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.
THE STORY of Matthew Edwards scoring for Brighton against Manchester United in the same cup match in which David Beckham made his debut has been told many times, and who wouldn’t be proud of that memory.
The history books can’t take it away from him, nor should they. “Scoring that goal against Manchester United was certainly the highspot of my career. Everyone wanted to talk about it and I was mentioned in all the papers and (I was) interviewed on television,” he said.
While that second round League Cup game on 23 September 1992 stands out, Edwards actually played 78 matches for the Albion after being released by Tottenham Hotspur, where his only first team outings were in testimonials or friendlies.
Albion were a very different proposition in September 1992, just beginning to reacquaint themselves to life back in the third tier of English football barely 16 months after having come close to returning to the top flight.
Big name players had been sold to try to balance the books and manager Barry Lloyd had to turn to free transfers, loanees and young hopefuls to put out a side.
Edwards was in that category and he probably only played in that United match because the respective parent clubs didn’t want loan forwards Steve Cotterill and Paul Moulden to be cup tied. He played alongside Scot Andy Kennedy, a recent arrival from Watford.
The youngster seized his chance and made a name for himself by heading home an Ian Chapman cross to cancel out Danny Wallace’s 35th-minute opener for the illustrious visitors.
Beckham had been sent on for his United bow in place of Andrei Kanchelskis (serenaded by a familiar North Stand chant of ‘Who the f****** h*** are you?’) but the game finished 1-1 at the Goldstone Ground, setting things up nicely for the second leg at Old Trafford (which United won 1-0).
Edwards once again earned a place in the headlines four months later when he scored the only goal of the game in a FA Cup third round win over south coast rivals Portsmouth, a side playing in the division above the Seagulls, and who had reached the previous season’s semi-finals.
Born in Hammersmith on 15 June 1971, the family lived in Brighton for a time and the young Edwards, who first started kicking a football around the age of six, played for local side Saltdean Tigers. At 13, he was on the Albion’s books under the guidance of Colin Woffinden, a former player who became youth coach.
But the family relocated to Surrey and it was while playing schoolboy football for Elmbridge Borough that he was spotted by Tottenham. In an extended interview with Lennon Branagan, Edwards explained how he got his big break courtesy of Fred Callaghan, Fulham’s left-back for 10 years who managed Brentford in the 1980s.
His son was playing in the same side as Edwards and Callaghan recommended Edwards to his friend Ted Buxton, a renowned coach and scout, who was working for Spurs at the time.
“I didn’t know that Ted had come along to watch me and then after one of the games they said: ‘Do you want to come to Spurs?’” Edwards recounted.
Young Spur Matthew Edwards
He signed associate schoolboy forms and while at Hinchley Wood Secondary School, Esher, travelled up to White Hart Lane on a Tuesday and Thursday night for training on an indoor pitch next to the main reception area.
On leaving school, he was taken on as an apprentice at Spurs and worked through his YTS under the auspices of youth team manager Keith Blunt and coach (and Blunt’s successor) Keith Waldon.
At 17, he signed on as a professional and he was on the books for three and a half years.
“We were quite successful in the reserves and I think that we used to win the league pretty much every season,” Edwards recalled.
It was tours abroad that he remembered most fondly from his time at Spurs, playing in Hawaii and Japan, and he also joined up with the first team squad for tours to Norway, Ireland and Italy.
A rare first team opportunity came in Billy Bonds’ testimonial at West Ham on 12 November 1990.
“I was young and had long blond hair and I can remember getting absolutely slaughtered by the West Ham fans that day,” he said.
In his final year, he went on loan to Reading, where he played eight games before returning to Spurs, and later the same season went to Peterborough on a similar arrangement, although he only played in one cup match for Posh.
He sensed his days at Spurs were drawing to a close, telling an Albion matchday programme: “I knew it was time for me to go when (manager) Peter Shreeves forgot my name!”
He said: “I had three months on loan at Peterborough but didn’t get a league game. Martin Hinshelwood rang me up in May and asked if I would be interested in coming to Brighton.”
