ARRON DAVIES moved to Nottingham Forest two months after scoring twice against them to shatter their chances of promotion via the League One play-offs.
Davies was in the Yeovil side, managed by Russell Slade, that beat Forest 5-2 in the first leg of their play-off semi-final in 2007 and edged the tie 5-4 on aggregate before losing to Blackpool in the final.
Liking what he saw in the opponents’ line-up, Forest boss Colin Calderwood, later Albion assistant manager to Chris Hughton, promptly signed Davies and his Glovers teammate Chris Cohen for £1.2m.
But a freak leg-break in a pre-season game in Scotland dealt Davies a massive blow and he was mainly on the fringes as Forest made up for the previous season’s disappointment by winning promotion in second place.
While he made ten starts, plus 12 appearances off the bench, Cohen, was a regular in the Forest midfield and became a fans’ favourite.
When Davies only featured in two Carling Cup games for Forest at the start of the 2009-10 season, his old boss, Slade, took him on a half-season loan to League One Brighton.
It wasn’t a completely strange dressing room for him to join; Forest teammate Matt Thornhill was already on loan, having joined as part of the deal that saw Albion defender Joel Lynch move to the City Ground.
He also knew Craig Davies and Andrew Crofts from involvement in the Wales under 21 team for who he won 14 caps and was made captain by Brian Flynn. In 2006, manager John Toshack gave him his solitary full cap for his country, aged just 17, going on as a sub (as did Davies and Crofts) in a 2-1 friendly win over Trinidad and Tobago. It was the match that marked his close friend (and fellow Southampton teenager) Gareth Bale’s debut as Wales’ youngest ever full international at the age of 16 years and 315 days.
On clinching his former player’s signing for the Albion, Slade told the Albion website: “Arron can play on either wing or as an attacking midfielder. He is a player I know very well from my time at Yeovil and I expect him to be a very good acquisition for the club.”
Davies was effectively a straight replacement for winger Mark Wright, who’d joined as a free agent that summer but failed to settle and was sold to Bristol Rovers after only two games.
He told the matchday programme: “Russell is a very good manager. I played under him for one season at Yeovil and we had a very good year that year as he led us to the play-off final.
“That was my most enjoyable year in football. It was a great season for me, getting to Wembley, and eventually getting a move to Nottingham Forest. He did a lot for me and hopefully I can repay him this time round.
“I have played the majority of my career at this level, in this league, and I know what it is all about. I have won promotion with Nottingham Forest and came very close with Yeovil, so I know what it takes.”
In the absence of Dean Cox through injury, Davies made eight starts for the Seagulls, but he was subbed off in seven of the games (Albion only won three of them).
When the 3-3 draw at home to Hartlepool signalled the end of Slade’s reign, it also marked the last game Davies played in the stripes. Unfortunately for him, new boss Gus Poyet preferred alternative options.
Born in Cardiff on 22 June 1984, Davies was brought up in the delightfully named Llantwit Major. He spent four years in Cardiff City’s youth set up but moved to Southampton in 1997 and eventually broke through to become a regular in their reserves during the 2002-03 season.
He had a sniff of involvement in the 2003 FA Cup final when Saints played Arsenal in Cardiff but manager Gordon Strachan didn’t select him in the matchday squad. He subsequently travelled to Bucharest where Saints played in a UEFA Cup tie but again didn’t play.
“I was fairly close to Gordon,” Davies told walesonline.co.uk in December 2018. “He made me travel with the first team and got me involved with training daily. He put me on the bench and spoke to me quite a bit.
“He liked the way I played football and he believed in me.”
He had a brief loan spell with Barnsley in February 2004, where he played four matches, but, on the day Harry Redknapp replaced Strachan as Saints manager, the youngster was released.
“They were a Premier League club at the time and I got close,” he said. “Obviously, though, it wasn’t close enough. I just decided to leave and then that year they got relegated.
“If I’d stayed, perhaps with hindsight I would have played a bit more in the Championship the year after.
“But it was the best decision I made as I had to go out and get first team football. From there, at Yeovil, that’s where my career really started.”
Davies joined Yeovil on a free transfer and went on to score 27 goals in 115 matches over the next three years.
If the move to Forest looked promising, a freak injury during a pre-season game at Motherwell changed everything.
A nudge knocked him off balance and he stumbled on his leg, causing a spiral fracture and a chip on the bone – rather than a clean break – which made it more difficult to fix.
“That was a massive setback,” he told BBC Radio Nottingham. Although he recovered to make his debut in October 2007, his three years in the East Midlands were blighted by injury. He played just 40 games for the Reds. “I couldn’t really get fit,” he said. “I couldn’t get a run of games, I couldn’t get a run of form going. I still have ongoing issues, it is mainly in my calf.
“Obviously if I could turn back time, I would have to miss the game away at Motherwell and not get injured. It’s pretty sad that it didn’t work out. I was pretty gutted about that. If I hadn’t have got injured it would have been a different story.”
When managerial change meant things didn’t work out for him at Brighton, he returned to Yeovil on loan, making a further 10 appearances.
In the summer of 2010, another former Yeovil boss, Gary Johnson, signed him for Peterborough United but after playing 28 games for Posh, Johnson’s successor, Darren Ferguson dispensed with his services.
Next stop was Northampton Town, signed for a third time by Johnson, who had become manager of the Cobblers. He played 19 times and scored four goals for Town, his best return for five years. But, in what was becoming a familiar pattern, when Johnson left, Davies found opportunities limited under successor Aidy Boothroyd.
He joined League Two Exeter City in the summer of 2012, with their manager Paul Tisdale telling BBC Sport: “It’s a good opportunity for him and I think he’s the right type of player to fit in with us. He’s an attack-minded player and I had to find some attack-minded players to fit into the squad.”
Tisdale saw it as a chance for Davies to resurrect his career, and over the course of four seasons he played more matches (148) than he’d played for any of his previous clubs, adding a further 10 goals to his career tally.
By 2016, Exeter couldn’t afford to give him a new contract and, ironically, he scored against them for new club Accrington Stanley in a 2-1 defeat at home to the Grecians in August 2016. However, it was his only goal in 10 appearances for Accrington before he retired.
After his playing days were over, he became an agent. “Throughout my time as a player people sort of gauged my advice on things and came to me, so I leaned towards that and did my badges as well,” he told walesonline.
“Even when I was playing League Two football I had friends in the Premier League that were ringing me and asking for advice.
“It was something I always liked doing, so I’m doing it full-time. It’s enjoyable, it’s demanding and it keeps me in football and I can’t ever picture not being involved in football.”
Davies told devonlive.com: “I did look into coaching, I’ve done a few of my badges, but the agent side of it really hooked me in.
“There’s no limits on it, you can be as good as you want, so I’m out, trying to work as hard as I possibly can.”
RUSSELL SLADE had an eye for picking up footballing gems for nothing and he worked an unlikely miracle to spare relegation-bound Albion from the drop.
The one-time PE teacher who never played professional football himself was only Brighton manager for eight months but keeping them in League One in an end-of-season nailbiter was a much-lauded achievement.
He did it with some astute forays into the loan market and snapping up free agent Lloyd Owusu who made a crucial contribution to Albion’s injury-hit misfiring forward line.
Some years earlier, when youth team manager at Sheffield United, Slade famously picked up three young players – Phil Jagielka, Nick Montgomery and Michael Tonge – discarded by other clubs who went on to become Blades stalwarts.
At Brighton, his summer re-shaping of the squad he inherited put down the foundations on which his successor Gus Poyet was able to build a successful side capable of promotion.
In particular, Slade took great pride in bringing Andrew Crofts to the Albion on a free transfer from Gillingham, the club later selling him on to Norwich City for what was believed to be £300,000.
Slade signing Elliott Bennett, bought from Wolverhampton Wanderers for £200,000, was later sold to the Canaries for a fee believed to be £1.5million.
“The majority of my player signings went on to play crucial roles in this promotion season,” Slade asserts on his LinkedIn profile. “During my closed season I began what proved to be an extremely successful transitional period.”
If Slade had failed to keep Albion up at the end of that 2008-09 season, it is doubtful Poyet would have been drawn to the task of lifting the side through the leagues and possibly there would have been a longer wait to see Championship football at the Amex.
Slade’s tenure at the Albion may well have been longer if Tony Bloom hadn’t taken over control of the club from Dick Knight, who was chairman at the time Slade was brought in to replace Micky Adams.
Adams reckoned he was a victim of the power struggle between the two and it seems clear that Bloom wanted to install his own man once he was fully in the driving seat of the club.
Although Slade’s achievement in keeping Albion up was rewarded with a permanent two-year deal in the summer of 2009, the new season got off to a terrible start with no wins in the first six games, one of which saw Albion on the wrong end of a 7-1 thumping at Huddersfield.
Time was up for Slade after rocky start to the season
With only three wins and three draws in the next 10 games, after a 3-3 home draw against Hartlepool at the end of October, Slade was sacked with the side only out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
Bloom said: “It is not a decision we have taken lightly and one taken with a heavy heart. Russell is a good man – which made it an even harder decision to take – but it is one which has been made in the club’s best interests.
“Like all Albion fans, I am extremely grateful for Russell’s achievements at the end of last season, as he kept us in League One against the odds.”
When he reflected on his tenure in the Albion book Match of My Life, Slade explained: “Despite the club’s perilous position, I felt it was a great opportunity. I signed on a short-term deal, with the incentive to keep the club in the division.
“I inherited a huge squad but it was decimated by injuries and many of the players were loan signings or youngsters, but, in spite of that, I still thought there was enough within the squad to keep Brighton up.”
With 14 games to save the club from the drop, the first two ended in defeats but when Slade’s previous employer Yeovil Town were thumped 5-0 at the Withdean, there was cause for optimism.
A 3-2 Withdean win for Swindon, for whom Gordon Greer and Billy Paynter scored, threatened Brighton’s survival but it turned out to be the only defeat in the last seven games.
Albion memorably lifted themselves out of the relegation zone three games from the end of the season when they won 2-1 at Bristol Rovers, long-serving Gary Hart teeing up goals for Owusu and Palace loanee Calvin Andrew. Both players were also on target to earn a point in a 2-2 draw at Huddersfield.
After safety was secured in the last game of the season courtesy of barely-fit substitute Nicky Forster’s goal against Stockport, fans invaded the pitch and Slade was carried shoulder high by the Albion faithful.
“My hat got nicked and my head scratched, but it didn’t really matter,” he said. “When I finally got back to the office, I sat there with Bob Booker and Dean White and was absolutely exhausted – both emotionally and physically.”
Born in Wokingham on 10 October 1960, Slade’s route into professional football didn’t follow the traditional path.
“At 18 I had a chance to go to Notts County but I got into university so I went away to get a degree in sport instead,” he said. After completing his degree over four years at Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, Lancashire, he became a PE teacher at Frank Wheldon Comprehensive School in Nottingham (it later became Carlton Academy).
“My experiences helped me be more prepared and organised,” he explained. “I took numerous coaching courses and it allows you to be really open minded and dealing with different situations.
“I had qualifications to be a coach in swimming, athletics, badminton, basketball, cricket and tennis. It not only broadens your horizons but allows you to look at things in different ways.”
While he was qualifying as a teacher, he joined Notts County as a non-contract amateur player, appearing in their reserves and manager Neil Warnock appointed him an assistant youth coach under youth team head coach Mick Walker.
