Do You Remember When?

Recalling snippets of interest over the years in the Southern Football League.

Allen Coup

In February 1999, Southern Division One East club Ashford Town signed former England Youth and under-21 international midfielder Paul Allen.

At the time of joining the Nuts & Bolts, Allen was Tottenham Hotspur`s youth team coach.

In 1980, he became the youngest player to appear in an FA Cup Final and won a winners` medal with West Ham United against Arsenal.

He made 152 appearances for the Hammers before a £400,000 move to him to Spurs in the summer of 1985.

He went on to play in two more FA Cup finals – winning one and losing one – before moving to Southampton for £550,000 in September 1993 after playing over 300 times for Spurs.

He later turned out for Swindon Town, Bristol City, Millwall and Isthmian League Premier Division outfit Purfleet.

End of an Era

There was an end of an era at Moor Green in January 1996 when long-serving defender and player-coach Graham Clegg left the Moorlands.

Clegg, then 34, left on New Year`s Day after making almost 400 appearances for the club.

The Oldham-born full-back, who was in his second spell with the club after also being with Blackpool, Sutton Coldfield Town and Burton Albion, was finding the travelling from his Lichfield home and combining his work as a schoolteacher, increasingly difficult.

Despite leaving Moor Green, Clegg still wanted to carry on playing and returned to Sutton Coldfield.

Clegg became the second stalwart to leave the Moorlands at that time, following the retirement of Dave Fearon.

10,000-Up

In January 2008, Leamington welcomed their 10,000th spectator of the season for the Midland Division match against Cinderford Town.

As a memento of the occasion, Brakes` chairman David Hucker, and Mayor of Whitnash, Councillor David Clough, presented Chris Jennings from Leamington with a book commemorating the club`s record-breaking 2006/07 season in the Midland Alliance.

Brewers in the Money

In November 1989, Southern Premier Division club Burton Albion sold winger Darren Carr to First Division Crystal Palace for an initial £60,000.

The deal also included £1,000 for every first-team game he played up to a maximum of 200, plus an extra £25,000 should he ever play for England.

However, he was back with the Brewers 18 months later having failed to make an appearance for the Eagles!

Murphy`s Off

In March 1993, Corby Town`s highly-rated striker Matt Murphy was signed by then-First Division Oxford United.

The 21-year-old had been the subject of much interest and attended trials at Port Vale and Coventry City before Brian Horton stepped in with a firm bid to take Murphy to the Manor Ground.

The deal was worth an initial £20,000 to the Southern Premier Division club, with further payments due when the player completed a certain number of appearances or was transferred.

Murphy scored 21 times for the Steelmen in 1991/92 and was again the leading marksman ahead of his move, with 15 goals and was handed a two-and-a-half-year contract by Oxford.

Unlike Crystal Palace for the Darren Carr deal, Oxford had to stump up the extra cash to Corby as Murphy became a fans` favourite, playing 250 times and scoring 38 goals

Sponsorship Boost

Ahead of the 1999/00 season, Dr Martens announced a further four-year sponsorship deal with the Southern Football League.

The deal, worth over £400,000, was to last until the 2003/04 season and this was the Northamptonshire company`s third year of its existing four-year deal.

Jarvis Is Off

On January 25th, 2011, Jamie Jarvis resigned as manager of Southern Division One Central club Burnham in the wake of the 4-0 home defeat by bottom of the table Soham Town Rangers.

MP Signing

In 2011, the newly elected MP for Spelthorne, Kwasi Kwarteng, became the latest high-profile signing for Respect FC, joining in a joint deal with Ashford Town (Middx).

Kwarteng dropped in on the Ash Trees – the only FA Charter Standard Community Club in the borough – for their Southern Division One Central match with Aylesbury FC.

The Conservative Member of Parliament was enthusiastic in his support for both Ashford’s tireless work in the local community and for Respect FC’s mission to eliminate anti-social behaviour from football.

Windsor Wound-Up

In the same year, Windsor & Eton Football Club were wound up in the High Court on Wednesday, 2nd February 2011.

The previous season, Windsor were promoted to the Southern Premier Division from Division One South & West where they had won the title with 101 points.

The Nine Concede Ten!

Towards the end of the 1998/99 season, Andover could only field nine players when a car carrying five players on their way to Raunds Town for a Southern South Division match was involved in an accident.

This certainly showed as the home side took full advantage with a 10-0 victory – Gary Harrison bagging a double hat-trick.

Moving In

There was better news for Andover ten years earlier when they moved into their luxury new Portway Stadium.

The ground is on the western outskirts of the town, adjacent to the West Portway Industrial Estate.

They had used some of the £6,000 fee they received from Bashley for `star player` Jeremy Stagg earlier in the year.

Sad End

In August 2011, Andover`s Board of Directors announced that, due to continuing financial restraints, they were forced to dissolve Andover Football Club Ltd.

After much deliberation the decision was made as it was agreed that the cost of staging Southern League football was no longer viable.

Resignations were tendered to the Southern League, the Wyvern League and also to the FA and Hampshire and North Hants FA's.

It was hoped that in the near future Andover FC would be resurrected to play at a more appropriate level to continue the club's name which has been synonymous with the town since 1883.

It was, in 2013, when they returned as a Wessex League club.