Month: December 2020

John Humphrey – unsung hero of 1997 great escape

John Humphrey in Wolves colours

ONE OF the unsung heroes of Albion’s last-gasp survival feat in 1997 knew a thing or two about playing for clubs in precarious circumstances.

John Humphrey’s first club was Wolverhampton Wanderers during a bleak period in their history: they dropped into the basement division under the controversial ownership of the Bhatti brothers.

The right-back later played ‘home’ games for Charlton Athletic at Selhurst Park and Upton Park when the football authorities deemed The Valley unfit to stage matches.

And he ended his professional playing days turning out for Brighton in ‘home’ games at Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium (as pictured above).

Humphrey came to Brighton’s rescue in the autumn of his career.

With Albion’s very existence under threat as 1996 turned to 1997, Albion handed the managerial reins to Steve Gritt, and former Charlton teammate Humphrey was his first signing: a free transfer from Gillingham, who were playing in the division above.

Humphrey was 36 at the time with nearly 650 professional matches behind him, including a good many in the top-flight with Wolves, Charlton and Crystal Palace. Indeed, he was Charlton’s player of the year in 1988, 1989 and 1990.

After four matches on the bench, Humphrey replaced Peter Smith at right back and played in Albion’s last 11 games of that 1996-97 season, only ending up on the losing side three times. wearebrighton.com said his impact made him “a seriously underrated piece of the Great Escape jigsaw”.

“Steve wanted me because I was experienced, could get the players organised and was able to talk them through matches,” Humphrey told the Argus. “He knew I was steady, reliable and dependable, that nine games out of ten I’d play pretty well and that I would give 100 per cent.

“It was a lot of pressure but I’d been through a few promotions (three) and relegations (six) with Wolves, Charlton and Crystal Palace.” He continued: “The stressful situations I had gone through with those other clubs had given me experience of how to try and keep a season alive.

“I could do a job for Brighton and I felt I did that and the team turned out to be good enough to hang on. It was one of the biggest achievements of my career.”

Humphrey remembered the pressure going into the Hereford match was “horrible” because of the media focus but he added: “It might have been going out of the frying pan of Gillingham into the fire at Albion but I’m glad I made the jump.”

Unfortunately, then chief executive David Bellotti tried to renege on a deal Gritt had agreed verbally with Humphrey that he’d get a new one-year contract if Albion stayed up.

“When I was told I was being released, I thought it was a pretty poor show. But Steve, to his credit, then fought my corner and I stayed on.”

With the Goldstone sold, and Albion forced to play ‘home’ games at Gillingham,  Humphrey retained his place in the side and played in 13 matches but, along with other senior players, such as Craig Maskell, Paul McDonald, Denny Mundee and Ian Baird, he was let go to save money on wages.

Humphrey accepted the package he was offered, called time on his long professional career, and dropped into the non-league scene, playing initially for Chesham, then Carshalton, Dulwich Hamlet and Walton and Hersham.

He got a break into a new career as a teacher at Whitgift School in Croydon courtesy of former Albion defender, Colin Pates, who’d played with Humphrey at Charlton.

“I knew Colin from Charlton when we roomed together,” Humphrey told the Argus. “I was aware he was at the school and he said he needed help for after-school sessions and asked me to come along. So I did and the football took off at the school and I got involved in other sports like rugby and basketball and got a full-time job there.”

After leaving Whitgift School, Humphrey became head of football at Highgate School in north London.

Born in Paddington, west London on 31 January 1961, Humphrey was picked up by Wolves after he played against their junior team for a North London club called Bourne Hall.

He recounted how events unfolded in an interview with wolvesheroes.com: initially signing schoolboy forms, then progressing to coaching in school holidays, before earning an apprenticeship.

He signed as a professional in 1979 and made his first-team debut in the old top- flight in a 3-0 Easter Monday win at Southampton in 1980. His second game ended in a 3-0 defeat to Brighton.

They came under John Barnwell and, by the time Humphrey left the club in 1985, he’d served under three other managers; the last being former Manchester United boss Tommy Docherty.

Although the side was relegated in 1981-82, Humphrey embarked on what was a 78-game unbroken spell in the side. He was ever-present when they were promoted in 1982-83.

“I loved my time at Wolves,” he told wolvesheroes.com. “I only left because we went down again in 1984-85 and I didn’t fancy playing in the Third Division. Charlton came in for me and they took John Pender from Wolves a few weeks later as well.”

Wolves under the Bhatti brothers were in freefall and a lack of investment in the side saw them suffer three consecutive relegations – in 1984, 1985 and 1986 – ending up in the old Fourth Division for the first time in the club’s history.

Humphrey joined an Addicks side newly-promoted to the elite and, although Lennie Lawrence’s side often struggled to retain their status, they remained in the top-flight until 1990, and many supporters thought the right-back was good enough for international selection.

On charltonlife.com in September 2012, Queensland Addick recalled his impressive level of fitness, and said: “The number of times he ran the right wing at great pace during a game was quite incredible.”

By the time he left Charlton in August 1990, he’d played 231 games and it was said his £400,000 transfer to top-flight Crystal Palace was linked to the fact that at the time Charlton were playing home matches at Selhurst Park.

In a five-year stay at Selhurst, Humphrey played 192 games (plus 10 as sub). Known principally for his defending, Humphrey was delighted to mark his 150th appearance for Palace with a 35-yard equaliser for the Eagles against his old club, Wolves, in a 1993 1-1 home draw.

Between December 1993 and May 1994, while Palace were winning promotion from the second tier under Alan Smith, Humphrey was out on a six-month loan at Reading, playing nine games for Mark McGhee’s Second Division side.

He then returned to second-tier Charlton on a free transfer for the 1995-96 season, playing in 36 matches, after Alan Curbishley had taken sole charge.

