Month: December 2019

Goalkeeper John Phillips – the ‘unenviable understudy’

JOHN PHILLIPS was a Welsh international goalkeeper who played for Chelsea and Aston Villa before becoming a back-up at Brighton under Alan Mullery.

A £15,000 fee took him to the Goldstone Ground as no.2 to Graham Moseley in 1980 and, possibly the most interesting thing about his time at Brighton was his appearance in the centre of the pre-season team photo (see below) alongside Moseley in which both ‘keepers rather oddly wore green jerseys sporting two Seagulls badges!

JP 2 badge colourPreviously an understudy to the legendary Chelsea goalkeeper Peter Bonetti, Phillips did have occasional first team spells at Stamford Bridge, including playing in earlier rounds of the successful European Cup Winners’ Cup campaign of 1970-71.

When he died aged 65 on 31 March 2017, the Chelsea website paid a warm tribute to his contribution.

JP prog notes

At Brighton he featured 19 times for the reserves but only played one first team game. That came in front of a bumper festive season Goldstone crowd of 27,387 on 27 December 1980 (as seen above on my amended programme teamsheet) as the Seagulls beat traditional rivals Crystal Palace 3-2; a brace from Michael Robinson and Peter O’Sullivan with the Albion goals.

IMG_6433The following month, it looked like he might get a second game after Mullery publicly blamed first-choice Moseley for the side losing six points, and told the Argus Phillips would come in for the next match unless he could sign another ‘keeper.

Mullery promptly went back to his old club, Fulham, and splashed out £150,000 on unknown youngster Perry Digweed – pushing Phillips further down the pecking order.

IMG_6431At the end of the season, Phillips and Tony Knight, a young ‘keeper who didn’t progress to the first team, were released on free transfers. It was also reported that Moseley was on his way, but Mullery’s shock departure that summer gave him a stay of execution.

Disgruntled Mullery swapped managerial seats with Mike Bailey, who’d just led Charlton Athletic to promotion from the old Third Division,

Phillips was one of his first signings. However, he only played two games for Charlton, so he was to endure another frustrating spell of being the understudy.

Contributor Richard J on charltonlife.com remembered how Phillips replaced first choice Nicky Johns in the first away game of the 1981-82 season – a 3-0 defeat at Luton Town.

“Nicky returned for the next game and Phillips’s only other game was away at Leicester. Unfortunately, we lost that game as well, 3-1.”

But Richard continued: “I work with Tony Lange who took over from the Welsh international as Charlton’s number two keeper. He felt that John was a big influence on his career.

“Apparently, Phillips was exceptionally good at distribution and this was one of the reasons he had played so much for Chelsea and Tony credits him as a big influence on that part of his game.”

He moved from Charlton to Crystal Palace but he didn’t feature for their first team at all. He then tried his luck in Hong Kong, with See Bee.

Born in Shrewsbury on 7 July 1951, Phillips went to the Grange School in Shrewsbury and, because both his father and grandfather played league football for Shrewsbury Town, it was no surprise when he also signed for Town. He made his debut in 1968 at the age of 17.

A big influence on him was the former Manchester United and Northern Ireland goalkeeper, Harry Gregg, who was manager at Gay Meadow between 1968 and 1972.

In an early edition of Goal magazine, Gregg said: “He’s the finest goalkeeping prospect I have seen. He seems to have every asset in the book and his temperament really stands out.”

J Phil VillaPhillips played 51 times for the Shrews before being bought in 1969 by Tommy Docherty, the former Chelsea boss who’d taken over as Aston Villa manager.

After only 15 games for Villa, in August 1970, Chelsea paid a fee of £25,000 to take Phillips to Stamford Bridge.

The regular back-up ‘keeper, Tommy Hughes, who went on to have a loan spell at Brighton in the 1972-73 season, was out injured with a broken leg at the time and Chelsea needed someone to deputise for Bonetti, who only two months earlier had been criticised when having to take over in goal from ill Gordon Banks as England lost 3-2 to West Germany in the 1970 World Cup quarter final in Mexico.

Phillips stayed with Chelsea for 10 years and played a total of 149 games for the club. He managed 23 league and cup games during the 1972-73 season owing to Bonetti’s absence through injury and illness.

In October 1973, Goal ran a series called The Understudies and featured the rivalry between Phillips and Bonetti. Bonetti said of him: “John is a first-class ‘keeper and has pushed me more than anyone. It’s nice to know you have to play well to keep your place.”

Phillips told the magazine’s David Wright: “We are rivals, yes, but friends as well.”

It was only in the 1974-75 season that Phillips had an extended run of games as the no.1.

Although kind things were said of him when he died, not all recollections were favourable. The footballnetwork.net, for instance, said: “Phillips always conceded a lot of goals. Is this because he was awful or his defence and midfield were woeful? I suspect that it was a bit of both. Phillips did assist Chelsea in reaching the 1971 European Cup Winners Cup final, but he conceded seven at mediocre Wolverhampton as Chelsea sloped off into a long decline.

