Midfielder Alan Curbishley helped Seagulls to promotion

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ALAN Curbishley completed a hat-trick of promotions with new clubs when he was part of Brighton’s successful third tier side in 1988.

He’d previously been promoted after switching from West Ham to Birmingham City and also when moving from Aston Villa to Charlton Athletic.

Curbishley was what you might call West Ham through and through.

Born at Forest Gate on 8 November 1957, within a mile of West Ham station, he was one of five children (elder brother Bill famously promoted and managed The Who and Led Zeppelin and was producer of the films Tommy and Quadrophenia).

Curbishley first played in Brighton at under 11 level, in a Newham Boys side against Brighton Boys at Longhill School, in May 1967. He was later capped for England Boys aged 15 and after joining the Hammers straight from school played for England Youth.

Curbishley won nine England Youth caps under Ken Burton, scoring on his debut in a 1-1 draw against Poland in Las Palmas on 21 January 1975 when England went on to win the Atlantic Cup. Among his teammates were future England captain Bryan Robson, Peter Barnes and Keith Bertschin.

He vied for a starting berth with Mark Nightingale (Palace, Bournemouth, Norwich, Peterborough), making six starts and three appearances off the bench. His last appearance was in a 1-0 win over Wales in Cardiff on 11 February 1976, playing alongside Glenn Hoddle and Gary Owen.

Almost a year earlier, on 29 March 1975, he had made his first team Hammers debut at the tender age of 17, lining up in midfield alongside Trevor Brooking and Graham Paddon in a 1-0 home defeat against Chelsea. Mervyn Day was in goal for West Ham and guarding the opposition net was John Phillips.

At the time, Curbishley was the youngest to play in the senior team although that record was subsequently eclipsed by Paul Allen.

A contemporary of Geoff Pike, Paul Brush and Alvin Martin, they were all in the West Ham youth team defeated 5-1 on aggregate by Ipswich in the 1975 FA Youth Cup Final.

In a midfield dominated by Brooking, Paddon and Pat Holland, and later Alan Devonshire and Pike, Curbishley found first team chances limited, although in 1977-78 he made 36 appearances.

After 85 matches for the Hammers, in 1979 he moved to Birmingham for £275,000. Manager Jim Smith used the proceeds of the £1m transfer of Trevor Francis to Nottingham Forest to buy Curbishley, Frank Worthington, Colin Todd and Archie Gemmill. Curbishley was still only 21 when he made his debut for the Blues on 18 August 1979 in a 4-3 defeat at home to Fulham and he went on to be ever present for Birmingham in that 1979-80 season.

Curbishley earned his one and only England Under 21 cap in a 5-0 thrashing of Switzerland at Portman Road when Justin Fashanu was among the scorers. He had hopes of going to the 1982 World Cup with England, having broken into the England B squad but fractured a kneecap sliding into a tackle with Albion’s Brian Horton. “I missed the rest of the season and the start of the next, and the World Cup squad which I might have broken into otherwise,” he said. “It was the worst disappointment I’ve ever faced.”

He was on the front cover of the matchday programme for a game I went to watch at St Andrew’s on 27 March 1982 when he played for Ron Saunders’ Blues in a 1-0 win over Brighton. But financial issues meant the side was broken up and, the following year, after a total of 155 games, he committed what today seems to be viewed as a cardinal sin by signing for Villa for £100,000, ironically making his debut against Birmingham in a 1-0 win on 4 April 1983.

“I had high hopes of success there with them just having won the European Cup,” he told Dave Beckett in an Albion matchday programme article. “It was soon obvious though that Tony Barton was under pressure from the moment he took over and all the players thought it was just a matter of time before he was sacked.

“He got a raw deal. That season we finished ninth in the league, got to the semis of the League Cup and were knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the last minute on the away goals rule. Villa have never been near that form since, but Tony Barton’s face didn’t fit and he was soon on his way along with all the men he signed.”

After only 36 appearances, scoring once, Curbishley returned to London, dropping back down to the 2^nd division, to begin what would be a long association with Charlton Athletic, punctuated only by his spell at Brighton.

Amazingly, although homeless at the time and playing at Selhurst Park, Charlton won promotion back to the 1^st Division. Unfortunately Curbishley sustained an achilles tendon injury and only played 10 games in the 1986-87 season.

“I knew I had an achilles injury but the operation was delayed until a week before the start of the new season and consequently I wasn’t fit again until December,” he said. “The manager bought two new midfield players, which I understood, but when I was fit again I couldn’t get back into the side.

“It became apparent that I wouldn’t get much of a chance unless something drastic happened so I’m pleased to have a fresh start.”

After 13 seasons playing in the top two divisions, he left Charlton having scored six times in 63 games and dropped down to the Third to join the Albion for £32,500.

He made his debut in a goalless draw at Chesterfield on 22 August 1987 in front of a crowd of just 2,286.

After the departure of Jimmy Case in 1985, the centre of Albion’s midfield had been crying out for someone who could put their foot on the ball and pass it, and Curbishley stepped neatly into that role, scoring six goals – mostly penalties – in 34 appearances as Brighton won promotion.

