The Southern League Graduates (Part Two)

Players who started out in the league and have gone on to enjoy successful professional careers.

In May 2011, SEAN FLYNN announced his retirement from football at the age of 43.

Flynn, who for the previous two seasons has played at South West Peninsula League side Falmouth Town, made the decision to quit the game following their final match of the season at home to Dartmouth.

Flynn has had an impressive career in football spanning more than twenty years.

He had begun his career with Southern League Premier Division side Bromsgrove Rovers.

However, it wasn`t until moving to league rivals Halesowen Town that he began to attract attention.

He signed for Coventry City in December 1991 and made his debut in August of the following year in a 2-1 Premier League victory over Middlesbrough at Highfield Road.

In August 1995 his then manager Ron Atkinson told him he was no longer needed at Coventry and he moved to Derby County for £225,000.

Flynn got promoted with Derby by finishing in second place in the First Division in 1995/96.

After a short loan period with Stoke City, Flynn signed for the club he had supported as a boy West Bromwich Albion for £260,000 in August 1997.

In July 2000 Flynn moved on a free transfer to Tranmere Rovers and spent two years there before leaving to sign for League Two side Kidderminster Harriers in August 2002.

Flynn played 436 games and scored 34 goals in his years as a professional footballer.

He continued playing non-League football after leaving Harriers in 2003 with spells at Southern League sides Evesham United and Redditch United and then, after moving to Cornwall to run his caravan park, he played for Bodmin Town, Penzance, Mullion and Falmouth.

He had announced his retirement from football in the summer of 2010 but was talked into playing another season for Falmouth.

However, still unable to kick the habit, he returned to Falmouth as a player in March 2012!

Players who started out in the league and have gone on to enjoy successful professional careers.

JASON DODD became one of the biggest success for Bath City's youth system having gone on to captain and make over 400 appearances for Premiership side Southampton.

The locally born defender joined Bath's YTS scheme in July 1986 when they were members of the Conference and was playing for the reserves in the Western League at the age of 15.

However, when he made his first-team debut in August 1988, Bath were in the Southern League Premier Division, having been relegated the season before.

It wasn`t long before he was attracting scouts though and First Division Southampton offered him a two-day trial during which he impressed sufficiently to be offered a loan deal and then he signed permanently for the Saints in March 1989 having played just 18 games for Bath.

Dodd soon established himself at The Dell and played for the England under-21 side.

Bath went onto bank around £80,000 for Dodd, including £20,000 for the unusually prescient move of cashing in a sell-on clause.

He spent time on loan at Plymouth during the 2004/05 season before ending a sixteen-year association with the Saints by joining Brighton in May 2005.

He switched to Conference South side Eastleigh in the 2006 close season but was soon back at St Mary's as first-team coach, then assistant/caretaker manager.

He also had a short spell as assistant manager with Aldershot Town in 2009 before returning to Southampton as director/chief coach of the club's youth academy.

He held this role until May 2014 until becoming a PE teacher at Winchester College.

DAVE SEXTON enjoyed a relatively brief career as a player for a number of southern-based clubs.

He actually started out in non-League football, firstly with Eastern Counties League side Newmarket Town as a youngster and then Southern League Chelmsford City.

He played in a relatively decent Clarets side who finished fourth in the table before Second Division Luton Town brought Sexton into the professional game in 1951 after the young inside-forward had attracted attention with his performances.

Under the renowned Dally Duncan, Sexton would play just 9 games for the Kenilworth Road outfit, scoring once before moving on to West Ham United in March 1953 with his Hammers debut following in a 2-1 home defeat to Fulham on 3rd April.

The bustling inside-forward moved onto enjoy spells at Leyton Orient, Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace before hanging up his boots in 1962.

His playing career of close to 200 League games pales into insignificance though compared to his future coaching and managerial accomplishments.

Managing, amongst others, Chelsea, Queens Park Rangers and Manchester United to glory followed by a time as assistant to England manager Bobby Robson made him a household name.

