COMMUNITY TRUST MANAGER: Helen Preedy (helenpreedy@maidenheadunitedfcorg)
MAIDENHEAD UNITED IN THE COMMUNITY: Mark Nisbet
The Club operates its commercial activities through Maidenhead United FC Ltd, York Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 1SF Company No: 05691046, VAT No: 442328173 The Club is a member of the Vanarama National League and is therefore subject to the league’s rules and regulations The persons of significant control in the Club as defined in National League rule 213 are Peter Griffin and MUFC Ltd
JOHN DUNN
Maidenhead United were saddened to hear of the recent passing of long-time supporter John Dunn, known to many Magpies fans as ‘Millwall John’
John was born in Cairo in 1934, where his father, Fred, was serving in The Royal Signals When war broke out in 1939, Fred was transferred to The Mediterranean. John, his mother Emily and two sisters moved to Cambridge and it was here that he would
spend much of his early years. After the war, Fred - who was born in Bermondseystarting taking John to London to support his own favourite team, Millwall John would become a lifelong fan
After five years service in The Royal Air Force, 1958 would be an important year for John. Fred had left the army and got a job with the NAAFI, leading him to relocate to White Waltham, and with his help he got a job at the Vandervell factory in Cox Green He also married his childhood sweetheart, Shirley, and moved permanently to Maidenhead. Initially at a house in Brunel Road and later, for over sixty years, Derwent Drive Three children followed, Carol (born 1961), Janet (1963) and Robert (1965), known as Jim (pictured on the right with John at the Magpies FA Cup match at Oxford United in November 2023).
Initially if Millwall were playing away, John would start making York Road his second footballing home. In 1969, at the age of four, Jim began to join the group and he recalls: “For many years the pattern stayed the same; every Millwall home game, some aways, with Maidenhead United filling the void as much as possible. There was never any doubt about which two teams I would be supporting! Any Magpies fan of a certain age would know that the 70s and early 80s were thin years for the club, apart from a brief flirtation with promotion under Geoff Anthony between 1978-80 there was little to cheer at York Road, no trophies or promotions, crowds hovering around the 150-200 mark”
“The closure of the Vandervell factory in 1993 and a career switch to being a taxi driver, meant a more unorthodox set of hours, and slowly but surely it became much easier to watch football at York Road than The Den. His retirement in 2002 left him with more time on his hands and he became a season ticket holder, now attending all home games and many away trips.”
“He was present at some great moments in the club’s history, such as promotion at Bath in 2007 and our greatest day ever, winning National League South at Margate in 2017 He had a particular fondness for our striking partnership of Dave Tarpey and Sean Marks Even in his ninety-first year he was still a regular in the main stand with Reece Smith and Remy Clerima being his current favourites.”
All at Maidenhead United have John in our thoughts, a very loyal and recognisable face at matches and club events for many, many years and our sympathies are with Jim, Carol and Janet at this sad time
RYAN PETERS
Welcome back to York Road We must address our poor recent home form today and a positive result is a must as we take on a team who will also still be smarting from a midweek home defeat
The last two home games in particular have been a huge disappointment. Against Sutton it was a very sloppy first half which led to us having to have some choice words in the changing room at half time There was an improvement in the second half and particularly at the end we were able to put some pressure on At the moment though – as was the case on Tuesday night –we are not creating clear cut chances at home Individual
mistakes have really cost us in our last two outings here We still have a large number of injuries which have meant that key players are unavailable for us but regardless of the personnel have available to us we work hard on our shape and to make the individual errors that we are making are really costing us and that needs to cease with immediate effect.
The inconsistent nature of our season is brought home by a fine victory last Saturday in the middle of those two home defeats when we won and won well at a side who have been a consistent presence in the top seven of this division over the past couple of seasons. It was a fantastic performance from start to finish. We were compact, good in transitions and showed the resolve that we will need. It was great to have Remy back on Saturday and on Tuesday night, we haven’t been able to call on him for most of the season with a bad injury but he showed his quality when he is brought back in with a particularly good performance at Gateshead and his versatility in switching to right back on Tuesday night when we went down to ten men.
