The name Les Simmons seems as synonymous to me as those of John Ward, Steve Harrison, Tom Walley and Billy Hails when thinking about GT's magical mystery tour. Yet he pre-dated that by a long long way, originally being in charge of the greyhound track before becoming head groundsman in the early 60's. In his time with the club its said he only ever took five holidays whilst preparing the Vicarage Road pitch for over 1200 matches. In total he gave over fifty years service to the club and fully deserved his testimonial in 1997.
Taylor said at the time that football should honour more people like Les not highly paid players who are set up for life. Therefore I do hope we get a chance to pay respects to him with a minutes silence against Sheffield United.
