by Peter Scherer

Another former Mickleover player, but striker Chris Beardsley spent his formative years at Station Road from 11-16 years of age.

He was snapped up by Mansfield Town and made his debut for the Stags in League Two in 2002, but they couldn’t avoid relegation.

After a loan spell at Worksop Town, where he scored once in four games, he returned to Mansfield but couldn’t get a regular first team place and was released at the end of the season, after he had played 22 times and scored one goal for them.

A move to newly promoted League One side Doncaster Rovers in July 2004 followed, but once again he struggled to get a start and five months later after only eight games, he moved to League two Kidderminster Harriers, where he completed the season.

He had scored five times for Kidderminster in his 25 games, but the following year returned to Mansfield. But his 2005/6 season was suddenly ended after a collision left him with a broken leg, leaving him out of action for a year.

It was a struggle to get back into the side, so 20 more games and two goals under his belt, the next move was Rushden & Diamonds after a short loan. 

They were in the Conference, but his stay was short, before moving to another Conference side York City.

He stayed in the Conference too when he joined Kettering Town in December 2007 following another loan. He was a regular with 66 games in his two seasons scoring 16 goals.

In 2009 he joined former Rushden manager Graham Westley at Stevenage and was part of the side that won the Conference Premier title in 2009/10 and were runners up in the FA Trophy the same year. One year later he played in the play-off winning team to earn promotion to League Two also.

He had made 117 appearances and scored 22 goals, but with Westley moving to Preston North End in League One, Beardsley followed.

In his second season he struggled to get into the starting line-up again and went out on loan to Bristol Rovers. The following two seasons were spent returning to Stevenage and Mansfield, before joining Burton Albion as fitness coach in 2018 and he is still registered to play as part of the Brewers first squad.

by Peter Scherer

An ex Mickleover player, but Aaron Webster made his name in Burton Albion’s colours.

Burton born he came through the Brewers Youth scheme, making his debut at the age of 17, when they were in the Southern League Premier Division.

He stayed at Burton during their move into the Northern Premier League, winning the title in 2001/2, promoting them to the Conference.

Seven years later Webster played his part as they were title winners again, with promotion into the League Two for their first time in the clubs history.

Webster was also part of the Cup success team that held Manchester United to that famous draw at the Pirelli Stadium.

Primarily a left back, his height made him versatile. He played regularly in midfield and was a regular goalscorer too.

He stayed at Burton for 15 years, with his 591 appearances and 101 goals, making him the third highest scorer in the clubs history and the second highest in appearances. He was player of the year too in 2004.

In 2013 he joined Ilkeston Town for a season, scoring eight goals in his 22 games. Next stop was with Mickleover for 2013/14, 15 games and four goals, before joining Basford United a year later. He scored another four goals from his 16 appearances, before trying his hand at management with Belper Town. It wasn’t his most successful move and after briefly playing again for Stapenhill in 2018, he joined the Burton Community Trust to educate the next generation.

by Peter Scherer

We have seen the ex Rams player and some of the other celebrities supporting Mickleover Sports NHS Charity match, now we will take a brief look at some of the NHS employees planning to take part too.

Micky Williams works at a porter on the medical assessment unit. He’s 44 and is a Midfielder.

Wayne Morris is a Goalkeeper. He’s a 41 year old pharmacy officer.

Aaron Mannion knows what it’s like to be busy. He’s an A & E assistant and at 24 likes to play Centre Half.

Chris Baker is another porter, but in the medical assessment unit. The 34 year old plays Striker or left Midfield.

James Baker is a porter, and it’s right Midfield or Striker for this 34 year old.

Like Chris Baker, Jake Bloore is another medical assessment porter and this 23 year old prefers playing Right Back.

Kristian Thoresen, aged 28 works as a support manager and he’s a central midfielder.

At 20 Tayler Blount is the youngest player. He’s a health care assistant on ward 307 and plays Striker or Midfield.

Damien Loughery is a health care assistant on the medical assessment unit and has the versatility to play Goalkeeper or Midfield.

Daniel Williams certainly has his ear to the ground as he works as a telecommunications call handler/help desk assistant and this 24 year old is more of a defensive midfielder.