“Alan was a very level-headed guy, an excellent passer and really disciplined,” Albion boss Barry Lloyd told Spencer Vignes in a matchday programme article.

In total, over three years on the south coast, Curbishley played 127 games (plus five as sub) – making his 400th league appearance during the 1988-89 season – and scored 15 goals.

curbs pen The Albion matchday programme featured Curbishley when the Seagulls hosted the Hammers for a Barclays League Division 2 game on 16 September 1989. Describing his time with the East London club, he said: “It was a brilliant set up although I was definitely a bit headstrong in my early days.

“I didn’t really grow up until I moved to St Andrew’s and that’s where I had my best playing days.”

Lou Macari’s side in 1989 included Curbishley’s old pal Alvin Martin and future Albion manager Liam Brady but the Seagulls ran out 3-0 winners (goals from Kevin Bremner, Robert Codner and Garry Nelson).

In 1990, Curbishley began his coaching career, returning to Charlton initially as player-coach under Lennie Lawrence. When Lawrence left in 1991, Charlton made the somewhat unusual decision to appoint joint managers: Curbishley and Steve Gritt (who would later be at the helm when Albion narrowly escaped dropping out of the league).

Curbishley’s first signings for Charlton were former Albion teammates Nelson and Steve Gatting and he later plundered young winger John Robinson from the Seagulls. After four years, Curbishley took sole charge at The Valley and led Charlton to some of the most successful times in their history.

Considering their resources, Curbishley turned Charlton into a steady top flight club and model of stability, consistently securing a mid-table finish.

Sean Cole in The Bleacher Report described him as “one of the most promising managerial talents of the new millennium” and in 2006, in the wake of Sven-Goran Eriksson’s departure as England manager, Curbs had ‘tea and biscuits’ with then chief executive Brian Barwick – but Steve McLaren got the job instead.

In December 2006, Curbishley landed what surely would have been considered his dream job – manager of West Ham.

It was quite a reunion of old pals when Brighton visited Upton Park for one of his first games in charge, in the third round of the FA Cup in January 2007. Albion boss Dean Wilkins and coach Ian Chapman had both been teammates while physiotherapist Malcolm Stuart was still wielding the magic spray.

In front of 32,874, Hammers ran out fairly comfortable 3-0 winners with Mark Noble scoring his first senior West Ham goal and Carlos Tevez a real handful up front. These were the respective line-ups:

West Ham: Carroll, Dailly, Ferdinand (Spector 45), Gabbidon, McCartney, Benayoun, Mullins, Noble, Boa Morte (Newton 73), Cole (Bobby Zamora 68), Tevez.
Subs not used: Green, Sheringham. Goals: Noble 49, Cole 58, Mullins 90.

Brighton: Wayne Henderson, Joe O’Cearuill, Joel Lynch, Guy Butters, Kerry Mayo, Tommy Fraser (Gary Hart 51), Adam El-Abd, Dean Hammond, Alexandre Frutos (Sam Rents 67), Alex Revell (Joe Gatting 84), Jake Robinson. Subs not used: Michel Kuipers, Richard Carpenter.

Fans’ website westhamtillidie recalled: “Perhaps Curbs’ greatest legacy at the club was the £7m signing of his former Charlton protégé Scott Parker, who went on to win the Hammer of the Year prize three times and pick up a Football Writers’ Player of the Year Award during his time at the club.”

Sadly, though it was to all end in tears and Curbishley quit in protest at the then Icelandic owners’ failure to consult him over the sale of defenders Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney.

In what must have been a tough heart-v-head decision, he resorted to a legal resolution of the situation and eventually won a case for constructive dismissal, eventually receiving £2.2m in compensation. But it was the last manager’s job he had.

“It took me a year to sort out my problem at West Ham,” he told The Independent. “And then, after that, I was perhaps a little too picky. I was told by other senior managers ‘don’t be out too long’ but I was waiting for a job that I thought was the job for me.”

Job vacancies came and went, Curbishley’s name was generally on all the shortlists, but he never again made it through to the manager’s chair. There was a brief moment at Fulham when he was technical director assisting Rene Meulensteen but when Meulensteen was swiftly axed, new manager Felix Magath brought in his own people.

He rejoined the Fulham coaching staff in March 2015 and took charge of training in November 2015 when Kit Symons was relieved of his managerial duties but Stuart Gray took charge of the team before Slavisa Jokanovic was appointed.

In 2016, Curbishley brought out a book, Game Changers: Inside English Football: From the Boardroom to the Bootroom (published by HarperSport) and was a regular pundit on the Football on 5 programme covering Football League games.

Freddie Goodwin left Albion in lurch after missing promotion

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FOLLOWING Archie Macaulay’s decision to stand down as Albion manager two months into the 1968-69 season, former Busby Babe Freddie Goodwin, still only 35, was brought in as his successor.

Goodwin had already managed Scunthorpe United and had recently been in the United States at the helm of New York Generals. The then Third Division Brighton side responded positively to his arrival, going 15 games unbeaten at home.

Utility player John Templeman, who was at the Albion throughout Goodwin’s reign, told the Argus: “When I heard he was taking over I thought the news was brilliant. His youth was a really big plus for the players.

