Tag: Carling Cup

O’Cearuill treated cruel on strange football odyssey

O’Cearuill given a run of games at Brighton

TEENAGE Arsenal defender Joe O’Cearuill certainly had a baptism of fire when he moved to the Albion on loan in early 2007.

The youngster was played out of position at right-back in a third round FA Cup tie away to West Ham.

The match at the old Boleyn Ground on 6 January 2007 pitched the Premier League Hammers under Alan Curbishley up against his old Seagulls teammate Dean Wilkins, who had taken over the reigns at League One Brighton just four months previously.

West Ham, FA Cup finalists the previous season, were just too good for the mainly young lower league side on the day and, with big-money Argentine striker Carlos Tevez up front, comfortably won the tie 3-0 (Mark Noble, Carlton Cole and Haydn Mullins the scorers).

Albion put up a reasonable fight in a goalless first half although O’Cearuill was fortunate not to concede a penalty when he put in a clumsy challenge on debutant Luis Boa Morte which referee Mark Halsey chose not to penalise.

The second half was only four minutes old when Noble scored his first ever West Ham goal, Cole added a second nine minutes later before being replaced by former Albion favourite Bobby Zamora, and Mullins struck in injury time to round off the win.

Wilkins had turned to the Arsenal youngster when Jack Hinshelwood’s dad Adam suffered a cruciate ligament injury in a Boxing Day match against Yeovil that ruled him out for nine months.

O’Cearuill’s stay on the south coast lasted three months during which he made seven starts and three sub appearances. His final Seagulls match came in a 1-1 home draw against Scunthorpe United.

The Argus reckoned his form was “patchy” and at one point he was dropped to the bench “after a below-par performance” in defeat at Brentford.

Only on a couple of occasions did he get the chance to play in his favoured centre back position; those positions were occupied most of the time by Joel Lynch and Guy Butters.

But after he’d gone on for the injured Lynch in the centre away to Gillingham, he helped the visitors to a 1-0 win and Wilkins said: “I thought he fitted in well. He went into the game at a difficult period. There were a lot of high balls to deal with, which he coped with well.”

That first half of 2007 was pretty much the highlight of his career because on an end of season tour of America he won two full caps for the Republic of Ireland.

Although born in Edmonton on 9 February 1987, he elected to represent the Republic of Ireland and having played for them at under-17, under-19 and under-21 level,

A senior cap for the Republic of Ireland

His first senior cap came when he was one of six substitutes made by manager Steve Staunton in a 1-1 draw against Ecuador at the Giants Stadium, New Jersey, on 23 May 2007.

He replaced Stephen O’Halloran in the 73rd minute and managed to pick up a yellow card in his short time on the pitch. Kevin Doyle headed the Irish equaliser a minute before half time.

O’Cearuill then started at right-back three days later in the Republic’s 1-1 draw with Bolivia in Boston. Shane Long scored his first goal for his country and in the second half former Albion goalkeeper Wayne Henderson took over in goal from Barnsley’s Nick Colgan. The side was captained by Kevin Kilbane.

Curiously, O’Cearuill had been let go by both Leyton Orient and Watford before he was given a chance by Arsenal. He played 27 youth team games for the Os in 2004-05 but was released in August 2005.

Watford picked him up and he played for their youth and reserve teams for a season, but again found himself released. Then, in the summer of 2006, after impressing Arsenal’s reserve team coach Neil Banfield in a trial game against Watford, he joined the Gunners.

He made his debut in a goalless pre-season friendly at Barnet on 15 July and a week later played in half of Dennis Bergkamp’s testimonial against Ajax of Amsterdam.

On a tour of Austria, he played another half as Arsenal beat Mattersburg 2-1 and got 30 minutes as a sub when the Gunners trounced Schwadorf 8-1.

The closest he came to competitive first team action was when he was on the bench for Arsenal’s Carling Cup match away to West Bromwich Albion on October 24, 2006, although he did not get on in the 2-0 win in which Jeremie Aliadiere scored both the goals.

