Month: August 2023

The Liddle and large story of Dan Burn’s football rescue

WHEN Albion beat Wigan Athletic 2-1 to win promotion to the Premier League in April 2017, few Brighton supporters were paying much attention to the tall defender lining up for the opposition.

“There was a party atmosphere around the place, with the players and everyone on the pitch – so it was a great time for Brighton, but not such a great time for us as Wigan players,” recalled 6’6” Dan Burn. “We were all but relegated to League One, which was a low point in my career.”

By the time he next stepped out at the Amex, in January 2019, he was wearing Albion’s colours, and making his debut in a 0-0 stalemate v West Brom in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Signed on a four-year contract towards the end of the Chris Hughton era, to say Burn’s Albion career had a slow start would be an understatement. He joined the Seagulls on August deadline day in 2018, but was immediately loaned back to the Latics while also nursing a foot injury.

He told the Albion matchday programme: “I’m buzzing to get another crack at the Premier League but I know it won’t be easy. The competition within the squad is very good in my position.

“I’m under no illusions that it’s going to be a very tough ask but, when I do get a chance, I’ve got to show what I can do.”

Hughton, a former Newcastle United boss when Burn was a season ticket holder at St James’s Park, said: “Dan has a wealth of experience from his time with Fulham, Birmingham City and Wigan, amongst others.

“He’s an imposing figure and had an excellent season helping Wigan to the League One championship. He also impressed in an excellent FA Cup run to last season’s quarter-finals.” 

Once recovered from his foot injury, Burn played 13 games, plus once as a sub, for Paul Cook’s Latics before arriving at Falmer in January.

He managed just three FA Cup games under Hughton, but his fortunes changed dramatically with the arrival of Graham Potter, initially slotting in on the left of Shane Duffy and Lewis Dunk in a back three, and later showing versatility and no little ability on the ball as a left-back or left wing back.

“Graham had a meeting with the lads, sat us down and told us the past was past and we just had to go out and prove we could play.

“I’m a good trainer; I train as I play and so always felt I had a chance. I also learn best when I’m out of my comfort zone. Playing left of three or left-back or left wing back, I’ve proved a lot of people wrong, which is what I like to do.”

Burn’s Albion Premier League debut came in the impressive 3-0 away win at Watford that opened the 2019-20 season, and, after Albion supporters had voiced their approval, Burn told the matchday programme: “It’s nice to be appreciated by our fans who are tremendous both home and away and for me to prove to people that I can play at this level.”

It was certainly a special occasion for Burn when Albion travelled to St James’s Park on 14 September 2019. He admitted: “Even coming out the tunnel and listening to Local Hero being belted out of the speakers was emotional for me. As a season-ticket holder for years, I could see my old seat.

“All my family were there, dotted around the stadium, people I used to go to school with, parents of friends. On the day I just had to focus solely on the game and then afterwards I could relax a little bit and go up to see my family.”

Burn was born in Blyth, the seaside town 13 miles north of Newcastle, on 9 May 1992. Because his dad was an ardent Newcastle fan, his son was quickly enrolled as a supporter and, having begun playing football with some pals when he was six or seven, he admitted: “Once I started going with him and watching games I never looked back. I was always out on the back field playing football or playing at school.

“Around 99 per cent of people in Blyth supported Newcastle. Everyone dreamed of playing for Newcastle.”

The dream looked like it might become a reality when he was just nine. While playing for the junior side of Blyth Spartans, he was scouted by Newcastle and invited to join their development centre.

“You have the Academy, where the best players went, and the development centre would run alongside that, where you would train Fridays, and they kept an eye on the players’ progress,” Burn recalled in a matchday programme interview.

“It wasn’t that great to be honest. While I was a good footballer when I joined them, as the two or three years went on, I declined quite rapidly. My body shot up, and I didn’t really catch up with myself football-wise until I was 15 or 16.”

He left the Toon at 11 and reflected: “It wasn’t a particularly good experience being let go by the club you support, with the realisation setting in that you’re probably not good enough to play at that level. I got released around Christmas time too, and it knocked my confidence.”

His chance of making it in the game wasn’t lost, though. He played for Blyth Town and Blyth Spartans, as well as New Hartley Juniors, and was spotted by a scout working for an organisation which selected players who weren’t associated with professional clubs.