When Warnock was sacked in January 1993, County were bottom of football’s second tier (having been relegated from the top flight in the final season before the Premier League started), and Walker and Slade took charge of the first team, keeping them up with three points to spare.
The pair almost took County to the play-offs the following season, only missing out by three points, and also reached the final of the Anglo-Italian Cup, where they lost 1-0 to Brescia at Wembley.
After only one win at the start of the 1994-95 season, Walker was sacked in September and Slade took over as caretaker manager.
After managing only six wins and five draws in 23 matches, Slade reverted to assistant when ex-Everton boss Howard Kendall was appointed manager.
Kendall only lasted three months at Meadow Lane and Slade left the club at the same time but he later acknowledged how much he had learned from Kendall, Warnock and Jimmy Sirrel (an ex-Albion player who was a Notts County legend as manager and general manager).
“I’ve had a good upbringing,” he said. “The one for player management and for talking to players was Howard Kendall, without a doubt.
“He was terrific – had something about him. He had that X factor and you would listen to Howard – and when he coached you took it on board as well.”
Slade told walesonline.co.uk: “Working with Howard was massive because of his man management and his ability to give a football club direction.
“Neil was the big motivator out of all the coaches and managers I have worked with over the years.
“He took County into the top flight and his best work came at 10 minutes to three. He was exceptional, able to get every last drop of effort and energy from his team.”
Slade dropped into non-league football as manager of Southern League Midland Division Armitage but when they finished bottom of the division and then went into liquidation, Slade followed the chairman Sid Osborn to his new club, Leicester United.
That side finished 16th in the Southern League Midland Division, but they too went out of business in August 1996.
Kendall, in charge of Sheffield United, recruited Slade as youth team coach at Bramall Lane and even tried to take him with him when he returned to Everton in June 1997, but Blades demanded a compensation payment the Toffees weren’t prepared to pay.
Kendall said some while later: “I wanted Russell, who I knew from Notts County, to come and coach my kids. He was at Sheffield United at the time, and they didn’t want to lose him. He’s a talented coach who would have been a popular figure at Goodison.”
Slade remained in Sheffield and, in an interview with The Guardian in October 2013, recalled: “My best three spots were when I was at Sheffield United [in 1998].
“At the time I was doing a lot of work on released players because we needed to strengthen our youth squad and in one evening I took Phil Jagielka, Nick Montgomery and Michael Tonge – all for nothing.”
Montgomery made just short of 400 appearances for United and Tonge and Jagielka both played more than 300 games for the club. Jagielka became one of the best defenders in the top flight (at Everton) and won 40 England international caps.
“That was my best night’s work ever,” said Slade. “You don’t half get a buzz when you see those. When we played Everton in the [Capital One] Cup last season Phil gave me a signed shirt with ‘Thanks very much, Russ’ written on it.”
It was in March 1998 that Slade found himself in caretaker charge of the United first team after the departure of Nigel Spackman, overseeing a draw and a defeat, and he also stepped in for two games in November 1999 when Adrian Heath left the club, again overseeing a draw and a defeat before Warnock arrived at Bramall Lane.
It was at Scarborough where Slade landed his first full-time job as a league manager in his own right. During a three-year spell, he helped rescue the club from relegation, resigned when they went into administration but withdrew it when a fans petition urged him to stay.
A highlight was guiding the side on an excellent FA Cup run, when they memorably played Premier League Chelsea in a televised home tie. The Seadogs were only defeated 1-0 by a Chelsea side that included a young Alexis Nicolas in their line-up.
Next up for Slade was the first of two spells as manager of Grimsby Town. Supporters were calling for his head when they only managed a mid-table finish in the 2004-05 season, but an upturn the following season saw them flirt with automatic promotion and have a good run in the League Cup, beating Derby County and Tottenham.
Slade’s Mariners beat a Spurs side that included Jermaine Jenas, Michael Carrick, Robbie Keane and Jermaine Defoe 1-0. In the next round they went down 1-0 at home to a Newcastle United side managed by Graeme Souness, a goal from Alan Shearer sealing it for the visitors.
Grimsby slipped into the play-offs on the last day of the season and beat local rivals Lincoln City in the semi-finals to reach the play-off final at the Millennium Stadium.
But they missed out on promotion when Cheltenham Town edged the tie 1-0, and Slade was on his way.
He might not have reached League One with Grimsby but he was taken on by Yeovil Town on a three-year contract, declaring when appointed: “It is a fantastic opportunity for me as I think Yeovil are a very progressive club. They are going through a period of transition and I am really looking forward to the challenges that are ahead.”
Slade once again found himself a play-off final loser when the Glovers, captained by Nathan Jones, lost 2-0 to Blackpool in the 2007 League One end-of-season decider at Wembley.
It was a heartbreaking finish especially after Yeovil pulled off one of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of play-off football by coming from 2-0 down to beat Nottingham Forest 5-4 on aggregate in the semi-finals.
“Russell Slade’s side gained many plaudits for an impressive campaign in which they almost went up despite being one of the pre-season favourites for relegation,” said somersetlive.co.uk.
Small consolation for Slade was to receive the League One Manager of the Year award, but disappointment followed in 2007-08 when they won only four games in the second half of the season to leave them only four points clear of relegation.
When things didn’t improve in 2008-09, a frustrated Slade reportedly fell out with Yeovil chairman John Fry over a lack of transfer funds and he left Huish Park by mutual consent in February 2009.
The vacancy at the Albion was almost tailor-made for Slade, and chairman Dick Knight admitted he had spoken with the aforementioned former Seagull, Nathan Jones, about the managerial candidate.
“I had a long chat with Nathan and he told me some good stuff,” Knight told the Argus. “It was a very honest appraisal and I took that into account.
“When I met with Russell initially he impressed me greatly. His CV speaks for itself and his confidence and tactical shrewdness were obvious when I interviewed him.
“He has delivered at this level. He has an extremely competent track record at clubs who have punched above their weight, like Grimsby and Yeovil.
“His players like him. He will convey confidence to our squad and give them a lift.”
Stockport chief Jim Gannon had turned down the job and former England international Paul Ince didn’t even want to hold talks.
“The quality of applications was tremendous, even up to the last minute, from the top of the top league in Romania to one from Portugal which was very interesting but not appropriate at this time,” said Knight.
“By handing the mantle to Russell at this stage, the club is in good hands to address the task right now of staying in League One. We have got a very good and capable man.”
The rest, as they say, is history and, to borrow another familiar phrase, it was a case of not keeping a good man down after his departure from the Seagulls.
It wasn’t long before Barry Hearn, the sports promoter owner of Leyton Orient, was hiring Slade to try to improve the fortunes of the East London minnows.
It turned out to be a great move because Orient was where Slade had his longest ever spell as a manager, presiding over 241 matches with a 42 per cent win ratio.
Amongst the players he recruited were two who had played under him at Brighton: Andrew Whing and Dean Cox. Ex-Seagull from another era, Alex Revell, also joined and a certain Harry Kane took his first steps into competitive football on loan from Spurs on Slade’s watch.
The manager’s trademark baseball cap that he could be seen wearing at each of the clubs he served even had its own sponsor at Orient. City of London tax advisory firm Westleton Drake put their logo on the headwear.
Slade repeated the magic touch he’d shown at Brighton to keep Orient in League One and in his first full season in charge took them to seventh place, only missing out on the play-offs by one place.
Along the way was a memorable fifth round FA Cup tie with Arsenal, forcing a 1-1 draw at home before succumbing 5-0 at the Emirates.
There was certainly no questioning Slade’s commitment to the Os’ cause, as Simon Johnson, writing for the Evening Standard on 23 September 2010, observed: “His wife Lisa and four children are living more than 200 miles away in Scarborough, meaning he is all alone most evenings to worry about the side’s plight.”
Slade lived in one of the flats next to the stadium and told Johnson: “Most people get the chance to get away from the office if they have a bad day, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“I come back from training and work in the office for a few hours and then go to my flat. I love my job and enjoy the fact my finger is on the pulse and I’m right on top of things.”
When Sheffield United sacked manager David Weir (later to become Albion’s director of football) in October 2013, there was speculation Slade might be in the running for the job, but the out of work Nigel Clough was appointed.
The following Spring, Slade once again found himself in charge of a team in the final of the League One play-offs. Although Orient drew 2-2 with Rotherham United, they missed their last two penalties in the shoot-out to decide the winner and once again he left Wembley disappointed. His only consolation was once again being named League One Manager of the Year.
Even though the club narrowly missed out on the step up to the Championship, Slade himself made it shortly into the new season. After a change of ownership at Orient, Slade resigned and was appointed manager at Cardiff City in October 2014, succeeding Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
History records Slade’s reign being heavily hampered by a lack of finance and being forced to cut the wage bill significantly and cancelling the contracts of several highly paid players. There was even an embargo on new signings during his second season.
The Bluebirds finished mid-table in his first season and then missed out on the play-offs the following season, losing 3-0 at Sheffield Wednesday in the penultimate game of the season to dash hopes of a top six finish.
Slade was removed from his post to be replaced by his head coach Paul Trollope (later Albion assistant manager to Chris Hughton) but was retained as Head of Football.
Slade decided it wasn’t for him and switched to a more familiar dugout job at Charlton Athletic.
Given a three-year contract by unpopular owner Roland Duchatelet, Slade lasted just 16 matches before he was sacked, although a club statement said: “The club would like to thank Russell for his tireless work during his time at The Valley, particularly the processes and disciplines he has instilled at the training ground.”
He wasn’t out of work for long, though, because Coventry City, sitting 21st in League One and enduring their worst run of results for 43 years, appointed him.
On the wrong end of a 4-1 defeat at Bristol Rovers in his opening match, on Boxing Day, he oversaw just three wins in 16 games and was sacked on 5 March.
In circumstances similar to the atmosphere at The Valley, Sky Blues fans were in dispute with the club’s owners, and the Ricoh Stadium was empty week after week.
Surprisingly, he guided the club to a Checkatrade Trophy final – Coventry later won the competition in front of more than 40,000 of their supporters at Wembley – but by then Slade had been sacked, having equalled the record for the most games (nine) without a win for a City manager before winning at the tenth attempt.
Andy Turner, writing for the Coventry Evening Telegraph, pulled no punches when he said: “Russell Slade will go down in Coventry City history as arguably the worst manager to have taken charge of the club.”
Slade’s take on it was: “It was not a good decision for me to go there, I didn’t do my homework enough before going there.”
Once again, though, Slade was back in work just over a month later when he returned to one of his former clubs, Grimsby Town.
Succeeding Marcus Bignot, Slade took charge with Grimsby 14th in League Two and they won two and drew another of their remaining five matches to stay in that position by the season’s end.
After making an encouraging enough start to the 2017-18 season, the side’s form dipped badly over the festive period, and with no wins on the board the club sank like a stone towards a relegation battle. Slade was sacked after a run of 12 games without a win, including eight defeats.
There was no swift return to management after his Grimsby departure, though, and it was another 18 months before he next took charge of a side, National League North side Hereford United, with former Albion full-back Andrew Whing as his assistant.
Not long afterwards, though, Slade started up his own business, Global Sports Data and Technology, and his tenure with the Bulls lasted only five months, club chairman Andrew Graham saying: “Unfortunately the existing business commitments of Russell Slade do not meet with the current demands of this football club.” Hereford had recorded only one win in 18 games at the time.