“For many of us, we were working with someone from the same age group. We talked about the same things after training or on away trips.”

Goodwin was Albion’ manager when I first started watching them and it hadn’t been long into his reign when he populated his side with players whose attributes he had witnessed first hand in other settings.

Two former Manchester United teammates were already at the Albion before he arrived: Nobby Lawton, who was captain, and former United reserve Bobby Smith who’d played for him at Scunthorpe United.

Centre forward Alex Dawson, a teammate in United’s losing 1958 FA Cup final side, was one of his first signings at the Goldstone, and Brighton were the third club for who he signed former Wolves and Villa goalkeeper Geoff Sidebottom.

At the start of the 1969-70 season, he brought in his former Leeds teammate Willie Bell as player-coach from 1969 FA Cup finalists, Leicester City.

freddie goodwin If Goodwin appeared to be relying on experienced pros on the way down the football pyramid, he wasn’t afraid to blend them with talented younger players, signing utility player Eddie Spearritt from Ipswich Town and bustling striker Alan Duffy from Newcastle United, both of whom went straight into the side and kept their places.

Before he arrived at the Goldstone, Goodwin had already given a league debut to goalkeeper Ray Clemence, who went on to play for Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur and won 61 caps for England. And, after he left Brighton, Goodwin gave a Birmingham City debut to 16-year-old Trevor Francis who was England’s first £1 million player when transferred to Nottingham Forest in 1979, and he played 52 times for England.

As young lads, we always got to the Goldstone as the gates opened at 1.30pm and as we claimed our places at the front of the perimeter wall near the players’ tunnel, Goodwin would have a few words with us as he came out to inspect the pitch, one time in particular I recall him commenting how heavy going it would be after an almighty downpour.

In his only full season in charge, 1969-70, Brighton were looking good bets for promotion to Division Two. They were top after a cracking 2-1 Good Friday win over Reading but lost 1-0 the following day at Halifax and 4-1 at Fulham on Easter Monday.

With three games to go, they lost two of them, away to Rochdale and home to Mansfield (only managing to beat Rotherham 2-1 at the Goldstone) and ended up fifth, seven points behind champions Orient.

Goodwin’s last signing for the Albion saw him return to his old club, Manchester United, to bring exciting young Welshman Peter O’Sullivan to Hove. Although he didn’t stay to see the youngster flourish, O’Sullivan ended up staying for 10 years.

In the summer after narrowly missing out on promotion, Goodwin still had 18 months left on his contract but Birmingham came in an offered him a three-year deal to succeed Stan Cullis.

“Albion’s board were stunned,” wrote Evening Argus Albion reporter John Vinicombe. “They felt Goodwin was the man to take them up, and initially tried to prevent his release.

“The atmosphere was strained for a day or two. When the Albion board realised it was unrealistic in attempting to hold Goodwin, they came to a financial arrangement with City.”

When Birmingham played Albion in a First Division match at The Goldstone on 7 November 1981, Vinicombe wrote about his memories of Goodwin’s time at the helm.

“I recall him telling me that during his time at New York Generals he occupied his spare time by studying Spanish, book-keeping and accountancy,” wrote Vinicombe. And when he arrived at the Albion he told the players: “Results are nothing to do with you. They are my problem. Forget them and just give me 90 minutes effort, whatever the score.”

Templeman told the Argus: “He was a success for Brighton because he represented a fresh start. Who knows what would have happened if he had stayed at the club? He won promotion with Birmingham and I think he would probably have done the same at Brighton.”

Albion’s stuation with Birmingham was further soured because Goodwin decided he wanted to take Bell and youth coach George Dalton with him. So eager was he to hire them that he made an illegal approach while they were still under contract at Brighton and Birmingham were later fined £5,000 for a breach of regulations.

Born in Heywood, Lancashire, on 28 June 1933, Goodwin came to the attention of Manchester United when playing for Chorlton County Secondary School and became a professional under Matt Busby in October 1953. He made his senior debut for the club on 20 November 1954 against Arsenal in a 2-1 home win.

However, he wasn’t able to hold down a regular spot until the Munich air disaster in February 1958 decimated the United first team. Alongside Dawson, Goodwin was given a chance to establish himself and he played in the side which lost 2-0 in that year’s FA Cup Final to Bolton Wanderers (pre-match line-up at Wembley, below). Wembley line-up

By the time United decided to sell him for £10,000 to Leeds United in March 1960, he’d played 107 games over five seasons.

From being a teammate of Bobby Charlton, Goodwin partnered Bobby’s brother Jack in the Leeds defence and captained the side until the arrival of Bobby Collins in 1962.

After 120 games for Leeds, his playing career was virtually ended when a tackle, ironically by former Leeds legend John Charles, playing for Cardiff, on 4 January 1964, fractured a leg in three places.

Goodwin went on to become player-manager at Division Three Scunthorpe (his injury restricted him to just six appearances) where he first signed Sidebottom whose place was eventually taken by the emerging Clemence.

When Goodwin tried his luck in America in 1967-68, Sidebottom was one of his first signings at New York Generals, and the ‘keeper played 44 games over there.

