Our game with Queens Park Rangers gives a very opportune moment to note that our greatest-ever manager, Mike Tomkys (left, holding trophy in photo), was last month inducted into the ‘Forever Rs’, QPR’s former players’ association.

Mike signed for QPR from Fulham in November 1951, making his debut against Birmingham City later that month and scoring his first goals for the club against Walsall the following September. An England Youth International, Tomkys went on to represent Rangers on 94 occasions in all competitions between 1951 and 1959, scoring 18 goals.

In 1959 he joined Yiewsley (later to be renamed Hillingdon Borough), before moving into coaching. Tomkys became Harrow manager in 1977, two years after we had been elected to the Isthmian League following the reconstruction of Earlsmead Stadium. He immediately set about building a side that would get us promoted to the top division of the league. Acrobatic goalkeeper Les Currell was behind a defence built around the ‘Northern Rock’ that was club captain George Lidster. In midfield, Harry Manoe, later to manage the club, was the general, while up front Tomkys unearthed a gem in young Peter Sharratt. The Vice-Presidents’ Association, newly-formed with the express aim of backing a promotion push, injected their first transfer funding to bring Peter Caines to the club from Kingstonian, and he formed a deadly duo with Sharratt. Come the Spring of 1979, Harrow and Maidenhead were tussling for the second promotion spot – there being no play-offs then - behind champions Harlow Town. An away win at Metropolitan Police was a vital result, and promotion was achieved with a 3-0 win at Wembley, followed by celebrations at the club that went on into the small hours.

Tomkys didn’t sit on his laurels. Immediately his side were competitive at the higher level, not in the slightest in awe of established Isthmian powers such as Hendon, Enfield, Sutton United and Wycombe Wanderers. A rebuilding of the promotion side saw new blood injected, notably man-mountain David Howell, a giant at centre-back but also a threat in the other box, while in attack, with Sharratt sadly crippled by injury, Tomkys saw something in a Wealdstone reject, David Pearce, and in a bold transfer move, valued at £10,000, midfielder Eddie Stein departed to Dagenham, with Steve Jones and George Duck coming the other way.

Into 1983, Harrow were arguably the best non-league side in the country and were chasing a treble of league, FA Trophy and County Cup. Tragedy then struck when Howell’s brother Micky, playing for Hayes against Harrow, collapsed and died during the game, and there was no doubt that this derailed the push. Borough exited the Trophy at the semi-final stage, despite returning from the first leg at Telford United with a two-goal lead, and a backlog of league fixtures took its toll too. But the County Cup was won for the first time in the club’s history, beating local rivals Wealdstone 2-0 on a wonderful afternoon at Hillingdon. The following season, Tomkys concentrated on the league. Great managers aren’t afraid to make very tough decisions, and Mike did just that when he jettisoned Currell from the goalkeeping position in favour of a little-known youngster, Andy Pape, recently released by QPR. Pape’s performances were superb, in a tighter defence, and he himself went on to be Harrow’s first ever England Non-League International. Captained by the calm, experienced Mick Garrini, Harrow won the league at a canter, by fourteen points, a 1-0 away win at Staines clinching the title.

A number of the big names departed that summer, and at the end of the following season Tomkys announced his retirement. He swapped his tracksuit for his golf clubs, and at Stanmore Golf Club he spent time as club captain. Today Stanmore hold an annual competition for the Mike Tomkys Trophy, with our very own Dave McCourt being the 2024 runner-up.

Mike is now 91 and isn’t in the greatest of health but – with help from his lovely wife Kathy – still takes a great interest in both Rangers and Borough. He continues to support Harrow with membership of our ‘Elite 50’ competition, and won the second prize in it after the recent game with Horndean. In September, former England International Andy Sinton, the QPR Club Ambassador, visited Mike at his Rayners Lane home to induct him into the ‘Forever Rs’ and said afterwards “It was an honour to meet Micky. He is an incredible individual and it was a privilege to spend time with him and Kathy. Micky has very fond memories of his time with QPR, and I could see what it meant to him to receive this recognition from the club, which he fully deserves. “Micky is a very worthy member of the Forever R’s Club.”