They Have Played for Your Club….Didcot Town

Continuing the series on players who have represented the current clubs in the Southern Football League.

In 1907, Didcot Village FC and Northbourne Wanderers amalgamated to form Didcot Town Football Club.

However, it wasn`t until 1912 that the club joined its first league, the North Berks Junior League.

The first silverware in the club’s history was claimed in 1913 when Didcot beat Radley in the North Berks Junior Cup.

The final was played in Abingdon in front of a big crowd. However, this had been anticipated by the Didcot committee, and a police presence was requested. At a cost of five shillings (25p), two policemen were made available, and they ensured the estimated 1,000 spectators enjoyed Town’s victory with no reported problems!

Season 1953/54 will always go down in history of one of the club’s finest. Entering the Hellenic League in its inaugural year Didcot Town claimed the title-winning 22 of their 30 matches and scoring an impressive 107 goals in the process. The newly won Hellenic shield was soon proudly on-show in a glass case at the Marlborough Club, which the footballers used as their HQ.

This was undoubtedly a very fine Didcot side with at least two players, skipper Ray Warr and left-winger Pete Sanderson, turning down offers from professional clubs to say at Station Road.

By the 1955/56 season, and with the club’s teams progressing well in their respective leagues, Didcot employed the services of Jeff Gulliver (ex-Leeds United and Reading player) as team manager. It is believed that Gulliver was the first ‘paid’ official at the club.

In 1957/58, Didcot switched to the Metropolitan League, where it spent six seasons before returning to the Hellenic League, where they remained a solid team until being relegated in 1975/76.

They returned to the Premier Division after one season and went down again in 1985/86 and up and down again in 1993/94 before they sold their Station Road ground and moved to their new Loop Meadow Stadium at the turn of the 21st century.

And the move to the new ground had a significant impact on the club’s playing fortunes. In fact, the club established itself as one of the most consistent performers in the Hellenic Premier Division over the next seven years, never finishing outside the top seven.

And along the way silverware was lifted in the form of the Berks & Bucks Senior Trophy (2001 and 2003), the League’s Supplementary Cup (2003) and the Challenge Cup (2004).

Under new manager Stuart Peace, season 2004/05 ended up as arguably the most successful in the club’s history so far following a memorable 3-2 win in the final of the FA Vase at White Hart Lane against pre-tournament favourites AFC Sudbury.

This came on the back of the club retaining the League Challenge Cup with a 5-1 win against Carterton.

Didcot came agonizingly close to claiming the `treble` but failed to win the league by a point, despite amassing 97 points and winning 31 of their 42 matches.

The momentum was continued as Peace`s side won the Hellenic League title in 2005/06, obtaining 105 points, scoring 124 goals and losing only three matches to win promotion to the Southern League.

Southern Division One South West status was retained in the first year, and only a narrow defeat to Oxford City in the 2008 play-offs denied Didcot promotion the season following.

But they didn’t have too long to wait as a late run at the end of the season saw the club sneak into the play-offs and following a victory at Windsor & Eton in the play-off semi-final, promotion to the Southern Premier Division was achieved in 2008/09 after a 2-1 extra-time win at AFC Totton.

Didcot managed to retain their Premier Division place after finishing a creditable 15th position in 2009/10.

A similar position may well have been realised the following season, but for the financial meltdown and mid-season demise of Windsor & Eton.

Didcot were the only side to have taken 6 points off them at the time they folded, and with their record expunged, the lost points plunged the Railwaymen to the bottom of the table where they never recovered.

Relegation back to the South & West Division also heralded an unprecedented turnover in managers.

Stuart Peace had resigned in January, only weeks before the 6-point deduction.

Wales international Ady Williams took over.

Reading-born Williams came through his home-town club`s ranks to become a firm favourite, making over 200 appearances and winning the first of his 13 full international caps for Wales.

He was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a fee of £750,000 in 1996 but was lured back to Reading on loan by Alan Pardew.

The transfer was made permanent and, overcoming injury niggles, he helped to take the Royals back into the second tier at Brentford in 2002.

After adding 122 games to his Reading tally, he joined Coventry City in 2004 before ending his full-time playing days with Swindon Town.

In the summer of 2009, he signed for Conference South side Weston-super-Mare before having s short spell as manager of Southern League Bedford Town in 2010 before taking the Didcot post.

However, Williams left the Loop Meadow in the summer of 2011 due to his media and television commitments.

A succession of managers followed before current boss Jamie Heapy was handed the role.

A club `legend` at Didcot, he returned to the Railwaymen in May 2019 as manager following the resignation of Andy Ballard the previous month.

Heapy amassed no less than 848 appearances for the club as a player before stepping up to the role of joint manager with fellow club `legend` Ian Concannon in 2013 and the pair guided the club to its first FA Cup First Round appearance in November 2015 against Exeter City which was screened live on BT Sport.

