JOHN NAPIER is still coaching youngsters in America as he approaches his 76th birthday. NICK TURRELL’S In Parallel Lines blog caught up with him for a trip down memory lane. In the second of five articles, John recalls Pat Saward signalling the end of his time with the Albion.
SUCH WAS JOHN Napier’s prominence at Brighton, he made an extraordinary 106 consecutive appearances for Albion. Until March 1972.
“I was lucky with injuries, which normally keeps players out,” he recalled. “Mine were mostly cuts around the head area or a broken nose – but nothing serious to keep me out.
“And with Norman Gall beside me, we had a great understanding together. I always took pride in my role in the team. Nothing is for ever, for sure, but you always wanted to be on the field.”
Captain Napier in the number 5 shirt was the status quo as winter turned to spring in 1972 and Albion’s chances of promotion from the Third Division looked ever more promising as they vied for one of the top two spots with Aston Villa and Bournemouth.
On the back of two defeats, Albion prepared to face Villa at the Goldstone on 25 March.
Manager Pat Saward – a former FA Cup winner with Villa – mysteriously and controversially dropped his ‘kingpin’ for what was undoubtedly one of the biggest games of the season. Even BBC’s Match of the Day had taken a rare foray into the lower leagues to feature the match.
Napier found himself replaced by Ian Goodwin, a rugged but injury-prone defender who had played under the manager during his coaching days at Coventry City. Regular right-back Stewart Henderson was also left out.
Not only had Napier been ever present and the captain up to that point, only two months earlier, Saward had been publicly singing his praises to the extent that he was suggesting the defender deserved a recall to the Northern Ireland side.
“The way he is playing, he ought to walk into the side,” Saward told Goal magazine. “He has been consistent all season. Recently Ted MacDougall hardly got a kick against him (that was in a 2-0 Boxing Day win for the Albion against Bournemouth). Ted is dangerous when he is inside the box but John hardly let him get near the ball.”
The article referred to Napier as “the kingpin of the Brighton defence” and went on to say Napier, 25, formed “one of the best pairings in the Third Division with 28-year-old Norman Gall”.
Speculation around Napier’s possible call-up came because Liam O’Kane, who normally partnered Allan Hunter in the Ireland side, was sidelined with a broken leg at the time.
The matchday programme following Napier’s shock dropping highlighted that he had previously played 239 matches for the Albion “the last 106 of these being played successively, a splendid record”.
Saward didn’t refer specifically to the player but in his column for the Evening Argus ahead of the Villa game had written: “A manager must always make decisions for the good of the club as a whole. There can be no room for sentiment. There are times when a player who has given his all, and fallen under severe pressure, has to come out of the side for a rest.”
In his programme notes for the following match, he simply said: “We had lost the previous two matches (1-0 at home to Oldham and 2-1 at Bradford City) and I made several team changes which I thought were necessary, and our players responded magnificently.”
Indeed, Albion won the match 2-1 and Willie Irvine scored a terrific goal, still available to watch on YouTube, that was judged by legendary Celtic manager Jock Stein to be Match of the Day’s third best goal of the whole season.
So, all these years later, can Napier shed any more light on exactly what happened? In short, no. “I still am not sure why that happened,” he said. “I know it is all part of the game. There were no signs that I was playing any different.
“I was the club captain when Pat arrived and he did not change that. I played many games with him as the manager. He had me in the office the week before the Villa game and we talked about a lot of things, as we were right in the promotion mix with a good chance of going into the Second Division.
“I should have probably realised when he wanted to talk in the office. That was not too common with Pat, it was usually a full team meeting.
“He did say he was leaving me out and I would be sub (ed. he wasn’t). Obviously, I was not happy and told him so. I really did not get an explanation as to why, and that is the part that was difficult.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, Napier added: “That is about the time my relationship with Pat started to go downhill fast. Even though we won promotion, I felt that there were going to be changes going into the Second Division.
“I had been in that promotion side for mostly all the season and felt I did not get the recognition for being part of our success. We were barely on speaking terms at the end of the season.
“Players react in different ways with different managers. I also was a little stubborn back then and was not afraid to speak my mind. I have nothing bad to say about Pat: he had success at the club which was needed at that time. We moved on. It happens all the time in soccer.”
I imagined it must have been hard to watch from the sidelines as the team went on to win promotion, and Napier admitted: “Every player wants to play, of course, and being a sub or even not in the game day squad, I had never experienced that part before, so it was tough.”