The ever-resilient Slade was back in the game the following month when his former player, Alex Revell, appointed manager at Stevenage, invited him to join his staff as a managerial consultant.
Revell, who played under Slade at Orient and Cardiff, said: “I have always respected Russ and it will be a great boost to be able to use his experience around the training ground and on matchdays.”
Plenty of disgruntled fans from clubs where Slade had been less than successful took to social media to mock the appointment.
Nevertheless, Revell was certainly right about experience because Slade could reflect on a managerial career that saw him serve 11 different clubs, taking charge of 865 matches, winning 314, drawing 240 and losing 311.
In his new venture, Slade champions the cause of the way performance data information is handled, as described in a BBC news item in October 2021.
It focuses on companies who take data and process it without consent. “It’s making football – and all sports – aware of the implications and what needs to change,” he said.
SCOUSE defender Jim McNulty, who played alongside Wayne Rooney at Everton as a schoolboy, will probably always be remembered by Brighton fans for a horror injury he suffered in a match at Withdean.
After an on-off transfer saga in which McNulty initially rejected Albion’s desire to sign him, the £150,000 signing from Stockport County scored on his debut and less than three weeks later was involved in an accidental collision that threatened to end his career at 23.
In only his fifth game after under-pressure boss Micky Adams finally landed the left back, a seemingly innocuous challenge as a Crewe defender caught him with his knee in his side quickly became much more serious when he started passing blood.
“Having walked back to the changing room I remember having the sensation of needing to go to the toilet and it was then that blood started spurting out,” he recounted. “I was also throwing up and the real scary part was the look of concern on the medical team’s faces.
“I was rushed to the Royal Sussex County Hospital for an MRI scan and had a catheter inserted as my belly was swelling up. It was then that I discovered one of my kidneys had capitulated.
“I was on the bed in the hospital after the scan when the surgeon said 90 per cent of the kidney is mush and I don’t believe you can play again,” McNulty told the club’s official website.
Nine years later, ahead of facing Harry Kane for Rochdale against Spurs in the FA Cup, McNulty told Ivan Speck of the Express: “It was instant tears. I was there with my father and fiancée, at the time. I remember crying into my dad’s chest.
“It was probably a bit of everyday information for him but, for me, football was my life and he should have stayed quiet until he was better informed. It still winds me up now.
“The FA actually got wind of the news and their doctor spoke with our club doctor. They had spoken to some rugby guys in the southern hemisphere because it’s a more common injury in rugby than it is in football.
“It was nonsense to suggest it would end my career.”
Initially, because he was a professional sportsman, the medics tried two operations to save the kidney but, when he was still passing blood three weeks later, the decision was taken to remove it.
McNulty described incredible pain he had to endure but realised once he had gone through with the operation that he would be able to play football again.
Amazingly, he was able to return to training within three months although he had a lot of work to do to rebuild his fitness. Within four weeks he was even able to play in a couple of pre-season friendlies.
However, McNulty went on to suffer a number of knock-on injuries because his posture was affected by having an empty space on the right side of his body.
“I had multiple ankle injuries because my pelvic alignment was a nightmare from that point on,” he said.
The first came just when it looked like he would make a return to league action in September 2009. He damaged his ankle ligaments on a local park pitch while training ahead of the 7-1 defeat at Huddersfield and was ruled out for a further four weeks.
His long-awaited return to first team action came in a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie away to Leyton Orient on 6 October, which Albion lost 1-0.
“Just to get out on the pitch and on the ball was fantastic,” he said. “I cramped up after about 70 minutes but the reaction from our fans was tremendous.”
McNulty told the matchday programme: “I have no intention of just sitting around, hoping to break into the side. I want to be playing every week now. I’m fit, raring to go and I want to help us get up the table.”
The unlucky McNulty then missed the following Saturday’s match at MK Dons, enduring yet more pain when he had to have two wisdom teeth extracted.
Nevertheless, McNulty’s eventual return to league action followed on 13 October in a 2-0 Withdean win over a Gillingham side which featured former Albion loanee Simon Royce in goal.
Astonishingly, the following Saturday, he lasted only 27 minutes before injury struck again in a 2-1 defeat away to Tranmere. He limped off with an ankle injury and Jake Wright was sent on to replace him. Glenn Murray scored a penalty consolation for the Albion and was then sent off for a second yellow card.
By the time McNulty was fit enough to return, the second manager of his brief time at the Albion, Russell Slade, had been replaced by Gus Poyet. His first involvement under the new boss saw him go on as a sub against: Charlton at home on 1 December.
He then went on as an 87th minute substitute for his good friend Gary Dicker at Exeter and provided the all-important cross from which Andrew Crofts headed the only goal of the game in the 92nd minute.
He had what one observer described as a man of the match involvement as a sub in the next match, a 2-1 home defeat v Colchester United. Saying the left back was “the epitome of Poyet’s ‘bravery on the ball’ mantra”, Richie Morris wrote: “Jimmy McNulty, like a rampaging glove-wearing gazelle, mercilessly attacked the left flank. Time and again he delivered teasing crosses, and time and again the ball simply would not nestle in the net.”
McNulty celebrates with goalscorer Tommy Elphick
That performance was rewarded with four starts on the trot – but then Poyet brought in the cultured Marcos Painter as his preferred left-back. McNulty was in the Albion side that put on a decent show in a 3-2 fourth round FA Cup defeat at Aston Villa, because Painter was ineligible, but he didn’t make another start that season. And, as it turned out, he didn’t play for the club again. He’d actually only played 16 times for the Albion.
Before the end of the season, to get some games, McNulty actually stepped up a level, going on loan to Scunthorpe United in the Championship, where he made two starts and a sub appearance under Nigel Adkins.
He rejoined The Iron in July 2010 on a six-month loan arrangement and played six games. But he suffered a recurrence of his ankle issues, so returned to Brighton in December.
When Albion kicked off a new era playing Championship football at the Amex, McNulty had stayed at the same level but with Barnsley, where he was voted players’ player of the year in his first season, and was made captain in his second season at Oakwell.
McNulty certainly wasn’t bitter about the way things turned out for him in Sussex. He said: “I couldn’t speak more highly of my time with Brighton. It is an unbelievable club, an unbelievable fan base, and it was an incredible place to live.
“My daughter was born there and we had a brilliant time, despite the fact that I was horrendously injured for pretty much all of that time.
“I’ve always been a 40-game-a-season man wherever I’ve been, but at Brighton I hardly played at all. Saying that, it was the club I had the best time at.”
Born in Runcorn on 13 February 1985, Liverpool and Everton were both interested in him when he was young, but it was Everton who put a contract offer in front of him.
“At the time I actually played for Everton against Liverpool in a game at Melwood,” he explained. “This would have been in the under-9s and we absolutely destroyed them.
“Ourselves and Arsenal dominated in that particular age group, right up to the under-16s – every week, every game, every season. Everton were a very dominant team and it gave me a great grounding, so I chose the right team.”
Initially a central midfield player, McNulty was switched to left-back during his time at Everton. Although Rooney was in the year below him, from under-10s, he was put up an age level. “I played with him for about four years until he jumped up again,” said McNulty. “He was playing two or three years up during the teenage years. I was just always playing at my own age.
“He was incredible, incredible. It was like watching a man play with boys in terms of his strength and aggression. He was pinging balls 70 yards as a 10- or 11-year-old boy.
“We couldn’t really lift it off the floor yet. His technique and the power that he had as a young boy, he was devastating at that age. He’d score eight goals every week. He’s one of the reasons we were so rampant as a team. Probably the main reason.”
McNulty moved on to Wrexham to make his breakthrough at senior level, ironically going on as a sub against Stockport in a Northern Section Football League Trophy game which the Welsh side lost 5-4 after extra time.
Because he had a Scottish mother, Englishman McNulty was selected for Scotland at under-17 and under-19 level, although one of his worst footballing memories came while playing for Scotland against France when they were beaten 5-0 in the European Under-19s Championship.
“I always remember being particularly mentally scarred by one player,” he said. “He was a winger and I was at left-back – and he scored four, so obviously that was mentally scarring. His name was Jimmy Briand.”
Briand went on to have a 20-year playing career in France and Germany and played five times for the senior French national team, but McNulty didn’t make it to the Scots full international side.
“There was a time when I had some genuine belief that it might happen,” he told The Sunday Post. “I had a good season in my first year at Barnsley in the Championship, in 2011, and ended up being named player of the year and made captain of the club.
“At the time, Scotland were having a bit of a defender crisis, and there was an opportunity there. I actually thought, ‘My name might come out of the hat here.’ But they ended up choosing a couple of guys who were playing in League One at the time ahead of me. That was a bit of a disappointment.”
But back to those early days, and when he didn’t make further progress at Wrexham he dropped down to League of Wales level to play for Bangor City and Caernarfon Town, but in June 2006, former Albion skipper and manager Brian Horton signed him for Macclesfield Town.
“I appreciate what Brian did for me, bringing me back into league football,” he said. “I was playing non-league football in Wales and he gave me a chance to come back and prove myself.”
He spent 18 months at Macclesfield, where he also played under Paul Ince, before moving to Stockport on a free transfer in January 2007. He became part of the County side that won promotion via the League Two play-off final at Wembley, when they beat another of his future employers, Rochdale, 3-2 in front of a crowd of 35,000.
McNulty was reluctant to give up a League One promotion tilt at County to join struggling Albion but chairman Dick Knight and manager Adams spoke of the club’s ambition and he was finally persuaded.
Albion needed a left back after loan signing Matt Richards had returned to Ipswich and
Adams said: “He fits the profile of what we are looking for. He likes getting forward and, without being disrespectful to anyone who has played there before, he is a natural defender, and he is six-foot two. At one stage it looked like we had lost out, so I am delighted to get him.”
Knight and Adams finally persuade their man to sign for the Albion
McNulty was not alone as Knight sanctioned quite a spending spree on new signings – Craig Davies, Calvin Andrew, Seb Carole, Jason Jarrett and Chris Birchall also arrived in that window, all financed by Tony Bloom, a low-profile investor at that time.
“I am very satisfied,” said Adams. “Finding a left back was a major priority. We haven’t been scoring the amount of goals we should, so we needed to look at avenues to open up teams. We have got Carole and Birchall for that.
“We also needed two strikers (Davies and Andrew) to increase the striking options and we needed a bit more physical strength in midfield, which is why Jason (Jarrett) is there, so I can’t complain.
“I had to be patient to make sure the right type of player was available and at the right price. Two of them were money buys and I am delighted that the board have backed me.”
Both Davies and McNulty were on the scoresheet when Peterborough visited the Withdean on 10 February but Barry Fry’s side took away the three points courtesy of a 4-2 win; Craig Mackail-Smith scoring for Posh along with strike partner Aaron McLean (two) and Dean Keates.
With only one League One win in six and a hoped-for tilt at silverware – the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – gone in a penalty shoot-out defeat to Luton Town, the second coming of Adams was over. That horrendous injury to McNulty came while Dean White was caretaker manager and, when new boss Russell Slade arrived, one of his first tasks was to bring in Gary Borrowdale on loan from QPR to cover McNulty’s absence.