Goalkeeper LEE HARPER started out as a youngster with Eltham Town in the Spartan League.

But it was after signing for Southern League South Division club Sittingbourne in 1992 at the age of 20 that his career really took off.

His performances in helping the Kent side to win the title and promotion to the Southern Premier Division in 1992/93 earned him rave reviews and had the scouts flocking to Central Park.

And Harper got a dream move to Premier League giants Arsenal for £150,000 as a 22-year-old in the summer of 1994.

It was always going to be tough for Harper competing with the likes of David Seaman and John Lukic but he made his Gunners debut when Arsene Wenger called him up for a game at The Dell against Southampton in March 1997.

But, despite keeping a clean sheet in a 2-0 win, that was to be Harper`s only game for Arsenal.

Wenger offered him a new deal and the promise of being number two to Seaman ahead of Alex Manninger, but Harper decided it was time to move and he left for Queens Park Rangers.

He became first-choice at Loftus Road and played 119 times before moving briefly to Walsall and then, in 2002, to Northampton Town, where he spent five years, playing 156 times and won the PFA Divisional player of the year award in 2003/04 and saved a Diego Forlan penalty at Manchester United in an FA Cup tie!

He spent a short time with MK Dons in 2007 before signing for Conference outfit Kettering Town, where he finished his playing career as player-manager and with 112 games for the Poppies.

Now Harper runs his own successful goalkeeping academy as well as a scaffolding business.

SYD HOWARTH joined First Division Aston Villa from Merthyr Tydfil in 1948 for £6,500 - a massive fee for the time.

Villa also travelled to Merthyr to play a friendly against the Southern League club as part of the deal.

The record stood for around twelve years and Howarth went on to make more than 100 appearances for Villa before moving on to Swansea Town and Walsall.

The inside-forward was picked to play for Wales but was stopped by his father from joining the squad because he was actually born in Bristol - just ten days before his family moved to Newport.

During the war Howarth guested for Arsenal, Notts County and Leeds United, playing with many of the stars of the era.

He won the Southern League title with Merthyr Tydfil twice in 1947/48 and 1953/54 and also won the Welsh Cup.

Big JOHN RITCHIE (pictured) went on to become a firm favourite with supporters of Stoke City and Sheffield Wednesday.

But to me, he will always be that nice young man who used to come and call for my brother to go and play for local Kettering & District League side Emmaneff.

I was only 5 or 6 then but I remember Ritchie clearly as he used to tower over my 5`8” brother and he was always such a polite bloke who my mother adored, my late sibling often getting that “why can`t you be more like that nice John Ritchie”, whenever he had done something to annoy her!

Soon though, he stopped calling and when I enquired why, my brother told me that Ritchie, who was working in one of the many shoe factories in the town then, had signed for Kettering Town.

The Poppies were in the Southern League First Division but the raw but talented Ritchie played a part alongside the likes of former Leicester City, Portsmouth and England star Jack Froggatt, who was in his last season as player-manager before being succeeded by Wally Akers, in helping the Poppies win the title and a return to the Premier Division.

The 1961/62 season saw Ritchie really blossom and he even scored against the reigning Football League champions, Alf Ramsey`s Ipswich Town, who came to open the club`s new floodlights.

Ritchie was one of the scorers in an entertaining 2-2 draw in which Ray Crawford, who was to later wear the same number 9 shirt, scored both for the Tractor Boys in front of 5,400.

A few weeks after the floodlights were installed, Kettering entertained Third Division Swindon Town in an FA Cup First Round replay, having held the Robins to a 2-2 draw in the first tie.

Swindon boasted a side containing up and coming youngsters Ernie Hunt and Mike Summerbee and led 2-0 before a late comeback, started by Norman Goulding`s goal and capped by a dramatic last-gasp Terry Curran penalty earned Kettering a replay.

The game at Rockingham Road saw Kettering win 3-0 with Curran scoring twice and Ritchie sealing victory in the 82nd minute.

