They`ve Managed in the Southern League (2)

Former managers in the Southern Football League.

David Busst

I still cringe when I recall seeing David Busst`s leg being smashed and broken in several places on Match of the Day in April 1996.

The moment that ultimately ended Busst’s career amid traumatic scenes that all of the 50,000-plus in attendance at Old Trafford that day – and like me, millions on television later - will have struggled to erase from their memories ever since.

Noel Whelan’s header from a corner was parried by Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel. Busst, up from the centre of the defence, charged towards the rebound at speed. An unfortunate collision, however, left the Coventry player screaming in agony. He had broken his tibia and fibula, as his right leg twisted in sickening fashion.

Schmeichel and others shielded their eyes from the gruesome sight. Blood drenched the turf inside the penalty area, while the game was delayed for 15 minutes as the player was assisted by medical staff.

United, on their way to reclaiming the title they had surrendered the previous season to Blackburn Rovers, ultimately won the game 1-0, thanks to a 47th-minute Eric Cantona goal, but the outcome was inevitably overshadowed by Busst’s injury.

Some of the players involved reportedly required counselling after witnessing this horrific accident.

A ‘Brummie’, Dave started his career at Solihull Borough, then in the Midland Combination, in 1987, then another Midland Combination side King’s Heath in 1988 before stepping up to the Southern League Premier Division with Moor Green in 1990.

Coventry`s manager at the time, Bobby Gould, recognised Busst’s potential to step up to the top Football League division when he brought him to Highfield Road on a professional contract from Moor Green in August 1992.

Busst went on to make 50 appearances for the Sky Blues, scoring 4 goals plus 10 cup appearances (one goal) before his horrific leg injury ended his career

In the summer of 2000, Busst returned to one of his former clubs, Solihull Borough, as manager.

They had been promoted to the Southern League in 1991 and, after a spell in the Premier Division, were members of the Division One West when Busst took over, initially until the end of this season after taking the first steps to return to the game.

Busst had been working at Coventry City helping to run a community football scheme since his playing career came to a shocking end.

He replaced another former Coventry defender, Paul Dyson after he was sacked.

Busst came close to guiding Solihull back to the Premier Division, finishing sixth and fourth twice before leaving the club.

In November 2003, Busst was unveiled as the new manager of Southern Division One West side Evesham United.

He took over with the club struggling near the foot of the table, but he managed to turn things round and Evesham finished mid-table with a credible 50 points.

The 2004/05 campaign saw Busst in his first full season in charge with the experienced Paul West as his assistant.

It turned out to be a season to remember for Evesham fans as, after being in the top two for most of the season, a hiccup towards the end saw United narrowly miss out on automatic promotion and had to settle for a place in the play-offs.

A nail-biting 2-1 success against Ashford Town (Middx) paired the Robins against local rivals Bromsgrove Rovers in the play-off final.

A crowd of over 800 packed into Common Road to witness the game and Evesham romped to a 4-0 win to take their place in the Southern Premier Division for the first time in their history.

But after a poor run of results, Busst departed in February 2006.

He went on to coach at Midland Alliance outfit Highgate United and continued to work for Coventry City`s community schemes.

Gordon Bartlett

Gordon Bartlett went on to become arguably the greatest manager in Wealdstone’s history, winning three promotions and spending 22 years in the dug-out.

By the time he stepped down in August 2017, the 64-year-old was the longest-serving manager in the top six tiers of English football.

Countless gems were unearthed along the way. Jermaine Beckford, signed by Leeds United for £70,000 in 2006, later played in the Premier League for Everton. Marvin Morgan, Scott Donnelly and many more forged successful EFL careers.

Bartlett’s talent-spotting prowess was evident from the start. After a professional career with West Ham United and Portsmouth cut short by injury at the age of 22, Bartlett became a full-time PE teacher and played for Slough Town, Waterlooville and Hayes before taking over as manager of Isthmian League Division One South side Southall whilst still in his twenties.

One of his first signings was Les Ferdinand, a teenage painter and decorator who would go on to become one of the Premier League’s all-time leading scorers.

He led Southall, including Ferdinand, to the 1986 FA Vase Final at Wembley against Halesowen Town, who won 3-0 on the day.

However, he surprised many by leaving Southall to take over as manager of Hellenic League neighbours Hounslow later that summer.

He led Hounslow to second place in 1986/87 and promotion to the Southern League South Division and also to win the Hellenic League Cup – the club`s first trophy for 21 years.

Another successful spell with Isthmian League Division One South club Yeading followed, where he led them to the 1989/90 title and a return trip to Wembley for another Vase final with several of his former Southall players.

The initial game against Bridlington Town ended 0-0 at Wembley before Paul Sweales won the replay 1-0 at Leeds United.

Bartlett then took on the managerial reigns at Wealdstone in June 1995.

They were then members of the Southern League South Division.

The Stones were switched to the Isthmian Division Three the following season and Bartlett took the club on a whirlwind two-decade rise to being play-off contenders in the Conference South before quitting in the summer of 2017.

The Stones spent the first 13 years under his tenure without a home ground, sharing with other London clubs before finally moving to Grosvenor Vale in 2008.

But he still guided them to promotion in only his second season in 1997, before sensationally making it back-to-back the next campaign.

And after 16 years fighting to get out of the seventh tier, they were promoted to the National League South in 2014, securing two mid-table finishes before reaching eighth in his last season in charge – 2016/17.

Chris Symes

Chris Symes was reckoned to be the youngest coach in Britain when Scottish side Arbroath paid the Royal Navy for him to leave and work alongside the long-serving Bert Henderson at the age of 27.

He had joined the Navy as a 15-year-old in 1961 and was stationed at HMS Ganges in Shotley, near Ipswich.

