Matt Healey continues the series.
John Layton was born in Hereford on 29th June 1951. His dad was Johnny Layton who was a Hereford United stalwart and was the club’s record appearance holder during his time at Edgar Street in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
John told me “I used to go to games to watch my dad, and then when he retired he became manager of the reserve side. John Charles was the first team manager then. I would turn up to the ground with my boots, and if we were short I would get a game. There were plenty of good local players around then, and we played in the Border Counties League”
“I was also turning out for Westfields and later played for Gloucester City and Kidderminster Harriers, so when John Sillett took over as manager in 1974, the then Chairman who was Frank Miles recommended me to him. I played in a pre-season game against Malvern, but played one half for them, and one half for Hereford”
Layton was about to get the taste of first team action on the 27th August 1974 at the old Gay Meadow. “We were away to Shrewsbury in the League Cup. Billy Tucker had been injured, and they were thinking of playing Eric Redrobe at the back, I got a phone call that afternoon to join the team, and I played and we won 1-0”
Layton then joined the first team squad as a part time player, he still maintained a day job as a builder “It was very difficult, I would train Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings, it was tricky, but I got more money part time, and having a day job”
I wasn’t around in the mid 1970’s to witness the golden era of Hereford United. From the lates 1960’s to 1976 it was pure glory. Bob Dennison to John Charles, then Colin Addison to John Sillett. Within around 10 years Hereford United had risen from what is now National League North to the Championship so I asked John what it was like.
“It was an absolutely brilliant time. I was a homegrown boy playing regularly in front of crowds of 12,000 at Edgar Street. I remember playing away at Cardiff City and there were over 30,000 fans at that game at Ninian Park, those were good times”
The greatest Hereford United side were the 1975/1976 Division Three champions (now League One). Dixie McNeil top scored that season “Dixie was a very good player, he helped me as a defender, as me and John Galley would mark him in training. He kept us on our toes, and as a player if you gave him half a yard in the penalty area he would punish you”
Hereford United would start the 1976/1977 season in Division Two (Now the Championship) the Bulls would be up against the likes of footballing greats George Best at Fulham and Laurie Cunningham at Leyton Orient. Hereford started well with wins against Hull and Burnley, sandwiched in with a draw against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.
in the 4th league game of the season they would then face Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, but after going 2-0 ahead Hereford lost 4-3. That would be the peak of Hereford United.
On the 25th September 1976 Hereford visited Craven Cottage to face Fulham. The game is remembered for the home side teaching the Bulls a footballing lesson with George Best and Rodney Marsh destroying Hereford with a brilliant exhibition of trickery and cheek as they won 4-1. 1966 England World Cup winner Bobby Moore turned out for Fulham that day too.
“Kevin Sheedy (who later won what is now the Premier league with Everton) played his 2nd game for Hereford that day, he needed looking after, but after playing the game I think we all needed looking after. The year before Fulham had been in the FA Cup Final”
Hereford would finish the season bottom of the league, towards the end of the season the club though rallied with only two defeats in the last eleven games, but wasn’t enough to save them from the drop. I asked him what went wrong ” We probably needed a couple more players. I think the club back then invested a lot of money in the supporters club, when on hindsight it should have gone on the playing squad”
Hereford would then suffer a back to back relegation, and by 1978/1979 were in the 4th tier of English football again.
Layton departed Edgar Street in August 1980. “Frank Lord had come in as manager, and there wasn’t a place for me, he wanted to sign northern players” Layton would then join Gloucester City again and had spells at Trowbridge and Newport County.
After retiring from football Layton joined Gloucester City as manager, and returned to Edgar Street in 1988 as the head of youth football when Ian Bowyer was in charge.
“We had just set up the centre of excellence, we had some good players. The likes of Gareth Davies, Phil Preedy, Paul Burton, Shane Jones, Mark Cross, Paul Eversham, Craig Langford and Leigh Hall all made it to the 1st team”
In the Summer of 1994 Layton would become Greg Downs’s assistant at Edgar Street. The squad had been invested in heavily, but despite this Hereford made a poor start, and when Downs was dismissed as manager. Layton would take caretaker charge.
After losing 3-0 away at Doncaster Rovers in his 1st match. Hereford would face Premier League Nottingham Forest in the Coca Cola Cup. They gave a great account of themselves and led 1-0 in the 1st half at the City Ground through a Steve White goal. Stan Collymore than scored a couple early in the 2nd half to secure a 2-1 win. In the 2nd leg at Edgar Street Hereford would draw 0-0 losing 2-1 on aggregate.
Layton was then appointed as permanent manger till the end of the season with Dick Bate as his assistant “Being a manager was different, the buck stops with you. I had some great players that I inherited, but I had no coach or physio at the start. I got in contact with Dick Bate who i did my coaching badges with, and we bought in a local physio called Simon Shakeshaft and then we settled”
Hereford would suffer a horrific 7-1 loss against Mansfield Town on Boxing Day 1994. “We were 1-0 down a half time, and then at the start of the 2nd were 2 down. I asked the subs to warm up, but then it was 3, and it was a complete disaster” Layton though puts a positive spin on things “The next day we played Exeter and won 3-0.
Layton continued “I bought in a couple of my old youth players, Rob Warner, plus Andy Brownrigg. We sold Brownrigg to Norwich City who were in the Premier League for £100,000, he had only played eight games for us. So I call the Mansfield match the £100k game, as if that defeat hadn’t of have happened I wouldn’t have bought Brownrigg in to the first team”
Hereford would then only lose 5 of the remaining 22 games after the Mansfield debacle. Dick Bate had shored up the defence and with Steve White scoring the goals optimism was high for the next season.
Sadly Layton wasn’t able to resume the role for the 1995/1996 season “I never wanted to leave, but it wasn’t my choice”
Graham Turner would then take over as manager.
Layton would then go on to coach the Pakistan football team, and had further spells abroad. He returned to Edgar Street in 2011 as head of youth development, but left when Martin Foyle came in a year later. Layton was involved in the early development of Jarrod Bowen who has now gone on to great things with West Ham.
With dementia in footballers from the 1960’s and 1970’s being a topical subject, and with Layton being a central defender. I asked him if he had any issues with memory loss “I went to Birmingham for a heading study recently, I had the tests and I’m ok. It’s good to see the PFA are now taking notice of this as it’s been long overdue”
Layton still resides in Hereford and is regular at Hereford FC matches.
