Kurt Nogan’s phenomenal goalscoring record for Brighton

Screen Shot 2023-03-06 at 08.26.32 KURT NOGAN is right up there as one of my favourite all time Brighton & Hove Albion players. The ‘No, no; No, no, no, no; No, no, no Nogan’ fans’ chant still rings around my head when I think about his goalscoring exploits in the stripes.

One of my favourite Albion memories involved Kurt scoring at Filbert Street when he rounded off one of Albion’s best ever performances to give Division 2 Albion a 2-0 League Cup victory over Premiership Leicester.

It was the autumn of 1994 and I had travelled halfway across the country to Cheltenham to meet up with my then exiled Albion-supporting friend Colin Snowball to travel up to Leicester together to watch the game.

Before the match, we parked in a side street near the university and found a tiny back-street boozer where they served a magnificent pint of Everard’s Tiger, the local ale.

In those days, League Cup games were played over two legs and Albion, with Liam Brady as manager, went into the away game leading 1-0, courtesy of another Nogan goal, which had given us optimism rather than confidence that Albion could progress.

Leicester got their Nogans in a twist in the match programme, mistakenly identifying the first leg scorer as Kurt’s older brother Lee who played for Watford at the time: they knew which one it was by the end of the game!

With one of the best away displays I have seen, Brighton took the game to their supposedly more illustrious opponents and caused a major shock when a stunning long range strike from young defender Stuart Munday (celebrating above with Nogan) sailed past Kevin Poole in Leicester’s goal.

There was a curious cameo towards the end of the game when Jimmy Case, who was hard of hearing, trotted over to take a corner and seemed to be wasting time. The ref also thought so and promptly sent him off but Case later claimed he had been waiting for the whistle but hadn’t heard it above the din of the crowd!

With Leicester pushing up for a goal to get themselves back in it, Nogan was left unmarked to seal the win and stun the majority of the crowd into silence.

None of the faithful knew at the time, of course, but it was the last goal Nogan would score for the club.

He subsequently went on a 20-game barren run and, at the end of February 1995, with Albion desperately needing funds, they persuaded Burnley to part with £250,000 for his services.

He might have finished on a downer, but Nogan’s Albion record was 60 goals in 120 games, making him one of the club’s great all-time goalscorers.

Born in Cardiff on 9 September 1970, Nogan arrived at the Goldstone having been released at the end of the 1991-92 season by David Pleat during his second spell as manager of Luton Town. At Luton, Nogan celebrated his top flight debut in 1990 with a goal in a 2-2 draw against Liverpool at Anfield.

The young Welshman was quickly called up for his country’s under-21s for whom he also scored on his debut. However, competing for a place alongside the likes of established forwards Mick Harford and Brian Stein, he struggled to gain a starting berth in the Luton first team, mainly being used as a substitute.

He had just turned 22 when he signed for the Seagulls, and he told the matchday programme in 2020: “I’d been at Luton since I was 16 – cleaned Steve Foster‘s boots as an apprentice, so I did.”

On reflection, he realised it was a crossroads moment in his life. “You can either drop out of the professional game altogether, or something comes along and you get lucky. For me, Brighton came along and I got lucky.”

If Albion had been able to retain the services of the on-loan strike pair Steve Cotterill and Paul Moulden, who started the 1992-93 season up front, Nogan’s chances of making the breakthrough might have been limited.

But finances dictated otherwise and Nogan eventually made his debut in October 1992, taking over up from another free transfer signing, Matthew Edwards, although much of the season he played alongside Edwards, who moved out to the wing, and Andy Kennedy.

nogan salute After a slow start Nogan scored his first goal in one of those lower league meaningless cup matches and then started finding the net regularly in the league, ending the season with 22 goals in all competitions.

For part of the 1993-94 season he enjoyed a particularly fruitful partnership with a young Paul Dickov, the diminuitive Scottish striker on loan from Arsenal for eight matches.

Nogan ended the campaign with 26 goals to his name, and was voted player of the season, even though the team finished in a disappointing 14^th place.

Nogan continued to have a variety of strike partners – often it was Junior McDougald but twice in late 1994 he was alongside the legendary Frank Stapleton who was doing his old Arsenal teammate Brady a favour by turning out for the Seagulls.

nogan ball In fact, one of Stapleton’s two games in a Brighton shirt was away to Cardiff on 5 November 1994. In the Bluebirds line-up that day were future Seagulls Charlie Oatway and Phil Stant, the latter scoring twice in a 3-0 win.

Nogan’s career was detailed brilliantly in a profile by Tony Scholes on clarets-mad.co.uk and he noted that Burnley boss Jimmy Mullen’s gamble on Nogan wasn’t enough to prevent them being relegated. The Welshman scored just three times and got involved in an altercation with the manager after being substituted at Bristol City.

However his goal touch returned in the 1995-96 season when he racked up 26 goals, 20 of them in the league, and got on well with Mullen’s successor Adrian Heath – until halfway through the following season when he was suddenly out of favour.

A move was inevitable after Nogan aired his differences with the manager on local radio. “All of a sudden the crowd hero had become public enemy number one,” said Scholes.

That he moved to near neighbours Preston in February 1997 was somewhat galling and Burnley fans of a certain age recall the inevitability of him scoring against them for his new club.

Three years later he moved to home town club Cardiff but, after only four full games and a few substitute appearances, a ruptured hamstring ended his league career prematurely at the age of 32. He did subsequently turn out for some Welsh League clubs but he wasn’t able to return to the previous level.

It’s Kurt – not Lee!!

Nogan in 2010

Matchday programme pictures include various shots of Nogan in action and, from the Leicester programme for that cup tie, he is wrongly captioned with his brother’s name.

Barry Lloyd’s turbulent time as Brighton boss

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HISTORY may have judged Barry Lloyd’s reign as Brighton manager unfairly: while bleak times cloud the memory, the former Fulham captain did chalk up some successes.

For instance, it’s worth remembering he put together two of the most entertaining strike partnerships in Albion’s history.

However, when managers start getting involved in the boardroom, it’s probably not going to end well and that certainly proved to be the case after Lloyd was handed the role of managing director.

Frankly, there is probably not enough space in one blog post to cover the various off-the-field shenanigans that were an ugly backdrop to the Lloyd era.

From an outsider’s perspective, it appeared he was the unfortunate public figure put up to deal with a huge amount of flak generated by others wielding power in the background.

Inheriting the hotseat at a time of financial turmoil, from a distance it could be said he did well to win promotion as well as coming mighty close to restoring the elite status lost in 1983.

But fans who had seen huge success under high profile bosses were not best pleased to see their club’s fortunes put in the hands of someone who had previously only managed outside of the league.

Let’s look first at Lloyd’s playing career because, from early on, he was obviously a shrewd observer who made contacts he would be able to call on in later years.

Born in Hillingdon on 19 February 1949, Barry’s early footballing ability was rewarded with selection for the Middlesex and South of England schoolboy sides. He was signed up by Chelsea and was in their 1964-65 youth team alongside former Albion right-back Stewart Henderson in defence and future England international and Chelsea legend Peter Osgood up front.

In an extended interview with Fulham’s club historian, Dennis Turner, Lloyd recalled: “I chose Chelsea because under Tommy Docherty’s management they were an exciting team, with the likes of Osgood, Charlie Cooke and Bobby Tambling.”

Former Albion player Dave Sexton was the reserve-team manager – “a really nice man and terrific coach” – and Lloyd says in his four years at Stamford Bridge he learned a lot.

He made his debut in the top flight in April 1967 aged just 18, but competition for places was tough and, after only 10 first team appearances, in January 1969 he moved to neighbours Fulham with their centre half John Dempsey moving in the opposite direction.

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Fulham were struggling for survival in the old Second Division having been relegated from the top flight and the man who signed him, Bill Dodgin, was their fourth manager in a year.

They dropped down into the old Third Division but as part of his rebuilding, Dodgin made Lloyd captain in succession to the legendary Johnny Haynes, who was coming to the end of his career.

Lloyd is pictured below getting in a header against the Albion at the Goldstone, watched by John Napier (left) and Stewart Henderson. The packed East Terrace never looked like that by the time Lloyd was sitting in the Albion manager’s chair.

Lloyd at Goldstone

Fulham regained their tier two status in 1971 when they went up from Division III as champions. Manager Dodgin was sent packing in the summer of 1972, though, and Alec Stock took over, famously bringing in a number of top name players nearing the end of their careers – notably one Alan Mullery, along with Bobby Moore.

