After missing out on promotion by the narrowest of margins in two consecutive seasons, it was time for change. Off the back of a playoff final defeat to Doncaster, Garry Hill decide that change would be drastic. Members of the dependable old guard such as Steve Heffer, Junior McDougald and Paul Terry left the club as the Daggers signed players on full-time contracts in an attempt to match up to the big-spending sides.
Two of those new players were brothers Lenny and Chris Piper. Lenny came with an impressive goalscoring record, having netted 25 in 80 Conference games for Farnborough, and Chris seemingly had a bright future. Garry Hill couldn’t help but laud his captures:
“Lenny I know from my days at St. Albans and has a fabulous scoring rate for a midfielder, regardless of the level, while Chris is clearly going to end up in the Football League. Its great to have them here. I know now I have a better team here than I had at the end of last season.”
It didn’t quite turn out as planned. The fact that Lenny couldn’t break into a side in poor form probably says a lot, but just for the sake of clarity – he made no impression whatsoever. The reason for his midfield scoring record was all too obvious in his fleeting appearances – he didn’t play in midfield, he wanted to play as an extra forward. 15 appearances and absolutely zilch in the way of goal threat later, he packed his bags off to Margate. Just to further emphasise his talents, he later went on to play for such leading lights as Fisher Athletic, Ramsgate and Whyteleafe.
Chris managed to do slightly better than his brother by lasting an entire season. Quite how he managed to get into the side every week is anybody’s guess and says more about the other options than it does about him. As a central midfield player he was light years behind the player we’d allowed to leave, Heffer. Often going missing for large chunks of games and having the physical presence of a small ferret, the one thing he shared with his brother was his inability to make any impact on the game. Predictions of a Football League future were fairly obviously a long way wide of the mark. You can only assume that Garry had given his interview under the influence of methylated spirit.
Chris followed his brother’s lead of moving up the leagues in a negative direction, their apparent inability to go to a club without holding each other’s hand meaning Chris also went to Fisher. Finally getting over this problem, possibly after counselling, Chris was able to go to Braintree without his brother. Robbie Garvey, who took over there after leaving Dagenham’s coaching staff, has sensibly released Chris from the club recently. Expect to see him lighting up a lower division of the Ryman League in the near future, by virtue of his ginger bonce.
The season of the Pipers eventually saw Garry Hill admit defeat and resign, the club finishing in the lower half of the Conference. A season of change turned out to be a season of serious regression, the only saving grace being the fact that new manager John Still shoved most of the season’s circus act out of the exit door.
