The Alliance Premier League (Part 2) 1982-1988
The momentum built up by the team though its all-conquering season in the Southern League continued into its return to the Alliance Premier League where a 3rd place was achieved, just 5 points behind champions Enfield.
Manager Allen Batsford entered hospital at the start of the 1983/84 season in order to undertake heart surgery. Coach Brian Hall took charge of team affairs and remained so even after Batsford had recovered. It was a sad parting of the ways between the manager and the club he had successfully re-launched back into the top flight of non-league football. The team continued its excellent form to finish in 4th position.
The 1983/84 season saw Stuart Pearce depart for full-time football with Coventry City. Stuart, still a few weeks short of his 17th birthday, had made his debut on 3rd march 1979 in a 5-1 defeat at Dorchester Town in a Southern League Premier Division match. He went on to make 242 appearances for the club, scoring 14 goals before his transfer to Coventry.
Before the start of the 1983/84 season the club signed David Price who had played in 3 FA Cup finals and a European Cup Winners Cup Final for Arsenal. Oddly, the player made very little impression on the team and was not retained for the next season. He had suffered injuries at his previous clubs which might have reduced his effectiveness by the time he joined Wealdstone.
The 1984/85 season saw the team become the first club to achieve the non-league “double” by winning the Alliance Premier League (at this point re-named the Gola League) and the FA Challenge Trophy when defeating Boston United 2-1 at Wembley Stadium.
In order to try and encourage attacking football the Gola League experimented with 2 points for a home win and 3 points for an away win for the 1984/85 season. This suited Wealdstone’s style, and the 11 away victories helped the team lift the league title. Had the season retained 2 points for a win or moved to 3 points for a win, home or away, Nuneaton Borough would have won the league.
A player who took on almost mythical status during the 1984/85 season was Andy Graham. A schoolteacher who had moved down from the North, Andy stepped in to replace injured top scorer Mark Graves. He went on to make 18 appearances that season, scoring just 8 goals, but 4 of those goals were in the FA Trophy run, including the first goal in the final, and the goal in the penultimate game at Kettering Town which secured the league title.
The team continued its good form into the 1986/87 season and by 1st February were sitting comfortably in the top 4 of the league. A mini-freeze then set in, and following the resumption of football a month later, the team suffered an astonishing crash in form in which they won just once, drew 4 times and lost 9 of the remaining 14 games, finishing in a modest 10th position. Before the end of the season Brian Hall left to take over the manager’s role at Yeovil Town. The club replaced him with Colin Meldrum.
After just 18 games in charge in which just 2 wins were recorded, Colin Meldrum was sacked and replaced by former Arsenal coach Terry Burton assisted by former Barnet manager, Tommy Coleman. After 13 matches in which not one had resulted in a win, Messrs Burton and Coleman departed to be replaced by ex-Dagenham and England semi-professional team manager, Tony Jennings.
Unfortunately the likeable Jennings could not save the club from relegation back into the Southern League. The 1987/88 season saw the club employ 3 different managers, field 41 players and win just 5 of the 42 league matches played.
Over those 6 seasons competing in the Alliance Premier League, the club played 252 matches, winning 95, drawing 73 and losing 84, in the process scoring 365 goals and conceding 333.
During its 6 year stay in the APL, the club reached the FA Cup 1st Round 3 times and the 2nd round once.
During the 6 seasons Wealdstone competed again in the Alliance Premier League between 1982 and 1988:
| Most goals scored: | 7 – 22/10/1985 home v Boston United, won 7-2 [Match Report] |
| Most goals conceded: | 7 – 06/95/1985 away v Barnet, lost 0-7 |
| Most appearances: | 254 – Paul Bowgett & Robin Wainwright |
| Most goals: | 113 – Mark Graves 1982-1987 |
| Most goals in a season: | 37 – Mark Graves 1983/1984 |
Author Mick Fishman
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Results and Match Reports can be viewed by clicking on the link (s) below:-
| 1983/83 | 1983/84 | 1984/85 |
| 1985/86 | 1986/87 | 1987/88 |