He knew where the net was. That’s what sums up Chris Spinks’ Non League career.
Spinks grew like a carrot during his Westella stint and evolved into a very scrumptious NCEL striker. His goals record with Westella and Hall Road Rangers in just a few seasons is up there with the best.
He’s also a prankster who has enjoyed some very memorable nights out, especially with his beloved Westella team-mates. He’s got some very funny stories, including why Dave Ricardo emulated one of Leon Sewell’s major escapades
This is Chris Spinks’ Non League Journey
“I was part of Hall Road Rangers when I was 17 around 2006 before I went to America in 2006. I played with the likes of Martin Thacker, Paul Wilson, Paul Palmer and under Steve Richards and Andy Foster.
“But my Non League journey started at Westella back in the days when we were playing in the Central Midlands League at Bishop Burton. At the start it was Danny McIntyre who was running it. Because of my work commitments I struggled to play regularly. I was in and out of the team and I couldn’t hold down a place.
“I think it was in the season that Andy Foster took charge, Westella went on and won the Central Midlands League (2012). We had Rich Watson in goal, Matty Fyvie who was the skipper and a few of the older Westella lads. At that point I was still on the fringe because of work so there were no real highlights. I actually think on the day they lifted the trophy I was at work.
“The season after I think Leon had taken the reins and Westella had found a new sponsor called VIP, hence the name-change to Westella VIP. I was still working in the retail at the time and Leon or the chairman of Westella Pete Whinham was quite friendly with the VIP managing director and I ended up working for VIP which freed my Saturday’s up. Funnily enough it was actually at the club’s presentation night where the sponsors were there that I talked myself into a job. So that’s where it properly started for me.”
Westella Nights Out
“It was always very fun with Westella and we always made sure we had a Christmas night out and an end of season night out. Nine times out of ten it would be down to me and one of the other lads Acko, a bit of an older head, to get things organised. There were several times where we’d have party buses picking us up from hotels. We’d have tours around the different cities we used to go to and have a night out in. It was part and parcel of being at Westella.”
Dave Ricardo actually performed a remake of an old Leon Sewell debacle
“It was ridiculously funny. We were staying close to the Don Valley Stadium in a dodgy hotel that Leon had managed to sort out and get a discount off the manager. We had the night out and he woke up and couldn’t find his car keys. One of the lads who was playing that Sunday, Andy Bagshaw, had driven back to play for Blackie’s which bizarrely at the time was (Sewell’s Hall Road assistant Chris Burke) Burkie’s team, had accidentally taken Leon’s keys back to Hull. We rang Baggy and someone answered his phone and then someone shouted onto the pitch ‘you need to come off, you’ve got Leon’s keys and he’s stuck in Sheffield and can’t get home’. He was like ‘I aren’t coming off’. We ended up back on the pop at lunchtime in a pub in Sheffield. By the time Baggy had got back to us Leon had gone to the toilet so we decided that we’d put his keys in his bag and tell him that Baggy didn’t have his keys. Leon turfed all his bag out again and he had his Calvin Klein kegs over the pub floor. He came across his keys and lost his rag to say the least!”
The Police Called
“That was another one that got out of hand. Acko (James Atkinson) pushed one of the lads through a DJ’s booth in Nottingham. Drink went all over his decks and the music went off, the lot and the lad ended up spending the night in a cell. The lad had run out of the bar as the bouncers went for him and then ran round the corner and into a beer garden which turned out to be the same bar! I remember waking up in the morning and someone saying ‘oh, so and so has been arrested and is in custody’. Leon had to spend the afternoon waiting for the lad and acting like a solicitor in a police station in Nottingham. As the gaffer he was the one who picked up the pieces for us. We’d cause all the disruption and chaos and he’d have a mild involvement and suffer the consequences the next day!”
Santa’s Bell
“The best one for me is when we went on an all-day p*ss up and all nighter rolled into one in Newcastle. Acko was dressed as Santa Claus in May. He had a bell and one of the rules was that every time you heard the bell you had to get off ground. The last one off the ground had to down a beer. We got off the train in Newcastle Train Station and we were waiting for our lifts. I had a cow onesie on I think and Acko rang his bell and jumped into a woman’s car. He moved her handbag off the passenger seat and onto her lap and just sat in her car. The woman didn’t know what was happening at first but once as Acko explained what was happening she laughed her head off. It is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in my life. That’s some of the limits we went to. Acko was absolute fruit cake, he does all sort of mad stuff.”
