Weymouth Football Club is delighted to announce the shortlist for the Weymouth Football Club Hall of Fame 2020 edition.
During October we gave supporters the chance to make their nominations for the Hall of Fame, the top 15 most frequently nominated former players and managers will now be put to a public vote. The top 3 from this vote will then be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the second edition of the Weymouth Football Club Hall of Fame.
You can vote for one of the nominations via the poll option below.
The shortlist is as follows: Tony Agana, Stuart Beavon, Alan Beer, Derek Courtney, Brandon Goodship, Bryan Lawrence, Sammy McGowan, Frank O’Farrell, Lee Phillips, Phil Stocker, Shaun Teale, Andy Townsend, Steve Tully, John Waldock, and Stewart Yetton.
As with 2019’s Hall of Fame, we will also have voting slips available in the Club Shop on match days, here you will be able to vote for multiple nominees.
The voting will finish on 21st December 2019 and the final inductees will be announced shortly afterwards.
Earlier this year we inducted: Bob Lucas, Matthew Bound, John Clarke, Willie Gibson, Martyn Harrison, Tony Hobson, Ian Hutchinson, Aniello Iannone, David Laws, Jason Matthews and Graham Roberts at the inaugural Weymouth Football Club Hall of Fame evening.
Weymouth Football Club Hall Of Fame evening tickets are now for sale, and they are selling fast! We have a limited number available so please contact Gemma via email to secure yours now
gemma@weymouthfootballclub.co.uk
Tony Agana
Tony was born on 2nd October 1963, in Penge, London.
He joined Weymouth in March 1984 from Welling United for £5000 as part of a double signing that included Andy Townsend.
Having made his debut at Enfield on 10 March 1984 he went on to make 180 appearances (1 as a sub) and scoring 48 times goals in a Weymouth shirt.
He was winner of the Weymouth Player of the Year award in 1984-85 and 1985-86, and represented England at semi-professional level in 1985-86.
He moved to Watford in August 1987 for a fee of £20000 and made just 12 appearances (3 as sub) and scored once before moving on to Sheffield United in February 1988. After 105 appearances (14 from the bench) in which he scored 32 times a £75000 fee took him to Notts County in November 1991.
Whilst at County he made 114 appearances (31 as a sub) and scored 15 times, but also undertook a loan spell with Leeds United (2 appearance with 1 coming as a sub.
On his release in 1997 he joined Hereford United and scored 7 goals in his 22 appearances (2 as a sub) before moving to Cliftonville in 1998.
He had a spell as manager of Leek Town (in 1999) Guisley as player-manager and finished his career at Alfreton Town.
After ending his playing days, Agana took an IT course at a local college and graduated with a degree in computer visualisation from Sheffield Hallam University in 2004.
Following this he found employment as a distance learning technology officer for Manchester University but was still a regular fixture at Bramall Lane, Sheffield as part of the club’s match-day hospitality team.
Stuart Beavon
Born in Reading on 5 May 1984, Beavon was a forward who had been a trainee at Ipswich Town before playing for Ardley (2003: 11apps 2gls) and AFC Wallingford (2004: 25apps 11gls) before joining Didcot (2004). As a Didcot player he had appeared in their 2005 FA Vase final victory over AFC Sudbury: in fact scoring twice. Overall he was to score 107 goals in 139 games for the Railwaymen.
He was signed from Didcot Town in January 2007 he came with a superb goal scoring record in the – then – slightly lower level of football.
Any doubts as to whether he could repeat his scoring feats in the senior tier of ‘Non-League’ football were swiftly dispelled when he scored on his home debut – against Northwich Victoria – on 27 January 2007. Having scored 34 goals in 109 (5 as sub) apps he made the step up to the Football League when he joined Wycombe Wanderers on 19 February 2009, initially on loan) and later moving to Preston North End on 31 August 2012. He had scored 28 goals in his 115 games for Wycombe.
He was to make 58 appearances, scoring 9 times for Preston before joining Burton Albion on 30 June 2014 on a season long loan which became a permanent deal on transfer deadline day.
He is the son of former Reading midfielder Stuart Beavon, and grandson of former Oxford United defender Cyril Beavon.