Lloyd remained part of the set-up but when Fulham surprised everyone by reaching the FA Cup Final against West Ham in 1975, he had to be content with what in those days was the single substitute’s berth on the bench, and didn’t get on.

Nonetheless, he chalked up 290 games for Fulham, before having brief spells at Hereford and Brentford (where Dodgin was the manager) and ending his playing days with Houston Hurricanes in the United States.

“I lived in Texas for a year. The league was never going to last but I learnt a lot about how the game can be promoted. They were very good at that over there,” he said in a matchday programme article. “Everyone was made to feel part of the club. It was an interesting experience; I’ve never regretted going.”

During his brief time at Hereford, Lloyd had an eye to the future and took his full coaching badge at Lilleshall, which wasn’t far away.

After his time in America came to an end, he got his first managerial experience with Yeovil Town (then a non-league club) and then headed to Sussex where he took Worthing from the Second Division of the old Isthmian League to runners-up in the Premier Division.

It was in 1986 when he got the call from Mullery to become reserve and youth team manager at the Albion. Dodgin was also on the staff.

lloyd desk

In January 1987, Mullery was unceremoniously dumped and Lloyd came out of the shadows to take charge. Perhaps what fans didn’t know at the time was that the day after Mullery left, Lloyd was summoned to a meeting with chairman Bryan Bedson and told to “get rid of everyone” because the club was going bust.

Against that backdrop, it was 15 games before the side managed to register a win under Lloyd and, unsurprisingly, Albion were relegated. Some of the mainstays of the side, like Danny Wilson, Eric Young and Terry Connor were sold. Fortunately, Lloyd was able to re-invest part of the proceeds from those sales in some buys who gelled together to form a promotion-winning team.

Screen Shot 2021-05-03 at 20.37.12 He returned to former club Chelsea to secure the signing of centre back Doug Rougvie who was made captain and he paired left winger Garry Nelson, a £72,500 signing from Plymouth, with tenacious Scot Kevin Bremner, from Reading, to lead the line. Nelson in particular was a revelation, scoring 32 goals and voted player of the season.

Lloyd reckoned the backbone of the side were two other shrewd signings: Alan Curbishley and Gary Chivers. “Alan was a very level-headed guy, an excellent passer and really disciplined,” he told Spencer Vignes in a matchday programme article. “Chivers was exactly the same, and a real joker at the same time. But there were a lot of great individuals in that side.”

The following two seasons saw Albion maintain their status with lower half finishes but, with the Goldstone Ground crumbling and debts mounting, there was little investment in the team and Lloyd had to use all his contacts to try to find some gems.

One was former England international winger Mark Barham, another was a former Soviet international, Sergei Gotsmanov, a real crowd-pleaser obviously capable of playing at a higher level (as was proved when he opted to join Southampton the following season).

Then, in 1990-91, he rescued two forwards languishing with also-ran clubs in Europe and together John Byrne and Mike Small were superb in attack as Brighton made it to the play-off final at Wembley only to lose 3-1 to Neil Warnock’s Notts County.

No-one had been expecting Brighton to get a tilt at promotion, particularly as the season had once again begun with big money departures of players like Keith Dublin and John Keeley.

But with Byrne and Small on fire and former Fulham and Chelsea winger Clive Walker added to the squad they clawed their way into contention and famously clinched the play-off spot on the last game of the season, courtesy of Dean Wilkins’ curling free kick past Ipswich Town’s Phil Parkes.

Another crucial signing that season was thanks to one of Lloyd’s old Chelsea teammates, George Graham. The Arsenal boss loaned cultured central defender Colin Pates to the Seagulls and he proved a mainstay in the final third of the season. Pates would later sign permanently.

Even though they were clearly beaten by the better side on the day, looking back now, I don’t think anyone could have realised what bad news it was for Albion not to win the final against County.

Starved of the funds promotion would have delivered, Lloyd was forced to sell star performers Small and Byrne and, 11 months after appearing at Wembley, Albion were relegated back to the third tier.

Lloyd had tried to repeat his previous successful European scouting mission with two former league players, but the hapless Mark Farrington turned out to be one of the worst buys ever, managing to score one solitary goal while former Arsenal youngster Raphael Meade fared slightly better but only just got into double figures.

Mark Gall, a £45,000 signing from Maidstone, arrived towards the end of October and ended up top goalscorer and was player of the season, but his 14 goals were still not enough to spare the team from the drop.

In the following season, the very survival of the club was under serious threat with the taxman chasing an unpaid bill. Lloyd rescued the club at the 11^th hour by managing to secure a £350,000 fee for goalkeeper Mark Beeney (bought two years earlier from Maidstone for £25,000), former Albion winger Howard Wilkinson buying him for League Champions Leeds United.

With the financial issues continuing in the background, a run of only two wins in 18 league games in the first half of the 1993-94 season eventually brought the Lloyd era to an end – the axe wielded by chief executive David Bellotti, who had arrived only a month earlier.

Fans who were euphoric to see Lloyd go might well have felt differently if they’d known what would eventually transpire, but that’s a story for another day.

The record books show Lloyd made a total profit of £1.2m in his seven years at the helm and he certainly knew his way around the transfer market, particularly in Europe, when it was a lot less fashionable than it is today.

Another of his discoveries was Dean Wilkins, playing for FC Zwolle in Holland, and in 2007 – 14 years after he had left the Albion – Lloyd returned as chief scout during Wilkins’ reign as first team manager.

Also part of the set-up then was director of football Martin Hinshelwood, who had been Lloyd’s assistant during his time in the dugout. Lloyd later returned to the club to assist in the recruitment department but retired in 2021.

He died aged 75 on 28 September 2024 and players in the Chelsea v Brighton game that afternoon wore black armbands in tribute to him.

Villa’s European Cup winning captain at the Albion

2-mortimer-in-flight A CULTURED midfielder regarded in many circles as the best ever captain of Aston Villa was almost ever-present in one season with Brighton.

Dennis Mortimer captained Villa when they won the European Cup in 1982 under manager Tony Barton.

Mortimer joined the Seagulls three years later and shone in what was a rather disappointing Division 2 season which saw the Albion finish 11^th.

Brighton’s near-promotion form in the season before had prompted Mortimer to try to help the Seagulls to restore their elite status after he’d been released by Villa.

In a programme feature by Tony Norman in November 1985, he said: “I knew this was a good side to come into; a team that wanted to play good football and win promotion.

“They missed it so narrowly last year and I felt I would like to be part of that challenge this year. I knew there would be excitement in the season ahead, and to me that is one of the most important things in football.

“Obviously I’m coming to the end of a long career in the game. I’ve been a professional for 17 years now and I wanted one final challenge. That’s why I came to Brighton.”

In his programme notes for the opening game of the season (against Grimsby Town), manager Chris Cattlin said of his former Coventry teammate: “He is a truly outstanding professional who will give the team steadiness and experience.”

Fans had a taste of what he would bring to the team when he scored a cracker in a pre-season game against Arsenal.

Unfortunately, while Mortimer was a consistent performer in midfield and the team enjoyed a decent run in the FA Cup – losing in the quarter finals to Southampton – Cattlin’s side were beset by injuries to key players and ultimately fell short of the top spots.

Morty BHA morty writes Knowing his time on the south coast was going to be limited, Mortimer didn’t uproot his family from their Lichfield home and instead lived in the Courtlands Hotel in Hove (above) for a while and also bought a flat where his wife and children could visit during school holidays.

Despite being born in Liverpool, the bulk of Mortimer’s career was connected with West Midlands teams, beginning with Coventry City under the tutelage of Pat Saward, who later managed the Albion, and ending with West Brom where he had a spell as assistant manager after his playing days were over.

He had not been a schoolboy star but was picked up and developed through Coventry’s youth development system. As well as coach Saward, Coventry’s youngsters also benefitted from the experience of Bob Dennison, the man who, at Middlesbrough, brought together as players one of the most famous footballing partnerships in Brian Clough and Peter Taylor.

“As a lad I thought I would be an engineer and, although the whole family were Liverpool mad, and we never missed a home game, it did not enter my head that I might be a professional until I was 14,” Mortimer said in a Goal interview in 1973. Coventry offered him a trial just as he was leaving school and his career built from there.