Edwards marked by ex-teammate Justin Edinburgh
One of the first matches he played for the Seagulls was in a pre-season friendly against his former club, a 1-1 draw at the Goldstone on 29 July 1992. In a shocking excuse for a programme for the visit of Croatian side FC Inker Zapresic, a barely recognisable picture of the new signing was included. Thankfully a more professional programme appeared for the opening home league game, against Bolton Wanderers, and Edwards was pictured (left) in action up against his former teammate Justin Edinburgh
After Cotterill and Moulden had returned to their parent clubs because Albion couldn’t afford to make their moves permanent, Edwards started to forge a fledgling forward partnership with Kennedy. But Kurt Nogan took over and his prolific goalscoring saw Edwards have more of a peripheral role, although he ended the season taking over from soon-to-depart Clive Walker on the left wing.
Edwards was in the starting line-up for the first half of the 1993-94 season, won a man-of-the-match award for his performance against Gillingham in the League Cup and scored in a 2-2 draw at home to Huddersfield.
He was the programme cover boy for the Exeter City home game on 2 October (0-0) but, with Albion dangerously close to the drop zone, Liam Brady took over from Lloyd and it soon became quite a different picture for the former Spurs youngster.
He played in the first seven games under the new boss, and scored in a 3-3 FA Cup tie v Bournemouth, but Brady had his own ideas and started looking elsewhere for solutions.
“Me and him didn’t really see eye to eye, or he didn’t particularly fancy me as a player,” Edwards told Branagan.
Although Edwards was a sub three times in March, his appearance off the bench in a home 1-1 draw with Burnley was his last involvement with the first team.
A regular in the reserves in the latter part of the season, at the end of it he was released and joined Conference side Kettering where he had barely got his shorts dirty before suffering a cruciate ligament injury.
“That that was the start of the end of my career as such,” he confessed. “I had a year out of the game.”
On his return to fitness, he had two good seasons for Walton & Hersham, and then Enfield. “My knees just kept on going for me,” he recounted. Over the course of another couple of years, he appeared for Carshalton Athletic, Sutton United, Molesey, Yeading, Bognor and Egham.
But he said: “My knees just weren’t up to playing football, so I had to call it a day and that was the end of the career.”
Interviewed for an Albion matchday programme article in 2019, he told journalist Spencer Vignes he had developed a career in computer software sales and had been a visitor to the Amex on behalf of a ticketing company that worked with the club.
He had subsequently moved on to providing similar expertise for visitor attractions such as zoos, museums, aquaria and cathedrals.
Reflecting on his all too brief career, he said: “I suppose I’m lucky in that I was in the right place at the right time to play for the Albion at the Goldstone, rather than Withdean. Saltdean Tigers to Spurs to Brighton; there can’t have been many people who have done that!”
PETER TAYLOR steered Albion to promotion from the third tier in 2002 – a feat his namesake as Brighton boss fell short of achieving back in 1976.
The younger Taylor, who played for and managed arch rivals Crystal Palace, had quite an extraordinary managerial career – from taking charge of the England international side, when he appointed David Beckham as captain, to taking the reins at Isthmian League side Maldon & Tiptree at the age of 69.
He took the helm at third-placed third-tier Brighton in October 2001 after being sacked by Premier League Leicester City – who had created the Albion vacancy by recruiting manager Micky Adams to work as no.2 to newly-appointed Dave Bassett.
Starting at the Albion
Taylor revealed that it was on Adams’ advice that he accepted Albion’s offer. “Micky said they were a close bunch, a confident group and happy with each other,” Taylor told The Guardian. “My job now is to carry on the good work he has started.”
In dropping down two divisions Taylor returned to the level of a previous success, when he guided Gillingham to the First Division via (via a play-off final win over Wigan Athletic). In less than two years he went from the Second Division to the Premiership – managed England for one game along the way – and back again.
“I’ve not lost any self-belief after what happened at Leicester,” said Taylor. “I don’t feel I have anything to prove. Leicester is in the past now as far as I am concerned. I am not worried about the level I am managing at. Brighton has fantastic potential, particularly in size of support, and it is my job now to fulfil it.”
