Steve Harper’s part in the Seagulls-Magpies goalkeeping ‘trade’

BRIGHTON and Newcastle United clearly have a similar eye for goalkeepers with a string of custodians having played for both clubs.

A few years before I started watching, Dave Hollins, older brother of ex-Chelsea midfielder John, moved to Tyneside in 1960 after three years with the Albion, and played twice as many games for Newcastle in the early part of that decade than he had for Brighton.

Back in the first Alan Mullery era, Eric Steele, who went through the Newcastle ranks without making the first team, arrived at Brighton to replace the injured Peter Grummitt in 1977 and was in the side that won promotion to the elite via a 3-1 win at St James’ Park in 1979.

Dave Beasant, who Newcastle bought from Wimbledon for £850,000 in 1988 – although he only played 20 games for the Magpies – was between the sticks for the Albion for 16 games in 2003.

More recently, Dutchman Tim Krul – who’d been at Newcastle a decade – spent a couple of seasons as back-up to Mat Ryan and would probably be disappointed he didn’t get more game time.

My post on this occasion, though, is about Steve Harper, United’s longest-ever serving player having been there 20 years. He later went back as one of the coaches working with Steve Bruce, as well as being goalkeeping coach to the Northern Ireland international side.

Harper is a qualified UEFA A coach and UEFA A goalkeeping coach, and holds a Masters degree in Sport Directorship.

Back in 2011, Harper was happy to lend his experience to the second tier Seagulls during Gus Poyet’s tenure as manager, a decision applauded by Alan Pardew, Toon boss at the time.

“He just wanted to play,” Pardew told the Chronicle. “Not all the top players in the country would have gone on loan – you’re vulnerable.

“You’re going down a division, but he was prepared to do that, and fair play to him.”

For his part, Harper told BBC Sport: “Everybody knows I haven’t played enough football until the last two-and-a-half years.

“I hadn’t played a competitive game for about six months so it was nice to blow the cobwebs out.”

In his first Seagulls match, unfortunately Albion lost against West Ham to a single goal from Harper’s former teammate Kevin Nolan, and he said: “It was disappointing to lose against West Ham with the possession we had.

“Now I’m here, it’s time to get stuck in. We want Brighton to consolidate and finish as high as we can. People tell me it’s a lovely city. I’m looking forward to seeing more of it.”

Harper recalled the time fondly in an interview for the Albion website in 2019.

He featured in five games for the Seagulls, keeping two clean sheets. While he conceded five goals, three came away to Southampton when the Seagulls were unjustly punished by referee Peter Walton.

Harper told journalist Nick Szczepanik: “I would have stayed longer given the opportunity. They made me feel very welcome.”

He even managed to give two of his new teammates a surprise when he started speaking to them in Spanish. Playing behind Spanish speakers Inigo Calderon and Gonzalo Jara Reyes, he explained to Andy Naylor, then of The Argus: “After five years of Bobby Robson and his multi-lingual team talks my Spanish is okay.

“Calde got quite a shock with how much Spanish I know, but I had Colocinni and Enrique in the team with me at Newcastle.”

After his brief spell with the Albion, Harper returned to Newcastle and played nine more games for them the following season before moving on to Hull City (at the time managed by current Toon boss Bruce), where he played alongside Liam Rosenior.

Born in Seaham on 14 March 1975, Harper grew up in the County Durham mining village of Easington and went to its local comprehensive school. Originally a striker at local Sunday league level, he only started playing in goal from the age of 17 and he turned out for Newcastle’s youth team while he was still at college doing A levels.

In fact he was offered a place at John Moores University in Liverpool to study for a Sports Science degree but he deferred it when Newcastle offered him a one-year contract. He signed in 1993 as a back-up for first choice Pavel Srnicek, later Shaka Hislop and subsequently Shay Given.

Much of his time at Newcastle was as a more than capable deputy to whoever was first choice although in United’s 2009-10 season in the Championship, under Chris Hughton, he was the main man and played 45 matches.

Harper had nothing but praise for Hughton, telling chroniclelive.co.uk: “He came in at an incredibly difficult, turbulent time after relegation.

“Chris was the man at the centre of a perfect storm who steered us through some very choppy waters.

“He did a wonderful job and I don’t think he got enough credit. It was no surprise to me to see him go on to do an excellent job at Birmingham City and then at Brighton.”

In total, Harper played 199 games for Newcastle, featuring under nine different managers – Kevin Keegan and Bobby Robson being his favourites.

Periodically over the years, he went out on loan to gain first-team action, appearing between the sticks for Bradford City, Gateshead, Stockport County, Hartlepool and Huddersfield. The Brighton move was his sixth spell out on loan.

Harper’s long service for Newcastle was rewarded with a testimonial against AC Milan in 2013 before he left the club to join Hull, where he spent two seasons.

Six months after his departure from Hull, he was taken on by then Premier League Sunderland as cover for Jordan Pickford and Vito Mannone, but he didn’t make a first-team appearance and was released at the end of the season.

‘Sleekly skilful’ Dale Jasper remembered with a smile

FORMER teammates expressed fond memories and a sense of shock when Dale Jasper died in January 2020 aged only 56.

A product of Chelsea’s youth system in the 1980s, he made it through to the first team but moved to Brighton to get more playing time.

Although he succeeded – playing a total of 52 matches plus eight as a sub under Alan Mullery and Barry Lloyd between 1986 and 1988 – he had to move on again, this time to Crewe Alexandra, to establish a regular starting berth.

It was certainly no mean achievement, though, to have on his CV that he won promotion with all three clubs.

In Ivan Ponting’s obituary for Back Pass magazine, Jasper was described as “a sleekly skilful midfielder-cum-central defender”.

Born in Croydon on 14 January 1964, Jasper was an associate schoolboy with Chelsea from the tender age of 10.

He progressed to the youth ranks and turned professional at Stamford Bridge in January 1982. Manager John Neal gave him his first team break against Cardiff City in March 1984, and Chelsea fans remember him for his involvement in some eye-catching matches.

One involved a 4-4 League Cup quarter final against Sheffield Wednesday but in the semi-final v Sunderland he conceded two penalties.

Although part of the squad Neal steered to promotion from the second tier in 1983-84, the form of his friend Colin Pates, who later had two spells with Brighton himself, and Joe McLaughlin, meant first team chances were few and far between.

Nevertheless, former Chelsea star Pat Nevin remembered Jasper’s involvement in a warm tribute on chelseafc.com.

“Dale was about as much fun as you could find wrapped up in one person,” said Nevin. “He had a brilliant personality in the dressing room at Stamford Bridge and was always up for a surreal laugh with all of us, particularly when he was with his great friends Colin Pates and John Bumstead.”

When Neal’s replacement, John Hollins, failed to offer Jasper the first team game-time he craved, he took the chance to join Brighton in May 1986, and enthused about the move in an interview with Albion matchday programme contributor, Tony Norman.

“I signed on the Monday and three days later I flew out to Hong Kong with the team, so it wasn’t a bad week, was it? We played an exhibition match over there. I was a bit disappointed when a goal I scored was disallowed, but I was smiling by the end of the game, because we won 3-1.

“We were away for about a week and it was a very good way for me to meet the rest of the p!ayers and get to know them. It all seemed a bit unreal, because it had all come out of the blue, but it was very enjoyable.”

Unfortunately for him, the manager who signed him for Brighton – Mullery – was unable to recapture the midas touch he’d previously enjoyed at the club.

Jasper started the first 13 games of the 1986-87 season but only three wins were chalked up and Mullery was shown the exit door shortly into the new year.

Jasper played 16 games plus one as a sub under new boss Lloyd but, after the side were relegated back to the third tier, he found it difficult to cement a regular place in the starting line-up.

