Bob Fisher's 70 years at Hanwell Town

Hanwell Town need just eight points from the eight remaining Southern League Premier South games to secure their best season in their 105-year history, making it the perfect way to celebrate chairman Bob Fisher’s 70 years of involvement with the Geordies.

Bob first joined Hanwell in 1955, making his debut on 15 October against Wood End Reserves. Over the next 22 years, Bob made 736 appearances for the club, which included 550 for the first time and a run of 341 consecutive games over a 10-year period.

He reflected: “In the mid-1950s, my cricket career at Ealing and, in that time, almost all the players joined Ealing Association Football Club, but my sister was courting a guy who played for Hanwell Town. He persuaded me to go to the home of Ron Walker, who was the secretary at the time, to sign the necessary form. Ron seeing that I had a bike then gave me half a dozen forms to distribute around the local area. That’s when my love for Hanwell Town started.”

After hanging up his boots, the Geordies stalwart moved to the dugout and was in charge when Hanwell moved into Reynolds Field, now the Powerday Stadium, in 1981. He was a tough manager, telling Dave Iddiols to continue playing with a broken ankle!

“I had a reputation, and we didn’t have any subs in those days so he had to go back on,” he said before adding: “There was nothing at Reynolds Field when we first came here. The clubhouse was a school facility. There were no stands, no rails around. Nothing that is here today was there then and it’s the endeavour of so many volunteers who got the club to the standard where it is today and I’m immensely proud of that.”

Bob stepped back from managing the team and was named as the club president. In 1986, the Geordies named Roy Nairn as manager, who oversaw the progress of Martin Rowlands, who went on to play for Wycombe, Brentford, QPR and the Republic of Ireland, and Pat Gavin, who went on to feature for Gillingham and Leicester.

After former chairman Sam Kelso retired in 1995, Bob switched roles from president to chairman, with Dave Iddiols taking over as President. He also took immense pride in editing the programme and brought up 500 programmes edited in a 21-year spell back in 2019.

Bob reflected: “It’s fantastic how the club has evolved. Until 1981, we were playing on a park. We’d travel to a game on the bus. My mum used to wash the kit. Once I forgot to get the kit and had to go for Harrow Bus Station. We all paid a match fee, and it was a huge comradeship. We used to go into the local pubs and have a Hanwell drink together.”

It's fair to say that Hanwell are enjoying the best spell in the club’s history with manager Chris Moore’s charges vying for a top half finish in the seventh tier of English football, the highest level the club have played at.

Bob, bursting with pride, explained: “I’ve enjoyed it immensely. I’ve enjoyed where we have progressed around the club and the people around the club. I love travelling to the away games as you’re going to places I’ve never been to. It’s almost a dream and I’m thinking of our next away trips. It’s exciting!"

In terms of his favourite memory of Hanwell, it is not the last few years. Much like Sir Alex Ferguson still holds fond memories of his side that won the title in 1992, Bob’s number one highlight was winning the Middlesex County League Cup in 1971.

He reflected: “We played in about three of four Middlesex Cup Finals in the 1960s and lost all of them. We then played at Wealdstone’s old ground and won 1-0. Jim Conn, who was hard as nails, rarely showed emotion but I remember getting the cup as captain and going over to him and he was in tears.”