Next stop was Gillingham, for the first part of the 1996-97 season, but he confessed he didn’t see eye to eye with manager Tony Pulis, so he was happy to answer the call from Gritt to aid basement Brighton’s cause.

The Tiger who came to Brighton and fitted to a T

DIMINUTIVE winger Brian Tawse is remembered by veteran Brighton fans for his boyish good looks…. and a stunning disallowed goal.

It perhaps does a disservice to the fact he played 109 games (plus five as a sub) in the second half of the swinging Sixties after joining the club from Arsenal.

Tawse spent two years with the Gunners and made a handful of first-team appearances but with George Armstrong ahead of him it wasn’t until he joined the Albion that he began to play regular league football.

It was a cracking strike by Tawse in the closing minutes of a FA Cup fourth round tie against Chelsea in January 1967 that stuck in people’s memories.

In front of a packed Goldstone Ground crowd of 35,000, a big upset looked on the cards when Tawse’s terrific volley flew past Peter Bonetti five minutes from the end of the game for what would have been a 2-1 win.

Unfortunately, the referee had spotted an infringement by Kit Napier and the ‘goal’ was disallowed. In the replay at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea ran out clear 4-0 winners.

“I smashed a volley past Peter Bonetti from 20 yards out with the score at 1-1 and thought I’d got the winner,” Tawse told Brian Fowlie of the Sunday Post in 2015, ahead of Brighton’s fourth round FA Cup tie with Arsenal. “It was a goal that could have made my career – but the referee chalked it off.”

Tawse had been with the Albion for just over a year when that cup tie came around. He was one of three ex-Arsenal players in the side: the Northern Ireland international full-back Jimmy Magill joined Albion in October 1965, Tawse followed him two months later, and goalkeeper Tony Burns joined in the summer of 1966.

Albion’s boss at the time was fellow Scot Archie Macaulay, a former Arsenal player himself, who during his time at the Gunners had persuaded them to sign Alex Forbes, who later became the coach Tawse played under in Arsenal’s youth team. But more of that later.

Tawse got his first Brighton goal in only his second game, a 4-3 home win over Bristol Rovers on New Year’s Day 1966, and he went on to score six in 22 matches as the Albion finished 15th in Division 3.  

Although he started the next season in the no.11 shirt, close season arrival Howard Wilkinson became an automatic choice on one wing and Tawse found himself competing with Wally Gould for a place on the other.

Aside from the excitement of that Chelsea cup game, Tawse did find the net eight times (three times from the penalty spot) as he played in 28 games (+ one as sub) that season.

The winger couldn’t always be relied on from 12 yards, however, as contributor ‘Questions’ recalled on North Stand Chat in 2008. “Ah Tiger Tawse, he of the boyish good looks and ability to blaze a penalty over the north stand roof against Watford, I think. Good little player though….”

The majority of Tawse’s Albion games (41 + 1 sub) came in the 1967-68 season although he only scored twice as Albion finished 10th.

The signing of Paul Flood from Bohemians added forward options to the manager’s selection, but it was the £5,000 signing of speedy Dave Armstrong from Millwall in September 1968 that began to edge Tawse out.

Tawse (arrowed) in an official Albion team photo ahead of the 1969-70 season

In the 1968-69 season, which saw the arrival of Freddie Goodwin as manager in place of Macaulay, Tawse made only 16 appearances (+ three as sub), and he featured only twice between the start of December and the end of the season.

My own Albion watching journey began in February 1969 and the only game I saw Tawse play was in the Easter Saturday 4-1 win over Barnsley when he replaced Kit Napier; the only change to the side who had played 24 hours earlier, again at home, when Orient were beaten 2-0.

Goodwin mostly went for Armstrong on the left and Wilkinson on the right.

By the time the 1969-70 season arrived, opportunities were even more limited for Tawse. He was only on the bench once and started just two, his last first-team appearance coming in a 2-0 defeat away to Tranmere Rovers on 25 October 1969.

Former Albion teammate Wilf Tranter writing on North Stand Chat, said: “Brian finally lost the no. 11 shirt to Kit Napier in the 1969-70 season. He had been a very good servant to the club and was regarded with great affection by many supporters.”

Tawse with rival Kit Napier who became a good friend

Born on 30 July 1945 in Ellon, just north of Aberdeen, his footballing talent was first spotted while playing for Aberdeen boys’ team, King Street A. He told the Sunday Post’s Fowlie how the big freeze in 1963 worked in his favour.

“I went down for a trial game with Arsenal in 1963 and got stuck in London because of the terrible winter,” he said. “I trained with the youth team that was taken care of by famous Scottish player Alex Forbes.”

Forbes had joined Arsenal just after the war on the recommendation of fellow Scot Macaulay, whose place in the side he subsequently took over.

When Forbes later became youth coach at Arsenal, he took a party of Arsenal youngsters on a summer tour to South Africa, got offered a coaching job in Johannesburg and decided to make it his home for the rest of his life.

Tawse (centre) between George Armstrong and Jon Sammels in an Arsenal line-up, with Magill (far left) and Billy Wright

Billy Wright, the former England captain who’d won 105 caps for his country, was manager of Arsenal in the mid-’60s and it was he who took Tawse on as a professional.

Wright may have been a legend as a player but one of Tawse’s fellow Highbury hopefuls, John Ryan, who later starred for Fulham, Luton Town and Norwich City, was not at all enamoured.

Looking back in an interview with a Norwich archive site, he said: “Billy Wright was the only manager of the 12 I ended up playing for who I neither liked nor respected.

“He seemed to take an instant dislike to me and would single me out for some vicious treatment in front of the other young players.”

Ryan shared digs with Tawse and David Jenkins and he recalled how he found out Arsenal were letting him go. “At the end of that season (1964-65), I was sitting in the digs when two large brown envelopes and one small registered white one dropped through the front door. As I opened the small white one that was addressed to me, I wondered where the other two lads had disappeared to.