The pair resigned shortly after due to work commitments with Heapy working as a player-coach at Banbury United.

Apart from Banbury and Didcot, Heapy also played for Oxford City.

Whilst Heapy holds the appearance record for the Railwaymen, his former joint managerial partner Ian Concannon is the club`s record goalscorer with an amazing 283 goals in just 309 appearances.

As a youngster, Concannon was at both Reading and Oxford United and it was reckoned he was rather unfortunate not to be offered a trainee contract at the latter.

However, he moved into non-League football with Abingdon Town and Oxford City before joining AFC Wallingford at the start of the 1999/00 season.

It was at the Hithercroft that Concannon's remarkable goalscoring started in earnest.

Playing in the Combined Counties with Wallingford, Concannon top-scored over two seasons and notched 80 goals.

In 2001, he moved to Abingdon Town, but within weeks of the start of the new season, however, Concannon was on his way to Didcot.

Concannon was the `golden boot` winner in all five seasons he played in the Hellenic League with Didcot – a league record.

At the start of the 2007/08 season, and after six years with the club, Concannon moved-on initially to Witney United but shortly after on a permanent basis to Hungerford Town before returning to Didcot as joint manager with Jamie Heapy.

For three seasons, Concannon`s partnership in attack with Stuart Beavon was hugely prolific and successful.

The Reading-born forward started out with Ardley United and AFC Wallingford before signing for Didcot in the summer of 2004.

He went on to score two goals in Didcot's FA Vase triumph at White Hart Lane against AFC Sudbury in May 2005 and scored 40 goals the following season as Didcot lifted the Hellenic League Premier Division title.

His goals attracted the attention of Football League clubs but, after netting 107 goals in 140 games for the Railwaymen, he was strangely allowed to move to then-Conference South side Weymouth in January 2007.

He scored 24 goals for the Terras in just 86 appearances, earning him a move to Wycombe Wanderers.

In five seasons at Adams Park, he made 125 appearances, finding the back of the net 34 times.

Further Football League spells followed with Preston North End and Burton Albion before a move to Coventry City in January 2017.

He scored on his debut for the Sky Blues and it was his semi-final goal that sent Coventry to Wembley for the 2017 Football League Trophy final.

With first-team opportunities limited at the Ricoh Arena, he spent the entirety of the 2018/19 season on loan to Wrexham, making 39 appearances in the National League as the Reds finished fourth, losing in the play-off quarter-finals.

After making over 300 League appearances, he was released by Coventry and signed for Southern League Premier Division Central neighbours Nuneaton Borough in June 2019.

In January 2020, he moved to Northern Premier Lague Premier Division outfit club Mickleover where he remains.

Swindon-born goalkeeper Chris Webb started his playing days with Wantage Town before going on to join Swindon Supermarine in July 1999.

He helped `Marine to win the Hellenic League in 2001/02 and made 110 appearances before signing for Didcot after a spell with Shrivenham in 2004.

He went on to win a second Hellenic League title with the Railwaymen and produced the remarkable statistic of 19 clean sheets in 21 Hellenic League home matches for Didcot in the 2004/05 season, when he helped the Railwaymen to their memorable victory in the FA Vase final at White Hart Lane.

He left the Railwaymen in the summer of 2007 after playing 118 times and signed for Hellenic League club Witney United as work commitments prevented him playing another season at Southern League level.

Defender Grant Goodall is another of Didcot`s FA Vase winners.

When he joined in 2003 after skippering Marlow, he became the latest in a long line of ‘Goodall’s to have been associated with the club in the past 100 years.

It is said that no Didcot side from 1907 until 1939 were without a ‘Goodall’, and at one time as many as five brothers were playing in the side at the same time!

He earned a couple of player of the year awards whilst with the Railwaymen and scored his first goal for the club in his 190th game!

Goodall was with Oxford United from schoolboy through to trainee level before being released in 1994.

He signed for then-Isthmian League side Abingdon Town before joining Marlow in 1995.

The versatile Matty Jack was one of the Railwaymen’s most consistent performers over a number of years.

He signed for Didcot in 2004 and scored goals on a regular basis for his previous club, Highworth Town but was capable of playing almost anywhere on the park.

Jack was initially with Didcot for five years and was voted players’ player of the year in 2008/09.

But having moved to Cirencester to live, he decided to make the switch to then-Hellenic Premier Division leaders Hungerford Town in March 2009.

However, he was quickly back at the Loop Meadow in time to take part in the 2008/09 play-offs which saw Didcot win promotion to the Southern Premier Division.

Attacking midfielder Paul Powell was one of a crop of talented Oxford United youngsters who worked their way up from the youth side before playing in the first team.

He made his full debut as a 17-year-old against Chesterfield in January 1996 and a string of impressive performances saw Powell earn a long-term contract and attract interest from bigger clubs.

