They Have Played for Your Club….Cirencester Town

Continuing the series on players who have represented the current clubs in the Southern Football League.

Cirencester Town were formed way back in 1889 and played in local leagues such as the Cheltenham League, Gloucestershire Northern Senior League before becoming founder members of the Gloucestershire County League in 1968.

A year later, they joined the Hellenic League and remained as members until winning the Premier Division title, pipping Brackley Town, in 1995/96 and winning a place in the Southern League South Division.

They made steady, if unspectacular progress until 2004/05 when they went up into the Premier Division after finishing third amidst a major restructuring of the non-League Pyramid by the FA.

Since then, the Centurians have see-sawed between the Premier Division and Division One South, where they currently sit, having finished second in 2018/19 only to lose to Yate Town in the play-off final.

One of the successful managers in Cirencester`s Southern League days was Ray Baverstock, who was appointed as player-manager in 1994 and led the club out of the Hellenic League.

Southall-born Baverstock started his career with Swindon Town, turning professional in December 1981.

He made his League debut in September 1982 in a 2-1 defeat away to Blackpool.

He played 17 times that season but was released in May 1983 and joined then-Southern League Premier Division side Cheltenham Town.

He went on to rack up 323 appearances for the Robins, scoring 31 goals from either midfield or defence.

Despite being a tough-tackling defensively minded player, he finished as the club's top scorer during his first season in Gloucestershire with 13 goals.

During his second campaign at Whaddon Road, Baverstock helped the club win promotion to the Conference as Southern League champions and also represented the FA XI.

In the seven years that he spent with the Robins, Baverstock won a number of honours including the player of the year award in 1987/88 - finally leaving the club in 1990 for local rivals Gloucester City.

After a short spell with Worcester City, he joined Bath City in the 1992 close season and started the first two games of the 1992/93 Conference campaign.

He then decided he was not happy with the wage he was receiving and headed to Hellenic League side Moreton Town.

He went on to return to Gloucester City and have spells with Trowbridge Town and Forest Green Rovers before going into management with Cirencester.

In August 2002 he took over as manager of Western League outfit Devizes Town, but three months later, in October 2002, he took the hot seat at Swindon Supermarine, but almost exactly a year later, decided to step down due to personal commitments.

However, he was reinstated just 12 days later before resigning in January 2004.

Martin Blackler was a fine, attacking midfielder on his day and graced the non-League scene for many years.

In common with many Cirencester players, he started his career with Swindon Town, signing professional in March 1981 and making 9 first-team appearances.

Spells with Cheltenham Town, Gloucester City, Yeovil Town, Witney Town and Trowbridge Town followed before he went on to make 72 appearances for Wycombe Wanderers during a three-and-a-half-year spell after joining in August 1988.

A well-liked player from the Loakes Park days, he also played a number of significant games under Martin O'Neill at Adams Park, including scoring a `wonder` goal against Peterborough United in the FA Cup in December 1990.

Blackler left Wanderers in February 1992 for Southern League Wealdstone and after stints at Moreton Town, Gloucester again, Salisbury, Cheltenham again and Trowbridge again, he joined Cirencester in 1995, teaming up with his former Swindon and Cheltenham team-mate Ray Baverstock.

Blackler, who also represented the FA XI, had spells in the Northern Premier League with Accrington Stanley and Stalybridge Celtic before finishing his career back at Cirencester.

Highly rated goalkeeper Mark Teasdale was around the non-League scene in the south west for many years.

He gave sterling service to several clubs, most notably Trowbridge Town, where he made 148 appearances and was both supporters` and players` player of the year in 1990/91.

He had earlier been with St Josephs, Devizes Town, Oxford City, Swindon Town and Gloucester City, then with Hungerford Town, Clevedon Town and Salisbury City.

He signed for Cirencester during the 1996/97 season and later became the manager of New College Academy in the Hellenic League.

Striker Jody Bevan enjoyed a fine career in non-League football, scoring more than 250 senior goals in just over 600 games during his career.

He started out as a youth player at Gloucester City eventually going back to play for their first team in January 2006.

His first spell at Cirencester was from 2003 to 2005 and he was a prolific scorer when the Centurians were successfully promoted to the restructured Southern League Premier Division.

He re-signed for his second spell at the club in August 2009 from Cinderford Town.

He had two other spells at Cinderford, and his other clubs include Weston-super-Mare, where he was a fans' favourite as he helped them secure promotion to the Southern League Premier, Longlevens, Shortwood United and Trowbridge Town.

