Nigel Green has been a regular on the touchline at Bishop’s Cleeve Football Club since the mid-noughties.

As secretary of the club for close on 14 years – he‘s also matchday programme editor and in charge of the club’s communications - he travels with them home and away week in, week out.

Being on a touchline is something that Green, now 64, is used to although back in the day he was even more involved in games than he is today.

That’s because in the early days of the Premier League he was one of the leading linesmen in the country and got to officiate at all the top grounds in the country.

“I was a Premier League linesman for 10 years,” he said, “I think my first season was in the Premier League’s third season.”

That was in 1994/95 and Green added: “I went to all the top grounds in the country – Old Trafford, Anfield, Ewood Park, Goodison Park, Highbury, Maine Road, The Dell, Upton Park.”

The last four of those grounds have long since been knocked down, of course, but Green has great memories of his time at the very top of English football.

“There was the Class of 92 at Old Trafford,” he said. “Arsenal had Adams, Bould and Seaman, there was Alan Shearer, Batty and Flowers at Blackburn, Neville Southall was at Everton.

“Then there was the Crazy Gang at Wimbledon – Vinnie, Efan Ekoku, Corky and Dennis Wise. Dennis Wise was a very nice man off the pitch.”

In those days there wasn’t the number of TV cameras at games that there are today and there was certainly no VAR.

The players used to fly into tackles for fun – there were no handbags back then! – and watching Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane go toe-to-toe when Arsenal played Manchester United was worth the admission price on its own.

“It was a great time,” said Green. “There was a great camaraderie between the officials, everyone had each other’s back, there was no back biting.

“If you made a mistake, you’d get lots of phone calls backing you up.”

Green admits that his job got harder over the years.

“We went from four cameras to 40 cameras at games,” he said. “You’d have a person running behind you up and down the touchline with a camera on his back.”

All linesmen – or assistant referees as they are known today – make mistakes of course but while Green says he got “hundreds of decisions right” he does remember one that he got wrong.

“It was at Old Trafford, Manchester United against Spurs,” he said. “Steve Bruce came charging out and Jurgen Klinsmann came charging in. I gave him offside but the replays showed he was just on.

“It was a split second’s difference, you’re always under pressure.”

Green has happier memories of a decision he made in a game at Upton Park.

“John Hartson was sent off on my say-so,” said Green. “Paul Durkin was the referee and Harry Redknapp, who was West Ham’s manager, wasn’t happy at half time.

“But at the start of the second half he told me he’d seen the TV replays that showed I was absolutely right!”

In those days the officials had to back themselves and Green has reservations about the use of VAR.

“To hold up a game for a decision that’s a matter of millimetres is farcical, it should be used just for the clearcut decisions,” he said.

Green’s career as a football official actually started more than 40 years ago when he took up refereeing.

“I took it up as a bet with a friend,” he laughed. “I was 21. I’d played football when I was at school but did a catering course at Halesowen College and then I got a job at Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane.

“I moved to what was then the NEC in Birmingham but the hours I worked meant that I hadn’t played football for quite a few years.”

When he landed a job as a chef lecturer – and with it more sociable working hours – things “opened up” for him and he quickly progressed as a referee.

“I packed it in for a couple of years when I had a young family but I used to referee all over the Midlands,” said Green, who was living in Stourport in those days.

“I’d referee at places like Stourbridge, Halesowen and Tamworth and once you progressed to a certain level you became an assistant referee as well.”

And once his career as a football official was over he didn’t have far to go for his next job in the game.

“I became secretary of Stourport Swifts,” said Green, who these days lives in Eckington. “The club was just over the river from my house and you could see the ground from where I lived.”

So why did he switch to Bishop’s Cleeve?

“I remember it well,” he laughed. “The two clubs were in negotiations about loaning a goalkeeper and I went to Bishop’s Cleeve chairman David Walker’s house to get the papers signed.

“It should have taken five minutes but I was there for two hours. He said Cleeve were looking for a secretary and would I be interested?

“It was an easy decision because I’d moved to Eckington and Bishop’s Cleeve was much closer than Stourport, I joined at the end of the season.”

And he didn’t come alone because his wife Hilary is also a major player at Bishop’s Cleeve.

“She used to do hospitality, now she does it at Bishop’s Cleeve,” Green said.

Green estimates that he spends 40 hours a week on football club business – he had just parked his car at Kayte Lane when he spoke to The Local Answer – and he reckons his wife does even more hours than that.

“She does the players’ food, does the laundry, cleans the changing rooms and the clubhouse,” said Green. “She’s just put the training tops in the washing machine as we speak.”

Every grassroots club needs people like Nigel and Hilary Green, of course, and while it’s hard work it’s something they clearly enjoy.”

“It’s great fun,” said Green. “We’re a small club but we’re a good club.”

They certainly are and they made a bright start to the 2019/20 Hellenic League Premier Division season.

“We’re trying to get back into the Southern League,” said Green. “That’s the main objective, it’s a work in progress.

“We work on a very limited budget. I think we can win promotion but maintaining a position at a higher level is much tougher.”

The club would love to generate more funds from their excellent clubhouse at Kayte Lane.

“We’d like to see it used seven days a week,” said Green. “In the past we’ve had music festivals and ultimate frisbee at the club.”

Green was a fan of ultimate frisbee although it’s not run on the same lines as football.

“They don’t have any referees,” he explained, “but it’s great fun.”