Tag: Alan Mullery

Irish midfield maestro’s arrival created buzz of excitement

AN AIR of excitement swept around the crumbling terraces of the Goldstone Ground when one of the finest midfield players of his generation became Brighton’s manager.

Liam Brady had been the darling of Highbury in the 1970s, won titles in Italy with Juventus and then brought the curtain down on a glorious playing career in three years with West Ham United.

After six years watching Brighton’s fortunes fluctuate under the low profile guidance of Barry Lloyd, fans who craved a return to the glory days of Alan Mullery’s first reign had great expectations when such a well-known footballing figure as Brady arrived at the Goldstone in December 1993.

But how did it come about? Brady’s first foray into management – at Glasgow giants Celtic – had not gone well and he was unemployed having resigned in early October.

With only four wins in 26 games, Lloyd’s near-seven-year reign at the Goldstone was in its final throes as autumn turned to winter, and in early December he was said to have left “by mutual consent”.

The managerial vacancy caught the eye of former Albion favourite – and Brady’s former Irish international teammate – Gerry Ryan, who’d been forced to retire from playing and was running a pub in Haywards Heath, and he got in touch.

“He asked if I’d be interested. I saw it as another part of my learning curve as a manager and was happy to take it,” said Brady.

Ryan was promptly installed as Brady’s assistant and before long he’d persuaded Jimmy Case to return to the Seagulls at the age of 39 (he’d been playing non-league for Sittingbourne) to bring experience to the battle against relegation and lend a hand on the coaching side.

Brady takes charge at the Albion

By a strange quirk of fate, the opponents for Brady’s first game in charge, Bradford City, were managed by his former Arsenal and Eire teammate, Frank Stapleton, who the following season he recruited for a couple of games.

Unlike the effect of Brian Clough’s arrival at the Goldstone 20 years previously, the gate for the Bradford match the Saturday before Christmas was only 6,535. Albion lost 1-0 but in the next four games, played over the course of 13 days, there were two wins and two draws. Steady improvement on the pitch was helped by the introduction on loan of two exciting youngsters from Brady’s old club Arsenal – firstly Mark Flatts and then Paul Dickov.

The threat of relegation lifted and, looking back, Brady said his favourite match in charge came on 6 April 1994.

“We beat Swansea 4-1 in an evening game towards the end of my first season, when we had (Paul) Dickov on loan in a very good partnership with Kurt Nogan,” he said.

“There was a real buzz that we were going to avoid relegation. The players believed the club was going places again, as we all did.”

At the start of the following season, Brady picked up two youngsters from Arsenal’s north London neighbours, Spurs, in lively forward Junior McDougald and midfielder Jeff Minton.

Right-back Peter Smith, who assistant manager Ryan had spotted playing in a non-league charity match, was brought on board and crowned his first season by being named player of the season.

Brady also brought in the former England international Mark Chamberlain, but the balance of the side remained youthful and, with money remaining tight, a mid-table finish was not entirely unexpected.

In a matchday programme article in 2015, Brady reflected on how relegation had been avoided against the ugly backdrop of what the directors were doing to the club (selling the ground with no new home to go to) and realised subsequently that he should have left at the end of that second season.

“I became aware that Bill Archer had no intention of taking the club forward, despite his public announcements to the contrary. I could tell that the club was going nowhere.

“Archer and Bellotti were winding the club down and it wasn’t right. But it wasn’t a case of me walking away. I was living in Hove, I had grown attached to the club, the fans, and feelings were running high.”

After 100 games in charge of the Seagulls, he quit in November 1995, handing the reins to Case, who was reluctant to take on the job.

Brady’s fondness for the club remained undiminished, though, and he was subsequently involved in Dick Knight’s consortium trying to wrestle control of the club out of Archer’s hands.

It had been planned that he would return as manager but as the negotiations dragged on he was offered the opportunity to return to Arsenal as head of youth development and couldn’t turn it down.

“I had a family to think about and it was a dream job for me. Dick understood, particularly as there were no guarantees with what was happening at the time at Brighton.”

The fact he had the Arsenal job for the following 25 years meant he probably made the right decision! Even after leaving that role, Brady retained his links with Arsenal by becoming an ambassador for the Arsenal Foundation.

Brady was born into a footballing family in Dublin on 13 February 1956 – a great uncle (Frank) and older brother, Ray, were internationals, older brother Frank played for Shamrock Rovers and another brother, Pat, played for Millwall and QPR.

Brady went to St Aidan’s Catholic Boys School but left at 15 in 1971 to join Arsenal after their chief scout, Gordon Clark, had spotted him and Stapleton playing for Eire Schoolboys.

A Goal magazine article of 7 October 1972 featured boss Bertie Mee talking about the pair as future first team players – even though they were only aged just 15 and 16.

Mee said: “Brady is almost established as a regular in the reserve side. He needs building up but has the potential to become a first-team player. Stapleton has made quite an impact in his first season and, providing he maintains a steady improvement, he could also follow the path of Brady.”

It was only Brady’s second season and Clark said at first he thought he would be better suited to becoming a jockey because he was so small and frail!

He quickly changed his mind when he saw his ability with a football. “He was like a little midget, but he had so much confidence. He’s really shot up now and although he’s still not very tall, he’s strong enough to hold his own,” said Clark. “Liam’s got a very mature head on his shoulders. His maturity shows in his play.”

Brady became a professional at 17 in 1973 and made his debut in October that year as a substitute in a league game against Birmingham City. Mee used him sparingly that season and he picked up the nickname Chippy – not for any footballing prowess but for his liking of fish and chips!

Initially dovetailing with former World Cup winner Alan Ball in Arsenal’s midfield, he eventually took over as the key man in the centre of the park. He became a first team regular in 1974-75 and began to thrive when Terry Neill took over as manager with Don Howe returning to Arsenal as coach. In the second part of the decade, Brady was named the club’s player of the year three times and, in 1979, he won the prestigious Players’ Player of the Year title from the PFA.

Brady played in three successive FA Cup finals for Arsenal – in 1978,1979 and 1980 – winning the competition in the 1979 classic against Manchester United, courtesy of his driving run and pass to Graham Rix whose sublime cross from the left wing into the six-yard area allowed Alan Sunderland a simple tap-in for the winner.

Having lost to Ipswich Town the year before, it was Brady’s first trophy with the Gunners and he said: “It was just wonderful to experience being a Wembley winner. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

The opening game of the following season saw Brady line up for Arsenal at the Goldstone in Albion’s very first top level match.

There was nothing more likely to rile Arsenal than a former Spurs captain claiming beforehand what his team were going to do to the Gunners.

Arsenal promptly romped to a 4-0 win and Brady recalled: “Alan Mullery was shooting his mouth off. Brighton had arrived in the big time and were going to turn Arsenal over.

“Mullers was good at motivating players but he motivated us that day.

“We all thought it was going to be a hard game, but once we got the first goal we settled down and Brighton were in awe of us. I scored a penalty and we ran out comfortable winners.”

However, it was the start of Brady’s last season as an Arsenal player. The following May, Arsenal lost to Trevor Brooking’s headed goal for West Ham in the FA Cup Final and Arsenal also lost to Valencia in the Cup Winners’ Cup Final in a penalty shoot-out – Brady and Rix missing their spot kicks in Brussels.

Nevertheless, having played 307 games (295 starts + 12 as sub), arsenal.com recalls one of their favourite sons warmly: “Chippy had everything a midfielder could want – skill, vision, balance, strength, a powerful shot and the ability to glide past opponents at will.

“Like all great players he always had time on the ball and almost always chose the right option. On a football pitch, Brady’s brain and feet worked in perfect harmony.”

Brady moved on to Italy where he spent seven years, initially with Juventus, winning two Italian league titles and then with Sampdoria, Inter Milan and Ascoli. In his second season at Brighton, Brady had the Seagulls wearing the colours of Inter as their change kit – I still consider it to be the best the club has had.

As well as a highly successful club career, Brady won a total of 72 caps for his country. He made his Republic of Ireland debut on 30 October 1974 in a 3-0 home win over the Soviet Union and went on to win 72 caps for his country.

He retired from internationals ahead of qualification for the 1990 World Cup and, although he later made himself available for selection, manager Jack Charlton decided to choose only those who had helped Eire qualify for the finals.

Brady had returned to the UK in March 1987 to enjoy three years at West Ham in which he scored 10 goals in 119 appearances. His first somewhat ironically came against Arsenal while he reckoned his best was a 20-yarder past Peter Shilton that proved to be the winner in a league game against Derby County.

Brady explained the circumstances of his move to the Hammers in an interview with whufc.com. He nearly ended up joining Celtic instead, but he’d given his word to West Ham boss John Lyall and, because he’d retained an apartment in London, it made sense to return there.

Brady in action for West Ham at the Goldstone, faced by ex-Hammer, Alan Curbishley

In only his fourth West Ham game, he found himself up against Arsenal and was mobbed after netting the final goal in a 3-1 win at the Boleyn Ground.

“With ten minutes remaining, I won the ball on half-way before running to the edge of the 18-yard box, where I hit a low curler around David O’Leary and beyond Rhys Wilmott’s dive, into the bottom right-hand corner,” he said. “The place went wild! I certainly wasn’t going to just walk back to the centre-circle without celebrating my first goal for my new team.”

While the Hammers finished 15th that campaign, they were relegated in 1989 which brought about the departure of Lyall. Brady clearly didn’t see eye to eye with his successor, Lou Macari, but was pleased when he was replaced by Hammers legend Billy Bonds.

Brady eventually called time on his playing days in May 1990, Wolves and West Ham players lining up to give him a guard of honour as he took to the pitch for the final game of the season.

He was substitute that day but went on for Kevin Keen and rounded off his remarkable career by scoring in a 4-0 win.

“Having scored at the Boleyn Ground with my last-ever kick in professional football, I couldn’t have written a better script,” he told whufc.com.

After not making the move to Celtic as a player, his first step into management came at Celtic Park as successor to former club legend Billy McNeill in June 1991. He was the first manager not to have played for the Hoops.

It was a big step to take for a novice manager, and hindsight suggested the players he signed didn’t do him any justice. He later admitted: “I didn’t do particularly well as Celtic boss. Second place behind Rangers was seen as a failure and, even if you’ve had a good reputation as a player, it counts for little as a manager.”

Brighton (well, Hove actually) would prove to be as far from the cauldron of Glasgow as he could possibly get, but the club management game clearly didn’t suit Brady, and he didn’t take on any other senior managerial hotseats after the Seagulls.

Alongside his youth team responsibilities at Arsenal, he did assist his country’s national team between 2008 and 2010. He was assistant to Giovanni Trapattoni during his time in charge, also working alongside Brady’s former Juventus teammate Marco Tardelli.

Brady still lives in Sussex and he told whufc.com how he occasionally meets up with Billy Bonds at Plumpton Races and enjoys a round of golf with Trevor Brooking.

Career-ending leg break spawned physio role for George Dalton

A CAREER-ENDING leg break led one-time international hopeful George Dalton into a new career as a football physio.

Geordie-born Dalton was an emerging left-back at Newcastle United being watched as a possible candidate for a call-up to the England Under-23 side.

But he was never the same player after breaking a leg in a tackle with Leeds United’s Johnny Giles.