Released by Arsenal, O’Cearuill’s career then drifted from one non-league club to another: Barnet, St Patrick’s Athletic (Dublin), Harlow Town, Borehamwood, Forest Green Rovers (pictured left), Bishop’s Stortford, Tooting & Mitcham United, Haringey Borough, Enfield and Heybridge Swifts.

When he sought to resurrect his career with Conference Premier side Dover Athletic in 2015, he was suitably phlegmatic in an interview with Kent Online.

“It’s certainly been a journey,” he said. “From getting everything on a plate at Arsenal and then for Ireland, to then be washing your own kit and boots.

“I took being a professional for granted and I wasn’t really ready for it – I was too young to take it all in.

“When Arsenal released me, I discovered there was a lot more to life than playing football and I lost the motivation to play at a decent level. I even gave the game up for a while.

“I was then happy to play wherever and go with the flow. I had a couple of great years playing with my mates at Haringey Borough. But that’s all in the past now. The days for playing for fun are behind me.

“I am ready for the next chapter in my life because I’ve got the hunger and desire back to play the game at a level I know I am capable of.”

Released by Dover at the end of the season, former Albion striker Nicky Forster, by then manager of Staines Town, took him on for the Isthmian League Premier Division team.

“We are delighted to have secured the services of Joe this season, he has a great attitude for success and will sit well alongside Darren Purse at the back,” he told the club website.

His last port of call was back at Haringey in the summer of 2016 and he retired from playing in October that year.

In his LinkedIn profile, O’Cearuill describes himself as a senior manager for The Elms Sport in Schools programme.

That’s the way Cookie crumbled for Hastings-born defender

WHEN IT comes to home-grown talent, Brighton have had particular success with central defenders.

Lewis Dunk is the prime example, staying with the club from humble beginnings through to Europe. Others had to move on to make the most of their careers.

For example, Steve Cook joined the club aged nine and made it through the different age levels into Albion’s first team. But to get regular football, he moved along the coast to Bournemouth.

If moving from Championship Brighton to League One Bournemouth seemed like a backward step in 2012, two promotions later saw him laughing on the other side of his face when the Cherries made it to the Premier League (in 2015) a season before the Seagulls.

Cook spent 10 years with the Cherries, making more than 350 appearances (168 of them in the Premier League), and after the departure of fellow ex-Albion defender Tommy Elphick, he took over as their captain.

Cook first got a taste of the big time in 2008, when he was a second year scholar on £60 a week, aged just 17. He was sent on by Micky Adams as an 85th-minute substitute in the famous League Cup game against Manchester City that League One Albion won on penalties.

Two months later, he once again replaced right-back Andrew Whing, this time in a FA Cup first round replay defeat to Hartlepool United, and picked up a booking into the bargain.

Boot cleaning duties for young Steve Cook

To gain more experience, in December that year, Cook went west to spend six weeks with Conference South Havant & Waterlooville. On his return, he once again had a first team look-in, going on as a 77th-minute sub for Calvin Andrew in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy southern final defeat at Luton Town that marked the end of the second coming of Adams.

Before the appointment of Russell Slade, Cook went on for the second half as a sub for injury-plagued sub Adam Hinshelwood (who’d been an 18th-minute sub for Elphick) in a 4-0 home defeat against Crewe Alexandra.

Slade marked his arrival by bringing in plenty of old hands in what eventually proved to be a successful skin-of-the-teeth survival battle against relegation. Cook didn’t get another chance in the first team until some time after Gus Poyet had taken charge.

His development continued on loan with the likes of Eastleigh and Eastbourne Borough and in November 2010 he moved away from home to join former league club Mansfield Town on a three-month loan.

“Mansfield play very different to Eastbourne but it’s more like playing for Brighton where they like to keep the ball and play out from the back, which you don’t get in the Conference very often,” he told the matchday programme. “I see it as a great opportunity to prove myself and try to earn another contract at Brighton.”

He added: “Playing Conference football helped me grow up, physically and mentally, so by the time I returned I felt I was ready to challenge for a first team place.”