A change in manager often spells bad news for certain players and, after those successful first two seasons at Barnsley, McNulty found his face didn’t fit when David Flitcroft succeeded Keith Hill as manager. He’d only had one first team outing in a Capital One Cup tie against Southampton.
He grabbed the chance to join Tranmere Rovers on loan in November 2013, although he told the Liverpool Echo: “I have not even had a chance there. I think I should still be playing for Barnsley.
“They are struggling defensively this season and had been conceding a lot of goals. But now I’m thinking about helping Tranmere.”
Rovers boss Ronnie Moore said: “Jim is a knowledgeable player and a good talker. He settled in quickly here. He is a footballing centre-back, rather than the Terry Butcher type. I don’t think you will see too many cuts and bandages around Jim’s head. He is clever. He drops off and picks the ball up.”
In January 2014, McNulty reached a mutual agreement with Barnsley to terminate his contract and he switched to Bury under old boss Flitcroft. He played 51 times for the League Two Shakers before beginning a long association with Rochdale in 2015.
McNulty in control with the Shakers
Over eight seasons, McNulty played a total of 237 matches for Dale, eventually combining coaching with playing. In August 2022, he found himself in interim charge for three matches after the club sacked Robbie Stockdale.
Former Morecambe boss Jim Bentley was appointed manager but when his services were dispensed with in March 2023, with Rochdale at the foot of League Two, 2023, McNulty once again stepped in as boss.
He was unable to prevent the club’s 102-year reign as a league club coming to an end but, in May 2023, he was appointed manager on a two-year deal.
“The opportunity to lead our team and represent our club, which the fans cherish, has always been a dream of mine,” he said.
“To be given the opportunity at a club so close to mine and my family’s hearts, is really special to me.
“As a boy, first and foremost, I dreamt of becoming a footballer, then when I did, I very quickly knew I wanted to become a manager thereafter.
“Within a couple of years of being a Dale player, I knew that this would be the club where I hoped to fulfil that ambition.”
DAVID STOCKDALE kept 20 clean sheets as Brighton were promoted from the Championship to the Premier League.
He was chosen by his peers in the PFA Championship team of the year and was runner up to Anthony Knockaert as player of the season.
What seemed like a mystery at the time, though, was that he then remained in the Championship by signing a three-year contract with Birmingham City (at the time managed by Harry Redknapp).
“I’m not ashamed to say I put my family first and football second for a change,” Stockdale explained, referring to his desire to sign a longer term deal than the Seagulls offered because he didn’t want the upheaval of a move that might have unsettled his daughter’s education at a time she was about to take exams.
Stockdale had joined the Seagulls from Fulham in the summer of 2014 and was first choice ‘keeper for three seasons, playing a total of 139 matches for the club.
Remembered for some notable performances between the sticks, Stockdale impressed off it too. In the wake of the Shoreham air crash, he showed great compassion for the victims.
Before the next game, away to Ipswich Town, he wore personalised gloves and a training top bearing the names of two of them, Albion groundsman Matt Grimstone, who was Worthing United’s goalkeeper, and his teammate Jacob Schilt.
He also spent time talking to Matt’s family, visiting with Albion ambassador Alan Mullery. “We are all guilty of complaining about the little things in life but there are far more important things to worry about and I wish more people realised that,” he told the matchday programme.
At the end of the season, Stockdale’s support was recognised by the award of the PFA Community Champion trophy. “A lot of tears were shed,” he told Albion reporter Andy Naylor, when he got the inside track on Stockdale’s story in an interview for The Athletic on 17 November 2019.
“I’d spoken to Matt a few times, with him being a goalkeeper. We used to shout across at each other. I’d joke, ‘You come and train with us and I’ll do that (groundskeeping)’.”
The way the club rallied round didn’t surprise the goalkeeper because he’d heard good things from Fulham teammate and all time Albion legend Bobby Zamora when he was mulling over the move.
“I knew it was a good club, a very progressive club, but when Bobby told me it was the best club, that was good enough for me,” he said.
There was a familiar face waiting for him at training too because the goalkeeping coach when he arrived was Antti Niemi, who had taken him under his wing in his early days at Fulham.
“I was only 21 at the time, at a big Premier League club, and he spoke to me a lot in those early days,” he said. “Although he’s the goalkeeping coach here now, it sometimes feels the same as it did back then.
“He’s the one putting on the sessions now, and I’ve enjoyed them like I did when I trained with him before,” he said.
Even so, Stockdale was even more impressed by Niemi’s successor, Ben Roberts. “There’s no better goalkeeping coach than him,” he said. “Ben and I had tried to work together at previous clubs and it hadn’t come off. So, when we finally did at Brighton, he said ‘this is what I want you to work on, stay with me and trust me and the process’.
“It wasn’t always easy, I was 30 at the time trying to adapt my style, sometimes it’s hard. But I trusted him and it worked. He’s shown with numerous keepers that he can help anyone improve. That’s why people hold him in such high regard.”
A personal highlight for Stockdale came in January 2017 at the Amex when he made a double save from a Fernando Forestieri penalty against Sheffield Wednesday that helped put Brighton top of the division.
Less memorable were two own goals in a 2-0 defeat at Norwich City when Alex Pritchard shots rebounded off the woodwork, hit him and went in.
And when Albion had a chance to clinch the Championship title at Villa Park, Stockdale fumbled a long-range Jack Grealish shot to concede a late equaliser which meant Newcastle finished top instead.
“I left with great memories, on a high, apart from the Villa game,” Stockdale told Naylor. “It was one of those when everyone knows it was a mistake. It just wasn’t meant to be, but as a player you feel the responsibility.
“We got what we wanted, got promoted, but I think it left a bit of a bad feeling.”
Born in Leeds on 20 September 1985, Stockdale stayed in Yorkshire in the early part of his career, initially in the youth sides of Huddersfield Town and York City.
It was York who took him on as a trainee, in 2000, and in the last game of the 2002-03 season, aged just 17, Terry Dolan gave him his first team debut as a half-time substitute for Michael Ingham, who was suffering a shoulder injury, although City lost 2-0 to Oxford United.
By then in the Conference, Stockdale made 19 consecutive appearances for the Minstermen between August and December 2004 before being dropped by caretaker manager Viv Busby.
It was during that run of games that Stockdale first gained international recognition, being selected for the England C (non-league) squad for a friendly v Italy (he went on as a sub for Nikki Bull).
After his club disappointment, he told the York Evening Press: “I was gutted when I was taken out of the team but I’ve just gone back to the training ground and worked as hard as I can.
“I have got my best years to come. I am only 19 and I hope I can get a contract for next year and stay at the club.”
When former Albion midfielder Billy McEwan took charge, he offered Stockdale his first professional contract, although the youngster prevaricated over signing it, much to the manager’s dismay.
McEwan told the York Evening Press: “If the players don’t want to sign, then it’s up to them. They can go because I want players who want to play for York City Football Club.
“But David Stockdale is the biggest disappointment to me and I have told him that. He’s a young apprentice getting his first professional contract and the last thing in his mind should be money. That should be of secondary importance and he should be grateful York City are offering him a contract.
“On the evidence of his last performance of the season, he has to do better if he wants to get into the team.
“At the moment, he has potential but so have a lot of players. Maybe he feels he can get an automatic number one spot but that’s up for grabs this summer.”
Shortly after signing the contract, Stockdale went on loan to Northern Premier League club Wakefield-Emley and the following March joined Worksop Town on a temporary basis.
Stockdale was released by York at the end of the 2005-06 season with some more harsh words from McEwan about his weight ringing in his ears. After signing for League Two Darlington, Stockdale told the York Evening Press being released had been the incentive he needed to save his career.
“I have done well in pre-season and got back into shape after letting myself go at York, which was well-documented,” he said. “I accept now that was the case and agree with the manager but I would have preferred not to have been criticised in public.
“It has probably given me a kick up the backside though to get me going again and I feel a better person now. I would have loved to have stayed at York because I was there for a long time and have a great affection for the club.
“I would like to thank everybody there for all the help they have given me. The fans were always great and I learnt everything there so it was a bit of a shock to go.”
Clearly benefiting from full-time goalkeeping coaching from former Darlington, Bristol Rovers and Middlesbrough no.1 Andy Collett, Stockdale became manager Dave Penney’s preferred first choice ‘keeper, ousting former Derby and Bolton stopper Andy Oakes.
Scouts from Birmingham and Newcastle were said to be monitoring his development but it was Fulham who stepped in and signed him in April 2008 for an undisclosed sum (thought to be £350,000 rising to a possible £600,000). He was loaned back to Darlo to finish the season when they lost out in the League Two play-off semi-finals.
Although he was at Fulham for six years, much of Stockdale’s time on their books was spent out on loan: in League Two with Rotherham United, League One at Leicester City, and in the Championship with Plymouth Argyle, Ipswich Town and Hull City.
Temporary Tractor Boy
Nevertheless, his parent club did give him a reasonable sprinkling of first team outings: he played a total of 52 games, 39 in the Premier League.
Indeed in 2011, when he was covering for the injured Mark Schwarzer, Fabio Capello, the England boss at the time, called him up for international duty, although he didn’t get to play.
His best run of games for Fulham in the Premier League came in the 2013-14 season when he made 21 appearances (he also played five cup games).
After he left Brighton, Stockdale was Birmingham’s first choice ‘keeper throughout the 2017-18 season (apart from two months out with an injured wrist). He played 39 games, having replaced the previous season’s no.1, Tomasz Kuszczak, who had also moved to City from Brighton.
Blues only narrowly avoided relegation from the Championship with Redknapp only lasting until mid-September as manager; Lee Carsley briefly in temporary charge, Steve Cotterill for five months and then Garry Monk.
Monk brought in Lee Camp as his first-choice ‘keeper and Stockdale was sent out on loan to three different League One clubs: Southend United (on an emergency seven-day arrangement), Wycombe Wanderers and Coventry City.
After making a single appearance for Birmingham under Monk’s successor Pep Clotet at the start of the 2019-20 season, Stockdale rejoined Wycombe in January 2020 on a half-season loan.
He then moved to Wycombe on a permanent contract in September 2020 but only played twice, with Ryan Allsop the preferred no.1. In February 2021, he linked up with League Two Stevenage on loan and played five matches before having to return to Wycombe when Allsop was injured.
He kept the shirt until the end of the season, when Wanderers were relegated to League One, and, with Allsop having been released, Stockdale stepped up and was ever-present throughout the 2021-22 season. His 18 clean sheets earned him the League One Golden Glove award, jointly with Michael Cooper of Plymouth.
Nevertheless, with his contract up, he then returned to Yorkshire, signing for Darren Moore’s Sheffield Wednesday, where he played 27 games in the 2022-23 season.
They say what goes around comes around, and at the start of the 2023-24 season Stockdale went back to York City, although he sustained an injury early on in the season that caused him to be sidelined from the National League team.
As well as his familiar playing role, Stockdale began to look towards a time when he hangs up the gloves by also being appointed York’s head of recruitment. However, he was let go from the role in April 2024.
Away from his direct involvement in club football, he began a postgraduate diploma in Global Football Sport Directorship with the PFA Business School.
EXPECTATIONS of a bright future in Albion’s colours fizzled out for Taylor Richards after the most audacious of starts.