Ritchie finished the 1961/62 season with over 30 goals and was attracting attention, with local county rivals Northampton Town the favourites for his signature.

Oxford United (Headington as they were then) were also known to be interested but their experienced boss Arthur Turner – also later to be associated with the Poppies helping Ron Atkinson as a scout – missed out as his club baulked at Ritchie`s £2,500 transfer fee.

Tony Waddington, manager of Second Division Stoke City, got a whiff of both Oxford and Northampton`s interest in the young centre-forward and, despite not having ever seen him play, took advantage of the Cobblers` boss Dave Bowen being away on holiday to nip in and agree a fee and bring the 21-year-old to the Victoria Ground.

Ritchie, who was actually on less money at Stoke than he was when working in the shoe factory and playing for Kettering, played a bit-part as Stoke won the Second Division title in his first season with the club but he made 110 appearances and scored 64 goals in all and his 10 goals helped Stoke reach their first-ever cup final - the 1964 League Cup – which Stoke lost 4-3 over two legs against Leicester City.

But Waddington shocked Stoke fans by selling Ritchie to Sheffield Wednesday for £80,000 in November 1966, later admitting he`d made a mistake.

He played 89 matches for Wednesday, scoring 35 goals, but was thought past his best by the Owls manager at the time, Danny Williams.

Waddington thought otherwise and was keen to make up for his mistake and re-signed him in 1969 for just £25,000, so Stoke also made a big profit!

Proving he was far from finished, Ritchie formed a terrific partnership with Jimmy Greenhoff and helped Stoke reach two FA Cup semi-finals in 1971 and 1972, losing both times to Arsenal.

But Ritchie did help Stoke reach the 1972 League Cup Final and the Potters beat Chelsea 2–1 to claim their first major trophy.

However, in September 1974, in a collision with England defender Kevin Beattie at Ipswich Town, Ritchie suffered a double fractured leg, virtually ending his career.

He had scored an incredible 176 goals in 347 appearances for Stoke.

Striker JULIAN ALSOP enjoyed a long career in both Football League and non-League football in England and Wales.

He was a prolific scorer in Nuneaton Borough`s youth side and then for VS Rugby, Racing Club Warwick and Tamworth in the Southern League in the early 1990s.

Whilst with the Lambs, Alsop is also known for what is claimed to be the quickest hat-trick in history when he scored three times in just over a minute.

He got his big break at the age of 23 when League Two Bristol Rovers signed him from Southern Premier Division side Halesowen Town for £15,000 and he scored his first goal in a 2-2 draw at Burnley.

After a couple of seasons with Rovers, he was signed by Swansea City for £30,000 following a successful loan spell and went on to score 11 times in the 1998/99 season for the Swans.

It wasn’t in South Wales, though, that Alsop really made his name but rather at Cheltenham Town where he moved to in 2000.

His first season with the Robins was not that successful, with Alsop scoring 5 times, but the 2001/02 season, playing alongside Tony Naylor, the pair formed a deadly strike partnership, scoring for 38 goals, Alsop scoring 26. Cheltenham finished fourth and took on Rushden & Diamonds in the play-off final.

The game finished 3-1 to the Robins with Alsop netting the second to help secure promotion for a club that had never competed in the third tier in their history.

He would contribute 12 goals for Cheltenham in the 2002/03 season which was a season of struggle for the club that eventually saw their immediate return to the fourth tier.

Alsop left at the end of the season to join Oxford United in a move that came to a controversial end after a fracas with a youth player involving a banana, which Alsop initially denied, but later admitted to rubbing in the youngsters face. It led to his sacking and receiving a six-month ban from the game which Alsop, by this time, had fallen out of love with.

After a 7-game spell with Northampton Town, Alsop played for a number of non-League sides over the next few years, including Forest Green Rovers, Tamworth again, Newport County where he scored 21 times in 50 appearances but there was still a twist in the career that took everyone by surprise.

