The Deres are devistrated to confirmthat one of Erith & Belvedere's greatest ever players, Dennis Crawford, died yesterday at the age of 87 after a battle with Alzheimers.

Dennis was born on 19 October 1937, made his debut for the club aged 18 on 18 August 1956, and went on to make a club record 505 appearances from 1956-71,, chipping in 30 goals from centre-half. In 1967 he was presented with a gold watch by Fulham player Bobby Robson on the occasion of his 400th match for the Deres. He was also, as many of us will know, an absolute gentleman and entertaining company.

Club Historian had the following to say about Dennis

Record-setting skipper.

A player who makes his debut at centre-half in an 8-3 defeat might not expect to go on to set the appearances record for his club. But that’s what Dennis Crawford did. Standing in for the injured Bernard Kinch at Uxbridge on 18 August 1956, he was in a side that took a hiding and didn’t reappear in the team until April, after which he was a constant at the heart of the defence for the best part of twelve years. On 28 January 1961 Dennis and Joe Hurlock were the central defenders as E&B played the newfangled 4-2-4 system for the first time in an Amateur Cup replay v Pegasus at White City.

By 1965 his qualities were well known throughout the league, as witness one report which said “Crawford could have contained the Uxbridge attack on his own … faultless”. Then there was the PA announcer at Wembley FC on 25 March 1967 who introduced Dennis as “the best centre-half in the league”. Shortly afterwards, on 11 April, there was a party at Park View. The occasion was Dennis’s 400th match for the Deres; the opposition was Tilbury, whom E&B beat 2-1, and there in the crowd were the Mayor of Bexley and various League players: Steve Earle, Les Barrett, and Fulham stalwart Bobby Robson. The future Ipswich, England and Barcelona manager, who had signed for Fulham on the same day as Deres manager Roy Dwight, presented Crawford with a gold watch.

There was a shock at the start of 1968-69 as Dennis, within a couple of dozen appearances of the 500 mark, was dropped for the opening game in favour of Brian Holman. While Dennis was out of favour Chesham’s manager echoed many people’s thoughts when he said on 2 November, “I wish I could afford to drop someone like Crawford”. Three days later Dennis resigned from the club. Murphy had set out his playing policy: “not one steadfast centre half, but two more mobile central defenders”, and had said of Crawford, still only 31, “his usefulness is limited.” Just possibly football trends were leaving the former skipper behind, but Murphy made few friends by his candour.

Just 25 days after that came Colin Johnson’s injury, which in turn led to Murphy’s walkout five weeks afterwards – and by the end of January 1969 Dennis was back in the team. The defence was described as “superlative” on at least one occasion; a defensive formation with Dennis as sweeper kept a clean sheet at Hertford; and the season ended with E&B beating Herne Bay in the Kent Amateur Cup Final and Dennis as runner-up in the Player of the Year vote.

Dennis made a single comeback appearance on 2 February 1971 at Aveley, bringing his appearance total to 505, but other than that the successful end to 1968-69 was his dignified swansong.

His funeral will take place at Eltham Crematorium at 2pm on Wednesday 19 March.