Birmingham fans will always remember how Goodwin launched the career of teenager Francis. In 1972, Francis, Bob Latchford and Bob Hatton spearheaded promotion for the Blues and a place in the FA Cup semi finals.

The 1973-74 season saw Birmingham escape relegation from the elite by a single point. They were marginally safer the following season, and reached the semi-final of the FA Cup again (losing in a replay to Fulham).

With Blues struggling at the foot of the table at the start of the 1975-76 season, Goodwin was sacked in September and Bell took over.

In 1976 Goodwin returned to America to become the first coach and president of the Minnesota Kicks where he remained until the early 1980s before retiring.

He settled in the US and lived there until his death from cancer aged 82 in Gig Harbour, Washington, on 19 February 2016.

In paying tribute to the man who gave him his big break, Francis told the Birmingham Mail: “I will forever be indebted to him for having the courage to put me into the team at such a young age – that tends to be overlooked.

“I had only had a season of youth football and not even a handful of reserve team games but he still gave me my opportunity.

“I held him in very high regard and had enormous respect for him. I was most saddened the day he was sacked.

“He looked after me and took care of me. He was like a father figure to me. He knew when to play me and when to take me out and give me a little bit of a rest – not that I understood that at 16 years old.

“Just before I went to Detroit, Freddie was already in the States coaching the Minnesota Kicks and he put a very lucrative offer in front of me to go out there and play.

“That alerted a lot of other NASL clubs and in the end I went to Detroit, who were managed by Jimmy Hill. I owe much of that to Freddie’s foresight.”

Cattle auctioneer Kevin Bremner gave clubs a promotion prod

bremner-portrait AS GOALSCORING partnerships go, the pairing of Kevin Bremner and Garry Nelson was something of a masterstroke by Albion manager Barry Lloyd.

Having to readjust to life back in Division 3 after relegation in 1987 meant cashing in on some of the better players – the sale of Terry Connor, Danny Wilson and Eric Young raised over £400,000 – and replacing them with bargain buys.

At £65,000 for Bremner and £72,500 for Nelson, Lloyd showed how shrewd an operator he could be in the transfer market. When Nelson was injured and sidelined for a while, £80,000 was paid to bring in Paul Wood to play alongside Bremner.

Bremner was born on 7 October 1957 in Banff in the Scottish Highlands and worked as an auctioneer in the cattle market in his home town as well as playing Highland League football.

He didn’t make his start in the English league until the relatively late age of 23. That was with Colchester United and he made his debut in a 2-2 home draw with Barnsley in Division 3 on 11 October 1980.

He went on to make 93 consecutive appearances for Colchester in the third and fourth divisions and scored 35 goals while Bobby Roberts was in charge. All was going well until Bremner got in a dispute with the club and found himself out of the side.

Division 1 Birmingham took him on a month’s loan and, after he’d scored a goal in his four games there, Roberts’ repplacement at Colchester, former Ipswich and Northern Ireland centre half Allan Hunter, recalled him to Layer Road. However, former boss Roberts had moved on to Division 3 Wrexham, and he took Bremner on loan at the Racecourse, where he also got on the scoresheet.

“He wanted to take me on permanently but they couldn’t afford it so my next stop was Home Park, and a spell at Plymouth Argyle,” he told the Albion matchday programme. “It was touch and go whether or not I’d stay there in the long term, but once Lincoln and Millwall showed an interest I knew that I’d soon be on my way.”

He chose Millwall – “it was closer” – and joined the Lions in December 1982 for a £25,000 fee. He was one of eight new signings made by manager George Graham as Millwall were floundering at the bottom of Division 3 at the time. In a remarkable turn-round, they picked up 27 points in 12 games to escape relegation.

He was then part of the Millwall side who won promotion from Division 3 in 1984-85. In total, Bremner scored 33 goals in 87 games for the Lions. “It was a fabulous couple of years even though the side was struggling when I joined,” he said. “Playing at The Den is great – it’s wicked for away teams because the atmosphere is so strong.”

Next stop was Reading for a £35,000 fee. He spent two seasons with the Royals and enjoyed a successful partnership with lofty Trevor Senior which helped the Royals to promotion as champions from Division 3 in 1986.

I can remember going to watch Albion play Reading in November 1986 and Bremner scored twice in a 2-1 win for the Royals at Elm Park. He finished the season with 15. Albion signed him from Reading for £65,000 in July 1987.

Brem flow After a flying start with Brighton, in which he scored 11 goals, the league goals dried up for Bremner but strike partner Nelson couldn’t stop scoring as Albion powered their way to automatic promotion.

Second spot behind Sunderland was clinched via a 2-1 Goldstone win over Bristol Rovers on 7 May, Bremner finally ending his goal drought with a diving header, and Nelson, inevitably, getting the winner – his 32^nd goal of the season.

What was all the more remarkable about the pairing was that it was the first season Nelson had played as an out-and-out striker.

Back in the second tier in 1988-89, Albion struggled to make an impression against better quality opponents although Bremner did score 15 goals, including a hattrick in a New Year’s Eve 4-0 mauling of Birmingham City. In September 1988, he took over the goalkeeper gloves (below) at home against West Brom when Perry Digweed was forced off with a serious groin injury.