Apart from a 10-game stint of starts between November and January, he spent most of the 1987-88 season on the subs bench, with Alan Curbishley and Mike Trusson preferred and, for the promotion run-in, Lloyd turned to Adrian Owers. instead.

Although Jasper scored in successive matches in February (one after coming on as a sub in a 2-2 home draw with Chesterfield), his final appearance in an Albion shirt was in a 5-1 defeat at home to Notts County in a Sherpa Van Trophy regional semi-final on 9 March 1988.

Jasper’s well-known sense of humour was evident in his answers for a profile feature in the Albion matchday programme. Perhaps reflecting his lack of first team game time, he said his ambition was “to win the Sussex Senior Cup” and said his favourite actress was teammate Perry Digweed!

Interestingly, he listed (former Chelsea coach) Dario Gradi as one of the main influences on his career, and it was to Gradi’s Crewe side that he moved on leaving the Albion in July 1988.

At the Alex, he made more than 100 appearances in four years, including being involved in their 1989 promotion from the fourth tier. He later played non-league for Crawley Town and Kingstonian.

After his playing career came to an end, he worked in the building trade.

Shocked to learn of Jasper’s death on 30 January 2020, former Albion teammate John Keeley told the Argus: “Dale was really well liked by everyone. He had some real talent and was a top, top lad.”

Burnley graduate Ronnie Welch briefly captained the Albion

welch and wilsonTHE FOOTBALLING fortunes of two graduates from Burnley’s famous talent academy of the 1970s took quite different paths after the legendary Brian Clough signed them for Brighton.

While left-back Harry Wilson stayed for four years and enjoyed promotion success under Alan Mullery, midfielder Ronnie Welch left the club less than a year after he’d joined, ‘used’ (together with fellow midfielder Billy McEwan) as a makeweight in the transfer of Ken Tiler to the Albion.

The early signs following Welch’s arrival on the south coast had been positive. Although he and Wilson’s debuts at home to Aldershot on Boxing Day 1973 ended in a 1-0 defeat, results gradually picked up and, at the tender age of 21, Welch even found himself captaining the Albion in the absence of skipper Norman Gall.

Clough had turned to them as he tried to sort out a side who’d experienced a series of heavy defeats (the now-infamous 8-2 home loss to Bristol Rovers; a 4-0 reverse v non-league Walton & Hersham in the FA Cup, and a 4-1 loss away to Tranmere Rovers).

The tale of how Clough turned up at Turf Moor to sign them one lunchtime, only to find the place deserted apart from groundsman Roy Oldfield, has been recounted in said groundsman’s memoirs.

A fee of £70,000 for virtually untried youngsters was quite a lot of money in those days.

Midfielder Welch took over the no.4 shirt previously worn by Eddie Spearritt, who’d started the season as the club captain, and Wilson replaced George Ley, a big-money signing from Portsmouth the season before.

wilson and R WelchWelch stood just 5’6½” tall and weighed 10st 7lb, but Evening Argus football writer John Vinicombe was suitably impressed. His match report of the 1-0 home defeat to Aldershot was unearthed by thegoldstonewrap.com, and we learned: “After a subdued first-half, Welch had a storming second half against the Shots, impressing with his energy.”

Vinicombe reckoned Welch wasn’t as extrovert as Wilson “but is no less involved in midfield and has a fine turn of speed. He made one mistake through trying to play the ball instead of hoofing it away, but this can only be described as a ‘good’ fault.”

For a while, the Albion midfield featured the two Ronnies — Welch and Ronnie Howell became Clough’s preferred pairing — although Spearritt replaced the former Swindon player for a short spell, and competition for those spots hotted up at the end of February with the arrival of fiery Scot McEwan from Blackpool.

In his 10th match in Albion’s colours, Welch scored his first goal as Brighton beat Blackburn Rovers 3-0 in front of a 12,102 Goldstone crowd on 23 February 1974 (Barry Bridges scored twice), and he was on the scoresheet again in the 3 April 1974 midweek evening home game v Cambridge United, as the visitors were dispatched 4-1 (Bridges, McEwan and Howell the other scorers).

Clough was happy to give Welch the responsibility of captaining the side in Gall’s absence, although thegoldstonewrap.com reported: “Unfortunately, the burden of being skipper at such a young age affected his form for the side.”

Nevertheless, after Clough quit the Albion in July 1974, leaving his old sidekick in sole charge, Welch was in the starting line-up for the new season.

Ronnie W 74 pre-seasonAlbion got off to a cracking start with a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, and Welch played in the opening eight matches. But results didn’t go Taylor’s way and he shook up the midfield by introducing the experienced Ernie Machin, the former Coventry City captain, and also brought in Coventry’s Wilf Smith on loan.

Welch filled in at right-back for three matches and his last involvement in an Albion shirt was as a non-playing substitute away to Gillingham on 26 October.

Ever one for wheeler-dealing, Taylor had his eye on right-back Tiler at Chesterfield, but he had to exchange Welch and McEwan to land his man.

Welch had been born in Chesterfield on 26 September 1952, so it no doubt suited him down to the ground to move back home.

RW ChesterfieldHe was at Chesterfield for three years during the managerial tenure of the former Sheffield United legend Joe Shaw, but only played 24 games.

Welch at BostonIn the 1978-79 season he popped up at non-league Boston United where he played 39 matches plus four as a sub and scored four times.

It must have all seemed a long way from the heady days when he graduated from apprentice through to the Burnley first team. He featured three times for the England Youth team in February and March 1969 and Burnley awarded him a professional contract in September that year.

At the time, Burnley had a reputation for bringing through a succession of talented young players.

RW BurnleyHis breakthrough came on 30 January 1971, in a home 1-1 draw against Newcastle United, but it was to be his only appearance in the first team. There were a number of established midfield players ahead of him: the likes of Doug Collins, Mick Docherty and Martin Dobson, and later Geoff Nulty and Billy Ingham

While Welch may have ‘disappeared’ in a footballing sense, when in June 2019 a picture of him was posted by someone on a Chesterfield FC history Facebook page – the excellent Sky is Blue – a flurry of followers came forward to identify him, including his daughter and sister! It was said he now lives in the New Whittington area of Chesterfield.

Ups and downs of medal-laden Mark McGhee’s career

MARK McGHEE saw highs and lows as Brighton & Hove Albion manager after a medal-laden playing career that took him from his native Scotland to England and also to Germany.

McGhee was in charge when the Seagulls memorably won the 2004 play-off final to gain promotion from the third tier, beating Bristol City at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

Play off final boss

Keeping the Seagulls up the following season was arguably an even greater achievement considering at the time playing home games at the crowd-restricted Withdean Stadium meant the club was at a huge disadvantage compared to most clubs in the division.

With the Amex still a distant dream, relegation came at the end of the 2005-06 season, and it wasn’t long into the following season that Dick Knight wielded the axe on the Glaswegian’s time in charge.

“It was hard to sack Mark, but we had to have a change,” Knight wrote in his autobiography, Mad Man: From the Gutter to the Stars. “Everyone recognised what he had done in taking up and keeping up a team that was not that great, to be honest. Hats off to him, he had done a terrific job. And he is a very intelligent, personable guy.”

Knight took decisive action when part of the crowd became vociferous in wanting McGhee out, and the chairman also felt some of the young players drafted into the team weren’t responding to him.

He was finally toppled over lunch at Topolino’s, and Knight admitted: “It was a difficult decision. There was strong vocal opposition to McGhee, but also a large, less noisy element who were behind him.”

McGhee liked Brighton so much he made it his home despite subsequently taking on a series of other roles the length and breadth of the country.

