GORDON BARTLETT has many football accolades to his name. He played for Portsmouth and Denver Dynamos and had a spell at Brentford before an injury ended his playing career, but is best known for his success as a manager.
The former Southall boss also managed Yeading, Hounslow and Wealdstone, was the longest-serving manager in the top six tiers of the English football pyramid between May 2013 and August 2017, and managed a young striker by the name of Les Ferdinand during his time in charge at Western Road.
He is best remembered by Southall fans as the man who took the side to their first (and so far only) FA Vase final at Wembley Stadium 40 years ago. It was only the second time the club had reached an FA final, 61 years on from their 2-1 defeat against Clapton in the 1925 FA Amateur Cup final.
It was only the 12th FA Vase final and prior to the 1980s, Billericay had been a dominant force in the Vase, winning three of the competition's five finals in the 70s.
But in the 1986 final, Southall were up against a team with a similar Vase pedigree, as Halesowen had reached the final three years earlier and went into the game against Bartlett's side as holders, after their 3-1 triumph against Fleetwood Town in 1985.
It wasn't to be for Southall as they were soundly beaten 3-0 and Halesowen made it a second FA Vase win in as many seasons.
Halesowen are one of only five clubs to have won the Vase more than once and one of only four teams to appear in three Vase finals - and their 1986 triumph against Southall is the last time either side has reached the competition's final.
Southall FC manager Gordon Bartlett is pictured above (top row, second left) next to future QPR, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United and England striker Les Ferdinand at the club's former Western Road ground, with the 1985-86 team that reached the FA Vase final.
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