Then, only seven months after trying to resurrect his career with third tier Brighton, unlucky Dalton sustained a double fracture of the same leg in a freak collision and never played professionally again.

However, he turned his familiarity with the treatment table to good use and he later became Coventry City’s physio for the best part of 20 years.

Born in Dilston, Northumberland, on 4 September 1941, Dalton went through the junior ranks at Newcastle and turned professional at St James’s Park in 1958.

He made his Toon debut on 10 October 1960 in a 4-1 League Cup defeat away to Colchester United, and made his First Division debut the following February, ending up on the losing side in a 5-3 defeat away to Leicester City.

After Newcastle’s relegation to the old Division Two, Dalton made a lot more appearances (including being in the Toon side who thumped Brighton 5-0 at St James’ on 21 October 1961).

He was in and out of the side over the next two years but became a regular from March 1963 and, in January 1964, eagle-eyed Ken McKenzie, reporter for Newcastle’s The Journal, spotted England Under-23 selector Mr E.Smith in the stands at St James’s.

“This visit can only mean imminence of England Under-23s selection to meet Scotland at St James’s Park on Wednesday evening, February 5, and check up, particularly on George Dalton and Alan Suddick, of United,” he wrote. “On this basis, I feel that Mr Smith’s trip to Tyneside holds out very bright prospect of Forest Hall, Newcastle, product, Dalton, gaining his first representative honour on February 5.

“I know that Dalton has been recommended to the England selectors for some time by United directors and manager, and his consistency and clean, strong play has been commented on by influential observers at several away games.”

Unfortunately, the call-up didn’t happen, and revered reporter Ken Jones wrote in the Daily Mirror: “Despite local claims for left back George Dalton and inside forward idol Alan Suddick; neither has been chosen by the England team manager, and clearly they have no place in his ideas at present.”

Interestingly, the left-back berth went to Keith Newton, who later went with England to the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. Mike Bailey and Graham Cross both played in the Under-23s’ 3-2 win over Scotland, while the reserves that day were Peter Grummitt, Alan Mullery and Martin Chivers.

Within a matter of weeks, Dalton’s football fortunes were turned upside down when, in his 40th game of the season, on 30 March 1964, three days after Newcastle had surrendered an eight-game unbeaten run losing 1-0 at home to promotion-chasing Leeds on Good Friday, the full-back suffered a leg break that virtually finished his Newcastle career.

The Journal saw it thus: “This is the tale of a noble resistance by a Newcastle side who had Alan Suddick crippled in the 17th minute and lost George Dalton with a broken right leg (just above the ankle) with 14 minutes to go.”

mightyleeds.co.uk recorded it like this: “Newcastle finished with one man in hospital and another limping, but Leeds just about deserved to win their third hard match in four days. For once, however, there was no malice attached to the game and left-back Dalton confirmed he had broken his right tibia after himself kicking the sole of Giles’ boot.”

Dalton didn’t play his next Newcastle first team game for nearly two and a half years, and then it was just the one game. After that solitary appearance – his 94th for Toon – on 27 August 1966, when they lost a Division One match 2-1 at home to Spurs, he was cast into the shadows and eventually given a free transfer in May 1967.

Albion’s 1967-68 squad with Dalton circled in the back row

Third Division Brighton gave the player the chance to salvage his career and he arrived on the south coast in June 1967 together with a young centre forward, Bob Fuller, who went on to score regularly for Albion’s reserves but subsequently moved to South Africa and in later life became a senior executive at mobile phone companies Orange and 3.

There were a couple of familiar faces amongst Dalton’s new teammates: Dave Turner, had been a fringe player at Newcastle before joining Brighton in December 1963, while forward Kit Napier had moved to the south coast the previous summer.

Stewart Ogden also joined straight from school in the north east in the summer of 1967 and the matchday programme declared: “Instead of Sussex by the Sea, Albion’s rousing signature tune, they may be playing The Blaydon Races this season, with so many Geordies on the staff.”

Dalton took over the no.3 shirt from Bobby Baxter, who had moved on to Torquay United, and went straight into Albion’s starting XI alongside new £25,000 record signing John Napier from Bolton Wanderers.

The matchday programme acknowledged Dalton’s past injury misfortune and said: “We all hope the change of club will see this fine defender recapturing his old form. He is married and recently moved into a pleasant club house at Portslade.”

Dalton made 28 appearances in the first half of that 1967-68 season under Archie Macaulay before tragically suffering a double fracture of his right leg in a 0-0 draw at home to Oxford United.

It was on 27 January 1968 that Dalton was involved in a heavy collision with United’s Graham Atkinson (big Ron’s brother) and Albion goalkeeper Brian Powney.

The cruel blow came almost four years after the injury he’d sustained at Newcastle and the Albion matchday programme commented how he had “completely shaken off the effects and was playing with great confidence” adding: “Albion’s popular left-back has played some fine games this season and his stylish work has been admired by supporters of other clubs, as well as the Albion fans.”

In its Albion Postbag column, a correspondent from Newhaven, calling himself ‘Veteran Player’, wrote: “George Dalton has had two unlucky accidents and we all hope he comes back fit and well and able to continue to delight us with his polished full-back play.

“Brighton have nearly always been lucky with their left-backs, and we have had a string of really fine players in that position. George Dalton can be included in that impressive list.”

Macaulay was optimistic the player would recover and in October 1968 the programme told supporters: “George is doing light training, jogging round the pitch, up the terracing also carrying out weight training exercises.”

In the meantime, Mike Everitt had been brought in to fill the gap and, by the time Macaulay was succeeded as manager by Freddie Goodwin, as 1968 drew to a close, Dalton still wasn’t in contention.

It looked even less likely he’d get back in when Goodwin signed his former Leeds teammate Willie Bell from Leicester City, but his next career step was closely linked to both of them.

In the summer of 1970, Dalton, who’d combined studying physiotherapy with coaching the Albion junior team in the latter part of his contract, joined Goodwin and Bell as part of the new management team at Birmingham City.

Albion took serious umbrage at the exodus and the matter ended up with City having to pay £4,500 compensation for Goodwin (who still had 18 months of his contract remaining) and a £5,000 fine for illegally approaching Bell.

Dalton’s situation was viewed differently because he’d technically been a player out of contract thus free to make a move.

When Goodwin left City in 1976 and returned to manage in America, Dalton moved on to Midlands neighbours Coventry City, taking over as physio from Norman Pilgrim, and he retained the position for two decades.

Several former players had nothing but good things to say about him when interviewed in Steve Phelps’ book 29 Minutes From Wembley. Striker Garry Thompson spoke highly of the care with which Dalton treated him when he suffered a broken leg that put him out of the game for 11 months.

“George Dalton, our physiotherapist, was magnificent with me,” he said. “He kept saying my leg was going to be like a twig and I’d have to rebuild the muscles and learn to walk again.

“My Mum and Dad thought it was career over, but, the way I think about it now, I was so lucky because there weren’t that many options for me and I had to play football.

“George’s own career was ended by injury. He was a very good footballer when he trained with us so, when I broke my leg, he really took care of me and was superb.

“I couldn’t thank him enough and all George had was the sponge and two machines in the treatment room, the electric currents and the ultrasound, that was it.

“He worked miracles down the years with players and, if it wasn’t for him, I would not have played until I was 37. I owe him a lot.”

Garry’s praise for Dalton was echoed by Paul Dyson, who spent prolonged periods in the treatment room with ankle and back injuries during his teenage years. “George was a real character. We all had a lot of time for him and he tended a lot of us through our respective injuries.

“He used to drive us to the hospital in his Morris 1100 and had a great left foot. He’d played left-back for Newcastle United before his own career was ended by injury. There were the two machines in his room and he used to have ice cubes on sticks in his freezer.”

Dalton alongside boss John Sillett in the front row of this Coventry squad picture

Scottish international winger Tommy Hutchison was another admirer. “He was a smashing lad, George, very old-school. He suffered no fools and could always tell if a player was injured or not.

“In our days broken legs did finish careers, along with knee ligament injuries, and George rehabilitated so many players at Coventry. There was no squad rotation as you wanted to stay in the team and play every week because if you didn’t someone else would step in to take your place and you wouldn’t be able to get back in.”

Midfielder Andy Blair added: “George was a great physiotherapist, a terrific calming influence and a great man to have around.”

Experienced full-back Mick Coop was another who appreciated the physio. “George really was a lovely man who worked injured players very hard in the gym to get them back on to the pitch,” he said. “He was very quiet but did his job well and garnered a lot of respect off the playing squad. I can’t speak highly enough of him.”

Dalton keeps in touch with many of his former colleagues through the Coventry City Former Players’ Association, which has reported how he returned to live in Newcastle in retirement.

* Pictures from matchday programmes and various online sources.

Putney printer Pearce went to Wembley with the Albion

HE took a circuitous route back to his hometown club but full-back Graham Pearce eventually made it to Brentford’s first team after Brighton had resurrected his career and given him a chance to play at the top level of the English game.

Pearce was first on Brentford’s books as a teenager between 1971 and 1976, but he didn’t make it as a pro with the Bees and, after also being turned down by QPR, he went non-league, initially with Hillingdon Borough for three years and then Barnet.

When Pearce lined up for Barnet in a FA Cup third round tie on 2 January 1982, it must have been beyond his wildest dreams to imagine just over a year later he’d be playing in that competition’s final at Wembley.

But the steady, assured performances 21-year-old Pearce put in as Alliance Premier League Barnet held Brighton 0-0 before losing 3-1 in a replay at the Goldstone impressed the watching Albion boss Mike Bailey sufficiently to sign him up for the Seagulls.

Although he was itching to join, he had to serve a week’s notice with the Putney printer where he had a full-time job because they weren’t in a position to release him sooner.

Just over a year later, when injuries depleted Jimmy Melia’s cup hopefuls the closer they got to a dream Wembley date, Pearce seized his chance to put his own name in print. Circumstances fell just right for him, but it might not have happened if the experienced left-back Sammy Nelson hadn’t been sidelined.

A packed East Terrace at the Goldstone the backdrop as Pearce faces Newcastle in the FA Cup

Pearce played in the third round 1-1 Goldstone draw with Newcastle – one of six games he played in January 1983 – but he missed the 4-0 demolition of Manchester City in the fourth round and didn’t feature again until 22 March when he was sub for the 2-2 home draw with Liverpool.

Because versatile Gary Stevens was more than capable of playing alongside Steve Foster, normal centre back partner Steve Gatting was preferred at left-back for 14 matches from the end of January.

But when right-back Chris Ramsey was suspended for the semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday, Stevens took his spot, Gatting returned to the middle and Pearce slotted in at left-back.

Because Foster was suspended for the final against Man Utd, Stevens paired up with Gatting in the middle and Pearce retained his place.

Even when Foster returned for the replay, Pearce kept his place because Ramsey had been crocked in the first match and wasn’t fit to play (Melia making the mistake of putting left-footed Gatting at right-back instead of Stevens).

In a pre-match interview with the Daily Mail, Pearce said: “There’s money to be made from appearing at Wembley but the thrill for me is just being there – a player from non-League who thought his chance of playing league football had gone.”

Pearce retained the no.3 shirt at the start of the 1983-84 season back in the second tier but, when Chris Cattlin took over from Melia, he made it clear he wanted someone with more experience in that position.

In his matchday programme notes he wrote: “With Kieran (O’Regan), Eric Young and Graham Pearce all playing together, we have three players who haven’t been long out of non-League football.

