THESE are the players and officials who kept Oxford City Football Club in the public eye in the late 1950s.

The picture was taken at the White House ground, the club’s former ground off Abingdon Road, in front of the tall stand which stood in the south-east corner above the dressing rooms.

It comes from the family of Clive Taylor, who played for City during a long footballing career.

As we reported (Memory Lane, February 3), he began with Oxford Boys and Balliol Boys and progressed to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Reading, Witney Town, Morris Motors, Marston United and Saxon Warriors. He played his last game at the age of 70.

His spell with City began in the mid-1950s when Reading heeded appeals to save fuel during the Suez crisis and sent him on loan to the White House.

He enjoyed himself so much that he asked to stay. He played 190 first team games at inside right in the famous blue and white hoop shirts between 1956 and 1962, scoring 44 goals.

Even life in the Army did not stop him appearing for City. Luckily for him, his sergeant major, Geoff Archer, lived at Cowley and drove him to the ground.

Clive Taylor followed a long line of players who played for the club since its formation in 1882.

City soon became the leading club in Oxfordshire and one of the strongest amateur sides in the country, crowning a dominant spell by winning the FA Amateur Cup in 1906.

They beat Bishop Auckland 3-0 in a blizzard at Stockton, Durham, on March 24 with two goals from Harold Tabernacle and another from Herbert Hodges. They returned to Oxford to a heroes’ welcome.

City have also earned distinction in the FA Cup. They and Alvechurch are the only clubs to have taken six games to decide a tie, in 1971-2, a record that is unlikely to be beaten now that the Football Association insists that all games should be settled after a maximum of two games.

The club’s lowest point came in 1988 when it lost the White House ground. An uncertain period ended with the opening of their new ground at Court Place Farm, Marston, where they have gradually rebuilt their reputation as one of the county’s leading clubs.

More than 40 teams of men, women, boys and girls have brought considerable growth and success to the club in recent years.

s Clive Taylor’s family have thanked Memory Lane readers who got in touch after our earlier story about his career. He is now in Brookfield Care Home at Greater Leys, Oxford. Son Dale writes: “He still has flashes of his old self when we talk about football .We recently played a game at Court Place Farm and he came alive again.”

Memory Lane this week

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