His initial Coventry boss Noel Cantwell, the former Man Utd and West Ham full back, was sure Dennis was destined for greater things after his first England under-23 call-up. “Dennis will become a big name in football, “ he said. “When he gets in Sir Alf’s side I don’t think he will lose his place easily.”

Although he never won a full cap, in 1971 he went on an end-of-season tour to Australia in an English FA squad that also included Peter Grummitt (then of Sheffield Wednesday) and Barry Bridges (of Millwall at the time). The group played the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, drawing 1-1, before heading Down Under where they won all nine of the matches they played in various locations across a month.

Coventry general manager, Joe Mercer, who was a legendary figure in the game and had a spell as caretaker manager of England, said of Dennis: “He has this great change of pace…he can go into another gear and accelerate out of trouble like all the good ones.”

However, it was after his move to Villa in 1975 that he rose to prominence, culminating in that famous 1-0 win over Bayern Munich in Rotterdam, courtesy of a Peter Withe goal.

As part of a 30^th anniversary celebration of the achievement, Mortimer told the Birmingham Mail in 2012: “It was such a momentous occasion for Aston Villa Football Club and for all of us as young men that you never forget it – and I doubt the fans who witnessed it would ever forget it either.

“You only have to see how big the competition is now and how much hype it gets to realise what an amazing achievement it was for us.

“Every year when the final of the European Cup, or Champions League as it is called now, comes around, I get a glimpse of that fantastic trophy and it all comes flooding back.

“I’ll never get bored of talking about it, but I don’t get reminded about it that much any more. It’s usually me telling the younger kids that Aston Villa won the European Cup.

“Some of them don’t believe me, because it was so long ago, and before a lot of them were born, but they go away and Google it and think ‘Wow, yes, they did win it!’”

DM Villa

In 10 years at Villa, Mortimer made 403 appearances and scored 36 goals. A 1977 League Cup winner, he led Villa to the English Division One title on May 2, 1981, and then lifted the European Cup on May 26, 1982.

The Birmingham Post said in 2010: “The Liverpudlian was at the forefront of the club’s finest era of modern times; a driving force from midfield that helped bring a level of success to Villa Park that his successors can only dream of.”

Although capped by England under-23 and England B, a full cap eluded him. That seems extraordinary now, especially after scoring twice in a 3-1 win for the under-23s against the Netherlands at Highbury, when Goal magazine reported he was being “hailed as the new Bobby Charlton”.

Mortimer was subsequently picked for the senior squad but didn’t get a game. “I got as far as the bench in the home internationals when Villa won the league, but never got on,” he said in a 2010 interview. “I always felt I should have done but there were so many good midfield players around at that time.

“I just needed to get on that pitch for five minutes in that home international, but Ron Greenwood wouldn’t put me on.”

After Cattlin allowed Jimmy Case to leave Brighton (telling the board his legs had gone, even though he then had six seasons at Southampton!), the team was crying out for a seasoned cool head in midfield who could put their foot on the ball and spread the ball about.

Cattlin eventually turned to his former Coventry teammate to bring that quality to a squad that was not quite reaching the heights required to restore the elite status lost in 1983.

Sadly, Mortimer spent just the one season at The Goldstone, but his 49 league and cup appearances were the highest number in that season’s squad.

Cattlin had offered him a two-year contract with the chance to start coaching but, following the manager’s sacking close to the end of the season, and his replacement Alan Mullery not fancying the experienced midfielder, he left the club.

“Player-coach would have been great as I had plenty left in the tank,” Mortimer told journalist Spencer Vignes: “He swapped a player with plenty of experience for one with no experience (Dale Jasper) and I was let go. Four months later (it was actually eight), Alan was let go as well.”

Mortimer returned to the Midlands – making the somewhat controversial decision to join Villa’s arch rivals Birmingham.

Funnily enough at the very same time he was heading back to the Midlands, the captain who lifted the European Cup that month also went on to play for the Albion. Romanian international Stefan Iovan was the Steaua Bucharest captain when they beat Barcelona on penalties in Seville; five years later, he was stepping out at Wembley as part of the Seagulls’ line-up in the Division 2 play-off final with Notts County.

But finally back to Mortimer. Now a sports speaker, pundit and coach, he’s not afraid to speak his mind and has been known to upset a few people with his outspoken comments about Villa’s plight in recent years.

Pictures from my scrapbook show Dennis Mortimer in action for Coventry against Liverpool, from Goal magazine, and an Albion matchday programme shot of him in full flight for the Seagulls. Also pictured is Mortimer when reserve team coach at West Brom during Ossie Ardiles’ reign as manager. When Ardiles moved to Spurs, Mortimer became new boss Keith Burkinshaw’s assistant. Full grey head of hair picture from 2010.

A tale of passion for England v Scotland at Wembley

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Thistle come as no surprise to those who know me but a fierce football rivalry between England and Scotland was imbued in me by my late father.

A normally easygoing happy-go-lucky chap, when it came to football matches between the two countries he was gripped by a curious passion which wanted the Scots buried whenever the sides met.

It was not surprising, then, that on Saturday May 24 1975, my dad could not contain his delight as he at 51 and the teenage me were in our seats at Wembley watching England annihilate Scotland 5-1.

Except my dad was not in his seat. He was standing on his; arms aloft, chanting “Easy, easy, easy.”

The stadium was almost full to bursting with a 98,000 crowd and all around us – for amazingly Scotland fans seemed to permeate all sections of the ground – there were tartan-clad, tam o’ shanter-wearing Scots, frothing with rage.

Discretion being the better part of valour saw my backside firmly glued to my £5 South Stand seat. Not so my dad. That was until a particularly large gentleman in the row in front rose to what seemed a Hagrid-like height, turned to face my father on his now-elevated perch, and gave him the sort of look which clearly suggested something that might hurt would follow.

Never a man of violence, my dad swiftly weighed up the situation and took the wise decision to resume his seat, and restrain his celebration.

Nonetheless, of course, the deed on the pitch had been done and it was a very contented father and son who made their way back to Sussex that evening.

The Home International tournament at the end of each football season was as much part of the football-watching fabric as the FA Cup Final in those days, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland playing each other home or away in alternate years.

In an earlier blog post, Striking in claret and blue, I spoke about the occasion in May 1972 when I went to see Brighton & Hove Albion’s very own Willie Irvine playing for Northern Ireland against England at Wembley. A decade later I had the good fortune to see two Albion players in opposition in the same fixture when Steve Foster played one of his three games for England and left back Sammy Nelson was playing for Northern Ireland.

But back to 1975, and that trouncing of Scotland. The experience had started well for me because my footballing hero of that era, Alan Ball, had led out the England team; manager Don Revie having given him the honour of captaining the side.

However, it was to be QPR’s Gerry Francis who made the headlines that day, scoring twice as Scotland’s calamitous goalkeeper Stewart Kennedy abandoned the art of keeping the ball out of the net. Defender Kevin Beattie, mercurial midfielder Colin Bell and centre forward David Johnson also got on the scoresheet and Scotland could only reply once through a Bruce Rioch penalty.

Make no mistake, this was some result because we’re not talking about a Scotland side of modern day standards: their team, managed by Willie Ormond, included giants of the era like captain Sandy Jardine, Danny McGrain, Gordon McQueen and Kenny Dalglish.

If the atmosphere generated by the Tartan Army was designed to put the frighteners on the English, the only person it seemed to be rattling was goalkeeper Kennedy, who put in what can only be described as a butterfingers performance.

It was all to the great amusement of my dad! This wasn’t the first time I’d seen him euphoric at the outcome of this fixture, although the margin of victory was a lot narrower on the previous occasion when, two years earlier, on 19 May 1973 to be precise, a single England goal did for the Scots with Martin Peters taking the honours on that occasion.

I had been to Wembley before but I had never experienced an atmosphere quite like the one generated by the Scots.

What was supposed to be an England home game felt like anything but, with Scotland fans dotted around the whole stadium. Somehow or another they managed to purloin tickets, even if they were at inflated tout prices, to ensure vast swathes of the stadium were occupied by boisterous, vociferous Scots.

Not that all members of the Tartan Army actually got to see the action. I recall the wide-eyed me looking round and seeing men draped in the famous blue and white Saltire, clearly off their faces, slumped forwards in their seats fast asleep.

Empty bottles of whisky littered the concrete floors of the stadium and, wherever you looked, the Royal Banner of Scotland (yellow and red flag) and the Saltire were being waved in unison with multiple renditions of Flower of Scotland.

