Tag: England under 21

Milner: ‘a player Toon should have built the club around’

FROM being given his Premier League debut at 16 by one former England manager to being signed by another when only 18, James Milner’s career was on an upwards trajectory from an early age.

Terry Venables, when manager of Leeds, was happy to make Milner the youngest player to feature in the league (shortly after Wayne Rooney had become that at Everton and until the Toffees also gave that honour to James Vaughan).

Then, when Leeds were relegated from the top flight, Sir Bobby Robson took the teenager from his boyhood club to join Newcastle United for a fee of £3.6m. Leeds needed the money even though Milner was reluctant to leave.

The young winger made an instant impression on Robson in pre-season friendlies on the club’s tour of the Far East, expressing his delight with his workrate and desire to run at defenders and support the attack.

Even when Milner missed a crucial penalty against Thailand in a penalty shoot-out, he was confident enough to take another and score in the next game.

“We’re very pleased with him in the two games we’ve seen him in so far,” said Robson. “He’s shown a willingness to go forward and attack his full back, which I like very much. 

“He’s got confidence and on this display he is a young talent who is going to be very good for us. I was desperate to get him and we have done. He has a big future, I’m certain of that. He’s comfortable with both feet and he’s versatile because of that.”

Having mainly played on the left for Leeds, Newcastle initially put him on the right wing, but Milner was unfazed. “I really enjoyed myself,” he said. “I can play on the left as well but I would play anywhere as long as I am in the team. It doesn’t bother me.

“At my age, getting experience in The Premiership is all that matters. I have to use that experience to try and become a better player.”

The early positivity didn’t last long, though, when Robson was sacked at the end of August 2004 after five years in charge. His successor, Graeme Souness, didn’t share the previous manager’s view of young Milner and although he made 16 starts for Toon he was a sub on no fewer than  23 occasions.

“It’s very frustrating not playing every week but that’s the same if you are 39 or 19,” said Milner when interviewed ahead of an important England under 21 match against Azerbaijan at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium. “I am hopeful that between now and the end of the season I can show my best form and hold down a regular spot in the side.

“It is an important match for the Under-21s as it is a qualifying game but it is also important for me on a personal basis as it will keep me match fit and ready for Newcastle.

“I hope the manager will be watching and I am determined to show him what I can do in a competitive situation.

“I have got to be patient because there are a lot of high-class players at Newcastle and I have got to wait to get my chance.

“I have got to prove myself to the manager and show that I should be involved in every game.”

Former Brighton manager Peter Taylor, who managed Milner for many of his record 46 appearances for England under 21s, said of him: “You couldn’t meet a nicer, more professional boy. He works his socks off for the team.

“If he is playing wide right and you are the right-back, then you are over the moon because he will put his shift in defensively and always be available when you have got the ball. He has an incredible work ethic.

“He is great to have in your team and he just keeps working and working to improve.

“The beautiful thing about him is when I first got involved with him at under 21 level, I wasn’t sure if he was right footed or left footed!

“He can use both feet and I think he can play in midfield as well as out wide and up front.”

When Newcastle were in somewhat of a slump under Souness, the Scot preferred experience over youth and was happy to let Milner go to Aston Villa on a season-long loan.

Many years later, in a column for the Daily Mail, Souness said: “At Newcastle, I knew him as a young boy. He has matured into a professional you can bet is a ten out of ten around the dressing room. He was upset with me many years ago at Newcastle when I said ‘You won’t win the league with James Milners’ and he took that as me saying he wasn’t good enough.

“I was trying to say that you needed men. He was only 19 at the time. I apologised to him for that and I hope he’s forgiven me. You can never have enough James Milners in the dressing room. He makes other players turn up.”

Milner certainly didn’t bear a grudge, as he described in an interview with FourFourTwo in 2018. “Newcastle was tough – the manager who’d signed me, Bobby Robson, got sacked three games into the season, so a new manager arrived and I ended up going on loan again, to Aston Villa,” he said.

“The first time I finished a season with the same manager who started it was Martin O’Neill at Villa, probably five seasons into my career. When someone has an opinion, even if it ends up misquoted, people jump on it.

“But as a player you love the chance to shut people up. Any time that you’re criticised, it drives you on and you try to prove people wrong. That’s what I did in that part of my career.

“But I get on with Graeme – there’s no beef. When I won the Premier League title at Manchester City, he was covering the game and he came over to congratulate me.”

As covered in my previous blog post, Newcastle had a change of heart about making the player’s move to Villa permanent in the summer of 2005 and he returned to St James’ Park to become a regular under Glenn Roeder, supplying crosses to the likes of Obafemi Martins, Michael Owen and Mark Viduka.

He made 46 league and cup appearances plus seven as a sub and, in half of the 2007-08 season under Sam Allardyce and the other half under Kevin Keegan, he played 28 games plus four as a sub.

It was during the brief England managership of Allardyce in 2016 that Milner decided to step away from his international career after winning 61 caps. Allardyce told the media:“James has had the chance to reflect on his international career in recent months and consider his next steps, particularly with a young family at home and having allowed himself little free time away from the professional game in the past 15 years. James can be proud of his seven-year career as a senior England player.”

How Milner left Newcastle was a lot less convivial. He said their transfer valuation of him wasn’t reflected in what he was paid at the club, and he was further angered by what he thought was a private negotiation being made public by the powers that be at St James’.

It forced the PFA (Professional Footballers’ Association), who were representing Milner, to speak out in his defence. Expressing disappointment that the club had not respected the privacy the player expected, PFA chief executive Mick McGuire said: “All James wanted was a deal that reflected his development and that was in line with Newcastle’s transfer valuation of him.

“Whilst James does have three years left on his current agreement, it is common practice that when a young player signs a long-term contract, this is reviewed and improved on a regular basis with a player’s development, but equally it protects the club’s position in regard to their transfer value.”

As it turned out, Milner got a permanent transfer to Villa that August (2008) and Keegan toldthe media: “He’s a player, in an ideal world, you would not want to lose, but I just want to make it absolutely clear that at the end of the day, it was my decision to sell him.

“We got an offer that I feel was his value. We are all aware James has had a difficult time – he almost signed for them once before and was dragged back.

“But he has always behaved impeccably. He’s a fantastic professional, and there’s no doubt about it, they’ve got an outstanding player and we have got to move on.”

However, in a 2016 Interview with the Birmingham Mail, Keegan’s former deputy Terry McDermott said they only agreed to the sale because the Newcastle hierarchy promised they’d sign Bastien Schweinsteiger – at the time one of the world’s most in-demand players – as a replacement.

But after the Milner sale had been agreed, Bayern Munich wanted £50m for the German midfielder and there was no chance United would spend that kind of money.

“So, we had no one to replace him,” said McDermott. “But he was irreplaceable anyway because he could play anywhere.”

The saga was symptomatic of the strained relationship Keegan discovered working under new owner Mike Ashley and the football operations triumvirate of Dennis Wise, Tony Jimenez and Derek Llambias. Within a few days he walked out of the club.

Injury has restricted Milner’s outings for the Albion

Meanwhile, on completing his move, Milner spoke out about the way Newcastle had handled things insisting their asking price was not reflected in his salary at St James’ Park, saying there was “never” any indication the club were willing to discuss a new contract.

“I enjoyed every minute at Newcastle and working with the manager,” said Milner. “But the way things were going, I knew offers had come in over the summer and the club had turned them down.

“Their valuation of me wasn’t reflected in the deal I was on. Speaking to Newcastle I thought it was the right thing to do to put in a transfer request to show how I felt, seeing they weren’t on the same wavelength as me. They then made the decision to sell me.”

Newcastle fans were certainly disappointed to see Milner leave the club, for example independent online newsletter The Mag said: “His dedication, workrate and energy could never be questioned and the Toon Army loved his wholehearted commitment to the cause.