We are happy to the announce that this year’s fantastic concert Hot August Night, will still take place, on the new date of Sunday 27th September.

Due to the current pandemic we have been working hard behind the scenes to make sure this event still takes place. It will now be an afternoon event due to the change in season.

What’s more is Bulsara and His Queenies (Queen Tribute) are back by popular demand!!! More acts and details to be follow.

Tickets go on sale 1st August! We looking forward to seeing you in September!

by Peter Scherer

There has been success as both a player and a manager for Mark Robins.

A Manchester United youth product, Robins was the second highest United scorer behind Mark Hughes in his first season of 1989/90. He was part of the FA Cup Final winning squad too, having scored the winning semi-final replay goal against Oldham Athletic, although he didn’t get to play at Wembley.

It was expected that he would become a regular in the team and collected medals from the Charity Shield, European Cup Winners Cup and Super Cup.

But in 1991/92 he hardly got a game and his record of 11 goals in 48 games came to an end with an £800,000 move to Premiership rivals Norwich City.

He scored two goals on his league debut for the Canaries and helped them to third in the league and a place in the UEFA Cup. They went on to beat Bayern Munich.

The following season was interrupted by serious injury and a combination of a slump in the clubs success led to another move to Leicester City, after 68 games and 20 goals.

He wasn’t able to stop Leicester’s relegation in 195/96, but helped get them promoted back to Premiership the following year. There was another medal too as League Cup winners 96/97, but he was also loaned out to Copenhagen and Reading.

He had a spell in Spain with Ourense and Greece with Panionis, before a brief spell at Manchester City, was once again injury interrupted.

Having come back to the UK to join Walsall, he had one season before joining Rotherham United. He scored two on his debut and 26 in his first season for the Millers.

After a short loan at Bristol City he joined Sheffield Wednesday for one year, again scoring twice on his debut. His final stop was Burton Albion, then a Conference side, retiring from playing at the end of the 2004/05 season.

His managerial career started back at Rotherham, where he went from assistant to caretaker to permanent manager for 2 ½ years, before moving to Barnsley. He had 18 months at Oakwell before taking up his first stint at Coventry City in September 2012.

It was only a short stay before he moved on to Huddersfield Town and Scunthorpe United, before making his return to Coventry in March 2017.

He took the Sky Blues to victory twice at Wembley, in the EFL Trophy 2016/17 and Play-offs 2017/18 and were top of League One when the current season was stopped.

Internationally he made the England under 21 side with seven goals from six games during his time at Old Trafford, but never made the full England squad.

by Peter Scherer

A prolific goalscorer with a number of clubs, Don Goodman started his career at Bradford City in 1984, having signed from a Yorkshire amateur club. He made his league debut aged 17 while still working as an electrician.

After signing professional that summer he went on to play 70 times and scored 14 goals, gaining promotion with the Bantams at Third Division champions in 1985.

He joined Second Division West Bromwich Albion in1987 for £54,000 and had four years at the Hawthorns. His amazing record of 60 goals in 158 games brought him to the attention of Sunderland, and he became their record signing in 1991 at £977,000.

Having joined part way through the season he was cup tied and missed out on Sunderland’s 1992 Cup Final victory, but had his first taste of First Division football and rose to the occasion.

His next moved was to Wolves for £1.19 million in 1994. Initially it was back to the Second Division until Wolves were promoted at the end of the 1996/97 season.

He racked up 33 more goals in his 125 appearances, but then moved to Japanese club Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

Loan spells at Barnsley and Motherwell followed, before making a permanent move to the Scottish club in 1999. He had two seasons with them, played 47 times and scored eight goals, before a season at Walsall where he helped them gain promotion via the play-offs, a short stay at Exeter City, a loan at Doncaster Rovers and finally three years at Stafford Rangers brought his career to a close at the age of 40.

He can now be seen on TV as a Sky Sports pundit.

by Peter Scherer

You have to go back to the era of Rams manager Harry Storer to find the beginning of Mick Hopkinson’s Derby County career.

He was signed from West End Boys Juniors and became professional aged 17 in 1959. Primarily a full back but he could play elsewhere, and became a regular after Tim Ward had become manager.