Richards cheekily scored with a Panenka chipped penalty in a pre-season friendly against Crawley Town which instantly made the watching supporters take notice of the new signing from Manchester City.
It was reported Albion paid £2.5 million for the 18-year-old when he decided to move on after four years moving through the youth ranks at City.
“I did not have to leave because I still had years on my contract,” he told the Argus. “I just felt that I needed a new challenge.
“When I found out that Brighton were interested in me I was also made aware that I had a chance of breaking into the first-team further down the line.
“That is all I wanted to hear, that if you do well and train well, you’ll be given opportunities.
“But I would not change my time at City for anything. The only thing I would change is probably not taking my opportunity as well as I should have done.
“When you’re in that comfortable environment, you do not always realise what you have and maybe take your foot off the gas a little, but it’s all a learning experience and one I really enjoyed.”
Richards did get his wish of making it through to Albion’s first team, but his involvement was very sporadic and after a season on loan at Championship side Queens Park Rangers, he eventually moved there permanently in the summer of 2023.
For Richards, it was a case of moving home. Having been born in Hammersmith on 4 December 2000, he grew up in Shepherd’s Bush – although his football journey began in the academy at Fulham.
City took him north at the age of just 14 and he earned a scholarship aged 16. Eventually, he became a regular for City’s under-18s.
In February 2017, he played for England under-17s in a tournament on the Algarve, starting in a 1-0 defeat to Portugal and going on for City teammate Phil Foden in a 3-2 win away to Germany. Two days later, he started in England’s 1-0 win over the Netherlands. That side featured Jadon Sancho, who went through the age groups at City at the same time as Richards.
“I hung around with Sancho quite a lot because we went into the academy at the same time and we had a good connection,” he said. “What’s happened with his career proves you never know what might happen. It’s all about working hard and taking your opportunity when it comes.”
Taylor made seven appearances for City’s under 23s – three in 2017-18 and four in 2018-19 – although he didn’t feature in the first team. He was on the scoresheet in a Checkatrade Trophy quarter final match in January 2019 when City fought back from 2-0 down to beat Rochdale 4-2 (former Albion player Jim McNulty was on the scoresheet for Rochdale).
“Once you’re in that environment, winning is the only thing on the table and losing is no option,” he said. “Everyone’s at it and it’s a good place to be for a young player to get you ready for the men’s game. Every age group tried to do what the first team did. It was the same philosophy that went right through the academy, so when you stepped up to the next level, it made it easier.”
Richards made an instant name for himself shortly after signing for the Albion with that penalty against Crawley. He told the matchday programme: “I knew I was going to chip it, but I took a long run-up to make the goalkeeper think I was going to smash it.
“I’ve never had the fans sing my name before, so it’s a great moment for me and one I’ll cherish for life. Hopefully that left a nice impression, but it was only my first game.”
Head coach Graham Potter told the club website: “He showed his confidence with the penalty. He’s not been here long but is ambitious and wants a taste of first-team football. That’s always the challenge for young players, to get the right next step from youth football.
“He has quality and ability, so we’ll make an assessment of him and the right pathway for him to gain that first-team experience.”
The 2019-20 season was only two months old when Richards made his Albion competitive first team debut. A team comprising several youngsters lost 3-1 to an experienced Aston Villa side in the Carabao Cup at the Amex. “I remember chasing Douglas Luiz around the whole evening,” he said. “It was a long night, but a good night, apart from the result. It helped me a lot in understanding the level and what I needed to do to play against that level of opposition.”
With further first team chances unlikely because of the competition for places, Richards was sent on a year’s loan to Doncaster Rovers in 2020-21.
The attacking midfielder scored 11 goals in 48 appearances and learned a lot from the experience. “The manager, Darren Moore, wanted us to play football, which was a similar style to Brighton, but sometimes the other teams didn’t want to play,” he recalled. “They were a bit more long-ball, more physical, and I definitely came back a better player for it.”
He signed a new three-year contract at Brighton and was a non-playing substitute in the opening Premier League matchday squad, with head coach Potter saying: “Taylor has impressed during pre-season, and he was deservedly part of the first-team squad at Burnley last weekend.
“He had a very productive loan spell at Doncaster last season, and this new contract is a reward for his hard work and progress he’s made since he arrived.”
Richards made starts in two Carabao Cup matches (against Cardiff and Swansea) and went on as a sub in two league matches, replacing Jakub Moder in a 2-0 home defeat to Everton and taking over from Enock Mwepu in a 1-0 home defeat to Wolves.
Having made his league debut against Everton, with mum Shani watching on, he said: “I thought I did well. I was nervous, like most people would be, but I tried to keep the ball as much as I could, tried to give more going forward but this is my first game and I will learn from these moments and go again.
“Despite the result, because that comes first, I am happy I got on the pitch. My mum has been with me through this whole journey and she got to see me make my Premier League debut so it is a proud moment for me.”
But, in the second half of the season, he once again went out on loan, this time to Championship side Birmingham City, Albion boss Potter explaining: “Taylor has been with the first-team squad for the first part of the season, he has benefited from that time and he has made great progress during that time.
“He has played in the Carabao Cup ties and also made his Premier League debut. But we feel it is now important for him to play regular football during the second half of the season and he will get that opportunity with Birmingham, a club I know well.”
In a bizarre turn of events, it was two months before he was fit to start for the Blues because he injured an ankle doing the medical associated with the move.
Bemused Brum boss Lee Bowyer said: “I’ve never heard anything like this. It’s crazy. I have never heard of a player getting injured in the medical.”
After he had finally made his debut, Birmingham Mail reporter Brian Dick had a favourable impression. “He looked very, very neat on the ball, not afraid to take possession and retain it in tight spots and also good at finding little angles around and in the box.
“He is a languid mover with good pace and plays with his head up, looking to bring others into the game,” the reporter observed. “Of all the January recruits there was more buzz at the club about Taylor than anyone else – and the very early signs are promising.”
Bowyer pointed out: “He can score, he can assist, he can make that pass.”
However, he only made two starts for Blues, plus three from the bench, and in the summer the player switched to QPR on a season-long loan with the plan to make the move permanent.
“I haven’t got the words, it feels great to be at QPR,” said Richards, who had been taken to Loftus Road by his mum as a seven-year-old to watch his first ever game.
“I am from Shepherd’s Bush and all my family and friends support QPR,” he said. “Everyone is excited and I just can’t wait to get on the pitch, that’s where it matters.”
Mick Beale, the manager who signed him, declared: “Taylor is a very, very talented boy who I have watched extensively in the past.
“Given his age and the fact that he’s a Hammersmith boy, I think he’s perfect for us in terms of the identity we have as a team and as a club.
“He can travel with the ball and is powerful in his play, so we’re delighted to have him.”
Excited by the player’s versatility, Beale added: “He can play as a number 10, wide left, wide right – but predominately he is an attacking midfielder, a number eight. He gives more competition and our midfield is looking stronger for it.
“He is a midfielder who can dribble at speed, from one line to another – he can score and he can play.”
But Richards made only one start throughout the whole season, joining the action from the bench on 15 occasions. Nevertheless, when Gareth Ainsworth took over from Neil Critchley in February 2023 he was quick to acknowledge the player’s attributes.
“I like Taylor. I think he is a fantastically talented boy, I really do,” said Ainsworth. “He is very similar to some of the players I have come across in my management career before.
“But I think with young players today there is so much more to them than what you see on a Saturday, and it is our job as managers to work with them day in day out and work with them and give them clarity.
“Taylor is a fantastic player. I don’t want to put too much pressure on the boy, but he has been at some top places and is highly thought of and highly thought of by this manager as well.”
Richards joined the Rs on a three-year deal ahead of the 2023-24 season.
A non-playing sub for their opening day 4-0 defeat to Watford, Richards was in the starting line-up for a first round Carabao Cup match at home to Norwich City, facing former Albion players Shane Duffy and (sub) Ashley Barnes, and the visitors edged it 1-0.
Having played only four league matches for QPR in 2023-24, in July 2024 Richards switched to League One Cambridge United on a season-long loan.
United manager Garry Monk said, “Taylor is an exciting talent who has huge potential to be an outstanding player in this league. He will bring another dimension to our team and we are very excited to work with him this season.”
Richards told the club website “It’s a big opportunity for me to come here and play some football – I just want to get out there and show what I can do.
“I want to get back to enjoying my football and if I am enjoying it, then everything else will come along with that.”
ONE-TIME Liverpool triallist James Tunnicliffe quit playing football at 24.
When he was only 16, a £750,000 move from Stockport County to the ‘mighty’ Reds was on the cards.
But Liverpool’s then boss, Rafa Benitez, gave the young hopeful the thumbs down and his subsequent short playing career petered out in the lower leagues.
Tunnicliffe – a Russell Slade signing for Brighton in June 2009 – was at the heart of League One Albion’s defence for Gus Poyet’s first game as Seagulls manager.
But there was plenty of competition in that area of the team and, before long, the 6ft 4in centre half struggled to hold down a place. Initially Adam Virgo, Tommy Elphick, Jake Wright and Adam El-Abd were all competing in that position and, although Wright moved on, Gordon Greer – instantly appointed captain – and homegrown Lewis Dunk steamed ahead of him in the pecking order.
Slade had signed him on a three-year deal, declaring at the time: “He’s 20 and one or two other clubs were looking at the situation higher up, Championship clubs.
“We’ve kept everything quiet and gone about the business in the right manner and we’ve got our man.”
Slade told the Argus: “He has got huge potential. He’s a decent athlete for his size, handles the ball very well and hopefully will be a threat for us in the box. There’s lots more to come from him. He’s a really good, positive signing.”
Midfielder Gary Dicker, a former Stockport teammate who made the same move, added: “He’s a good tall, strong athlete and a good player.”
The player himself admitted it was a good word put in by another former Stockport teammate, Jim McNulty, that influenced his move.
“We’re good friends and used to live a couple of doors apart in Manchester and travelled into training together at Stockport,” he told the matchday programme. “He absolutely loves it here and that helped sway my decision to come.”
Albion watcher Andy Naylor had a mainly favourable first impression although he was less sure about the tactic of using the central defender to launch long throws. In an Argus comment piece, Naylor wrote: “He looks composed, comfortable in possession and has good pace for one so tall. The jury is out, though, on just how much Albion should try to exploit Tunnicliffe’s long throw.
“It has more of a loop than Rory Delap’s torpedo-like delivery and has caused opposing defences few problems so far. Albion would arguably be better served exploiting Tunnicliffe’s 6ft 4ins frame in the goalmouth for set pieces.
“His throw remains a potentially useful weapon, for example during the closing stages of the game if the Seagulls are chasing an equaliser, but it should perhaps be used more sparingly.”
Somewhat ironically, while not starting the first four games of the season, he made his first league start at home to his old club Stockport – when Albion were on the wrong end of a 4-2 scoreline.
Tunnicliffe scored the first goal of his career in a 1-1 draw at Bristol Rovers in September 2009 after captain Adam Virgo had been sent off. He said: “I am doing everything I can to keep my shirt. I don’t want to lose that and hopefully I can contribute a few more goals this season as well.”
His performance alongside Elphick drew the admiration of Richie Morris, who wrote in the matchday programme: “Tunnicliffe not only bulleted his first goal for the club with a well taken header, but diverted a Carl Rogan shot over and cleared what looked like a late winner off the line.”