“His crossing and goal threat needed work but everyone was in agreement that this was a player that the club should be building its future around.”

Reflecting on the numerous trophies the player won with City and Liverpool, the title concluded: “Undoubtedly one of the most successful players that we allowed to slip through our grasp.”

It was tough for Gardner to grow in Sami’s barren patch

A GARY GARDNER goal ended a winless Albion run of 12 league matches under Sami Hyypia in the autumn of 2014.

Just 54 seconds of the game against Wigan Athletic on 4 November had passed when the Aston Villa loanee netted for the Albion.

He got on the end of a Sam Baldock cross to give the Albion an early lead which they managed to hold onto for the entire match, in spite of several close shaves as the former Premier League opponents tried to salvage a point.

Gardner in action for Forest with Albion’s Jiri Skalak

The game also saw the return of Elliott Bennett, on loan from Norwich City, a first match (as sub for Bennett) for Greg Halford, on loan from Nottingham Forest, and a home debut in goal for teenage stopper Christian Walton.

It wasn’t the first time Gardner had scored at the Amex, though. That had come three years earlier, on his professional debut, when on loan at Coventry City a game which saw Albion beat the Sky Blues 2-1.

Gardner was no stranger to loans away from parent club Villa: he’d already been to Coventry and Sheffield Wednesday, and after Brighton he had temporary moves to Nottingham Forest, Barnsley and Birmingham City.

Indeed by the time Albion took on Forest at the Amex on 7 February 2015, Gardner was on the opposing side as the visitors gave new boss Dougie Freeman a winning start, edging it 3-2.

Gardner’s early development had encountered major setbacks caused by two cruciate knee ligament injuries.

Although he had made his Premier League debut for Villa in the 2011-12 season, the 15 starts and five sub appearances he made for Brighton was the first real regular run of football he’d enjoyed – and he was still only 22 at the time.

He scored again for Albion only four days after that Wigan winner, when the Seagulls were held 1-1 by Blackburn Rovers at the Amex. But with the brief Hyypia reign having come to an end, his appearance in the home Boxing Day 2-2 draw against Reading was his last in a Brighton shirt.

Inigo Calderon salvaged a point with a last-minute equaliser against a Royals side who had gone 2-0 up in 26 minutes courtesy of goals from on loan striker Glenn Murray!

Gardner had been Albion’s tenth new signing of the summer back in August, following in the footsteps of Villa teammate Joe Bennett, who’d joined on a season-long loan a week earlier.

“Gary is a quality midfielder who we have been aware of for some time,” said Hyypia, who explained the club was keen to have more options in that area of the side, especially with Dale Stephens out with a long-term injury.

“More importantly, given the considerable demands of the Championship, I want to be able to rotate the squad,” he said.

“Gary has had a tough couple of seasons due to injury, but he showed during a spell with Sheffield Wednesday last season that he is over those problems. We hope this loan spell will benefit everyone: Gary, us and Aston Villa.

“He is the type of midfielder who is active and mobile, but very importantly he has real quality on the ball – and is also capable of producing things from set pieces.”

Another midfield slot opened up during his time with the Albion when fellow midfielder Andrew Crofts suffered a cruciate injury against Watford.

“I am absolutely gutted for him. Having gone through exactly the same injury as him, with the two cruciate operations, I know exactly how he is feeling,” he said. “I know he will come through this.

“He is a strong guy, a model pro and he’ll be extra determined to get back playing for the club.”

Born in Solihull on 29 June 1992, Gardner was one of six brothers, and in a programme article he said the football-daft family had divided loyalties between Villa and Birmingham.

Just as well, because both Gary and eldest brother Craig ended up with the Blues having started off at Villa. Craig made 80 league and cup appearances for Villa, but later played for Sunderland, West Brom and Birmingham, where he became technical director after his playing days ended.

Gary was on Villa’s books from the age of seven and progressed all through the ranks until Alex McLeish gave him his first team debut as a substitute in a 3-1 win away to Chelsea. He made a total of five starts and 11 appearances off the bench in that 2011-12 season.

But it wasn’t until Villa were back in the Championship in the 2016-17 season that he had his longest run of games for his parent club, making 19 starts and eight appearances off the bench.

That squad, led by former Albion centre-back Tommy Elphick, thwarted already-promoted Albion’s hopes of winning the title in the final games of the season at Villa Park when a late, speculative long-range Jack Grealish shot squirmed through David Stockdale’s grasp to gain Villa a draw.

Gardner was a non-playing sub that day and when he fell down the pecking order in 2017-18, he spent the season at Barnsley.

Gardner followed his brother to Birmingham City

After spending the entire 2018-19 season on loan at Birmingham, he then made the switch permanently (in a swap with Spaniard Jota) and has been there since.

In July 2021 he signed a new deal to extend his stay at St Andrews until June 2024.

Gardner earned international recognition at various levels and made his England under 21 debut as a substitute in a 4-1 win over Israel at Barnsley on 5 September 2011 and the following month replaced Ross Barkley as England won 2-1 in Norway.

A month later he scored twice in a 5-0 win over Iceland after going on as a sub for Jason Lowe at Colchester. Four days on, his involvement was once again off the bench when young England were beaten 2-1 by Belgium in Mons.

His last appearance was against the same opponents the following February when England exacted revenge at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough. In a 4-0 win, Henri Lansbury scored twice before Gardner replaced him.

His contemporaries in the side at that time included the likes of Jack Butland, Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Chuba Akpom’s watching brief in Albion’s promotion

AFTER Chuba Akpom finally made his mark on England’s Championship, he earned a €14m move to Ajax where he initially struggled to make an impact.

But three goals in two wins after new manager John van’t Schip sent him on as a substitute made life look a lot better.

The forward got 28 goals in helping Middlesbrough to the Championship play-offs in 2022-23 but the move to Ajax began badly and he had few chances as the side struggled under former coach Maurice Steijn.

“It was a terrible first two months here if I am being honest,” Akpom told AFC Ajax. “The new manager has made me feel more at home than I have ever felt since arriving. We are footballers, we are human beings first.

“He spoke to me as a human being, not as a footballer. Ever since the new manager arrived, I feel much lighter, back to myself.”

The early season form sounded a lot like the unhappy spell when he was on loan to Brighton from Arsenal in 2017.

Akpom spent 16 years at Arsenal and one of his major inspirations was Tottenham Hotspur’s Chris Hughton, who took him on loan at Brighton. Hughton had been to the same inner city school, St Bonaventure’s in Newham, as the young striker from Canning Town and in an Andy Naylor exclusive for the Argus, Akpom revealed: “When I was in school there used to be pictures of the gaffer there.

“The kids used him like an inspiration and motivation. I did as well. Seeing someone come from the same area and the same school as me to become such a big and successful person.”

But the alma mater link did little to help the Arsenal loanee – in spite of high hopes when he signed in early 2017, Hughton gave him only one start and the rest of his involvement was as a substitute.

“He is a young talent who gained valuable experience with Hull in the Championship last season, will give us really good pace in the forward areas and complement the other strikers at the club,” said Hughton.

“We fought off competition from other clubs to sign Chuba and we would like to thank Arsenal for the opportunity of working with him for the rest of the season.”

Akpom was in effect a replacement for Dutch flop Elvis Manu, who left the building on loan to Huddersfield after a disappointing five months on the south coast.

It was to his disadvantage, though, that he joined the club at a time when Glenn Murray, Tomer Hemed and Sam Baldock were the preferred forward options, and, from the outset,he was aware of the challenge they posed.

“All three are experienced players; they know the Championship and they’ve shown what they can do with the goals they’ve scored, so it’s going to be good to learn from them,” he told the matchday programme.