It’s probably fair to say the Scot has never been afraid to speak his mind, which his former Newcastle boss Bill McGarry mentioned to him. McGhee recounted in an interview with theleaguepaper.com: “I was managing Wolves at the time. He said ‘Mark, you talk too much. Tone it down a bit’. I tried to take his advice, give nothing away in media briefings. Then, somebody would say something interesting and I wasn’t able to stop myself.”

It’s probably what helped him gain a place on the Sky Sports Soccer Saturday panel when he was in between management jobs.

McGhee would most likely look back on some jobs he’d perhaps have been wiser to stay away from, for example taking temporary charge of Eastbourne Borough in 2018, although his enthusiasm was undimmed as he revealed in an interview with thenonleaguefootballpaper.com.

Born in Glasgow on 20 May 1957, his father was an electrical engineer and his mother a fertility consultant at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. McGhee was on the books of Bristol City at the start of his long career but he returned to Scotland and became a part-timer with Greenock Morton while also training to be an architect.

Aforementioned manager McGarry signed him for Newcastle for a £150,000 fee on 30 December 1977 and he made his debut on 2 January 1978.

His face didn’t fit after Arthur Cox took over as boss, but Alex Ferguson took a punt on him in March 1979 and signed him for Aberdeen, and it proved to be one of many shrewd decisions the esteemed Scot would make in his career.

McGhee was named Scottish PFA Players’ Player of the Year in 1982, and the following year was part of the Aberdeen side who beat Real Madrid 2–1 to lift the 1983 European Cup Winners’ Cup in Gothenburg.

mcg cup

He also scored the second goal as Aberdeen defeated Hamburg 2-0 to win the UEFA Super Cup in the same year.

Asked about the best goal he scored, he said: “Probably the winning goal in my last game for Aberdeen.”

McGhee reckoned his best moment in football came on 26 May 1984 when he scored against England at Hampden Park. He headed in a cross (as pictured) from his great pal Gordon Strachan past Peter Shilton.

McG v Eng

“It put us 1-0 up but Tony Woodcock equalised to make the final score 1-1.”

It was one of four caps he won for his country. Nearly two decades later, in January 2013, Strachan appointed him as his no.2 with the Scottish national side.

M McGhee Old Football PhotosBut back to those playing days, and with two Scottish league titles and three Cup wins behind him, McGhee tried his hand at European football and spent 16 months at Hamburg. The spell was probably more of an education than a success, with injuries limiting his game time.

A £170,000 fee took him back to Scotland, to Celtic, where he had mixed fortunes during four years with the Glasgow giants. He was, though, part of the squad that won a League and Cup double in their centenary season.

After winning another Scottish Cup winners’ medal in 1989, he was on the move again, back to Newcastle.

Now with Jim Smith in charge, Newcastle paid £200,000 to take McGhee back to St James’ Park, where he formed an impressive strike partnership with the legendary Micky Quinn as Toon finished third in the old Division Two.

“We were good friends, but we didn’t blend on the pitch like Toshack and Keegan, Quinn told theleaguepaper.com. “Mark was a free spirit. He’d get the ball and drift left or right and drop deep.

“He’d turn defenders and drag them out of position. He would hold the ball up well for me to get into the box and score goals. He went where he wanted, but it worked.”

football back then McGhee

This Football Back Then picture shows McGhee in action for Newcastle against Albion’s Nicky Bissett.

His farewell performance came on 6 April 1991, not long after Ossie Ardiles had taken over as manager, and McGhee departed having scored a total of 36 goals in 115 appearances for the Magpies.

Next stop was Sweden, where he played briefly for IK Brage, but he seized the opportunity to try his hand at management by taking up the role of player-manager at Reading in the summer of 1991.

He’d been recommended for the role by his old boss Ferguson, and, after quitting playing through injury in 1993, he led the Royals to promotion from the third tier the following year.

A struggling Leicester City gave him a chance to manage in the Premier League but he was unable to keep them up and, less than a year after joining, decided to switch to Wolverhampton Wanderers, to succeed Graham Taylor.

Wolves just failed to gain promotion in 1996-97 (they lost in the play-off semi-finals) and were ninth the following campaign. Four months into the 1998-99 season, following a string of poor results, McGhee was fired.

It would be 20 months before he gained his next opportunity, this time at Millwall where he enjoyed initial success, leading them to promotion from the third tier, and then narrowly missing out on another promotion when they lost in the play-off semi-finals to Birmingham City.

McGhee apptWhen he parted company from Millwall in October 2003, he wasn’t out of work long because Brighton needed a replacement for Steve Coppell, who’d been wooed to take over at Reading (pictured above, with chairman Dick Knight, at his unveiling as Albion manager).

Those Albion fans who stuck by the team in the humble surroundings of the Withdean Stadium enjoyed some good moments during McGhee’s time as manager, in particular promotion via the play-off final in 2004.

He certainly found a formula to get the best out of certain players, as Adam Virgo, converted from defender to goalscorer, observed in that theleaguepaper.com article. “Mark is a very good communicator and very experienced,” he said. “He can make you feel ten feet tall. He’s very good at being honest, at analysing your game and telling you what you’re good at.”

After his departure from the Albion, McGhee was out of the game for nine months but got back in at Motherwell, turning them from near relegation candidates to qualifiers for European competition.

The lure of his old club, Aberdeen, proved too strong in the summer of 2009, but his tenure proved to be disastrous – and brief.

He spent the majority of 2012 as manager of Bristol Rovers, where one of the squad he inherited was former Brighton defender-turned-striker, Virgo. The following year, his old pal, Strachan, appointed him as assistant coach to the Scottish national side.

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee before the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership match at Fir Park, Motherwell.

He later combined the role part-time when he returned to Motherwell but there were mixed fortunes second time round, and he left them again in early 2017. Towards the end of that year, he popped up at League Two Barnet, but the arrangement lasted only two months before he was moved to a ‘head of technical’ role, and then dismissed in March 2018.

McGhee was ‘slaughtered’ on Twitter when he took over as interim manager of National South side Eastbourne Borough in the spring of 2019, after being beaten 3-0 by Wealdstone in his first match in charge, his new side reduced to nine men after two players were sent off. Borough won just once in 11 matches.

When Albion under 23s coach Simon Rusk was appointed manager of Vanarama National League side Stockport County in January 2021, McGhee was appointed as one of his assistants.

His final managerial post was at Dundee in February 2022 when he took temporary charge of the Scottish Premiership side until the end of the season (with Rusk as his assistant), but they couldn’t avoid them being relegated, overseeing just one win in 13 matches.

McGhee finally announced his retirement from the game in September 2022 at the age of 65, telling the Sunday Post: “I won’t be pursuing any other managerial vacancies, and nor would I want to be a director of football or a head of recruitment. That’s not what I am – I’m a manager.

“I feel that players now deserve a young manager who can give them the energy I was able to when I started out. They don’t need a 65-year-old with a dodgy ankle.”

Why Saint Dan riled the Albion

DAN HARDING was promoted twice with Southampton and once with the Seagulls and later cut short his career because of family tragedy.

Personally, I’m not sure he really need to be cast as ‘public enemy no.1’ because of the way he left Brighton.

With the benefit of hindsight, it was really no surprise that he chose to turn his back on playing at Withdean in favour of Elland Road, Leeds.

OK, the stringing-out of the contract negotiations, and public slanging match that accompanied them, didn’t help matters.

But football careers are short and the Amex was a long way off becoming a reality when Harding decided to opt for pastures new.

“I really enjoyed my time at Brighton but you can’t compare the size of the two clubs or the facilities,” he told the Leeds matchday programme at the time. “It has been like going from one world to another.”