Cook up against Suarez

After a handful of non-playing appearances on the first team subs bench, when he did get his first ever start, it could not have been a bigger match: Liverpool at home in the third round of the Carling Cup with Luis Suarez, Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy in the opposition forward line.

“It was a real confidence boost knowing the manager had faith putting me into the side for such a big game, but I really enjoyed the experience and got a great deal out of it,” he said.

“While I had a good pre-season, I’ve not played a lot of games since then. It was one in two months before the Liverpool game, but I’d been working hard in training and got my reward.”

Cook only found out 90 minutes before kick-off that he would be taking the place of fellow academy graduate Dunk, with both Elphick and Adam El-Abd out injured.

“It was a real baptism of fire though because for the first 20 minutes Liverpool were brilliant. Suarez, Bellamy, they were all excellent going forward, the pace of them as a team was unbelievable and in that opening spell I think we were in awe of them.”

Cook thought his involvement that night would lead to more chances, but he said: “Later that month we had Ipswich away, Dunky was suspended but instead of playing me, Gus put Romain Vincelot – a midfielder – in alongside Gordon Greer. From that point on, my mind was made up; I knew I had to look elsewhere if I wanted to kick on in my career.”

That autumn, Cook initially joined Bournemouth on loan, featuring in eight games, but he was recalled by the Seagulls when a shortage of defenders meant he was needed for a crucial New Year game at home to table-topping Southampton.

Having lost four games on the bounce, the odds were stacked against a positive result, but Albion remarkably won the game 3-0 (two cracking goals from Matt Sparrow and another from Jake Forster-Caskey).

Nevertheless, within 24 hours of the game ending, Cook finally took the tough decision to leave the Albion permanently. The fee was a reported £150,000.

He told the matchday programme: “I have loved my time at Brighton but this is a chance to play regular football and I can’t turn that down. It was nice to go out on such a high – not many players get that chance.”

Cook reckoned he might have got the odd game or two if he’d stayed at Brighton but he didn’t rate his chances of becoming a regular when everyone was fit. “I could play close to 30 games for Bournemouth and that is massive for a young footballer,” he said.

In a later interview, he said: “It was always going to be a tough decision to leave the Albion as I had been at the club since the age of nine.

“I had a decision to make: do I stay and fight for my place, despite being a fair way down the pecking order, or do I leave and try to continue my career elsewhere?

“It wasn’t easy because I was leaving a club on the rise; the Amex is one of the best stadiums in the country, the team was establishing itself in the Championship and there was a new training ground on the way.

“But having been at Bournemouth on loan, I could also see a hugely ambitious club and a talented squad which I believed was going places.

“So, I decided to leave and it’s been the best decision I could ever have made. I’ve moved away from my parents, so have grown up off the pitch, while on it I’ve been playing regularly and have really enjoyed my football.”

Much of that time he partnered Elphick in the middle of the Cherries defence and it wasn’t long before the pair were emulating the Albion’s achievement of promotion from League One.

“Tommy arrived a year after me but of course I told him about the club, the town and knew it would be a good move for him as it was for me,” he said. “We’d obviously played alongside each other before, had known each other a long time, and so we soon built up a good partnership.

“He had those leadership qualities he displayed at Brighton and was soon made captain. We had a terrific three years together and remain good friends off the pitch.”

In a subsequent Albion matchday programme, when he was once again visiting with the Cherries, he said: “Lovely stadiums and training facilities are great, but only if you’re playing in them and I can now look back on nearly 300 appearances for Bournemouth, where I’ve had some fantastic moments, played regularly in the Premier League and really developed my game. It’s a move that couldn’t have gone better.”

Although Cook held his own in the Premier League, he admitted the transition from the Championship was hard. “The gulf with the Championship is huge,” he said. “The intensity and pressure, in particular, are massive and the first six months were a real learning curve.

“Once I’d adapted and dealt with the expectations placed on me, I could relax and start to enjoy myself.”

Born in Hastings on 19 April 1991, Cook joined the Albion as a schoolboy following a six-week trial under the auspices of Martin Hinshelwood, the head of the youth set-up at the time.

