C O M M E N T S
/  H I G H L I G H T S

Berger
Isthmian League Second Division

Position 1st
out of 17  CHAMPIONS

FAC

1q

Feltham

1-2

FAV

4th

Eastbourne Utd

0-3

HC

1q

Hampton

1-2

LSC

2q

Beckenham Town

0-1

SSC

1st

Tooting & Mitcham Utd

1-3

SCC

1st

Wimbledon Res

0-2

President:

The Mayor of Epsom & Ewell

Chairman:

Ian Grant

New Chairman

v-c Dave Ellins

Treasurer

Alf Cooper

New Treasurer

Secretary

Stan Bailey

Manager

Pat O'Connell

Arthur Evans (asst) Wally Langford (physio)
Hemphrey and Colin Bell (trainers)

Committee:  Nigel Anstis, Jimmy James, Vic Lumm, George
Nathan, Peter Smith, Wilf Smith

Home Ground:
West Street, Ewell

Groundsman:
Eric Longhurst

9 programmes
are numbered this year. Only full progs get numbered though as smaller
versions remain blank.

AGM 30/6/77 at
clubhouse - 8pm but p-p and put back to Weds 20/7/77.

New Chairman
Ian Grant told a packed clubhouse that more work was needed. Profit was
£1,368, which was

well up on
last year's profit of £420. However they have some creditors and must raise
admission as a result.

Gate receipts
were halved on the season before. Not surprising without the Vase run.

Also introducing a new bingo scheme with 29
other clubs. Beau Reynolds had resigned his position as

Chairman due
to business pressures midway through his term last season, but was officially
replaced this day.

New Treasurer
Alf Cooper replacing Dave Ellins. Reserves Team Secretary is Dave Wilson, who
is also Press

Secretary
still. Nigel Anstis is Social Secretary, while Ivor Smith is Membership
Secretary.

Dave Ellins
moves to Vice-Chairman while Arthur Stockham retired as Membership Secretary.

Epsom are
accepted into the Suburban League. O'Connell hopes to field an under 19 team.

They will
remain there until 2012, becoming the league that Epsom have the longest
membership of.

Aug 77 Radio
Luxembourg sponsor the Isthmian League with an airtime campaign similar to
that which they

Aug 77 Dave
Dyer is at Kingstonians

77/78 Arnie
Venturini is at Feltham this season

did with the
Corinthian League over a decade earlier. Results every Saturday night at 9pm.

Alex Reid
retired, Keith Eshelby leaves for Molesey. Dave Argent resigns through
business commitments

Gerry O'Rourke
retired Johnny Eales leaves to become player manager at Decca

New signings,
Steve Delaney, Ian (Sos) Ferrar, Tommy McCready, Richard Parkin, Kevin Jordan
(Clarion).

Aug 77 The
top banking at West Street is removed and levelled so that the new clubhouse
can eventually be

sited there.
Permission had been granted in July 77 but with restrictions. To be cleared
at 10.30 Monday to

Friday and
11pm on Saturday with no Sunday openings.

8/8/77 Epsom
win 3-1 v Lensbury @ Teddington but Martin Peters is sent off.

Martin Peters
resigns from club following sending off in pre season friendly at
Lensbury(Teddington).

Aug 77 Trevor
Wales is now playing at Chessington.

I met Trevor
and his wife at their home in Banstead Road during autumn of 2011.

In August 1977 there were rumours about a new Captain
being brought in and Trevor asked Pat to let him know what

was happening
but he didn't. so he walked out, and apart from a visit to Chessington, he
retired soon afterwards.

He had no idea
that his game at Addlestone in May 1977 would be his last for Epsom.

Trevor Wales says that medals were issued for the Surrey
Senior League titles and Cups but that they have got lost

because of
various house moves. He did have an FA Vase medal though and I have pictures.

24/8/77
Inaugural Floodlit game at West Street v Met Police

Epsom win the
match 1-0 with a Richard Parkin goal.

31/8/77 350
are present to watch as we defeat Molesey 4-2 at West Street with four
different scorers.