Alan Beer
Born in Swansea on 11 March 1950, Beer had played for West End (and Wales at amateur level) before turning professional with Swansea in 1970.
When he was released, by the Welsh side, in May 1972 (15apps 3gls) he was persuaded to come to Dorset.
He was an immediate success at the Recreation Ground and turned out to be a prolific goalscorer, netting 82 times in 137 (3) matches. He also holds the distinction of being the only Weymouth player to be selected for his country – above the “C” level that several have played – when he was selected for the Welsh U21 squad: sadly injury prohibited him from attending.
He was voted Player of the Year in 1972-73 and worked as a shopfitter outside of football.
In December 1974 Exeter City signed Beer, for a fee of £5500. Having made his mark at St James’ Park his career was tragically ended by a knee injury, whilst playing for Exeter and he was awarded a testimonial; against WBA. Just prior to his injury he had been lined up for full Welsh honours and a move to Leicester City. He had scored 52 times in his 114 games for the Devon side. Happily, he returned to Exeter as a member of the coaching staff shortly after his enforced retirement.
After finishing with football he went to work for Bassetts Honda, in Swansea.
Derek Courtney
“Catweazle” was born in Wareham on 12th May 1953 and represented Dorset and schools and youth level. It was from the local Dorset Combination League side – Wareham Rangers – that he joined the Terras in July 1971.
In 1977-78 he was voted as the Travelling Supporters’ Club Player of the Year and a year later was awarded a joint testimonial – with Bryan Lawrence – against Chelsea.
After a ten-year stay at the Rec. he left for Poole Town (in a £1500 deal) in August 1981. At Poole he scored 79 times in 135 appearances before moving to Salisbury in July 1985.
He made 485 appearances (98 as a substitute) and scored 114 goals. Off the field his trade was as an electrician.
Brandon Goodship
Brandon signed for the Terras at the start of the 2017/18 season having previously been at AFC Bournemouth and Yeovil Town. Brandon was at the Cherries since the age of 12 but, after having had his contract cancelled by mutual consent at AFC Bournemouth he joined the Glovers on a permanent basis in January 2017.
Brandon hit the ground running for Weymouth and scored his first hat-trick at home to Merthyr Town in October 2017. Brandon scored 38 league goals in his first season at the club and picked up the 2017/18 Evo-Stik Southern League Premier Golden Boot. He finished the season as the club’s Player of the Season.
Goodship won his first England C cap in March 2019 when he came on as a sub against Wales. His goals were an important part of Weymouth winning the 2018/19 Southern League Premier title; he scored 39 goals in his second season with Weymouth and won the 2018/19 Southern League Premier Golden Boot again, as well as the National Game Awards Step 3/4 Player of the Season. Goodship also won the Weymouth FC 2018/19 Player’s Player of the Season award.
In June 2019, Goodship signed for League One side Southend United. Brandon left the Terras having scored 77 goals in 97 games, this included 5 hat-tricks.
Bryan Lawrence
Lawrence was born in Upton, Poole, on 13th November 1954.
He started playing football at Hamworthy United in 1969 and represented Dorset at both schools and Youth level.
He moved to AFC Bournemouth, but did not quite make the break through, moving to Weymouth in July 1973, making his debut against Barnet on 11th August 1973.
Whilst at Weymouth he was selected for the FA Representative XI in 1979-80.
He was awarded two testimonials, the first against Chelsea in 1979 and another against Southampton in 1985.
It is remarkable that Lawrence can boast two runs in which he played over a 100 consecutive games for the “Terras”. These came between 11th August 1973 and 16th April 1975 (128 games) and April 1976 to April 1978 (125 games). He also captained the club on 80 occasions. He is the only player to make 150 1st XI appearances before his 21st birthday and is the youngest player to make 500 appearances, which he achieved at 26 years 11 months.
He was released by Weymouth in May 1985, moving to Poole Town, having made 666 appearances (26 as a sub) and scoring 6 times. As a “Dolphin” he made 50 appearances, scoring once, before retiring in June 1987.
He has since spent time helping at Swanage, in Youth and senior football.
Sammy McGowan
“Wee” Sammy had played for Vale of Clyde in the 1942 Scottish Junior Cup final before he moved to Motherwell where he appeared in a Scottish Cup final in 1939.
