Former footballer Reg Williams has received some souvenirs to celebrate his illustrious career after being named as Chelsea FC's oldest living former player.

Reg, 89, grew up in Aynho Street, Watford, a stone's throw from Vicarage Road Stadium where he began his football career.

An amateur wing-half, he holds the record for the third most wartime appearances with the Hornets, playing 133 matches and scoring nine goals during World War Two.

He later moved to Chelsea, rejecting a move to Arsenal, and he turned professional with the Blues in October 1945 after five months with the club as an amateur.

In six season at Stamford Bridge, he played 74 games, scoring 17 goals.

Injury problems hampered his career, however, and he retired in November 1951, aged 29.

To honour Reg as Chelsea's oldest former player, Blues club chaplain Reverend Martin Swan visited him yesterday (Tuesday) at Chalfont Court Nursing Home, in Uxbridge Road, Rickmansworth, where he has lived for the past nine months.

Among the souvenirs he presented to Reg were a signed Watford FC football and two signed pictures – one of Frank Lampard with the message “To a fellow Chelsea playmaker” and another of the Chelsea team lining up before their 3-3 match against Moscow Dynamo November 13, 1945, signed by current club captain John Terry.

The European tie has the record for the largest unofficial crowd at Stamford Bridge, following the resumption of football after the war, and Reg was among the goal scorers on that occasion.

“We look after all our players and past players,” Rev Swan said. “I'm meant to be in Denmark [for Chelsea's Champions League tie against FC Copenhagen] but Reg is more important.”

Reg's wife Joan, son Brian, who is a Chelsea season ticket holder, daughters Jackie and Sue, and granddaughter Louise were all by his side as he collected the football and signed pictures, which will now hang in his room.

Joan, who married Reg in 1952, said: “It's absolutely lovely. It's nice to know he's still thought about.”

Football runs in the former midfielder's family. His father was Reg “Skilly” Williams, a goalkeeper, played for Watford from 1913 to 1926 and was in the side that played Tottenham in the FA Cup on the day his son was born.

Two of Reg's grandsons, Daniel and Grant, have both played in the Hornets' youth teams.

At the time he signed for Chelsea, Arsenal were also interested in him but Reg opted to move to the Blues.

Following his retirement from football, he completed a printing apprenticeship at Sun Printers in Watford and later worked for Odhams.

He and Joan also ran several pubs, including the White Hart in Bushey, the King's Head in Watford and the Golden Lion in Loughton, Essex, before making their home in Tudor Drive, Watford.

Brian said: “He always said he was born at the wrong time because if he was playing now, he would have made a fortune. He made £15 a week.

“He always used to say he played for the love of game, not the money.”