Still a sixth former at school, he played for an England representative side against the other home nations and did enough to persuade Darlington’s youth team manager Craig Liddle to invite him for a trial. Burn credits Liddle with giving him the belief he could play at a higher level.

He was given a two-year YTS deal in July 2009 and it certainly beat pushing shopping trolleys for ASDA, which he’d been doing to make a bit of money.

In December 2009, with the League Two club in some trouble, Burn suddenly found himself given a first team chance. At just 17, he made his debut as a first half substitute away to Torquay.

“Although we got beat 5-0, I came off the pitch buzzing,” he recalled. “Here I was, a 17-year-old, and I was playing in League Two. We’d been pumped away from home, facing this horrendous journey home, but I was over the moon when I got back to my car – ridiculous really.”

Burn the Quaker

Unfortunately, Darlo were relegated to the Conference at the end of that season. In January the following season, Burn managed to get a foothold in the side.

His performances caught the eye of Premier League Fulham and a £350,000 fee – a lifeline towards keeping the Quakers going for a little while – took him to London. Somewhat ironically, Burn revealed that Newcastle (at the time managed by Alan Pardew) matched Fulham’s offer “but I’d already been down to Fulham, had a tour of the ground and done my medical, so was happy to sign for them”.

Being 18 at the time, he realised staying in the north-east could have made it difficult to avoid the temptations of nights out with his mates, quite apart from the scrutiny that locals give their local football heroes.

Winning a header in Fulham’s colours

“I would have loved to play for Newcastle but, at that age, at that time in my career, it was the best decision for me to get away from that goldfish bowl where everyone’s analysing what you’re doing,” he reflected. “I just wanted to get away and concentrate solely on my football which was the correct decision.”

Burn spent five years as a Fulham player but with decidedly mixed fortunes, as managers came and went.

He spent most of 2012-13 on loan at Gary Johnson’s Yeovil Town and scored the winner in the 2013 League One play-off final at Wembley when the Glovers beat Brentford 2-1.

“I remember my header going in and losing all control,” he said. “I was running round like a madman!” He added: “For a club like that to be in the Championship was ridiculous but I’ll forever be thankful for Yeovil taking a punt on me.

Wembley winner with Yeovil Town

“I really grew up as a player and learnt what it really meant to be a footballer.”

Loan spell at Bimingham under Toon legends Lee Clark and Steve Watson

Although he signed a new two-year contract with Fulham, he then went to Birmingham on loan (playing under Toon ‘legends’ Lee Clark and Steve Watson) for six months before returning to the Cottage in January 2014.

With Rene Meulensteen having succeeded Martin Jol as manager, Burn made his Premier League debut in a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates, and retained his place against the likes of Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool.

By then he was 21 and was just enjoying playing but, when relegation saw Meulensteen sacked, in the Championship Burn sometimes found himself not even getting into matchday squads under Slavisa Jokanovic.

“It was such an anti-climax; I’d been on top of the world playing and now it was the complete opposite.” He admitted speaking to a psychologist about the situation to help him through.

He played 35 matches in 2015-16 as Fulham narrowly avoided dropping into League One but was not retained at the end of the season. He made the switch to newly-promoted Wigan Athletic whose manager Gary Caldwell said: “He is a powerful defender, but he likes to play as well.”

The 2016-17 season proved to be bittersweet: the Latics were relegated back to League One, but, according to Paul Kendrick of Wigan Today: “After a shaky start, Burn barely put a foot wrong on a personal level, with a series of highly consistent displays that ensured he was the landslide winner of the Player of the Year award.”

Under new manager Paul Cook, Burn was an ever-present for Wigan throughout the 2017-18 season when they bounced straight back, collecting the League One title with 98 points, two ahead of Blackburn Rovers.

Burn’s performances earned him a place in the PFA’s League One team of the year, and the new season was less than a month old when Albion made their move for him.

Of course, a significant part of Burn’s three years with the club covered the period when Covid prevented fans from attending matches but Burn scored a truly memorable first goal for the club when there was a partial return of supporters.

In front of 8,000 noisy fans at the Amex on 18 May 2021, Burn, in his 60th match for the club, sealed a remarkable comeback from 2-0 down to secure a 3-2 win for the Seagulls. His 76th-minute winner came after Leandro Trossard (50th minute) and Adam Webster (72nd) had made it 2-2. It was the Seagulls’ first top-flight win over City since 1981.

