This article covers the period up to 2001 when Berkhamsted Town were FA Vase finalists and it is hoped that a second article covering the remaining period will follow later. Steve’s passion for the club is obvious as he describes how he progressed from watching games as a child to the key position he holds today. His stories about the old ground, the move to the cricket club side of the ground and the events surrounding the FA Vase final will bring back memories for our older supporters and hopefully be of interest to the newer ones. These are Steve’s words:

“Hi, for those who don't know me my name is Steve Davis, born Sep 7 1960 in Berkhamsted, son of George and Joyce Davis. My first memory of Berkhamsted is living at Millfield Lodge, Gravel Path with my nan and grandad. It all sounds a bit posh if you see Millfield Lodge today but back then it was a tiny cottage that my grandad got to live in because he worked as a boiler man at the local private school. It had an outside toilet that was freezing and a once a week bath in the front room in a tin bath in front of the fire.

We lived in two rooms downstairs and the television was on a cabinet (you would call it a portable these days) but it was quite posh to me. The first thing I remember watching on it, and it's still fresh in the memory, was Winston Churchill’s funeral. The other good thing about Millfield Lodge was the massive garden where me and my cousin Ian, or Ratty as he is also known, spent many hours playing cricket, football and any sport we could. Ian was born 6 months after me and was my dad’s sister’s boy. We have always been close and remain so till this very day he is the closest thing to a brother without being one, I guess.

Another memory is Ian's dad, uncle Tony, whose car always seemed to be parked in my Nan’s drive. He called it Ruby and we always were in it sitting there pretending to drive it but I never ever remember it actually moving of the drive. That still puzzles me to this day!

My first sister Wendy came along so it was time to move and we were offered a council house at 29 Ashridge Rise, three bedrooms. It was no surprise that my middle sister, Helen, soon followed born on my mum’s birthday, 3 November. A few years later my youngest sister, Jo, was born so there I am with three sisters.

My first memory of Berkhamsted FC is from my dad telling me he used to play for them. He then started to take me to matches on a Saturday afternoon, meeting up with other supporters at the White Hart pub in the centre of the town. The landlord was ex-Berkhamsted, Watford and Fulham centre forward, Maurice Cooke, who was quite a player in his day. He played with the great Johnny Haynes who I later met at Maurice's funeral a few years ago. He used to let the kids in his pub as long as you sat in the corner and were quiet and the smell of beer and fags I can remember like yesterday. I never liked the smoke but the beer, unfortunately, I quite like it now. The fags, thank God, I have never touched so something good came out of being in them places. So, then it was off to the game at the Lower Kings Road ground which is now occupied by Broadwater flats hence our home now being called Broadwater. The Lower Kings Road ground was great, a massive stand, large terracing and a big long clubhouse in which I would, in the next 15 years, spend some of my happier times as a teenager. Berkhamsted Town FC was formed in 1919 so it is coming up to 100 years of football in that area and I have been around for 50 of them. I fell in love with the club the first day I walked through the turnstile (or the hut as it was in those days).

The games were mostly played on heavy pitches and I always remember the groundsman always moaning about the players cutting up the pitch. I would begin to understand his frustrations later on in life. After preparing the pitch on a Friday for a Saturday game, one of the players decided to plant a row of cabbages along the penalty area hence a very angry “Sport” Pocock on a Saturday morning! After matches was my favourite as a youngster when you got to meet the players and they used to take the time to pat you on the head and ask me if I enjoyed it. I still see some of them players today. One of the most successful years was 1979 when we won the Spartan League Premier, the Herts Senior Cup and St Mary's Cup. That was quite an achievement by a great team managed by Barry Austin, father of Spurs regular Dean Austin, A year earlier I was starting to enjoy the other side of the club, the social side I was playing the odd game for the Reserve side but after training on a Tuesday it was into the bar for a couple of beers. That's where I first got into darts and it was to play a big part in my life.

The head or captain of the team was Jimmy Heary and he always used to ask me if I wanted a game, “you can chalk if you like”. “Never played Jim”, just a few games at home on a board my dad had put up in the dining room as he played also for the club. Go on then I said and I proceeded to take scores very badly. “You can't count” said Jim. “I know”. “Well, that's no good. You better stay on chalks till you can” he said, and so I did. I used to get the odd game but I chalked loads and began to learn the game slowly. I started to win a few games and thought, hey I'm not too bad at this game, and within a fortnight I was beating all the so-called league players. “You will have to sign for us” said Jim and from that day I never looked back. In the local league winning many titles and even reached the singles final that year at the age of 18 when I lost to the local champion and county player Pete Huddle 2-0 in the final. I went on to win every title in the Berko Dart League including six singles titles, with the biggest gap between wins having won in 95 and again in 2015. In the early 2000s, I got together a great dart team at Berko FC and took them into the Herts Super League. We played three years at the club and always finished top four in what was a very competitive league. The main thing for me was that every player that played at BFC played for the county also, quite an achievement at any level of darts.