Just as important as the points at stake today is our ‘Non-League Day’ when we hope for a bumper crowd with reduced admission prices and the club planning entertainment pre- and post-match Growing our fan base is important to us, I hope there are plenty of first-time visitors here today who will enjoy the familyfriendly atmosphere, the access you get to our players at York Road and – hopefully – the football as well If you are a new supporter, an occasional visitor or one of our much-valued regulars we hope to hear your voices shouting for the team.
WOMEN’S TEAM
Maidenhead United Women finally got their hands on the Berks & Bucks Senior Women’s Cup for the first time with victory in the final against hard-working Tier 6 side Newport Pagnell Town at Beaconsfield on Sunday 16th March
The Magpies have lost in the final three times before, but this time they started strongly against a side who had knocked out opponents from a higher division in their three previous ties in the competition in 2024/25. Izzy Stockton had already struck the inside of Laura Beevor’s near post from close range before a familiar burst into the box by
midfielder Mia Parker was ended by a strong tackle by the Buckinghamshire side, the loose ball being swept home by Natalie Cowell
Cowell – later named Player of the Match – was at the double five minutes later when the hard-working Emily Norfolk regained possession on the edge of the area and the ball ran through for the Magpies forward to slide home the second under the onrushing Beevor United two goals to the good after twenty minutes
Parker was snuffed out again by the busy Beevor as Maidenhead threatened to run away with matters, but two key injuries perhaps slowed the Magpies down as both Isacc Gregory and Jazz King were unfortunate to have to limp off The Swans posed a threat going forward through the likes of the impressive trio Lil Sanders, Jasmine Spence and Chloe Martin but it was United substitute Simone O’Brien who nearly extended the lead when denied at full stretch by Beevor from the edge of the box
That save proved important, because barely three minutes into the second half Newport Pagnell struck. A foul on the edge of the box by Libby Doyle was punished in style with a classy clean hit by Martin past Magpies ‘keeper Kenny Clarke The match thereafter became end-to-end, with O’Brien’s cut back slammed wide of the target by Katie Akerman before Macey Walters skied an effort following identical work by O’Brien Akerman saw her well struck free kick tipped onto the bar by Beevor and Walters nodded the rebound agonisingly high. The Swans for their part were also working some neat moves and certainly enjoyed their fair share of good possession
The goal which cinched the Cup came with just over fifteen minutes left Two substitutes combined, as RJ Jauad-Taborda’s wonderful cross from the right was tucked home left footed by top-scorer Walters at the far post. Another key moment came moments later when Clarke denied Newport Pagnell at her near post when The Swans seemed destined to score before O’Brien was also denied by the out-stretched arm of Beevor from another free-kick. Referee Mr Lathey drew proceedings to a close after a short period of stoppage time and both sides could be hugely proud of their performance on the day.
TODAY’S MASCOTS
Today marks the 100th game since Maidenhead Juniors Colts started at Under 8 in 2021.
Across the 100 games the group including parents have become incredibly close, playing in the East Berkshire League, days out at tournaments and in their first adventure into 9-vs-9 football last summer they won 6 out of their 7 games in the summer league, taking home the unofficial title of Berkshire Youth Development League Summer League U11 Champions!
Every player has improved enormously over the past 4 years and every single player has had moments to remember both on and off the pitch - playing on the York Road pitch and Premier League trophy events, meeting Max Kilman, 10-1 wins, goals from corners and halfway, crawling headers to set up goals There’s also been the grassroots moments you would expect; 3 penalties for handball in one game, wind assisted last minute equalisers, challenges with bibs and general kit malfunctions, and players lining up in the wrong end of the pitch for the second half.
From their first win as a group on the last Saturday before Christmas after 8 straight defeats,4ft goal to the 12 featured, The Colts have grown to be a little community - with the boys now enjoying regular Fortnite sessions (this was pitched to parents to improve their communication!). Their coach Phil could not be prouder of who they are and as a group we’re are all incredibly grateful for the amazing opportunities and experiences that Maidenhead United has provided 3 ½ years together, 100 played, over 250 goals scored and over 130 assists we can remember, bring on the next 7 years!
UP THE COLTS!
The Under 12 Colts are Arjun, Dec, Dylan, Henry The Good, Kyan, Leo N, Leo S, Luke, Marcus Ollie, Oscar and Tom.
