Irish international pals brought wing wonder Steve Penney to Brighton

BRIGHTON & Hove Albion can thank former Middlesbrough goalkeeper Jim Platt for landing one of the most exciting players ever to play for the Seagulls.

Platt was the Teesside club’s man between the sticks for 12 years. During his call-ups on international duty with Northern Ireland, he struck up a friendship with Arsenal defender Sammy Nelson, who joined Brighton towards the end of his career.

When Platt took over as manager of Ballymena United, he quickly recognised that a talented teenage winger at his disposal –  Steve Penney – could make a career for himself in England.

Platt tipped the wink to his old pal Nelson, newly-appointed as Albon’s assistant manager to Chris Cattlin at the time, and the youngster was invited for a trial.

Penney was put up in a house near the Goldstone recently vacated by the sacked Jimmy Melia. His housemate was another young triallist: Ian Wright! Penney was taken on while Wright was released. Whatever happened to him?!

Penney’s Albion story is told in fine detail by journalist Spencer Vignes who devotes 12 pages of his excellent book A Few Good Men (Breedon Books) to a player who, for the record, played 148 games (plus 14 as sub) in eight years with Brighton.

Unfortunately, that rather low figure tells its own story, a succession of injuries robbing him of probably twice as many games as you might have expected him to have played over that length of time.

“He was, in short, a breath of fresh air, a flying winger whose close control and devastating pace left opponents and spectators alike lost for words,” said Vignes.

Among former teammates who voiced their appreciation of Penney, full back Graham Pearce told Vignes: “I always thought of Steve as a bright young winger, very naturally talented, who had all the attributes you need in that position, especially pace.”

Born in Ballymena on 6 January 1964, the son of a teacher and a nurse, although he played football at primary school, he went to what he described himself as “a fairly posh grammar school” where rugby was the preferred sport for boys, and he was a scrum half.

He got the chance to play football in the Boys Brigade, where Nigel Worthington, who later managed Northern Ireland, also played.

“I had to choose between rugby and football and when I decided to join Ballymena United, the school were so furious they suspended me,” he told interviewer Dave Beckett in a matchday programme feature.

“Playing for my home town was excellent, although I had the chance to join Linfield who were one of the best teams in the country.

“I guested for them in Holland a couple of times so I knew they were interested and that’s where I expect I’d have ended up if I hadn’t moved abroad.”

Instead, Platt alerted Nelson and, bearing in mind Albion’s high profile having only recently played against Manchester United in the Cup Final, Penney didn’t take much persuading.

Beckett recounted: “Penney, at 19 years old, made his debut in a 3-1 defeat by Barnsley but was soon a hot favourite on the terraces. Even in his opening match he set up the goal goal for Alan Young, and John Vinicombe wrote in the Evening Argus: ‘The eye for an opening that Penney unquestionably has will serve Albion well. The Goldstone are going to like him’.”

It wasn’t long before he was playing to a much bigger gallery when he was part of the Albion side who toppled Liverpool in the FA Cup (for the second season running), winning 2-0 in front of a live television audience.

Penney tormented the experienced Liverpool left-back Alan Kennedy and his perfectly-flighted pass over the top of the Liverpool defence played in Terry Connor to score the decisive second goal.

His first goal came in a 3-0 win at Derby County in March 1984 and such was his impact in that first season that he was voted runner-up to Jimmy Case as player of the season.

Away from football, Penney was a decent golfer, his regular companions on the golf course being Dean Saunders, Chris Hutchings, Steve Gatting and former Albion favourite Peter O’Sullivan.

During the winter, he loved nothing more than playing snooker at a club in Hove, especially taking on Saunders and competing for a trophy awarded each week to the winner.

So, life was sweet for the young Irishman and it got even better when his form with Brighton led to full international honours.

SP w Irish shirt

At the time of writing, he remains the highest-capped Albion player, all of his 17 caps for Northern Ireland being won while with the Seagulls.

After making his debut on 16 October 1984 in a 3-0 friendly win over Israel in Belfast, he was a regular for four years, playing his last game on 21 December 1988 in a 4-0 defeat to Spain in a World Cup qualifying match. He scored twice for his country, in a 1-1 draw with Israel on 18 February 1987 and in a 3-0 win over Malta on 21 May 1988.

The highlight of his international career was playing for Northern Ireland at the 1986 Mexico World Cup.

“The whole experience of going to the World Cup was something I’ll never forget,” he said three months later, in a matchday programme interview.

“Six weeks away from home is a long time, but the spirit in the squad was very good and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

Steve had been in the side that qualified for that World Cup by drawing 0-0 against England at Wembley. “We only needed a draw to get to Mexico and we got it,” he said.

“(Manager) Billy Bingham had been a right winger and obviously appreciated what I could do, which was a source of great strength to me. He’d been part of the team that had played in the World Cup in Sweden in 1958, a lovely man who was very good at getting the best out of his players and encouraged me no end, something I’ll always be grateful to him for.”

Unfortunately, Steve’s World Cup came to a juddering halt after Spain’s hard man Emilio Butragueno went over the top in a tackle and did his ankle in only the second group game.

On his return to Brighton, Penney found himself sufficiently impressed by Cattlin’s successor, Alan Mullery, that he was persuaded to sign a new, three-year contract.

However, it wasn’t long afterwards that Penney started having problems with his left knee and, although he played through the pain barrier, in a game against Derby County in March 1987 a bad tackle damaged his ankle ligaments, sidelining him for the rest of the season.

Barry Lloyd had succeeded Mullery and Penney was in the team at the start of the next season but, after only two games, found himself back on the treatment table after a chip of bone was found floating in a knee.

That kept him out for an agonising seven months before he was able to return to the side in March 1988 to play a crucial part in the final 11 games, scoring three times as the Seagulls earned promotion in second place behind Sunderland.

Penney told Vignes: “At that time, playing for Barry was great. The two of us were getting on even though I always thought there was something not quite right between us. To be honest, he had to play me because I strengthened the team and made a difference.”

Halfway through the 1988-89 season, Crystal Palace tried to sign Penney but weren’t prepared to meet Albion’s £175,000 asking price. And then his left knee went again.

Vignes tells the whole gory story in detail, which I won’t repeat here, but, suffice to say, the wrong treatment by one doctor had to be put right by a Harley Street expert.

Penney rowManager Lloyd and Penney also fell out, principally over Penney putting country before club. “He’d play for them, then come back injured. That didn’t please me,” said Lloyd. “It was a crying shame. He just wanted to play but was so plagued with injuries it was beyond belief.”

The split came in 1991 when Lloyd clearly thought the player’s level of fitness didn’t merit a new contract. Interest was shown in him by Heart of Midlothian, managed by Joe Jordan, and Charlton Athletic, where the joint manager was his ex-Albion teammate Alan Curbishley.

Having played a couple of trial games for Hearts, he plumped for them but suffered a groin strain early on and only played 14 games all season.

A 15th game would have triggered the award of another one-year deal – and it quickly became apparent that it wasn’t going to happen. Freed at the end of the season, he signed for Burnley, newly-promoted from the old Fourth Division, in August 1992. Continue reading “Irish international pals brought wing wonder Steve Penney to Brighton” →

World Cup legend Armstrong too often warmed Albion bench

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IN THE SPACE of 10 weeks, Gerry Armstrong went from 71st minute substitute for Northern Ireland against Brazil at the 1986 World Cup in front of 51,000 in the Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico, to centre forward for Brighton & Hove Albion in front of 13,723 at the Goldstone Ground in a season-opening 0-0 draw against Portsmouth.

That 3-0 defeat to the mighty Brazilians signalled the end of an international career in which Armstrong had written his name in Northern Irish football history at the 1982 World Cup in Spain four years earlier. He had scored 12 goals in 63 appearances for his country but none as important as the one which beat hosts Spain to send the Irish through to the quarter-finals, which I shall come on to.

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Four years later, while away with Ireland in Mexico, former Spurs striker Armstrong took a call at the team’s hotel from someone else who had made his name with the North London club – Alan Mullery – who had recently been restored to the managerial chair at Brighton.

“Alan knew I was a free agent and I promised to talk things over with him when I got back from Mexico,” Armstrong said in a matchday programme article. “I was impressed by the manager’s ideas for the future and Brighton appealed to me because I have always liked the club,” he said.

“I always got the impression that there is a good, family atmosphere here and I liked that.

“In many ways, Brighton reminds me of Watford. I had three very happy years there and I’m looking forward to enjoying myself just as much here at Brighton.”

Born in Belfast on 23 May 1954, Armstrong grew up in the Falls Road area and initially played Gaelic football and could have made that his chosen sport. But while he was banned from playing, he took up soccer with junior Irish clubs St Paul’s Swifts and Cromac Albion before beginning a three-year spell playing semi-professionally with Bangor between 1972 and 1975.

Spurs manager Terry Neill had family in Bangor and Tottenham paid a £25,000 fee for Armstrong’s services in November 1975. He made his Spurs debut in a 3-1 defeat at Ipswich Town on 21 August 1976. The season ended in relegation for the North Londoners but the young Armstrong was trying to make his way.GA Spurs

He said: “I was basically big, strong and courageous but that wasn’t enough alone so Spurs made me skilful as well.

“I set myself the task of gradually playing more first team games each season and managed to achieve it.”

After scoring 16 goals in 98 league and cup games for Spurs, Armstrong was sold to Watford for £250,000 in November 1980.

When the Hornets made it to the top division for the first time in their history, Armstrong scored their first goal at that level, against Everton, and they finished the season as runners up.

“Graham Taylor influenced me more than anybody,” he said. “My time at Spurs was going stale because they were using me in all sorts of different positions but, at Vicarage Road, Graham taught me about forward play and then gave me the chance to repay him.”