Ironically, it seems his success on the pitch with Brighton, which led to him gaining international recognition, might well have been the unsettling influence.

Former Albion boss Peter Taylor selected him for England under-21s as the 2004-05 season got underway. He made his England debut as a substitute for Micah Richards in a 3-1 win over Ukraine at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, on 17 August 2004. Future full internationals James Milner and Darren Bent were in the same squad.

He started the 8 October 2004 match against Wales at Ewood Park, Blackburn: a 2-0 win courtesy of goals from Milner and Bent. He also started the game four days later when the under 21s drew 0-0 away to Azerbaijan in Baku. His last cap came the following month in a 1-0 defeat away to Spain when he was replaced by Ben Watson. Future Albion loanee Liam Ridgewell was also a substitute in that game.

It was this platform that sowed the seeds of discord, according to former chairman Dick Knight’s take on the circumstances surrounding Harding’s acrimonious departure from the Albion.

In his autobiography Mad Man: From the Gutter to the Stars, Knight reckoned it was while on international duty that Harding was “egged on by his agent about his value after talking to players with bigger clubs, on bigger wages”.

Knight went on: “Early on, I offered him a sizeable contract renewal but he sat on it. He kept saying he wanted to stay, but I don’t think he had any intention of doing so.

“Because he was under 24, we were entitled to compensation. Shaun Harvey, the Leeds chief executive – who became CEO of the Football League in July 2013 – tested me with a couple of paltry sums before finally offering £250,000, which I rejected.”

DH Leeds action 2Via the Football League tribunal system, Knight managed to get the figure up to £850,000, part achievement-based, and with a 20 per cent sell-on clause.

All in all, not a bad return for a player who came through the Albion’s youth and reserve ranks after being spotted at 15 playing for Hove Park Colts.

Born in Gloucester on 23 December 1983, the young Harding loved kicking a football from the moment he could walk and enjoyed watching his dad, Kevan, turn out for the Army team.

The family was posted to Brighton, and Harding was taken to the Goldstone Ground by his mum, Linda. One of his earliest memories was on 23 September 1992 seeing a 17-year-old David Beckham make his Manchester United debut as a substitute for Andrei Kanchelskis in a League Cup tie that finished 1-1.

Harding joined the Albion initially on schoolboy terms for a year and was then taken on as a YTS trainee, progressing through the juniors and reserves before eventually making his first team debut on 17 August 2002, during Martin Hinshelwood’s brief reign, as a substitute for Shaun Wilkinson in a 2-0 home defeat to Norwich City.

After Hinshelwood was replaced by Steve Coppell, and Harding sustained a back injury, the youngster played no further part in the first team picture that season, but he was awarded a new contract in April 2003.

In the first part of the 2003-04 season, Harding was a regular on the bench, but, on 21 February 2004, Coppell’s successor, Mark McGhee, gave him his full debut in place of the suspended Kerry Mayo in a 3-0 win over Bournemouth.

Dan Harding

Harding kept his place through to the end of the season, making a total of 23 appearances, including being part of the side that lifted the divisional play-off trophy at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, as the Seagulls beat Bristol City 1-0.

“In hindsight, it was a very lucky time for me. I broke into a team that was winning games and was promoted,” he told the Daily Echo. “Looking back now, I don’t think I appreciated at the time what a big achievement it was.”

Sent off in only the second game of the following season for two bookable offences, it wasn’t long before his contract discussions were aired publicly, with McGhee telling the Argus in October: “It’s starting to really frustrate me.

“Dan keeps telling us and saying publicly he wants to sign but we cannot tie his agent down to have a meeting with us. He has to be honest with us.”

Harding in turn denied he was being difficult, telling the Argus that talks were ongoing.

The off-field issues certainly seemed to be troubling Harding and McGhee publicly blamed the defender for a 2-0 defeat at Millwall in December. He was also outmuscled by Stoke City’s Ade Akinbiyi in a game at Withdean, leading to a late winner for the visitors. Across the season, McGhee dropped him on four occasions because of such inconsistency.

When he won his place back in February, he told the Argus: “I had to prove not only to the gaffer but to the other players and the fans that I want that position back.

“That’s where I prefer to play. I like to call that my position. I don’t mind playing on the left hand side of midfield or centre midfield, but I do love playing at left-back.

“Hopefully I can reproduce the same sort of form and keep my confidence up. Everyone wants to be playing, so when you are left out it’s a bit of a kick in the teeth. It’s not nice, but you have to pick yourself up and try to get back into the team.”

DH leeds action 1However, the Brighton contract offer was declined and on 7 June that summer, Harding put pen to paper on a deal with Leeds, whose fans were no doubt delighted to read that he used to follow their fortunes when he was a youngster.

“When I lived in Germany, they showed quite a lot of Leeds games on telly and, in a strange way, I kind of ended up supporting them because it was the only football I really got to see out there,” he said.

His dad later took him to a Leeds FA Cup match v Wolves, and he added: “I have to admit I have been a closet Leeds fan. Obviously, I didn’t shout about it when I was playing for Brighton and it’s kind of strange now that this move has happened.”

If Harding doubted the size of the task at Elland Road, he’d only have had to read the comments of manager Kevin Blackwell, often Neil Warnock’s no.2, who was the Leeds manager at the time.

In an article about Harding in the club programme, Blackwell said: “It has been a big transition for him. No disrespect to Brighton, but coming from the scaffolding at Withdean to Elland Road was a big step-up for Dan. He was nervous in the first couple of games, but he has started to settle down.”

He talked about how he needed to cement his place at United, and added: “If he does succeed here, all the doors will be open to him. I have no doubt that once he develops certain aspects of his game and his self-confidence, he will go a long way because he is a real athlete with a great left foot.”

Brighton fans vented their displeasure at how things had turned out every time Harding touched the ball when Leeds entertained the Seagulls on 12 September 2005; a game which finished 3-3. The fact two of Albion’s goals came from crosses on Harding’s flank prompted Blackwell to drop him for the following match.

After only seven games, Harding picked up an injury and, over the course of the season, played just 21 matches for United. In August 2006, the Yorkshire club used the full-back as a makeweight in a deal which took future Albion loanee Ian Westlake from Ipswich to Leeds.

He was a regular at Portman Road for a couple of seasons but, in his third season, manager Jim Magilton deemed him surplus to requirements and sent him out on loan to Southend United. I recall going to a match at Roots Hall and seeing him have an outstanding game against Brighton.

Later the same season, with Ipswich bobbing along in mid-table, Harding seized the chance to join Steve Coppell’s promotion-chasing Reading, and he played in their play-offs defeat to Burnley.

When Roy Keane took over at Ipswich in 2009, Harding was sold to Southampton; manager Alan Pardew’s first signing for the Saints. Harding’s former Albion youth coach, Dean Wilkins, was part of Pardew’s coaching team.

Harding reflected in an interview with the Southern Daily Echo that what followed were the happiest three years of his career, in which he played 121 games and chipped in with five goals.

In 2010-11, he was named in the PFA League One team of the year along with teammates Kelvin Davies, Jose Fonte, Adam Lallana and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

In the harsh and fickle world of football, Brighton fans relished Brighton’s 3-0 win over Southampton at the Amex on 2 January 2012 when Albion winger Will Buckley gave Harding such a torrid time that, to compound his humiliation, the former Brighton player was subbed off by boss Nigel Adkins with five minutes of the first half still to play.

Although part of the Saints side that won promotion back to the Premier League that May, Harding didn’t get the chance to play at the top level because Adkins moved him on to Nottingham Forest.

Harding talked in detail to the Echo’s Paul McNamara about life at Forest, which he found an unstable place, especially when Sean O’Driscoll, the manager who signed him, was sacked.