MEET THE OPPOSITION
Rochdale have had a generally very successful season They are one step away from Wembley in the Isuzu FA Trophy – they host Step 2 side Spennymoor Town in the semi-final a fortnight from now They will be hoping to make it a return trip to the capital via the National League play offs.
This is season two in the National League for Dale, after 102 years in the EFL ended in 2023 Founder members of Division 3 (North), their first ever Football League match was against Accrington Stanley on 27th August 1921, Dale winning 6-3. During the 1961/62 season, Rochdale reached the final of the League Cup, losing to Norwich City over two legs. Other highlights during their time as part of ‘the 92 club’ came with Fourth Division promotion under Sunderland legend Bob Stokoe in 1969 and subsequent League Two promotions in 2010 and 2014 under Keith Hill Less happy moments came during ten campaigns when EFL re-election had to be sought.
More recently, form has been much improved for Dale after the blip of a winless February Tuesday night’s home defeat to Boston United was not very well received in these parts however, albeit that was a first loss in seven matches. Immediately, prior to that loss, Dale had taken a very useful point against play-off – and local –rivals Oldham Athletic Vimal Yoganathan scored a late equaliser to earn the Latics a point after Dale had struck just five minutes into the game with Jay Bird smashing a volley into the corner from outside the box They came close to a second minutes later when Sam Beckwith sent a shot wide, while Oldham had opportunities to level before the break when Mike Fondop's effort was blocked, followed by Reagan Ogle nodding wide from a corner Kairo Mitchell fired over the crossbar as Rochdale looked to extend their lead and the Latics threatened again when Fondop headed over from Jake Leake's cross Oldham eventually levelled in the 85th minute when a cleared cross fell to Yoganathan, who nodded home to salvage a point in front of 8,611 spectators.
In the three previous meetings between the sides, United only have one draw to show against Dale That came last season at York Road on 7th October 2023 Dale had Tyrese Sinclair to thanks for a late equaliser albeit Kairo Mitchell had put them ahead after 29 minutes with his sixth goal of the season. United turned the game around in the second half after a trademark Reece Smith run and finish before Chanka Zimba pounced on a loose ball six minutes from time But Devante Rodney b k t i t l t d d f Si l i t fi i h t th f t
The Gaffer – Jimmy McNulty
The 40-year-old was appointed as manager of Rochdale in May 2023 following a spell in interim charge at the end of the 2022/23 season as the Lancashire club lost their cherished EFL status. He led Dale to a top half finish in his first full campaign at the helm and was rewarded with a new three-year contract in July 2024 McNulty joined Dale from Bury in the summer of 2015 and went on to make 237 appearances in his playing days with the club
McNulty had previously played Championship football under former Dale boss Keith Hill at Barnsley, before leaving Oakwell to help Bury to promotion in 2014/15 Runcorn-born McNulty started his career with Wrexham, but didn’t play league football until joining Macclesfield in July 2006. He moved to Stockport in January 2008 and was a member of the County side that won promotion from League Two four months later with a Wembley play-off defeat of Dale Jimmy later played for Brighton and had two loans spells at Scunthorpe United.
THREE TO WATCH
Tarryn Allarakhia is a Tanzania international who represented his country at the Africa Cup of Nations in January of this year A product of Leyton Orient’s academy, he joined Aveley at the age of 17 and subsequently moved to Maldon & Tiptree before joining Colchester United. After a year with The U’s, Tarryn signed for Crawley Town and spent time on loan at Wealdstone Subsequently with Woking, he made a permanent switch to Wealdstone in the summer of 2022.
Sam Beckwith joined the Dale from Maidenhead United in the summer, having made 90 starts for the Magpies and scoring four goals. Beckwith joined Luton Town at age seven and won The Hatters’ Young Player of the Season award in 2020, a year in which he saw a loan spell at Biggleswade Town Sam made his Hatters debut in 2021 during an EFL Cup tie and joined the Magpies – initially on loan – during the 2021/22 season.
