They`ve Played For Your Club…..Alvechurch

Series continues on players who have represented the current clubs in the Southern Football League.

The current Pitching In Southern Premier Division Central club Alvechurch is a relatively new set-up.

Following the demise of the club`s benefactor Philip Palmer and the president Alan Wiseman, the club were relegated to the Midland Division of the Southern League at the end of the 1989/90 season, and there began a gradual decline.

Geoff Turton of the `Rockin’ Berries` pop group stepped in to keep the club alive, aided by the sale of Andy Comyn to Aston Villa for a club record fee of £30,000.

But at the end of the 1991/92 season, the club were relegated to the West Midlands (Regional) League.

Financial speculators gained control of the club in 1992 resulting in closure the following November 1993.

But in 1994, a dedicated band of supporters resurrected the club as Alvechurch Villa, re-building the seated stand and refurbishing the clubhouse to gain admission to the Midland Combination Premier Division, finishing in fifth position in the league and beaten finalists in the Smedley Crook Cup.

The team went onto reach the League Cup final the following season, only to lose out to league champions Bloxwich Town.

In 1996 the club reverted to its original name and became simply, Alvechurch FC once again.

In 2002/03, they completed a Midland Combination League and Challenge Cup `double`- a feat last completed in 1971/72 and at the end of the season, Church were promoted into the Midland Alliance.

Season 2014/15 saw the Midland Alliance and Midland Combination merge into the newly formed, Midland League, with Alvechurch playing in the Premier Division.

After a poor first season in the new league, Alvechurch finished second in 2015/16 and then won the title the following season under Ian Long but were placed in the Northern Premier League.

However, a second-place finish behind Basford United earned `Church promotion and, more sensibly, were placed in the Southern League Premier Division for the first since the `old` club were in the league in 1990.

In that 1989/90 squad was popular and well-travelled forward Mark Rosegreen (pictured).

A former England Schoolboy international, he went on to win numerous honours as a player.

He started out at the old AP Leamington club before spending four successful years with Kidderminster Harriers where he gained Southern League championship and League Cup winners` medals.

He went on to have spells with Redditch United, Bromsgrove Rovers, Sutton Coldfield Town, from whom he joined Alvechurch in the summer of 1989, Nuneaton Borough, who he joined in a swap deal involving Paul Carty with VS Rugby in July 1992.

He returned to Rugby two years later and also turned out for Atherstone United, Racing Club Warwick, Hinckley Athletic and Barwell.

He later took up coaching with, amongst others, Midland League side Leicester Road.

One of the managers of Alvechurch during their early Midland Combination days was Peter Aldis.

The left-back began his playing career just after the Second World War with Worcestershire Combination side Hay Green.

In November 1948, he was signed by Aston Villa but remained working for Cadbury`s in Bourneville until January 1949 when he turned professional.

He went on to become a virtual ever-present for Villa until 1960 and was a member of their 1957 FA Cup-winning team.

Aldis, who was described as a player with a "sunshine smile", appeared in 294 league and cup games before moving to Hinckley Athletic in July 1960.

But the Birmingham-born defender scored only one goal for Villa which came against Sunderland in September 1952 - a header from 35 yards which was a world record until October 2009!
He emigrated to Australia in February 1964 and played for two seasons with leading State League side Port Melbourne-Slavia.

He transferred to Ringwood-Wilhelmina in 1966 and was voted as the league`s player of the year, despite being almost 39!

After a short spell with another Melbourne-based side, Essendon Lions, he returned to England and took up the managerial helm at Lye Meadow.

Right-back Nigel Conniff went on to become a very experienced non-League defender with several Midlands clubs.

His career began during Ron Atkinson`s tenure at West Bromwich Albion.

He didn`t make the breakthrough at The Hawthorns, due to the form of the emerging Brendan Batson, and he made the short move to Walsall.

However, nothing materialised for Conniff at Fellowes Park either and he dropped into non-League football with Shifnal Town.

He travelled around the West Midlands (Regional) League and Southern League with the likes of Oldswinford, Redditch United, Worcester City, Bromsgrove Rovers, Oldbury United, Dudley Town and Bilston Town.

He had two spells with Alvechurch, both times during their Southern League days.

In the summer of 1996, Conniff joined Midland Alliance side Sandwell Borough and a year later took over as player-manager.

He later became coach at Rushall Olympic before leaving with the rest of the management team in 2003.

There are several former Alvechurch players who have subsequently gone on to manage in the Football League.

The likes of Graham Allner, Steve Cotterill, Sean O`Driscoll and David Kelly have all been mentioned in these lockdown features on the website.

