London-born but Isle of Wight-raised, Wayne Talkes represented the Island and the same Hampshire side as Bobby Stokes.

Badgered by Stokes to try his luck with Southampton, he impressed on trial and was signed as an associate schoolboy.

Following an isolated substitute appearance in the Combination Cup in November 1967, aged 15 years, 180 days when he became the Reserves’ youngest debutant, post-war (and probably ever, subject to clarification of unknown pre-war dates), he became a regular in the Reserves in 1970-71 and made his first-team debut on the last day of the next season, at West Ham.

His home debut followed a year later, when he had five straight starts to end that 1972-73 season, but his Southampton career petered out in October 1973, shortly before Ted Bates handed over to Lawrie McMenemy. Wayne now had a few outings on loan at Fourth Division Doncaster. In today’s game, a local lad of his midfield ability might expect to spend more time coming off the first-team bench amid two or three loan spells. In his day of only one sub, however, Wayne had to be content to clock up 130 appearances for the Reserves.

Come the summer of 1974, he joined Third Division Bournemouth. But in his fifth game, he sustained a serious injury to an ankle he’d originally damaged in an England Schools-trial. The treatment included six months in plaster and cortisone injections. When it stopped, the recently-arrived manager, John Benson, was supportive. But Wayne knew that the ankle would not stand up to the rigours of the professional game.

He was offered a job with the Post Office, “as long as you play for us on Wednesdays.” One year on, he joined his former Reserves team-mate, Mick Ellard, in a sales/marketing capacity at the food group, Eden Vale. That allowed him to resume weekend football, with Totton and Brockenhurst, in turn. When he stepped up to Southern League level with Basingstoke, the extra travel did not sit well with the demands of a young family. So he spent the next decade playing for and coaching embryonic Southampton Senior League side, ISL Midanbury, before managing AC Delco. After nearly 20 years with Eden Vale, Wayne then worked for wholesalers, Palmer & Harvey as an Account Manager. He retired in March 2013, but was tempted back, as a part-time Business Development Manager, by WS Retail, even though this competed with a pet- project: getting his golf handicap down to single figures. He was a member at Corhampton GC, situated within the “SO” postcode yet far enough east to afford plenty of scope for banter with the blue half of the county.

Sadly Wayne passed away, aged 68 in April 2021 and the immediate social media comments from the many local footballers he played with and managed tell the story of not only a fine footballer but a very nice man.