31/8/77 In
Molesey's programme line up were former players Keith Eshelby, Henry Hill and
Chris Dunne as well as

future player
Les Peck.

Sept 77 Keith
Seager is at Kingstonian

Sept 77 Barry Rowan is advised to give up the game due to
a knee injury - is currently a Coach at Tooting & Mitcham

3/9/77 Trip to
Rainham is p-p as they have a county cup tie.

Derek Williams
has trials at Brentford (Oct-Nov) and Portsmouth (Feb).

7/9/77
Brentford Reserves win 4-2 at Millwall Reserves. Derek Williams plays for
Brentford and scores once.

Sept 77 Frank
Allen (listed as 31 in a December report) joins club from Carshalton
Athletic.

He is a North
Londoner by birth and began as a 16 year old at Hendon before spells with
Wembley and Croydon.

His Carshalton
debut saw him get a HT in a 6-2 win against Epsom in 1973 says papers.

21/9/77 Epsom
slip up in FA Cup with injury time goal in 2-1 loss at Feltham in replayed
tie after 1-1 draw.

The Times say
this match was decided after extra time but are wrong.

24/9/77 Epsom
lose 2-3 at Molesey and Steve Delaney mispen.

1/10/77 3rd
straight loss for Epsom 1-0 in LSC at Beckenham. A disallowed goal for
Richard Parkin didn't help.

Tony Algar was
Beckenham captain.

8/10/77 Epsom
beat Worthing 1-0. Probably no programme issued this day.

Tommy Tuite
200th Appearance v Worthing 8/10/77

15/10/77
Epsom defeat Lewes 2-0 at West Street. Originally meant to be played at Lewes
but ground closed

for a month as
it has dangerous ridges and clubs have complained.

Oct 77 There
have been no complaints about the floodlighting so far, despite the eight
pylons having 12 lights

instead of the
eight that were approved.

Oct 77 Keith
Eshelby is at Hampton

Oct 77 Tony
Pommell is at Hampton

22/10/77 Tony
Coombe celebrates his 21st birthday with a 3-1 win at Hemel Hempstead. He
gave away a

penalty with a
great save which got him booked, but Epsom fought back and scored three.

26/10/77 AGM
Supporters Club raise £700 and donate it to Clubhouse Fund.

8/11/77 7th
Glyn OB Five a side Tournament @ Epsom Baths. Prog Y Epsom win Final 8-0 v
Longmead.

SF was won 7-0
and 1st round 1-0. Did not concede a goal. Tony Coombe was captain.

12/11/77 Frank
Allen HT sees off Willesden 3-1. Tommy Tuite mispen(SAVE).

19/11/77
Richard Parkin scored twice in a 3-0 win over Rainham. Replaced Frank Allen
who had to have a cyst

removed on the
cartilage, and kept his cool as four Rainham players were booked and one sent
off.

Nov 77 Dave
Ritman and Micky Dunne are at Chessington United this season.

23/11/77
Balham & District League v Surrey Intermediate League (South) @ West
Street. Prog Y.

FA Vase v East
Ham 26/11/77. Match delayed as ref decreed that the goals were 3 inches too
low!

Volunteers dug
out and reset goal posts, and game only started 5 minutes late!

Another paper
says the posts were 4 inches too high and an effort was made to cut the posts
down a bit!

"Frantically
sawing away." East Ham made Vase QF last season but beaten 3-0 at West
Street.

3/12/77 Epsom
do well in second half to win 4-1 at Horley, but four days later they lose
2-1 at home to

Hampton in
Hitachi (League) Cup.

7/12/77 Hampton defeat Epsom 2-1 at West Street in the
Hitachi Cup. In their programme line up was former reserve

Alec
MacFarlane, and future players Joe Fascione, Tony Pommell, Colin Morris and
Peter Bartlett.

10/12/77
Farnborough overwhelm Epsom 3-0 at West Street. Heaviest defeat for a while.

It was only
their third defeat, but two were to Farnborough.

