Tag: Alan McLeary

When Steve Gritt took on the ‘worst job in football’

BOURNEMOUTH-BORN Steve Gritt is synonymous with Brighton & Hove Albion’s darkest hour because he was in the almost scalding managerial hotseat at the time the club nearly went out of the league.

The mastermind behind Albion’s ‘Great Escape’ in 1997 grew up in the Dorset coastal resort and began his footballing career with his local club in the 1970s. He later worked as the Cherries chief scout, although, apart from etching his part in Brighton’s footballing folklore, most of his more memorable days in the game came at Charlton Athletic.

Somehow, against all the odds, he managed to keep the Seagulls up when most doomsters could only see the club losing its status – and possibly going out of business as a result.

Gritt, who had been out of work for 18 months having been cast adrift by a new chairman at Charlton, took over from the beleaguered Jimmy Case in December 1996 with Albion 12 points adrift at the bottom of the fourth tier.

“I was delighted when Brighton offered me the chance to return,” he wrote in his matchday programme notes. “I know a lot of people were calling it the ‘worst job in football’ but when you love football as I do then you don’t always see things that way.”

Gritt was certainly an old hand when it came to football’s vicissitudes: rejected by AFC Bournemouth as a teenager, he went on to enjoy the elation of promotion as well as enduring the despair of relegation during his time with the Addicks.

Quite what would have become of Albion if they’d lost their place in the league is now only speculation – thankfully it wasn’t a bridge Gritt had to cross.

“I’d spent 18 years at Charlton as player and joint-manager, with just six months away from it, at Walsall. Then a new chairman, Richard Murray, came in and he didn’t like the joint-manager situation, so he put Alan Curbishley in sole charge, and I left,” Gritt explained.

Without a full-time job in the game, he stayed in touch by doing some scouting work for Tony Pulis at Gillingham, Brian Flynn at Wrexham and a couple of stints for West Brom. He even pulled his boots back on to play for Welling and Tooting & Mitcham.

Eager not to continue to have to queue at the benefit office for dole money, he applied for the vacant Albion manager’s job and got it after an interview in Crewe with the despised chairman Bill Archer and his ‘henchman’ chief executive David Bellotti.

“I knew very little about what was going on at the club,” Gritt told Roy Chuter in a retrospective programme piece. “I’d read bits in the papers, but my only interest was in the football. I wasn’t going to get involved.

“The place was very low. Some of the senior players filled me in on what was happening. In my first few days, there was graffiti on the walls saying I was a stooge, a whistle protest, a fan chained himself to the goal at half-time at my first match – that bothered me as we were winning at the time and went on to beat Hull 3-0.

“Then the next week I had to go onto the pitch with a megaphone at Leyton Orient to get the supporters to leave after the match – and they already hated me! I thought ‘What is going on?’ but my job was to get some sunshine back into the fans’ Saturday afternoons.”

After familiarising himself with the issues at a fans’ forum – “It helped me understand that the fans had to do what they had to do” – he devoted himself to improving the football and although the budget was tight, brought in the experienced defender John Humphrey and Robbie Reinelt, who would go on to score one of the most crucial goals in Albion’s history.

Puzzled by the plight of a side that contained good players in the likes of Craig Maskell, Ian Baird and Paul McDonald, Gritt maintained: “I never thought we’d go down.”

He recalled: “There was such a lot of experience. If I could organise them, we’d have a chance.”

Looking back years later

Ultimately, the club’s fate was decided in the final two games of the season – at home to Doncaster Rovers and away to Hereford United.

“We knew we could beat Doncaster,” he said. “There was a big crowd and a tremendous atmosphere – very tense. Maybe that got to the players – we didn’t play as well as we had done, but once we were 1-0 up, we weren’t going to get beat. We had a great defence.”

Gritt recalled: “I was beginning to think that there wasn’t going to be any goals in the game as there hadn’t been too many chances during the game that I can remember.

“Suddenly we had a corner from which Mark Morris eventually hit the bar, confirming my thoughts. But suddenly the ball fell to Stuart (Storer) who struck it into the net to spark off unbelievable celebrations on the pitch, off the pitch and in the dugout.

