Southern League Legends (Part One)

The first of a series of articles on greats of the league.

Loyalty in football seems to be a lost word in football. Players seem to move about far more than they once used to.

So, who are the stalwarts of the Southern League – the players who were always one of the first names on the teamsheet.

There are plenty of candidates.

Some of the players mentioned in this feature may have appeared briefly in other leagues, due to relegation or promotion, but the majority of their appearances have been made for their respective clubs in the Southern League.

Someone who made all of his appearances in the Southern League was Weymouth`s Tony Hobson.

It was almost inevitable that Tony would play for his hometown club as his father represented the Terras between 1930 and 1947.

He joined Weymouth in July 1958, captaining the youth side and making his senior debut in October 1958, coming from the Weymouth YMCA side and was to remain until May 1976 when he was released and moved to Bridport, staying until April 1979 – the year in which he won the player of the year award.

He was originally a forward who was later converted to a defender, although he played in goal on two occasions – the most famous of which was when he took over from Bob Charles in the FA Cup tie with Barnet in the 1961/62 season.

Hobson holds the record for Weymouth for the highest number of appearances in FA Cup matches (57), the highest number of appearances as captain (449) and the youngest player to appear in 200 matches when he achieved the feat in November 1963, at 23.

After his spell at Bridport, he moved to Portesham in 1979 and on to Portland United in 1981.

In 1982 he was appointed as manager of the Terras’ reserve side, but he was released from this post in January 1984. He ended his playing days with another spell at Grove Corner.

He made a club record 933 senior appearances and scored 32 goals.

Coming up against Tony Hobson on numerous occasions would have been Roger Ashby in battles between the Terras and Kettering Town.

Originally on the books at Northampton Town as a youngster, it was after being signed by Kettering`s player-manager Steve Gammon in 1967 that his career really took off.

Apart from the odd injury, Ashby was barely out of the Poppies line-up from 1967 until taking over as player-manager of United Counties League side Irthlingborough Diamonds in 1981.

He played in 663 games for the Poppies, including some of their most memorable ones, such as the 1968 FA Cup tie against Bristol Rovers and the FA Trophy Final at Wembley in 1979 and just a handful of his appearance total came after Kettering were founder members of the Alliance Premier League in 1979/80.

He also popped up with his fair share of goals too as he was often employed as a midfielder as well as his more normal right-back slot.

He enjoyed a successful managerial career at Irthlingborough Diamonds, Rushden Town, Rushden & Diamonds, Bedford Town, Grantham Town, Nuneaton Borough and Brackley Town

The one job he would have loved – the Kettering managerial role – eluded him, unfortunately. However, he did have a spell as assistant manager to Marcus Law.

Another player Ashby would have come up against on many occasions – often in hard-fought local derby matches – was Bedford Town`s David Skinn.

Skinn joined the Eagles in 1962 after spells with Potton United and Eynesbury Rovers.

He went on to be a permanent fixture at the Eyrie for many years, totalling 894 games and scoring 59 goals.

His popularity at Bedford saw him honoured with two testimonials, one shared with another stalwart in Norman Cooley in 1971 and again in 1978.

At the time of his second testimonial, Skinn was player-manager of neighbours Kempston Rovers and also had a spell back with Bedford as assistant boss in 1979/80.

Bob Harrop (pictured) made 563 appearances for Margate – all in the Southern League.

Indeed, he missed only four games of his first 467 appearances between 1961/62 and 1968/69!

Harrop was actually a `Busby Babe` as he joined Manchester United on leaving school and made his debut for the first team against West Brom in an FA Cup replay following the Munich air disaster in 1958.

He made 11 appearances for United before being transferred to Tranmere Rovers in 1959 for £4,000.

He captained Tranmere and played 46 times for them but, in the summer of 1961, he moved south and signed for Margate.

In 1966/67 he missed only one match as Gate won promotion to the Southern Premier Division and a league game against Gravesend & Northfleet at the end of that season was designated as a testimonial for Harrop, who earned just over £56 from the match, which was a decent amount in those days (equates to just under £1000 in today`s money).