17/12/77
Epsom defeat Ringmer 4-0 in an FA Vase tie at West Street. Epsom play in
white for some reason.

21/12/77 Derek
Williams is the first black player signed by Brentford.

27/12/77
Epsom lose 4-2 to Woking in a friendly at West Street. Epsom were 2-0 up
after eight minutes

through Steve
Delaney and John Tennant.

Barry Rowan
manager of Tooting when they played Epsom 31/12/77 SSC.

Epsom lose
the tie 3-1 with two late goals in the last five minutes for the holders. Pat
O'Connell calls the

competition a
non-event before the match, having more interest on promotion and the Vase
run.

Dec 77 Barry
Rowan now Coach at T&M - both he and O'Connell were at Vancouver in the
NASL

Dec 77 future
player Martin O'Toole joins Horsham from Croydon

Dec 77 Frank
Allen joins from Carshalton

Dec 77 future
player Mick Sorensen joins Sutton from Kingstonian

Dec 77 future
player Richard Strong joins Wycombe from Kingstonian

Dec 77 future
player Steve Hill joins Harrow Borough from Sutton

Dec 77 future
player Martin O'Toole now joins Molesey from Horsham!

Dec 77 former
player Keith Eshelby joins Hampton from Molesey

Jan 78 future
player Alan Morton reported as having joined Woking from Maidstone United for
£1500 in 1975

Jan 78 former
player Tex Wiltshire re-joins Horsham from Lewes

Jan 78 Joe
Fascione (32)(ex-Chelsea) signs from Hampton. Had seven years at Chelsea.

Gary Lee makes
the reverse journey.

Jan 78 Pat
O'Connell is interviewed and recalls his time in Canada with Bobby Robson
where they trained with

the legendary
Ferenc Puskas and the Hungarians.

He refers to
training nights where everyone has fun while working hard. No boredom.

7/1/78 Epsom
defeat Eastbourne easily 4-1 at Princes Park, but crash out of the FA Vase at
home 3-0 to the

same side on
21st Jan.

21/1/78 Epsom
lose 3-0 at home in Vase to Eastbourne Untied. Richard Parkin mispen and Joe
Fascione sent

off on debut.
Would have been away to Burnham from the Athenian League in last 16.

Jan 78 John
Tennant breaks his leg in Sunday football, while Frank Allen suffered a
relapse after his injury. They

struggled to
raise a Reserve team recently.

4/2/78 Tring
make it three straight home defeats with a 3-0 league loss at West Street.
Sparse crowd boosted

a little by
Leatherhead supporters, whose game was postponed. HT 0-0.

Feb 78 Bobby
Page leaves for Feltham while Jeff Hunn joins from Addlestone. Epsom are now
6th.

11/2/78 Alan
Webb is out with an injured stomach muscle. First match missed for 115
matches says Advertiser.

11/2/78 A 1-1
draw at Met Police heralds the start of a 15 match unbeaten run in the
League.

Epsom took the
lead through Tuite after 84 minutes, only for Met Police to equalise after
88!

O'Connell
names an unchanged side for Letchworth game so Alan Webb plays for Reserves
at Farnborough.

Imre Varadi
was booked playing for Letchworth v Epsom 18/2/78. A Tuite HT steals the show
in a 3-2 win.

Feb 78 Epsom
Supporters Club have purchased a converted ambulance for the club and will be
used for

Reserve team
transport and fund raising.

22/2/78
Second booking in consecutive matches for Micky Lyel. Epsom defeat Feltham
2-0 on Wednesday night.

Jeff Hunn
scores his first for the club.

25/2/78
Another hat trick for Tuite in 4-1 win over Epping at West Street.

4/3/78 Trip to
Egham is p-p. Waterlogged. Ian Grant wasn't told and ended up at a deserted
ground!

6/3/78 Gary
Kent sent off after 31 minutes for kicking a Worthing player, yet they still
won 3-1 at Woodside Road,

ending the
hosts 12 match unbeaten run.

March 78
Gerry Archer signed from Dorchester. Was top scorer for them in Southern
League last season.

