Month: January 2024

Competition for places edged out midfielder Jamie Smith

DIMINUTIVE midfielder Jamie Smith spent 11 years at Crystal Palace, going through the youth ranks before signing as a pro, but didn’t play league football until he joined Brighton.

Russell Slade took on the 19-year-old during his brief reign in charge of the Seagulls (and signed the player again when he was in charge at Orient).

Albion picked up the discarded 5’6” Smith in the summer of 2009 and he did enough as a triallist in pre-season friendlies to be awarded a contract by the Seagulls.

Slade said: “Jamie has done exceptionally well throughout pre-season. He’s worked hard to convince us he is worth a contract and he has the potential to be a very good player.”

His first league start was memorable for all the wrong reasons. In only the third league game of the season, he was selected in midfield away to Huddersfield Town.

But when regular no.1 ‘keeper Michel Kuipers was sent off six minutes before half time, the young midfielder was sacrificed to allow substitute goalkeeper Graeme Smith to take over between the sticks. Depleted Albion then went on to succumb to a 7-1 battering.

“I had mixed feelings really,” he told the matchday programme. “It was great to make my debut and I thought we started the game well, but the sending off changed everything and it was all downhill from then on.”

It was Smith’s only start of the whole season. He was on the subs bench on half a dozen occasions but only went on in one of them, away to Wycombe Wanderers at the end of the year.

Gus Poyet had succeeded Slade by then and with Albion coasting at 5-2 – Glenn Murray having scored four of them – Smith replaced Dean Cox in stoppage time.

During the close season, Andrew Crofts was sold to Norwich City and Cox left for Orient, but new arrivals Radostin Kishishev and Matt Sparrow provided new competition for midfield places.

But Poyet reckoned there was something about Smith and enthused about an “outstanding” performance he’d delivered in a pre-season friendly at Burgess Hill. He told the Argus: “We really like him. He could be an interesting player for the future, I’m telling you. He has got some qualities we need to use a bit better.”

After also impressing in a pre-season game against Aberdeen, Smith was in the starting line-up for the opening game of the 2010-11 season, when Albion won 2-1 at Swindon (Sparrow scored twice on his debut).

He played the following two league matches too: a 2-2 draw home to Rochdale (although Smith was sacrificed on 54 minutes after Gordon Greer was sent off for punching Anthony Elding and Adam El-Abd was sent on to play in the centre of defence).

I was sat in the Leppings Lane end at Hillsborough seven days later when Smith retained his place in midfield against Sheffield Wednesday (above left).

The youngster even came closest to netting an equaliser for the Seagulls; his shot from Ashley Barnes’ cutback clipped the bar.

However, Albion then re-signed Kazenga LuaLua and Poyet reckoned Smith didn’t do enough to show he wanted it more than the explosive winger. “Because he is young, maybe he took it too nicely,” Poyet told the Argus. “I need people to react, to show me I have made a mistake or even to put me under pressure. He was just normal, not at his best to give me a headache to have to play him.”

Smith himself admitted: “When LuaLua)was playing I seemed to take it that he would be playing instead of me.

“Sometimes, when we were both on the bench, I used to think he would go on, not me, whereas I should have been doing everything I could to make sure I was involved. If I had the time again, I would have done things differently.

“I wouldn’t be one to go in and moan and stuff because there are always ups and downs in football but you can always go out every day and do your best and work hard.

“The season started really well for me, a lot better than I expected. I didn’t expect to be playing as much as I was but when that happens you just want more and I just want to be playing every week.

“Maybe when the team was doing really well, on a long unbeaten run, I was slacking off in training and things like that.”

The door opened ajar again after LuaLua suffered a broken leg and Smith impressed after going on as a 53rd-minute sub away to Southampton (below, left).

Smith told Andy Naylor: “LuaLua was class. He changed games when he came on and when he started he was really good. Hopefully I can do as well, if not better, than he was doing if I get the chance.

“We are really different players. He is really explosive with pace and loads of ability. I like trying to play clever little passes and making space for myself and my team-mates.”

One such cute pass at St Mary’s let in Glenn Murray to earn the Seagulls a penalty and the longstanding Albion reporter said: “The door is ajar for Smith again after that Southampton cameo and now he has to walk through it. His Albion future depends on it.”

Smith told the matchday programme: “I feel I’ve done well in most of the games I’ve played in and want to use the Southampton game as a platform for the rest of the season.

