Alan came to the club at the end of the 1971-72 season from Redhill and became one of the best strikers to represent Tooting & Mitcham United, he also had lightning pace. He scored on his league debut in the final game of that season in a 1-1 draw at Ilford.

 

Alan was with us for several seasons leaving in October 1979 to join local rivals Carshalton Athletic, although he did have a season away from the club in the 1974-75 campaign when he joined Sutton United.

 

During his time at Sandy Lane he was top scorer for several seasons and will be remembered for scoring the winning goal in the never to be forgotten FA Cup Third Round Replay against Swindon Town at Sandy Lane which was won 2-1. He also played in our tie at Bradford City in the next round where the Terrors FA Cup run sadly came to an end.

 

He earned one England Amateur International Cap against Greece in June 1973 whilst on a FA European Tour. Other representative honours included, playing for the Surrey FA, FA Amateur X1 and he travelled abroad with Middlesex Wanderers.

 

Alan played 356 games including friendlies for the club scoring 178 times a fantastic scoring ratio for a player who was a class act. He won three Surrey Senior Cup Winners medals in successive seasons 1976,1977,1978 Tooting being the first club at the time to win the County Cup three years on the trot. He also played in our home FA Cup First Round Proper tie against Northampton Town in November 1977 which was lost 2-1. Our best league finish with Alan in the side came in the1977-78 campaign when we finished 4th behind the big three clubs at the time Wycombe Wanderers, Dagenham and Champions Enfield.

 

Alan also came to the former Tooting & Mitcham players reunion in October 2022 at Imperial Fields.

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Article written by Ian Bullock TMUFC Members Club Vice President