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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*Joint Charlton manager with Alan Curbishley*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Class act Lallana helped lift Albion to a new level

IT WAS SOMETHING of a coup when multiple trophy winner and England international Adam Lallana joined Brighton from Liverpool in 2020.

His best years might have been behind him, but Lallana’s football intelligence and astute movement were a joy to watch and were, perhaps, a sign that once-humble Albion were getting serious about challenging for the top spots in the Premier League. The club twice achieved top 10 finishes during his four years at the Amex.

As much as anything, Lallana observed in an early interview that his new side would improve with a bit more belief. “That comes with time, with the development of players and with confidence,” he explained. “The more times we play well, the more we’ll get that belief and with that we’ll score more goals and get more wins, but we need to be a little bit patient. Empires aren’t built in a day.”

One of Lallana’s trademarks, as observed in an early profile on Liverpool’s website, was “turning markers inside-out with impulsive twists or burrowing through swathes of players with fine close-control”.

The player said: “Pace isn’t a huge part of my game, but playing the percentages, mathematically, if you can add an extra yard of pace or a couple of percentage points to your game, then that’s massive nowadays.

“I still do a lot of work in the gym to improve my pace, power and strength to try to get that little bit more explosive power to my game. I’m always working to improve.”

Players used to performing at the highest level week in week out don’t suffer fools gladly and it was no surprise to learn that Lallana had a few fallings out in his early days at Brighton, for example with Neal Maupay.

Younger players certainly enjoyed the experience of learning from someone who had played at the very top, for example, Columbian international Steven Alzate, who said: “On and off the pitch he is a leader and when he’s got the ball at his feet he can really show people what he can do. Training with him is an honour; he’s a great guy.”

Those leadership qualities were drawn on by both Graham Potter and Roberto De Zerbi, even though the ageing player’s minutes on the pitch had to be managed carefully.

Lallana even stepped up to support coach Andrew Crofts with first team training in between the reigns of the two managers.

Towards the end of his time at Brighton, Lallana went off in international breaks to work with Lee Carsley preparing the England under 21s ahead of matches.

Born in St Albans on 10 May 1988, Lallana’s family moved to the Ilford area of Bournemouth when he was five and he went to the local Corpus Christi School and St Peter’s Catholic School.

If the surname doesn’t sound Anglo Saxon, that’s because he has Spanish roots: his grandad was from Madrid.

From kicking a ball around with his young pals, Lallana began to harness his footballing talent at the AFC Bournemouth centre of excellence. Southampton paid a £3,000 fee to take him into their own junior ranks when he was just 12 years old. They made subsequent payments totalling £15,000 as he progressed to scholarship and full professional levels.

Lallana was grateful for the quality of the Southampton academy set-up and in particular referenced George Prost, his under-17 coach, as someone who instilled a lot of the attributes that helped to develop his career.

Lallana was in the same Saints youth team as Theo Walcott and Leon Best (Gareth Bale was only on the bench!) that lost the 2005 FA Youth Cup final to Ipswich Town. He was also in the side that lost in the semi-final to Liverpool the following year.

The same year, he made his first team debut in a 5-2 League Cup win over Yeovil Town. Saints loaned him back to Bournemouth in 2007, when he played three games, but he returned to Southampton, then in League One, and was part of their back-to-back promotion-winning side that went from League One to the Premier League.

Having helped Southampton under captain Dean Hammond to the League One runners up spot – behind Brighton – in the 2010-11 season, he was a key member of the side that gained promotion from the Championship in second spot behind Reading (Brighton finished 10^th). Over the course of eight years with Southampton, he made 235 appearances, scoring 48 goals.

In the Premier League, Lallana was made Saints captain and he admitted he struggled at first. But the arrival of Mauricio Pochettini had a positive influence on him, as he explained in a matchday programme interview. “He had a big part in moulding me into the player I am today – he took me to that next level.

“When he came to the club he could see that I had pressure on my shoulders, that I wasn’t playing freely – and we just spoke about it and he talked it out of me. By the end of the season and the next season, I was playing the best football of my life I think and a big credit goes to him for that.

“He could see I was a talented player and probably wasn’t playing to my best, but he knew it was because I wasn’t playing freely. We had lots of conversations and him knowing that and speaking to me about it was amazing because instantly it was like a balloon that just popped – immediately it took the pressures off. That was one of many things he did for me at Southampton.”

Lallana said Pochettino also helped him to become fitter and introduced him to the art of pressing. “My love of winning the ball back – that came under Mauricio.”

It was Brendan Rodgers who signed Lallana for Liverpool for £25m after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil where he had been a member of the England squad that finished bottom of its group. Lallana had made his England debut the previous November in a 2-0 friendly defeat v Chile.

Ten of his 34 caps for England were won in 2016 when he was voted by supporters as the country’s player of the year. By then 28, he scored his first international goal in a last-gasp win over Slovakia in September and two months later netted again against Scotland and Spain at Wembley.

*Taking instructions from England boss Gareth Southgate*

“This award is a huge honour,” Lallana told The FA.com. “The last three winners were Rooney (2015), Rooney (2014) and Steven Gerrard (2012) so that just goes to show what a great achievement this is.”

By then, Rodgers had been replaced by Jurgen Klopp under whom Lallana blossomed and developed (they were also close neighbours in Formby) as together they went on to win the Premier League title and the Champions League.

In a 2022 documentary about Klopp, made by The Anfield Wrap, Lallana said: “He has the X factor doesn’t he? It’s as simple as that. The amazing ability he has to motivate players. If he’s left you out for 10, 11, 12 games you’re a bit down but somehow with him, you’ve still got so much respect for him even though you aren’t happy.

“I don’t know how he does it but he just has the ability to get you motivated because of who he is, so you’re fighting for the team and for him and that’s the art. It just shows how good he is at being a manager.”

According to thisisanfield.com: “2015-16 was arguably Lallana’s best, as he started 38 games and helped push Liverpool on to the League Cup and Europa League finals.

“One of his finest performances in red came in the Europa League semi-final against Villarreal. With Liverpool trailing 1-0 from the first leg in Spain, an emotionally charged Anfield were put at ease when an early own goal drew them level.

“From then on, Lallana was brilliant for Liverpool in an attacking line-up also featuring Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge. The latter got the second goal after 63 minutes, but it was Lallana who sealed the game and sent the Reds through to the final, with a composed flick into the net.”

Summing up the Liverpool mindset, Lallana said in a matchday programme interview: “At Liverpool, where the expectations are so high, it was all about just dealing with those pressures.

“We had to forget about what the supporters want, the trophies that are expected, and just believe in what we as a team believed in – and that was playing high-intensity football and being motivated in every game to fight for each other.”

In another interview, this time with the Liverpool Echo, he said: “Playing six years with the intensity of that club takes over your life.”

Nonetheless, when he finally left Anfield for the Albion, he said: “I’m desperate for a new challenge and I’m desperate to play a bit more.

“I still feel like I’ve got plenty more football ahead of me and I’m thoroughly excited by this next challenge and what that will bring.”

A sign of the respect Liverpool fans still had for Lallana was demonstrated at the end of Albion’s 2-2 draw at Anfield in October 2022. As fans sang his name, Lallana tapped his chest and clapped every stand before walking down the tunnel.

*Lallana helped lift Brighton to a new level*

Reds supporter Aaron Cutler wrote on social media: “Pleased Lallana got a deserved (and delayed) ovation. Easy to forget how integral he was at the start of Klopp’s reign. While injuries limited his game time towards the end he clearly remained an influential presence within the squad. Could have done with him today!”

