paul plowman'sWHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Scott ENDERSBY
SCOTT ENDERSBY claims he was cast as the villain over his move from Swindon Town in 1985/86. The goalkeeper had missed just one game in 92 - a 5-1 home defeat by Bristol Rovers - prior to the start of that season, but found himself ousted by the more experienced Jake Findlay.
However, it came as no surprise to Scott, who had not endeared himself to manager Lou Macari over the previous Easter. “When the situation between Lou and Harry Gregg came to a head, I thought the board had made the right decision to sack them,” he said. “The club was split right down the middle and the players were divided too.
“After Lou was re-instated, we were all invited round to his house. I didn’t want to go, but my mate Garry Nelson talked me into it. But Lou knew how I felt. I recognise what Lou did for the club later. They would not have played in the Premier League. But I thought at the time the decision was right.”
Findlay, the former Villa man, soon blotted his copy book and was sacked. Scott was back for two games, but during that time Lou signed another keeper - Kenny Allen, then 37. With a League Cup tie against Sunderland looming, the big man was cup tied, having played for Torquay against Town in the First Round, so Scott again played his part in a magnificent Swindon effort as they beat the Rokermen over two legs and extra-time.
Knowing that as soon as they were out of the Cup he would be consigned to the reserves, Scott sought the advice of the PFA. “Although I was popular with the fans during my time at Swindon, unfortunately I was cast as the villain over the way I left the club - but I didn’t just walk out on them,” he said. “No club was going to come in for me because Lou was asking a silly fee, something like £15,000, when I had come on a free.”
“Gordon Taylor said that it didn’t happen very often, but what I could do was give the club 14 days notice of leaving - so that’s what I did. After Sunderland I went straight down to Plymouth, where I stayed with Garry (Nelson) and carried on training. By the time the Sheffield Wednesday game came along, the club knew my position. They got in Richard Key and I couldn’t believe it when they got through and drew Ipswich - my old club.”
Scott spent three years at Portman Road and although he had not featured in the First Division, he was in the squad that lifted the UEFA Cup in 1981. Ipswich had signed him from Kettering, where - at 15 - he had made a name for himself as the then youngest ever participant in the F.A.Cup proper. From East Anglia, he signed for ex-Swindon man Bryan Hamilton at Tranmere, where he was also voted player of the season.
Less than a week after Town’s victory over the Owls, on November 4, Scott was on his way to Carlisle on loan. “They were bottom of what was then the Second Division. I think they had only won one game, but we beat Stoke 3-0,” he recalled. “They kept me on for another two months and then had to make the decision whether or not to sign me. They paid about £5,000 for me and Lou agreed to let me have half.”
Scott stayed a further eighteen months at Carlisle before joining York City. It was there that he met up with some match sponsors who encouraged him into his current profession as a licensee. “I went on a three-month course and took up several posts to gain experience and better myself,” he explained. “I went chefing for a year to get catering experience.”
From York - via Manchester, Mansfield and Middlesbrough - Scott arrived at the Coldharbour in Blunsdon in 1998, as manager of the pub, restaurant and forty-room travel lodge. But he and his second wife Barbara did not stay long and were soon off to Bath.
(First published by Newsquest (Wiltshire)/Evening Advertiser May 1999)