Tag: Brentford

‘Super’ Mark – ‘The Fridge’– didn’t always stay cool

MUCH-MALIGNED Mark McCammon was not afraid to stand his ground, answer his critics directly and to challenge injustice when he felt aggrieved.

Fans of Brentford, Brighton and Millwall voiced some strident – nay, downright offensive – opinions of his ability as a footballer.

Remarkably, the Barnet-born striker played in a FA Cup final and Europe for the Lions before Mark McGhee signed him a second time – for Brighton – having previously taken him to Millwall from the Bees on transfer deadline day in 2003.

McCammon and Neil Harris at the 2004 FA Cup Final in Cardiff

When his suitability to contribute to the Seagulls’ flagging cause in the Championship was called into question in a post-match radio phone-in, McCammon took umbrage and called the show himself to argue the toss with presenter Ian Hart.

Also, in what was something of a landmark case, McCammon took a subsequent employer, Gillingham FC, to courtand won a claim that he had been racially victimised.

It certainly wasn’t uncommon for McCammon to be at odds with the people running whichever club he was playing for.

He first joined the Seagulls on loan when he was out of favour and on the transfer list at Millwall.

He made his debut in a 1-0 home defeat to Stoke City in December 2004 and said: “I just want to get back playing and enjoying my football again.

“I have been in and out at Millwall and my fitness has dipped a little bit because I haven’t played. I’m happy to be playing under Mark again and I want to show what I can do.”

Although he didn’t get on the scoresheet in five matches, when McGhee made it a permanent move in February 2005 he told BBC Southern Counties Radio: “Not everyone understands the contribution Mark makes. We have become a much more effective team with him in the squad.”

McGhee was a great believer in the ‘one big one, one little one’ striking line-up, and was sure McCammon’s presence would help pint-sized Leon Knight to score goals.

Because of what followed, it is easy to forget McCammon scored three goals in his first two home games after signing on a permanent basis.

He scored a brace and won the man of the match award in a 3-2 defeat to Derby County and he got 10-man Albion’s second in a surprise 2-1 win over promotion-chasing Sunderland (Richard Carpenter scored the other, and Rami Shabaan made his debut in goal).

The Argus enjoyed building up the visit of McCammon’s old side Millwall to the Withdean, interviewing the player and the manager, who we learned called his new signing ‘The Fridge’.

McGhee urged McCammon to stay cool if he managed to score against his old club, but it was fellow striker Gary Hart who got the only goal of the game, in the 89th minute.

Ahead of the game, McCammon told the newspaper: “It would mean a lot to me to score the winning goal against them. I wasn’t given a chance there, but I’ve got a fresh start here. I’ve got a lot to prove.”

In the following game, he was subbed off at half-time in a 2-0 defeat at Stoke when he gave away a penalty. He underwent blood tests and McGhee said: “Mark is seeing a specialist to find out why he was feeling lethargic. It wasn’t the back injury he suffered against Millwall, he was just feeling ill and weak.”

That game was the first of a run of six defeats and Albion only won once in 11 matches – form which saw them avoid relegation by a single point.

One of several infamous McCammon incidents occurred following the Seagulls’ 1-1 draw at Turf Moor on 16 April.

After a lucklustre first half display when Albion went in 1-0 down, McGhee ripped into the team at half-time and McCammon and fellow striker Chris McPhee were told they weren’t holding the ball up well enough.

According to an account in the Daily Telegraph, McCammon argued back in a fiery exchange with the boss, claiming a lack of service from midfield was the issue. He didn’t reappear for the second half, being replaced by fired-up teenager Jake Robinson and Albion managed to salvage a point courtesy of an equaliser from Dean Hammond.

A delighted McGhee said of Robinson: “We say when people get their chance they have to take it and I thought he took it absolutely brilliantly. He was different class.”

But McGhee’s ire with McCammon hadn’t cooled at the final whistle – he ordered him off the team bus and told him to return south in the kit-carrying vehicle instead.

Not fancying a tight squeeze alongside sweaty shirts, shorts and socks, McCammon chose to return by train.

“After the match I told him I didn’t want him travelling back on the team bus with the rest of us and that he was to return home with two other members of staff in another club vehicle,” McGhee told Sky Sports News.

McCammon apologised to McGhee afterwards but any subsequent first team opportunities were few and far between after that.

At the start of the 2005-06 season, he managed a recall for a Carling Cup match away to Shrewsbury Town and pleased his manager by scoring a goal and laying one on for Robinson, even though the Albion went down 3-2.

“I thought Mark was much better. That type of performance is what we expect of him and it’s what he can do,” said McGhee. “Now he’s got to reproduce that in the Championship.

“He set his standard tonight in terms of his effort and the simple way he played the game. He didn’t complicate things; he laid it off, held it up, laid it off, then got in the box; he won a lot of headers; took a lot of stick and kept going. He got a goal, made a goal and I thought he was terrific.”

But McGhee, with other forward options in the shape of Colin Kazim-Richards, Robinson, Knight and Gary Hart only called on McCammon for three starts and five sub appearances.

“He (McGhee) asked me to go out on loan to a lower league team and I think I’m better than that,” said McCammon when, incensed by criticism of him on the BBC Southern Counties Radio post-match phone-in after a game in February, called in and took issue with show host Hart.

“I went on trial at Watford and I got called back to train for no apparent reason. I think I was hard done by there, a bit unlucky. I’m back but I’m not in the squad but I don’t think I’ve been given a long enough chance.”

Once again suggesting the team’s issue was service through to the front players, he responded to Hart’s personal criticism of him saying: “When you kick a ball in professional football you can tell me whether I’m good enough for this standard.

“You don’t know anything about me. What you said is very disrespectful.

“I’ve been out since the beginning of the season with ankle and knee injuries. I had surgery on both. I came back and made three first-team starts but it takes about seven or eight games to get your rhythm back. I think it’s a bad comment you have made.”

The striker also took aim at the Withdean faithful, claiming: “All we hear is supporters whingeing.

“If they get behind the team it will give the players an extra boost. All the first team players at Brighton listen to the radio and they hear the supporters being 100 per cent negative.

“It’s a team game, it’s not about individuals. The supporters need to get behind the team a bit more.”

If the player didn’t think much of the fans, it would be an understatement to say they were none too impressed by the player.

Amongst a veritable litany of abuse from Albion supporters, this from ‘The Full Harris’ on North Stand Chat encapsulated the opinions of many.

“Mark McCammon is the worst player to have played for us in this division … he just simply doesn’t have a clue. He is unfit, he doesn’t know where he is meant to be running, he can’t shoot. For a man of his size, he is pathetic in the air.

“He is clumsy, he has the touch and control of a Sunday league centre half, he is about as prolific as an impotent monk, he is an embarrassment, he is a disgrace, he is lazy and, personally, I object in the extreme to my paying his wages when I believe many of the crowd around me could do a better job and they would do it for free.”

Long before Dominic Cummings referred to his erstwhile boss, Boris Johnson as “a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other”, supporters voiced something similar of McCammon. The song went like this:

Super, super Mark
Super, super Mark
Super, super Mark
Supermarket Trolley.

Perhaps it was no surprise that McCammon was allowed to leave Albion on loan, linking up with League One Bristol City, where he scored four goals in 11 appearances.

He didn’t play another game for the Albion and, in the summer of 2006, joined Doncaster Rovers after impressing boss Dave Penney on trial.

Although born in Barnet on 7 August 1978, McCammon qualified to play for Barbados through his mother and he won five caps for the Caribbean country. He scored on his debut against Antigua and Barbuda in a 3-1 win in September 2006 and two days later hit a hat-trick when Barbados beat Anguilla 7-1.

Two years later he returned to international action for two World Cup qualifiers against the United States. Barbados lost 8-0 in California and 1-0 in Bridgetown.

McCammon was with QPR as a teenager but it was Cambridge United who took him on as a YTS and he joined Cambridge City on loan at 19 to gain experience.

He played just six games for United between 1997 and March 1999 but was signed by Premier League Charlton, managed by Alan Curbishley.

After relegation to the old First Division, McCammon played five times for the Addicks as they won the title with a squad that included John Robinson, Steve Brown and Paul Kitson on loan from West Ham. McCammon also spent time on loan at Swindon Town in January 2000.

That summer, McCammon left The Valley to sign for Second Division Brentford for a fee said to be £100,000. He scored six times in 33 appearances in his first season at Griffin Park. He scored 10 in a total of 75 appearances for the Bees but it seems their supporters were also unconvinced about his merits.

Stan Webb, on the excellent BFCTalk website, said: “Mark McCammon was yet another misfit who cost a significant fee. Despite looking every inch a footballer, he signally failed to deliver.

“He is best remembered for his cataclysmic miss from a free header at Loftus Road which might have changed our recent history had he scored, as he surely should have done.

“And yet for all the criticism he faced, he eventually became a sort of anti-hero as fans recognised that he was always giving everything he had and appreciated his efforts even though he was just not up to scratch.”

By contrast, McCammon’s time in south Yorkshire was relatively successful, although if he felt he was dogged by bad luck, in November 2006 he had a headed goal away to Brentford chalked off after the ref didn’t notice the ball went through a hole in the back of the net. Thankfully Donny still won 1‑0.

Across two seasons, he scored 13 goals in 70 matches for the south Yorkshire side and went on as a 71st minute sub for Richie Wellens in the 2008 League One play-off final at Wembley when Donny beat Leeds United 1-0. Leeds had Casper Ankergren in goal and Bradley Johnson in their line-up.

However, McCammon chose to head south that summer and signed a three-year contract with recently relegated League Two Gillingham.

He scored five goals in 35 matches in his first season at Priestfield but 2009-10, when the Gills were back in League One, was a different story.

By February 2010, a lack of starts saw him seek a loan to get some match fitness. Gills boss Mark Stimson told BBC Radio Kent: “Going out on loan will be good for him and the club. He needs games and if he comes back fit in four weeks that would be great.”

He added: “We want him sharp and scoring goals then he could come back because we might need someone like him. Last season he stepped in and put in a good shift.

“At the moment he’s frustrated, like all the other boys who are not playing. He didn’t want to drop down to League Two. Now he’s seriously thinking about it because it might get his career back on track.”

McCammon joined Bradford City for a month, playing four games, before returning to the Gills. But the following season, when Andy Hessenthaler had returned as manager, saw the final dismantling of McCammon’s league playing career.

The club dismissed him in 2011 for alleged misconduct but he didn’t go quietly and took them to an employment tribunal claiming he had been unfairly sacked and ‘racially victimised’. He won £68,000 in compensation and Gillingham and chairman Paul Scally were subsequently each fined £75,000 by the FA “for failing to act in the best interests of the game and bringing the game into disrepute”.

Furious Scally appealed the fines, which were set by an independent regulatory commission, saying they were “manifestly excessive, totally disproportionate and completely unjust” and, although the board reduced the club’s fine to £50,000, the sanction against Scally was upheld.

McCammon told the original hearing in Ashford, Kent, that he and other black players at the club were treated differently from white players. For example, he said, he was ordered to attend the ground amid ‘treacherous’ snowy driving conditions or be fined, while some white players were told they were not required.