Albion press officer Paul Camillin wrote in the matchday programme: “Micky’s replacement is a man whose coaching ability is unquestionable. Here is a man who not so long ago was taking England training sessions under the gaze of Sven Goran Eriksson,”
Taylor’s knowledge of the game spanned all four divisions and beyond and Camillin pointed out: “He was the overwhelming choice of the board of directors.”
Indeed, chairman Dick Knight said: “Peter Taylor’s management experience at both Nationwide and higher levels of football make him ideal for the Albion.
“He quickly identified with the ambition and potential here and I’m very pleased he has chosen to join us.”
Top scorer Bobby Zamora was also delighted, telling The Guardian: “When I heard the list of who was being put forward, Peter Taylor was the name that stood out. He has proven his ability and has got an obvious wealth of experience.”
In young Zamora, Taylor inherited a magnificent key to unlock defences. One player he did bring in who also made a difference was a lanky goalscoring midfielder called Junior Lewis (remarkably Taylor also signed him for four of his other clubs – Dover, Hull, Gillingham and Leicester) and his contribution certainly helped to cement the title.
Working alongside Bob Booker
“Junior did exactly what he had done for me at Gillingham, which is make the team play more football,” Taylor told Nick Szczepanik. “He wasn’t easy on the eye, but he was always available to get the ball from defenders and got it to the strikers and was very useful.”
While Taylor’s eight months as manager of Brighton culminated in promotion, he was never really credited with the success because many said he achieved it with Adams’ team.
“Micky had done the hard work because he signed all the squad before I got there, and they had done well so the last thing I was going to do was to change too much,” Taylor told Szczepanik, in an interview for the club website. “He had built a team with a great spirit.
“You could see why we went on to win the division because the squad was full of incredible characters – not just experienced professionals but good professionals who were desperate to do well for the club.”
Citing the experience and ability of Danny Cullip, he made special reference to “the greatest asset” Zamora, saying: “He was an incredible player and miles too good for that level.
“Simon Morgan was another one. What a great defender – and yet he could hardly train because he had two bad knees. Whenever he played, he was such a good organiser at the back that we were always solid.”
Unfortunately, Taylor didn’t help to endear himself to Albion’s public when he quit within days of the victory parade along the seafront, but deep down not too many people could blame him considering the limitations prevailing at the time.
“People will think I was stupid to leave the club after we won the league but I think everyone understands the reasons, which were because of the budget I thought I’d need to keep them up and the new stadium not being as close as Dick promised in my interview,” Taylor explained.
“Some people assumed I must have a new job lined up, maybe at Palace, but no, I didn’t. My plans had been to win promotion at Brighton, move into the new stadium with a big budget and then try eventually to get them to the Premier League.”
Nevertheless, Knight said: “It’s a great shame that Peter has chosen to resign. He has done a terrific job for the club in leading the Albion to the Second Division title, and it’s sad that he doesn’t wish to continue.”
The captain at the time, Paul Rogers told The Argus: “It’s a big shock to me and I’m sure it will be a big shock to the other lads as well. He’s done really well here. Since he came in the lads took to him straight away.
“He is a good coach. His sessions were a lot more technical than we were used to and he’s improved some of the players during his time at the club.”
Six months after he left Brighton, Taylor took over at Hull City, who were about to move into the 25,000 all-seater KC Stadium and in four years he guided them from the bottom tier of football through to the Championship.
I recall a visit to the KC when Albion’s travelling supporters taunted him with a ‘Should have stayed with a big club’ chant, to which he responded by opening wide his arms to point out the plush new surroundings he was working in.
Born in Rochford, Essex, on 3 January 1953, Taylor was a Spurs supporter from an early age and had an unsuccessful trial with them – including playing in a South East Counties league match.
Looking back in an interview with superhotspur.com, he recalled that he didn’t perform well in his trial match at Cheshunt because he was up against Steve Perryman (who later became a close friend) and Graeme Souness in the Tottenham midfield.
Taylor also had an unsuccessful trial with Crystal Palace, so it was somewhat ironic that both clubs who rejected him as a youngster ended up paying handsome fees to sign him.
