Jack Stirling (sometimes spelled ‘Sterling’) was a left back who was still in the Army when he joined Botwell Mission in February 1929, and was not demobilised until two months later. He won a Middlesex Charity Cup Medal against Hampstead Town at Brentford in May. He was a regular in 1929-30, the club’s first under its present name, but lost his place with the arrival of Jack Maskell and CH Bell early in the 1930-1 season and never regained it. He made 42 appearances.

When manager Eddie Gibbins resigned in January 1970, after his assistant Roy Lovell was sacked over an expenses irregularity, Hayes appointed Don Stoker as his replacement. Don had been an amateur international centre-half with Kingstonian and Sutton United, and had been manager with Sutton for 9 months and with Walton & Hersham for eight years. He also was current manager of both the Athenian League and Surrey County teams. He brought a discipline which had been lacking, but his main impact came during his first full season in 1970-1, when he started assembling a squad of his own choice rather than an inherited one. Key acquisitions were Bobby Hatt and Kenny Kent from Slough Town, the return of Brian Caterer to play his only full season for Hayes, and former international Len Worley from Wycombe Wanderers. That such experienced players were keen to serve under Stoker showed the regard in which he was held. The one great loss was that of Dave Bassett, who had been suspended for a large part of the previous season and wanted to try his luck under Alan Batsford at Walton. Under Stoker Hayes achieved a middle-table position in the league, but it was in the cups that the club made its mark. Progress to the 3rd qualifying round of the FA Cup was the best since 1964. In the Amateur Cup Hayes reached the quarter-finals before going out to Leatherhead in a replay, losing 0-1 – the goal was scored by Rod Fruen, who had left Hayes on the eve of their 1st round match with Vauxhall Motors. In the League Cup Hayes reached the semi-finals. But he did win silverware – the first since 1963 - when the Middlesex Charity Cup was secured with a 4-0 crushing of Southall. But all of this paled into insignificance when it was announced that Hayes had been elected to the Isthmian League. Admittedly, Walton & Hersham and Bishop’s Stortford had taken the two places, which were vacated when Maidstone United and Wealdstone decided to turn professional; Hayes were elected when it was decided to extend the size of the league. By now, Stoker, who ran off-licences in Woking, had bought two more and decided that he could no longer afford the time to devote to football. It was his signing, Bobby Hatt, who suggested Bob Gibbs as a suitable candidate to take Hayes into the new league. Don himself died suddenly at his home at Effingham in 1986, aged 62. How much responsibility did he bear for Hayes’ advancement? Well, he certainly elevated the club into a position of respect in higher circles.

Keith Strevett was one of the promising players who progressed through the ‘A’ side and reserves into the Hayes first team. He made his debut at right-half in February 1954 at the age of 19 and went on to make seven appearances that season, scoring one goal. He later played for Southall and became their caretaker-manager in 1967-8. In September 1970 he took over from Ray Dowse as Southall manager.

When he joined Hayes in December 1982 from Wycombe Wanderers, defender Peter Suddaby brought a wealth of experience. A schoolteacher and graduate of Loughborough University, he joined Wycombe in 1969. After a season he joined Blackpool and became their captain. Finishing his Football League career with Sunderland, he returned to Wycombe in 1982. He stiffened up the Hayes defence and played regularly for the next season and a half until he was appointed team coach under George Goode in September 1984. His appearances became rarer as he took his job as coach more seriously. In all he made 46 appearances for Hayes. In May 1986 Alan Mullery invited him to become assistant coach at Brighton, and he was appointed manager of his old club Wycombe at the start of the 1987-8 season. But results went badly and, although he was very popular with fans and players, he was asked to resign.

Born at Hammersmith and a pupil at Cardinal Manning School, Jimmy Sugrue joined Fulham as a trainee. He played at outside-right or in midfield and was on Fulham’s books when Hayes beat them in the FA Cup in 1991. Failing to make the grade, he drifted off to Dorking and Kingstonian, before joining the emerging Aldershot Town in the lower reaches of the Isthmian League. There he developed a reputation as a hot-headed player, who was frequently in trouble with referees. At this stage Terry Brown stepped in to buy him for £2,000 to help out in the final stages of the push for promotion in 1995-6. The trick worked – Sugrue steered clear of trouble and Hayes were promoted. Early in the club’s first season in the Conference, Brown sold him back to Aldershot for the same fee in order to give Jason Roberts a chance to blossom. During his short spell at Hayes he made 17+9 appearances and scored one goal. At Aldershot he was soon back in trouble and has since played for a succession of clubs, including Staines Town, Sutton United, Croydon, St Albans City and Bishop’s Stortford.

The last entry under the letter S played only one first-team game for Hayes, during the 1939-40 season, but he had a huge presence in the community. Jack Sutcliffe was a son of  Hayes councillor Wilfrid Sutcliffe, who had come to the borough from Halifax in 1920 and served on the committee of Botwell Mission from 1927. He was educated at Townfield School, where he came under the influence of ‘Gaffer’ Clarke and played in the school team which had a distinguished record competing in the Blaxland Cup for London schools in the mid-1930s. Playing alongside George Wilkins, Micky Dowse and Frank Rees, who was his closest friend, he captained the winning side in 1935 and scored the only goal in the drawn final against Wormholt School, and two of the three in the replay from outside left. During the same season he and Wilkins were both selected to play for Middlesex Schools. Next season, as a 15-year-old, he was a member of the Botwell Wanderers side which retained the Middlesex Minor Cup. He went to work at the Gramophone Works and when war was declared, had a reserved occupation, which meant that he did not need to be conscripted. But he was fascinated by the air and volunteered to join the RAF. He won his airgunner’s wings in November 1942, but the bomber in which he was serving went missing over France in June 1943. He had followed his brother into the RAF – Alan eventually became a test pilot, but was killed in an air crash in 1949.

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