Select Your Best XI!

Choose your favourite Southern League players.

Whilst self-isolating, take a little time to think about the Best XI players you have seen in the Southern League.

It could be the best players from your favourite team, or ones you have admired from opposition sides or players who have been a thorn in the team you support.

I`ll give you a start by giving my selection.

Before I began playing seriously myself, I was a regular visitor to watch Kettering Town in the Southern League.

I have seen some great goalkeepers over the years. But I cannot remember one who made such an impression on me as a young lad than the very first one I saw in the Poppies goal, BRYAN HARVEY (pictured).

His early football was played in the Southern League with March Town and Wisbech Town before Newcastle United signed him on in 1958 on the back of his part in Wisbech's FA Cup run to the Second Round.

Harvey was thrown into the Magpies' first team as a raw 19-year-old and went on to give them three seasons before they were relegated to the Second Division.

It was back into the Southern League with Cambridge City before Blackpool signed him as cover for their England international keeper Tony Waiters.

When Dave Bowen needed a keeper urgently for Northampton, he quickly signed Harvey for £4,000.

During the 1964/65 season - the season the Cobblers won promotion to the First Division - Harvey saved six penalties, including two against Terry Paine of Southampton.

A troubled time in the First Division, two broken fingers the following season in the Second Division and his release at the end of the 1967/68 were the headlines of the following seasons.

He then spent a couple of seasons at Kettering and his big presence in goal sticks firmly in my memory.

The Poppies had just won promotion back to the Southern Premier Division and local keeper Phil Coe had done a good job in the side, but player-manager Steve Gammon wanted more experience for the higher level and signed Harvey.

He helped Kettering to the Third Round of the FA Cup and to a ninth-place finish.

But mid-way through the second season he was offered a job in League management, but the Poppies would not release him.

He played on and the Poppies finished 15th before he left in 1970.

ROGER ASHBY is someone I should hate, not pick as a favourite player!

It was Ashby`s consistency with Kettering that restricted my own appearances for the Poppies, although I have to admit he was a much better player than me!

Ashby though was a model of consistency and made over 600 appearances for the Poppies before embarking on a successful managerial career with Irthlingborough Diamonds, Rushden Town, Rushden & Diamonds, Bedford Town, Grantham Town, Nuneaton Borough and Brackley Town.

I am going to cheat a little with regards as to my left back – Roger Ashby could always switch across as he did on more than one occasion anyway – because my choice was predominantly a right back.

And, as a right back myself, he`s someone I used to love watching, even though it was for opposing teams.

I usually stood on the Britannia Road terraces at Rockingham Road so I always got a good close up look at right-backs and over the years KIRK STEPHENS used to get an awful lot of stick from the crowd in derby games against Nuneaton Borough!

But he`d always come back at the Kettering fans with a bit of banter and a wide smile.

Stephens started his career with hometown club Coventry City. However, despite spending five years on the Sky Blues books, he was released in 1972 and joined Southern League Premier Division Nuneaton Borough, managed at the time by David Pleat.

Stephens made his Nuneaton breakthrough at the age of 17 in October 1972 and soon earned rave reviews.

Certainly, David Pleat didn`t forget Stephens and in May 1978 he returned to Manor Park to sign the then-23-year-old in a £5,000 deal - a club record fee at the time.

What followed was the most successful period of Stephens' career - and one of the most successful spells of Luton's history.

Pleat led them to the First Division and kept them there and Stephens was a key man alongside players such as Ricky Hill, Paul Walsh and Brian Stein.

After 227 appearances for the Hatters, Stephens made a return to Coventry.

Unfortunately, he suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury in only his third game in a Sky Blue shirt in an innocent clash with Leicester City's Bob Hazell.

He returned a couple of months later but was never 100 percent fit again. In the autumn of 1985, he tried a comeback, but the pain was too much and in May 1986, he retired from top-class football.

He continued to play football at lower levels, for Barnet under Barry Fry, and for his old club Nuneaton, who he also managed for a spell.

The first of my centre-backs is TREVOR PECK, who signed for Kettering in 1968 after a three-year spell with rivals Worcester City.