“It turned out that they’d read the situation as my letter was from the club notifying me I was being given a free transfer whilst the two brown envelopes that were for them both contained contract offers.”

Tawse made his Arsenal debut away to West Brom on 21 November 1964, a game which finished 0-0. Although his first team game time was limited, in the space of three days in February 1965 he played in successive 2-0 wins at home to Fulham and Spurs and at the end of the following month against West Ham away, another 0-0 draw.

Away to Nottingham Forest on 13 March 1965, Tawse took George Armstrong’s place on the wing – and the aforementioned Magill earned a rare outing in place of Don Howe at right back – but they lost 3-0.

Brian Tawse alongside George Armstrong, the winger he couldn’t dislodge to gain a regular Arsenal place

Although the official record books only show those league appearances, thearsenalhistory.com details how Tawse also played twice in an end of season five-game tour in Italy. He played in a 2-2 draw against Torino and was one of the scorers in a 3-0 win over Latina.

The following season he was selected in a 5-2 friendly win over non-league Corinthian Casuals on 21 September and a month later –  on 23 October 1965 –  he was on the substitute’s bench in a 2-2 home draw against Blackburn Rovers, but that was the last of his involvement, and he moved to Albion five weeks later.

“The main problem was that regular winger George Armstrong never seemed to get injured,” Tawse told the Sunday Post.

He also dispelled a myth about how he came to get his nickname Tiger, telling the reporter: “People think it’s maybe because I was a real terrier on the pitch, but the truth is that it was about petrol.

“Esso had a campaign – Put a Tiger in Your Tank – and gave away a free tiger’s tail to put on your car.

“At the age of 19, I turned up for training with one on my Mini and was immediately christened ‘Tiger’ Tawse!”

After leaving Brighton in March 1970, Tawse moved to Brentford where he played in 13 games as new manager Frank Blunstone took the Bees to within three points of promotion from Division Four, finishing fifth just behind Port Vale.

But in the 1970-71 season he made just eight appearance (plus two as sub) and ended up on loan to Southern League Folkestone.

Still only in his mid 20s, he decided to head to South Africa and played for Durban City at a time when dozens of British players, managers and coaches were recruited by that country’s 16 clubs.

He was later joined there by former Albion teammate and fellow Scot Kit Napier and after they hung up their boots, they worked together in the motor trade.

When Napier died in March 2019, Tawse told The Argus: “We remained friends afterwards and we were both golfers. He was a very good golfer, which people probably don’t realise. He played in a lot of pro-ams.

“He was a good lad and, of course, a bit of a legend for what he did with Brighton.”

Tawse spent 17 years in South Africa but returned to the UK and settled in Westdene, Brighton…and watches the Albion from the West Stand at the Amex.

Set-piece expert Darren Currie earned Uncle Tony’s approval

THE PINPOINT accuracy of Darren Currie’s passing and shooting was a joy to watch, even though a lack of pace stopped him being as good a player as his famous uncle.

Currie was a decent player in his own right, making nearly 700 appearances for 15 different clubs, but wherever he went he was always known as the nephew of the former Sheffield United, Leeds, QPR and England creative midfielder Tony Currie.

Perhaps with a hint of family bias, Uncle Tony said in an interview for ITV Digital: “Darren is, without doubt, the best crosser of the ball, after Beckham, in the country. He’ll produce nine times out of ten, right foot or left foot.”

The young Currie attributed his crowd-pleasing skills to the start he was given in the game by West Ham. After 10 years stuck in the lower leagues, Currie was given a platform to perform in the Championship by Brighton, and he very nearly made it to the top when transferred for £250,000 to high-flying Ipswich Town.

As if by a cruel twist of fate, Ipswich lost to the Hammers in the 2004-05 Championship play-off semi-finals having just missed out on automatic promotion.

“Playing for West Ham at youth and reserve levels was a terrific way to start a career,” Currie told the Ipswich Star. “They gave me everything but my debut.”

He certainly came close though, featuring alongside recognised first-teamers like Lee Chapman and Frank Lampard in friendlies and testimonials, but he had to move elsewhere to gain competitive first-team action.

Initially he had loan spells with Shrewsbury Town and Leyton Orient, and when the Shrews bid £70,000 for him in 1996, he chose to drop down a couple of divisions to get regular football.

“The difference in money was only about £50. The then West Ham manager Harry Redknapp called me in and said that I was an adult and had to think about continuing to play regular first team football,” Currie explained. “I was given the opportunity to have a new contract at West Ham or moving permanently to Shrewsbury.

“I was a young pro at West Ham and I had been out on loan a couple of times and I got the buzz for playing at three o’clock on a Saturday afternoon. There was no other feeling like it.

“I thought to myself I’ll go to Shrewsbury and I’ll play really well for a year and I’ll get a move back up to the top.

“My naivety kicked in then because it didn’t quite happen. I thought I’d done OK and I was linked with a couple of moves but the route back to the top wasn’t as simple as I thought it would be in my head.”

Indeed, it was a decade in which, after three seasons with the Shrews, he moved on briefly to Plymouth Argyle, then to Barnet (three seasons) and Wycombe Wanderers (three seasons).

Currie said it got to a point where Wycombe couldn’t afford to keep him, and boss Tony Adams made it clear he was free to look elsewhere.

Mark McGhee invited him to Brighton for a trial and was impressed with the way he knuckled down in training to get himself fit following a programme devised by McGhee’s deputy, Bob Booker.

Currie was offered a 12-month contract but it was more about the opportunity to play at a higher level that prompted him to sign.

“It wasn’t a fantastic offer – put it this way, Peterborough offered me three years – but it wasn’t about the money,” Currie told Spencer Vignes in an Albion matchday programme article.