“I’m going to be an addition to what we’ve already got here. We’ve all got something different to offer and I like to play at a fast intensity, try to get at defenders and get some shots off – basically be as much of a threat as I can. I’m also a team player, which is important.”

As it turned out, the young loanee’s only start was against Blackburn Rovers, on April Fool’s Day, and he was hooked on 58 minutes, with Hemed going on his place. Murray won it for the Seagulls with the only goal of the game nine minutes later netting past Jason Steele in the Rovers goal.

Akpom made nine appearances off the bench but he didn’t manage to get on the scoresheet. He made his debut as a 63rd minute sub for Hemed in the 3-1 defeat at Huddersfield on 2 February and replaced Jamie Murphy in the next match, when fellow substitute Hemed netted a last-gasp equaliser in a 3-3 draw at Brentford.  

“I know the Championship is a tough, tough league to play in,” he told the programme. “It’s really competitive and unpredictable, so you’ve got to get your head down and take each game as it comes.

“The team’s been flying high at the top of the league this season so you can see they’ve got the winning mentality in this league, and they’re playing the right kind of football, so I just want to be a positive addition to the team and help boost the bid for promotion.”

Akpom’s arrival at the Amex promised so much more, because he had already scored four goals at the stadium in previous matches: he scored a hat-trick for Arsenal’s under-21 side there and scored for England under 21 in a win over Switzerland in October 2015.

“I like playing here,” he told the programme. “The stadium’s nice, the pitch is great as well, so you can’t complain.

“It’s always good to score goals, no matter who it’s against, but hopefully I can now score a few goals here for Brighton.”

Even though his involvement in Albion’s promotion was peripheral, the club’s automatic elevation to the Premier League as runners up behind Newcastle meant he’d gone one better than the previous season when he’d been part of Hull City’s promotion via the play-offs.

That had been his fourth loan experience having previously gone on temporary moves to Brentford, Coventry City and Nottingham Forest.

Born in Canning Town on 9 October 1995, Akpom was playing football on local streets from the age of five but soon moved on to the Wanstead Flats, where he played for Rippleway United. An Arsenal scout spotted him at the tender age of six.

“I had a few training sessions for Arsenal and then signed for the club. I’ve been there ever since,” he told the programme. His best friend, who was developing alongside him, was Alex Iwobi, who also made it through to the Arsenal first team before moving on to Everton.

Akpom made his senior debut for the Gunners as a late substitute in a 3-1 win away to Sunderland in September 2013 (the match when Mezut Ozil made his debut).

The young striker went on to make a further nine first team appearances (mostly in the FA Cup and League Cup) but couldn’t claim a regular starting place under Arsene Wenger.

Akpom returned to Arsenal as Albion prepared for life in the Premier League and the following January made another loan move, linking up with Belgian First Division side Sint-Truiden on transfer deadline day in January 2018. He scored six goals in 16 games.

His association with Arsenal finally came to an end that summer when he signed a three-year contract with Greek Super League club PAOK Salonika.

Akpom told the BBC he consulted former Arsenal teammate Lucas Perez before moving to the club, based in Greece’s second largest city of Thessaloniki, and by the season’s end he had helped them win their first league title in 34 years.

“Perez said that I wouldn’t want to leave PAOK if I signed,” he said. “Thessaloniki is a beautiful city by the sea, the people are friendly, the climate is nice and, when I’m not training, I’m sometimes able to go to nearby beaches.

“I’m living in an apartment about 10 minutes from the ground and I drive along the coast to training.”

In May 2019, Akpom was the delighted but emotional scorer of the winning goal for PAOK in the Greek Cup as they beat AEK Athens.

After scoring 18 goals in two years for the Greek side, Akpom returned to the UK to sign for Neil Warnock at Middlesbrough, the effervescent Warnock declaring: “I’m delighted to finally have got him. He’s been my number one choice. I’ve wanted him for a long time.”

The deal gave Arsenal an unexpected £1m windfall because they had inserted a clause into the contract when the striker was sold to PAOK Salonika stipulating they would be entitled to 40 per cent of any fee if he was sold back to an English club.

Such an arrangement was frowned on by the football authorities and earned a fine and censure from FIFA, but Arsenal challenged that decision and got it overturned on an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Although Akpom scored on his Boro debut to secure a 1-1 draw at QPR and followed it up with a goal in his second game, a 2-1 home win over Barnsley, he went on to score just five in 40 appearances and in August 2021 returned to PAOK on loan.

The manager castigated the club’s recruitment team for having signed the player on the strength of watching videos, saying: “We really have to go into everything a bit more when we’re looking to sign players. I don’t think we’ll be signing another player on the recruitment (team’s) say after just watching a video, we need to watch players live.”

Warnock was typically forthright when asked why it didn’t work out for Akpom on Teesside, telling BBC Tees: “I think it’s a mixture of things. I think at the end of the day he didn’t show enough during the games to warrant him getting a place and you have to play games to get yourself fit.

“I never really thought he deserved a run of games because whenever I used him he didn’t perform and it’s one of those things.

“When I spoke to him we all agreed it’s best to go and I think he’s quite happy to go back there.”

Akpom had been expected to leave Boro in the summer of 2022 after returning from his loan in Greece, as Warnock’s successor Chris Wilder looked for other forward options.

But he impressed the boss in pre-season and started in their first game against West Brom, and again when coming off the bench in a defeat at QPR.

“It’s no secret that people would probably have thought I’d be gone by now, and maybe me too,” Akpom told BBC Tees. “It has been a rocky few months for me, which is no secret.

“I don’t know what the future holds. I just have the mentality of staying professional and enjoying it. Who knows what tomorrow brings?”

After Akpom scored both Boro goals in a 2-2 home draw with Sheffield United, Wilder said he was keen for Akpom to remain part of his squad.

“He’ll rightly get the plaudits. For him to come back into the group and show a great attitude… He’s just done an interview and said it’s one day at a time but for me it isn’t that unless he wants it to be, and I don’t think he does,” Wilder said.

“It’s his job to convince me that he wants to stay at this brilliant football club and he’s done enough. He has to keep going of course but we’ve all seen enough that he sees his medium to long-term future here. We’re delighted to have him here.”

In a quite extraordinary turnround in fortune for the player, he scored 28 goals in 38 games for Boro in the 2022-23 season, ending a 33-year wait for a striker who could score more than 20 goals in a season.

gazettelive.co.uk said of him: “He has gone from also-ran to one of the most feared strikers in the league.”

Comparing his goalscoring prowess to the likes of former Boro heroes like Brian Clough, John Hickton and John O’Rourke, the newspaper said: “Akpom has shown what any decent player can achieve if they stay fully focused.

“He already looked a different player before the arrival of Michael Carrick but has since climbed another few rungs up the ladder.”

Reporter Eric Paylor wrote: “The marvellous thing about Akpom’s goal sprint is that we didn’t see it coming. Two years ago he looked a very ordinary striker indeed.

“He managed to sneak into the side this season only as an afterthought, because Chris Wilder was short of strikers. So it’s to his eternal credit that Akpom has grabbed the nettle and shown what a massive threat he is in the box.”

When Carrick succeeded Wilder, he selected Akpom in a no.10 role rather than as an out and out centre forward, and it paid off.

Carrick told gazettelive.co.uk: “You go on your eye, your instincts, how well he takes the ball, how fluid he is moving with the ball in a bit of space. Technically coming through the ranks at Arsenal he’s had that foundation. I just wanted to free him up a little bit and play to his strengths. Thankfully he’s been able to do that. I think it suits him.

“It’s difficult for me to speak about the turnaround because I don’t know how he was playing before that before I came through the door.