Nevertheless, it was breaking through at Spurs that helped Armstrong onto the international stage. He made his debut for Northern Ireland playing up front with George Best in a 5-0 defeat to West Germany in Cologne in April 1977. And in November the same year he scored his first goals for his country, netting twice in a 3-0 win against Iceland in Belfast.

His stand-out moment in football which fans still talk about came when Northern Ireland were minnows at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. In front of a crowd of 49,562 – mostly Spanish – packed into Valencia’s Estadio Luis Casanova, on 25 June 1982, Ireland beat the hosts 1-0 and Armstrong fired home the only goal of the game in the 47th minute.

“I cracked it in between a couple of defenders, but couldn’t really believe it because there was this deathly hush. Fifty-five thousand people (a bit of Irish overstatement) all there to see Spain, and we ruined the party!”

He added: “It was a very satisfying one to get for the team, because it was a great win for us. “The odds were against us because there was a huge crowd in the stadium and virtually all of them were backing Spain. Nobody really gave us a chance, but it was a great team performance.

Armstrong Spain

“All the players worked hard for each other and that game summed up the excellent team spirit I have enjoyed with the national side over the years.”

Armstrong also scored Ireland’s only goal in their 4-1 quarter-final defeat to France.

The Spanish climate obviously agreed with Armstrong because in the summer of 1983, having scored 12 goals in 76 league games for Watford, Real Mallorca signed him for £200,000. Although he got stick from certain sections of Spanish supporters who remembered the goal he scored against them, he spent two years with Real Mallorca scoring 13 times in 55 league games.

On his return to the UK in August 1985, he initially signed for West Brom on a free transfer but struggled with travelling to and from London to train and play, didn’t see eye to eye with manager Ron Saunders, and picked up some injuries. He spent the second half of the season at Chesterfield, where former Spurs teammate John Duncan was boss, so he could get some game time to put him in contention to be selected by Northern Ireland for the upcoming World Cup.

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A free agent on his return, he joined Mullery’s Brighton having heard good things about the former Spurs captain from his Irish international colleague Pat Jennings, who’d played in the same Tottenham team as Mullery. However, it was 17 games before Armstrong managed to get on the scoresheet – in a 3-1 defeat at Leeds – although he did score again in the very next game, as Shrewsbury were beaten 3-0 at the Goldstone.

When Mullery’s second spell as manager ended rather abruptly, in January 1987, Armstrong was loaned to Millwall. New manager Barry Lloyd did restore him to the Albion line-up for the final eight games of the season, but the side finished in bottom place.

Back in Division 3, Armstrong was transfer listed along with Steve Gatting and Chris Hutchings as Lloyd was forced to shuffle the pack. He stayed with the club, but only got one full game, in a league cup tie, all season: he came off the bench 11 times and was a non-playing sub on 14 other occasions.

He was suitably philosophical about his involvement from the bench, however, and said in another matchday programme interview: “Over the years I’ve gained a bit of a reputation for grabbing goals when it matters most, and I figure that if I only get on for the last 20 minutes then there’s even more reason to take the game by the throat and get stuck in.”

In the 1988-89 season, Armstrong managed four starts but was once more on the bench more often than not and eventually was appointed reserve team player-coach.

But his time with the club ended ignominiously. In a Sussex Senior Cup tie at Southwick in January 1989, following the first ever red card of his career, as he walked off, he took exception to a comment from a supporter, jumped into the crowd and headbutted the person concerned.

The incident is referred to amongst the annals of assaults by players on fans. Armstrong left the club a fortnight after the altercation but the matter ended up in court and the footballer received a conditional discharge.

His final games as a player were at Glenavon back in Ireland after he had spent some time as a player-coach at Crawley Town, who were in the Beazer Homes League at the time.

In November 1991, he became manager of Worthing and led them to a promotion before being appointed assistant manager of Northern Ireland by his former teammate Bryan Hamilton.

He continued to live in Hove, though, and worked as a cable advisor for Nynex Communications. He even carried on playing football for Sussex Sunday League side James Lytle.

Although he left the national assistant role in 1996, he reprised it under Lawrie Sanchez between 2004 and 2006. Then, in 2011, the Irish FA recruited him as an elite player mentor – in essence to try to persuade young Catholic Northern Irishmen considering playing for the Republic of Ireland (a choice made by Shane Duffy, for example) to stick with the country of their birth.

Throughout all of this time, Armstrong has also forged a successful media career and is probably best known for his work with Sky Sports coverage of La Liga.

In 2015, the Belfast Telegraph did an interview with Armstrong and his wife Debbie in which they spoke about running a restaurant in Majorca, and his involvement as part-owner of a football club in Portugal.

The player’s autobiography, Gerry Armstrong: My Story, My Journey, written in conjunction with Dave Bowler, was published in November 2021 by Curtis Sport.Armstrong autobiog

Pictures from the Albion matchday programme and in the international shirt from the Irish News.

Boyhood Brighton fan Simon Rodger’s 11 seasons at Palace

S Rodger v Ivor IngimarssonSHOREHAM-born Simon Rodger was a boyhood Brighton fan but spent the bulk of his professional playing career with arch rivals Crystal Palace.

It was only at the end of his career he finally got the chance to play for the Seagulls having been rescued from football’s scrapheap by the man who had given him his chance with Palace.

Rodger in fact was on Albion’s books as a youngster and a report appeared in a matchday programme when, as a 14-year-old, he won a Soccer Skills competition run by Bobby Charlton Schools in association with The Trustee Savings Bank.

“Simon has been training with our own youngsters for two years but he is a guest today at Manchester United, where he will be seeing the match between United and Ipswich at Old Trafford,” the programme reported.

young RodgerHe didn’t progress through the levels at Brighton, though, and instead joined non-league Bognor Regis Town as an apprentice in 1989. Palace manager Alan Smith snapped him up from there for £1,000 in 1990.

It was Smith’s successor in the managerial chair, Steve Coppell, who gave Rodger his first team debut in 1993 away to Sheffield Wednesday. Although that game ended in a 4-1 defeat, Rodger was part of the side who went on to secure the Division One title in 1994.

Gordon Law on holmesdale.net summed up his Palace contribution thus: “His workrate, professionalism and unsung, gritty, performances in the midfield engine room contributed to Palace’s success in the 1990s. He was never one of the club’s high earners and missed out on lucrative signing-on fees to stay in SE25.”

He did leave Selhurst Park temporarily in the mid 90s, though, having fallen out with Coppell’s successor, Dave Bassett. He went on loan to Manchester City for three months in 1996 and to Stoke for a month in 1997.

When Coppell returned to Palace, so did Rodger and was part of the 1997 promotion-winning squad.

His Palace career came to an end after 11 seasons and 328 games  – all in the top two divisions – when manager Trevor Francis released him aged 31 in 2002.

It was a worrying time for a lot of players because the collapse of ITV Digital meant football finance was in a state of flux and clubs didn’t have the money to retain large squads.

Rodger had earned decent money from football and also had the financial cushion of being married to QVC TV presenter Alison Young, but she talked about her husband’s concerns in an interview with football reporter Matt Hughes.

After Brighton’s disastrous run of 11 defeats under Martin Hinshelwood during the early part of the 2002-03 season, ex-Palace boss Coppell was brought in by Dick Knight and Rodger, together with Dean Blackwell from Wimbledon, were among his first recruits to try to salvage the season.

He came off the bench in Coppell’s second game in charge, when Albion were thumped 5-0 at Selhurst Park, but the following week he scored on his home debut against Bradford City on 2 November 2002, a volley which wearebrighton.com described as the best goal of the season.

Later the same month he scored again, along with on-loan Steve Sidwell, away at Preston North End, as the Seagulls clawed back to draw 2-2 having gone 2-0 down.

Rodger talked about the shock of his Palace departure in an interview with The Guardian in January 2003, but said: “I’m just grateful to be back in professional football with Brighton, doing something that I love.”

Rodger had become a regular in the side but, despite a sterling effort in the latter part of the season, relegation was confirmed following a 2-2 draw away to Grimsby Town.

The defensive midfielder began the following season in the third tier but the league cup tie away to Middlesbrough at the Riverside in September 2003 was the last of his 38 games for Brighton.

He was stretchered off early in the second half following a tackle by current England manager Gareth Southgate and never recovered sufficiently to resume his professional career.

Albion physio Malcolm Stuart said Rodger couldn’t have worked harder to try to return to his previous level of fitness. However,  he explained that the player had developed a rare growth on a skin graft called Cyclops Legion and, although it had been cut away, it returned. Stuart said it wasn’t felt fair to put him through a fourth operation.

Captain Danny Cullip told the matchday programme: “We’ve seen Simon working in the gym to get back, and he’s been working his socks off. We’re gutted for him after he fought hard to get back; he’s a very good footballer and a really nice lad.”

After his playing days ended, Rodger became a private hire chauffeur.

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Main picture (top) shows Rodger putting in a slide tackle on Ivar Ingimarsson, who later joined Albion on loan from Wolves. Also (above), from the Argus, after scoring away at Preston.

Kieran O’Regan came close to dramatic FA Cup semi-final debut

OREGANWHEN just 19, unbeknown to thousands of expectant Brighton fans, Kieran O’Regan was on the brink of making a sensational debut for the Seagulls in the FA Cup semi-final.

The versatile Irishman, who went on to play nearly 100 games for the Albion, and more than 200 for Huddersfield Town, was nearly drafted into Brighton’s back line for that momentous occasion against Sheffield Wednesday in front of a packed house at Highbury on 16 April 1983.

Only captain Steve Foster’s bravery and sterling work by the club’s medics prevented the youngster having to step in at the last minute.