“The manager told me after that game that he wants me to give him performances like that all the time.”

Enjoying time in the limelight, the player explained: “I love to get the ball, drive forward and create chances.

“I am slight in size and most managers from the Championship downwards want strong, athletic midfielders but our manager wants footballers, players who get the ball down and play.

“As long as I’m on the ball and doing a job for the team, then the manager will be happy.”

Smith added: “I knew that if I didn’t progress this season there’s every chance I would be let go in the summer so I’ve been using that as an incentive.

“With the way the club has been progressing on the pitch and off it, there’s no way I want to leave. I want to stay here for years to come because I’m happy at the club.”

Unfortunately, the new year wasn’t even three weeks old when an accidental collision in training saw Smith sidelined for two months.

He sustained a fractured metatarsal after colliding with teammate Jake Forster-Caskey and, with his contract due to expire at the end of the season, the outlook was bleak.

But Poyet said: “I have already had a good chat with him. I told him not to worry and that we will look after him.

“He will be out until March but it is important he doesn’t feel under pressure to rush back because of his contract situation.

“I want him to make sure his foot is properly healed first, and then I expect we will see him back to fitness before the end of the season.”

Come the end of the season, Poyet was as good as his word and gave Smith a six-month contract to prove his worth.

But he wasn’t able to capitalise on the opportunity, Poyet saying: “Jamie was a revelation at the beginning of last season before we got Kazenga (LuaLua) back.

“Then he was injured for months and we were established at the top of the table, so he didn’t get the chance to play.

“I thought I would give him the chance to prove himself but it hasn’t really happened for him.”

Albion supporter ‘The Phantom’ on an Argus report of Smith’s imminent departure from the club wrote: “Shame it hasn’t worked out for Jamie Smith as showed at times that he had what it takes to be an influential attacking midfielder.

“Way too much competition in the squad now so best that he moves on. Surprised he has not been able to pick up a club so far.”

Eventually, former boss Slade offered him a chance at Orient, but he made just the one substitute appearance for the Os before dropping out of league football with Dover Athletic.

Born in Leytonstone, East London, on 16 September 1989, Smith was on Palace’s books from the age of eight to 19 and although he progressed through the ranks he didn’t get to make a competitive first team appearance.

Nevertheless, Palace under 18 coach Gary Issott said: “Jamie Smith is a diminutive attacking central midfielder in the mould of Eyal Berkovic.

“He is very clever and improved after a frustrating first year. He started this season well and, up until Christmas, his form was electric.”

He was involved in pre-season friendlies ahead of the 2008-09 season and scored the winner from the penalty spot after going on as a substitute in a 4-3 win over Aldershot. (Calvin Andrew, later an Albion loanee, made his debut for Palace in the same match).

But while Smith saw several of his contemporaries make it through to competitive first team action, such an elevation remained elusive for him.

“That was disappointing but we had the likes of Nick Carle and Neil Danns in my position and it was hard to break through,” he said. 

A year below him, the likes of Victor Moses and Nathaniel Clyne did progress. Smith said: “I spoke to Neil Warnock but he said there were experienced players ahead of me and couldn’t see me breaking into the team. We agreed it would be best for me to move on.”

Smith had a spell at Doncaster Rovers but returned to Palace to keep his fitness up before joining Brighton for pre-season training, and then being taken on after a successful trial of three or four weeks.

Utility man Jamie Campbell a magnet for frustration

JAMIE CAMPBELL played in the top flight for Luton Town and later filled the left-back berth in the opening months of the season when Albion returned to Brighton after two years in exile at Gillingham.

However, by the time Albion won promotion from the fourth tier in May 2000, Campbell was on the outside looking in, Kerry Mayo having taken his place, and he was given a free transfer halfway through his two-year contract.

Campbell had been one of numerous new arrivals brought in by Micky Adams ahead of the 1999-2000 season having been given a free transfer by newly promoted Cambridge United where he had only missed one match in two years.

Although Albion famously beat Mansfield Town 6-0 in the season opener at the Withdean Stadium, subsequent form had some pondering whether it had been a flash in the pan.

Campbell, the only ever-present defender after eight games (three wins, two draws, three defeats), reassured supporters when he told the Argus: “At Cambridge we had some terrible hiccups at the start of the season. It was a new team, the same as Micky has put together here, and it does take time to gel.

“It’s early days yet. There are a lot of points to be played for and it’s a long old season. It’s far too early to start panicking. Let’s give it until Christmas, see where we are, and take it from there.”

