Des returned to England after a spell in hospital and went back on operations in Liberators and was demobbed with the rank of Flying Officer.

A boy had gone to war and a man, complete with a de rigeur RAF handlebar moustance, returned to civilian life and the offer of a part-time professional engagement with Albion.

"My last match was at Port Vale on Christmas Day, 1946 and we lost 5-0. I cannot remember anything of the game."

Don Welsh had just taken over as manager from Tommy Cook and Charlie Webb went into honourable retirement. It was the end of an era. Did being released by Albion shatter boyhood dreams?

"Not at all," says Des. "While I had been a regular supporter as a youngster and gone on to play for the club, football never appealed to me as a career. I just played for the love of the game. When the Albion let me go I played a couple of seasons for Hastings United. At the time I was living and working in London and had been training at Fulham so that wasn't ideal from Albion's point of view and we parted company. I couldn't quarrel with that. My job outside football was selling safes and I never sold one. At the Goldstone I think we were on £5 a match with a £2 win bonus and £1 for a draw."

Travelling by train to Hastings soon palled and when older brother Charlie, who captained Shoreham, suggested that Des might like to join, he reinstated as an amateur and became part of a happy band. The muddy slopes of Buckingham Park was a fortress as Shoreham won the Sussex County League in 1951-52 and 1952-53.

By this time Des was running the pig farm at Hangleton handed down by his father. The piggery was close to the barn on the old West Hove golf course and Des ran the business until the land was sold. He lives only a few hundred yards away which is handy for Des's membership of West Hove.

Like many who have played pro football, the habit on hanging up his boots didn't extend to watching on a regular basis. "But the Albion is my club and it is the result I look for first of all," said this mild-mannered survivor in every sense of the word.