The club tried to “frustrate him out” by refusing to pay private medical bills for injury treatment, while a white teammate had been flown to Dubai for treatment at the club’s expense, he claimed.

McCammon, who, on £2,500 a week, was the club’s highest-paid player, was also told not to blog while others were permitted to, he said. During an injury spell, he had to stay behind at the club for four hours longer than other injured and non-injured players, he claimed.

The tribunal heard he was dismissed after a disciplinary hearing following a confrontation in which he accused club officials of being “racially intolerant” regarding the decision to order him in during the heavy snow.

The tribunal found in McCammon’s favour and his solicitor, Sim Owalabi, said it was believed to be the first time a footballer had successfully brought before an employment tribunal a case of race victimisation against a professional football club.

After all the legal to-ing and fro-ing, the player himself, by then aged 35, said: “It was traumatising and it sort of sabotaged my career in the football world, my progress.

“I had football clubs after me and that just deteriorated. It’s very, very unfortunate.”

He dropped down to Conference level with Braintree Town in October 2011 and later played for Lincoln City, on loan and then on a permanent basis, when they were in the same division.

Tony Rougier couldn’t have wished for a better Albion start

A GOAL by Tony Rougier three minutes into his debut as a substitute gave Brighton a glimmer of hope in their battle to avoid relegation.

His strike against Mark McGhee’s mid-table Millwall side at Withdean Stadium on 22 February 2003 was the only goal of the game and lifted Albion out of the bottom three of the Championship.

When Bobby Zamora dummied Kerry Mayo’s pass to allow Arsenal loanee Graham Barrett to turn and move the ball goalwards, Rougier nipped in to complete a neat finish past Tony Warner in the Millwall goal.

Manager Steve Coppell had sent on the Reading loanee as a 61st minute substitute for winger Paul Brooker although he admitted to Stuart Barnes of The Guardian: “I honestly didn’t know if Tony would make a difference, but I felt he would pep up everybody else because we were starting to lose our grip.

“Getting out of the bottom three will give the players a lot of self-esteem. For a long time this season they have questioned whether they belonged at this level.”

Trinidad and Tobago international Rougier joined the Seagulls having been sidelined by Alan Pardew at Reading who paid £325,000 when signing him from Brian Horton’s Port Vale.

Horton gave the Argus an insight of what Albion fans might expect when he said in an interview: “Tony has a great build and he is a threat with his pace and strength.

“We had to sell him because we needed the money and he was one of our major earners.”

He had been Vale’s leading goalscorer with eight goals in 38 games when they were relegated from the First Division in 2000 before moving to Reading that August.

Rougier made a total of 84 appearances for Reading, scoring six goals, and in his first season helped them to the Division Two play-off final where they lost 3-2 to Walsall (and Rougier scored an own goal after going on as a substitute). But a year later, he made 20 starts and 13 appearances off the bench as Reading were promoted in second place – behind the Albion!

He had scored twice in 12 outings for Pardew’s high-flying Royals in 2002-03, including in a 1-0 win against Albion at Withdean. But competition for places was fierce, with the likes of Nicky Forster, Darius Henderson, John Salako and Nathan Tyson.

Coppell told the Argus: “I speak with Alan fairly regularly but this came totally out of the blue when I phoned him up.

“Tony is a big, strong lad and he gives us options. He can play as a wide man or down the middle and the move suits Reading, the player and me.”

Getting to grips with Jason Brown of Gillingham

Coppell needed forward cover because Gary Hart was about to start a four-match suspension, Zamora was banned for the next away game at Gillingham, Paul Kitson was still injured and Barrett was struggling for form and goals.

The following matchday programme observed Rougier had not been signed for his goalscoring prowess, but rather for his “power, direct running, and causing havoc that others can exploit”.

But the goal was very welcome in a season that might well not have ended in relegation if Coppell had started the season in charge rather than joining after so many games had already been lost under Martin Hinshelwood.

Rougier made his first start in a 3-0 defeat away to Gillingham playing up front with Barrett when Zamora and Hart were suspended.

He featured in home wins over Rotherham United (2-0) and Nottingham Forest (1-0) as well as an away defeat at Stoke City (0-1), but he missed the 2-1 defeat at Sheffield United after twisting his right ankle against Forest.

He bowed out in style in his final appearance, making one goal and scoring a second in a memorable 2-2 draw away to Ipswich Town.

I took my then 14-year-old son Rhys to the clash at Portman Road and the lively midfielder-cum-striker in the no.34 shirt, who had been taken to the hearts of the Albion faithful, was suitably serenaded with the chant ‘Ra-ra-ra Rougier’ to the tune of the popular vaudeville and music hall song Ta–ra–ra Boom-de-ay.

His first significant involvement saw him go up for a header from Hart’s cross and Town goalkeeper Andy Marshall diverted the ball into his own net to gift Albion an equaliser.

Future Albion loanee striker Darren Bent missed a penalty that would have put Ipswich back in front, and then, with 10 minutes to go, Albion fans were buoyant with expectation when Rougier slammed the ball into the roof of the net after Ipswich had failed to clear their lines.

Unfortunately for Brighton, a 30-yard thunderbolt from Martin Reuser flew past Dave Beasant to put the home side level and Albion had to be content with a point, which ultimately wasn’t enough to avoid making an immediate return to the division they’d left the previous season.

While the player was keen to extend his stay, Pardew wanted him back to help with Reading’s promotion run-in, although thankfully he wasn’t involved in Brighton’s shock 2-1 win at the Madejski Stadium on 4 April (and Steve Sidwell, who had been on loan at the Albion earlier that season was an unused sub). Goals from Brooker and sub Kitson took the spoils for the Albion, Cureton netting for the home side.

The Royals finished fourth in the league before losing 3-1 on aggregate to Wolves in the play-off semi-finals, and Rougier was released on a free transfer having scored three times in 13 starts and nine appearances off the bench.

Rougier told the Argus he would be interested in returning to the Albion, but nothing came of it and he joined Brentford instead. Manager Wally Downes believed the player had “real quality” although Brentford fans seemed to have divided opinions on what he brought to the side.

‘Snappy’ on The Griffin Park Grapevine reckoned: “The guy is a huge asset, especially in the last 10 minutes of a game when he can hold the ball up and dance his way around players like they were statues and relieve the pressure on the defence.”

‘West Ealing Bee’ agreed: “He is an asset to the club and a very important part of the team.” But ‘Boston Bee’ had a totally different take on the player: “Even when he actually tried (15min/match) he looked like he wasn’t trying. His lack of interest in the game going on around him drove me crazy.”

Rougier made 34 appearances for the Bees, scoring five goals but when Martin Allen took over as manager in March 2004, Rougier was one of five players he allowed to leave Griffin Park as part of a squad overhaul that ultimately helped them to a last-day escape from relegation.

Meanwhile, Rougier linked up with another ex-Albion captain, Danny Wilson, at Bristol City on a free transfer. Indeed, Rougier appeared for the Robins when they lost 1-0 to McGhee’s Albion in the divisional play-off final in Cardiff on 30 May.

But when Wilson lost his job that summer, Rougier followed him out of the exit and he returned to Trinidad, where he won the last of 67 international caps for Trinidad and Tobago.

Rougier stepped into coaching

He has since turned to coaching, becoming a UEFA A licensed coach, and attained a degree in sports development. On his LinkedIn profile, he describes himself as the founder, president and technical director of FC South End, and, in 2014, among his past coaching experiences was a spell working with his nation’s under 20 squad.

Four years later, he had moved to the United States to coach the New England Revolution academy team.

Born on 17 July 1971 in Sobo, a village in south west Trinidad, his footballing career was initially confined to his home country.

Tom Lunn, writing for Reading fan website thetilehurstend.sbnation.com in 2019, profiled Rougier describing how the player began his senior footballing career in his home country with La Brea Angels. His Wikipedia page says he also played for Trintoc, United Petrotrin, and Trinity Pros.

An Albion matchday programme article said Rougier then moved to New York where he spent a year working in the baggage department at John F Kennedy airport before heading to the UK.

After overcoming work permit issues, he was taken on by Raith Rovers where, over the course of two years, he became something of a cult hero. In 2018, he returned to Fife to be inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame.

“This is where it all started,” he said in an interview with the club’s TV channel. “It never felt the same whichever club I went to afterwards. The Fife people gave me respect and it’s something I’ll never forget.”

Rougier welcomed back in Fife

During the interview, Rougier remembered fondly an occasion when he man-marked Paul Gascoigne, playing central midfield against Rangers.

His stand-out moment was a UEFA Cup second round tie in Munich’s Olympic Stadium on 30 October 1985 when Raith only narrowly lost 2-1 to Bayern Munich who boasted the likes of Oliver Kahn in goal and Jurgen Klinsmann up front.

His performances for Raith earned him a £250,000 move to Hibernian. He scored four times in 45 matches for Alex McLeish’s Edinburgh outfit but in January 1999 joined Port Vale, signed by Horton’s predecessor John Rudge for £175,000.

By then, he had established himself in the Trinidad and Tobago national side, a teammate of Dwight Yorke, and often being chosen as captain.

In his own words, he describes himself as: “A highly experienced football coach and former professional player with a career in the game spanning more than 25 years, I has successfully made the transition into coaching, management and club operations through a consistent focus on long term player and team development.

“A former national team captain with Trinidad & Tobago and a promotion winner in both England and Scotland, I have been able to effectively apply my on-field experience to guide team success and coaching strategy at professional, grassroots and school level.

“I am a positive, dynamic and passionate professional who is committed to my continued progression as a coach. I am always open to opportunities in which I can develop while positively impacting a football club or organisation, and would relish the opportunity to work with elite players within an ambitious environment.”

Nathan Elder needed to knock on boss Wilkins’ door

WHEN I watched Nathan Elder go on as substitute at Boundary Park, Oldham, on 12 January 2008 and score an injury-time equaliser, I remember wondering whether his Brighton career might finally be getting off the ground.

Previous cameo appearances off the bench had indicated Albion might have unearthed a useful rough diamond after picking him up from non-league Billericay, and he’d scored his first goal in the final game of the 2006-07 season: a 1-1 draw at Cheltenham.

But manager Dean Wilkins was somewhat spoilt for choice, especially when experienced Nicky Forster arrived that summer. Alex Revell and Bas Savage tended to be ahead of Elder in the pecking order too.

By the end of January, Albion splashed £300,000 on Glenn Murray and, Elder, still only 20, was deemed surplus to requirements. After only 13 months at Brighton, he was sold to Brentford for £35,000 (Revell left as well, when Southend parted with £150,000).

The Elder deal represented good business for the Seagulls – a £25,000 profit on a player who only made three first team starts during his time with the club. Disappointed with his brief spell at Brighton, Elder reflected some while later that he should have done more to persuade Wilkins to give him more playing time.

“It was my fault,” he told brentfordfc.com. “I trained really well and in the reserve games I was scoring every time, but I never knocked on the manager’s door and asked him why I wasn’t starting. I always thought to myself that I was lucky to be in this position and coming from where I’d come from, I didn’t want to ruffle any feathers.

