Tag: Darren Moore

Toon scourge Ian Baird no stranger to red cards

A GOALSCORING scourge of Newcastle United once pulled on the famous black and white stripes – and was booked in three of the five games he played for them!

Baird, who notoriously got himself sent off in the crucial last ever game Brighton played at the Goldstone Ground, led the line in an infamously fiery New Year’s Day derby between Newcastle and Sunderland when the Toon won 3-1 courtesy of a hat-trick by Peter Beardsley.

Jeff Clarke, who’d previously spent seven years at Sunderland and had five games on loan at Brighton at the start of that season, was at the back for Newcastle and future Albion veteran Clive Walker was in attack for the visitors.

A crowd of 36,529 watched the First Division fixture on 1 January 1985 when Sunderland were reduced to nine men through the sendings off of Howard Gayle and Gary Bennett. Baird was one of five bookings made by ref David Scott.

It was Baird’s fourth match for Newcastle after England World Cup winner Jack Charlton signed him on loan from Southampton. He made his debut three days before Christmas 1984 in a 4-0 defeat away to Aston Villa when his former England Schoolboys strike partner Paul Rideout scored a hat-trick. Baird’s only goal for United came in a Boxing Day 2-1 defeat at West Brom.

Three days later, as United lost 3-1 at home to Arsenal, Baird’s involvement was from the bench as a sub for David McCreery. His last game, on 12 January, was another tonking, 4-0 away to champions-in-waiting Everton.

Five years after his Toon cameo, Baird twice stymied Newcastle’s hopes of promotion from the second tier, scoring against them for Leeds in a 1-0 win in December 1989 (it turned out to be his last goal for them) and, after he’d fallen out with manager Howard Wilkinson and been transferred to Middlesbrough in January 1990, netted twice for Boro as they beat Newcastle 4-1 in the last game of the season.

Baird nets for Boro against the Toon

Leeds finished that campaign as second tier champions (Newcastle, who by then had Mark McGhee up front, were five points behind in third place) and Baird’s goals in Boro’s win put paid to the Magpies’ hopes of automatic promotion. To add salt to the wound, Newcastle lost to Sunderland in the semi-final of the play-offs.

Six years later Baird was Brighton’s captain in the penultimate must-win game of the season, when Doncaster Rovers were the visitors.

Albion needed all three points to give themselves a chance of avoiding relegation out of the league when they travelled to Hereford the following week for the final fixture of that tumultuous season.

What they really didn’t need was for the captain to get himself sent off after just 18 minutes of the match!

Talking to The Athletic about it in a 2022 interview, Baird recalled: “I was fired up for it. Darren (Moore) had come right through me, literally in the first minute. The referee didn’t give anything.

“Then he came through me again, and the referee gave a foul. The third time, I lost it. I just turned around and tried to wallop him. There was a big melee. Everyone knew what was at stake.”

Both players were dismissed (it was one of 11 sendings off in Baird’s career) and thankfully Stuart Storer’s memorably-scrambled goal in the 67th minute settled the game in Albion’s favour, although Baird admitted: “It was nerve-racking. I felt guilty that I’d let my team-mates down, let everybody down by getting sent off. It was a massive relief when we won.”

Thankfully, disciplinary rules were different back then (bans were only applied 14 days after the offence) and Baird was able to play his part in the match at Hereford when a 1-1 draw ensured Albion stayed up and The Bulls went down.

Baird’s exploits for the Albion highlighted in the matchday programme

Brighton were the tenth and last league club Baird had played for and he had only ended up with the Seagulls because of a pre-season falling out with Plymouth Argyle manager Neil Warnock.

Living near Southampton, only a 15-minute drive from Brighton manager Jimmy Case, a move east along the coast made good geographical sense, and a £35,000 fee took him to the Goldstone at the start of the 1996-97 season.

“Whenever I’d played against Brighton, I seemed to score,” Baird told The Athletic. “I loved the Goldstone Ground and there was the lure of playing for Jimmy.”

Although born in Rotherham on 1 April 1964, Baird had moved to Southampton with his family, via Glasgow, when he was a young lad, his father having sailed from the port when he worked on the Queen Mary.

After surviving meningitis as a six-year-old, Baird’s footballing ability saw him turn out for Bitterne Saints, St. Mary’s College, Southampton, Southampton and Hampshire Schools. He joined Southampton on schoolboy terms after he’d been spotted in the same boys’ team, Sarisbury Sparks, as Lawrie McMenemy’s son, Sean.

Baird won two England schoolboy caps: he was in England’s Victory Shield team that beat Wales 2-1 at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground on 27 April 1979, playing alongside Rideout and winger Mark Walters, who went on to star for Aston Villa, Rangers and Liverpool.