In truth, there were few highlights for Campbell to enjoy in his time with the Seagulls. He put through his own net in only his fourth league outing, heading past the recalled Mark Walton at Darlington when filling in at centre back, although Gary Hart subsequently levelled it up.

He did score (left) in the right end to bag the only goal of the game in a Withdean win over Hartlepool on 6 November 1999, but the following month, when Albion were up against it with several players injured, ill or suspended, Campbell got himself sent off after only 25 minutes in a 2-0 defeat at Swansea City prompting Adams to drop him and relegate him to the reserves.

Campbell was shown the red card by Premiership referee Dermot Gallagher after twice sliding in recklessly on Jason Price in the space of just over a minute. He was Albion’s sixth player to be suspended that season.

“Campbell’s stupidity couldn’t have come at a worse time as a flu-ravaged squad had a hard enough task against the eventual Division Three champions without having to play for over an hour with 10 men,” recalled wearebrighton.com.

Campbell clears from Orient’s Martin Ling

Boss Adams, who had already fined Darren Freeman for a red card at Plymouth, told the Argus: “The boy will be disciplined. They’ve got to learn. In wet conditions like that, good defenders stay on their feet, it’s as simple as that.

“Obviously it’s a worry because with small squads in the third division you can’t afford too many sendings-off.”

Having lost his place, things then got worse for Campbell in February of the new century when he had to undergo a hernia operation, dashing any hopes he might have had of winning back a starting place. With Mayo and new arrival Nathan Jones vying for the left back spot, Campbell became surplus to requirements.

He moved on to Exeter City where he was almost ever-present in the 2000-01 season under Noel Blake and was named the Grecians’ player of the year.

Not long into his first season at St James’s Park, he was interviewed by the local paper and compared the situation at City to his experience with Brighton, because Blake, like his former Leeds teammate Adams, had assembled a new squad of players.

“You’ve got to quickly get to know everyone’s strengths and weaknesses so you can gel as a team,” he said. “He (Blake) has got standards and he wants people to believe in them.

“The boss runs things very professionally, he thrives on running the club like a First Division or even a Premiership club.

“And the good thing with the boss is that he admits he is still learning and his door is always free for us to knock on.”

On his return to the Withdean in the red and white stripes of Exeter three days before Christmas 2000 (above), Campbell’s penchant for own goals once again came to the fore when he deflected a Gary Hart effort that was going wide past the City ‘keeper to contribute to a 2-0 win for the Seagulls.

Not long into the 2001-02 season, Blake was replaced by former City player John Cornforth and, although Campbell played 20 games for the Grecians that season, he switched to Conference side Stevenage Borough in March 2002, where he linked up with former Albion players Simon Wormull and Andy Arnott.

The website boroguide.co.uk seems to be singularly underwhelmed by the Wayne Turner signing declaring: “It was perhaps indicative of the poor form that we found ourselves in that Campbell was often a beacon of mediocrity.

“In defence or midfield, the utility player often had little impact; frustration becoming a buzz word when describing JC’s performances.

“So, it was only natural therefore, that he ended up at Woking. Like many other former Boro’ players who didn’t live up to expectations, all roads lead to Kingfield.”

That move took place in February 2003, and he moved on again a year later, to Havant & Waterlooville where he stayed until July 2005, when he retired from playing.

Born in Birmingham on 21 October 1972, he was a trainee at Luton before signing professional in July 1991. He broke through under David Pleat in the 1991-92 season when Town were relegated from the top flight after 10 seasons at that level.

Young Hatter Campbell

 Campbell made four starts plus nine appearances off the bench as the Hatters lost their place amongst the elite. Pleat’s squad also included a young Kurt Nogan and combative midfielder Chris Kamara.

On other occasions Campbell was part of Town line-ups that included one-game Albion loanee goalkeeper Juergen Sommer and Arsenal loanee striker Paul Dickov. The excellent Hatters Heritage website said of him: “Jamie was regarded as a utility man at Kenilworth Road with his versatility meaning that he was used mainly as a substitute, which sadly ensured that he could never claim a permanent position in the Hatters side.” Somewhat ignominiously, the fans podcast We Are Luton Town named the defender in their worst-ever Hatters XI.

When he found first team opportunities were limited at Kenilworth Road, Campbell went on loan to Mansfield Town and Cambridge United and left Luton in July 1995 to sign for Barnet.

