They Have Managed in the Southern League (Part 15)

Former managers in the Southern Football League.

Mike Hughes was a junior on Cardiff City’s books and became a full professional in December 1958, but such was the competition at Ninian Park, he only made one senior appearance for the Bluebirds.

Moving on to Exeter City in July 1961 for a fee of £700, the Welsh Youth international didn’t have the best of starts when he telephoned the club to say his car had broken down en-route to sign the paperwork!

However, all was well a few days later and Hughes made his Grecians’ debut in a 4-3 win at Tranmere Rovers in September 1961.

Hughes was to stay at St James’ Park for two seasons before switching to Chesterfield in July 1963, where he really established himself as a consistent footballer, making 210 appearances, scoring 9 goals in a six-year stay.

During the 1968/69 season, he moved to Southern League Yeovil Town where he was appointed player-manager aged just 28.

Enjoying almost instant success, he missed out on guiding the Glovers out of the Southern League by a single point, before a season for the history books the following year.

Claiming the Southern League title for the third time in the club's history, Hughes also masterminded a run to the FA Cup Third Round where Yeovil lined up against Arsenal in front of 14,500 at the old Huish ground. The club also reached the FA Trophy semi-finals in 1970/71.

The man behind signing some of the club's greatest ever players, Hughes assembled one of the best-ever Yeovil squads.

After three successful years in the job, he moved to take the hot seat Torquay United for two years, but his affiliation with Yeovil was not over.

In 1978, he took over as manager of Southern League Salisbury City and spent three seasons there before spending two seasons with Dorset Combination outfit Shaftesbury and then three years in charge at then-Hellenic Leaguers Cirencester Town from 1983 to 1986.

However, during that time Hughes had returned to Yeovil as the club's general manager and even took caretaker charge of the first team in 1983 before also enjoying roles in the club shop and working with the local community on behalf of the green and whites.

In 1986 he became Brighton & Hove Albion's chief scout, and sadly died at the age of 78 in December 2018.

Dave Munks played for the successful Sheffield City boys side in the English Schools Shield.

Sheffield United spotted his potential and went through schoolboy and as an apprentice primarily as a midfielder.

His progress was quick and in 1965 he won two England Youth international caps.

Munks made his First Division debut for the Blades when he was 18 at Bramall Lane against Aston Villa.

He went on to make 112 outings for United, scoring one goal.

Moving to Portsmouth in July 1969 for a fee of £20,000, and whilst at Fratton Park he was converted into a back four player and quickly became a crowd favourite, winning the player of the year honour for 1971.

Despite making 137 league appearances and scoring 2 goals, financial cutbacks at Portsmouth meant he was on his way.

Munks signed for Swindon Town in December 1973 for the same £20,000 fee Pompey had paid four years earlier.

But he was to feature in just 21 matches for Town before joining Exeter City, initially on loan in January 1975.

The move to Exeter was made a permanent one in the summer of 1975, but, unfortunately, he sustained a knee injury which ultimately ended his League playing career at the conclusion of the 1975/76 season.

Munks did however appear for Waterlooville in 1976/77 when he took ove from Jim Storrie as manager of the Southern League club.

He was living near Portsmouth at the time and worked firstly for a Southampton Sports Centre and then the Moneyfields Sports Centre in Portsmouth.

Ron Lewin played for Edmonton Schoolboys and Athenian League side Enfield as a youngster.

Having guested for both Bradford City and Stockport County during the Second World War, he signed for Fulham in 1946 and he went on to make 42 appearances for the Cottagers in his four years at the club.

He did gain some success during his time at Craven Cottage, captaining their reserve side to the Football Combination title in 1949/50.

Then in June 1950, the full-back joined Gillingham and he made his debut against Colchester United as the club returned to the Football League in August 1950.

He went on to be an ever-present in two consecutive campaigns, 1952/53 and 1953/54, in fact following a 0-0 draw at Brighton in February 1951 he made 121 consecutive League and cup games before an injury forced him to miss the encounter with Leyton Orient at the Priestfield Stadium in September 1954.

His one and only goal as a professional came in a 4-2 defeat at Bournemouth in September 1952.

After almost five years and 204 appearances for the Gills, he signed for Kent League neighbours Chatham Town.

During his time with Gillingham, Lewin qualified as a FA coach, something he brought to use after retiring as a player.

He began coaching Norway’s national side in January 1956 as they looked to reach the 1958 World Cup finals, they faced home and away qualifiers with Bulgaria and Hungary but only managed one victory, 2-1 against the Magyars in Oslo in June 1957.

After 17 games in total, five wins, four draws and eight defeats, he left his post in December 1957.

Time was then spent as manager with Southern League sides Cheltenham Town and Wellington Town before becoming assistant coach under Harry Catterick at Everton in 1963.

During his time at Goodison Park the Toffees won the First Division title, the FA Cup in 1966 and the FA Youth Cup in 1965.

Lewin was then coach and assistant coach in different spells at Newcastle United with his time at St James` Park being split by eight months as boss of Walsall - he left the Saddlers in February 1970.

Spells then followed in Iceland, Holland, Egypt and Kuwait before he returned to the North East and coached at Brandon United and Gateshead before taking a similar role at Northern Premier League Workington in 1985.

