Derek Castle, now 89, was with us in the days of visionary ‘push and run’ manager Arthur Rowe and legends such as Ted Ditchburn, Sir Alf Ramsey, Ron Burgess and Bill Nicholson.
Aged 21 when he signed, Derek didn’t play a competitive first team match for us. The closest he came was when he turned out in the annual pre-season first team v reserve match in August, 1951.
Sadly, after impressing for our reserve and A teams in his first 18 months - and helping us to the Football Combination title in 1952-53 - Derek’s career was cut down by a serious illness, Ulcerative Colitis, halfway through his second season.