One such polythene version of the Royal Banner floated on the breeze and landed on my head. It seemed to me to be the ideal souvenir of a memorable day out and I’m delighted to say on my recent loft clearance I found said flag together with the matchday tickets from both the 1973 and 1975 fixtures.

I wonder how many dads in their fifties together with their teenage sons will return from Wembley on 11 November 2016 with memories that will last a lifetime.

Did Chris Ramsey’s injury alter outcome of 1983 FA Cup Final?

2-near-post-guard BRIGHTON & HOVE Albion’s May 1983 FA Cup Final clash with Manchester United was historic for the club and for their 21-year-old right back it was even more eventful.

Who would have known that former Bristol City apprentice Chris Ramsey’s ignominious departure from the field in a firemen’s lift on Glen Wilson’s shoulder would more or less be the end of an all-too-brief playing spell in the top echelons of the English game?

Might the match – and Ramsey’s career – have panned out differently if it hadn’t been for that diabolical tackle by Norman Whiteside?

Trouble had been brewing in the weeks leading up to the final and the national media, looking for every possible angle to pick at, had singled out Ramsey for criticism. Did that stoke the fire?

Let’s rewind a little and explore what happened.

Born in Birmingham on 28 April 1962 , Ramsey, whose father came to the UK from St Lucia, was one of two boys and five girls. Rejected by Charlton Athletic as a schoolboy, he became an apprentice at Ashton Gate but was then released and, after a successful trial, Brighton took him on.

The 1980-81 season was Albion’s second in the top division and, as it drew towards its close, it was looking increasingly likely they were heading for relegation.

Manager Alan Mullery was openly criticising his players for their efforts and his big ally off the field, vice-chairman Harry Bloom (current chairman Tony Bloom’s granddad) had died of a heart attack on the team coach on an away trip to Stoke.

Something had to change and, at the tender age of 19, Ramsey was called up from the reserves and plunged in at the deep end.

In three of the last four games, he took over the no.2 shirt after Mullery switched John Gregory from right back into midfield. Ramsey’s debut came in a crucial Easter Saturday clash away to rivals Crystal Palace when, released from the shackles of defending, Gregory scored twice in a 3-0 win. Ramsey also played in the wins over Sunderland away and Leeds at home.

The Seagulls stayed up by the skin of their teeth and Evening Argus reporter John Vinicombe said in his end of season analysis that Ramsey had been “a revelation” in those three games.

Within a matter of weeks, Mullery quit as manager in the furore over chairman Mike Bamber selling Mark Lawrenson to Liverpool (after Mullery had already agreed a deal to sell him to Manchester United).

Gregory was sold to QPR for £300,000 but, far from that move opening up an opportunity for Ramsey, Mullery’s replacement Mike Bailey brought in on a free transfer from Loftus Road the experienced Don Shanks, who was immediately installed as the first choice right back.

Indeed Bailey froze out Ramsey for the following 19 months! At one point he was transfer listed but it was Bailey who departed the Goldstone first – his sacking working to the advantage of the young defender.

When George Aitken and Jimmy Melia took over in December 1982, Ramsey was instantly promoted from the reserves and seized his opportunity.

In a profile in an Albion matchday programme in February 1983, Ramsey told Tony Norman: “Like any other young apprentice, my dream was to play in the First Division. I must admit that even after coming to Brighton, I had times when I wondered if I’d make it. But now I’ve got my chance and I’m keen to make the most of it.”

In one of the most comprehensive profiles on Ramsey, former Brighton teammate, Andy Ritchie, told Adam Ellis of The Football League Paper: “He was quite a shy lad back then but he had everything you want in a full back. Aggression, pace, agility – and he could tackle like a demon.”

These were the attributes that Melia appreciated too. In a Daily Mail preview of the Norwich quarter final, Melia told reporter Brian Scovell: “The other players love playing with him. He’s a great competitor, tackles well and uses the ball with a bit of style.

“I’m pleased he’s taken his chance. He deserves to play at Wembley if we manage to get there.” ramsey + mel

As it turned out, Ramsey’s place was in jeopardy because of two sendings off in the league in April which led to him being banned for the semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday at Highbury.

After being sent off in a 2-1 home win over Spurs, Terry McNeill reported in the News of the World: “Ramsey was lucky to stay on earlier after bringing down Mark Falco in a probable scoring position. When he took the striker again from behind, there was no escape.”

The 20-year-old Ramsey was fairly phlegmatic about the situation and told Alex Montgomery of The Sun: “Whatever I did, I did for the club. You can’t think about Cup games when you are struggling for points at the bottom of the First Division.”

His second dismissal, along with Coventry’s Steve Jacobs (who later played for the Albion under Chris Cattlin) after a scuffle in a 1-0 win at the Goldstone, was lambasted by one of the pre-eminent football writers of the day, Frank McGhee of the Daily Mirror.

“Can Brighton afford to field at Wembley a man who by then won’t have been able to play for 19 days?” he intoned. “And can they trust Ramsey not to sully soccer’s great state occasion by a moment of blind madness?”

Nevertheless, after Wednesday were beaten, Melia was happy to restore his first-choice right back to the starting line-up but one wonders now whether Ramsey had a sense of foreboding about how the big occasion would unfold.

Reflecting on those dismissals in the build-up to the final, he told The Sun’s Montgomery: “I just hope people aren’t looking for me. I’ll certainly be careful. I honestly don’t think I deserve the reputation which I’ve been saddled with in the last few weeks.

“The dismissals were just coincidences – nothing more than that. I know I am an aggressive type of player but that is my game. I always want to give 100 per cent for the club. The last thing I want is trouble at Wembley.”

After Albion had taken a shock lead through Gordon Smith’s header, United piled on the pressure and Ramsey headed a goalbound Gordon McQueen effort off the line.

But then came a pivotal moment early in the second half. Tim Carder and Roger Harris record it thus in their excellent Seagulls! The Story of Brighton & Hove Albion FC: “Whiteside went in high on Ramsey’s shin as the Albion full back cleared, and then trod on his ankle. The referee had a strong word with the United forward but did not signal a foul.”

The tackle had rendered Ramsey lame and while he tried in vain to carry on, two minutes later he wasn’t able to challenge for a ball to the far post which Frank Stapleton duly dispatched to equalise.

Those of us watching in the stadium, together with millions glued to TV screens around the world, saw Ramsey carried from the Wembley turf and, in those days of only one substitute, wondered how Albion would cope with a makeshift defender in the shape of Gerry Ryan.

After United took the lead through Ray Wilkins, Ramsey’s friend – and fellow England under-20 teammate – Gary Stevens’ equalised to send the game into extra time and ultimately a replay. Stevens was adamant about the impact Whiteside’s challenge had on the game.

In Match of My Life, edited by Paul Camillin, he said: “It was a bad tackle and perhaps cost us the game. In those days we only had one substitute and Gerry Ryan came on and did a great job at right back, even though he was a midfield player, but we did miss Chris because he had been having a great game.”

Whiteside was unapologetic about the challenge but Ramsey fumed to The Sun’s Montgomery: “It could have broken my leg. If I’d done it, I’d have been off. I just can’t understand how Whiteside got away with it.”

The injury deprived Ramsey of the chance to play in the replay five days later and, after that sad exit, his playing career never reached similar heights again.

Indeed he actually only played 37 games for the Albion, most of those coming in that 1982-83 season. He played only a handful of games in the following season and in August 1984 went on loan to Swindon Town before joining them permanently four months later.

There, he played alongside the likes of Sky Sports reporter Chris Kamara and one-time Albion assistant manager Colin Calderwood and clocked up over 120 appearances, including being part of Lou Macari’s Fourth Division champions in 1986 and Third Division play-off winners in 1987.

In August 1987, he joined Southend United but played just 13 games for them before persistent back injuries forced his early retirement at the age of just 26.

Some business ventures he embarked on didn’t work out and former Albion right back rival Shanks set him up with a trial for a team in Malta, Naxxar Lions, where he made a playing comeback.

Eventually the ongoing injury problems made him look to other ways of making a living. He coached in the United States but also started studying like crazy.

Amongst lots of qualifications, he got a Master’s degree at the University of North London in Health, Physical Education and Recreation (a qualification which enabled him to become a primary school teacher) and simultaneously obtained his UEFA coaching badges.

