but was unable to fit in any games owing to his other commitments.
Once his National Service had finished he returned to Chelmsford and played for Chelmsford Swifts preferring local football with all its social side to the professional game. He also played for Park Avenue in the early days of the Chelmsford Sunday League.
MISSING LINE UPS
Dave Clarke has introduced me to a chap called David Williams who is an expert in all things Bedford Town. David is concentrating on the post 1950 seasons, so he is unable to help with the missing players from the April 1948 game. However he is visiting the National Newspaper Library at Colindale shortly and has promised me that he will hunt through the Bedfordshire papers of the time to see if anything turns up.
PLEASE NOTE…
….that if you do not to want keep checking whether I have posted a new Blog then please e-mail me at the address below and I will add you to my distribution list. I will then e-mail you as soon as I have Blogged!
AND FINALLY….
…..don’t forget that if you want to contact me with any help, feedback or requests you can e-mail me at chelmsfordcityhistory@googlemail.com.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Sunday 14th February 2010
WELCOME….
……to my latest blog. I hope that you find this as interesting as my first effort obviously was judging by the feedback that I have had.
FEEDBACK
I have received some really positive feedback to my last blog and I thank all those who took the trouble to let me know how much they appreciated it.
Trevor Wright has pointed out to me that he was the Chairman when we visited King’s Lynn in the FA Trophy. Peter Stroud was one of the Club’s Directors at the time and had yet to move into the hot seat. Apologies for the error and a thank you to Trevor for putting the record straight.
In the final piece on Billy Kellock’s 4 goals against Banbury United I omitted to mention the year the game took place. City’s 6-1 win was played on Monday 20th October 1975.
John Morris has done some digging around with regard to the half a dozen players I listed whose date and place of birth are missing. This has led to some interesting leads, most notably for Danny Moul, that I will be following up later. Another six players are listed later.
LEN PHILLIPS
Following my recent ‘City Legends’ article on Len I have managed to track down his family and sent his wife Joan a copy of the relevant programme. I received a very nice letter from Joan in response in which she explained that Len has been in hospital for over two and a half years suffering from vascular dementia as well as having arthritis in most of his limbs. I had asked Joan if she could arrange for Len to autograph a copy of the programme but with Len’s current condition that was impossible. However she very kindly sent me an autographed copy of the Portsmouth team that won the Football League Division One title in the late forties. Evidently Len is the only one of that squad still alive.
Jim Culleton, who currently undertakes a role at the Club looking after the match officials and their guests, met Joan last week on a visit to Portsmouth and she told Jim that she is in touch with Derek Tiffin. Hopefully this will lead to me being able to send Derek a copy of the programme that featured him in the ‘City Legends’ series.
CONSECUTIVE HOME GAMES
Peter Foster asked on the City Message Board whether City’s current run of eight consecutive home games was a record. It is indeed a Club record Peter, the previous longest run being seven games. This run started following an away game at Wimbledon on Tuesday 14th January 1975, when City went down 2-0 in a league game at Plough Lane. City then played seven consecutive home games before travelling to Atherstone Town on Saturday 1st March and getting thumped 4-0, again in a league game. The run of seven games consisted of three league games and four games in the Eastern Floodlight Competition. City won six of the games but lost one, a 1-0 defeat against Telford United in the league. On four occasions City have played six consecutive home games, with runs ending in January 1992, March 1990, April 1983 and December 1980.
The most consecutive away games played stands at eight with a run that stretched from 2nd October 1999 until 13th November 1999. This run consisted of four league games, two FA Cup games, and FA Trophy game and an EFC game. The Club also played seven consecutive away games from 20th October 1956 until 1st December 1956 although this run included the FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round 2nd Replay with Clacton Town that was played at Layer Road, Colchester.
LEN GALLEY
Len played four games for City and there are some interesting coincidences. All four games were played in April, two in 1947 and two in 1948 and all four games were against Bedford Town! Len obviously liked playing against Bedford because in those four appearances he scored three goals. Playing at inside forward Len appeared in three League Cup ties and one League game.
WANTED LIST
Thanks to the Club’s former Kit Manager Ian Butcher I have made contact with Justin Beacher and obtained his date and place of birth details bringing down the number of players details needed to 188. As mentioned above I have some leads to follow up from John Morris that should see this number reduced further. Here are another six fairly recent players who I would like to track down – Roger Brown (1991), Mark O’Leary (1991), Jason Coles (1991), Gary Barden (1991), Merrick Harriott (1991) and Steve Jones (1991). Merrick Harriott was born in London in 1955 but I do not have any more precise details.