Of course, during his time with Brighton, Lallana was able to see at close quarters the emergence of Alexis Mac Allister, and he was full of praise in an interview with Graham Hunter:

“What a special player and special person,” he said. “He’s a player that is so pure with how he plays. The way he lends the football, uses others, there’s no selfishness in the way he plays.

“It was so special watching him during the World Cup, not playing to begin with then getting used and proving himself. Then playing so well that there’s no way he doesn’t play, by the end Messi is looking for him.”

Speaking of Mac Allister’s “footballing intelligence” Lallana said: “OK he’s not the quickest or strongest, but so smart. Knows that the football is faster than anyone, Alexis is of that ilk.

“He had to battle tough moments here at the beginning. He’s a very introverted, shy guy.”

With an eye to a likely future in the game as a coach, Lallana enjoyed a great relationship with De Zerbi and told BBC Radio Sussex: “I feel like we’ve helped each other an awful lot in the two years and I’m extremely grateful for how he’s managed me.

“At times I can’t train every day and my body probably lets me down, but he’s been so supportive of me and he’s managed me differently to most other players, probably because of the history I’ve had with injuries and the age I’m at. I know as a footballer that doesn’t often happen.

“Our relationship goes beyond player and coach, he’s like an older brother to me.”

When Lallana decided to leave Brighton at the end of the 2023-24 season and return to Southampton, he had made 64 starts for the Seagulls plus 40 appearances off the bench.

Albion had finished 16th and ninth under Potter then sixth and eleventh under De Zerbi.

In an extended interview with The Athletic, Lallana said: “What has happened is everything I thought was possible. I wouldn’t have said in my first interview we are going to be in Europe in three years, but that is the genius of Tony Bloom (owner-chairman) and Dan Ashworth (former technical director).”

Button rarely pressed into action with the Albion

JOURNEYMAN goalkeeper David Button has travelled the length and breadth of the country in pursuit of playing time, his three years at Brentford being a rare settled spell in which he played 141 games.

Normally only a loanee or a back-up ‘keeper at a multitude of clubs, he had a season and a half as Fulham’s first choice but at Brighton between 2018 and 2020 he only made 10 first team starts.

Button was 29 when he signed for the Albion and he stepped into the boots vacated by Tim Krul, the previous back-up ‘keeper, who had moved on to Norwich City. With both upcoming goalkeepers Christian Walton and Robert Sanchez out on loan, boss Chris Hughton wanted a third senior ‘keeper.

“He has a wealth of experience, having made over 300 appearances during his career so far, and I’m sure he will work well with Maty Ryan and Jason Steele,” said Hughton.

Button made his debut in a pre-season 2-1 friendly defeat against AFC Wimbledon, and realised from the outset that Ryan was going to be ahead of him.

“I’m not coming in blind to the situation, but I want to impress and be ready for the chance in the side – there has to be healthy competition wherever you are as a player and hopefully I can provide that for him,” he said.

“There could be a chance for me and Jason in January if Maty goes away to the Asia Cup with Australia, so we’ll both be working hard to ensure we’re ready for that if the opportunity arises.

“I know he’s very well thought of but at the same time you have to back yourself and work hard every day and do as well as you can.”

Indicating what might be expected of him, he said: “I’m confident with the ball at my feet – it’s a slightly different style to Fulham and we are allowed to go a bit more direct here and it’s something I feel I’m good at.

“I think it’s a bit less risky – we play when we can and keep it when we can – the risk factor involved in playing it out of defence is less for me here though.”

Button certainly found a familiar face at training: goalkeeper coach Ben Roberts had previously worked with him at Charlton Athletic, and he said of him: “He has got a great reputation within the game and everyone he’s worked with speaks highly of him. I genuinely believe he’s one of the best at what he does.”

Button’s first competitive action for the Seagulls came in the fourth game of the season, a 1-0 home League Cup defeat to Southampton. He had to wait until December, when Ryan was away playing for Australia, to play in the Premier League.

He kept a clean sheet in the first of them, a 1-0 home win over Everton, when he made a handful of saves, including turning a Richarlison effort onto a post.

“Although he’s a very experienced goalkeeper, it’s never easy when you’re coming in at this stage of the season and following Maty Ryan, who’s done so well for us,” Hughton said. “It wasn’t an easy decision because I’ve got two goalkeepers who are really pushing. But probably his experience managed to get him the nod (over Steele).

“It’s great for him to come into this first game and, not only be on a winning team, but also a clean sheet and that will do him the world of good.”

But that was as good as it got; Albion drew 2-2 at West Ham on New Year’s Day and lost to Liverpool (1-0) at the Amex and Man Utd (2-1) at Old Trafford. A 3-1 third round FA Cup win at Bournemouth saw then no.3 Jason Steele given a chance between the sticks.

On Ryan’s return, Button was back to the bench although he kept goal twice in Albion’s run to the semi-finals of the FA Cup: Button in the fourth round win over West Brom and in the fifth round win over Derby County. Hughton went with Ryan for the quarter final at Millwall and the semi v Man City.

When Graham Potter succeeded Hughton, Button spoke about the changes the goalkeepers then had to embrace. “We are now doing more work with our feet,” he told the matchday programme. “There is more onus on us to be better with the ball and to be comfortable with it.”

The opportunity to put it into practice was even less than previously for Button, though: he played just two League Cup matches in 2019-20 (Bristol Rovers and Aston Villa and one FA Cup tie (v Sheffield Wednesday).

At the start of the 2020-21 season, the ‘keeper swapped one Albion for another and signed for newly-promoted West Brom.

“I have ambitions of playing and helping the team as much as possible but I obviously understand that Sam (Johnstone) has got them promoted last season so he will start the season,” said Button.

“It’s up to me to push him and show the manager what I can do and take my chances when I get them. Hopefully there’ll be things I can bring to the squad certainly. I’m quite calm and comfortable with my feet too and commanding in my box so I’d say they’re my main strengths.”

However, Button played just one Premier League game in that first season plus three cup matches.

There was slightly more involvement in 2021-22 when the experienced stopper made 11 appearances in all competitions, including playing the final five Championship games and keeping consecutive clean sheets in the last three matches, against Coventry City, Reading and Barnsley.

When Button swapped West Brom for League One Reading in August 2023, one Baggies supporter wasn’t sorry to see the back of him. “’It is definitely the right move to offload David Button, he has been the worst goalkeeper I have ever seen at Albion,” said fan Matt Smith on footballleagueworld.co.uk.

“We’ve had some pretty decent goalies since I’ve been going, however Button was absolutely atrocious over a significant period of time too. How on earth did we spend £1m on him?

“How Steve Bruce gave him a two-year contract at the end of the 2021-22 season is beyond me. He’s so bad honestly. He can’t catch a bloody cold. He’s awful.”

Born in Stevenage on 27 February 1989, Button was with local club Stevenage Borough in their centre of excellence and acknowledged the input of the Coaching FX goalkeeping school in his early development.

“Keith Fenwick was my first coach: his first-class and very enjoyable sessions definitely helped to develop my love of being a keeper,” he said.

*Button moved from youth academy to professional at Spurs*

An England schoolboy and youth international, Button moved on to Tottenham’s youth academy in 2003, signed a scholarship deal two years later and then earned a four-year professional contract in December 2007. However, he only had eight minutes of first team action for Spurs – as a substitute for Carlo Cudicini in a League Cup match – and was loaned out 13 times.