“It was about the football and playing in the Championship. I was determined to do well and to prove myself, which I did. That’s when people began to sit up and take notice.”

Currie’s ability on the ball carved him out to be a crowd-pleaser and the first of two goals for the Albion typically came from a free kick in a 3-2 home defeat to QPR that left Argus reporter Andy Naylor purring over its execution.

“Currie, having shaved a post and hit the bar with two earlier free-kicks, made it third time lucky from 20 yards just before the break. It was a sumptuous effort from the set-piece expert which rendered Rangers’ keeper Chris Day motionless.”

His other goal came in a 1-1 draw at home to Sheffield United, more noted for Albion wearing the limited-edition Palookaville strip to help publicise backer Fatboy Slim’s latest album.

Injury-hit Albion considered it a point gained rather than two dropped and Naylor complimented Leon Knight for “superbly crafting” Currie’s goal by evading his marker and threading a square pass through the legs of Leigh Bromby.

“Currie, with time as well as room, picked his spot to score, which meant even more to him because of the opposition,” wrote Naylor, informing readers that the Yorkshire side had rejected him as a 16-year-old following a fortnight’s trial.

Unfortunately for Currie, he was only on the bench when the Albion travelled to Upton Park on 13 November 2004. After three successive defeats, McGhee confessed he set the side up not to lose rather than go for a win.

Somewhat ironically, the Seagulls blagged a 1-0 win courtesy of a Guy Butters goal, in a real backs-to-the-wall match, with veteran striker Steve Claridge ploughing a lone furrow up front.

It was only in the 90th minute of the match that McGhee introduced Currie in place of Claridge to play out the final few minutes of the game.

Currie only played 22 games for Brighton over four months but the fee they received for him from Ipswich gave a vital boost to club funds when they were struggling to compete in the division because of the restricted crowd numbers at Withdean. Having signed him on a free transfer, the deal was a no-brainer for the Albion hierarchy, even if it weakened a squad who subsequently only avoided relegation back to the third tier by a single point.

McGhee wasn’t that surprised to see Currie go, telling the Argus: “He was obviously happy here, but I thought he was doing so well that he would keep his options open.

“I cannot see Darren being a regular for Ipswich in the Premiership if they are promoted, but his skills and touch are good enough to justify him making a contribution to a squad in the Premiership.”

It didn’t pan out like that, but Currie was nonetheless grateful to the Albion, and told Vignes: “I am so pleased I had the chance to be a part of it all down there, to see what the support is like and to play with a group of lads who stick together through thick and thin.

“I played at the Goldstone when I was a kid, playing youth team football with West Ham, so I know how important the stadium issue is for everyone. I always will be extremely grateful to the Brighton fans and Mark McGhee because without a doubt without their help this opportunity wouldn’t have come along.”

Currie explained in a matchday programme article how McGhee had helped to develop his game and to add other dimensions which improved him. “I owe a helluva lot to Mark and Bob Booker,” he said.

Currie became an instant hit with the Tractor Boys fans earning the man of the match accolade in two of his first four games.

“I tend to build up a rapport with supporters wherever I go,” he told the Ipswich Star. “I am my own biggest critic and I know when I have done well, and I am very satisfied with my contribution so far.”

After his brief cameo for the Seagulls at West Ham, he got the chance to play against his boyhood club three times that season with Ipswich.

He was in the Town side that lost 2-0 at home to the Hammers on New Year’s Day 2005. Then, in the first leg of the play-off semi-final, Currie and Matt Richards (later a loanee with the Albion) were half-time substitutes who helped Ipswich to recover a deficit to draw 2-2.

Currie started the second leg and had Ipswich’s best opportunities with a shot straight at James Walker, then a long-range drive 10 minutes before the interval which the goalkeeper hopelessly misjudged but fumbled to safety. But they failed to make the final when Bobby Zamora scored two second half goals for West Ham to earn them a 2-0 second leg win. West Ham beat Preston in the play-off final.

Born in Hampstead on 29 November 1974, Currie’s early footballing talent drew interest from Watford and Chelsea, but he decided to join West Ham’s academy.

“The facilities were great, the training for us there as kids was first class and I really enjoyed my time there,” Currie said.

“A lot of the player I became was what I was taught as a kid at West Ham,” he told twtd.co.uk. “It was all about the ball and all about the technical skill and how to manipulate the ball. It was a way I enjoyed playing anyway so it was a really good fit for me.”

After signing professional in 1993, he was a regular in the West Ham reserve side and a trawl through the excellent archive website whu-programmes.co.uk records show he played in a Football Combination game away to Brighton on 1 April 1994, and later the same month was up against Guy Butters in Portsmouth’s reserve side at the Boleyn Ground. Mark Flatts and Paul Dickov were in opposition when the Hammers stiffs entertained their Arsenal counterparts at home on 11 May.

In an Avon Insurance Combination match at the Goldstone Ground on 30 November 1994, Currie scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in a West Ham side also featuring Lee Chapman and Frank Lampard.

The following summer, Currie played in four matches when he was part of West Ham’s squad on a centenary tour of Australia.

Shrewsbury boss Fred Davies, a former playing colleague of Redknapp’s at Bournemouth, took Currie on full time after his two loan spells at Gay Meadow.

He moved on to Plymouth Argyle in 1998 but only played five matches in three months, then switched to Barnet where he made 136 appearances, plus seven as a sub, in three years.

Wycombe Wanderers paid £200,000 to sign him in the summer of 2001 and manager Lawrie Sanchez told BBC Three Counties Radio: “He’s obviously a quality player. He gets crosses in and that’s an area where we weren’t very good last year. He’s come to add that to our game and his free kicks will trouble the ‘keeper as well.

“It was quite a lot of money for our club to spend but I’ve got to back my judgement. I’d looked at him for a while and quite liked him. He gives us something we haven’t got, he’s a great technician. He hasn’t got particularly great pace but what he does with the ball is tremendous. We’re hoping he does all the things he was doing at Barnet and a little bit more for us.”