During two seasons at Underhill, Campbell featured in 67 league matches (and scored five goals) before moving back to Cambridge on a permanent basis in August 1997.

While playing for the Us, Campbell put the ball in the wrong net but ended up on the winning side in a memorable second round second leg League Cup match in 1998.

Roy McFarland’s basement league United side knocked out Premier League Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 on aggregate, having nicked a 1-0 win at Hillsborough in the first leg.

Campbell for Cambridge tries to block a cross by Albion’s Paul Armstrong

Fan Matt Ramsay recalled: “Jamie Campbell’s freak headed 20-yard own goal summarised the cruel nature the sport can possess as it handed the big guns the initiative.

“Yet just as supporters began to embrace the familiar underdog emotion of consoling each other with the knowledge that at least it was a valiant effort, the magic moment arrived.

“Just as football is cruel when it goes against you, the success brings delirium. As Trevor Benjamin thumped home a right wing freekick to put United back into the lead, and as the final whistle fifteen minutes later heralded a major cup upset, there was proof that there is reward for the eternal hope that all fans of all clubs require.”

Ince ‘disciple’ Keith Andrews helped Albion to play-offs

ONE OF BRIGHTON’S more successful season-long loan signings spent six years at Wolverhampton Wanderers having arrived as a 15-year-old from Dublin.

Keith Andrews signed on at Molineux on the same day as another Irish youngster, Robbie Keane, although he didn’t hit quite the same heights as the prolific goalscorer.

Nonetheless, Andrews eventually represented his country on no fewer than 35 occasions – not a bad achievement considering he had to wait until he was 28 before winning his first cap.

The self-styled ‘Guvnor’ Paul Ince, who Andrews had first encountered at Wolves, ultimately took the Irishman’s career onto a different level, initially when manager at MK Dons and then with Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League.

“I picked up so much from him, although probably a whole lot more when he managed me later on and I wasn’t in direct competition for a place in the team,” he said.

“I needn’t have been concerned when he came to MK, because he made me feel like a million dollars from the first conversation we had on the phone.

“He pretty much based the team around me, let me lead the dressing room like he had at Wolves, and I think that working relationship was mutually beneficial for both of us.

“He coached me and nurtured me and gave me some of his pearls of wisdom, and ultimately gave me the confidence to go and show I could become the player he felt I could become.

“Offers started coming in for me, but Incey asked me to stay, and said that if he got a job in the Premier League, he would take me with him.

“That happened with Blackburn, and I know he had to fight to get me there as the club weren’t keen on bringing in a player from League One.

“But he wanted me there, he knew what I was like and how he could trust me, and I would like to think that even though unfortunately Incey wasn’t there anywhere near as long as he would have liked, I vindicated his decision and desire to get me there.”

However, it was from Bolton Wanderers that Andrews joined the Seagulls for the 2013-14 season and he played a pivotal role – literally – taking over from the initially-injured, then transfer-seeking Liam Bridcutt as Albion’s defensive midfielder.

I covered head coach Oscar Garcia’s view of his signing in a previous blog post about the player in January 2019. Andrews featured in 35 matches for the Seagulls and scored once as Garcia steered Albion to a second successive tilt at the Championship play-offs, only for the team to lose out to Derby County in the two-legged semi-final.

Burnden Aces, a Wanderers fans website, interviewed Albion fan Chris Field to ask his opinion of Andrews and his summary was “good” but inconsistent.

Field couldn’t understand why neither Bolton nor Blackburn fans had rated the Irishman, saying:

“He’s come into our midfield and held it together fantastically well. We needed a bit more Premier League/Championship experience in our midfield and he’s fitted that bill superbly.

“Possibly he wasn’t used in the right way with Dougie Freedman’s style of football. In our free-flowing passing game, he’s fantastic in the holding role. A change of scenery has done him good.”

When Garcia quit the club after the play-offs defeat, it also marked the end of Andrews’ time with the Seagulls, although he later expressed his gratitude for the time he spent at the club.

“Although I was only at the Amex for one season, I have a lot of affection for the club as I think they try to do things in the right manner for the club to evolve with real sustainability for years to come,” he wrote in a Sky Sports blog.

“There are good people involved behind the scenes there, none more so than in the academy. Last season I worked closely with the academy manager John Morling and the development coach Ian Buckman as I was in the middle of my UEFA ‘A’ Licence, and they couldn’t have done any more to help me.

