They`ve Played for Your Club….Weston-super-Mare

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

The club was founded in 1887 but disbanded twice (for the two World Wars); the current club was established in 1948.

In the following months, the club were elected to the Western League division 2 in company with Barnstaple Town and a new club Chippenham United.

The first league game at home attracted some 1500 fans, the changing accommodation being in a large marquee. There was no cover for spectators, but enthusiasm ran high, and crowds rolled along. The first league match was away to Chippenham United a side which included 7 professionals some of them former football league players.

The club spent most of the 1950s in the Western League`s Second Division going close to promotion on a couple of occasions before the division was disbanded.

The move to the Langford Road Ground came in time for the 1955/56 and the first game saw Weston trounce Peasedown 7-0.

In 1960/61, along with Trowbridge Town, Exeter City reserves and Welton Rovers were elected to Division One of the Western League, Weston held the unique distinction of never winning promotion or suffering relegation.

The first modern taste of cup glory came in 1961 when Weston reached the First Round of the FA Cup, which ended in bitter disappointment as they were beaten by local rivals Bridgewater Town in a replay before a home crowd of 2,500.

It was not Weston’s day as after having what looked like a good goal disallowed on a hairline offside decision, Weston went down by that goal scored minutes from the end.

A period of success began in the 1975/76 season with the arrival of Kim Book as manager.

During the seven seasons under his control and that of his successor Dave Stone, Weston reached second place in the league, won the League Cup and also won the Western Senior Cup on five occasions.

Only once did they finish lower than the top 10 and in 1980/81, they reached the Western League Goldliner Cup final, losing 2-1 to Dawlish Town.

In the 1983/84 season Weston moved to a new ground Woodspring Park which was built almost entirely from by supporters.

The Woodspring Park ground had been developed since with a clubhouse costing £100,000 and floodlights installed in 1986.

One personality of mention at the club is Harry Thomas, who played more than 700 games for them and eventually managed the team between 1984 and 1989 having been associated with the club for 25 years.

In 1989, John Ellener was appointed manager and in three seasons he took the club to two cup finals and for the first time since they were re-formed, Weston won the Western League championships and were promoted to the Southern League Midland Division.

In 1993, Peter Amos stepped up from being coach to replace John Ellener as manager and guided the club to 11th position in their first season in the Midland Division.

A club record was set at the beginning of the 1993/94 season with an undefeated run of 10 matches, the Seagulls flight ended on a 4-1 defeat by VS Rugby.

The run also included an appearance in the First Round of the FA Cup for only the second time in the club`s history, being drawn against Conference side Woking.

History repeated itself Weston drawing 2-2 at Woking before losing in the replay at Woodspring Park in front of a crowd of 2,623 - a new ground record.

A new record was also achieved that season by getting into the First Round of the FA Trophy in the same season.

In that same season the league record attendance was broken with a 1,260 gate against Clevedon Town and 91 points were collected in the league, but promotion was missed out by a single point to runners-up VS Rugby.

During that season, former Minehead striker Matt Lazenby wrote his name into the Seagulls` history book by becoming the highest goalscorer with 180 goals.

His partnership with his ex-Minehead team-mate Paul Elson had netted over 300 goals in just six seasons!

Season 1994/95 was less successful and resulted in the recruitment of the experienced former Sunderland full-back Len Ashurst, who took the side to fourth place in his first season.

This success was affected in the following season due to an enforced budget cut.

The sale of striker Danny O’Hagan to Dorchester Town and goalkeeper Stuart Jones to Sheffield Wednesday for a club record fee of £20,000, left the need for team re-building and saw the club finish in a disappointing 19th place.

O'Hagan was a product Plymouth Argyle`s youth set up and spent almost four years with the club, making only occasional first-team appearances.

Following his release from Home Park at the end of the 1996/97 season – a year after being named as their young player of the year - he joined Weston.

However, due to an injury crisis, Plymouth re-signed him on non-contract forms, and he started the Division Two game against Bournemouth in November 1997 and went on to play 8 more times for the Greens, scoring just the once.

He returned to Weston before making the move to Southern Premier Division outfit Dorchester Town.