Sanchez added: “A lot of people looked at him for a long time. He’s always been considered one of the best players in the Third Division and hopefully we’ll give him the stage where he can prove he’s one of the best players in the Second Division.”

After Currie’s flirtation with promotion to the Premier League ended in disappointment, Joe Royle left Portman Road and his replacement Jim Magilton axed Currie from the side in the 2006-07 season. He was sent on loan to fellow Championship sides Coventry City and Derby County, for whom he made a play-offs appearance as a substitute, although he wasn’t involved in the final when County beat West Brom 1-0.

That summer, on the expiry of his Ipswich contract, Currie moved on a free transfer to League One Luton Town. He made 38 appearances for the Hatters but when they went into administration, were deducted 10 points and relegated, he was among several players given a free transfer.

Micky Adams, back in the hotseat at the Albion, was hopeful of getting Currie back to Brighton for a second spell, telling BBC Southern Counties Radio on 11 July: “He’s a player I’ve admired for a long, long time. We want him, and he wants to come back. He’d offer competition for places and fantastic delivery from set pieces.”

But at the end of the month the player rejected the terms on offer and took up a three-year contract at Chesterfield instead.

While the first year at Saltergate went OK, in the second season, the manager who signed him, Lee Richardson, had been replaced by John Sheridan, and Currie was out of the picture. He went on loan to fellow League Two side Dagenham & Redbridge and the deal was made permanent in January 2010. Currie played in 16 matches as the Daggers won promotion to League One.

They went straight back down the following season, and Currie departed for Conference South outfit Borehamwood as player assistant manager. He was there less than three months before moving to Isthmian League Hendon for a year as a player.

In October 2012, Currie returned to Dagenham & Redbridge, initially as a development coach and later as assistant manager under John Still.

In June 2018, Currie was appointed assistant manager at National League side Barnet, working under Still. He succeeded Still in December 2018, initially as caretaker, before landing the role permanently in January 2019.

Currie, assisted by former Albion loanee midfielder Junior Lewis, came close to getting Barnet promoted to League Two but, having missed out, and the club struggling financially because of the Covid-related lack of fan revenue, both left the club in August 2020.

Wright player, wrong place but Jake was United with Wilder

LEFT-SIDED centre back Jake Wright had limited chances to show his mettle for Brighton but Chris Wilder liked what he saw – and was his manager at three different clubs.

Wright played for Wilder at Halifax Town, Oxford United and Sheffield United so was in a good position to assess the terrific job the Blades boss had done at Bramall Lane for a BBC Sport article on 10 January 2020.

“He’s not changed at all,” said Wright. “I don’t think his training sessions or his intensity have changed. As he’s progressed, he’s got better players in, so the quality’s changed. But how he goes about the day-to-day running of a football club hasn’t really changed.

“He’s always been hands-on. He’s always taken a lot of sessions himself. He knows what it takes to win and he knows how to motivate his players to be ready for a game.

“He’s ruthless. He’s got no qualms about dropping a player – no matter how long you’ve known him or how well you’ve done for him – he makes decisions to benefit the club.”

The article featured a number of players who played for Wilder over the years, and Wright added: “His CV’s incredible – one of the best in the country for how well he’s done at certain teams.

“I can’t compliment him enough as a manager. I’ve probably played more games for him than any other player and he hasn’t changed the way he is. He’s kept his philosophy.”

Born on 11 March 1986 in Keighley, Wright began his footballing journey eight miles away at Bradford City. Former England and Derby defender Colin Todd was manager at the time, and he awarded Wright his first professional contract, but it was away from Valley Parade that he gained first team experience.

Wilder was cutting his managerial teeth at Halifax and took Wright and fellow Bantam Danny Forrest to The Shay, initially on loan. The pair eventually joined on a permanent basis and Wright made 88 appearances for them but opted to move on when financial issues saw them demoted two divisions.

He moved to Crawley Town, then in the Conference Premier, and some solid performances at that level drew attention from various league clubs, including nearby Albion, who had recently narrowly escaped relegation to the fourth tier.

Manager Russell Slade took him on a trial basis for a pre-season friendly against Torquay United in July 2009, and, although Albion lost the game 1-0, Wright did enough to earn himself a two-year deal.

Slade said: “He has done very well, both in training and in the game at Torquay. He is a left-sided defender who can play at full-back or centre-half. He is also an excellent athlete, a good talker and I am expecting that he will prove himself as a quality player.”

Wright started the season in the no.5 shirt in the centre of the back four alongside Tommy Elphick but there was plenty of competition for places and Adam El-Abd and James Tunnicliffe were drafted in as Slade tried to address a four-game winless start.

He had a couple more starts in October but, with Brighton struggling towards the foot of the table, Slade was axed as boss that autumn, and Wright didn’t feature in new manager Gus Poyet’s plans.

On 31 December 2009, he was allowed to join Oxford United on loan until the end of the season. He’d only made eight appearances for the Seagulls.

“I wasn’t playing at Brighton and I want to be playing games,” Wright told the BBC. “I am coming to a club that is basically a league club and is going in the right direction. I want to be playing football.”

Wilder said: “I had Jake at Halifax and took him out of Bradford City reserves and he was superb for me.”

By the end of that season, Oxford had won promotion back into the league and Wright’s move was made permanent, courtesy of a free transfer.

The following summer he was appointed Oxford’s captain, and his stay at the Kassam Stadium extended to six seasons over which he made a total of 278 appearances.

After leading the U’s to promotion from League 2 as runners-up in the 2015-16 season, Wright left the club that summer having been told he wouldn’t be guaranteed his place in the higher division.

