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All at Watford FC were saddened to learn of the recent passing of former player Dennis Maskell.
Dennis, or Danny to many, was born in the small Welsh mining town of Mountain Ash, an area focused on hard, manual work and rugby. So, for a young man no taller than 5ft 4ins, the chances of leaving the town to become a professional sportsman seemed slim.
However, aged 18, Dennis was identified by a scout from Watford, and he was invited to sign for the club. Dennis insisted on doing his national service first and for two years he was based in Eritrea, North-East Africa. His service had a lasting impression on him, especially his attitudes towards food and water wastage.
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On his return from the military, he left Wales to move in with assistant trainer Les Thomas and his family on Sandringham Road, North Watford and began training with the club. His first-team debut came away at Shrewsbury Town and started with a win. Dennis spoke proudly of his performance in this game and the number of telegraphs he received when the news reached family and friends back in Mountain Ash. In his second game for the club Dennis broke his foot, which resulted in a long spell on the sidelines.
Dennis enjoyed his time in the reserves as he recovered because they had a strong side and the fixtures included the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and West Brom. When not playing for the reserves, he would often go and watch. Once he went to watch them against Fulham and when one of the officials didn’t turn up, the ref had him running the line!
Dennis’ return to full fitness coincided with Haydn Green being appointed as manager and Green played Dennis as an inside forward opposed to his favoured position of winger. Come the end of his second season he was summoned to the manager’s office and told his name was to be put on ‘the circular’ (transfer list) and he should look for a new club. He left Watford with only a handful of first-team appearances but great memories, stories, and friendships.
Dennis was contacted by several clubs, but the letter that caught his attention was from Harry Thompson, manager of Headington United (now Oxford United). Dennis would often tell the story of being collected from the train station on his first arrival in Oxford and how he immediately fell in love with the city, especially as the architecture was so unlike the steep, terrace-housed hillsides of his childhood.
Dennis played in the Headington United team that completed the double in the 1952/53 season, winning the Southern League title and the Southern League Cup. The following year, he was one of the stars in the United team which fought its way through to the fourth round of the FA Cup to face Nat Lofthouse and his mighty Bolton Wanderers.
It was partly thanks to Watford that Dennis met his future wife, Marion. The team had played away at Newport County, 20 miles or so from Mountain Ash, so Dennis was given permission to stay behind with family for the weekend. Dennis got on the bus from Newport to head back towards Mountain Ash, where he sat next to a young lady. Using his trademark charm, he persuaded her to go on a date to the cinema with him and that started a relationship lasting more than 70 years.
Dennis and Marion had two children, Graham and Jane, who loved the way their father would teach them (as well as all their friends) life skills including swimming and riding a bike. Dennis enjoyed being around children and would often be at the centre of garden cricket matches for hours, only stopping when he was called in for dinner alongside a street-full of disappointed children.
He was always proud of his time at Watford and the subsequent effect it had on his life. Without the club taking a chance on a small, left-footed winger from the mining valleys of South Wales, he and Marion would never have gone on to live the joyous life he had in his beloved Oxford, surrounded by friends and family all the way to the end.