The potential drama only came to light in the post-match analysis by Evening Argus reporter, John Vinicombe, who recounted: “On the morning of the tie, (Jimmy) Melia had problems that were wisely confined only to those with a need to know.

“A crisis arose when Steve Foster’s right elbow started to swell and hurt. A streptococcal infection was diagnosed, extremely painful, and dangerous.

“To not only get him fit to play, but counter the possibility of blood poisoning, he was pumped full of antibiotics, the elbow encased in plaster and, just before kick-off, a painkilling jab administered.

“Had it been a run-of-the-mill game, Foster would not have played, but to go into a semi-final without the lynchpin was unthinkable.

“If there had been no alternative, then Kieran O’Regan, who has yet to make his debut, would have been drafted in from the sub’s bench.”

As it was, O’Regan remained on the bench throughout the game; Michael Robinson’s winner in the 2-1 victory meaning manager Melia didn’t need to introduce the youngster on such a momentous occasion.

When he eventually made his first team debut a few weeks later, it was in a less pressurised situation, although only then with special dispensation from the Football League.

Melia was down to the bare bones because of injuries and suspensions so the youngster was needed, but he had not been signed as a pro before the deadline. The way the authorities saw it was, because Albion were already relegated and Norwich were safe, it was “a game of no consequence” and O’Regan got the green light to play.

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Veteran football reporter Harry Harris interviewed the youngster and built a story (above) around the possibility that if he did well he might be in with a shout of a place in the Cup Final against Manchester United.

Ever the one for an eye to publicity, manager Melia kept those thoughts alive by saying: “Kieran is going to be a hell of a player. He only looks about 14 but he’s mature enough as a player to figure in my Wembley plans.”

KOR portIn the event, forward Gerry Ryan got the nod for the one substitute’s place on the day, and rather ironically had to come on and play right-back in place of the crocked Chris Ramsey.

Melia was certainly a big fan of O’Regan. In the summer of 1982, as Albion’s chief scout, he had recommended the youngster to manager Mike Bailey after seeing him go on as a second half substitute for the Republic of Ireland youth team against Welsh Schools and score two goals.

Born in Cork on 9 November 1963, O’Regan attended a secondary school noted for its prowess at Gaelic football but he was determined to pursue a soccer career instead. He had been playing for Tramore Athletic in County Cork’s Munster League when he got his call-up to the national youth team.

Brighton invited him over to England for a trial. “I’d gone to Brighton on a one week trial; that became two, then I was asked to stay for three months. That came and went, and I never went back,” he said.

He had come close to packing it all in because he was homesick, but the presence of fellow Irishmen Gary Howlett and Ryan helped him adapt, and the silver-tongued Melia managed to talk him round.

“I didn’t feel as though I was playing very well,” he told the Mirror’s Harris. “I wasn’t fit or doing myself justice so I wanted to go home. Luckily enough, Jimmy talked me out of it.”

When Melia took over as caretaker manager, he swiftly dispensed with the services of Bailey’s pick at right-back, Don Shanks, promoted Ramsey to the first-team and then converted O’Regan from a midfield player to a right-back to become Ramsey’s understudy.

On the eve of that Norwich game, Melia told the Argus: “I must bring on the youngsters because they are the long-term future of the club.

“They are a smashing bunch of lads and I would like to play some more of them at Norwich. But with the Cup Final coming up, I can’t for obvious reasons.”

In fact, he picked young striker Chris Rodon on the bench and he got on in place of Gordon Smith, but it was the one and only time he saw first team action.

In respect of O’Regan, though, Melia stuck to his word, and the youngster filled the right-back berth from the off at the start of the new season back in the second tier, keeping his place even after his mentor’s sacking.

Melia’s successor, Chris Cattlin, also gave him some games in midfield, and, by the season’s end, he’d played 33 games plus once as sub. He also notched his first goal, in a 2-1 defeat away to Sheffield Wednesday.

However, his biggest disappointment that season was when he and Howlett were both dropped for the televised FA Cup game against Liverpool at the Goldstone. He told Spencer Vignes in an interview published in a matchday programme of February 2005: “We’d thrashed Oldham at home 4-0 and played Carlisle away on an icy pitch and won 2-1, and me and Gary had played in both.

“The Liverpool game was on a Sunday so we all came in for training on the Saturday to find out what the team was. And Gary and I weren’t in it. We’d been dropped.

“Instead we were off to Highbury that afternoon to play for the reserves. That’s still probably the low point of my career. I really wanted to play. Cattlin said he was going for experience, and you can’t really fault him because the lads went out and beat Liverpool 2-0. But I was still gutted.”

Making the grade with Brighton caught the eye of the Republic of Ireland selectors and O’Regan was called up to play for his country on four occasions.

He made his debut in November 1983 in an 8-0 thrashing of Malta in Dublin, when Mark Lawrenson and future Albion manager Liam Brady each scored twice.

Against Poland, the following May, also at Dalymount Park, Dublin, O’Regan featured in a 0-0 draw, and three months later, same venue, same scoreline, against Mexico. His fourth and final cap came as a sub against Spain, in May 1985, which also ended goalless.

Meanwhile, his Albion game time in the 1984-85 season was a lot more restricted and, apart from a mid-season 10-game spell in midfield, he was on the sidelines, especially when a promising young defender called Martin Keown arrived on loan from Arsenal.

Vignes observed in that 2005 interview: “His ability to play at either right-back or midfield meant that when the likes of Chris Hutchings, Danny Wilson or Jimmy Case were unavailable, Albion always had a reliable deputy to call on.”

There was yet more benchwarming to be endured during the 1985-86 season but on Alan Mullery’s return to the manager’s chair, he found himself back in the first team on a more regular basis.

Indeed, he played under five managers in five years with Brighton, and told Vignes that Mullery was the best to work with. “He was great with everyone, but especially the young lads.”

By contrast he didn’t get on with Barry Lloyd who kept O’Regan in the dark when interest was shown in him by Swindon Town, where his former rival for the right-back spot, Ramsey, was assistant manager to Lou Macari.

In the end, in 1987, he did make the move to the County Ground having made 80 starts for the Albion, plus 19 substitute appearances.

After just a year at Swindon, he was on his way again, this time to join Huddersfield Town where the manager was Eoin Hand, who had been the Ireland manager when he won his four international caps.

O’Regan spent six seasons with Town, playing over 200 games in midfield, and it was an association which would reap its benefits after his playing days were over.

He spent two seasons at West Brom under former Spurs boss Keith Burkinshaw (and latterly Alan Buckley) but returned to West Yorkshire in 1995 as captain of Halifax Town, going on to become joint manager with George Mulhall for 18 months and then taking on the role alone in August 1998.

His tenure lasted less than a season and when the axe fell in April 1999, he turned his back on football and became warehouse manager at Brighouse Textiles, run by Halifax’s former chairman, and subsequently became a carpet salesman at a shop in Huddersfield.

O'Regan mikeHowever, in 2001, he was offered the chance to be the expert summariser on Huddersfield games for BBC Radio Leeds, and he lined up alongside commentator Paul Ogden for the next 15 years, before hanging up the microphone in May 2016.

Pictures from the Albion matchday programme and my scrapbook.

Lammie Robertson took on Pelé after departing the Goldstone

MUCH as I liked Lammie Robertson as a player at Brighton, I never expected that one day he would share a football pitch with Pelé.

I imagine fans of Leicester City would say the same: some of them consider the Scot to have been one of the worst players ever to play for their club!

Mind you, during his days at Halifax Town he competed against George Best, so perhaps it was his destiny to play amongst the stars.

Let’s unravel the story a little more.

Born on 27 September 1947 in Paisley, Scotland, he was christened Archibald. Lamond – after a family name – was his middle name and, in the way names often evolve in football, that became Lammie.

Football was clearly in his genes; his maternal grandfather played for Sunderland before the war. Lammie was one of several budding footballers at Camphill Senior Secondary School in Paisley who reached two finals of a Scottish schools’ national competition.

In 1961, they were runners-up in the Scottish Schools Junior Shield, and the following year they won the Scottish Schools Intermediate Shield.

Lammie’s footballing ability took him to junior Scottish side Benburb FC, based in Govan, Glasgow, and Eastercraigs, from where, at the age of 19 in 1966, Burnley signed him.

At the time, Burnley were riding high in English football’s top tier. Their Northern Irish international centre-forward Willie Irvine (more of whom later) was the First Division’s top scorer for the 1965-66 season with 29 goals.

Bury circa 68

Robertson found his face didn’t fit at Turf Moor when manager Jimmy Adamson started recruiting youngsters from the north east so he switched to Bury, in 1968, where he made his professional debut. Bury’s squad (above) at the time had former Man Utd and Preston North End centre-forward Alex Dawson up front (it would not be long before he moved to Brighton), the legendary ex Leeds skipper Bobby Collins in midfield (circled in picture) and an emerging full back called Alec Lindsay, who went on to play for Liverpool and England.

Robertson, though, only made five appearances for the Shakers before moving to Halifax Town in February 1969.

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Robertson pictured in Haifax Town colours alongside Chris Nicholl who went on to play for Aston Villa

It was at The Shay that his career finally took off. Having originally been a centre half,  he was put up front and went on to score 20 goals in 150 league games, including being part of a side promoted from the old Fourth Division to the Third.

That encounter with George Best (pictured below) happened while he was at Halifax. It was in 1971, in an early season competition called the Watney Cup, and the Fourth Division side shocked Frank O’Farrell’s mighty United, beating them 2-1 (the televised game can still be seen on YouTube).

halifax v best

After Brighton went up to the old Second Division in 1972, manager Pat Saward was determined to bring in better quality players and there was no question of sentiment as he decided to discard two of the strikers who scored the goals that earned promotion.