Devante Rodney is a forward who joined Dale from Walsall in June 2022. Rodney spent his youth career in the academies at Manchester City and Sheffield Wednesday, before joining Hartlepool United A move to Salford City followed, Rodney scoring at York Road in The Ammies only visit here in October 2018. Enjoyed loan spell with FC Halifax Town and Stockport County before joining Port Vale and then Walsall
LAST TIME OUT
It was a grim evening for Maidenhead United as Tyler Frost’s 55th minute goal secured a 1-0 win for visitors Aldershot Town on Tuesday night Alan Devonshire made one change to the side which beat Gateshead on Saturday, with Joshua Johnson replacing Nathan Ferguson in midfield
The first 15 minutes of the game was a balanced affair, with the Shots holding possession but United
maintaining the better chances An early Casey Pettit corner was punched away by Marcus Dewhurst as the Magpies applied pressure, while Tyler Frost fired the first real attempt out of the ground in the 13th minute. There was little to report throughout the rest of the first half, as neither ‘keeper was challenged by set pieces or through balls which were ruled offside. Aldershot had a half-chance as we approached the interval when Jack Barham won the ball from Dewhurst’s long punt, but Maxwell Mullins could only win a corner as his cross was blocked.
Half-time: Magpies 0-0 Aldershot
Emerging from the tunnel, United had the first chance as Shawn McCoulsky aimed a looping head over Dewhurst which was comfortably caught by the Aldershot ‘keeper Five minutes later, Aldershot opened the scoring through Frost Jack Barham beat his man in front of the dugouts, and played down the wing to the visitors’ #8. Charging down the left, Frost placed a composed effort past Craig Ross to take the lead.
Having been booked earlier in the game for delaying the restart, Tristan Abrahams would be sent off just past the hour mark. His challenge on Will Armitage was deemed late by referee Jason Richardson, for which he received a yellow card and a subsequent red With half of their strike force now watching from the changing rooms, United faced an uphill battle to find a result which unfortunately never came A valiant block denied Ryan Jones from doubling the Shots’ advantage, while Cam Hargreaves fired wide from a late short corner
There was a prolonged period of stoppage time beyond the advertised eight minutes as Luke Jenkins went down following a header in the middle of the park. A late free kick following the resumption of play saw Sam Barratt play a short ball to Reece Smith, with Manny Onariase latching onto the rebound from Dewhurst’s save. However, the centre-half skyrocketed his effort from close range, and the Shots held on for all three points.
Full-time: Magpies 0-1 Aldershot
THE ISTHMIAN BOYS
May 2025 will mark 25 years since Alan Devonshire led Maidenhead United to the Isthmian League Premier Division for the first time. In the final edition of ‘The Magpie’ for this month and the latest in a series of articles celebrating the ‘silver anniversary’ of promotion, we turn the clock back exactly 25 years to March 2000
The writer, broadcaster, Busby Babe and former Eire international Eamon Dunphy once said that there is ‘no such thing as a smooth, crisis-free promotion challenge’ and in saying that he may have had the
Magpies’ run in March 2000 in mind The month had started well A side who had suffered just one away league defeat all season won at Wealdstone thanks to Mickey Creighton’s goal. Three days later, a semi-final replay in the Isthmian League Cup saw Premier League Billericay Town eliminated on penalties at York Road, the fifth time that a side from the topflight had been beaten in cup matches that season
What followed for the remainder of the month however was the worst winless run of the campaign. A goalless draw at midtable Bromley kept United in the top three before another draw – 2-2 at York Road against bogey team Barton Rovers – with Neil Yates’s late volley earning the Bedfordshire side a point If that didn’t start the alarm bells ringing, then the majority of the 208 spectators who witnessed Oxford City’s win at York Road the following weekend will have begun to fret in earnest. United dominated that match but were hit by a sucker-punch goal inside the final five minutes and the manager admitted: “We panicked a little bit and tried to force the game too much, which put pressure on ourselves In the first half we were all over them but didn’t get the breaks.”