Tunnicliffe scored again – this time just a consolation goal – in a 4-1 defeat at Norwich that was Poyet’s fourth game in charge. But he was cast aside after playing in the FA Cup against Torquay at the turn of the new year and, before long, was sent out on loan to MK Dons.
Any hoped-for restoration to the first team on his return was dashed when at the start of the following season he was shipped out on a season-long loan to Bristol Rovers. Eventually, with a year still left on his contract, he agreed an early end to his Seagulls deal and joined Wycombe Wanderers in the summer of 2011.
Despite it all, he told seagulls.co.uk: “It’s been frustrating for me over the last 18 months but I loved being here and I haven’t got a bad word to say about the club. I made a lot of good friends and I’m sure the team will have a very good season in the Championship.
“I’m a bit disappointed with how it worked out but I’m now focusing on working hard over the summer to try and secure first-team football with Wycombe.
“I’ve watched Wycombe a lot and I know plenty about the manager, Gary Waddock, who looks to play good football, so it’s an attractive club for me to move to.
“I’ve done a lot of thinking about what is going to be best for me and Wycombe is a good club, recently promoted to League One and on the up, so it’s hopefully going to be a good move for me.
“I’m now excited about a new challenge and I feel like I’ve got a lot of things to prove to myself and the other clubs. I want to show that I am a good player.”
Waddock pointed out: “James is a talented young centre-back with experience of playing at this level.
“He’s a footballing defender who can play out from the back. A lot of clubs were interested in him.”
And Tunnicliffe told the Bucks Free Press: “I’m more than just a defender who kicks it, I like to pass it at the right time. I’m looking forward to being in the team next year and doing well in League One.”
Born in Denton, Manchester, on 17 January 1989, Tunnicliffe went to a particularly sporty school, Audenshaw High in Manchester, and, as well as playing a lot of football, he was also good at golf and cricket as well as being a decent 100-metres hurdler.
It was at Stockport’s school of excellence that he honed his football skills: his grandad, John Bishop, was the club’s kitman at the time, and later a masseuse.
In October 2005 the young Tunnicliffe was sent on a two-week trial to European Champions Liverpool and the pound signs were already beginning to form in the eyes of his parent club: a £750,000 deal was said to have been agreed for the youngster.
Unfortunately, Benitez was unable to watch the 16-year-old because he was away with the first team for a Champions League match with Anderlecht.
Tunnicliffe was handed an extra week with the Reds to give Benitez the chance to cast his eye over the youngster, but he but did not do enough to convince the Spaniard and the proposed deal collapsed.
He returned to the League Two Hatters where manager Chris Turner reckoned the youngster’s time at Anfield had helped to develop their promising player.
“It has been a fantastic experience for him and I’m sure it’ll benefit both the player and Stockport County,” he said. “He trains with our first team at the moment and doesn’t look out of place at the age of 16 so you can imagine how highly we regard him.”
As predicted by Turner, Tunnicliffe made his first team debut as a substitute in a 2-0 defeat at Notts County and he went on to make 50 appearances for them. He also had a brief loan spell with Northwich Victoria in 2007 and, perhaps bitten by his Liverpool experience, turned down the offer of a move to Southampton because he felt he would be better served staying put.
If the move from Brighton to Wycombe was an opportunity for a fresh start, he couldn’t have wished for a better start, scoring on his debut in a 1-1 draw against Scunthorpe.
But after beginning as a regular, he was dropped after a 3-1 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy defeat at home to Cheltenham Town in October and only made a handful of appearances after that.
His final Wanderers game was in a 6-0 tonking by Huddersfield at Adams Park in January 2012, after which he was dropped in favour of youngster Anthony Stewart.
The following month he joined League Two side Crewe Alexandra on a 30-day loan, citing homesickness as a reason for wanting away from Wycombe.
Injury curtailed his spell at Gresty Road and in the summer of 2012 he rejoined Stockport, who by then were playing in the Conference National. The following year he made eleven appearances on loan for Stalybridge Celtic before returning to County.
He took the decision to retire from football aged just 24 and, on his LinkedIn profile, says: “The experiences I endured in my eight-year professional career, filled with some highs and many lows, were a catalyst that inspired me to step into the football intermediary world.”
Indeed, he cropped up as a ‘representative’ for former teammate Glenn Murray when he was involved in negotiations with Brighton over a new contract.
Tunnicliffe says of himself: “I am a people’s person and my current role enables me to advise, support, empower and challenge clients, whilst providing opportunities where they can excel and get the best out of their abilities.
“In addition, the role has provided a platform to grow a worldwide network and converse with people from various organisations and backgrounds.”
He says that in September 2022 he enrolled onto the Masters In Sports Directorship programme at Manchester Metropolitan University.
“This course has presented me with an opportunity to enhance my self-awareness and existing knowledge, whilst developing areas of deficiency.
“I am embracing this academic challenge and look forward to learning more about the commercial and business functions of a sporting organisation over the remaining duration of the course.”
ALBION had something of a love-hate relationship with Alan Pardew over the years – mainly the latter – but occasionally there was cause to be grateful to him.
One such instance involved former Olympic Marseille midfield player Therry Racon, who Pardew loaned to Brighton for three months in 2008.
Pardew had signed the young Frenchman for £400,000 when he was manager of Championship side Charlton Athletic. He was only in the first year of a four-year contract and struggling to get games for the Addicks.
Racon told the Argus: “It’s been a big disappointment. When I signed for Charlton it was to play and help the club to promotion.
“I haven’t really had a chance but when I’ve played I think I’ve played well. I hope I will be playing next season.”
The midfielder told the matchday programme: “Before I came to Brighton Alan Pardew said to me I needed to get some games under my belt and after the loan I could get my chance at Charlton.
“My ambition is to play in the Premiership. When I signed for Charlton I signed for four years and I felt they were capable of reaching the Premiership – but I am happy to play in the Championship and League One to learn my trade.”
Albion had an outside chance of making the League One play-offs under Dean Wilkins and Racon made an impressive start at the base of Wilkins’ midfield diamond supplementing the higher level nous provided by Leeds loanee Ian Westlake and the experienced Steve Thomson.
In a 2-1 home win over Swindon Town, when Albion came back from going a goal down in three minutes, Racon was denied a goal by the outstretched foot of visiting ‘keeper Peter Brezovan.
“I wasn’t surprised by the football,” he told Brian Owen, of the Argus. “I had been told it was a very good level.
“The intensity is good. You have to be switched on all the time. Communication was fine. I’ve been in England for six-and-a-half months and I speak English quite well.
“I understand football language. There are no worries about that.”
By the end of his second game (a creditable 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest), Owen reported: “Albion fans were exploiting the great acoustics in the Bridgford End at Forest to sing, among other things, the name of their team’s latest Frenchman.
“They used the same tune as Arsenal fans when they used to hail Thierry, rather than Therry, Henry.”
Racon declared: “So far League One has been good for me. I came thinking about the end of the season and the only thing I am focused on is ending the season strongly with Brighton – then I will worry about what to do next.”
When reporter Andy Naylor asked about the possibility of joining Albion for good, Racon said: “Why not? I’m 23, almost 24, so I have to play. I cannot stay on the bench or play for the reserves.
“I did not come to England to play in League One but I have to play, so it doesn’t matter now if it is League One. It’s good here. I’ve played a lot of games quickly and when you play you are always happy.”
A 3-2 home defeat to Port Vale and a 2-0 loss at Southend scuppered Albion’s faint play-off ambitions and, after featuring in his eighth game, a 2-0 win at Bristol Rovers in the penultimate game of the season, Racon was recalled by Charlton just ahead of the last game of the season.
Born on 1 May 1984 in Villeneuve-Saint-George, a suburb south-east of Paris, Racon made his Olympique Marseille debut on his 20th birthday against RC Lens.
After a single appearance for Marseille, he spent the 2004-05 season on loan at Lorient and then decided to join Brittany-based tier two side En Avant Guincamp where he made 29 appearances over two years. The move to Charlton came in the summer of 2007.
In spite of Racon’s Premiership ambitions, he actually found himself back in League One with the Addicks and towards the end of the 2009-10 season was joined by Nicky Forster, on loan from the Albion, after he had fallen out with new manager Gus Poyet.
Earlier that season, there had been speculation linking Racon to a possible move to the Premiership or Championship. Blackburn, Fulham, Portsmouth and Leicester were rumoured to be interested in him.
But Addicks boss Phil Parkinson, who’d taken over from Pardew, told the News Shopper the midfielder was still a big part of his plans.
“I can only say we haven’t had any calls at all, so I don’t know where that came from,” he said. “Therry is a good player and it wouldn’t surprise me if there were a few clubs interested in him because he is a very good player.”
However, at the end of his four-year deal with Charlton, and having played 115 matches, he joined south London neighbours Millwall on a two-year contract in August 2011.
Sadly, he badly injured his ankle during the second half of his debut, a Carling Cup win over Plymouth Argyle, and missed the whole of the rest of the season.
Racon went on as a substitute for the Lions in an early season 3-2 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday in August 2012 but he failed to gain a starting berth under Kenny Jackett and in January 2013 joined League One Portsmouth on loan, featuring in 16 matches.
Pompey boss Guy Whittingham said: “I think Therry was getting better and better with every game.
“The only proper thing missing was a goal and we kept badgering him, trying to get him one, but he wouldn’t take it on.
“He added some individual class to the midfield and the way he was able to keep the ball was very good.”
Released by Millwall in the summer of 2013, there was some speculation he might link up once again with his old Charlton boss Phil Parkinson at Bradford City.
Bradford Telegraph & Argus reporter Simon Parker described him thus: “A ball-playing central midfielder, Guadeloupe international Racon is known for his guile and ability to keep possession.”
Although born in France, Racon also qualified to play for Guadeloupe, the French island group in the southern Caribbean. He made his debut for them in 2009 and made two other appearances.
When nothing came of the potential move to Yorkshire, Racon rejoined Portsmouth in October 2013.
“I feel happy to be back and I’m hungry to get out onto the pitch as soon as possible,” he said. “I’ve been training by myself over the summer, but I feel fit and can’t wait to get started.
“I know what to expect from the fans. They do a fantastic job.”
After a further 16 appearances for Pompey, his time at Fratton Park brought an end to his time in English football.
On his return to France, he played for three different clubs making just a single appearance for Sedan, playing 49 times for Drouais between 2016 and 2018 and ended his playing days with Racing Columbes.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Racon is now a “young entrepreneur” and football agent.
SKY SPORTS pundit Lee Hendrie has reached heights and plumbed depths in a life that saw him stop off at third-tier Brighton in 2010 after 17 years with Aston Villa.
Hendrie was something of a forgotten man of football when Gus Poyet snapped him up for the Seagulls on loan from Derby County in March 2010.
Hendrie featured in eight Albion games in the last six weeks of the season: four wins, two draws and two defeats.
Turning out in League One was quite a fall for a player Glenn Hoddle selected for England, but he told the matchday programme: “The main thing is to play football. If you’re not playing then you tend to get forgotten but hopefully I can get some game time between now and the end of the season.”
And he later said to football.co.uk: “I went to Brighton to get my face back out there. Gus Poyet was brilliant. He got the lads together in a circle and said, ‘******* hell, we’ve got Lee Hendrie here’. Let me tell you, after feeling so unwanted I suddenly felt 10 feet tall.” Hendrie made his debut as a 75th minute substitute for Sebastien Carole in a 3-0 home win over Tranmere Rovers, and he told the matchday programme: “We could have had more than three goals and I should have scored.”
