(i) Let’s start with how you came to join Wimbledon. On Millwall’s books as a junior, Wimbledon signed you from Tooting & Mitcham in 1967 and you made your debut at Stevenage in April 1968. Tell us how it all came about?
Dickie: At the time I was 18 and working as a Port of London Authority messenger boy on the London West India docks. Riding around the docks on a bicycle delivering letters etc., having previously been doing the same at London’s Wapping docks where I use to deliver up to head office in Trinity Square by the Tower of London. I’d been playing for Millwall colts in the South East Counties league for a few seasons, living literally a 10-minute walk from the old Den, Millwall’s previous ground. At around this time I was selected for the England Youth trials at RAF Cosford up in the midlands. Unfortunately, I never got into the England side, but I did represent London Youth FA in the FA County Youth Championships where we got to the final, and I got sent off ! Let me explain what happened. Their centre-forward punched the ball into our net after a goalmouth melee. Everyone saw it except the referee. Well, I used to get very uptight in games. A few minutes after he cheated and did that I had the ball in my hands to kick it up field when he tried to obstruct me and barged into me as I kicked. I just turned round and punched him straight on the chin, right in front of the referee who was a couple of yards away! Good connection as well, he went down like a sack of potatoes and I was sent straight off… always hated cheats. Sitting in the changing room crying and in comes one of our officials to tell me I had to come back out onto the pitch to collect my runners-up medal to the boos and catcalls from their supporters. I still have my London cap though which was presented to us after the game at a dinner. Right, so back to when I was working in West India Docks, where the Port Health Officer George Dring was at the time the manager of Tooting and Mitcham FC. Fortunately, nearly everyone on the docks were football-mad so on the late shift which was 2-9pm I’d be away by five o’clock to go training or play games. Dring invited me down to Tooting and Mitcham who at the time were coached by Doug Flack, a former Fulham goalkeeper. I did some training sessions and they signed me. I went straight into the first team and after we played Wimbledon in the Premier Midweek Floodlit League I was asked to sign by the Dons manager Les Henley. They gave me £500 to sign on which was a fair bit of money back then. I got home and laid all the fivers out across my bed !
(ii) You went on to be virtually ever present in the Wimbledon goal over the next decade. There is one incredible stat that between January 1970 and August 1977 you only missed a single game in a run of 449 consecutive matches and which included a remarkable run of 314 games straight. Tell us about the camaraderie and resilience within the team under manager Allen Batsford? Your thoughts on Batsford and his influence on you.
Dickie: Yes, I missed that one game. I think it was away to Dagenham in the London Senior Cup. Shame that, I probably could have played but didn’t feel quite right so I told Allen and he played my mate Paul Priddy in goal. When Allen came the whole set-up became more professional, training was better organised and undoubtedly harder and more often than not three nights a week. We would practice set pieces, corners, free kicks, defensive shapes, where every player needs to be in any given situation. Extremely repetitive was the training, and that’s one of the reasons we were so successful. Not so much fun for me, though. standing in goal freezing while they practised free kicks over and over again! Alas no specialised goalkeeping training in those days. There was a very good camaraderie in the squad and Allen brought several players from Walton and Hersham with him. Just as well as we only had about five players on contract. He brought Dave ‘Harry’ Bassett, Dave Donaldson, Roger Connell, Kieron Somers and Billy Edwards. I had a lot of respect for Allen, his professionalism and his methods, but I did still get the ‘hairdryer treatment’ off him a few times over the three seasons while he was manager.
(iii) Any discussion about you always comes back to those famous FA Cup exploits at first division Burnley — the first non-league team of the 20th century to beat a First Division team away from home — and the greatest English team of the time, Leeds United, in 1975, and all with a basic squad size of just 14 players! Team-mates always rate your performance at Burnley as the pinnacle. As a goalkeeper your memories of that incredible display at Turf Moor to set up the fourth round visit to Elland Road, and that particular moment you pulled off your signature penalty save off Peter Lorimer at Leeds. What particularly stands out for you from that day and the resulting media clamour to get you on The Big Match on television to talk about it? That season you were also named among the Rothman’s Football Yearbook players of 1974-75.
