Raised in Cheshunt, Phil came to Theobalds Lane as a teenager and was soon playing centre-half for Cheshunt’s reserves. He got his break into the first team when Manager Jimmy Quail picked him for a Herts Charity Cup tie at home to Hertford Town on January 11th 1971. The Ambers won but it would be his only appearance that season as the former Amateur England International Peter Terry and the experienced defenders Bobby Cantwell and Dave Sharkey were ahead of him as first team regulars. He made nine more first-team appearances in the following 1971-72 season, though with Cheshunt Reserves he picked up an Essex & Herts Border Combination Championship medal, an Essex & Herts League Cup winners medal and a Waltham Hospital Cup winners medal (Cheshunt entered their Reserves that year for what was otherwise normally a first-team competition). Alongside him in that Reserve side were Chris and Tony Wilson, Peter Twigg, Dave Cooper, Dickie Sedgwick, John Newman, Keith Schofield and his lifelong friend, Dave Bidwell. With Reserve team Manager Bill Moye now promoted to the top job following the mid-season resignation of Quail, Phil Maybury may have felt the 1972-73 campaign would see more first team opportunities, but he only made four more starts, the final one coming at Harlow on November 7th 1973 where he would score his only goal for Cheshunt – ‘hammered in from a Mel Bevens touch’ according to the match report!
A few days later Bill Moye was sacked and replaced by John Drabwell. Moye was immediately appointed Manager by Spartan League Hoddesdon Town and he quickly brought in familiar faces to Lowfield from his old Cheshunt reserves to form the core of his side, with Phil Maybury being in the heart of his defence alongside Dave Stevenson. Hoddesdon’s finest hour came the following season at Wembley when they beat Epsom & Ewell 2-1 in the first-ever FA Vase final with a line up including former Ambers Dickie Sedgwick, who was Captain and scored twice, Chris Wilson, Les Picking, Keith Schofield, Dave Bidwell and of course, Phil Maybury.
After ending his playing days at Hoddesdon, he turned to Management, spending seven seasons at Brimsdown Rovers and another three with Haringey Borough before joining Cheshunt as Manager in the summer of 1988 following the resignation of Ian Priest in mid-season and Dave Bidwell’s subsequent spell as Caretaker. With a cash-strapped Cheshunt now stuck in the Spartan League, his side got off to a great eleven match unbeaten start, topping the table for several weeks, before an end of season slump saw Maybury’s side finish in a disappointing sixth place. The 1989-90 campaign saw a 7-0 win at Thamesmead and an 8-0 win against Eltham but the Ambers could never quite catch runaway joint leaders Northwood and Edgware Town and would ultimately finish third. Even the consolation prize of a Spartan League Cup win was denied as Northwood equalised in the last minute and went onto win in extra time.
Phil Maybury’s side won their first five league games of the following 1990-91 season and were top in early October when he stunned the Club by announcing his resignation, stating work commitments (he was a self-employed Taxi mechanic) were making the job of Cheshunt Manager impossible. Anxious not to lose his knowledge, Chairman Tony Wilson offered him a place on the Club Committee. He would come to the rescue of the Club in the 1996-97 season when he took charge of one game between the departure of John Ward and the appointment of Dave Steedman as Manager and continued his association with the Club, managing his sons’ side in Cheshunt’s youth system in the years that followed.
Our thoughts and condolences are with Phil’s family and friends at this time.