FRIDAY 13th – UNLUCKY OR NOT?
With Saturday’s game against Newport County taking place on the 13th of the month I was asked whether Friday 13th was lucky or unlucky for City. Well I suppose you could say that itis lucky, but as the Club have only ever played one game on that day and date it might be stretching things a little! On Friday 13th 1972 City played Folkestone at New Writtle Street and won 2-0 with goals from Frank Peterson and Barry Thornley. A crowd of 2,979 watched the game.
MISSING LINE UPS
Dave Clarke has done some digging around and come up with a match report on the game at Bedford Town on Wednesday 14th April 1948. City lost the League Cup game 2-0. Although the report, which is from the East Anglian Daily Times, does not list the team line ups it does include the names of several City players with the result that we now know the names of another three City players who took part in this game.
The full list of games where we have incomplete line ups are:
14th April 1948 A Bedford Town LCP – 2 players missing.
21st April 1952 A Dartford Lge – 2 players missing.
30th April 1953 A Kidderminster Harriers Lge – 5 players missing.
27th April 1955 A Llanelly Lge – 2 players missing.
A lot of research has gone into trying to track down these missing players names, so if you can help in any way then please let me know. It may be, for example, that you have a programme from one of these games that has been marked with the names of the players who took part.
THE CHELMSFORD CITY HISTORIAN
Those who read my first blog will know that I am considering publishing a quarterly newsletter covering the history and statistics of the Club.
To enable me to decide whether to go ahead I would welcome your feedback on whether you think that this should be in paper format, which would obviously result in a charge to cover costs, or in PDF format made available by e-mail. I would appreciate hearing your views.
BRYAN REEVE
It was good to see the former City Chairman Bryan Reeve at the Newport County game. Bryan confirmed to me that he retains an avid interest in non league football but this was the first City game he had attended since he stood down as Chairman in 1988. Needless to say I obtained his contact details so that I can interview him in depth on his time not only as City Chairman but as a member of the Southern League Management Committee.
HOME ATTENDANCES
The attendance of 554 for the recent home game with Dorchester Town was the second lowest for a league game at Melbourne Park. The lowest crowd was 502 who watched the 3-0 win over Hendon on Wednesday 8th March 2006, on what was a very, very wet day. City’s goals were scored by Tony Boot and Richard Halle (2).
AND FINALLY….
…..don’t forget that if you want to contact me with any help, feedback or requests you can e-mail me at chelmsfordcityhistory@googlemail.com.
……to my latest blog. I hope that you find this as interesting as my first effort obviously was judging by the feedback that I have had.
FEEDBACK
I have received some really positive feedback to my last blog and I thank all those who took the trouble to let me know how much they appreciated it.
Trevor Wright has pointed out to me that he was the Chairman when we visited King’s Lynn in the FA Trophy. Peter Stroud was one of the Club’s Directors at the time and had yet to move into the hot seat. Apologies for the error and a thank you to Trevor for putting the record straight.
In the final piece on Billy Kellock’s 4 goals against Banbury United I omitted to mention the year the game took place. City’s 6-1 win was played on Monday 20th October 1975.
John Morris has done some digging around with regard to the half a dozen players I listed whose date and place of birth are missing. This has led to some interesting leads, most notably for Danny Moul, that I will be following up later. Another six players are listed later.
LEN PHILLIPS
Following my recent ‘City Legends’ article on Len I have managed to track down his family and sent his wife Joan a copy of the relevant programme. I received a very nice letter from Joan in response in which she explained that Len has been in hospital for over two and a half years suffering from vascular dementia as well as having arthritis in most of his limbs. I had asked Joan if she could arrange for Len to autograph a copy of the programme but with Len’s current condition that was impossible. However she very kindly sent me an autographed copy of the Portsmouth team that won the Football League Division One title in the late forties. Evidently Len is the only one of that squad still alive.
Jim Culleton, who currently undertakes a role at the Club looking after the match officials and their guests, met Joan last week on a visit to Portsmouth and she told Jim that she is in touch with Derek Tiffin. Hopefully this will lead to me being able to send Derek a copy of the programme that featured him in the ‘City Legends’ series.