“That was a real high point for the team and for me personally,” he said.

Burn’s second goal was pretty special too, coming at Goodison Park on 2 January 2022, sandwiched between Alexis Mac Allister’s brace, as Albion beat Everton on their own turf for the first time ever.

It was towards the end of that month’s transfer window that Albion initially rebuffed newly-Saudi-enriched Newcastle’s attempts to sign Burn, but the lure of a return ‘home’ was too great and on deadline day he eventually departed for a fee said to have been £13million.

In an emotional farewell on the club website, he said: “The transfer came as a surprise. I had no desire to leave, but the opportunity to join my hometown club Newcastle United was the only way I would have wanted to leave. While I am excited to begin this new chapter, I am also sad to be ending another.

“Brighton has been a hugely successful period of my career and it’s been a memorable time for me off the pitch. We had my son down here, and I have loved seeing my family grow up as part of the community and living in Brighton & Hove. 

“Newcastle were the only club who could have tempted me away. Second to Newcastle United, Brighton & Hove Albion, the city and those associated with the club will always have a special place in my heart.”

When Burn scored his first goal for Newcastle in a 2-0 Carabao Cup quarter final at home to Leicester on 10 January 2023, manager Eddie Howe described it as an “incredible moment”, telling the media: “I am so pleased for him. This is his club and he has come back here and he is savouring every moment.”

The goal came when Burn ran on to Joelinton’s pass, beat two defenders and slotted a shot into the bottom corner.

“I used to sit in the east stand,” he said. “You always want to score in front of the Gallowgate end. To do that in front of my family was amazing.

“I like to get forward and it’s entertaining watching a guy my size running into the box.”

Brighton’s Brown a guiding light for future footballing talent

BRIGHTON-BORN Steve Brown walked out on the Albion as a schoolboy but later returned as an influential coach of the club’s emerging talent, including a young Lewis Dunk.

Previously, as reserve team coach at West Ham, Brown brought through the likes of Jack Collison, James Tomkins and Junior Stanislas.

Indeed, the former Charlton Athletic defender applied his aptitude for teaching budding young footballers to various settings, including Charlton and at Sussex independent schools Ardingly College and Lancing College (2017-19).

In his two-year spell as Albion youth team coach, between 2008 and 2010, 11 youth players signed professional contracts, and five made first-team appearances, including Dunk, Grant Hall and Jake Forster-Caskey.

In an end of season summary, Brown reported: “We have out-passed and out-played teams but not finished them off, and that is something the players need to learn to do, but the foundations are there.

“We have taken things on board from Gus (Poyet) and the first team, and we’ve tried to adapt that to the players in the youth team.”

He added: “The way the first team manager plays here, everyone has got to know what they are doing and be a very good forward-thinking football player – but at youth level you are going to get inconsistency because they are not at that level yet.”

Brown took on the Albion youth team job when Russell Slade was in charge, shortly after obtaining his UEFA A coaching licence, which he had been working towards at Charlton and West Ham, through the different stages of the badge process.

In an interview with the matchday programme, he admitted: “In some respects I’ve come home. In my playing career I had a couple of opportunities to come here and came very close when Steve Coppell was manager.

“I also had talks when Martin (Hinshelwood) was in charge and the two of us have stayed in contact ever since. So, when he phoned up to offer me the job, I grabbed it with both hands.”

Although at the time he dropped down a couple of levels, he said: “Your coaching philosophies don’t change whether you’re with a West Ham international or a Brighton youth team player. The message that you are trying to get across is the same – you want them to improve.

“It’s also my job here to make the players understand it’s not a cakewalk. They see the professionals and think it’s going to be a natural progression for them but it’s not.”

Born in Brighton on 13 May 1972, Brown went to Coldean Primary School and Patcham Fawcett High School.

His dad, Gary, had been a professional footballer in South Africa before returning to play non-league in Sussex, so it was little surprise his son developed a love for the game.

“You can definitely say that football was in the family genes,” Brown told doverathletic.com.

His performances for the Patcham Fawcett school team led him to be selected for East Sussex and Brighton Schoolboys, and the Albion signed him up on schoolboy forms for two years.