“Certainly, from my first training session and the games leading up to me taking over, I saw encouraging signs from him. I said it from the start, we have tried to play to the strengths of our players and put them in positions that benefit them and the team. Chuba is definitely one of them. He’s found his role and he’s suited it; he’s doing great.”

Akpom himself said: “I wish I’d been playing in a deeper role throughout the whole of my career! I’m enjoying it.

“Playing in a nine previously helps me with my movement up top and with my back to goal, but I feel like coming to feet is when you can see the real me – getting on the half turn, playing one-twos, connecting the play and dribbling – this is what my game is all about.”

Over in Holland, Akpom struggled to get a starting place as Ajax found themselves at the wrong end of the Eredivisie.

After the departure of Steijn as Ajax coach, Akpom made a brief appearance as a sub when the Amsterdam side lost 2-0 to Albion in the first leg of their Europa League tie in October 2023 under caretaker boss Hedwiges Maduro.

But in Schip’s first Eredivisie game against Volendam, Akpom was sent on and scored in a 2-0 win.

He went one better against Heerenveen, joining the action off the bench again and this time scoring twice in a 4-1 win for Ajax.

In January 2025, Akpom secured a loan move to French side Lille, who secured a place in the last 16 of the Champions League after thumping Feyenoord 6-1.

Did Albion fans only get to see half a Lita?

PROLIFIC second tier goalscorer Leroy Lita was a Gareth Southgate free transfer signing for Middlesbrough where he scored 20 in 82 games.

Two years after Boro cashed in and sold him for £1.75m to newly promoted Premier League side Swansea City, Lita joined an injury-hit Brighton side three months into Oscar Garcia’s reign.

Goals had been harder to come by for Lita after Brendan Rodgers had signed him for the Swans and he was sent out on loan, spending time back in the Championship with Birmingham City and Sheffield Wednesday.

It was a familiar story for Lita who had been Reading’s first £1m player when Steve Coppell signed him from Bristol City in 2005.

He netted a goal every three games for the Royals, but towards the end of his four years at the Madejski Stadium, he’d gone on loan to Charlton Athletic and Norwich City.

By the autumn of 2013, Lita had become something of a footballing nomad, fed up with a lack of first team action under Michael Laudrup.

With Albion’s leading striker Leo Ulloa out for two months with a broken foot, and Craig Mackail-Smith and Will Hoskins also sidelined, Garcia brought the diminutive striker to Brighton on a three-month loan arrangement.

“He is strong, fast and direct, and he has shown he can score goals in the Championship,” Garcia told the club website. “He offers us something different going forward.”

I can remember being at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster, when he scored his only goal for the club two minutes after going on as a substitute for Jake Forster-Caskey (he’d played with his stepdad Nicky Forster at Reading).

Forster-Caskey had scored a wonder goal with his left foot from 35 yards before Rovers equalised but visiting Albion went on to collect three points in a 3-1 win (David Lopez scored the other with a long range free kick).

Lita had made his debut in a 0-0 draw at Yeovil on 11 October, going on as a sub for Ashley Barnes and his home debut saw him replacing another loanee, Craig Conway, in a 1-1 draw with Watford.

The eager striker made a public plea via the Argus to be given a start but Garcia only ever used Lita off the bench for the Seagulls (he went on as a sub on five occasions and was an unused sub for three games).

“The staff have a bit of doubt but I feel fine,” Lita said. “When I am on the pitch my mind just takes over anyway.
“I don’t ever feel tired or not match fit. I know you still need your match fitness, but you have to get that at some point, so hopefully this week.”

Having got off the mark for the fifth Championship club he had served on loan, he added: “Once you get that first goal you are thinking about the next one and the next one. I am just looking forward to scoring plenty of goals.

“I know I can score goals wherever I go so I’ve never had that doubt. Whoever has doubted me it’s up to them. My belief in myself is not going to end until I am 50 years old and can’t move!”

But with Ulloa’s fitness restored, Lita’s final appearance in an Albion shirt was on 3 December when he went on for Barnes at the Amex as the Seagulls succumbed 2-1 to Barnsley.

Maybe Lita’s Albion spell was cursed from the start when he was handed squad number 44 (all the fours, droopy drawers)?

He was still only 28 when he arrived at the Amex with an impressive record of 101 goals in 330 league and cup games, 14 of which had been in Reading’s 2006-07 Premier League season.

“I know the Championship well,” Lita said in the matchday programme. “Consistency is the main thing at this level because everyone beats everyone; some teams start well and drop off, while others start badly then pick up a run of results. So, it’s all about putting a good run together then you never know what might happen.”

Lita followed in the footsteps of former Swansea teammates Kemy Agustien and Andrea Orlandi to the Amex, but he also knew Liam Bridcutt and Andrew Crofts from his time as a youngster at Chelsea.

He recalled summer training camps at Horsham with Bridcutt and he played in the same Chelsea junior side as Crofts. “They have both gone on to become really good players,” he said.

“It helps when you go to a club and know a few people but I think the style of play here will also suit me.

“It is similar to Swansea and the club only signs players here who know the system.

“I played against Brighton last season, scoring on my home debut for Sheffield Wednesday, and although we won that day, I was still impressed by the way the team played.” He had also played at the Amex before when he was on loan at Birmingham and (below right) was the subject of a page feature in the matchday programme.

Born in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo on 28 December 1984, it was as a teenager on Chelsea’s books that he couldn’t believe his luck to be sharing a training pitch with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen.

“I would go home and see them on TV and the next day I would be training with them,” he told The Guardian. “It was unbelievable.”

Reporter Jon Brodkin wrote: “Chelsea broke his heart by releasing him but his three years at the club he supports were hardly wasted. The thrill of being a ballboy was surpassed by training with the first team’s front two.”

Lita told him: “I was 15 and the academy director said he had spoken to my school and I could have a couple of days off a week to train with the first team and the ressies [reserves]. It was a great opportunity and I learned a lot from it.

“Hasselbaink’s finishing was unbelievable, he didn’t mess about. He could place it and smash it. I mainly did finishing with them, not much else, but I could see as well how professional they were and how they looked after themselves.”

After Lita’s release, he contacted a few clubs – Fulham were interested but didn’t offer a contract – and he was aware that after leaving Arsenal Andy Cole had made a new start to his successful career at Bristol City.

It was the Robins who gave Lita an opportunity and former Albion skipper Danny Wilson handed him his first team debut at the beginning of the 2002-03 season when he was still only 17.

His first league goal was a late winner on 28 September 2002 to secure a 3-2 victory after going on as a substitute at Port Vale (for whom an 18-year-old Billy Paynter had scored).

“The striker hit a glorious goal to end Vale’s hopes of a point after they had fought back to level matters just a minute earlier,” said the BBC report of the game.

It wasn’t until the following season that he was given a professional contract and it was only after Brian Tinnion succeeded Wilson as manager in 2004-05 that Lita established himself in the City side. He scored 29 goals in all competitions and that form earned him a call-up to the England under-21s, Lita having decided not to play for his birth country.

He scored on his debut on 8 February 2005 when he went on as a sub for Justin Hoyte in a 2-1 defeat against the Netherlands at Derby’s Pride Park.

Those goals also earned him a £1m move to Reading, even though Tinnion advised him against the move, believing a Premiership club would come in for him.

“Once I got down here, I knew it was right,” Lita told The Guardian. “I want to go a step at a time. Reading are a good club, they’re looking to get into the Premiership and that’s where I want to be.”

He went on to score 15 goals in 25 league and cup games (+ seven as a sub) as Reading topped the Championship, and he returned to the England under-21 fold in February 2006.

He was on home turf at the Madejski Stadium when he earned his second cap, again as a sub, replacing David Nugent in a 3-1 win over Norway (future Albion loanee Liam Ridgewell was among his teammates).