First to go was Kit Napier (to Blackburn), replaced by Barry Bridges for what at the time was a record £28,000 fee.

Tranmere’s Ken Beamish had joined Brighton to aid the final promotion push in the spring of 1972, and in the opening months of the Second Division season, he played alongside Bridges and Irvine.

Although both had played at the highest level earlier in their careers, Saward felt Irvine’s days were numbered – although he was only 29 – and, come December, Saward swapped him for the 25-year-old Robertson.

The deal involved a fee of £15,000 plus Irvine, who was a reluctant participant in the arrangement. The popular Irishman later wrote particularly unfavourably about the move in his autobiography, Together Again, feeling Saward rather unceremoniously dumped him.

At the time, Halifax manager George Mulhall admitted it was a gamble and told Shoot! magazine: “I didn’t want to sell Lammie. He was very much a part of my future plans. But £15,000 plus Willie Irvine was a generous offer and to instill fresh interest I feel I must introduce new faces.

“We have only a small pool of players here and no money to give any breathing space – so obviously this cash, plus an Irish international centre-forward who can score goals, is very welcome.”

Robertson quickly settled and bought himself a flat on Shoreham Beach, with his fiancée Maureen, but on the field he joined a team descending into one of the longest losing streaks in the club’s history.

He signed during that infamous period when Saward’s side lost 13 successive matches, heading to Hove just days after a 5-1 drubbing at Carlisle and making his debut at home to QPR, a 2-1 defeat.

In the division below, he had already scored 11 goals (nearly half Halifax’s total!) up to the time of his move, but it was to be three months before Robertson scored for his new club.

Eventually he got off the mark in a 2-1 home win over Huddersfield and got three more before the end of the season. Saward eventually lost patience with Bridges, who was relegated to the subs bench, and Robertson was paired up front with Beamish, with teenager Tony Towner out on the wing providing inviting crosses.

Lam from Towner

One such (as can be seen in the picture above) came against Preston on 31 March 1973 when Robertson headed in Towner’s inch perfect cross in injury time to clinch a 2-0 win. It was all too little, too late and Albion duly returned to the Third Division.

As the season got underway, Bridges and Beamish were back in tandem and Robertson on the bench but in some games Saward played all three as he battled without success to revive Albion’s fortunes.

After an eight-game spell out of the side, during which time Saward lost his job, Robertson was back in the frame for the first game of the Brian Clough-Peter Taylor era.

Robertson told The Sunday Post (Dundee) in 2016: “Things hadn’t been going too well for me at Brighton when Clough arrived. The previous manager, Pat Saward, wasn’t my favourite person and he’d left me out of the team. Then Clough arrived, having just won the League Championship with Derby County.

“He brought me straight back in and took us away to a hotel to prepare for his first game.

“The first thing he did was to go round the lads and ask them what they wanted to drink.

“They started asking for orange juice or a soft drink, but he said, ‘No, a proper drink’.

“He was always testing people and coming up with the unexpected. But I couldn’t help thinking that he was a bit half-hearted about the Brighton job. He didn’t want to move down from Derby and so we’d sometimes be training at 5pm just to fit in with his movements.”

In his third game under the pair, on 13 November 1973, Robertson’s cross for Pat Hilton produced a headed winner away to Walsall to give Clough his first win as Brighton manager.

Fans who go back that far will remember the terrible lambasting the management pair dished out about the players they inherited. Robertson, though, retained his place for most of the season and scored in the final game of the campaign, a 1-1 draw at Bristol Rovers that only marginally avenged the home 8-2 hammering that had been dished out in Clough’s seventh game in charge.

However, it was to be Robertson’s last goal and last appearance in Albion’s colours because, within a matter of days, he and John Templeman were used as makeweights in the recruitment of goalscorer Fred Binney from Exeter City.

exeter pair

Robertson and Templeman (in an Exeter line-up above) were only part of what became known as “the Clough clear-out” – a total of 12 players were released – but it marked the beginning of a period which was transformational in the history of the club.

The move to Devon actually suited Robertson just fine. He went on to attain cult status amongst the City fans and over three years played in 133 league matches, scoring 25 goals.

grecianarchive.exeter.ac.uk says Robertson was “regarded as one of the finest ball and creative players to have worn the City shirt” although it also adds he had his fair share of run-ins with referees, leading to a few sendings off.

During the Seventies, the United States was trying to get football off the ground as an alternative to baseball and American football and there were loads of opportunities for English-based players to travel across the Atlantic to play for these fledgling teams in the North American Soccer League.

In the summer of 1976, Robertson joined a team called Chicago Sting and played 14 games, including a memorable 4-1 win over the big-money New York Cosmos in front of a crowd of 28,000.

Cosmos included the immortal Pelé up front alongside Italian international Giorgio Chinaglia and Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer.

Beeholeclaret on uptheclarets.com found a YouTube clip of the players being introduced before the game, and mentions Burnley’s “Eddie Cliff who played in our 1968 FA Youth Cup win alongside the likes of Mick Docherty, Dave Thomas, Steve Kindon and Alan West” and “ex Claret Lammie Robertson, who was a teammate of Eddie for Chicago”.

There are some great memories of that era to be found online courtesy of nasljerseys.com and there are pictures (above) of Robertson in action against ex-Newcastle and Middlesbrough player Alan Foggon, (who was playing for Hartford), in a 7-1 win for Sting. Another shows him avoiding a clearance by San Jose Earthquakes’ Laurie Calloway (who played for York in England and who Jimmy Melia later wanted as a coach at Brighton, but chairman Mike Bamber appointed Chris Cattlin instead).

Back at Exeter, the 1976-77 season saw player-manager Bobby Saxton’s team earn promotion from the Fourth to the Third Division as runners up and Robertson’s form obviously caught people’s attention.

Frank McLintock was only a couple of months into a brief reign as Leicester City’s manager at the start of the 1977-78 season, and eyebrows were raised when he bought Robertson for an £8,000 fee.

Robertson, at 30, was one of several ageing players McLintock recruited in what was to be a fairly disastrous 10 months as Leicester’s manager; the others were Dave Webb, George Armstrong, Eddie Kelly and Geoff Salmons. Two more signings, Alan Waddle and Roger Davies, were also flops.

In an online debate about the worst players ever to play for Leicester, three of those mentioned all played for Brighton at some stage!!

Trevor Benjamin and Junior Lewis were listed by more than one fan but Lesterlad1 was quite certain it was Robertson.

“Lammie Robertson has to be the all time worst City player,” he said. “Made Junior Lewis look like Messi.”

On talkingballs.uk, Redditch Fox said: “He sort of played towards the right wing position – but was not a winger and neither a midfielder nor a forward. Considering he usually played wide – he was incredibly slow moving.

“He was dire – out of his depth – but to be fair was probably past his best when he came here. People were just astonished that we had signed him.”

When Leicester were on the brink of their famous Premier League win two years ago, The Sunday Post (Dundee), on 1 May 2016, found Robertson and asked about the time he lined up for Leicester at Old Trafford in 1977.

He said: “Frank McLintock signed me from Exeter, where I’d just won promotion to Divison Three. I believe Frank’s old Leicester teammate Davie Gibson had recommended me.

“Having spent my entire career in the lower leagues, it was a great thrill to be facing Manchester United.

“I normally played in midfield but that day I was the main striker. I thought I did quite well but we lost 3-1. We had a decent collection of players at Leicester but the results just didn’t come.

“Frank McLintock lost his job but I couldn’t help feeling that things might have turned round if he’d been given a little bit longer.”

Jock Wallace took over and Robertson’s year-long stay at Filbert Street came to an end in October 1978 when he moved on to Peterborough United, where his teammates included midfielder Billy McEwan (pictured together below) and striker Barry Butlin, who had played for Brighton.

rob billyHowever, his stay at London Road was even shorter than his time at Leicester, moving on again after just 15 league games in which he scored once, to join Bradford City in January 1979, where John Napier was the manager. City were his last League club as a player. By the end of the 1980-81 season, he’d clocked up 43 league games and three goals for the Bantams.

Robertson was appointed player-manager at Northwich Victoria in July 1981 and one of his signings was the former West Ham, Everton and Man City winger Mark Ward.

Ward wrote in his autobiography, Hammered: “The team didn’t make a good start to the 1981-82 season and poor old Lammie Robertson was sacked after just six matches.”

According to grecianarchive, Robertson then became an independent financial advisor but kept in touch with football as a scout for Sheffield United.

He settled in the Cheshire village of Goostrey, in the early 1990s and for a time was caretaker at the Goostrey Village Hall.

Robertson died aged 76 in Macclesfield shortly after Christmas 2023. He had reportedly been suffering from prostate cancer.Lammie Robertson.jpg.article-620

A family photo (left) of him in his later years accompanied a tribute in the Northwich Guardian on 11 January 2024.

• Other pictures from my Albion scrapbook, Albion matchday programmes and online sources.

Goalscoring Busby Babe Alex Dawson my first Brighton hero

ALEX DAWSON remains the youngest player to have scored a hat-trick in a FA Cup semi-final.

He was just 18 years and 33 days on 26 March 1958 when his perfect treble (header, right foot and left foot shots) for a makeshift post-Munich Manchester United helped to secure a 5-3 win over Fulham in a replay in front of 38,000 fans at Highbury.

Eleven years later he scored twice for Brighton & Hove Albion in what for many might have been a meaningless Third Division match against Walsall.

But for me, it was the beginning of a lifelong journey supporting the Albion. It was the very first Brighton game I saw and the burly Dawson, wearing number 9, became an instant hero to an impressionable 10-year-old.

Little did I know then of the famous background of the man who played a big part in Brighton’s 3-0 win over the Saddlers that afternoon.