But he added: “Even though I was disappointed in not playing the last few games, I was really happy for the club and the players.
“Those guys at that time were my brothers; we went through a lot the previous few years trying to battle out of the Third Division, and the Goldstone crowd deserved it.
“We had an unbelievable year; the stadium was full each home game towards the end, everywhere we went the town was buzzing with excitement, nothing brings the fans and players closer than a promotion race.”
I wondered too whether it was a small consolation that it was Napier’s former Bolton teammate Brian Bromley who took over as captain.
“Brian was a great friend. We were both young 15-year-olds on the Bolton Wanderers ground staff, so we were together every day for many years, and both got in the Bolton first team about the same time and played many games together.
“He was very much a technical player. I thought he would go on to play for England, I really did. When he came to Brighton from Portsmouth, I was happy we got him, and knew he would do well at this club. Brian was always a leader; he led by example on the field with his play, never really a ‘get in your face’ person, but respected as a player. There are always different types of leadership qualities that help with teams.”
The defender was not involved in any of the 12 games that rounded off the season with promotion from the old Third Division in runners up spot, although he did return to the side for an end-of-season joint testimonial game for Brian Powney and Gall which First Division Chelsea won 3-2.
Nevertheless, Saward let it be known he would entertain offers for both him and his namesake Kit.
Napier takes up the story. “I asked Pat for a transfer at that time. I thought about it deeply as I loved the area and my home on Shoreham Beach. My daughter was born in Hove (she is 52 now), but I did not see me getting back in the team whilst the management remained, so I felt it was best for me to try to move my family back to the north of England.
“I worked hard every day in training hoping maybe there would be reconciliation, but it was not to be, and I was still on the outside looking in. I wanted to play and realised that was not going to happen.
“Pat did say he would help but would want a decent size fee for me to move on. We were both hotheads and I wasn’t a very patient person and wanted it to happen as quickly as possible.”
Both Napiers were still at the club as the new season got under way although Kit was transferred to Blackburn Rovers in September and John eventually got his move north the following month. Before that, though, he was recalled for a 2-1 home win over Exeter City in the League Cup.
He went on as a substitute for Ken Beamish in a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa, and then, with Goodwin hospitalised for knee cartilage surgery, Napier was restored alongside Gall for a five-game run in September 1972. But his last appearance for the Albion came at home to Hull City on 7 October, when a 14,330 crowd saw Albion recover from a half-time deficit to draw 1-1 with a goal from Bert Murray.
“Back then, as there were no agents, you had to try to help yourself as a player and it was not uncommon for players to call other clubs and managers or coaches they knew,” Napier explained. “But it is not so easy when there is a transfer fee involved.
“I did get a call from Bryan Edwards who had taken over as the manager of Bradford City in the Third Division. Incidentally, I had taken over the centre-half position at Bolton when Bryan retired as a player.”
Edwards had a long career at Bolton and was in their 1958 FA Cup winning side when two Nat Lofthouse goals settled the game against a Manchester United side depleted by the Munich air disaster three months earlier. Freddie Goodwin and Alex Dawson were in the United line-up that day.
But back to October 1972. Edwards was told Albion wanted £15,000 for Napier, who said: “I did go in to see Pat after Bradford talked to them, but he told me the club wanted the full asking price. I was mad at the time and some heated words were said. Finally, after a few weeks of happenings, they both decided to make the fee £10,000, and I moved north to Bradford.”
He played 107 games for Bradford City across six seasons at Valley Parade, interspersed with loan spells in the USA at Baltimore Comets, playing alongside former Albion and Bradford teammate Allan Gilliver, and its franchise follow-up, San Diego Jaws (which later became San Diego Sockers).
Following his release by Bradford, and temporary return from the States, Napier joined non-league Mossley in September 1975.
His central defensive partner there was his former Bradford City teammate, and former Leeds United and Huddersfield Town defender, Roy Ellam.
Napier made his Mossley debut in a 4-0 win over Macclesfield Town on 23 August 1975, and he went on to play in all but one of the Lilywhites’ next 24 games. He even got on the scoresheet in a 2-1 win over Gateshead in November 1975.
But, by the end of the month, he had returned to Bradford City as an assistant coach, which was an area of the game he had always looked to move into.
• In the next instalment of this series of articles, we look at the early days of Napier’s career.
In parallel lines 