A year later, after finding the net in the Premier League with Reading, Lita got a third cap as a substitute (for James Milner) and scored again in a 2-2 draw against Spain at Pride Park. Liam Rosenior was also a substitute that day.

Lita’s first start for the under 21s came the following month, on 24 March, in a 3-3 draw with Italy in the first game played at the new Wembley Stadium, in front of 55,700. On 5 June the same year, Lita scored England’s fifth goal in a 5-0 win over Slovakia at Carrow Road after he’d gone on as a sub for Nigel Reo-Coker.

Lita was an overage player in the 2007 UEFA European Under 21 Championship: he missed an 88th minute penalty after going on as a sub in a 0-0 draw with the Czech Republic but scored in each of the three games he started: 2-2 v Italy, 2-0 v Serbia and 1-1 v the Netherlands (who won the tie 13-12 on penalties). But a full cap eluded him.

Lita was a regular throughout Reading’s first top-flight campaign. In a side that include Ivar Ingimarsson and Steve Sidwell, Lita scored 14 times in 26 league and cup starts plus 12 appearances off the bench.

But with Kevin Doyle and Dave Kitson the preferred strike duo in 2007-08, Lita’s game time was much reduced and he went on loan to Charlton in March 2008.

It was a similar story the following season when he scored seven times in 16 games during a three-month loan at Norwich City – the haul included a hat-trick against eventual champions Wolves.

The excellent Flown From The Nest website, that profiles former Norwich players, recalled how that treble attracted the interest of plenty of other clubs, but City boss Glenn Roeder said: “It’s a better problem to have than him not scoring and playing rubbish – then none of us want him. What can you do?

“He was brought here to score goals. He was a little bit rusty in his first game which was understandable. He did better in the second game against Bristol City when he had a couple of chances which unfortunately never went in, and then in the third game on Tuesday night, we saw the real Leroy Lita and what he is all about.”

Lita returned to Reading and played in a FA Cup third round defeat at Cardiff and although Sheffield United made a bid for him, he preferred to stay with the Royals.

Nevertheless, at the end of the season, he finally left the Madejski and headed to Teesside on a three-year deal.

On signing for Boro, Lita said: “The manager has been after me for about a year, it’s great to feel wanted. I have a lot of respect for the gaffer and I want to do well for him and the club.

“I aim to repay him for his faith in me with goals. That’s the main strength to my game and I’m looking forward to scoring goals for Middlesbrough.”

He told the Northern Echo: “I’m raring to go. I haven’t enjoyed the last two seasons one bit, but this is a fresh start and I’m excited about the challenge.

“Other clubs were interested in signing me, but there was only once place I wanted to go and that was Middlesbrough.”

Southgate added: “Leroy has a hunger to score goals and his goalscoring record in the Championship in particular is very strong.

“His record says he gets one in two at this level so that will be important for us. I think he has a point to prove and, when he’s fully fit, he will relish the challenge.”

It wasn’t long before Southgate was succeeded by Gordon Strachan but Lita made the second highest number of appearances (41) in that season’s squad and scored nine goals as Boro finished mid-table.

There was yet another managerial change the following season, with the return of former player Tony Mowbray, but Boro once again finished mid-table with a side that featured Joe Bennett at left back and Jason Steele in goal.

Lita scored 11 times in 40 matches, which was enough to attract newly-promoted Swansea. “I’ve had a good chat with Leroy,” said Mowbray. “He has a chance to play in the Premier League and good on him. His talent has earned him that chance.”

But he only scored twice in six starts (+ 12 appearances off the bench) all season and in September 2012, Lee Clark signed him on a three-month loan for Birmingham.

“I know Leroy very well having worked with him at Norwich during a loan spell in which he scored seven goals in 16 games,” said Clark. “He’s a proven goalscorer who has power and pace and there’s no doubt that he’ll add quality to my squad.”

Lita scored three goals in 10 games for Birmingham before being recalled early, but in late January 2013, he joined Sheffield Wednesday on loan until the end of the season.

Wednesday manager Dave Jones told BBC Radio Sheffield: “Leroy has a lot of experience at this level and the one above. It could be with a view to a permanent deal. This lets us have a look at him and he can have a look at us.” But he only scored twice in nine appearances for the Owls.

Released by Swansea at the end of the 2013-14 season, Lita was then reunited with Danny Wilson, manager at newly relegated League One Barnsley.

“He was my first manager and I like the way he works,” said Lita. “He’s got a lot of trust in me and I’ve got a lot of trust in him.

“I enjoyed my time under him as a youngster. He helped me a lot and helped me progress in my career so far. I just want to get back to playing football regularly again and I’m going to get that opportunity here.”

He scored in his first two league games but didn’t register again for 21 games. When Wilson was replaced by Lee Johnson in February 2015, within a matter of weeks Lita joined lowly Notts County on loan until the end of the season but was unable to prevent their relegation.

On expiry of his Barnsley contract, Lita moved to Crete side AO Chania in August 2015 but was back in England the following March, signing a short term deal with League Two Yeovil Town, where he scored once in eight games. That was his last league club in England.

He scored five goals in 21 games for Thai Premier League side Sisaket in 2017 and on his return to the UK turned out for a number of non-league clubs: Margate, Haverhill Rovers, Salisbury and Chelmsford City.

In May 2020, the Coventry Evening Telegraph hailed his signing for Nuneaton Borough, whose manager Jimmy Ginnelly told the newspaper: “His partner is from Nuneaton and they’ve recently moved into a house on The Longshoot, which is just five minutes from the ground, so this is a win-win situation for both parties.

“These sorts of players don’t come onto Nuneaton’s radar very often so we moved quickly and obviously all of us here at the Boro are very excited.”

He scored eight goals in 33 appearances for Nuneaton, went on to play for Southern League Premier Division Central rivals Stratford Town before moving on to Hednesford Town, where he’s still playing.

In March 2022, the Express and Star reported: “Lita lit up Keys Park last night as he smashed a debut hat-trick to help Hednesford to a 3-1 victory over Stourbridge.”

The only way was up after Tomori’s awkward Albion debut

FIKAYO TOMORI couldn’t have had a worse debut for Brighton.

The teenage defender on loan from Chelsea was booked on 37 minutes and scored an own goal in the 62nd as Brighton were humiliated 3-1 in the FA Cup by non-league opponents, National League Lincoln City.

Tomori, playing at right back, sliced Nathan Arnold’s cross past a startled Casper Ankergren who’d only just come on as a sub for the injured Niki Mäenpää.

In fact, Tomori wasn’t on the winning side in any of the three matches he started for the Seagulls.

However, he saw plenty of action when making seven appearances off the bench. For example, he played an hour in Albion’s 3-1 home win over Birmingham City when sickness forced off Lewis Dunk on the half-hour mark and slotted in alongside Uwe Huenemeier, who himself was deputising for injured Shane Duffy.

“We knew Lewis wasn’t quite right before the game and everyone had told me to be ready,” he said later. The matchday programme observed: “Tomori looked as if he’d been playing all season alongside Uwe, such was their understanding.”

The two were also paired together in the second half of the 2-1 win away to QPR when Tomori replaced Dunk at half-time. And Tomori lined up alongside Dunk in the centre of defence for the last game of the season at Villa Park when Jack Grealish’s last-minute equaliser denied Albion the Championship title.

Nevertheless, the talented youngster, who went on to be capped by England, was recognised as having played his part in the Albion winning promotion that 2016-17 season.

“I would have liked to play more football but this team’s pushing for promotion and I knew before I came here that getting in the side was going to be difficult,” he said in a matchday programme interview.

“I’ve had to be make sure I’ve been ready when called upon and take any opportunities that have come my way. It’s a challenge I’ve embraced. The manager has been really good to me and I’ve taken a lot of confidence from the fact that when we have had injuries in defence, I’m pretty much the first player to come on.

