Sure enough we reach the end of another season full of triumphs and tragedies, hopes and dreams realised and dashed and, of course, football. This season’s end has a particular significance as we say goodbye to two of the corner-stones of the club.

These two gentlemen have presided over the years of greatest advance and achievement that the club has ever had. John Marchment took over the job of Secretary from James Mckane many years ago and in his time has been treasurer and Chairman and Manager of the first team. In fact during one famous season he held all three offices simultaneously as nobody else would step forward! That statement alone tells you why John is stepping down. He feels very much that he has given his all having been Secretary for 17 years which is longer than many of our players have been alive! 

John was a player who came up through the boys club and into the Woking League side as it was then. He was a tough tackling uncompromising left back who had a mate on the right wing who he used to pass to from almost anywhere! The reason being that only Malcolm Mercado could be relied on to control the ball properly and do something with it! Leon Gosiewski converted John into a midfield dynamo where he was a tough tackling uncompromising central midfield player. On one famous occasion he had a player from BAe III carried off as he had been bent over the engine of his car all morning and to say his timing was off was like saying the Pope is a bit Catholic!

His greatest moment came in a crucial top of the table clash in Surrey Intermediate Premier 2. Manager Andy Dermott had converted John to being a tough tackling uncompromising centre-back who, by coincidence, was obsessed with having the right boots for the occasion and would occasionally leave the pitch to change them! In the Grayshott match John lost his footing due to a footwear malfunction and let their centre-forward in to score a crucial goal. The local paper summed it all up. “Marchment Blunders!” 

The other departure is our very famous Chinese International star, Yung Boy! Those closest to him will easily spot him by his tiny doll’s feet (size 7) and his willingness to get involved during a crisis. He, like John has given as much as he can and feels that it is time for someone else to try and take the club forward to the next level. Boy is known to many of the club’s supporters as Tim Copp and he is our outgoing Chairman. 

Tim was only 14 when he made his debut for the club in a friendly against newly crowned Hampshire Cup Junior ‘B’ winners Prospect which was played at this very ground in early September of 1978. Tim was elegance itself and scored in a famous victory where we spent 89 minutes defending but scored two goals! Tim had many great moments. A few that come to mind are things like, getting booked for complaining that a player had “gone down like a sack of spuds”, scoring an amazing goal from distance at Moneyfields, The famous Mick Channon windmill goal celebration, the list is endless. 

What both these men have to be remembered is for the time and commitment they have given. They have both stepped into the breach and taken over the management of the club when nobody else would, and in one famous case, when it had to be done to prevent someone else destroying the club. Gentlemen, whatever you do in the rest of your lives please know that this club owes you a huge debt. Thank you.