We start with the last of four ex-Hayes players to have become managers of Football League clubs. We have already encountered Dave Bassett, Jimmy Bloomfield and Terry Burton, now it is the turn of Wally Downes, former manager of Brentford. He joined Hayes from Sheffield United in the summer of 1989, having previously played for Wimbledon, where he broke his leg three times. He played only 15 games, scoring a single goal, before leaving by mutual consent in October. His brother, Peter, played for Hayes reserves. His stint as manager of Brentford lasted until March 2004, when, with the Bees staring relegation in the face, he was replaced by Martin Allen. In 2006 he was a coach with Premiership side Reading.

Just as in the last page with the Deamers, so we now come across another old Hayes family, which provided no fewer than four players of varying achievement to Hayes – the Dowses.

Cecil Dowse was the first – he was a product of the Clayton Road School and played three games in 1928-9, scoring two goals. He played in the Mission’s record league defeat at Chesham and scored the first goal. Afterwards he played for several seasons in the reserves and then joined Hounslow, for whom he played with notable success as a goalscorer in 1933-4. He was described as “a strange centre-forward, who proved to be fast and tricky”. He was uncle to the other Dowses.

Ronald Walter Dowse, known as ‘Micky’, was the best known and the most colourful. Born in 1921, he went to Townfield School, where he played in the same team as George Wilkins, Frank Rees and Jack Sutcliffe. He was a goal-scoring forward, who later played at either centre-forward or outside-right. At Townfield, where the Clayton Road schoolmaster ‘Gaffer’ Clarke had moved after the closure of the Council School, he was a member of the side which won the Blaxland Cup for Middlesex Schools in 1934 and 1935. On leaving school he played for Botwell Wanderers, and then joined Southall, Yiewsley and Acton United. He signed for Hayes in the first post-war season, scoring 42 goals in 38 games, and was the last Hayes player to score 30 goals or more in a league season. He was called up for National Service at the age of 25 in 1946, but it does not seem to have diminished his availability. He moved to Hounslow in 1948 and played for two seasons, and then returned to Hayes under shady circumstances. He played for Hayes in an Athenian League match, and then resigned from Hounslow and applied to join Hayes; the matter was referred to the ACILS Advisory Council, and his application was delayed by a week. He stayed for two seasons at Hayes, until he resigned in disgust at being asked to play in the reserves and joined Yiewsley in November 1952. During his time at Hayes, he made 151 appearances and scored 101 goals. Thereafter, he placed a regular advertisement in the Hayes programme for his motor hire company and left for Wales after some local difficulties. A colourful career, indeed. He was last seen at Church Road for the match against Canvey Island in February 2004.

Mickey’s younger brother Fred Dowse, while he did not have the success of his brother on the playing field, did sport the nickname ‘Killer’ for the ferocity of his tackles. He was a left-back, who made a total of three appearances for the first team in 1946-8, but was better known as captain of the reserves.

The last of the family to play for Hayes was Ramon ‘Ray’ Dowse, a full-back playing at the end of the 1950s.   He was a cousin of Mickey and Fred and a nephew of Cecil, but was 20 years younger than his cousins, whom he calls his uncles. After playing in the ‘A’ team and reserves in 1953-4, he served in the RAF for four years and made his début for the first team at the very end of the 1957-8 season. He started as the regular left-back in both the following seasons. All told he made 34 appearances. While at Hayes he was offered trials by Portsmouth and Fulham but declared himself ‘uninterested’. When Fred Lawson joined from Wycombe just before Christmas 1959, he left and joined Southall. In 1962-3 he was playing for Harlow, along with other former Hayes players, Dudley Baker, Les Champelovier and Denis Joyce. Later he managed Southall reserves and then the 1^st team in 1970 with a budget of £45. He moved to Devon subsequently, where he now lives, took up bowls and reached the quarter-finals of the English Indoor Bowls championship in 1984.

A former Brentford youth, Derek Doyle came to Hayes in August 1979 after being well established in the Southall & Ealing Borough side for three years. For a forward, his record of 21 goals in 125+5 appearances was not spectacular, but he was voted Player of the Year in his first season. He stayed at Church Road until 1982, when he was dropped from the team to meet his old club Wealdstone in the final of the Middlesex Senior Cup at his old ground at Western Road. Refusing to be substitute, he missed the celebrations which followed the win, was suspended by Roy Ruffell, and went to Harrow later in the year for three seasons and then on to neighbours Wealdstone. He rejoined Hayes in 1987, but had the misfortune to swallow his tongue in his first game back and played no more for the club. He went to Slough in September 1988, and was immediately loaned out to Chalfont St Peter.

His namesake, Mickey Doyle, also had two spells at Hayes. A native of Barrow-in-Furness, he made his début for Hayes in April 1963. But this was his only appearance, and he went on to play for Hendon, Wealdstone and St Albans, and gained an England cap while with Wealdstone. He was an overlapping full-back, quick in recovery and fearless in the tackle. He returned to Hayes in 1971 and played one season, making a further 27 appearances.

Peter Drabwell was another player who achieved more before and after his time with Hayes. Previously he had played for Barking, Walthamstow Avenue, Hendon, Dagenham, Sutton and Ilford. He played in an Amateur Cup semi-final with Walthamstow, and in a final with Sutton, for whom he also played in a 4^th round FA Cup tie against Leeds United. When he returned to Ilford from Hayes in November 1973, he played in the last-ever Amateur Cup final and scored Ilford’s goal against Bishop’s Stortford. He represented Middlesex, Essex, London and the Isthmian League. At Hayes, he scored 25 goals in 55 matches. The one record which he did help set was the club’s first victory over Football League opposition in the FA Cup, against Bristol Rovers in 1972.

Finally, we come to Graham Drake. He was bought from Kingstonian for £3,000 in November 1980 and was described by manager George Goode as ‘a brave and strong target man possessed of good ball control’. He stayed with Hayes for five seasons, during which he was selected for an FA XI, and made 147+13 appearances, scoring 48 goals. In March 1985 he was dismissed for a breach of discipline following an incident in the clubhouse, which saw goalkeeper Paul Hyde sustain a broken nose, Also played for Staines Town.