Cup winner Bert Murray: Brighton’s People’s Player

5-bert-v-villaON HOLIDAY in Jersey in 2016 my eyes were drawn to a picture on a display in St Helier’s Fort Regent entertainment complex.

“That’s Bert Murray,” I declared to my bemused wife, and, let’s face it, who would have thought Brighton & Hove Albion’s combative former Chelsea and Birmingham City winger would still be on a public display 45 years after the picture was taken?

The display featured sports stars from Jersey who had gone on to make a name for themselves – and, ironically, the picture in which Bert appeared (below) was about Geoff Vowden (born in Barnsley but raised in Jersey), then with Aston Villa, but a player who had been a teammate during Murray’s five years at St Andrew’s.

1-jersey-posterVersatile Murray – mainly a winger but equally adept at right back – wrote himself into the Albion’s history books when he was bought from Birmingham with funds raised by fans.

But let’s go back to the beginning. Born in Hoxton, London, on 22 September 1942 Murray started his football career with Chelsea in 1958 and scored in the first leg of their 1960 FA Youth Cup Final win against Preston as part of a team which spawned many future star players, such as Peter Bonetti, Terry Venables and Bobby Tambling.

Bert made his Chelsea first team debut in 1961 and in 1963 was part of the squad that won promotion from Division 2. His form for Chelsea attracted the England selectors and in the 1964-65 season he played in six of England under 23s’ seven games, scoring on his debut.

That was on 25 November 1964 in a 5-0 romp over Romania at Coventry’s old Highfield Road ground when Alan Ball, Mick Jones, Alan Hinton and Martin Chivers also scored.

Sadly for Bert, that was the only win he experienced as an England player: in the remaining games there were four 0-0 draws and a 1-0 defeat to West Germany. Other big name players who were part of the same team included Nobby Stiles, Norman Hunter and George Armstrong

Murray’s final international was in front of 70,000 fans in Austria on 2 June 1965 when his Chelsea colleague Bonetti had taken over in goal from Gordon West and Ball, who, like Stiles would become part of the following year’s England World Cup winning team, was sent off.

2-1965-lge-cup-winnersAt least at club level in 1965 Murray won some silverware (above image discovered on The Shed End Chelsea fans website), playing alongside Bonetti, Venables, Eddie McCreadie, Barry Bridges and John Boyle as Tommy Docherty’s Chelsea won the League Cup in April via a narrow 3-2 aggregate win over Leicester.

Murray + Bridges ChelseaMurray and Bridges alongside each other in a 1963-64 Chelsea team picture.

In the same season, Chelsea were top of Division One for nearly the whole season, and were looking good for the domestic treble but lost 2-0 to Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final.

The young team started to show signs of strain and slipped to third in the league. Murray and Bridges were amongst a group of eight players who defied a curfew when the team were staying in Blackpool prior to a game against Burnley and the manager sent them home. The team Docherty put out capitulated 6-2.

According to ‘Bluebeard’ on theshedend.com the following nearly-but-not-quite season – fifth in the league, beaten FA Cup semi-finalists again and Fairs Cup semi-finalists – led to Docherty breaking up the team and selling Murray, Venables, Bridges and George Graham.

So, in 1966, having scored 44 goals in 183 games, Murray was transferred to Birmingham for £25,000 and Bridges went too, as Birmingham’s new wealthy owner, Clifford Coombs, splashed the cash for manager Stan Cullis.

3-brumbertThe pair were part of the side which in successive seasons got to the semi-final of the League Cup (in 1967) and FA Cup (in 1968) only to lose on both occasions. Because these things are important in the Midlands, joysandsorrows.co.uk remembers Murray as part of the 1968 Blues side who beat rivals Villa home and away. In five years, he played 132 games scoring 22 goals.

murray brum

It was the Blues former Brighton manager Freddie Goodwin who loaned him to his old club in early 1971. The loan became a permanent move thanks to £10,000 raised through innovative manager Pat Saward’s famous Buy-a-Player scheme which saw fans respond to the club’s lack of cash to bring in new players by coming up with sponsored walks and suchlike to raise the necessary money to enable Saward to bring in new faces. Thus Murray was swiftly dubbed the People’s Player.