He had started out with hometown side Llanelli in the Welsh League before signing for Cardiff City in 1958 and stayed until 1965, although he lost two years of football to National Service.

After joining the Poppies, he formed a great partnership with local boy Mick Reed in the heart of the defence and then later became a major part of Ron Atkinson`s side that won the Midland and Premier Division titles in successive seasons.

I had the pleasure of playing both cricket and football with Trevor and he remained a 100% committed performer right to his late 50s.

Alongside him is someone who is another to have been a stalwart for Atkinson, SEAN SUDDARDS.

Atkinson signed Suddards from Blackpool in 1973.

He wasn`t the biggest of centre-backs but he rarely got beaten to a header and was massively consistent.

His partnership later with Richard Dixey was a major reason why the Poppies got to Wembley in the FA Trophy Final in 1979.

He finally left Rockingham Road in 1983 after 492 appearances and having played for six managers - Atkinson, Geoff Vowden, Derek Dougan, Jim Conde, Mick Jones and Colin Clarke.

He later had a spell with Wellingborough Town as player-manager, but his main game is golf these days where he still possesses that competitive edge.

BILLY KELLOCK was, without doubt, one of the most gifted footballers I saw play at Southern League level.

He had been with Aston Villa as a youngster, but it was with Second Division Cardiff City that he first made his mark, playing 35 first-team games.

He was signed by John Bond for Norwich City in 1973 but played only three times for a struggling Canaries side who went down from the First Division at the end of that season.

He signed for Millwall but wasn`t given a chance at The Den and left in the summer of 1975 and eventually signed for Southern League Premier Division side Chelmsford City.

However, Kellock couldn`t refuse the offer of joining Derek Dougan`s Kettering side in the summer of 1976.

He helped the Poppies to finish third in the Southern Premier in 76/77 and he continued to flourish under Dougan`s replacement, Mick Jones.

Kellock played a major part in the Poppies reaching the FA Trophy Final in 1979 and his unbelievable mid-air volley to win the home leg of the semi-final against Dagenham – and win 1-0 on aggregate - still sticks firmly in my memory as I know it does with many other `older` Kettering supporters.

Sadly, for Kettering fans though, Kellock left straight after the final defeat to Stafford Rangers, sold to Peterborough United, where he made 135 appearances and scored 43 goals.

Spells with Luton Town, Wolves, Southend United, Port Vale and Halifax Town followed before he returned to Kettering in the summer of 1986.

But the team were struggling and despite the former fans favourite scoring in Kettering’s first home match of the 1986/87 season, a 2-0 victory over Bath City, the team finished 16th in the Conference.

One of Ron Atkinson`s major signings ahead of their return to the Southern League Premier Division in 1972 was JOE KIERNAN.

A wonderfully silky midfielder, it was a big surprise to supporters of local county rivals Northampton Town that Kiernan was allowed to leave.

He had joined the Cobblers in the summer of 1963, having found first-team opportunities limited at Sunderland.

He had been a star for the Black Cats successful youth side, earning praise from legendary Manchester United boss Matt Busby, who said of him: “He addressed the ball and stroked it forward like a veteran.”

He went on to make 350 appearances for the Cobblers, chipping in with 14 goals and it was rumoured he was on the verge of being capped by Scotland when Northampton played their one and only season in the First Division.

He only spent a couple of seasons with Kettering and was eventually sold to Atherstone Town midway through the 73/74 season for a substantial fee which included Ray Webster also joining the Adders.

After leaving Atherstone, Kiernan went into coaching and spent time alongside former Poppies team-mate Roger Ashby at Irthlingborough Diamonds and then the fledgling Rushden & Diamonds and later returned to Northampton as youth team boss and then assistant manager under Theo Foley.

On the right-wing is another former Cobblers favourite – HARRY WALDEN.

He actually started his career with Kettering, having played for his local village side Walgrave as a schoolboy.

He soon drew interest from professional clubs and in January 1961 he joined Luton Town playing for them for three and a half years in the Second Division.

He joined the Cobblers in June 1964 in an exchange deal that saw Billy Hails move the other way.