That Football League Paper piece records: “With an MSc, ten diplomas and myriad other qualifications, Ramsey is so highly educated that he actually sets the test for pro licence candidates.”

ramsey Eng A stint in charge of youth development at Leyton Orient and coaching Newham Ladies was followed by an FA appointment as coach to the England under-20 side in the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship when among the players under his direction were Ashley Cole, Peter Crouch, Matthew Etherington and John Piercy, who later played for the Albion. At the FA he learned from the likes of Les Reed and one-time Albion winger Howard Wilkinson.

He had a short and unsuccessful three-month spell as assistant to Ricky Hill at Luton Town, and he said: “Ricky Hill was a massive inspiration to me.”

Just when it appeared new offers had dried up, Ramsey got the chance to manage Charleston Battery in the USA, where he stayed for three years.

Winning the USL A-League (second division) with Battery in 2003 brought him to the attention of Spurs, and, as head of player development, many of the young players he coached in tandem with Les Ferdinand and Tim Sherwood were Harry Kane, Ryan Mason, Danny Rose, Nabil Bentaleb, Andros Townsend, Steven Caulker and Jake Livermore.

“He was massive for all of us,” French midfielder Bentaleb told The Football League Paper. “He believed in us, he encouraged us. He told the manager we were ready when everyone else believed we were not. He was not shy or scared of anybody and he knew exactly what he wanted.”

chris ramsey (spurs) In the Evening Standard in 2012, Spurs and England centre back, Ledley King, said: “He is one of the best coaches in the country. The youngsters love the way he works and they have really bought into his methods.”

Ramsey left Spurs in 2014 to take up a coaching role at QPR, and when Harry Redknapp left the floundering Hoops in February 2015, Ramsey stepped up to become a fully-fledged Premier League manager.

He was not able to halt Rangers’ relegation from the elite, though, and lasted only until November in charge of the side as they struggled to come to terms with life back in the Championship.

However, in January 2016, he was appointed technical director at QPR to oversee the club’s academy coaching and player development.

The club’s director of football, Ferdinand, told The Guardian: “While we were disappointed things didn’t work out with Chris at first team level, we were determined to retain his services. As such, we actually put a clause in his contract which allowed us to retain Chris’s services in a player-development role should things not work out for him as head coach.”

Ramsey finally left QPR in January 2024. By then 61, the head of coaching and technical director told the club website: “I have had a fantastic nine years at QPR and the club will always have a special place in my heart.”

The club’s chairman Lee Hoos said: “Chris has been a great servant to the club. I cannot thank him enough for his incredible hard work, dedication and guidance.

“However, as we thoroughly rationalise everything we do, and following very amicable discussions with Chris, it is felt this move is in the best interests of all parties. He will always remain a friend of the club.”

Shootthedefence.com did a face-to-face interview with Ramsey on 23 September 2016 which is well worth a listen as he talks in detail about his whole career.
In pictures from my scrapbook, Ramsey graces the cover of an Albion matchday programme; (top) he defends the near post during the 1983 FA Cup Final with Gordon McQueen in attendance; he is photographed by Tony Norman outside the Goldstone and criticised in the Daily Mirror by Frank McGhee.

Clough’s triple raid on Canaries took Mellor, Rollings and Govier to Brighton

*Steve Govier goes into a 50-50 with Crystal Palace’s Alan Whittle*

It must be pretty rare for a club to make a triple raid on players from another club but then again Brian Clough and his sidekick Peter Taylor were not known for convention.

In late April 1974, the exasperated former management duo who’d steered unfashionable Derby County to the league championship were trying to breathe new life into Third Division Brighton and Hove Albion.

After an indifferent run of results since their arrival the previous October, Clough and Taylor were planning a huge end-of-season clear-out of the players they had inherited and the pair needed plenty of replacements.

That was why Taylor, the fixer of most of their transfer dealings at that time, took himself off to the Carrow Road home of Norwich City, and persuaded their manager John Bond to let Brighton sign Ian Mellor, Steve Govier and Andy Rollings.

Mellor was said to have been worth £40,000 – a record fee for the Albion at the time – and the trio arrived on the south coast for a combined total of £65,000 (what in today’s money would be something approaching £475,000).

Mellor had been a promising youngster at Manchester City, and although he’d played 54 games over two seasons for Norwich, he was deemed surplus to requirements. Govier and Rollings were both centre backs more familiar to the Norwich reserves.

Govier had played 30 times for the first team but was only ever a deputy for the established Duncan Forbes and Dave Stringer. Rollings was still a teenager who had only played four first team games.

rollings white Rollings (above) later revealed how Clough had somewhat persuasively told him ‘you’re going to be my next Roy McFarland’ – he’d become England’s centre half alongside Bobby Moore under Clough’s guidance at Derby.

Leeds-bound Clough, of course, didn’t hang around even to witness Rollings make a competitive start with the Albion, but with Taylor in solo charge, all three new signings donned Albion’s new Admiral all white kit with blue collars and cuffs and were in the line-up that began the 1974-75 campaign with a win over Crystal Palace.

glumGovier Govier and Rollings retained their places for the opening 12 games but with only three wins and 14 goals conceded, Taylor brought in the more experienced Graham Winstanley from Carlisle to try to shore up the leaky defence and Govier departed, former Norwich boss Ron Ashman signing him for Grimsby Town.

As the history books will tell you, both Mellor and Rollings went on to great success with the Albion. Indeed, as described in my blog post, The postman who delivered for Peter Ward , Mellor, under Taylor’s successor Alan Mullery, created one of the club’s most memorable striking partnerships and eventually made 150 appearances for the Seagulls, scoring 35 goals.

Rollings became a regular in defence for the remainder of the decade, playing in 192 games and chipping in with 12 goals.

Govier’s career ended prematurely through a knee injury when he was aged just 25. Norwich fans will remember him most fondly for his stand-in role in the 1973 League Cup semi-final.

In for the injured Forbes and up against Chelsea’s England international centre forward Peter Osgood, a 20-year-old Govier scored the only goal of the game to secure City’s place in the final against Spurs. Forbes returned for the Wembley showpiece, which Tottenham won 1-0.

In Brighton’s climb from the Third Division to the First, Rollings developed into a solid stopper, initially alongside a series of experienced centre back partners in Winstanley, Dennis Burnett and Graham Cross, before two seasons alongside the imperious Mark Lawrenson.

Screenshot — *Solid stopper Andy Rollings*

Promotion to the top tier and the signing of Steve Foster marked the beginning of the end of his time at the Goldstone. His penultimate game was ironically against Norwich and, in a 4-2 home defeat, he was sent off for retaliation over an ugly challenge in which Justin Fashanu broke the defender’s nose.

He left Albion as part of an exchange deal that saw Swindon Town skipper Ray McHale move to the Seagulls. Rollings then had two years at Portsmouth (29 games) played twice for Torquay and once, very ignominiously, for Brentford.

Mansley Allen chronicled that single game in the April 1997 edition of football fanzine When Saturday Comes. “Within half an hour we were three goals down, with Rollings hapless in a cameo of schoolboy errors,” Allen wrote. “The manager was forced to save the player’s blushes and he was substituted before half-time.”

Rollings is now a matchday host at the Amex and runs a cafe with his wife in Preston Park. A Rollings older

‘Spider’ Mellor struggled to prosper under Taylor but when Alan Mullery converted him from a left-sided midfield player to a striker, there was no looking back and the emerging Peter Ward was the chief beneficiary as goals flowed from the partnership.

Mellor left the Albion in 1978 and moved back to his native north west to play for Chester for two years before ending his career with Sheffield Wednesday.

One of Mellor’s sons, Neil, became better known than his dad among football fans through his TV punditry work. He had to quit the game early through injury after beginning at Liverpool and playing six years for Preston North End.

Pictures from my scrapbook show:

– an article from Goal magazine in which Mellor talked about how his move from Man City to Norwich.

– Govier captured by the Evening Argus photographer scoring against Wrexham.

– Rollings in another Evening Argus photograph making his presence felt on his Albion league debut v Crystal Palace.

The highs and lows of Wigan’s Warren Aspinall

PERHAPS for more obviously dramatic reasons, what’s happened in Warren Aspinall’s life since he stopped playing football has rather overshadowed a playing career which began at Wigan Athletic and ended with Brighton and Hove Albion.