The early eighties saw us with a great social club at the old Lower Kings Road ground. My memories were of jolly boys outings to Blackpool, day trips to Ascot and Windsor races and Walthamstow dogs. There were many characters around in them days one of these was Bill Rowe who decided to bring his squeeze box on the coach to Blackpool so we could all have a good old sing song. 100 miles up the road and I think everyone wanted to wrap the thing round his head! Another character was Harry Nesbit who was the club caretaker. Well, he wasn't really but he just had nowhere to live so he kipped in the changing rooms under the stand. Now bearing in mind that money was tight in those days, it didn't help that the Chairman came in one morning and found him singing away in the communal bath. Hence, Harry no longer stayed at the club and rumour had it that he went back North where he disappeared from 20 years earlier having told his Mrs he was going to buy a paper. I still wonder if they are back together to this very day. Music nights were good at the club too with some excellent bands but they did attract the odd bit of trouble. This wasn't a problem as we had our own member bouncer in the shape of big Den Olliffe who was often seen launching the odd trouble maker over the fence and into the Saab garage car park.

The club, although ticking along nicely, had a big problem with progressing in the football world. This was mainly due to the ground share agreement with the town cricket club, so along with the Sports Ground Association (SGA), the two clubs had the chance to acquire another piece of land and to sell the ground that we had. A plan was made to sell the football ground land, switch the football to where the cricket club was and to relocate the cricket club to Kitcheners Field. When I look back now, the plan that was agreed by the then committee of BFC was not the wrong one but not a lot of thought went into the layout we now have at our club. While the sale of our old ground brought in a considerable amount of money, all we got was a changing block come stand to show for it in my opinion. This was not the deal of the century. The cricket club had a brand new building built while we moved into a cricket clubhouse which was far from ideal. Over the years the old club and ourselves have spent considerable amount of money bringing it up to the step 4 ground we have today. This has largely been self-funded and put a considerable strain on both clubs with Berkhamsted Town finally going bankrupt in 2007. The added bits have been 3 turnstiles, two covered ends, floodlights, major works inside the clubhouse to convert many areas, pitch surrounds, drainage and various other things that the club has today.

The biggest day for me in the history of our football club came in 2001 when little Berkhamsted reached the final of the FA Vase. This is a national competition where the final is usually played at Wembley Stadium. Unfortunately, the old Wembley closed that year and our final was played instead at Villa Park, home of Aston Villa. The first time I thought we might have a chance in the competition was when we knocked out St Helens 3-1 at home in the last sixteen. We then got drawn away to Briggs town which was at the top end of Lincolnshire, a long journey and around 20 of us loyal fans made the long journey by coach. It was well worth it as we progressed with a fine 2-1 victory which put us in the two-legged semi-final against Bedlington Terriers, the first leg was away and around 30 of us made the trip to Lancashire. This was going to be tough encounter as Bedlington were a strong side, top of their league and also having a great run in the FA Cup. It was also the year that foot and mouth disease had taken a grip and when we entered their ground we had to walk through a trough of disinfectant at the turnstile. It was a fantastic day with a great crowd and atmosphere and this was topped off with a 3-1 win with two penalties from Paul Lowe and one from Ben Smith, who scored in every round apart from the final. The coach trip home was one big sing song but we knew we still had the second leg to come.

The build up to the second leg created a massive buzz around the town. We had a stall on the market selling scarfs, flags etc and with the headline in the Gazette reading “Berko has a bigger bite than the Terriers” they were going to be going for it in the second leg. A superb defensive display saw us home 2-0, 5-1 on aggregate in front of 1800 fans, our biggest crowd at Broadwater to date. A fine win against a good side so we had booked our place in the FA Vase final and it was off to Villa Park for the biggest game in the club’s history.

The day started outside our own clubhouse for me to catch the committee mini bus. Around the town, another 20 or so coaches were picking up at various pubs, also by train and people making their own way there. A fantastic 3500 fans made their way to Villa Park. From the time we stepped on the bus, win or lose, we knew this was going to be a day we would talk about for the rest our lives. As we pulled up outside Villa Park the first thing happened that I will always remember on our committee bus was Maurice Cooke, a player I had mentioned earlier, and was one of our greats. As Maurice stepped off the bus he spotted a Rolls-Royce pulling up outside the ground and it pulled into the Chairman’s spot. Out got Doug Ellis, yes, the chairman of Aston Villa. Maurice let out a cry of “Doug, you old bastard” with which Doug Ellis replied “Maurice, you old sod” and the scene was set.