He helped the club win promotion to the First Division and, despite losing his place to Joe Broadfoot for a short spell, he fought his way back into first-team contention.

He left the County Ground in May 1967 as the club were relegated to the Third Division.

Walden was still in his prime after re-joining the Poppies in 1967/68 and was a massively popular player who made over 300 appearances.

Ironically, my funniest memory of Harry was when I was a young player at the Poppies and was in the squad for a Midland or Anglia Floodlit Cup tie (I can`t remember which) against Wellingborough Town at the Dog & Duck.

It was quite early in the 72/73 season and coach Jim Hales was in charge of the Poppies side for the night.

However, 20 minutes before kick-off, `Big Ron` came into the dressing room to wish us luck but there was no Harry Walden!

He was discovered by one of the directors just finishing off a pint in the Dog & Duck pub around the corner and he reckoned he didn`t think he was playing! True story!

That was basically the end of Walden`s Poppies career but he went on to play for his home village of Walgrave well into his 40s.

On the other side I have gone for another player I used to love to hate as an opponent of the Poppies – MICKY FUDGE.

Fudge joined West Bromwich Albion from school in May 1961, becoming a professional in 1963 after representing England Schoolboys.

He spent four years at The Hawthorns making 16 appearances, scoring 5 goals including a hat trick against Everton in March 1964.

He made his debut against Sheffield United in December 1963.

Alan Ashman released him in 1967 and he joined Exeter City where he made 34 appearances.

He returned to the Midlands in 1968 and signed for the then-named Wellington Town.

It was whilst with the Bucks that he always caught my eye when he played against Kettering and he helped Telford, as they became, to the 1970 FA Trophy Final against Macclesfield Town and then back again the year afterwards, this time to earn a winners` medal against Hillingdon Borough.

He eventually left Telford to join Southern Division One North side Kidderminster Harriers in June 1976 and then moved on to end his playing career with Midland Combination outfit Malvern Town in January 1978.

When the Poppies paid a then seemingly staggering £8,000 for ROY CLAYTON from Oxford United in 1972 it sent a shock wave throughout non-League football and wider.

Atkinson had played with Clayton at Oxford and was one of the first players he wanted when he got them promoted back to the Southern Premier.

But when Clayton came to his first training session, along with many others in the club, I thought “this is what we paid £8,000 for!”

He was a skinny, small bloke who didn`t say boo to a goose in the dressing room.

But wow! On the pitch, he was something else!

Atkinson held a first-team versus second team training game on the pitch, and I played as one of the centre-backs for the second team and was asked to mark the new signing.

I`ll rough him up a bit I thought! But he simply was the best player with his back to goal I have ever either played against or seen before or since.

The ball would be played up to him and he`d twist, turn and be past you before you could blink.

For someone who was probably only 5`8” tall, he was also superb in the air and went on to score 187 goals in 418 games for the Poppies and quite a number more for Barnet and Nuneaton Borough later.

My other striker is someone who was very similar to Roy Clayton in stature and the way he played – KEN GULLY.

Gully, like Harry Walden, wasn`t seen as being in Ron Atkinson`s plans, despite him being a prolific scorer with a great record of 153 goals in 299 games for the Poppies from 1966 to 1972.

He had come from Barry Town and was signed by fellow Welshman Steve Gammon.

In Gully`s first season with the Poppies, he scored 34 goals, including all four in a 4-0 win against his former club – ironically a result that saw the manager who sold him – Basil Bright - get the sack!

Kettering finished fifth in the First Division that season but returned to the Premier Division the following season after finishing runners-up to Worcester City.

Gully and Gammon had an almost telepathic connection with free-kicks – the player-manager`s set-pieces often saw Gully sneak in to head home.

Many were surprised when Atkinson dispensed with Gully`s services, especially as the man he eventually signed to replace him, Roy Clayton, was a similar type of player.

However, Gully played for Cambridge City for a while before his career ended.

HAVE A GO AT SELECTING YOUR BEST XI

You don`t have to write as much as the above – just a team will suffice if you prefer – but I will publish the teams chosen.

Send your selections to swhitney@virginmedia.com