Matt Healey continues the series.
David Titterton was born in Hatton in Warwickshire on the 25th September 1971. He played a couple of games in the top flight for Coventry City and signed for Hereford from the Sky Blues in September 1991.
It was the John Sillett factor that made him join Hereford United. Titterton told me “I was still under a contract at Coventry, Terry Butcher had taken over at Highfield Road and I was coming back from injury. John Sillett asked me to have a look round. I had family in Leominster. I wanted to play first team football so I dropped down three divisions to sign for the club”
Titterton made his Hereford debut in a 3-0 loss away at Walsall on the 21st September 1991.
I asked him how he coped with going from what is now the Premier League to the old 4th Division “It was a bit of a culture shock, having to wash your kit again, but we had a great start to the season and the crowd were buzzing”
Hereford were top of the league in September, but fell away badly from November onwards “I joined the club on the basis of getting promotion, as I had dropped all the way down from the top flight to the bottom flight of professional football. I cant put my finger on why we lost momentum, we had some injuries and some players had a loss of form, but there was no culminating factor”
Titterton scored his only Hereford league goal in a 2-2 home draw against Maidstone on the 14th March 1992.
Titterton made 25 league appearances that season, the majority being in the 2nd half of the campaign. John Sillett would resign as manager and Player Coach Greg Downs would take over as the new gaffer. Titterton and Downs had a strained relationship.
“He was the left back at Coventry and I took his place, so he left to join Birmingham City and now we were playing together at Hereford, he was manager though now and I had to accept his decisions”
Titterton was one of the four players sent off against Northampton Town on the 6th September 1992. Titterton told me his thoughts on what occured that day.
“It was farcical, an unbelievable afternoon, we were down to 9 men, Brainy (Simon Brain) equalised and some of the Hereford supporters ran on the pitch and we celebrated together, a few minutes later I got a second yellow card for kicking the ball away, I got arrested after the game for inciting the crowd, the game is still spoke about now”
Titterton received three red cards in the space of five games. The final sending off at home to Wrexham in a 1-1 draw on the 3rd October 1992 meant he would be placed on the transfer list “I was always had and played with a wholehearted spirit, sometimes unfortunately I mistimed a tackle and got into trouble, I didn’t control myself enough, but I curbed that when I got older, I was a tough tackler and gave everything”
Titterton made 26 league appearances during the 1992/1993 season but was released from his contract at the end of the season.
Titterton tells me “I want the opportunity to set things straight, I never wanted to leave Hereford, Greg Downs put me on the transfer list in October 1992 and around 5 or 6 teams came in for me, but I wanted to stay at the club, I had a house in Leominster and I was married and settled down, Wycombe were in the GM Vauxhall Conference and favourites to go up. I went down there for talks with their manager Martin O’Neill, they offered money for me, but I wanted to fight for my place and I stayed at Edgar Street”
Titterton continues “Greg made the decision to release me at the end of the season and I then signed for Wycombe on a free transfer, they won promotion and were now a Football League club”
Titterton who earnt the nickname “Titterton the Tank Engine” made a quick return to Edgar Street as Hereford would face Wycombe on the 31st August 1993. “Greg had said a few things in the press about me which wound me up. I had 20-30 of my family at the game, I had a great bond with the Hereford crowd, they appreciated my approach to the game and I always gave 100% , it was a night match and a fantastic atmosphere, we scored a late winner at the end and won 4-3, me and Greg had words after the game and it got pretty heated”
Titterton would play against Hereford on the 3rd January 1994 when Wycombe defeated the Bulls 3-2.
Titterton would win promotion at the end of the season with Wycombe, but injuries forced his retirement from the professional game and he dropped into the non league scene playing for the likes of Burton, Stourport and Ludlow.
“I managed Stourport Swifts for a couple of seasons in the Dr Martens League, but I have a young family so stepped away from that. I do a bit of coaching here and there and run my own telecommunications business, I’m also involved in greyhound racing as well”
Main photo supplied by Ron Parrott
