That Man Is a Hero #1 – Paul Whitmarsh

With a mid-week free of on-field action for a change, the time feels right to introduce the first in what I hope might be a fairly regular series profiling those who have made my years as a Hendon fan slightly more pleasurable than painful. Where better to start than with the man whose facial enhancement lends its name to this very blog. Ladies and gentleman, let me introduce Paul Whitmarsh.

This dastardly Bolshevik liked to masquerade as a brilliant centre forward

Whits, as I liked to call him, was already unique amongst Isthmian League centre forwards when he first joined the club in the Autumn of 1997 amidst our sensational run past Leyton Orient in the FA Cup, as he had never stuck the ball past a Hendon goalkeeper. At least if he had, he had been good enough so as to miss the target. Already prime cult hero fodder, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Having begun his career at West Ham as a junior (not Lewis, more of him later) Whits moved on to Doncaster Rovers where he made a handful of appearances in the old Division 3, previously known as Division 4 and now know as League 2, and scored a single finger full of goals. In 1994 he moved south down the A1 to Stevenage Borough and from there, back near his Beckenham birth place to Dulwich Hamlet where he first linked up with Frank Murphy and began his ascent to one of the most dangerous strikers in the division.

Don (caster) Whitmarsh

He was the leading scorer at the Champion Hill club for 3 consecutive seasons and after Murphy took the Hendon job in March 1997, the question on the terraces wasn’t a case of if Whits would join him and his other former team mate Gary McCann at Claremont Road, but when. The answer to that question came as human pinball machine Colin Simpson was tapped up by Tommy Taylor at Leyton Orient and would consequently complete his move to Brisbane Road at the end of Hendon’s cup run, and Murphy with money to burn as a result of the cup success looked for a replacement. £4,500 - £15,000 (depending on who you believe, the true figure remaining ‘undisclosed’) later, Frank had his man.

His debut came from the bench on the Saturday (29^th November 1997) after the Tuesday before (‘that night at Brisbane Road’ as Clive might describe it) at Carshalton Athletic when he replaced Colin Simpson in a 2-1 defeat. His first start came a fortnight later in a 4-0 home win against Walton & Hersham and his first goal at Bishop’s Stortford the following Tuesday in a 2-1 win. The legend had been born.

Although before the legend became anything more than a leg end, a little settling in and life support was needed. Rumour had it that he our hero had fallen out with the management at Dulwich and was being played in a more withdrawn role to the one he thrived in. His lack of confidence was very apparent in his early appearances, as he scored just one further goal in his next eight matches. Outside the penalty area he displayed a wealth of quality that stood him apart from any centre forward I’d seen in a Green and White shirt before and a first touch bettered up until that point only by Peter Taylor. In front of goal, things didn’t run for him. He hit the woodwork, forced saves from the goalkeeper, narrowly missed the target time and time again. And then, came Dulwich to Claremont Road.

Something to Prove

It felt like he had something to prove. To Hendon fans, to the powers that be at Dulwich, to himself perhaps as well. And so he did. Saturday 21^st February 1998 was the day things changed. In a performance that was a little Beckham-v-Greece-esque Whits pretty well single handedly won the game for the Greens. He scored twice, ran 75 yards to clear an effort off the line with McCann beaten and was generally inspirational. With the monkey firmly shrugged off his back and booted over the covered terracing deep into Clitterhouse Park, he spent the remainder of the season scoring a further eleven goals to finish the season with 15 in just 25 appearances, 13 of which came in his last 14 games.

All that laid the firm basis for the goal crazy 1998/9 season that saw Whits combine with Junior Lewis for 70 goals between them in what was by far and away the most potent strike-force I’ve seen, 42 of which came from the boot, head and bum of the ex-Dulwich man. Somehow, despite these goals and the backup of quality like Freddie Hyatt, Steve Heard and Jon Daly the side finished the season languishing in 13^th. A definite underachievement in spite of the double cup wins in the Middlesex Senior and Full Members Cups.

The season was probably one of my favourite to have witnessed as a supporter as well. Whitmarsh and Lewis linked up beautifully and when Whits, in particular, was sent through one-on-one with a goalkeeper, no matter who that keeper was (even Andy Pape as Enfield were beaten for a change), you expected to see the net bulge. He could power the ball past the keeper, he could finish deftly, he could even on occasion use his head. I remember watching over and over again on video his finishes on a Friday night match at Claremont Road against Enfield where he chipped the ball beautifully over the advancing imposing frame of Pape, and the following Tuesday at Aldershot Town where he somehow nicked the ball past the even more imposing frame of Gary Phillips and into the net. Brilliant finishes both, the quality of which he replicated on a regular basis. And just as great as the finishes was the celebration he had dreamt up with Junior, where the lanky number 11 would kneel down and polish Whits’ goal-den right boot. Sure, there was a slight whiff of Gorgonzola about the routine, but I never got tired of seeing it.

Astonishingly (or perhaps not so), Whits’ total of 42 goals included just one hat-trick, coming in a 5-3 win over Bishop’s Stortford, funnily enough 13 years ago yesterday. He scored a brace on 10 further occasions however including in the Middlesex Senior Cup Final against a Davis Haule inspired Wembley, and to my knowledge very few of the goals came from the penalty spot. As with so many great Goalscorers, his record from 12 yards was at best bafflingly indifferent. Not that it mattered greatly, such was the quality of his finishing when the ball wasn’t dead.

The following season wasn’t his best. Beset a little by injury, loss of form and loss of Lewis, Whits struggled to notch 13 goals in 39 matches, bringing his final total for the club to an impressive 70 in 120 appearances. He left for the Southern League and Welling United in the summer of 2000 after an unsuccessful trial at Bristol Rovers and before the end of the 2000/1 season, he was back in the Ryman League with Sutton United. The summer of 2001 saw him move over to Ireland for work reasons and making a few appearances for, amongst others, UCD (University College Dublin). His whiskers remained at Claremont Road though, nesting for a while under Ted’s cap before emerging in the summer to become the spirit of this blog.

Whits back in Green, sadly not Hendon but UCD

Whits would have celebrated his 38^th birthday on Sunday just gone (I say would have, he did as I’m told life does continue outside Hendon Football Club), and he remains very firmly in my top 10 players I’ve seen wearing the green and white. In that time there have been some good centre forwards, but Whits is the only one to date that I am convinced would have made a good career for himself in the professional game. His first touch was immaculate, able to habitually caress a high ball instantly on his instep. His movement was superb, I’ve not seen a centre forward able to engineer himself a fraction of a second’s space in the way Whits did. I’ve not seen anyone in a green and white shirt (or blue and white as it was at times in his time at the club) consistently beat an offside trap by intelligently timing or arching his run in the way Whits did. I’ve not ever seen anyone get sent off for making contact with an opponent’s boot with his knee in the way Whits did. I sincerely doubt I will see a player of his ilk in a Hendon shirt again, and I feel extremely lucky to have been able to witness him at his best playing for my club.

Thanks for the memories Whits, it was an absolute pleasure. (And thanks also for failing to score against us. That really does make you a one off.)

Paul Whitmarsh (18^th September 1973)

Signed: November 1997 from Dulwich Hamlet

Left: August 2000 to Welling United

Hendon Appearances: 120

Hendon Goals: 70