“Could we now keep our composure and see the game out to a memorable 1 nil win? We did! What a day and what a memory.”

And so to Hereford, who needed to win to avoid dropping out of the league. Albion only needed a draw to stay up. Everyone knows the story. A goal down at half-time when Kerry Mayo put through his own net, Gritt reminded the players at half-time that their jobs were on the line.

Relief at Hereford

He sent on Reinelt as a sub and in the 62nd minute he slotted a second half equaliser to send the Albion faithful into ecstasy and condemn the Bulls to their fate.

“I think if it had been Brighton, we could have faded into obscurity,” he said. “Most of the players would have left, and I don’t think we could have coped.”

As things subsequently transpired, it was Gritt who would soon be on his way.

It’s perhaps a bit of a cliché to say there is no sentiment in football but when Gritt’s side had managed only four league wins up to February in the 1997-98 season, and were second bottom of the table, chairman Dick Knight wielded the axe.

“No one who cares about the Albion will forget Steve’s tremendous contribution to our survival last season,” said Knight. “This season, given our difficult circumstances, feasibly we were only seeking to preserve our league status by a safe margin, but to date that comfort zone has eluded us.”

Thankfully you can’t keep a good man down for long, though, and within two weeks of getting the Brighton bullet, Gritt was back in the saddle as assistant manager to Billy Bonds at Millwall.

Although Bonds was sacked by the Lions only six weeks after Gritt’s arrival, successors Keith Stevens and Alan McLeary kept him on, working with the reserve team. Then Mark McGhee took charge and got Gritt back involved with the first team to take on organisational work such as set plays.

After McGhee took charge at Brighton, Gritt switched across south London back to Charlton, where he ran their academy for the next six years.

He returned to his hometown club in 2011 to become chief scout, initially under Lee Bradbury and then his successor, Paul Groves.

But he was disappointed to be let go in September 2012, telling theEcho: “They have changed the way they are doing their recruitment so there wasn’t really any need for me to be there.”

Bournemouth chairman Eddie Mitchell explained: “We have got analysts on board now and all games are available on DVD. We are trying to build a database from these clips.

“We felt it was impractical to send somebody all over the country to watch games every day when we can get DVDs of games and players.

“It was a role which diminished for us. Whether it is the right way to go remains to be seen but we have got to look at effectiveness and costs.”

Gritt said: “It was a big thing last year for me to come back to the club where I grew up. I am disappointed it has come to an end like this, but life goes on.

“I have lost jobs in the past and, hopefully, I will bounce back. I am looking forward to the next chapter in my career and will just have to wait and see what comes up.”

Born in Bournemouth on 31 October 1957, Gritt’s early footballing ability was first seen in the Kings Park First School football team of 1969, as the Echo discovered when readers were asked to send in their old sports photos.

A rare sight: young Gritt with hair!

Gritt, a forward, was taken on as an apprentice by the Cherries and played a handful of games for the first team under John Benson before being released at the age of 18.

Colin Masters remembered on the Where Are They Now? website (in an October 2020 post) how Gritt linked up with non-league Dorchester who paired him up front with Ron Davies, the former Welsh international centre-forward who’d played for Southampton, Man Utd and Portsmouth.

“They were an exciting pair to watch at that level,” said Masters. “After three matches I was so impressed with Steve that I went and found the Dorchester club secretary and asked if he had signed Steve Gritt on a contract.

“The reply was ‘No’. Within two weeks, Charlton Athletic came in and took him (presumably for nothing) and he went on to have a very successful career for many years. Dorchester’s loss was Charlton’s gain!”

Between 1977 and 1993, Gritt played a total of 435 matches for the Addicks, including a relegation to the old Third Division in 1980 and two promotions – to the Second Division in 1981 under Mike Bailey and the First Division under Lennie Lawrence in 1986. He had a six-month spell with Walsall in 1989 before returning and experiencing another relegation in 1990.

Gritt became joint player-manager with Curbishley in 1991 and, under their stewardship for the next four years, the likes of Lee Bowyer, John Robinson, Richard Rufus and Shaun Newton established themselves as mainstays of the side.

When Charlton decided in 2021 to re-name their East Stand in Curbishley’s honour, a generous Gritt told londonnewsonline.co.uk it was a fitting tribute to his former colleague.

