They Have Managed in the Southern League (Part 12)

Former managers in the Southern Football League.

Brian Sparrow began his playing career with Arsenal.

At youth level, he helped the Gunners to win the South East Counties League Cup in 1979/80.

Sparrow quickly gained a place in the reserves playing as a winger but was soon converted to left-back.

Generally appearing in the second string, he was a part of the first-team squad between 1980 and 1984 but was unlucky to have someone of the quality of Kenny Sansom ahead of him in the pecking order.

Consequently, to gain playing time he was loaned out to Wimbledon in 1982/83, Millwall and Gillingham in 1983/84.

Whilst at Wimbledon he gained a Fourth Division winners’ medal, making 17 appearances as the Dons won the title.

Sparrow finally made his Arsenal first-team competitive debut in March 1984 at Coventry City and then played during the next weekend.
However, with little chance of usurping England international Sansom he was transferred to Crystal Palace in the summer of 1984 by Don Howe, having made just those two first team appearances in over seven years at Highbury.

At Selhurst Park he made a total of 73 appearances, before moving to Conference side Enfield in 1987.

He helped Enfield to win the FA Trophy Final in 1988 against Telford United, drawing 0-0 at Wembley and then triumphing 3-2 at West Brom in the replay.

A move to Sussex followed in July 1990 as he joined Southern League side Crawley Town.

He was made player-manager in May 1991, but his playing career was effectively ended with knee ligament damage.

During the 1991/92 season he took Crawley into the Third round of the FA Cup, and despite losing 5-0 to Brighton in January 1992 – this was the club’s most successful performance in this competition up to that date.

A few weeks after this achievement he was headhunted and moved to manage Wimbledon reserves, and in 1994 went onto the coaching staff of Crystal Palace with Steve Coppell.

A brief interlude saw him return to Crawley as manager in late 1996 for a very short time, in fact, he lasted only two weeks.

At Crystal Palace he was employed as youth coach but was made caretaker manager of the first team in May 1996, taking charge of the final few games of the 1997/98 season as the Eagles bowed out of the Premiership.

Soon after he went to work for Brentford’s coaching staff, playing his part in the club’s Division Three title win in May 1999.

After two seasons at Griffin Park, he returned as first-team Crystal Palace coach in 2000.

He also went on to manage both Sussex County League side Lingfield and Isthmian League outfit Croydon and had a short spell with Shenzhen in China in 2012.

He sadly died of a heart attack in December 2019, aged just 57.

Goalkeeper Gary Phillips started his career as a schoolboy at Southampton before being released and joining Athenian League side Chalfont St Peter in 1978.

He was signed by Brighton & Hove Albion the same year and then switched to West Bromwich Albion in 1979 but failed to make an appearance in two years at The Hawthorns.

He returned to non-League football, signing for Barnet in 1981 before being sold to Brentford for £5,000 in 1984 after playing 145 games for the Bees.

He went on to make over 150 appearances for Brentford before moving to Reading in 1988.

He played 24 games for the Royals and also had loan spells at Hereford United and back at Barnet, who he re-joined in 1989 on a permanent basis and won a Conference championship medal with the Bees in 1991.

In 1993, he was appointed as player-manager and then took a similar role at Isthmian Premier side Aylesbury United in March 1996 and then again in October 1999 after a spell as a player with Aldershot Town, with the club in financial turmoil and following the departure of Alan Taylor.

He left the Ducks again in November 2001 and joined Hemel Hempstead Town as manager shortly afterwards but quit after just 17 games.

After several coaching roles, he was appointed as manager of Grays Athletic until the end of the 2008/09 season before being re-appointed the following season, taking over from Craig Edwards.

He left Grays in early September 2009 and a month later returned to Hemel Hempstead as manager.

After a poor run of results, and Hemel second-from-bottom in the Southern League in the relegation zone, Phillips was sacked in 2010.

In March 2011, Phillips re-joined Barnet as a goalkeeping coach and also took over briefly as manager of Spartan South Midlands League outfit Colney Heath.

Phillips joined Stevenage as the club's goalkeeping coach in February 2012 and is currently Crystal Palace`s lead academy goalkeeping coach.