“I’ve really enjoyed it here. Being involved with a club that’s going for promotion has been a different sort of challenge to what I’ve been used to.”

Reflecting on that period a few years later, Tomori said: “It was a big part of my development, playing every day with professionals who have been playing the game for 10, 15 years.

“That focus, will to win and need to be at the top of your game every game was something I had to learn, and it was really important for my development.”

He added: “They were trying to get their first promotion to the Premier League. The team was really together and focused, and when the games came, they were really on it.

“It was my first taste of senior football and being in a senior changing room and being part of a matchday and stuff like that. It was a great learning experience and obviously we got promoted which was great.”

Born in Calgary, Canada, on 19 December 1997 to wealthy Nigerian parents, Yinka and Mo, who originate from Osun in the south west region of Nigeria, Tomori was less than a year old when the family moved to England.

The family home was in Woolwich and he enjoyed a kickabout with his friends from the age of five or six before starting organised football with Riverview United. The youngster admitted he modelled his game on Thierry Henry.

“I wore my socks above my knees like him, I wore gloves like him even if it wasn’t cold, and I celebrated like him,” he said. “I loved everything about him. Back then it was all about having fun and never did I think that one day I would end up playing for Chelsea.”

Tomori was taken on by the Chelsea academy as a seven-year-old but it wasn’t all about football and, after passing his 11+ exams, he attained 10 GCSEs (six As, three Bs and a C) at Gravesend Grammar School, where he was a pupil between 2009 and 2014.

Assistant head James Fotheringham told The Sun Tomori was the first Gravesend pupil to “really make it” as a footballer, pointing out: “We’ve had a number of boys promised the world by different football clubs and then they get dropped and end up nowhere.

“I asked Chelsea, ‘What makes Fikayo different?’ The guy said, ‘Because he’s got all the attributes of a footballer’s skills but he’s incredibly bright and he just reads the game. He’s got a couple of yards on people because he’s so bright’.”

At Chelsea, Tomori bonded with Tammy Abraham from an early age. They became good friends and made their way through the ranks and were part of the team that recorded back-to-back wins in the UEFA Youth League and the FA Youth Cup in 2015 and 2016.

The 2015-16 season saw Tomori named the Chelsea Academy Player of the Year and he rounded it off by making his first team debut as a substitute against Leicester City on the final day. He described it as “the proudest moment of his career” and explained: “To be out there playing with the likes of Eden Hazard and Willian was a fantastic feeling for me and my family.”

As Albion adjusted to the demands of the Premier League, Tomori remained in the Championship having gone on loan to a Hull City side battling to avoid the drop – a very different experience to his time with the Seagulls.

“My first full season on loan was at Hull and it was my first time away from home too,” he said. “We were hovering over the relegation zone for the whole season, so that was a different kind of challenge mentally.

“You weren’t sure if you were going to be in the team the next week if we had lost the game, because the club needed the points to stay up.

“Those loans really gave me a good outlook on football. Coming from Chelsea, you’re winning a lot of games and trophies, and are protected in a way. Those loans were what moulded me as a person and as a man and made me grow up a lot quicker.”

Tomori’s rapid progress earned him England international recognition and, in 2017, he was in the England under 20 team who won the World Cup in South Korea and in 2018 was with the under 21s when they won the Toulon tournament.

As a forerunner to his breakthrough at Chelsea, Tomori spent the 2018-19 season on loan at Derby County, where Frank Lampard had taken over as manager.

Fikayo played a total of 55 league and cup matches as County made it all the way to the play-off final where their tilt for promotion to the Premier League was finally quashed when Aston Villa beat them 2-1 at Wembley.

Nevertheless, the young defender was named as Derby’s Player of the Year, and perhaps it was no surprise that when Lampard’s next move was to become manager of Chelsea, he was quick to put Tomori into the first team at Stamford Bridge.

The majority of his 27 matches for Chelsea came in that 2019-20 season, and, although defending might have been his priority, he popped up with a couple of goals. A long-range screamer he scored against Wolves was voted Chelsea Goal of the Year.

The same season, Tomori stepped up to the full England side and made his debut as an 84th-minute substitute for Trent Alexander-Arnold in the 4-0 away win against Kosovo in a Euro 2020 qualifier in November 2019. In doing so, he became the 50th Chelsea player to be capped by England.

However, it was another two years before Gareth Southgate selected him again, by which time he had moved to AC Milan.

After falling out of contention at Chelsea, he joined the Italian side on loan initially in January 2021 but then made the move permanent in June 2021, signing a four-year deal.

In a lengthy interview with Sky Sports, he spoke about how his career had turned round after the disappointment of losing his place at Chelsea.

“It was a difficult time – every footballer wants to play, and every footballer wants to show themselves on the pitch,” he said.

“When you are not able to do that, it is difficult – and being able to overcome and forget about that is part of the reason why it is now going so well.

“I didn’t really dwell on it and just moved on and put it as part of football, part of life.

“I had a really good support system with my family and my friends – and now I’ve overcome that I want to take it further and keep progressing.”

On 9 October 2021, Tomori was a 60th minute substitute for John Stones in England’s 5-0 thrashing of Andorra, when his good friend Abraham was among the scorers.

The pair were up against each other 22 days later when Tomori’s Milan beat Abraham’s AS Roma 2-1 in a Serie A clash. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his 400th league goal (and 150th in Italian football).

Nicky Forster was the definition of a goalscoring thoroughbred

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Determined Joe pursued his dream to the top

JOE BENNETT played more league matches (41) than any other outfield Brighton player during the 2014-15 season.

Not bad for a loan signing who’d been edged out at Aston Villa after a season in their first team.

Bennett’s appearance record for the Seagulls was perhaps even more noteworthy in that it spanned the reigns of three managers.

Brought in by Sami Hyypia, the defender retained the left-back berth during Nathan Jones’ temporary spell in charge right through to the end of the season after Chris Hughton had taken over.

Bennett hasn’t been afraid to travel the length and breadth of the country plying his trade as a footballer.

It all began in his home town, Rochdale, where he was born on 28 March 1990. His early promise with a football saw him join up with the under-eights at their centre of excellence.

When he was 10, his parents separated and he moved to the north east to live with his mum and stepdad in Swainby, eight miles north east of Northallerton.

He quickly got fixed up with Sunday league side Northallerton Town. One of their coaches, Gary Ramsbotham, also scouted for Middlesbrough and through him Bennett went for a trial and got taken on.

His progress suffered a setback when he was 15. He was de-registered by Boro and had a year away from the club, during which time he worked hard on his fitness and strength before being taken back on.

“The year away really helped me focus on my football and I realised then how badly I wanted to make it,” he told Tony Higgins in an interview for gazettelive.co.uk.

As he progressed through the youth ranks, Bennett, who’d originally been a striker, was converted to a left-back by Boro coach Steve Agnew.

He also had a perfect work experience stint from school when he got to go training with Boro’s under 18 side, and he relished the opportunity of being a ballboy at Riverside home games.

Eventually, he made it to the first team, Gareth Southgate giving him his debut as a substitute in the final game of the 2008-09 Premier League season against West Ham, although Boro had already been relegated by then.

Bennett thought he’d get chances to play in the Championship, but new boss Gordon Strachan turned to more experienced players, and Bennett only made 13 appearances in 2009-10.  

It was a different story following the arrival of Tony Mowbray and the young full-back was a regular over the following two seasons, eventually starting 84 matches for Boro and going on as a sub eight times.

He earned the club’s young player of the year title at the end of the 2010-11 season and the North East Football Writers’ Association’s young player of the year accolade in 2011-12.

2011 was a good year for him because he also caught the eye of the international selectors and won three caps for England under-21s.