He had a long stint at the Avenue Stadium before making the move nearer home with Southern Premier side Tiverton Town.

However, his stay at Ladysmead was a short one and he went on to spend five years with South Western League side Bodmin Town.

In the summer of 2009, he switched to now-South West Penninsula League rivals Falmouth Town.

Spells with Wadebridge Town and St Blazey followed, and he was still skippering Newquay AFC in the South West Peninsula League at the age of 41 in 2018.

Although born in Bristol, Stuart Jones started his career as a trainee with Reading.

A keeper with good agility and quick reflexes, he returned home after being released by the Royals and signed for Weston in 1995.

He got his chance at professional level with Sheffield Wednesday but was never able to break into the first team at Hillsborough.

He had loan spells with Crewe Alexandra and then Torquay United, where he finally made his League debut in 2000.

Soon afterwards, he made the move to Torquay a more permanent one and went on to play 29 more times.

Spells with Hereford United and Chester City followed before he moved into the League of Wales with Barry Town in 2002.

He re-signed for Weston shortly afterwards and then received a surprise call to help out Brighton & Hove Albion during an injury crisis and he played 3 times for the Seagulls and then 4 for Doncaster Rovers.

A short stint at Accrington Stanley preceded a third spell with Weston and then he finished off his playing days at Gloucester City.

And since 2018, Jones has been managing Western League side Ashton & Backwell.

The start of 1998/99 saw the promotion of John Relish to manager and a move back to the Midland Division.

The season started poorly, although they did reach the FA Trophy Fourth Round where they lost to Hitchin Town.

In the league, the side plunged to the bottom three but an improvement in consistency from Christmas 1998 produced a string of good results which could have resulted in a top six finish if the run had started at the start of the season.

During this season Weston made yet another sale, this time Ryan Souter to Bury for £75,000.

Souter spent two-and-a-half years at Bury, but only made a handful of first-team appearances and played 15 games and scored twice for then-Southern League side Newport County during a three-month loan period at the end of 2000.

In May 2001, Souter signed a permanent deal with Newport on a two-year contract.

He returned to Weston in December 2001 on loan before switching to Southern League rivals Salisbury City January 2002, also on loan.

He left Newport at the end of the 2003/04 season.

At the end of October 2001, the Board decided that to achieve their ambitions of being promoted to the Southern Premier Division it was time for a new progressive management team and they appointed Frank Gregan.

In the 2002/03 season the club made history when they won promotion to the Southern Premier Division finish runners-up in the Western Division behind Merthyr Tydfil.

In the 2003/04 season, the club had a very successful time gaining entry into the newly formed Conference South and also reached the Second Round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history, losing 4-1 at Northampton Town.

Weston maintained their status in the Conference/National League South, albeit with a struggle at times, until the 2018/19 season when they suffered their first-ever relegation, bringing their 15-year tenure in the National League South to an end.

Former manager Marc McGregor left the club in March, with coach Mark McKeever taking over caretaker charge for the final games.

Weston reached the FA Cup First Round and faced Wrexham at home, losing 2-0.

Unfortunately for the Seagulls, the pandemic has prevented them from making an effort to bounce back to Step 2 football.

Goalkeeper Ray Cashley was a product of Bristol City's youth set-up, although he actually began life as a full back.

He became the club's number one keeper in the early 1970s, helping the Robins reach the top-flight famously in 1976 under Alan Dicks.

However, he lost his place to John Shaw and only featured fleetingly after that.

Cashley's most famous moment came on September 1973, when his long clearance caught a gust of wind and bounced over the Hull City keeper to remarkably score.

After making 262 appearances in total, he left Ashton Gate in 1981 and dropped into the Western League with Clevedon Town before being offered the chance of a return to professional football in August 1982 with Bristol Rovers, who he made 53 appearances for.

He then played for Trowbridge Town in the Southern League before again returning to the Football League when he joined Chester City in October 1985.

Cashley made 9 appearances as City were promoted from the Fourth Division at the end of the 85/86 season.

After Chester, Bristol City came calling yet again, offering Cashley a role in the reserves, albeit without a contract.

He would be able to step in to play for City if Keith Waugh was unable and Cashley jumped at the chance for full-time football once again.

