They Have Played for Your Club….Wimborne Town

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

Wimborne Town Football Club was formed in 1878 and originally catered for both football and rugby.

In 1884 the South Hampshire and Dorset Football Association was formed with Wimborne as one of the founder members. Three years later the club became a founder member of the Dorset County Football Association.

Over a century would elapse before Wimborne would switch to the Western League in 1981.

After six years, the Magpies switched again, finding the more local Wessex League more to their liking.

Before 1992, Wimborne’s best performances in the FA Vase had brought them Third Round appearances on three occasions. However, that record was eclipsed in 1992, when the club, led by manager Alex Pike, enjoyed an epic run to the Wembley final where they defeated favourites Guiseley 5-3 to lift the trophy.

In so doing, Wimborne became the first-ever Dorset club at any level to contest a Wembley final.

During that same historic season, Wimborne also won the Dorset Senior Challenge Cup and Wessex League championship to complete a unique `treble` of trophies.

Season 2009/10 saw the club, now managed by Alex Browne, gain promotion to the Southern League, the highest position in the non-League Pyramid that Wimborne Town has occupied in its history.

Steve Cuss was appointed manager in June 2011, and he led the Magpies to twelfth spot in the table in season 2012/13.

After four years of service during which time Cuss established the club in the Southern League and led them to the First Round of the FA Trophy in 2014/15, he resigned in November 2015, club stalwart Paul Roast took over as caretaker boss before replacement Simon Browne, the brother of previous manager Alex, took over full-time.

Unfortunately, Browne’s financial expectations for the 2016/17 season could not be met, the playing budget being slashed and most of the squad leaving, relegation was avoided and he resigned in May 2016.

In July 2016, former AFC Bournemouth midfielder and pre-academy lead coach, Matty Holmes, joined Wimborne as manager and brought his brother Danny with him.

Together, they work hard on introducing a new brand of football, which proved both pleasing to the eye and effective. He assembled a strong but young squad which achieved our then highest position in the Southern League of eleventh.

The team improved on that in 2017/18, finishing third on 77 points, having scored over 100 goals, and winning the Dorset Senior Cup for the first time in 21 years.

The euphoria was muted by a play-off final defeat by Swindon Supermarine in a penalty shoot-out. However, the restructuring of leagues at Steps 3 and 4, and the demise of Shaw Lane AFC led to a late promotion for Wimborne as the highest performing team not already promoted.

In 2018/19 the Magpies played at Step 3 for the first time in their history.

After an initial struggle, they more than held their own, achieving a place just below halfway.

In September 2019, Matty Holmes stepped down and his brother Danny took over, only to leave the Magpies` helm less than a year into the role.

Then in June 2020, James Stokoe stepped up to take over the hot seat in June 2020.

In two spells with the Magpies, Stokoe has made more almost 500 appearances and scored over 100 goals.

He was appointed player/assistant manager last season.

The 35-year-old was previously with Eastleigh, Lymington & New Milton and Farnborough.

He returned to the Magpies in 2013 from Bashley and he was granted a testimonial in 2018.

There`s little doubt that most Wimborne supporters of a certain age will reckon that all of the players who walked out on to that Wembley pitch in front of 10,772 in May 1992 deserve a mention here.

There is one player in particular from that squad who deserves top billing and that`s non-League legend Steve `Taffy` Richardson, who made over 1,000 senior appearances in semi-professional football.

He started his playing career in his native north-east with Hartlepool United and Ferryhill Athletic.

He re-located south in 1986 with the Army and first signed for Wimborne in 1987.

Apart from being a member of the Magpies` Vase winning side, he also represented the Army, the Combined Services and the Wessex League.

He transferred to neighbours Poole Town in 1993 and then moved inland to sign for Dorchester Town in 1994, where he went on to make 201 appearances, scoring 34 goals.

A complete midfielder, who also knew where the goal was, and when he did score, he celebrated with his famous toothless smile!

He departed Dorchester in 1998 and soon went into management with a struggling Salisbury City.

Richardson's spell at Salisbury ended in relegation from the Southern League Premier Division and in May 2002 he was sacked and went on to play for Lymington & New Milton before becoming player/assistant-manager to Steve Tate at Newport Isle of Wight in April 2003.

He also had spells with the likes of Weymouth, Basingstoke Town and Poole Town and in September 2011 he returned to Wimborne from Poole to play under Steve Cuss.

In 2014 he turned out as a player for Bashley and Verwood Town and in 2017/18, at the age of 51, the warhorse midfielder still managed to make 12 appearances for Cranborne, who finished second-from-bottom of the Dorset Senior League!

In 2018 was appointed as assistant manager and first-team coach to his former Wimborne team-mate Tom Killick at Poole, for whom he made more than 400 appearances for the Dorset club during his distinguished playing career.

In April 2020 he joined Wessex League side New Milton Town as coach and advisor.

Another star of the FA Vase side was striker Tommy Killick, who is now one of the Southern League`s longest-serving managers, having taken over the Poole Town helm in May 2004.

He was a lively and popular forward in his playing days and had a particularly outstanding game in the Vase Final victory over Guiseley at Wembley.

Born in Wimbledon, Killick`s first club was Poole, for who he appeared in the Southern League at the age of 16.

He then had a couple of years with Swanage Town & Herston before joining fellow Wessex Leaguers Wimborne for the first time in 1988.

He returned to Southern League football with Bashley in 1990 and then re-joined Wimborne in 1991 where he helped the Magpies win the Vase, Wessex League and Dorset Senior Cup as well as being the `Non-League Directory`s player of the year.

He transferred to Dorchester Town in January 1994 for a still record £6,000 fee.