In the same competition, he also played at St James’ Park – two days after Brighton had won 3-1 on the same pitch to win promotion to the top division for the first time in the club’s history.

On 7 May 1979, young England drew 1-1 with Scotland and 14-year-old Rideout’s goal was enough to enable England to retain the Victory Shield. The following month, Baird was an unused sub when England drew 2-2 with West Germany at Wembley.

A Saint with hair!

Baird was offered pro terms by Swindon, but he chose instead to sign for his adopted home town club. However, with McMenemy preferring the more experienced Frank Worthington and Joe Jordan, Baird was restricted to 21 starts and three sub appearances for Saints, and, after that loan spell at Newcastle, he moved to Leeds.

His two spells at Leeds (sandwiched either side of an unhappy time at Portsmouth) produced 50 goals in more than 160 appearances and he was in the Leeds side alongside Mervyn Day and Micky Adams that lost the 1986-87 Division Two play-off final to a Charlton Athletic team that included his future Brighton boss Steve Gritt and teammate John Humphrey.

Baird scored 19 goals that season for Billy Bremner’s side, four of them in the FA Cup as United reached the semi-final where they were beaten 3-2 by eventual cup winners Coventry City.

He had taken Saints’ teammate Jordan’s advice to move to Leeds and his next move was to Scotland where Jordan was in charge of Hearts. He later played under the Scottish international striker at Bristol City too.

The Pilgrim who fell out with Neil Warnock

Baird scored six in 29 appearances for Plymouth before that move to Brighton. Discipline might have been a problem but Baird scored eight goals in 10 games from January 1997 as nine wins and a draw at the Goldstone went a huge way to enabling Albion to escape the drop.

As Albion began the 1997-98 season in exile at Gillingham, Baird began the campaign with a three-match ban for that red card against Doncaster — and it wasn’t long before he was seeing red again!

It came in the 13th game of the season and it was certainly unlucky for Baird, well, unlucky in that a linesman spotted his off-the-ball headbutt on a Chester defender. Gritt publicly condemned Baird’s “out of order” behaviour and stripped him of the captaincy.

The following month, with another knee operation required, a surgeon advised him to pack in the game and he left Brighton in December that year having scored 14 goals in 41 appearances in 16 months.

“At least we kept Brighton up,” he told The Athletic. “There were a multitude of problems, it was a weird period, but it was a big thing.”

Post-Brighton, Baird ended up coaching in Hong Kong and was put in charge of the national side for three Asian Cup qualifiers, playing in Jakarta in front of 75,000 people, and then in Cambodia in front of 1,200 people. “It was certainly an experience, that is for sure,” he said.

Baird eventually returned to Hampshire, developed business interests in the vehicle sales and leasing and sports gear industries, while keeping his football links going in non-league circles: at Eastleigh, Sutton United and Havant & Waterlooville.

Baird certainly never ducked a challenge

Stockdale’s key role in Albion’s rise to the Premier League

DAVID STOCKDALE kept 20 clean sheets as Brighton were promoted from the Championship to the Premier League.

He was chosen by his peers in the PFA Championship team of the year and was runner up to Anthony Knockaert as player of the season.

What seemed like a mystery at the time, though, was that he then remained in the Championship by signing a three-year contract with Birmingham City (at the time managed by Harry Redknapp).

“I’m not ashamed to say I put my family first and football second for a change,” Stockdale explained, referring to his desire to sign a longer term deal than the Seagulls offered because he didn’t want the upheaval of a move that might have unsettled his daughter’s education at a time she was about to take exams.

Stockdale had joined the Seagulls from Fulham in the summer of 2014 and was first choice ‘keeper for three seasons, playing a total of 139 matches for the club.

Remembered for some notable performances between the sticks, Stockdale impressed off it too. In the wake of the Shoreham air crash, he showed great compassion for the victims.

Before the next game, away to Ipswich Town, he wore personalised gloves and a training top bearing the names of two of them, Albion groundsman Matt Grimstone, who was Worthing United’s goalkeeper, and his teammate Jacob Schilt.

He also spent time talking to Matt’s family, visiting with Albion ambassador Alan Mullery. “We are all guilty of complaining about the little things in life but there are far more important things to worry about and I wish more people realised that,” he told the matchday programme.

At the end of the season, Stockdale’s support was recognised by the award of the PFA Community Champion trophy. “A lot of tears were shed,” he told Albion reporter Andy Naylor, when he got the inside track on Stockdale’s story in an interview for The Athletic on 17 November 2019.

“I’d spoken to Matt a few times, with him being a goalkeeper. We used to shout across at each other. I’d joke, ‘You come and train with us and I’ll do that (groundskeeping)’.”

