They played and they managed
The surprise departure of player manager  David Stone to the West Country at the end of the  1968/69 season posed a problem for the United Directors and they chose to again fill the void by recruiting another player manager from within the club. Cyril Jeans had been signed by Reg Flewin at the beginning of that season and was a keen applicant for the vacancy and was subsequently appointed
The pacy winger had started as a junior with his hometown Portsmouth although he never made a full league appearance. He joined Ramsgate Athletic in October 1959 but after having been released joined Margate in the summer of 1961. He became a regular and fans favourite for the Gate but moved on to Sittingbourne , Gravesend, Canterbury and Deal before joining Hastings at the start of the 1968/69 season.
He scored 7 goals in his opening season for United, at a time when Roger Wedge was leading scorer with 35 goals and local boy Kevin Barry scored 11 goals. When appointed as Manager  on Stone’s departure, he quickly signed four players. One was Bobby Drake ( who was to eventually succeed Jeans as Player Manager ) as well as Des Anderson from South Africa. Des, at the end of his playing career, joined Derby County as an assistant to Dave Mackay and the two Scots took Derby to third place in Divison 1 in 1973/74, earning them a place in the UEFA Cup.
In his first season under the management of Jeans Kevin Barry notched over 32 goals in all competitions and had begun to attract league  club attention. The club missed out on promotion, finishing sixteenth out of a division of twenty two clubs, with Brentwood Town winning the Championship. Hastings   attracted 10 home gates of over 1000, including 1935 for the visit of local rivals Ashford.
For his second season in the hot seat, Cyril Jeans added to his squad and signed full back Bobby Houghton. This former Brighton full back subsequently  progressed to a successful managerial career, later taking his club Malmo of Sweden to the European Cup Final. Promotion was to elude United again with United in a healthy seventh position, with Bedford Town winning the Championship. Jeans left the managerial role at the end of the season, opening up an opportunity for squad member Bobby Drake to take up the managerial role the following season. At the same time, leading goal scorer Kevin Barry was transferred to Chelsea.
 Jeans was subsequently a major influence in local football, having a spell as player manager of Sidley United before unexpectedly returning to United in controversial circumstances. The 1979 season saw several managerial changes at the Pilot Field   with Mickey Angel, the temporary incumbent, looking a favourite to become the permanent Manager. In the event the Directors appointed Cyril Jeans as Manager and unwittingly triggered a walk out threat. Angel left the Club immediately. Kevin Barry was one of the squad who threatened never to play again for United and a crisis meeting was scheduled some ninety minutes before the home match against Bridgend. There was even some doubt as to whether the game would take place and those who witnessed the goalless draw must have wished that it had not.
The players threatened walk out never materialised but Kevin Barry was suspended and was subsequently sacked. Two months into his appointment, in waging a public war against “shirking players”, Jeans promised fines with the warning”I am going to get this club straightened out if it’s the last thing I do”.  Jeans second tenure as Manager was to last only three months a before he resigned.
In subsequent years Cyril managed Shinewater and was assistant manager of Eastbourne United. Under his mentorship two former players went on to make   significant names for themselves in football management  (Anderson and Houghton) and Kevin Barry was escalated to league Football under his stewardship and then sacked by him after he had rejoined United.
He had also brought his subsequent replacement as Player /manager Bobby Drake to the club, but more about that next time.