Nowadays, the worst demons a more content Warren has to contend with are awkward-looking names he famously mispronounces as the expert pundit on Radio Sussex Albion match commentaries.

It’s a far cry from the post-playing, desperately-dark, drink and debt-ridden days he has opened up about in various media interviews, describing how he attempted to kill himself after blowing £1million on gambling.

Warren’s story is a case study The Samaritans feature as part of their Men On The Ropes programme and, even after several tellings, in print, on TV and online, it remains a salutary tale and, as Warren clearly hopes, a warning to others once the glory days are over.

The 32 games Warren played for Albion in 1999-2000 were the final outings of a playing career that spanned nine clubs over 15 years in which he made approaching 500 appearances, scoring nearly 100 goals.

Born in Wigan on 13 September 1967, his dad was a miner and his mum worked in a sewing factory. At just 13, he was snapped up by the Latics and after fifty-odd appearances for his hometown club in the old Division 3, he got a dream £150,000 move to Everton.

Unfortunately they were well served by the likes of Graeme Sharp, Adrian Heath and Gary Lineker at the time so Warren’s opportunities were limited to just seven appearances for the Merseyside club, but his form for the reserves – 21 goals in 23 matches – attracted the legendary Billy McNeill, then boss of struggling Aston Villa, who snapped him up for £300,000.

An article in The Guardian on 31 December 2015, charting the previous time Villa had been relegated from the top flight, mentioned “the £300,000 spent on 19-year-old Everton striker Warren Aspinall was seen as a gamble” and added: “Throwing an untried youngster into a First Division survival battle seemed a strange decision and it didn’t work out for either man.”

In November 2015, Villa supporter Colin Abbott interviewed him for the Villan on the Spot feature on avfc.co.uk and said Warren’s goals were paramount in clinching promotion back to the top flight in 1987/88 at the first attempt. “A nippy striker with an eye for goal, he was a clinical finisher,” Abbott wrote.

He played in the same Villa side as former Albion loanee Martin Keown but was sold by McNeill’s successor, Graham Taylor, after not heeding a warning about accumulating too many bookings, getting himself sent off in a pre-season game against St Mirren.

Portsmouth paid £315,000 to take him to Fratton Park where he stayed between 1988 and 1994.

Warren adorned the front cover of the programme for a Pompey v Albion fixture on 17 December 1988 (see picture) when his teammates included Mark Chamberlain (another who later played for Brighton) and he was up against an Albion defence which included Nicky Bissett and Steve Gatting.

In an Albion matchday programme article, Aspinall admitted he didn’t fulfil his potential at Portsmouth. “I was more worried about the demons which I had: the drinking and the gambling,” he said. “That’s probably why it all went downhill for me quickly.

“I had too much money at too young an age and it broke me.”

Warren was part of Jim Smith’s Portsmouth side that only narrowly lost on penalties to Liverpool in the semi-finals of the 1992 FA Cup but, come the 1993-94 season, with Pompey back among the elite, he was sent out on loan to Bournemouth and Swansea and on New Year’s Eve 1993 joined Bournemouth on a permanent basis.

In 1995 he made the long journey to the far north west and spent two seasons with Carlisle United but, citing a desire to move back south, linked up with Micky Adams for the first time at Brentford. Next stop was Colchester United, initially on loan and then permanently, before Adams, by then in charge at Brighton, brought him in initially on loan and then permanently. It was an ankle injury he sustained playing for Brighton that brought his career to an end.

In a Sunday Mercury/Birmingham Mail interview in 2011, he recalled: “I went into hospital for a routine operation on my ankle in 2000. I woke up afterwards and the doctor told me that I would never play football again. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“It turned out I had got MRSA and it had eaten away at the tendons in my ankle. Looking back, I think that is the moment things started to go badly wrong for me in terms of the drink and the gambling.

“I was constantly thinking: ‘What am I going to do now?’ I had no direction and no idea what I was going to do after football.

“It was a big shock to the system.”

What happened next is documented in plenty of other places so I don’t intend to go into the detail in this blog.

Apart from his radio pundit role alongside Johnny Cantor, Warren now works night shifts as a forklift truck driver at the Sainsbury’s distribution centre in Basingstoke and is a part-time scout for the Albion, with goalkeeper Christian Walton his most notable ‘find’ to date.

The former striker also now goes round football clubs up and down the country sharing his story with teenage players.

“When I visited Villa I saw Gordon Cowans, who I used to play with, and he was flabbergasted at how I had ruined my life since I left Villa Park,” Warren told Colin Abbott. “But if I could save just one kid from making the same mistakes I did, then I would be very happy.”

w-aspinall

Bertie Lutton’s memorable Easter goal at Bournemouth

STANDING amongst the writhing crush of Albion fans squeezed in behind the goal at Dean Court on the afternoon of Easter Saturday 1972, I struggled to get a clear view of the frenzied action on the pitch.

Brighton equalised, that much was evident from the eruption and movement of the swaying masses, but who applied the finishing touch was anybody’s guess as far as I was concerned.

I later discovered it was none other than Bertie Lutton, the £5,000 Northern Irish international winger signed only three weeks previously from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Lutton had got himself into the penalty area and with a centre forward-like instinct headed Peter O’Sullivan’s cross past Fred Davies in the Bournemouth goal to cancel out the lead Ted MacDougall** had given the promotion-chasing Cherries.

It was Lutton’s second Albion goal in two days. On Good Friday at the Goldstone, he was on the scoresheet with Bert Murray and Ken Beamish as a bumper crowd of 27,513 (remember this was the third tier of English football) saw Albion beat Torquay United 3-1.

It’s difficult for modern day fans to contemplate but literally 24 hours later, the Albion had travelled nearly 100 miles west to take on Third Division promotion rivals Bournemouth and 22,540 fans crammed into the stadium.

In what was a classic game of two halves, the Cherries dominated the opening 45 minutes and took the lead through MacDougall, a prolific scorer of that period who went on to play for Manchester United, West Ham, Norwich City and Scotland.

Albion threw everything at them after the break and Lutton’s equaliser was fully deserved on the balance of play in the second half.

The goal was enough to keep him in the side for the following three games. After that he reverted to the bench to the end of the season, but was on the pitch, having replaced Kit Napier, when the whistle blew at the end of the 1-1 Goldstone draw with Rochdale that earned Albion promotion as runners up behind Aston Villa…..with Bournemouth three points behind in third place (there were no play-offs in those days).

Raising a glass of promotion-winning champagne in the dressing room with his Brighton teammates after that game must have felt good, but that Dean Court moment was probably as good as it got for the blond-haired Ulsterman in his time on the south coast.

Born in Banbridge, County Down, on 13 July 1950, Bertie’s brief footballing career began with his hometown club, Banbridge Town, and it’s reported just £50 exchanged hands to take him to then English elite side Wolves in 1967. Lutton WWFC

At a time when Wolves were blessed with some outstanding players like Derek Dougan, Hugh Curran, Dave Wagstaffe, Jim McCalliog and Mike Bailey, Bertie managed just 25 matches for Wolves between 1967 and 1971.

Brighton manager Pat Saward, nicknamed The Loan Ranger because of the number of players who he brought in on loan, first acquired Bertie’s services on a temporary basis between September and November in 1971.

He made his debut in a 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa and scored twice in seven games before returning to his parent club.

Then, on 9 March 1972, with the clock ticking down to what in those days was the 5pm transfer deadline, Saward completed a double transfer swoop, securing Lutton’s permanent signing for £5,000 together with Beamish from Tranmere for £25,000 (plus the surplus-to-requirements Alan Duffy).

A delighted Saward declared to Argus reporter John Vinicombe: “Bertie can do a job for us anywhere. This can’t be bad for us. At 21 and with two caps for Ireland he has a future and played very well for us while on loan.

“He can play right or left, up the middle, or midfield and Beamish can fit into a number of positions.”

Maybe it was the versatility Saward referred to that worked against Lutton. When Brighton began the 1972-73 season in the second tier, Lutton was still on the bench. He came on in three games, then got four successive starts before going back to the bench.

Albion were finding life tough at the higher level and although Saward switched things around and brought in new faces, the results went from bad to worse.

bertielutton Lutton started three games in December which all ended in defeat and the 3-0 Boxing Day reverse at Oxford United turned out to be his last appearance for the Albion.

It fell in the middle of a spell of 12 successive defeats during which only five goals were scored – and two of those were penalties, another an own goal!