“As time has gone on, I’ve realised that if you don’t show some hunger and give the manager a reason to start you, he won’t.”

That instinct was almost certainly right, bearing in mind comments Wilkins made in an Argus interview after that Oldham game.

“I know it has not been easy for Nathan,” he said. “He hasn’t had many opportunities but he has gone on and done exactly what we hoped he would do.

“He will probably be banging on my door now for a starting place and of course he has given me a dilemma.”

Elder, though, sat back and waited patiently. “I was sitting there too comfortably and thinking that if I got the call, I’d come in and do my best,” he said. “We went on a losing streak at Brighton of about four or five games where neither of the strikers scored.

“At that point, Dean Wilkins was watching me in training, but I never actually said to him, ‘Gaffer, put me in, give me a chance’.”

As he departed, Elder told the Argus: “I don’t really feel as though I was given enough of a chance to show what I can do, it was more in fits and spurts coming off the bench.

“I just don’t think he (Wilkins) was confident enough in me to start me on a regular basis.

“Even when some other players weren’t performing I don’t think he had that confidence to throw me in. That’s football, it’s not a walk in the park.”

Of the striker’s departure, Wilkins said: “Nathan has found his opportunities limited, he wants to start games but we couldn’t guarantee that and felt it was right to let him move.”

It was an unfortunate ending to his brief time with the Albion, especially after it had begun so well. He scored just 11 minutes into his debut for the reserves, director of football Martin Hinshelwood observing: “Nathan scored with a good finish.”

The striker told the matchday programme: “Going from the level I was at to this level, without playing any games, is a huge jump, but training has been wicked for me. It has really helped me improve: my movement, my touch, my movement without the ball.

“I felt I showed that in the game and that’s how I got my goal, with my movement. I could have had another two or three as well, but I know that I’ll become sharper as I get fitter.”

Born in Hornchurch, Essex, on 5 April 1985, Elder’s first involvement in football was at the town’s Langtons Infant School. He later played for a local Sunday league team, Barns Sports, before stepping up to play for Hornchurch in the lower reaches of the Isthmian League.

He progressed up that league via moves to Barking & East Ham United, Aveley and then Billericay Town. He came to Brighton’s attention when he was playing for Billericay against Worthing.

If nothing else, Elder’s disappointment at Brighton prepared him to seize the chance to shine with the Bees. It was thought he had scored an own goal on his debut for Brentford against Mansfield Town after just 15 minutes (it was later credited to Stags forward Michael Boulding), but he made amends by scoring the winner five minutes from time as Brentford eventually won 3–2, and he went on to be part of their 2009-10 promotion squad under Andy Scott.

Nathan Elder scores on his Brentford debut

Sadly, a shocking facial injury which threatened the sight in one eye put paid to his involvement in the promotion run-in.

It came when he was involved in an aerial collision with Rotherham’s Pablo Mills; the United player’s elbow inflicting a double cheekbone fracture, a fractured eye socket, severe trauma to the eyeball and extensive bleeding in and around the eye.

He described the incident in detail in an interview with Dan Long in 2019. “When the physio came over, I couldn’t see out of my eye, I thought my eyebrow and cheekbone had swollen up. I knew it was serious. The physio held up two fingers with a hand over one eye and asked how many fingers he was holding up. He switched eyes and I couldn’t tell him because it was just black. He could see that my eye was open and he didn’t panic, but his reaction showed that I needed to go to hospital immediately.

“I questioned it but stood up and went into the dressing room. As we got there, I looked in the mirror. Everyone was telling me to sit down but I told them to get off me for five minutes so that I could find out what was going on.

“I could see that both of my eyes were open, but I could only see out of one of them. That was scary and that’s when I started to panic because I immediately thought I’d lost sight in that eye and it was done for.”

Up to that point, Elder had enjoyed a successful partnership with Charlie MacDonald, who he said he learned a lot from. “He was just such a potent goalscorer,” he said. “As a young lad it was brilliant to watch what he was doing and try and emulate it.”

Sadly MacDonald also missed the triumphant end of the season after dislocating a shoulder and the pair didn’t get to feature for the Bees again.

Meanwhile, the incapacitated Elder said: “When they brought in Jordan Rhodes, it was really good to see the success he was bringing, but when you are sitting indoors and you can do literally nothing, that was pretty horrible.”

After Elder’s recovery from the injury, life was never the same at Griffin Park and on 3 August 2009 he signed a three-year contract for League Two Shrewsbury Town.

But only three months later he was transfer listed by manager Paul Simpson who was unhappy with a performance in a 1-0 FA Cup loss at home to non-league Staines Town.

Two months on, he joined Blue Square Premier club AFC Wimbledon on loan until the end of the 2009-10 season. Elder scored on his debut in a 2-0 home win over Mansfield Town and picked up the man of the match award.

He went on to make 18 appearances, and scored three goals, before injury struck again. He suffered a tear of his anterior cruciate ligament in a game against Tamworth. Eventually, on 24 June 2011, he was released by the Shrews.

Next stop was Conference Premier side Hayes and Yeading but he was only there a month before joining League Two Hereford United, initially on loan and then permanently. But he left at the end of the season and joined National League outfit Ebbsfleet United where he scored 16 times in 44 matches.

He spent the 2013-14 season at Conference South Dover Athletic and on 10 May 2014 scored the only goal of the game to win the play-off final against Ebbsfleet securing Dover’s return to the Conference Premier League.

His most prolific scoring came at Isthmian League Premier Division side Tonbridge Angels, who he initially played for on loan before spending three years (2015-18) on a permanent basis. He netted 58 goals in 148 matches for Tonbridge.

Elder moved on to Sittingbourne for the 2018-19 season where he balanced a player-coach role at the Isthmian South East Division side with a career in recruitment in London’s Leadenhall Market. He later became assistant manager at Hythe Town for two years.

John ‘Stonewall’ Jackson a loyal George Petchey disciple

NOT TO BE confused with the founder and first manager of Brighton & Hove Albion, that man’s namesake, John Jackson, was a coach at the Goldstone in the ‘80s and the ‘90s.

Less well known was that he could have been in goal for Albion for the 1983 FA Cup Final. Rather like Steve Foster, back-up ‘keeper Perry Digweed was serving a suspension when the game against Manchester United came round.

Digweed had been sent off in a reserve match in early May 1983 and was banned for the final and the replay. So, if anything had happened to first choice Graham Moseley – and let’s face it, he had been known to have off-field mishaps at other times during his Albion career – the man between the sticks at Wembley could well have been Jackson.

Jackson had signed on emergency Combination forms in February 1983 and played for the Reserves in a 1-1 draw at home to Luton when Moseley and youth team ‘keeper Martin Hyde were both injured. He stayed on and helped coach the youth team alongside John Shepherd and with Moseley fully fit was not needed for first team duty (in those days, there were no substitute goalkeepers on the bench).

Jackson, who died aged 80 four days after Christmas 2022, had spent the earlier part of the 1982-83 season at Hereford United, who had just finished bottom of the Fourth Division. He had appeared in six matches at the end of a 19-year career. bullsnews.blogspot.com reveals that Jackson was the oldest league player to turn out for United. He was six days past his 40th birthday when he played against Darlington on 11 September 1982.

It was all a far cry from the days when he was Crystal Palace’s first choice goalkeeper for eight seasons. He subsequently followed his former Palace coach George Petchey to Orient (where he played in the same side as Albion’s 1983 FA Cup Final captain Tony Grealish) and Millwall.

It seemed wherever Petchey went, Jackson was sure to go too. When Petchey was Chris Cattlin’s assistant manager at Brighton, he brought in Jackson to coach the Albion goalkeepers once a week. It was certainly a job close to home for Jackson, who lived in Hangleton with his wife and three daughters.

In an interview with Football Weekly News in 1979, Jackson said: “Petchey was coach at Palace, and manager of Orient, when I was with them, therefore I felt it was right to join the devil you know than the one you don’t know! I find George a straightforward and honest man to work with.”

When Petchey returned to the Albion in January 1994, as part of Liam Brady’s backroom team, it wasn’t long before Jackson was added to the staff to help his mentor develop young players.

And after Brady’s departure and Petchey’s elevation to become Jimmy Case’s assistant, Jackson took over running the youth team.

Jackson remained in post throughout the managerial upheavals of Case’s departure, the Steve Gritt reign, and the arrival of Brian Horton. But he left at the end of the 1997-98 season when Horton brought in Martin Hinshelwood as director of youth and former captain Dean Wilkins as youth team coach.

Born in Hammersmith on 5 September 1942, Jackson went to St Clement Danes School and spent time with Brentford as a junior. But it was Palace who swooped to sign him up, as Jackson explained in a 2019 cpfc.co.uk interview.

“Arthur Rowe spotted me playing for a London grammar school against an FA youth XI made up of players from other London teams and he got in touch with my teacher, and from that conversation I ended up having a couple of games with the Palace reserve side aged 18. Then, when I joined full-time, I eventually took the opportunity with both hands, literally!”

Jackson was often described as the best goalkeeper England never had. While he was unfortunate not to earn a full international cap, he played seven times for England Youth between February and May 1961, his teammates including the likes of Bert Murray, Ron Harris, Francis Lee and David Pleat.

He signed as a trainee at Palace in March 1962, and in the 1964-65 season initially shared the ‘keeper’s jersey with Welsh international Tony Millington (whose younger brother Grenville was briefly back-up ‘keeper to Brian Powney at Brighton).

Once Jackson established himself as first choice, he kept the shirt for the next eight seasons. At one stage, he played 222 consecutive games for Palace.

On the where-are-they-now.co.uk website, contributor Martin Wiseman said: “He was definitely one of the best goalkeepers I ever saw as Palace were pretty terrible most of the time and often he was the only thing that kept us in the game. When we played one of the bigger teams, the game was often just a succession of John Jackson saves. Brilliant player.”

Indeed, he was nicknamed ‘Stonewall’ Jackson (after the famous American Civil War Confederate general). Of his mentor Petchey, he said: “He used to work me hard but the harder you worked at your game the more you learned and the better you would become. He made me a more confident player.”

Unluckily for Jackson, it was an era when England were blessed with a string of fine goalkeepers. Apart from Gordon Banks, there was Gordon West (Blackpool and Everton), Jim Montgomery (Sunderland), Peter Bonetti (Chelsea) and, at under 23 level, Peter Grummitt was preferred.

The closest Jackson came to senior international recognition came on 17 March 1971 when he kept goal for a Football League XI that beat a Scottish League XI 1-0 at Hampden Park. Ralph Coates scored the only goal of the game and the English line up included World Cup winners Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst. Playing in defence alongside Moore were Paul Reaney (Leeds), Roy McFarland (Derby) and Derek Parkin (Wolves).

Jackson’s reign between the sticks for Palace came to an end when flamboyant Malcolm Allison took over as manager. Palace fans were not happy. In the book We All Follow The Palace edited by Tony Matthews (Eagle Eye 1993), Keith Brody wrote: “When Jacko left us, it marked the end of an era, culturally as well as football-wise.