“It was a great experience to work with them as they prepared weekly and monthly schedules with the rest of the coaches and sports scientists to ensure the young lads had the best chance of developing their games, both technically and physically.”

He added: “I was amazed at the schedule a 14-year-old at the club had and a little envious to be honest as it certainly wasn’t like that in my day!”

Born in Dublin on 13 September 1980, Andrews went to Ardscoil Ris secondary school in Dublin and his football reputation grew in the schoolboys sides of Stella Maris and Elm Mount.

“Most young players are playing at quite a high level in Ireland,” Andrews told the Wolves website. “I played in the DDSL – the Dublin District Schoolboy League – and trials at English clubs became quite frequent for a lot of us.

“I must have gone on trial to about 10 or 12 clubs and then you just have to start narrowing it down to who you like, who likes you. I then started to visit Wolves more frequently and just got a good feeling about it.

“I felt very at home in Wolverhampton, I was very well looked after from the moment that I went over as an under-14 at the time. I had a few contract offers from different clubs, but Wolves just felt right and I felt the club would offer me the best chance of playing first-team football at a high level.”

Andrews reflected that he probably started out too young although he said: “I relished playing football full-time and I enjoyed the environment that I went into. I enjoyed living in Wolverhampton, I enjoyed the family I was living with; they looked after me.

“There were some tough times, some teary phone calls home, and you go through some really difficult moments, but that was all part of the journey of building your character and trying to forge a career in the professional game, which isn’t easy.”

He went through the Wolves academy alongside the likes of Keane, Matt Murray, Joleon Lescott and Lee Naylor and said it was a “proper apprenticeship” adding: “The structure must have been in a good place. It was a well-run football club with the Hayward family in charge of it.”

Appreciating the values that were drilled into him from an early age, he said the academy was where he learned how to approach the game and how to do things the right way. He then progressed under youth team coach Terry Connor before turning professional in September 1997.

He made his first team debut under Colin Lee as a substitute on 18 March 2000 in a 2-1 win at Swindon. He also went on in a 2-0 home win over Crewe but, when further openings didn’t follow, he went on loan to Oxford and scored the winner on his full league debut away at Swansea.

Under Lee’s successor, Dave Jones, in the last game of the 2000-01 season, he was Wolves’ youngest ever captain aged 21 in a 1-1 draw at home to QPR.

“I looked around the dressing room and saw some really experienced players, players whose boots I had cleaned as an apprentice, and so to be chosen as captain was a huge day in my career,” says Andrews. “The game was fairly forgetful but certainly not for me!”

Managers came and went, some giving Andrews a chance, others sending him out on loan. In 2005, after just 24 starts for Wolves, plus no fewer than 47 appearances as a sub, he moved on to Hull City, where injury blighted his only season with them.

Promotion winner at MK Dons

He then had a two-year spell with Milton Keynes Dons, where he had a productive midfield partnership with Alan Navarro, and he assumed the captaincy of Ince’s side.

In his second season, the Dons won promotion to League One; Andrews scoring the goal which secured the success. He also scored in the club’s 2-0 win over Grimsby Town in the Football League Trophy at Wembley.

Andrews was chosen in the PFA Team of the Year, won the League Two player of the Year Award and was listed 38th of FourFourTwo magazine’s top 50 Football League players.

It was in September 2008 that he followed old boss Ince to Blackburn Rovers. He stayed for three years although during his time at Ewood Park he was subjected to barracking from a small section of supporters.

Some fans didn’t believe he merited a starting berth but injuries meant he got a chance and made 37 appearances in his first season at the club, scoring four goals in Rovers’ battle for survival.

Under Sam Allardyce, an approach from Fulham to sign him in 2009 was rebuffed and he was rewarded with a new four-year deal instead. In March 2011, an Andy Cryer exclusive in the Lancashire Telegraph said Allardyce’s successor Steve Kean backed the player and still saw him as a key member of his first team squad even though the player had been sidelined by a groin injury for five months.

The player’s agent, Will Salthouse, told Cryer: “Keith loves the club. He has a contract for two more years at the club and he wants to stay. Keith is not looking to go anywhere.

“There has been interest from other clubs but Keith has not even spoken to them. The club have said they want him to stay and I can dismiss the rumours that he will be leaving.”

Nonetheless, at the start of the following season, Andrews joined Championship side Ipswich Town on a half-season loan.