What I’ve learned since makes him even more of a hero, and it’s evident that fans of other sides he played for remembered him with great fondness when learning of his death at the age of 80 on 17 July 2020.

Returning to that 1958 match, it was just six weeks after the Munich air disaster that claimed the lives of eight of United’s first choice team – Dawson’s pals – so youngsters and fringe players had to be drafted into the side to fulfil the remaining fixtures that season.

Thirteen days after the accident, Dawson took his place beside survivors Bill Foulkes and Harry Gregg and scored one of United’s goals as they beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 in the fifth round of the Cup. He scored again as United drew 2-2 with West Brom in the sixth round, before winning through 1-0 in a replay to go up against Fulham in the semi-final.

Dawson told manutd.com: “In our first game with Fulham (played at Villa Park), Bobby Charlton scored twice in a 2-2 draw, and I was put on the right wing. I was a centre-forward really and, when we played the replay at Highbury four days later, I was back in my normal position.

“Jimmy (Murphy) said before the game: ‘I fancy you this afternoon, big man. I fancy you to put about three in.’ I just said: ‘You know me Jim, I’ll do my best,’ but I couldn’t believe it when it happened.

“The first was a diving header, I think the second was a left-footer and the third was with my right foot.

“It was a long time ago, of course, and it’s still a club record for the youngest scorer of a hat-trick in United’s history. Records are there to be broken and I’m surprised that it’s gone on for over half a century.

“I’m a proud man to still hold this record. Even when it goes, nobody can ever take the achievement away from me.”

Also in the United side that day was Freddie Goodwin….and he was the manager of that Brighton side I watched for the first time v Walsall in February 1969.

Born in Aberdeen on 21 February 1940, Dawson went to the same school as United legend Denis Law, but his parents moved down to Hull where he went to Westbourne Street School. Dawson joined United straight from Hull Schoolboys.

Dawson and future Preston and Brighton teammate Nobby Lawton were both on the scoresheet as United beat West Ham 3-2 in the first leg of the 1957 FA Youth Cup Final and Dawson scored twice in the 5-0 second leg win. West Ham’s side included John Lyall, who later went on to manage them.

On redcafe.net, Julian Denny recalled how Dawson once scored three hat-tricks in a row for a United reserve team that was regularly watched by crowds of over 10,000.

He scored on his United first team debut against Burnley in April 1957, aged just 17, and in each of the final two matches that season (a 3-2 win at Cardiff and a 1-1 draw at home to West Brom) to help win the title and secure United’s passage into Europe’s premier club competition.

They were the first of 54 goals in 93 United appearances, but was it all too much too soon? Some say Dawson’s career with United may have panned out differently if he hadn’t been thrust into first team action at such a young age.

Was he mentally scarred by the loss of those teammates, in the knowledge he could well have been with them on that fateful journey?

Let’s not forget he was just short of his 18th birthday when the accident happened. In an interview with Chris Roberts in the Daily Record (initially published 6 Feb 2008 then updated 1 July 2012), he recalled: “I used to go on those trips and had a passport and visa all ready but the boss just told me I wasn’t going this time. I had already been on two or three trips just to break me in. I know now how lucky I was to be left in Manchester. The omens were on my side.”

Dawson went on to describe the disbelief and the feelings they had at losing eight of the team, including Duncan Edwards several days later.

A Daws MU BW“We were all so close and Duncan was also a good friend to me before the accident,” said Dawson. “Duncan was such a good player, there is no doubt about that. He was a wonderful fellow as well as a real gentleman.

“I will never, ever forget him because he died on my birthday, 21 February, and before that he was the one who really helped me settle in.”

Dawson gradually became an increasingly bigger part of the first-team picture at United, making 11 appearances in 1958-59 and scoring four times. The following season he scored 15 in 23 games then went five better in 1960-61, scoring 20 in 34 games.

He was at the top of his game during the last week of 1960 when he scored in a 2-1 away win at Chelsea on Christmas Eve, netted a hat-trick as Chelsea were thumped 6-0 at Old Trafford on Boxing Day, and then scored another treble as United trounced neighbours City 5-1 on New Year’s Eve.

A fortnight later he had the chance to show another less well-known string to his footballing bow…. as a goalkeeper!

It was recalled by theguardian.com in 2013. When Tottenham were on their way to the first ever double, and had an air of near-invincibility about them, they arrived at Old Trafford having lost only once all season, and had scored in every single game.

Long before the days of a bench full of substitutes, when ‘keeper Harry Gregg sustained a shoulder injury, Dawson had to take over in goal.

Dawson excelled when called upon, at one point performing, according to the Guardian’s match report, “a save from Allen that Gregg himself could not have improved upon”.

The article said: “Tottenham’s attempts to get back into the game came to nought and Dawson achieved what no genuine goalkeeper had all season: keep out Tottenham’s champions-elect. In the end, there were only two games all season in which Spurs failed to score, and this was one of them.”

Tottenham’s north London neighbours, Arsenal, finished a disappointing 25 points behind Spurs in 11th place, but United manager Matt Busby had been keeping tabs on the Gunners’ prolific centre forward David Herd (Arsenal’s top scorer for four seasons), and in July 1961 took him to Old Trafford for £35,000. It signalled the end of Dawson’s time with United.

When the new season kicked off, Dawson had a new apprentice looking after the cleaning of his boots….a young Irishman called George Best. In his 1994 book, The Best of Times (written with Les Scott), Best said: “Alex Dawson was a brawny centre forward whose backside was so huge he appeared taller when he sat down. To me, Alex looked like Goliath, although he was only 5’10”. What made him such an imposing figure was his girth.

“He weighed 13st 12lbs, a stone heavier than centre half Bill Foulkes who was well over 6ft tall. What’s more, there wasn’t an ounce of fat on Alex – it was all muscle.”

Best’s responsibilities for Dawson’s boots didn’t last long, however, because in October that year, Busby sold the centre forward to Preston for £18,000.

During a prolific time at Preston, Dawson scored 114 goals in 197 appearances, and became known as The Black Prince of Deepdale. In the 1964 FA Cup Final at Wembley, Dawson scored in the 40th minute but Preston lost 3-2 to a Bobby Moore-led West Ham United.

The Preston captain that day was his former Man Utd teammate Lawton, who he subsequently joined at Brighton.

Lawton, now no longer with us, mentioned “that great striker Alex Dawson” in an interview he gave to the Lancashire Evening Post, published in May 2004.

“I’d known Alex since we were both on the groundstaff at Old Trafford,” Lawton recalled. “He was a bull of a centre-forward and was a Deepdale hero.

“He’s a lovely man and I was best man at his wedding. He hasn’t changed at all, and we are still great friends.

“Alex and the rest of the team would have graced any Premiership side today.”

Clearly Preston fans felt the same way. ‘Albertan’ on pne.net in 2012 said: “Alex Dawson was a super player … He was the complete centre forward – powerful, mobile and lethal with either foot or his head. He was also brave, committed and characterful.”

While ‘sliper’ on the same forum added: “In his prime Dawson was a powerhouse and great to watch. I can safely say I’ve never seen a better header of a ball at Deepdale.”

‘Curlypete’ recalled: “You could literally see goalkeepers tremble when Dawson was running at them, it was either the ball, ‘keeper or more likely both who ended up in the net.”

In 1967, Dawson took the short journey to Bury FC where his goalscoring exploits continued with 21 goals in 50 appearances. I was intrigued to see in a team photo of the Bury squad before the 1968-69 season, a young Lammie Robertson sitting at Dawson’s feet.

In December 1968, the aforementioned Freddie Goodwin had just taken over as Brighton manager and he paid Bury £9,000 to make his old United teammate his first signing at the Goldstone. An early programme profile revealed the surprising news that Dawson also had a sideline as a men’s hairdresser.

He certainly added a cutting edge to Albion’s attack, finding the net no fewer than 17 times in just 23 games, including three braces and four in an away game at Hartlepool. Dawson was no mean cricketer, either. An all-rounder who used to play for the Newton Heath club, as well as a collection of half-centuries to his credit, he once took eight wickets for 35 runs as a lively fast-medium bowler.

The following season, Goodwin added Allan Gilliver to the strikeforce and he outshone Dawson in the scoring stakes, although the Scot still scored 12 in 36 games.

As is so often the case, it was a change of manager that marked the end of his time with the Albion. With Goodwin departed for Birmingham, replacement Pat Saward didn’t give the old-timer much of a look-in and he went out on loan to Brentford where he showed he could still find the back of the net with familiar regularity.

Greville Waterman, on bfctalk.wordpress.com in July 2014, recalled: “He was a gnarled veteran of thirty with a prominent broken nose and a face that surely only a mother could love, but he had an inspirational loan spell at Griffin Park in 1970 scoring seven times in eleven games including the winner in that amazing late, late show FA Cup victory against Gillingham.

“Typical of the times at Griffin Park, he departed after his loan spell as apparently the club was unable to agree terms with him. A classic example of both parties suffering given that Dawson never played another Football League game and Brentford lacked a focal point in their attack until the arrival of John O’Mara later that same season.”

Released by the Albion at the end of the 1970-71 season, Dawson’s final footballing action was with non-league Corby Town.

Nevertheless, he could look back on a fantastic career as a goalscorer, with a strike rate the envy of many a modern day forward.

Pictures: Top: Alex Dawson portraits – in the 1969-70 and 1970-71 kits.

  • A montage showing Dawson:
    • scoring the first of his goals in the 1958 FA Cup semi final
    • in a Bury line-up (from the Bury Times) with future Albion forward Lammie Robertson also encircled.
    • powering a header for the Albion.
    • in a portrait from pnefc.net.