The way the club rallied round didn’t surprise the goalkeeper because he’d heard good things from Fulham teammate and all time Albion legend Bobby Zamora when he was mulling over the move.

“I knew it was a good club, a very progressive club, but when Bobby told me it was the best club, that was good enough for me,” he said.

There was a familiar face waiting for him at training too because the goalkeeping coach when he arrived was Antti Niemi, who had taken him under his wing in his early days at Fulham.

“I was only 21 at the time, at a big Premier League club, and he spoke to me a lot in those early days,” he said. “Although he’s the goalkeeping coach here now, it sometimes feels the same as it did back then.

“He’s the one putting on the sessions now, and I’ve enjoyed them like I did when I trained with him before,” he said.

Even so, Stockdale was even more impressed by Niemi’s successor, Ben Roberts. “There’s no better goalkeeping coach than him,” he said. “Ben and I had tried to work together at previous clubs and it hadn’t come off. So, when we finally did at Brighton, he said ‘this is what I want you to work on, stay with me and trust me and the process’.

“It wasn’t always easy, I was 30 at the time trying to adapt my style, sometimes it’s hard. But I trusted him and it worked. He’s shown with numerous keepers that he can help anyone improve. That’s why people hold him in such high regard.”

A personal highlight for Stockdale came in January 2017 at the Amex when he made a double save from a Fernando Forestieri penalty against Sheffield Wednesday that helped put Brighton top of the division.

Less memorable were two own goals in a 2-0 defeat at Norwich City when Alex Pritchard shots rebounded off the woodwork, hit him and went in.

And when Albion had a chance to clinch the Championship title at Villa Park, Stockdale fumbled a long-range Jack Grealish shot to concede a late equaliser which meant Newcastle finished top instead.

“I left with great memories, on a high, apart from the Villa game,” Stockdale told Naylor. “It was one of those when everyone knows it was a mistake. It just wasn’t meant to be, but as a player you feel the responsibility.

“We got what we wanted, got promoted, but I think it left a bit of a bad feeling.”

Born in Leeds on 20 September 1985, Stockdale stayed in Yorkshire in the early part of his career, initially in the youth sides of Huddersfield Town and York City.

It was York who took him on as a trainee, in 2000, and in the last game of the 2002-03 season, aged just 17, Terry Dolan gave him his first team debut as a half-time substitute for Michael Ingham, who was suffering a shoulder injury, although City lost 2-0 to Oxford United.

By then in the Conference, Stockdale made 19 consecutive appearances for the Minstermen between August and December 2004 before being dropped by caretaker manager Viv Busby.

It was during that run of games that Stockdale first gained international recognition, being selected for the England C (non-league) squad for a friendly v Italy (he went on as a sub for Nikki Bull).

After his club disappointment, he told the York Evening Press: “I was gutted when I was taken out of the team but I’ve just gone back to the training ground and worked as hard as I can.

“I have got my best years to come. I am only 19 and I hope I can get a contract for next year and stay at the club.”

When former Albion midfielder Billy McEwan took charge, he offered Stockdale his first professional contract, although the youngster prevaricated over signing it, much to the manager’s dismay.

McEwan told the York Evening Press: “If the players don’t want to sign, then it’s up to them. They can go because I want players who want to play for York City Football Club.

“But David Stockdale is the biggest disappointment to me and I have told him that. He’s a young apprentice getting his first professional contract and the last thing in his mind should be money. That should be of secondary importance and he should be grateful York City are offering him a contract.

“On the evidence of his last performance of the season, he has to do better if he wants to get into the team.

“At the moment, he has potential but so have a lot of players. Maybe he feels he can get an automatic number one spot but that’s up for grabs this summer.”

Shortly after signing the contract, Stockdale went on loan to Northern Premier League club Wakefield-Emley and the following March joined Worksop Town on a temporary basis.

Stockdale was released by York at the end of the 2005-06 season with some more harsh words from McEwan about his weight ringing in his ears. After signing for League Two Darlington, Stockdale told the York Evening Press being released had been the incentive he needed to save his career.

“I have done well in pre-season and got back into shape after letting myself go at York, which was well-documented,” he said. “I accept now that was the case and agree with the manager but I would have preferred not to have been criticised in public.

“It has probably given me a kick up the backside though to get me going again and I feel a better person now. I would have loved to have stayed at York because I was there for a long time and have a great affection for the club.

“I would like to thank everybody there for all the help they have given me. The fans were always great and I learnt everything there so it was a bit of a shock to go.”

Clearly benefiting from full-time goalkeeping coaching from former Darlington, Bristol Rovers and Middlesbrough no.1 Andy Collett, Stockdale became manager Dave Penney’s preferred first choice ‘keeper, ousting former Derby and Bolton stopper Andy Oakes.