He left Margate at the end of the 1968/69 season and he went on to play for Ashford Town, where he played over 100 times in the Southern League, Canterbury City as player-coach and then player-manager in 1975 and added a further 177 Southern League games to his tally.

He then had a brief period back at Ashford as a player before making an emotional return to Margate in August 1977 – eight years after leaving Hartsdown Park.

He made his playing comeback for Gate against Taunton Town two days after turning 41 and he still played a major part in Margate winning the Southern League Division One South title.

He went on to play a few times for Ramsgate and had a short spell as manager and then returned to Margate to help their reserve side as a player at the age of 45.

John Maggs was a highly rated goalkeeper who was good enough to be an England Schoolboy international.

He signed for Crawley Town in 1963 and went on to set the West Sussex side's all-time appearance record with over 700 to his credit.

Seven years after retiring as a player, he stepped up to manage the Reds in 1987 and stayed at the helm for thirteen seasons, combining his duties with those of chairman towards the end of his tenure.

After 37 years at Town Mead, Maggs moved on to Horsham, where he spent the next eleven seasons, leading the Hornets to two promotions and the FA Cup's Second Round in 2007.

Financial issues arising from the sale of the club's former Queen Street ground eventually led to Maggs' departure and the start of a two-year spell at Crawley Down in the summer of 2011.

He went on to be general manager at Conference South Tonbridge Angels and then, in August 2013, returned to the dug-out as manager of Hastings United.

The previous March he had been awarded a Football Association medal for his services to the game.

Centre forward Tony Jacques first joined Banbury United in the summer of 1965 from Gloucester City.

Prior to joining Gloucester, he had made 7 Football League appearances for Oxford United.

He would go on to spearhead Banbury’s attack in their first two seasons of Southern League football before leaving in the summer of 1968 for Premier Division Nuneaton Borough for what was then a record fee between Southern League clubs of £2,500.

Jacques then moved on to Kettering Town where he was part of the team that won the Southern League Division One North championship under Ron Atkinson in 1971/72.

He returned to Banbury in the summer of 1972 and played for United for four more seasons before retiring.

His total goal tally just for the Puritans finished up being 222.

Mick Wright`s tally of 1,152 games for one club – King`s Lynn – is a British record.

He played a total of 734 matches in the Southern League alone, with the rest being made up of FA competitions, local and league cups and 42 when the Linnets were pushed into the Northern Premier League.

Despite being born in Northamptonshire, he first played for Newmarket Town in the Eastern Counties League and moved on to Northampton Town in November 1959 progressing towards the odd first-team appearance in a period when the Cobblers were promoted from the Fourth Division to the First in the space of five seasons.

At 19 years of age, he was sent on loan to King's Lynn and was signed by Len Richley, making his debut in October 1961 against Gravesend & Northfleet.

He went on to make 424 consecutive appearances from 30th April 1962 to 30th November 1968.

In January 1968, he sustained a ruptured spleen playing against Corby Town but, despite a hospital operation, he tried to discharge himself on the Friday so as not to miss the game the following day!

Wright took over as the Linnets' player-manager in April 1971 staying until 1973, the highlight of the period being a replayed FA Cup Second Round tie which was lost 1-0 at Hereford United in front of a 12,000 gate.

He continued playing until, at 39 years, he left the club having played 1,152 games having never been cautioned. He was booked once apparently but it was rescinded at end of game for some reason by the referee!

He continued playing for Watton United in the Anglian Combination until his 50th birthday.

Jack Bentley scored a remarkable 431 goals in 835 appearances for Wellington Town and then the re-named Telford United.

He enjoyed 14 years at the Bucks Head from 1963 with his best season being in 1971/72 when he netted 52 goals in the Southern League Premier Division.

Born in Liverpool and originally with Everton, he made just one appearance for the Toffees before leaving for Stockport County in 1961.

He had a relatively disappointing spell with the Hatters, scoring only 5 times in 49 games before signing for the Bucks where he really found form.

His son Jim also went on to play for the club and is now manager of Vanarama National League club AFC Fylde after spending several years in charge of neighbours Morecambe.