Hi JGFC

I know you have a healthy disrespect for "E&B&Q", but John played for us as well, and I thought you might like to see the obituary in last week's Deres programme:

Obituary: JOHN GLOVER, 1956-2006

 

This is something I wasn’t expecting to do for a long while yet: it’s the first time I’ve written an obituary for a player I saw in action for the Deres.  John Glover died on 20 September, aged only 50, after a long battle with motor neurone disease.

 

He was a Deres player for a couple of seasons, but any appreciation of his career has to begin on one particular date.  7 January 1989 went down in football history for one memorable scoreline – Sutton United 2 Coventry City 1 – but here at Park View Road another scoreline could have joined it in the annals of Cup giant-killing, if John Glover’s header had been an inch or two lower.  In Welling United’s first ever FA Cup third round tie, John hit the bar, and many will tell you that the ball bounced in Wembley ’66 fashion over the line.  In the event Blackburn Rovers came away with the 1-0 win, but it could have been so different.

 

John was an experienced centre half, just short of his 32nd birthday when he signed for Welling in 1988. He had previously been at Dulwich, Bedford, Nuneaton and Maidstone United, earning four England semi-pro caps.  He joined former Maidstone United team mates Tony Reynolds, Duncan Horton, and Phil Handford who had signed for the Wings the previous season.  He made over 200 appearances for the club and scored over 30 goals in the process.

 

Then at the start of 1992-93, John joined Harry Richardson’s Deres on loan.  His E&B debut was at Margate on 25 August, and the return match at Park View on 27 October 1992 was a piece of club history.  John scored the only goal of the game, and with a record of P10 W7 D2 L1, the Deres went top of the Southern League Southern Division for the first time.  Although that didn’t last, John chipped in with ten goals that season as E&B achieved their highest Southern League placing of 7th.  Among the highlights of the season, he scored the equaliser as the Deres came back from 2-0 down to beat Fareham with three goals in 12 minutes.  He scored four in the last five games of the season, all of which we won.

 

John left us when Harry Richardson did that summer, and returned along with Harry in the New Year.  He scored twice in half a season, one of them in a 5-1 win over Bury Town - but perhaps his greatest contribution to that match came in the build-up to the opening goal by Jamie Kempster.  At the time I described it as “the finest move of the season:  John Glover suddenly mutating into Pele and beating three men, Sean McFadden's lovely long ball down the wing, John Leslie's precision cross and Jamie Kempster's fine finish.  The kind of goal Liverpool used to score!”

 

John was back again in October, taking part in the brief but never-a-dull-moment period of Sean Devine and Wade Falana.  He was there when the Deres came back from 3-0 down to beat Poole 5-3 at Dean Court, Bournemouth; he was there on the night Wade Falana attacked an opponent in the dressing room and was sacked; and he made his last Deres appearance as a substitute for Gavin Tagoe in the 2-2 draw against Yate Town which was also Harry Richardson’s last match as manager.

 

The Deres’ condolences go to wife Debbie, son Simon (also a former Welling player) and the rest of the family.  RIP John and thanks for the memories.

Regards

Erithian

No problem JGFC - I'll see about getting another copy of the programme, alternatively private-message me via the Deres website and I'll email it to you.