The Wands of Grassmeade 1967-1973. Part 3: Midfielders

 

It was a time of pre-EEC and EU for the United Kingdom, inflation was a word that none of us knew, decimalisation crept into our vocabulary during this period and, it was a time when Cray Wanderers fielded an uncle and nephew with the same name at the same time.

The 1960s for Cray at Grassmeade were still at bouyancy level before the storm of the head-on collision with eviction that was to come later in this period. In retrospect, the nuns of St Philomena's (the club's landlords) must have been planning the sale of Grassmeade long before the official announcement that they were to 'chase the money' by selling the ground to property developers. It's just a pity that they never let the club in on their little secret so that we could plan the move away a bit better.

But, on the field of play, the Wands kept churning out some decent results against not only their stronger Metropolitan League rivals but also some attractive clubs from other leagues. Cray had some decent runs in the FA Cup and the Amateur Cup and, for the want of a little bit more luck in front of goal, they could have screwed the likes of Barking and Leytonstone at the first attempt instead of losing to both in replays.

Back in the 1960s, positions as we know them today, never really existed. We had positional titles such as 'right-half' and 'left-half' in midfield. Something you never really hear about today. At right-half, Ray Hutchins manned the fort in front of the right full-back, whether that be Peter Clark or Alan Bishop. Hutchins was a methodical player and his slick passing was the envy of many a club that came visiting. At left-half was usually the player wearing the number 6 shirt, in this case it was John Faulkner but, as we've already learnt in Part 2, Faulkner was more of a central defender than a midfielder.

Howard Styles was a midfielder who could also link up with the Wands' attack and he scored some important goals, including one notable effort from outside the box at the top end of Grassmeade against Bury Town in March 1969. At the time, I was sitting in the main stand and I saw the trajectory of the ball as it left the boot of Styles. That ball wickedly bent twice en route before curling in by the far post at the last moment, leaving the visiting goalkeeper Palmer without a chance of getting to it. The Wands won 1-0 and that goal lit up an otherwise dour game. It is not just modern-day footballers that can 'bend it like Styles', as you will hear about in a later chapter.

Many midfield players came and went during the club's last few years' tenure at Chelsfield Road. Colin McGannon, however, was a regular in the Wanderers team since before I started watching them, although he did also like to join the attack a lot. He managed 33 goals in 166 appearances between 1967 and 1972, including 4 goals in his first three games for the club (scoring two on his debut). Timmy/Tibby Harcos was an import from Maidstone United during the 1968-69 season and he did a lot of running around in the Cray midfield, both with and without the ball. His real first name was Tibor and I believe he was of Hungarian descent. But he could play some unbelievable football. He wasn't a regular in the side but he managed to score six times in 72 appearances over the course of two seasons. Trevor Ford arrived at Grassmeade in the 1969-70 season and brought with him a flair for being an attacking midfielder. He settled quickly into the team and was a regular until the 'exodus' in 1972.

With the arrival of John Biddle and his by then defunct 279 Chislehurst team for the 1972-73 season, came the likes of midfielders Dave Fiander and Tommy Walsh, both with a penchant for open attacking play from the centre of the park. Walsh left the club shortly after we arrived at Oxford Road. During his one season at Grassmeade, Tom scored two goals for the Wands, one being a spectacular far post diving header away to Penhill Standard in April 1973.

It is possible that I may have missed out some players during these articles, some may even be favourites of other Wands supporters of the time, yet I don't think I have. A lot of the time between 1967 and 1973, the club used many players on a 'one or two game' basis, so the probability there is that I could have missed their appearances through my work commitments or even illness.

In the next thrilling instalment, I will be concentrating on my favourite of all positions — Wingers. I hope you will tune in to read the article!