FERGUS MOORE
John Lyons talks to Non-League stalwart Fergus Moore about his incredible career…
A Non-League stalwart
FERGUS Moore is not a household name in the world of football, but you would be hard pressed to find someone as passionate or dedicated as him.
Released by Brentford at the age of 18, Moore drifted into Non-League – and never left. For the last 28 years, the defender has been an ever-present on the circuit, with his own brand of wholehearted and determined play.
He admits he may have overstepped the mark at times, and he’s had a few suspensions to prove it, but there’s no doubt he loves the game. In fact, he has an obsession with it.
Now player-manager at Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division (Non-League’s fifth tier) outfit Edgware Town, Moore has also played for, wait for it, Yeading, Staines, Uxbridge, Wealdstone (three times), Chertsey, Hemel Hempstead (twice), Boreham Wood, Northwood, AFC Hayes, Leyton, Berkhamsted, Bedfont Green, Windsor, Hanwell and Cockfosters.
There hasn’t been a lot of glamour and glitz along the way, and his pay packet hasn’t exactly been bulging - in some cases there hasn’t been one - but he has had plenty of high points along the way, including winning the FA Sunday Cup at Anfield, promotions and various other Cup triumphs.
He has seen and witnessed it all along the way, but does fear the game or, more specifically, the players are changing. The dedication and desire isn’t as strong as it was a few decades ago.
True, there may be a little of the ‘it’s not as good as in my day’ about it but there is more to it than that.
“We haven’t got as many characters now,” he said, “and the mentality of the younger players is different. I’m not sure what some of them are in the game for, whether they want to play as a hobby or want to get to the next level.
“Football isn’t the be-all and end-all for them. Trying to build a team spirit is nigh on impossible. Staying and having a drink does help build it, but they don’t even stay if there’s free food!
“They prefer to go home, whereas I would have a couple of drinks and talk to the supporters and committee. The young lads now might want to play and then think about the game at home.
“I will help my players and help them to better themselves. When I was young, I got told how it was. (Uxbridge manager) George Talbot would take me by the neck and have an eff and a blind. You do that to a kid now and you’ve lost them.
“In some ways now, the young lads are trying to be more professional. They don’t drink, they have their pasta bowls and pre-match meal.
“Perhaps I’ve dedicated myself to the game too much, but I have no regrets apart from the fact I didn’t make it at Brentford. I got sucked into the NonLeague environment after that.
“I love Non-League football and I’d rather go to a Non-League game if I didn’t have a game. People think I’m
nuts for staying in the game for so long and perhaps I’d be higher up the ladder management- wise by now if I’d stopped playing, but I wanted to keep playing – there’s no buzz like it.”
When Late Tackle caught up with Moore, he had played for Edgware in their previous game – a 3-0 league defeat at high-flying Hadley. Although management is taking up more of his time, he still loves to get the boots on at the age of 46 and tangle with players less than half his age.
“It wasn’t my intention to play because we’ve got five centre-halves, but two were injured and two were unavailable,” he said. “I’ve played about seven or eight games this season.
“We don’t pay a bean. All the teams above us in the table at the moment pay, so we’re top of the non-paying league. I don’t think I’m doing too bad. I’ve been managing at this level for a couple of years and I need to fill my boots to get experience.
“(Long-serving former Wealdstone manager) Gordon Bartlett is my go-to man, my football father figure. I can ask him how he would handle different situations. One time last year we had a few different problems and he told me he’d never experienced all those at the same time, so it shows you what it’s like.”
Father-of-three Moore also has another person to thank for their support – his long-suffering wife Hayley.
“She’s amazing,” he said. “We met when I was at Yeading and she got used to me not being there. We have had disagreements about things, but I couldn’t have done it without her and our children.
“If Hayley had told me that I had to stop, I probably would have done, but, luckily, it never got to that stage!”
A BT engineer by day, Moore has recently penned a book on his career – ‘And sometimes, the dog was busy!’ – with Wealdstone stalwart Roger Slater.
It is a riveting warts-and-all tale of what Moore’s football career has been like over nearly three decades. He tells it straight and doesn’t hide his feelings, plus there are plenty of entertaining anecdotes. It may not one that you’ll see serialised in the national papers, but it is a story that is well worth telling – and he’s been delighted with the response he’s had since it came out.
“The ones who know me say they can’t put it down,” he said. “Some said they thought I was a bit too honest about the player-manager side.
“They never knew I had self-doubts, but those doubts made me try harder.
“Some people have reminded me about other stories, but there’s only so much you can put in, too. I hope players today can see what I had to put up with and the right way to do things. I hope they will come round to my way, but I don’t think it will happen.”
Probably not. They threw away the mould when they made Fergus Moore.