“Normally these players would have been blooded slowly into the side, instead of being plunged in the deep end. They have done well and shown the right attitude, but when we play against aggressive sides away from home, some of their inexperience has been exposed.”

Until a suitable replacement could be found, Pearce remained in the side and even poked home his first Albion goal in a 4-3 win away to Cambridge United on 29 October 1983.

But four weeks later, after a 2-2 draw at home to Shrewsbury Town, Cattlin was typically forthright in his next programme notes, declaring: “I was unhappy with our defence and our failings in this department cost us the game.”

Pearce and fellow full-back Ramsey were promptly dropped; the left-back berth going to new signing Chris Hutchings from Chelsea.

Cattlin had high praise for his new recruit as he said: “Chris Hutchings is an enthusiastic, strong and determined defender and has a lot to offer, he’s also a fine footballer.”

After 18 consecutive games, Pearce found himself out of the side for the rest of the season.

It’s interesting to note that the reserve side for the 1 May 1984 fixture at home to Southampton featured five players (Pearce, Ramsey, Gary Howlett, Gerry Ryan and Neil Smillie) who’d been in the FA Cup Final squad a year earlier.

The new season was almost three months’ old before Pearce was seen in the first team again, and, ironically, the opponent was once again Shrewsbury.

The game at the Goldstone finished a goalless draw and, with Hutchings having been switched to right-back, Pearce got a run in the side extending to 19 matches.

Unluckily for him, he was then left out of the side in favour of Martin Keown, who Cattlin managed to bring in on loan from Arsenal, and the future England international quickly proved his calibre.

Pearce made one further appearance, in a 2-1 defeat at Middlesbrough, before the end of the season but in the 1985-86 season he finally cemented his place in the side and played a total of 41 matches.

Three days after Christmas 1985, he scored a rare goal as the Seagulls beat Leeds 3-2 at Elland Road. Ian Baird – later to play for the Albion in the old Fourth Division – missed a penalty but scored one of Leeds’ goals and Pearce clinched the winner on a pitch rutted by a rugby league game played on it only two days earlier.

The matchday programme described the goal thus: “Pearce played a one-two with (Steve) Jacobs and found himself with only Mervyn Day to beat and Leeds screaming for offside. The trusty left foot of the Londoner lobbed goalwards, Day was stranded, and Pearce had scored his first goal in 26 months to give Albion another three valuable points.”

Not such a memorable game came in a 3-0 defeat away to Norwich City on 5 April 1986. The full-back went into the referee’s notebook for a foul on future Albion winger Mark Barham, who was substituted shortly afterwards. Albion had a great chance to pull a goal back when Pearce was through one-on-one with Chris Woods, but the England ‘keeper saved his effort comfortably. Then, eight minutes from time, Pearce fouled Wayne Biggins in the penalty area and Welsh international David Williams buried City’s third from the penalty spot.

Pearce played in Albion’s final game of the season, a 2-0 defeat at Hull City under George Petchey, following Cattlin’s sacking, and it turned out to be his last match in a Brighton shirt.

The returning Alan Mullery explained in his programme notes for the opening game of the new season that he released Jacobs and Pearce because “I felt we had too many defenders”.

Pearce switched to Third Division Gillingham under Keith Peacock and played a total of 48 matches as the Gills narrowly missed out on promotion when losing a play-off final replay against Lou Macari’s Swindon Town in 1987.

Following a disappointing second season with the Gills, when they finished mid-table, Pearce returned to hometown club Brentford where he played 14 times (+ 8 as sub) in Steve Perryman’s 1988-89 side. One of his teammates was fellow former Albion cup star Smillie.

Pearce joined up with Peacock again for Maidstone United’s debut season (1989-90) in the Fourth Division, which culminated in a play-off semi-final defeat at the hands of a Cambridge United side featuring Dion Dublin up front.

The following season, under Phil Holder, Pearce was back at Brentford as first team and reserve coach. He subsequently had spells as player-manager with Isthmian League clubs Enfield and Molesey. He later became a PE teacher at Homefield Preparatory School in Sutton.

Born in Hammersmith on 8 July 1959, Pearce was one of seven children (five boys, two girls) and attended Grove Park Primary School, where he was captain of their under-9 football side. He went on to play for the Middlesex County side and Middlesex Wanderers before his stop-start professional career began.

• Pictures from my scrapbook and matchday programmes.

Malcolm in the middle was moustachioed marksman Poskett

MALCOLM POSKETT’s goals helped Brighton to win promotion from the second tier after he’d made a terrific start to his Albion career.

Only two days after putting pen to paper in Hove, Poskett netted the equaliser in a 1-1 draw away to Hull City on 4 February 1978 and a week later he marked his home debut with a goal in Albion’s 2-1 win over Burnley.

The game at Boothferry Park was only six minutes old when the home side went ahead but Poskett levelled it up just before half-time after a Tony Towner corner was headed goalwards by Andy Rollings and the new arrival diverted it into the net.

A £60,000 signing from fourth tier Hartlepool United, Poskett had taken over the no.9 shirt from Ian Mellor, who had only been in the side for one game in the injury absence of Teddy Maybank.

Maybank’s big money signing from Fulham four months earlier had broken up the highly successful Mellor-Peter Ward partnership that earned Albion promotion from the old Third Division, and Poskett’s arrival only served to illuminate the Goldstone exit door even brighter for Mellor, who swiftly departed for Chester.

A crowd of 22,694 saw the new man’s Division Two debut on an icy Goldstone Ground pitch. Poskett once again profited from a Towner pass to score. Skipper Brian Horton scored Albion’s other goal.

It all must have felt very showbiz to the lad from Teesside, used to playing in front of 5,000 crowds in the Fourth Division, especially when prior to kick off against the Clarets, Slade, a famous chart-topping pop group of the time, recorded a single on the pitch in front of the North Stand.

While Maybank reclaimed his starting berth from Poskett for six matches, he was troubled by a knee injury and Poskett got the nod for the remaining seven games of the season as Albion chased automatic promotion, which at that time was earned by the top three sides in the division. There were no play-offs.

Poskett repaid Mullery’s faith in him with a hat-trick in a 4-0 win away to Bristol Rovers and by netting the only goal of the game in the penultimate fixture at home to Charlton Athletic in front of 31,203 fans.

What happened next has been well documented: Albion missed out on promotion when Southampton (in second) and Spurs (third) conveniently drew 0-0 in the final match of the season; Spurs edging out the Seagulls on goal difference.

Maybank had a successful cartilage operation during the summer break and was initially the preferred partner for Ward as the new season got under way.

Poskett banged in a transfer request as a mark of his frustration but, after Mullery persuaded him to withdraw it, he got his chance back in the side and made the most of opportunities that came his way.

Mullery admitted in Matthew Horner’s biography of Ward (He Shot, He Scored, Sea View Media) that he wasn’t always fair on Poskett when reverting to the Ward-Maybank partnership.

He pointed out: “Malcolm Poskett did a terrific job when we signed him. He was one of the most under-rated goalscorers – absolutely brilliant.

“He was really similar to Wardy, very sharp and very quick but a bit taller and a bit stronger.”

By the end of the season that ended in promotion to the top tier of English football for the first time, Poskett had contributed 10 goals in 24 games (plus eight sub appearances). He was the substitute in the famous 3-1 win back in his native north-east when Newcastle were beaten by the Seagulls on 5 May 1979.

Brighton struggled to find their feet in more exalted company and Poskett barely got a look-in, coming on as a sub twice and only starting three matches, the last of which was in the resounding 4-0 defeat to Arsenal in the League Cup on 13 November 1979.

He scored twice, though: netting the only goal in an away League Cup win over Northampton Town, and four days later scoring along with Peter O’Sullivan as Albion pulled back a 2-0 deficit to draw 2-2 at West Brom.

Poskett wheels away to celebrate his only top flight goal, away to West Brom

However, with the arrival of Ray Clarke from Ajax, it was clear Poskett’s chances at the Albion were going to remain limited, so he dropped back down a level to join promotion-seeking Watford under Graham Taylor. Albion goalkeeper Eric Steele had already made a similar switch in the autumn of that season shortly after a famous spat with Gary Williams at Old Trafford. Mullery also secured a £120,000 fee for Poskett, so Albion did very nicely out of the deal.

“I would have loved to stay at Brighton for the rest of my career, but it wasn’t to be,” Poskett told Spencer Vignes in a retrospective matchday programme article. “One week I was partnering Peter Ward, the next it would be Teddy with Peter. I never got a run in the team, even though I scored a couple of goals when I did play.

“At least with Watford I got the chance to start games. People called us kick and run, a long ball side, but we had a lot of talented players like Ross Jenkins, John Barnes and Nigel Callaghan.”

Poskett struck up a friendship with fellow new boy Martin Patching and both were on the scoresheet (Poskett scored twice) in a memorable 7-1 League Cup thrashing of Southampton on 2 September 1980.

Although being Watford’s top scorer with 21 goals in the 1980-81season, when the Hornets finished ninth, the following season he found himself in the reserves after a three-game barren spell.

In a Watford matchday programme article, he mused: “It’s a strange profession – one minute you’re up and the next down.

“I played in the first three league games of the season without scoring and was dropped. But I’m scoring fairly regularly in the reserve side and my chance will come if I keep on hitting the net. I’m a battler and not the type of player to give less than 100 per cent, no matter what grade of football I’m playing in.”

Watford won promotion as runners up behind close rivals Luton Town but Poskett couldn’t shift Luther Blissett or Jenkins, who were the preferred strike pairing, and Gerry Armstrong, later to join Brighton, was invariably the back-up option.

Born in Middlesbrough on 19 July 1953, Poskett went to Beechwood Junior School and then on to Brackenhoe Secondary Technical. His footballing ability in school sides eventually led to him being selected for North Riding Schools.

He was a decent all-round sportsman – a useful cricketer who played for Middlesbrough Schools, he also featured in local leagues at table tennis, and enjoyed tennis and badminton too.

But at 16 the budding sportsman started out as an apprenticeship plater at Cargofleet Steelworks, only playing football for the local Beechwood Youth Club and then South Bank in the Northern League.

His performances for South Bank caught the eye of Middlesbrough and he was taken on as a professional. But after 18 months in their reserves, manager Jack Charlton gave him a free transfer and he opted to become a plater on North Sea oil rigs to earn a wage.

He didn’t turn his back on football altogether, turning out part-time for Whitby Town in the Northern League. Scoring an incredible 98 goals over two seasons was bound to attract attention.

George Aitken, later a Watford coach and then a coach under Mullery at Brighton, was Workington manager at the time and tried to sign Poskett, but, disillusioned by his Boro experience he chose to stick with Whitby until Hartlepool manager Billy Horner convinced him he could still make it in the professional game.

For a £25 transfer fee, Horner took him on and devoted hours of extra time working on the youngster’s skills and sharpness. It paid off.

“My work rate was non-existent, but Billy Horner really worked on me and got me going,” Poskett told Shoot! magazine. “If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would have got anywhere – I’d still be in non-League soccer. It was so hard at first, I felt like packing it in, but he kept me at it and I’m very grateful now.”

His goalscoring at Hartlepool caught the eye of Ken Craggs when he was a coach at Fulham and when Craggs switched to become Mullery’s no.2 at the Goldstone, Poskett followed soon after, the £60,000 fee representing a tidy profit for the struggling North East minnows.