Scouts from Birmingham and Newcastle were said to be monitoring his development but it was Fulham who stepped in and signed him in April 2008 for an undisclosed sum (thought to be £350,000 rising to a possible £600,000). He was loaned back to Darlo to finish the season when they lost out in the League Two play-off semi-finals.

Although he was at Fulham for six years, much of Stockdale’s time on their books was spent out on loan: in League Two with Rotherham United, League One at Leicester City, and in the Championship with Plymouth Argyle, Ipswich Town and Hull City.

Temporary Tractor Boy

Nevertheless, his parent club did give him a reasonable sprinkling of first team outings: he played a total of 52 games, 39 in the Premier League.

Indeed in 2011, when he was covering for the injured Mark Schwarzer, Fabio Capello, the England boss at the time, called him up for international duty, although he didn’t get to play.

His best run of games for Fulham in the Premier League came in the 2013-14 season when he made 21 appearances (he also played five cup games).

After he left Brighton, Stockdale was Birmingham’s first choice ‘keeper throughout the 2017-18 season (apart from two months out with an injured wrist). He played 39 games, having replaced the previous season’s no.1, Tomasz Kuszczak, who had also moved to City from Brighton.

Blues only narrowly avoided relegation from the Championship with Redknapp only lasting until mid-September as manager; Lee Carsley briefly in temporary charge, Steve Cotterill for five months and then Garry Monk.

Monk brought in Lee Camp as his first-choice ‘keeper and Stockdale was sent out on loan to three different League One clubs: Southend United (on an emergency seven-day arrangement), Wycombe Wanderers and Coventry City.

After making a single appearance for Birmingham under Monk’s successor Pep Clotet at the start of the 2019-20 season, Stockdale rejoined Wycombe in January 2020 on a half-season loan.

He then moved to Wycombe on a permanent contract in September 2020 but only played twice, with Ryan Allsop the preferred no.1. In February 2021, he linked up with League Two Stevenage on loan and played five matches before having to return to Wycombe when Allsop was injured.

He kept the shirt until the end of the season, when Wanderers were relegated to League One, and, with Allsop having been released, Stockdale stepped up and was ever-present throughout the 2021-22 season. His 18 clean sheets earned him the League One Golden Glove award, jointly with Michael Cooper of Plymouth.

Nevertheless, with his contract up, he then returned to Yorkshire, signing for Darren Moore’s Sheffield Wednesday, where he played 27 games in the 2022-23 season.

They say what goes around comes around, and at the start of the 2023-24 season Stockdale went back to York City, although he sustained an injury early on in the season that caused him to be sidelined from the National League team.

As well as his familiar playing role, Stockdale began to look towards a time when he hangs up the gloves by also being appointed York’s head of recruitment. However, he was let go from the role in April 2024.

Away from his direct involvement in club football, he began a postgraduate diploma in Global Football Sport Directorship with the PFA Business School.

City grounding signalled high hopes for talented Taylor

EXPECTATIONS of a bright future in Albion’s colours fizzled out for Taylor Richards after the most audacious of starts.

Richards cheekily scored with a Panenka chipped penalty in a pre-season friendly against Crawley Town which instantly made the watching supporters take notice of the new signing from Manchester City.

It was reported Albion paid £2.5 million for the 18-year-old when he decided to move on after four years moving through the youth ranks at City.

“I did not have to leave because I still had years on my contract,” he told the Argus. “I just felt that I needed a new challenge.

“When I found out that Brighton were interested in me I was also made aware that I had a chance of breaking into the first-team further down the line.

“That is all I wanted to hear, that if you do well and train well, you’ll be given opportunities.

“But I would not change my time at City for anything. The only thing I would change is probably not taking my opportunity as well as I should have done.

“When you’re in that comfortable environment, you do not always realise what you have and maybe take your foot off the gas a little, but it’s all a learning experience and one I really enjoyed.”

Richards did get his wish of making it through to Albion’s first team, but his involvement was very sporadic and after a season on loan at Championship side Queens Park Rangers, he eventually moved there permanently in the summer of 2023.

For Richards, it was a case of moving home. Having been born in Hammersmith on 4 December 2000, he grew up in Shepherd’s Bush – although his football journey began in the academy at Fulham.

City took him north at the age of just 14 and he earned a scholarship aged 16. Eventually, he became a regular for City’s under-18s.

In February 2017, he played for England under-17s in a tournament on the Algarve, starting in a 1-0 defeat to Portugal and going on for City teammate Phil Foden in a 3-2 win away to Germany. Two days later, he started in England’s 1-0 win over the Netherlands. That side featured Jadon Sancho, who went through the age groups at City at the same time as Richards.