“We had our trials and tribulations but I’ve always judged that we did what was required to keep the club going. We had to steady the ship.

Joint Charlton manager with Alan Curbishley

“We would have loved to have kept Rob Lee, for example, but we had to do things for the well-being of the club so we could keep it going and give the fans something to shout about.

“It was a great time when we got back to The Valley (they’d spent several years sharing Selhurst Park with Crystal Palace).

“Then the club made a decision which I was never going to agree with. But when I look back to see what Alan did – he went on to do a significant job – I cannot complain. Ultimately what he achieved he thoroughly deserved.”

Gritt said: “When I was there we had to make sure we weren’t seen to be having disagreements although I cannot recall us having too many anyway.

“When we were on the training ground, we each knew what the other one would be doing during the sessions. We both had jobs to do on the day.

“I was more of a player than he was at that time – so the management side was more in his hands. It was fairly straightforward, until the club decided that they wanted one man in charge. That was obviously disappointing for me at the time but I have thoroughly enjoyed my career.

“Alan gave the club a massive block to build on – but no one could have envisaged how the club went after he left. It was a massive disappointment.”

After he left Bournemouth in 2012, Gritt dropped out of league football and spent five years as assistant manager at Ebbsfleet United, working with his former Charlton teammate (and ex-Albion youth team manager) Steve Brown and then Daryl McMahon, who he subsequently followed to League Two Macclesfield Town, Conference side Dagenham & Redbridge and Isthmian League Hornchurch.

Hailed as a hero at the Amex

David Livermore was no stranger to yellow and red cards

DAVID LIVERMORE was one of those signings Brighton fans had a good feeling about, only to be disappointed with the outcome.

Here was a player who had learned his craft over 10 years as a youngster at Arsenal and, at 28, had played most of his career at second tier level.

So, when Micky Adams got him on a free transfer from Hull City for League One Albion in the summer of 2008, the signs were encouraging.

“David is an experienced midfield player who has played most of his football in the Championship,” Adams said. “He’s a versatile player who can play in midfield, left wing and left back, and he’s another quality signing.”

Maybe it was that versatility that counted against him, but by the turn of the year he’d only made 13 starts and had picked up so many bookings that he had to serve a suspension.

Perhaps the writing was already on the wall. “Suspension and the midfielder more often than not went hand in hand – his passion, commitment and tough-tackling nature meant that the former Arsenal trainee picked up a huge 86 yellow cards and 3 reds in his Lions career,” Millwall fan Mark Litchfield wrote in a profile on newsatden.co.uk.

The player’s frustration was revealed in an Argus interview with Andy Naylor, who said: “Livermore is an ‘old school’ player, more comfortable with an era when crunching challenges were greeted matter-of-factly by opponents and with no more than a quiet word from officialdom, rather than the modern malaise of writhing opponents and card-happy refereeing.”

Livermore told the reporter: “It’s the way things are now, suspensions are part and parcel of the game. I am someone that likes a tackle and, unfortunately, I’ve got six bookings now.

“The game has changed a lot. The referee was threatening to send me off at the weekend and I only gave away two fouls in the whole game. I think the tackle is slowly being erased.”

After the suspension, Livermore struggled to regain a place in the squad and he wrecked the opportunity of a rare start in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy when he was sent off for a bad foul in the semi-final at Luton Town. Albion clung on to a 1-1 draw but losing on penalties meant they were denied a trip to Wembley for the final against Scunthorpe.

That disappointment proved to be the final straw for the Adams reign, although being four places off the bottom of the table didn’t look pretty either.

Livermore went on as a sub in Adams’ successor Russell Slade’s first game in charge, a 2-1 defeat at Leyton Orient, and got a start in a home 5-0 win over the manager’s previous club, Yeovil.

He then started at left-back in a 3-0 defeat away to Walsall three days later, but was subbed off at half-time, and his replacement, loanee Gary Borrowdale, was Slade’s preference in that position for the rest of the season. Livermore was sent on loan, ironically to Luton.