Saward couldn’t put his finger on the reason for the slump and declared himself dismayed by the attitude of certain players: Lutton was one of three put on the transfer list.

Astonishingly he stepped up a division and went on loan to West Ham. He did well enough to secure a full-time switch to Upton Park and almost a year to the day of his arrival at the Goldstone, he was gone and the shrewd Saward turned a £10,000 profit on the enigmatic Irishman.

Those two caps Saward referred to had come while on Wolves’ books in April 1970 against Scotland and England in the old end-of-season Home International tournament. After his move to West Ham, he gained four more. Indeed, in the history books, he became the first Hammer ever to represent Northern Ireland. He came on as sub in three games in May 1973 and his final appearance was in November that year as a starter in a 1-1 draw away to Portugal.

His only goal for West Ham came in a 1-1 draw away to Derby County on 21 April 1973, where one of his teammates was the aforementioned MacDougall. Sadly Lutton’s West Ham career lasted just 12 games. He was forced to quit English football in 1974 at the age of just 23.

He emigrated to Australia and played semi-professional football in the Australian Soccer League for a number of years and settled in Melbourne.

The ‘where are they now’ website reveals he most recently worked as a supervisor for a logistics company.

The website wolvesheroes.com tracked down Lutton in March 2010 and reported a fascinating tale about what happened to a 1970 Mexico World Cup England shirt Bobby Moore had given his old West Ham teammate.

** MacDouGoal! the striker’s autobiography.

Pictures from my scrapbook show Bertie Lutton

celebrating a goal for the Albion
appearing for Wolves
heading the equaliser in the Easter Saturday draw at Bournemouth

3-lutton-stripes

luttoningoal

*Lutton alongside George Best during Northern Ireland training*

*Lutton pictured in 2010 on wolvesheroes.com*

‘Cultured’ Nobby Lawton a Cup Final captain who led Brighton

WHEN NOBBY Lawton died of cancer aged 66 in 2006, Ivan Ponting, the principal football obituarist of The Independent, penned a marvellous piece about a player who never quite reached the heights his early promise suggested he might.

Lawton was captain of Brighton when I first started watching them in 1969 but he had once played for the post-Munich Manchester United side and was part of Proud Preston’s illustrious history having captained them in the 1964 FA Cup Final. Not surprisingly, Ponting’s obituary began with that showpiece against a West Ham United side led by the imperious Bobby Moore.

“When the two clubs staged one of the most exhilarating of all Wembley FA Cup finals, in 1964, the unassuming Lancastrian was anything but upstaged by the recently appointed England skipper,” Ponting observed.

“Indeed, though Preston of the Second Division were pipped by a stoppage-time goal as the top-flight Hammers prevailed 3-2, many neutral observers made Lawton the man of a rollercoaster of a contest in which his plucky side had twice led.”

In the Lancashire Evening Post’s The Big Interview 40 years after that momentous day, Lawton touchingly shared his memories of the occasion when, aged 24, he’d stood in the famous old tunnel waiting to lead out Preston at Wembley.

“All of a sudden the wave of punishing noise from the 100,000 crowd just ebbed away, and the band struck up the first verse of Abide with Me,” recalled Nobby. “I’d held on to the emotion and nerves until then, but I was a bit overcome at that moment, close to tears in fact.

“I looked over my shoulder and the rest of the lads were coming down the tunnel in those famous white shirts, with the PP crest of Preston on them. It was an unbelievable moment for a young lad.”

Lawton then recalled his early days at Man Utd watching the Busby Babes train and how he thought he’d never make it in the game.

“But there I was at Wembley, captain of the famous Preston North End and I felt on top of the world,” Nobby told the newspaper. “I never thought anything like that would happen to me.

“That day was my proudest moment in football. 1964 was an incredible time in my life, and nobody can ever take that away.”

Readers of a certain vintage will be aware one of Preston’s goals that day were scored by Alex Dawson, another ex-Lilywhite who later linked up with Lawton at the Albion. The pair, who first played together at Man Utd, remained friends for 40 years and Lawton was best man at Dawson’s wedding.

In Ponting’s obituary, he recalled: “a stylish, cultured wing-half who might have been destined for eminence with Manchester United, the club with whom he shared a birthplace of Newton Heath.

“After excelling as a teenager with Lancashire Schoolboys, he signed amateur forms with the Red Devils in 1956, training on two evenings a week while working for a coal merchant.”

Lawton and Dawson were both on the scoresheet as United beat West Ham 3-2 in the first leg of the 1957 FA Youth Cup 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.

After the Munich air crash of February 1958, the 18-year-old Lawton gave up his job with the coal company and joined United full time. “However, within days, his fledgling career was in jeopardy,” Ponting related. “After playing for the reserves while suffering from heavy flu he succumbed to double pneumonia, lost the use of his legs and was out of action for many months.”

Matt Busby kept faith with the fledgling talent and gave Lawton his first-team début as an inside-forward at Luton in April 1960. By the middle of the following season, he was a first team regular, forming a promising left-wing partnership with Bobby Charlton.

“Lawton was ever-present in United’s run to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where they were well beaten by Tottenham Hotspur, but somehow his confidence was never quite on a par with his abundant ability, and soon, in the face of inevitably brisk competition for midfield places, he slipped out of Busby’s plans,” said Ponting.

Lawton recalled in an interview with Spencer Vignes in the Albion matchday programme: “I was in an out of the team. I’d play one game, and go back to the reserves. I’d play another, then back to the reserves again. By the time I was 23, I really wanted – no, needed – to play first-team football.”

After just 36 league games for United, and with Pat Crerand picked ahead of him, he decided to drop down a division and rebuild his career at Preston, joining them in exchange for an £11,500 fee in March 1963.

Lawton explained: “I broke my leg at Manchester United, and although I was in and out of the team at Old Trafford, it knocked the confidence out of me.”

Preston were struggling when he joined them but they enjoyed a mini-revival just missing out on promotion to the top division, and he was made skipper for the 1963-64 season, which culminated in that Wembley final.

Lawton remained Preston captain even though he was hampered by serial knee problems and he admitted to the LEP: “I came back after two knee operations at Preston, but I was a shadow of the player I was in 1964. I was butchered really.”

After 164 league and cup appearances and 23 goals for North End, in September 1967, he dropped a further grade, joining Third Division Brighton for a £10,000 fee.

He was signed by Archie Macaulay but just over a year later found himself helping to select the team as part of a committee after Macaulay stepped down. It wasn’t long though before a familiar face took the helm in the shape of his former Old Trafford playing colleague Freddie Goodwin, and that’s when he first came to my attention, as my Albion-supporting journey began in February 1969.

“I enjoyed playing under him so much. I think we all did,” Lawton told Vignes. “I’ve got some really good memories of us playing well in front of big crowds with him in charge.”

Vignes recounted how Lawton was the scorer of one of the all-time classic goals witnessed at the Goldstone when the midfielder rifled home a volley from around 40 yards against Shrewsbury Town. “I remember their goalkeeper kicking it clear and it bounced in front of me, so I just hit it and it went straight back past him into the net. That was a nice strike,” said Lawton.

After just missing out on promotion in the 1969-70 season, Goodwin left to take over at Birmingham City and, according to the programme article, Lawton didn’t see eye to eye with his successor, Pat Saward, from day one. The player was also suffering a recurrence of his knee problems.

“I went to see a specialist about it , and he said that if I played again, then I could be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life,” he said. “It was around that time that (Fourth Division) Lincoln said they were interested in buying me. The way my knee was, I was going to finish any day soon, and I told them that. But they were still keen, so I signed. ” After a total of 127 games for the Albion, Lawton went to Lincoln in February 1971 together with striker Allan Gilliver.

The following year, at 32, the injury finally put paid to his playing days. He went on to carve out a successful career as a sales director with a Newton Heath-based imports and exports business.

When his death was announced in 2006, former Albion teammate Norman Gall said of him: “Nobby was a true gentleman. When he arrived at the Goldstone his ability and behaviour made him the obvious choice for captain.

“He never criticised or argued with anyone and just encouraged people to play better. A fantastic player and a great friend.”

lawton w Napier

Top, Nobby Lawton in action for the Albion during the 1970-71 season, above, celebrating with Kit Napier after scoring a goal. Below, footballinprint.com found this old magazine front cover of a 1962 Man Utd team photo in which Lawton appears alongside Nobby Stiles and behind Bobby Charlton. Other pictures from Albion’s matchday programme.