In a matchday programme interview, Bremner said: ”I’m probably enjoying the game more than at any time before. I regret not coming into the professional game earlier but I’m delighted at the way things have turned out.

“We always thought we could do well at the Goldstone and after two years of hard work I’d like to think that we can put the club back on the map and, besides, I’d like another try in the First Division.”

The programme notes declared: “It’s his consistent scoring record that has opposing defenders on tenterhooks. His total commitment invariably creates an opportunist goal and he is a popular player with the fans.”

Brem run Bremner scored 12 in the 1989-90 season, five of them coming in the space of a week at the start of the season! He was virtually ever-present but Albion struggled in the lower half of the table for most of the season. His goal in a 1-1 draw away to Blackburn in the final game of that campaign was his last for the club. In 134 games (plus three as sub), he’d scored 36 goals.

He moved on to Peterborough United in the close season as manager Lloyd had a new strike partnership up his sleeve in the shape of John Byrne and Mike Small.

After a year at Peterborough, Bremner moved back to Scotland to play for Dundee but in the spring of 1992 had a month’s loan spell at Shrewsbury Town.

Back in the far north of Scotland he had spells as player-manager with Brora Rangers and his old club Deveronvale then in 1995 he became youth team manager at Gillingham and stayed for eight years, and was then academy coach at Millwall for three years. He subsequently coached youngsters in Kent, at an academy and at an independent school.

Pictures show the front page of the Evening Argus following Albion’s promotion from Division 3 in 1988 with Bremner diving to score; a shot of Bremner in action against West Ham that appeared on the front of a matchday programme, a portrait from a matchday programme at the beginning of the 1989-90 season, and other action pictures from matchday programmes.

Flamboyant Frank Worthington’s career included a brief Brighton stopover

3-fw-albion FRANK Worthington was one of football’s genuine entertainers and it was a privilege to witness his season at The Goldstone between 1984 and 1985.

An all-too-brief England career which saw him win eight caps in 1974 was a long way behind him by the time his former Huddersfield Town teammate Chris Cattlin secured his signature for Brighton, but what the legs could no longer do, the brain more than made up for.

He was on the scoresheet in only his second game, a bruising encounter when Notts County were beaten 2-1, even though Albion played the second half with only 10 men – centre backs Eric Young and Jeff Clarke having been hospitalised by clashes with Justin Fashanu.

Worthington went on to make 30 appearances (plus five as sub) scoring eight times in total. Two of the goals came in his penultimate match against Wolverhampton Wanderers, one being a penalty struck so hard that it broke the hand of their ‘keeper Tim Flowers.

In June 2013, in the Huddersfield Examiner, Cattlin told interviewer Doug Thomson: “He did a good job for me. Frank wasn’t only a great player, but a great bloke as well, a dedicated trainer and a great bloke to have around a club.”

Worthington reflected on his time at the club in a matchday programme interview with Spencer Vignes in 2003. “I’d known Chris since my early days at Huddersfield,” he said. “I’d liked him so when he asked whether or not I’d be prepared to come to Brighton, I didn’t really have to think too long about it. They were a good side that hadn’t long been out of the First Division, so it sounded attractive.”

He continued: “We had some good players and certainly had no problems finding the net. I felt as though I was playing OK and the fans seemed to like me. But Chris did have this thing where he would chop and change the team around quite a bit, even if we were winning. He never really seemed sure what his best side was, and I think our form began to suffer because of it.”

Worthington reckoned it led to disharmony in the dressing room, and, for his own part, while he was good friends with Jimmy Case and Hans Kraay, he couldn’t say the same for Chris Hutchings or Kieran O’Regan. Albion finished sixth in the table, three points off automatic promotion and, although he was offered a new one-year contract, he decided to move on to try his hand at management.

So Brighton was only a brief stop-off in a 20-year career which saw Worthington score 236 goals in 757 league games. Add in games he also played in the United States with Philadelphia Fury and Tampa Bay Rowdies, in South Africa, Sweden and in English non-league, and the games total amounts to an amazing 828.

Halifax-born Worthington’s father was a pre-war professional and his two brothers, David and Bob, were also professionals. Unlike his brothers, the hometown club dithered over signing Frank and Huddersfield jumped in and secured his signature.

After manager Ian Greaves selected him for the opening fixture of the 1969-70 season, he clocked up 100 consecutive appearances for the Terriers.

The flamboyant Worthington famously almost joined Liverpool in 1972 but the deal was called off when he failed a medical due to a reported high blood pressure reading.

Liverpool signed John Toshack instead while Worthington went to Leicester City for £85,000.

Having made nearly a quarter of a million pounds from the sale of David Nish to Derby County, Leicester boss Jimmy Bloomfield had a useful kitty which he splashed on Worthington, Dennis Rofe, Keith Weller, Jon Sammels and Alan Birchenall.

Worthington scored on his Leicester debut at Old Trafford and in an article with Goal magazine on 21 October 1972, he said: “It’s different playing for Leicester City compared with Huddersfield. At Huddersfield the emphasis was on hard running and effort – here it is on skill, and there is a hell of a lot of skill in this side.”