When Brian Clough and Peter Taylor arrived for the 67/68 season, Hopkinson held his place initially, but left at the end of the year after nine years, 131 appearances and six gals.

He moved a few miles north to join Mansfield Town for £5,500 and had a couple of seasons at Field Mill, scoring one goal for the Third Division side from his 56 appearances.

Next stop was Port Vale, again in the Third Division, but after only one season he was released in 1971 after 15 games.

He went on to play for Boston United and Belper Town, becoming coach and manager at Belper, before joining Burton Albion where he had a spell as coach and assistant manager.

by Peter Scherer

It’s impossible to count the number of honours gained by John Mcgovern on one hand, but although Scottish born it all began at Hartlepool.

McGovern signed for Hartlepool as a 16 year old to come under the guidance of the up and coming managerial partnership of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor.

He was initially a winger but was converted to midfield, and had almost three years at the Victoria Ground. He was part of their promotion winning team in 1967/68, but when Clough and Taylor moved on, McGovern soon followed, after 76 appearances and seven goals.

Still only 18, he had to work to get into the Derby County first team, but was he made it he became a regular.

At the end of the 68/69 season he was promoted with the Rams to Division One and had made the record of playing in all four divisions of the football league by the age of 19.

During his stay at the Baseball Ground he saw the Division One title claimed in 71/72 an also reached the semi-finals of the League and European Cups.

But after six years 239 games and 21 goals, Clough and Taylor had moved on and when they were engaged by Leeds United, McGovern joined them in 1974.

It was a disaster for all concerned at Elland Road, but when Clough became the new Nottingham Forest manager, McGovern was quick to rejoin him.

He had eight years at the City Ground and was steam captain through their mist successful period in the clubs history.

He won another Division One league title, the League Cup, Charity Shield and two European Cup’s. But in 1982 he decided to move on with 334 games under his belt and 11 goals.

It was his first forray into management as player manager at Bolton Wanders. He made 16 playing appearances but stayed on as manager for 2  ½ years, before a final fling at playing with Horwich RMI.

After a spell as assistant manager at Chorley and Plymouth Argyle, he was joint manager at Rotherham United with Archie Gemmill for a while, winning the Football League Trophy.

He managed Woking, was assistant at Hull City and finally managed Ilkeston Town, before becoming a Nottingham Forest ambassador, local radio pundit and after dinner speaker.

Despite his success, Scotland failed to recognise his attributes and only capped him twice at under 23 level.

by Peter Scherer

Ask someone to name a Derby County legend and they will probably say “Kevin Hector”.

He started his career as an 18 year with Bradford Park Avenue, as part of a formidable strike force with Bobby Ham. Rams manager Tim Ward was alleged to have gone to view Ham, but was impressed by Hector enough to sign him for a then record £40,000 fee in 1966.

During his time at Bradford he had scored 113 goals in 176 games, but became an instant success and fans favourite on his arrival at the Baseball Ground.

He was a Rams player for eight years, totalling well over 400 appearances well over 150 league goals. Despite not being the biggest of players, he was a prolific striker, with pace and agility.

He was part of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor’s team that won the 1968/69 Division 2 title and 1971/72 Division title, plus repeating the Division 1 success three years later under Dave Mackay.

As well reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup, European Cup and League Cup, he was the Rams player of the year in 72/73.

Among his goal scoring feats were six hattricks and an individual five goal spree against Finn Harps in the 1976 UEFA Cup.

He eventually was sold by Tommy Docherty to Vancouver Whitecaps, where he was an NASL title winner. But his off-season was spent back in England with loans at Boston United and Burton Albion.

Colin Addison then brought him back to Derby in 1980, adding another 56 games and eight goals to his tally over his two years back at the Baseball Ground.

After leaving Derby he played for Shepshed Charterhouse, Gresley Rovers, Belper Town, Eastwood Town, Heanor Town and finally Shardlow St James, before retiring at the age of 50.

His international career should have been far more than two token appearances, his 83^rd minute debut for England against Poland in 1993 almost kept in the World Cup qualifier.

He has made the made the most appearances for the Rams at 581/8 and is second in the all-time scorers, behind Steve Bloomer with 201.