But he had penned a two-year deal when signing the previous summer so he was back at Brighton for the 2009-10 season. He warmed the bench nine times in the first half of 2009-10 but only saw action once, going on as a sub for Andrew Whing in a 1-0 defeat at Orient in the JPT.

The arrival of Gus Poyet as manager didn’t help his cause either and eventually there was a mutual parting of the ways in February 2010. It felt very much like a case of what might have been, and the player himself gave a very honest assessment of his time with the Albion in an interview with the Argus.

“I am disappointed I have not fulfilled the expectations of supporters and probably myself,” he said. “I’ve played the majority of my career in the Championship. I started off at Arsenal and went to Millwall in League One, adapted to that and got promoted and had six or seven seasons in the Championship.

“I’m not saying I thought it would be easy coming to Brighton but I thought I would be able to do as well as at my other clubs.”

He said Albion was “a fantastic club” and he enjoyed the team spirit and friendliness of the squad, admitting: “It hasn’t worked out how I expected but I’ve enjoyed my time there.”

Livermore reckoned it was the money he was on at Brighton that put off other sides from taking him on loan. The ending of his contract gave him free agent status, which meant he was able to organise a short-term deal at Barnet.

It obviously hit the player hard to realise his playing days were coming to an end after Barnet released him at the end of the season.

He told the Cambridge Evening News: “I’d dropped through the leagues, from Championship to bottom of League Two in a couple of seasons.

“I knew I had to make a decision. I even qualified as a personal trainer – I don’t know what I was thinking.

“From a playing point of view, I fell out of love with the game. Part of me said just stop and get a job – deliver the post or something, just get a normal job, provide for your family and enjoy your life.”

He was rescued by the offer to manage non-league Histon, and he told the newspaper. “The Histon job came up and I took it and fell back in love with the game from a coaching point of view. I was very lucky that opportunity came up at the time.”

Born on 20 May 1980, in Edmonton, north London, Livermore grew up as a Spurs supporter and was taken on by them at the tender age of seven! But frustrated at just being asked to train, rather than play games, he switched to Arsenal and was on their books for a decade.

He was on a two-year YTS scheme before turning professional but had to move to Millwall, aged 19, to get a breakthrough in the game.

Livermore had been in the same Arsenal youth side as Ashley Cole, and played five games for the Gunners reserve team in the 1997-98 season, when Matthew Wicks and Matt Upson were regulars, scoring once in a 1-1 draw against Tottenham on 17 March 1998. In a pre-season friendly at Enfield on 18 July 1998, he went on an as substitute for 23 minutes but that was the extent of his first team involvement. He made 11 appearances plus two as a sub for the reserves in the 1998-99 season, before leaving the club.

He joined on loan initially making his Millwall debut on the opening day of the 1999-00 season at Cardiff City in a 1-1 draw that hit the headlines for fan clashes rather than the football. It took joint bosses Keith Stevens and Alan McLeary only four matches to convert the loan into a permanent transfer, and Livermore was signed for £30,000.

Football history books reveal Livermore as the scorer of the final football league goal of the 20th century: an injury-time winner against Brentford on December 28, 1999. It happened to be the first of his goals for Millwall and he made 34 appearances that season.

After the disappointment of losing a play-off semi-final to Wigan Athletic in 2000, Livermore was able to savour promotion from League Two as champions under Mark McGhee in 2001; he played 39 games and was part of an eye-catching partnership with Australian international Tim Cahill.

There was more play-off semi-final heartache the following season when Millwall were edged out of the League One end-of-season final two places by Birmingham City; another season in which Livermore only missed three games – through suspension.

2004 is to Millwall fans what 1983 is to Brighton supporters: it was the year that against all odds they made it to the FA Cup Final. Millwall’s achievement was arguably more remarkable in that they were in the division below opponents Man Utd. The Lions were beaten 3-0 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and Livermore gave away a penalty (bringing down Ryan Giggs) which Ruud van Nistelrooy scored from.

“We didn’t play a Premier League side all the way through until the final so it just shows you what can happen,” Livermore recalled in an interview with the Argus. “I played every minute of every game. That was the highlight of my career.”