Bevan took over as Cirencester manager from Brian Hughes for a few matches during the 2016/17 season as he was on the coaching staff but left to join Fairford Town as manager when Charlie Griffin was appointed.

When manager Brian Hughes signed midfielder Nathan Davies in August 2010, it was regarded as a major coup.

Davies was a legendary figure at Newport County, who he joined as a schoolboy and made his first-team debut aged 16 in 2000.

He became a key player over the next decade with strong, competitive performances in midfield and went on to make 383 appearances - the record number since County reformed in 1989.

This would have been considerably more had he not been affected by injuries during 2008/09.

He had two spells out on loan with Leamington and Weymouth, but sadly couldn’t restore himself into the side for the success following the arrival of new manager, Dean Holdsworth.

He was eventually released in 2010 having played major roles in FA Cup games with Blackpool and beating Cardiff City to win the FAW Premier Cup.

Davies brought the curtain down on his career at County with a testimonial game watched by a crowd of 700 and was inducted into the `Hall of Fame` at the Exiles` Centenary Dinner in October 2012.

However, he made 23 league and 3 cup appearances for Cirencester in 2011/12 and just 10 the season before.

He underwent two operations on his left ankle, had his Ciren career cut short by similar problems with his right ankle.

He moved back to South Wales in 2012 to sign for rivals Merthyr Tydfil, but injuries prevented him from playing for much longer.

Another midfielder, James Mortimer-Jones, came through the youth ranks at Shrewsbury Town from under-10s to under-16 and later became a youth trainee at the club.

Moving South, he joined Carterton Town in the Hellenic League in 1999, when he was 17.

After more than 300 appearances for Carterton, he moved to North Leigh in 2006.

They narrowly missed out on the Hellenic League Premier Division title to Slimbridge in his first season, but they went on to win the league the following year, with Mortimer-Jones playing every minute of the successful 55-game campaign.

His next stop was at Didcot Town in the Southern League, where he won promotion via the play-offs in his first season and he remained there until 2010, when he switched to Cirencester.

Mortimer-Jones helped Cirencester win the Southern Division One South & West title in 2013/14, when they clawed back a 12-point deficit and won their last seven matches to finish on 92 points.

After making over 300 appearances for Cirencester, he later helped out on the coaching side at Cirencester, working as number two to Charlie Griffin and then John Brough.

Steve Cowe was a small, quick striker who was first spotted by Aston Villa scouts as a 14-year-old while playing for the county team.

He rose through the ranks to become a full-time professional at Villa Park for a year-and-a-half, playing alongside the likes of Tony Daley, Gordon Cowans and David Platt.

Steve McMahon then signed him for Swindon Town for £100,000 in 1995 and Cowe helped his new club win the old Division Two title, scoring 12 goals in 117 first-team appearances.

He almost signed for Forest Green Rovers following his release from Swindon in 2001, but their manager then, Nigel Spink, a former Villa team-mate, had already spent his budget.

Instead, fate took him to Newport County where he teamed-up with Tim Harris and Colin Addison, who later took him on to Forest Green.

Spells at Redditch United and Weston-super-Mare followed before he joined Cirencester in 2005.

He played over 70 times for the Centurians, scoring 5 goals, before making his final switch to Cinderford Town, where he temporarily served as caretaker manager, alongside Matt Bath, following the departure of Keith Knight.

A plasterer by trade, Cowe hung up his boots in May 2009.

Goalkeeper Kevin Sawyer began his career in the successful youth academy at Cirencester, breaking into the first team in 1998.

He signed for Salisbury City in July 2002 and had a successful four-year spell in Wiltshire, making over 200 appearances and helping them to promotion from the Southern Division One East and then into the Conference South in 2006.

He returned to Cirencester that summer, but despite having a good season personally, the club were relegated, and he was snapped up by Gloucester City, making over 150 appearances either side of a spell at Weston-super-Mare, after helping the Tigers into the Conference North.

After being released by Gloucester in September 2011, Sawyer returned to Cirencester for a third spell but spent the last month of the season on loan with Chippenham Town.

The 6`3” custodian `retired` in May 2018 after playing in Evesham United`s play-off semi-final defeat on penalties against Swindon Supermarine.

It was the third time Sawyer had seen Evesham's hopes dashed in the semi-finals.

But the Swindon-based Sawyer joined Swindon Supermarine in June 2018 as back-up keeper.

However, he donned the gloves for Cirencester once more, aged 39, to help sort out a goalkeeping crisis in the quarter-final of the Southern League Cup at Frome Town during the 2019/20 season

One of the firm fans' favourites at the Corinium Stadium is striker Scott Griffin.