“Funnily enough, he shared goalkeeping duties for Wales with one Gary Sprake, a notoriously erratic Leeds goalie, as the late Peter Houseman could have testified!

“Obviously in the early seventies, while the Welsh rugby team had an embarrassment of riches, there was no such luxury in the goalkeeping department.”

Although English by birth, Phillips played for Wales at a time when qualification to play for countries beyond the one in which a player was born was extended to include the homeland of their parents or grandparents. He won four caps in 1973-74, making his debut in a 3-0 defeat to England in front of 38,000 at Wembley on 15 May 1973.

A none-too-flattering recollection can be found in a book charting the history of Welsh international football. Red Dragons – The Story of Welsh Football says: “Sadly a nervy performance by Chelsea goalkeeper John Phillips was responsible for a grim 0-2 defeat at home to England in May 1974.”

Bonetti saw off many pretenders to his throne, but Phillips went closer than anyone to taking his place, according to gameofthepeople.com, which described him as “the unenviable understudy” in an article charting his Blues career.

In the summer of 1975, Chelsea had been relegated and Bonetti given a free transfer, so Phillips was expected to start the new season as first choice ‘keeper.

But he fractured his right leg in training and badly damaged knee ligaments, opening the door for Steve Sherwood to take over between the sticks.

In the 1979-80 season, Phillips was loaned to Crewe Alexandra. Even there, he only played six times for the league side, having to be content with 23 games for their reserves.

 

  • Pictures mainly sourced from Goal magazine or Shoot! Also the Argus and matchday programme.

Goal-shy journeyman striker Leon Best drew derision

FOR SOMEONE purporting to be a striker, Leon Best fired blanks at a good many of the clubs he played for.

Such was his time at Brighton where he failed to get on the scoresheet in 13 games (six as a starter, seven as a substitute).

When he featured for AFC Bournemouth in the third tier, he fared slightly better. He managed three goals in 14 starts plus three as a substitute when on loan from Premier League Southampton during the 2006-07 season.

The somewhat derogatory phrase ‘journeyman’ was tailor-made for the likes of Best, who appeared for 13 different league clubs, failing to score for five of them and only registering double figure tallies at three.

Brighton supporters, on the whole, are normally supportive of anyone who appears for their team, but feelings boiled over at Best’s apparent lack of desire when pulling on the Seagulls stripes.

He was part of the struggling 2014-15 side which narrowly avoided the drop from the Championship, and I recall him being booed when he came on as a substitute at the Amex. On reflection, of course, such derision was unlikely to improve his demeanour.

The keyboard warriors of North Stand Chat weren’t slow to vent their anger, with one correspondent suggesting: “We’ve not seen much in the way of desire, endeavour, hunger or appetite from someone you would hope feels he has something to prove.”

Chris Hughton had not long been in the manager’s chair when he was casting around for players to help Albion climb away from the foot of the table.

Perhaps not unreasonably, he turned to a player who’d scored goals for him in the Premier League during his time at Newcastle United.

Hughton told the Argus: “I know Leon very well, having signed him during my time at Newcastle and I am delighted to have him here.

Screen Shot 2021-06-10 at 14.55.50“He is a strong, physical presence, he knows the Championship and knows the position we are in. We wanted new faces, to freshen up the squad, and Leon will add competition alongside our existing strikers.

“I signed him previously at Newcastle. I know he can be a very good player and he did very well for me both in the Championship and Premier League. He also had a very good spell with Newcastle after I left the club.”

Best scored 10 in 46 games for the Magpies but, at his next club, Blackburn Rovers, he managed only two in 16, hence them sending him out on loan.

While Best had scored five in 16 playing on loan at Sheffield Wednesday in 2013-14, he scored a big fat zero in 20 games for Derby County earlier in the 2014-15 season so perhaps expectations should not have been high when he arrived at Brighton on 20 January 2015.

Nevertheless, Hughton told Brian Owen: “I am very pleased he is here. He gives us another attacking option and I hope he can produce the same form he did for me when we worked together at Newcastle.” In short, he didn’t.

Born in Nottingham on 19 September 1986, his first steps into the professional game came with his local side Notts County. When international recognition came calling, he chose to represent his mother’s birth country, the Republic of Ireland, and was capped at under 17, under 19 and under 21 levels before gaining seven full caps in 2009-10.

Southampton snapped up Best in 2004 and gave him his league debut aged 18, ironically against his future employer, Newcastle.

But opportunities were limited with the Saints and over the course of three years on their books they loaned him out to QPR, Sheffield Wednesday, Bournemouth and Yeovil Town.