Over his four years as a Spurs pro, he had two spells each at Crewe Alexandra and non-League Grays Athletic, plus stints at Rochdale, Bournemouth, Luton, Dagenham & Redbridge, Shrewsbury Town, Plymouth Argyle, Leyton Orient, Doncaster and Barnsley.

In the 2009-10 season, he notched up a total of 36 League Two appearances (10 for Crewe and 26 for Shrewsbury) and 30 in League One the following season, when with Peter Reid’s Plymouth, where he kept Romain Larrieu out of the team for much of the campaign.

When he eventually left Spurs permanently, he didn’t travel too far, joining Chris Powell’s Charlton in the Championship for £500,000. Powell preferred Ben Hamer in goal, though, and Button was restricted to a handful of appearances before moving on to Brentford.

In an interview with getwestlondon, Button said: “It was a little bit of a frustrating time for me at Charlton. I would like to think I would have been given a chance a bit sooner there. It was a difficult year but it helped build my character.”

When Brentford sold Simon Moore to Cardiff, manager Uwe Rösler took Button to Griffin Park declaring: “We decided David was the perfect choice for us. He is at the right age and he is very hungry to make the number one spot his own.

“As soon as Simon left, David was our first choice. David will face strong competition for the goalkeeper spot from Jack Bonham and Richard Lee, when Richard is fit again.

“We have been strong there (in the goalkeeping positions) over the past two seasons and are even stronger this year.

“Goalkeeper is a crucial position and David is a very good player.”

For once, fortune fell favourably for Button and he ended up first choice as the Bees won promotion from League One at the end of his first season and reached the play-off semi-finals at the end of his second season.

The Brentford fans website bcfctalk was full of praise for the stopper, saying: “He was very much our first point of attack as well as our last line of defence and his quick and accurate distribution played a massive part on our overall style of play and freedom of expression.”

The website added: “He sometimes failed to deal effectively with crosses and he could also use his physique better as he is an enormous man, but he was utterly reliable and often quite brilliant and he won us numerous points with some incredible saves.”

Ahead of the 2015-16 season, at a pre-season training camp in Portugal, Button spoke about all of the club’s ‘keepers being put through their paces by goalkeeping coach Simon Royce, a one-time Albion loanee ‘keeper, and how he wanted to maintain his run of form.

“I need to find that level of consistency now for me,” he said. “I feel like I had quite a few good games last season but there were a few where I wanted to do better. I am aiming to keep my standards high in every minute of every game this season.”

He remained first choice in 2015-16, making 47 appearances, but talks on a new contract broke down. He came in for a bit of a backlash on social media when he decided to move on to west London rivals Fulham instead but he told getwestlondon: “It’s football. Probably in their eyes it’d have been nicer for me to move on to a different club. It is what it is.

“Hopefully they remember the good times and what I did for the club. I’ve got a great respect for the fans and for the way they treated me while I was there.

“I had a great three years at Brentford but felt it was time for a change and the opportunity to come here arose and it was something that interested me.”

Button had the support of manager Slavisa Jokanovic at Fulham but gradually lost the backing of the supporters to the extent he was jeered at Craven Cottage.

Supporter Dan Smith did a detailed analysis of where he thought things went wrong on fulhamfocus.com. “Having narrowly missed out on promotion in the playoffs, Button signed off his Brentford career as a good keeper at this level and someone highly regarded by the Bees faithful,” wrote Smith. “His shot stopping one of the best in the league with a very strong ‘long’ kick.”

Button kept a clean sheet on the opening day of the 2016-17 season and Smith said: “He looked decisive, confident and capable. But something happened gradually as the season developed.”

He maintained the ‘keeper’s form slowly deteriorated and blamed the way he was being managed rather than the player himself. “He looks very uncomfortable with the ball at his feet and isn’t helped by the lack of movement from the deeper players making it very difficult for him to pick someone out,” wrote Smith. “Mistake after mistake giving the ball away clearly damaged his confidence because mistakes in possession led to poor keeping errors, letting in shots he should be saving and would have saved at Brentford.”

Interestingly, with echoes of what Roberto De Zerbi has said of Steele and Bart Verbruggen, Jokanovic did blame himself rather than Button, saying he trusted the ‘keeper and had full confidence in him.

“It’s my responsibility sometimes. I put my keepers in some sort of trouble. We play a bit different and I want to start playing from the keeper.

“It’s more simple to kick the ball to the strikers as it’d give him more opportunity to be comfortable in the goal.

“He has all my confidence. Sometimes, when he makes a mistake it’s partly my responsibility as well.”

Nevertheless, eventually Button lost his starting spot to Marcus Bettinelli.

Petterson the fall guy during disastrous winless run

ANDY PETTERSON conceded two goals in the first seven minutes of his Albion debut but still picked up the man of the match award when managing to deny visitors Walsall any further goals in a 2-0 defeat.

He pulled off a brilliant point-blank save on the stroke of half-time to deny goalscorer Jorge Leitao a second goal and later blocked the same player’s angled drive. Steve Corica had opened the scoring for the Saddlers.

The game on August Bank Holiday Monday in 2002 was part of a disastrous run under new manager Martin Hinshelwood. In only eight games as a stand-in for injured Michel Kuipers, Petterson conceded eighteen goals, including four against his old club, Portsmouth, in only his second game.

He shipped another four in a game at home to Gillingham, one of which the matchday programme described as “the most embarrassing moment of Petterson’s long career”.

With the score 3-2, and Albion committing everyone forward, including the goalkeeper, in search of an equaliser, when 10-man Gillingham broke on a counter attack, backpedalling Petterson fell over giving Gills striker Kevin James an open goal to notch a fourth for the visitors.

Petterson only appeared once under Hinshelwood’s successor, Steve Coppell, when Kuipers had been sent off in the 89^th minute of a home game against Bradford City. Paul Brooker was withdrawn and the sub goalie went between the sticks, although his first involvement was to pick the ball out of the net, Andy Gray having scored from the penalty kick awarded for the infringement that saw Kuipers dismissed.

In pouring rain, Albion – and Petterson – clung on throughout five added minutes for a 3-2 win, bringing to an end a 14-game winless league run. Bobby Zamora scored two penalties for the Seagulls and new arrival Simon Rodger, a loyal Coppell lieutenant, curled in a beauty from outside the area.

Although he was a non-playing sub on two further occasions, Petterson was let go. In a recent interview, he said he had been nursing a recurring calf injury during his time with the Albion.

Albion were the 12^th of a remarkable 21 clubs the Aussie ‘keeper joined on loan or permanently.

Wolverhampton Wanderers were another stopping off point for the perennial back-up ‘keeper from Fremantle and it was one of his regrets that he only had a four-month loan spell at Molineux, having previously spurned a two-year deal with the Black Country side to make what turned out to be a career-damaging move to Pompey.

Instead of building on a career that had shown signs of promise at Charlton Athletic, Petterson flitted from club to club without ever putting down roots.

Born in Fremantle, Western Australia, on 26 September 1969, he was still only a teenager when he arrived in the UK and signed for Luton Town, where he spent four seasons.

The Hatters Heritage website recalls: “Andy was so desperate to make a name for himself in the English professional game that he paid his own passage to take up a trial at Luton. Fortunately, his gamble paid off as he was offered a contract at Kenilworth Road in 1988 although he had to wait until the start of the 1992-93 season before making his League debut.

