Jake Bewley on his ten years as a Duck

Not only is the versatile Jack Wood hurtling fast towards breaking Cliff Hercules’ all-time appearance record of 669 games for the Ducks, but fourth on that all-time list is Jake Bewley, who has recently passed 400 matches in a green shirt.

He’s still a little short of Greg Williams’ 503 games – Bewley, Wood and Williams having played in the same United side for several years – but the left-back turned centre-half says he has no intentions of stopping just yet, nor playing football anywhere else.

"I’ve never had a reason to move from here, nor do I think I ever will,” he said.

"Even if my career here naturally ends one way or another, like if I fall out of favour or my ability wains, I’d probably just stop playing. I don’t see the point of going off and playing 20 games a season at step five or whatever if I’m not enjoying it.

"I could perhaps have played higher, but the thought of doing some of the travelling involved at step three and above isn’t that appealing either. This level just fits better with life generally.”

Bewley, 33, joined the club in 2014 and is now in his 11th season. He readily admits the Ducks haven’t achieved much success in that time, but the fact they’ve also avoided dropping down the levels is something he deems more of an achievement given the circumstances in which the club continues to find itself.

He said: “A lot of our budget each year has to go towards paying rent to our landlords, who are obviously Chesham at the moment, plus we don’t benefit as much from bar takings and other things that we would do if we were in Aylesbury – bigger gates being the obvious one.

"Our budget is probably the lowest in the league and I’d say ten times lower than some other clubs in that division.

"So to have maintained where we are for so long is remarkable really. It’s not a lack of ambition – if we ever go up then that would be brilliant – but the aim every year has to be to remain at step four and we have managed that, albeit it’s been a bit close a couple of times when it’s gone to the wire! It’s very hard to get back up if you go down so we have to avoid that.”

It’s probably pretty unique that the likes of Wood and Bewley have never actually represented Aylesbury United in a competitive game in Aylesbury. The club’s enforced exile from the town since 2006 means their only footballing connection is to train there, play friendlies there and of course welcome the supporters who make the journey to Chesham for home games and continue to travel away too.

Bewley said: “I actually moved to live in Aylesbury about five years ago so that helps in terms of training, but realistically both Woody and I are resigned to the fact that it’s unlikely we’ll ever play for the club in the town itself.

"It’s a shame of course, and there’s a bit more optimism now that some more positive progress is being made, but we’ve had lots of false starts over the years and it takes time.

"The town is growing so I think the council tend to concentrate more on the income that new houses can bring rather than the football club, when in reality having us ‘back home’ will be a massive thing for the town and community as a whole.

"We have a great relationship with the fans. So many of them supported the team when we were still in the town and you can see how much the club means to them. Just making a half-hour trip down to Chesham for a home game tells you something.”

As for his own future, Bewley maintains his desire to see out his career at Aylesbury, and says the club is enjoying life under boss David Tuttle who has overseen a positive start to the current campaign.

He said: “We won the first four or five games and although we’ve had a bit of a drop in form in recent weeks, we are still on the edge of the play-offs and on the coat tails of some very good sides.

"David’s been keen to sign young players and build a side that can stay together for a long time so it be great if that can happen.

“Personally, I still feel fit and I think moving to centre-half has helped my preservation a bit as I’m not doing as much running up and down the flanks!

"So while I feel fresh, fit and I’m still enjoying it, this is where I’ll stay.”