In 2007, Best transferred to then Championship side Coventry City for £650,000 and arguably his most successful goalscoring spell came during his time there, as he netted 23 goals in 104 appearances over three seasons.

It prompted Hughton to spend £1.5m of Mike Ashley’s money to take Best to Tyneside on 1 February 2010.

Maybe the warning bells should have been sounding in those first few months on Tyneside when he didn’t register a goal in 13 Championship appearances and fell behind Andy Carroll and Peter Lovenkrands in the pecking order.

Although he managed a couple of goals in pre-season matches, the early part of the 2010-11 season was marred by a cruciate knee ligament injury. Nevertheless, when he returned to action in the January, he did it in some style, bagging a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over West Ham. He got a further three goals before injury ruled him out once again.

3490663In the following season, he went 12 games without scoring but in the summer of 2012, Blackburn Rovers paid £3m to take him to Ewood Park – only for him to pick up an anterior cruciate knee injury one month into the season, ruling him out of action for six months.

The temporary move to Brighton was one of three loans away from Blackburn before they finally released him by mutual consent in July 2015.

It wasn’t until November 2015 he managed to find another club, pitching up for six months at Championship side Rotherham United. When he couldn’t agree terms on a new deal with the Millers, he instead moved to Ipswich Town, ostensibly as a replacement for Daryl Murphy.

He made six starts and six appearances as a substitute without scoring and, by January 2017, manager Mick McCarthy had lost patience with him and declared he wouldn’t play another game for the club.

Released by Town in the summer of 2017, Best managed to secure a two-month deal with Charlton Athletic in November 2017 but he sustained a knee injury on New Year’s Day 2018 and hasn’t played since.

Illness put paid to John Piercy’s promising career

A FIVE-YEAR professional football career bookended by 3-1 results against Crewe Alexandra almost certainly wouldn’t have been the path John Piercy would have chosen for himself.

One saw him make a promising debut for Tottenham Hotspur on 13 October 1999, subbed off to a terrific ovation from a 25,000 crowd at White Hart Lane on 74 minutes as they progressed in a League Cup game against the lower league opposition.

The other was a League One defeat for Brighton & Hove Albion at humble Withdean Stadium on 6 November 2004, subbed off ignominiously only 12 minutes into the second half with many in the crowd of 6,163 unaware that the hereditary bowel disease afflicting him was putting paid to his hopes of a football career.

Born in Forest Gate, east London, on 18 September 1979, Spurs first spotted Piercy as a stand-out 12-year-old, talented enough to represent England Schoolboys.

He became a trainee with Spurs at the age of 16 and signed as a professional in July 1998.

It was George Graham who gave him his first team debut for Spurs in that game against Crewe, starting him up front alongside Chris Armstrong in a side that featured future Brighton player and assistant manager Mauricio Taricco in defence.

The Spurs goals were scored by Oyvind Leonhardsen, David Ginola and Tim Sherwood, but spursodyssey.com was full of praise for the young Piercy.

“One young man who will remember this night more than most is 20-year-old debutant John Piercy, who won the home fans’ hearts with two terrific efforts on goal, and an eye-catching performance all round,” it said. They even went as far as to suggest he might be ‘the new Ginola’.

The performance was good enough to earn him a place on the bench for the following Saturday’s Premier League game away to Derby County and he was called into action in the second half to replace Armstrong as Spurs won 1-0.

He made two more league appearances that season and an excellent Spurs archive website said of him: “The solidly built East Londoner had the ability to lead the line and to make chances for his team-mates, by going wide and taking people on.

“Some work was needed on his first touch and his pace, but he was strong, direct and knew where the goal was.  Preferred to play wide on the left of midfield, but was deployed at full back in the reserves to good effect.”

Chris Hughton was the Spurs reserve team manager at the time and said of Piercy: “John is able to adapt well to different roles which is why we’ve played him at full-back in pre-season when we’ve been stretched in those areas.  But I’d say his best position is definitely right or left of midfield.”

On 4 April 1999, he started for England under 20s against the USA in the World Youth Championships in Nigeria, but was subbed off in a game England lost 1-0. His teammates that day included future full international Ashley Cole, and the side was managed by former Albion full-back Chris Ramsey.

john piercyFrustrated by the lack of first team opportunities at Spurs, Piercy, by then based in Eastbourne, opted to join Brighton in September 2002 during Martin Hinshelwood’s brief reign as manager.

Hinshelwood told the BBC: “He’s a player who can play in a variety of positions. That will give us plenty of options.”

A first team breakthrough at Brighton was slow to happen, however, with Hinshelwood’s successor, Steve Coppell, opting for experience in the ultimately unsuccessful battle to avoid relegation from the second tier. Piercy top-scored for the reserves that season, netting 13 goals from midfield.

However, shortly after Mark McGhee’s appointment, he did get some game time and in December 2003 also registered his first league goal in a 1-0 win at home to Wrexham.