After the war he joined Morton and then, in 1947, St Johnstone signed him on, but he was persuaded to move south to Weymouth in 1948.
Sammy played in the famous FA Cup 3rd Round game against Manchester Utd in the 1949/50 season.
He was also a member of the Southern League team that were runners-up in 1951/52, 1954/55 and runners-up in the Southern League Cup in 1952/53.
In 1956 he represented the Western League against Trowbridge in the annual Champions v The Rest fixture, staying until 1959 when he left to join Portland United and played for one season.
In February 1959 McGowan became landlord at the Cornopean Public House, which was across the road from the Rec.
In 1960 he became 1st XI trainer at the Recreation Ground and held the position until 1972.
He made more appearances than any other forward in Weymouth’s history and was an ever present in the senior side from February 7 1951 to 28 April 1956.
In 1966-67, whilst trainer, he made a guest appearance in a benefit match at Dorchester – despite having been retired for several years.
The “Two Counties Challenge Cup” competition was played for the Sammy McGowan Trophy, an honour “Wee Sammy” would have appreciated as he was involved with most of the teams in the competition – in one way or another.
In his stay at the Rec. he made 483 appearances – 2 coming as a sub – (at senior level) and scored 78 goals.
Sammy was born in Cambuslang on 26 April 1920 and died in Weymouth on 7 July 1997.
Frank O’Farrell
O’Farrell was born in Cork on 9th October 1927.
He joined Weymouth, as Player-Manager, in May 1961 from Preston North End (after 5 seasons at Deepdale) on a deal with £25 a week, plus house and car, and stayed with the club as a player and then as a manager until his contract was terminated in July 1965, by mutual agreement, because a knee injury meant that he could no longer act as player manager – which was what the club’s directors required!
Frank was player-manager when Weymouth reached the FAC 4th Round in 1961/62 v Preston North End who he left to join Weymouth.
He took Weymouth to the Southern League Cup final in 1963/64 when the lost to Burton Albion.
But his major achievement was taking Weymouth to the Southern League title in 1964/65, after bringing in a number of League players including Barry Hutchinson who scored 42 SL & SLC (46 in total) goa and Tommy Spratt 30 and 36 in total. Arguably the best Post War goal scoring duo.
At that time Weymouth were considered to be in the top six Non-League Clubs in the Country. Stan Charlton took up the mantle to win it the following year and also nearly made it three in a row losing their last game and finished third but that’s another story for the future.
He went on to manage Torquay United, Leicester City, Manchester United and Cardiff City as well as to coach the Iranian National side.
In 1962/63 he scored both goals in the Southern League v Chelmsford City (champions) match as the league side lost 2-4, In November 1963 he was chosen to captain the representative side against Cambridge City (who were the league champions). At the same time he was given permission to enter into talks with Colchester United, but he turned the job down when it was offered to him.
He had previously played for West Ham United (210 app – 7 goals), Republic of Ireland (6 caps) and Liverpool.
He made 117 appearances and scored 14 goals.
Lee Phillips
Having been born in St Ives on 16th September 1980, Lee was initially a rugby man – he actually represented England at Under 15 level – but he decided on a football career. He was playing at Plymouth Argyle, his senior debut was as a 15 year old – scoring at will for the youth and reserve sides with occasional senior games. His rise was halted, sadly, when (as a 16-year old) he broke a leg. After 8 months – having just made his comeback – he suffered a 2nd break in a Youth game.
As part of his second comeback he came to the Wessex on loan for three months in 2000, to assist his recovery from a broken leg. The move became a permanent one. In February 2002 he went to Newport County on a loan deal (6apps 4gls), when money was tight at the Wessex, but returned.
Phillips was selected for the Doc Martens League XI to play the Football League in November 2001.
He became unsettled following the arrival of Steve Johnson and moved to Exeter City – on a free transfer – in February 2005. Prior to this move he had turned down a £5000 transfer to Aldershot. He scored 21 times in 87 appearances for the Grecians.