In an interview with The Argus in 2017, Poskett recalled: “Brighton was one of the best times of my life.

“I came in during the season when we just missed out on promotion and the lads were fantastic. It was a fabulous place to live as well.

“I had to come from one end of the country to the other but, once I got there, there were lads from up north, the Midlands, so it was a good mixed bunch and I felt right at home.”

After helping Watford to promotion in 1982, Poskett headed back north and played for Carlisle United for three seasons, thriving under the managership of Bob Stokoe, who’d led Sunderland to FA Cup glory in 1973.

In the penultimate game of the 1983-84 season, Poskett scored his 100th career goal – and his 101st – as Carlisle  drew 2-2 at home to Crystal Palace in front of a paltry crowd at Brunton Park of just 3,038.

Poskett subsequently had six months at Darlington, before switching to Stockport County in January 1986.

Appearances were few and far between and he went on loan to his old club Hartlepool in March the same year before moving back to Carlisle in August 1986. He finally hung up his boots at the end of the 1987-88 season.

He remained in the town and in 2017 was working as an examiner at Pirelli, the tyre manufacturer.

Pictures from Albion matchday programmes and online sources.

‘Genuine football man who turned people’s lives around’

George Petchey twice stepped up from backroom man to Albion caretaker manager

THE FORMER Orient and Millwall manager who introduced Laurie Cunningham to the football world was twice caretaker boss of Brighton ten years apart.

George Petchey, once a player then coach at Crystal Palace, was assistant manager to Chris Cattlin in the mid ‘80s and returned to Brighton in the ‘90s as youth development manager under Liam Brady, before becoming no.2 to Jimmy Case.

Working for the Albion was certainly geographically convenient for Petchey because, even when he played, coached or managed in London, he lived in Southwick.

Petchey first arrived at the Albion in 1983 to take charge of youth development and, as described by wearebrighton.com, was the man responsible for introducing Ian Wright on trial, having been impressed when the future Arsenal and England star had tried to begin his career at Millwall, where Petchey was manager between January 1978 and November 1980.

It’s now part of football folklore that Albion rejected Wright and Cattlin opted to take on another triallist, Steve Penney, instead. Meanwhile, in November 1984, Petchey was promoted to assist the relatively inexperienced Cattlin with the first team.

Although he was seen as a figure in the background, a profile article in the matchday programme gave a little insight into his approach.

“I can’t understand people who earn a living from football and still criticise the game,” he told interviewer Tony Norman. “I’ve been involved with it since the age of 14 and I wouldn’t change a thing.

“Molly (his wife) and I have met a lot of good people. We’ve loved the game and it has been good to us. No complaints.”

When Cattlin was sacked in April 1986, Petchey stepped up to manage the side for the final game of the season (a 2-0 defeat away to Hull City) before Alan Mullery returned as boss.

Petchey’s second stint at the Albion began in January 1994, shortly after Brady had been appointed as manager. With finances perilous during that time, bringing through youngsters was seen as an important route and Petchey was appointed to oversee that side of things.

In explaining the appointment, Brady wrote in his programme notes: “I don’t think there are many better in their field than George Petchey.

“He has had a lot of experience at management level and he has always been able to develop young players and this is something we are determined to do here.”

Brady had been to watch the youth team progress in the FA Youth Cup and he added: “There are several outstanding prospects in the side and I am sure George will guide them in the right direction.”

Within a couple of months, Brady had given a first team debut to one of them in Mark Fox.

The Argus later noted how Gareth Barry was among the young players who came through Albion’s centre of excellence under Petchey, Vic Bragg and Steve Avory.

Petchey became no.2 to Jimmy Case, pictured with George Parris in an Albion line-up

When Brady couldn’t stomach the shenanigans of the Bill Archer-David Bellotti regime any longer, Case took charge and promoted Petchey to be his deputy, but with the background interference affecting performances on the field, Case was relieved of his duties in early December 1996.

Petchey stepped forward once again to take temporary charge, although he made it clear he didn’t want the job on a permanent basis. Indeed, he recommended two of his former Orient players be considered for the post.

“I was asked for my suggestions and I recommended Dennis Rofe and Glenn Roeder,” said Petchey, who was 65 at the time. “Hopefully, it will be one of them.”

It was perhaps par for the course that the hierarchy decided to choose someone else, and, within a week, Steve Gritt was appointed.

When Petchey – the first English coach to complete his UEFA coaching qualifications – died aged 88 on 23 December 2019, the tributes paid to him reflected the impact this highly respected football man had on a good many people.

The football writer Neil Harman said: “We often overlook the genuine, honest people, who made football what it is, who went the extra mile, who turned people’s lives around. RIP the great Leyton Orient manager George Petchey who set Laurie Cunningham and many others on the road to stardom.”

David Gipp, a Brighton player in the late ‘80s, tweeted: “took me from London at 14; taught me so much” and John Sitton, who played under Petchey at Millwall, described him as “one of the best managers in the game”.

Born on 24 June 1931 in Whitechapel, London, Petchey’s early footballing experience was in Essex with the Romford and Hornchurch Schools teams. The excellent theyflysohigh.co.uk website details his career, revealing how, on leaving school he played for Upminster Minors and Juniors from 1945 to 1947 before joining West Ham United as an amateur in August 1947.

He signed professional on August 31, 1948, and two days later made his first appearance as a professional against Chelsea ‘A’ at Upton Park in the Eastern Counties League.  

The website explains how National Service interrupted Petchey’s career, although he was still able to play fairly regularly for the Hammers’ ‘A’ team and Football Combination side. It wasn’t until 1 September 1952 that he made his senior debut at the age of 21, playing alongside Ernie Gregory, Malcolm Allison and Frank O’Farrell in a goalless Second Division draw with Hull City at the Boleyn Ground.

Wearing the no.10 shirt, Petchey kept his place for the next game, a 2-1 home defeat by Birmingham City, but he only made one other first-team appearance, on 13 November that year, starting alongside Allison, Noel Cantwell and debuting forward Tommy Dixon in a 3-2 Essex Professional Cup win at Colchester United.

A wing-half, he was described by whufc.com as “a tough-tackling, hard-working defensive midfielder who could also pass the ball with vision and accuracy”.

In July 1953, Petchey moved on to Queens Park Rangers, scoring on his league debut in a 2-1 win at Bristol City on 22 August. Even then, he was commuting to London from Portslade.

QPR supporter Steve Russell spoke fondly of Petchey in an article for indyrs.co.uk, remembering a “tough-tackling, fearless, dynamic” player who took no prisoners.

Petchey scored 24 goals in 278 league and cup appearances for QPR, in the days when they were a Third Division side.

He dropped down to the old Fourth Division to sign for Palace in June 1960 but helped them to promotion in his first season at Selhurst Park.

Petchey’s playing days at Palace came to an early conclusion due to a serious eye injury but the esteem in which he was held was reflected in the quality of players on show at his testimonial match at Selhurst Park on 15 November 1967.

Palace took on an international XI which featured West Ham’s World Cup winning trio of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, together with the likes of Chelsea’s Peter Osgood and Manchester City’s Colin Bell in front of a crowd of 10,243.

Petchey turned to coaching at Palace, initially under Arthur Rowe and then Bert Head, under whom Palace won promotion to the old First Division in 1969. That side’s goalkeeper, John Jackson – who subsequently followed Petchey to Orient, Millwall, and the Albion as a coach – attributed his achievements to Petchey, telling cpfc.co.uk: “He used to work me hard but the harder you worked at your game the more you learned and the better you would become.

Petchey the Crystal Palace coach

“He made me a more confident player which led to me being more vocal behind the back four, and I always remember Thursday being called shooting practice day so it would become a session where I would put in a massive shift!”

When Jimmy Bloomfield was lured from Brisbane Road to manage Leicester City in 1971, the Os turned to Petchey to continue to build the side the former Arsenal player had developed.

He did just that over six Second Division seasons between 1971 and 1977, Petchey recruiting a number of players who’d previously played under him at Palace; the likes of goalkeeper Jackson, John Sewell, David Payne, Bill Roffey, Alan Whittle and Gerry Queen.

They came agonisingly close to winning promotion to the elite, missing out by a single point in 1973-74, and they took some notable scalps as cup giant-killers.

It was during his reign at Brisbane Road that Petchey discovered Tony Grealish playing on Hackney Marshes and unearthed the raw talent of the mercurial Cunningham, who he would later reluctantly sell for big money to West Bromwich Albion.

Petchey and his assistant Peter Angell carefully nurtured the young Cunningham, hoping his obvious talent would outweigh some of the demons in his life.

“We had one or two problems with him in the early days,” admitted Petchey, as told here. “There was a time when Peter Angell and I wondered if we could win Laurie over. He had to struggle in life and was the sort of youngster who was used to living on his wits.

“He was suspicious of people outside his own circle. He took a long time to trust other people. He often turned up late for training, the eyes flashed when we fined him, but for all that I loved the spark that made him tick.”

Cunningham later admitted: “It was George Petchey and Peter Angell who showed me that the only person who could make my dreams come true was, in fact, myself.”

Petchey gave 18-year-old Cunningham his first-team debut in the short-lived Texaco Cup tournament against West Ham at Upton Park on 3 August 1974. Although Orient lost 1–0, Petchey said afterwards: “It took him a little time to get adjusted to the pace of the game but I was delighted with the way he played from then on. He has a natural talent. He has the speed and agility to take on men. He never gives up. There’s a big future ahead for him.”

Cunningham’s rise to playing for England and Real Madrid was told in the 2013 documentary film First Among Equals and Petchey was a prominent interviewee featured.

Petchey talks about Laurie Cunningham for First Among Equals

When eventually Orient couldn’t resist big money offers for him any longer, the winger went to West Brom for £110,000 plus two players (Joe Mayo and Allan Glover) on 6 March 1977.

“I did not want to sell him, but we were over our limit at the bank and West Brom were ready with a cheque,” said Petchey at the time. “Obviously I’m very disappointed at losing a player who I have seen progress from the age of 15 and I think he was as reluctant to leave as we were to see him go. But it was an offer of First Division football which he could not refuse.”

Petchey enjoyed less success at Millwall. Although he managed to stave off relegation after succeeding Gordon Jago in early 1978, the Lions were relegated from the second tier the following season.

It was during that term he bought Brighton winger Tony Towner for £65,000 after the Sussex lad had lost his place to new signing Gerry Ryan. It wasn’t all doom and gloom though because Millwall’s youngsters won the FA Youth Cup in 1979, beating Manchester City 2-0 (over two legs).

After he’d left the Albion for a second time, Petchey continued to work in football, appointed chief scout at Newcastle United by Sir Bobby Robson, and he later took on a coaching role.

Dean Saunders raised cash for Brighton and Liverpool

IT’S NOT often Brighton and Liverpool have had something in common but, when it came to striker Dean Saunders, they both sold him to raise money. And they weren’t alone.

In the Albion’s case, it happened in 1987 when manager Barry Lloyd was forced to cash in on the free transfer signing to raise £60,000 to go towards players’ wages.

For their part, five years later, Liverpool let the Welsh international depart Anfield for £2.3m because boss Graeme Souness wanted the money to buy a central defender.

