For most people, 700 games of senior football would be more than enough. Not for Andy Darnton. At 56, the Horndean assistant manager is still chasing the game he fell in love with as a boy in Southampton.
“My mum took me along when I was about eight,” he told Fen Regis Trophies. “After that, I was just always playing – school, Sunday mornings, out in the street. If there was a ball, I was there.”
One of his first clubs was Windsor United back in the early ’80s. By then he’d already caught the eye of his schoolteacher, Mr Perkins, who pushed him a year up in the teams and set up trials with Southampton and Coventry. “He opened a lot of doors for me,” Darnton remembers. “I didn’t make it as a pro, but it gave me a grounding for non-league.”
And what a grounding it turned out to be. By the time he retired, Darnton had played for the likes of Waterlooville, Gosport, Newport, Worthing, Fleet, Bashley and Thatcham.
“I was lucky,” he admits. “I stayed fit, never had a really bad injury, and I always did a bit extra – swimming, gym work.
“Back then it was old school: strap yourself up and play. Nowadays, players sit out with the slightest knock.”
Standout Moments
Ask him for a favourite spell and his answer comes quickly: Worthing, where he played under former Tottenham Hotspur strikers Gerry Armstrong and then Mark Falco.
“You just listened to them – soaked it all up,” he said. “We got promoted, reached the FA Cup first round against Bournemouth, and it was all on TV.
“We had such a good spirit, all lads around the same age, staying down together at weekends. I’ve still got mates from that time, 30 years on.”
Not everything was easy. Non-league meant juggling football with work, and the travel was brutal.
“I remember a Tuesday night at King’s Lynn – left work at lunchtime, back at 3am, then up at eight for work again. You just did it.”
From Player to Coach
His coaching journey started when his knees finally gave way. “I was at Winchester, barely playing, and the manager asked me to help out. I found I enjoyed it – you still get the buzz, the banter, and you’re passing something on.”
He’s since worked at Eastleigh with the scholars, senior sides at different levels, and enjoyed perhaps his greatest moment in 2018 with Thatcham Town – winning the league and the FA Vase at Wembley.
“That was unbelievable,” he recalled. “We had a great side, went 40 games unbeaten, and just the whole Wembley weekend – training at Reading and Crystal Palace beforehand – it was something else.
“Not many people in non-league get to say they’ve done that.”
One player Darnton singles out when asked on the best he has coached is Ryan Seager, a striker who rediscovered his love for the game having been released by Southampton.
“He came to us a bit low, then hit 25–30 goals and earned a move to Dorking. To help someone like that find themselves again – that’s what coaching’s about.”
What Next
These days you’ll find Darnton in the dugout at Horndean, newly promoted into Step Four. “It’s a proper club with good people,” he said. “I’ve got my mojo back here.
“There are loads of young coaches around now, which is great, but I think there’s still a place for experience too. Whether that’s mentoring, coaching or just being around to steady things, I want to keep giving something back.”
Looking back, he’s content with what he’s done in football. “I never played at the highest level, but I’ve had promotions, cup runs, player-of-the-year awards, and friends for life. I’ve got no regrets. Football’s been good to me.”
And he isn’t finished yet.
By Aaron Gratton