Taylor had first drawn attention while playing for South-East Essex Schools and Canvey Island but it was nearby Southend United who took him on as an apprentice in 1969.
The winger turned professional with the Shrimpers in January 1971 and scored 12 goals in 75 league matches for the Essex side.
It was the flamboyant Malcolm Allison who signed him for Palace in October 1973, paying a £110,000 fee. Allison told the player he had been trying to sign him for some time, including when he was in charge at Manchester City.
“He made me feel like a million dollars and I couldn’t thank anyone more than I would thank Malcolm for the career that I have had,” said Taylor. “He knew his stuff and he was an exciting coach, far ahead of his time, but the most important thing for me was that he made me feel that I was the best player in the world.”
Taylor went on to be Palace’s player of the season, although they were relegated to the third tier.
His time at Selhurst Park was his most successful as a player, he reckoned, and he scored 33 goals in 122 league games for the Eagles. But his notable performances when Palace made it through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1976 led to Keith Burkinshaw signing him for Spurs for £400,000.
“I was desperate to play for Tottenham, because they were the team that I supported, so it was a wonderful move for me,” said Taylor.
Earlier that year, he had made his debut for England while playing in the third tier of English football, going on as a substitute in the second half of a Welsh FA centenary celebration match at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, and scoring the winner in a 2-1 victory.
He was the first Third Division player to be capped since Johnny Byrne in 1961, and also the first player to score while making his debut as a substitute. He went on to win four caps.
Two months later, against the same opponent, but at Ninian Park, Cardiff, in the Home International Championship, he scored again – this time the only goal of the game as Don Revie’s England won 1-0.
Taylor’s third cap came in the 2-1 defeat to Scotland at Hampden Park on 15 May 1976. And he went on as an 83rd minute sub for Kevin Keegan as England beat Team America 3-1 in America’s Bicentennial Tournament. Bobby Moore was Team America’s captain and the great Pelé was playing up front.
Although he scored 31 times in 123 league matches for Spurs, he was hampered by a pelvic injury during his time at White Hart Lane but superhotspur.com writer Lennon Branagan said: “A player with a real eye for goal, Peter Taylor was a really fine all-round winger, who also had good defensive qualities to his game.
“He was a very important player during his second season at Spurs, as he helped them to win promotion from the old Second Division, following their relegation to that division during the previous season.”
Taylor moved on from Spurs after four years when Burkinshaw couldn’t guarantee him a starting spot, leaving for £150,000 to join second tier Leyton Orient, where Jimmy Bloomfield was manager.
He scored 11 goals in 56 league games for the Os and had four games on loan for Joe Royle’s Oldham Athletic in January 1983. He then went non-league with Maidstone, apart from a brief spell back in the league, that he didn’t enjoy, playing under Gerry Francis at Exeter City.
Having returned to Maidstone to carry on playing, he eventually got his first managerial job at Dartford in 1986 as a player-manager.
He moved on to Enfield in a similar role, telling superhotspur.com: “I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I was learning all the time about coaching players, and then Steve Perryman asked me to be his assistant at Watford in 1991, and I had two fantastic years there of coaching and learning. So that was the start of my managerial career.”
His first league manager’s job then followed at his old club Southend, between 1993 and 1995, but he quit having not been able to raise them above mid-table in League One. Curiously, his next outpost was non-league Dover Athletic but he left when his former Spurs teammate Glenn Hoddle invited him to coach the England under 21 team.
A successful spell in which he presided over 11 wins, three draws and only one defeat came to an abrupt end when Taylor was controversially relieved of his duties by the FA and replaced by former Albion winger Howard Wilkinson.
Gillingham offered him a return to club management and, with Guy Butters at the back and the aforementioned Junior Lewis in midfield, he steered the Kent club to that play-off win, taking them into the top half of English league football for the first time in their history.
That achievement prompted Leicester to poach him and he got off to a great start with the Foxes, even earning a Premier League manager of the month award in September 2000.