Although he played some games under that legendary left-back Stuart Pearce, when he took over, Harding eventually went on loan to Millwall, but wasn’t able to help them stave off relegation from the Championship.

He reveals in his interview with McNamara how disillusioned he became with the amount of dishonesty in football and, coupled with his pregnant wife losing two of the triplets she was expecting, he put family before football and, at the age of only 31, dropped down four divisions to play non-league with Eastleigh.

He talked about the tough decisions he’d had to make in an interview before a FA Cup tie Eastleigh played against Bolton Wanderers.

In 2016, Harding joined Whitehawk as a player, then became part of the coaching set-up, and was briefly caretaker manager before the appointment of Steve King.

Glorious home debut as good as it got for Abdul Razak

city action 2A MAN-OF-THE-MATCH home debut was as good as it got when Abdul Razak joined Albion on loan from Manchester City in February 2012.

Already being mentioned as a possible successor to Yaya Toure, there were high hopes for the Ivorian 19-year-old.

He joined originally on a three-month loan with fellow City youngster Gai Assulin (pictured together below), who came on as a substitute for Razak when manager Gus Poyet gave him his debut in a goalless draw away to Hull City.

assulin and razak

With regular midfielder Gary Dicker sidelined through injury, Poyet needed reinforcements in the middle of the park and the promising City youngster looked like he might be a great solution.

He’d already had a month’s loan at Portsmouth earlier the same season, and he was the stand-out performer when the Seagulls beat Ipswich Town 3-0 at the Amex on 25 February 2012.

Two goals from Ashley Barnes and one from Craig Mackail-Smith sealed the win, Brian Owen in the Argus, writing: “Victory extended their unbeaten league run to nine games and was largely inspired by Abdul Razak, who was superb in midfield on his home debut.”

Poyet was concerned about the level of fitness of the City pair, but after that game at Hull told the Argus: “Abdul was better than in training, because of the space, the way he attacks and the ability he has got and strength. He has been missing playing 90 minutes.

“He is stronger than he looks. He can hold the ball, do a trick, have a shot. He is good passing the ball, we just need to make him play the way we play, especially without the ball.”

When signing for the Seagulls, Razak told the official club website: “I like to pass the ball and that’s why I decided to come to Brighton.

“I had a few options, but I chose Brighton because I like the way that they play football. I have seen some of the games and the way Brighton play is different, so I have got to adapt to that. I have spoken to the manager and he is going to give me plenty of information and we will take it from there.”

Unfortunately for him, the more experienced Dicker returned from injury quicker than expected and, after just four starts and two appearances off the bench, the displaced Razak cut short his loan and returned to Manchester.

Wearebrighton.com recently said Razak admitted some while later in a TV interview that he fell out with Poyet, prompting his early departure from the south coast.

There was a similar story when he went on loan to Charlton Athletic later the same year. He joined at the end of September, ostensibly on a three-month deal, but went back to City after a month having made only two first team appearances.

A year later, Razak signed for Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala on a season-long loan deal with the aim of it becoming a permanent arrangement, which it did within a month. He left City having made three starts and seven substitute appearances for the first team.

The following January, Razak moved back to the UK on a short-term contract with West Ham, but he didn’t make an appearance for the first team and left in April.

“It didn’t work at West Ham due to Sam Allardyce, as I like to play football and that’s not his style,” Razak told Will Unwin, in an extended interview in March 2017. “Then my work permit expired, so I had to wait for another one. The Home Office take a long time to reply, so then I was without a club. So I ended up four months without a club.”

Eventually, he moved to Greece and played a handful of games for Crete outfit OFI in 2014-15, and, in the same season, tried his luck back in England when former City legend Paul Dickov gave him a short-term contract with League One Doncaster Rovers, for whom he played nine matches.

After taking advice from Swedish international and former City colleague John Guidetti, Razak started to rebuild his career in Sweden with AFC United in Eskilstuna and, after a dozen games, he was picked up on a three-year deal by leading Swedish club IFK Gothenburg. But in 2018, he moved on again; this time to Uppsala-based IK Sirius.

Born on 11 November 1992 in Bouake, in the south west African country of Ivory Coast, Razak was a youth team player on the books of Crystal Palace initially but joined Manchester City’s elite development squad in July 2010.

Within seven months, he had made his first team debut when manager Roberto Mancini sent him on as a substitute for David Silva in the final minute of a Premier League game against West Brom on 5 February 2011.

city action 1Five days later, he came on as an 80th minute sub for Yaya Toure, and then had a starting spot on 21 September in a League Cup game against Birmingham City. He next appeared in the same competition’s second round, against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The midfielder played one league game in that 2011-12 season, when City dramatically won the title, beating QPR 3-2 with that Sergio Aguerro goal right at the end of the last game of the season.

In the following season’s curtain-raiser, the FA Community Shield, played at Villa Park, Razak was an unused substitute in City’s 3-2 win over Chelsea.

He has played five times for his country; twice in 2012 and three times in 2013.

 

Injury-plagued Alan Navarro’s loyalties taken as Red

Nav v Suarez

A FORMER midfield partner of Steven Gerrard scored a memorable winner for the Seagulls at Elland Road, but it was a rare highlight in a promising career dogged by injuries.

Alan Navarro trained alongside Gerrard and played with him for Liverpool Reserves. While one went on to become a Liverpool legend and captain his country, the other had to forge a career mainly in the lower leagues.

Navarro talked to the Liverpool Echo about his former illustrious teammate when he prepared to return to Anfield with Brighton a decade after leaving the Merseyside giants.

“I came through as a full-back but then they decided to try me in midfield and I played with Steven a few times,” said Navarro. “It was a good thing but also a bad thing because you knew that you were going to be competing for a place with Steven.

“I trained with him every day for a few seasons….he was always head and shoulders above everyone else. His football, his brain, his pace, his strength, the way he tackles, everything about him was brilliant. He was the player you wanted to be.”

Navarro was talking in a preview to the FA Cup 5th round tie which saw Liverpool steamroller the Seagulls 6-1, courtesy of three own goals (two for Liam Bridcutt, one for Lewis Dunk).

Apart from the disastrous result, Navarro also picked up a booking on his return to Anfield. It was the second time the Liverpudlian had played against the side who nurtured him: he was also in the Albion side who lost 2-1 to the Reds in a League Cup game at the Amex in September 2011.

Nav stripesThe Scouser joined the Seagulls on a free transfer from MK Dons in the summer of 2009, and manager Russell Slade told the Argus: “Alan likes to get on the ball. He is the passer, the one that links you up and tries to make you play. He’s impressed us.”

After picking up an injury early on, he found it difficult to get back in the side until Gus Poyet arrived, and, with his ability to pick a pass for teammates to benefit from, slotted in well.

A cruciate ligament injury in his right knee, suffered in a League Cup game against Northampton Town at the beginning of the 2010-11 season, ruled him out for the season.

Having previously suffered a similar injury in his other knee eight years earlier, he knew what to expect, which he described to Andy Naylor in the Argus.

He later recalled how he feared it might have been the end of his career, but, after proving his fitness to Poyet, he went on to play 39 games for the Albion in the 2011-12 season – finally getting the chance to perform at a level he always felt he was capable of.

Navarro had previously had to contend with life in the bottom two tiers, but he enjoyed a new lease of life playing in the Championship, as he talked about in the Argus.

He played a total of 85 games for the Albion between 2009 and 2012 and only ever scored one goal. But what a memorable one!

Nav Leeds celeb

It came in the 90th minute of a Championship game at Elland Road on 11 February 2012, when his final touch after good work from Liam Bridcutt proved to be the winner as the Seagulls prevailed 2-1.