Goals dried up at Brighton for Pompey favourite Alan Biley

1 150th goal v Leeds (1-1)ALAN BILEY was a fans favourite at all six English league clubs he played for but the prolific goalscoring that made his name at Cambridge United and Portsmouth wasn’t replicated at Everton or Brighton.

His spiky, long blond hair reflected his devotion to singer Rod Stewart and, on the pitch, the way he wore his football shirt outside his shorts, clutched the cuffs, and saluted a goal with a raised forefinger was a tribute to Scottish footballing legend Denis Law, another of his heroes, .

Biley was quite the hero at Portsmouth, with a goalscoring record of more than a goal every other game, having been signed by Bobby Campbell in 1982.

But when he fell out of favour with Campbell’s successor, Alan Ball, Brighton’s Chris Cattlin stepped in and paid £50,000 to take the striker along the coast in March 1985.

Within a month of the move, he was back at Fratton Park in Albion’s colours for an Easter Saturday south coast derby when honours were even in a 1-1 draw.

Biley had made his Seagulls debut as a substitute for Frank Worthington in a 0-0 draw away to Barnsley, then got his first start the following game (another goalless draw, at home to Oxford) and kept his place to the end of the season.

The first of four goals during that spell came in a 2-0 win at home to Oldham, and the goal he scored in a 1-1 home draw with Leeds on 20 April was his 150th in league football (top picture).  Although Albion finished with three wins, it wasn’t enough to reach the promotion places, and they finished sixth.

Biley made a great start to the 1985-86 campaign, scoring against First Division Nottingham Forest in a remarkable 5-1 pre-season friendly win, and then in the opening league fixture, a 2-2 home draw with Grimsby Town.

However, competition for places in Albion’s forward line had intensified. In addition to Terry Connor, £1m man Justin Fashanu arrived together with Dean Saunders, on a free transfer from Swansea, (Saunders went on to be named player of the season).

With the much-derided Mick Ferguson also managing a brief purple patch of scoring, it meant Biley struggled to hold down a regular spot, making 24 starts plus three appearances as a sub, and only managing to add three more goals to that season’s opener.

Cattlin’s dismissal as boss, to be replaced by the returning Alan Mullery, also spelled the end of Biley’s time at the club. He initially went back to Cambridge on loan, then tried his luck with New York Express in the States, had a spell in Greece before ending up in Ireland, playing for Waterford who were managed by his old Everton teammate, Andy King. He ended up back at Cambridge on a non-contract basis in November 1988 and made three more appearances for United before hanging up his boots.

But let’s go back to the beginning. Born in Leighton Buzzard on 26 February 1957, Biley was spotted by nearby Luton Town at the tender age of 10 and signed schoolboy forms aged 12. He was then offered an apprenticeship and professional forms as he worked his way through the different levels. But financial issues hit the club and when their chief scout left to link up with Cambridge, he recommended Biley to manager Ron Atkinson, and in 1975 he made the move to Fourth Division United.

Biley netted a total of 82 in 185 games as United rose from the Fourth Division to the Second between 1975 and 1979, when his eye for goal caught the attention of First Division Derby County, who paid £450,000 for his services.

Biley continued to find the net regularly in the top flight, scoring nine in 18 games for the Rams, but he couldn’t prevent them from being relegated. He stuck with them in the 1980-81 season and scored 10 playing in the second tier but was sidelined through injury for several months.

He recounted recently how he fell out with manager Colin Addison and there was talk of him being sold to West Brom, where his old boss Atkinson had moved, but instead, in July 1981, he became new Everton manager Howard Kendall’s first signing for a £300,000 fee. Everton fans who go back that far refer to the Magnificent Seven – because that’s how many players Kendall signed in a short space of time.

Biley EVEBiley was an instant hit, scoring on his Everton debut as Birmingham City were beaten 3-1. He scored again in his next game away to Leeds, but things quickly started to go wrong for him, as he explained in great detail to Everton fan website bluekipper.com.

“I was always appreciative of the Evertonians’ footballing knowledge and the support and gusto, particularly through the tough times,” said Biley. “They were very loyal through the tough times, and they are a different class.

“I would like to think they took to me but my only big regret was that I wasn’t there long enough to enjoy them.”

By October, Kendall had dropped his new signing and Biley was mystified.

“Years later, as I look back at it, I wasn’t Howard Kendall’s cup of tea. Whatever that was, I can’t put my finger on it because history tells you what I was and what I did and where I played, and he had a different opinion of that.

“I would have loved him to have had the faith in me he had in lots of other players.”

Eventually his lack of involvement in first team action saw him go out on loan to struggling Stoke City and in eight games he helped them to retain their status in the top division, but hopes of a permanent move fell through.

Instead he departed Goodison Park with just 18 appearances (plus three as sub) and three goals to his name and dropped down to the Third Division with Portsmouth.

The Pompey faithful had already had a taste of what they could expect when, at Christmas 1977, as a 20-year-old playing for Cambridge, Biley had scored twice for table-topping Cambridge at Fratton Park.

And, sure enough, when paired up front with Billy Rafferty, he became an instant hit and the duo scored 40 between them as Pompey won promotion. Biley’s performances earned him a place in the PFA select XI that included Gillingham’s Steve Bruce and Micky Adams, Portsmouth colleague Neil Webb and Kerry Dixon, then of Reading.

The following season saw Biley gain a new strike partner in the shape of Mark Hateley, who would go on to earn England international recognition. However, a series of 10 home defeats put paid to their promotion hopes and Campbell was sacked on the coach on the way back from the season’s penultimate game at Derby. In the final game of the season, with Alan Ball in temporary charge, Biley hit a hat-trick in a 5-0 demolition of Swansea.

Ball was installed as manager and Biley was very much a part of the side that began the 1984-85 season. He played in 22 games and came off the bench twice, scoring a total of 13 goals before Ball mysteriously sold him to Brighton in March.

Biley’s heart never left Fratton Park, though, and in 2015 he told Neil Allen, the author of a book Played Up Pompey: “Pompey was – and still is – my club.

“Pompey was a three-year box in time and if I could possibly open that box again and recover moments, a day even, then I would die happy. I fell in love with the club and it has never gone away.”

Biley has revelled in many opportunities to reminisce about his playing days, attending numerous reunions and enjoying all the memories.

In June 2017, he got together with other former players to talk about his goalscoring days at Cambridge and in October 2017, broadcaster and Albion fan Peter Brackley helped a number of former Pompey players, including Biley, recall a famous occasion when a fan ran on the pitch dressed as Santa Claus and, after the disruption, Biley scored two late goals to win a dramatic cup tie against Oxford.

But in all my research for this piece, I could find no loving references to his time with the Albion, although five years ago the excellent thegoldstonewrap.com brought together some footage of some of his best moments.

After his playing days were over, he moved back to his Bedfordshire roots and got involved in non-league football with various sides in and around the Home Counties, alongside running his own gym in Biggleswade.

  • Pictures from the Albion programme / Evening Argus and various online sources.

Steve Gatting’s three Brighton Wembley dates after missing out with Arsenal

1 MAIN gat sees GS goal.jpgSTEVE Gatting played at Wembley three times for Brighton having twice been denied the opportunity by Arsenal.

After being left out of Arsenal’s FA Cup Final sides in both 1979 and 1980 he finally got to step out onto the hallowed turf twice in the space of five days in 1983.

And his appearance in Brighton’s 3-1 defeat to Notts County in the 1991 play-off final at the famous old stadium was also his last in an Albion shirt after 10 years at the club.

In Match Weekly’s 1983 Cup Final preview edition, Gatting revealed his heartache at missing out with Arsenal in 1979. “I expected to be at least substitute after playing in five of the games leading up to Wembley, including the semi-final,” he said. “I was desperately sick when I didn’t get a chance. Although I really wanted the lads to do well, I couldn’t help feeling pangs of regret as the cup was paraded around the ground.”

Born on 29 May 1959 in Park Royal, London, two years after his famous brother Mike, the former Middlesex and England cricket captain, Steve was no mean batsman himself.

Instead of joining the ground staff at Middlesex County Cricket Club, though, Gatting shone at football with Middlesex and London Schoolboys teams and became an associate schoolboy with Arsenal before joining as an apprentice in July 1975. Terry Neill signed him as a professional at the age of 17 and a year later he made his First Division debut against Southampton at Highbury.

Gatting made 76 appearances for Arsenal over three seasons, his most memorable being the 1979 FA Cup semi-final against Wolves at Villa Park. He said his biggest disappointment was missing out on the May 1980 European Cup Winners Cup Final against Valencia in Brussels.

In his youth career, Gatting played in the centre of the back four but Arsenal generally played him in midfield, where competition for places was fierce with the likes of Liam Brady and Graham Rix. He admitted after joining Brighton: “When they bought Brian Talbot from Ipswich, I sensed I was on my way out.”

It was rumoured Albion would take Gatting as part of a swap deal that would see Mark Lawrenson join Arsenal but, of course, Lawrenson went to Liverpool instead. Albion were still interested in Gatting, though, and in September 1981 new manager Mike Bailey met him and his displaced colleague Sammy Nelson at Gatwick Airport and agreed terms to buy the pair of them; £200,000 the fee for the young Gatting.

Albion offered Gatting the chance of regular first team football and, although the expectation was for him to occupy a midfield spot, he quickly stepped in alongside Steve Foster in the back four and completed 45 appearances that season.

Aside from a rare couple of spells back in midfield, he remained a defender for the rest of his career, often slotting in at left back – apart from when he played right-back in the Cup Final replay.

Gatting had a terrific game alongside Gary Stevens in the 2-2 drawn first game against Man United, but Jimmy Melia unwisely chose to play the left-footed Gatting in place of injured Chris Ramsey (he should have put Stevens there) and the back line was noticeably unbalanced as they went down 4-0.