Later the same month, he went one better playing up front in place of the suspended Leon Knight and scored twice in a resounding 4-0 home win over Wycombe Wanderers.

More often than not, though, he was brought on as a substitute rather than starting games. He made just eight league starts and in six of them was subbed off.

His other appearances (16) were all from the bench and that was the role he found himself in at the 2004 play-off final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, although his contribution was certainly effective.

Piercy replaced Nathan Jones in the 77th minute. “He (McGhee) made a change with just over 10 minutes left and we went on to win the game, so no one is going to complain, are they?” Jones told walesonline.co.uk.

Reports also recorded how Brighton threatened Steve Phillips’ goal moments after Piercy replaced Jones, Iwelumo glancing the substitute’s cross wide of the far post.

Sadly for Piercy, while he showed promise on the football pitch, he began to suffer the horribly debilitating effects of colitis, as he described in an interview with the Argus.

He praised the support he got from McGhee and reserve team boss Dean White but it reached a point where it was evident the illness was simply sapping too much energy from him to continue a full-time professional football career.

That defeat at home to Crewe proved to be his last game for the Albion and he announced his retirement aged 25 shortly afterwards.

“He knows his capabilties and I know his capabilities,” said McGhee in a matchday programme article. “He’s a player that could easily cope with the standard of the Championship but this illness has just affected him in a way that he just can’t get fit enough to do himself justice.”

Chairman Dick Knight added: “It is a great shame that such a skilful player, with such tremendous natural ability, has seen his career curtailed in such a cruel way. All at the club are devastated for him to be hanging up his boots at the relatively young age of 25.”

Piercy subsequently regained sufficient fitness to play a season with non-league Eastbourne Borough and then took up a coaching role with the club.

Nowadays he is a sports coach at Ocklynge Junior School in Eastbourne where he teaches youngsters football and PE, and is also a coach at CACL Sports in the town.

Piercy Ocklynge Sch

Brighton’s heroic captain Cullip clashed with Warnock

AFTER three promotions and one relegation in five years, Danny Cullip left Brighton for Sheffield United in December 2004.

Hard-up Albion needed the cash at the time and Cullip was keen to join a side who were pushing for promotion to the Premier League.

“They were a massive side and I felt that it was too good an opportunity to miss,” Cullip said in Match of My Life (knowthescorebooks.com), edited by Paul Camillin. “I felt if I didn’t take the opportunity, I would end up regretting it, and although things didn’t work out, I don’t regret it, as I would have lived the rest of my life wondering what might have happened.”

Cullip was virtually ever-present during his three months with the Blades but a clash of personalities with fiery manager Neil Warnock saw him offloaded on loan to Watford before the end of the season.

DC focusThe player who had been an inspirational captain for the Seagulls has chosen not to go into detail about what happened although Warnock had plenty to say in his autobiography, ghostwritten by journalist Oliver Holt.

“At Sheffield United I bought a centre-half, Danny Cullip, with a view to him being my leader on the pitch, my captain,” he said. “I thought he was a good talker. I realised within a week he talked a better game than he played. The only answer was to get shot of him quickly.”

Cullip swerved the controversy in an Albion matchday programme interview in 2019-20, saying instead: “We won my first three games in succession and ended up taking maximum points from five of the first six games.

“It was a great start and I was really enjoying my football but then, out of the blue, Neil said he wanted to bring in another striker, Danny Webber from Watford.

“Ray Lewington, who was coach at Watford at the time and knew me from out time together at Brentford, said they would only sanction it if they could get me in return. It was going to be a permanent move but ended up being a loan as Ray was sacked the following week, which wasn’t ideal.

“My Sheffield United career was over though before it had even begun, which was so disappointing because I’d been playing well and we’d been getting results.”

butts + DC Sheffield United’s Cullip gets to grips with ex- Albion teammate Guy Butters

Lee Connor on footballleagueworld.co.uk reckoned Cullip was one of the top 5 most pointless signings in Sheffield United’s history which seems a harsh assessment of a player who made 216 appearances for Brighton.

The £250,000 fee Brighton received for their captain was certainly much needed at the time and was a good return on the £50,000 they invested in signing him from Brentford for £50,000 on 13 October 1999.

Born on 17 September 1976 in Bracknell, Berkshire, Cullip was scouted by Oxford United while playing Sunday football and shone during a set of trial games. After getting into their under-16s, he then earned a two-year YTS apprenticeship where he was coached by future England manager Steve McLaren.

Oxford were managed by that redoubtable former centre half Denis Smith at the time and Cullip was given a one-year professional contract but faced stiff competition to make the breakthrough to the first team, where future Leicester City stalwart Matt Elliott was excelling.

“I went out on loan to Kettering Town in the Conference,” Cullip told fulhamfocus.com. “Gary Johnson was their manager and I learned a lot from him and played well there.”

