School-teacher Viv Gibbins came to The Dell with an impressive record as an amateur footballer who had succeeded in the professional game having been capped at both amateur and full England levels (see below).

He had combined playing for First Division West Ham – where he became their first amateur to top-score in 1930-31 – with turning out for Clapton of the IsthmianLeague, with whom he twice won the Amateur Cup in 1924 and 1925. After West Ham, he had short spells with Brentford and Bristol Rovers, before arriving at Southampton. By now 32, he did not deliver in his two Second Division appearances. Returning to London, he won a runners-up medal with Leyton, in the 1934 Amateur Cup Final, before a swansong with Catford Wanderers in the Southern Amateur League. He became the Head at Harold Road School in West Ham, retiring in the early 1970s but remaining an occasional visitor to Upton Park.