Stockport County have had many great players during their illustrious 120-year history. They've also had many hugely popular players. Alan Ogley features in both categories.

Ogley is not only one of the club's best-ever goalkeepers, second only to the legendry Tiger Bowles in 'keeper appearances, he's also one of the Hatters most popular players of all time, adored by the County faithful to this day.
 
Here's to you Alan Ogley ...

Shortly after achieving promotion back in 1967 County allowed Ken Mulhearn, their promising young goalkeeper, to move to Manchester City in a deal that saw Alan Ogley, along with £18,000, make the opposite journey.

Many people consider it the best bit of business ever conducted by the club.

The performances of the Barnsley-born 'keeper earned immediate respect but it his unique relationship with the County supporters that would make him a leading contender for the club's most popular player.

The Edgeley Park faithful worshipped him and he was never slow to show his appreciation.

With his team attacking Ogley never wasted an opportunity to come a long way out of his penalty area to conduct the singing and chanting on the Popular Side.

When he returned as a Darlington player in the mid-70s the reception he received was an emotional and heart-warming tribute to a man who missed out on a thoroughly deserved testimonial when he was inexplicably freed at the end of the preceding season.

Of his switch from Maine Road, Ogley recalled: "It was a good move for me at the time. Jimmy Meadows was manager and Vic Bernard, a very nice man, was in charge of the club.

"Vic had got the team going very, very strongly near the top of the old Third Division and it just needed strengthening in a couple of departments. I personally think that if I hadn't damaged my knee the backside of February we'd have won promotion to the Second Division."

Alan fondly remembers some of his teammates: "We had the best right-winger in any of the Divisions in Lennie Allchurch. We had Derek Kevan, Billy Atkins and Big Jim (Fryatt) with Johnny Price on the left wing.

"At the back we had the likes of Billy Haydock, Matt Woods and Eddie Stuart. They had all come from good clubs and they were all very good players.

"Vic Bernard had a show-biz element about him and Edgeley Park was the place to be and be seen around that time.

"All the Coronation Street people were at every game and crowds averaged around 10,000.

"I remember playing at Torquay, my second away game for County, when they used to play on Saturday nights. We won 1-0 with Johnny Price scoring. After the game it was champagne all over. I thought to myself 'where the hell have I come here'. We never used to get that at Maine Road!

"That was Vic Bernard, though. He was a good bloke and he really looked after the players and backroom staff. Everyone wanted to play for him. Even up to the present day the men who should be remembered by Stockport County more than any others are Vic Bernard and Alan Kirk. Without these guys there may well have been no Stockport County here today."

Whenever the name of Alan Ogley is mentioned, however, the topic of conversation soon turns to that never-to-be-forgotten night in 1972 when cockney aristocrats, West Ham United were beaten in the third round of the Football League Cup.

"We beat Crystal Palace first," Alan is quick to remind you. "Palace were going well in the old First Division and we won 1-0 at Selhurst Park [the first time a team from Division Four had beaten a top-flight team away from home]. Hughie Ryden scored the goal and we deserved it. OK, I made two or three saves, but we put their 'keeper under more pressure than me. We were on the champagne again that night!

"West Ham was a great draw and they had all the big guns out. We out-played them, though. All right we had a bit of luck when their 'keeper made a mess of a cross and gave a penalty away which Tommy (Spratt) stuck away for the winner.

"But we'd already scored a brilliant goal through Mal Russell before Clyde Best equalised."

Typically, Alan forgot to mention his last, gasp wonder-save. "It was just one of those things," he replied modestly when pressed on the subject.

"Paul Hart had missed his tackle and Clyde (Best) came inside. I'd already come out to go underneath him but he came back to hit it with his right foot. All I did was to dive across and the ball just hit my hand and went over the top."
At last year's Gala Dinner, Alan was one of an elite band of 19 people to be inaugurated into the newly formed Stockport County Hall of Fame after fans nominated his save from Clyde Best as 'Save of the Century'.

Despite Alan playing the save down, without his intervention and bravery - he was already limping after an earlier collision with current TV commentator Trevor Brooking - County would almost certainly have been denied a place in Round Four - an achievement that took 25 years to emulate.

"When you think about it," Alan recalled. "West Ham didn't have a prayer. The team was playing out of their skins. Ray Charter was brilliant. And then there was the crowd. Those last 10 or 15 minutes when all four sides of the ground were chanting 'County' were just amazing. As I've said, West Ham didn't have a prayer."

It was 1975 when County dropped the bombshell that the popular goalkeeper was to be released.

Rumours at the time suggested the shock decision was retribution for Alan's involvement with the PFA.

Ogley said: "I don't think I was released because of my performances. It could have been something to do with my PFA because we threatened strike action at one stage when wages weren't being paid. Leaving County, though, really upset me."

The County faithful, however, did not forget the man who had become a cult figure in his eight seasons with the club.

His return to Edgeley Park sparked an amazing reception, the likes of which you may perhaps see once in a lifetime.

"I remember the game well," said a clearly emotional Ogley. "I walked onto the pitch and the crowd just took off. They started chanting my name all around the ground so I got down on my knees and bowed to them in recognition.

"Towards the end of the game I made a good save to stop County winning and the reaction from the crowd was as though I was still the County 'keeper. And at the final whistle I was mobbed as I left the pitch.

"To be fair, though, it was the same every time I went back to County. Even when I return for the ex-players' cricket match the same thing happens. I still get the same feeling.

"Stockport County are a great club and I have a lot of respect for the County spectators, a lot of respect."

The words of a famous County song illustrate perfectly what Alan Ogley means to Hatters supporters.

To the tune of Mrs Robinson: "Here's to you Alan Ogley, The Cheadle End loves you more than you will know."

Alan Ogley's full league career

Club	Date Signed	Apps	Gls
Barnsley	March 1963	9	0
Manchester City	July 1963	51	0
Stockport County	September 1967	240	0
Darlington	August 1975	80	0
Total		380	0