Cullip had a trial at Shrewsbury and could have joined them or Kettering. But he chose to join then Fourth Division Fulham because his dad was a Fulham fan, he told fulhamfc.com in an April 2016 interview. Micky Adams had been newly appointed in his first managerial job and handed Cullip his league debut in the first game of the 1996-97 season.

It was a season fondly remembered by Fulham fans because they won promotion but the regime change the following year, when Mohammed Al Fayed took over, saw Adams dumped in favour of Kevin Keegan and Ray Wilkins and eventually Cullip rejoined Adams at Brentford in exchange for a £75,000 fee in February 1998.

Cullip found himself back in the basement division when the Bees were relegated and then on the treatment table for much of the season after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury.

Having not played a first team game for 13 months because of the injury, Cullip was thrown a lifeline when Adams, by now in charge at Brighton, took him on a month’s loan in September 1999.

CullipHe impressed sufficiently for Adams to persuade chairman Dick Knight to make the transfer permanent, beginning an association with the club which continues to this day.

Cullip became a mainstay of the defence during the back-to-back promotions of 2001-02 and 2002-03 and famously scored the headed winner in a 1-0 win over Chesterfield at Withdean that clinched the third-tier championship.

Cullip took over the captaincy from Paul Rogers and recalls the “unbelievable day” he lifted the play-off final trophy at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, in 2004.

After his Blades spell was cut short, and his brief Watford loan came to an end, Cullip joined Nottingham Forest where his manager was Gary Megson. “I really liked him,” said Cullip. “He was an honest guy; what you see is what you get with him.

“Unfortunately, I missed my first pre-season with Forest due to what was ongoing at United, so I was playing catch-up with the rest of the lads and ended up suffering a hamstring injury. It was a problem that would dog me for the rest of my career.”

He was restricted to a handful of appearances in his first season with Forest but he eventually became a regular in a three-man defence alongside Wes Morgan and Ian Breckin.

DC Forest Cullip in action for Forest, marking Albion’s Alex Revell

In January 2007, he was on the move again, to Queens Park Rangers, where former Albion player John Gregory was in charge. But his 18-month deal was terminated early after one of their many managerial changes saw him surplus to requirements.

With his family based in Sussex, Cullip looked for an opening in the south and spent six weeks training with Millwall before linking up with Gillingham, where he played from February 2008 to the end of the 2007-08 season.

He then played non-league with Lewes but, after a season, the hamstring injury forced him to retire.

Alongside his former Albion centre half partner Guy Butters, Cullip is now a coach with the Albion in the Community scheme.

Flu-hit Flinders came to the rescue in a goalkeeping crisis

AN UNDERSTUDY to eccentric Crystal Palace goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly played a dozen games in goal for Brighton in the spring of 2007.

Scott Flinders was just 20, and suffering from the effects of a bout of ‘flu, when he answered a call from fledgling manager Dean Wilkins to help solve a goalkeeper crisis.

With first choice Michel Kuipers injured, Wilkins considered it too early to risk rookie ‘keepers Richard Martin and John Sullivan, so he turned to Albion’s arch rivals to borrow 6’ 4” Flinders.

“I always thought Millwall were Palace’s biggest rivals but then I got told, I think it was by Dougie Freedman or Clinton Morrison, that it is Brighton,” Flinders told The Argus. “It didn’t put me off signing. It is just about playing games.”

IMG_6009Flinders made a slightly shaky start in a win away to Gillingham, and in a defeat to Bristol City on his first appearance at Withdean, but he made some important stops to help earn points in consecutive away draws at Crewe and Blackpool.

Manager Wilkins told The Argus: “We knew we were bringing in somebody who was not 100 per cent for the first couple of matches. Scott has recovered from that and he has done very well for us.

“We are still in a position where we need another ‘keeper with a bit more experience than the young lads we’ve got.”

Flinders seemed happy to extend his loan from one month to two and said: “The fans have been absolutely excellent towards me, even though I am coming from a rival club.

“John Keeley, the goalkeeping coach, has been different class and I am delighted to be here.”

Unfortunately, Albion lost all five of their matches in April and finished 18th, six points clear of relegation.

Born in Rotherham on 12 June 1986, Flinders joined nearby Barnsley as a youth trainee in 2003 and made it through to the first team in 2005 when former Albion striker Andy Ritchie was the manager.

He took over from Ross Turnbull and featured in 11 games over three months before losing his place and subsequently having to settle for being understudy to Republic of Ireland international Nick Colgan.

However, Flinders earned his own international recognition in the shape of five caps for the England under 20 side, three of them in the 2005 Toulon tournament. He made his debut in a 3-0 win against the Korean Republic in a side which also featured Liam Ridgewell, Liam Rosenior and Greg Halford.

He kept his place three days later in a 0-0 draw with France, then came on as a sub three days later in a 1-1 draw with Mexico.

