Soccer-loving Andy Taylor was behind bars today for dealing drugs.

Taylor, who helped run Great Wakering Rovers, received a six-month sentence for supplying cannabis and possessing cannabis and cocaine.

Jobless Taylor admitted selling cannabis to about 20 "friends" for sums of up to £20.

There was no suggestion in court that he sold drugs to Rovers players, who have just been promoted to the Rymans League.

Judge Francis Petre warned 35-year-old Taylor: "These courts will not tolerate people who deal in drugs. I hope those involved in your football team will recognise this fact."

The judge heard how police officers carried out a raid on Taylor's home in Southbourne Grove, Westcliff, with a search warrant.

They discovered more than £1,000 in cash - much of it in his dressing gown - with a list of friends' names and addresses alleged to have been supplied by Taylor.

Barrister Jason Sugarman, who represented Taylor, said his client turned to cannabis after a long battle to beat heavy drinking.

He claimed that when Taylor's wife got to hear of his growing drug problem she threw him out, but they were now trying to patch up their marriage.

Mr Sugarman said: "There was no major financial gain on his part. His dealing also supplemented his social benefits."

The barrister told Basildon Crown Court that Taylor now had the promise of a job with a firm run by Andrew Dixon, also once linked with the running of Great Wakering Rovers.

Mr Dixon told the court a job would be available to Taylor at the start of September if he was able to keep his liberty.

He added: "I have known Mr Taylor through football for about six years and was really gobsmacked when I heard what had happened.

"Mr Taylor is a highly respectable man who was able to bring a number of club players through the ranks."

After the case club secretary Roger Sampson denied a court claim that Taylor was the Rovers manager.

Mr Sampson said Taylor, who once helped Mr Dixon with the reserve team, had since returned as a backroom worker but was in no way connected with management.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.