The one consolation from the Cup Final defeat was that Millwall got to play in Europe – the UEFA Cup – the following season because United were in the Champions League. It was Livermore’s penultimate season with the Lions and, with a year left on his contract, close season speculation had him linked with a £500,000 move to either Southampton or Sunderland.

Millwall director, Theo Paphitis, said: “Livers asked to go on the transfer list and that hasn’t changed. We’ve had enquiries from two clubs, but neither have matched our valuation. We would dearly love Dave to stay at Millwall, but his contract is up at the end of the season when he would be in a position to leave us for nothing.” It emerged Arsenal were entitled to 30 per cent of any profit the Lions made if the player was sold.

Millwall managed to persuade him to stay and to sign a new contract in January 2006, with director of football Colin Lee declaring: “I have said, from the moment I arrived, David is an absolutely vital player. I’m hopeful others we are in the process of trying to re-sign will see this as evidence we have now turned the corner and are moving forward again.”

While his loyalty was rewarded with the Player of the Year trophy come the end of the 2005-06 season, Millwall were relegated to League One and Livermore, wanting to stay in the Championship, was soon on his way.

In a most curious turn of events, Livermore joined Leeds United for a £400,000 fee, telling the Leeds website: “This is a huge club, this is where you want to be playing – at the right end of the division. I just want to be part of things here. Every player wants to play in the Premier League. That’s the aim.”

But before he could kick a ball in anger for United; in fact, just 10 days’ later, he was sold to Hull City. Leeds boss Kevin Blackwell explained that he had subsequently been able to sign Kevin Nicholls from Luton Town and (future Albion loan signing) Ian Westlake from Ipswich Town, and both would be ahead of Livermore in the pecking order.

Hull began the season under Phil Parkinson, who had signed former Reading teammate Nicky Forster for £250,000, but Phil Brown took over halfway through and they only just managed to avoid relegation. However, the midfielder must have had a wry smile on his face to discover the club propping up the division were none other than Leeds!

The following season saw a big turnround in Hull’s fortunes and they won promotion via the play-offs although Livermore was on the periphery and on transfer deadline day in January 2008 he moved to Boundary Park, Oldham, pairing up with Preston midfielder Jason Jarrett, another loanee who he would subsequently meet again at Brighton.

That introduction to management at Histon, when they were relegated from the Conference in his first season and were 16th in Conference North the following year, proved a steep learning curve for Livermore, as he told the Cambridge Evening News.

“In the first season I was player-manager I didn’t take a wage. My wife and family couldn’t quite understand why I was going through all of that for no money. Fortunately, I had some money set aside anyway, and going to Histon was the best decision I made.”

As well as having the lowest playing budget in the league, Livermore had to deal with off-field issues such as players not being paid and points deductions. “It was a baptism of fire,” he told the newspaper. “I learned a lot about dealing with contracts, managing individuals, trying to make things more professional, and getting players in to help the team.

“All you can do in any job is be honest. I didn’t have all the answers and I told the players that. I think honesty is key, and having that integrity.”

It was while he was at Histon that he began talking about his future coaching career with his friend and former Millwall teammate, Neil Harris, who was also coming to the end of his playing career (at Southend United). When Harris was injured, he went to watch a few Histon games and Livermore told cardiffcityfc.co.uk. “It was always good to have his eyes on the games and bounce ideas off each other.

“I’ve known Neil since I was 19. We played together at Millwall for about six seasons and always stayed in touch after that despite our careers going in different directions.”

In 2012, Livermore had the opportunity to return to Millwall, as youth team coach, and Harris followed him back to take charge of the under 21s. “I’d assist him on his games with the 21s during that time and then when the opportunity came for him to take over as first team manager (in 2015), he asked me to join him, which was an easy decision for me to make,” said Livermore.

The pair took Millwall to the League One play-off final at Wembley in 2016, when they were beaten 3-1 by Barnsley, and the following season they returned after finishing sixth in the table and won their place back in the Championship courtesy of a 1-0 win over Bradford City. They also twice took Millwall to the quarter finals of the FA Cup.

Although Millwall won two of their first three matches of the 2019-20 season, a subsequent seven-game winless run saw the pair leave Millwall in October 2019. Club chairman John Berylson said: “Both Neil and David leave with their heads held high, forever friends of the club, and I wish them both every success in their future careers. They will always be welcome at The Den.”