Whitley Bay
“We had the Police called to us at about 2pm. It was the one where I was dressed as a cow and Acko as Father Christmas. We stood on the wooden benches in a beer garden and one of the planks of wood came flying out and whacked me clean in the face. I fell off the table and ended up rolling around in a load of nettles. The landlord came out shouting and telling us that the Police were coming. We went to the next pub but one of the lads dressed as the honey monster and another who was Papa Smurf went into a shop next door. They then came in the pub with boxes of Sugar Puffs and they were poured them all over the dance floor. The pub called the Police straightaway. We had to go in back rooms and sweep up three boxes of Sugar Puffs. We’d also started on the drink and we’d order two bottles of Bud each – one to drink and one to spray at people. The bar staff were going mental.”
Notable Players at Westella
“Scouse (James Williamson) has done well for himself (as he’s now playing at Gainsborough). Curtis (Woodhouse) took a liking to him as he took him to Tadcaster after maybe seeing him at Matlock. In his 17, 18-year-old days he was part of our Westella side, along with Jack Walters. Jack’s a good pal of mine and he’s done alright for himself.”
Notable Central Midlands League Games
“The Welbeck games stand out for me. Not for the football side, just for the stories you get from them. Welbeck were a community team and they would play ex-convicts and people who had just got out of jail. They were a funny stories from those games. I think Matty Fyvie was told he’d have his footy boots taken off him by a big centre-half with gold teeth. It was a place you’d always remember.
“We never won the Central Midlands League under Leon but we did finish second to AFC Mansfield. Those games were quite memorable. The Mansfield game at Bishop Burton I do remember because we were 2-0 up and we lost 4-2. I was playing with a slight injury and they blitzed us in the second half. Dean Rick was upfront for them and he tore us apart.
“We won most weeks and I really enjoyed it. We had a mixture of younger and older lads, some of who had been with the club for years. We were like a family and that’s why we stayed together for a long time. We still are close mates. Even after the lockdown we got together for a Sunday booze up and that ended up being carnage.”
Westella move into the NCEL
“From a playing perspective, I always knew I could do it in the Northern Counties East League. I’d spent a lot of time in America on a scholarship and I played semi-pro over there. I’ve always been around a professional setup and good level of football. I was at Hull City when I was younger too. So I always knew what I was capable of but because of my job it was difficult. Coming out of the Central Midlands League and going into the NCEL was a fresh start and it was a step up.
“There was no budget, no money and we managed to keep a good side together. The lads bought into what Leon wanted to do and because we were all mates we were always going to play for each other. That’s what it was all about at Westella. We found our feet in the league and we gave a good account of ourselves in the league despite not getting paid.”
Notable Westella Games in the NCEL (2015/16)
“I scored one of the best hat-tricks I’ve ever scored in a game against Selby Town (April 2016). One was a free kick just inside our half, one was a volley and the other one was a penalty. That was a memorable game. I’m sure Dave Ricardo was Selby’s manager because he always seemed to mention it. We played Yorkshire Amateur in the following game and won 5-2. I should have scored a hat-trick. I got two and I then rounded the goalkeeper and missed an empty net.
“Emley at home stands out where we won 4-3. Emley were winning 3-2 at one stage and Callum Harrison came on and scored the winner. It was when Emley were really strong with Ash Flynn, Kieran Ryan and Jordan Coduri. There was also a game where won 1-0 from a long throw-in when we had some lads Leon had got from Thorne Colliery. We were hanging on for dear life. I can’t remember who we played but they played hit the bar, the post.”
Brief Hull United Stint (2015/16)
“There was a period where I went and played for Hull United. I wasn’t really known in the NCEL when I came into it with Westella but when I had started scoring, it was at the point where the phone calls started. That’s sort of how the Hull United scenario came about. We played Hull United at Dene Park and I scored a worldie free kick against Dobbo (Phil Dobson) in goal. I knew a few of their players as Jack Walters had gone there. Tom Bennett was there. Brett Agnew was making a big statement too.
“We got beat and I remember Curtis ringing two days after wanting me to play for Hull United. He twisted my arm and sold the club. At the time they moving to Hull KR’s ground – that was a big selling point. I’m not a massive money chaser so that was never a motivation. I just love playing football. I took the plunge just before Christmas and I played six or seven games for Hull United and didn’t enjoy it. I don’t think I played to the best of my abilities which left me struggling for a place. I think I scored on my debut when I lobbed the Bottesford goalkeeper at the Rugby ground. I just wasn’t enjoying my football and I rang Leon to say I needed to go back to Westella. He welcomed me back with open arms.”