His debut came in a 1-0 defeat away to Italy on 8 February 2011, he was a sub for Ryan Bertrand in England’s 2-1 home defeat to Iceland on 28 March, and he started the 5 September game against Israel at Barnsley’s Oakwell ground which England won 4-1, with Jonjo Shelvey and Ross Barkley pulling the strings in midfield.

In August 2012, Premier League Aston Villa paid £3m to take him to Villa Park. Boss Paul Lambert told avfc.co.uk: “Joe’s a really good player, young and hungry to succeed and he’s exactly the type of player we want here at the football club.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he will thrive in this environment and he fits in exactly with what we are trying to build here.

“His energy level is really high and he can get up and down the pitch really well, which will be important for the team and important in terms of how we want to play as a team.

“He’s an exciting signing for the club and I’m really pleased we’ve been able to take him here.”

While Bennett made 30 appearances for Villa in his first season, increased competition and back and knee injuries restricted his involvement in 2013-14 to only seven matches.

At the start of the 2014-15 season, Albion had been expecting Irish international Stephen Ward to join permanently after his season on loan from Wolves. But his last-minute u-turn en route to putting pen to paper on the deal meant the Seagulls were in the market for a new left-back because new boss Hyypia wanted someone more experienced than Adam Chicksen.

With playing time at Villa again looking like only being sporadic, Bennett went along to Elland Road on 19 August 2014 and liked what he saw as Albion won 2-0 in what would turn out to be one of the few decent performances under Hyypia.

“I went to watch them against Leeds and I think that just made me realise what a good team they are,” said Bennett. “They just kept the ball really well, from the back to the front, defended well and they looked like they had a lot of energy.

“The full-backs like to go forward as well which is part of my game as I like to go forward and get involved a bit more up the pitch, so it was nice to see.

“I spoke to the manager and he told me a bit about how he likes the team to play and how I could fit in to that, and hopefully I can.”

After the Hyypia reign came to an early end, Bennett remained suitably diplomatic in interviews and in a matchday programme feature spoke about the positive influence on his game of former full-back Hughton.

“Obviously it’s good for me on a personal level having a former defender as manager,” he said. “He knows his stuff and is there to give me plenty of advice, especially in the left-back role. Since the gaffer came in he’s been working hard on defensive shape and being more compact as a team.”

He spoke about Hughton’s greater emphasis on defending compared to Hyypia’s desire for the full-backs to push up. “I’ve got a more defensive role now but I’m really enjoying my football under Chris. I feel I’m learning all the time,” he said.

At one point it looked like Bennett might join Albion on a permanent basis, but when Tim Sherwood took over from Lambert, he indicated the full-back may yet have a future at Villa Park.

The new Villa boss ran his eye over the defender and said: “Joe has done very, very well. I am now looking forward to seeing him in pre-season.”

He did enough to earn a one-year contract extension and scored his first goal for the club in a 5-3 League Cup win over Notts County. But, with Aly Cissokho still ahead of him in the pecking order, and with only an hour to go before the end of the August transfer window, Bennett was loaned to newly-promoted AFC Bournemouth.

Ostensibly he was signed as cover for Tyrone Mings and Charlie Daniels, but he hoped the move would give him the opportunity to play regularly in the Premier League.

“I’m really excited about the prospect of playing for Bournemouth and hopefully helping them perform well this season,” he told Villa’s website. “They’ve already made a positive start to the new season and, like everyone else, I’ve been really impressed with the fantastic job Eddie Howe has done. They have a really good side.”

Unfortunately, it didn’t unfold how Bennett had hoped. He didn’t make any appearances for Bournemouth and returned early to Villa Park after suffering an achilles tendon injury.

Recovered from the injury, Bennett joined Sheffield Wednesday on loan in mid-January 2016 until the end of the season. Again, a permanent move looked on the cards, especially when new Villa boss Roberto Di Matteo indicated he wouldn’t be part of his first-team plans.

Villa chairman Tony Xia blocked the move, not wishing to sell to a Championship rival, but, within a fortnight, Bennett moved on a free transfer to fellow Championship side Cardiff City. A calf injury meant he had to wait two months before making his debut, but he went on to spend an eventful five years in South Wales, riding a rollercoaster emotionally, on and off the field.

Nevertheless, his popularity with the Bluebirds was perhaps best encapsulated by chairman Mehmet Dalman who described him as “the best left back in the league”.

Bennett endured a somewhat turbulent relationship with boss Neil Warnock, although he admitted in an extended interview with Oscar Johnson: “He is a nice, genuine and down-to-earth guy. He was really good to me during his time here.

“At first, I don’t think he really fancied playing me to be honest, but I was the only left-back at the club, so he didn’t have a choice.

“Our relationship got better as it went along and he was really good for me both personally and as a player.”

That didn’t seem to be the case in January 2018 when Bennett was in the headlines for the wrong reason. He escaped what looked like a straight red card for a bad foul on Leroy Sane in a FA Cup tie against Manchester City but eventually saw red for a second booking, which incurred Warnock’s wrath.

“I was disappointed he got sent off at the end,” said Warnock. “Obviously he doesn’t want to go to Leeds next weekend, because it was an absolutely pathetic challenge when on a booking. To do something like that I think is disrespectful to teammates.”

Even so, Bennett was a regular fixture in defence during Cardiff’s brief spell in the Premier League, playing 30 of the 38 matches.

“Being relegated after one season was obviously gutting, but nobody had given us a chance of staying up before the season began, so to battle as long and hard as we did was definitely something to be proud of,” he said.

“We had a really good team and got some really good results over the course of the season. I think that, with a little bit of luck, we could maybe have stayed up. If VAR had been in use, we might have done it because we had some horrible decisions go against us.”

In March 2019, Bennett opened up to Dominic Booth about how it felt playing against the backdrop of losing the father who had first urged him to pursue his dream of becoming a professional footballer.

He remained with Cardiff and was enjoying a new lease of life after Mick McCarthy’s appointment as manager when he suffered an anterior cruciate knee ligament injury in March 2021 that put him out of the game for the rest of the season.

After surgery, he made a swift-than-expected recovery and, even though he’d been given a free transfer at the end of his contract, he continued his recovery by training with the Bluebirds.

“The club had a duty of care to aid the player’s rehabilitation and, as such, Bennett has been at the club’s Vale of Glamorgan HQ gradually working his way back to fitness,” reported walesonline.co.uk.

McCarthy explained that a new deal had been in the offing before the injury, but it never got signed. “I was quite sad about it because I spoke to Benno when I came in, I knew his contract was running out,” he said. “I discussed with him about staying, then injury comes and it changed it all.”

Bennett was not the only departure at the end of the season, and a statement on the club website read: “We would like to place on record our sincerest thanks and best wishes to Sol Bamba, Joe Bennett and Junior Hoilett who will be moving on this summer upon the expiration of their current deals.

“The three players joined us in 2016 and would go on to become key figures in our 2017-18 promotion squad. Between them they made a total of 478 appearances across a five-year period, representing a significant contribution to the club’s recent progress and history.”

Bennett subsequently moved north and signed a two-year deal with Wigan Athletic.

Why Saint Dan riled the Albion

DAN HARDING was promoted twice with Southampton and once with the Seagulls and later cut short his career because of family tragedy.

Personally, I’m not sure he really need to be cast as ‘public enemy no.1’ because of the way he left Brighton.

With the benefit of hindsight, it was really no surprise that he chose to turn his back on playing at Withdean in favour of Elland Road, Leeds.

OK, the stringing-out of the contract negotiations, and public slanging match that accompanied them, didn’t help matters.

But football careers are short and the Amex was a long way off becoming a reality when Harding decided to opt for pastures new.