“Impressing in pre-season with his shot stopping ability and quick reflexes, Andy was ever present for the first 14 games but a calamitous performance during a 3-3 draw at Cambridge effectively put paid to his Luton career.”

Petterson joined Alan Curbishley’s Addicks for £85,000 in July 1994, was their player of the season in 1996-97 in the First Division and played for them in the Premier League.

But he was generally no. 2 to Sasa Ilic, and subsequently dropped down to third choice behind Simon Royce, another goalkeeper who spent time with the Seagulls. The situation prompted Petterson to join struggling Portsmouth on loan in November 1998.

“Portsmouth were in financial trouble and down at the bottom of the table,” he recalled in an interview with the Argus. “I went there for three months and everything went very well. Then in the summer I was out of contract at Charlton.

“Portsmouth were one of three clubs in for me and they offered me quite a good deal, so I decided to sign for them. Everything went well under Alan Ball for the first six months, but he got the sack and it was downhill for me from there.

“We had another four managers (Tony Pulis, Steve Claridge, Graham Rix and Harry Redknapp) in the three years I was there and my face never fitted really. It was just unfortunate I went there. I was happy with the way it started, and it was a good club to be at, but it just wasn’t meant to be for me.”

In an extended interview with Neil Allen of The News, Portsmouth, in June 2020, Petterson reflected on his missed opportunity to join Wolves instead of Pompey, when he had been released by Charlton.

“Wolves’ boss Colin Lee was interested,” he said. “I was in Australia and flew back to England ahead of signing at Molineux on a two-year deal on the Monday afternoon.

“Then, late Sunday, my agent called. Milan Mandaric had taken over Pompey and they wanted to talk on Monday morning.

“That was the club I wanted to join, I had familiarity there. I signed a three-year deal. If the club had been taken over 24 hours later, the move would never have happened and I would have ended up at Wolves.”

Petterson told The News: “It was the beginning of the end when I went back to Pompey. My career never really recovered. I was kind of a journeyman before that, but at least was signed to a parent club and sent on loan to places.

“After moving to Pompey permanently it was six months here, three months there. It was the beginning of the end for my career. I guess everything happens for a reason – and for some reason it happened to me.”

Ipswich (three times), Swindon, Bradford, Plymouth, Colchester, Wolves, Torquay and West Brom were all temporary moves for the Australian stopper. After his short stint in Sussex, he also went to Bournemouth, Rushden and Diamonds, Southend, Walsall and Notts County.

“I always had belief in my ability and always wanted to play,” he said. “I think I was a good goalkeeper, although maybe mentally didn’t have the belief in myself enough.

“I’m a bit of a laid-back, casual sort of guy. Sometimes you have to be that pushy arrogant sort of person for the coach to take notice of you a bit more. I tried to do it, as a footballer you have to be a bit of an actor, but it just wasn’t in my nature.”

Referring to the fact he had 16 years as a professional footballer in the UK, he added: “That’s what gives me the belief that I was a decent goalkeeper. But something wasn’t quite there for me to go to the next level, I guess.”

He eventually only got a run of regular games when he returned to Australia and played for Newcastle Jets and then ECU Joondalup.

After his playing days were over, he became a goalkeeper coach for several clubs, including Bali United in Indonesia for a while. In August 2022, he was appointed goalkeeper coach at East Bengal FC.

“I have experienced the highs, the lows, all that kind of stuff, so can relate to goalkeepers,” he told Allen. “I’ve been through plenty.”

Brighton briefly on the trail of the ‘loansome’ Sam Vokes

‘LOANSOME’ Sam Vokes joined Brighton temporarily on the eve of transfer deadline day in January 2012.

He was 22 at the time and had already had five loan spells away from Molineux since joining Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 2008. Vokes told BBC Sussex: “I need to settle down in my career and it’s a fantastic chance for me to come here and play some football.

“It’s a matter of playing games and, as a striker, scoring goals.”

Vokes had been troubled by injury and had found it difficult to establish himself in the Wolves side. The season before, he had been out on loan at Bristol City, Sheffield United and Norwich, and earlier in the 2011-12 season had scored two goals in nine appearances on loan at Burnley.

Eddie Howe, who’d managed Vokes during his first spell at Bournemouth, had taken him to Turf Moor to partner Jay Rodriguez. But when his deal with Burnley expired in mid-January, Albion boss Gus Poyet stepped in and persuaded him to join the Seagulls.

Vokes was invited to the Amex to watch the side’s FA Cup fourth round tie against Newcastle and, two days after the 1-0 win, put pen to the loan deal.

7188430 “I don’t want to sit around – I love playing,” said Vokes. “Brighton have a great way of playing football that is different to a lot of teams in the Championship.”

The young striker told the Albion matchday programme: “I’m a southern boy. I know the area well, and I know what football means to people down here.

“It’s been difficult for me to settle anywhere, moving from place to place on loan, but now I just want to play football. I love the game. I need to play, it’s all I want to do.

“I would like to stay and if all goes well we will see what happens in the summer, but my main aim at the moment is to start playing football again and scoring goals.”

Poyet told the media: “Sam was one of the players we’ve been following for a long time but it’s been difficult to get him.

“The idea was to bring someone who will give us that presence and strength in the air that we don’t have.

“We’ve got the time to explain how we play, and what he needs to do for us. The quicker he adapts, the easier for us. I’m delighted to have him and I hope it works for him.

“He’s been trying to find that place that he can stay for a few years.”

As it turned out, Vokes struggled to dislodge incumbent strikers Ashley Barnes and Craig Mackail-Smith, and he made just seven starts plus five substitute appearances.

SV- BHA stripes

Although he scored on his full home debut in a 2-2 draw v Millwall, he only got two more goals, a last-minute equaliser in another 2-2 draw, at home to Cardiff City, and Albion’s lone strike in a 1-1 draw away to Nottingham Forest.

In July 2012, it was reported Wolves were demanding £500,000 for the player’s signature on a permanent basis, and that Brighton and Burnley were both keen to sign him.

Vokes burnley

Howe had always been keen to get the player back to Burnley and, although officially undisclosed, it’s believed a £350,000 fee took him to Turf Moor where he finally settled down and, over the next seven years, scored 62 goals in 258 appearances.

Born in Southampton on 21 October 1989, Vokes was brought up in Lymington and was a Southampton fan at an early age. He even had a trial with them when he was just 10 but wasn’t taken on.

It was when he was playing football for local sides in the New Forest that he was spotted by Bournemouth and joined them in 2005. He was only 17 when he made his first team debut in December 2006 (in a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest) and although he scored 12 goals in the 2007-08 season, the Cherries were relegated from League One.

Vokes Wolves Wolves stepped in to sign him that May and he came off the bench in the opening game of the following season to score an equaliser in a 2-2 draw at Plymouth Argyle. However, Chris Iwelumo and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake were the main men scoring goals as Wolves won the Championship that year, and Vokes’ involvement was mainly off the bench.

With his parent club in the Premier League, Vokes was loaned out to League One Leeds United on a three-month deal, although he only scored once in eight games. One of those matches was against the Albion at Withdean and Vokes recalled picking up his first footballing scar when an Adam El-Abd elbow caught him in the face.

Once Vokes finally settled down at Burnley after his various loan moves, it can’t have helped his cause when the man who signed him quit Turf Moor to return to Bournemouth.