In the same publication two years later, he had finished the 1973-74 season with 25 goals to his name and he was full of compliments for Bloomfield.

“Basically I am a player who relies on skill and that fits perfectly into Jim’s plans,” he said. “I always think that teams reflect the style and outlook of their managers. That’s why Leicester’s philosophy is that there is no substitute for skill.”

His time at Leicester lasted five years and spanned more than 200 appearances before he switched to Bolton Wanderers – where one audacious goal he scored against Ipswich remains a YouTube favourite – and then Birmingham City, helping both sides to promotions.

In 1982 he played for Leeds, the following season Sunderland and the next, Southampton, before pitching up at The Goldstone.

Worthington’s first go at management, while continuing to play, came with two years at Tranmere – and his first signing was Albion’s Ian Muir. He told Vignes: “Ian Muir was a fantastic forward with great touch. He did things in training you just wouldn’t believe, yet he wasn’t even making the side at Brighton under Chris.”

Muir became a hero on Wirral, scoring 141 goals as Rovers won promotion twice and won the Associate Members Cup at Wembley in 1991. By then, Worthington was long gone, having moved on to Preston, then Stockport County, and, after a succession of brief stays with various non-league clubs, ended up with hometown club Halifax Town, where he was briefly joined by Case.

Albion’s shirt sponsor during his season with the club was Phoenix Brewery. Quite apt for a player who was famously quoted as saying: “I’ve squandered fortunes on booze, birds and gambling – it’s better than wasting it!”

Tellingly, his autobiography, published in 1995, entitled One Hump or Two, was a classic tell-all romp of a colourful career on and off the pitch.

Worthington died aged 72 on 22 March 2021 and, in a statement, his wife Carol said: “Frank brought joy to so many people throughout his career and in his private life. He will be greatly missed by everyone who loved him so much.”

The great man’s lifestyle spawned many eye-catching headlines over the years and there is no shortage of stories about him to be found on the internet.

Follow the links for just three examples.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/may/06/frank-worthington-denies-being-diagnosed-with-alzheimers-disease

http://www.90min.com/posts/26691-england-s-wasted-talent-1-frank-worthington

http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~sph2/lufc/mag/worthing.htm

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Pictures from my scrapbook show Worthington in Goal magazine in Huddersfield and Leicester’s colours, in Albion’s Phoenix Brewery-sponsored shirt and a classic headline. Pictures also from the Albion matchday programme.

Chelsea starlet Barry Bridges a Brighton record signing

5-bridges-in-stripes ENGLAND international Barry Bridges was once Brighton & Hove Albion’s record signing for the princely sum of £28,000.

Much of his career ran in parallel with Bert Murray. Both young stars at Chelsea in the early to mid-60s, they were transferred to Birmingham City in 1966 and joined the Albion in the early 1970s.

Norfolk-born Bridges had come to the attention of Chelsea while playing for local side Norwich & Norfolk Boys and had a dream debut in 1959 at just 17, scoring in a local derby against West Ham. It was in the 1961-62 season that he established himself in the Chelsea first team, Jimmy Greaves having been transferred to AC Milan.

In what turned out to be superb 1964-65 season for him and the club, he scored 27 goals in 42 appearances for Chelsea and collected a League Cup winners’ medal when they beat Leicester City 3-2 over two legs.

It was in May 1966 when Tommy Docherty started breaking up his squad and Bridges left Chelsea for Birmingham having scored 93 goals in 205 league appearances for the London club.

Bridges went one better than Murray and earned full England international honours. Four caps in fact. He was just a few days short of his 24^th birthday when he made his debut in a 2-2 draw with Scotland at Wembley in April 1965.

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Bridges pictured with Sir Alf Ramsey, Jack Charlton and Nobby Stiles while on England international duty.

He kept the no.9 shirt in the next two games, played in May, a 1-0 win over Hungary at Wembley and was the scorer of England’s goal in a 1-1 draw away to Yugoslavia. His fourth and final game was in a 3-2 friendly defeat against Austria in October 1965. Injury prevented him staking a claim for a place in the 1966 World Cup squad.

In 1971, Bridges went on an end-of-season tour to Australia with an English FA squad that also included Peter Grummitt (then of Sheffield Wednesday) and Dennis Mortimer (of Coventry at the time). The squad went to Dublin first to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the FA of Ireland, drawing 1-1 with the Republic, before heading Down Under where they won all nine of the matches they played in various locations across a month.

BridgesChels

Birmingham paid a then club record fee of £55,000 to acquire Bridges and in two seasons in the West Midlands he scored 46 goals in 104 outings.

Interviewed by bcfc.com in 2014, Bridges said: “What persuaded me to join Birmingham more than anything was the chairman, Clifford Coombs. He was a great guy and wanted to put the club back on its feet. He told me that I was going to be his first signing and he really wanted me to join.”

In his first season he helped Blues to a League Cup semi-final – ironically against Queens Park Rangers – the club he would move to next.

In August 1968, a £50,000 deal saw him move to Loftus Road, where he was part of a strong forward line playing alongside Frank Clarke and the flamboyant Rodney Marsh with his old Chelsea teammate Terry Venables pulling the strings in midfield.