“I hung around with Sancho quite a lot because we went into the academy at the same time and we had a good connection,” he said. “What’s happened with his career proves you never know what might happen. It’s all about working hard and taking your opportunity when it comes.”

Taylor made seven appearances for City’s under 23s – three in 2017-18 and four in 2018-19 – although he didn’t feature in the first team. He was on the scoresheet in a Checkatrade Trophy quarter final match in January 2019 when City fought back from 2-0 down to beat Rochdale 4-2 (former Albion player Jim McNulty was on the scoresheet for Rochdale).

“Once you’re in that environment, winning is the only thing on the table and losing is no option,” he said. “Everyone’s at it and it’s a good place to be for a young player to get you ready for the men’s game. Every age group tried to do what the first team did. It was the same philosophy that went right through the academy, so when you stepped up to the next level, it made it easier.”

Richards made an instant name for himself shortly after signing for the Albion with that penalty against Crawley. He told the matchday programme: “I knew I was going to chip it, but I took a long run-up to make the goalkeeper think I was going to smash it.

“I’ve never had the fans sing my name before, so it’s a great moment for me and one I’ll cherish for life. Hopefully that left a nice impression, but it was only my first game.”

Head coach Graham Potter told the club website: “He showed his confidence with the penalty. He’s not been here long but is ambitious and wants a taste of first-team football. That’s always the challenge for young players, to get the right next step from youth football.

“He has quality and ability, so we’ll make an assessment of him and the right pathway for him to gain that first-team experience.”

The 2019-20 season was only two months old when Richards made his Albion competitive first team debut. A team comprising several youngsters lost 3-1 to an experienced Aston Villa side in the Carabao Cup at the Amex. “I remember chasing Douglas Luiz around the whole evening,” he said. “It was a long night, but a good night, apart from the result. It helped me a lot in understanding the level and what I needed to do to play against that level of opposition.”

With further first team chances unlikely because of the competition for places, Richards was sent on a year’s loan to Doncaster Rovers in 2020-21.

The attacking midfielder scored 11 goals in 48 appearances and learned a lot from the experience. “The manager, Darren Moore, wanted us to play football, which was a similar style to Brighton, but sometimes the other teams didn’t want to play,” he recalled. “They were a bit more long-ball, more physical, and I definitely came back a better player for it.”

He signed a new three-year contract at Brighton and was a non-playing substitute in the opening Premier League matchday squad, with head coach Potter saying: “Taylor has impressed during pre-season, and he was deservedly part of the first-team squad at Burnley last weekend.

“He had a very productive loan spell at Doncaster last season, and this new contract is a reward for his hard work and progress he’s made since he arrived.”

Richards made starts in two Carabao Cup matches (against Cardiff and Swansea) and went on as a sub in two league matches, replacing Jakub Moder in a 2-0 home defeat to Everton and taking over from Enock Mwepu in a 1-0 home defeat to Wolves.

Having made his league debut against Everton, with mum Shani watching on, he said: “I thought I did well. I was nervous, like most people would be, but I tried to keep the ball as much as I could, tried to give more going forward but this is my first game and I will learn from these moments and go again.

“Despite the result, because that comes first, I am happy I got on the pitch. My mum has been with me through this whole journey and she got to see me make my Premier League debut so it is a proud moment for me.”

But, in the second half of the season, he once again went out on loan, this time to Championship side Birmingham City, Albion boss Potter explaining: “Taylor has been with the first-team squad for the first part of the season, he has benefited from that time and he has made great progress during that time.

“He has played in the Carabao Cup ties and also made his Premier League debut. But we feel it is now important for him to play regular football during the second half of the season and he will get that opportunity with Birmingham, a club I know well.”

In a bizarre turn of events, it was two months before he was fit to start for the Blues because he injured an ankle doing the medical associated with the move.

Bemused Brum boss Lee Bowyer said: “I’ve never heard anything like this. It’s crazy. I have never heard of a player getting injured in the medical.”

After he had finally made his debut, Birmingham Mail reporter Brian Dick had a favourable impression. “He looked very, very neat on the ball, not afraid to take possession and retain it in tight spots and also good at finding little angles around and in the box.

“He is a languid mover with good pace and plays with his head up, looking to bring others into the game,” the reporter observed. “Of all the January recruits there was more buzz at the club about Taylor than anyone else – and the very early signs are promising.”

Bowyer pointed out: “He can score, he can assist, he can make that pass.”

However, he only made two starts for Blues, plus three from the bench, and in the summer the player switched to QPR on a season-long loan with the plan to make the move permanent.

