Employed in the Jobbing Department at the Echo, Ernest “Bunt” King was playing for Southern League Boscombe in their final season before they joined the Football League’s Division III(S), when Southampton offered him the prospect of Second Division football. It didn’t take long for him to be offered pro terms,

but Ernest never gave up his day-job, reaching an agreement with the Echo to have Saturday afternoons off, so as to continue playing as a part-timer.

He would go on to exceed 100 appearances for the Reserves in the course of three seasons, but would get only two games in Division II. He returned to the Southern League, now with Guildford City, and had a few months with Cowes in the Hampshire League before a liver problem obliged him to give up the game for good. He moved to the composing room at the Echo, to work as a Linotype Operator until his retirement in 1968, after 48 years at the ’paper.