“Michael Appleton said I wasn’t in his plans and he’d give me the opportunity to move on,” Wright told the Oxford Mail. “It was a shock to be told, especially after we got promoted with the best defensive record in the league.”

Wright wasn’t without a club for long, moving back to Yorkshire to link up with Wilder once more, this time at Sheffield United.

“Jake brings a calmness to the team,” Wilder told the Sheffield Telegraph. “He’s one of those players I enjoy watching because he wants to win. In training and in games.

“He’s never played at this level and, with respect, he views this as an opportunity to do something at the back end of his career. I love players like that. People who get the maximum out of their careers. It’s not been a glittering career with medals littered all over the place. But every manager he’s had will tell you what Jake is like.”

He featured in 30 matches as they gained promotion from League One and played a further 22 games in their 2017-18 season in the Championship. Not involved in United’s Premier League side, in 2019-20 Wright switched on loan to League One Bolton Wanderers, where he played 12 matches.

Wright signed for Hereford at the start of the current season, with manager Josh Gowling saying: “Jake is a very big signing for us, he’s a very commanding centre half.

“He’s got a great attitude; he’s got hunger and desire and he still wants to push on and win things.”

Seagulls kick-started lengthy career for trailblazer Zesh

ZESH REHMAN became the first British Asian of Pakistani origin to play for Brighton.

He played in two separate spells three years apart and his 20 Albion appearances spanned four different managers: Steve Coppell, Bob Booker, Mark McGhee and Dean Wilkins.

His first action in Seagulls colours came in September 2003 and the experience he gained during a three-month loan provided him with the experience to return to parent club Fulham and make his Premier League debut.

Before his temporary move to Brighton he had played one first team game in the League Cup for FuIham, and, only a matter of days later, Coppell signed him for the Seagulls.

“It’s an opportunity to get some first team football,” said Rehman. “This season I’ve been in central midfield, but it doesn’t matter what position I play, I just hope I can do a job for Brighton.

“(Fulham boss) Chris Coleman told me it would be good to come and learn here,” he added.

I can remember being at the Nene Park home of Rushden & Diamonds (above left) to see 19-year-old Rehman mark his debut in the centre of midfield with a goal to seal a 3-1 win for the Seagulls. He scored with an exquisite lob over ‘keeper Billy Turley to add to goals from Guy Butters and Leon Knight. Incidentally, Paul Kitson, released by Brighton that summer after an injury-wrecked 2002-03 season, came on as a sub for Rushden.

Rehman had only played twice before Coppell vacated the manager’s chair at Withdean to take over at Reading, but in Booker’s first game in charge, Rehman was once again on the scoresheet as the Seagulls beat Grimsby Town 3-0.

The utility player stayed with the Seagulls after McGhee’s appointment as manager but after 13 matches he returned to Craven Cottage in January 2004.

Born in Birmingham on 14 October 1983, Rehman was brought up a stone’s throw from Villa Park in the Aston area of the city. The promise he showed in schools, district and county football was soon spotted and at the tender age of 12 he signed up to Fulham’s academy, with the family moving to London.

He progressed through the junior, youth and reserve sides, mainly as a centre back but also able to play full-back or as a holding midfielder.

The spell at Brighton gave him his first extended run in a first team environment and, three months after his return to Fulham, he made his Premier League debut as a late substitute at Anfield. He went on to make a total of 30 appearances for Fulham (26 starts, plus four as a sub), but with first team opportunities limited he had another loan spell away, joining Norwich City in January 2006.

He was at Carrow Road until the end of the season, making just five appearances as defensive cover, and on his return to London opted to leave Fulham in search of regular football.

Gary Waddock gave him a three-year contract at Queens Park Rangers and he made 27 appearances for the Rs but one of the club’s many managerial changes saw the arrival of former Albion defender John Gregory, and he was happy to send Rehman out on loan.

Lo and behold, Albion, by then with Wilkins at the helm, seized on the opportunity because Adam El-Abd was on the brink of a suspension, and Dean Hammond and loan full-back Joe O’Ceaurill were struggling with injuries.

“Zesh gives us a degree of versatility, as well as the experience he has picked up playing at Premiership level for Fulham, so he is a good addition for us,” Wilkins told the Argus.

For his part, Rehman said: “As soon as I found out Brighton wanted me, I thought I owe the club because they were the first to give me regular first team football.

“I’ve got great memories of my time here before. The club and the fans have had a special place in my heart ever since, so I couldn’t really turn it down.”

His second Albion debut saw him playing right-back in a disappointing 0-0 draw at home to Huddersfield Town, but Rehman was just grateful to be playing competitively again.

He told Andy Naylor: “Being out there on a Saturday is a buzz, whether it is at Brighton, Fulham or QPR. I had that at QPR for the first six months of the season but then a new manager came in and I didn’t play for a little while so, rather than just getting stale, I’ve come to Brighton and hopefully I can kick on again when I get back there.”

Rehman played eight games during his second spell at the club, his last marked by picking out striker Nathan Elder who slotted Albion’s goal in a 1-1 draw at Cheltenham on 5 May 2007.

The following season, a six-month loan at Blackpool didn’t work out as he’d hoped for, featuring in only three games under Simon Grayson, and he went back to QPR. However, by the end of January he was on the move again, this time to link up with bottom-tier side Bradford City, initially on loan, and then making the move permanent.

Rehman details his various career moves on his own website, and at Bradford his involvement took on a lot more importance than just playing games. He said:

“Hopefully I can inspire some local Asian people to start coming to games and really feel a part of the club. I want Asian kids to feel they have someone to look up to. Bradford is a big city with a big Asian population and if I can inspire one or two local kids to go on and make it as professionals, I’ll know I’ve made a positive difference to someone’s life and that’s good enough for me.”

Born in the UK, Rehman represented England at under 18, 19 and 20 levels, but opted to play for his parents’ home country of Pakistan, and he captained them at the 2013 Peace Cup in the Philippines.

