*Indicates unconfirmed information. Figures in brackets after English team names indicate all appearances made and goals scored in competitive matches for Football League clubs from 1888 onwards. For Scottish League clubs the figures show details of all competitive appearances and goals scored from 1946/47 onwards.
David Bevis
**Click here for more photos**
Appearances: 30 Goals: 0
Clean Sheets: 6
Date / Year of birth: 27th June 1942
Position: Goalkeeper
Season of first appearance: 1968/69
Season of last appearance: 1968/69
Also played for: Southampton (0), Avenue FC, Ipswich Town (8,0), Cambridge City and Salisbury City
Agile 6' 1" tall keeper who started his career with his hometown club Southampton as a youth before joining Southampton-based amateur outfit Avenue FC.
In August 1959 Ipswich signed David and gave Avenue a set of shirts, shorts and stockings as a fee. He made his debut for Ipswich in a 1st Division game at Sheffield United on 9.10.63. A crowd of 18,946 saw the Blades win 3-1 and during David's seven seasons with the club (1959/60 to 1965/66) he went on to make a total of eight first team appearances for Ipswich, five in the 1st Division, one in the 2nd Division and two in the FA Cup. David also made 198 reserve team appearances in the Football Combination.
In November 1966 David was released by Ipswich and joined Cambridge City. After almost two full seasons there he moved to Margate in the summer of 1968. He'd played brilliantly for City in a game against Margate on 29.4.68.
David made his debut in 2-2 draw with Weymouth at Hartsdown Park on 10.8.68 - the opening day of the 1968/69 campaign. He went on to make 30 appearances during the season in the wake of the long-serving Brian Hughes' departure but his spell at the club was rather controversial. His performances early on were described as "outstanding" by the local press and on 21.9.68 David superbly saved a penalty from Folkestone's former Margate winger David Hills. However his accommodation situation soon caused problems.
When he signed for Margate David had been led to believe that he'd be given a club house to live in and that he could move in before the start of the season. However it turned out that no accommodation was available until November 1968 so David had to travel to matches from his Ipswich home. As early as August 1968 the Isle of Thanet Gazette ran a story stating that David's contract was liable to be cancelled due to the situation, the club felt that he wasn't training effectively due to living so far away from Thanet. Manager Almer Hall was quoted as saying "if he does not come to Margate to live then he may well be leaving us" but David refused to move as he only had six months left on his contract and didn't want to uproot his family.
In September 1968 Margate tried to swap David for Chelmsford keeper Ian Wilkie but the deal fell through and David was transfer listed before Christmas. He also had a chance to join Colchester but Margate wouldn't release him as at they had no replacement and then the club attempted to stop David's wages - saying that he wasn't making himself available to play as he'd refused to move to Margate. The dispute became serious enough for the Football Association to get involved and they accepted David's claim that he was happy to play but wouldn't move to Margate. This resulted in David continuing to be paid.
In the meantime he'd been dropped from the first team just a few games into the season and in Brian's absence Paul Thomas and Brian Ede shared the goalkeeping duties. He was recalled for a while during December 1968 and on 28.12.68 the local paper said that David was "as sharp as ever" during Margate's 5-1 win over Dover.
However he soon found himself back in the reserves and didn't return to the senior side until 24.3.69 when he played in the Kent Senior Cup semi-final replay against Bexley at Hartsdown. The Isle of Thanet Gazette praised David's performance and said that he was "undoubtedly an improvement over his predecessors". The paper also said that he was "rightfully back in the first team" and described his display in a 5-1 win over Bedford on 29.3.69 as "impeccable". David went on to play in most of the season's remaining games. Over Easter he even stayed at club chairman Sonny Miles' house to save on travelling and was asked to stay on at the club for the 1969/70 season. However David felt that things had gone too far to repair and he joined Salisbury in the summer of 1969.
He went on to spend two seasons there and played alongside future Margate player Phil Gilbert who was also his next door neighbour in Salisbury.
David then decided to return to home to Ipswich to make a career in insurance and went on to spend 30 years in the industry.
In 2014 David was still living in Ipswich aged 71 and on 25.2.14 he watched Margate's 1-0 defeat at Leiston. At that time he was working part-time as a courier or "white van man" as he described it to Margate FC's Peter Cove who met him at the match. David said "I had a brilliant evening. Peter really made me feel so welcome and spent a lot of time with me. He also introduced me to the current club secretary (Ken Tomlinson) and ex chairman (Keith Piper). I really felt so humbled by all their kindness."
|
SEASON (CLUB) |
FULL (MAX) |
SUB |
GLS |
|
FAC |
SLC |
KSC |
KFC |
SLCH |
|
1968/69 (MFC) |
30 (75) |
0 |
0 |
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION (18TH OF 22) |
1R |
3R |
RU |
W |
W |
| Played in Kent
Senior Cup Final 2nd Leg (08.05.69 - beat Folkestone Town 2-0 at
home). Played in Southern League Championship Match (12.08.68 - won 4-1 at Chelmsford City). | |||||||||