Dickie: Yeah, the Burnley game at Turf Moor, that was some occasion. Playing in front of 20,000 supporters was a new experience for us, being used to only about 3,000 at Plough Lane. In the first half I had very little to do, but the second half it was non-stop action, backs-to-the-wall stuff with me diving here, there and everywhere. At the time the Burnley chairman Bob Lord had issues with the TV companies and had banned TV cameras from his ground. Shame as that would have been a good DVD to show the grandkids! If I remember correctly the draw was made straight after the game while we were in the bath. To draw Leeds United was a dream come true. Excitement prevailed. Straight back to Glen Aitken’s house in sunny Deptford for a party to celebrate. Then, up to Elland Road for the next round. We stayed in a hotel the night before the game, not much sleep was had though. Arrived at Elland Road on the day of the game and I’d never seen so many people outside a football ground in my life! Nerves started to kick in. We went out to customarily inspect the pitch pre-game, pretending to read the programme as I was walking out but I was actually shaking in my shoes! The ground was about half-full by then and their supporters were chanting Leeds Leeds Leeds and banging on the hoardings. By kick-off the ground was packed with 46,000 fans. Everyone wanted to see what this non-league side that had embarrassed Burnley were all about. The crowd was huge because there were several games in the area called off due to the inclement weather. As in the first half against Burnley I had very little to do. I don’t think they had a shot of any significance, due to our dogged defending. But the second half was completely different, their manager must have given them a real rollicking at half-time. One thing I vividly remember about that game, and it wasn’t the penalty, although that does stick in my mind, was that quite early in the second half I caught a pull-back cross from their right. It was, if I may say so, a really good catch in those thin cotton gloves, not the gloves that are worn today that makes it so easy to catch a football. So I caught the ball, well pleased with myself as it was probably the first thing I really had to do so far in the game. After catching it, I dropped it to the ground to dribble it to the edge of the area to pick it up and kick it up field. Little did I know that behind me lurking was a Leeds player waiting to pounce, nick the ball and slot it into our goal. Just in time I realised he was there and immediately dropped on to the ball. OMG! Can you imagine that happening? I’d have been ridiculed for the rest of my entire life! So, with that instance out of the way I settled down and we defended well. They were a great side but just couldn’t break us down. I have a short DVD of the last five minutes or so, leading up to when Harry Bassett made his infamous tackle, almost waste high to give away the penalty. Completely unnecessary, as Bob Stockley was doubling up on him and could have easily nicked the ball if he got passed Harry. I cannot put in writing what I called Harry back then, but he did say he’d make me famous, and he did in some small way, to the extent of being invited along with five first division goalkeepers to play a basketball match against the Harlem Globetrotters at Wembley and appearing on a TV programme That’s Life against football dribbling dogs, where one actually scored! Back to the penalty, their supporters went crazy when it was awarded, as you’d expect, I was gutted and the DVD I have shows me whilst waiting for the penalty to be taken, attempting to lash out at the goalpost in frustration only to miss it! I had decided before that if Leeds were to be awarded a penalty and it’d be Lorimer who took it, I would dive as far to my right as I possibly could. Bearing in mind, back in the day, goalkeepers couldn’t move their feet until the kick was taken, which obviously made it extremely difficult to stop penalties. As it turned out, Lorimer scuffed it, and so I had to pull my right hand back to stop the ball, and heaven forbid, diving over it. Jeff Bryant cleared the ball, but the last five minutes or so left in the game became unbelievably frantic and we held out for that famous draw. Pandemonium ensued. But as I said earlier I used to get very uptight and stressed in games. Instead of acknowledging our supporters I couldn’t wait to get off the pitch and into the dressing room, and when I did I burst into tears! Weird that, eh? Think it must have been to release the pressure valve, but a couple of slugs of brandy that somehow had found its way into the dressing room and I was fine. I was taken from the dressing room up to the gantry to be interviewed, meeting my wife Josie on the way who was in floods of tears, happy tears, I must add. Did some interviews up there and the enormity of the situation began to sink in. Our non-league side had held the mighty Leeds, one of the best sides, not only in England but in Europe, to a goalless draw on their own patch! I was then asked to appear on Brian Moore’s Sunday lunchtime programme the Big Match. A car was sent for us very early on the Sunday morning, too early in fact after the previous night’s celebrations. Hangovers are not a problem when you have just held the mighty Leeds! Did the TV interview with Brian Moore, who I must say was a perfect gentleman. Following the interview someone asked me if we’d be going home to watch the match/interview on TV as the programme had been pre-recorded. Well, actually I explained that our TV at home had packed it in the week before, and because of the build-up to the game I had not had it repaired or replaced. Brian Moore got wind of it and, knowing that we lived in Bromley only a few miles from him, immediately invited us back to his house for Sunday lunch and watch the programme with his family. He got straight on the phone and told his wife to lay out two more places for lunch, a lovely roast it was. After lunch he drove us back home. A really top fella was Brian Moore. And yes, at the end of the season I was named in the Rothmans Football Yearbook for 1974/1975. That was something completely unexpected but very much appreciated.
