Alan Slough

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Born Luton, September 24, 1947.

Alan Slough is by no means one of the famous names of English football but for fifteen years he gave sterling service in the lower divisions of the Football League, making himself invaluable to his clubs through both his consistency and versatility.

He also provides a good example of why there was so much more romance in football a few decades ago when schoolboy dreams were not quite so far fetched as they are today. Although Slough never made it into the top flight of English football he did get to play for the town of his birth for almost a decade, played in an FA Cup final and at one stage captained a side containing some of the biggest names and characters the game has ever produced.

Could those things possibly happen to, basically, a journeyman footballer now?

Alan Slough as a youngster was basically what he remained throughout his career, a strong, dependable player who you could put anywhere on a football pitch and still expect to turn in a decent performance.

Born in Luton and a supporter of his hometown club it was actually local rivals Watford who first spotted his potential and had Slough training with them as a schoolboy. It was not only his preference for the Hatters that prompted the youngster to turn his back on the Vicarage Road club, however. The hassle of getting to and from the nightly sessions by bus became one he was not prepared to tolerate and led to him severing his ties with the Hornets.

Luton wasted no time securing this opportunity of getting Slough involved in their youth set up and an apprenticeship was followed by a professional contract in 1965.

When Slough had been growing up a supporter of the team Luton had been enjoying the finest spell in their history, promotion to Division One in 1955 being followed by an appearance in the FA Cup final in 1959. The good times had ended abruptly, however, and relegation in 1960 had started a decline which culminated in relegation to Division Four in the very year Slough turned pro.

The club was equipped to reverse this trend, however, and Slough would play a full part as the club made steady progress towards an eventual return to the top flight.

It would not take the newcomer long to display the versatility which would prove so vital to a club making the most of a modestly sized squad. Slough made his debut in the first team in a drawn League Cup tie against Brighton and then got his first taste of league action in a 2-1 win over Newport County, slotting in at left back in both these games.

When he was next called from the reserves into first team action, however, it was in the right wing position.

During his eight seasons with the club Slough would go on to play in every position for Luton, his spell as a makeshift goalkeeper coming in an FA Cup tie against Exeter City when Tony Read was injured.

Slough only figured briefly during his first season in the Luton first team but he shared the disappointment as a poor finish cost the club promotion. In a season badly affected by the weather Luton still had a handful of games to play while some others had already finished their programme and looked an odds on bet to clinch a place in the top four.

Instead defeat at Newport and a draw at Chester in their last two games meant they missed out on goal difference.

The following season saw Slough begin to really cement a place in the side although Luton struggled inexplicably and could only manage a 17th placed finish in the fourth division.

In 1967-68, however, with Slough beginning to establish himself as a midfielder, Luton took the division by storm and finished five points clear of Barnsley at the top of the table.

The six goals Slough contributed to the cause would mark his best ever goalscoring return in the league although his role was basically a defensive one, providing the platform from which Bruce Rioch could augment the attack with absolute freedom.

It was a combination that worked perfectly as Rioch helped himself to 24 league goals and established himself as one of the lower divisions’ hottest properties.

This was a Luton side equipped to more than hold its own back in Division Three and having narrowly missed out on promotion in their first year the club went up as runners up in 1970.

Slough missed only one game during these two seasons and would be an ever present in the next two as well, providing the real spine of the side as the club continued to progress.

The club, as always, was in no position to keep hold of the star players who they managed to bring to Kenilworth Road and although they were able to overcome the sale of Rioch by snapping up bargain buys such as Chris Nicholl and Malcolm MacDonald they too, in turn, would move on for big profits.

Throughout this period, however, Alan Slough remained a constant. It was not just his presence in the team but his level of performance that could be relied on.

Strong and dependable are probably the best two words to sum up Slough’s qualities. He was a good all round player, strong in the tackle, good in the air, a safe and reliable user of the ball with plenty of energy.

He seldom caught the eye the way some of his colleagues might but his value to the team was understood by everyone.

This situation changed suddenly when Harry Haslam was appointed manager in place of Alec Stock and immediately made it clear that he had his own ideas and wanted to stamp his personality on the team.

Slough was not thrown out with the dish water but found himself unsure of his place whereas previously he had been an automatic choice. He played in just over half of Luton’s league games in 1972-73 and although he figured in the excellent victories at Newcastle and Bolton that took Luton into the 6th round of the FA Cup he was out of the side that then lost at Sunderland to goals by Dave Watson and Ron Guthrie as the Wearsiders marched on towards their famous Wembley triumph over Leeds United.

Slough was recalled to the team for the last few games of the season and scored Luton’s goal in a 2-1 defeat at Oxford United on the final day. This would prove to be his last game for the club.

At the end of the season Slough found himself on offer as Haslam’s rebuilding gathered pace and it was his old boss Stock who needed no persuasion to take him to his new club, Fulham.

Slough went to Craven Cottage along with Viv Busby in a deal worth £75,000, the greater part of that fee apparently paid to secure his services.

It is hard to say whether Haslam’s desire to change things so quickly was the right choice. Luton did win promotion to the first division at the end of the following season but they were in no position to consolidate a place there and returned instantly to the second.

Whereas Slough had provided the ballast which enabled a host of young stars to flaunt their talent at Luton he found himself in an altogether different cast list at Fulham, albeit taking the same place on the billing.

The major attractions at Craven Cottage were the ageing former England stars Bobby Moore and Alan Mullery while later on in his time there Slough would line up alongside Rodney Marsh and George Best.