He never did make any further appearances for City and had a short spell in the Somerset Premier League for East Worle before joining Weston in 1986.

He is still involved with the Seagulls off-the-field.

Andy Llewellyn was an England Youth international defender who commenced his career with Bristol City as an apprentice, he was signed as a full professional in February 1984, but had already made his League debut at Rochdale in December 1982.

He eventually made a total of 308 appearances for the Robins, scoring 3 goals.

Llewellyn was a member of the Bristol City promotion-winning side of 1989/90 and also played in the Freight Rover Trophy win at Wembley in 1987. He was player of the year in 1990/91.

He was signed on loan by Exeter City in March 1994, who were then managed by his former Bristol City boss, Terry Cooper, and played in 15 consecutive games before returning to City.

Llewellyn then signed for Hereford United on non-contract forms in October 1994, but only made 4 appearances before being released.

His next club was Yeovil Town, followed by Western Leaguers Bishop Sutton and then Southern League Weston.

He also became manager of Western League side, Weston St Johns, and in October 2010 became part of the management team at Portishead Town.

Llewellyn was jailed for three years in 2012 for abusing his position as a postman by tipping off burglars as to when people on his round were away on holiday.

Andy`s sons Jake and Tom also played for Weston, with Tom now on the books at Southern Division One South side Paulton Rovers.

Midfielder Paul McLoughlin started out as a youngster with Bristol City before playing in New Zealand for Gisbourne City in 1984.

He returned to join Cardiff City, where he scored 4 times in 49 games before going back to New Zealand for a year as well as a spell with Swedish side Osters IF for two years.

He came back in 1987 to join Shrewsbury Town, for whom he netted 14 times in 74 appearances.

In 1989 he moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers where his record was 4 goals in 28 matches, and it was whilst at Wolves that he made a successful two-month loan spell at Walsall under Kenny Hibbitt.

An eventual move to Mansfield Town from Wolves followed where he notched 9 goals in 61 games before beginning his non-League career at Bath City in July 1994.

In October 1994 though, he moved down the M5 to Weston until 1997 when he moved to Forest Green Rovers who he helped to win the Southern Premier Division title under Frank Gregan and promotion to the Conference.

However, he was released at the end of the 1997/98 season and signed for Clevedon Town.

And he was a member of the Clevedon team that won the `double` of the Southern Midland Division championship and the Somerset Premier Cup in 1999.

In August 2012, McLoughlin re-joined now-Southern Division One West side Clevedon as player-coach and then took over as manager from Micky Bell in January 2014.

He stepped down in May 2015 when off-the-field issues saw the side come close to not playing their last two games of the 2014/15 season as McLoughlin worked miracles with limited resources to keep the club in Division One West.

Ian Hamilton was an industrious and talented inside forward whose naturally loose running style belied a willingness to forage and battle which often went unnoticed.

The son of pre-Second World War Bristol Rovers wing-half John Hamilton, I made his debut for the Gas in 1958 but it was another four years before he was able to claim a regular first-team place.

He went on to make over 150 appearances and score 60 goals before cartilage problems struck when he was just 24.

Although he made a few appearances in subsequent seasons, he was never quite the same again.

His full-time career finished with a 15-game spell at Newport County before he signed for Western League Weston in 1970.

He spent two years at Weston and a further two at another Western League outfit, Welton Rovers, from 1972 until 1974.

He returned to Weston as assistant manager and he became an airframe fitter with Rolls-Royce in Bristol, from where he took early retirement in 1994.

Tristan Plummer is perhaps best known now as one of the stars of Channel 4`s Gogglebox programme!

However, he has also had a long and well-travelled career as a footballer which includes no less than FOUR separate spells with Weston.

The flamboyant forward graduated from Bristol City’s academy and earned England Youth international honours and was also linked to a move to Arsenal.

However, nothing came of that and, after loan spells with Luton Town, Torquay United, Hereford United and Gillingham, he was released by City without playing a senior game for them.

He had a short spell with Portuguese side Portimonense and then Hereford again before joining then-Conference South side Weston for the first time in 2013.

He played 21 times for the Seagulls and scored 5 goals before being signed by Conference Premier side Aldershot Town in the January `window` of 2014.