Indeed, when Sean Dyche replaced Howe, his go-to centre forward at first was Charlie Austin, but when Austin was sold Vokes got more of a chance to show his worth alongside Danny Ings.

The partnership that began to evolve surprised Burnley fans who’d wondered whether Vokes was only ever destined to be a bit-part player.

“Everyone was concerned to be honest,” said Tony Scholes on uptheclarets.com. “We’d seen some potential in Ings but there wasn’t much confidence that Vokes could become a regular, goalscoring striker at Championship level.

Burnley Football Club_1st Team head Shots_30/7/15 He went on: “Our shortage of strikers was highlighted by the fact that he played the full 90 minutes in all of the first 26 league games that season, but he wasn’t just filling in. He was turning in some outstanding performances, linking up really well with Ings and both were scoring goals aplenty.”

Unfortunately, a cruciate knee injury sidelined him for a lengthy spell and Burnley bought Ashley Barnes from Brighton as they sought to bolster their forward options.

A fit Vokes eventually reclaimed his place and formed a useful partnership with big money signing Andre Gray when Barnes himself was also hit by a cruciate injury.

In the early part of last season, Vokes often found himself on the bench, with Barnes and Chris Wood starting ahead of him, and, in January, he decided to drop back down to the Championship, joining Nathan Jones’ new regime at Stoke City, with former England international Peter Crouch going in the opposite direction.

As is often the way these days, the fee was ‘undisclosed’ but was rumoured to be in the order of £7m, and Stoke offered Vokes a three-and-a-half-year contract.

His popularity at Burnley was reflected in a thoughtful parting message thanking the club and the Clarets fans, in which he said: “You made the club a ‘home’ for myself and all my family and for that I’m eternally grateful.”

He added: “It’s been an incredible journey that we’ve been on over the past seven years, with promotions, relegation, survival and even European football through the Europa League.

“There have been so many highlights and every step along the way has been a joy, but now I am looking forward to a new challenge.”

Dyche, meanwhile, told the Stoke Sentinel: “Sam has been an absolutely fantastic servant, not just as a player but as a person.

“There was a bit of frustration that he hasn’t played as much as he’d like and this presents a fresh challenge, so, with all that factored in, it became a win-win deal.

“We feel we’ve got a good deal financially for the business and Sam has got a fresh chance somewhere different.”

Since July 2021, Vokes has been leading the line for League One Wycombe Wanderers.

Vokes Wales

Vokes may have been born and brought up in England but, thanks to having a grandfather born in Colwyn Bay, he became eligible to play for Wales and has earned more than 60 caps since making his debut in 2008, including their most recent game against Belarus.

A stand-out moment for his adopted country came during the Euro 2016 tournament when he came on as a substitute and (pictured above) sealed Wales’ 3-1 win over Belgium with an 85^th-minute goal to reach the semi-finals.

Pictures from various online sources.

Goal machine Frank Stapleton ended his playing days in a Brighton shirt

stapleton stretch

FRANK STAPLETON hit the heights as a goalscorer for Arsenal and Manchester United but his prize-winning playing days came to an end in a Brighton & Hove Albion shirt.

Stapleton was the scorer of the first top flight goal at the Goldstone Ground – unfortunately, it was the opener in Arsenal’s 4-0 win in 1979! He was also one of the Manchester United scorers in the 1983 FA Cup Final against Brighton, having moved to Old Trafford two years earlier (above, however, he just fails to connect for Arsenal against Brighton with Steve Foster and Gary Williams looking on).

His two appearances for Brighton came in 1995 when his old pal Liam Brady brought him in to try to improve the front line of an ailing side.

Born in Dublin on 10 July 1956, the promising young Stapleton was rejected by United as a teenager but the Gunners reaped the benefit of that decision by snapping him up at the tender age of 15 on chief scout Gordon Clark’s recommendation.

Arsenal’s confidence in the prospects for the promising young Irish duo were reflected in a Goal magazine article of 7 October 1972 in which boss Bertie Mee talked about them as future first team players. At the time, they were still part of the club’s junior ranks, aged just 15 and 16.

goal cutting

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, the Arsenal chief scout who unearthed him, 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.

Stapleton, at 15, joined Arsenal in the summer of 1972 and quickly developed a reputation as a goalscorer, netting 11 goals in seven games.

“Frank is tall and very good in the air,” said Clark. “He seems to get up and hang for the ball. He is also very good on the floor and reads the game intelligently for a youngster.”

As expected, Stapleton progressed to the first team and made his debut in 1975 against Stoke City. He initially formed an impressive partnership with England striker Malcolm Macdonald and in three successive seasons was Arsenal’s leading goalscorer.

Such prowess brought him to the attention of the Republic of Ireland international selectors and player-manager Johnny Giles gave him his full debut aged just 20 in 1976 against Turkey in Ankara.

It was the first of a total of 71 caps for his country, during which time he became their captain and scorer of 20 goals. He led Eire when they famously beat England 1-0 at the Euro 1988 finals in Germany. Although he was part of the 1990 World Cup squad – alongside former Albion boss, Chris Hughton – he was by then behind Niall Quinn, John Aldridge and Tony Cascarino in the pecking order.

Stapleton was part of Arsenal’s three successive FA Cup final teams (1978, 1979, 1980), scoring against United in Arsenal’s 3-2 win in 1979.

When the Gunners sold Brady to Juventus in 1980, Stapleton started to question the club’s ambition and, the following year, on expiry of his contract, decided he would move on himself.

He had scored 108 goals in 300 appearances for Arsenal – some strike rate! – and it wasn’t a popular move to join a major rival in the same division, but he wasn’t the first or last player to have done so.

In the Sixties, United had taken David Herd from the marble halls of Highbury to lead their line and, of course, in more recent times, United signed Alexis Sanchez.

stapleton utd

When Robin van Persie made the same transfer switch from Arsenal to Manchester United in 2012, the Daily Mail took Stapleton back 30 years to talk about the circumstances of his own move.

Stapleton was Ron Atkinson’s first major signing for United and in his first season was partnered up front with Garry Birtles. Stapleton was the leading scorer for United in that first season, with 13 goals in 41 league games.

Subsequently, his main strike partner was the Northern Ireland international, Norman Whiteside.

Stapleton scored United’s first goal, a 55th minute equaliser, in the 2-2 Cup Final draw against Brighton: one of 19 he notched during the 1982-83 season in which he played in 59 of United’s 60 games.

By the end of the following season, Stapleton’s regular strike partner was Mark Hughes and he scored in the 1985 FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool to set up yet another Wembley appearance, this time collecting his third winners’ medal when Whiteside’s winner beat Everton.

Despite a good start to the following season, with Stapleton once again amongst the goals, poor league form eventually cost Atkinson his job and his successor, Alex Ferguson, began rebuilding the side.

After six years at United, Stapleton, by then 30, was amongst those to be let go, and he was sold to Ajax of Amsterdam, lured by the fact they were managed by Johan Cruyff. But the move failed to live up to expectations, as detailed by the42.ie, and he ended up having a spell on loan at Anderlecht.

It was the first of a series of moves which didn’t really work out for him, although in the 1988-89 season he found himself playing in France alongside fellow Irish international – and future Brighton striker – John Byrne for Le Havre.

stapleton 4 derby

Derby County offered him a platform back in the UK game and he featured 10 times for them in 1987-88 and, after his stint in France came to an end, he spent two seasons with Blackburn Rovers.