(iv) Under Batsford, Wimbledon built an undeniable case for election into the Football League. There was a close bond within the team, but Batsford was forced out after four and a half months into a challenging first season. You also had a personal transition. You started the inaugural season in goal, but then vied with Richard Teale as the starting custodian before you became a victim of the incoming manager Dario Gradi regime and left for Maidstone United after 553 total appearances for Wimbledon. Can you reflect on that time and how the move to full-time football presented problems for you?
Dickie: Yes, we did have a strong case for election to the Football League and finally achieved it after winning three Southern League Premier Division titles in succession along with various cups along the way. Extremely good work by our then chairman Ron Noades, who helped enormously to achieve it. I started the season in the first team but only managed to be selected for about a dozen games and so decided to leave as I wasn’t in the plans of Dario Gradi, the manager at the time. That was okay, I’d had 11 years at the club, eight of them as the first name on the team sheet, a testimonial game against Chelsea, made possible by Dario and his contacts at Chelsea and hundreds of great memories and friends. There was press talk during my time at the club that Crystal Palace may have been interested in signing me, but nothing ever materialised. I would have liked to have gone full-time, but towards the end of my time at the club I had applied for voluntary redundancy from the docks, but that would have had to have been matched if I was to sign for anyone. I remember when we played Middlesbrough at snow-covered Ayresome Park in an FA Cup replay, maybe it was Allen Batsford’s second or third season in charge, and I had a particularly good game, only to be beaten by a penalty which Allen told me would be placed one way if they got a penalty, I went that way and it was put the other way! We were all in a nightclub after the game and some of the Middlesbrough players were there as well. Graham Souness came over and spoke with me and asked what I’d want financially to sign, I just replied ‘five grand’. I meant that as a signing-on fee as that would have been about what I’d have got as a severance payment from the docks. I don’t know whether he thought I meant five grand each week, but nothing more was asked or said! So the following season after only starting a dozen or so games and not wishing to be a reserve keeper I opted to leave and sign for Maidstone United following a few of our players, who’d gone there earlier, Glen Aitken and Billy Edwards. Chairman Ron Noades presented me with a lovely inscribed silver cup on my 500th appearance for the Dons. The cup still sits proudly in our dining room at home, cleaned meticulously every month or so by Josie. Although Ron was not the most popular person, I quite liked him, and Bassett and our wives spent two holidays at his apartment in the south of France. Paid for, of course! Great holidays they were as well.
(v) Throughout all that time at Wimbledon who were the best players you played with and why?
Dickie: The best players during my time at the club were probably Roy Law, who was centre-half and captain when I first joined along with Tommy McCready, another centre-half. During Allen’s time as manager Dave Donaldson and Jeff Bryant, both centre-halves, and Ian ‘Cookie ‘ Cooke. Ian scored a hell of a lot of goals, he still comes to the club, sits next to me in the stand and is a Vice-President.
(vi) Wonderful times were ahead for Wimbledon under Dave Bassett, Bobby Gould and Joe Kinnear, culminating in that sensational win over Liverpool – another great team of the time – and witnessing Dave Beasant saving a John Aldridge penalty on the way to a famous FA Cup win at Wembley. Your reflections of that momentous day and Lurch’s save from a goalkeeper connoisseur’s point of view?
Dickie: Great times came to the club under Dave Bassett as manager. Getting the club to the Premiership was an incredible feat. Think Harry holds the record for the most managerial promotions. Still occasionally see Harry at Plough Lane and he is actually godfather to one of our sons, Michael. Bobby Gould was manager on that most famous of occasions when Wimbledon defeated Liverpool at Wembley to win the FA Cup. But really, it was Harry’s team. Watching that game actually put my wife into labour with our twins Jennifer and Michael and they were born the next day or so. And a great save from Dave Beasant from the penalty. At an end-of-season dinner a few years back I was invited to make a speech. Knowing Dave Beasant was in the room I recalled that when I made my penalty save against Lorimer I thought I’d cracked it, you know, a non-league keeper saving a penalty against Lorimer in the FA Cup. But then this big lump of a keeper comes along 13 years later and makes a proper save from a proper penalty, wins the FA Cup and gets to meet the lovely Princess Diana! That’s really cracking it!! But it was a really great save, and what a time and place to make it! I see Dave occasionally when he comes to Plough Lane.
(vii) Then came the gut punch of Wimbledon being hijacked up to Milton Keynes in 2002. You were a very outspoken opponent of the club’s re-location. Your reflections on that highly charged time of your cherished club folding and your role in the reforming of the fans-owned AFC Wimbledon and those player trials on the Wimbledon Common?