As far as his contribution went everything remained exactly the same, however. Slough simply rolled up his sleeves and did the things that, although absolutely necessary, some of his teammates would not want to know about.

Slough would spend four years by the Thames and the club would remain in a comfortable position in mid table for most of this period, the club were in danger of relegation during his final season until a 6-1 thrashing of Orient in their penultimate game assured safety.

There was genuine excitement in the 1975 FA Cup competition, however, and a undoubted career highlight for Slough.

Nothing came easily as Fulham slogged their way to Wembley and the battle hardened Slough was probably as vital as anyone to their overall progress. It needed three games to overcome Hull City in the 3rd round and then four to see off the challenge of Nottingham Forest in the 4th.

Perhaps the toughest test came in the next round with a trip to Everton but a staunch rearguard action was rewarded with a 2-1 victory and then a tight 1-0 win at Carlisle United, then also in the first division, took the Cottagers into the last four.

Fulham’s semi final opponents were Birmingham City and it needed another replay before a goal in the dying seconds took them to the final and a meeting with West Ham.

The romantics said it had to be Fulham’s cup with Moore coming up against his former club but a tense, disappointing game went the way of the Hammers mainly thanks to the respective goalkeepers.

Mervyn Day pulled off one fine save when called into action whereas Peter Mellor bungled twice to hand West Ham their goals.

Slough did his usual shift in containing the flair players in the West Ham midfield but his moment in the spotlight ended in defeat.

There was another, less attractive, cup final the following season as Fulham saw off the likes of Hearts and Motherwell to make it to the two legged final of the Anglo Scottish Cup.

This brought another defeat, this time to Middlesbrough. Fulham went down 1-0 at Ayresome Park in the 1st leg and then could only manage a goalless draw at home in the 2nd.

Interestingly the 2nd leg of this tie came the night after Slough had returned to Luton with an All Star XI for his own testimonial, Slough, of course, turning out for the all stars.

At the start of the 1976-77 season Slough had the honour of being named captain of a Fulham side that included Moore, Marsh and Best, although this might have been an honour with definite drawbacks.

Slough was ever present and vital to the clubs’ relegation battle but at the end of the season, approaching thirty years of age, he was deemed surplus to requirements and moved to Peterborough United in the third division for £20,000.

This proved to be an inspired signing for the London Road club who embarked on a promotion challenge that epitomised everything Alan Slough was about as a player. Tough, resolute, hard to break down and consistently efficient Peterborough would find themselves in the thick of the promotion race despite managing to score less than a goal a game for most of the season.

Ironically, with their destiny in their own hands, Peterborough would falter in a dramatic finale despite hitting three goals in successive away games.

In the first a penalty from Slough helped the team earn a 3-3 draw at Oxford but the real drama came in the clubs’ next fixture, a visit to Chester.

Another penalty from Slough had Posh level at the break but things looked bleak when Chester moved into a 3-1 lead after the interval. Slough pulled his side back into contention by converting a dubiously awarded penalty only for Chester to pull two goals clear again.

When the referee then awarded Peterborough an even more contentious penalty the atmosphere around Sealand Road turned decidedly hostile but Slough kept his nerve to complete a hat trick of spot kicks.

It would not prove enough as Chester held out for victory and the referee managed to escape an angry mob thanks only to a police escort from the pitch.

These results left Peterborough needing to win their final game, away at champions Wrexham, but despite a valiant effort their finishing deserted them again and they could manage only a goalless draw, leaving Preston North End promoted in their stead by virtue of a better goal difference.

Strangely Slough managed six league goals in total that season, all of them from the penalty spot, yet provided five goals in the cups all of which came from open play.

Things looked set fair for Peterborough to repeat their promotion challenge the following season as they bolstered their squad with the formidable centre half Bill Green, manager John Barnwell obviously thinking it was the defence that was the problem, but the following season proved a disaster with the club ending up relegated.

It was surely no coincidence that Slough himself found his season blighted by injury. In truth this was the beginning of the end for Slough as injuries, from which he had previously remained completely clear, became a blight.

Two achilles operations restricted Slough to eleven appearances during the relegation season and he would only be able to figure in half the games during each of the next two campaigns as Posh were twice narrowly unable to clinch a return to the third division.

The 1980-81 season, his last at Peterborough, brought another FA Cup adventure which saw the club claim a fine 4th round victory at Notts County before slipping to a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in the 5th round in front of almost 28,000 fans at London Road.

Slough had played in all the cup ties but another serious injury shortly after the City tie cut short his season and the club ended up missing out on promotion after drawing each of their last three games.

The following season saw Slough move back into the third division after a free transfer to Millwall but the years as well as the injuries were now catching up with him and his spell at the Den was brief and not that happy, his last appearance in league football coming in a 4-0 defeat at Reading.

Slough would go on to join the Torquay coaching staff and then turn out for Yeovil Town in non league football.

Alan Slough is not a name familiar to many modern football fans, and he wasn’t the type to set many pulses racing during his long playing career, but his tally of well over 500 league games is an impressive one and he can certainly be proud of the commitment, consistency and honesty with which he played the game.

For fifteen years Slough slogged up and down some of the leagues’ least fashionable venues in an unstinting effort on behalf of the clubs he represented and remained as eager in these efforts at the end of his career as he had been at its’ start. This was no big deal for a player who combined the ethics of the model professional with a genuine love of the game.

For these two virtues alone he is man who deserves to be remembered.

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