He played once for lowly Aldershot and five times for Huddersfield Town before landing a player-manager’s post with Bradford City. In three years at Valley Parade, he made 68 appearances before the axe fell, and he answered Brady’s call for help at the Goldstone Ground.

The brilliant The Goldstone Wrap detailed his brief involvement in a March 2015 post, explaining how he featured as a substitute in a 0-0 draw at home to Bournemouth and started in a 3-0 defeat away to Cardiff City.

It was a final swansong for his playing career, as he looked to get back into coaching or management. He had two stints working under his former United teammate Ray Wilkins: at QPR and, in 2014, with the Jordan national side.

Stapleton spent eight months in 1996 as the first head coach of American Major Soccer League side New England Revolution, of Massachusetts.

His last appointment in the English game was briefly as a specialist striker coach at Bolton Wanderers, appointed during Sam Allardyce’s reign, in 2003-04.

Nowadays, Stapleton is more likely to be found talking about his illustrious career, his availability for bookings listed by football-speakers.com.

The spot kick highs and lows of penalty king Denny Mundee

SPOT KICK specialist Denny Mundee played for the Seagulls during the dark days when they nearly dropped out of the league having enjoyed better times with Bournemouth and Brentford.

His older brother, Brian, also played for the Cherries and another brother, Barry, was forced to quit football at 18 because of injury. It was a case of third time lucky when young Denny finally broke through into league football. Previous attempts to make it, at QPR and Swindon, had got nowhere.

Born Dennis William John Mundee in Swindon on 10 October 1968, Denny first showed his footballing talent at his local primary school (Liden), as a contemporary wrote some years later on the Brentford fans forum, Griffin Park Grapevine.

The poster, called ‘SmiffyInSpain’ said: “Went to primary school with Denny in Swindon and he was a class act then. Went to separate secondary schools, but still kept in contact with him as an opponent at school level football.

“Of all the players of the same age, Denny stood out by far. Of all the penalties he took against me, he never missed.”

Indeed, Mundee was noted for his success rate from the 12-yard spot, taking on the penalty taker duties at whichever side he played for.

The young Mundee was first offered an apprenticeship at Third Division Bournemouth but decided to join First Division QPR as a junior, where he spent a year.

Released in the summer of 1986, he joined home town team Swindon for a season, but again failed to make the grade. It took a drop down to Southern League Premier side Salisbury before things began to click. Scoring 20 goals in 34 appearances brought him back to the attention of Bournemouth, who snapped him up in March 1988.

Although he made his Bournemouth debut towards the end of the 1988-89 season, he had loan spells with Weymouth, Yeovil Town and Torquay United before establishing himself with the Cherries.

It was in 1991-92 that he laid claim to a regular place, and, as right-back, made 41 league appearances that season.

His winning spot-kick in a 4-3 penalty shoot-out decider in the third round of the FA Cup against Newcastle United in January 1992 earned Mundee hero status in a Cherries’ Legends Gallery put together by BBC Dorset.

United, managed at the time by Argentine legend Ossie Ardiles, were floundering at the bottom of the old Second Division, while Harry Redknapp’s Third Division Cherries had already held the Magpies 0-0 at Dean Court before taking the tie to penalties after the replay at St James’ Park had ended 2-2 on 90 minutes.

However, by the end of the following season, Mundee had become something of a utility player, slotting in to various positions, and, in August 1993, he chose to leave the south coast club on a free transfer.

In just over five years, he had started 93 games for the Cherries and come on as a sub in another 29 games.

Former Chelsea and QPR defender David Webb had taken over as manager at Brentford and Mundee was among his first signings.

Bees fans remember him being signed as a full back but, on being ‘thrown up top’, he was a revelation and finished his first season at Griffin Park with 11 goals.

Perhaps ironically, Brentford, in 16^th, finished a point and a place above Bournemouth that 1993-94 season. Mundee scored 11 times, including a memorable hat-trick in a 4-3 defeat at home to Bristol Rovers.

DMHS Six of his goals that season came in a run of four consecutive games between 27 November and 27 December, four of them penalties.

Mundee found himself part of a side that featured the free-scoring Nicky Forster in attack alongside Robert Taylor.

Described as “whole-hearted” and “a crowd pleaser”, Mundee earned something of a reputation for a shuffle, or a twiddle, he would deploy to get past opponents. ‘Brickie Chap’ on griffinpark.org said of him: “A player that always tried his best. Not the most gifted we have ever had down here but deffo one for providing quality entertainment.”

Unfortunately for a player normally so reliable from 12 yards, it was a penalty he failed to convert that Brentford fans have never really got over.

Mundee’s miss in a 1995 Division Two play-off match against Neil Warnock’s Huddersfield came in what was apparently the first-ever televised penalty shoot-out featured on Sky.

It was all the more galling because Mundee had scored twice from the spot past Town’s Steve Francis the previous season but, on this occasion, he blew the chance to put Brentford two goals ahead when he was outguessed by the ‘keeper. When Jamie Bates missed too, Brentford’s season was over.

Any other year, as runners-up, Brentford would have been promoted automatically, but, because of a reorganisation of the Premier League that year, only the top team went up automatically, hence their participation in the play-offs.

Mundee’s erstwhile primary school teammate wrote: “I watched the Huddersfield match in ‘95 and I would have put my mortgage on him netting like he did for Bournemouth at Newcastle a few years earlier.”

mundee In two years with the Bees, Mundee made 73 starts plus 25 appearances as a sub but, when his old Bournemouth teammate Jimmy Case took over the Albion’s managerial reins from Liam Brady, he and another ex-Cherry, Mark Morris, headed to the Goldstone Ground to try to help the Seagulls’ cause.

With the poisonous off-field developments at the club an ugly backdrop to the playing side, neither could do anything to halt Albion’s slide into the bottom tier.

Things went from bad to worse and on 1 February 1997, bottom of the league Brighton drew 1-1 at Mansfield Town, Mundee scoring for the Seagulls with a follow-up after his initial penalty was parried. Albion were nine points adrift and relegation from the league was looking virtually certain.

However, as we all now know, the drop was averted courtesy of that nail-biting draw at Hereford.

Although Mundee remained on the books for the following season, in December 1997 he, Morris, Craig Maskell, Paul McDonald and John Humphrey were all released to save money.

Mundee had played 58 games plus four as sub for the Albion, chipping in with eight goals.

Also burdened by ankle and back injuries, it spelled the end of his professional career although he did manage a handful of games with various non-league outfits.

Ten years ago, a cousin of Denny’s confirmed that he had moved to Throop, a village on the outskirts of Bournemouth, and was working for the same plastering business as brother Brian.

Cherries legend Mark Morris and the memorable Storer moment

mark morris bw bourne

STUART Storer is rightly remembered as the scorer of the vital winner against Doncaster Rovers in the last ever match at the Goldstone Ground.

Few remember exactly how the ball fell kindly to him that rain-lashed afternoon on 26 April 1997, but close scrutiny of the much-played clip before games at the Amex (also available on YouTube) shows it was from a rebound off the bar following a header by centre back Mark Morris.

Although defending was his priority, Morris had chipped in with a fair few goals over the years – including getting the winner for the Albion on his debut in a 3-2 win at Hartlepool on 2 November 1996.

Morris was a seasoned pro who had captained Bournemouth and Wimbledon and been part of a promotion-winning side at Sheffield United.

He had answered the call to join Brighton when his old Bournemouth teammate Jimmy Case was manager, as he told The Argus in a 2001 interview. The Seagulls were struggling at the foot of the bottom division with the trapdoor to oblivion gradually creaking open.