Dickie: It was a terrible time in 2002 for the club and our supporters when the club was stolen from us. I was outspoken because of the injustice of the situation. The club at the time was sharing or using Selhurst Park for games. I went to a few games there but didn’t like the chairman Sam Hamman or the idea of sharing a ground full stop. Hamman used to parade around the pitch before kick-off with his Wimbledon hat and scarf and waving to the crowd lapping up all the attention and applause only to sell the club up the river a short time later. Only the resilience of the famous four of Ivor Heller, Trevor Williams, Marc Jones and Kris Stewart and the overwhelming support, encouragement and enthusiasm of our supporters got the club reborn. What happened back in 2002 was shameful that the FA allowed it to go ahead. It will never happen again, nor will a story like ours. The greatest story in football. I was invited to cast my eyes over the goalkeepers who had come to the trials on Wimbledon Common. It was a difficult job as to who might be good enough, as most decent players would already have been fixed up with a club, but numbers were whittled down and a successful team was formed.
(viii) Speak of your pride in being asked by Ivor Heller to become Club President and the importance with which you attach to your position as its titular head and respected club ambassador?
Dickie: To be asked to become President of our club was a very proud moment for me and always has been and always will be. I think it was at the end of our first season after being reformed, maybe after a bus parade through Wimbledon, I was in the Alexandra pub in Wimbledon, a very much favoured haunt of our supporters, with my wife and family. Ivor and Kris were there too. Ivor called me over and out of the blue asked me to be club President. I was speechless, though at first thought that he may have been winding me up, but no, it was a genuine invitation to become club President. So now I have been Club President of AFC Wimbledon for approximately 22 years! I have though, quite recently in fact, made it clear to our chairman and to various other people connected to the club, that I do not wish to get involved in any politics at the club. I love the club and would do anything for the club, but do not wish to get involved in club politics. I see myself as an ambassador of the club, and am very proud to be one.
(ix) You have bounced back from adversity. You suffered a heart attack in 2010 and 12 years ago you were diagnosed with cancer of the larynx which ultimately led to your voice box being removed. Can you discuss those health challenges and the amusing tale of the surgeon who recognised you on the operating table?
Dickie: Yes, I had a heart attack in 2010. I was working at a house in Chelsea. I had an electrician on site and another fella who worked for me regularly. The sparky had finished what he had to do, waved us goodbye and left. Ten minutes later he was back saying his van wouldn’t start and could we give him a push start. So we gave him a hand. Soon after I started to get chest pains. Being ever vigilant with my health and the fact that the pains were continuous and getting worse, I decided to go to hospital to get checked out. This is where it gets silly, or I get stupid! I thought then that if I’m going to be in hospital I didn’t want my family having to come all the way up to Chelsea to visit me, as the Brompton Hospital, a major heart hospital was five minutes away, I decided to drive all the way back to our local hospital in Bromley Kent where we lived. So stupid of me to do that, but it all worked out alright in the end as the heart attack paid off our mortgage, with the insurance cover we had. On December 16, 2014 I had my larynx removed due to recurring cancer. I’d had four weeks of radiotherapy two years earlier and was told the cancer had been cured but like rust on an old car it came back. Went back into hospital for three and a half weeks, missed Christmas, New Year and my birthday, but the staff were absolutely fantastic. Took a few years for me to stop being embarrassed by my voice, sounding a bit like Sean Dyche, the Burnley FC now Forest manager, but it doesn’t bother me anymore. The operation was carried out at Guy’s Hospital (keep it in the family, of course!) up by London Bridge. I have to go back every four or five weeks or so when the valve in my throat leaks fluid into my lungs, they change the valve which takes about ten to 15 minutes. When I first got sent to Guy’s from our local hospital to be examined by the consultant, he said ‘I know you, you’re Dickie Guy who used to play in goal for Wimbledon.’ He is a football man, supporter of Aston Villa and Worcester City. Very nice fella, very good surgeon, thank goodness. Richard Oakley is his name. I must be honest, I’ve not been too lucky with my health over the last few years. Hip replacement, same hip twice that I dislocated four weeks after second time it was fitted, and that was really painful, let me tell you! Then a couple of years back, I woke up in the night to visit the loo and could barely walk. Turns out I had a bacterial spinal infection, seven weeks in hospital for that one, then I had to learn to walk again. Happy days! Then most recently cancer struck again in another part of my body. Two years of treatment failed to work but surgery did last year and I’m cancer-free again. Every time I go to Guy’s Hospital I see plenty of people worse off than me, so onwards and upwards, count your blessings, I say.