But Hendrie was bubbling after his involvement and said: “Listening to the gaffer in the changing room, you can see why the lads are playing with a lot of confidence and have improved so much.
“I’ve played under a few managers, but not many, can I say, are like Gus, who is so enthusiastic and tells the players to go and enjoy themselves. There is nothing a player wants more than a gaffer telling you to enjoy your game.”
Of Albion’s midfield triumvirate of Gary Dicker, Alan Navarro and Andrew Crofts, it tended to be Dicker who was edged out by Hendrie’s arrival.
However it was in Crofts’ place that the loanee got his first start, in a 2-0 Easter Monday defeat at Hartlepool in which former Albion loanee ‘keeper Scott Flinders prevented the visitors from leaving with a point. Hendrie was subbed off on 58 minutes when Kazenga LuaLua took over.
Hendrie went on as a sub for Dicker in the following home game against Carlisle United and it was his cross that set up what looked like a late equaliser by Tommy Elphick, only for Gary Madine to nick all three points with a second for United two minutes from the end.
Hendrie started in place of Dicker away to Gillingham but gave way to the Irishman in the 79th minute and the game ended 1-1. Hendrie started once again in the 1-0 win away to Southend, but Dicker replaced him on 65 minutes.
Hendrie’s third successive start in place of Dicker came at home to Bristol Rovers, when Albion won 2-1, but once again he didn’t last the 90 minutes as Dicker took over on 74 minutes.
In the penultimate game of the season, away to MK Dons, the game finished goalless although Alex Rae and Diego Arismendi were red carded for brawling. Hendrie started and Dicker replaced him on 58 minutes.
The on-loan midfielder’s only full 90-minute appearance came in the last game of the season when Yeovil were beaten 1-0 at the Withdean Stadium; Elliott Bennett scoring the only goal of the game a minute before half-time.
The chances of a permanent deal for Hendrie looked unlikely with Poyet admitting: “We were very pleased with him and he was pleased to be here. We will wait to see if, when we start putting the squad together, there is a possibility of it happening. It’s not an easy one, because of the wages.”
Born in Solihull on 18 May 1977, football was in Hendrie’s blood: Scottish dad Paul had played for Villa’s arch rivals Birmingham City and he was playing professionally for Portland Timbers at the time his son was born. He later played for Bristol Rovers, Halifax Town and Stockport County.
For someone who became Villa through and through, Hendrie admitted to the Birmingham Mail that he had actually been at city rivals Birmingham’s school of excellence before ‘Big’ Ron Atkinson snapped him up as a teenager.
As well as his dad having played for them, his nan was a City season ticket holder and his uncle also supported them. “Villa didn’t come and scout me at the time and Blues were the first club that did. It was an opportunity for me to get myself into the pro ranks and see what it was all about. Dad said it would be good to go and have a feel for it, which I did.”
But ever since he’d scored two goals in a schools’ cup final victory for his school, Washwood Heath, against Hodge Heath at Villa Park, he had dreamed of playing for Villa.
The dream came closer when Hendrie signed on the dotted line as a 14-year-old at Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground, although he remembers his dad tempering his excitement.
“When we came out after I’d signed, I’d got given a load of training clobber and I thought this was it, I’d made it,” he said. “My dad said: ‘Take a step back, you, you ain’t got anywhere yet, this is the start of a long road. Just because you’ve got all the kit it doesn’t mean you’re a professional footballer and an Aston Villa player – relax yourself’.”
Hendrie and his best mate Darren Byfield, who had been strike partners in Erdington Star and Erdington & Saltley district team as kids, developed a reputation as a dynamic duo on and off the pitch, and soon became Atkinson’s ‘teacher’s pets’.
Atkinson converted Hendrie from a centre forward to left winger (even predicting he’s one day play for England in that position) and the duo continued to do well for the Villa youth team.
As it turned out, it was Atkinson’s successor, Brian Little, who ended up giving Hendrie his first team debut – although it was memorable for all the wrong reasons!
It came two days before Christmas in 1995 when he went on as a 33rd minute substitute for Mark Draper away to Queens Park Rangers. He collected a yellow card for kicking the ball away and was red carded in stoppage time; a second booking for an innocuous foul on Rufus Brevett. Into the bargain, Villa lost 1-0.
A devastated Hendrie revealed it was the opposition player-manager, Ray Wilkins, rather than Little, who put a comforting arm round him. “Someone who I’ve seen play football, a legend of the game, to come and console me and say: ‘This is football, welcome to football, these are the ups and downs you’re going to have in your career’.
“He said there’s lot of people who are talking highly of you, you’ve got a big future in the game, kid. As he got up, he tapped my shoulder and said: ‘Keep that up’.”
Few subsequent chances were given to him under Little but, when John Gregory took over, he became more established.
He would go on to make a total of 308 appearances for Villa (243 league and cup starts), scoring 32 goals, with his best performances coming in Gregory’s tenure. He wasn’t quite the same player under Graham Taylor or David O’Leary.
It was on November 18 1998 that he won his one and only England cap, sent on by Glenn Hoddle as a 77th minute substitute for Villa team-mate Paul Merson in a 2-0 win over the Czech Republic at Wembley. Two other Villa teammates, Dion Dublin and Gareth Southgate, were also part of Hoddle’s squad.
Unfortunately for Hendrie, Hoddle was sacked two months later and no subsequent England bosses called on him. “It’s a regret that I didn’t go on and make more of my England career,” he said. “It’s great that I’ve got a cap and it’s something you can’t take away from me, but I hate being classed as a one-cap wonder.”
Hendrie’s days at Villa came to an end in August 2006, his last involvement being from the bench in Martin O’Neill’s first match in charge, a 1-1 Premier League draw at Arsenal on the opening day of the 2006-07 campaign.
While Hendrie, by then 30, was excited about playing for O’Neill, the new boss had other plans and told him he was not part of them.
Initially he joined Stoke City under Tony Pulis on a season-long loan but Bryan Robson at Sheffield United outbid the Potters for his services on a permanent basis, and he signed a three-year deal at Bramall Lane at the start of the 2007-08 season.
Unfortunately, when Robson swiftly parted company with the Blades, Hendrie didn’t see eye to eye with his successor, Kevin Blackwell, who accused the player of being a money-grabber.
“Sheffield United was just the worst thing I could have done,” he told the Claret & Blue podcast.
“Kevin Blackwell was one of the worst managers I have ever, ever been under. He put the nail in the coffin for (my career).”
Blackwell sent him on loan to Leicester City, where he played nine games, and he later went to Blackpool too. United moved him on to Derby County but when he struggled for games there, he joined Brighton.
If the spell at Brighton was a temporary relief from his mounting problems, he revealed in a Guardian interview with Donald McRae that 2010 turned out to be one of the worst years of his life, and he attempted suicide on several occasions.
A property empire he had built up amassed insurmountable debts which even saw his mother’s home repossessed. He lost his own house as well, and it sent him into depression. Divorce and bankruptcy made the situation even worse.
“The football was almost over and my head was gone. I’d been trying to sell property, but the housing market crashed,” he said. “I got to the stage where I just wanted to end it all. I’d hit rock bottom.”
The ups and downs of Hendrie’s colourful life have featured in various media interviews.
The rise and fall tale was charted by the sporting.blogand Hendrie’s spoken about his troubles on Sky Sports, where he later became a pundit.
He was in tears on Harry’s Heroes: Euro Having A Laugh discussing his depression struggles with Vinnie Jones. The BBC radio programme You and Yourshighlighted his plight in a March 2013 episode.
On the footballing front, a brief spell at Bradford City was followed by a host of short stopovers at Bandung (2011), Daventry Town (2011), Kidderminster Harriers (2011-12), Chasetown (2012), Redditch United (2012) and Tamworth (2012-13) before he retired as a professional.
He then played for Corby Town (2013), Highgate United (2013), Basford United (2013 – 2015), Montpellier (2016-17), Redditch United (2016), Nuneaton Griff (2019) and Highgate United (2019) on a non-professional basis.
As he tried to find a new purpose in life, alongside his media work, Hendrie set up FootieBugs, a football academy for kids aged from three to 12.
Hendrie chats on TV with Dion Dublin, a former Villa teammate
WHEN IT comes to home-grown talent, Brighton have had particular success with central defenders.
Lewis Dunk is the prime example, staying with the club from humble beginnings through to Europe. Others had to move on to make the most of their careers.
For example, Steve Cook joined the club aged nine and made it through the different age levels into Albion’s first team. But to get regular football, he moved along the coast to Bournemouth.
If moving from Championship Brighton to League One Bournemouth seemed like a backward step in 2012, two promotions later saw him laughing on the other side of his face when the Cherries made it to the Premier League (in 2015) a season before the Seagulls.
Cook spent 10 years with the Cherries, making more than 350 appearances (168 of them in the Premier League), and after the departure of fellow ex-Albion defender Tommy Elphick, he took over as their captain.
Cook first got a taste of the big time in 2008, when he was a second year scholar on £60 a week, aged just 17. He was sent on by Micky Adams as an 85th-minute substitute in the famous League Cup game against Manchester City that League One Albion won on penalties.
Two months later, he once again replaced right-back Andrew Whing, this time in a FA Cup first round replay defeat to Hartlepool United, and picked up a booking into the bargain.
Boot cleaning duties for young Steve Cook
To gain more experience, in December that year, Cook went west to spend six weeks with Conference South Havant & Waterlooville. On his return, he once again had a first team look-in, going on as a 77th-minute sub for Calvin Andrew in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy southern final defeat at Luton Town that marked the end of the second coming of Adams.
Before the appointment of Russell Slade, Cook went on for the second half as a sub for injury-plagued sub Adam Hinshelwood (who’d been an 18th-minute sub for Elphick) in a 4-0 home defeat against Crewe Alexandra.
Slade marked his arrival by bringing in plenty of old hands in what eventually proved to be a successful skin-of-the-teeth survival battle against relegation. Cook didn’t get another chance in the first team until some time after Gus Poyet had taken charge.
His development continued on loan with the likes of Eastleigh and Eastbourne Borough and in November 2010 he moved away from home to join former league club Mansfield Town on a three-month loan.
“Mansfield play very different to Eastbourne but it’s more like playing for Brighton where they like to keep the ball and play out from the back, which you don’t get in the Conference very often,” he told the matchday programme. “I see it as a great opportunity to prove myself and try to earn another contract at Brighton.”
He added: “Playing Conference football helped me grow up, physically and mentally, so by the time I returned I felt I was ready to challenge for a first team place.”
Cook up against Suarez
After a handful of non-playing appearances on the first team subs bench, when he did get his first ever start, it could not have been a bigger match: Liverpool at home in the third round of the Carling Cup with Luis Suarez, Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy in the opposition forward line.
“It was a real confidence boost knowing the manager had faith putting me into the side for such a big game, but I really enjoyed the experience and got a great deal out of it,” he said.
“While I had a good pre-season, I’ve not played a lot of games since then. It was one in two months before the Liverpool game, but I’d been working hard in training and got my reward.”
Cook only found out 90 minutes before kick-off that he would be taking the place of fellow academy graduate Dunk, with both Elphick and Adam El-Abd out injured.