He died in Cockermouth in September 1985 at the age of just 65.

Pat Morrissey was born in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, but moved to England as a young child, and played schoolboy football at county level.

In a career spanning 25 years, Morrissey played for Coventry City, Torquay United, Crewe Alexandra, Chester City, Watford, Aldershot, Swansea City, Dartford, Hayes, Slough Town, Carshalton Athletic, Hendon, Chesham United, Dunstable Town and Southall.

Whilst with Watford, for whom he made 107 appearances, he scored on debut and then managed only one goal in his next 24 games, but later hit a televised hat-trick in the snow at Oldham Athletic!

He also played for the Republic of Ireland at under-23 level.

Whilst at Slough, Morrissey won a historic treble in 1980/81, the Isthmian League championship and League Cup, as well as the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup.

In the League Cup final against Walthamstow, he scored a hat-trick - all from the penalty spot.

Morrissey's first managerial role was as a player manager at Isthmian League Division One side Chesham United in November 1982 until March 1985.

In April 1985, he took over as player-manager of Southern League South Division side Dunstable Town until 1988 when he switched to league rivals Buckingham Town until October 1988 when he returned to Chesham.

Isthmian Division Two South side Southall from 1989 to 1990 was his next port of call before managing Hemel Hempstead Town – still then members of the Isthmian Division Two – and then finally Herts Premier League side Colney Heath from December 1995 for two years.

He sadly died in February 2005, aged just 56 - his two sons both played for Colney Heath.

Brentford's youngest ever player when making his debut aged 16 in September 1962, Alan Hawley played for the Bees for twelve seasons, receiving a testimonial at the end of 1973/74.

He was later inducted into Brentford`s `Hall of Fame` after playing 343 games.

After leaving Griffin Park, Hawley signed for Southern League Premier Division side Hillingdon Borough as a player and within days, in August 1975, was announced as being the caretaker manager before accepting the player-manager role a month later.

He remained in the role until November 1976 when he was sacked and immediately snapped up as a player by Wimbledon, still aged only 30.

Unfortunately for him, he was cup-tied and Dons` boss Allen Batsford was reluctant to chop the defence around.

Not content to play in the reserves at that stage of his career, he was put on the transfer list and chose to move to Isthmian League Kingstonian above Southern Premier outfit Wealdstone, both of whom agreed to pay the £100 fee requested.

He finished off his playing days with Isthmian Division One side Walton & Hersham and then Athenian Leaguers Ruislip Manor.

Hawley returned to Brentford in the early 1990s, working in the club's youth system before giving up the game to run a fish & chip shop in Aylesbury with his wife.

Billy Hollywood is the manager who first spotted the potential in current Watford and former Manchester United, West Bromwich Albion and England goalkeeper Ben Foster.

Hollywood first came across Foster’s potential in 1999 during a match at Studley.

He quickly asked the talented keeper if he fancied playing in for Racing Club Warwick, then in the Southern League, for £30 a week.

But just a couple of games into his fledging career in non-League football, Hollywood knew Warwick had themselves something special and quickly persuaded then-chairman Jim Wright to put him on a contract and up his weekly wage to £35.

Foster was so impressive for Warwick that he was snapped up by Stoke City in April 2001 before his first season at Hampton Road was over.

Hollywood was appointed manager of Southern League Bedworth United in March 1994, beating off a number of candidates with Football League experience.

He was rated as one of the most successful bosses in the Coventry area, having taken Coventry Sphinx to the Midland Combination title in 1993/94.

In April 1999, he was sacked by the Greenbacks and soon afterwards was handed the reins at league rivals Racing Club Warwick.

He eventually left the Racers in February 2003 and also had a spell in charge of Atherstone United.

Someone still managing today is Graham Drury, who is currently in the charge of Northern Premier League Division One South East side Stamford AFC.

Drury had a modest playing career in the Leicestershire Senior League with Harrowby United and in the United Counties League with Bourne Town.

He began his managerial career with Sunday side Harrowby Athletic and in seven years with them, he won a total of sixteen trophies.

He also led Bottesford Town to promotion in the Notts Alliance before having a successful four-year stint in charge of Harrowby United in the UCL.

During his time with the Arrows, he steered them into the Premier Division for the first time in their history.

In May 2005, Drury was appointed as manager of Stamford for the first time and in his first season with the Daniels, led them to promotion to the Southern League Premier Division via the play-offs.

In 2006/07, Stamford finished in a creditable eighth position in the Southern Premier Division but Drury`s team building plans for the following campaign were thrown into disarray when the club was switched to the Northern Premier League.

After a difficult start, Stamford got to grips with their new surroundings and by the time Drury moved to Southern Premier Division Corby Town in January 2008, the Daniels were ninth in the table.

He guided the Steelmen to promotion from the Southern League to the Conference North.

He then returned to Stamford in 2012 but, after guiding them to second spot in the NPL Division One South, left to manage Conference North outfit Boston United in December 2012.

He left the Pilgrims in March 2013 and had a spell back in the United Counties League as joint manager of Holbeach United.

He left Holbeach in February 2015 and in November of that same year, returned to Stamford for a third time – and where he has remained in situ ever since.