Players who have appeared for Crystal Palace and PNE
Craig Beattie; Frank Beresford; Leon Cort; Andrew Davies; Claude Davis; Chris Day; Mike Elwiss; Ricardo Fuller; John Halls; Jason Harris; Craig Garrison; Ricky Hepolette; Jon Macken; Alex Marrow; Bobby Mimms; Carlo Nash; Gavin Nebbeling; Edward Owens; Darren Patterson; Franck Songo’o; Paul Sparrow; Paul Wilkins; Gary Williams.
Player Profile – Ricky Heppolette
Richard Alfred William Heppolette was born in Bhusawal, near Bombay, India on 8 April 1949. Heppolette started as an apprentice with Preston. Heppolette made his PNE debut from the substitute bench when he replaced George Lyall in a 0-0 draw at home to Middleborough on 20 April 1968 and made history as the first Indian born player to play in the Football League. He made his first eleven debut in the number 6 shirt a fortnight later in a 1-0 home defeat to Millwall.
It wasn’t until December 1968 before Heppolette got a run in the team as he made 18 appearances in the1968/69 season.
The following season saw Heppolette score his first goal in the opening day defeat at Charlton. Heppolette made 40 appearances during the season, scoring 2 goals as PNE finished bottom of Division Two.
Bobby Seith was replaced by Alan Ball as manager for the start of the 1970/71 season, as Preston made their first appearance in the third tier of English football. Again Heppolette scored on the opening day of the season in a 1-1 draw at home to Halifax had a prolific season, scoring a further 7 league goals in 40 appearances, this included a brace in the 2-1 win at home to Mansfield on 10 October 1970.
His most famous goal was in his 100th league appearance for the Lilywhites and the penultimate match of the season on 1 May 1971 at Craven Cottage in front of the Match of the Day cameras. Fulham who had led the table for 24 weeks was beaten by a 22nd minute goal as Heppolette dived full length to head the ball into the back of the net. Three days later Heppolette won a Third Division Championship medal in front of over 28,000 supporters as Preston beat Rotherham 3-0 and finish one point above second place Fulham.
Preston return to the Second Division saw them finish just 3 points above relegation as Heppolette scored twice in 36 appearances. The 1972/73 season saw Heppolette make his 150th league appearance on 21 October 1972 as PNE beat Millwall. His last appearance was on 9 December in a 3-0 home defeat to Blackpool. Heppolette had made 154 league appearances, scoring 13 goals.
Heppolette joined Second Division Orient for £55,000 and stayed for just under 4 years, making 113 league appearances and scoring 10 goals.
In October 1976, Heppolette joined Terry Venables at CrystalPalace for a fee of £15,000. Unfortunately his stay at SellhurstPark lasted only four months as he struggled to get selected ahead of Phil Holder and Nicky Chadderton. His only goal for CrystalPalace was chalked off as the match at Lincoln on 4 December was abandoned due to ice with Palace leading 1-0. Heppolette had left Pace prior to the match being replayed on 2 March 1977 with Lincoln victorious 3-2. Heppolette only made 15 appearances before he transferred to Third Division Chesterfield in February 1977 for £16,000.
Heppolette made 47 appearances for Chesterfield, scoring 3 goals before joining Peterborough in August 1979 for £30,000. His stay was short lived and only made 5 appearances for the Fourth Division club
Heppolette then moved to Hong Kong to join Eastern. He scored both goals in the Viceroy Cup Final of 1980/81 against Caroline Hill as Eastern won on penalties 5-4.
After the end of his playing career, Heppolette returned to Peterborough to run a party shop called ‘Clowns and Things’.