“I haven’t got the words, it feels great to be at QPR,” said Richards, who had been taken to Loftus Road by his mum as a seven-year-old to watch his first ever game.

“I am from Shepherd’s Bush and all my family and friends support QPR,” he said. “Everyone is excited and I just can’t wait to get on the pitch, that’s where it matters.”

Mick Beale, the manager who signed him, declared: “Taylor is a very, very talented boy who I have watched extensively in the past. 

“Given his age and the fact that he’s a Hammersmith boy, I think he’s perfect for us in terms of the identity we have as a team and as a club.

“He can travel with the ball and is powerful in his play, so we’re delighted to have him.”

Excited by the player’s versatility, Beale added: “He can play as a number 10, wide left, wide right – but predominately he is an attacking midfielder, a number eight. He gives more competition and our midfield is looking stronger for it.

“He is a midfielder who can dribble at speed, from one line to another – he can score and he can play.”

But Richards made only one start throughout the whole season, joining the action from the bench on 15 occasions. Nevertheless, when Gareth Ainsworth took over from Neil Critchley in February 2023 he was quick to acknowledge the player’s attributes.

“I like Taylor. I think he is a fantastically talented boy, I really do,” said Ainsworth. “He is very similar to some of the players I have come across in my management career before.

“But I think with young players today there is so much more to them than what you see on a Saturday, and it is our job as managers to work with them day in day out and work with them and give them clarity.

“Taylor is a fantastic player. I don’t want to put too much pressure on the boy, but he has been at some top places and is highly thought of and highly thought of by this manager as well.”

Richards joined the Rs on a three-year deal ahead of the 2023-24 season.

A non-playing sub for their opening day 4-0 defeat to Watford, Richards was in the starting line-up for a first round Carabao Cup match at home to Norwich City, facing former Albion players Shane Duffy and (sub) Ashley Barnes, and the visitors edged it 1-0.

Having played only four league matches for QPR in 2023-24, in July 2024 Richards switched to League One Cambridge United on a season-long loan.

United manager Garry Monk said, “Taylor is an exciting talent who has huge potential to be an outstanding player in this league. He will bring another dimension to our team and we are very excited to work with him this season.”

Richards told the club website “It’s a big opportunity for me to come here and play some football – I just want to get out there and show what I can do. 

“I want to get back to enjoying my football and if I am enjoying it, then everything else will come along with that.”

Fiery Ian Baird saw red in crucial last Goldstone game

FIERY Ian Baird was no stranger to yellow and red cards – in five games for Newcastle United he was booked three times!

And in Brighton’s last ever game at the Goldstone Ground, against Doncaster Rovers, Baird was sent off long before the game had even reached half time.

Something of a disciple of Joe Jordan, the tenacious centre forward who starred for Leeds United and Manchester United, Baird was his teammate at Southampton and played under the Scot at Hearts in Scotland and at Bristol City.

Baird didn’t fear incurring the wrath of supporters, happily playing for arch-rival clubs in his pursuit of goals. Indeed, on Teesside he earned a place in fans’ folklore by scoring two goals in an end-of-season clash that not only kept Middlesbrough up but prevented their noisy north-east neighbours Newcastle from getting automatic promotion to the elite (to make matters worse, they then lost a play-off semi-final to Sunderland).

Baird scored twice in that 4-1 win over United on the final day of the 1989-90 season at Ayresome Park, and earlier the same season he’d scored a winner for Leeds United against Newcastle at Elland Road.

Baird played on the south coast for both Southampton and Portsmouth before making the Albion his 10th and last English league club. He joined for £35,000 from Plymouth Argyle when the club was in turmoil off the field and floundering at the bottom of the basement division. But he went on to net 14 goals in 41 games.

He spoke about the move to Tim Ashton of the Sutton and Croydon Guardian in July 2016. “I was at Plymouth, and Jimmy Case took me on and explained all the problems to me about the likes of (David) Bellotti,” he said.

“To be honest, as a player, all you are bothered about is making sure you get your wage, and you’re not really taking any notice of what he is saying.

“I played at Brighton on many occasions, I have been there with Leeds and Middlesbrough, and it was always a favourite place of mine to go – and as soon as I got there as a player, I knew the importance of survival.”

Baird continued: “Brighton are a big club, and I could not believe what was happening. It took a strain on Jimmy, that’s for sure, and he was not the man he was normally with all the pressure.

“Then he was sacked and we were 12 points adrift at Christmas – they brought in Steve Gritt, and he brought a different kind of management.

“It got to February and March time, then all of a sudden Doncaster Rovers and Hereford were sucked into it – we had to beat Doncaster in the final (home) game.”