In 2009, while playing for Southern League Division One South West side Bishops Cleeve, Alsop faced Martin Allen’s Cheltenham in a pre-season friendly and was shocked to be approached by the manager after the game and asked to come and train with the Robins.

So, at the age of 36, Alsop was back in the Football League on a month-to-month contract and ended the season with 4 goals from 41 games before returning to Bishops Cleeve as a favour to their manager at the time, Paul Collicutt, a former Cheltenham team-mate.

After 34 games and 8 goals in 2010/11, Alsop announced he was hanging up his boots before coming out of retirement to play for Cymru Premier outfit Carmarthen Town at the age of 38 and then finally with Monmouth Town in the Welsh League Division One.

ALAN SKIRTON is a local Bath boy who came good.

He started out with West Twerton Youth then, after a short spell with Bristol City as a youngster, joined Bath City for the 1956/57 Southern League season.

He was initially a regular in the colts and reserve sides before making his first-team debut in a 1-0 win over Dartford in October 1956 at the same time as another City stalwart, Tony Gough.

Despite having to serve his National Service period, his performances were soon attracting scouts from around the Football League, including Newcastle United, Chelsea and Arsenal, and it was the latter who made a bid of around £5,000 to sign him on January 1st 1959.

He had played 144 times for Bath, scoring 44 times.

Illness delayed his Gunners debut for eighteen months, but he would serve seven seasons at Highbury, making 145 appearances and scoring 53 goals.

He went on to make 77 appearances for Blackpool, 78 for Bristol City and 38 for Torquay United before he returned to Southern League football with Weymouth in the early 1970s – after a short spell in South Africa with Durban City – and he re-joined Bath for the 1974/75 season, combining playing with work in the club`s commercial department, then as youth team manager.

After finishing his football career with Melksham Town, he became a full-time commercial manager with Bath and then Yeovil Town, where he spent 20 years and was a vital part of their rise to the Football League.

IAN HUTCHINSON was a gangly teenager when he made his debut for Burton Albion in the Southern League, having been discovered by Peter Taylor, later to be the partner of the legendary Brian Clough.

Taylor spotted Hutchinson playing for International Combustion’s works team in the East Midlands Regional League.

Taylor had already joined Clough when Hutchinson established himself with the Brewers though, playing 49 games and scoring 19 goals.

Bill Leivers` Cambridge United had played against Hutchinson in the league and Midland Floodlit League and once seen, the former Manchester City defender was keen to obtain his services

Leivers wasn`t alone in spotting the talented youngster but won the race for the forward, whose huge long throw was an added bonus.

He prospered under Leivers, and although he only made 21 appearances for United, scoring 7 goals, he made an indelible mark on supporters.

It was the summer of 1968 when Ian Hutchinson departed for Chelsea.

Cambridge received £2,500 up front, another £2,500 after 10 First Division appearances, the same amount when he played for England under-23s and the promise of a friendly which eventually took place in 1970 when Chelsea visited the Abbey Stadium, drawing a terrific crowd of 14,000.

Altogether, he made 144 appearances for Chelsea, scoring 58 goals and it was from one of his trademark long throws that the Blues beat Leeds United in that notorious FA Cup Final replay in 1970.

His last season with them, before injury forced his retirement, was in the Second Division, to which they had descended in 1975 when he scored just 3 goals in 18 league games.

He suffered from a series of injuries in his last season or so with Chelsea and after leaving, tried to play on with Irish Leaguers Cork United and then briefly back where it all began – the Southern League – with Dartford.

He spent three years as Chelsea's commercial manager and later ran a pub with his former Stamford Bridge team-mate, Peter Osgood, in Windsor and became a cordon bleu chef before very sadly passing away at the age of just 54 in 2002.

Long-serving manager Bob Faulkner was the man who spotted IAN TAYLOR`s talent and picked him up for Southern League Premier Division club Moor Green from Birmingham Municipal in the Birmingham & District AFA at the age of 18.

The combative midfielder went on to play 235 matches and score 67 goals for the Moors before Port Vale paid an initial £15,000, which rose to £25,000, for his services in May 1992.