Instead of moving to Suffolk permanently, on deadline day in January 2012 he joined Wolves’ Black Country rivals West Brom, under Roy Hodgson, on a six-month deal.

Into the bargain, Andrews, making his debut for West Brom, scored the fourth goal in a 5-1 rout of their neighbours that sealed the fate of Mick McCarthy’s reign in charge at Molineux.

“I joined Wolves at the age of 15 and, having then lived in the Midlands for a few years, I knew all about this derby,” Andrews told the Express & Star.

“I was a fan who had been to games and to different derbies like Celtic against Rangers, and I was well aware of games which had more significance growing up even playing schoolboy football and Gaelic football as well.

“Once I had been in Wolverhampton for a while it was made pretty clear to me that Wolves against Albion was a big deal.

“Sometimes people try to throw derbies and rivalries at you at certain clubs when they don’t really exist but Wolves and Albion is proper, it’s fierce.

“At Wolves everyone would be telling you much they hated the Baggies and how important those two games of the season were – so yes, I was well aware of it!”

Although personally delighted to score, Andrews said: “I also had a lot of friends on the Wolves team that day – Ireland team-mates – and my overriding emotion as I walked off the pitch as I looked at Mick and Terry Connor was sadness.

“I knew where Wolves were in the league, the pressure they were under, and what might happen after such a result.

“I knew Terry from the help he had given me when I was at Wolves, and while I didn’t know Mick personally, he is someone I have always looked up to and have the utmost respect for with what he has achieved in the game.

“Wolves at the time were struggling, and that was something that carried on after the decision was made for Mick to leave.”

On the expiry of his Baggies contract, Andrews joined newly relegated Bolton on a free transfer, and, although he made 26 Championship appearances, he struggled with an achilles problem and then a thigh injury which eventually required surgery.

It was Bolton’s signing of Jay Spearing from Liverpool at the start of the 2013-14 season that made him surplus to requirements for the Trotters and opened the door to him joining the Seagulls.

A year later, Andrews joined Watford on loan while Brighton struggled under Sami Hyypia but after half a season returned to MK Dons where he eventually began coaching.

He later appeared frequently on Sky Sports as a pundit and became a coach to the Republic of Ireland side under Stephen Kenny. In December 2023, he was appointed a first team coach at Sheffield United following the return of Chris Wilder to Bramall Lane.

The Uruguayan who saw red on Lewis Dunk’s debut

URUGUAYAN international Diego Arismendi shook his Staffordshire neighbourhood but left football followers somewhat unmoved.

Noisy late-night parties hosted by the defensive midfielder at his Newcastle-under-Lyme home hit the headlines for the wrong reasons but on the pitch he made little impact, in spite of high expectations. He ended his first season in England on loan at Brighton – and got sent off in his last game for the Seagulls.

Stoke City, then in the Premier League, paid £2.6m for the 20-year-old after he had already won medals at one of his home country’s top teams – Nacional – and two caps for his country.

He made his first appearance for Stoke on his first day at the club, setting up the only goal of the game in a reserve team win over Wolves.

Peter Reid, assistant manager at the time, said: “Diego was excellent. He broke up the play and the beauty with him is, for a defensive midfielder, he can pass, which he did extremely well.

“It will take him a little bit of time to get used to the pace but first impressions on him, I’m very pleased. He has had a smile on his face since being with us and he really enjoys his football. He has the attributes to be a very good player for us.”

Arismendi made his first team debut in a League Cup match against Blackpool but was forced off with an injury on 47 minutes of the 4-3 win.

Having struggled with the language barrier and not being able to force his way into Tony Pulis’s starting line-up, he was loaned to third tier Albion…where there was a Uruguayan in charge.

Gus Poyet was excited by signing his fellow countryman and saw it as quite a sign of the Albion’s intentions under Tony Bloom. He told The Argus: “We are showing where we want to go as a club, starting from the chairman and going through the whole of the staff.

“We are trying to achieve things that are not very easy but, because of the knowledge of the game and the contacts we’ve got, sometimes they work.

“When you know people and people know you personally and they are happy to let you have a player like Diego, you have to take advantage of that.

“I know him and his agent very well from before he came to England. He was a player growing up in one of the two biggest teams in Uruguay (Nacional) and playing for them regularly.

“I was surprised when he came because, I don’t know why, but Uruguayans have got a little bit of fear about England. I suppose it’s because of the language and the weather. They prefer Italy or Spain.