Nick Cusack had a short managerial career with Swansea City but made his mark on football in other ways.

Born in Rotherham, Cusack (pictured) started out with then-Northern Counties East League side Long Eaton United.

However, after moving to study at Birmingham Polytechnic, he signed for Southern Premier Division Alvechurch in 1985.

In 1982, Leicester City had taken another striker, Alan Smith, from Alvechurch and saw Cusack as another potential starlet worth pursuing and snapped him up in June 1987.

However, he seemed overburdened from the day of his arrival with comparisons to the new Arsenal signing Smith, whose number 9 shirt he wore on the opening day of the 1987/88 season.

But he went on to make only 19 appearances for the Foxes, with just one goal, before he moved on to Peterborough United in 1988.

Posh was another club where Cusack spent just one season before moving up to Scotland with Motherwell.

He won the Scottish Cup and represented the club in European competition and spent three seasons with the Well before returning to England in a £95,000 move to Darlington in 1992.

After half a season with Darlington, and just 22 appearances, he moved for the same fee to Oxford United, making 44 appearances for the Manor Ground outfit in two seasons.

After this, he moved to Fulham, where he made 136 appearances in three seasons, just prior to the time Mohammed Al-Fayed took over the West London club.

He moved onto Swansea in 1997 and it was the start of a spell in which he would make 216 appearances in all competitions, up to and including the end of the 2001/02 season.

Now a holder of a university degree, Cusack was inspirational as the Swans' team captain.

He finished the 1999/00 season as the club's joint-top goalscorer and that campaign saw him named by his fellow professionals in the Third Division select team.

He was tempted to move into management with the Swans, replacing Colin Addison in the hot-seat.

But after just 17 games in charge, Cusack departed Swansea the following September.

Cusack had worked for the PFA under Gordon Taylor and his deputy Brendan Batson and for a time was chairman of the PFA.

In 2016, Cusack was elected to the General Council of the Trades Union Congress

In March 2013, Geoff Horsfield made his Midland Alliance debut for Alvechurch against Tipton Town.

The 39-year-old had been tempted out of retirement by his friends, the Lye Meadow chairman Richard Thorndike and manager Dean Holtham, after overcoming blood clots on the lungs and pneumonia two months earlier, having overcome testicular cancer four years earlier.

His spell with `Church was a brief one but it did give the club a boost in attendances for a few months.

That was down to his massive popularity gained during his time with Alvechurch`s neighbours Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion.

Horsfield spent several years on the non-League circuit with the likes of Guiseley, Halifax Town and Witton Albion.

After retiring from football, he began his own building business and also established the `Geoff Horsfield Foundation`, a charity which offers accommodation to homeless people.

Earlier that same season, another former Birmingham City stalwart, Ian Clarkson also signed for Alvechurch and finished up playing in the same team as Geoff Horsfield.

Their respective periods with the Blues were ten years apart, Clarkson joining the club in 1987 and going on to make over 150 appearances as a defender.

In 1993 he transferred to Stoke City where he added 75 games to his tally and then to Northampton Town three years later, where played over 100 times for the Cobblers.

He helped the Cobblers to promotion via the play-offs but in August 1998, he suffered a badly broken tibia and although he made a couple of appearances at the start of the 1999/00 season, it appeared that his League career was over at the age of 28.

However, he recovered fitness enough to be signed by Kidderminster Harriers to play at Conference level and he helped them to win promotion to the Football League under former Liverpool star Jan Molby.

To enable Clarkson (pictured) to carry on playing in the League, Harriers repaid the insurance pay-out that he had received on his retirement due to injury.

When Molby resigned as manager of in March 2002, Clarkson acted as assistant to caretaker manager Ian Britton, but the club released him at the end of that season for financial reasons.

He joined Nuneaton Borough of the Conference in the summer of 2002 but was released the following December, again on financial grounds.

He played for Stafford Rangers in the Southern League Premier Division and then in 2003, he became the first `big name` signing by then-Midland Combination title-chasers Leamington since the club's re-birth in 2000 and he agreed to play without wages or expenses.

He was quoted as saying that he`d rather play for fun than battle his way on the motorways for a few quid a week in the Southern Premier Division.

In March 2003, he stepped back up to the Conference with Forest Green Rovers but was released at the end of the season.

However, in September 2012 he was enticed out of retirement to don an Alvechurch shirt at the age of 41.

Forward Richard O`Kelly was signed by Alan Buckley for Walsall as a 22-year-old from Southern League Midland Division Alvechurch in October 1979.