Sent off 11 times in his career, it was his dismissal just 18 minutes into that game in 1997 that threatened the very existence of the club – and he was captain that day!

Baird later told portsmouth.co.uk: “It was just a natural thing really. Sometimes my enthusiasm got the better of me. There were plenty of times I chinned someone or got into trouble.

“The most stupid one was when me and Darren Moore had a fight. He was playing for Doncaster and I was playing for Brighton in the last game at their old Goldstone Ground.

“He came through the back of me, there was a bit of afters and I ended up trying to give him a right hook, and there was a bit of a ruck.

“We had a bit of rough and tumble and I was just lucky he didn’t chase me up the tunnel because he’s huge!”

Thankfully, Albion famously still won that match courtesy of Stuart Storer’s memorable winner. Because red card bans were delayed for 14 days back then, Baird was able to play in what has since been recognised as the most important game in the club’s history: away to Hereford United.

As the history books record, it was Robbie Reinelt, on as a sub, who stepped into the breach to rescue a point for the Albion, enough to preserve their league status and to send the Bulls down.

In November of the following season, Baird still had six months left on his Brighton contract, but a surgeon told him he should not play pro football any more because of a troublesome knee, so he decided to retire.

But, when he had turned 35, he said: “I had a phone call from Mick Leonard (former Notts County and Chesterfield player) who played in Hong Kong, and he said they were desperate for a striker.

“I went for a month’s trial and ended up signing an 18-month deal. My knee flared up again and they offered me a coaching role, and it ended up with me managing the side.”

He added: “Then I was put in charge of the national side for the Asian Cup qualifiers and we played in Jakarta in front of 75,000 people, and then in Cambodia in front of 1,200 people – it was certainly an experience that is for sure.”

Over the 17 years of his league career, Baird commanded a total of £1.7m in transfer fees; £500,000 Boro paid Leeds being the highest.

Although born in Rotherham on 1 April 1964, the family moved first to Glasgow and then Southampton when Baird was small, his father having sailed from the south coast port when working on the Queen Mary.

The always comprehensive saintsplayers.co.uk notes the young Baird survived meningitis as a six-year-old and later came to the attention of Southampton when appearing in the same boys team, Sarisbury Sparks, as their manager Lawrie McMenemy’s son, Sean.

The excellent ozwhitelufc.net.au details how Baird’s footballing ability saw him play for Bitterne Saints, St. Mary’s College, Southampton, Southampton and Hampshire Schools, before earning England Schoolboy caps in 1978-79 alongside the likes of Trevor Steven and Mark Walters.

He was offered terms by Swindon Town but he chose to stay closer to home and Southampton took him on as an apprentice in July 1980. He turned professional in April 1982 but McMenemy’s preference for old stagers Frank Worthington and the aforementioned Jordan limited his opportunities and he made just 21 appearances for Saints, plus three as a sub, scoring five times.

He was sent out on loan a couple of times: to Cardiff City in November 1983, where he scored six goals in twelve League games, and that spell at Jack Charlton’s Newcastle in December 1984 where aside from a booking in each of his four starts and one appearance from the bench, he scored once – in a 2-1 defeat at West Brom on Boxing Day.

Taking the advice of former teammate Jordan, Baird signed for Eddie Gray at Second Division Leeds in March 1985 and undoubtedly his most successful playing years were there, in two separate spells.

He played more than 160 matches and scored 50 goals. In the 1986-87 season, Gray’s successor, Billy Bremner, made him captain. The Yorkshire Evening Post spoke of “the powerhouse striker’s fearless commitment, no-holds-barred approach and goalscoring ability”.

In the blurb introducing his autobiography Bairdy’s Gonna Get Ya! (written by Leeds fan Marc Bracha) it says “he’s best remembered for his spells at Leeds, where goals, endless running, will to win and fearless approach ensured he was adored by the fans”.

In the 1987-88 season, though, he was wooed by the prospect of playing at the higher level he had just missed out on with Leeds (they’d lost in end-of-season play-offs) and signed for Alan Ball at Portsmouth for £250,000; he later described it as “the worse move I ever made”.

The season was disrupted by injury and disciplinary problems, and he returned to Leeds the following season, being named their Player of the Year in 1989.

But when ex-Albion winger Howard Wilkinson, then manager of Leeds, signed Lee Chapman, Baird sought the move to Boro. He told Stuart Whittingham in 2013 for borobrickroad.co.uk:

“I felt a little aggrieved and basically I spat the dummy out and asked for a move.

“He (Wilkinson) said that he didn’t want me to go but I insisted and within 24 hours I was speaking to Bruce Rioch and Colin Todd and I was on my way to Middlesbrough.”

Curiously, though, when Leeds won promotion at the end of the season, Baird picked up a medal because he had played his part in the achievement.

