LAUNCESTON Football Club will pay tribute to a club legend on Sunday as they host the retiring Liam Tilley’s testimonial match at Pennygillam (4pm).

To commemorate Liam’s 20 years at the club, Launceston Legends will take on a Plymouth Argyle Legends side, which will include the likes of Warren Feeney, Paul Smith and Joe Davey as well as former Rotherham United midfielder Darren Garner who enjoyed a successful spell at Pennygillam a few years ago.

Liam, 35, joined the Clarets at the age of 15 after leaving Southgate Colts and admits he’s never looked back.

He said: “I played right through Southgate and then joined Launceston at 15. I’d had enough of football after Southgate but Alan Yendell asked me to come up and have a go and I’ve never looked back.

“I played half a season for the seconds in the Plymouth and District League and then I was transitioned up.”

Liam made his first team debut as a substitute in the 1998/99 season under the guidance of Mike Hocking, in a 3-2 defeat at Penzance.

He said: “I remember warming up and our right-back Ben Smith pulled my shorts down in front of the crowd and I thought welcome to men’s football!”

Despite the defeat, it wasn’t long before Liam was a first-team regular and has been for the last 20 seasons, clocking up well over 700 appearances for the club, including exactly 660 for the first team.

A technically gifted midfielder with boundless energy and work ethic to match, Liam has gone on to become one of Launceston’s most popular ever players, and scored nearly 100 goals in the process.

He scored the club’s first ever FA Cup goal against Sherborne Town and was part of the Cornwall Senior Cup winning team in 2004/05 when they beat Bodmin Town. He also tasted success two years later when they defeated St Blazey in the League Cup final.

Over the last few years his role has changed, but still found himself one of the first names on every manager’s teamsheet as Launceston enjoyed one of their best seasons in years, finishing seventh in the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League.

Liam said: “I’ve always seen myself as someone who’s worked hard in whatever position I’ve been asked to play and I’ve always tried to compete against my opposite number and win that battle, so in that aspect it hasn’t changed.

“But I’ve gradually found myself moving back a bit. I was an attacking midfielder until my late 20s and then became more of a defensive midfielder.

“I also played quite a lot of the second-half of the season as a right-back and centre back and I actually quite enjoyed it.

“But I believe my best qualities are my work ethic and desire to win and that’s because I play for Launceston and for all those who come and watch every week!”

Being such a good player has inevitably meant that he could have plied his trade for clubs in higher leagues but Liam admits he’s not actually been that interested in moving on.

He said: “Have I ever come close to leaving? Honestly, no! I’ve had plenty of other clubs come in for me including Truro City but I’ve just always been a person who’s wanted to play for their local team with their mates and that so happens to be Launceston for me!

“It’s the people behind the scenes as well as the players and the supporters and people like Keith Ellacott, who is Mr Launceston and has made the club what it is today!”

However Tilley has finally decided to concentrate on other matters in his life, family and work.

Being a warehouse manager at a clothing company and a firefighter at Launceston Fire Station as well as having a marriage and two young children to contend with, means he’s decided to — for the moment at least — give up the game.

He said: “In terms of squad depth, the season just gone was the strongest I’ve ever known. We had a really good season under Leigh Cooper a few years ago when we had an outside chance of winning the league with seven or eight games to go but we blew up.

“Other than that, this has been one of the best in terms of finishing seventh and I’d like to congratulate Gary for his efforts.

“However, I’m not committing myself to football next season, but I won’t be too proud to go back if I miss it. To be honest I want to go out on a bit of a high and I feel that 20 seasons is long enough and that someone else should have a go.

“However my favourite memory will always be scoring twice against Paul Hider on two separate occassions, nothing will ever beat that.”

Manager Gary Jeffery, who’s known Liam since a young age playing cricket at South Petherwin, believes that he’ll go down as Launceston’s greatest ever player.

He said: “Liam will go down as a South Western League and Launceston great.

“It was the smartest move I ever made making him captain. He’s a great leader who leads by example and sets standards. He’s the best trainer by a million miles every single session, everyone at the club to follow. His dedication, the way he constantly tried to improve — he made himself the ultimate pro. I’ve got nothing but complete admiration for him.

“He is Launceston’s greatest ever player.”

Club spokesperson, Keith Ellacott, said: “In his first two seasons in South Western League football he was the club’s leading scorer and went on to be the first name on the teamsheet for many seasons and has won many club awards in that time.

“He has stayed loyal to the club in his unassuming manner and has been a true gentleman at all times.”

To find out more about the event and all the activities before, during and after the game, search ‘Liam Tilley Testimonial — Lanson Legends v Argyle Legends’ on Facebook.