However, when 14, he admitted: “I just fell out of love with football for a time. When you’ve got a squad of 25 boys and only 11 can play, you spend a lot of time just training. I missed the competitive edge of matches and as a result I began to enjoy my football less and less.”

So, he walked away from the Albion and returned to playing for East Sussex and Brighton Schoolboys, as well as Whitehawk, where his dad was first team coach.

Fresh-faced Brown became an apprentice at Charlton Athletic

When he was 16, he was spotted by a Charlton scout, and was taken on as an apprentice. Reflecting on how hard he had to work to get a regular spot in the reserve side, before eventually signing as a professional, he said: “It’s really about how resilient you are.

“Lots of players get rejected once, twice, even three times before someone takes a chance on them. You just have to refuse to give up and learn not to take one person’s rejection as final.”

However, Brown’s career nearly ended before it had begun when he suffered a serious knee injury at 18, forcing him to completely reshape his game and the way he played.

“From that point, decision-making had to become his strength because his body would be permanently affected,” wrote Benjy Nurick in a blog about the defender. “I had a cruciate, the operation went wrong,” he said. “I’ve got nothing left in the right knee now.”

He told Benjy: “I don’t think people appreciated how bad the injury was. I’d say from about 26-27 years of age…from that point onwards, I was icing front and back after training and after games. I wasn’t a pill taker on a regular basis, but I did get put on some quite strong anti-inflammatories.

“I’d finish a match and for anybody that ever sort of said ‘where’s Browny?’ I had an ice pack on the front of my knee and I had an ice pack on the back of my knee and I was laying on the floor of the dressing room!”

Having made his first team debut alongside the likes of Garth Crooks and Tommy Caton, Brown established himself in the Addicks defence and played a crucial role in the club’s 1998 promotion via a memorable play-off against Sunderland at Wembley.

Brown put in a crucial tackle in extra time to ensure the score stayed 4-4 and then scored in the decisive penalty shoot-out, although he admitted: “It was an absolutely horrific experience.

“The pressure was unbelievable and once the ball went in, I didn’t care if anyone else in our side missed. I know that sounds selfish, but I was just so overwhelmed with relief at scoring.”

Brown earned a bit of a reputation as a stand-in goalkeeper too, as witnessed in May 1999, in a game against Aston Villa. After Addicks goalkeeper Andy Petterson had been sent off, Brown donned the gloves and made a number of crucial saves as his side ran out 4-3 winners.

Brown told Laura Burkin for whufc.com: “It was not the first time for me in goal, actually. I had gone in a couple of other matches over the years, against Manchester City and Southampton if I remember rightly.

“But the one with Aston Villa was the one that stands out. As soon as Andy had been sent off, the gaffer asked me and I said yes, no problem. I was quite pleased with myself, there was a dangerous cross and I got my hands to that well and a few corners as well, and I enjoyed it!”

Unfortunately, those heroics were unable to prevent Athletic returning to the second tier. But Brown was skipper when they won promotion as champions in 2000. “We broke a host of records on our way to the title. It was my best year in football,” he declared.

It’s widely felt by Addicks fans that Brown played some of the best football of his career alongside Richard Rufus at the heart of the defence under Alan Curbishley’s managership.

But what did Brown make of the former Albion midfielder as a boss? “He didn’t give out a lot of praise, you had to earn it, but he left no stone unturned in terms of our preparation for games.

“He could throw the odd teacup but was generally a level-headed guy who would work out ways for you to improve if he felt you needed it.”

Brown’s 12-year playing career at Charlton came to an end in 2002 and he joined former teammate Alan Pardew at Reading, making 40 appearances before retiring in 2005.

He told the Reading Chronicle: “I went from one very family-orientated, stable club which had seen some very good times straight into another one that was very much in a similar state.

Reading had come out of League One, was in the ascendancy, had a new stadium, the owner made the club financially responsible, they had Alan Pardew as manager who was doing well. You can leave one football club and walk into a bit of a nightmare…and I didn’t. It was a brilliant move for me.

“We got to the play-offs my first year at Reading. When I turned up, they’d just gotten rid of Matthew Upson who had been outstanding for them, so I had extremely big shoes to fill. And I slotted into his shoes and filled them quite nicely and we got to the play-offs.”

Unfortunately, although Reading had James Harper and Steve Sidwell pulling the strings in midfield, they lost Nicky Forster to injury in their semi-final first leg against Wolves, and went down 3-1 on aggregate.