He was part of the very first intake of students into Cirencester`s academy, going on to make his first-team debut in 1998.

He re-joined the club in 2003 after leaving in 2000 for spells at Newport County, Clevedon Town, Salisbury City and Cinderford Town.

At Cinderford he had a hugely successful 2002/03 season, scoring 20 goals and he followed this up by being a key part of Brian Hughes' successful Cirencester side that secured promotion to the re-structured Southern Premier Division by finishing third in the Western Division in the 2003/04 season.

Griffin left the club again in February 2007 to join Gloucester City, where he played until he decided to go on a round-the-world trip in March 2008.

Unable to commit to Gloucester for the full season, he left the club and spent a short spell at Cinderford and then, in January 2008, he helped Cirencester out for a month.

At the beginning of the 2008/09 season, Griffin joined Cinderford again and then re-signed for Cirencester in October 2008 and was again a consistent scorer over the next two seasons, with his two goals away at AFC Totton in the play-off semi-final in April 2010 being especially crucial in helping the club gain promotion back to the Premier Division.

However, an unfortunate heel injury during the 2010/11 pre-season hampered his match fitness and he left the club in October 2010 to join Didcot Town.

He also had spells at Abingdon Town and Hungerford Town before re-joining Cirencester yet again in January 2012.

He finished his Cirencester career with 350 appearances and 142 goals but his links with the club continued as he became the office manager at the Corinium Stadium.

Another forward, Gareth Hopkins, signed for Cheltenham Town in 1997 in the season before the Robins won promotion to the Football League as Conference champions.

He went on to make a handful of League appearances for Cheltenham and had a loan spell with Cinderford Town before being released by the Robins in 2002 after another loan stint, this time with Forest Green Rovers.

He signed for Cirencester and went on to make 171 appearances and score 69 goals before moving on to Weston-super-Mare for two seasons and then to Bishops Cleeve in 2008 in their days in the Southern League.

International players to go on to wear Cirencester colours have been few and far between.

Glyn Garner won one full international cap for Wales in a friendly against against Trinidad & Tobago in May 2006 on the same day as a young Gareth Bale!

Pontypool-born Garner began his career with Cwmbran Town and Llanelli, before moving to Bury in 2000.

He made 126 appearances for Bury in his five years at Gigg Lane before moving on to play for Leyton Orient and Shrewsbury Town.

In 2010 Garner signed for Grays Athletic, and then played for Newport County and Bath City.

He joined Cirencester in 2013 and was regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the Southern League.

He helped the Centurions to win the Division One South & West championship in 2013/14 and made 150 appearances with 49 clean sheets before moving to Merthyr Town in the middle of January 2016.

He returned to the Corinium Stadium in 2017 on loan and added a further 15 games to his tally before leaving Merthyr at the end of the 2016/17 season.

In August 2017, Garner moved into the Welsh leagues, joining Goytre and then Croesyceiliog before finishing in the Cymru South with Taff's Well in the 2018/19 season at the age of 41.

Another ex-Cirencester player to win international caps is centre-back Matt Smith.

Born in Chichester, Smith started his career playing university football before being signed by then-Championship club Portsmouth in 2000.

However, after just a year with Pompey, it was back to university at to the Hartpury College in Gloucestershire.

During his time with Hartpury he played for the Great Britain side in the World University Games in Bangkok.

He had a spell back home in Sussex for Chichester City and then joined Cirencester.

While playing for Cirencester, Smith graduated from Hartpury College in 2007 with a Master's degree in Sports Business Management.

He spent a season at the Corinium Stadium before moving back to Australia – he had briefly moved `down under` with his family for a year in 2004.

He first played for Gold Coast City in Queenslands and then joined Brisbane Strikers and then the Brisbane Roar.

Smith won three Australia-A League titles while with Brisbane Roar and was named in the PFA team of the year during his spell with the club.

He went on to make three appearances for Australia's national side before moving to Thailand in 2015 where he made history by becoming the first foreign captain appointed by Bangkok Glass.

He made over 120 appearances in three years in Thailand before a short spell in Hong Kong with Kitchee was followed by a return to Australia with Gold Coast Knights.

Then in February 2020, Smith joined Brisbane City as their football director whilst still turning out as a player.

His role as football director is overseeing and leading technical staff and programmes relating to coach education and player development.

He works with the Board to develop and implement emerging international partnerships and the club’s return to the upper tiers of football in Australia.

Cirencester Town Web Site