Between 2011 and the start of 2017, Rehman spent six years playing in Asia, initially for Muangthong United in Thailand, then Kitchee SC in Hong Kong and lastly Pahang in Malaysia.

But the lure of the English game saw him spend four months at Gillingham between February and May 2017, helping the relegation-threatened Gills to retain their League One status.

The following month he headed back out to Hong Kong to play for Southern District FC where, in May 2020, he became player-manager.

In March 2023, Rehman was promoted to first team development coach by Portsmouth having moved to Fratton Park in the summer of 2022 as the academy’s lead professional development phase coach.

He stepped up to help the first team temporarily when Danny and Nicky Cowley left the club in January 2023 and remained in post when John Mousinho took over as head coach.

Rehman set up training on Mousinho’s first day and the head coach said: “Since that day he’s been absolutely brilliant. He’s incredibly diligent and the lads and staff at the club all really like him.

“He adds something different to me and Jon (Harley), providing a different angle, and is an influential presence on the bench.

“Development is a key part of what we’re trying to do here and when we talk about the complementary skillsets of the coaching staff, that’s something he can bring to the fore.”

Rehman said: “I believe continual development is needed by players of all ages and at all stages of their careers. Every player is a work in progress and never the finished article.

“There is no better feeling than assisting an individual, partnership or a unit to improve and then see that work transferred to a matchday, helping the team win.”

Kish and caps invaluable experience in promotion season

WHEN RADOSTIN Kishishev signed for the Albion in the summer of 2010, they acquired the services of an experienced international footballer to help in their push for promotion from the third tier.

That ‘Kish’ was 35 at the time might have been a concern but the nous he brought to the side more than compensated for the inevitability that his best years were behind him.

As manager Gus Poyet told the Argus: “He is an excellent professional and has kept himself in superb shape throughout his career.

“His quality is obvious, there is no doubt about that, but we had to be sure about his fitness. But he has proved that age is no barrier.

“That experience and quality will bring a lot to the team and will also help our younger players in their development.”

With 88 caps for Bulgaria to his credit (he was in his country’s Euro ’96 squad for the tournament in England, then played in the 1998 World Cup in France and was involved up to 2009), Kishishev had seen Premier League action with Charlton Athletic, mainly as a right-back, as well as playing for Leicester City and Leeds United, when Poyet was assistant manager to Dennis Wise.

Kishishev expressed his gratitude to Poyet for rescuing his English football career at Brighton. “I thought I was going to retire after moving back to Bulgaria,” he said. “I thought I would stay there and finish my career.

“I am very pleased with the way things have worked out and I really appreciate the chance I have been given to play for Brighton.”

In a matchday programme article, he said: “My desire for football is still so strong. As a footballer you should keep plying for as long as you can because you are a long time retired.”

However, in the autumn of 2010, Kishishev was indicating his stay on the south coast would only be for the one season because of the wear and tear he was feeling.

After being part of the side in season-defining away wins 3-0 at Peterborough and 4-0 at his old club Charlton, he told the Argus: “It is becoming harder and harder every year. My legs are getting tired and painful so it’s difficult to continue playing.”

Nonetheless, Kishishev was heavily involved throughout the season, starting a total of 25 games and coming on as a substitute in 11 others.

He missed a couple of months of action when allowed compassionate leave to return to Bulgaria, but Poyet was glad to welcome him back in March 2011 to bring a steadying influence to the final run-in.

For instance, after coming on as a sub when Albion eventually overcame Carlisle 4-3, Poyet said: “Kish came on and understood the game better than anyone else on the pitch.

“He knew where the danger was, how to pass it, when to make a foul. That is down to experience and quality, so I’m pleased to have him back.”

Kishishev was released in May 2011 and he returned to Bulgaria to play one last season with the club where it all began for him 20 years earlier: Chernomorets Burgas.

He started 16 League games for them, came on as a substitute in three more, and played his final game on 19 May 2012 in a 1-1 home draw with Locomotiv Sofia.

The background to his compassionate leave became public a few months later when in October 2012 his wife died of cervical cancer aged just 38. She had first been diagnosed with the illness while Kishishev was in the UK playing for the Albion.

Born in the Black Sea coastal city of Burgas on 30 July 1974, Kishishev also made 75 appearances for the city’s Neftochimik side and although he subsequently moved to Turkey to play for Bursapor, after only 20 games in six months there he returned to Bulgaria in January 1998 to join Litex Lovech, who he helped to win two league titles (1998 and 1999).

The bulk of his English career was spent in the top flight with Charlton under Alan Curbishley, and on a return visit to The Valley in 2017, Kishishev told the Charlton website: “It was always good when we beat the best teams. Arsenal; we beat them 1-0 on New Year’s Day and I think Graham Stuart scored. Chelsea; we beat them in their first year of Roman Abramovich on Boxing Day. 

“I have great memories of games first of all, and then the crowd. The warmness they gave me all the time is one of the first things I remember. 

“When I look back, I was one of Curbs’ favourite players. He always picked me and believed in my skills and ability, and I was so glad to have been part of that great team.”

Towards the end of his Charlton days, he joined Leeds United on loan and Leeds fan site ozwhitelufc.net details Kishishev’s career and explains his popularity at Elland Road, where he made 10 appearances as they unsuccessfully battled against relegation from the Championship.

When released by the Addicks in June 2007, he chose to join Leicester City on a two-year contract, with boss Martin Allen telling the BBC: “I watched him play against Belarus recently. I wanted to check he still had energy and enthusiasm – and he played well.

“I’m delighted that he has agreed to come here. He gives us some steel in the centre of midfield.”

Unfortunately, the move came during the reign of Milan Mandaric as chairman and managers came and went with alarming regularity. Allen was replaced by Gary Megson, but he only lasted nine games, and then Ian Holloway took over.