The following month the pair were installed as successors to the Neil Warnock regime at Championship Cardiff and the Welsh side finished fifth in the league by the end of the first season but lost out to Fulham in the play-off semi-finals.

Unfortunately, the churn of managers in the Welsh capital didn’t spare Harris and Livermore and, in January 2021, after 14 months, their services were dispensed with after a six-game losing streak. Mick McCarthy and Terry Connor took over: they were only there for nine months.

After a year out of the game, Harris and Livermore were back in the managerial saddle in January 2022 at League One Gillingham, but they couldn’t prevent the Gills being relegated at the end of the season.

Tony Burns handled the art of goalkeeping for decades

A GOALKEEPER with film star looks signed for Brighton from Arsenal just after England lifted the World Cup.

Tony Burns had kept goal for the Gunners in 31 top-flight matches and Albion boss Archie Macaulay, who had played for Arsenal himself, went back to his old club to sign a no.1 to challenge the emerging local lad, Brian Powney.

It wasn’t difficult for Burns to settle at the Goldstone because the dressing room included Northern Irish full-back Jimmy Magill and winger Brian Tawse, familiar faces from his time in north London who’d also made the switch to Brighton.

It also wasn’t long before female fans who admired his smouldering good looks were sending in letters to the office inquiring about his eligibility!

Burns relived his career in detail in 2020 when interviewed by 17-year-old would-be journalist Jed Vine, who watches games at the Amex with his mother, and games at the Emirates with his dad.

Born in Edenbridge, Kent, on 27 March 1944, Burns first showed his goalkeeping prowess during his schooldays in the town before he joined Southern League club Tonbridge (now Tonbridge Angels) who he returned to twice more and later managed three times.

He made his Southern League debut against Yiewsley (later to become Hillingdon Borough) in February 1963 and only his third game for Tonbridge was as an 18-year-old against Arsenal at Highbury.

With long term custodian Jack Kelsey retiring, Arsenal were looking around for likely successors and, liking what they saw of Burns, offered him a contract.

“In his early days at Highbury, he showed immense potential and, after benefitting from Kelsey`s coaching, made encouraging strides,” a 2020 Pitching In piece for the Southern League recalled.

Manager Billy Wright gave him his senior Arsenal debut in a friendly against Enschede in Holland in August 1963, with Magill in defence, and he got his first taste of South Africa on a five-game tour the following May when he was in goal for Arsenal’s 5-1 win over a Western Province XI and their 6-0 win over an Eastern Province XI.

But his big breakthrough came when he made his league debut in a 3-2 home win over Burnley in October 1964 (three days earlier he’d played in goal in a 7-0 friendly win over non-league Corinthian Casuals).

“I felt on top of the world. I had always wanted to play for the Gunners and here I was keeping goal for them, and on the winning side at that,” he told the Albion matchday programme. “There’s only one first match and I’ll never forget this one.”

Once he got the shirt, he had a run of 26 games (32 including friendlies) from October 1964 through to the end of March 1965.

He generally played in front of a defence featuring the likes of Don Howe, Frank McLintock and Ian Ure with John Radford and Joe Baker up front.

During the first half of the 1965-66 season, Burns appeared in seven league games and three friendlies, but his final Gunners first team appearance came on 27 December 1965 in a 4-0 defeat away to Sheffield Wednesday.

Jim Furnell was Wright’s preferred first choice, and, as the season wore on, the emerging Bob Wilson was getting the nod ahead of him as stand-in (although it wasn’t until 1968 that Wilson finally ousted Furnell).

Disappointed to leave, Burns nonetheless went in search of regular football by joining Third Division Brighton for £2,000 in July 1966.

He made his first appearance for the Albion on 17 September 1966, when he took over from the injured Powney, but Brighton went down 2-0 to Grimsby Town.

Powney returned the following week and Burns had to wait until January for his next games – two FA Cup ties against Aldershot.

Burns in action versus Chelsea

He kept his place for the big fourth round FA Cup game against First Division Chelsea at the Goldstone which finished 1-1 when his former Arsenal teammate Tawse controversially had what he thought was a cracking late winner ruled out for a foul by Kit Napier.