Unfortunately the campaign ended in relegation from the old First Division but in 1969-70 he linked up well alongside Marsh and Clarke and scored 24 goals in all competitions.

Bridges QPR

QPR decided to cash in on him and sold him to Millwall in 1970 and in 1972 he was part of a Millwall side who only narrowly missed promotion to the top division. The Lions were already celebrating promotion on the pitch at The Den when news came through that in fact promotion rivals Birmingham had beaten Sheffield Wednesday to go up, contrary to a rumour that had been circulating in the ground that they’d been losing.

“The four supporters who had been chairing me on their shoulders dropped me. Everyone was stunned, and we had to troop off the pitch all bitterly disappointed and choked,” said Bridges. “I desperately wanted to play First Division football again and so did the rest of the lads. We were all sick.”

When Pat Saward signed him for Brighton in September 1972, it was evident from the start that this was a player who had played at the highest level.

Unfortunately, although Bridges could easily cope at that level, others either didn’t step up or the new players didn’t gel – arguably Saward made too many changes – but, whatever the reason, Brighton couldn’t stop losing and were left floundering at the foot of the table.

Bridges made his debut in a 1-1 draw away to Aston Villa but it was another four matches before he got his first goal, ironically against his old club Millwall, in a 3-1 defeat at home.

Bridges seldom had the same partner up front, early on playing with Willie Irvine, on other occasions with Ken Beamish and later with Lammie Robertson after Saward brought him in from Halifax in exchange for Irvine.

My abiding impression of him was that he appeared to be too good for the rest of the team. His speed of thought was often way ahead of the rest so he would put passes into areas where he would expect a teammate to be, only to be disappointed that they hadn’t read it, so he was made to look wasteful.

One of the few moments of pleasure for Bridges in what was otherwise a season of doom and gloom was the prospect of a FA Cup third round tie against Chelsea at the Goldstone in January 1973. Bridges was in great demand for pre-match interviews in view of his past association with the London club.

“It’s a tremendous draw for the club and a dream draw for Bert Murray and myself who both started our careers at Chelsea,” Bridges told Goal magazine. “Personally it will be nice to see most of the Chelsea lads again. I grew up with Peter Bonetti, Ron Harris and Ossie (Peter Osgood).”

Bridges hoped a good performance in the Cup would help to reinvigorate the lacklustre league form and said: “It’s a crying shame that we’re struggling because the facilities here are second to none. Obviously we need to start getting results now before it’s too late. A win against Chelsea could be just the boost we need to get out of trouble in the league.”

As it turned out, not only did the game end in defeat (2-0) for the Albion but it drew national headlines for all the wrong reasons – ‘day of shame’ for example – as Harris and Brighton left back George Ley were sent off, five were booked and the mood on the pitch led to fighting on the terraces with 25 people arrested.

However, Albion’s fortunes did eventually improve – although it was without Bridges, who in the final few games of the season was restricted to appearances off the bench.

Back in the third division, Bridges was restored to the starting line-up and scored in the opening game in a 1-1 draw at Rochdale.

He was part of the team Brian Clough and Peter Taylor inherited in October and, after they secured their first win courtesy of Pat Hilton’s goal in a 1-0 win away to Walsall, Bridges told the press: “I did more running about in this game than I had in the previous 10 matches.

“I’m 32 now, but with this chap geeing me up I reckon I can go on playing for several more years. We were a bit on edge before the game and the first thing he told us was to relax. Afterwards he told us he was pleased with the effort we showed and we can work from here and go places.

“Though I was sorry to see Pat Saward go – he was a great coach – I think Brian’s got what it takes to make us a good side. He’s just what the club have been waiting for.”

But three games later, as one of the team humiliated in a 4-0 home FA Cup defeat to Walton & Hersham at the end of November, Bridges was unceremoniously dropped and didn’t play again for the first team until February.

Although he then had a run in the team, scoring six times in a 17-game spell, he was among twelve players Clough and Taylor offloaded at the end of the season.

That brought down the curtain on his league career but he continued playing – initially in South Africa with Johannesburg side Highlands Park and then in Ireland – where when player-manager of St Patrick’s Athletic he also gave game time to another former Brighton striker, Neil Martin. He also managed Sligo Rovers before returning to his native Norfolk to manage non league sides Kings Lynn and Dereham Town.

In 2013, the QPR programme caught up with him to discover he was living in Norwich close to where he was brought up, and still getting along to watch matches.

1-england-bridges 2-chelsea-bridges 4-bridges-in-hoops Barry Bridges (Lions) Barry Bridges (Millwall yellow)

Pictures from my scrapbook show Barry in his England and Chelsea days, in Millwall’s white and change yellow shirts, in QPR’s familiar hoops, and in the Albion stripes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

murray brum

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

4-bertwillie1971 Saward brought in Willie Irvine on loan from Preston at the same time and the pair combined well on 10 March 1971 (pictured above by the Evening Argus before the game) as high-flying Fulham were beaten 3-2. In Irvine’s 2005 book with Dave Thomas, Together Again, he recalls how the pair hit it off and began a friendship that endures.

