Chairman Griffin celebrates Devonshire's finest moments as iconic reign comes to an en

Alan Devonshire (far right) celebrates with his players after the Magpies 1-1 draw with Port Vale in the FA Cup.

--

Chairman Peter Griffin has been reflecting on some of his favourite moments of Alan Devonshire’s second tenure as Magpies boss and believes he should be remembered as ‘the greatest manager Maidenhead United have ever had’.

Devonshire called time on his second spell as Magpies boss on Sunday, following the side’s 1-0 defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge in the National League South, a result which saw the side fall to 15th in the table.

And while the last few weeks have been tough for Devonshire, and everyone connected with Maidenhead United, Griffin doesn’t want to focus on a disappointing ‘final two minutes’ of what’s been an incredible story.

Yes, he feels the time was right for Devonshire to step aside and let someone else take the club on, but he doesn’t want to let the final few weeks of his time as boss cloud supporters’ opinion of him - and he doesn’t think it will.

He leaves the club relatively safe in mid-table, six points above the relegation zone, and while that wasn’t the goal at the start of the campaign, he also doesn’t want to write off the Magpies hopes this season after this poor spell.

“I don’t really want any of this to be about why he decided to leave, or the bad run we’ve been on because that’s football. We knew he was going at the end of the season,” said Griffin.

“He is remembered now as the greatest manager Maidenhead have ever had in their illustrious 150-year odd history.

“He has got us to a level we’ve never been at before and he kept us there. We had cup runs, famous victories over big former league teams. It’s been a fantastic time and that’s how Dev will be remembered, there’s no two ways about it.

“The machinations of him leaving and how and why that happened is a two-minute story, but the real story is that he’s a true Maidenhead United legend who is deserving of all the plaudits he’s going to get over the next week or so as he steps down.”

In his second spell as manager, Devonshire guided the Magpies to promotion from the National League South as champions back in 2017, the side securing the title on the final day of the season with a 3-0 win at a sun-drenched Margate FC. Since then, they’ve had eight memorable seasons punching above their weight in the National League before last season’s demotion back to the National League South - again on the final day of the season following a 3-0 home win over Boston United.

In between there have been so many wonderful memories for Griffin and the whole of the Magpies’ fanbase

“There are so many,” he said. “The Port Vale game in the FA Cup, the year before we got promoted. We scored a last-minute equaliser, and it was just sheer joy. I remember days like that, I remember being there with Oscar who was quite young at the time. We were on the team coach, and we came back afterwards and the atmosphere on the coach was just unbridled joy. It was great fun. That was before we’d ever been on television live. The excitement that generated was also special.

“Then we had the promotion the year later, and there are individual games. Beating Wrexham on many occasions, the win where the owners from Hollywood turned up. We beat Leyton Orient twice away from home. To hear the boos ring out at the end of a game when we’ve beaten some big old league team. Tranmere Rovers, we beat, poor old Chesterfield we beat every time.

“There are so many fantastic memories and brilliant comebacks. They will live long in the memory.

“This run we’ve been in recently, it’s horrible, but every fan must go through them. Spurs fans are not having a great week.

“But football is about that. As a fan you must endure some tough runs and results but at the back of your mind you know it’s going to go back the other way again and that’s what you enjoy.”