When Saunders was remarkably transferred for £1m from the Maxwell-owned Oxford United to the Maxwell-owned Derby County, it prompted former Brighton and Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson to quit as boss at the Manor Ground after he’d been promised there would be no transfers likely to weaken his squad.

Saunders’ long and much-travelled career began in Swansea, the place where he was born on 21 June 1964, the son of former Swansea and Liverpool wing-half Roy Saunders.

He attended GwrossydJunior School and was soon appearing in the school football team on Saturday mornings and playing minor football in the afternoons. He went on to Penlan Comprehensive in Swansea and his career began to blossom, playing in the school team at all levels under sports master Lee Jones, a former British gymanstics champion. Saunders played for the Swansea Schools representative sides at under 11, 13 and 15 levels.

“I can remember enjoying watching the Swansea players train when I was a lad,” he told Tony Norman in an Albion matchday programme article. “I was lucky because my dad was the assistant manager, so I could go to pre-season training and things like that.

“I used to kick a ball around on the sidelines and dream of playing for Swansea.” That dream turned to reality after he joined the Swans in 1980 as an apprentice (when John Toshack was the manager), turned professional in 1982, and made his debut in the 1983-84 season. He scored 12 times in 49 appearances but in his final year had a goalless four-game loan at Cardiff City.

Manager John Bond released him on a free transfer after a turbulent season in which the Swans only narrowly avoided relegation to the basement division and Chris Cattlin, who’d been impressed when he saw Saunders playing for Swansea Reserves at the Goldstone Ground, snapped him up for Brighton.

“I was amazed when the Welsh club let him go for financial reasons,” Cattlin wrote in his matchday programme notes for the opening game of the season. “He is young, quick and, if he works hard, he has a great chance.”

By the end of that season, Saunders had scored 19 goals in 48 league and cup games and was voted player of the season. His performances in the second tier for the Albion caught the eye of the Welsh national team manager, Mike England, and on 26 March 1986 Saunders made his full international debut for Wales as a substitute in a 1-0 win away to the Republic of Ireland. It was the first of 75 caps.

Saunders scored his first international goals when he netted twice in a 3-0 friendly win over Canada in Vancouver on 19 May 1986, after which England said: “He goes past defenders with his tremendous pace and his finishing against Canada was a revelation.

“The experience he gained at Brighton has done him the world of good. To finish top scorer in his first full season of Second Division football tells its own story.”

Saunders, who shared a house with Albion’s young Republic of Ireland international Kieran O’Regan, said being happy at home had helped him to settle down quickly.

“I liked Brighton from the day I arrived,” he said in a matchday programme article. “It reminds me of my home town of Swansea and I like living by the sea.”

A lover of all sports, Saunders revealed how he liked to play cricket in the summer, when he turned out for Haywards Heath, and he played snooker with O’Regan and Steve Penney.

That summer, Saunders told Shoot! magazine: “I had both cartilages out of my left knee at 18 and had both Swansea and Cardiff turn me down. I’ve had my share of the downs. From the moment I joined Brighton, my career has turned for the better.”

The young striker continued: “Swansea just gave me away – despite the fact that I was top scorer in a team coming apart. Cardiff City gave me a few games but always seemed to have reasons for not playing me consistently when I was on loan there.

“So, I had every incentive to make the break from Welsh football and I joined Brighton. Brighton can go places.

“I was disappointed that we didn’t make the First Division first time around. But all the lads are convinced that we will get there next season. I’ve been given a three-year contract so there are tremendous incentives to do better.”

It didn’t work out that way, though. After only a mid-table finish, Cattlin was sacked and there were rumblings of financial issues beginning to reverberate around the corridors of the Goldstone. Alan Mullery returned as manager but had limited funds to invest in the team, and, with echoes of the Pat Saward era back in the early ‘70s, the club turned to fans for financial help to bring in players.

After Mullery’s unseemly swift departure halfway through the season, former Worthing boss Lloyd took over and fans were completely mystified as to how he could leave out Saunders in favour of Richard Tiltman, who Lloyd had plucked from local football. Since then, it has been suggested his omission was more to do with money than football ability.

There was great consternation that Albion collected only £60,000 when Lloyd sold Saunders to Oxford in early March 1987, especially as the Seagulls were fast hurtling back to a level of football they’d manage to avoid for ten years.

That was no longer a concern for Saunders who recovered the goalscoring touch he’d shown during his first season at the Goldstone Ground, scoring 33 goals in 73 games for Oxford before being sold to Derby for £1m against Lawrenson’s wishes 19 months after arriving at the Manor Ground.

A popular goalscorer for Derby

Meanwhile, the goals kept flowing for Saunders as he netted 57 in 131 games for Derby. The side finished fifth in the old First Division by the end of Saunders’ first season with the Rams, and he’d contributed 14 goals. The Derby Telegraph noted: “From the moment ‘Deano’ arrived, the players were inspired and the crowd enthused. The signing also suited the post-war tradition of 5ft 8in goalscoring heroes at the Baseball Ground – Raich Carter, Bill Curry, Kevin Hector and Bobby Davison.

“Derby fans were too wise to comment on height. What mattered was Saunders’ speed, eel-like turn and persistence. He scored six in his first five games, starting with two against Wimbledon when he captured supporters’ hearts with the immediacy of a Kevin Hector. A close-in header and long-range right-footer were beautiful appetisers.”

Despite Saunders scoring 24 goals for Derby in 1990-91, the side was relegated and Saunders and teammate Mark Wright were snapped up by Liverpool. Reds paid £2.9m to take Saunders to Anfield, boss Souness believing he’d be an ideal strike partner for their established Welsh international striker, Ian Rush.

Saunders made his Liverpool debut on 17 August 1991 in a 2-1 win over Oldham Athletic (Mark Walters and defender Wright also played their first league games for Liverpool); Ray Houghton and John Barnes scored Liverpool’s goals.

Saunders scored his first goal for the Reds 10 days’ later in a 1-0 win over QPR at Anfield but a Liverpool history website reckons he struggled to adapt to Liverpool’s passing game. “He was used to Derby’s counter-attacking style, scoring many of his goals by using his exceptional pace,” it said. “Saunders wasn’t very prolific in the league with about one goal every four games but flourished in the UEFA Cup with nine goals in five matches that included a quadruple against Kuusysi Lahti.”

Saunders scored twice in Liverpool’s successful FA Cup campaign, which culminated in them lifting the trophy at Wembley after beating Sunderland.

Although he scored twice in seven games at the start of his second season at Anfield, a cashflow issue meant Souness was forced to sell him to raise funds to dip into the transfer market.

Saunders explained: “Graeme called me in one day and told me he needed a centre-half [Torben Piechnik], and that he could raise the money by selling me to Aston Villa.

“I couldn’t believe he was prepared to let me go, but he said he didn’t think my partnership with Ian Rush had worked out, and Rushy wouldn’t be the one going anywhere. That was it.” 

Saunders had scored 25 goals in 61 appearances for Liverpool, the last coming in a 2-1 home win over Chelsea (Jamie Redknapp scoring the other Liverpool goal) on 5 September 1992.

Among the goals again at Aston Villa

The Welshman had the last laugh, though, because only nine days after his departure from Liverpool he scored twice in Villa’s 4-2 victory over the Reds.

“Obviously I had a big incentive to do well today and I’m thrilled to have scored,” said Saunders. “Both my goals went through the goalkeeper’s legs.”

Signed by Ron Atkinson, Saunders spent three seasons at Villa, initially developing a formidable strike partnership with Dalian Atkinson, and then pairing up with Dwight Yorke. Saunders’ brace in the 1994 League Cup final helped beat Manchester United 3-1.

Villa history site lerwill-life.org.uk remembers him as “a spring-heeled attacker and very popular with the supporters” and adds: “Not big in size, he was very speedy and scored some spectacular goals including a 35-yard spectacular against Ipswich.”

His time at Villa Park came to an end when Brian Little took over as manager, and Saunders was reunited with his old Liverpool boss Souness in Turkey. A £2.35million fee took him to Galatasaray for the 1995-96 season and he netted 15 goals in 27 Turkish League matches.

Next stop for Saunders was back in the UK at Nottingham Forest, but the 1996-97 was an unhappy one as the manager who signed him, Frank Clark, was sacked in December after a bad run of defeats and Forest’s slide towards relegation continued under Stuart Pearce and Dave Bassett.

Sharpshooter for the Blades

By the time Forest had bounced straight back up, Saunders had left the club, moving in December 1997 to second-tier Sheffield United for a year under Nigel Spackman and caretaker managers Russell Slade and Steve Thompson. United made the play-offs but lost out to Sunderland in the semi-finals. In December 1998, Saunders moved abroad again to link up with Souness a third time, at Benfica in Portugal.

Up front for the Bantams

The following summer, he returned to England and joined Bradford City, where his former Brighton teammate Chris Hutchings was assistant manager, then briefly manager. Saunders was a regular in his first season at Valley Parade, when the Bantams managed to narrowly avoid relegation from the Premier League, but he played only a handful of games in 2000-01, when they were relegated. Saunders retired as a player shortly before his 37th birthday and became a coach at Bradford before linking up with Souness again, this time as a coach.

He joined him at Blackburn Rovers and then Newcastle United, but when Newcastle sacked Souness early in 2006, Saunders lost his job as well.

In the following year he began taking the Certificate in Football Management course run by the University of Warwick; and this led to him being granted his UEFA Pro Licence coaching badge, a qualification that allowed him to be appointed as assistant to John Toshack with the Welsh national team. 

In October 2008, Saunders replaced Brian Little as manager of Wrexham, newly relegated to the Conference. He eventually managed to steer the north Wales outfit into the play-offs in the 2010-11 season, but they were knocked out by Luton Town and, in September 2011, Saunders was appointed manager of then Championship club Doncaster Rovers.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t save Rovers from relegation and they went back down to League One with only 36 points from their 46 League fixtures.

Having guided Rovers to second place in League One, Saunders was appointed manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers in January 2013, but he couldn’t prevent them being relegated from the Championship and he was sacked three days after relegation was confirmed courtesy of a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Gus Poyet’s Albion.

Suffering relegation with Wolves

Saunders told the media after the game: “We have to get some players in who think like I’m thinking, who want to win, fresh minds, no damage done to them, no confidence issues, no ‘been here too long’ issues, no ‘I don’t know if the manager likes me’ issues. Once I get my own team on the pitch, imagine what the supporters will be like.”

Saunders, with only five wins from his 20 games in charge, didn’t get that chance and rather ruefully said of his opponents that day: “A few years ago they were bankrupt and without a stadium, but they’ve shown what is possible and, with the momentum, they have could well get into the Premier League.”

Just after Christmas 2014, Saunders was named as the interim manager of Crawley Town after the previous incumbent John Gregory stood down for health reasons.

Saunders then became manager of League One side Chesterfield on 13 May 2015 but his stay there lasted only five months.

In June 2016, Saunders was part of the BBC pundit team for their coverage of the Welsh national team’s games at Euro 2016 and made the headlines during the tournament when it was revealed that he had incurred parking charges of over £1,000 from Birmingham Airport’s short stay car park as he wasn’t expecting Wales to progress as far as they did. The charge was eventually waived by the airport who asked him to make a donation to charity instead.

