Vase win still shines bright for Tommy
“Winning the FA Vase is my badge of honour. I have seen people call me a Kent football legend but I shouldn’t be. I am just an ordinary guy who has worked hard and done the best that he can.”
After Deal, Sampson had gone onto manager at Redhill. Deal beat them 4-1 in an FA Vase second qualifying round match in 2007 at the Charles Ground. “That was an emotional day,” he recalled. “I remember a little girl coming up to me at the end of the game and telling me how she was there that day at Wembley.
“It was lovely to talk to someone about it and to know that I had touched the lives of people I didn’t know.
“I had got Deal there. I touched people’s lives and there must be some people thinking now, ‘I wonder how Tommy is getting on’.”
Sampson had done wonders with Herne Bay before arriving at Deal Town, taken on by ambitious chairman Roy Smith. He had clinched back to back titles before his seven-year spell at Winch’s Field was ended. “Herne Bay had sacked me,” he recalled. “I had won them the treble (the season before) but got a fax on New Year’s Day to say their main sponsors had withdrawn their money and as of April 1 I would be a free agent. “I was free to talk to anyone I wanted. The Deal chairman had seen what I had done there and asked me to come and manage them. I could see they were going sideways.
“I asked what he wanted of me. He said ‘just make sure you are always available to play golf’ and I was. He always said to me, ‘don’t bring me problems, only solutions.’
“I was on fantastic money but he expected us to win things and we did. He expected a lot and I won him the FA Vase.” Sampson built his success at Deal around a team which he had put together from his former club Herne Bay. Twelve of his old players followed him to the Charles Ground in the summer of 1998. Seven of those remained ahead of the Wembley final in 2000. He said: “Herne Bay were the best team in the league and I encouraged all of my players to come with me. I don’t think they have forgiven me.
“I didn’t mess around with negotiations, I wasn’t prepared to nitpick, I just told the players I would double what they were on and that I wanted to win the FA Vase.”
Sampson’s big signing that summer was Steve Lovell. Lovell’s strike partner was to be Steve Marshall. It was his cross that led to Graham’s winner.
“Steve was 6ft 1inch and was quick as lightening,” said Tommy. “We could play the ball and Marshall would run in behind. Lovell was brilliant. “He has been fantastic to me. He has come around to visit me many times for a cup of tea and is the best professional footballer that I have ever worked with. He’s a great fella, he has seen me cry, depressed, he has been a great help to me.” Deal’s first game in the 1999/2000 FA Vase competition was away to Eastleigh.
They almost fell at the first hurdle but the fightback gave Sampson belief that this was going to be their season.
“We were 3-1 down but we ended up winning 4-3,” he recalled.
“I had gone in at half-time and I was punching the medical table, I told them there was no way I was prepared to go out of the Vase at this stage.
“We were 3-1 down, we nearly went out. I took a couple off and we turned it around.”
Deal went through the season sweeping all before them.
They won the Kent League title, and the Kent Senior Trophy. They reached the final of the Kent League Cup but pulled out of the final due to fixture congestion. A two-legged victory over Newcastle Town in the FA Vase put them into the final. Over half of the 20,000 crowd were supporting the Hoops.
Inside the dressing room before kick-off, Sampson couldn’t escape the history of Wembley. This was the last final to be played at the stadium before it was to be demolished. Sampson said: “The place had so much history. Kevin Keegan had resigned as England manager in the toilet.
“There were people there to attend for us, they were like butlers, one of them had started not long after the World Cup final.
“I asked him where Bobby Moore sat. He was my hero. “The attendant pointed to the number six peg, and said ‘under there’ so I made sure I sat in that seat for a few seconds. To think he had been sat in the same seat.”
The game started badly, really badly.
Sampson said: “After just 10 minutes of the game starting, our defender David Martin tore a cruciate ligament. He had caught his studs in the turf and wasinalotofpain. “I remember them taking him off and he walked behind me, to the changing rooms behind the bench. He was crying and his wife rushed down to see him. Dave was crying, I was crying, then my assistant came and pulled my collar and said, ‘we have a decision to make.’
“I put a centre half on for a wing-back. I just did it, my mind was scrambled. I ended up with five centre backs on the pitch and it was a mistake that could have cost us, we could have been two goals down. “It was the worst decision that I had made in my whole career.” A forgettable spectacle edged towards full-time before Graham’s goal broke the deadlock.
Sampson said: “The Carlsberg sign was infront of us but we jumped over that, Roly had gone behind the goal and ran a long way to come over, everyone jumped on, the subs, myself. Roly was at the top of the pyramid.”
With Sampson’s time at Deal over, he had spells at Ashford Town, Dartford and Boreham Wood. It was while he was manager of Redhill, that he was hit by a stroke.
“I remember I couldn’t put my trousers on properly,” he said. “I put both legs into one. I was listing to the left and an ambulance came. I was still having the stroke and was rushed to hospital. A hundred million cells were dead and I would just have to adapt.”
The stroke had left Tommy depressed, so much so that he tried to take his life on three different occasions. One time he had written letters, he was ready to go, but had a change of heart at the last minute.
“You prat!” he said to himself. “Don’t be so stupid. I had eight or nine grandchildren but I had written letters, including to my brother, my sister and my wife, Sandie. I said, ‘if you read this letter I will be gone’, I was determined to do it, but I think back now, what a stupid thing it was to do.
“I went to the doctor, a real nice person, I told him I couldn’t shake off the depression and that I had tried to commit suicide. He told me to get a project, to write a book, but I didn’t think anybody would be interested in reading about me. He suggested writing about my experiences of the stroke, so that’s what I did.”
Sampson’s book ‘Sudden Exit’ tells of his struggle to fight back to health. Tommy worked at Faversham Town, he had got through the depression and adjusted to his new way of life, but in 2016 he suffered another major trauma. He had a severe bout of septicemia.
“I got to hospital with 20 minutes to spare,” he said.
“I was in dreadful pain. People in the hospital were in operation mode and the doctor said to Mrs S – who was then still just my partner, Miss Wilson – ‘has he got family?’ She was told to put them on standby because it wasn’t looking good.
“There was a mass in my stomach and if it was cancer they would just have to sew me back up.”
A blood clot had blocked his bowel which had led to serious poisoning.
“My organs were closing down,” he said. “I was in intensive care for 10 days and knew I was close to going. When I woke up, Sandie said, ‘can we get married?’
“She was fed up with telling everyone she was ‘my partner’. We got married, on the seafront at Whitstable. She was finally Mrs Sampson and I love her more than I can believe.
“I am proud of where I stand. I could have become a recluse but my competitive spirit is alive. People like Steve Lovell have kept me alive, just coming around for a cup of tea, he’s not the only one and it’s nice that people care. I just love talking, I love talking about football.”