Danny Pipe was handed his senior managerial reins in one of the more bizarre of circumstances back in September 1989.

You are struggling to buy a point, having lost five out of five matches at the start of the 1989/90 season.

You`re losing at half-time in your sixth game and suddenly, instead of attempting to gee-up the lads in the dressing room, you are sacked on the spot!

That was the fate to befall Hounslow boss Ray Brandon.

It led to a baptism of fire for player Pipe, who was made Brandon’s replacement, and ended up being Hounslow’s final manager before they were wound up two years later.

At the time, Pipe had already passed the 1,000-game barrier as a player with Hounslow, following earlier spells with Brentford, Hayes, Ruislip and Addlestone & Weybridge.

Brandon had taken over from the successful Gordan Bartlett and Pipe became reserve team manager.

Bartlett wanted to take Pipe with him to Yeading, but he turned the opportunity down.

Then after Hounslow`s awful start to the season, Brandon was given his marching orders.

Pipe took over but was left with a mini-riot on his hands due to the way Brandon was sacked and some players left, and others stayed, but things eventually settled, and the team finished 19th but were relegated and returned to the Hellenic League.

Even as manager though, Pipe was none-the-wiser about what was going on when the club went bust in 1991.

With the debts building up, Hounslow Council took over their Denbigh Road ground and rebuilt on it a school which was in the way of their town centre redevelopment - the deal done before anyone could step forward and save the club.

The club merged with Feltham to form Feltham & Hounslow Borough and took the former`s place in the Isthmian League Division Three.

Just four years later, the club dropped the Hounslow part of its name.

Coventry-born defender Tony Dobson began his career with his home-town club after joining in the early days of his youth and progressing through the ranks.

He was part of the Coventry City youth side that won the FA Youth Cup in 1987, repeating the same feat as the senior team, before stepping up into the first-team set-up.

His first-team debut came in a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa at Villa Park in March 1987, and he would go on to make a further 62 appearances and score one goal before a move to Blackburn Rovers in January 1991.

Dobson spent two seasons with Blackburn, making 41 appearances before his departure to Portsmouth in 1993 for a fee of £150,000.

There he made 53 appearances, scoring once, and also had loan spells with Oxford United and Peterborough United.

Short spells with West Bromwich Albion, Gillingham, Northampton Town and then-Conference side Forest Green Rovers followed before he became player-manager of Southern League Division One West club Rugby Town in February 2001.

He had a four-year spell with Valley and enjoyed a successful period, culminating in being promoted to the Southern Premier Division in 2004.

But he resigned in May 2005 to take over at league rivals Solihull Borough but this spell lasted only one season.

He re-joined Rugby for his second spell in charge at Butlin Road in September 2008.

Dobson joined with Rugby rock bottom of the league, well adrift of safety, but an excellent run of form up to Christmas saw Valley climb out of the bottom four.

This coupled with two decent runs in the FA Cup and FA Trophy made for an impressive return for Dobson.

However, the 2009/10 season did not pan out as expected and Rugby struggled at the start of the season culminating in Dobson resigning due to personal problems in October 2009.

Ashford-born Gordon Burden was a small, stocky winger who started his playing days with his home-town club in 1954 in the Kent League.

He then spent two seasons with then-Division Two side Doncaster Rovers but failed to make the first team and returned to Ashford in the summer of 1957.

In 1959/60, a now Southern League Nuts & Bolts side enjoyed a good run in the FA Cup, beating Deal Town away 1-0, Folkestone at home 1-0, Betteshanger Colliery Welfare 3-0, also at Essella Park and then 3-0 at Stonebridge Road against Gravesend & Northfleet.

That set up a First Round tie with Brentford at Griffin Park which saw the non-League side beaten 5-0.

Burden`s importance to Ashford can be seen by the fact that they twice paid for him to be flown back from Germany where he was doing his National Service to play.

After more than five years back at Ashford, Burden joined league rivals Hastings United.

He proved to be a popular player at the Pilot Field and was player of the year in 1964/65, having scored 31 goals in 69 games.

He netted 14 goals in 46 matches in 1965/66 before transferring to Southern Premier Division side Margate for £250 in March 1966.

