It is with great sadness that the club learned today of the passing of former goalkeeper Brian Hughes who made more than 200 appearances for the Fleet from the late 1960s through to 1974.

Brian, who was 83, was one of those stalwart Fleet goalkeepers whose time at the club became synonymous with the era in which he played for the club, covering the managerial reigns of Alf Ackerman and Tony Sitford.

Brian played for Margate through the 1960s where he clocked up in excess of 400 appearances. Born in Gillingham and on Arsenal’s books as a youth player, he played for his hometown club and Sittingbourne before the move to Thanet in 1961.

He joined the Fleet in January 1969 after a brief spell with Chatham Town and was part of the side that began to turn around a miserable few years for the club. Joining midway through the season, the Fleet finished 21st in the Southern League First Division but within two seasons had achieved promotion with Hughes as the club’s undisputed No.1.

He was the first Fleet goalkeeper to play in the FA Trophy and in 1970 proved instrumental in the Kent Floodlight Cup triumph at the expense of his old club Margate in front of a 2,500 crowd.

Brian went on to complete 208 games for the Fleet by the time of his departure in September 1974 when John Cowen (who passed away in December 2022) replaced him. He was 33 at this stage but still had plenty of football left in him and he moved on to Tonbridge where he added three more years and more than 100 appearances to his career tally. He wound down his career with Sittingbourne and Canterbury City, playing for them past the age of 40, and continued at local level for a few years beyond that.

A fuller tribute will be paid in our matchday programme v Woking; meanwhile everyone at the club sends our sympathies to Brian’s family at this time.