I was privileged that day to have the full committee treatment and, along with my wife Jackie and the rest of the party, we made our way to the dining area where they had put on a proper lunch that would have not been out of place for, say, a Man Utd v Arsenal match. Sitting on our tables was the then Chairman of the FA, Adam Crozier, and Doug Ellis of course. I must admit I never had experience of this type of thing at football and, although I am a down to earth terrace supporter, I was quite enjoying the experience. After a wonderful lunch, I glanced across to see so many faces that had made our club great. One of those was a man called Bob Sear who in my early twenties was known as “Mr Berko”. I must say I learnt so much from Bob about being a hands-on Chairman and I like to think that’s where I am today. For Bob, that day it was about letting his hair down and I could see the great pride in his face of being part of this great occasion. Although he was not Chairman, we all knew how much Bob had done for the club and along with the other old guard this was their day.

The Chairman at the time was Danny Jennings, a likeable guy with the ambition on the field but, in my opinion, took his eye of the ball on other aspects of the club. This I will come onto later. Danny, along with manager Steve Bateman had built one of the best teams we have ever had although, in my opinion, not the best. The budget for the team was quite high and probably the highest in the club’s history, so maybe it was supposed to be our time. As we made our way to the boxes where we would watch the game I remember feeling an empty rumbling feeling in my stomach, a feeling I get quite often now as Chairman before a big game. The first thing that hit me when I walked to my seat was the 3500 fans on the opposite side of the ground, Berko flags waving and fans singing. Wow I thought, if only we could get 300 of these at a home game our prayers would be answered. As the teams walked out my heart was pumping as this was as good as it gets at our level. The pride I felt that our little club was in a major final was immense and I was part of making that happen.

The game started at quite a tempo with us on the front foot within the first twenty minutes we should have been 4-0 up. Our centre forward, John Richardson, should have had a hat-trick and Andy Mullins hit the post. We were well on top but missed chances always come back to bite you and somehow we went into half time 2-0 down. We went back to the bar stunned, but before we could discuss what happened the most extraordinary thing happened, which was going to be talked about as much as the game. The Chairman and the Secretary of our club at that time had been having a long running feud which came to a head and once again I was on hand to witness. I met up with the Secretary in the visitor’s lounge, which was not the boardroom but the next best thing with all refreshments paid for. “What you doing here, mate, thought you would be in the boardroom”? He said “Oh, I will be in a minute. I’ve had enough of that so and so now. You see what he’s done, he’s put that bloke in my seat and put me at the back”. Myself and Jackie were at the front of the box so I offered him and his wife our seats for the second half. “No, it’s not your fault mate, it’s that other so and so he’s put in my place”. We offered again but he refused and off he stormed. I didn’t think nothing of it till I saw our Secretary and his wife being marched out by security. All of a sudden, there was a few of our people that had come out of the boardroom and into our bar. “You’ll never guess what happened” was the shout, “your secretary has just head butted your Chairman in front of Doug Ellis and Adam Crozier”! OMG what now, we are all going to get thrown out was my first thought but what a nice guy Doug Ellis was. Things happen in football he said, let’s not let it spoil the day was his exact words. Wow, what a guy.

Anyway, it was on to the second half and back to our seats. Looking over after we sat down, I could see our Chairman holding his nose realising, blimey, this really has happened. Anyway 25 mins into the second half we get a penalty and up steps Paul Lowe 2-1 and we back in it. As the game went on we kept pushing for the equaliser and were looking the fitter side but it was not to be and Taunton hung on for the win. The one thing I remember thinking when the whistle went was, why didn’t we bring Ossie on? Ossie was Mark Osbourne, a local lad who always had a goal in him and I always thought could have scored but I’m not the manager. Mark sadly passed away at a young age but did score the winner for local team, Gossoms End, in the Sunday equivalent of the Vase at Anfield in a 2-1 win. After the Vase game I remember going down in the lift from the directors’ lounge to have a beer with the players. In the lift was the Taunton manager. “How the hell did we win that game?” was his comment and he was very impressed with our team. On another day we would probably have smashed it but missed chances cost us badly.

The FA Vase should have been the start of a few successful years if things were done in the right way. Unfortunately, as I said, the Chairman and the board had taken their eye off the ball and I think in the period from just before the Vase season till 2008 the club was heading for disaster. Our manager was off to Chesham just after the Vase season and, like when most managers leave, a lot of staff and players follow, but that’s football. The job was advertised and in came Simon Lane, a new breed of manager coach, who had also been manager of Malta. The club under Simon Lane was a strange time for me as, although Simon was a nice guy, he wasn’t the easiest to talk to so our relationship was quite distant. I remember him being very critical of former manager, Steve Bateman, and publicly said that he didn’t rate him. It was a quiet time on the pitch with mid-table football. Safe, I would call it. The troubles we had at that time were off the pitch where various people had started asking to be paid. It was either pay the bills or the players and the club had no choice but to stop paying the players and pay the bills. A meeting was called and although a few players said they would play, the majority along with Simon Lane left.

More to come soon”.

Steve Davis, Chairman
Berkhamsted FC