It was during his time at Leicester that he rode to England’s rescue two months later by taking caretaker charge of the England national side for a friendly against Italy in Turin. England lost 1-0 but the game is remembered for Taylor handing the captain’s armband to Beckham for the first time. He also included six players still young enough for the under 21s: Gareth Barry, Jamie Carragher, Kieron Dyer, Rio Ferdinand, Emile Heskey and Derby’s Seth Johnson (it was his only full cap).
Describing it as the proudest moment of his long career, Taylor told Branagan: “I never dreamt that opportunity would happen to me. I knew that it was only going to be for one game, but it’s on my memory bank, and no one will ever change that.”
Back at Leicester, it all went pear-shaped towards the end of the season and when City were beaten 5-0 at home by newly promoted Bolton Wanderers in the new season opener, and then recorded a further four defeats, two draws with a solitary victory, Taylor was sacked.
He combined his job at Hull with once again coaching the England under 21 side between 2004 and 2006, and early into his reign called up Albion’s Dan Harding and Adam Hinshelwood (Jack Hinshelwood’s dad) for a home game v Wales and an away fixture in Azerbaijan. Harding started both matches and Hinshelwood was an unused sub.
Taylor oversaw nine wins, two draws and five defeats, selecting players such as James Milner, Darren Bent and Liam Ridgewell.
After promotion success with Albion and Hull, where he spent three and a half years, in the summer of 2006 Palace, in the Championship, stumped up £300,000 in compensation to take the Tigers boss back to Selhurst Park to succeed Iain Dowie.
Telling the BBC it had to be “something special” for him to leave Hull, Taylor added: “When I got the call from Simon (Jordan) there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be at Selhurst Park.”
Talking to cpfc.co.uk some years later, he said: “I was very confident as a manager. Very confident. I felt as though I would succeed.
“I didn’t look at my reputation too much. I looked at: ‘How can I get these into the top division?’ Even if I was worried about the reputation I had, I still would have taken the job.”
On the Palace bench with Kit Symons
After a promising start, results went awry and Palace finished the season in mid-table. When the Eagles managed only two wins in their first 10 games of the 2007-08 season, Taylor was sacked and replaced with Neil Warnock.
Undeterred, he stepped outside of the league for his next position, taking charge of then Conference team Stevenage Borough – recruiting Junior Lewis as his first signing!
Lewis followed him into his next job as well, this time as first team coach at Wycombe Wanderers, where Taylor succeeded Paul Lambert in May 2008. Taylor’s promotion-winning knack once more came to the fore when the Chairboys won promotion from League Two.
However, a poor start to life in League One cost him his job and Wycombe owner Steve Hayes told BBC Three Counties Radio: “We started the season reasonably well, but truthfully, six points from 33 is very worrying.
“We need a change. [Peter’s] body language in the last few weeks has not been great and he doesn’t seem to be as happy as he was last year.”
Taylor was approaching his fifth month out of the game when, in mid-February 2010, League Two Bradford City gave him a short-term deal to replace Stuart McCall. Once again, loyal Lewis joined him.
Hoping his stay at Valley Parade would ultimately be longer, he told the Yorkshire Post: “I remember what happened at Hull when I went in there (in 2002) with the club sitting 18th in the bottom division.
“We went on to enjoy a lot of success and I see similar potential here at Bradford. Certainly if we can go on a run then there is a potential of putting bums on seats.
“I still believe we can do something this year. But if that does not prove to be the case, then definitely next year.”
Taylor signed a contract extension and stuck at it even when he was offered the chance to become no.2 to Alan Pardew at Premier League Newcastle United at the beginning of January 2011.
“It’s flattering to be offered the position to work alongside Alan Pardew,” Taylor told BBC Radio Leeds. “I wasn’t comfortable leaving Bradford earlier than I need to, I know what the game is about, I can easily get the sack in a month’s time, I understand that, but I don’t really feel I want to leave at this particular time.”
Saying Bradford had “really switched me on”, he added: “I’ve always had a special feeling about the club, and I’ve still got that feeling.” Six weeks later he left City by mutual consent.