“If it hadn’t been for the injury to Nicky, I think momentum would have carried us through,” said Brown. “But losing Nicky…he was our number one striker by some distance and losing him left us very short up top.”

A recurrence of that anterior cruciate ligament injury eventually forced Brown to stop playing and after a spell coaching in Charlton’s academy, he linked up with Pardew again after he’d taken over as West Ham manager before the management team changed in July 2007.

As well as working as head of football at Ardingly College, Brown also scouted for Charlton Athletic and covered first team matches as a radio co-commentator for BBC London. That radio work gradually expanded into coverage of Premier League and EFL matches.

On leaving Brighton in 2011, Brown joined his former teammate Forster at Conference South Dover Athletic, becoming his assistant manager. In the summer of 2013, he moved on to become manager of Ebbsfleet United, a role he held for 18 months.

Next stop was a brief stint in charge of Lewes before he moved on to become joint manager and director of football at Margate.

While working at Lancing College, Brown was also a regional scout for Stoke City, searching out potential players for the club’s development squad.

Petterson the fall guy during disastrous winless run

ANDY PETTERSON conceded two goals in the first seven minutes of his Albion debut but still picked up the man of the match award when managing to deny visitors Walsall any further goals in a 2-0 defeat.

He pulled off a brilliant point-blank save on the stroke of half-time to deny goalscorer Jorge Leitao a second goal and later blocked the same player’s angled drive. Steve Corica had opened the scoring for the Saddlers.

The game on August Bank Holiday Monday in 2002 was part of a disastrous run under new manager Martin Hinshelwood. In only eight games as a stand-in for injured Michel Kuipers, Petterson conceded eighteen goals, including four against his old club, Portsmouth, in only his second game.

He shipped another four in a game at home to Gillingham, one of which the matchday programme described as “the most embarrassing moment of Petterson’s long career”.

With the score 3-2, and Albion committing everyone forward, including the goalkeeper, in search of an equaliser, when 10-man Gillingham broke on a counter attack, backpedalling Petterson fell over giving Gills striker Kevin James an open goal to notch a fourth for the visitors.

Petterson only appeared once under Hinshelwood’s successor, Steve Coppell, when Kuipers had been sent off in the 89th minute of a home game against Bradford City. Paul Brooker was withdrawn and the sub goalie went between the sticks, although his first involvement was to pick the ball out of the net, Andy Gray having scored from the penalty kick awarded for the infringement that saw Kuipers dismissed.

In pouring rain, Albion – and Petterson – clung on throughout five added minutes for a 3-2 win, bringing to an end a 14-game winless league run. Bobby Zamora scored two penalties for the Seagulls and new arrival Simon Rodger, a loyal Coppell lieutenant, curled in a beauty from outside the area.

Although he was a non-playing sub on two further occasions, Petterson was let go. In a recent interview, he said he had been nursing a recurring calf injury during his time with the Albion.

Albion were the 12th of a remarkable 21 clubs the Aussie ‘keeper joined on loan or permanently.

Wolverhampton Wanderers were another stopping off point for the perennial back-up ‘keeper from Fremantle and it was one of his regrets that he only had a four-month loan spell at Molineux, having previously spurned a two-year deal with the Black Country side to make what turned out to be a career-damaging move to Pompey.

Instead of building on a career that had shown signs of promise at Charlton Athletic, Petterson flitted from club to club without ever putting down roots.

Born in Fremantle, Western Australia, on 26 September 1969, he was still only a teenager when he arrived in the UK and signed for Luton Town, where he spent four seasons.

The Hatters Heritage website recalls: “Andy was so desperate to make a name for himself in the English professional game that he paid his own passage to take up a trial at Luton. Fortunately, his gamble paid off as he was offered a contract at Kenilworth Road in 1988 although he had to wait until the start of the 1992-93 season before making his League debut.

“Impressing in pre-season with his shot stopping ability and quick reflexes, Andy was ever present for the first 14 games but a calamitous performance during a 3-3 draw at Cambridge effectively put paid to his Luton career.”

Petterson joined Alan Curbishley’s Addicks for £85,000 in July 1994, was their player of the season in 1996-97 in the First Division and played for them in the Premier League.