In August the same year, he started against Russia but was substituted as the side went down 4-0. A teammate in that one was Will Hoskins. His final match was at Turf Moor when England drew 2-2 with Holland, although he was subbed off again. In that England team was future England centre-back Gary Cahill while the left-back was Gary Borrowdale, who played on loan at Brighton under Russell Slade in 2009.

Frustrated playing second fiddle at Barnsley, Flinders had trials at Chelsea and Wigan Athletic but he ended up at Crystal Palace in 2006 as part of an exchange deal involving midfield player Sam Togwell.

It’s believed Palace paid an initial fee of £250,000 with additional instalments to be paid according to appearances.

However, Flinders only made one league cup appearance before being sent on loan to Gillingham. It was the first of five loans away from Selhurst Park, the lengthiest being his time at Brighton.

Other loan spells saw him spend time with Yeovil Town, Blackpool and Falkirk and he was released by Palace in May 2009 after playing just 13 games for them in three years.

His years of understudying finally came to an end when he headed to the north east in the summer of 2009 and joined Hartlepool United, where he established himself as first-choice ‘keeper.

Flinders even got on the scoresheet while at Hartlepool, scoring with a 94th minute header against Bournemouth on 30 April 2011 to earn his side a point in the last home game of the season.

The 2012-13 season was a particular triumph for him when he earned the accolades of Player’s Player, Supporter’s Player, Away Player of the Year and Hartlepool Mail SportsMail Player of the Year.

In six years at Hartlepool, he made more appearances – 276 – than any other ‘keeper in the club’s history, eventually moving on in June 2015 to League Two York City.

Flinders received a five-match ban from the Football Association in August 2016 following an incident in a League Two game between York and AFC Wimbledon on 19 March that year.

It was alleged Dons striker Lyle Taylor grabbed Flinders by the testicles and, as he retaliated, the goalkeeper was alleged to have used racist abuse.

Flinders denied the charge but was found guilty by the FA following an independent regulatory commission. Fined £1,250, Flinders was also warned about his future conduct and ordered to complete an education course.

York initially suspended Flinders but then loaned him out to National League rivals Macclesfield Town, who he subsequently joined on a contract from January to June 2017.

On deadline day in August 2017, he joined League Two Cheltenham Town, with boss Gary Johnson telling the club’s website: “Scott has played over 400 league and cup games in his career and there is no substitute for experience.”

In January 2020, Flinders suffered a broken leg in a game against Oldham which put him out of the game for nine months.

  • Pictures and headlines from The Argus.

One-goal striker Craig Davies a Seagulls flop

THE PHRASE ‘journeyman striker’ sits perfectly with Welsh international Craig Davies who, despite success later in his career, fired blanks for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brighton.

To use that rather amusing, though well-worn phrase, he couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo during his time with the Seagulls.

He arrived on the south coast in January 2009 during Micky Adams’ second, unsuccessful, spell in Albion’s managerial chair.

Oldham Athletic received a reported £150,000 for his signature and, in 23 games for Brighton, he managed just the one goal – on his debut!

That strike came at Withdean – the opening goal in what ended up a 4-2 defeat to Peterborough United (for whom a certain Craig Mackail-Smith equalised).

When a 4-0 home thrashing by Crewe Alexandra meant it had been six games on the trot without a win, Adams was fired by Dick Knight at a Little Chef on the A23. He’d managed just seven wins in 34 matches, and ‘fireman’ Russell Slade arrived just in time to rescue the Seagulls from the League One relegation trapdoor.

Many different striker permutations were tried that season, with main men Nicky Forster and Glenn Murray sidelined by injury, and Albion’s survival was largely due to the goals of loan arrival Lloyd Owusu. Davies huffed and puffed but simply couldn’t make a meaningful connection when the goal beckoned.

Typical of the fans’ eye view was this observation by wearebrighton.com: “That Adams actually paid money for Craig Davies remains one of the more startling moments of his reign of terror.

“Rarely has a Brighton player enraged the Seagulls support like Davies, a man who mixed incompetence – such as the ability to put the ball over the bar when faced with an open goal three yards away – with a complete lack of effort.”

There had been such promise on his arrival, with chairman Dick Knight telling the matchday programme: “Craig is an exciting player with loads of potential, he is lightning-quick and his direct approach can be a nightmare for defenders. This is a major career move for him and he has every chance to be a crucial part of our future.”

Davies himself clearly thought he’d finally found a place to further his career, saying: “I’ve had a few ups and downs through my career but hopefully now I can get settled at Brighton and start knocking in the goals here.

“The gaffer seems to have a bit of faith in me so hopefully I can repay that by putting in some performances and getting a few goals.”

Albion cut their losses on Davies and loaned him to Yeovil Town (he didn’t score in four games for them, either) and then Adams re-signed him, this time for League Two Port Vale, where he finally managed to find the back of the net again.