He flourished under boss Malcolm Shotton, making more than 40 appearances for the U`s in the 1998/99 season.

Powell was at Oxford when the U`s went so close to knocking Chelsea out of the FA Cup in 1999.

It was under Denis Smith that Powell really blossomed, virtually single-handedly saving the U's from relegation in the 1999/00 season, scoring 12 goals as they stayed up by a point.

Powell, who made 203 league and cup appearances for Oxford, scoring 17 goals, including the first-ever goal at the Kassam Stadium in 2001, later rejected chances to join Bradford City and West Bromwich Albion, when Denis Smith was at The Hawthorns.

Newcastle United's assistant manager, Terry McDermott, was reportedly due to watch him, only for Powell to rupture a cruciate ligament in his right knee in a challenge at Walsall in September 2000.

The fans' favourite left Oxford in 2003, ending a twelve-year association with the club, when he was released by boss Ian Atkins.

He later joined Tamworth before then-Didcot manager Peter Foley brought him to Loop Meadow Stadium at the start of the 2003/04 campaign.

He was instrumental in their FA Vase victory in 2005 and the following season helped Didcot lift the Hellenic League title.

In March 2008, then-Didcot boss Stuart Peace told Powell that he was unlikely to play for the club due to 'lack of commitment' to the Railwaymen.

Powell joined then-Hellenic League side Hungerford Town, but he failed to settle at Bulpit Lane and after clear-the-air talks with Peace, was given another chance and scored a hat-trick in 16 minutes after coming on as a substitute in their 5-0 thrashing of Newport Isle of Wight in his first game back!

He finally left the Loop Meadow in 2009 having made over 200 appearances, scoring more than 50 goals.

He continued to turn out for North Berks League side Didcot Casuals until 2013 when he made a brief comeback at Step 5 level with Hellenic League side Milton United before hanging up his boot at the age of 36.

Oxford-born defender Jack King began his career with his home-town club and also featured for Swansea City’s academy before dropping into non-League football with Didcot Town, firstly in 2004 and then, after playing 32 games with 5 goals, with Southern League Western Division side Brackley Town.

He returned to Didcot a year later and went on to player over 150 times in all competitions for the Railwaymen, scoring 34 goals from either defence or midfield where he was often deployed.

He switched to Farnborough in 2009 and won promotion from the Southern Premier Division in 2010 and two years later lifted the Conference South title with Woking, where he was named in the division’s team of the year.

He climbed three levels when Preston North End snapped him up in 2012/13 and he spent three seasons at Deepdale, helping the club to League One play-off glory, making 78 appearances.

He spent another year at League One level with Scunthorpe United, playing 36 times and also spent time on loan at Stevenage, making 20 appearances, before making the move a more permanent one in August 2016, going on to add further 50-plus games to his Boro tally.

He signed for then-National League club Ebbsfleet United in June 2018 and in May 2020, announced that he was retiring from the game, despite still holding down a regular place with Ebbsfleet as captain.

He had made 75 appearances for Fleet, scoring 3 goals.

Left-back Jordan Tabor began his career at Leicester City before spending four years at Chelsea, where he made numerous appearances for the under-18 side and two for the reserves.

He joined Cheltenham Town in the summer of 2009 after being released by Chelsea but left the Robins in October 2009 to join Southern League Didcot after making one first-team appearance and being named among the substitutes five times.

He quickly established himself in the Railwaymen`s first-team playing most of the following campaign.

He then spent time abroad in the USA on a sports scholarship and playing for Pali Blues before returning to England, where he turned out for Kidlington and AFC Hinksey in the Hellenic League.

Then came the tragic news that whilst on holiday with his girlfriend in Turkey, he fell from three floors up from his hotel bedroom and died at the age of just 23.

Reading-born defender Ross Weatherstone is another to have started his career with Oxford United.

Very strong physically but also comfortable in possession, he went on to make 20 appearances for the U`s first-team before being released in 2001.

He played a key role in helping the Pilgrims to win the Conference title and promotion to the Football League in 2002 and captained the side on several occasions.

After a total of 66 games for Boston, he returned to the Conference with Nuneaton Borough in March 2003 but left at the end of the season and joined Farnborough Town.

In 2004 he had a short spell with Stevenage Borough before signing for Didcot in the summer of 2006.

After a couple of seasons with Diddy, Weatherstone went into coaching and management, firstly with Woodcote Stoke Row in the Thames Valley Premier League, then Binfield where he managed the team that went on to win the Suburban League Cup and developed a proven record of coaching and developing young players.

He moved on to coach at Bracknell Town, then in July 2020, Weatherstone was appointed as Southern League Premier Division South outfit Hartley Wintney`s under-23 development joint manager.

Didcot Town Web Site