“I was very pleased by his decision to come and join Stoke. Of course, I have been following him a bit to see if he was making the first team.

“Unfortunately, Stoke are doing very well and there is no place for him right now there. He wants to play football, so he is very welcome.”

One place he wasn’t so welcome was Newcastle-under-Lyme. The month before he joined Brighton he had upset his neighbours by holding a number of noisy, late night parties, playing loud music and apparently having indoor kickabouts with his friends.

One neighbour at the prestigious No 1 London Road apartment complex, plastic surgeon Dr Muhammad Khan, told the Daily Mail: “I can’t sleep and I can’t concentrate doing my work. I am at my wits’ end. My flat vibrates from the volume of the music and it is like elephants stomping across the floor.

“Sometimes it sounds like he is playing football in the flat. It makes my lights flicker. It is every single night and then gets worse at weekends. I have spoken to Mr Arismendi twice, but all he said was that it was his friend’s birthday.”

In Sussex, Poyet hoped Arismendi would find the surroundings more to his liking. “I think he will love the city, a young boy with his girlfriend. He is going to adapt to Brighton very nicely. He wants to enjoy playing football so, slowly, I think he is going to get into the team.”

Poyet thought Arismendi would adjust to life in League One and the English game in general, but things didn’t work out that way and he only made three starts and three appearances off the bench for the Seagulls.

To make matters worse, in his final game he saw red (above) after scuffling with MK Dons’ Alex Rae. It was the same match that saw Lewis Dunk make his debut.

Poyet considered bringing Arismendi back to the Albion the following season on a season-long loan but they couldn’t afford to buy him and instead he ended up joining Barnsley, newly promoted to the Championship, on a similar arrangement.

He scored once (against Yorkshire rivals Leeds United in a 5-2 win) and featured in 32 games for Mark Robins’ Tykes, together with fellow loanees Kieran Trippier (from Man City), Chris Wood (from West Brom) and Paul McShane (from Hull) before returning to Stoke at the end of the season.

Because previous season’s FA Cup winners Man City had qualified for the Champions League in third place, cup runners up Stoke got to play in the Europa League (their first venture into Europe since 1975) and Arismendi started two matches and was sub in another two.

As an aside, in August 2011 I was on holiday in Split, Croatia, when City and their fans arrived to play local side Hadjuk (the visitors won 1-0). Our swimming pool sunbeds were taken over by red and white striped towels!!

Back in England, Arismendi remained firmly rooted to the bench as an unused sub for league matches and in March 2012 he was sent out on loan again, this time to Huddersfield Town until the end of the season.

Newly appointed manager Simon Grayson gave him seven starts and two appearances off the bench but he was not involved as the fourth-placed Terriers won promotion via an 8-7 penalty shoot-out win over Sheffield United at Wembley.

When Stoke excluded him from their 25-man squad at the start of the 2012-13 season, the writing was on the wall and his unhappy three-year spell in England came to an end when his contract was terminated in November 2012. He rejoined Nacional back in Uruguay.

Born in Montevideo on 25 January 1988, Arismendi said: “I had a tough upbringing. Everybody in Uruguay has a hard life, that is just the way it is there. But I come from a working class family and my childhood was not really any harder than anyone else.

“The aim, though, for me was always to play football and I have managed to realise that dream.”

He was only 20 when he won his first international cap in a friendly match against Norway in May 2008 and his second came in a World Cup qualifier against Bolivia. Both games finished 2–2.

After he returned to Montevideo and helped Nacional continue their domestic dominance by winning the Torneo Apertura (round robin South American tournament) and Uruguayan championship, he won two more caps in 2014.

He spent the 2015-16 season in Saudi Arabia playing for Al-Shabab but returned to Nacional for a third spell between 2016 and 2018. He then moved to Argentina, and at Rosario Central he once again didn’t leave a lasting impression.

A Copa Argentina win for Rosario in 2018 – but Arismendi was a non-playing sub

In a rather scathing assessment elciudadano.com reported: “Arismendi had the confidence of the coach when he signed earlier this year but did not meet expectations at all.

“(Coach) Paton Bauza thought he would fit in quickly but that was very far from reality. He never adapted to the team. When he had chances to show himself, he wasted them; he suffered injuries and he always showed more errors than virtues when he got on the pitch.”

Arismendi once again returned to the Uruguayan capital, this time to play for Racing Montevideo, where he spent one season, before switching to one of the city’s other clubs, Montevideo City Torque.