“It was a real baptism of fire though because for the first 20 minutes Liverpool were brilliant. Suarez, Bellamy, they were all excellent going forward, the pace of them as a team was unbelievable and in that opening spell I think we were in awe of them.”
Cook thought his involvement that night would lead to more chances, but he said: “Later that month we had Ipswich away, Dunky was suspended but instead of playing me, Gus put Romain Vincelot – a midfielder – in alongside Gordon Greer. From that point on, my mind was made up; I knew I had to look elsewhere if I wanted to kick on in my career.”
That autumn, Cook initially joined Bournemouth on loan, featuring in eight games, but he was recalled by the Seagulls when a shortage of defenders meant he was needed for a crucial New Year game at home to table-topping Southampton.
Having lost four games on the bounce, the odds were stacked against a positive result, but Albion remarkably won the game 3-0 (two cracking goals from Matt Sparrow and another from Jake Forster-Caskey).
Nevertheless, within 24 hours of the game ending, Cook finally took the tough decision to leave the Albion permanently. The fee was a reported £150,000.
He told the matchday programme: “I have loved my time at Brighton but this is a chance to play regular football and I can’t turn that down. It was nice to go out on such a high – not many players get that chance.”
Cook reckoned he might have got the odd game or two if he’d stayed at Brighton but he didn’t rate his chances of becoming a regular when everyone was fit. “I could play close to 30 games for Bournemouth and that is massive for a young footballer,” he said.
In a later interview, he said: “It was always going to be a tough decision to leave the Albion as I had been at the club since the age of nine.
“I had a decision to make: do I stay and fight for my place, despite being a fair way down the pecking order, or do I leave and try to continue my career elsewhere?
“It wasn’t easy because I was leaving a club on the rise; the Amex is one of the best stadiums in the country, the team was establishing itself in the Championship and there was a new training ground on the way.
“But having been at Bournemouth on loan, I could also see a hugely ambitious club and a talented squad which I believed was going places.
“So, I decided to leave and it’s been the best decision I could ever have made. I’ve moved away from my parents, so have grown up off the pitch, while on it I’ve been playing regularly and have really enjoyed my football.”
Much of that time he partnered Elphick in the middle of the Cherries defence and it wasn’t long before the pair were emulating the Albion’s achievement of promotion from League One.
“Tommy arrived a year after me but of course I told him about the club, the town and knew it would be a good move for him as it was for me,” he said. “We’d obviously played alongside each other before, had known each other a long time, and so we soon built up a good partnership.
“He had those leadership qualities he displayed at Brighton and was soon made captain. We had a terrific three years together and remain good friends off the pitch.”
In a subsequent Albion matchday programme, when he was once again visiting with the Cherries, he said: “Lovely stadiums and training facilities are great, but only if you’re playing in them and I can now look back on nearly 300 appearances for Bournemouth, where I’ve had some fantastic moments, played regularly in the Premier League and really developed my game. It’s a move that couldn’t have gone better.”
Although Cook held his own in the Premier League, he admitted the transition from the Championship was hard. “The gulf with the Championship is huge,” he said. “The intensity and pressure, in particular, are massive and the first six months were a real learning curve.
“Once I’d adapted and dealt with the expectations placed on me, I could relax and start to enjoy myself.”
Born in Hastings on 19 April 1991, Cook joined the Albion as a schoolboy following a six-week trial under the auspices of Martin Hinshelwood, the head of the youth set-up at the time.
“Initially, I was only training Tuesday evenings in the Eastbourne centre of excellence but, when I reached 13, we were training twice a week with a game on the Sunday,” he recalled.
“I remember I had a choice to make: Hastings Town, my local team, or Brighton and obviously I was swayed by the facilities, the coaching and being associated with a professional club.”
After Bournemouth lost their top tier status in 2020, Cook captained the side through to the Championship play-off semi-finals in 2021 where they were beaten by eventual winners Brentford.
There was plenty of emotion when Cook finally left the club in January 2022 with manager Scott Parker saying: “I know too well what someone like Steve Cook has done for this football club and the journey he has been on with the club. He has been paramount and done everything, really. I wish him all the best.”
And in an open letter to the club’s fans, Cook wrote: “I’ve been lucky enough to captain the team in League One, the Championship and Premier League and writing this just fills me with immense pride.
“The time has come for me take the next step in my career but I will never forget the staff that helped me improve as a player and person.
“The players that I shared a dressing room with and, and most importantly, the fans that supported and cheered for all those games.
“The journey that we have had is one that will never be beaten, and the relationship we had was undeniably strong. Thanks for everything.”
Upon signing for Nottingham Forest, Cook declared: “You can see the progress the club is making and I’m excited for the new challenge.
“I thought it was the perfect time in my career to make this move to hopefully come and contribute and help get this club back to where it wants to be.
“The history of the club speaks for itself and I know how passionate the fans are. I’ve played at the City Ground in the past and it’s always been electric.”
Manager Steve Cooper said: “Steve is a fantastic player and brings a good level of experience, both in the Championship and the level above.
“He’s played in a team that has won a lot of games and I think that that’s important. We want our group to be young and hungry along with players of experience that can drive the team forward and that’s what we’re building.”
Having been part of the Forest side promoted to the Premier League in May 2022, his involvement back in the elite division was restricted to 12 games and he was omitted from Forest’s 25-man Premier League squad for the second half of the 2022-23 season.
In the summer of 2023, he switched to Queens Park Rangers in the Championship, telling the club’s website: “Playing football is the most important thing for me but I also pride myself on being a good character around the group.”
He went on: “My time in the Championship has been quite successful, and that success is something I want to bring here.
“I don’t want my career to peter out, I still really want to be successful and to contest. I still have aims and targets I want to achieve and I’m hoping that the success I’ve had in my career so far continues so that I can help push QPR forward.”
GUS POYET’S penchant for speaking out cost him his job at Brighton and AEK Athens.
“There is a reason they nicknamed Poyet ‘Radio’: always on, always talking, especially when it comes to football,” wrote Sid Lowe, in The Guardian.
While the exact reasons for his departure from the Albion in 2013 were never made public, there was speculation that it revolved around him talking openly about his desire to move on moments after the Seagulls had lost a Championship play-off match against arch rivals Crystal Palace.
“I’ve not been in this situation before but I don’t like it,” Poyet said after the game. “It’s changed my view completely about everything I was prepared for, so we’ll see now. I have always said that all the time we keep improving I am going to be at this club and the day we hit the roof, I’m not. Is there something more?
“Right now I don’t know, so I need to make sure I know there is, because if not I am not going to stay forever.”
Poyet was suspended by the club three days later, along with the assistant manager Mauricio Taricco and first-team coach Charlie Oatway, with them only saying they were launching an internal inquiry.
Andy Naylor in the Argus of 17 May 2013 reckoned the suspensions related to “numerous alleged breaches of contracts” pointing out: “Poyet refused to deal with the retained list, announced by the club earlier in the day.
“He told the squad at a meeting at The Amex on Tuesday he would not be involving himself with players’ contracts, because they were not his decisions and he might not be the manager next season.
“Players leaving and staying at the end of their contracts were dealt with instead by chairman Tony Bloom and head of football David Burke.”
At the time, Poyet’s name was being mentioned as a potential successor to David Moyes at Everton, and Martin Jol’s position at Fulham was not thought to be secure.
In the Argus, Naylor wrote: “During his post-match press conference he demanded assurances from Bloom he would have enough money to continue improving the team after their promotion near-miss.
“Those remarks are not, however, thought to be instrumental in the action taken by the club. Poyet’s relationship with Bloom and other senior figures has deteriorated in recent weeks.
“The Uruguayan almost joined Reading in March and his decision to stay only papered over the cracks.”
Naylor observed that Poyet’s previously “wide-ranging powers” had been reined in since the appointment the previous year of chief executive Paul Barber, who was on the board at Spurs when Poyet lost his job as assistant to Juande Ramos.
“It became an open secret within the Amex that Poyet would leave at the end of the season, irrespective of how Albion fared in the play-offs,” he said.
The following month Poyet claimed he was sacked while live on air doing punditry for the BBC although the club maintained he knew full well that he wouldn’t be returning to the job he had been doing for three and a half years.
Announcing his sacking on the club website, a statement read: “This followed his suspension, an investigation, and a subsequent formal disciplinary process. In line with the club’s own procedures, and UK employment law.”
Wind on the clock three years to April 2016 and, after only five months in charge of AEK Athens, Poyet was labelled “immoral” by the Greek club’s owner, Dimitris Melissanidis for telling the Greek media he would be leaving the club at the end of the season. Sounds familiar?
A Reuters report of 20 April 2016 maintained: “Speaking to the media on Tuesday, a day ahead of AEK’s Greek Cup semi-final second leg match against Atromitos, Poyet further angered the club by revealing details of a private meeting he had held with Melissanidis.
“What he did was unacceptable, it was not the appropriate time to unsettle the team just hours before the semi-final,” Melissanidis told reporters.
“AEK has never leaked any information from any of our meetings with him and for him to talk to the press about the contents of our meeting is immoral.”
Local media reported Poyet had been fired and would not be in the dugout for the match against Atromitos.
“AEK was informed of Gus Poyet’s decision that he will not stay with the club after the summer on Tuesday evening,” the club said.
“The important thing for AEK at the moment is the crucial semi-final with Atromitos, all of the other issues will be seen to after the match.”
After losing his job at Sunderland seven months previously, Poyet took over from Traianos Dellas in Athens in October 2015 on a deal until the end of the season, with the option to renew for another two years. Taricco and Oatway joined with him.
All smiles as Poyet arrives at AEK as manager
At the time of his appointment Poyet said: “I know that I have come to a huge club and I’ve been astonished by the reception that I have received.
“Our goal is to play to win every game, starting with the derby against Panathinaikos on Sunday (it finished 0-0), and maintain contact with the top positions.”
The ‘Yellows’ picked up a string of impressive results under Poyet but speculation about his future was never far away. In December 2015 he was linked to the managerial vacancy at Swansea City (following the departure of Garry Monk), prompting AEK to make a public declaration.
“We have not been approached by Swansea, there is no need for us to be approached and no propositions have been made from Swansea,” said a club spokesman. “Mr Poyet is happy at the club and will be our manager at least until the end of the season.”
AEK ended the regular season in second behind champions Olympiakos, although points were deducted for crowd trouble and they eventually finished third.
On his personal website, Poyet records that he led AEK Athens to the semi-finals of the Greek Cup and they won the three biggest derbies in the country against Panathinaikos, PAOK and Olympiakos over a month and a half. After he left, they went on to win the Greek Cup.
A month after his departure from Athens, Poyet was installed as head coach at Spanish La Liga side Real Betis, from Seville, on a two-year contract.
He subsequently managed in China, France and Chile but returned to Greece in February 2022 as the head coach of the country’s national team.
At one point it looked like he might return to Greece before then. It seemed all had been forgiven when, in September 2019, word had it that Poyet was lined up to return to AEK as the successor to the departed Miguel Cardoso.
However, agonasport.com said: “All of the signs seemed to be pointing towards Poyet returning to AEK as manager, but reports have now revealed that negotiations have reached a dead end. AEK are not willing to match the Uruguayan’s financial demands.”
In parallel lines 