Maybe if the Morris header had gone in rather than rattling the bar, a different name would have been etched into the annals of Albion history.

Of the vital last-ditch game at Hereford, Morris told The Argus: “As a player, we were playing for the future of a club steeped in tradition. It was one of the biggest games in my career and the result was paramount.

“I was about 35 then. It was getting to be close to the end of my career and I wanted to end on a decent result. Hopefully I played some part in keeping the club up.” Continue reading “Cherries legend Mark Morris and the memorable Storer moment” →

‘Save of the season’ one of few bouquets for goalkeeping florist Alan Blayney

blayney intense GOALKEEPER Alan Blayney only played 15 games on loan to Brighton from Southampton but if finances had been better at the time he could have signed permanently and his career may have taken a different turn.

Blayney is still playing, nifootballleague.com reporting only in December 2017 a move to Ballyclare Comrades from Warrenpoint Town. He also runs a florist business with his wife Laura in Newtownabbey.

Only a month earlier he opened his heart to the belfasttelegraph.co.uk and talked about the demons he’s had to face during a career that rarely hit the heights in England but has seen him represent his country and enjoy success in his native Northern Ireland.

Born in Belfast on 9 October 1981, Blayney was picked up by the city’s Irish league side Glentoran at 16 before moving to the UK aged 19 to join Premier League Southampton.

Blayney was initially loaned out to Stockport County, but his time there was cut short by a broken finger.

He also had a couple of games along the coast at Bournemouth when he suffered one of his most embarrassing goalkeeping moments. In a Q and A for the Albion programme, Blayney told interviewer Dan Tester: “I’d rolled the ball outside the 18-yard box in readiness to kick it up field. The Rochdale striker, my former Northern Ireland under 21 teammate Lee McEvilly, was running away and it hit him on the head and flew over mine into the back of the net.”

Back at Southampton, the young ‘keeper finally got a first team chance in May 2004, a couple of months after Paul Sturrock had replaced Gordon Strachan as manager.

It was some debut because the game against Newcastle United finished 3-3 and a save Blayney made from an Alan Shearer header won him the accolade of Sky Sports save of the season.

The young Irishman kept his place for the following game, a 2-1 defeat at Charlton and he played twice more the following season, in a 2-2 league draw against West Bromwich Albion and a 5-2 League Cup defeat to Watford.

With future Albion goalkeeping coach Antti Niemi and Paul Smith ahead of him in the pecking order, Blayney went on loan to Rushden & Diamonds, where he played four games, before securing the first loan to Brighton in early 2005.

Albion’s regular ‘keeper Michel Kuipers had sustained a horrific shoulder injury in a home game against Nottingham Forest and the no.2 at the time, Chris May, had no experience so manager Mark McGhee needed emergency reinforcements.

Initially he obtained David Yeldell from Blackburn Rovers and also brought in Rami Shabaan from Arsenal, but Blayney, no doubt recommended by McGhee’s old pal Strachan, became the preferred option and played seven games at the end of the season.

Amongst several impressive displays was a game I went to with my son, Rhys, at Burnley, on 16 April 2005.

Against the odds, it finished 1-1 but the media was keener to focus on the post-match news that striker Mark McCammon had been ordered off the team bus by McGhee for his reaction to being substituted at half time.

Reporter Peter Gardner, on telegraph.co.uk, said: “The incident overshadowed a rousing second-half comeback to a game Brighton might ultimately have won, not least through the contribution of Jake Robinson, McCammon’s half-time replacement.

“However, McGhee’s men were equally fortunate not to have been overwhelmed by the home side in the opening 45 minutes when only splendid saves by Alan Blayney from Graham Branch (twice) and Mo Camara, plus Burnley’s own profligacy, prevented an avalanche of goals.”

Blayney was also between the sticks for the nail-biting final game of the season when a 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town kept the Seagulls in the Championship by the skin of their teeth.

Such had been Blayney’s contribution that McGhee was keen to sign him permanently, the manager telling skysports.com: “Alan did absolutely brilliantly here for us. We have to see how realistic an option that is, and whether they’re even prepared to consider letting him go, and what the conditions would be.”

The answer was that Brighton couldn’t afford the fee Southampton wanted so at the start of the following season Wayne Henderson was brought in instead on a three-month loan from Aston Villa.

When Henderson returned to Villa, McGhee was keen to buy him outright but in the meantime brought Blayney back for an eight-game stint.

Blayney told BBC Southern Counties Radio: “If I don’t perform they’ll end up going for Wayne instead of me. I have to come in and show I’m as good as Wayne, if not better. This first game at Stoke is really important.”

Unfortunately, the game at Stoke ended in a 3-0 defeat and a 3-2 reverse at home to Crystal Palace followed.

After a point was gained away at Cardiff City, Blayney saved a penalty from Inigo Idiakez in a 0-0 draw with Derby at Withdean on 26 November 2005, and the following week he helped earn another point, repeating the feat against Watford’s Marlon King.

The Watford Observer reported: “King passed up a glorious chance to fire Watford ahead on 58 minutes when he saw his penalty saved. King’s tame penalty was parried by Blayney, who dived low to his left, and the keeper then gathered the rebound.”

After a 5-1 hammering away to Reading, Blayney returned to Southampton in mid-December and within a matter of weeks Southampton’s technical support director, Sir Clive Woodward, informed him he had been sold to Doncaster Rovers for £50,000.

Blayney told the Belfast Telegraph in November 2017: “My response was, ‘Do I not have any say in this?’ He said the deal was done but I didn’t want to live in Doncaster. I loved it in Southampton. I didn’t settle in Doncaster, they gave me an apartment, but it was a tip. If I was getting those wages now I would bite your arm off but then it felt I wasn’t getting much and it was a terrible time.”

Although he started out as no.1, and made 24 appearances for Rovers, following an ankle injury he slipped to third choice behind Ben Smith and Jan Budtz, and came to an agreement to terminate his two and a half year contract early.

Blayney admitted in his Belfast Telegraph interview: “I do regret going out and drinking in my later career in England when I was at Doncaster. I was getting injuries and was a bit disillusioned with the game. I regret it because people had opinions of me at that club which is not the real me. They only saw me behave like that for a few months.”

He wasn’t quite done with England, though, and in February 2007 joined League One Oldham Athletic until the end of the season, after impressing in a reserve team match. However, he only played one first team game, in a 1-2 home defeat against Bournemouth.

There had been the possibility of a return to Brighton to replace Henderson, who had been sold to Preston, but the Argus reported on 2 February 2007: “Albion are not re-signing goalkeeper Alan Blayney after all. They have not been able to agree a length of contract with the former loan signing.”

On his return to Northern Ireland, he initially managed just three games as an understudy at Bohemians, but then he played 32 times for Ballymena United in 2008-09 as a prelude to what would turn out to be the most successful period of his career.

In five seasons with NIFL premiership side Linfield, he played 164 games and, in 2010-11, when Linfield won the league and cup double, he was named Ulster Footballer of the Year.

His form for Linfield also earned him a recall to the Northern Ireland squad. He had initially made his debut in 2006 under Lawrie Sanchez on a summer tour of the United States.

An appearance from the bench in a drawn friendly against Morocco in November 2010 saw Blayney concede an embarrassing goal as his clearance rebounded off Marouane Chamakh, then of Arsenal, to give the Africans the lead.