His subsequent involvement in football has been as a pundit on BT Sport’s Saturday afternoon Score programme as well as on the radio with talkSPORT. He hit the headlines in 2019 when he was jailed for failing to comply with a roadside breath test but the initial punishment was quashed and changed to a suspended sentence. Via the League Managers’ Association, Saunders issued a statement in which he said: “I made a terrible error of judgment for which I have been rightly punished, and I wholeheartedly regret that it happened.”

Pictures from the Albion matchday programme and various online sources.

Boss weighed into ex Spurs teammate Joe Kinnear

JOE KINNEAR was no stranger to expletive-filled rants so we can only imagine how he reacted when his former Tottenham Hotspur teammate Alan Mullery told him he was a stone overweight and shouldn’t expect any special treatment at Brighton.

The right-back who’d won silverware alongside the former Spurs skipper ended up leaving the Goldstone acrimoniously after his former colleague took over as Albion boss.

Having made 258 appearances in 10 years at White Hart Lane, Kinnear only played 18 games for Brighton after being signed by Mullery’s predecessor, Peter Taylor in August 1975.

He’d followed fellow former Spurs defender Phil Beal to third-tier Brighton, both having been eased out of the door as Tottenham’s new boss Terry Neill re-shaped the award-winning squad built up by the legendary Bill Nicholson and his faithful assistant, Eddie Baily.

Back when Taylor and Brian Clough were turning round the fortunes of Derby County, they had acquired the services of former Spurs hardman Dave Mackay, a friend of Kinnear’s, so he was no stranger to turning to experienced old pros.

“I left Tottenham because although I was good enough to hold down a regular first team place, manager Terry Neill didn’t think so,” Kinnear told Shoot! magazine. “I’m 28-years-of-age and have plenty of soccer at senior level left in me. Brighton have the potential to become as big-time as Spurs once were.”

Three days after signing, the Irishman made his Albion debut at right-back in a 1-0 home defeat to Cardiff City and, while he played in the following game too, previous regular right-back Ken Tiler was restored to the line-up for the next three months.

Nevertheless, his lack of involvement at Brighton didn’t stop the Republic of Ireland selecting him and he made what was his last and 26th appearance for his country as an 83rd minute substitute for Tony Dunne in a 4-0 win over Turkey at Dalymount Park, Dublin, on 29 October (Don Givens scored all four).

Kinnear was on Brighton’s bench a few times in the days of only one substitute, and he managed four consecutive starts in December, but he had to bide his time for his next starting spot, which only came when a bad injury in mid-March brought an end to Tiler’s involvement in Albion’s promotion push.

It was timely because on 23 March a testimonial match for him against Spurs took place at the Goldstone. It had been part of the arrangement made when he signed, and the Albion XI who took to the field in front of 7,124 fans included Kinnear’s old teammates Terry Venables, Mackay and Jimmy Greaves, along with guest star Rodney Marsh.

Spurs were in no mood for sentiment, though, and ran out 6-1 winners, with Kinnear scoring a consolation for Albion from the penalty spot.

As Albion’s promotion bid unravelled, Kinnear played in 10 league matches, only three of which were won. Although he was successful with another penalty, this time against Chesterfield, the Spireites won 2-1 with two penalties of their own.

Fingers were pointed at Kinnear for a gaffe in a decisive Easter game at promotion rivals Millwall which Albion ended up losing 3-1.

In his end-of-season summary, the Evening Argus Albion watcher John Vinicombe pointedly considered it was the injury ruling out Tiler that had been a key turning point in the failure to gain a promotion spot.

Kinnear himself suffered a serious knee injury in the penultimate game of the season, a 1-1 home draw against Gillingham, capping a dismal afternoon in which he also had a penalty saved. His departure on a stretcher on 19 April 1976 was his last appearance in an Albion shirt, other than being pictured kneeling on the end of the front row in the August pre-season team photo.

What happened next was covered in some detail in a 2013 blog post on thegoldstonewrap.com. In short, Mullery had arrived as manager following Taylor’s decision to quit and link up again with Clough, who’d taken over at Nottingham Forest.

Mullery was unimpressed by his former teammate’s level of fitness and attitude and called him out in front of the squad. Peter Ward, the new kid on the block at that point, thought it was the wrong approach and, in Matthew Horner’s book He Shot, He Scored, said: “It seemed that Mullery and Kinnear didn’t get on very well.”

Contractually, Albion still owed Kinnear money but it was evident he wasn’t going to feature while Mullery was in charge and a settlement had to be reached. Eventually Kinnear moved on to become player-manager of non-league Woodford Town, beginning a career in coaching and management that ultimately took him back to the top level of the game, albeit frequently attracting headlines for some extraordinary and controversial behaviour.

But let’s stick with Kinnear the player for the moment. Born in Kimmage, Dublin, on 27 December 1946, he moved to Watford at the age of seven. After leaving school, he became an apprentice machine minder in a print works and played amateur football for St Albans City. It was there he was spotted by the aforementioned Baily, who invited him to join Spurs’ pre-season training. He initially signed as an amateur in 1963, turning professional two years later.

His breakthrough season was 1966-67. He made his debut for the Republic of Ireland on 22 February 1967 in a 2-1 defeat to Turkey and won a regular place in the Spurs side when Phil Beal was sidelined with a broken arm. Kinnear performed well in Beal’s absence and he ended it as a member of the side which beat Chelsea 2-1 in the 1967 FA Cup Final.

“I was 20 when we played in the 1967 FA Cup Final and I got Man of the Match, so it was a great start for me,” Kinnear told tottenhamhotspur.com.

All was going well until January 1969 when in a home game against Leeds United he broke his right leg in two places, and he was out of the side for a long while.

Kinnear’s misfortune provided an opportunity for emerging youngster Ray Evans, as this Spurs archive website recalls: “When he got his chance through an injury to regular right back Joe Kinnear, Evans took over in that position and provided a threat with fast, over-lapping runs along with a notable fierce shot that chipped in with a few goals for the club.  Strong in the tackle and quick to recover his position, his height also helped him when teams tried to play diagonal passes in behind him.”

Evans had long spells in the side, especially in the 1973-74 season when Kinnear barely got a look-in, but the Irishman battled for his place and was first-choice right-back in Spurs’ League Cup winning sides of 1971 and 1973, and the UEFA Cup winning line-up in 1972.

The revered Nicholson had encouraged Kinnear to become a coach once his playing days were over, but he struggled to get a foot on the ladder in the UK. Ex-Derby boss Mackay, with whom he used to go to Walthamstow dogs after training, took him on as his assistant in the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, then later at Doncaster Rovers after Kinnear had spent time in India and Nepal.

Eventually, in 1992, he got his chance at Wimbledon, defying the purists with a brand of football that saw them finish in sixth place in 1993-94 – and Kinnear won the League Managers’ Association Manager of the Year award.

Over seven years, The Dons played 364 games under him, winning 130, drawing 109 and losing 125. Despite not even playing at their own ground – they played home matches at Selhurst Park – Wimbledon continued to defy the critics with their resilience in the Premier League and progress in the cups but in 1999 Kinnear stood down as manager after suffering a minor heart attack.

He later enjoyed success in two years (2001-03) at Luton Town and had colourful spells as manager of Nottingham Forest (2004) and manager (2008-09) then director of football (2013-14) at Newcastle United.

Acres of newsprint and plenty of clips on YouTube record some extraordinary behaviour following his appointment by Mike Ashley at Newcastle. Perhaps one of the best summaries is on planetfootball.com, with reporter Benedict O’Neill saying: “Mike Ashley’s mismanagement of Newcastle has been a long-term affair with many bizarre decisions, but his appointment of the long-forgotten Joe Kinnear — twice! — may just be the strangest of all.”

Kinnear, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2015, died aged 77 on 7 April 2024.

Pictures from my personal scrapbook, matchday programmes and various online sources.

Outcast Peter Suddaby was Albion top-flight saviour

PETER SUDDABY spent nearly 10 years at Blackpool before playing a key role in Brighton’s inaugural top-flight season. The university graduate later spent a season with the Seagulls as a coach.

Albion had been struggling to adjust to the old First Division after promotion from the second tier in 1979 and it hadn’t helped that star defender Mark Lawrenson missed 12 matches following a bad ankle ligament injury at Spurs.

When Lawrenson was ready to return for a crunch match away to Nottingham Forest on 17 November 1979, instead of putting Lawrenson in the back line, manager Alan Mullery put him in midfield and thrust new free transfer signing Suddaby into the defence alongside Steve Foster.

Suddaby was 31 and had been playing for Third Division Blackpool’s reserve side at the time, so it was certainly a bold step but Mullery said: “I signed Peter because of his attitude to football. Whenever I played against him he struck me as being one of the worst losers in the game.

“If Blackpool were losing by five goals, he’d still be trying as hard as ever, and that is the sort of character we needed in the team.”

Mullery’s gamble paid off because at the City Ground Gerry Ryan’s 11th minute goal (not to mention Graham Moseley saving a John Robertson penalty on the stroke of half-time) gave Albion an unexpected victory against a Forest side who hadn’t lost at home for two years.

The game earned top billing on Match of the Day and Mullery hailed Suddaby after the game, telling commentator Barry Davies: “He’s got something to live up to, the boy, because he had a tremendous game today up against Garry Birtles.” (see still from footage, above)

Suddaby later told Shoot! magazine: “Forest are a very good side, but we defended well against them and had that little bit of luck we needed. Everyone in the Brighton side buckled down and gave everything.

“Alan Mullery has given me a chance to prove myself in the best league in the world, and I certainly do not wish to let him down now.”

Plaudits from journalists continued as Albion built on the victory at the City Ground with successive victories over Christmas against Wolves and Crystal Palace taking the club out of the bottom three for the first time that season.

Suddaby in an aerial battle with Coventry’s Garry Thompson at the fenced-in Goldstone

Jack Steggles in the Daily Mirror wrote: “Alan Mullery, ready to spend a million to buy his way out of trouble, could find salvation in a man who cost him nothing. For Brighton’s chances of survival have looked a lot brighter since he signed university graduate Peter Suddaby on a free transfer from Blackpool. Suddaby’s arrival has stiffened the defence and Brighton have bagged five points from three games.” (there were only two points for a win in those days).

thegoldstonewrap.com recalled: “Suddaby definitely didn’t let Brighton down. His strong, determined tackling and ability in the air at the heart of defence was an important factor in moving Albion up the table.”

Mullery told Shoot! that he’d tried to sign Suddaby the previous season but Bob Stokoe, Blackpool’s manager at the time, refused to let him go. “He’s a tremendous winner and is just the sort of player we needed,” said Mullery.

When Suddaby lost his place in the Tangerines side under Stokoe’s successor, Stan Ternent, Mullery was quick to seize the moment.

“My career wasn’t going anywhere, and a move to the First Division was the perfect remedy,” said Suddaby, who admitted he’d been hoping for a return to the top flight since Blackpool dropped out of it. “Obviously it wasn’t easy to adjust after playing two games in the reserves and I was sad about leaving Blackpool,” he said. “But it was made clear to me that I was fourth in line for the centre-half position, so I made up my mind to move if the opportunity arose.”

Suddaby continued: “I wanted a challenge and still felt I had something to offer which is why it didn’t worry me to join a struggling club.”

Even back then, Blackpool, who’d dropped down to the Third Division, were beset with boardroom issues which the defender said had “rubbed off on the players and gave the club an unsettled atmosphere”.