“It is oddly fitting that he was swept away with the same disrespect that has come to symbolise the generation that replaced his ilk. Even though we have plenty to thank Big Mal for, his treatment of our hero means it should always be done through clenched teeth.

“It would have been offensive if a loyal, but crap, goalkeeper had been replaced by Paul Hammond and Tony Burns, but to do it to Jacko was unthinkable.

“Watching the ineffective Hammond for three long years after the joys of Jackson was almost unbearable. Every game was spent pondering on the value of what we’d given away.”

It was on 16 October 1973 that Jackson followed his former coach Petchey to Orient for £25,000 (Gerry Queen, Phil Hoadley, Bill Roffey and David Payne were other ex-Palace players who made that switch) and at Bloomfield Road he went on to attract a whole new band of admirers. Indeed, in Tony McDonald’s book Orient in the 70s, Jackson is described as “Orient’s greatest ever goalkeeper”.

Palace did give Jackson a testimonial match, however, and on 11 December 1973, a Selhurst Park crowd of 11,628 turned out for a match opponents Chelsea won 3-1.

Orient were a second tier side throughout Jackson’s time at the club, during which they had some unsuccessful tilts at promotion but enjoyed some exciting FA Cup runs, including making it to the semi-final in 1978 before losing 3-0 to Arsenal.

Their run to the semis included a memorable fifth round replay win over Chelsea, with Jackson pulling off a superb save to deny Clive Walker an equaliser as Orient clung on to a 2-1 lead courtesy of two Peter Kitchen goals.

Jackson had taken over from Ray Goddard as Orient’s no.1 and it must have been a very happy Christmas for him when promotion contenders Orient beat Palace 3-0 at home on Boxing Day 1973 in front of a bumper crowd of 20,611.

Come the end of the season, they missed out on promotion by a single point to Carlisle United after failing to beat Aston Villa (it was 1-1) in front of another huge crowd of 29,766, and the LWT cameras for The Big Match.  Days earlier Villa had lost 2-0 at Carlisle for whom Graham ‘Tot’ Winstanley proved an able deputy for suspended captain Bill Green.

Another memorable game filmed for The Big Match saw Jackson concede three on 7 April 1979 when Albion were on their way to promotion from the Second Division. Orient took the lead at Brisbane Road but Brighton equalised thus: “Paul Clark cracked in a seemingly unstoppable shot, miraculously John Jackson parried the effort but only to Peter Sayer, and (pictured above) the little Welshman slammed the ball joyfully into the home goal,” the matchday programme recorded. The game eventually finished 3-3, Albion’s other goals coming from Martin Chivers (his only one for Brighton) and Clark.

Three years earlier, Orient were finalists in the rather curious Anglo-Scottish Cup tournament of that time: 16 English teams and eight Scottish sides played a mix of group stage games and two-legged knockout matches.

Orient topped their group above Norwich, Chelsea and Fulham; they beat Aberdeen 2-0 on aggregate in the quarter finals and Partick Thistle 4-2 in the semis. They eventually lost out 5-1 on aggregate to Nottingham Forest, but it was Brian Clough’s first piece of silverware as Forest manager, and he said in his biography: “Those who said it was a nothing trophy were absolutely crackers. We’d won something, and it made all the difference.”

In common with many other English players at the time, Jackson tried his luck in the United States and in 1977 played for St Louis Stars, returning in 1978 when they became Californian Surf. His head coach was John Sewell, who’d been a playing colleague at Crystal Palace and Orient. Ironically, his predecessor at St Louis was Bill Glazier, the former Coventry City ‘keeper, who’d also been his predecessor at Palace.

It was the arrival of former West Ham ‘keeper Mervyn Day at Brisbane Road that signalled the end of Jackson’s time in Leyton and, in August 1979, Petchey, who’d taken over from Gordon Jago as boss at Millwall, signed him for £7,500.

“I have been in the game too long to end it in the reserves and decided that if I was to finish playing, it would be in the first team,” Jackson told Football Weekly News.

The then Third Division Lions went on to win the league. Jackson played a total of 53 matches for them that season and he was chosen by his fellow professionals in the 1979-80 PFA team of the year. (Former Brighton winger Tony Towner played 50 games for Millwall that campaign and scored 13 goals)

After two years with Millwall, by a curious turn of events, Bobby Robson signed him for the previous season’s First Division runners up Ipswich Town as a back-up to Paul Cooper.

His one league appearance for Ipswich was in a top-of-the-table clash against Manchester United, with Ipswich needing to win to stay in with a chance of winning the League Championship. And they did, 2-1, with John Wark scoring both and John Gidman replying for United.

The game was played in front of a 25,763 crowd at Portman Road and Jackson was given a standing ovation at the end after he’d pulled off three important saves. Robson was quoted in the Guardian as saying: “We have paid him a year’s salary to make those saves, but it was worth it!”

However, while Ipswich finished the season five points ahead of United, they were once again runners up, finishing four points behind champions Liverpool.

Even a second placed finish was enough to convince the English FA to give Robson the job of replacing Ron Greenwood as England manager after the country’s unbeaten exit from the World Cup in Spain.

While Jackson might have thought his playing days were over, they weren’t quite. Frank Lord signed him for Fourth Division Hereford United. Lord wasn’t long in the job, though, and he was succeeded by the Bulls’ long-serving former ‘keeper Tommy Hughes, who had played on loan for Brighton in 1973.

Jackson’s move into goalkeeper coaching at Brighton under Cattlin was to prove a career-defining moment for another top goalkeeper of that era: former Manchester City custodian Joe Corrigan.

“I got talking to him and it inspired me to look into doing something similar,” Corrigan told the Manchester City matchday programme on 29 September 2018. “So, it was down to Brighton indirectly that I moved into the next phase of my career.”

Corrigan had been signed by Jimmy Melia and was coming to the end of his illustrious playing career. He fell out with Melia’s successor, Cattlin, and went on loan to Stoke City, but eventually was forced to quit after being injured in an Albion reserve match.

He went on to become goalkeeper coach at Liverpool for 10 years, and also worked at Stockport, West Brom and Hull.

Jackson took a variety of different jobs outside of football – fitting blinds, working for a golf magazine, selling golf equipment and as a courier for Lewes Council. During his second spell back at the Albion, amongst the youngsters he took through was goalkeeper Will Packham.

Jackson signed him on as a YTS trainee after he left Blatchington Mill School in Hove, and he spent nine years on the club’s books.

Confrontation was seldom far away in Micky Adams’ career

THE FIRST player ever to be sent off in a Premier League game managed Brighton twice.

Fiery Micky Adams saw red playing for Southampton when he decked England international midfielder Ray Wilkins.

“People asked me why I did it. I said I didn’t like him, but I didn’t really know him,” Adams recalls in his autobiography, My Life in Football (Biteback Publishing, 2017).

It was only the second game of the 1992-93 season and Adams was dismissed as Saints lost 3-1 at Queens Park Rangers.

Adams blamed the fact boss Ian Branfoot had played him in midfield that day, where he was never comfortable.

“He (Wilkins) was probably running rings around me. I turned around and thumped him. I was fined two weeks’ wages and hit with a three-match ban.”

It wasn’t the only time he would have cause not to like Wilkins either. The former Chelsea, Manchester United and England midfielder replaced Adams as boss of Fulham when Mohammed Al-Fayed took over.

His previously harmonious relationship with Ray’s younger brother, Dean, turned frosty too. When Adams first took charge at the Albion, he considered youth team boss Dean “one of my best mates”. But the two fell out when Seagulls chairman Dick Knight decided to bring Adams back to the club in 2008 to replace Wilkins, who’d taken over from Mark McGhee as manager.

“He thought I had stitched him up,” said Adams. “I told him that I wanted him to stay. We talked it through and, at the end of the meeting, we seemed to have agreed on the way forward.

“I thought I’d reassured him enough for him to believe he should stay on. But he declined the invitation. He obviously wasn’t happy and attacked me verbally. I did have to remind him about the hypocrisy of a member of the Wilkins family having a dig at me, particularly when his older brother had taken my first job at Fulham.

“We don’t speak now which is a regret because he was a good mate and one of the few people I felt I could talk to and confide in.”

With the benefit of hindsight, Adams also regretted returning to manage the Seagulls a second time considering his stock among Brighton supporters had been high having led them to promotion from the fourth tier in 2001. The side that won promotion to the second tier in 2002 was also regarded as Adams’ team, even though he had left for Leicester City by the time the Albion went up under Peter Taylor.

Adams first took charge of the Seagulls when home games were still being played at Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium.  Jeff Wood’s short reign was brought to an end after he’d failed to galvanise the side following Brian Horton’s decision to quit to return to the north. Horton took over at Port Vale, where Adams himself would subsequently become manager for two separate stints.

Back in 1999, though, Adams had been at Nottingham Forest before accepting Knight’s offer to take charge of the Albion. He’d originally gone to Nottingham to work as no.2 to Dave Bassett but Ron Atkinson had been brought in to replace Bassett and Adams was switched to reserve team manager.

The Albion job gave him the opportunity to return to front line management, a role he had enjoyed at Fulham and Brentford before regime changes had brought about his departure from both clubs.

On taking the Albion reins, Adams said: “For too long now this club has, for one reason and another, had major problems. The one thing that has remained positive is the faith the supporters have shown in their club.

“The club has to turn around eventually and I want to be the man that helps to turn it around.”

The man who appointed him, Knight, said: “Micky is a formidable character with a proven track record. He knows what it takes to get a club promoted from this division. But, more than that, Micky shares our vision of the future and wants to be part of it. That is why I have offered him a four-year contract and he has agreed to that commitment.”

Not long after taking over the Albion hotseat, he was happy to say goodbye to the stadium he’d previously known as home when a Gillingham player in the ‘80s and it was a revamped squad he assembled for the Albion’s return to Brighton, albeit within the confines of the restricted capacity Withdean Stadium.

Darren Freeman and Aidan Newhouse, two players who’d played for Adams at Fulham, scored five of the six goals that buried Mansfield Town in the new season opener at the ‘Theatre of Trees’.

Considering he was only too happy to be photographed supporting the campaign to build the new stadium at Falmer, it’s disappointing to read in his autobiography what he really thought about it.

“My mates and I nicknamed it ‘Falmer – my arse’ although I never said this to Dick’s face,” he said. “There was always so much talk and we never felt like it was going to get done.”

The turning point in his first full season in charge was the arrival of Bobby Zamora on loan from Bristol Rovers. “The first time I saw him he came onto the training ground; he looked like a kid. But he was tall and gangly with a useful left foot; there was potential there.”

Interestingly, considering Adams makes a point of saying he usually ignored directors who tried to get involved on the playing side, he took up Knight’s suggestion that the side should switch to a 4-4-2 formation – and the Albion promptly won 7-1 at Chester with Zamora scoring a hat-trick!

After a so-so first season back in Brighton, not long into the next season Adams was forced to replace his no.2, Alan Cork, with Bob Booker because Cork was offered the manager’s job at Cardiff City, at the time owned by his former Wimbledon chairman, Sam Hammam. Adams reckoned Booker’s appointment was one of the best decisions he ever made.