He couldn`t prevent `Gate from being relegated but scored 20 times as they bounced straight back as runners-up in 1966/67.

Burden enjoyed a terrific season back in the Premier Division, scoring 37 goals in 70 appearances in all competitions and helped Margate to win 3-1 at Yeovil Town in the FA Cup First Round and also played in the Second Round defeat at Hartsdown Park against Peterborough United.

He also helped the club to win the Southern League Cup in a replay against Ramsgate at home.

He continued to score goals in 1968/69 – 27 in total – despite being in and out of the side after the arrival of Tommy Jenkins.

And at the end of the season, he left Margate in a player exchange deal involving Hugh Cochrane and returned to Ashford for a third time, becoming player-coach at Essella Park.

In 1969/70, Burden helped the Nuts & Bolts to win promotion to the Southern Premier Division before becoming player-manager of Kent League side Brett Sports in the summer of 1970.

He remained with the Canterbury-based outfit until it folded at the end of the 1972/73 season and then became player-manager of another Kent League side Deal Town until February 1975.

In July 1975, he took over as player-manager of Kent League side Sittingbourne and he helped them to win the title in his first season and then runners-up the following season.

He then returned to Ashford for the fourth time in the summer of 1977 as a player at the age of 35 and in April 1978 became the club`s player-manager, having the pleasure of playing in the same team as his goalkeeper son Dean at one stage.

He left Ashford after six years in charge, having made over 250 appearances in total for the club.

He had a short spell in charge of Kent Leaguers Herne Bay in 1985 before returning once again to Ashford towards the end of the 1989/90 season as caretaker boss but left in the summer of 1990 and finishing with the game.

Martyn O`Connor began his playing days with Bloxwich Town in the Midland Combination.

He made the step up to the Southern League with Bromsgrove Rovers in the summer of 1990.

He played a major part in Rovers` Southern Premier Division title success in 1991/92 when they finished 6 points clear of second-placed Dover Athletic to win a place in the Conference.

However, they would have to do without O`Connor`s silky skills in midfield as, having caught the attention of several League clubs, it was Crystal Palace`s Steve Coppell who won the race for his signature in June 1992 for a £25,000 fee ahead of the start of the much-heralded new `Premiership` in 1992/93.

But he was sold to Walsall in February 1994 for £40,000 after making just 4 first-team appearances for the Eagles, having spent time on loan with his home-town club, making 10 appearances.

He went on to play over 100 times for the Saddlers, netting 21 goals before being sold to Peterborough United in 1996.

He then joined Birmingham City, with whom O'Connor played in the 2001 League Cup Final against Liverpool, which Birmingham lost in a penalty shoot-out.

It was also whilst on the Blues` books that O`Connor was called up by the Cayman Islands national team in 2000 - his father was born there.

He played twice before FIFA ruled that neither he, nor many others who had been invited, were actually eligible.

The Cayman Islands had been attempting to exploit their status as a British Overseas Territory by picking British passport holders who would not ordinarily be eligible to play for them.

O'Connor re-joined Walsall in 2002 but was released when his deal came to an end at the end of the 2002/03 season but played on for three more years, helping Shrewsbury Town back into the Football League before finishing in a player-coach role at Kidderminster Harriers.

In November 2006, he was appointed as manager of Southern League club Halesowen Town.

The Yeltz came close to gaining promotion from the Southern Premier Division in 2006/07, losing to Hitchin Town in the last game of the season, which meant missing the play-offs and finishing sixth.

In October 2007, the club was sold to a new owner who brought in former Kettering Town manager Morell Maison and O`Connor was out.

He returned to Walsall as assistant manager to Chris Hutchings in 2009 and since September 2014, he established the `Martin O’Connor Education and Football Academy`, based in Staffordshire.

It supports young men, aged between 16 and 18, helps improve their football skills and gain academic qualifications.

Colin Foster was a Nottinghamshire-born strong tackling defender who came through the ranks at Mansfield Town.

He made his first-team debut for the Stags in September 1971 and went on to make over 240 appearances, many as captain.