During his time in the Fleet Air Arm he played in every major country except Russia and represented the Navy against New Zealand, Singapore, Malta and Moscow Dynamos and even played against Sir Stanley Matthews in Malta, where he married and retired to.

During his time in the Navy he attended Lilleshall for his FA Coaching A and B licences with such names as Geoff Hurst, Nobby Stiles and Howard Kendall.

At just 25 years old he was the youngest to pass out along with future England manager Graham Taylor.

In 1980, Halstead Town became his destination and he then went on to manage Tiptree United before joining Braintree Town in 1983 where he was to become a legend, winning two Eastern Counties League titles and the Essex Senior Trophy.

In 1987, he was then `head hunted` by Southern Premier Division Chelmsford City and after relegation in his first season, got the club promoted with a record points tally as well as winning the Essex Senior Cup and as manager of the Essex representative side, won the county championship and Sir Stanley Row Cup.

His next port of call was Southern South Division club Bury Town in 1989.

After a spell with Brantham Athletic, he joined Cornard United and spent 19 years as manager, chairman and owner before retiring in 2013.

Arthur Turner

Arthur Turner was the man who guided Oxford United to promotion from the Southern League to the Football League in 1962.

A decent centre-half with Stoke City, for whom he made 291 appearances before the Second World War and then for Birmingham City during the war when he played nearly 200 games, captaining them to the championship of the wartime Football League South and to the semi-final of the first post-war FA Cup.

After the war he had a spell with Southport, then of the Third Division North as player-manager.

He played his last game in October 1948 at the age of 39.

He was appointed manager of Crewe Alexandra in October 1948 and stayed there for three years, returning to Stoke as assistant manager in December 1951 under first Bob McGrory and then Frank Taylor.

In 1954 he re-joined Birmingham as their manager and during a four-year spell at St Andrews, he led them to promotion and the 1956 FA Cup Final.

When he resigned in 1958, he said he would never manage a Football League side again!

He took over at Southern League Headington United in 1959 and the club changed its name to Oxford United in 1960.

Following two Southern League championships in 1960/61 and 61/62, the club were elected to the Football League for the 62/63 season, taking the place of the bankrupt Accrington Stanley.

Turner remained as manager until 1969 but stayed on as general manager until 1972 when he teamed up with one of his former Oxford stalwarts, Ron Atkinson, in an advisory role at Kettering Town.

He later scouted for Rotherham United and Sheffield Wednesday and sadly died in January 1994 at the age of 84.

Jeff Blockley

Jeff Blockley was born in Leicester but began his career with Coventry City, making his debut for them in 1968/69.

A central defender, he played nearly 150 matches for Coventry and was capped by the England under-23 side.

In October 1972 he was snapped up by Arsenal for a fee of £200,000, as the intended replacement for former captain Frank McLintock and made his debut for the Gunners in a 1–0 defeat to Sheffield United in October 1972, four days made his full England debut, against Yugoslavia.

Towards the end of his first season, playing despite an injury, Blockley's uncertainty in the FA Cup semi-final against Sunderland contributed to Arsenal's defeat and his relationship with the supporters never recovered.

However, with McLintock leaving Arsenal in the summer of 1973, Blockley became first-choice centre-back.

The 1073/74 season was to turn out to be a difficult one for both Blockley and Arsenal, with defeats in both domestic cup competitions to lower-level sides.

Many of the club's fans laid the blame at Blockley's feet and his days at Highbury were numbered.

Although he was still at Arsenal at the start of the 1974/75 season, he was dropped, placed on the transfer list and in January 1975 was sold to home-town club Leicester City for £100,000.

In all, he played 76 matches for Leicester and he had somewhat of a mini-renaissance, helping rescue the side from relegation that season and to a seventh-place finish in 1975/76 and becoming club captain.

Blockley struggled with injuries throughout the 1977/78 season, which contributed to Leicester's ultimate relegation.

After three and a half seasons, he left Filbert Street in 1978 for Notts County where he made 59 league appearances before leaving the club at the end of the 1979/80 season to join Southern Midland Division side Enderby Town.

He went on to join league rivals Gloucester City in 1981, playing 15 times and scoring in a 3-1 win over Clandown in the FA Cup.

He returned to Enderby, who were now-named Leicester United and then in May 1984 took over as manager of Shepshed Charterhouse, who had earlier been managed by former Nottingham Forest and Manchester United winger Ian Storey-Moore who, ironically, like Blockley won just one cap for England, and were later to be managed by Martin O`Neill.

Shepshed had been promoted to the Southern Premier Division the previous season and Blockley`s short tenure saw the club stabilise in the higher division in 1984/85 when they finished seventh.

But his time as a manager was a brief one and went on to own his own business, Transmech, which has proven to be hugely successful.

David Mehew

David Mehew started his playing career with Leeds United but made the breakthrough into first-team football after moving to Bristol Rovers in 1985.

He went on to make over 200 League appearances for Rovers and Walsall before joining Yate Town in August 1995 and then onto Weston-super-Mare in January 1996.

He moved into the Conference with Bath City in March 1997 and went on to have spells with Farnborough Town, Rushden & Diamonds, Forest Green Rovers, Bath again, Clevedon Town, Paulton Rovers, Brislington, Weston again, Bitton, Bristol Manor Farm and Gloucester City.

He was appointed manager of Southern Premier Division Gloucester in June 2008 following Tim Harris' move `upstairs` to the general manager`s office.

In his first season in charge, Mehew led the Tigers to third place and won the play-offs by beating Farnborough Town 1-0 to gain promotion to the Conference North.

He managed the Tigers until February 2014 when he was sacked with the team sitting second-from-bottom.

He went on to manage Southern Division One South West outfit Mangotsfield United until 2017.