Following in the footsteps of two long-serving Cambridge United club secretaries, Steve Greenall and Andrew Pincher, new man Wayne Purser is relishing his new post at the Abbey Stadium after himself spending eleven years with Canvey Island.

Born in Rochford, 35-year-old Wayne lived on Canvey Island all his life until last November when he moved to a village just outside Heybridge. He served Canvey as player and then Secretary, only leaving this summer when the club resigned from the Conference.

He left school at 16 to take up an apprenticeship at the Ford Motor Company and discovered that several of his work mates were senior players with the likes of Billericay Town and Dagenham. Encouraged to look higher than the junior level he was playing in, Wayne joined a workmate at Bowers & Pitsea, an Essex Senior League club, and worked his way up the non-league ladder as a centre-forward until he stopped playing regularly at the age of 30.

Spells followed with Basildon United - where he scored 51 goals in one season - Concorde Rangers and Canvey Island, where he spent eleven years, including the last two as full-time club secretary.

"I went there because a friend was the reserve team manager and he took me there because I could do a job for his reserve team," explains Wayne. "I scored a lot of goals for them and Jeff King, the owner, took me into the first team - which was in the lower levels of the Ryman League at the time - and I scored a few goals at that level too.

"I'm quite loyal and Jeff obviously saw something in me, and when I briefly left Canvey to play for another team he called me and asked for my help with the first team. So on my 30th birthday I played my last competitive game for this other team and went back to Canvey and helped behind the scenes with the paperwork and as sort of general assistant to the main club secretary.

"Then when Canvey won the Ryman League in 2004 and reached the Conference, the secretary who had been there for about 15 years said that she couldn't do it in the Conference with all the travelling that it entailed etc, so she stood down and Jeff King offered me the job.

"I had been doing various things already in the Ryman, contacting clubs and dealing with match officials and that sort of thing, but I started as secretary at the same as the club was starting in the Conference so everything was new to all of us and we were all learning the ropes."

Because there was only one other member of full-time staff, Wayne turned his hand to most backroom tasks in his time at Canvey - something that will also serve him well at United!

"There was just me and the commercial manager, Keith Johnson, who doubled up as Chairman, and we were the only paid backroom staff. I did a bit of everything, and when I came here and they asked me what I did at Canvey it was more a case of 'well, what didn't I do?'" he smiles.

"I'd welcome the teams and the match officials beforehand and make sure they got fed and watered, made sure the officials got paid, and made sure the team sheets were done on time before I went out on the pitch to do the tannoy, so I never got a rest and I was a Jack of all trades in that role!"

The Essex side had some memorable moments during Wayne's eleven years there, and he was happy to recount some of them.

"There were a few, but winning the F.A. Trophy in 2000 as a Ryman team - which Canvey were the first team to ever do - and beating Forest Green at Villa Park in the final was a good day out. No one had expected us to get to the final but we beat Chester 4-0 in the semi-final over two legs, which got the country looking at us, then we went to Villa Park as underdogs and turned Forest Green over.

"Then a couple of years later we went back but lost to Hednesford in the final when we were the favourites.

"In the FA Cup we beat Wigan in the first round and we were live on 'Match of the Day' in the next round against Northampton on a Sunday afternoon. We had Julian Dicks - the ex-West Ham and Liverpool defender - playing for us at the time and we turned Northampton over as well.

"So we got through to the third round and we drew Burnley away, and although we didn't realise at the time the draw was made they were sitting at the top of the Championship. We went there and played well but let in a few late goals and lost 4-1.

"Southend were our big local League rivals and we had cup games live on Sky against them twice, so Canvey were well known for their cup exploits."

Among the players in that Canvey side for many seasons was former U's defender Ben Chenery, part of Roy McFarland's promotion-winning side in 1999, and indeed he scored Canvey's FA Trophy winning goal and captained the side on occasions.

Wayne also worked with popular former U's physio Ken Steggles, and last season ex-United left back Stuart Bimson (pictured) was on Canvey's books, but it was in the closing stages of last season that Wayne knew his time at Canvey was coming to an end.

"Jeff King was the first team manager and owner of the club, and he spent 15 years putting money into the club to get them up from local level to the Conference, but the bigger crowds never materialised and towards the end of the season he said 'I can't do this any more'," Wayne recalls.

"He'd said it before but this time he was serious and he called a meeting one Sunday to tell us that he was pulling out and it was down to the supporters to run the club if they wanted."

The decision left Wayne knowing he would have to start looking for another job, and to add injury to insult, he broke his wrist playing in a charity match at the ground that afternoon!

Letters were sent to several local League clubs but the only Conference club Wayne contacted was Cambridge United, which coincided with the departure of previous secretary Matt Wild after less than a year in the role, so the timing was ideal for all concerned.

Having helped the new supporter-led administration get things up and running at Canvey on a voluntary basis, Wayne assumed his role at the Abbey Stadium at the start of this season and he has already settled in very well, although he admits it felt like a big step up to join United.

"Compared to Canvey, it's a massive club in all aspects," he says. "For example, on my first day I was asked how we ran the ticket office at Canvey and I said we never had one! They looked at me a bit strangely but I said we only had crowds of about 300-400 and we only sold 60-70 season tickets each year so we didn't need a ticket office.

"So that's one big difference but obviously the ground is a lot bigger, and the club as a whole shouldn't be in the Conference."

The first few weeks were a big learning curve but Wayne acknowledges the assistance he received from the other staff - "Heather, Holly and Ian were a big help and I was asking them things all the time".

His cheerful personality has also helped to lift the atmosphere around the club and the mood among the staff and volunteers in the offices is noticeably brighter than earlier this year.

"I'm still learning some aspects of the job," he adds, "but it's a good team here. Rob Newman and Tony Spearing were also very welcoming when I came in and they invited me to travel with the squad on the coach to away games, so that made me feel at home.

"I was obviously gutted to see them go so soon after I joined but Lee (Power) has come in and brought Jimmy (Quinn) in, and he's excellent to work for.

"He'll call me up and ask me advice and it's great to have that close-knit working relationship with the management, because at some clubs I think they tend to keep their distance from the staff and board."

Looking ahead, Wayne hopes for a long and successful time at Cambridge United and he hopes that will include a return to the Football League.

"I don't really have any massive ambitions to go and work for a Premiership club or anything like that. I'm quite loyal - I was at Canvey for eleven years - and I enjoy working here, and it would be great for the club to get back into the Football League and be part of that."

My favourite game:
"When I was playing for Basildon United we won the league against the previous champions by beating them 10-1 and I scored seven. I got injured after scoring five but the league chairman was there he told our dug out if I scored two more I would equal the all-time record for scoring in a game, so they left me on and I scored two more goals to equal the record in injury time. I couldn't walk for days afterwards!"

*This interview was first published in the programme for the match against Crawley on 14th October, 2006

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