CHIEF HAS A SECOND CRACK OF CUP GLORY

JAMES CONNOR was cruelly denied a chance of fulfilling an FA Cup dream as a player – now he’s out to finally create memories, this time from the head of the boardroom table.

- Jon Couch

As a teenage midfielder at defunct Aldershot, Connor was once labelled one of London’s top talents with Mick McCarthy’s Millwall clambering over their rivals to offer him a mammoth five-year deal.

But just two months and 10 games into his fledgling career, a knee injury forced the young Lion to hang up his boots and set his sights on a different career at the ripe age of just 22.

These days, Connor runs his own successful wealth management firm and, through choice, has had no dealings with football – until recently that is.

After agreeing to run his son’s Under 9s at Hanworth Villa, he has rediscovered his love for the game and is now very much back in the hotseat having taken over the chairmanship of the Isthmian League South Central club from his father Jim, who himself founded the Villains back in 1976.