Re: Macc Town friendly 16/05/1980

By David B2/8/2017 17:46Wed Aug 2 17:46:09 2017In response to Re: Macc Town friendly 16/05/1980

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This friendly was one of those played on the Friday night before the FA Trophy final and teams came down during the day to play against teams in London. They were very friendly games and frequently the players from both teams contained members of other clubs – I seem to recall a friendly against Bishop Auckland where the visitors were made up of players from four of Northern League clubs.

As for the Hendon players, I think there was a full-back in our reserves at that time called Fergus Carrick. I think he also played for Kingsbury.

The other two guest players were both ones Hendon had signed for the 1980–81 season. Goalkeeper David Tighe wasn’t quite good enough and I remember he had a very uncomfortable afternoon in a preseason friendly against Bridgwater Town a few months later. He was a very good club cricketer and played for Mill Hill Village CC.

Striker Doug Young was a very different matter he had been – and is still – a legend in Billericay (he scored the first hat-trick at Wembley after Geoff Hurst in 1966 when Ricay won the 1979 FA Vase) – but a few months into his Hendon career, he developed a hip problem which has blighted him ever since. Various hip replacement operations apparently failed and when I last asked a few years ago, I was told he had serious mobility problems.

As for the rest of the team
Peter Ampofo – goalkeeper who played a few first-team games, but wasn’t really good enough.
Jimmy Hendrick – midfielder or defender who played for a number of seasons, he was deadball specialist, but in this squad there were two or three who were better than him at set-pieces.
Gary Hand – made more than 600 first-team appearances and was in the 1972 Amateur Cup-winning team. He later managed the club on two occasions.
Alan Roughan – hard as nails full-back (taxi-driver by profession), he was a top bloke.
Alan Campbell and Peter Deadman – two absolute Hendon legends who gave the club great service.
Roger Day – very much at the end of his career, he spent his peak at Enfield and won loads of Amateur international caps for England.
Paul Currie – Darren’s father and another loyal servant to the club. He lived in Cricklewood, so Hendon was his local club. Paul lost in the 1977 FA Trophy final with Dagenham against Scarborough.
Roy Butler – once won the Supporters Association Player of the Year despite not scoring a goal during that season’s Greenwich Mean Time, but he was a genuine battering ram centre-forward. Roy’s son Steve (under Dave Anderson) also spent a number of seasons at Hendon.
Mick Garrini – a very effective goal scorer and also a club cricketer considered by many in the know to have been good enough certainly to play minor county cricket. He, like so many of this team, was a seriously good bloke.
Jock McGleish – father of Scott, Jock and Paul Currie were very close friends, and their sons have been very good mates when they played their near 20-year careers in the Football League, after both had been in the 1991–92 Hendon Youth team.
Peter Shodeinde – striker we signed from Edgware for £1,500, then a club record, and he struggled to live up to the responsibility of it. He had a great physique, but 8 goals in 42 games across parts of three seasons, tells its own story.