Surrounded by players who had served him well at Fulham and Brentford, together with the additions of Zamora, Michel Kuipers and Paul Rogers, Adams and Booker steered Albion to promotion as champions. Zamora was player of the season and he and Danny Cullip were named in the PFA divisional XI.

Not long into the new season, the lure of taking over as manager at a Premier League club saw Adams quit Brighton, initially to become Bassett’s no.2 at Leicester City, but with the promise of succeeding him.

“While I thought I had a shot at another promotion, it wasn’t a certainty,” Adams explained. “I knew I had put together a team of winners, and I knew I had a goalscorer in Bobby Zamora, but football’s fickle finger of fate could have disrupted that at any time.”

He admitted in the autobiography: “Had I been in charge at the age of 55, rather than 40, then I perhaps would have taken a different decision.”

While Albion enjoyed promotion under Taylor, what followed at Leicester for Adams was a lot more than he’d bargained for and, to his dismay, he is still associated with the ugly shenanigans surrounding the club’s mid-season trip to La Manga, to which he devotes a whole chapter of his book, aiming to set the record straight.

On the pitch, he experienced relegation and promotion with the Foxes and he doesn’t hold back from lashing out about ‘moaner’ Martin Keown, “one of the worst signings of my career”. Eventually, he’d had enough, and walked away from the club with 18 months left on his contract.

After a break in the Dordogne area of France, staying with at his sister-in-law and her husband’s vineyard, he looked for a way back into the game. He was interviewed for the job of managing MK Dons but was put off by a Brighton-style new-ground-in-the-future scenario. Then Peter Reid, a former Southampton teammate, was sacked by Coventry City. He put his name forward and took charge of a Championship side full of experienced players like Steve Staunton and Tim Sherwood.

The side’s fortunes were further boosted by the arrival of Dennis Wise, but, in an all-too-familiar scenario Adams had encountered elsewhere, the chairman who appointed him (Mike McGinnity) was replaced by Geoffrey Robinson. It wasn’t long before it was obvious the relationship was only going to end one way. As Adams tells it, Robinson was influenced by lifelong Sky Blues fan Richard Keys, the TV presenter, and it was pretty much on his say-so that Adams became an ex-City manager after two years in the job.

With an ex-wife and three children to support as well as his partner Claire, Adams couldn’t afford to be out of work for long and fortunately his next opportunity came courtesy of Geraint Williams, boss of newly promoted Colchester United, who took him on as his no.2.

However, it only got to the turn of the year before he was out of work once again, although, from what he describes, he wasn’t enjoying his time with the U’s anyway because Williams kept him at arm’s length when it came to tactics and team selection.

He was amongst the ranks of the unemployed once again when Albion chairman Knight gave him a call, but, with the benefit of hindsight, he said: “Going back turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of my life.”

Adams blamed the backdrop of “the power struggle” between Knight and Tony Bloom on the lack of success during his second stint in the hotseat, and he reckons it was Bloom who “demanded my head on a platter”. The fateful meeting with Knight, when a parting of the ways was agreed, famously took place in the Little Chef on the A23 near Hickstead.

Looking back, Adams conceded he bowed to pressure from Knight to make certain signings – namely Jim McNulty, Jason Jarrett and Craig Davies in January 2009 – who didn’t work out. He reflected: “I shouldn’t have taken the job in the first place. I’d let my heart rule my head but, in fairness, I didn’t have any other offers coming through and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

“I wouldn’t ever say he (Knight) let me down, but he had his idea about players. I did listen to him, and maybe that’s where I went wrong.”

He added: “Going back to a club where success had been achieved before felt good, yet, the second time around, the same spark wasn’t there no matter how hard I tried.”

Born in Sheffield on 8 November 1961, Micky was the second son of four children. It might be argued his penchant for lashing out could have stemmed from seeing his father hitting his mother, which he chose to spoke about at his father’s funeral. Adams is obviously not sure if he did the right thing but he felt the record should be straight.

The Adams family were always Blades rather than Wednesdayites and, at 15, young Micky was in the youth set-up at Bramall Lane having made progress with Sunday league side Hackenthorpe Throstles.

While he thought he had done well under youth coach John Short during (former Brighton player) Jimmy Sirrel’s reign as first team manager, Sirrel’s successor, Harry Haslam, replaced Short and, not long afterwards, Adams was released.

However, Short moved to Gillingham and invited the young left winger to join the Gills. Adams linked up with a group of promising youngsters that included Steve Bruce.

In September 1979, he had a call-up to John Cartwright’s England Youth side, going on as a sub in a 1-1 draw with West Germany, and starting on the left wing away to Poland (0-1), Hungary (0-2) and Czechoslovakia (1-2) alongside the likes of Colin Pates, Paul Allen, Gary Mabbutt, Paul Walsh and Terry Gibson.

Adams honed his craft under the tutelage of a tough Northern Irishman Bill ‘Buster’ Collins and began to catch the attention of first team manager Gerry Summers and his assistant Alan Hodgkinson, who had played 675 games in goal for Sheffield United.

He made his debut aged just 17 against Rotherham United but didn’t properly break through until Summers and Hodgkinson were replaced by Keith Peacock (remember him, he was the first ever substitute in English football, in 1965, when he went on for Charlton Athletic against John Napier’s Bolton Wanderers) and Paul Taylor.

“Keith saw me as a full-back and that was probably the turning point of my career,” Adams recalled.

Once Adams and Bruce became regulars for the Gills, scouts from bigger clubs began to circle and at one point it looked like Spurs were about to sign Adams. That was until he came up against the aforementioned Peter Taylor, who was playing on the wing for Orient at the time (having previously played for Crystal Palace, Spurs and England).

“He nutmegged me three times in front of the main stand and, to cut a long story short, that was the end of that. Gillingham never heard from Spurs again,” Adams remembered.

Even so, Adams did get a move to play in the top division when Bobby Gould signed him for Coventry City. Managerial upheaval didn’t help his cause at Highfield Road and when John Sillett preferred Greg Downs at left-back, Adams dropped down a division to sign for Billy Bremner’s Leeds United (pictured below right with the legendary Scot).

“He had such a big influence on my career and life that I wouldn’t have swapped it for the world,” said Adams. But life at Elland Road changed with the arrival of Howard Wilkinson, and Adams found himself carpeted by the new boss after admitting punching physio Alan Sutton for making what an injured Adams considered an unreasonable demand to perform an exercise routine even though he was in plaster at the time.

Nevertheless, Adams admits he learned a great deal in terms of coaching from Wilkinson, especially when an improvement in results came about through repetitive fine-tuning on the training pitch.

“It is the one aspect of coaching that is extremely effective, if delivered properly,” said Adams. “I learnt this from Howard and took this lesson with me throughout my coaching and managerial career.”

However, Adams didn’t fit into Wilkinson’s plans for Leeds and he was transferred to Southampton, managed by former Aston Villa, Saints and Northern Ireland international Chris Nicholl. Adams joined Saints in the same week as Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock and the pair were quickly summoned by Nicholl to explain the large size of the hotel bills they racked up.

Adams moved his family from Wakefield to Warsash and he went on to enjoy what he reflected on as “the best few years of my playing career”. He was at the club when a young Alan Shearer marked his debut by scoring a hat-trick and the “biggest fish in the pond at the Dell” was Jimmy Case.

Adams described the appointment of Branfoot in place of the sacked Nicholl as a watershed moment in his own career. “Overall he was decent to me and I found his methods good,” he said. And he pointed out: “I was getting older, I’d started my coaching badges and I already had one eye on my future.”

Adams recalled an incident during a two-week residential course at Lilleshall, after he had just completed his coaching badge, when he dislocated his shoulder trying to kick Neil Smillie.

“I was left-back and he was right-wing, and he took the piss out of me for 15 minutes. The fuse came out and I decided to boot him up in the air,” Adams recounted. “The only problem was that I missed. I fell over and managed to dislocate my shoulder hitting the ground. It was the worst pain I’ve ever had.”

If life was sweet at Southampton under Branfoot, that all changed when he was replaced by Alan Ball and the returning Lawrie McMenemy. Adams and other older players were left out of the side. Simon Charlton and Francis Benali were preferred at left-back. Eventually Adams went on a month’s loan to Stoke City, at the time managed by former Saints striker Joe Jordan, assisted by Asa Hartford.

On his return to Southampton, and by then 33, Adams was given a free transfer.

Former boss Branfoot came to his rescue, inviting him to move to League Two Fulham as a player-coach in charge of the reserve team. Branfoot also signed Alan Cork and he and Adams began a longstanding friendship that manifested itself in becoming a management pair at various clubs.

On the pitch, Branfoot struggled to galvanise Fulham and, with the team second from bottom of the league, he was sacked – and Adams replaced him. He kept Fulham up by improving fitness levels and introducing more of a passing game.

But he knew big changes were needed if they were going to improve and he gave free transfers to 17 players, despite clashing with Jimmy Hill, who had different ideas.

An admirer of what Tony Pulis was doing at Gillingham, Adams signed three of their players: Paul Watson, Richard Carpenter and Darren Freeman. He also got in goalkeeper Mark Walton and centre back Danny Cullip. Simon Morgan was one of the few who wasn’t let go, and Paul Brooker emerged as a skilful winger. All would later play under him at Brighton.

Promotion was secured and Adams was named divisional Manager of the Year but after all the celebrations had died down Mohamed Al-Fayed bought the club and things changed dramatically.

“The club was in a state of flux as it tried desperately to come to terms with its new status as a billionaire’s plaything,” Adams acerbically observed. “From having nothing, we had everything.”

Before too long, in spite of being given a new five-year contract, Adams was out of the Craven Cottage door, replaced by Wilkins and Kevin Keegan.

But he wasn’t out of work for long because Branfoot’s former deputy, Len Walker, introduced him to the chairman of Swansea City, who were on the brink of relieving Jan Molby of his duties as manager.

Various promises were made regarding funds that would be made available to him but when they were not forthcoming he realised something was not right and he quit, leaving Cork, the deputy he’d taken with him, to take over.

By his own admission, if he hadn’t been sitting on the £140,000 pay-off he’d received from Fulham, he probably would have stayed. As it was, he was out of work once again…..until he had a ‘phone call from David Webb, the former Chelsea and Southampton defender who was the owner of Brentford, but in the process of trying to sell the club.

His brief was to keep the side in the league and to make it attractive to potential purchasers. It was at Griffin Park that he first met up with the aforementioned Bob Booker, who was managing the under 18s at the time. “He is one of the most loyal and trustworthy friends I have ever known,” said Adams. “He would do anything for you.”

However, although he signed the likes of Cullip and Watson from Fulham, he wasn’t able to stop the Bees from being relegated. During the close season, former Palace chairman Ron Noades bought the club and announced he was also taking over as manager.

Once again, Adams was out of a job but his next step saw him appointed as no.2 to Dave Bassett at Nottingham Forest.

Which brings us almost full circle in the Adams career story, but not quite.

After the debacle of his second stint in charge of Brighton, he was twice manager at Port Vale, each spell straddling what turned out to be a disastrous period in charge of his family’s favourite club, Sheffield United.

It was Adams who gave a league debut to Harry Maguire during his time at Bramall Lane, but the side were relegated from the Championship on his watch, and he was sacked.