He made 15 appearances for the Shots and scored one goal, but in January 2015, having returned from a loan spell at Weymouth, he was released after revealing he was homesick for his Bristol home.

So, it was back to Weston for the second time, only to return to Aldershot in February 2015.

He added 11 games and 3 goals to his Shots` tally before it was back to the Woodspring Stadium for the 2015/16 season where he played 34 times and netted 4 goals.

In August 2016, Plummer signed for Southern League Division One South & West side Hereford and he helped the club to win the title and promotion to the Premier Division.

But it was back once more to Weston in the summer of 2017 where he spent the season back in the National League South, playing 35 times with one league goal as well as the stoppage-time winner in the Somerset Premier Cup final.

In November 2018, he joined Southern Division One South side Frome Town and then moved to Western Leaguers Bitton in July 2019.

Marvin Brown joined Bristol City`s academy aged 8 and later earned international honours, being selected for the England under-16 and under-19s, playing 22 matches and scoring 11 goals.

He began his professional football career at Bristol City, where he became the youngest player in the club's history to make a first-team appearance, aged just 16 years and 71 days (a record that still stands).

He also had loan spells at Torquay United and Cheltenham Town whilst on the Robins` books.

Brown went on to have short stays ay Forest Green Rovers, Tamworth and Yeovil Town before signing for Weston for the first time in the summer of 2005 and was top scorer that season.

He was leading scorer again for Weston when he left in March 2007, having played around 70 times and scored 27 goals, to join Conference South rivals Salisbury City.

He re-joined the Seagulls in July 2008 until January 2010 when he signed for then-Southern Premier Division side Truro City.

Brown then joined a couple of his former Weston team-mates in signing for Almondsbury Town, who had just been promoted to the Southern Division One South & West.

But he didn`t stay long with the newcomers as he moved to Southern Premier Division Chippenham Town where he brought his playing days to a close to concentrate on his coaching career.

He had begun coaching at Bristol City`s academy in 2005 and five years later, he founded `Total Pro Soccer Development Centres` to offer academy standard coaching to grassroots players across Bristol and Wiltshire.

His growing reputation for developing talented young footballers earned him the opportunity to become the head coach of the Southampton Talent Centre based in Wiltshire.

And in 2018, he re-joined Bristol City as part-time under-18 striker coach, which soon evolved into a full-time academy coach position.

Roger Gibbins was a highly rated young midfielder who represented Enfield, Middlesex and London Boys.

He became an apprentice at Tottenham Hotspur in May 1971 and was signed as a full professional in December 1972.

While a prolific scorer in the youth teams and the reserves, he never made the breakthrough into the first-team at White Hart Lane, although he did taste success in the FA Youth Cup win of 1973, but had a loan spell at Southern League Bath City before he moved on to Oxford United to get first-team football in 1975.

A season later, he was at Carrow Road signing on for Norwich City and two years with the Canaries was followed by a spell in the North American Soccer League playing for the New England Team Men.

His return to England saw him join Cambridge United, where he played 100 games before moving on again, this time to Cardiff City where he had a successful time there, helping the club gain promotion and playing 139 games and scoring 17 times.

His next move, after three years at Ninian Park, was to fierce rivals Swansea City in a swap deal that took Chris Marustik to Cardiff.

Unfortunately, it was a transfer that took him to the Swans at a time when they were falling down the league ladder and his stay was only for one season and 35 games, before he moved to another Welsh club in Newport County.

It was like moving from the frying pan to the fire, as Newport were in more dire financial straits than Swansea and went down a division at the end of the season being relegated on their position and not monetary terms.

This meant a lot of players had to leave, as the club could not afford them on their books, but Gibbins stayed for another season, leaving before the transfer window closed in March 1988 having played 79 times and netting 8 times.

Newport were about to be relegated and he swapped this situation for one near the top of the league, but Torquay United failed to go up via the play-offs, so halfway through the 1989/90 season he returned to Newport, with a fee of £10,000 paid now the club had come into some money playing in the Conference.

But it couldn't last, and the club did not see out the season, their fate sealed by too many high out-goings and their record wiped off the books.