In the summer that year, Taylor headed to the Middle East and spent 15 months in charge of the Bahrain national side, leading them to success in the 2011 Arab Games in Doha when they beat Jordan 1-0. He was sacked in October 2012 after Bahrain lost 6-2 to the United Arab Emirates in a friendly.
The following summer, he was given a short-term contract to take charge of England’s under 20s at the Under 20 World Cup in Turkey. Hopes may have been high after a 3-0 win over Uruguay in a warm-up match but England were eliminated at the group stage after only managing to draw against Iraq and Chile and then losing to Egypt. The England side included the likes of Sam Johnstone, Jamal Lascelles, John Stones, Eric Dier, Conor Coady, James Ward-Prowse, Ross Barkley and Harry Kane.
Taylor found himself back in club football that autumn when Gillingham welcomed him back on an interim basis after they’d sacked Martin Allen. Handed a longer term deal a month later, he stayed with the League One Gills until halfway through the next season when, after only six wins in 23 matches, he was sacked on New Year’s Eve.
Another posting abroad was to follow in May 2015 when he was appointed head coach of Indian Super League side Kerala Blasters, taking over from former England goalkeeper David James.
But his time in India was brief. Despite winning five of six pre-season friendlies and the opening league fixture, the Blasters lost four and drew two of the next six matches and Taylor became the league’s first managerial sacking in October that year.
The New Zealand national side recruited Taylor to work with the country’s UK-based players in 2016-17 and a third spell at Gillingham followed in May 2017. He was named director of football at Priestfield where Adrian Pennock was head coach and he was briefly interim head coach when Pennock lost his job in September 2017.
That turned out to be his last job in league football. He joined National League Dagenham & Redbridge in June 2018 and spent 18 months in charge, leaving the club after a spell of nine defeats in 11 games.
Welling United, in the sixth tier of English football, appointed Taylor manager in September 2021 but with only six wins in 25 matches he left in March the following year. His final job was at Isthmian League Maldon & Tiptree, from December 2022 to August 2023.
MULTIPLE loans away from parent club Tottenham Hotspur didn’t succeed in laying a path to a top level football career for striker Jonathan Obika.
One of the last such arrangements saw the young forward spend three months with the Seagulls in the 2013-14 season.
Nathan Jones, no.2 to Brighton head coach Oscar Garcia, had seen what Obika could do when the young striker had been under him as a coach on loan at Yeovil and Charlton Athletic.
Unfortunately, his impact with the Seagulls was underwhelming even though he scored on his first (and, ultimately, only) full start in a 3-1 win away to Port Vale in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Obika salutes his one and only goal for Brighton
Albion’s other goals that day, from Rohan Ince and Solly March, were also their first for the club – generating the statistic that it was the first Albion game in 110 years in which three players had scored their first goal in the same league or cup match.
It had been an amazing goalscoring performance for Spurs reserves that prompted Albion to make a move for Obika as cover for first choice Leonardo Ulloa, especially with Craig Mackail-Smith and Will Hoskins sidelined by injury and Ashley Barnes on the brink of a move to Burnley.
The Argus reported that Obika had previously been a target but a move had been put on ice because he’d been injured. His return to fitness saw him net a double hat-trick in a friendly for Tottenham against Charlton’s under-21s, watched by Jones.
“The report coming back on him after the game was one word – lethal!” former Seagulls goalkeeper Ben Roberts, then on the coaching staff at Charlton, told the Argus.
“Like Nathan, I worked with Jon at Yeovil and then at Charlton and he’s a really good pro,” said Roberts. “He is guaranteed to score goals. He is a real predator around the box.
Obika in action for Yeovil
“I’ve been waiting for his career to really kick off. When he came to us at Charlton it took him a couple of weeks to get up to speed. But he was brilliant for us. The end of the season came too soon for us.
“He is a great signing for Brighton and he will suit the way they play.”
However, Garcia also brought in Spaniard David Rodriguez at the same time and Obika found himself down the pecking order, especially when Manchester United loanee Jesse Lingard was added to the forward options.
The Vale cup game aside, Obika made just seven appearances as a substitute but didn’t add to the lone goal and was eventually recalled by Spurs and sent out on loan to Charlton again until the end of the season.