He helped Mansfield to win both the Fourth Division and Third Division championship before a £13,000 fee took him to Peterborough United in 1979.

Foster played 71 times for Posh before being released in 1982.

He had a spell in the Northern Premier League with Grantham Town before signing for Southern League side King`s Lynn, where he took over as player-manager in August 1984.

He enjoyed an excellent first season in charge when the Linnets ran Cheltenham Town very close for the Southern Premier Division title.

But a 1-0 defeat at Folkestone on 28th April 1985, while Cheltenham were winning at Trowbridge Town dashed Foster`s hopes of promotion to the Conference.

He did finish off with a trophy, however, as Lynn beat Billericay Town 2-0 with Foster on the scoresheet along with Kevin Ready to win the East Anglian Cup.

However, a poor run early in the following season saw Foster`s tenure at The Walks end on 19th October 1985 after a 1-0 defeat at Aylesbury United – their sixth successive defeat.

After leaving King`s Lynn, Foster turned out as a player for Shepshed Charterhouse and Rushden Town.

Then in 1986, he was appointed as player-manager of another Southern Premier Division outfit, Corby Town.

He brought in several good signings, such as former Kidderminster Harriers and Northampton Town goalkeeper Tim Garner and also managed to persuade former Nottingham Forest and Scotland winger John Robertson to come out of retirement to play.

After leaving the Steelmen in 1987, Foster concentrated on building up his painter and decorating business in the Peterborough area.

Steve Fey enjoyed a decent career in local football as a goalkeeper with the likes of Mangotsfield United.

However, injuries forced him to retire at an earlier age than he would have liked, and he went into management with Gloucestershire County League side Old Georgians and then Western League outfits Welton Rovers and Almondsbury Town.

He was appointed manager of Clevedon Town in June 1993.

Clevedon had just won the Western League under Terry Rowles and were promoted to the Southern League Midland Division.

But Fey had to work fast as he had to start the campaign with a brand-new team in their one-year-old new Hand Stadium.

After just one season the club were transferred across to the Southern Division, finishing ninth in 1997/98 before being switched back to the Midland Division for the 1998/99 season.

The switch clearly benefited the club as they managed to win the Midland Division championship after a wonderful season in which they also won the Somerset Premier Cup.

In their first season in the Premier Division the club finished in a creditable eighth place and ambitious plans to develop the ground into a sports and social complex to serve the local community.

The club suffered relegation back to the Western Division at the end of 2000/01, despite winning the Somerset Premier Cup that season and again in 2001/02.

An era ended in September 2004 when Fey left the club after 11 years in charge and was replaced by former Plymouth Argyle and Torquay United manager, Kevin Hodges.

His son Richard, also a former goalkeeper, has carried on the managerial mantle, being currently in charge at Southern Division One South club Melksham Town.

Tony Reynolds was a wide, left-sided midfielder who started his playing career with Folkestone in the Southern League.

Moves to Southern League rivals Ashford Town and then Conference side Maidstone United followed before joining Welling United in 1986 after they had won the Southern League title and promotion to the Conference.

He suffered a badly broken leg whilst playing for the Wings in 1992 but made a remarkable recovery.

He moved to Gravesend & Northfleet at the start of the 1994/95 season and then re-joined Ashford in February 1996 before transferring to Dagenham & Redbridge in November 1996 and then back to Ashford.

In January 2000, Reynolds was thrust into the manager`s position at Ashford following the disappointing spell under George Wakeling and former England defender Paul Parker.

But his tenure in charge lasted just one season when he was replaced by Tommy Sampson, who had led Deal Town to the FA Vase Final at Wembley.

In May 2002, Reynolds ended his association with Welling when he left as manager by mutual agreement.

Reynolds saw his side perform very disappointingly and slip to the fringe of the Southern Premier Division relegation zone before finishing the 2001/02 season in 15th place, just three points clear of the drop zone.

In December 2003, Reynolds returned to Ashford Town as assistant manager to Tim Thorogood.

Since leaving Welling, Reynolds had largely been out of football for personal reasons with work commitments not allowing him to find sufficient time to devote to another manager's position.