4-bertwillie1971Saward brought in Willie Irvine on loan from Preston at the same time and the pair combined well on 10 March 1971 (pictured above by the Evening Argus before the game) as high-flying Fulham were beaten 3-2. In Irvine’s 2005 book with Dave Thomas, Together Again, he recalls how the pair hit it off and began a friendship that endures.

Murray was an influential right winger who made and scored goals and he became a reliable penalty taker too, notably keeping a cool head from 12 yards in the 12-game unbeaten run in 1972 which culminated in promotion as runners up behind Aston Villa.

In the famous game televised by BBC’s Match of the Day at home to Villa in April 1972, Saward moved Murray to right back to replace previously ever-present Stewart Henderson. It wasn’t completely alien to him, though, because he’d slotted into that role on occasion at Birmingham.

The photographers were busy during that tightly-fought 2-1 win against Villa and several different shots of Bert’s tussle with Villa’s talented winger Willie Anderson appeared in the newspapers and magazines following the game (see pic at top of article).

While others might have been grabbing the bulk of the goals and the headlines, Murray’s consistent performances earned him the player of the season award (below, receiving the award from chairman Tom Whiting).

murray poy

The newly-promoted side struggled badly and Saward chopped and changed the line-up, bringing in a host of new faces – including Bert’s old Chelsea colleague Bridges – as he tried in vain to find the right formula to keep the Albion up. But Murray was one of the few who kept his place at the higher level, mainly back in midfield. He took over the captaincy from Ian Goodwin and contributed nine goals in 39 appearances.

Although eventually the side clicked in the final third of the season, the damage had been done early on and the recovery wasn’t enough to avoid an immediate return to Division 3.

Murray wrote in the matchday programme: “The last two months have been amazing and although I say it myself I beleive that we have played some really good football recently. I also believe we deserve a better fate.”

He added: “We must hope we have learned our lessons well for next season.” Murray appeared in the front row of the 1973-74 team line-up but his time on the south coast was drawing to a close – along with manager Saward. Murray was involved in only two games as a substitute in October and after a total of 102 games and 25 goals he moved on to Peterborough United, initially on loan and then signing permanently.

It was Noel Cantwell, the man Saward had served as assistant manager at Coventry City, who signed Murray for Posh. “He needed a right midfielder,” Murray said in a 2012 interview with the Argus. “I went up there and had four wonderful years. I still see some of the lads now.”

Saward, with his own days at the Goldstone numbered and, without naming any names, wrote some cryptic programme notes for the 13 October home game against Halifax. “In deciding that a player can leave a club, the manager must consider the player’s contribution to the club and decide whether he fits into his plans for the future,” he wrote.

“When a manager decides it is time for the player and club to part he is not necessarily governed solely by the ability of the player but he has to look at his squad as a whole and assess whether there are younger players with longer futures waiting their chance to come through.

“A governing factor must be that the strongest possible team should be fielded at all times and the manager must decide when other players should take over from established favourites.”

In the programme for the 24 October game with Southport – by which time Saward himself had been sacked – there was a brief paragraph under the headline ‘Bert Murray Leaves’.

At 31, Bert still had plenty of football left in him and he went on to make 123 appearances for Posh, scoring another 10 goals, before retiring and going into the pub trade, in Market Deeping, nine miles north of Peterborough.

Many have been the occasions Albion fans following the team at London Road have taken a detour to pop in to see Bert and chat over old times over a pint.

In 2013, when he had his 70th birthday, The Society of Independent Brewers did an article about his 20 years running Everards pub The Bull in Market Deeping with his wife Eileen. They had also spent 17 years at two other pubs in the town, The Winning Post and The White Horse.

“Everards have been good and seem happy with what we are doing here. So if they are happy, Eileen and I plan to keep on going for a few more years yet as we really enjoy running the pub,” he said.

In September 2013, Bert returned to Stamford Bridge for a 50th anniversary reunion with the Chelsea ‘class of ‘63’ – chatting over old times over dinner with Terry Venables, John Hollins, Peter Bonetti, Barry Bridges, Ken Shellito and Bobby Tambling.

Pictures from my scrapbook , the internet and the Albion matchday programme.

Below, the Goal magazine feature ‘The Girl Behind The Man’

Ken Beamish dumped by Clough without a word

1-k-beamish-btn-goalSWASHBUCKLING Ken Beamish was a good old fashioned centre forward who crowds appreciated for his never-say-die attitude in pursuit of goals.