He arrived back at Poole from Salisbury City where he was assistant manager and steered club to promotion in his first year and established the club as a powerhouse team in the Wessex League, winning the last three titles and promoted to the Southern South & West in 2011/12, won the league outright in 2012/13, winning the Dorset Senior Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2014.

In 2014/15, Killick took side to runners-up in the Premier Division and were Red Insure Cup winners adding the Southern Premier title in 2015/16 and a fifth place in National League South in 2016/2017 prior to the relegation reverse of 2017/18.

Killick`s partner in attack at Wembley was Jamie Sturgess, who was also the leading scorer that particular 1991/92 season with 32 goals.

A former Dorset schoolboy and youth representative, he began his playing days with Hamworthy United before moving to Dorchester Town.

He joined Wimborne during the 1989/90 season – his father Mick was one of manager Alex Pike`s assistants.

On his retirement at the end of the 2003/04 season, he had played more than 600 matches for the Magpies and went on to the coaching staff.

Replacing Jamie Sturgess as a late substitute at Wembley was another forward in Jason Lovell

Lovell senior helped Magpies win the FA Vase in 1992 and was a hugely popular figure at Cuthbury during his playing days under Alex Pike.

A prolific marksman and fierce competitor, he played for a host of clubs including Bashley, Poole Town and Havant Town and was also linked with Aston Villa and Leeds United during the late 1980s, featuring for Leeds` reserve side in 1989 against West Bromwich Albion.

He also features for the Magpies in two records – as their record sale when Bashley paid £6,000 for his services in 1989 and then record buy when Wimborne bought him back to Cuthbury in the Vase-winning season for £5,500.

And in 2013, he was still turning out for Verwood Town in the Wessex League in his 40s.

Lovell lives in Ferndown, Dorset, and has earned a living as a ground worker in the building industry.

He was followed on to the Wimborne playing staff in 2018 by his son Jack.

Lovell junior joined Wimborne from Bemerton Heath Harlequins having also played in the Wessex League for Christchurch and Verwood Town.

One of the unsung heroes of the Vase Final was defender Trevor Ames, who was one of the club`s most experienced players at the time.

Ames began his playing career with Aston Villa, where he helped to win the FA Youth Cup in 1980 by netting a hat-trick in the first leg at Manchester City which they won 3-1, losing the second leg 1-0 but triumphing 3-2 on aggregate.

He moved to Hereford United in 1980 and then to Crystal Palace before moving to play abroad for KB Copenhagen where his spell in the Danish First Division was cut short due to injury.

He returned to England and moved to Dorset where he turned out for Salisbury City and Dorchester Town before joining Wimborne in 1987.

A period with Swanage Town & Herston in the Wessex League followed before he re-joined the Magpies at the start of the 1991/92 season.

He`s still in the area, as he owns the Trevor Ames Barber Shop in Corfe Mullen, Wimborne.

Defender Paul Roast was originally with Dorset Combination outfit Allendale and joined Wimborne in September 2000 from Dorchester Town and went on to make over 450 appearances.

He was rewarded with a testimonial match against AFC Bournemouth in July 2011 but continued to play on.

Then in July 2014 he stood down as player/assistant manager having been Steve Cuss's right-hand man for the previous three years, but cited work and family commitments as the cause of his departure from the club.

But the then-36-year-old centre-half, who also played the occasional game in goal for the Magpies, didn`t want to stop playing and dropped down a level to join Wessex League side Christchurch.

Ollie Phillipson-Masters was a defender or midfielder whose father Forbes made over 250 League appearances for the likes of Southampton, Plymouth Argyle and Bristol City.

Phillipson-Masters Jnr started out on the books at AFC Bournemouth as a youngster before playing for Wimborne in 2003.

He went on to make 248 appearances for the Magpies before leaving to join Wessex League neighbours Bournemouth Poppies in 2009.

He returned to Cuthbury in 2013 before his own carpentry business took him away from the game.

In April 2007, Christer Warren was named as the man to take over from Paul Arnold as manager of Wimborne.

Warren had joined Wimborne as a player in February 2007 from Lymington & New Milton.

He is a former favourite at AFC Bournemouth, where he made over 100 appearances, and played at the highest level of the game, featuring with Queens Park Rangers during their Premiership days as well as playing at Fulham, Southampton, and Bristol Rovers.

After leaving the full-time game in 2002, he signed for Eastleigh and then Winchester City before joining Lymington in 2006.

He was `relieved of his duties` by Wimborne in November 2008 and went on to play in French football for FC Boutonnais and finally at US Melle and settled in La Rochelle.

Amongst the goalkeepers to have worn the green jersey for Wimborne include Wayne Shaw, who became rather renowned in more recent times for being seen eating a pie on live TV at an FA Cup game involving Sutton United and being subsequently banned by the FA for breaching betting rules over it!

He had a five-year spell at Cuthbury between 1991 and 1996 after being on the books at Southampton and Reading as a youngster and then Gosport Borough.

His well-travelled career then took in stops at Bashley, Bournemouth Poppies, BAT Sports, AFC Lymington, Eastleigh, Fleet Town and Sutton United, where he was goalkeeping coach.

There haven`t been many internationals wearing the black and white shirts, but former Watford and England striker Luther Blissett did include Wimborne in his list of non-League clubs he turned out for after quitting his full-time playing career with Bury in 1995.

Blissett, capped 14 times at full international level as well as winning honours at England under-21 and B level, played almost 400 times for Watford in two spells sandwiched between his year in Italy with AC Milan.

He scored over 120 times and also had spells with Bournemouth and Bury before turning out for Wimborne, Fakenham Town and Chesham United, who he also briefly managed.

Wimborne Town Web Site