Derek Wells

DOB: 23rd February 1933

Position: Full-back

Season of first appearance: 1950/51

Season of last appearance: 1960/61

Full Appearances: 220

Substitute: 0

Goals: 8

Also played for:

Deal Town and Canterbury City.

Player Profile:

Long-serving, burly player born in Fulham. Derek moved to Heston, Middlesex, aged four and later played for the county's boys team before his family relocated to Thanet. He studied at Canterbury Technical College and played for local amateur club Birchington after leaving school.

In December 1949, Derek joined Margate aged 16 and became a regular in the reserves as a striker during 1949/50 and 1950/51. He also made a one-off appearance for the first team on 11.5.51 in a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Snowdown before departing to do his National Service with the RAF.

Derek was posted to Singapore where he served as a mechanic and played for the Far Eastern Command side which undertook tours to Indo-China, Manila, Hong Kong, Borneo and Malaya.

Derek returned to Hartsdown in July 1953 and was the leading goalscorer for the reserves during 1953/54 - finding the net 28 times for them. He also made three first team appearances, the first of them in a 5-1 win over Bexleyheath & Welling at Hartsdown in February 1954. He was one of the scorers in that match and got one more goal before the end of the season.

During the 1954/55 campaign Derek made a further nine first team appearances, most as a full-back, but he was still mainly a reserve player.

Derek continued to be a stalwart of the reserve side during the 1955/56 season and by then he was firmly established as a full-back. He made six first-team appearances during the campaign but an ankle injury hampered his progress.

However, an injury to regular right-back Jack Yeomanson finally gave Derek the chance of a run in the first team at the start of 1956/57 season and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands. He quickly formed an impressive full-back partnership with Terry Joyce and only missed one match all season, making a total of 45 appearances without scoring. On 17.11.56 he was part of the Margate side that beat Dunstable 3-1 at Hartsdown Park in the FA Cup 1st Round and Derek also played in a 4-0 defeat at Millwall in the 2nd Round on 8.12.56. At that time he worked at a builders merchants.

When the veteran Yeomanson retired in the summer of 1957, the way was left clear for Derek to continue as the senior side's first-choice right-back and he made a further 38 appearances during the 1957/58 season. He played as Margate lost 3-2 to visitors Crystal Palace in the FA Cup 1st Round on 16.11.57 and would have been ever-present but for a severe bout of 'flu. On 3.5.58 Derek scored his first goals since the 1953/54 campaign when he struck twice while playing as an emergency striker in a 6-1 home win over Herne Bay on 3.5.58.

During the 1958/59 season Derek's versatility came to the fore once more and he played on the right wing and in midfield at various times, particularly towards the end of the campaign when Peter Seath did well at right-back. Derek made 43 appearances to take his tally for the club past 100 and on 15.11.58 he was in the side that lost 3-2 at Headington in the FA Cup 1st Round. Derek scored twice during the season.

He made a further 49 appearances without scoring during the 1959/60 campaign and Derek again turned out in various positions but mostly played at right-back. On 14.11.59 he featured in a 1-1 draw at Kettering in the FA Cup 1st Round and he also appeared in the replay at Hartsdown Park on 19.11.59 that Margate won 3-2. Derek was then in the side that drew 0-0 with visitors Crystal Palace in the 2nd Round on 5.12.59 and took part in the replay at Selhurst Park on 9.12.59 that the Eagles won 3-0.

During the 1960/61 season Derek was in and out of the first team and made 26 appearances in total, scoring twice. He featured almost exclusively in midfield where his strong tackling caught the eye.

However at the end of the season he left the club and joined Deal for the start of the 1961/62 campaign.

Derek then moved to Canterbury towards the end of 1961 and quickly became their captain. On 26.12.62 he scored a superb solo goal against Margate and Derek stayed with City until the end of the 1964/65 season, making a total of 105 league appearances and scoring twice.

His brother Ted played for Margate, Ashford, Ramsgate and Betteshanger during the 1940's and 1950's and another brother, Gerry, made a one-off appearance for Margate during the 1947/48 season.

Derek later spent many years playing for and then managing Sunday League side Westgate United Services Club and his son Stuart played for Ramsgate in the 1980's.

Derek became coach of Ramsgate Under-18's in the summer of 1990.

He was still living locally in 2009 when he celebrated his golden wedding anniversary and Derek's son Steve had a lengthy stint as Margate's press officer that ended in 2013.

Derek died on 6.6.13 at the age of 80 after a long illness.