Manager Nigel Worthington put the incident into context after the game, telling the media Blayney had travelled to the ground just hours after his partner had given birth to a son.

“I was disappointed for Alan but it has been a terrific day for him and we have come out of the game unbeaten,” said Worthington. “He’s fine and I have given him every encouragement. It is one of those you learn from. You cannot take a split second to delay.”

Blayney said it was the worst moment of his career. He told the Belfast Telegraph: “I came on at half-time for Jonny Tuffey but took a terrible touch and Chamakh came in to challenge me. I kicked the ball off him and it went into the net.

“Everybody had welcomed me onto the pitch and you don’t forget moments like that. You aren’t used to playing against players who are as quick as that. I looked up and he was there. I wanted the ground to swallow me up but earlier that same day Phoenix was born. It was a bittersweet day.”

In May 2011 Blayney shared goalkeeping duties with Tuffey as an inexperienced Northern Ireland team endured an embarrassing Carling Nations Cup defeat to the Republic of Ireland. Although left exposed by a threadbare defence, Blayney was culpable in at least two of the goals in a 5-0 hammering, one of which was scored by debut-making Stephen Ward, a future left back loanee for the Seagulls. bbc.co.uk reported: “Blayney was badly at fault six minutes later as he spilled a tame Treacy cross which allowed Ward to poke home from close range.”

With Linfield, Blayney continued to rack up honours until they signed Tuffey in 2013, and he was no longer first choice. In January 2014, he joined Ards on loan but couldn’t help them avoid relegation.

After spending 2014-15 with Glenavon, he returned to Ballymena where he had two successful seasons, before losing his place. In January 2017, he dropped down to the Premier Intermediate League with Dundela. At the start of this season, he returned to the higher division with Warrenpoint Town but, in December, moved to be closer to home, with semi-professional Ballyclare.

Blayney save dec 17 blay cut Blayney cover

South Coast suited utility man Paul Wood at Brighton, Bournemouth and Pompey

paul wood (red)

THE quote at the top of an Albion matchday programme feature about Paul Wood sums up his Brighton career perfectly.

“I’ve played so many positions at the Albion. I’m not sure that I consider myself a centre-forward any more.

“Actually, playing on the right as I am now takes my career virtually full circle – I always used to be a winger before I joined Portsmouth.”

Manager Barry Lloyd bought Wood from Portsmouth for £40,000 in the summer of 1987 to play up front alongside Kevin Bremner, with Garry Nelson wide on the left.

Nelson, of course, thought otherwise – and 32 goals in a promotion season playing down the middle rather proved him right.

Thus Wood found himself deployed in that rather dubious-sounding role of ‘utility player’.

“A couple of goals would have done me great guns when I got a chance up front,” Wood admitted. “I don’t think I let anybody down when Nelson and Bremner were injured but I wasn’t putting them away.

“It didn’t really bother me too much. I was most happy just to be getting first team football, especially as I had spent the previous year at Portsmouth, while they got promoted to Division One, watching from the stands.”

A pelvis ligament problem had sidelined Wood at Fratton Park so the new lease of life as part of a promotion-winning squad was a welcome break.

After making his Albion debut in a 2-0 home win over Fulham on 29 August 1987, Wood admitted: “I found it very tiring after playing only one hour of reserve football in the last nine months. But I enjoyed the experience and I’m looking forward to creating and taking more chances.”

PW col Born in Saltburn-by-the-Sea in the north east on 1 November 1964, at one point it was thought Wood’s football career was over almost before it had begun.

As a talented schoolboy footballer, he was spotted playing for Middlesbrough Boys as the side won the English Schools’ Trophy. His school headteacher had connections at Elland Road so he went for a trial but only 15 minutes into the game broke a leg.

It seems he had broken a knuckle at the back of his knee and the Leeds physio, Bob English, took a look at the injury and said: “Sorry son, you’ve broken your leg, ripped all the ligaments, and I think you’re finished.”

Thankfully for the budding young footballer, the dire diagnosis was wrong, but it put him off trying to make it at Leeds and instead he got picked up by Portsmouth whose scout in the north had seen him playing for Guisborough under-16s.

It was a long way from home, but he appreciated the club’s more caring nature and when a homesick Wood mentioned how he was feeling, manager Frank Burrows took £30 from his own pocket to send the youngster home for a break.

Wood’s Pompey debut eventually came, ironically at Middlesbrough, after Bobby Campbell had taken over in the manager’s chair.

Originally, he had only travelled with the squad so that he could visit friends and relatives but a couple of players fell ill and Wood got his big chance.

“Before I knew it, I was in the team,” he said. “I think that’s the best game I’ve ever played, although it flew past so fast.”

Another favourite moment came when he scored two in a 4-0 win over Shrewsbury. England World Cup winner Alan Ball had succeeded Campbell as manager and said after the 21-year-old’s performance ‘a star is born’. Wood told portsmouth.co.uk: “That will stay with me for the rest of my life. For somebody who has achieved what he has in football and the respect he commands to come out and give me that compliment was a great feeling.

“It was a game where everything seemed to go right. I scored a couple and was in confident form.”

A run in the team followed for Wood, who made 25 league appearances as Pompey fell just short of promotion.

The following season, he only played seven games at the start of the season before sustaining the pelvic injury he put down to playing three times on plastic pitches in the space of three weeks.

paul wood portrait

By the time Wood had made his recovery, Pompey were playing in the top flight and he had fallen down the pecking order. The move to Brighton came about after Wood scored a hat-trick for Portsmouth’s reserves.

He told portsmouth.co.uk: “I was disappointed to go because I never really wanted to leave but I had a mortgage to pay and no bonuses on appearance money was forthcoming.”

Ironically it was the long-term injury problems to crowd favourite Steve Penney that presented Wood with a lot of his games at Brighton and when Penney got back into the side in 1989, Wood put in a transfer request because he felt he was doing well enough to merit a place.

Penney was to move on before Wood but eventually, after two and a half seasons with the Seagulls in which he played 88 games + 17 as sub, and scored just eight goals, he was sold.

That canny transfer market operator Lloyd had acquired the services of one-time England international wideman Mark Barham, who had been written off elsewhere because of injury issues, so he dispensed with Wood’s services by selling him to promotion-chasing Sheffield United.

On 5 May 1990, Wood was on the scoresheet as Dave Bassett’s United beat Leicester City 5-2 to earn promotion to the top division. Playing alongside him were future Blades manager Chris Wilder, former Albion assistant manager Bob Booker and Mark Morris, who went on to play for Bournemouth and Brighton.

In 1991, Wood played 21 games for Bournemouth on loan from United, before making the move permanent, and in three years with the Cherries he scored 18 times in 78 appearances.

Then, in a deal that saw the Cherries acquire out-of-favour Portsmouth striker Warren Aspinall (known to BBC Radio Sussex listeners as a matchday summariser) Wood returned to Fratton Park.

He said: “It was fantastic for me to get the opportunity to return to the club.”

Pompey used him as more of a utility player than ever before, Jim Smith playing him in midfield and his successor Terry Fenwick even trying him at wing-back. Sadly, though, he suffered a bad knee injury that curtailed his professional career, causing him to retire in 1996.

He managed to play 20 games and score 15 goals for a Hong Kong side, Happy Valley, in 1997-98 and back in the UK linked up with National League South side Havant & Waterlooville.

He spent five years there, retiring at the end of the 2002-03 season after playing 137 games and scoring 48 goals.

Wood now runs his own Bournemouth-based decorating business.