11/3/78 A HT
for Richard Parkin in a 4-2 win over Willesden at West Street.
"Otherwise totally uninspiring".

15/3/78 Epsom
defeat Eastbourne United 5-1 with two goals for Archer on his debut.

Epsom go top
of League on 18/3/78 following a 2-0 win at Epping Town but it was a poor
performance.

Mar 78 change
of colours for Epsom to all Royal Blue but we were blue before so no
major

changes -
Alternative is Yellow / White / White

March 78
Fascione, Lyel, and Kent are facing suspensions so Dave Argent was resigned.

Mar 78 John
Bricknell leaves for Kingstonian

Mar 78 Gary
Lee leaves for Hampton

Mar 78 Bobby
Page leaves for Feltham

Mar 78 Future
Assistant Manager John Martin becomes Manager of Woking Reserves

March 78 Joe
Abbott (Molesey), and Dave Lamble a 16 year old keeper both join the club.
Alan Webb may miss

the rest of
the season with knee damage says Surrey Comet. He does.

Dave Bassett
listed as playing for Wimbledon Res v Epsom 23/3/78 They defeat a weakened
Epsom 2-0 in SCC

and Joe
Fascione mispen. The winners met BAC Weybridge (A).

25/3/78 v
Egham. Players had pre match lunch at a local hotel. A Jeff Hunn penalty was
the only goal

as the team is
gaining momentum.

100 Epsom
supporters travel to Tring 27/3/78. 200 supporters travel to Egham on 25/4/78

1/4/78 Many
missed chances and a keeper error meant that Epsom drew 1-1 at home to
Camberley. Error was

in 89th
minute. Tony Coombe had already scored from the half way line with a free
kick that everyone missed.

Apr 78 future
player Barry Walker is at Croydon

Apr 78 future
player Peter Burdett is at Kingstonian - former Hampton and Dulwich keeper

Apr 78 former
player Ted Murphy is Hampton Manager

Apr 78 Joe
Fascione is now back at Hampton along with future player Colin Morris and
former player Paul Butler

1/4/78
Programme that I have contains the actual Dailly Telegraph report on the
club's recent progress that is

actually
included in this programme.

8/4/78 A Tuite
HT sees off Cheshunt 4-0.

12/4/78
O'Connell says that if Epsom win at Lewes and Camberley they will win the
title. He is correct as both

games are won
1-0.

15/4/78 Epsom
defeat Camberley due to a moment of brilliance from Jeff Hunn but 46 year old
ex-Man City

keeper Fred
Dakin made many saves.

18/4/78 Epsom
would have been promoted if they won at Cheshunt, but they slipped up 2-1.
Still one game left.

Epsom promoted
anyway on 22/4/78 when Farnborough lost at Letchworth

22/4/78
Epsom's ground is used for the Surrey Intermediate Cup Final between
Kingstonian and Carshalton Ath

and Epsom have no game this day. No prog found yet and
thought Dave Wilson would have had one if it were produced.

23/4/78 All
Star game with money also going to the Help A London Child appeal - Capital
Radio.

Legs & Co
will help with the collection. Trevor Lee and Phil Walker will run the lines.
Attendance 2,000 says

Advertiser.
Dennis Waterrman's side win 10-5. Herald says 2,500 were there.

Epsom
confirmed as Champions on 24/4/78 when Met Police lost at Lewes

Champions of
Isthmian Division 2 in first year since promotion

Jeff Hunn and
Tony Coombe played for Palace Reserves twice. Coombe had played for them last
year.

29/4/78 v
Spurs (1-0) and 1/5/78 v Hereford (0-3)

Steve Jones
broke his leg twice this season, and Phil Weller also broke an ankle after
recovering from a groin

injury. Both
missed out on virtually the whole season.

