In the period before and immediately after World War II, Hayes acted as an unofficial nursery club for Brentford. Such a relationship was, of course, not officially recognized, but a club like Brentford enjoyed a steady flow of players from Hayes (Leslie Smith, George Wilkins, Len Townsend, Harry Bamford, Arthur Shaw, Jimmy Bloomfield), while Hayes enjoyed a permanent bed available at Brentford Cottage Hospital for the treatment of injuries, and the loan of promising young players from Brentford. One of this category was Leslie Duhig. He was an Irish schoolboy international, who joined from Sheppey United in the autumn of 1936 on the recommendation of Harry Curtis, the Brentford manager, and was hailed as a new Leslie Smith. He trained with Brentford and could play in any of the left-sided forward positions. During his stay with Hayes he was a serving officer of the RAF (as were several Hayes players of this period, such as Norman Gibson, Jackie Gibbons, Jack Poxon, and Ron Thurston), which may account for his few appearances, 17 in total, before he left to join Leyton in October 1937.

When Hayes was languishing at the bottom of the league table in their first season in the Conference, Iain Duncan was one of two players (the other was Hakan Hayrettin), whose arrival heralded a sudden turn-around in results. He was signed from Terry Brown’s old club, Wokingham Town, and slotted into the left-back place left vacant by Lee Flynn’s long-term injury. Previously he had played for his home-town club, Leicester City (22 appearances, 1 goal) and Windsor & Eton. He stayed with Hayes for two seasons, making 30+11 appearances and scoring two goals, before joining Yeading, and then Aylesbury United and Hendon.

Daniel Dyer joined towards the end of season 2005/06 from neighbours Harrow Borough. His impressive form at the end of that season earned him a contract, in the process making the right wing position his own. At the time of the merger he had made 44+11 appearances and scored 5 goals.

In January 2005, a 17 year old striker in the shape of Jon Dyer arrived from Basingstoke Town and just weeks later was to become the only Hayes player to hit a Conference South hat-trick when he scored the first three in a 4-2 win at Sutton United. At the end of that season a dispute over money saw Jon depart although he did return during 2006/07 before moving on to Uxbridge to get regular football. In all for the Missioners he made 20+16 appearances and scored 9 goals.

As most supporters will remember, Ken Dyer was club captain during Hayes’ last season in the Conference National. He arrived at Church Road, aged 37, from Cyprus, where he had been playing for several years with New Salamina and Ethnikos. He had started in English football with Tottenham Hotspur, and then joined Charlton Athletic, Dulwich Hamlet, Dover and Slough. He was a popular captain, with an astute brain, and was surprisingly released by Terry Brown, shortly before he himself left to join Aldershot Town. Stand-in manager Willy Wordsworth managed to get him back and he performed well for the rest of the season, although relegation was threatening. At the end of the season, he joined Dover again, although a misleading report was put out that he was returning to Cyprus. During his season with Hayes he played 42 matches and scored one goal, a cracking shot against Forest Green Rovers on ‘9/11’.