Albion only lost five of the 21 games Suddaby played in and succeeded in avoiding relegation. In another Shoot! article, Mullery said of Suddaby: “He may not be a big name, but Peter does it for me week in, week out. I know I can rely on him to turn in a good performance.”

Suddaby looked forward and said: “We have enough good players to build on what we did last season.

“The club think big and I’m delighted to be part of their success. I didn’t think I’d ever play in the First Division again, but now I’ve been given this chance I mean to make the most of it.”

Unfortunately, in May 1980, Suddaby’s back gave way while out walking – a reaction to an operation five years previously when two discs were removed – and, instead of being part of Albion’s second season at the top, he spent nine months trying to recuperate.

Mullery told Phil Jones of BBC Radio Brighton: “The football club needs players of his calibre. He’s good for everybody – a tremendous professional who immediately stamped his authority on the place. I cannot speak too highly of his service to the Albion.”

Sadly, while Suddaby did recover to play for Albion’s reserves, he was not fit enough to return to first team duties.

He tried to extend his playing days with a move to Wimbledon, where he made half a dozen appearances, and then returned to his former club Wycombe Wanderers. He played 10 games in 1982, and then moved on to Isthmian League Hayes in December 1982, eventually becoming player-coach in September 1984. At the same time, he reverted to his original plan and taught maths at the American School in Uxbridge.

Born in Stockport on 23 December 1947, Suddaby was the only son of a garage proprietor, and when he was still young the family moved to north Wales where his father took over a caravan park.

Suddaby started school at Gronant Primary School near Prestatyn, where no football was played, but the local village under 16s played him on the wing when he was aged just 10, and he developed a liking for the game.

When he moved on to St Asaph Grammar School, he became a regular in the school teams. In those days he was a centre-forward and it was in that position he earned his first representative honour when he was selected for Flintshire County Schools.

Suddaby earned A-level passes in Maths, Physics and Chemistry with an eye to moving on to university although, while in the sixth form, he turned out for various Welsh League clubs and for Rhyl in the Cheshire League.

He gained a place at Swansea University and, while doing a three-year BSc course in Maths, played football for the university and Welsh Universities and British Universities, by now as a defender.

After going to Lilleshall on a university coaching course, he was chosen by former Hove Grammar School teacher Mike Smith, later the manager of Wales, for a universities team to play against several non-league sides, one of which was Skelmersdale United.

They were among the top amateur sides at the time and Suddaby agreed to join them, travelling each weekend from Swansea back to the family home in north Wales, from where he was just over an hour’s drive to Skelmersdale.

Amongst his teammates were Steve Heighway, later to gain fame at Liverpool, and Micky Burns, who became a playing colleague at Blackpool.

After gaining his degree at Swansea, Suddaby took a post-graduate course at Oxford University to gain the necessary qualification to become a teacher.

While there, he started playing for Wycombe (then non-league) and gained a Blue playing for Oxford University in the Varsity match at Wembley in December 1970.

Three days later he earned the first of three amateur international caps when he was chosen to play for England against Wales at Cardiff.

With his teacher qualification under his belt, he signed for Blackpool as an amateur in the summer of 1970 and played a few games towards the end of 1970-71 season, when they were relegated from Division One, and then turned professional.

“1 hadn’t really thought too much about becoming a professional,” he told Shoot! “I’d virtually decided that my future was as a teacher.

“Looking back, I have no regrets apart, possibly, that I didn’t join a league club a couple of years earlier. On the other hand, I am happy that I finished my education. University life taught me a lot and developed my character.”

Suddaby ended up spending nine and a half years at Blackpool, making 331 appearances, most of which came in the second tier where the Tangerines were a top 10 side for six consecutive seasons, narrowly missing out on promotion back to the elite in 1974 and 1977, but then being relegated to the old Third Division in 1978.

“I had approaches from Reading, Oxford, Watford and Blackpool but chose the Seasiders as they were in the First Division then,” he told Goal magazine in a July 1972 article. “The year we were relegated wasn’t too good, but I have never really regretted joining Blackpool.

“I had planned to take up teaching as soon as I left Oxford, but things went so well in amateur football and, after the offers started coming along, I decided to forget the teaching for a bit.”

He was part of Blackpool’s 1971 Anglo-Italian Cup winning team (below), managed by Stokoe, alongside the likes of Tony Green, Paul Hart, Alan Ainscow and Tony Evans.

Unlike many players, Suddaby always knew he had teaching to fall back on as a career, but he also got coaching qualifications to enable him to stay in the game as a coach or manager.

When Mullery returned to manage Brighton in the summer of 1985, he appointed Suddaby as his first team coach while Barry Lloyd was put in charge of the reserves.

Brighton coach Suddaby

Mullery’s second term ended acrimoniously in early January 1986. Suddaby stayed on at the Albion under Lloyd but left at the end of the season. He went back to Wycombe as manager in August 1987 but was only in charge for five months.

Suddaby subsequently joined the coaching staff at Tottenham Hotspur, serving as the club’s academy director between July 1995 and April 2004.

During that period, he helped nurture the talent of the future, seeing the likes of Peter Crouch and Ledley King break through into first team football.

They didn’t all turn to gold though. Leigh Mills was at Spurs for five years, captained the England under-16s and was capped for his country at under-17 level.

“By his regular selection for the England under-17 team, Leigh has been recognised as a leading player at his age in the country,” Suddaby told theguardian.com in November 2004. “He has an excellent attitude to maintaining his football progress, and we have great hopes that he will play at a very high level.”

However, Mills ended up on loan at Brentford and Gillingham briefly before playing non-league.

When youngster Phil Ifil broke into the Spurs first team, in 2004, Suddaby said in an interview with the Standard: “Neither I nor my coaches will ever say we made Phil Ifil or any other player. We provide them with an opportunity, and they make themselves.

“The satisfaction we get from seeing them make it is massive, though. We try to get kids from local areas and we use that as a lever because they can see if they come here, they will get a chance.

“It is difficult for kids in football these days, particularly at big clubs. But at Spurs we try and give them knowledge about all sorts of things including the media and even driving lessons. We try to make them confident young men and give them a chance.

“As an academy, we sometimes don’t push ourselves into the limelight but we have produced players like Stephen Clemence and Luke Young, both playing in the Premiership, as well as those now getting their chance in the first team at Spurs.

“But without doubt Ledley is our jewel in the crown. We can only show them the door to success – it’s up to the kids to kick it down.”

After leaving Spurs, Suddaby reverted to maths teaching, working at independent girls school Maltmans Green, in Chalfont St Peter, for nearly 13 years before retiring in August 2018.

The following year, it was reported Suddaby suffered a stroke and, in February 2020, he and former Wycombe teammate Keith Samuels visited Buckinghamshire Neurorehabilitation Unit (BNRU) at Amersham Hospital to make a donation towards the sort of equipment that helped Suddaby recover from his illness.

Pictures from Goal magazine, the Argus, the matchday programme and online sources.

The Albion legend whose face didn’t fit at Aston Villa

Steve Foster challenges Spurs’ Steve Archibald at White Hart Lane

LEGEND is overused far too much in football circles but, in some circumstances, it is justified. That applies to Steve Foster.

He played 800 games in a 21-year career which included nine years with Brighton in two separate spells.

His performances in the top-flight for Brighton led him to play for England at the 1982 World Cup and he lifted the League Cup in 1988 as the captain of Luton Town.

He might have enjoyed a longer spell at Aston Villa if the European Cup-winning manager who signed him hadn’t been unceremoniously dumped by ‘Deadly’ Doug Ellis.

Foster became – and, to older fans, still is – synonymous with Brighton & Hove Albion, and football followers the world over could readily identify the captain with the white headband.

In several interviews over the years, he has explained how the distinctive headpiece was actually a piece of padded white towel designed to protect a forehead split open in collisions with centre forwards Andy Gray and Justin Fashanu.

I wonder if physio Mike Yaxley’s wife Sharon, who made up the dressing before every game, realised at the time the key role she played in helping to make Foster one of the most identifiable characters in football.

Foster’s illustrious career is warmly documented in Spencer Vignes’ excellent 2007 book A Few Good Men (Breedon Books Publishing), featuring an interview with the player himself and those who played with him.

For example, Gerry Ryan told Vignes: “Fozzie was a huge player with a huge personality, a real leader and deceptively quick for a big man.

“When he played against the best, like Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish, he was the best. People talk about giving 100 per cent, but Fozzie gave 150 per cent in everything he did, and I mean off the field as well.”

Gordon Smith added: “He was a fantastic person, great fun and a terrific centre half.”

Vignes himself observed: “Steve’s willingness to put his neck on the line for the cause earned him hero status among the fans, together with the complete respect of the dressing room.”

Unsurprisingly, Foster pulls no punches in describing the various characters and events surrounding his colourful career, for instance describing Chris Cattlin as “definitely the wrong man. I told him the truth and what I thought of him.” And, of predecessor Jimmy Melia: “When Jimmy took over it was more like a circus than a football club.”

Foster said the two biggest influences on his career were Frank Burrows, the manager of his first club, Portsmouth, who taught him about balance as the key to strength on the pitch, and Brian Horton, the dynamic midfield driving force he succeeded as Albion captain.

“He shouted and screamed for 90 minutes to help us get results, and to keep everyone on their toes,” said Foster. “If he made a mistake, 10 other people would shout and scream at him, and he would take it. When I was captain at Brighton, and my other clubs, that’s how I tried to be.”

Such a recognisable figure as Albion’s centre-half

Fortunately, sufficient archive film footage remains for fans of different generations to see what a dominant force Foster was at the heart of Brighton’s defence, while I retain plenty of now-yellowing cuttings from the numerous columns of newsprint he filled during his pomp.

Born on 24 September 1957 in Portsmouth, Foster went to St Swithin’s Junior School before moving on to St John’s College. A centre-forward in the early days, he played for the Portsmouth Schools under-12s side but it was Southampton who took him on as an associate schoolboy.

He played in the same youth team as Steve Williams and Nick Holmes, who both went on to have long careers.

But Saints boss Lawrie McMenemy let Foster go at 16, urging him to go elsewhere and prove him wrong. After Foster won his first England cap, McMenemy sent him a congratulatory telegram. “That was class, nothing but class,” Foster told Vignes.

Southampton’s loss was Portsmouth’s gain, courtesy of a tip off from local schoolteacher Harry Bourne to Pompey youth team coach Ray Crawford (who’d previously held a similar role under Pat Saward at Brighton). Bourne ran the Portsmouth and Hampshire schools teams.

Crawford describes in his excellent autobiography Curse of the Jungle Boy (PB Publishing 2007) how he called at the family’s house in Gladys Avenue, Portsmouth, but Foster’s mother was at a works disco at the local Allders store. Wasting no time, he immediately went in pursuit and, against a backdrop of deafening music and flashing lights, shouted above the din that they were interested in signing her son.

Foster called the club the following day and he was invited to play in a youth team game for Portsmouth – against Southampton! “I scored twice because I was playing as a centre-forward then, and they ended up offering me an apprenticeship on £5 per week which was my entry into the professional game,” said Foster.

Reg Tyrell, a respected former chief scout from Crawford’s time at Ipswich, watched the young striker in a youth team training game and declared: “That no.9, he’s no centre-forward but he’d make a good number 5.” A few weeks’ later, manager Ron Tindall’s successor, Ian St John (later Saint and Greavsie TV show partner of Jimmy Greaves), gave Foster his debut as a centre half!

