Tag: Chris Casper

The midfield pivot in Albion’s rise to the Premier League

DALE STEPHENS spent nearly seven years at the Albion and was a pivotal cog in the club’s rise from the Championship to the Premier League.

He got his first taste of life at a big club playing alongside Adam Lallana and Dean Hammond….for Southampton!

That was back in 2011 when Saints won promotion from League One as runners up behind the Albion although he was an unused sub when Saints left Withdean on St George’s Day with all three points from a last gasp 2-1 win.

Stephens had gone on loan at St Mary’s from Oldham Athletic to cover an injury to Morgan Sneiderlin. “It was a strange one actually, there were only six or seven weeks left of the season,” he told the Albion matchday programme.

“Oldham weren’t really in any fear of going down or making the play-offs, so when Southampton came in for me, I was allowed to leave.”

The loanee played in six of the final 10 games of the season, making his debut against future employer Charlton Athletic alongside Lallana and Hammond.

“I looked at it almost as a trial period for being at a big club,” he said. “It was a chance for me to showcase myself. Playing for a club like Southampton at that level, with the players they had, was good for my experience and I really enjoyed being in a big-club environment.

“It was a good experience but just a shame that it was cut short by the season coming to an end.”

Explaining that everything was a level above what he’d previously been used to, Stephens added: “I didn’t feel out of place, though. I felt comfortable in that environment and it gave me the belief and the confidence that I could reach the next level.”

That didn’t turn out to be with Southampton, because his next club turned out to be the Addicks, where Chris Powell was building a side to try to get back into the Championship. Stephens found them to be similar to Saints, and like in his stint in Hampshire, he once again became a League One promotion-winner.

“I had a great first season there, helping the club win the League One title,” he recalled.

He then established himself as a Championship player before switching to the Albion in January 2014 when Andrew Crofts was ruled out by injury.

It was Nathan Jones, the former Albion player who had returned to assist Oscar Garcia, who recommended the move for Stephens, having seen him close-up when working as a coach at Charlton.

“Dale was one I recommended very strongly to the club and staked my reputation on, really,” he told the Argus. “When I was at Charlton, I saw Dale in probably three or four training sessions and a friendly at Welling and I knew then he could play at the highest level.”

Garcia needed little convincing and told the newspaper: “He’s a midfielder who can do everything and he does it all well. He’s got great physical capacity, a very good strike, he gets into the opposition box, and he is aggressive without the ball.”

It would be fair to say he was something of a Marmite player for many fans, often accused of being too slow and favouring a sideways pass. I’d say I wasn’t a fan at first but grew to appreciate his importance to the way the side played.

By his own admission, Stephens said: “With the sort of player I am, I’m not going to get fans on the edge of their seat. I’m not going to be a crowd pleaser, but I know my job and the levels I need to hit.”

Credit to him that his time at the club actually spanned the reigns of four different managers: Garcia; Sami Hyypia – although injuries prevented him appearing under him; Chris Hughton, who successfully paired him with Beram Kayal, and the early part of the Graham Potter era which saw him partner Dutchman Davy Pröpper.

Stephens’ arrival pretty much put the tin hat on the progress Rohan Ince had been making as a defensive midfielder with the Albion and, together with Kayal, he formed the key midfield duo as Albion sought to climb from the Championship under Chris Hughton.

A rare goal from Dale Stephens, this one away to West Ham

Once the promised land had been reached, Pröpper took over from Kayal but Stephens retained his place, proving a few doubters wrong about his ability to play at the higher level.

It was only with the emergence of Yves Bissouma as the consummate holding midfielder that Stephens found himself gradually edged out.

Born in Bolton on 12 June 1989, Stephens was football daft from an early age and although he had a try-out at Manchester City when he was 12, nothing further came of it.

After his final year at Ladybridge High School, he went onto a building site to do plastering and joinery.

But the coach of North Walkden, the local side for whom he was playing weekend football, wrote to Bury asking if they would take him on trial. After impressing in a work-out involving 28 triallists in front of youth team coach Chris Casper, he was invited back on a six-week trial basis.

Young Dale at Bury

“After two weeks, I played for the reserves and was offered a two-year scholarship,” Stephens explained. “I then became a first-year pro, making my debut as a sub against Peterborough, and never looked back. I was actually a striker when I joined but was quickly converted to a midfielder and I went on to play 12 first team games.”

Out of contract in 2008, he had the opportunity to step up a league and join Oldham Athletic. When game time was limited in his first season with them, he had loan spells with Droylsden, Hyde United and Rochdale, where he played alongside Will Buckley.