The Paul Camillin / Stewart Weir book Albion The first 100 years said: “Played out of position at right-back in the replay, he endured an uncomfortable evening in an unfamiliar role.”

Even so, interviewed three years later in the Albion matchday programme, Gatting spoke fondly about his memories of the whole occasion.

“The helicopter flight to Wembley was a new experience. We flew over the stadium and saw all our fans below,” he said. “That was a great moment. We landed and drove to the ground and went straight out onto the pitch to get a taste of the atmosphere. I met my brother Mike out there and to be honest he was more nervous than me!

“The greatest part of the whole day was walking out of the tunnel and seeing all the fans and being deafened by the cheering. That is an ambition every footballer has, to play in the Cup Final at Wembley. It was a dream come true for us and I think it lifted our game.”

Gatting had made only eight first team appearances in the 1984-85 season before, in November 1984, he sustained a serious pelvic injury which threatened his career. After five months, it was decided the only solution was a bone graft to the pelvis.

He had to remain motionless in hospital for a month and then rest on his couch when he was allowed home.

His wife Joy told Tony Norman in March 1986: “I felt sorry for Steve. He’s usually such an active person but suddenly he just had to sit there. It must have been very difficult. But Steve never got into self-pity. He stayed very positive and I respected him for that.”

Norman reported: “It was a long hard road for Steve. He started taking long walks in July, to build up strength and that progressed into jogging, light training and finally full training. He made his comeback game in the Reserves on 26 October.

Gatting told the interviewer: “When you are playing regularly, you tend to take things for granted. But when something like a serious injury comes along, it makes you realise how lucky you are to be fit and playing the game you enjoy so much. When you’re sitting on the sidelines week in week out it brings it home to you.”

The injury restricted him to only 17 appearances in the 1985-86 season but he was restored fully to the side in 1986-87 when financial issues clouded Alan Mullery’s return to the manager’s chair and successor Barry Lloyd couldn’t stop the inexorable slide to relegation from the second tier.

In a League Cup game replay away against First Division leaders Nottingham Forest, Gatting had to take over in goal when Perry Digweed  was forced off with a broken cheekbone. Gatting completed 45 appearances that season and said: “Dropping into the Third Division was far worse than going out of the First.

'keeper Gatt - webb on ground

Makeshift ‘keeper Gatting claims the ball with Nottingham Forest’s Neil Webb grounded

“All the players at the time felt they were good enough to stay up, but it didn’t happen and we gave a lot of silly goals away.

“The whole club was unsettled, too, but things became better again. Getting back into the Second Division was a boost for everybody.”

Gatting was ever-present in the 1987-88 promotion-winning campaign, even though in July 1987 Lloyd had given him a free transfer! The defender had other ideas and managed to play his way back into contention to such an extent that he ended up the season as captain, taking over from Doug Rougvie.

“It was nice to know I was wanted, particularly after relegation the year before,” he said.

Having made his 200th league appearance for the Albion against Chester on 12 December 1987, it was no surprise he viewed with some relish a FA Cup tie against his old club.

“Quite honestly, as a Third Division club, we don’t expect to go all the way, but I think we have the ability to scrape a result against Arsenal,” he said. “It gives me the opportunity to renew old friendships with Kenny Sansom, David O’Leary, Graham Rix and Paul Davis who were all members of the Arsenal staff when I was there.”

Albion pushed the Gunners all the way in front of a packed house and Garry Nelson rifled a memorable goal, but Arsenal prevailed 2-1.

Evening Argus Albion reporter John Vinicombe profiled Gatting warmly in a piece produced for a pre-season supplement ahead of the 1989-90 season, headlined “ice-cool Gatt”.

He described Gatting as “surely one of the most laid-back of individuals, whose natural personality is quiet and reserved”.

The report continued: “He shuns being the centre of attention, but the fact that he stays cool, even in nerve-wracking situations, is an important consideration when assessing leadership qualities.

“Leadership runs in the family, and many would say that older brother Mike was unlucky to lose the captaincy of England’s cricket team.”

On another occasion, Gatting said of his brother: “I’m proud of what Mike has achieved and I keep up to date with the latest news and enjoy watching the highlights on TV.

“We are close, we always have been, but the funny thing is I hardly ever go to see Mike play. When I do go, he never seems to make runs. So I think it’s best to stay at home and watch the Tests on TV.”

As mentioned previously, Steve was a good batsman in his own right and played for Middlesex Second XI. In Sussex, he enjoyed a summer tour with Brighton Brunswick as well as making runs for Preston Nomads.

Vincombe wrote: “Gatting occupies a special niche in the affections of Albion regulars. They see in him a thoroughly decent and well-behaved person whose standards on and off the field are high. Albion have been good to him and Gatting, after not a few periods of uncertainty, has been good for Albion.”

Gatting for his part said: “I’ve seen a lot of changes since arriving here, and I’ve played under five managers who have all had different ideas.”

testimonialA cut glass decanter and glasses from chairman Dudley Sizen at Gatting’s testimonial

He was granted a testimonial for his long service and a curtain-raiser to his 10th season with the club saw Albion draw 2-2 with Arsenal in front of a crowd of 5,517. The Gunners included their recent big money signings David Seaman, Andy Linighan and Anders Limpar.

Injury niggles continued to plague him towards the end of his 10 years at the club but he worked his way back into the side in 1990-91, slotting in at left-back and culminating in that 1991 play-off final against Notts County at Wembley.

Long after all the other members of the Brighton 1983 Cup Final side had departed, Gatting was still pulling on the stripes, and, but for those injuries, he would surely have made many more appearances than the 366 + three as sub (21 goals) that stand as his record.

Given another free transfer in 1991, he departed for Second Division Charlton Athletic along with Garry Nelson, linking up with former Albion teammate Alan Curbishley who at the time was joint manager with Steve Gritt.

Charlton only narrowly missed out on a play-off place while Albion were relegated!

By the end of the following season, when Gatting retired, he had played a total of 64 games for the Addicks.

He then turned his attention to coaching and spent seven years at independent school Christ’s Hospital, Horsham, before returning to Arsenal in 2007 to work as an academy coach. Gatting was working as Arsenal’s under-23s coach until May 2018 when he and his assistant Carl Laraman were suspended after accusations of bullying were made against them, and neither returned to their roles.

Gatting subsequently joined League Two Stevenage as assistant coach under Dino Maamria just before Christmas 2018 but he left the Hertfordshire club shortly before the end of the 2018-19 season.

• There have not been many father-son combos during my time watching Albion (Gerry and Darragh Ryan were the first that spring to mind) but it must have given Steve great pride to see his son Joe make it through the youth ranks at Brighton and go on to play for the first team. He made 44 appearances and I recall an away game at Carrow Road when Steve and Uncle Mike were both watching the youngster in Albion’s forward line. Eventually, after he left the Seagulls in 2008, he turned to cricket and was good enough to play at county level for Sussex and Hampshire.

Barça boy Orlandi twice denied promotion with the Seagulls

andrea-orlandi-brightonARTICULATE Andrea Orlandi would probably rank as one of my favourite Albion players of recent times. It was just a shame he seemed bedevilled by injuries which curtailed his contribution.

On his day, his technical ability definitely improved Brighton’s creativity going forward and I guess he’ll always be remembered for the goal he scored against Premier League Newcastle in the third round of the FA Cup on 5 January 2013 which he somehow guided in from what seemed an impossible angle.

On bbc.co.uk, the match report recorded: “A rejuvenated Wayne Bridge surged down the left flank, gathered Gordon Greer’s raking 50-yard pass and crossed for Orlandi, who flicked the ball up with his left foot and delightfully fired home with the outside of the same boot.”

Orlandi Newc goal

Orlandi was 28 when Gus Poyet signed him on a two-year contract on transfer deadline day in August 2012. “Andrea provides us with versatility and creativity across the midfield,” Poyet told the club’s official website.

“He can play as a typical winger, or more central in a number 10 role. He has played a lot of games in the Championship for Swansea, helping them win promotion, and he has played at the top level.”

It was crowd favourite Craig Noone’s departure to Cardiff that created the opening for Orlandi’s arrival, although they were very different players.

At Brighton, Orlandi had the chance to renew his great friendship with Seagulls legend Inigo Calderon, a former Alavés B side teammate, and there was quite a contingent of Spanish players at the club during that 2012-13 season.

As the Seagulls finished fourth and the Poyet era came to a close after the Palace play-off farce, Orlandi had played 30 games plus five as sub and added six league goals to that one in the FA Cup.

Under Poyet’s successor, Oscar Garcia, Orlandi picked up a knee injury in the opening game of the season, against Leeds, which required surgery.

“The doctor I went to see is regarded as one of the best in Europe so although it was disappointing that I had to undergo surgery, I was in the best hands,” he told the club website. “Although I was hoping rest would cure the problem, I was told I would risk further damage if I didn’t have surgery.”

As it turned out, he managed just 12 starts plus six as sub as the season culminated in yet more play-off heartache, this time at the hands of Derby County.

Orlandi played in both legs against the Rams and, although Garcia decided to quit, he recommended Orlandi be given a contract extension. As soon as Garcia had gone, though, head of football David Burke called him in to the club and told him he was being released.

Orlandi told the club website: “I’m sad. My youngest daughter was born here and I was hoping to stay here a lot longer but that is football.

“I really felt loved by everyone, especially the fans who were incredible to me whether I was on the pitch or off of it and that is something that nothing will ever take away from me.

“The city and all the people in it are wonderful and I wish everyone nothing but the best going forward and I hope the club can fulfil the dream of playing in the Premier League soon. I’m just sorry I couldn’t help to make that happen.