A few months earlier, his Lye Meadow team-mate, silky skilled midfielder Sean O`Driscoll, had been snapped up by Fulham.

He had spent three years in the `Church first team and grabbed the opportunity at Walsall with both hands, helping the club to promotion in 1979/80 on his way to making 204 appearances, scoring 54 goals.

A move to Port Vale came in the summer of 1986, but he was back at Fellows Park less than two years later and played his part in Walsall`s run-in to promotion at the end of the 1987/88 campaign.

O`Kelly (pictured) moved on to Grimsby Town in 1988 where injury was to end his playing career a year later.

After a spell as Community Officer at former club, Port Vale, he became youth team coach at Grimsby and then West Bromwich Albion, where he spent seven years.

Becoming assistant manager at Hereford United in 2002, he was a popular figure at the club before linking up with his former Alvechurch team-mate Sean O'Driscoll, firstly at AFC Bournemouth and then Doncaster Rovers, where the duo enjoyed plenty of success.

Returning to Walsall in November 2011 to assist with the coaching, he built up an excellent working relationship with Dean Smith, but the opportunity to manage Hereford United proved too much to resist and he took over at the Bulls' helm in March 2012.

Unable to prevent the club's relegation out of the Football League, he turned down the chance to remain at Edgar Street and refused other offers to return to Banks's Stadium in June 2012.

His sheer enthusiasm and experience proved invaluable as he helped Dean Smith lay the foundations of his footballing philosophy that went on to serve the club so well in 2012/13.

He resigned from his position in January 2013 and became number two at Bristol City but returned to Walsall as first-team coach just five months later.

He re-joined Dean Smith at Brentford as assistant boss and the pair enjoyed another successful partnership, taking the Bees into the Championship before being lured to Smith`s boyhood club, Aston Villa, in October 2018 where the duo led the Midland giants back into the Premier League.

John Mason was once known as the `golden boy` of Midlands amateur football.

He made his name with Alvechurch as a young striker in the Worcestershire Combination and after helping them to reach the 1965/66 FA Amateur Cup semi-finals, his goalscoring exploits made the scouts sit up and take notice.

He helped `Church to beat the powerful Enfield side of the time 3-2 and then former winners Crook Town to reach the semi-final which Wealdstone switched to Chelsea`s Stamford Bridge.

A crowd of 14,225 saw the Stones, who went on to beat Hendon in the final at Wembley, win 1-0 with a goal from winger Brian Allen.

On the back of his form in the Amateur Cup, Mason won two England Amateur international caps.

Later in 1966, Third Division Peterborough United took a gamble on the striker and he turned professional with Posh.

However, he suffered a badly broken leg while playing for Peterborough - an injury that threatened to crush his career.

After over six months out, he tried to rebuild his career and his leg strength with a spell in South Africa with Durban Spurs.

He spent 14 minutes in South Africa before returning to England in the summer of 1970 and followed in his father`s footsteps by signing for Southern League Premier Division Nuneaton Borough.

His father, ex-Coventry City defender George Mason, moved to Nuneaton when he left Highfield Road in 1952.

Mason Snr, a centre-half, played over 350 times for the Sky Blues and won two England caps but they weren`t classed as `full` internationals as they were played during the Second World War.

But in October 1970, John Mason, was told that he was free to leave Nuneaton, having only made 7 appearances in total.

He dropped a division to join Southern Midland side Bedworth United and was a prolific scorer for the Greenbacks, once scoring five hat-tricks in a season which was eventually equalled by Danny Dubidat in February 2015.

He passed away in November 2018.

Winger Brian Williams spent two years in Alvechurch colours after leaving Shrewsbury Town in 1991.

It could have been more, but sadly the club folded after one season back in the West Midlands (Regional) League in 1993.

Salford-born, Williams (pictured) signed for Bury in 1973 and went on to make over 150 appearances and score 19 goals for the Shakers.

He moved to London and Queens Park Rangers in 1977 but failed to settle in the `bright lights` of the capital and, after playing 20 times for the Hoops, signed for Swindon Town in 1978 and spent the next ten years in the West Country.

He played just over 100 times for Swindon before moving the short distance to Bristol Rovers in 1981.

He became a regular for the Gas and a fan's favourite in making over 200 appearances, with 21 goals.

However, his favouritism waned somewhat when he became one of the few players over the years to make the move direct to rivals Bristol City in 1985!

He had two seasons at Ashton Gate, adding 77 games to his tally, before ending his full-time career with Shrewsbury Town, for whom he made 65 appearances before moving to Lye Meadow.

Williams later worked at Shrewsbury as community officer before retiring in December 2015.

Alvechurch Web Site