Leon Sewell and Chris Burke
“I’ve known Leon for a very long time and I class him a good pal and I just think from a footballing perspective he is very knowledgeable and knows a lot of people. I have a lot of time for him. Burkey was always good for making sure everyone was looked after and he’d help you out. He was one of the lads and he’s a spot on down to earth genuine guy who loves the game.
“The funny thing with them two was from my stag do when Burkey was pushed around Alicante Airport in a wheelchair. For some strange reason two of the lads were on a completely different flight and we were waiting for them so Leon and Burkey went and got a wheelchair and were going round in it.”
Prank Calls
“I’m the one who normally does them. I’ve one recently. When the Westella lads got together we rang Mike Thompson, the new Beverley manager. Basically they’d played a friendly against someone, possibly Immingham. I told him I was Immingham’s number seven and that I wanted to come down. I told him that I had heard Beverley had a really nice setup and nice pitch. Mike said ‘ah yeah number seven, I liked you and number nine upfront’. So he was going on about that and I said about where the club belonged and he massively bought into it. He said ‘Beverley’s huge, it has got its own minster’. It was madness. I think at the end of the call someone shouted ‘mine’s a 12 inch pizza and a portion of chips’.
“I’ve done loads of prank calls. Normally they’d take place on the train on the way to Newcastle on the night out. I’ve rang all sorts of places. I rang Toys ‘r’ Us to to tell them their ‘r’ is back to front.
“Me and Acko once did one to Dave Anderson when he was at Barton. We rang him and we said we were the away team travelling to them and that we had forgotten our kit. So we asked him to put one of their kits in the away changing room. Acko knew a couple of lads at Barton and in the away changing room there was a full Barton kit out. When the away team got there they were like ‘why’s this Barton kit up in our changing room’?”
Hall Road Rangers move (2016/17)
“We were flying at Westella. Myself, Joe McFayden, Alex Wood had scored over 100 goals between us. Rico (Dave Ricardo) had picked up on that and I looked at the players who were getting brought in and what he was trying to build. I went down to a pre-season session and there were the likes of Ash Dexter, whose party piece is unbelievable, and James Piercy. They were building a team where you thought ‘wow, something is going to happen here’. It was after my second training session when I committed. 2016/17 was a massive year in my Non League history in the way we went onto win the league (NCEL Division One) and in the way we did it. It wasn’t easy but it was a very good year.
“It was the most exciting title race ever and it was unbelievable, even to the last day and how the games unfolded. Winning the league was certainly the most memorable moment in my football career.”
FA Vase Run
“It was an unbelievable run. We beat Silsden 4-3 in extra-time when it was tight – that stood out. We won 3-2 at Congleton and I scored a hat-trick so that was definitely a memorable game.
“The Congleton game in itself contains a story which is just madness. We got lost and the coach had to drop us off and we ended up having to walk to the ground. I think it was a mile walk. We got dropped off at a Tesco’s. Normally if we were away we’d stop off by meeting at Goole and go into the Premier Inn and have beans on toast. So we got dropped off at the Tesco’s and we piled in and all got a Meal Deal. We all eating a Meal Deal and walking through the streets to the ground with each other. The coach turned up 15 minutes later with all our gear. I think only had half an hour before kick off when we got there.
“There was another game when Sam Belcher chucked Rico’s white shirt out of the skylight of the coach. His shirt was rolling down the A1.”
Memorable League Games
“Penistone at home was a massive game for us. We won 2-1. Me and Jack Binns were on the bench and Haworth Park was like a cow field. It was just mud. We’d gone 2-0 up and they got a penalty which Dobbo saved. They got one late on but that stood out.
“Obviously the last game of the season at Campion where we won the league stands out. It was a nervy game because of what was riding on it. We did it the hard way. As we got back in the changing room we had some beers and made sure we were prepared for the night. After we got the bus home I think we went in a pub around the corner from Haworth Park. I was meant to be going out but I rang my missus and told her I wouldn’t be coming home. She said ‘fair do’s’. Any other time it would have been a different answer.”
Ricardo’s remake of Leon Sewell: Stuck in Sheffield
“Rico getting stuck at Hallam is funny. I can remember leaving the club, getting in a car and driving off. We were in the group chat on the way home and it popped up that Rico was still in Hallam and everyone was on the M62. The story tells itself that he was still in their clubhouse having a beer at 7pm at night. I was having flashbacks to Leon’s car keys incident in Sheffield.”