When Paul Buckle was given the manager’s post at Torquay United Phillips made the move to Plainmoor from St James Park, for a fee of £17,500. After 12 goals in 41 games the Gulls sold Phillips to Rushden & Diamonds during the 2008 close season. On leaving Rushden (20apps 2gls) he returned to Weymouth for a short period before he moved on to Cambridge United (March 2009 – May 2010: 37apps 3gls) and Bath City in 2010-11 (74apps 18gls). After a loan spell with Eastleigh (7apps)he left Bath and joined Chippenham Town.
As a Weymouth player he made a total of 200 appearances (17 as a sub) and scored 90 goals.
Phil Stocker
Stocker was born in Teignmouth, on December 15th 1932, and it was at the local Grammar School that Stocker first began to take soccer seriously.
He played his first adult football for Dawlish, before playing for Bristol Rovers when he was on National Service.
He then decided to concentrate on a career as a teacher and entered St Luke’s College, playing for their very successful side. He also played for Barnstaple who were managed by Arthur Coles. In 1954-55 he scored 65 goals for the Devon club.
When Coles moved to Weymouth he persuaded Stocker to follow him and Stocker came to the Rec. as an amateur in 1955.
Although signing as a part time professional Stocker obtained a teaching role at Weymouth Grammar School – teaching maths and physical education.
He stayed with Weymouth until 1970 when he left for Bridport as player manager (spending 4 seasons there).
He did return to the Rec. for a short period as reserve team manager in 1974 and stayed for a further two seasons.
Stocker had the honour of playing county football for Dorset and Somerset.
He started his time at Weymouth in the forward line, but made a successful transition to full back around 1957. In total he made 614 appearances (25 coming as a substitute) and scored 45 goals.
Shaun Teale
Teale was born in Southport on 10th March 1964 and had played for Everton, Burscough (82-83), Ellesmere Port, Southport and Northwich Victoria from who he joined Weymouth in September 1987 in a deal worth £20000.
He moved on to Bournemouth in a deal worth £50000, this being in February 1989, after making 79 appearances and scoring one goal.
On July 15th 1991 Bournemouth (where he made 145 app and scored 4 times) sold Teale to Aston Villa for £500000 (which was £300000 down with £200000 after 18 months – Weymouth receiving £60000). As a “Villian” he made 147 apps. and scored twice.
He was capped as an English Semi-Pro international in 1987-88, an honour which was augmented with a Coco-Cola Cup winners medal in the 1993-94 final, for Villa.
He moved to Tranmere Rovers – for £450000 in August 1995 (a fee which was a new club record), going on to play for Sing Tai SC, in Hong Kong (1997-98) and Preston North End (1997: 5apps) on loan deals before joining Motherwell in August 1998, having played 54 times for Rovers. Teale scored 4 times in 47 appearances before leaving Motherwell and joining Carlisle United on a free transfer in February 2000, playing 20 games for the Cumbrian club (20apps) He then went on to join Southport, playing for them until the age of 40 (68apps 5gls) before moving into non-league coaching and management.
Teale was appointed manager of Burscough, a team in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. Whilst he was there, the side won the 2003 FA Trophy.
Teale left Burscough six weeks after the Trophy win, and has since managed Northwich Victoria in the 2003/04 season, actually scoring once in 6 appearances for the Vics.
Between February 2005 and August 2006, Teale managed Chorley, before leaving to run his pub and restaurant business in Burscough.
On 3 September 2010, it was announced that Teale had come out of retirement to sign for Southport and District Sunday League Premier Division side The Herald.
Andy Townsend
Born on 23 July 1963, in Maidstone, Kent, “The Beak” – who is probably the most successful of ex-Terras – grew up in Bexley, where he attended Upton Primary School in Bexleyheath, followed by Bexleyheath School.
He began his playing career in August 1980 with Welling United whilst employed as a computer operator for Greenwich Borough Council in south-east London. After making 105 appearances for Welling, he was signed by Weymouth in March 1984 for £13,500, in a deal that also brought Tony Agana to Dorset. When at Welling Townsend had played for Middlesex Wanderers in the annual Lo Brunt Memorial Trophy game against De Zwaluwen (the Dutch National Amateur XI) in May 1982.
After having trials with both Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday (he was discouraged by the amount of driving joining these clubs would have involved and the interest went no further), he moved to Southampton on 15 January 1985 for £35000.