CONSECUTIVE HOME GAMES
Peter Foster asked on the City Message Board whether City’s current run of eight consecutive home games was a record. It is indeed a Club record Peter, the previous longest run being seven games. This run started following an away game at Wimbledon on Tuesday 14th January 1975, when City went down 2-0 in a league game at Plough Lane. City then played seven consecutive home games before travelling to Atherstone Town on Saturday 1st March and getting thumped 4-0, again in a league game. The run of seven games consisted of three league games and four games in the Eastern Floodlight Competition. City won six of the games but lost one, a 1-0 defeat against Telford United in the league. On four occasions City have played six consecutive home games, with runs ending in January 1992, March 1990, April 1983 and December 1980.
The most consecutive away games played stands at eight with a run that stretched from 2nd October 1999 until 13th November 1999. This run consisted of four league games, two FA Cup games, and FA Trophy game and an EFC game. The Club also played seven consecutive away games from 20th October 1956 until 1st December 1956 although this run included the FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round 2nd Replay with Clacton Town that was played at Layer Road, Colchester.
LEN GALLEY
Len played four games for City and there are some interesting coincidences. All four games were played in April, two in 1947 and two in 1948 and all four games were against Bedford Town! Len obviously liked playing against Bedford because in those four appearances he scored three goals. Playing at inside forward Len appeared in three League Cup ties and one League game.
WANTED LIST
Thanks to the Club’s former Kit Manager Ian Butcher I have made contact with Justin Beacher and obtained his date and place of birth details bringing down the number of players details needed to 188. As mentioned above I have some leads to follow up from John Morris that should see this number reduced further. Here are another six fairly recent players who I would like to track down – Roger Brown (1991), Mark O’Leary (1991), Jason Coles (1991), Gary Barden (1991), Merrick Harriott (1991) and Steve Jones (1991). Merrick Harriott was born in London in 1955 but I do not have any more precise details.
FRIDAY 13th – UNLUCKY OR NOT?
With Saturday’s game against Newport County taking place on the 13th of the month I was asked whether Friday 13th was lucky or unlucky for City. Well I suppose you could say that itis lucky, but as the Club have only ever played one game on that day and date it might be stretching things a little! On Friday 13th 1972 City played Folkestone at New Writtle Street and won 2-0 with goals from Frank Peterson and Barry Thornley. A crowd of 2,979 watched the game.
MISSING LINE UPS
Dave Clarke has done some digging around and come up with a match report on the game at Bedford Town on Wednesday 14th April 1948. City lost the League Cup game 2-0. Although the report, which is from the East Anglian Daily Times, does not list the team line ups it does include the names of several City players with the result that we now know the names of another three City players who took part in this game.
The full list of games where we have incomplete line ups are:
14th April 1948 A Bedford Town LCP – 2 players missing.
21st April 1952 A Dartford Lge – 2 players missing.
30th April 1953 A Kidderminster Harriers Lge – 5 players missing.
27th April 1955 A Llanelly Lge – 2 players missing.
A lot of research has gone into trying to track down these missing players names, so if you can help in any way then please let me know. It may be, for example, that you have a programme from one of these games that has been marked with the names of the players who took part.
THE CHELMSFORD CITY HISTORIAN
Those who read my first blog will know that I am considering publishing a quarterly newsletter covering the history and statistics of the Club.
To enable me to decide whether to go ahead I would welcome your feedback on whether you think that this should be in paper format, which would obviously result in a charge to cover costs, or in PDF format made available by e-mail. I would appreciate hearing your views.
BRYAN REEVE
It was good to see the former City Chairman Bryan Reeve at the Newport County game. Bryan confirmed to me that he retains an avid interest in non league football but this was the first City game he had attended since he stood down as Chairman in 1988. Needless to say I obtained his contact details so that I can interview him in depth on his time not only as City Chairman but as a member of the Southern League Management Committee.
HOME ATTENDANCES
The attendance of 554 for the recent home game with Dorchester Town was the second lowest for a league game at Melbourne Park. The lowest crowd was 502 who watched the 3-0 win over Hendon on Wednesday 8th March 2006, on what was a very, very wet day. City’s goals were scored by Tony Boot and Richard Halle (2).
AND FINALLY….
…..don’t forget that if you want to contact me with any help, feedback or requests you can e-mail me at chelmsfordcityhistory@googlemail.com.
Saturday, 16 January 2010
WE'RE OFF!!