Howard Wilkinson – aka ‘Sergeant Wilko’ – began coaching at Albion

wilko bha YORKSHIREMAN Howard Wilkinson was a key part of the first Albion side I watched. The former Sheffield Wednesday player was a speedy winger in Freddie Goodwin’s 1969 team.

But away from The Goldstone, he had already been sowing the seeds of his future coaching and managerial success.

My father was a founder of local amateur side Shoreham United, a Brighton League team, and the future “Sergeant Wilko” (as the press liked to dub him) was brought in to do some expert coaching with United’s first team.

I well remember as a young boy sitting on the sidelines in Buckingham Park, Shoreham, watching him put the players through their paces with various routines.

I waited eagerly with my autograph book as Wilkinson shared the benefit of his skills and experience with the willing amateurs.

I was chuffed to bits when he rewarded my patience with his signature at the end of the session but who would have thought the man before me would go on to manage League Champions Leeds United as well as the England national team!

I’ve since discovered how Wilkinson had taken his preliminary coaching badge shortly after joining Brighton in the summer of 1966. Readers of the matchday programme were told how Wilkinson was one of six Albion players who were taking the badge at Whitehawk under former Brighton wing half Steve Burtenshaw, who’d turned to coaching that year after his Albion playing career had come to an end.

By the summer of 1968, Wilkinson had already taken his full FA coaching badge at Lilleshall when only 25, and, as well as Shoreham United, he was coaching youngsters at Fawcett Secondary School, Brighton Boys, Sussex University and the Sussex County XI.

Born in the Netherthorpe district of Sheffield on 13 November 1943, he earned early recognition for his footballing ability playing for Yorkshire Grammar Schools and England Grammar Schools.

Wilkinson earned five caps for England Youth in 1962. He scored on his debut in a 4-0 win over Wales at the County Ground, Swindon, on 17 March 1962 in a side that also featured future full England international Paul Madeley (Leeds United).

He also appeared in the UEFA Youth Tournament in Romania the following month when England were beaten 5-0 by Yugoslavia, 3-0 by the Netherlands and drew 0-0 with Bulgaria. The following month he was in the England side beaten 2-1 by Northern Ireland in Londonderry in the Amateur Youth Championship for the British Association.

Wilkinson played local football with Hallam when he started to attract attention and was initially on the books of Sheffield United but it was city rivals Wednesday who took him on as a professional. The manager at the time was Vic Buckingham, known as the pioneer of ‘total football’, the philosophy later adopted by his protege Johann Cruyff. But it wasn’t until the 1964-65 season under Alan Brown that Wilkinson broke into the first team, making his debut on 9 September 1964.

“My football league debut was a tough one against Chelsea, who were then top of the league, at Stamford Bridge,” he said. “We forced a 1-1 draw and I quite enjoyed the match.” He also played the following Saturday in the return fixture when they lost 3-2 at home to Chelsea (Bert Murray scored two of Chelsea’s goals). Wilkinson made 12 appearances across the season as Wednesday finished sixth in the old First Division.

The following season he scored both Wednesday goals in a 4-2 defeat away to West Ham United on 16 October 1965 and on 8 January he was on the scoresheet in a home 2-1 defeat versus Leicester City, but he only made eight appearances all season, playing his last game for the Owls on 19 March 1966. He wasn’t part of the Wednesday team who lost 3-2 to Everton in the 1966 FA Cup Final.

Wilkinson left Hillsborough for the Albion a few days after England won the World Cup and scored on his debut in the opening match of the season as Brighton drew 2-2 at home to Swindon Town. He was on the mark again two games later getting Albion’s goal in a 1-1 draw at Reading. He was also a scorer in one of the few highlights of that first season, when third tier Brighton beat Jimmy Hill’s top tier Coventry City 3-1 in a League Cup replay.

The winger from Wednesday continued to earn rave reviews for his performances until suffering concussion and a fractured cheekbone during a match away to Middlesbrough. In the days when medicine still had a long way to go, Wilkinson was out of the side for ages.

“I seemed to be out for an eternity after that injury,” Wilkinson told journalist Spencer Vignes in a matchday programme article. “They didn’t have the technology back then that they do today to mend injuries like that. I had an operation, they reset it, and I was on fluids for ages. It wasn’t nice.”

I’m grateful to the excellent Albion retro blog, The Goldstone Wrap, for digging out a quote from Wilkinson’s 1992 book, Managing to Succeed, in which he revealed this nugget about life on the south coast:

“When I was a player at Brighton, under manager Archie Macaulay’s guidance, we had some remarkable preparations for important matches and cup-ties. There were liberal doses of sherry and raw eggs, calves foot jelly, fillet steak, and plenty of walks on the seafront where we were taken to fill our lungs with the ozone.”

In five years with Brighton, he made 130 appearances (plus 17 as a sub), scoring 19 goals. He always had an eye towards what would happen after his playing days, explaining: “It was during my last year at Brighton that I decided to try and do a teaching qualification combined with a degree, ready for when I finished playing.”

He moved on from the Albion at the end of Pat Saward’s first season, having made only 18 starts under the new Irish manager. Jim Smith had contacted him to ask if he would join him at Boston United as player-coach. “It turned out that I would be on just as much money as I was at Brighton, even though Boston were non-league, so I went.”

Wilkinson enrolled on a degree course in Physical Education at Sheffield University and over four years combined coaching and playing with being a student, a husband and a father. On top of that, he ended up as manager after Smith left. Boston won the Northern Premier League title four times in his six years at the club and people started to take notice.

The FA appointed him as their regional coach for the Sheffield area and by 1978 he was helping out Dave Sexton and Terry Venables with the England under-21s. In December 1979, he joined Notts County as a coach under Jimmy Sirrel, eventually taking over as team manager for the 1982-83 season when County were a top-tier side.

In June 1983, he returned to Wednesday as manager and, in his first season in charge, steered them to promotion from the second tier. He kept them among the elite for four seasons.

Undoubtedly the pinnacle of his career was guiding Leeds United to the League Championship in 1992. He moved to Elland Road in 1988 and built a decent side captained by the future Scotland manager Gordon Strachan.

They won the last of the old Football League Division One titles and, remarkably, to this day Wilkinson remains the last English manager to achieve that feat. Not surprisingly he was that season’s Manager of the Year.

United fanzine The Square Ball had only good things to say about the man in a 2011 article. “Howard Wilkinson gave Leeds three fantastic seasons of unforgettable glory in 1989/90, 1990/91 and 1991/92; and the Charity Shield at Wembley and the European glory nights against Stuttgart and Monaco stand with the best memories of Leeds’ modern era. More than that, he gave Leeds United back its sense of justifiable self-worth; no longer living in the past, no longer derided in playgrounds, Leeds were a proper football club again, fit for the modern era.”

Sacked by Leeds in 1996, he then began to move ‘upstairs’ so to speak and was appointed as the Football Association’s technical director as the forerunner to several executive-style appointments.

However, he twice found himself in temporary charge of the England national team, firstly after Glenn Hoddle was forced to resign.

He oversaw a 2-0 defeat to France in a friendly at Wembley before Kevin Keegan took the reigns. Twenty months later he stepped into the breach again when Keegan quit and took charge of a World Cup preliminary match in Helsinki, England drawing 0-0 against Finland.

After England, he had a brief unsuccessful spell at Sunderland, assisted by Steve Cotterill, and later was involved in and around the boardroom back at Hillsborough.

Wilkinson’s work as technical director of the FA between 1998 and 2002 has been hailed as having a major impact and influence on the domestic game, providing a blueprint for the subsequent building of the National Football Centre at St. George’s Park.

In the 2024 New Year Honours List, having just turned 80, Wilkinson was awarded an OBE for his services to football and charity, including ongoing work as chairman of the League Managers Association. LMA chief executive Richard Bevan OBE said: “Howard’s legacy in English football may be one of the most unheralded yet important in the modern game.

“Universally respected and loved by his colleagues and peers in the game, he has built an association of professional football managers, which is globally recognised as one of the most progressive organisations in world sport.

“As one of English football’s greatest thinkers, he has supported thousands of managers, coaches, players and administrators in the game to fulfil their potential and build impactful careers in football.

“He has achieved so much in his life, whilst retaining the values, humility and decorum that were instilled in him as a young coach, passing on these values to everyone he has worked with and for.”