It is with great sadness that we have learnt that former Hendon favourite, Dermot Drummy, passed away earlier today aged 56.

Dermot made his competitive Hendon debut in a Middlesex Charity Cup tie at Southall on 5th August 1980 - a game that we won 5-0 - and went on to make 348 appearances, scoring 62 goals in the process. Prior to joining the club he began his career at Arsenal, and made five appearances on loan at Blackpool. He also played for Wealdstone, Enfield, Ware and St Albans City. One of the highlights of his time with the Greens was scoring in the 1988 Middlesex Charity Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.

Much of his managerial career was spent with various youth set-ups, although he started out as player-manager at Ware during the 1996-97 season before spending a number of years back at Arsenal coaching their youth teams. He became manager of the Chelsea Academy in 2009 leading them to FA Youth Cup success in 2010, and then became reserve team manager in July 2011.

When the reserves league was replaced by an under 21 league, Dermot took control of that side, and they won the under 21 Premier League in 2014. He later became head coach of Crawley Town in April 2016, leaving the post at the end of last season.

Our thoughts of everyone connected with Hendon FC are with Dermot's family at this very sad time.