In March 1989, Gibbins returned to another of his former clubs - Cardiff - to enjoy a four-year spell as a player before moving onto the coaching staff.

He also turned out for League of Wales outfit Cwmbran Town for four years before being made assistant manager to Colin Addison at Merthyr Tydfil.

He then joined Southern Midland Division side Weston, where he was player-coach.

He later went on to manage Merthyr and Cwmbran but when he left the post as Merthyr manager he had been working for the Professional Footballer's Association as an education officer and when the job was turned into a full-time one, he did not want to give up his work with the player's union.

Weston has had a few former and current international players wearing their colours over the years.

The most recent is Ollie Watkins, who made a goalscoring debut for England against San Marino last month.

And although the Aston Villa star wasn`t a permanent player at Weston, his 24-game loan spell from Exeter City, when he netted 10 goals, is recognised as playing a major part in his progression to becoming a £28 million Premier League and now international striker.

Bermudan midfielder Roger Lee has probably an even less reason to be mentioned as a former Weston player, as he only actually made one appearance in the Conference South in 2014/15.

He moved onto sign for Southern League Clevedon Town and went on to have spells with the likes of Rugby Town, Corby Town, Stamford AFC, Basford United, Stafford Rangers and Loughborough Dynamo before playing in Latvia and Estonia.

He has so far won 23 caps for Bermuda.

Midfielder Theo Wharton is currently playing still in the Welsh Premier for Barry Town United.

A former Cardiff City trainee, his first loan move away from the Bluebirds saw him join Weston on loan in March 2017, where he played in 4 games.

After previously representing Wales at under-17, 19 and under-21 levels, Wharton switched allegiance to St Kitts & Nevis, the country of his grandparents' birth, and he has played in 15 games and scored 2 goals to date.

Left-back Peter Monks was originally with Exeter City, Dorchester Town and Taunton Town and joined Weston in 2012 from Bridgwater Town in 2012, following a two-year spell living in Australia between 2009 and 2011.

He was part of the Seagulls squad which finished in their highest league position of seventh in the Conference South a year later.

And after spending time with Paulton Rovers and Chippenham Town during the 2013/14 season on loan, he moved on to the Bluebirds at the end of the campaign on a more permanent basis after playing in 33 matches and scoring 2 goals for Weston.

It was at Hardenhuish Park that he picked up his five caps for British Virgin Islands.

Adrian Williams ended his playing days with Weston after a lengthy career in the Football League.

After coming through the ranks of Reading, he went on to enjoy seven years with the Royals before leaving in 1996 to sign for Wolverhampton Wanderers.

He returned in 2000 and played for another four years with Reading before leaving for Coventry City in 2004 after being voted the club’s best ever centre-back at the end of the 2001/02 season.

Williams went on to play with Millwall, in between his spell with the Sky Blues, and Swindon Town before signing for Weston in 2009.

He won 13 full international caps for Wales, scoring one goal against Denmark, between 1994 and 2003 after qualifying to play for the national side through his father.

Forward Manny Williams is currently the player/assistant manager of Hellenic League side Burnham after a career which has seen him play for a plethora of non-League clubs, including Maidenhead United, Woking, Havant & Waterlooville, Basingstoke Town and Slough Town.

He joined Weston in 2009, where he scored 4 goals in 12 appearances, but it wasn’t until 2012 when he made his one and only appearance for Sierra Leone.

Despite being raised in London and capped by England Schoolboys, Williams made his debut as a substitute against São Tomé and Príncipe in the first leg of their 2013 Africa Cup of Nations preliminary qualifiers.

The saddest story belongs to left-sided player Ludovic Quistin, who died at the age of just 28 in May 2012 in a road traffic accident.

He made 8 appearances for Weston in 2008 in a very well-travelled career which also took in short stops at Ebbsfleet United, Carshalton Athletic, Billericay Town, King`s Lynn, Tamworth, Halesowen Town, Fisher Athletic, Grays Athletic and FC United of Manchester.

during their CONCACAF Gold Cup match against Haiti and he would help his side reach the semi-finals.

He played 9 times for Guadeloupe, including being part of the side which beat Cuba in a penalty shoot-out to reach the 2009 Gold Cup Finals.