He mostly played in the third tier but had three seasons at the next level up (one was Brighton’s disastrous 1972-73 season and he had two with Blackburn).

He twice won promotion from the old Third Division – with Brighton in 1972 and Blackburn in 1975 – and scored 198 goals in 642 league and cup games between 1965 and 1982.

Born in Bebington on 25 August 1947, Beamish started his career with nearby Fourth Division Tranmere Rovers in the 1965-66 season and was top scorer in two of his six seasons with the club, helping them to promotion to the Third Division in 1966-67.KB Tran

He joined Brighton on transfer deadline day on 9 March 1972; manager Pat Saward having set off for the north west from Sussex at 5am to ensure he captured his man before the 5pm deadline that existed at the time.

When Beamish signed for £23,000 (plus the surplus-to-requirements Alan Duffy), Albion had just scored 13 goals in three games so supporters were baffled as to why he was needed.

After two substitute appearances, Beamish made his full debut in the oft-talked about televised game v Aston Villa and then got off the mark in the 3-1 Good Friday win over Torquay United (see picture).

He contributed six goals in 14 games, including last minute winners in two games in the same week, against Rotherham and Rochdale.

In an interview in Goal magazine after promotion was clinched,  Saward explained why he had signed him when the team was already riding high and looking a good bet for promotion.

Aiming a bit of a sideswipe at the incumbents Willie Irvine and Kit Napier, Saward said: “We had plenty of skilful players up front but none had the devil in him. We wanted more thrust. Beamish gave us it.”

Reporter David Wright wrote: “He added the final spark to an ever-improving Brighton side that, after promising a great deal for two-thirds of the season, finally showed their true force in the last two months of the season when they enjoyed a marvellous run of 12 games without defeat.”

Saward was delighted with his signing and said: “Ken shows great courage and has an insatiable appetite for scoring goals. He would die in the box for you. He goes in where angels fear to tread. The whole side never know when they’re beaten – something they proved over and over again – and Beamish epitomises this. He battles away from the first whistle to the last.”

There was clearly mutual admiration because Beamish reflected in an Albion matchday programme how Saward had helped him to become a better player. “He really put in the work with me on the training pitch,” he said. “My ball control was never the best but he worked hard with me to make sure it improved. He was a good man.”

In Brighton & Hove Albion Supporters’ Club’s official souvenir handbook, produced to celebrate the promotion, coach Ray Crawford, the former England international striker who was part of Saward’s backroom team, said: “I don’t like to single out players because football is a team game, but I must on this occasion. Ken Beamish added the final bite up front, and those vital goals that he scored helped us into Division II. What a player this boy is – he never gives up!”

Unfortunately for Beamish, the goals were harder to come by in the division above, particularly in a struggling side and with a new strike partner in the shape of experienced Barry Bridges. Beamish’s scoring ratio dropped to one in four during 1972-73 and, back in the third tier the following season, it didn’t get much better.

He kept his place in the side after Brian Clough’s arrival in October 1973 but 12 goals in 45 games didn’t impress a manager used to better things and he found himself part of the former Derby manager’s huge clear-out of players – and he was none too happy at the manner of it.

A contributor to Jonathan Wilson’s biography about Clough, Nobody Ever Says Thank You, Beamish spoke about how most of the players failed to get any rapport going with the manager because he was seldom around. “I played most of the games but we never saw much of Clough,” he said. “We saw him on matchday and Friday.”

Clough didn’t help matters when he missed a game altogether so he could go to America to watch a Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight. That left him open to criticism but Clough was not remotely bothered. Instead he went on the front foot and openly criticised the players for lacking moral courage and declared: “There is a gale blowing through this club and the players concerned are about to feel the draught.”

That one of them was Beamish appeared harsh at the time and the manner of his departure clearly left a nasty taste in the mouth.

Beamish told Simon Levenson in his interview for Match of My Life (Know The Score Books Ltd): “I knew my time was up when I wasn’t included in the end of season tour to Torremolinos. We’re all grown men and there are ways of telling people that you’re not part of their future plans. He could have told me face to face, but instead I discovered I’d been transfer listed when my neighbour told me he’d heard it on the radio.”

A subsequent Albion matchday programme interview revealed his dismay at the circumstances, which understandably made it easy for him to leave.