At Weymouth he made 40 appearances and scored 16 goals, he also played for the FA XI against the Combined Services in 1985.
Despite recovering from a broken leg, sustained in a friendly against the Terras, he was sold to Norwich City on 31 August 1988 for £300,000, having scored 5 times in 83 games. Whilst with the Canaries he made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland – he qualified by right of an Irish grandmother – in February 1989.
Norwich made a handsome profit when they let Townsend join Chelsea for £1,200,000 on 5 July 1990, after 71 appearances and 8 goals. At Stamford Bridge he made 138 appearances scoring 12 times before he was allowed to move on 26 July 1993 to Aston Villa paid £2.1 million for his services. Whilst at Villa Park he was in the side that won the Coca-Cola Cup in 1994 and 1996. He was made captain of the Midlands club in 1994-95.
He was to make 134 league appearances – scoring 8 times – before he was on the move again, this time to Middlesborough for £500K on 29 August 1997, where he was part of the team that won promotion to the Premiership and appeared in another League Cup final, albeit on the losing side against one of his old clubs – Chelsea.
He left on 17 September 1999 to move down a division to West Bromwich Albion for £50,000. Townsend’s high wage demands prevented a move back to Norwich or a loan spell with non-league Boston United.
In his one season at West Bromwich Albion he only made 17 league appearances before a recurrent knee injury forced his retirement in July 2000, after a season in which Albion narrowly avoided relegation to Division Two. Townsend was offered a coaching role by the manager – but he decided to retire from the game and commence a new career as a soccer pundit on television, with ITV.
He went on to play for Eire in the 1990 World Cup and then to captain his country in the 1994 tournament.
He made a total of 611 appearances in Premiership and Football League matches (26 from the substitutes bench) and scored 49 goals. He also played 70 times for the Republic of Ireland – scoring 7 goals.
He has co-hosted Talksport’s Weekend Sports Breakfast on Sundays and hosted the station’s drive-time show on Fridays. He also hosted the mid morning discussion on Talksport, but left the station because he no longer wanted to commute from his Midlands home to the London studio. He also hosted ITV1’s regional programme Soccer Night, has presented BBC Radio 5 Live and written columns for the Daily Mail.
Townsend is a consultant for Harlequin Property, where he helps set up soccer schools at their Caribbean resorts. The company’s proposed investment into Port Vale had set in motion plans for him to become a football advisor at the club, though nothing was to come of these talks.
He is patron of the George Coller Memorial Fund. He ran in the Great North Run in 2007, finishing in a time of 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Steve Tully
Born on 10 February 1980 in Paignton who began his career as a fullback with his local side Torquay United, turning professional in August 1997 and making his league debut in a 0–0 draw away to Barnet on 18 November that year. He went on to make 106 appearances, scoring 3 goals, for the Gulls before being released at the end of the 2001–02 season.
He joined non-league side Weymouth in August 2002, quickly establishing himself in the side and winning the awards for Player of the Year and Away Player of the Season in 2003–2004. He lost his place in the side after the appointment of Steve Johnson as manager and asked for a transfer in January 2005.
Although he later withdrew this request, he was allowed to join Exeter City in February 2005 (2apps) However, he returned to Weymouth in May that year as new manager Garry Hill’s first summer signing on a two-year deal.
In his spells with the Terras he chalked up 156 appearances – 5 as a sub – and scored 15 goals
He returned to Exeter in January 2007 and was a regular in the side that made the play-off final at the end of that season, scoring the winning penalty in the semi-final against Oxford United. On 2 July 2013 Tully was released by Exeter City. In this second spell with the Grecians he made 221 appearances and scored 2 goals.
After leaving Exeter in the summer of 2013 Tully briefly joined Tiverton Town and then South West Peninsula League Division One side Galmpton United before joining Truro City on 19 October 2013. He was appointed Player-Manager at Truro on 13 March 2014 following Steve Massey’s dismissal and guided them to promotion to the National League South.
He has also managed the Exeter City FC Ladies team.