Foster played more than 100 games during Pompey’s slide down through the divisions, and, at 21, had developed something of a fiery reputation. But Brighton boss Alan Mullery saw him as “big and brave, strong in the tackle and good in the air” providing “much-needed stability at the back” as the Seagulls began their first adventure into the top-flight of English football in 1979. He was signed for £150,000.

A couple of disciplinary issues in the early days of the new season looked like proving the doubters right to have warned Mullery off signing him, but an injury to first choice centre back Andy Rollings forced the manager to backtrack on a temporary ban he’d handed out. Foster made the most of his reprieve and never looked back.

By the end of a season in which the side grew collectively Foster was named Player of the Year and he earned international recognition, gaining an England under 21 cap as a substitute for Terry Butcher in a 1-0 defeat against East Germany in Jena on 23 April 1980 (Peter Ward was playing up front).

While the 1980-81 season saw Albion struggle and flirt with relegation, Foster’s tussles with some of the top strikers in the game saw his reputation grow, and he even chipped in with a vital goal in the final home game of the season against Leeds.

When Horton and Mullery departed at the end of that season, Foster took over the captaincy under new boss Mike Bailey, and, even though fans didn’t much like the way Bailey set up his side, Foster thrived with the emphasis on defence first.

England boss Ron Greenwood, who lived in Hove, was in the process of shaping his squad for the 1992 World Cup in Spain and, with injuries affecting some of the other centre backs in contention, Foster was given a chance to prove himself.

I can remember travelling to Wembley on 23 February 1982 to watch him make his debut against Northern Ireland, a game England won 4-0 courtesy of goals from Ray Wilkins, Kevin Keegan, Bryan Robson and Glenn Hoddle.

I had been to the stadium 10 years before to watch another Albion player – Willie Irvine – make his international comeback in a 1-0 win for the Irish, but it was something special – and rare – to see a Brighton player line up for England.

To break through to the senior team in a World Cup year was a notable achievement, although, by his own admission, he accepted his good fortune directly correlated to injuries ruling out other players.

Although the record books show Foster earned three caps, in fact he represented the country four times that year.

A month after his debut against Northern Ireland, on 23 March, Foster played for an England XI in Bilbao against Athletic Bilbao. The game finished 1-1 with Keegan scoring for England. It didn’t qualify for a cap because it was a testimonial match for retiring Bilbao player Txetxu Rojo, but Greenwood used the fixture to familiarise the players with what was the venue for England’s opening round matches at the World Cup.

Foster also featured in a 2-0 friendly win over the Netherlands (goals by Tony Woodcock and Graham Rix) on 25 May as Greenwood continued to assess his options.

Foster (circled) in Ron Greenwood’s 1982 World Cup squad

When it was clear neither Alvin Martin nor Dave Watson would be fit for the tournament in Spain, Foster was selected as back-up to first choice centre back pairing Terry Butcher and Phil Thompson. Ahead of the third group match, Greenwood didn’t want to risk a ban for the already-booked Butcher, so Foster played alongside Thompson and England won 1-0 against Kuwait; Trevor Francis getting the England goal.

When England didn’t progress past the second phase, Greenwood’s spell as boss came to an end and he was replaced by Bobby Robson who, for his first game in charge, partnered Russell Osman with Butcher – both having played under him at Ipswich Town.

Foster didn’t play for England again.

Much has been written already about the 1982-83 season and Albion’s path to the FA Cup Final. Foster demonstrated real heroism in the semi-final at Highbury, playing through the pain of a septic elbow, and, memorably, towards the end of the game, launched into an overhead kick to clear a goal-bound shot to safety (pictured above).

History records Foster being suspended for the Cup Final – a well-documented appeal to the High Court against a two-game ban for accumulated bookings couldn’t get the decision reversed – but, as is often the case in football, his misfortune presented a golden opportunity for stand-in Gary Stevens who capped a man-of-the-match performance with the equalising goal. What he did that day persuaded Spurs to sign him.

Foster, of course, eventually got his Wembley chance in the replay but with a rampant Manchester United running out easy 4-0 winners, their fans also rather cruelly derided the Albion skipper with the chant I can still hear ringing around Wembley that evening: “Stevie Foster, Stevie Foster, what a difference you have made!”

In truth the whole defence lacked balance in the replay because manager Melia had elected to fill the right-back berth vacated by injury to Chris Ramsey with the left-footed Steve Gatting. He figured Stevens couldn’t be moved from the centre where he had performed so well on the Saturday, but it was a mistake, especially as Stevens had often played right back previously.

The relegation that went in tandem with Albion’s Wembley loss sparked the beginning of a big clear-out of the best players. First to go was Stevens, closely followed by Michael Robinson.

It wasn’t until the following March that Foster followed them through the exit, although, according to Foster, he might have gone sooner – even though he didn’t want to leave; a point he made clear in an interview with Match Weekly shortly after he signed for Villa for £150,000.

“I never wanted to move,” he said. “I had nearly seven years of my contract to run at Brighton and would have quite happily played out my career there. It’s a great little club.

“But economies dictated otherwise and, although manager Chris Cattlin wanted to keep me, he was under pressure to sell me and help ease the club’s financial problems.

“It was a wrench to leave Brighton because the club has treated me tremendously well and I’ve had some great times there – not least the FA Cup run last season.”

Cattlin had a slightly different take about the transaction in his matchday programme notes. “I feel that Steve Foster has been a fine player during his four-and-a-half years at the Goldstone, but I felt that the time was right and the offer good enough to let him go,” he said.

“I hope the move will benefit both Steve and the club. I hope it rejuvenates his career because he has been unlucky with injuries this season. It gives me breathing space for Eric Young to develop and it will also allow me to strengthen other positions if necessary.”

In a rather oblique reference to the need to get rid of high-earning players, Cattlin added in another matchday programme article: “Certain players have left Brighton in moves which I feel are important for our future. Salaries and bonuses of individual players are confidential and obviously I cannot disclose details, but the moves I have made I am certain are right.”

He added: “I can’t explain all the matters that have been considered but I will once again emphasise that we are building for the future and every move I make in the transfer market is being made with this in mind.”

Foster revealed that Villa boss Tony Barton, a former coach at Foster’s first club, Portsmouth, had tried to sign him twice before, but the clubs hadn’t been able to agree on a fee. Eventually, the transfer saw defender Mark Jones (who’d made seven top-flight appearances for Villa that season) move in the opposite direction, in addition to a £150,000 fee.

Barton wanted Foster to tighten up a leaky defence, to fill the position previously occupied by former European Cup winning centre-half Ken McNaught, who had moved to West Brom.

The relatively inexperienced Brendan Ormsby had been playing alongside McNaught’s former partner, Allan Evans, and the signing of Foster put his nose well and truly out of joint. “It’s obvious that I’m just going to be used as cover for Steve Foster or Allan Evans now and so it’s probably in my best interests to try and find another club,” he told Match Weekly.

As it turned out, it was Barton who was ousted; Ormsby stayed, and new manager Graham Turner decreed it would be Foster who was the odd one out. But I jump ahead too soon.

Foster’s arrival at Villa Park as featured on a matchday programme cover

A picture of Foster being introduced to the Villa faithful appeared on the front cover of the programme for the 17 March home game against Nottingham Forest although he didn’t make his Villa debut until 14 April 1984, away to Leicester City, which ended in a 2-0 defeat.

Foster made seven appearances by the end of the season and he got on the scoresheet in only his third game, netting together with future Albion player Dennis Mortimer, in a 2-1 win over Watford on 21 April.

Villa finished the season in 10th place but it wasn’t good enough for the erratic chairman Ellis. Suddenly Foster found the man who signed him had been sacked, and the side Barton had led to European Cup success was gradually dismantled.

To the astonishment of the Villa faithful, Barton was succeeded by former Shrewsbury Town boss Turner.

Foster played 10 games under the new boss, and scored twice, once in a 4-2 win over Chelsea on 15 September and then again the following Saturday in a 3-3 draw away to Watford.

He’d started the season alongside Evans but Turner then offered a way back to Ormsby. While Foster played a couple of games alongside Ormsby, Turner preferred Evans and Ormsby together, making the new man surplus to requirements.

His last game for Villa was away to Everton on 13 October and the following month he was sold to Luton for £70,000 – less than half the fee Villa had paid for him eight months earlier. Foster simply put it down to his face not fitting with the new man.

It was a completely different story with Luton boss David Pleat and Foster’s time at Kenilworth Road coincided with the club’s most successful period in their history, even though Pleat left to manage Spurs.

Alongside representing his country, Foster said the best moment of his career was captaining the Hatters as they won the League Cup (then sponsored by Littlewoods) at Wembley in 1988 with a 3-2 win over Arsenal, his former Brighton teammate Danny Wilson scoring one of their goals (Brian Stein got the other two).

They reached the final of the same competition the following year too, but on that occasion lost 3-1 to Nottingham Forest. By then Foster was assistant manager to Ray Harford, and it looked like he was on a path to become a boss in his own right.

But that summer, when his old Albion captain, Horton, who had taken over from Mark Lawrenson as the manager of Oxford United, asked him to join him as a player at the Manor Ground, he was unable to resist and a new chapter in his career began.

It meant a drop down a division but Foster accepted the challenge and went on to play more than 100 games for United, many being quite a struggle as the side fought for survival at the foot of the second tier.

In the autumn of 1991, injury sidelined Foster from the U’s team and he believed it could have been the end of his career.

However, when the following summer he was contemplating whether or not to retire, he gave Brighton boss Barry Lloyd a call and asked if he could keep his fitness going by joining in pre-season training with the Seagulls.

Lloyd could see that the former skipper was still able to perform and, although the club was in a downward spiral, Foster seized the opportunity to extend his career and help out his old side.

Another veteran of that side, Clive Walker, told Vignes for A Few Good Men: “Fozzie might not have been so mobile then but his positional sense was absolutely brilliant, as was his ability in the air.”

Foster said: “Funnily enough during that second period I played probably some of my best football. I had to because of the position the club was in. There was no money so you had to pull out all the stops.”

Foster continued to play after Lloyd had departed, and he vented his anger publicly about the off-field shenanigans new boss Liam Brady was having to operate under.

Foster eventually called it a day at the end of the 1995-96 season, saddened at the club’s plight. He was granted a testimonial match against Sheffield Wednesday, played as a pre-season friendly in July 1996. Throughout Foster’s career he had continued to live in Hove and he retains his affection for the Albion to this day.

During his second spell at the club, Foster was the PFA rep and he had to deal with the heartbreak of telling the parents of a young player (Billly Logan) that an ankle injury was going to end his career. The youngster got just £1,500 compensation.

As a result, after his own playing days were over, Foster set up an insurance business (Pro-Secure) which continues to this day, making sure players are properly covered and get suitably recompensed if things don’t turn out as they’d hoped.

Although Foster hasn’t always been popular with the Albion’s hierarchy (courtesy of suggested involvement in potential takeovers), his association with the club hasn’t dimmed and Seagulls fans of two generations took him to their hearts for his on-field performances and leadership spanning a total of 332 games.

• Pictures from my scrapbook, the Albion matchday programme over several seasons, and some online sources.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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