“I never spoke to anyone at Brighton between the end of the season and signing for Blackburn,” he said. “That was the disappointing thing because I’d enjoyed my time at Brighton and made some good friends there.

“It was a sad ending to a happy period in my life.”

Clough’s loss was Gordon Lee’s gain. Lee, who would go on to manage Everton, paid £26,000 to take Beamish to Blackburn Rovers – the start of an association which continues to this day.

After scoring 19 goals for Blackburn in 86 appearances between 1974 and 1976, including promotion in 1975, he then had two years at Port Vale – where he was the player of the year in 1977-78 – a year at Bury and a second spell at Tranmere. He ended his playing days at Swindon Town, where he originally went to become assistant manager to long-serving John Trollope – father of former Albion assistant manager, Paul.

When Trollope senior left Swindon, Beamish ended up taking over as boss for 15 months (as pictured below), from March 1983 to June 1984, but 1983-84 proved to be a nightmare season in Swindon’s history with them finishing 17th in the old Fourth Division, the lowest finishing position in their history.Beam Swin mgr

Beamish subsequently became commercial manager at Blackburn from 1986 until his retirement in 2012. He then became vice chairman of the Blackburn Rovers Former Players Association.

  • Pictures from my scrapbook show a great action shot of Beamish scoring against Torquay, as featured in a Brighton & Hove Gazette end of season publication, a portrait of him in Goal magazine. Dig the hairstyle, pear drop collar shirt and tank top in this Goal picture of him with his son. The Argus captured Ken’s elation as he celebrated Willie Irvine’s goal against Aston Villa. And the man himself signed the photo of him being interviewed. Below, interviewed in 1992 by Sky Sports.

Terry Connor had an eye for goal for Leeds and Brighton

Connor action 1TERRY CONNOR is a familiar face to today’s football fans as a loyal assistant manager to Mick McCarthy.

But Leeds United and Brighton fans of a certain vintage remember him as a pacy striker with an eye for goal.

His time with the Albion saw him at his most prolific with a record of almost a goal every three games (51 in 156 appearances) – form which earned him a solitary England under 21 cap as an over-age player.

Relegation-bound Brighton took the Leeds-born forward south in exchange for Andy Ritchie shortly after they had made it through to the semi-final of the 1983 FA Cup, but the new signing could take no part because he’d already played in the competition for Leeds.

If Brian Clough had allowed Peter Ward to have remained on loan to the Seagulls that spring, who knows whether Connor would have joined, but, when the former golden boy sought an extension of his loan from Nottingham Forest, which would have enabled him to continue to be part of the progress to Wembley, according to Ward in He Shot, He Scored, the eccentric Forest boss told him: ‘Son, I’ve never been to a Cup Final and neither will you’.

So the Connor-Ritchie swap went ahead and, with the rest of the team’s focus on the glory of the cup, the new arrival scored just the once in five appearances, plus two as sub, as the Seagulls forfeited the elite status they’d held for four seasons.

TC blue

lpool goalConnor would have his moment of cup glory (celebration above) in the following season, though, as the TV watching nation saw him and Gerry Ryan score in a 2-0 win over Liverpool at the Goldstone; the second successive season Albion had dumped the mighty Reds out of the FA Cup.

Connor was best man when teammate Hans Kraay got married. Frank Worthington (right) was there too.

Born in Leeds on 9 November 1962, Connor went to Foxwood School on the Seacroft estate in Leeds. He burst onto the football scene at just 17, scoring the only goal of the game after going on as a sub for Paul Madeley to make his hometown club debut in November 1979 against West Brom.

connor leeds

“I got such an early break at Leeds because the club were rebuilding their side after those days when they were riding high,” Connor told Shoot! magazine. “Eddie Gray was still in the team when I came in. He was the model professional. It was terrific to have someone with his experience alongside you.”

Connor went on to make a total of 108 appearances for Leeds over four seasons, scoring 22 goals, before the by-then manager Gray did the swap deal with Ritchie.

In February 2016, voice-online.co.uk carried an interview in which Connor recalled racial abuse he received as a player.

“It was difficult for black players to thrive. I can remember going to many away games and there were bananas thrown on the pitch and `monkey’ chants from the stands,” he said.