Welcome to my first blog.
I hope you are all enjoying this series. It has certainly been interesting for me to speak to the players and get an insight in to their careers both with City and at previous clubs. When speaking to Tony Butcher I found it amazing that he was able to recall things that happened so long ago. We would recall a game and whilst I was looking up the relevant info in my database Tony was telling me the score, who scored and other salient facts! All I ended up doing was confirming that his memory was correct! This series will continue until the end of the season at least. Please let me have your feedback on whether you are enjoying this series.
KEN 'BUSTER' WIGLEY
Ken was on my 'wanted' list as one of the players who made a league appearance for the club but with birth details missing. Purely by chance I found out that he worked in the same building as me, albeit a couple of floors above. After a couple of failed attempts to make contact with him before Christmas I eventually met up with him after the festive break and had a very interesting chat with him about his time at the Club in 1977 and again in 1980. Hopefully a detailed resume of our chat and another meeting we have planned will appear in the first edition of 'The Chelmsford City Historian'.
WANTED LIST
Which brings me on to the 'Wanted' List itself. Of the 1,100 or so players who have played for City in league matches the number whose birth details are missing is now down to 189. I am not going to list all 189 but hopefully this list can be whittled down step by step. So let's start off with a few relatively recent players. If anyone knows the whereabouts of Kevin Ahearn, Geoff Bailey, Terry Milbourne, Danny Moul, Matthew Schneider or Jez Millbank then I would be pleased to hear from them. That's six to start off with.
CITY GO OUT AGAINST OXFORD UNITED
So City's FA Trophy run comes to an end after Saturday's defeat against Oxford United. What a shame that the side failed to capitalise on their early superiority and put the visitors under some pressure. Still with the Club's recent poor FA Trophy record it was nice to have a season when some excitement was to be had on what is the only major competition where City have a losing record.
After the Oxford defeat City's record in the FA Trophy is:
p. 93 w. 39 d. 13 l. 41 f. 161 a. 156.
This season is the first that City have reached the New Year and still been in the FA Trophy since 1998. in that 1997-1998 season City beat King's Lynn 4-1 away in the 3rd Qualifying Round on November 29th and then lost 2-1 at Boreham Wood in the First Round Proper on January 10th. The King's Lynn game will be remembered as the game was segregated, the attendance was 1,016, and Chairman Peter Stroud was unable to return to the Directors box after visiting the City fans in their enclosure prior to the game. The Boreham Wood game will be remembered for the glaring miss by Lee Guiver that would have given us a replay.
Having been knocked out by Oxford United on January 30th represents the latest that City have been knocked out of the FA Trophy since 1997, when we lost 2-1 at Dagenham and Redbridge on February 8th. City won 2-0 at Crawley Town, out third win over the Sussex side that season, and then won 1-0 at Kettering Town when Neal Docking scored, he also scored both goals at Crawley, and Darren Williams in the City goal played a blinder. City travelled to Dagenham in the 2nd Round but a Kurt Davidson goal could not stop them going down 2-1.
Saturday's attendance of 1,347 was the highest for a home FA trophy tie since January 11th 1975 when 2,215 watched City lose 2-3 to Ilford in a 1st round tie. City's goals were scored by Eddie Dilsworth and Billy Kellock. The match was Sid Prosser's last as City Manager. the crowd was the 9th highest home crowd to watch a City FA Trophy game, with 42 home game shaving been played so far.
Although my records relating to penalties are nowhere near complete I can only find one previous occasion, prior to David Rainford's on Saturday, when a City player has scored a penalty and missed a penalty in the same game. This happened on Saturday September 12th 1997 when City lost 2-4 at Yeading in an FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round game. Darren Oxbrow scored for City as did Richard Cherry. Cherry's goal was a penalty and he also missed a penalty. he had quite a game as he was also sent off later in the game.
It doesn't fit into the above parameters but when Billy Kellock missed a penalty for City on Monday 20th October he missed the chance to join the list of players who have scored 5 goals for City in a match. City beat Banbury United 6-1 that night with Kellock getting 4 and Barry Dyson and Terry Price joining the scorers list. The match was a Southern League Cup 2nd Round tie.
If you can provide any feedback or answer any request for information then please e-mail me at chelmsfordcityhistory@googlemail.com.