Back at Boundary Park, he became a regular for 18 months, in a side managed by former Brighton loanee striker Paul Dickov, and when Oldham visited Withdean in the 2010-11 season, a matchday programme article drew attention to him. “He is a big player for us in midfield,” wrote contributor Gavin Browne, sports editor of the Oldham Advertiser. “He has a great range of passing and has the ability to play at a higher level.”

A serious ankle ligament injury sustained when Albion beat bottom-of-the-table Yeovil 2-0 on 25 April 2014 sidelined him for 10 months but he returned to play a part in helping Hughton’s relegation-threatened side maintain their Championship status in 2015.

The promotion-deciding match at Middlesbrough in May 2016 will live long in the memory of those who saw it and witnessed referee Mike Dean’s controversial dismissal of Stephens four minutes after he’d brought the Albion back level with a narrow-angled header.

Once Brighton finally got to show what they could do amongst the elite, Stephens declared: “I was always confident of competing at this level but the more you play the more confident you become and the more belief you get.”

He ended up playing 99 Premier League games for the Seagulls out of a total of 223 appearances and perhaps as a mark of respect when he finally left the club for Burnley in September 2020, chairman Tony Bloom said: “He was key in both our promotion from the Championship and in establishing the club in the Premier League. 

“Albion fans will have great memories of Dale as a regular in the midfield in that promotion-winning campaign, and also for the way he comfortably adapted to life in the Premier League – where he has been a model of consistency.”

His last game for Brighton saw him wear the captain’s armband in a 4-0 Carabao Cup win over Portsmouth.

Things didn’t pan out as expected when he moved to Burnley. Due to injury, he was limited to 14 appearances in two seasons, and he told talkSPORT’s Sunday Session programme: “It was disappointing on both sides. When I initially went there I was excited for the challenge, but for whatever reason it didn’t work for me or the football club.

“It probably sums my time up there, but I found out on Twitter, of all places, that I wouldn’t be getting a new contract.”

Stephens expected to find a new club, probably at Championship level, who would be interested in using his experience, and although he came close to joining Middlesbrough, and there was some interest from Watford and West Brom, nothing materialised.

“I’d played in the Premier League for the last five years, but I understood I hadn’t played much for two,” he told Andy Naylor of The Athletic. “I thought people would see the reasons behind it and that I’d get the opportunity to play at a club that wants to try to get promoted.”

Apart from being allowed to join in pre-season training at Brighton and spending six weeks with his former Bury captain Dave Challinor at Bury, he trained alone to keep up his fitness level, but, when he was unable to get fixed up with a club, in March 2023 he announced his retirement from playing.

Ongoing problems with the ankle injury suffered during his time at Brighton also contributed to his decision to retire.

In his interview with Naylor, he said he aimed to take the UEFA B licence course to try to become a coach, having spent time out following ankle surgery watching Sean Dyche’s managerial methods, as well as opposing bosses.

Sweet passer ‘Chippy’ became Brighton crowd favourite after Cardiff move

RICHARD Carpenter was a popular mainstay of Albion’s promotion-winnning side of the Noughties, scoring some notable goals along the way.

Billed as Brighton’s ‘star player’ in Port Vale’s 20 April 2002 programme for the last game of Albion’s promotion-winning season, Carpenter was described as “a highly effective midfielder, being strong in the tackle, a precise and sweet passer of the ball, while possessing a strong right-foot shot” – an excellent summary.

The goal he scored from a free kick against Spurs in the FA Cup at White Hart Lane on 8 January 2005 is right up there as one of my all-time Albion favourites.

Brighton, battling at the bottom of the Championship, hadn’t played Spurs since falling out of the top division in 1983 so it was a great chance for a giant-killing.

Albion ultimately succumbed 2-1, but not before Carpenter rifled home a free-kick past England ‘keeper Paul Robinson three minutes into the second half to level the score.

Carpenter told the Albion matchday programme in January 2018: “We were going to have a good time, win, lose or draw, but we also didn’t change the way we played – we made ourselves hard to beat, like we always did.

“Before my goal, I had already hit the crossbar with a half-volley from outside the box when Gary Hart teed me up. It went like slow motion and I thought it was going in.

“Obviously, I did score with a free-kick in the second half. I looked at the wall and my mind was made up to hit it. I knew it was going in by the flight of the ball and it was obviously a great feeling to score at White Hart Lane.”

Born in the village of Teynham, near Sittingbourne in Kent, on 30 September 1972, most of Carpenter’s career was centred on London and the south east, apart from one brief foray to south Wales, and Cardiff City.

