Tony, thanks for taking time out to talk to us,
Many will remember your exploits with the club back in the 90s, have you any fond memories of your time at the club ?

Such a broad question... So many fantastic memories of my time with Skelmersdale United. It was the right club for me at just the right time. I'd just been released from Wigan Athletic as a young lad and trials weren't going that well with other clubs. Barry Hedley brought me to Skem as he'd seen me at a Southport trial and the first thing I thought was 'what a great bunch of lads'. No egos, subgroups, just a group of young lads wanting to play football and win things. After a few weeks of being around the club and playing the matches I then became more familiar with the fantastic people who give their time to the club and play such an important part in the running of the whole club. These people were in my opinion the very heart of the club. I can't remember everyone's names and their specific roles, Dave T, Tommy, Arthur, Nick, Edna and loads more.

I believe many are still connected to the club today. I hope to get down to see a game soon to hopefully might bump into some friendly faces again soon! In terms of players, there are just too many to mention but... Robbie Holcroft in goal (nothing got past him), John Brownrigg in defence (would run through a brick wall to win the ball), Sloany on the wing (opposition chased him around like Benny Hill), Frank Ryan (goal machine), Paul Favager (banter). There's loads more... fantastic times.
I recall you were once on one of those Talent shows, which one was it ?
Yeah... I thought you'd forget about that. It was 'Stars in Their Eyes' back in the Matthew Kelly days. I impersonated Fran Healy from the band Travis and sang the song 'Why Does It Always Rain On Me?'. I didn't win. Was beaten by Bob Marley
In fact that time was probably the beginning of the end of my Skem career. As the recording of the show became more imminent I started playing worse and worse. Before one game Russ Perkins spoke to me in the stand and said he felt that I was not playing at 100% intensity due to fear of becoming injured and missing the show. At the time I totally denied that was the case but with hindsight he was probably right!

Your now in the Clone Roses, How did that come about ?
It'll be 20 years next year that the Clone Roses (Tribute to the Stone Roses) were formed and began gigging. In fact I'm sure I was still playing at Skem when we started. I'd played guitar for years and my brother Gav had just discovered the band and was playing the songs at home. He was singing along, I joined in on guitar and it just went from there really. We contacted the only bass player we knew, Baggy (who is a big non-league football fan) and the only drummer we knew. We started rehearsing and things just clicked. We started off playing pubs and clubs in and around our home town of St. Helens and we just ended up with lots of people wanting to see us. Things grew and grew and nowadays we are playing some great venues all over the country. We've played the Isle of Wight festival, Ulster Hall Belfast and supported the Happy Mondays at Brixton Academy London. Things continue to go well and we really enjoy it so we just keep doing it. We've got some great gigs planned for this year including Liverpool Academy (10th March), Shepherds Bush Empire in London, Manchester Academy and our big 20th anniversary celebration festival in St. Helens, Clonefest (27th July).

What's great is than I'm still playing competitive 11 a-side football for Egerton Vets (a team close to where I now live in Knutsford). I still get a buzz from competing and scoring goals in a full sized game. I tried the whole 7 a side thing and it just wasn't the same... I still like to get in behind the back four and use my pace!! (What's left of it anyway).

I'm kept very busy though as I've just had my 4th child! All of them are under 8 years old and so I have my hands full! Daisy is 7, Freddie is 3, Archie is 1 and Lily is the newborn. I'm hoping to bring my lads to a game soon. I'm still balancing all this with full time work as a teacher so there's little free time for me.

Thanks for getting in touch. I hope to see everyone soon when I get to a game.

Tony...

Top Picture - Once of my first games for Skem. A pre-season friendly against Wigan Athletic who had just released me. Notice the player I'm going past??? Roberto Martinez!!
Bottom Picture - Getting presented with the player of the month award for the league (can't remember when)