He played 83 times for Vale and netted 28 times and then Sheffield Wednesday for £1m in June 1994.

However, this wasn`t a successful move and he had left Hillsborough by the following December when Brian Little made Taylor`s dream come true by signing him for his boyhood favourites, Aston Villa, for £1m plus striker Guy Whittingham.

He went on to become a firm favourite himself at Villa Park, lauded by the same Holt End fans he was part of not long before.

He went on to make 233 appearances and contribute 28 goals for Villa in the Premier League before being allowed to leave by then-manager Graham Taylor in 2003.

He went on to spend a couple of seasons with Derby County and with Northampton Town, taking his total of League appearances to just under 500 with 79 goals, and he is now a club ambassador back at Villa as well as being a successful businessman.

Another off the Moor Green/Bob Faulkner production line at roughly the same time was Stewart Talbot.

Talbot, like Ian Taylor, was given a chance in the Moors` senior side at an early age and again showed great promise from an early age.

Two years after Taylor left for Port Vale, Talbot followed him in 1994 for a small fee.

Once again, it proved to be a successful signing by Vale manager John Rudge as Talbot quickly established himself in the first-team.

He played in the Anglo-Italian cup final and continued to be a regular under Rudge’s successor, Brian Horton.

In 1999, he was stretchered off following an awful challenge by Watford’s Paul Robinson. Talbot successfully sued the player as a result of his injuries as he was ruled out of action for ten months.

In 2000, following relegation, he left Vale after making 137 appearances to join Rotherham United.

He had three seasons with the Millers, adding 114 games to his tally, before having a loan spell with Shrewsbury Town and then a free transfer to Brentford in February 2004.

He was captain at Brentford in 2004/05 and saw his side reach the League One play-offs, only to be beaten in the semi-final by Sheffield Wednesday.

After 52 matches, he joined then-League Two side Boston United in June 2005, signing a two-year deal with the Pilgrims after requesting a free transfer from the Bees.

He made 48 appearances for Boston but was released in January 2009 and ended his playing days with a short spell with Northern Premier League side Kidsgrove Athletic.

TIM WARD began his career playing for Andoversford in the Cheltenham League before joining his local team, Cheltenham Town, in 1935.

The Robins were just about to embark on their first season as a Southern League club after being in the Birmingham League.

The left half played for Cheltenham in the Southern Western Section when they finished sixth out of nine teams and then the Central Section where, again, the team struggled to end in ninth out of eleven sides.

In 1937, the 19-year-old Ward had an unsuccessful trial with then-Second Division Leicester City, risking the sack from his job for `bunking off` to attend the trial!

However, shortly afterwards, he signed for First Division Derby County and was loaned back to Cheltenham in September 1939 for a couple of matches before the outbreak of World War II.

At the end of the war, Ward returned to Derby and went on to make 238 appearances and score 4 goals, also earning two full international caps for England in 1947 and 1948 against Belgium and Wales.

He ended his playing days with 33 appearances for Second Division Barnsley before embarking on a successful managerial career – although it didn`t start very auspiciously!

On March 4th, 1953 Ward was appointed manager of Third Division (South) side Exeter City.

But, despite travelling to the Grecians` match against Ipswich Town, Barnsley, who said they had never released Ward, recalled him on 12th March and appointed him manager two weeks later!

So, he still has the distinction of being Exeter City`s most short-lived manager, having bossed the club for just 8 days!

Although he arrived too late to save Barnsley from relegation, he achieved promotion straight away as Third Division (North) champions in 1955.

In total, he remained with Barnsley for seven years, before later taking the top job at Grimsby Town for two years, which included another promotion.

Then, in 1962, he took over the Derby County job and spent five years at the Baseball Ground, being credited with laying the foundations for the amazing achievements of his successor, Brian Clough, signing the likes of Kevin Hector and Alan Durban.

After leaving Derby, Ward managed Carlisle United for a year before retiring from management in 1968.