“I remember receiving mail from Leeds fans telling me not to wear the white shirt, even though I was born and bred in Leeds. I had bullets sent to me and the police were called on a couple of occasions.”

Even so, the move to Brighton still came as a bit of a shock to him.

“‘I’d never imagined myself playing for anyone else but Leeds,” he told Shoot! at the time. “I was born and bred in the city. My parents and friends live there, and really Elland Road was a second home to me.”

Unfortunately for Connor, manager Jimmy Melia gave him the impression he was going to be forming a double spearhead with Michael Robinson. But after relegation, Robinson and several others from the halcyon days were sold, in Robinson’s case to Liverpool.

TC phoenixThe man who bought him didn’t last long either; Melia making way for Chris Cattlin in the autumn of 1983. It didn’t stop Connor making his mark in the second tier and despite having several different striking partners of varying quality, his goalscoring record was good at a time when the side itself was struggling to return to the top with the Cup Final squad being dismantled and under investment in replacements.

In his first full season, he missed only two first team games all season and was top scorer with 17 goals as Albion finished ninth in the league. His main strike partner Alan Young scored 12.

Connor got only one fewer in the 1984-85 season when the side finished sixth; the veteran Frank Worthington chipping in with eight goals in his only season with the Seagulls.

TC v Sunderland

In 1985-86 Connor had two different strike partners in Justin Fashanu and the misfiring Mick Ferguson but still managed another 16 goals, including four braces.

The disastrous relegation season of 1986-87 contained a personal high for Connor when, in November 1986, he was selected as an over-age player (at 24) for England under 21s and scored in a 1-1 draw with Yugoslavia.

He had formed a useful partnership with Dean Saunders but, as money issues loomed, Saunders was sold to Oxford and soon, after being voted player of the season, Connor also left as the Albion were relegated; Barry Lloyd being unable to halt the slide back to the third tier.

Reflecting on his time at Brighton in a matchday programme interview, Connor said: “I really enjoyed my football, playing on the south coast. We also loved the lifestyle and my eldest daughter was born there, I loved playing in the atmosphere created at the Goldstone. There was a bond with the players and their partners, with Jimmy Melia and Mike Bamber, and it was like one big happy family.”

As Lloyd was forced to sell players, Connor returned to the top flight via a £200,000 move along the coast to newly-promoted Portsmouth. A terrible run of injuries plagued his Pompey career meaning he only managed 58 appearances and scored 14 goals over the course of three seasons.

A £150,000 transfer fee saw him join then Third Division Swansea City for the 1990-91 season and although he managed 39 appearances, he scored only six times.

Next stop was Bristol City in September 1991 for £190,000 but he scored only once in 16 games for the Robins. By the summer of 1993 he dropped out of the league to play for Conference side Yeovil Town and when he retired from playing he became a coach at Swindon Town.

John Ward took Connor as a coach to three clubs he managed, Bristol Rovers and City and then Wolverhampton Wanderers, where, across the reigns of several managers, he remained for the next 13 years. He worked at youth, reserve and first team level before becoming McCarthy’s assistant in 2008. He briefly took the reigns himself after McCarthy was sacked in early 2012 but, unable to halt the team’s relegation from the Premiership, reverted to assistant under the newly-appointed Ståle Solbakken for just four games of the new season before leaving Molineux.

Within three months, he resumed his role as McCarthy’s assistant when the pair were appointed at Portman Road. When McCarthy took over as the Republic of Ireland boss in November 2018, Connor once again was his assistant and in 2020 the pair found themselves at the top Cypriot side APOEL. In early 2021, McCarthy and Connor were back in tandem at Championship side Cardiff City.

In the 2018-19 season, Connor had the chance to work with the England under 21s when the FA decided to provide placements for BAME coaches

Kurt Nogan’s phenomenal goalscoring record for Brighton

Screen Shot 2023-03-06 at 08.26.32KURT 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 saluteAfter 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 14th 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 ballIn 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.

lloyd-fulham-goal

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 20.37.12He 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 11th 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.

Lloyd in 2022

Villa’s European Cup winning captain at the Albion

2-mortimer-in-flightA 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 11th.

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 BHAmorty writesKnowing 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 30th 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

scotflagtickets

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-guardBRIGHTON & 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 EngA 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 whiteRollings (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.

glumGovierGovier 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