John Waldock
Born in North Shields, Newcastle upon Tyne in 1975 Waldock soon became part of the infamous Cramlington Juniors Youth Conveyor belt, under the watchful eye of legendary scout Jack Hixon Waldock’s talent, was recognised and he soon joined Sunderland AFC. Hixon unearthed such talents as Alan Shearer (England & Newcastle Utd) Andy Sinton (England & QPR) Michael Bridges (Leeds Utd) Graham Fenton (Aston Villa & Leicester) Tommy Widdrington (Southampton)
Waldock played for Sunderland AFC for a 3 year period under the stewardship of Former SAFC legend Jimmy Montgomery, John’s no-nonsense approach saw him recognised with a Northern Ireland U18 call up due to his Mothers Irish heritage.
After a bad knee injury versus Leeds United in a reserve game, Waldock’s appearances become limited & he joined the Terras in the 1995/96 season after a free transfer by then Sunderland manager Peter Reid.
Under the ‘Northeast’ revolution led by fellow ‘Geordie’ Graham Carr as manager, The Terras signed three outstanding servants in Waldock, David Laws & Ian Hutchinson. Between the three of them, they’d go onto amass over one thousand appearances of which 425 appearances were earned by John. The three became cherished fans favourites as they went onto become outstanding servants to Weymouth FC on & off the field.
During the Terras promotion season of 1997/98, Waldock was influential under ex-Shrewsbury manager Fred Davis, & in season 98/99 John was awarded fans player of the year, Players player of the year & away fans player of the year. He was awarded the Terras captaincy in 2000/01 season as his hard tacking no-nonsense defensive play made him a fan’s favourite.
John ended his playing career in 2003/04 season as he migrated to a coaching role under then manager Steve Claridge. That season the Terras finished 2nd and missed out on promotion after a promising start to the season & finished second behind Crawley Town FC.
In July 2004 John was awarded a testimonial versus Brighton & Hove Albion as the Terras fans showed up in force to show John their appreciation. John left the club as a fan’s favourite & still lives in Weymouth to this day with his family.
Stewart Yetton
Yetton was born on 27 July 1985 – in Plymouth – and joined Plymouth Argyle as a trainee. He was a striker who progressed through the Argyle youth set up but could not break into the first team. He had undertaken a trial with St Mirren, but after just three substitute appearances he joined Weymouth on loan in January 2004. He made 4 appearances, 1 from the bench, and scored once before returning to Devon.
He returned for a second loan spell in November 2004, this time making 3 appearances (1 as a substitute) without scoring.
He was released by Plymouth in December 2004 and on 11 February 2005 he joined Tiverton Town (23apps 7gls) moving to Truro City in October 2005.
He became a prolific goalscorer for Truro with 209 goals in all competitions (309 apps) by February 2010 as City progressed through the Western League and the Southern League. These included 72 goals during the 2006–07 season (a club record) and helped the club win the FA Vase in 2006-07. He also had a short loan spell with Ivybridge Town (3apps 4gls) at the beginning of the 2009 season to aid his recover from a shoulder injury.
After five months on the sidelines with a knee injury during the 2012–13 season, Yetton returned to the Truro squad and scored three goals in three games, although the club were relegated from the Conference South. In nearly eight years at Truro, he scored 226 goals in 315 league and cup appearances.
In May 2013 he joined Weymouth on a permanent basis. He became the club captain and scored 65 league goals in 131 games for Weymouth.
He scored 27 goals in his first season with Weymouth, winning the Southern League Golden Boot.
Although his iconic beard is now my more trimmed and tamed today, ‘Yetti’ as he was known by Terras’ fans, will be fondly remembered for scoring goals and becoming ‘the beard to be feared’ across the Southern League structure.
At one point, the club even saw supporters wearing ‘Yetti beards’ at the Bob Lucas Stadium, there was an infatuation between the charismatic frontman and the club’s fans.
Short spells back at Truro City followed, as well as a stint as a player-coach at Plymouth Parkway in 2018. In December 2018, Yetton rejoined Southern League side Tiverton Town.
For the start of the 2019–20 season, Yetton once again rejoined Truro City, as a player and as assistant-manager to Paul Wotton.
He was also an accomplished cricketer, in August 2011, Yetton took a five-wicket haul on debut for Old Suttonians Cricket Club, helping them to a nine-wicket win.