“Initially, I was only training Tuesday evenings in the Eastbourne centre of excellence but, when I reached 13, we were training twice a week with a game on the Sunday,” he recalled.

“I remember I had a choice to make: Hastings Town, my local team, or Brighton and obviously I was swayed by the facilities, the coaching and being associated with a professional club.”

After Bournemouth lost their top tier status in 2020, Cook captained the side through to the Championship play-off semi-finals in 2021 where they were beaten by eventual winners Brentford.

There was plenty of emotion when Cook finally left the club in January 2022 with manager Scott Parker saying: “I know too well what someone like Steve Cook has done for this football club and the journey he has been on with the club. He has been paramount and done everything, really. I wish him all the best.”

And in an open letter to the club’s fans, Cook wrote: “I’ve been lucky enough to captain the team in League One, the Championship and Premier League and writing this just fills me with immense pride.

“The time has come for me take the next step in my career but I will never forget the staff that helped me improve as a player and person.

“The players that I shared a dressing room with and, and most importantly, the fans that supported and cheered for all those games.

“The journey that we have had is one that will never be beaten, and the relationship we had was undeniably strong. Thanks for everything.”

Upon signing for Nottingham Forest, Cook declared: “You can see the progress the club is making and I’m excited for the new challenge. 

“I thought it was the perfect time in my career to make this move to hopefully come and contribute and help get this club back to where it wants to be.

“The history of the club speaks for itself and I know how passionate the fans are. I’ve played at the City Ground in the past and it’s always been electric.”

Manager Steve Cooper said: “Steve is a fantastic player and brings a good level of experience, both in the Championship and the level above.

“He’s played in a team that has won a lot of games and I think that that’s important. We want our group to be young and hungry along with players of experience that can drive the team forward and that’s what we’re building.”

Having been part of the Forest side promoted to the Premier League in May 2022, his involvement back in the elite division was restricted to 12 games and he was omitted from Forest’s 25-man Premier League squad for the second half of the 2022-23 season.

In the summer of 2023, he switched to Queens Park Rangers in the Championship, telling the club’s website: “Playing football is the most important thing for me but I also pride myself on being a good character around the group.”

He went on: “My time in the Championship has been quite successful, and that success is something I want to bring here. 

“I don’t want my career to peter out, I still really want to be successful and to contest. I still have aims and targets I want to achieve and I’m hoping that the success I’ve had in my career so far continues so that I can help push QPR forward.” 

Ex-Baggie Georges Santos sparked notorious Bramall Lane battle

Santos stripesTHE REVENGE exacted by Frenchman Georges Santos against an opponent who had inflicted serious injuries to him sparked one of the most notorious football incidents of the modern era.

Four years later, the 6’3” former West Bromwich Albion, Sheffield United and QPR player joined the Seagulls on a one-year deal.

Born in Marseilles on 15 August 1970, Santos began his football career as a 16-year-old trainee with his local club.

After 10 years playing in France, he moved to the UK in 1998, signing for Tranmere Rovers, who, at the time, played in the Championship and were managed by former Liverpool striker John Aldridge.

A centre-half who also liked to play as a defensive midfielder, Santos became something of a cult hero to Rovers fans. He described his time at Prenton Park in an interview with Total Tranmere in 2011, and also spoke about it as a guest on the A Trip to the Moon podcast.

A contractual dispute led to a messy end to his time at Rovers and he was one of five players new West Brom boss Gary Megson recruited in March 2000 to help halt the Baggies’ slide towards relegation from the First Division.

The mission succeeded, Albion scraping into 21st place, but Santos’ stay at The Hawthorns was a brief one. Having been involved in just eight games, he moved on to Sheffield United in the summer of 2000.

It was on 16 March 2002 that the so-called Battle of Bramall Lane took place between Neil Warnock’s Blades and Megson’s Baggies, for whom current boss Darren Moore was playing.

There were three goals, three United red cards, and, when two Blades players hobbled off injured, the game had to be abandoned because they only had six players left on the pitch!

It was the only time in the history of professional football in England that a match had to be abandoned because one team no longer had enough players to be able to continue.