But he was generally no. 2 to Sasa Ilic, and subsequently dropped down to third choice behind Simon Royce, another goalkeeper who spent time with the Seagulls. The situation prompted Petterson to join struggling Portsmouth on loan in November 1998.

“Portsmouth were in financial trouble and down at the bottom of the table,” he recalled in an interview with the Argus. “I went there for three months and everything went very well. Then in the summer I was out of contract at Charlton.

“Portsmouth were one of three clubs in for me and they offered me quite a good deal, so I decided to sign for them. Everything went well under Alan Ball for the first six months, but he got the sack and it was downhill for me from there.

“We had another four managers (Tony Pulis, Steve Claridge, Graham Rix and Harry Redknapp) in the three years I was there and my face never fitted really. It was just unfortunate I went there. I was happy with the way it started, and it was a good club to be at, but it just wasn’t meant to be for me.”

In an extended interview with Neil Allen of The News, Portsmouth, in June 2020, Petterson reflected on his missed opportunity to join Wolves instead of Pompey, when he had been released by Charlton.

“Wolves’ boss Colin Lee was interested,” he said. “I was in Australia and flew back to England ahead of signing at Molineux on a two-year deal on the Monday afternoon.

“Then, late Sunday, my agent called. Milan Mandaric had taken over Pompey and they wanted to talk on Monday morning.

“That was the club I wanted to join, I had familiarity there. I signed a three-year deal. If the club had been taken over 24 hours later, the move would never have happened and I would have ended up at Wolves.”

Petterson told The News: “It was the beginning of the end when I went back to Pompey. My career never really recovered. I was kind of a journeyman before that, but at least was signed to a parent club and sent on loan to places.

“After moving to Pompey permanently it was six months here, three months there. It was the beginning of the end for my career. I guess everything happens for a reason – and for some reason it happened to me.”

Ipswich (three times), Swindon, Bradford, Plymouth, Colchester, Wolves, Torquay and West Brom were all temporary moves for the Australian stopper. After his short stint in Sussex, he also went to Bournemouth, Rushden and Diamonds, Southend, Walsall and Notts County.

“I always had belief in my ability and always wanted to play,” he said. “I think I was a good goalkeeper, although maybe mentally didn’t have the belief in myself enough.

“I’m a bit of a laid-back, casual sort of guy. Sometimes you have to be that pushy arrogant sort of person for the coach to take notice of you a bit more. I tried to do it, as a footballer you have to be a bit of an actor, but it just wasn’t in my nature.”

Referring to the fact he had 16 years as a professional footballer in the UK, he added: “That’s what gives me the belief that I was a decent goalkeeper. But something wasn’t quite there for me to go to the next level, I guess.”

He eventually only got a run of regular games when he returned to Australia and played for Newcastle Jets and then ECU Joondalup.

After his playing days were over, he became a goalkeeper coach for several clubs, including Bali United in Indonesia for a while. In August 2022, he was appointed goalkeeper coach at East Bengal FC.

“I have experienced the highs, the lows, all that kind of stuff, so can relate to goalkeepers,” he told Allen. “I’ve been through plenty.”

Top Hatter Moore a temporary plug in Albion’s leaky defence

LUTON TOWN legend John Moore had a 32-year association with the Hatters as a player, coach and manager. He had a less remarkable one month’s loan in the stripes of Brighton.

As manager Pat Saward rather too rapidly dismantled Albion’s 1972 promotion-winning side, the experienced Moore was one of several old hands brought in to try to help Albion adapt to the old Second Division.

Saward was light on numbers in a defence which had conceded 23 goals in 12 games, and he had just parted company with former skipper John Napier, while injury-prone Ian Goodwin was in hospital having a knee cartilage operation. The side had only won once in the league in 12 starts.

But the arrival of Moore, together with Lewes-based Stan Brown from Fulham, gave the side an unexpected fillip and the Albion earned a surprise 2-0 victory away to Huddersfield Town (Eddie Spearritt and Barry Bridges the scorers) on 14 October 1972.

Saward was certainly impressed by the impact of his two new acquisitions. “The new men played a major part in our success,” he said. “It was quite remarkable really the way they slotted into the side as if they had been playing for Albion all season. John did exceptionally well in his role as sweeper.

“They are, of course, experienced professionals who have been around the game a long time. But even the best professionals sometimes take time to settle into new environments and this is why the performances of these two was so outstanding.”