Adams took charge of 249 games as Vale boss but quit after a run of six defeats saying he’d fallen out of love with the game.

It didn’t prevent him having another go at it, though. He went to bottom of the league Tranmere Rovers and admitted in his book: “It was arrogance to think I could turn round a club that had been relegated twice in two seasons.”

In short, he couldn’t and he ended up leaving two games before the end of what was their third successive relegation.

“It was a really poor end to a career that had started so promisingly at Fulham,” he said.

The strange tale of Lorenzo Pinamonte, a gentleman of Verona

IF CASH-STRAPPED Brighton hadn’t been outbid by Brentford for a little-known Italian striker in the opening months of the 21st century, a teenage forward who went on to earn a place in the club’s history might never have appeared in an Albion shirt.

‘If only’, ‘but’ and ‘maybe’ preface many a football fan’s dashed hopes but in the case of Lorenzo Pinamonte, it seems the Gods were smiling on the Seagulls.

The imposing Italian scored only three goals in 26 appearances for the Bees after their £75,000 gazumped Albion’s bid to take him permanently from Bristol City.

Thankfully Brighton’s fortunes were vastly improved by the chap they signed instead: a raw reserve at City’s neighbours Rovers called Bobby Zamora!

Let’s go back to the last month of the 20th century. After a spectacular start to life back in Brighton following the two-year exile playing home games at Gillingham – including an opening day 6-0 crushing of Mansfield Town – mid-table Albion were struggling to find the back of the net with any consistency.

Twice-red-carded striker Darren Freeman missed multiple games through suspension, former soldier David Cameron struggled to cut it at leading the line, and former England Youth international Aidan Newhouse didn’t live up to Micky Adams’ expectations either.

That’s when Adams turned to the first Italian to represent the Albion, 22-year-old 6’3” Pinamonte, who was struggling to get a game under Tony Pulis, then boss of the relegated Robins (they’d dropped down to the third tier the season before).

He made his debut for ‘flu-hit Albion away to Swansea City on a rainy night at the Vetch Field, only meeting his teammates for the first time when being picked up en route to Wales for the game.

“Pinamonte led the line as a lone striker,” recalled wearebrighton.com. “A thankless task was made even harder when the Albion were reduced to 10 men following a red card for Jamie Campbell with only 25 minutes played.”

While makeshift Albion lost 2-0 to the Swans, their run of defeats was halted courtesy of a 1-1 Boxing Day draw at home to Barnet and a last game of the century 3-1 win at Rotherham. The 3 January match at home to Exeter City not only famously saw Freeman score the first football league goal of the 21st century, it also featured a brace from the lanky loan signing as Albion won 4-2.

It seems Adams had seen enough to want to make Pinamonte’s move permanent, but matters became complicated when Pulis decided to quit the Robins and take over at Portsmouth.

Because the departing manager’s successor may have had a different view of the striker, he signed on loan for a second month, rather than permanently, Adams telling the Argus: “We are pleased to keep Lorenzo for another month. The situation at Bristol won’t be resolved for a few weeks, so a permanent deal is up in the air.”

The same article declared that Pinamonte wanted to join Albion permanently but the bid put in by chairman Dick Knight was below the asking price, and Brentford, a division above Albion at the time, had also made an offer.

Pinamonte unsurprisingly felt in limbo and confessed to being distracted when he played in a 1-0 defeat against Leyton Orient.

“In your mind you wonder what is happening, whether you are going to stay or go, so there was a little bit of confusion.

“That probably affected me. I was thinking about it, and perhaps not concentrating,” he said. “I think I have done well so far, but not in that game.”

Cover boy Lorenzo

The turn round in form took the Seagulls to within five points of a play-off place but Pinamonte’s head was turned by the chance to play at a higher level and Brentford eventually got their man.

Offered a lucrative three-and-a-half-year contract at Griffin Park, Pinamonte admitted to the Argus: “I am a little bit upset to be leaving and I would love to come back in the future. I wanted to stay but for my future it is better to leave. Money talks and I will be playing in a higher division.”

A disappointed Adams admitted he would have to look elsewhere for a big, hold-up striker. “We thought Dave Cameron would come in and be that big centre forward and Aidan Newhouse also. Unfortunately Dave prefers the ball into his body and feet so he can jink and turn.

“Big Lorenzo came in and gave us that other option. Gary Hart and Darren Freeman gambled off him. Now that he has gone, to get the best out of them and the other forwards at the club, we may need to bring another big man in.”

Adams later told Greville Waterman, one of the voices of authority on all things Brentford: “We were going through an indifferent spell and struggling for a big centre forward. David Cameron wasn’t up to it and we had been outbid by Brentford for Lorenzo Pinamonte, so I called Ian Holloway at Bristol Rovers who told me: ‘I have got a young lad who’s been on loan at Bath City. He’s only 19 and as raw as anything, but he has scored a few goals for them.’

“I was not totally convinced but we were desperate and the clincher was when Ian told me he was only earning £140 per week, so I said ‘send him down,’ and the rest is history!”

For his part, Pinamonte reflected some years later that his time at Brighton probably just came too early in his life. “Maybe if I had gone when I was 25 or 26 it would have been different for me,” he told Brian Owen of the Argus in 2016. “I enjoyed England but it probably came too early for me. I was there alone and I was very young.”

Pinamonte’s time at Brentford certainly divided opinion. ‘Smilely’ on griffinpark.org described him as “Lorenzo Pinthetailonthedonkey” but ‘Saffrey’ on the same platform said: “I think he’s been unlucky with (Ron) Noades as he was never really given a chance, as Uncle Ron brought in that donkey Steve ‘Murray’ Jones, when he should have given Pinamonte, who had recently joined the club, a decent run out.”

The Bees lured Pinamonte from Albion’s grasp – thankfully

‘Chalfont Bees’ reckoned: “All I’ve seen of Lorenzo is him getting booked or worse. He just doesn’t seem to be good enough at the moment and I can’t see him improving. I say cut our losses and get rid of him so as to give other strikers a chance.”

And ‘Holysmith’ opined: “Although Pinamonte hasn’t done much, he has a good strike rate for the amount of time he has played for Brentford. The problem is he doesn’t move about much.”

In the 2000-01 season, Pinamonte went out on a mid-season loan to Leyton Orient and at the season’s end he was released by Steve Coppell.

As he explained in that 2016 interview with Brian Owen, he then returned to Italy and spent eight years playing in the Italian third division until retiring as a pro at the age of 31.

Born on 9 May 1978, a gentleman of Verona (Caprino Veronese to be precise), the young Pinamonte was with southern Italy side Foggia before trying his luck in England. He joined Bristol City on a free transfer in the 1997-98 season.

In City’s disastrous 1998-99 season, when they were relegated from Division One (now the Championship) in bottom place, Pinamonte celebrated his 21st birthday by scoring the only goal of the game on his debut as Norwich City were beaten at Ashton Gate in the last fixture of the campaign.

With their fate already sealed and with an eye to the following season, Swedish manager Benny Lennartsson, who had won only five of the 30 games he’d taken charge of, chose to blood a few youngsters and handed Pinamonte his debut up front alongside £1.2m signing Ade Akinbiyi.

Five minutes before half time, the City faithful finally had a moment to cheer, as Bristol Evening Post reporter Richard Latham recorded. “Akinbiyi, made captain for the day against the club who launched his career, headed down a Micky Bell corner and Pinamonte stuck out a long right leg to find the top corner of the net from close range.”

Lennartsson was relieved of his duties at the end of the season and two months later he was replaced by former Gillingham boss Pulis, who sent the young Italian striker on a fruitless loan at Carlisle United (he didn’t play a game) before answering Brighton’s call for reinforcements.

Off the field, Albion’s matchday programme informed us how Pinamonte was staying at the Courtlands Hotel in Hove during his temporary stay where the manager was Italian Jo Guiseppe-Messina, and he had also enjoyed the hospitality of Angelo Cavalli, the owner of Topolino Duo restaurant in Hove.

Apart from scrapbook memories of his time with the Albion, Pinamonte continued his friendship with Cavalli; the restaurateur had been to visit him at the hotel at Lake Garda that he ran after his professional playing days were over.

Tony Burns handled the art of goalkeeping for decades

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Burns in action versus Chelsea

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Burns played for Memphis Rogues in the USA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goalkeeping coach at Palace under Peter Taylor

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

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

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

The geography was all wrong for O’Grady’s Seagulls excursion

SHEFFIELD UNITED and Brighton once went head to head for the services of journeyman striker Chris O’Grady.

It might be said many Albion followers were somewhat disappointed that the Seagulls pipped the Blades to signing the player from Barnsley in the summer of 2014!

It wasn’t long, however, before United, then in League One, landed their man when he failed to score in 11 appearances and struggled to settle in Sussex.

On taking O’Grady on loan, United manager Nigel Clough said: “There aren’t too many strikers of Chris’s calibre around at the moment.

“We liked him last season at Barnsley and he has got good Championship experience. Chris was a target for us in the summer but Brighton came in with a deal we simply couldn’t match in terms of wages and what they could have been potentially offering him as a playing challenge.”

The 28-year-old impressed in four Blades starts, scoring once in a draw with Walsall at Bramall Lane, and Clough remained hopeful of eventually doing a permanent deal for the player.

But Albion head coach Sami Hyypia left the club shortly before Christmas and O’Grady was recalled to cover a mini injury crisis amongst the available forwards.

Under caretaker manager Nathan Jones, O’Grady was introduced off the bench at Fulham and set up a goal for Solly March in a 2-0 win.

Then, in Chris Hughton’s first match in charge, a third round FA Cup tie at Brentford, O’Grady bagged his first Seagulls goal in another 2-0 win. On as a 67th minute substitute for Mackail-Smith, O’Grady hit a post, saw an effort trickle wide and then scored a decisive stoppage time second goal against the Bees to secure Albion’s passage through to the fourth round.

It was in the third minute of added on time when, put clear through by Adam Chicksen, he doubled the lead gained when Lewis Dunk headed in an 88th-minute opener at Griffin Park, thus helping Hughton’s reign get off to a winning start against Mark Warburton’s side.

After the match, O’Grady opened up about his struggles in an interview with BBC Sussex. “It’s been extremely tough,” he said. “It has tested a lot of relationships in my life. Thankfully the strongest one, my family, is still together which is the most important thing.”

O’Grady had spent all of his career playing in the Midlands, Yorkshire or the North West and said settling on the south coast with his partner and three children had proved difficult.

“We’ve been trying to settle in the area and it’s not quite happened on the pitch,” he said.

“We’ve got a home we’ve had for quite a few years back up north and we’ve been half in that and half down here as we don’t know what’s going on.

“I’ve been doing my best but it was not working out. I got a chance to go back up north and find myself and get some fitness.

“My whole career I have performed for people who believe in me. I felt I wasn’t sure why I was here.”

O’Grady was fighting an uphill battle at the Albion from the moment he was signed by head of football, David Burke. The Seagulls had banked £8m from the sale of Leonardo Ulloa to Leicester and obtaining O’Grady’s services from relegated Barnsley (he’d scored 15 goals as they went down) was seen by fans as inadequate recompense, even though the club tried to insist it wasn’t a like-for-like transaction.