Craig Mackail-Smith (pictured above celebrating with Navarro and Craig Noone) had opened the scoring for the Seagulls but Luciano Becchio equalised and, just as it appeared the game would finish in a draw, up popped unlikely scorer Navarro.

Born in Liverpool on 31 May 1981, Navarro’s home was in Venmore Street, close to Anfield. “Funnily enough I was a Blue when I was younger,” he told the Albion matchday programme. “My family were Evertonians and a couple of cousins really drilled the club into me from an early age. But when I was 10 or 11, we moved to a house right next to Anfield and I fell in love with Liverpool.

“I loved watching John Barnes, Ronnie Whelan and then Robbie Fowler, even though he was not that much older than me. My mum still lives there, six doors away from The Kop.”

He joined the Reds in 1996, signed professional in 2000, and was a regular in the Reserves. He also had occasional travels with the first team, for example to Russia, Porto and Rome, as well as Chelsea, Newcastle and Sunderland for league games.

“It was strange going from fan to playing for the club, but an unbelievable experience,” he said. “From growing up on the club’s doorstep, I was in the youth team, then playing for the reserves and travelling with the first team to some big games.”

player_navarroIn the 1999-2000 season, Liverpool Reserves won the Premier Reserve League title with Navarro and Layton Maxwell pulling the strings in midfield.

Navarro only made it onto the first team substitutes’ bench twice but got his first taste of competitive action on loan at League One Crewe Alexandra.

He also went on loan to nearby Tranmere Rovers, whose manager, Dave Watson, told the Liverpool Echo: “Alan is a good quality player who has been in Liverpool’s reserves for a while now.

“I have seen him play several times and so have my assistant, Ray Mathias, and our chief scout, Dave Philpotts. (Anfield coach) Sammy Lee speaks very highly of the lad’s work at Liverpool and he’s certainly worth a look.”

After impressing on loan, Navarro made a permanent switch to Rovers in January 2002, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract. “It was difficult to leave because I love the club and a big part of my heart will always be there, but I needed to get my career up and running. I cherish my time there; I was taught the game by the best.”

Things didn’t go according to plan at Tranmere where he suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury and he went out on loan to Chester City and Macclesfield Town.

Navarro moved on from Tranmere in the summer of 2005, initially linking up with Conference National side Accrington Stanley for a month before Macclesfield boss Brian Horton secured his services on a permanent basis. Horton told the club website: “I’m delighted Alan has joined the team. I think he’s going to fit in extremely well.

“We had him here last season and couldn’t quite come to an agreement with Tranmere to sign him, so he went back there and we missed him badly.

“It was no coincidence that his departure came at the time when our form dipped so we’ve been keeping an eye on him for a long time and we’re delighted to have him.”

After his experience at Tranmere made him contemplate quitting the game altogether, it was Horton’s successor at Macclesfield, former Liverpool midfielder Paul Ince, who helped to reignite his passion for football.

“When he came to Macclesfield, he got me wanting to play football again,” he told the matchday programme. “He gave me the spark that helped me fall back in love with the game, and he took me from Macclesfield to MK Dons, where we had a lot of success.

“He remembered me from Liverpool, while his assistant Ray Mathias had me at Tranmere and knew me really well. It just clicked. I knew what Paul wanted from me and vice-versa.”

In August 2007, Navarro followed Ince to MK Dons, where he made 89 appearances over two seasons.

After his three years with the Seagulls, and following a season in which he played 33 matches, it was a little surprising that he was released in the summer of 2012, although supporter Alan Wares told thewashbag.com: “He will be remembered as a player who never gave less than 100 per cent every time he pulled on the shirt.

“It’s a shame to see such a quality player leave, but it shows how far Brighton have come as a club that Gus Poyet feels he can afford to release him.”

How ironic that his debut for new club Swindon should come in the League Cup against Brighton in August 2012 – Navarro scored twice and made the other in a 3-0 win!

However, that was pretty much as good as it got in his spell with the Robins. His Town career comprised only 15 starts plus five as a substitute, and a subsequent knee injury brought his career to an end.

Canaries hero Culverhouse was Seagulls skipper, then coach

Culvs BHA

A DEFENDER who enjoyed Norwich City’s European journey in the early 90s ended his playing days as captain of the Seagulls before embarking on a coaching career running the reserves.

Ian Culverhouse was part of some of the Canaries’ best years flying high in the football pyramid – later being named by fans as their best ever right-back.

In February 1999, Albion’s then chairman, Dick Knight, told the Argus: “Ian has impressed me greatly with not only his experience but his attitude. He has been a real leader in the dressing room as well as on the field and we are giving him a chance to bring that know-how to bear on the coaching side.”

Manager Jeff Wood added: “Ian has shown on the field that he is a player of immense ability. In his new coaching role, he will now have the opportunity to pass his knowledge on to the younger players at the club.”

Culverhouse added: “This is a good opportunity for me and I am looking forward to it.

“It’s the first chance I’ve had to coach and it’s something I wanted to do anyway when my career finished. It has just come at a nice time.”

It was former boss Brian Horton who first brought Culverhouse to the Albion, from non-league Kingstonian, signing him on a month-to-month contract in August 1998.

In October, it looked like he was being released, but when captain and sweeper Gary Hobson picked up an injury, Horton reinstated Culverhouse on a contract to the end of the season, and appointed him captain.

culvsbw

Culverhouse, by then 34, could look back on the experience of 369 games for Norwich, and 115 for Swindon Town. He said: “The future of Brighton is looking very exciting and it’s great to be considered a part of the plans.”

When Wood was sacked with six games of the season still to be played, Culverhouse told the Argus: “I am shocked and absolutely gutted for the bloke.

“It’s down to the players he puts out there. We have let him down.”

Culverhouse survived the managerial upheaval and when new manager Micky Adams took charge, he told the Argus: “Ian reminds me a bit of myself. You have got to get on the ladder somewhere. He is enthusiastic, has had a good career and sets himself high standards.

“He has a lot to learn in terms of coaching, but I hope he will become fully qualified along with the rest of my staff.

“He will still be registered as a player as well in case we need him in emergencies, but I don’t envisage him playing too many games.”

In 2000, Culverhouse became youth coach at Barnet and two years later joined Leyton Orient in a similar role before being elevated to assistant manager. He left the Os in August 2005 – replaced by future Villa boss Dean Smith – but was then appointed coach at Wycombe Wanderers by Glenn Hoddle’s former no.2, John Gorman.

When Paul Lambert succeeded Gorman, he and Culverhouse developed a strong bond. He followed Lambert to Colchester United to become assistant manager, then returned to Norwich in the same role, where he didn’t forget Wood’s role in setting him on the coaching ladder, being instrumental in the former Albion manager’s appointment as Norwich’s goalkeeping coach.

When Lambert upped sticks from Norwich to join Aston Villa, Culverhouse went with him, and, in June 2013, the Birmingham Mail carried a lengthy article talking about the trust Lambert placed in his right-hand man, and how much he rated his judgement.

But in April  2014 Culverhouse was suspended by the club and, following an internal investigation into “off the field matters”, was dismissed.

Between January 2016 and February 2017, Culverhouse was assistant manager to veteran boss John Still at Dagenham & Redbridge. He left Dagenham to become manager of Southern League Premier Division side King’s Lynn Town. In May 2018, he moved on to Grantham Town but left after only five months and returned to King’s Lynn where he recently signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract.

Born on 22 September 1964 in Bishop’s Stortford, Culverhouse spent his early football career at Tottenham Hotspur and was capped at England Youth level. He impressed in Spurs’ youth and reserve sides and spent three years at the Lane.”I was playing alongside players like Ricky Villa, Ossie Ardiles and Glenn Hoddle, which was tremendous experience,” he said.