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

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

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

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

murray poy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Villa’s European Cup winning captain at the Albion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DM Villa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Welsh wizard Peter O’Sullivan an all-time Albion great

WHILE Peter Ward rightly attracted much of the attention during Albion’s rise to the top in the late ‘70s, few would deny that midfield maestro PETER O’SULLIVAN also deserves a place amongst the club’s all-time greats.

Sully had a long career with the Seagulls before a short stint with Fulham towards the end of his playing days.

The statisticians of the modern football era would have needed their calculators to record the ‘assists’ racked up by Sully, who, from the left wing or left midfield, found goalscoring teammates with unerring accuracy throughout a remarkable 11 years with the Albion.

Managers came and went, a huge swathe of teammates were discarded, but Sully stayed put, showed his worth to whoever sat in the manager’s chair, and entertained the watching faithful.

He played in the same position as the Brazilian genius Rivelino and even sported the same style of moustache in homage to him.

As Brighton rose through the footballing pyramid, Sully was a constant, displaying the talent to make an impact in the third, second and top tiers. One of his former teammates, Andy Rollings, maintained: “He should have played at the top level all the time, he was that good a player.

“He had natural ability and great fitness,” Rollings told freelance journalist Spencer Vignes. “What he did at this club was incredible, and as an individual player he was one of the best I ever played with. He’s a lovely, smashing guy.”

In the excellent Vignes’ book A Few Good Men (Breedon Books Publishing), Sully admitted there had been occasions when he couldn’t wait to get away from Brighton, and he had some serious arguments with all of the managers he played under.

Sully shared his thoughts in a Goal magazine article of 22 December 1973, a couple of months after the arrival of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor. Having won promotion from the Third Division, won five Wales under 23 caps and made his full international debut against Scotland, he was disillusioned after relegation from Division 2.

“I was bitterly disappointed at that,” he said. “It seemed at last I was getting over the depression of being in the Manchester United reserves for four years when life began to turn sour again.”

However, with the arrival of Clough and Taylor, O’Sullivan changed his outlook and told the magazine: “I’ve been impressed with their ideas and they have completely overhauled the set up down here. Now I am more than happy to stay – that is if Mr Clough still wants me – and help Brighton back into the big time.

“The potential down here is enormous and I am sure we will realise it under Mr Clough.”

Vignes’ 2007 interview with Sully explained exactly how he ended up at Brighton having been given a free transfer from Manchester United. None other than the great Bobby Charlton was responsible.

sully man u

Young Peter crouches alongside George Best in a Manchester United team photo

Born in Colwyn Bay, north Wales, on 4 March 1951, Sully had trained alongside the United legend while at Old Trafford as a youngster and, on being released on a free transfer in 1970, was considering offers from several different clubs.

He’d gone to Bristol to have a trial with Bristol City when, on a neighbouring pitch, Charlton was taking part in an England training session prior to the 1970 Mexico World Cup.

The kindly maestro exchanged the time of day with his recently departed colleague and asked which clubs were in for him. On hearing that one of them was Brighton, managed by his former Busby Babe teammate, Freddie Goodwin, Charlton advised him to link up with his old pal……and the rest, as they say, is history.

What Charlton and Sully didn’t know, however, was that no sooner had he arrived on the south coast than Goodwin was heading for the exit, en route to Birmingham City. Sully hadn’t even kicked a ball in anger for him.

“I was a little apprehensive about joining Brighton and it was unsettling when Freddie Goodwin left the club before I had even played for Albion,” he said. “I wondered what was going on and how it would affect me.

“But then Pat Saward arrived and I was overjoyed when he put me in the team. My hopes were quickly dashed again, though, when he dropped me after about six games.”

A homesick Sully struggled to settle at first but he stuck at it and went on to cement his place in the side. He ultimately featured under four different managers, Saward, Clough, Taylor and Alan Mullery.

He was part of the promotion-winning teams in 1972, 1976 and 1979, and was player of the season in 1978. He won promotion with Fulham too, going up to the old Division 2 in 1982 when the former Newcastle, Arsenal and England centre forward Malcolm MacDonald was in charge.

Sully had one amazing period with the Albion in which he made 194 consecutive appearances, an Albion record for an outfield player.

The performances of the lad from Colwyn Bay also saw him earn three international caps for Wales, two against Scotland and one in a rout against Malta when he also got on the scoresheet. Unfortunately for him, during the same period, a superb left-sided player called Leighton James was the first choice for the national side.

“When I joined Manchester United from school it was always one of my ambitions to play for Wales,” he told the Albion matchday programme. “But I thought those hopes had been dashed when Manchester United released me.” PO Wales

Sully’s 491 appearances for Brighton made him the club’s longest-serving post-war player. He actually left the club in 1980 to play in America for San Diego Sockers but a £50,000 transfer fee saw him return just five months later.

Eventually Sully moved on to Fulham in 1981 and notched up 46 appearances. There were short loan spells with Reading and Charlton in 1982-83 and his Football League career came to an end when he made 14 appearances for Aldershot in the following season.

In parallel lines

Nick Turrell's Brighton & Hove Albion blog

Tag: Birmingham City