Hyypia said at the time: “This is an area we want to strengthen, and Chris is a good start. He is a strong, physical presence and gives us something different to the other strikers we already have here at the club.

“You need that option in the squad of a forward with power and strength, and Chris can give us that – as well as scoring goals.

“We still want some extra attacking additions, and in other areas of the team, but I’m pleased we have another one of our targets.”

Those “extra attacking additions” turned out to be Adrian Colunga and Sam Baldock the following month and both largely put paid to O’Grady’s hopes of gaining a regular starting spot.

Not that O’Grady felt overawed by the challenge. “For the past two seasons I’ve hit double figures and that has been a reflection of the desire and hunger that I have to succeed at this level,” he said.

“Having played for Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday in the past, I know what it’s like to play for a big club – and Brighton certainly fall into that category.

“Earlier in my career playing for those clubs might have been a bit daunting for me, but at my age I know how to deal with the expectation and to win the fans over. It’s fantastic to be joining a club with such big ambitions and to be joining in the peak years of my career.”

O’Grady started the first three games of the season, but the presence of incumbent Craig Mackail-Smith plus the late August signings of Colunga and Baldock soon indicated competition for forward places was going to get a lot tougher.

Injuries to Baldock and Mackail-Smith gave him some limited game time but Hyypia told the Argus he expected more from the bustling big man.

“He is training well, he’s doing his work and he can be a tricky player for the centre-backs because he is so strong.

“I know that he can be dangerous. Sometimes I wish he would go forward a little bit more.

“He’s not slow so he could give the centre-backs more problems if he didn’t always come to the ball.”

Nigel Clough’s Sheffield United were keen to sign O’Grady permanently

It seemed the FA Cup suited O’Grady because he also pulled a goal back for the Seagulls in the 50th minute of the glamour fourth round tie against holders Arsenal, in front of a 30,278 crowd, although they eventually lost 3-2.

Although Clough was keen to take O’Grady back to south Yorkshire, Hughton made it plain he wanted him to stay and fight for his place

“This is a player that came here and had a difficult time, went away on loan and has been excellent for us since he came back,” Hughton told the Argus. “I must admit I’m still getting to know him. I knew him from his time at Barnsley, I don’t know him as much from his time here.

“He certainly couldn’t have done any more than he has in the last two games. He is no different to any other player, you want to be playing and involved, and if you are you are generally happier. At the moment, I think he’s in a nice place.”

O’Grady admitted: “I’m just getting a chance to play. I’m taking it and doing my very best for however long I am wanted here.

“I am being professional and doing my very best. Since I’ve been back, there is a freshness and a chance to get involved and contribute. That’s all I’ve ever really wanted.”

Buoyed by the change in management, and with his family settled, O’Grady told the Argus in early February: “I’ve succeeded at all the clubs I’ve been at in the past five years, which has led me to be here.

“I started in League Two and if you do fail at any club at any time then you are only going to go down. Failure is not really an option. You have to work as hard as possible to succeed.

“Even though the first half of the season didn’t go well, it would have been too easy to give up and just write it off as ‘this one didn’t really work out’.

“That’s a lesson that if you persevere with a situation it will eventually come good if you deserve it.”

Unfortunately, Hughton thought Leon Best on loan from Blackburn Rovers might be a better option, and Baldock or Mackail-Smith invariably were ahead of him as the manager shuffled his pack in a battle to stay in the division.

It wasn’t until 10 March 2015 when O’Grady, making a rare start away to Reading, scored his first – and only – league goal for the Seagulls, netting from the penalty spot as the Albion went down 2-1.

Come the start of the 2015-16 season, Tomer Hemed and the returning Bobby Zamora made O’Grady’s future involvement a lot less likely.

His only action came in two League Cup matches, away to Southend and Walsall, and he missed a penalty as the Saddlers dumped out the Albion 2-1.

So, it was no surprise he was sent out on a season-long loan to Nottingham Forest, the club who’d let him go as a young boy. During that temporary return to Forest in 2015-16, he scored twice in 21 games.

In the last year of his Albion contract, 2016-17, he was reunited with Nigel Clough, this time at Burton Albion, (pictured in action below) where he scored once in 26 games. While he was a regular in the first half of the season, he made only five appearances after the turn of the year following the arrivals of Cauley Woodrow, Luke Varney and Marvin Sordell.

Born in Nottingham on 25 January 1986, O’Grady was at Forest from the age of 10 to 13. “I dropped out of football for a while but then got back into it at 15,” he told Albion’s matchday programme. “I wrote to the clubs local to me: Leicester and Derby. Leicester were doing open trials at the time, and I progressed through that, then on to proper trials at the training ground, and I eventually got signed up.”

A young Chris O’Grady in his Leicester days

It was during his time at Leicester that he took up yoga, inspired by the knowledge Ryan Giggs was an advocate of it. “It definitely helps,” said O’Grady. “I was a young lad in the youth team at Leicester and quite big physically but not very flexible with it.

“I was also picking up injuries at the time so I just knew I needed to do something. Once I started with the yoga all the injuries kind of went away and I’ve never really had a muscle injury since.”

After he’d got on the scoresheet regularly at under 18 and reserve level, former Albion boss Micky Adams gave him his first team chance with the Foxes.

He also won an England Youth cap in a 3-0 defeat away to France in Limoges on 13 November 2002. When he couldn’t pin down a regular place at City, he had loan stints with Notts County and Rushden and Diamonds and, although he returned to Leicester and played a handful of games in the Championship, in January 2007 he was sold to Rotherham United, where he spent 18 months.

Next up was Oldham but, in two years on their books, he had loan spells at Bury, Bradford City, Stockport County and Rochdale.

O’Grady in action for Barnsley against Albion’s Stephen Ward

His 31 goals in 95 matches for Dale earned him a move to Sheffield Wednesday on a three-year deal in the summer of 2011 but on transfer deadline day in January 2013 he made the short journey to Barnsley and then made the move permanent that summer.

At the end of his three-year Brighton deal, O’Grady moved to League Two Chesterfield for a season, but when they lost their league status he moved on in 2018-19 to his former club, Oldham Athletic, by then in League Two, where he scored eight goals in 47 matches.

The following season he moved up a division and played for League One Bolton Wanderers but their relegation to League Two brought down the curtain on O’Grady’s league playing days.

After he was released, he spent a year out of football. But in May 2022 he signed for Southern League Premier Division Central side Ilkeston Town, where he scored seven goals in 19 games. The side’s manager Martin Carruthers declared on signing him: “Chris is an excellent addition to our squad and brings with him a wealth of experience.

“He is a big, powerful unit and super fit, he will certainly be of huge benefit to our current strikers who will all be able to learn and develop from Chris this season.

“He will give us different attacking options and I’m sure will bring plenty of goals to the team.This is a real coup for the club.”

In February 2023, at the age of 37, O’Grady joined ‘The Gingerbreads’ – Northern Premier League Division One East side Grantham Town – where he played alongside former Nottingham Forest and Derby County forward Nathan Tyson. He scored just the once in eight matches, in a 3-0 win over Brighouse Town (Tyson scored the other two).

Nicky Forster was the definition of a goalscoring thoroughbred

NICKY FORSTER played for and managed Brentford as well as captaining Brighton and scoring a vital relegation-saving goal into the bargain.

The Surrey-born striker, who played alongside David Beckham for England under-21s, scored more than 200 goals in 700 games and it always seemed a shame that his time with the Seagulls didn’t come sooner in his career.

He built a reputation for finding the back of the net at first club Gillingham and was prolific in his first spell with the Bees but he viewed his six years leading the line for Reading as his most successful time in the game.

Forster plundered 67 goals in 179 games (plus 35 as a sub) in six years with the Royals, mostly playing under Alan Pardew and Steve Coppell, but he left for pastures new before they reached the Premier League.

A free transfer took him to Ipswich Town, where Joe Royle’s side were competing in the Championship, and, although Forster top-scored for the Tractor Boys, his total of seven typified a rather lacklustre campaign. One of those goals came against Brighton on Easter Saturday when the relegation-bound Seagulls pulled off a shock 2-1 win courtesy of goals from on-loan Gifton Noel-Williams and young Joel Lynch.

Forster scored in each of the three remaining games that season but they were his last for Town because he moved to link up with his former Reading teammate, Phil Parkinson, at Hull City, who paid £250,000 for the striker’s services. Forster scored six times for City as the side battled to retain their tier two status. Albion tried to sign Forster in January, but Parkinson’s successor Phil Brown wanted to keep him, and they rejected Albion’s £100,000 bid.

Albion finally got their man for £25,000 less in the summer that year, and, in a side largely made up of promising youngsters, in Forster they gained more than just an experienced striker.

Brighton fans were given an idea of what to expect from the new signing when his former Reading teammate Bas Savage told the Argus: “I played a few games with him in the first team and he will definitely bring goals. He is proven wherever he has been.

“He is also a very intelligent player. He makes good runs, works hard, has got very good pace and he can finish, so he will be an asset to Brighton, especially in League One. I think he will really shine.

“He will fit in easily to the dressing room as well. He was a joker at Reading, very funny and a good, bubbly character to have around.”

Savage added: “He was one of the top strikers at Reading and I learnt off all of them.

“I was a young boy at the time and, whoever it is that plays, Alex Revell, Nathan (Elder), Gatts (Joe Gatting), I can see them working well with Fozzy.

“It will be good to link up with him again and hopefully show our stuff together. I know Fozzy’s strengths and I will be looking to help him along in the same way that he can help me along. He brings experience to the team.”

Emerging defender Tommy Elphick was certainly appreciative of the new arrival. “Apart from in games, he brings a competitive edge to training,” he said. “In my eyes he is a bit of a legend really, the model pro on and off the pitch.”

When interviewed by Mike Ward for the matchday programme later that season, Forster declared: “I really am enjoying it here at Brighton. I like being on the training ground and I enjoy playing.

“I am now getting old in football terms, but I have got as much enthusiasm and energy for the game now as I had when I started. I feel that I am a better player now and I am enjoying my football as much as ever.”

Sure enough, with 19 goals in 48 appearances in the 2007-08 season, there was no question Forster proved a great addition to Dean Wilkins’ squad, and he took over as captain when Dean Hammond left the club under a cloud.

In the second half of the season, after Glenn Murray was signed from Rochdale for £300,000, manager Wilkins declared to the Argus: “I think we have got one of the best strike pairs in the division, one of the most threatening.

“When we have got possession and play with a bit of quality they are a really potent pair. If you have got a pair that score 20 goals a season you would expect to be quite successful.”

Unfortunately, seventh place in League One (seven points off the play-off places) was not quite successful enough for chairman Dick Knight, who turned to former boss Micky Adams to steer Albion’s fortunes in the 2008-09 season (a furious Wilkins declining the offer of continuing as first team coach).

While Forster got off to a great start under Adams, scoring a last-minute goal to seal a 2-1 win for the Seagulls in the season-opener at Crewe Alexandra, the Albion’s fortunes gradually unravelled as Adams chopped and changed the side with what, on reflection, were too many loan signings.