The background to what unfolded perhaps explains – but certainly couldn’t excuse – what followed.

Just over a year before, when Welsh international midfielder Andy Johnson had been playing for Nottingham Forest against Sheffield United, Santos had suffered a fractured cheekbone and a seriously damaged eye socket following an elbow by Johnson.

There had been no apology forthcoming from Johnson while Santos had to have a titanium plate inserted. He was sidelined for over four months amid fears he could lose his sight in the damaged eye.

With Megson having been a Sheffield Wednesday player, there was added friction in the air at Bramall Lane, not helped by Blades skipper Keith Curle having also captained West Brom’s neighbours, and promotion rivals, Wolves. Striker Paul Peschisolido had also been a Baggie.

Possibly recognising the volatility that might be unleashed if Santos had started the game v West Brom, Warnock only chose him as a substitute, but when the Baggies went 2-0 up, Santos and Patrick Ruffo were sent on.

“Santos launched himself at Johnson at the first opportunity,” according to skyysports.com, recalling the incident some years later. “It was a shocking tackle that could easily have badly injured his opponent and the red card was inevitable.”

The West Brom website, highlighting the contribution Santos had made in helping the club to avoid relegation in 2000, also reflected on the explosive controversy some years later.

Not only had Santos launched two-footed into Johnson, in the melee that followed Ruffo headbutted striker Derek McInnes, so both were shown the red card. Then, after two United players were unable to continue because of injury, referee Eddie Wolstenholme had no alternative but to abandon the game.

Santos and Ruffo received six-game bans, were transfer-listed by the Blades and neither played for the club again.

Santos was without a club until December 2002, but that didn’t stop him making his international debut – lining up for Cape Verde, where both his parents came from, in an Africa Cup of Nations match against Mauritania in September 2002. He subsequently won three more caps.

His club career was rescued when he signed a deal with Grimsby Town as emergency cover for the injured Steve Chettle. Although he couldn’t help the Mariners avoid relegation from League One in 2003, he was voted their Player of the Season.

But, because he didn’t fancy dropping down a division, he rejected a new deal at Blundell Park and moved to Ipswich Town in the summer of 2003. Playing under the experienced Joe Royle, he said: “I always had a lot of respect for Joe. If the team had a bad game, he’d come in and say for everyone to go home. He never said things he might regret and always took time to cool down.”

After a season at Portman Road, Santos then switched to Ian Holloway’s Queens Park Rangers where he spent two seasons, completing 77 appearances.

It was in August 2006, aged 36, that Santos pitched up at Brighton’s Withdean Stadium and Mark McGhee signed the experienced defender-midfielder on a one-year contract.

The player told BBC Southern Counties Radio: “I had clubs in Scotland and England interested, but Brighton looks the good option – I like the challenge.

“The manager wants me to bring my experience to a young team. My ambition is for us to make the top two.”

Having made a substitute appearance in a 2-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest, Santos made his first start at home to Boston United in the Carling Cup.

McGhee said: “I was delighted with Georges Santos’ full debut. He won his headers and it makes a hell of a difference to see the ball go back over the heads of our midfielders – instead of dropping down between them and the back four.”

Santos Alb action

Unfortunately, McGhee’s services were dispensed with in early September 2006 and former youth coach Dean Wilkins took over the reins.

Wilkins was always keen to give as many opportunities as he could to the emerging young talent he had nurtured through Albion’s youth team so the ageing Santos didn’t really fit into the picture.

Thus, after only half a season with the Albion, and having featured in only 12 games for the Seagulls, he was sent on loan to Jim Smith’s Oxford United – his ninth club.

On being released by the Albion at the end of his one-year deal, he linked up with Chesterfield, but he didn’t get any games at Saltergate and left the club in November 2007.

He then dropped into the non-league arena, appearing briefly for Alfreton Town and Farsley Celtic before finishing his playing career with Fleetwood Town at the age of 38.

Santos is now a scout for Olympique Marseille covering the UK, Italy and Switzerland. He frequently visits Sheffield to catch up with family and stays in touch with his old friend John Achterberg, the former Tranmere ‘keeper.