Chippy began his professional career with Gillingham in May 1991 and he had clocked up 142 senior appearances for the Gills in five years before Gillingham old boy Micky Adams paid a £15,000 fee to take him to Craven Cottage, Fulham.

In two seasons at the Cottage he played a further 66 times, scoring nine goals along the way.

It was in July 1998 that he left the English capital to sample life in the Welsh capital. Cardiff paid £35,000 for his services and he helped them to promotion from the fourth tier in 1999.

Unfortunately, Carpenter’s time in Wales was also marred by a tackle he made in a Boxing Day game against Reading in 1999. His challenge on Chris Casper resulted in a double leg break for the defender which ultimately ended his career. Five years later, Casper was awarded undisclosed damages in an out-of-court settlement for past and future loss of earnings.

Nevertheless, when interviewed about his time in south Wales, Carpenter told Graham Otway, of the Daily Mail: “I had two and a half fantastic years at Cardiff. I helped them win promotion and I lived in a lovely part of the Forest of Dean, near Chepstow.

“I never wanted to leave the club but my girlfriend was expecting a baby and we wanted to move back home to Kent.”

So, after 89 league and cup appearances for the Bluebirds, he joined the Adams-managed Brighton on a free transfer in July 2000.

Away from football, it also presented him with the perfect opportunity to browse Brighton’s famous Laines searching out various antiques for his collection.

“I do like collecting nice pieces,” he told Otway. “I am mainly into collectables – watches, jewellery and old walking canes. But when it comes to furniture I am into modern stuff as well. I just have lots of interests outside of football.”

On the pitch, Carpenter was an Albion fixture under various managers and was part of promotion and relegation sides.

In the first leg of the play-off semi-finals in 2004, on a boiling hot day at the County Ground, Swindon, it was Carpenter’s deflected goal that gave Albion the advantage going into the second leg, which was played in exactly opposite conditions of torrential rain, as Albion edged it via a penalty shoot-out.

Carpenter said the 2004 play-off final at Cardiff was the pinnacle of his career, as Albion secured a 1-0 win over Bristol City to return to the second tier.

“I have played all my career in the Second and Third Divisions – apart from one in the First – and I haven’t had the opportunity to play in luxury stadiums in front of massive crowds,” he said. “The final is going to be something special for me to remember for the rest of my life.”

After Mark McGhee was replaced as manager by Dean Wilkins in September 2006, Carpenter’s Albion days were numbered.

In fact, he was red-carded in Wilkins’ first game in charge, away to Millwall, although the Seagulls won 1-0. Former Albion youth coach Wilkins was keen to introduce to the first team some of the younger players he’d helped to develop. So, at the age of 34, and after more than 278 appearances and 24 goals, Carpenter’s Seagulls playing career finally came to a close, in February 2007, when he left by mutual consent.

Albion chairman Dick Knight devoted space in the matchday programme to honour his achievements with the Seagulls.

“He has been a fantastic player and model professional for this football club ever since he arrived from Cardiff in 2000,” said Knight. “I remember Micky Adams telling fans that Richard would be a player that fans would enjoy, and he was right.”

As well as highlighting his key moments on the pitch, Knight added: “He has also been a real credit to his profession off the pitch, a tremendous role model for the youngsters coming through in terms of his dedication, honesty as a player and character.”

Manager Wilkins added: “He is the ultimate professional – on and off the pitch. His attitude and application from Monday through to Saturday was superb. I don’t think I’ve seen anybody with better work ethic, discipline and determination.”

For his part, Carpenter said: “I have got no hard feelings, although I’m disappointed with the way it’s ended this season. I haven’t played as many games as I would have liked, due to suspension and injury.

“It’s hard at my age not to be involved; this last year or so has been a struggle and it is time to move on.”

He joined non-league Welling United, where he was appointed captain and briefly caretaker manager. In 2011, he emerged from retirement for a short spell to play for Whitehawk.

After his playing days came to an end, Chippy spent four years coaching for the Albion In the Community programme. He then “worked on the railways” for five years and at the turn of 2018 said he was planning to indulge his passion for antiques.

In February 2018, prior to Albion’s FA Cup tie with Coventry, he appeared on the BBC Radio Sussex show, Albion Unlimited, and talked about how he missed the game, especially the close bond he enjoyed with teammates at all the clubs he played for.

Presenter Adrian Harms asked him about the characters he played with and he said: “We trained the way we played; we was all up for it. Individually we were strong; collectively we were even stronger.”

B Dean Chippy + Cullip

Pictures from various matchday programmes, by Bennett Dean, and the Argus.