Phil Dobson
“I remember Dobbo losing his head in training after Ash Dexter lobbed him in a five-a-side goal. He got all the balls out of the back of the goal and booted them over the fence. He then got in his car and drove home. I love him to bits though.”
Josh Batty
“He once went in goal at Garforth, we drew 1-1. Steve Janney got injured early on and Batts being Batts put his hand up straightaway to go in goal and he made a few good saves.”
Last year at Hall Road (2017/18)
“I did one more season with Hall Road. After we won the league Dexter quit saying he couldn’t commit and I live around the corner from Danny Norton so we agreed that we’d do one more season. At the start of the season Rico was still there. The core of the lads stayed and we gave it a go. Everything then happened with Dave and it ended up with him leaving and Bill Gill taking over.
“It was a weird season. It was tough in that the level of football had gone up and it was tough that Bill had taken over from Dave midway through the season because things did change.”
Hemsworth Away (2017/18)
“We scored in the 97th minute to draw 3-3. They were moaning because they’d been loads of added time but they’d run out of football every time the ball went into the conifers. There was a bit of an uproar at the end. The Hemsworth fans were going mad. When Matt Crane scored, Tom Bennett ran over to their fans and gave it massive ones. It escalated from that and when Benno and Rico were walking off the pitch, Rico started mimicking blowing a ball up and pointing at his watch. That’s Rico for you.”
Funny Team-Talks
“Andy Watts gave the funniest pre-match team-talk I’ve ever heard. He’s been in the Army and he basically told a story of been on the front-line in Afghanistan. He had everyone building this picture up and been there for each other. He was shouting, making banging noises and making the sounds of bombs. He was red roar when he finished. He was sweating and had to take his top off. Everyone was looking at each other laughing.
“Another team-talk that stands out is Rico away at Teversal. I think we drew 1-1. He went to lift a really old physio bench. It is that old you can’t lift it. At half-time Dave Ricardo was going off on one that much that he tried to flip the physio table and he couldn’t lift it. Everyone tried to keep a straight face but when we went out for the second half everyone was like ‘did you see him try and lift that table’?
“The last year at Hall Road we went to Liversedge and Bill Gill compared himself to a carrot growing in a plant pot. That’s another vivid memory. He was talking about how we had grown as a team and how far we had come. He started off by saying ‘we’ve grown like a carrot…’. Everyone thought ‘what’s he on about’? I scored a couple of goals in the game and for one of the celebrations I jumped up in the air like a pencil and pretended to be a carrot planted in a plant pot. Bill laughed about it.”
Worksop Goal
“There’s one game I have to mention and if he reads it, the goalkeeper will be livid. He’s about 6’7 and we beat Worksop in the second season at Hall Road. I dinked him and I basically had his life. It is on one of Pete Fleming’s videos. The goalkeeper came flying out after Benno had played me down the right side. I faked to smash it and I dinked it over him and he was just stood there. He was going absolutely mad. He came up to me in the clubhouse and said ‘you’ve had my life there’. Someone told him it was on video and he said that it better not go anywhere. He was really playing up about it.”
Return to Westella as player/manager (2018)
“When the 2017/18 season ended, a few lads went their own way from Hall Road and Leon and Burkey had left Westella so the manager’s job was available. I spoke to the club and showed my interest in becoming player/manager. I had spoken to Phil Dobson and what we wanted to do was Dobbo come in as manager and I would assist him and play. Three or four weeks into communication and talking to the club once or twice, Dobbo dropped out so I ended up taking it on with Paul Sorrell who was there when Leon was there.
“I was a manager and then playing when I could. It was hard work and probably the wrong time. It was an opportunity I didn’t want to pass up. I love Westella, I love the club and what they do and how it is ran. I did one season as manager and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. There’s no regrets but it probably was too soon.
“Last year I spoke to Craig Palmer who you may know from his days in the NCEL. He was managing LIV in the same league and he ended leaving that club. I approached him to help me out and he said he wanted to manage so I said ‘be my guest’. It took a lot of pressure off me and it fell into place. He’s the gaffer and I assist.”
If you have enjoyed reading Non League Yorkshire over the past few months, please consider making a donation to the not-for-profit organisation NLY Community Sport which provides sport for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. CLICK HERE to visit the JustGiving page. There is a video at the bottom of the page showing our work.
NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams. When we properly return to ‘action’, our work will play an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.
We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
You can learn more about the organisation HERE and on our Facebook page.
Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.