At the end of the 1990-91 season, Baird spent two years playing for Hearts under Jordan, although a torn thigh muscle restricted the number of appearances he’d hoped to make and at the end of his deal he moved back to England and signed for Bristol City, initially under Russell Osman and then Jordan once again.

After his experience in Hong Kong, Baird returned to Hampshire to put down roots back in Southampton, and pursued business interests in vehicle sales/leasing and the sports gear industry. He also spent five years managing Eastleigh before becoming Paul Doswell’s assistant at Sutton United. He then followed him to Havant & Waterlooville in May 2019.

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.

‘Yogi’ Baird knows about last game drama

A STRIKER who brought last-game-of-the-season smiles to the faces of Middlesbrough fans earned only notoriety in Brighton & Hove Albion’s final game at the Goldstone Ground.

Journeyman hard man forward Ian Baird earned his place in Teesside folklore by scoring two goals in an end-of-season clash that not only kept Boro up but prevented north east neighbours Newcastle from getting automatic promotion to the elite.

But Brighton fans witnessed Baird, captain at the time, being sent off just 18 minutes into the 1997 game against Doncaster Rovers which thankfully nonetheless ended up in victory courtesy of Stuart Storer’s memorable winner.

The dismissal meant, though, that Baird would not be able to play in what has since been recognised as the most important game in the club’s history: away to Hereford United.

Perhaps we should not have been surprised. Baird was sent off 11 times in his career and he later told portsmouth.co.uk: “It was just a natural thing really. Sometimes my enthusiasm got the better of me. There were plenty of times I chinned someone or got into trouble.Bairdy leap

“The most stupid one was when me and Darren Moore had a fight. He was playing for Doncaster and I was playing for Brighton in the last game at their old Goldstone Ground.

“He came through the back of me, there was a bit of afters and I ended up trying to give him a right hook and there was a bit of a ruck.

“We had a bit of rough and tumble and I was just lucky he didn’t chase me up the tunnel because he’s huge!”

Screen Shot 2021-04-29 at 19.52.10To be fair, Baird had a reasonable goalscoring record at Brighton, netting 14 in 41 games following a £35,000 move from Plymouth Argyle.

Brighton was his 10th and last league club and over the 17 years of his league career he commanded a total of £1.7m in transfer fees, the £500,000 Boro paid Leeds being the highest.

At the start of the 1989-90 campaign, Baird scored the winner for Leeds against Newcastle at Elland Road and then, following his £500,000 January move to Teesside, scored twice in a 4-1 win over United on the final day of the season at Ayresome Park.

Those goals – along with a Bernie Slaven brace – helped prevent Boro going down and meant Newcastle missed out on automatic promotion (they then lost the play-off semi-final to Sunderland).

Years later Baird told chroniclelive.co.uk, ahead of the writing of his autobiography: “Yeah, I enjoyed that. That was some game, given what was at stake. And I loved playing for Boro. We had a great team eventually and Bernie Slaven and myself were a pretty decent partnership.”

Interviewed by Stuart Whittingham in 2013 for borobrickroad.co.uk, Baird explained how he moved to Boro because ex-Albion winger Howard Wilkinson, then manager of Leeds, signed Lee Chapman.

“I felt a little aggrieved and basically I spat the dummy out and asked for a move,” he said. “He (Wilkinson) said that he didn’t want me to go but I insisted and within 24 hours I was speaking to Bruce Rioch and Colin Todd and I was on my way to Middlesbrough.”

Undoubtedly his most successful playing years came at Leeds where in two spells he played more than 160 matches and scored 50 goals. In the 1986-87 season, manager Billy Bremner made him captain. The Yorkshire Evening Post spoke of “the powerhouse striker’s fearless commitment, no-holds-barred approach and goalscoring ability”.

The blurb introducing his autobiography Bairdy’s Gonna Get Ya! (written by Leeds fan Marc Bracha) says “he’s best remembered for his spells at Leeds, where goals, endless running, will to win and fearless approach ensured he was adored by the fans”.

On leaving Middlesbrough, Baird spent two years playing for Hearts in Scotland, persuaded to move north of the border by Joe Jordan, his former Southampton teammate, who was the manager there at the time.

A torn thigh muscle restricted the number of appearances he’d hoped to make and at the end of his deal he moved back to England and signed for Bristol City, initially under Russell Osman and then Jordan once again.

Baird was assistant manager at Sutton United under Paul Doswell for four and a half years between October 2014 and March 2019, and caretaker manager for a month after Doswell left. The pair were reunited as manager and assistant at Havant and Waterlooville in May 2019.

Pictures from the autobiography front cover and the Albion matchday programme.