Unfortunately, it was the only win of Moore’s brief stay. Albion drew the next three games and his final outing came in a 3-0 defeat at Millwall. That loss at The Den was the first of 12 consecutive league defeats.

Ironically, Albion only returned to winning ways when Moore was in opposition, lining up in the Luton side that lost 2-1 at the Goldstone on 10 February 1973. Ken Beamish scored both Albion goals, while future Albion signings Don Shanks and Barry Butlin were playing for the opponents that day.

Moore subsequently moved on to Northampton Town, where future Albion player John Gregory was beginning to make his way in the game, but the Scot ended his playing days after only 14 appearances.

Born on 21 December 1943 in the village of Harthill (halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh), Moore played initially for local side North Motherwell Athletic. In 1962, he joined Scottish League side Motherwell on a part-time basis, while also working in a factory.

He was a centre-forward when he initially went to Fir Park but in the only three games he played he started twice in midfield and once in defence. Given a free transfer in May 1965, a Luton scout in Scotland pointed him in the direction of then manager George Martin.

In a 2011 interview with Matthew Parsfield, for the Talk of the Town blog, he recalled: “George Martin flew up to Scotland to sign me. I remember sitting down with him in my living room with my family, and, it sounds far-fetched nowadays, but there were no contract negotiations and no haggling at all.

“He said ‘What do you want?’ He was actually talking about a signing-on fee, but I just said ‘I want an opportunity.’ He certainly gave me that.”

One particular long-standing fan, Mick Ogden, remembered Moore’s arrival with affection. Writing on the Hatters Heritage website, he recalled him turning up at a supporters’ club gathering in the company of manager Martin in May 1965.

“Despite the fact that he had travelled down from Glasgow that day, John spent the whole evening with us, firstly playing billiards against our members and then later we sat around listening to John talking about his life and obvious love of football,” wrote Mick.

“He told us he had signed from Motherwell and how he sat for many hours during the week talking football with his father, who was a Rangers fan. Apparently, these chats would often carry on until the early hours of the next day. John clearly had a great love and affection for his father.”

Another fan who remembered the player from his early Luton-watching days, ‘Mad Hatter’, said: “Moore wasn’t like other defenders; slender in physique compared to those he played alongside, he was more than a match for most of the opponents he came up against.

“Whilst on the books of the Hatters, Moore made 274 league appearances and more than played his part in helping Luton Town climb from Division 4 to Division 2.”

John Moore in action for Luton against West Ham’s Geoff Hurst

Indeed as well as under Martin, Moore also featured under Alan Brown, Alec Stock and Harry Haslam.

After his playing days were over, he spent time as manager of non-league Dunstable Town but when David Pleat took over as Luton manager, he took Moore back to the club as a coach.

After Pleat had moved on to take the hot seat at Spurs, Moore stepped up to become manager.

It was the 1986-87 season in the top-flight and Moore led the Hatters to a club-best seventh-place finish. But it appears he didn’t enjoy the limelight of such a position and he stepped down, handing over the reins to Ray Harford, assisted by Steve Foster. Luton went on to win the League Cup (then known as the Littlewoods Cup) beating Arsenal 3-2, with another ex-Albion skipper, Danny Wilson, one of the goalscorers.

When former player Jim Ryan took over as manager, Moore returned to the club as a coach for a third stint and stayed in that role under Pleat again, Terry Westley, Lennie Lawrence, Ricky Hill, Mick Harford, Joe Kinnear and Mike Newell until he reached the age of 60 in 2003 and chose to retire.

In the interview with Parsfield, he gave an insight into his approach. “When I became youth coach I always treated the boys like adults.

“I wasn’t interested in making them successful youth players, the only way to make a living is to become a first team player.

“I told them they had to work harder than the first team, because those older guys down the corridor aren’t going to just give you their first team place and their luxury lifestyle, you’ve got to work for it.”

He added: “Nobody’s career flows in a straight line, careers bob and weave, and players need the attitude of ‘When it gets hard, I don’t give in’. It’s when someone has the talent but not the attitude, that’s what frustrates you the most.”

On leaving Luton, Moore got involved in schools coaching in Bedford. But at Kenilworth Road, there is a permanent reminder of the player courtesy of The John Moore Lounge.