THE CHELMSFORD CITY HISTORIAN
These 'blogs' will appear as often as I have something interesting to say or updates are available. It is currently my intention, time permitting, to publish a quarterly newsletter which will contain more in depth articles on the Club's history. If this does go ahead the first edition will be published in the spring.
I hope you are all enjoying this series. It has certainly been interesting for me to speak to the players and get an insight in to their careers both with City and at previous clubs. When speaking to Tony Butcher I found it amazing that he was able to recall things that happened so long ago. We would recall a game and whilst I was looking up the relevant info in my database Tony was telling me the score, who scored and other salient facts! All I ended up doing was confirming that his memory was correct! This series will continue until the end of the season at least. Please let me have your feedback on whether you are enjoying this series.
KEN 'BUSTER' WIGLEY
Ken was on my 'wanted' list as one of the players who made a league appearance for the club but with birth details missing. Purely by chance I found out that he worked in the same building as me, albeit a couple of floors above. After a couple of failed attempts to make contact with him before Christmas I eventually met up with him after the festive break and had a very interesting chat with him about his time at the Club in 1977 and again in 1980. Hopefully a detailed resume of our chat and another meeting we have planned will appear in the first edition of 'The Chelmsford City Historian'.
WANTED LIST
Which brings me on to the 'Wanted' List itself. Of the 1,100 or so players who have played for City in league matches the number whose birth details are missing is now down to 189. I am not going to list all 189 but hopefully this list can be whittled down step by step. So let's start off with a few relatively recent players. If anyone knows the whereabouts of Kevin Ahearn, Geoff Bailey, Terry Milbourne, Danny Moul, Matthew Schneider or Jez Millbank then I would be pleased to hear from them. That's six to start off with.
CITY GO OUT AGAINST OXFORD UNITED
So City's FA Trophy run comes to an end after Saturday's defeat against Oxford United. What a shame that the side failed to capitalise on their early superiority and put the visitors under some pressure. Still with the Club's recent poor FA Trophy record it was nice to have a season when some excitement was to be had on what is the only major competition where City have a losing record.
After the Oxford defeat City's record in the FA Trophy is:
p. 93 w. 39 d. 13 l. 41 f. 161 a. 156.
This season is the first that City have reached the New Year and still been in the FA Trophy since 1998. in that 1997-1998 season City beat King's Lynn 4-1 away in the 3rd Qualifying Round on November 29th and then lost 2-1 at Boreham Wood in the First Round Proper on January 10th. The King's Lynn game will be remembered as the game was segregated, the attendance was 1,016, and Chairman Peter Stroud was unable to return to the Directors box after visiting the City fans in their enclosure prior to the game. The Boreham Wood game will be remembered for the glaring miss by Lee Guiver that would have given us a replay.
Having been knocked out by Oxford United on January 30th represents the latest that City have been knocked out of the FA Trophy since 1997, when we lost 2-1 at Dagenham and Redbridge on February 8th. City won 2-0 at Crawley Town, out third win over the Sussex side that season, and then won 1-0 at Kettering Town when Neal Docking scored, he also scored both goals at Crawley, and Darren Williams in the City goal played a blinder. City travelled to Dagenham in the 2nd Round but a Kurt Davidson goal could not stop them going down 2-1.
Saturday's attendance of 1,347 was the highest for a home FA trophy tie since January 11th 1975 when 2,215 watched City lose 2-3 to Ilford in a 1st round tie. City's goals were scored by Eddie Dilsworth and Billy Kellock. The match was Sid Prosser's last as City Manager. the crowd was the 9th highest home crowd to watch a City FA Trophy game, with 42 home game shaving been played so far.
Although my records relating to penalties are nowhere near complete I can only find one previous occasion, prior to David Rainford's on Saturday, when a City player has scored a penalty and missed a penalty in the same game. This happened on Saturday September 12th 1997 when City lost 2-4 at Yeading in an FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round game. Darren Oxbrow scored for City as did Richard Cherry. Cherry's goal was a penalty and he also missed a penalty. he had quite a game as he was also sent off later in the game.
It doesn't fit into the above parameters but when Billy Kellock missed a penalty for City on Monday 20th October he missed the chance to join the list of players who have scored 5 goals for City in a match. City beat Banbury United 6-1 that night with Kellock getting 4 and Barry Dyson and Terry Price joining the scorers list. The match was a Southern League Cup 2nd Round tie.
If you can provide any feedback or answer any request for information then please e-mail me at chelmsfordcityhistory@googlemail.com.
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