(x) In July 2021 you were awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Merton. It is the highest civic award a local authority can give someone. Ivor Heller says you were “utterly beside himself! He was completely flummoxed and so delighted” when you were told about the honour. Can you tell us how you felt about getting that particular recognition?
Dickie: The Freedom of the Borough Award came as a complete surprise to me. Fantastic and I was and am extremely proud to be honoured in that way. Funny thing is the TV commentator of the Leeds game actually said after the penalty save ‘he should be given the Freedom of the Borough’ Well, I was .. only 46 years later! Better late than never!
(xi) Wimbledon are carrying on their fine tradition of high-class goalkeepers through the coaching/mentoring of Ashley ‘Bayzo’ Bayes. Can you talk of the importance Bayzo has for the club in his role and which club goalkeepers have impressed you over the years?
Dickie: Bayzo is an absolute legend at our club. I’ve never known anyone so enthusiastic about goalkeeping. He is bubbly in the extreme, unbelievably in love with goalkeeping, lives for it. He has done wonders for our club in bringing on goalkeepers. One keeper who stands head and shoulders above the rest is ‘Rambo’ Aaron Ramsdale. I felt so sorry for him to be left out of the Arsenal side as it ruined his chances of going to the World Cup with England. Now at Newcastle, but still a No.2 to Nick Pope, I hope he soon gets to be a No.1 again. Top keeper and a top fella, he’s been back to Plough Lane and played football with my grandkids after watching a game.
(xii) Finally, Dickie, in close to a 60-year lifetime connection, what does Wimbledon mean to you, what has it given your life?
Dickie: This club gets in your blood. It certainly has got in mine. It’s apart from watching football, it’s the friends made over the years of coming to the club. There are people there that go back to the Leeds, Burnley and Middlesbrough Cup runs. You are talking 50 years ago! Last January we had a Batsford Boys reunion dinner at the club. Fifty years has passed, but all but one of the surviving players attended. Organised by John Lynch chairman of Wimbledon in Sporting History and the Wimbledon Old Players Association. A great night was had by all.
IAN COOKE TRIBUTE
I first met Dickie Guy in 1967. When I arrived at Wimbledon four years earlier Mick Kelly was the 1st team keeper and also the England Amateur XI custodian, but he was snapped up by QPR. Frank Smith came in from Spurs — a big, 6′ 3” but thirty something, and past his prime, although he was still a good goalkeeper. Then this fresh-faced youngster arrived from Tooting and quickly made his mark as an athletic, well-built ‘safe pair of hands’ and quickly became a fans’ favourite, which you will know is never easy as the last line of defence is fraught with danger and any weakness/mishandling is soon pounced upon, not just by the opposition but sometimes the home crowd as well!! It says something that Dickie remained ever popular over such a long time but his record for the number of clean sheets, great saves, and general secure ball handling speaks for itself. Whilst any tributes about him always refer to his penalty save against Leeds United in the FA Cup, my own pick of his sterling performances was the one in the previous round against Burnley. The first half was not overly stressful but after we scored, early in the second half, they ramped up their efforts and tested our defence with wave after wave of attacks. Be it crosses or shots Dickie’s handling that day was immaculate and it is very regrettable that there is unfortunately no film of that game [apparently film crews were banned by Bob Lord, the Burnley Chairman, in an effort to increase the attendance, and probably in case the result went against them!]. But it was a masterclass in goalkeeping technique, athleticism and superb handling. However, it was after the Leeds game that Dickie was invited to a BBC TV studio and met Bob Wilson, the former Arsenal goalkeeper, who was working on ‘Match of the Day’ and they struck up a lasting friendship. There is only one incident that Dickie doesn’t like being discussed, which relates to the Scarborough in a quarter final of the FA Trophy. The ball was played behind Billy Edwards, and Dickie came off his line, with the result that they both left it for each other and Scarborough scored the only goal of the game and we never got to Wembley! Dickie and Billy still blame each other and it is a ‘no-go’ area for them both! Of course, it was terrible news when Dickie was diagnosed with throat cancer several years ago, but he, wife Josie, and their family have handled this setback with strength and fortitude for which they have been rightly praised. We manage to get out occasionally for a game of golf, together with Ivor Heller and, of course, we meet regularly during the football season at both home and away games and discuss all things Wimbledon. I will close by saying that the Club has benefitted greatly over many years from the past and continuing efforts of Dickie Guy.
[The Dickie Guy Interview was first published in the December-January 2026 issue of the Wombles Downunder fanzine. Details on how you can subscribe to Wombles Downunder.]