May 78 future
player and Manager Adrian Hill is at Croydon

May 78 future
player Reg Gaston joins Croydon from Bromley

May 78 Club
receive the trophy at their annual dinner on a Friday evening. It was at
Jannette's restaurant in

Burgh Heath.
Tony Coombe was player of the year with Dennis Walker winning the Reserves
award. Tony Lindon

won the Clubman
of the Year award. Tommy McCready was captain this year.

Suburban
League Section B Position 8th out of 15

SIC

1q

Ham

0-1

LIC

1st

Dagenham

0-8

SLC

1st

Hounslow

0-3

3/9/77 Paper
says Dave Hall crossed for Walker to score but Dave's stats advise that Hall
was the scorer. Check.

The report makes this clear, but Dave refers to his first
goal for the club in the programme so I will stick with Hall, as

this was in
the club stats.

6/9/77 Res
game v Banstead (H) p-p because of the threat of power cuts. Prog says it was
due to be played on

Weds 7th
originally, but either way it is played on 14/9/77 and we draw 1-1 at West
Street.

10/9/77 Epsom
lose 3-0 at Hounslow in Suburban League Cup. Gary Kent mispen and booked.

14/9/77 Geoff
Marchese and Ted Yorke both played for Banstead Athletic. Marchese was
booked. In this 1-1 draw.

8/10/77 Billy Lennox scores just before HT but HT score is
unk. Steve Jones played his first game for 6 months after

injury and
Andy Goodman debut at centre forward as Epsom lose 3-1 at Harrow Borough.

15/10/77 First
away win in League 2-0 at Wembley.

12/11/77
Bracknell arrived two players short, and one didn't arrive until HT which was
already 6-0. Phil Weller HT.

26/11/77 No
game for Reserves.

Dec 77 John Brickell joins from Kingstonian, but only
plays twice for Reserves and returns to Kingston in Jan / Feb.

3/12/77 Phil
Weller breaks ankle at Dagenham Reserves in first minute of LIC tie. HT 0-6.
Dagenham win 8-0.

10/12/77
Southall & Ealing Borough (A) is p-p. Waterlogged.

24/12/77
Former keeper Bobby Dell in goal for Whyteleafe.

Jan 78 Cliff
Etheridge joins Southall & Ealing Borough.

14/1/78 Epsom
struggle to raise a side but still win 1-0 at Redhill. Danny Donaghey joins

club and is
named for the reserves as sub but doesn't play this week (ex-Wimbledon).

21/1/78 Gerry
O'Rourke comes back from retirement to help the Reserves out in a 3-2 win at
Chertsey..

18/2/78 Frank
Allen now returns for Reserve team in a 1-1 draw at Farnborough. Alan Webb
also plays.

18/2/78 Our
equaliser was a shot from Marvin Hough that deflected off former player Barry
Martin and went

through a hole
in the net!

Feb 78 Cliff
Etheridge returned from Southall - he had been there for 4 months.

Mar 78 Dave
Ward joined from Sutton.

4/3/78 Keith
Champ's car broke down, but luckily the First team postponement meant that
Dick Vincent was

available to
play instead. Still lost 2-1 at home to Slough!

18/3/78 Coln
Bell unavailable as working in Switzerland so Cliff Etheridge returns from
Southall and plays, but

Aldershot
still win 2-0 at West Street.

1/4/78 No game
for Reserves.

15/4/78 A Steve
Percival HT in a 3-1 home win over Chertsey Reserves.

Friendlies

Prog?

06/08/1977

Three Bridges

A

3-0

Y

(1-0)

Tuite (2), Parkin

08/08/1977

Lensbury

A

3-1

N

(2-1)

Delaney (2), Williams

11/08/1977

Clarion

A

1-3

Jordan

RES

13/08/1977

Lensbury

A

3-3

RES

Percival (pen), Hemphrey, Jordan

13/08/1977

Redhill

A

5-1

Y

(4-0)

Parkin (3), Delaney, Tuite

15/08/1977

Crystal Palace

H

0-4

Y

18/08/1977

Chessington Utd

A

RES

27/12/1977

Woking

H

2-4

Delaney, Tennant

23/04/1978

All Star X1

H

5-10

Y

Att about 2,000.