In the summer of 2010, Davies came to a mutual agreement to end his Brighton nightmare and he joined League Two Chesterfield, from where his career began an amazing upward trajectory.

Born in Burton-upon-Trent on 9 January 1986, Davies began his career as a schoolboy at Shrewsbury Town, but did his apprenticeship at Manchester City. In August 2004, he moved on to League Two Oxford United, where he made his league debut the same month in a 1-0 win at Notts County.

In two seasons with Oxford, managed by former Ipswich and Arsenal midfielder Brian Talbot, he scored eight times in 55 appearances. In the summer of 2005, he made his debut for Wales (qualifying because he had a Welsh grandfather) as a substitute in a 0-0 draw v Slovenia. Reports linked him with a move to Premier League Charlton Athletic, but nothing came of it and instead, in January 2006, he moved to Italy to join Hellas Verona for a £85,000 fee.

It proved to be too big a step for someone who was then only 20, and he referred to feelings of homesickness in an interview with the BBC.

Remarkably, Davies hit the headlines in May 2006, when in the sixth of seven games he played for the Wales under-21 side (which featured Gareth Bale, Andrew Crofts and Arron Davies) he scored a hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Estonia, and it earned him a recall to the full international side.

Wales under-21 manager Brian Flynn told the BBC: “Craig has sometimes been frustrating to watch, but he has skill and we will help him, and them all, to flourish.”

Davies hoped the international goals would attract a club to rescue him from Italy. “I have found it very hard to settle in Italy,” he told the BBC. “Verona want me to come back and have a year on loan somewhere and then they will look at the situation again when I have a bit more experience.”

It was Wolves, then in the Championship, who offered him a lifeline back in the UK and he moved to Molineux on loan, playing 23 games, mainly in the first half of the 2006-07 season.

The only goals he scored for Wolves both came in a FA Cup tie against Oldham Athletic who, ironically, turned out to be his next club. He joined them for an undisclosed fee from Hellas in June 2007.

Davies netted 13 times for a League One Latics side in 2007-08 but, after a 10-game barren spell the following season, he was sent on loan to Stockport County where he scored six times in 13 games, including bagging a hat-trick against Bristol Rovers, and scoring a penalty against Albion as County won 2-0.

When Adams rescued Davies from his Seagulls horror spell, he was rewarded with seven goals in 24 matches for League Two Port Vale between January 2010 and the end of the season.

Chesterfield stepped in to sign him on a one-year deal for the 2010-11 season – and he was promptly sent off in his first competitive game for the Spireites!

Things did get much better, though, and he ended the season with 25 goals to his name, Chesterfield were promoted, and Davies was chosen in the divisional PFA select team for the season.

Such success drew attention from other clubs and he opted to join Championship side Barnsley under Keith Hill. He struggled to find the net in the opening nine matches but eventually finished the season with 11 goals in 42 appearances.

In September 2012, Davies scored FOUR goals in the space of 19 minutes in a 5-0 demolition of Birmingham City at St Andrews and, with nine goals in 22 appearances to his name in the first half of the 2012-13 season, Bolton Wanderers came forward with a £300,000 bid to take him to the Reebok Stadium.

He scored four goals in 18 Championship games for Wanderers but another of his barren spells struck in the opening half of the following season. Wanderers loaned him to League One Preston and he got a goal on his debut as well as a hat-trick in a 6-1 thrashing of Carlisle United. North End reached the play-offs, and Davies made his way back to Bolton having scored five in 15 games.

Hamstring injury issues plagued him in 2014-15 and manager Neil Lennon released him at the end of the season.

He didn’t have far to travel for his next port of call when newly-relegated Wigan Athletic offered him a two-year contract. He only scored twice in 30 appearances, but Wigan won promotion as League One champions.

With just one goal in 14 Championship games in the first part of the 2016-17 season, Davies was on the move again, this time linking up with League One Scunthorpe United until the end of the season. Cue another barren spell: no goals in 21 games.

The 2017-18 season saw Davies return to his old club, Oldham Athletic, and despite scoring 14 goals in 44 appearances, could not prevent the club being relegated to League Two. Davies had strong views about the ownership of the club as he departed for Mansfield Town.

He signed a two-year deal with the Stags, but injury curtailed his involvement in 2018-19.

C Davies Wales

Stop-gap big Willie given runaround in Brighton’s colours

W Young Joe JordanA TOWERING Scottish defender who played in three consecutive FA Cup finals for Arsenal was a temporary centre-back stand-in for Brighton in 1984.

Willie Young had moved on from the marble halls of Highbury by the time Albion boss Chris Cattlin borrowed him to plug a gap.

Young was nearing the end of a 14-year career and had switched to Norwich City but was made available to help the Seagulls out of a hole.