A third home game in succession in a weather-disrupted season saw another midtable side arrive in SL6, Uxbridge making the short trip down the M4 United had games in hand and were clinging on to that all-important promotion place and their nerves would have eased as Chuk Agudosi had Maidenhead two up with ten minutes remaining in the first half. The side from Honeycroft however hit back just two minutes after Chuk’s second. They were level by the hour mark and only a piece of smart defending from Obi Ulasi prevented the visitors from completing the turnaround
Next up was a trip to a Staines side just four points behind United, with United fans preparing for their fundraising sponsored walk along the Thames to Wheatsheaf Park The promotion nerves would get worse before they got better
LEAGUE TABLE
ON THIS DAY
After failing to score in five successive matches – four of them ending in defeat –the Magpies finally celebrated with a 2-1 victory over Southend United three years ago today on a mild evening at York Road Nathan Ashmore, on loan to the Magpies from Boreham Wood made a superb save on 16 minutes to keep out a Matthew Dennis header; the home side grew in confidence, Shawn McCoulsky twice went close before being denied by the woodwork five minutes before the break. However, it would be the visitors who took the lead in the 64th minute, Tom Clifford’s fine shot from just inside the penalty area beating Ashmore. Maidenhead rallied once again and levelled when Will de Havilland headed home from a Charlee Adams free kick after 72 minutes. A series of second half substitutions inspired the home side, Ryan Upward completed the turnaround in the 82nd minute when he bundled in at the near post and Southend's frustration was compounded when James Dunne was sent off late on.
The 2-1 triumph over the Shrimpers ended a dismal run of results on March 22nd, United’s last victory prior to that was a 1-0 Athenian League win against Harwich & Parkeston in 1969 Only 200 fans witnessed the occasion, many being put off by a the bitterly cold blustery conditions plus a growing band of stay away supporters who were unhappy with manager Len Townsend’s tactics. Keith Harrington scored the only goal of a dull match in the first half taking advantage of a poor back pass to steer the ball past Harwich keeper Norton.
Similar weather conditions at York Road eleven years earlier against Dagenham in a Corinthian League match made it a miserable afternoon for the shivering spectators until the 68th minute when Terry Lambert put United 1-0 ahead with a low shot just inside the post. Within 60 seconds it was two, Dagenham keeper Skinner dropped a catch and Gerry Cox (top, right) accepted the gift to wrap up a 20 win The icy conditions and hard pitch in a match dominated by both defences was reported to be the drabbest game of the season seen at York Road, but the victory saw Maidenhead rise to second place behind Grays Athletic
By Maurice Cann
MANAGER: Alan Devonshire
HARVEY COLLINS (GK) 1
ZAC BELL 2
TYRESE DYCE 3
WILL DE HAVILLAND 4
KEVIN LOKKO 5
THIERRY LATTY-FAIRWEATHER 6
RUBEN CARVALHO 7
NATHAN FERGUSON 8
SHAWN McCOULSKY 9
KANE FERDINAND 10
JAYDEN MITCHELL-LAWSON 11
BRADLEY KEETCH 12
CRAIG ROSS (GK) 13
TOBI SHO-SILVA 14
JOSHUA JOHNSON 15
CASEY PETTIT 16
REECE SMITH 17
CHRISTIAN JOHNSON 18
OWEN COCHRANE 19
REMY CLERIMA 20
BRENDAN KIERNAN 21
MILES WELCH-HAYES 22
TRISTAN ABRAHAMS 23
ALAN MASSEY 24
SAM BARRATT 25
JAMIE DAVIES 27
JOSHUA McMENEMY 28
JADYN DUNDAS 29
MANNY ONARIASE 30
RICKY KORBOA 31
JOSEPH AJOSE 32
NOAH STEWART 33
MANAGER: Jim McNulty
2 Kyron Gordon
3 Finlay Armstrong 4 Ryan East
6 Ethan Ebanks-Landell 7 Tarryn Allarakhia
8 Harvey Gilmour 9 Kairo Mitchell 10 Devante Rodney 11 Michael Adu-Poku 12 Brad Kelly (GK) 13 Sam Waller (GK) 14 Tobi Adebayo-Rowling
Leon Ayinde
Kyle Ferguson
Courtney Senior
Aidan Barlow
Jake Burger
Connor McBride
Corey Edwards
Liam Hogan
Jay Bird
Jack Kingdon
Jid Okeke
Jili Buyabu
Charlie Weston
Isaac Burgess
Sam Beckwith
Luke Mann
John Dunlop 36 Brooklyn Bailey 40 Ian Henderson
TODAY’S OFFICIALS
Referee: Michael Crusham Assistants: Oliver Spender & Marcus Carmichael