“It is a real shame that in my two years we got so close but we just couldn’t get over the finish line, but I will take away some magnificent memories with me.

“Once again I just want to pay tribute to the tremendous support I have felt during my time here.”

In a subsequent matchday programme article, Orlandi said: “Just running out at the Amex in front of a full house was an amazing experience – I loved every minute of my time at the club and loved playing for the fans.

“I will always hold Brighton close to my heart.”

Born in Barcelona on 3 August 1984 to Italian parents (a Juventus-supporting dad and an AC Milan-supporting mum), he played as a youth at Espanyol but at 17 moved to Alavés where he made 58 appearances for their B team between 2003 and 2005.

When loaned to Barcelona, he continued to be a B team player but he did play two first team games for the Catalan giants: as left back under Frank Rijkaard in a 3-1 defeat to Athletic Bilbao and a Copa Cataluyna win over Espanyol.

When Alavés released him in 2007, fellow Spaniard Roberto Martinez picked him up as a free agent and took him to Swansea City, where he stayed for five years.

Orlandi yellowManagerial changes at the Swans meant he wasn’t always first choice although on signing a contract extension in July 2011, chairman Huw Jenkins said: “He has grown into the squad over the past few years and his technical ability is well suited to the Premier League.”

He was part of Brendan Rogers’ squad promoted to the Premier League via a 4-2 play-off final win over Reading, appearing 24 times over the season, although he didn’t feature in the final at Wembley.

AO SwansIn one of his last Swansea games, on 28 April 2012, Orlandi scored after just 25 seconds of a Premier League game against already-relegated Wolves, but the game finished 4-4.

After his release from Brighton, he joined chaotic Championship side Blackpool, the day before the 2014-15 season started – with only a week to go, they had only eight registered professionals.

Under initially Jose Riga and then Lee Clark, Orlandi played 25 games plus five as sub, but the Tangerines finished rock bottom of the league, and the club was in disarray.

Orlandi revealed some of the strange goings-on in a weekly blog he wrote for Spanish website am14, including the time the goalkeeper Joe Lewis had to wear an autographed shirt intended for a presentation to a sponsor because there was no other top available.

In April 2015, Orlandi wrote: “When you first arrive in England in mid-April you imagine yourself spending your Sundays in the garden or having a drink on the terrace… you don’t imagine yourself stuck at home, listening to the wind and spending hours hiding from a hurricane.

“I have been living in England for almost eight years and the sun has always shone. This year is nothing like that, not in any sense. I will be patient and hopefully the nice weather will arrive before the end of the month. In terms of the football, the sun did not appear for Blackpool either.”

Orlandi also used the blog to talk about a defeat at Ipswich. “We started well, I scored a good goal thanks to a great assist from Cameron, and we lost. In part, this was thanks to my mistake which helped lead to their second goal.

“It was an error without explanation. ‘The pitch condition, the bounce of the ball, it came from a rebound’… excuses do not sit well with me. Unfortunately, sometimes we make inexplicable errors and that happened to me. I have to take responsibility, accept it and move on. The worst is that we equalised again and finally conceded 3-2 due to another silly play. It is the story of this season.

“When the league is finished, I will look at all the results and I shudder to think of the points that we have lost in, to put it mildly, a stupid fashion. Maybe we would not have avoided relegation but we would be in a different position, that is for sure.”

As the scorer of four goals, he was Blackpool’s second highest goalscorer for the season and, despite relegation, they hoped to keep him, but he invoked a release clause in his contract and became a free agent.

In August 2015, Orlandi signed for Cypriot First Division side Anorthosis Famagusta on a one-year deal but it didn’t sound like it was the greatest of experiences when Argus reporter Brian Owen caught up with him in February 2016, with Orlandi disappointed he hadn’t been able to find another English club in the Championship.

Orlandi switched clubs in Cyprus and joined APOEL but his one-year deal was terminated in January 2017 after he’d made 19 appearances.

He switched to Italy where he played 31 matches for Novara Calcio in Serie B and then joined his old pal Calde to spend half a season in the Indian Super League at Chennaiyin (under head coach John Gregory). On returning to Italy and signing for Serie C side Virtus Entella, during the medical a cardiologist discovered he’d got scarring in the left ventricle of his heart, and he was forced to retire without playing a game.

The popular Spaniard revealed in Richard Newman’s Football the Albion and Me podcast how he has gone on to become a scout for an agency as well as working as a TV pundit on La Liga and writing a column on that competition for the Evening Standard.Orlandi pundit

Pictures from various online sources and the Albion matchday programme

Coventry’s legendary skipper Ernie Machin also led Brighton

3 Machin Shoot!A MIDFIELD dynamo who captained Coventry City during their glory years at the top of English football’s pyramid was instantly installed as captain when he signed for third tier Brighton.

Ernie Machin was the first signing Peter Taylor made on taking sole charge of the Albion following Brian Clough’s decision to quit and join Leeds United.

Taylor, a former Coventry goalkeeper, had a well-earned reputation for his detailed knowledge of Midlands footballers.

Although Machin had moved to Plymouth Argyle in 1972, after 10 years at Highfield Road, he fitted the bill perfectly to add a bit of bite, experience and leadership to Taylor’s side.

A £30,000 fee took him to the Goldstone in the summer of 1974 but he was still nursing an injury sustained in training at Plymouth and when rushed into action too soon he broke down and missed quite a chunk of matches in the first part of the season.

Eventually he took up a regular spot in the centre of midfield and Argus reporter John Vinicombe observed in his end of season summary: “It wasn’t until the latter part of the season that Machin started to display known form.”

Machin actionThe midfielder eventually completed 31 games (plus three as sub) but manager Taylor took the captaincy from him and appointed his new centre back signing, Graham Winstanley.

Nevertheless, Machin began the following season and got what would be his one and only Albion goal in the opening fixture, a 3-0 home win over Rotherham United.

He remained ever-present until the arrival in March 1976 of the on-pitch leader who would guide Albion to the promised land – Brian Horton.

Machin shootsMachin played 41 games that season and only shared the midfield with Horton once – in what turned out to be his final game in the stripes, a 4-2 home win over Grimsby Town.

I hadn’t been aware until reading the excellent thegoldstonewrap.com that Machin didn’t move to Sussex during his time with the Albion. “He never settled on the south coast, and still lived in Coventry and trained in the Midlands,” they reported.

So perhaps it was no surprise that when Jimmy Hill, the manager who signed him for City and went on to be Coventry chairman, offered Machin a job back at his old club, he was only too happy to accept.

He took on the role of youth team coach, but it didn’t work out and he left football and went to work for Car Bodies and Massey Ferguson.

Machin was a member of the Coventry City Former Players Association after his career ended and they paid due respect to his part in the club’s history when he died aged 68 on 22 July 2012.

In an extended obituary on their website, they related how he had been born in Walkden, Manchester, on 26 April 1944, and had trials alongside future World Cup winner Alan Ball at Bolton Wanderers, but was not considered good enough.

Instead Machin joined non-league Nelson FC and, in 1962, was spotted by Coventry’s North West scout Alf Walton, who suggested Hill sign him up.

Hill wasn’t entirely convinced but admired the fact he rarely wasted a pass when in possession, and paid the princely sum of £50 to take him to Highfield Road, adding a further £200 when he made it into the first team.

That breakthrough came in April 1963, aged 18, in a 2-0 win over Millwall, and by the start of the following season he was first choice in the number 10 shirt as the Sky Blues headed for promotion.

However, they did it without Machin who sustained a bad knee injury in a home game with Watford in November, and missed the rest of the season, and beyond. Indeed, it was 18 months before he played again, having endured several operations.

Eventually he returned to play a pivotal role in the club’s Second Division title win in 1967, scoring 11 goals along the way.

When regular captain George Curtis broke his leg in the club’s second game in Division One, Machin took over as skipper and missed only three games in the club’s first two years amongst the elite.

ccfpa.co.uk recalled: “Older fans will remember his stunning goal in the 2-0 victory over European champions elect Manchester United in March 1968.

“His never-say-die attitude won him the respect of all his playing colleagues and the fans. He continued to be a regular, when fit, right up to the time of his departure in 1972 but a bad car accident put him out for three months in 1970 and his ‘dodgy’ knee continued to trouble him.”

The history books record that in 1972 he was the first English footballer to go through the courts to challenge a FA fine and suspension using TV evidence. He was sent off in a game at Newcastle for allegedly kicking an opponent, but the footage proved his innocence.

Even so, the FA spotted something else he’d done and upheld the disciplinary action on the basis of that without allowing him to present a defence. The courts ruled against the FA, and the PFA subsequently established the rights of players to legal representation in disciplinary cases.

By the time Coventry’s new managers Joe Mercer and Gordon Milne sold him to Plymouth for £35,000, he had played 289 games and scored 39 goals.

The website greensonscreen.co.uk says: “When Machin moved to Home Park in December 1972 he soon showed his class and intelligence, controlling games from midfield. He was named the Player of the Year in his only full season with the club but, much to the dismay of the fans, requested a transfer and moved to Brighton and Hove Albion.”

Despite his relatively short stay at Home Park, he made such an impression that in 2004 he was named in Plymouth’s Team of the Century.

Although suffering from poor health, Machin attended a reunion of Coventry’s 1967 promotion-winning team in 2007 and in 2008 he was one of 30 former players inducted into the club’s Legends Group for services to the football club.

1 main ernie + cant2 machin signs

Pictures include one from my scrapbook of Machin in a Coventry team line-up alongside manager Noel Cantwell who kindly gave me his autograph when the Sky Blues played Brighton in a friendly. Also pictured, the Evening Argus coverage of his signing. And a Shoot! magazine portrait. Plus a montage of other images.