In October 2010, Reynolds was appointed as joint manager of the new Ashford United club in the Kent Invicta League along with Paul Chambers.

However, at the end of the 2010/11 season, Reynolds stepped down to concentrate on scouting for players.

Joe Jackson was a much-travelled midfielder in his playing days.

He started out at Wolverhampton Wanderers where he appeared just the once in the first team at Molineux.

He then had spells in the Southern League with Bilston Town, Hednesford Town, Willenhall Town, Gresley Rovers and Worcester City before Yeovil Town broke their transfer record to take him to Somerset for £15,000 in 1990.

But he swiftly moved onto Dover Athletic for a similar fee and then returned to the Midlands with a second spell at Worcester as well as taking up a role as football development officer with Bilston Community College before re-joining Bilston in August 1996.

In 1998 he became player-manager and under him, Bilston finished sixth, eighth and third in the Southern Midland Division and then Division One West, with the third season (2000/01) missing out on promotion on goal difference to Tiverton Town.

He left Bilston in 2001 and then became the manager of then-Midland Alliance outfit Stourbridge in November 2001 after the Glassboys had parted company with Mark Harrison,

Jackson kept the team amongst the front-runners in the league, despite an inevitable transitional phase, and on the final Saturday of the season, were crowned champions in dramatic fashion as a last-gasp stoppage-time goal by Brian Gray earned the point they needed at Stafford Town to pip Bromsgrove Rovers to the title.

Jackson again led the club to the Midland Alliance championship in 2002/03, their record total of 101 league points only just being sufficient to overcome the strong challenge of Rushall Olympic and Stratford Town.

Promotion though proved beyond Stourbridge again due to the ground grading regulations in place at the time.

Jackson declined to try and lead the Glassboys to a hat-trick of titles in 2003/04 and was replaced by Jon Ford and Gary Hackett, who had enjoyed two successful seasons in charge at Bromsgrove.

In October 2010, Jackson was appointed as football development co-ordinator at the City of Wolverhampton College's £6 million Football Development Centre, at the college's Wellington Road Campus.

He was previously a sports lecturer at the college, having joined the staff in 2002 to deliver the NVQ football coaching programme and the sports development programme.

He job involves getting the business community and the general public in using the football centre.

Since 1998, Jackson has also had his own organisation, NPV Football Development, which allows him to use his passion for helping disadvantaged and troubled youths from tough areas to adopt football as a positive tool for prevention and intervention.”

He received a long service award from the FA in 2013 – one of 150 people nationally who received this recognition that marked the 150-year anniversary of the FA. He was presented with the honour at Buckingham Palace by HRH Prince William.

Former Wales international full-back Graham Williams joined West Bromwich Albion from home-town club Rhyl Athletic as a 16-year-old in September 1954 before turning professional the following April, playing under Vic Buckingham

He was wanted by Everton as a boy but his father would not let him sign,

He went on to make 354 appearances as a left-sided player scoring 11 goals.

He made his debut in November 1955 against Blackpool and became captain and led the side to the 1966 League Cup win over West Ham United and in 1968 he became the last captain to lead an Albion side to an FA Cup victory when they beat Everton by a single goal.

In between he captained the side at Wembley for the 1967 League Cup loss to Queens Park Rangers.

He became a regular in the side in the early 1960’s, capped 26 times by Wales plus two games at under-23 level.

He left the Hawthorns in 1972 when he became player-manager of Southern League Premier Division club Weymouth.

He played 173 times for the Terras between 1972 and 1975 when he started on his football travels by coaching in Kuwait and Greece before returning to Poole Town as coach and then Cardiff City.

Further moves abroad coaching saw him go to Nigeria, Finland, where he had three spells in charge of RoPS, Kuwait again and Dubai.

His final coaching role was alongside Bobby Gould with the Welsh national side and he then worked for Tottenham Hotspur as a scout.

Williams was also attributed to making one of the most poignant comments about the great George Best.

In the middle of a game between West Brom and Manchester United in which Williams was being run ragged, he apparently asked Best: "Will you stand still for a minute so I can look at your face?"

"Why?" asked Best in return.

"Because all I've ever seen of you is your backside disappearing down the touchline!”