Nevertheless, Garcia said: “He came in to give us forward cover and, while he may not have played as much as he would have liked, he has been a great professional and a pleasure to work with.”
Obika’s long association with Tottenham finally came to an end in September that year when he headed west to League One Swindon Town, where he played for three years, scoring 28 times in 108 games for the Robins.
In 2017, he switched to Town’s rivals Oxford United on a two-year deal before then trying his luck in Scotland, playing in the Scottish Premier League for St Mirren.
On the expiry of that contract, Obika moved to League One Morecambe and, in January 2022, found himself back in the news ahead of this year’s FA Cup third round when Morecambe travelled to North London to take on the club who nurtured his early career for 13 years.
Although Morecambe took a shock first half lead against Spurs through defender Antony O’Connor, it wasn’t a fairytale ending as the Premier League side eventually won the tie 3-1 with three goals in the last 16 minutes of the game.
Obika had to watch from the bench until the 58th minute when he replaced Jonah Ayunga – a Brighton reserve player between 2016 and 2018 – with Morecambe still clinging on to their slim lead.
Born in Enfield on 12 September 1990, of Nigerian parents, Obika grew up in Edmonton and it was while playing football for his primary school, St Paul’s & All Hallows, that he was scouted by Tottenham.
“I lived five minutes from the stadium, so I used to walk to training as a 10, 11-year-old,” he said. “That was my only focus back then.” He later attended Bishop Stopford School in Enfield and left with seven GCSEs.
Originally a left winger, Spurs’ under 18s coach Alex Inglethorpe was responsible for moving him to play as a central striker and in the 2007-08 season he was top scorer for the Spurs academy side.
Those goals caught the attention of first team boss Harry Redknapp and he signed his first professional contract at 18, while a second-year trainee in the academy, and earned a call-up to the first team squad.
Wearing the number 80, he made his debut off the bench in a UEFA Cup game in Holland against NEC Nijmegen on 28 November 2008. A few weeks later, he made his first senior start in front of the White Hart Lane faithful, playing against Shakhtar Donetsk in the same competition.
“I didn’t know I was starting at the beginning of the game, there were a few injuries so a lot of the youth team players trained that week and we were in the squad,” Obika remembered.
When announcing the team, Redknapp actually read out his name as John Utaka, his former player at Portsmouth, amid much hilarity. “That broke the ice,” said Obika. “I was less nervous after that. I was more relaxed and actually ended up having a good game. To play at the Lane, having grown up down the road, was a great feeling and I had all my family and friends there that night.”
Along with Inglethorpe, the coaches who most influenced his development at Spurs were John McDermott and, when he progressed to the reserves, Tim Sherwood, Les Ferdinand and former Albion full-back Chris Ramsey.
Obika and fellow Spurs youngster Andros Townsend were sent out on loan to Yeovil – it was the first of four loan spells there for Obika – as recalled by Jones in an interview with coachesvoice.com: “A host of other clubs wanted them, but I think Harry saw two young kids who wanted to play, and he saw something in us as a coaching team.
“Townsend clearly had huge drive and ambition, and Obika scored the goals that kept us in League One that season – so we will always be thankful to Harry for that.”
Obika recalled: “While I was at Yeovil, Nathan Jones was my coach and I built up a good relationship with him. He would stay behind with me while I did extra shooting: he didn’t need to, I could have done it with other teammates, but he wanted to be there and help me progress and I really appreciated that. He is a good man. He also took me to Charlton for a loan spell and, of course, to Brighton.”
Obika also had loan stints at Millwall, Crystal Palace, Peterborough and Swindon although in the 2012-13 season he did manage to get two more games for the Spurs first team, featuring in the League Cup and the FA Cup.
He went on as a 75th minute substitute for Clint Dempsey when André Villas-Boas’ Spurs side beat Carlisle United 3-0 in the League Cup in September 2012, and was a 59th-minute substitute for Gylfi Sigurdsson when Leeds dumped Spurs out of the FA Cup 2-1 in a fourth round tie at Elland Road in January 2013.
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.
In parallel lines 