Another former Gunner, Steve Gatting, was suspended for three matches in March 1984 and former club captain Steve Foster had just been sold to Aston Villa to raise some much-needed funds.

So Cattlin brought in flame-haired Scot Young to play alongside inexperienced namesake Eric Young. His first game, at home to Manchester City on 10 March, finished in a 1-1 draw.

A week later, Albion triumphed 3-0 away to Derby County and won by a similar margin at home to Leeds United on 24 March.

So far, so good, but in what turned out to be Young’s final game, the wheels came off big time and Albion succumbed 5-1 away to Portsmouth, despite taking the lead.

The line-up saw Eric Young unable to play through suspension and Willie partnered by the returning Gatting. They were no match for Pompey’s prolific centre forward Mark Hateley.

Young found himself in the book with 15 minutes of the first half still to play following a foul on Hateley. Evening Argus Albion reporter John Vinicombe said: “Young was lucky not to be sent off when he bowled Hateley over from behind. Hateley was in a goalscoring position, and, at the time, Albion were still in front.”

The club’s official report added: “On 65 minutes, Hateley outpaced Young and moved smoothly in to net his 22nd goal of the season for Portsmouth.”

Vinicombe gave a brutal assessment: “Out of the shambles may come some good. If Cattlin had been undecided about taking Willie Young on contract, this performance may well have made up his mind.

“Hitherto, Young had not let the side down in his previous three loan appearances, but Mark Hateley, ten years his junior, gave him a terrible runaround.”

So, an ignominious end to his short spell and he was subsequently sacked by Norwich for misconduct.

After a short spell with lowly Darlington, Young called time on his playing career later that year and ran a pub and restaurant, Bramcote Manor, in Nottingham, before it was demolished to be replaced by a religious meeting place.

He subsequently took over the running of the Belvoir kennels and cattery in Bottesford, Leicestershire, while also being a part-time pundit for Scottish television.

Born in the Midlothian village of Heriot on 25 November 1951, Young went to school at Ross High in Tranent and was more noted for rugby than football – he was a talented hooker who had a trial for the South of Scotland Schools’ team.

However, he was playing football for amateur side Sefton Athletic when Hearts offered him a trial – but as a Hibernian supporter he turned them down! Falkirk then gave him a trial but a change of management meant it wasn’t followed up and eventually Aberdeen stepped in to sign him in 1969.

After making 187 appearances for the Dons in five years, initially under Eddie Turnbull and then Jimmy Bonthrone, Tottenham Hotspur boss Terry Neill signed the defender after he’d impressed in a UEFA Cup tie between Aberdeen and Spurs. He played 64 times for the Lilywhites in two seasons.

Neill’s successor Keith Burkinshaw dispensed with his services and he joined Neill at Arsenal when the Northern Irishman switched to manage the side he used to play for. According to The Scotsman, Neill described Young as “a big awkward bastard who liked a drink”.

Before the move, he’d been sent off in a Spurs v Arsenal clash following what was described as a kung fu style kick on Frank Stapleton.

W Young Gerry RyanYoung (pictured above launching into a tackle on Albion’s Gerry Ryan) became something of a Gunners cult hero for making the controversial switch from the north London rivals and fans inevitably enjoyed the chant: “We’ve got the biggest Willie in the land.” In four years, he made a total of 236 appearances, chipping in with 19 goals as well.

His three FA Cup Final appearances came in 1978, 1979 and 1980, only collecting a winners’ medal in 1979 when the Gunners beat Manchester United 3-2.

The consensus view was that Young did well in that game, suppressing the threat of fellow Scot Joe Jordan, who led the line for United. In 1980, Young famously committed a professional foul on Paul Allen as he looked like he would score as the youngest player in a FA Cup Final.

Young said in that piece in The Scotsman: “I was the last man and only got booked. After that the rules were changed and the ‘professional foul’, as it started to be called, became a red card offence. Paul was going to score so I had to take him down. Afterwards he said: ‘Don’t worry, big man, I’d have done the same.’ But everyone else was appalled. He was only 17, the youngest to play in an FA Cup final, and I’d ruined the fairytale. Big, bad Willie had done it again.”

Hammers won the game 1-0 with a rare Trevor Brooking header.

W Young ForestAfter Young lost his first team place at Arsenal to Chris Whyte, he moved on to Nottingham Forest (pictured above), where he spent a couple of seasons, playing 59 games.

He then joined Norwich in 1983 but, dogged by injuries, he failed to command a regular place in their side.

Young won five Scotland under 23 caps but his involvement in some over-exuberant revelry in Copenhagen in 1975 brought about a life ban from the international set-up, which he spoke about in the 2015 interview with The Scotsman.

Post-playing, Youngr settled in the Nottingham area with his wife Lynda, and ran a pub for many years. His death at the age of 73 was announced on 31 October 2025.