By Andrew Warshaw
You can’t get much more local than Reece Beckles-Richards.
So when our exciting new forward, who has played for three of our local rivals, got a chance to join us from Cheshunt and move a few miles down the A10, he made up his mind pretty fast.
“There’s not a more local club I can play for and it didn’t take long for the gaffer to sell it to me,” said Reece who should be available for the Tottenham friendly on Tuesday.
“I’ve lived in the borough my whole life and now live literally five minutes from the ground. I could even walk there in 20 minutes.”
Still only 27, Reece brings bags of experience to the club not only from his three years at Cheshunt (his brief loan spell at Potters Bar last season consisted of one game – the Velocity final) but also at the likes of Farnborough, Hornchurch and, of course, Wingate and Finchley.
“I guess it does seem odd that I never played for Enfield before given where I was born and brought up. It nearly happened at one point but didn’t quite work out. A lot of my friends have played there, including Joe Payne, Mickey Parcell and Mo Faal and it’ll be great to meet up again with two of them.”
The stats might say Reece scored 23 goals in 83 goals for Cheshunt but he reckons it was more like 47 in all competitions. A natural marksman, he can’t wait to put on a blue and white shirt.
“Games against Enfield, whether when I was at Cheshunt or Wingate, were always tough,” says Reece who has the distinction of an international cap for Antigua and Barbuda back in 2015. “But now the boot is on the other foot, so to speak.”
Expanding on what it was about Gavin Macpherson that drew him to Town, Reece continued: “A lot of it was down to his honesty. I’m at an age now when I know instinctively if a manager is telling me the truth rather than trying to spin things.”
“I had a few other Step 3 clubs interested in me but when it came about, it just made sense. I’m hoping to bring lots of goals as well as entertainment. I like to have fun. Obviously I want to win and the aim is to finish as high as possible. Promotion is obviously the ultimate goal but I understand that’s not always realistic.”
“What I will say is that whenever I’ve played against Enfield, I’ve always seen how amazing the fans are and this just seems the right fit at this stage of my career.”