Roger MacKay, a right-back from the early 1980s was a PE teacher, who joined from Slough Town in the summer of 1980 and held a regular place for two seasons, until he was released by George Goode in January 1983. He then went to play for former boss Roy Ruffell at Hendon, and moved to Sutton in November 1983, playing against Hayes regularly for the next three seasons. At Hayes he made 110+2 appearances, including membership of the London Senior Cup-winning side of 1981, and scored three goals.

Shaun McAuley was another to make the transition from FEDO to reserve ane then to first team football, making his Hayes debut on New Years Day 2005 against Redbridge. A skilful right sided player who found a regular place hard to secure but continued to work on his game to force his way into the side. At the time of the merger he had made 34+31 appearances, scoring 5 times.

A contemporary of Roger’s was Mick McGovern, who bestrode Hayes’ midfield like a Colossus. Born in 1951 at Hayes, Mick first made himself known when he scored twice for Our Lady and St Anselm’s Under 14s in the final of the Peter Bennett Cup in April 1965. A year later he joined QPR as an apprentice, and was the youngest member of their promotion squad of 1966-7; he stayed for six seasons at Loftus Road, making 12 first-team appearances, before moving to Swindon Town for £12,000 in February 1973, after a loan spell at Watford. At Swindon he made a further 55 appearances, scoring two goals, before going on loan to Aldershot in March 1974 and then joining the Shots permanently. That same year he returned to local football with Hillingdon Borough, but left after a season because of the excessive travel in the Southern League and joined Harrow Borough. He finally joined Hayes in July 1977 and soon took over as undisputed club captain. He stayed with Hayes for eight seasons, gaining representative recognition with the Isthmian League, and captaining the side which won the London Senior Cup in 1981, and was twice elected Player of the Year, and once Sportsman of the Year. During his time at Church Road he made 401+4 appearances and scored 27 goals. After being released by George Goode in July 1985, he went to Southall and helped them to reach the FA Vase final at Wembley. In 1986-7 he played for Chalfont St Peter. He is still remembered with affection at QPR, and recently featured in an article in the matchday programme. 

Kevin McKenna was a strong tackling, hard working central midfielder who arrived at Church Road during the summer of 2004 having previously captained Harrow Borough. He suffered a series of niggling injuries during his second season and at the beginning of 2006/07 declared that he could not play any part during the coming season, and he was badly missed. In all for the Missioners he made 59+4 appearances scoring 4 times.

Steve McKimm was another midfielder, but from the Conference era. Joining in 1999 from Farnborough Town, having previously played for Malden Vale, Hendon, Molesey and Dulwich Hamlet, he was renowned for his hard tackling. In two seasons he made 92+4 appearances and scored five goals, before moving to Kingstonian and then Gravesend & Northfleet, where he was diagnosed as suffering from tuberculosis. Has since recovered and commenced playing again.

Unlike most of the Athenian League championship-winning team, Ian McKinlay stayed for only one season.  A classy right-back, he started the 1956-7 season in the reserves, but got his chance when Tony Pratt missed a match to get married. When Pratt returned, it was as a makeshift centre-forward, and McKinlay commanded the right-back position through to the end of the season. He was also noticed by Brentford and signed amateur forms for them in February 1957. However, he missed the semi-final of the Amateur Cup at Newcastle through injury, giving Pratt his only chance to deputise. During the season McKinlay made 29 appearances. In October 1957 he surprisingly joined Hendon and made his debut against Hayes, and subsequently moved to Walton & Hersham, Maidenhead United, Slough Town and Redhill.  

Our next entry did not play a single game for Hayes. He is Phil McKnight, who joined as coach in July 1962 at the age of 38. A Scot, born in Glasgow, and known as ‘Corky’, he played for Alloa Athletic and, on demobilisation from the Royal Navy in 1946, he moved south and joined Chelsea. He stayed at Stamford Bridge for eight seasons before being transferred to Leyton Orient, where he was a regular for seven seasons and a member of the Division 3 (South) championship side in 1956-7. He was then appointed player-coach of the O’s ‘A’ team  in the Seanglian League and stayed for two seasons. At Hayes he introduced a more professional approach to training, and was largely responsible for the club’s improvement in league performance and for reaching the 1st round proper of the FA Cup in 1964 for the first time in 18 years.  In August 1965 he was appointed manager-coach, and in mid-November he appointed former player Geoff Taylor as his assistant. Only a week later he resigned, claiming family and business commitments as his reason. In 1970 he joined Ruislip Manor as manager, with Clive Griffiths and Johnny Reay as his assistants. He stayed until 1972, when he was succeeded by Geoff Taylor. One of McKnight’s rising stars was Mick McNutt, a centre-half who made his debut for Hayes at the end of the interminable 1962-3 season. He then left to play for Guinness FC, and rejoined in August 1964, only to be posted to the Bahamas a month later. When he returned, he played as an attacking full-back, possessed of a powerful shot which brought 26 goals in 219 appearances.  In 1969, when Trevor Smith left, he was appointed club captain, but he missed the second half of the season with a blood clot in his leg. He joined Maidenhead United at the end of the season, but the clot returned and necessitated a further lay-off. He followed former skipper Trevor Smith to Woking in 1970, but his condition prevented a career in the Isthmian League. He came back with Ruislip Manor in 1973-4 and then joined Southall the following season and played a further two seasons, but was advised to give up playing at 34 on medical grounds. In 1980 he was appointed Southall manager, but was sacked at Christmas 1982, just a week before Roy Ruffell. He then became assistant coach to former Hayes player John Quille at Harefield.

The last entry this week is Harry Manoe, a strong-tackling midfielder and later manager of Hayes. Born in Donegal in 1951, he joined Hayes in summer 1972 from Viking Sports. He played only four games before moving to Ruislip Manor (1973-4), Southall (1974-7) and Harrow Borough (1978-85), where he played more than 350 times. He rejoined Hayes in summer 1985 and succeeded George Goode as manager in December 1986, taking the club to the 1st round of the FA Cup for five consecutive seasons, and twice to round 2. But Hayes’ league form was comparatively disappointing and he resigned in January 1992 for domestic reasons. At the time Derek Goodall called him “one of our most successful managers ever”. As a player, he made 67+13 appearances and scored a single goal – at Farnborough on Guy Fawkes night 1985. He then managed Harrow from August 1993 until December 1996, when he resigned for lack of playing success. Always his own man.

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