The Alliance Premier League (Part 1) 1979-1981

In 1979 the club became founder members of the Alliance Premier League (APL), entry to which was based on the average position over the previous 2 seasons in both the Southern and Northern Premier Leagues.

The club’s entry to the APL was for a time on a knife edge. It was rumoured that the Directors at the time believed joining the new league was financially unsound and announced that the club would not be joining the new league.  Following a petition signed by 400 Wealdstone supporters minds were changed and, following a specially convened EGM in mid-May, it was announced that the club would after all be joining the APL.

Sadly, the club’s greatest goalscorer did not remain at the club into the new adventure. George Duck was sold to Dagenham for £5,000. The parting of the ways was partially due to his work commitments that would have made long trips in the APL difficult and Isthmian League Dagenham offered a more locally based choice.

At the start of the season 19 year old Neil Cordice was signed from Northampton Town which started a long association of the talented and likeable forward with the club, who over a 2 spells between 1979 and 1994 made 463 appearances and scored 102 goals.

The team made a poor start to its first season in the competition and after just 7 games manager Alan Fogarty resigned and moved to manage Tamworth, a club very close to where he lived.  He was replaced by reserve team manager, Ken Payne.  Alan Fursden was named player coach under Ken Payne while a giant from the club’s amateur years, Charlie Townsend, became reserve team manager.

Also signed that season was midfield maestro Robin Wainwright, who in a 9 year spell between 1979 and 1988 went on to make 417 appearances for the club, scoring 39 goals.

The club finished in a disappointing 15th position, 4 places and 11 points clear of relegation.

By the time the 1980/81 season got underway local property developer David Morritt had joined the Club as President and had already stared providing funds towards the playing budget. This allowed Ken Payne to sign centre half Paul Bowgett from Wimbledon, Neil Cordice’s brother Alan from Norwich City, winger Clevere Forde from Plymouth Argyle and, ex-Arsenal and Chelsea star Tommy Baldwin from Brentford.

These major signings joined established, talented players such as Fred Barwick, Nigel Johnson, Stuart Pearce, Robin Wainwright, John Watson and Neil Cordice to form a potentially exciting team. It proved to be anything but: by 8th November 12 league matches had yielded just 2 wins, and the team had exited both the FA Cup and FA Trophy. The decision was taken to replace Ken Payne and Alan Fursden with famous, successful and established manager and coach, Allen Batsford and Brian Hall.

The new management team had first to deal with the transfer of John Watson to Scarborough for a then record transfer fee between non-league clubs of £10,500. Recruited through the remainder of the season were full back Colin Hardman from Barnet, defender Steve Perkins from Wimbledon and central defender Dennis Byatt from Northampton Town.

The team gradually improved and a 3 match winning run saw them just need to beat fellow relegation candidates, AP Leamington at home in order to avoid the drop. Cruising at 1-0, the team were awarded a penalty midway through the second half. Up stepped loanee from Millwall, Jimmy Sweetzer, to stroke the ball wide of the goal. Tension immediately crept in, confidence drained away and 2 errors from poor old Ian Cranstone in goal gave AP Leamington a 2-1 win.  Wealdstone would now be relegated for the first time in its history..

During the 2 seasons Wealdstone competed in the Alliance Premier League between 1979 and 1981:

• Stuart Pearce made 242 appearances for the club between 1978 and 1983, scoring 14 goals.

Author Mick Fishman

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Results and Match Reports (season by season) can be viewed by clicking on the link (s) below:-