Unfortunately, Burns conceded four in the replay at Stamford Bridge as the superior Chelsea side made the most of home advantage to ease their way through comfortably, 4-0. That was the season they went all the way to the final only to lose 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur, whose ranks included Alan Mullery and Joe Kinnear.

By the end of the season, Burns had played 18 matches against Powney’s 37. But Burns had the upper hand in 1967-68 featuring in 29 games compared to Powney’s 21.

He also started the 1968-69 season as first choice but his 54th and final game for the Albion was in the 2-1 home defeat to Northampton in the second round of the FA Cup on 20 December 1968.

New manager Freddie Goodwin brought in former Wolves and Aston Villa ‘keeper Geoff Sidebottom to challenge Powney and let Burns leave on a free transfer in March 1969.

He joined Charlton Athletic, where he made 10 appearances in their unsuccessful tilt at promotion, but declined what he saw as a derisory contract offer. He returned to Tonbridge briefly and in January 1971 headed off to play in South Africa, initially for Durban United, and later, Maritzburg.

In his interview with Jed, he recalls playing in an English All Stars team managed by Malcolm Allison who invited him to return to England with Crystal Palace when his contract was up.

Burns made the move in October 1973 after previous Palace no.1 (and later Albion youth coach) John Jackson had moved to Orient.

He shared goalkeeping duties with Paul Hammond, playing a total of 90 matches between the sticks for Palace over the next four years under Allison and his successor Terry Venables.

In 1977, Burns played half a dozen games on loan for Brentford before heading off to the States like a lot of ageing players did at that time.

The ‘keeper played a dozen games for Memphis Rogues in the North American Football League. They were coached by former Chelsea defender and manager Eddie McCreadie although Burns had gone there to team up with former boss Allison who was sacked without a ball being kicked because he hadn’t signed enough players!

Burns played for Memphis Rogues in the USA

Among Burns’ teammates were a young Neil Smillie, who’d been struggling for games at Palace, Phil Beal, who had left Brighton the year before, John Faulkner, the one-time Leeds and Luton defender, and the flamboyant Alan Birchenall, beloved by Leicester City supporters of many generations.

Back in the UK in 1978, Burns joined Plymouth Argyle as cover for Martin Hodge, and ended his league playing days in this country appearing in 11 games in the first half of the 1978-79 season.

However, he left Home Park to rejoin Tonbridge Angels for a third time and he also played for Hastings United and Dartford.

After his playing days were over, Burns had three spells in charge of Tonbridge, from August 1980 to December 1982, August 1989 to May 1990, and in a caretaker role from November 2001 to May 2002 (by which time he was goalkeeping coach at Millwall, who he joined in 1992 under Mick McCarthy.

Burns served as goalkeeper coach under several Millwall managers.
Picture: Brian Tonks.

He also spent seven years as manager of Gravesend and Northfleet (who became Ebbsfleet United) between 1982 and 1989.

But it was at Millwall where he finally found a permanent home, working under no fewer than 18 different managers, including Steve Gritt and Mark McGhee.

He was even at the helm himself for a while, working as co-caretaker manager with former Lions boss Alan McLeary after Dave Tuttle’s departure in April 2006, when Millwall’s relegation had already been confirmed.

The appointment of Nigel Spackman the following month led to Burns’ departure in July 2006, when he took up a similar role at his old club Palace, working under former Albion boss Peter Taylor coaching Julian Speroni and Scott Flinders.

Goalkeeping coach at Palace under Peter Taylor

He left Selhurst in November 2007 when Taylor lost his job, and Speroni told yourlocalguardian.co.uk: “It was sad to lose Tony Burns because we worked well with him. During last season when I wasn’t playing regular football, Tony was the one who kept me going which was very important.”

Burns moved with Taylor to Conference side Stevenage Borough but later returned to Millwall under Kenny Jackett before stepping down in 2012, when he was succeeded by Kevin Pressman.

Still, he wasn’t finished with the game, though, and at the age of 70, in the summer of 2014, he teamed up with Taylor yet again to become goalkeeping coach at Gillingham. He joined them on a part-time non-contract basis as a replacement for Carl Muggleton.