He even collected a UEFA Cup winners’ medal in 1984 as an unused substitute in the first leg of Spurs’ win (on penalties) over Anderlecht; future Albion boss Chris Hughton was left-back and recent signing from Albion, Gary Stevens, was in midfield, and scored one of the decisive penalties.

But Culverhouse only made one full appearance for the first team, plus one as a substitute, and in October 1985 moved to Norwich City under Ken Brown for a £50,000 fee.

He was part of the Norfolk club’s old Second Division title-winning side of 1985-86 and became an established defender, usually as a right-back but also as a sweeper, as the Canaries flew high in the Premier League, finishing third in 1992-93 after enjoying three top five finishes in the old First Division.

After nine years as a player at Carrow Road, he was somewhat controversially sold for £150,000 to Swindon where he was a key part of their League One Championship winning squad in 1995-96 but left in May 1998 after falling out with boss Steve McMahon.

He began the 1998-99 season with Kingstonian before Horton revived his league career with the Seagulls.

Boss feistily defended crowd-heckled Bobby Smith

B Smith white actionTOUGH-TACKLING midfielder Bobby Smith made more than 200 appearances for Manchester United’s reserve side.

He played alongside emerging talents such as George Best and Nobby Stiles but wasn’t able to follow them in making the step up to the first team.

Like many before and since, he had to look elsewhere to establish a career in the game, and 85 of his 307 senior career appearances came in the colours of Brighton & Hove Albion, the fourth of seven clubs he served as a player.

Smith stayed in the game as a manager and coach for 26 years after hanging up his boots, his most notable achievement coming in December 1979 as boss of Third Division Swindon Town when they overcame the mighty Arsenal in a thrilling League Cup quarter final.

Born in Prestbury, Cheshire, on 14 March 1944, Smith won six England Schoolboys (under 15s) caps, playing right-half with future World Cup winner Martin Peters playing on the left.

He went on to win two England Youth caps: on 9 March 1961, he was in an England side (which also included John Jackson in goal and future Luton and Spurs boss David Pleat) that lost 1-0 to the Netherlands in Utrecht and three days later was again on the losing side, this time 2-0, to West Germany in Flensburg, when teammates included John Milkins, Portsmouth’s ‘keeper for many years, and striker John O’Rourke, who played for various clubs. Smith turned professional with United the following month.

MUFC REs v WBA

I’ve discovered an old programme (above) for a Man Utd reserve fixture against West Brom during that era. It shows Smith alongside Wilf Tranter (who also later played for Brighton, and was Smith’s assistant manager at Swindon), Nobby Stiles in midfield, and George Best on the left wing.

In 1964, when a first team call-up continued to elude Smith, he lowered his sights and went to play for a former United colleague at Scunthorpe United. That colleague was Freddie Goodwin who would later be his manager at Brighton as well.

At Scunthorpe, Smith finally saw league action and played 87 games in two seasons before being transferred for £8,000 to Grimsby Town. In two years with the Mariners, he played 56 games before joining the Albion in June 1968.

My distant memory of Smith was of a tough-tackling midfielder who was in the shadow of the likes of Nobby Lawton and Dave Turner when it came to his popularity with supporters. And manager Goodwin hit back strongly when a section of fans voiced their disapproval of the player.

Smith scored the only goal of the game after only 50 seconds away to Stockport County on 23 January 1970, but in the previous home game (a 2-1 win over Bradford City) there had been a few shouts from the terraces in Smith’s direction.

In his weekly article for the Brighton and Hove Herald, Goodwin said: “I was most disappointed to hear certain sections of the crowd getting at Bobby Smith.

“He has done nothing to warrant this behaviour. He is a 90-minute aggressive player and his value to the team lies in his ability to win the ball from the opposition.

“He is well aware of his limitations as a player, but there is no-one who can accuse him of ever giving less than 100 per cent.

“This sort of behaviour by a small minority of spectators does nothing to help the team or the individual players.

“Any player who takes the field as a representative of Brighton and Hove Albion does so because he has been selected for the team by me.

“It is my responsibility that a player represents the Albion. So, to barrack any player is most unfair to him.”

Smith in action against the backdrop of the packed East Terrace at the Goldstone. Albion won 4-0

His 85 games for the Albion came across three seasons: 33 in 1968-69 and 26 in each of the following two seasons. Goodwin’s successor, Pat Saward, released him at the end of the 1970-71 season, and, in June 1971, he went on a free transfer to Chester City.

After only four months in the North West, he switched to the North East, joining Hartlepool United, initially on loan. Over two years, in which Len Ashurst’s side only just avoided the old re-election places, Smith played in 76 matches before moving on to Bury in August 1973. He signed as a player-coach but didn’t feature in the league side, instead taking over as manager – aged only 29 – from Allan Brown in December 1973.

It was the start of a coaching and managerial career that would span more than a quarter of a century.

He took Bury to promotion from the fourth tier by the end of that 1973-74 season, and remained in charge for just under four years, He was at the helm for a total of 215 games; the record books showing he achieved a 41.9 per cent win rate.

A six-month stint followed at Port Vale, between November 1977 and May 1978, but, of his 33 games in charge, he only presided over six wins (there were 14 draws and 13 defeats).

Swindon paid £10,000 compensation to lure him to the County Ground, where, as mentioned, his assistant manager was the aforementioned Tranter.

The official Swindon website remembered: “Despite being a relatively young manager, he guided Swindon to a promotion challenge in his first season in charge – missing out by three points, after losing the last two games of the season.”

Part of the secret had been Smith’s signing of strikers Andy Rowland and Alan Mayes.

Swindon w BS WTSmith (far right) as manager of Swindon, with Tranter (far left), Chris Kamara (circled back row) and skipper Ray McHale (centre front row).

His major achievement came the following year, when Town beat Arsenal 4-3 in a replay to reach the League Cup semi-final.

When one considers the size of League Cup game crowds now, it seems extraordinary to discover around 7,000 Swindon fans (in a gate of 38,024) had made the trip to Highbury for the initial tie, which finished 1-1.

The Gunners had famously lost to lowly Swindon in the 1969 League Cup Final at Wembley, so the humble Wiltshire club smelled history repeating itself.

In the replay, with 21,795 packed into the County Ground, Steve Walford and John Hollins scored own goals and future Brighton manager Liam Brady scored twice for Arsenal. One of the key players for Swindon was future Sky Sports reporter Chris Kamara.

Striker Rowland, who scored an extra time winner, relived the momentous occasion in an interview with SwindonWebTV.

Smith on Focus

Unsurprisingly, the giant killing attracted plenty of media attention and Smith was interviewed live on Football Focus by presenter Bob Wilson.

Smith pointed out that his side had been well grounded and, after the initial draw against Arsenal, had thumped his old club Bury 8-0, equalling Swindon’s biggest winning margin in a league game. Amongst the scorers were Rowland and Billy Tucker – two of four ex-Bury players in Swindon’s starting line-up. Another was Brian Williams – Bury’s youngest ever player – and one of the other goalscorers, Ray McHale, (later to play for Brighton in the top division) went on to have a loan spell at Gigg Lane later in his career.

The Robins beat top-flight opponents Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 at home in the first leg of the semi-final but went down 3-1 at Molineux in controversial circumstances, Wolves scoring the decisive goal five minutes from the end.

“We were so unfortunate because Wolves should have been down to 10 men,” Kamara told the Swindon Advertiser. “Alan Mayes got hit by the goalkeeper (Paul Bradshaw). He came out of his goal, didn’t get anywhere near the ball and he clattered Alan and broke his two front teeth and his nose but didn’t get sent off.

