Ken Swallow, the man with the big heart

Ken was a smiling face on the Mid Sussex scene, playing for several teams and notably being a member of Ken Carter’s County League winning team at Burgess Hill in 1976.

After that he took up management at Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath and Ansty Rangers.

Ken Carter said: “You couldn’t wish to meet two nicer people than him and his wife Dorothy. It was devastating news.

“Ken was a player at Eastbourne Utd when I took over as manager briefly and I took him to Burgess Hill when I became manager for the 1973-74 season. They were a Division 1 club when I was offered the job but I went away on holiday and when I got back they had been relegated. My assistant Robbie Cox said what are you going to do and I said we had to go through with it.

“In my first season we won the County League Cup as well as the Division 2 Cup and the following season won Division 2. We then won Division 1 in our first season back (1975-76).

“Ken was a very important member of that team. He was a centre back or left back and was a player you could always rely on to give 100 per cent - a terrific guy to have in your team.”

Roy Tucknott, who played with Ken in the same Laser’s team and was his assistant manager at Haywards Heath for three years, said: “Throughout all of Ken’s life he lived it with a big heart and always created a wonderful spirit for all members of any sporting team that he played for or managed.

“He was a true motivator, well respected by all players in the changing room especially with his trademark team talks. Ken and his loving and supportive wife Dorothy will be dearly missed throughout all Mid Sussex communities.”

Well known local football watcher and ex-player and manager Fred Weatherill recalled: “I played with Ken for firm’s team Laser’s, where the Burgess Hill chairman Jack Lake was managing director. Ken was a really good lad. I remember he’d supply all the raffle prizes for the end of season presentation do.

“His wife Dorothy was a lovely lady. In recent years I used to service their car.”

Tony Francis played under Ken at Ansty Rangers and was made skipper. He said: “We got close because Ken was very amenable and so easy to get on with. He was a father-like figure to so many people and really looked after me when I got a bad injury.”

Another of Ken’s former players, Steve Agyei, quoted from his first book about health and fitness to be published in March:

“Apart from his sense of humour and joy of life, my over riding memory of Ken Swallow, a family friend and my manager at Lindfield Rangers and Haywards Heath, was when I first joined Rangers.

“He brought me into the changing room at half time and after taking the players bets for the 4 o’clock race, said: ‘Boys this is Steve Agyei, who has come from Burgess Hill Town FC to play for us, Roy this is Steve and Steve this is Roy.’

“Roy Agyei and I then shook hands in front of everyone in the changing room. Roy stepped back and said ‘You may have been the one who got the dancing ability in the family but I am the one who got the looks.’

“Everybody burst out laughing and then ran out to start the second half. I slowly walked out with a warm feeling inside of me after having met my brother for the first time!”

Another former Lindfield Rangers player, Stewart Tippler, recalled: “Lindfield Rangers reserves as it was then had just reached the final of the Sussex Junior Cup to be played at Lancing . Ken sorts out a bus to take all the players and supporters down but before we get there he takes us for a pre-match meal at some greasy spoon on Portslade seafront, where the players had a big fry-up. Luckily for us when we turned up at Lancing there was dense fog and the game was abandoned. The players were in no state.

The following week we took the bus down but didn’t do the pre-match meal and ended up winning the cup! Happy days.

“Ken was one of the nicest men you could ever meet. As a football manager he had the ability to be able to get the most out of you with his cheeky smile and an arm around your shoulder and, of course, the incentive of perfume from his car boot which was always handy around Christmas and Valentines. He always had time for you and was a true gent.”

Richard Strange, now general manager of Burgess Hill, was a youngster when Ken arrived at the club in 1973.

He said: “Ken was just a very nice guy who had the knack of making you feel good. He was very generous with his words and also with the gifts of perfume that he was allowed to give away and often did to the ladies.

“He was so good with people that I could never imagine him doing anything other than working closely with others.

“Being so charismatic, players wanted to play for him and outside football he and his wife were very lovely people.

“He was always supportive of things here and I remember him particularly at our ex-players’ evening. When he asked if his grand-daughter could shadow our physio, there was never any hesitation in saying yes.”

It was her first time doing that at the Boxing Day fixture when family and police arrived to impart the sad news just before kick off

Strange went on: “What I’ll always remember is that while he was working for Charles of the Ritz (Yves Saint Laurent), he used to drive a flashy car and would allow players to drive it to away games. That was typical of his generosity.”

Strange confirmed that the Burgess Hill team will wear black armbands and observe a minute’s silnce before the start of their next home game.

Burgess Hill’s long serving John Buck said that probably his fondest memories were of Ken Swallow the player.

“Ken was such a wholehearted player. He was all action, like Aggy (Ian Agate, goalkeeper) and I remember them colliding on one occassion and both being on their hands and knees looking for their contact lenses.

“He was such a likable fella that perhaps that meant being a manager had its problems. I think you need just a bit of a nasty streak to be a top manager. Ken was such a lovely boy that would have been difficult.

“Even when we were at the bottom he said to the lads, come on, we’ll get out of this, we won’t go down and he was proved right as Southwick went out of the league.

“I know he wasn’t in the best of health recently but whenever I met him down town, he’d still have a laugh and a joke.”