Just four months after signing for the Foxes, and having made only six starts plus five appearances as a sub, Kishishev headed back on loan to Leeds.  He told the Leeds website: “I signed a two-year at Leicester and the start wasn’t very good, for the team and myself as well.

“Life changes all the time and I’ve got another spell here and I hope it will be for longer. Once I knew that Gus and Dennis wanted me to come, I agreed 100 per cent.

“I’m happy and I hope I can play some part for Leeds and keep the same standards.”

Just six days after he signed, Poyet quit Leeds to become first team coach at Tottenham and five days after his three-month loan came to an end, Wise moved on to become a director at Newcastle.

Kishishev made only seven appearances in that second spell and it seemed his time in England was over when he chose to move back to Bulgaria and rejoin Litex Lovech.

That was until he was reunited with Poyet once more at Brighton. He was already studying for his UEFA A coaching licence at that time and he has since managed and coached in Bulgaria.

Cards came up trumps for ex-Saints full-back Kevan Brown

FULL-BACK Kevan Brown made more than 120 appearances for Southampton reserves during three years as a young professional but it took a move east along the coast to Brighton to play league football.

Brown arrived at the Goldstone Ground for a fee of £7,500 shortly after Barry Lloyd had taken over from Alan Mullery early in 1987.

Lloyd preferred the youngster from Andover as right-back to the ageing Les Berry, who’d joined on a free transfer the previous summer.

The club put Brown into digs in Hove (run by Val and Dave Tillson) with another young player who had moved away from home, former Everton youngster Darren Hughes.

In a programme profile feature, Brown said Hughes had been a big help in him settling into his new surroundings. “He has been showing me around the area and we’ve become good friends,” he said. “I’m glad I wasn’t put in a hotel on my own.”

Unfortunately, Brown was only on the winning side twice in the 15 matches he played that season and Albion were relegated from the second tier in rock bottom place.

Brown was a permanent fixture in the no.2 shirt for 46 league and cup matches in the 1987-88 season until the arrival of experienced defender Gary Chivers from Watford.

With promotion in sight, while Lloyd dropped the experienced captain Doug Rougvie in favour of the relatively untried Robert Isaac in the centre of defence, he saw Chivers rather than Brown as the better option at right-back.

Chivers went straight into the side for the promotion run-in and the 2-1 home win against Walsall on 12 March 1988 was the last time Brown appeared that season.

He played in the opening two games of the following season but Chivers on the right and Keith Dublin on the left were Lloyd’s preferred full-back pairing, and Brown found himself on the outside looking in.

Born on 2 January 1966, Brown was an associate schoolboy with Southampton at the age of 13, following in the footsteps of his father Peter, who had played for Saints in the late 1950s.

Brown said in an Albion profile feature that his father and Saints youth development officer Bob Higgins had been the biggest influences on his career, although Higgins later drew opprobrium.

Lawrie McMenemy awarded Brown a professional contract but neither he nor his successor Chris Nicholl elevated the young full-back to the first team, although he did get to play against Manchester United in Trinidad and Tobago while on tour with Southampton.

Having had his fill of reserve team football at Saints, rather than repeat the experience at Brighton, he moved on to Aldershot in the autumn of 1988.

He spent four years there and made quite a few more appearances than the 175 that the record books show: the 1991-92 season records having been expunged  after the club went out of business.

Aldershot found themselves in a worse financial situation than the Albion were to suffer later that decade and the club was finally wound up owing £1.2m on 25 March 1992.

Five days earlier, Brown played in a match – alongside future Albion hero Robbie Reinelt – that was the last game Aldershot would play.

Although his next career move saw him drop out of the league, he enjoyed huge success in terms of silverware and recognition.

He joined Geoff Chapple’s Woking in the Football Conference and captained The Cards to three FA Trophy wins – in 1994, 1995 and 1997 – with veteran former Albion winger Clive Walker the side’s talisman.

In addition to leading his team up the steps at Wembley to lift the silverware, Brown’s performances with Woking earned him international recognition with the England semi-professional ‘C’ side.

He made his debut in a 1-0 win over Wales at Huish Park, Yeovil, on 28 February 1995. He made three more appearances that year: away to Netherlands (0-0) on 11 April, home on 19 May (played in St Albans) against the Highland League (3-4), then away to Gibraltar (3-2) on 31 May.

His fifth and final appearance was on 2 April the following year as England beat the Netherlands 3-1 at the Nene Park home of Rushden & Diamonds.

Brown’s loyalty to Woking – he made more than 350 appearances across six years – was rewarded with a testimonial game at home to West Ham United in August 1998.

More than 5,500 turned out at the Kingfield Stadium to see the Hammers edge it 2-1 with goals from Frank Lampard and Steve Lomas. Rio Ferdinand limped off early in the match and Ian Wright played up front for West Ham.

The game took place five months after Brown had moved on from Woking to Yeovil Town.

Chapple’s former assistant, Colin Lippiatt, had taken charge at Huish Park in January that year, having joined three months earlier as a coach under Graham Roberts.

One of his first moves was to sign Brown and teammate Steve Thompson (who ended up staying with The Glovers for ten years). Brown stayed for two years, making a total of 88 appearances, latterly playing under Thompson when he took over as caretaker manager following Lippiatt’s departure.

The arrival of former Chelsea defender David Webb as manager in March 2000 spelled the end of Brown’s time at Yeovil and he returned to Woking to play a further 25 games as they battled against relegation from the Conference in the 2000-2001 season.

Playing part-time had enabled Brown to pursue a teaching career and in April 2007 he was appointed director of sport at independent co-educational St Francis School in Pewsey, Wiltshire.

Brown’s devotion to the club who set him on the road remains undimmed and on his Twitter account @KevanBrown05 he declares himself a Saints season ticket holder.