“I know everyone looks at situations and says ‘You were unlucky’ but that was a turning point in the game, and we ended up losing.”

It later emerged that the tie could have had a dramatic impact on Kamara’s playing career. In a 2010 interview with FourFourTwo magazine, he explained how he was once on Manchester United’s radar during Ron Atkinson’s reign.

“I was at Swindon and my manager Bobby Smith said, ‘Big Ron’s coming to watch you.’ We were playing in the 1980 semi-final of the League Cup against Wolves, but I had the ’flu and didn’t play so well. I’m not saying that’s the reason he didn’t sign me, but Ron went back to his old club, West Brom, and signed Remi Moses instead.”

With the benefit of hindsight, the cup run took its toll on the Swindon side. Before the semi, they were just five points from a promotion place, with four games in hand. But only five of their last 18 games were won, and they lost nine away games on the trot, resulting in a disappointing 10th place finish.

Smith had spent large –  by Swindon’s standards –  including £250,000 on two players, David Peach and Glenn Cockerill, both of whom never fitted in at the club.

When Swindon lost their first five matches of the 1980-81 season, Smith was relieved of his duties.

He later took charge at Newport County and Swansea City, as well as coaching at the Swans, Blackpool, Cardiff City, and Sheffield Wednesday, together with a spell as assistant manager of Hereford United.

He was assistant manager to Frank Burrows at the Vetch Field but when the chairman at the time announced his intention to sell up, and no funds were being made available for new players, Burrows left of his own accord and Smith became caretaker manager.

Contributor Colin_swansea, on the fans website scfc2.co.uk, observed: “After Tosh left we had caretakers Doug Livermore for 30 days, Les Chappell for 23 days prior to Tosh returning, and after Tosh had left for a second time on the 5th March 1984 Les returned as caretaker until the end of the season.

“Our manager’s position was even more farcical after Frankie Burrows left with his assistant Bobby Smith taking over until a bust up during the Xmas period when Doug Sharp wouldn’t sanction the buying of rubber studded boots to combat the winter conditions.

Smith interviewed after his Swindon side held Spurs to a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup

“Smith left on 22 December 1995, Jimmy Rimmer was caretaker to 7 February 1996, Kevin Cullis became manager for a week, a two-game spell of two defeats, Rimmer returned for eight days as caretaker, before Jan Molby’s appointment on 22 February 1996. Molby’s replacement as manager on 9 October 1997 was Micky Adams who lasted 13 days and three league defeats with his assistant Alan Cork taking over until the end of the season.

“Cork didn’t fit the profile for the club’s new owners, Silver Shield, and he was offloaded at the end of the season. Ironically his successor, John Hollins, didn’t sign one player the following season when the club reached the play offs.

“Never a dull moment being manager of the Swans during the 80s and 90s!”

Great strike rate at Brighton but journeyman Benjamin had 29 clubs!

T Benj BTNSELDOM in his remarkable 29-club career did Trevor Benjamin enjoy such a successful spell as the 10 games he spent on loan at Brighton.

The bustling striker who had thrived under Micky Adams at Leicester City the season before scored five times for Mark McGhee’s promotion-chasing side in 2004.

McGhee was keen to keep him through to the end of the season but because of the timing of the three-month deal he wouldn’t have been eligible to play in the play-offs.

As a result, he went back to Leicester and McGhee brought in Chris Iwelumo instead, and, with a goalscoring debut in an away win at Chesterfield, there was no looking back.

Born on 8 February 1979 in Kettering, Benjamin was brought up in Wellingborough, Northants, and, having done well for Wellingborough Colts, was picked up by Kettering Town, playing for their youth team and reserves.

Cambridge United took him on as a trainee and he made his first team debut aged only 16 against Gillingham and went on to score 46 goals in 146 appearances.

Such a scoring record caught the eye of Leicester boss Peter Taylor and, on 12 July 2000, Benjamin joined the Foxes for a fee of £1.3 million.

However, he managed only a single goal in the 2000-01 season and the following season was sent out on loan to Crystal Palace, Norwich City and West Bromwich Albion.

He returned to Leicester for the whole of the 2002-03 season, including playing against the Albion at Withdean.

He said in a matchday programme article for that season’s return match against Brighton on 19 April 2003: “Brighton are a very similar team to ourselves. They have got a good work ethic and never give up.

“I came on as a substitute for the last 10 minutes when we played against them at the Withdean Stadium just before Christmas and that was a tough night.

TBenj Lei action“The conditions were terrible and both sides had to work hard to beat the elements. But I think our quality shone through on the night.” (Leicester won 1-0).

The following season, Benjamin was back on his travels, initially to Gillingham, then Rushden & Diamonds and, in January 2004, to Brighton.

Benjamin’s first Brighton goal came after just 12 minutes of Albion’s home game against Plymouth Argyle, who were then top of the league table. Leon Knight added a second goal before a jubilant celebration in front of the Sky cameras and Albion prevailed 2-1.

He followed that up by netting Albion’s goal in a 1-1 draw away to Wycombe Wanderers, and was again on the scoresheet in the 2-1 away defeat to Grimsby Town.

A 3-0 home win over AFC Bournemouth saw Benjamin score the second of Albion’s three goals at Withdean. When Tranmere Rovers were dispatched by the same score, he once again scored the second goal.

Back at Leicester, when Craig Levein was installed as boss, he cancelled Benjamin’s contract in January 2005. Benjamin initially dropped down a couple of divisions to play for Northampton but, three months later, his old Leicester boss, Adams, took him to Championship side Coventry City. He helped to set up both goals on his debut for the Sky Blues as they beat Reading 2-1.

In Coventry’s matchday programme for their home game against Brighton on 2 April 2005, he talked about how he had been settling in and the efforts he’d been making to try to improve his game.

“I’ve been training quite hard with Alan Cork on my finishing since I got here and he’s great to work with. He’s trying to get me to focus on what I am best at and hopefully when the games start again the practice will pay off.”

Benjamin’s arrival at Coventry may have seen him make a leap of two divisions but he was by no means unfamiliar with football at that level having played with Leicester for five years in both the Premiership and the Championship.

David Antill wrote: ‘During his time with the Foxes he was loaned out to no fewer than seven clubs before eventually signing permanently with Northampton Town but he is delighted to be back in a league he enjoys playing, for a manager he believes can get the best out of him.

“I’ve always believed in my own ability and thought I could play at this level and it was great to be given the chance to return to this league with Coventry,” said Benjamin. “My confidence never really slipped – I never had a doubt about coming here and being able to deliver the goods.

“I know what Micky Adams is all about and he knows what I’m all about so I enjoy working with him. What he’s brought here is exactly what he brought to Leicester and that’s what brought him success there. He’s a hard-working manager and he wants exactly the same thing from all of his players and I think he’s getting that.”

After scoring only once for the Sky Blues, in the summer of 2005 the burly forward linked up with Peterborough United, where he signed a three-year deal. However, he was loaned out several times, appearing for Watford, Swindon Town, Boston United and Walsall.

There was some stability and a return to goalscoring when he moved to Hereford United. He scored 10 in 34 games for the Bulls but was released in May 2008 and ended up drifting across the non-league scene for the next four years, popping up at no fewer than 13 different clubs.

It was all a far cry from the heady days of 2001 and 2002 when he briefly reached the international arena.

He went on as a substitute for Howard Wilkinson’s England under 21s as they beat Mexico 3-0 in a friendly at Filbert Street on 24 May 2001. Because he hadn’t played in a competitive fixture, he was then able to swap allegiances and played two matches for the full Jamaica international side in 2002.