For a while, things didn’t look too clever after Russell Slade had been parachuted in to try to stave off the threat of relegation.

At a time when the new boss could really have done with Forster and Murray firing on all cylinders, both were sidelined with injuries. Forster missed eight matches with what was thought might be an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his knee.

Thankfully another former Brentford striker, Lloyd Owusu, stepped into the breach to score some vital goals, together with loan signing Calvin Andrew and the rejuvenated Gary Hart.

Nevertheless, going into the last game of the season, at home to Stockport County at Withdean, Albion still needed to win to avoid the relegation trapdoor.

When Hart left the action early and his replacement Andrew had to be withdrawn at half-time with what turned out to be a bad ACL injury, Slade had no option but to turn to the by-no-means-fit Forster to enter the fray from the bench for a crucial second half.

Fortunately, after County ‘keeper Conrad Logan could only parry a shot from Gary Dicker, Forster was on hand to stab in the only goal of the game from six yards, sparking massive celebrations.

Forster later conceded in an Argus interview: “It wasn’t quite right but I got through the game and the goal was a gift. I didn’t have to be particularly mobile to score it.

“I dosed up on tablets and rehabbed and was really determined to be involved in that game. Thankfully it worked out for me and for Brighton. But I wasn’t 100 per cent. I still had that niggling feeling.”

In a subsequent exploratory operation, it turned out that torn cartilage had been Forster’s problem and he underwent surgery during the close season, somewhat ironically the procedure being delayed a little while because the surgeon involved was operating on Andrew!

“When they took me down to the anaesthetist’s room, there was a guy in there before me,” said Forster. “I had to wait ten or 15 minutes and they said it was an ACL reconstruction going on. I didn’t realise it was Calvin.”

Tony Bloom took over from Dick Knight as Albion chairman that summer and, when the new season got under way, Slade had decided to give the captain’s armband to defender Adam Virgo (Forster remained club captain).

The opening part of the season went horribly wrong and, with only three wins in their first 15 matches, Slade was replaced by effervescent Uruguayan Gus Poyet.

By the end of January, Forster had scored 15 times in 27 matches (plus three as sub), but the beginning of the end of his time with the Albion was nigh when a contractual dispute went public.

The player, by then 36, wanted to know whether he was going to be offered a contract the following season, but that commitment wasn’t forthcoming. Forster aired his dissatisfaction in the media and Poyet left him out of the side.

Forster subsequently clarified his position in a statement on the club website, saying: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my playing years with Brighton and genuinely hoped – and still do – that I would remain at Brighton until the end of my playing days, hopefully with the opportunity to take up a training role.

“The decision to delay the offering of contracts makes life very difficult, particularly for players of my age. I have always been totally committed to Brighton and will continue to be so.”

While the air was cleared, and he was restored to the line-up for a 1-1 draw away to Leeds, that turned out to be his last start for the Albion. Only a matter of weeks later he was sent out on loan to Charlton Athletic until the end of the season, once again linking up with former teammate Parkinson.

Nevertheless, his 51 goals across two and a half seasons at the club were the best measure of his contribution and he was later a more than interested onlooker of Brighton’s fortunes when his stepson, Jake Forster-Caskey forced his way into Poyet’s Championship side.

Born in Caterham, Surrey, on 8 September 1973, Forster was comparatively late into the game, staying on at school to take A-levels.

But he had a lucky break when he played for non-league Horley Town against Gillingham in a friendly. “It was a real right-place-at-the-right-time scenario,” he told Ward in another Albion matchday programme interview.

Gillingham offered him the chance to become a professional and after impressive displays for their youth and reserve sides, he duly signed professional terms in May 1992 when Damien Richardson was in the manager’s chair.

The Gills sent him out on loan to Southern League Margate and Hythe Town. Forster’s career stats are comprehensively recorded by the Margate history website, even though he only played one game for them, when he scored with a clever lob after three minutes of his debut.

Back with the Gills, Forster made his first team debut in September 1992, going on as sub in a 4-1 home win over Wrexham. He went on to establish himself in the side under former Charlton striker Mike Flanagan in the 1993-94 season, top scoring with 18 goals. It was an achievement which prompted Brentford to pay a fee of £320,000 to take him to Griffin Park in June 1994.

The 1994-95 season is firmly etched in the annals of Brentford’s history because David Webb’s side were denied promotion to the elite when a one-off organisational blip meant the fledgling Premier League only took one promoted side from the division below – and the Bees finished second!  

Forster had proved a major hit at his new club alongside strike partner Robert Taylor, with the pair netting 47 goals between them (Forster got 26 of them). But automatic promotion was denied when Brentford “choked” in the last month of the season and their agony was compounded when they lost on penalties to Neil Warnock’s Huddersfield in the play-off semi-finals.

For Forster personally, however, his goalscoring prowess brought him to the attention of the international selectors and in June 1995 he earned four England under 21 caps at the Toulon tournament in France, making his debut in a 2-0 defeat against Brazil in a team featuring future full internationals Beckham and Phil Neville.

Forster scored England’s only goal in his third match for Ray Harford’s side, as they beat Angola. He also played in the 2-0 win over Malaysia and in the semi-final against France, when they lost 2-0.

The Bees failed to follow up their near miss the following season, finishing 15th and, although at one point there was talk of Crystal Palace preparing a £2m bid for Forster’s services, it came to nothing. The striker damaged knee ligaments in October 1995 and managed to find the net just the eight times by the season’s end.

It promised to be a different story in 1996-97, though. With Carl Asaba and Marcus Bent supplementing the Forster and Taylor strikeforce, Brentford got off to a flyer and topped what is now the Championship courtesy of an 11-match unbeaten run at the start of the season.

However, the bcfctalk blog was incredulous at what happened next. “We were coasting at the top of the league when the quite staggering decision was taken in January to sell Nicky Forster to arch-nemesis Birmingham City for a mere £700,000.

“He was never replaced, the prolific Carl Asaba was mysteriously shifted out wide to the left wing and the remaining 17 league matches produced a mere 18 points. We failed to score in ten of our last fourteen games and won only once at home after Christmas.”

Forster’s desire to progress his career didn’t play out well with the supporters of Brentford or Gillingham.

“I get booed every time I go there,” he told Brighton’s matchday programme. “It’s sad because I feel I did well for both clubs. And what they paid for me wasn’t a huge amount, so value-for-money wise I feel I did very well for them. It’s not something I worry greatly about, but I do think it’s time they learnt to forgive and forget.

“I don’t think they can really begrudge a player wanting to move on and better himself, better his career. Sometime fans can be a bit fickle!”

While Forster hoped to establish himself at Birmingham, he struggled to get a starting berth in a side managed by former Blues playing legend Trevor Francis. Paul Furlong and Peter Ndlovu were preferred up front, and later Dele Adebola. Forster invariably had to be content with involvement of the bench. Indeed, 46 of his 75 Blues appearances were as a substitute and, when he left for Reading in June 1999, he’d got just 12 goals to his name.

That all changed once he’d made the switch to the Madejski Stadium. The goals flowed (in 2002-03 there were two hat-tricks included in his season’s tally of 17) and in his six seasons with the Royals he notched 67 goals in 214 appearances (35 of which were as a sub).

His form tailed off in his final season with Reading and he began to look elsewhere because he wanted a longer contract than the club were prepared to offer.

Nevertheless, he respected manager Coppell and, when later in his career he took over as boss at Brentford, he said: “I was with Steve Coppell at Reading and I like his manner and demeanour. He is not a ranter and raver. I just like the way he goes about his business.

“He is quite a subdued guy when he speaks, but he speaks a lot of sense. When he talked to me, whether I liked it or not, I couldn’t really argue because it made a lot of sense.”

When Forster returned to Griffin Park as a player at the start of the 2010-11 season, he reflected: “The club holds many happy memories for me. Both the club and I have moved on over the years but I still have the hunger and the mobility to give a good account of myself.”

Manager Andy Scott added: “His goalscoring is a major attraction as that is an area where we have struggled to compete with other teams.

“His ambitions match those of the management team. He is a very dedicated footballer who will add experience, competition and, more importantly, goals to the team.”

Sadly, it didn’t pan out well with Forster only making 12 starts and scoring once. After a topsy turvy six months, Scott and his assistant Terry Bullivant were dismissed and Forster took over as caretaker boss, assisted by Mark Warburton.

When the Bees collected 14 points from six games, the temporary stint was extended until the end of the season.

Remarkably during his brief tenure, Forster took charge of Brentford at Wembley for the final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, which they lost 1-0 to Carlisle United.

Brentford centre back Leon Legge said later: “Growing up, Wembley was always a sacred ground that not many people get to play at. I wanted to win so bad but it was just a shame we came second-best, especially against Carlisle, who we’d played just over a week earlier and beaten 2-1. Everything went for them that day.

“I know the gaffer at the time [Nicky Forster] made a few changes and I don’t think many agreed with it – for example, Marcus Bean didn’t play when he’d been such a good player leading up to that game. I think that made a difference.

“I still remember looking at the crowd of 40,000 and to play in such a sacred ground in front of that many fans, whether we won or lost, it was a good experience.”

Despite leading Brentford to a mid-table finish, Forster was told he was not in the running for the job on a permanent basis, and Uwe Rösler was appointed instead.

Nonetheless, Forster decided management was his next step and announced an end to his playing days.

“I have had a fantastic career, but the time has come to cross over into management,” he said.

“I’ve scored 200 goals in 700 games and haven’t got anything left to achieve as a player, so I want to concentrate on management.”

The eloquent Forster popped up on Sky Sports, covering Football League matches, and also brought his boots back out to play for Sussex County League side Lingfield.

Then, in September 2011, Forster was appointed player-manager of Blue Square Bet South club Dover Athletic, whose chairman Jim Parmenter said: “Nicky has had an impressive playing career at some big clubs and did very well during his time as manager at Brentford.

“As well as having both UEFA ‘A’ and ‘B’ licences, he is also a great man manager and motivator. Nicky is totally enthused by the prospect of managing the club and we look forward to a very successful future.”

Among his signings were former Brighton teammates Steven Thomson and young goalkeeper Mitch Walker.

Forster said: “I am delighted get Thommo down here at Crabble, especially as his signature was being chased by a number of other clubs both in our league and above. He is an experienced professional who is still hungry for success.”

Sadly, after a run of five successive defeats, his time in charge at Dover was brought to an end in January 2013 when he was replaced by the club’s former manager Chris Kinnear.

Two years later, Forster gave management another go taking charge of Conference South side Staines Town. But he quit after a year, telling getsurrey.co.uk: “I enjoyed every moment even though we had some low times, but it’s a learning experience and I left on good terms with the chairman and the fans who were great to me.”

In September 2016, Forster set up his own gym – The Spot Wellness Centre – in Godstone. As well as running that, he is now self employed and, on LinkedIn, describes himself as a goal setting coach and keynote speaker.

• Pictures from the Argus, Albion’s matchday programme and online sources.

Putney printer Pearce went to Wembley with the Albion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Pictures from my scrapbook and matchday programmes.