Winger PETER KING thought he had his dream come true when he signed first team forms for his home-town club, Southern League Premier Division Worcester City.

He had been on the St George`s Lane terraces a year earlier supporting the side as they pulled off one of the biggest FA Cup giantkilling acts of all time then when beating Liverpool 2-1.

When he got into the Worcester first team under former Manchester City star, Roy Paul, he soon attracted attention from Football League clubs.

Bolton Wanderers, Brentford and Cardiff City were among those keeping a watchful eye on him but it was the Welsh outfit who made the first move.

Ironically, Cardiff were managed then by former Worcester City boss Bill Jones, who had masterminded that win over Liverpool and still had strong connections with the club.

Part of the deal to bring King to Ninian Park involved Harry Knowles, who had been in that City side that had beaten Liverpool and was a firm favourite at St George`s Lane.

When Jones had joined Cardiff, he had taken Knowles with him in exchange for a £3,000 fee. But he made only just 8 first-team appearances for the Bluebirds and in September 1961 he re-joined Worcester for a fee of £2,000 plus promising teenager King, who was effectively the makeweight in the deal.

King though went on to become a pretty decent `makeweight` for Cardiff!

He stayed fourteen years, won seven Welsh Cup winners` medals and totalled 356 games and scored 67 goals.

An Achilles tendon injury forced him to retire from the game at the age of 31 in 1974.

MARK ALBRIGHTON was still performing in 2019/20 at the age of 44, being on the books at Southern League Division One Central side Bedworth United as well as with Midland League outfit Coventry Sphinx.

The evergreen veteran central defender joined Bedworth from Barwell in November 2013.

He started out playing for Nuneaton Borough`s youth and reserve sides before being signed by Southern Premier Division neighbours Atherstone United during the early part of the 1995/96 season.

He was thrown into the Adders` first-team whilst still a teenager and came through with flying colours and soon attracted attention from higher-level scouts.

Telford United paid £15,000 to take him to the Bucks Head in 1999 and he soon became regarded as one of the best central defenders in the Conference.

Just after the end of the 2001/02 season, he transferred to Doncaster Rovers and helped the Yorkshire side to regain their place in the Football League.

He then helped Rovers to back-to-back promotions as the club reached League One.

He totalled 86 games for Doncaster and chipped in with 5 goals as well as a loan spell with Chester City before moving to League Two side Boston United in May 2006.

Spells followed in the Conference with Cambridge United, Stevenage Borough, Kidderminster Harriers and then back to where it all started – Nuneaton.

It was back to the Southern League with Barwell in 2012 and then to Bedworth a year later.

There`s no doubt that TONY BOOK`s career in football is one of the more remarkable ones.

It began with Bath City`s colts team in 1950 before he was called up for National Service.

After leaving the services, Book joined Western League side Frome Town before returning to Twerton Park to make his first-team debut for Bath during the 1956/57 season.

He captained Bath to their first-ever Southern League title in 1959/60 and made almost 400 appearances with 12 goals before following manager Malcolm Allison to Canada and Toronto City in 1964 then returning to England with Plymouth Argyle – and with Allison again - three months later for £1,500, giving up his job as a bricklayer.

He made his Football League debut at the age of 30 and totalled 81 games for Argyle.

Then when Allison became assistant manager of Manchester City in 1966, he joined up with him again, this time for £17,000.

He was awarded City`s player of the season in his first year at Maine Road and then named captain for the 1967/68 season, leading the club to the First Division championship.

The next season he lifted the FA Cup then a year later the European Cup Winners Cup and the domestic League Cup.

He retired from playing in 1974, after becoming assistant manager at the club to Ron Saunders.

When Saunders was sacked less than six months later, Book took over as manager and in 1976 won the League Cup.

He was manager until 1979 when, fittingly, he was replaced by Malcolm Allison.

He remained with City in various roles until 1997 but is still Honorary President and Life President of the Manchester City Official Supporters Club.