“I really enjoyed my time at Brighton but you can’t compare the size of the two clubs or the facilities,” he told the Leeds matchday programme at the time. “It has been like going from one world to another.”

Ironically, it seems his success on the pitch with Brighton, which led to him gaining international recognition, might well have been the unsettling influence.

Former Albion boss Peter Taylor selected him for England under-21s as the 2004-05 season got underway. He made his England debut as a substitute for Micah Richards in a 3-1 win over Ukraine at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, on 17 August 2004. Future full internationals James Milner and Darren Bent were in the same squad.

He started the 8 October 2004 match against Wales at Ewood Park, Blackburn: a 2-0 win courtesy of goals from Milner and Bent. He also started the game four days later when the under 21s drew 0-0 away to Azerbaijan in Baku. His last cap came the following month in a 1-0 defeat away to Spain when he was replaced by Ben Watson. Future Albion loanee Liam Ridgewell was also a substitute in that game.

It was this platform that sowed the seeds of discord, according to former chairman Dick Knight’s take on the circumstances surrounding Harding’s acrimonious departure from the Albion.

In his autobiography Mad Man: From the Gutter to the Stars, Knight reckoned it was while on international duty that Harding was “egged on by his agent about his value after talking to players with bigger clubs, on bigger wages”.

Knight went on: “Early on, I offered him a sizeable contract renewal but he sat on it. He kept saying he wanted to stay, but I don’t think he had any intention of doing so.

“Because he was under 24, we were entitled to compensation. Shaun Harvey, the Leeds chief executive – who became CEO of the Football League in July 2013 – tested me with a couple of paltry sums before finally offering £250,000, which I rejected.”

DH Leeds action 2Via the Football League tribunal system, Knight managed to get the figure up to £850,000, part achievement-based, and with a 20 per cent sell-on clause.

All in all, not a bad return for a player who came through the Albion’s youth and reserve ranks after being spotted at 15 playing for Hove Park Colts.

Born in Gloucester on 23 December 1983, the young Harding loved kicking a football from the moment he could walk and enjoyed watching his dad, Kevan, turn out for the Army team.

The family was posted to Brighton, and Harding was taken to the Goldstone Ground by his mum, Linda. One of his earliest memories was on 23 September 1992 seeing a 17-year-old David Beckham make his Manchester United debut as a substitute for Andrei Kanchelskis in a League Cup tie that finished 1-1.

Harding joined the Albion initially on schoolboy terms for a year and was then taken on as a YTS trainee, progressing through the juniors and reserves before eventually making his first team debut on 17 August 2002, during Martin Hinshelwood’s brief reign, as a substitute for Shaun Wilkinson in a 2-0 home defeat to Norwich City.

After Hinshelwood was replaced by Steve Coppell, and Harding sustained a back injury, the youngster played no further part in the first team picture that season, but he was awarded a new contract in April 2003.

In the first part of the 2003-04 season, Harding was a regular on the bench, but, on 21 February 2004, Coppell’s successor, Mark McGhee, gave him his full debut in place of the suspended Kerry Mayo in a 3-0 win over Bournemouth.

Dan Harding

Harding kept his place through to the end of the season, making a total of 23 appearances, including being part of the side that lifted the divisional play-off trophy at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, as the Seagulls beat Bristol City 1-0.

“In hindsight, it was a very lucky time for me. I broke into a team that was winning games and was promoted,” he told the Daily Echo. “Looking back now, I don’t think I appreciated at the time what a big achievement it was.”

Sent off in only the second game of the following season for two bookable offences, it wasn’t long before his contract discussions were aired publicly, with McGhee telling the Argus in October: “It’s starting to really frustrate me.

“Dan keeps telling us and saying publicly he wants to sign but we cannot tie his agent down to have a meeting with us. He has to be honest with us.”

Harding in turn denied he was being difficult, telling the Argus that talks were ongoing.

The off-field issues certainly seemed to be troubling Harding and McGhee publicly blamed the defender for a 2-0 defeat at Millwall in December. He was also outmuscled by Stoke City’s Ade Akinbiyi in a game at Withdean, leading to a late winner for the visitors. Across the season, McGhee dropped him on four occasions because of such inconsistency.

When he won his place back in February, he told the Argus: “I had to prove not only to the gaffer but to the other players and the fans that I want that position back.

“That’s where I prefer to play. I like to call that my position. I don’t mind playing on the left hand side of midfield or centre midfield, but I do love playing at left-back.

“Hopefully I can reproduce the same sort of form and keep my confidence up. Everyone wants to be playing, so when you are left out it’s a bit of a kick in the teeth. It’s not nice, but you have to pick yourself up and try to get back into the team.”

DH leeds action 1However, the Brighton contract offer was declined and on 7 June that summer, Harding put pen to paper on a deal with Leeds, whose fans were no doubt delighted to read that he used to follow their fortunes when he was a youngster.

“When I lived in Germany, they showed quite a lot of Leeds games on telly and, in a strange way, I kind of ended up supporting them because it was the only football I really got to see out there,” he said.

His dad later took him to a Leeds FA Cup match v Wolves, and he added: “I have to admit I have been a closet Leeds fan. Obviously, I didn’t shout about it when I was playing for Brighton and it’s kind of strange now that this move has happened.”

If Harding doubted the size of the task at Elland Road, he’d only have had to read the comments of manager Kevin Blackwell, often Neil Warnock’s no.2, who was the Leeds manager at the time.

In an article about Harding in the club programme, Blackwell said: “It has been a big transition for him. No disrespect to Brighton, but coming from the scaffolding at Withdean to Elland Road was a big step-up for Dan. He was nervous in the first couple of games, but he has started to settle down.”

He talked about how he needed to cement his place at United, and added: “If he does succeed here, all the doors will be open to him. I have no doubt that once he develops certain aspects of his game and his self-confidence, he will go a long way because he is a real athlete with a great left foot.”

Brighton fans vented their displeasure at how things had turned out every time Harding touched the ball when Leeds entertained the Seagulls on 12 September 2005; a game which finished 3-3. The fact two of Albion’s goals came from crosses on Harding’s flank prompted Blackwell to drop him for the following match.

After only seven games, Harding picked up an injury and, over the course of the season, played just 21 matches for United. In August 2006, the Yorkshire club used the full-back as a makeweight in a deal which took future Albion loanee Ian Westlake from Ipswich to Leeds.

He was a regular at Portman Road for a couple of seasons but, in his third season, manager Jim Magilton deemed him surplus to requirements and sent him out on loan to Southend United. I recall going to a match at Roots Hall and seeing him have an outstanding game against Brighton.

Later the same season, with Ipswich bobbing along in mid-table, Harding seized the chance to join Steve Coppell’s promotion-chasing Reading, and he played in their play-offs defeat to Burnley.

When Roy Keane took over at Ipswich in 2009, Harding was sold to Southampton; manager Alan Pardew’s first signing for the Saints. Harding’s former Albion youth coach, Dean Wilkins, was part of Pardew’s coaching team.

Harding reflected in an interview with the Southern Daily Echo that what followed were the happiest three years of his career, in which he played 121 games and chipped in with five goals.

In 2010-11, he was named in the PFA League One team of the year along with teammates Kelvin Davies, Jose Fonte, Adam Lallana and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

In the harsh and fickle world of football, Brighton fans relished Brighton’s 3-0 win over Southampton at the Amex on 2 January 2012 when Albion winger Will Buckley gave Harding such a torrid time that, to compound his humiliation, the former Brighton player was subbed off by boss Nigel Adkins with five minutes of the first half still to play.

Although part of the Saints side that won promotion back to the Premier League that May, Harding didn’t get the chance to play at the top level because Adkins moved him on to Nottingham Forest.

Harding talked in detail to the Echo’s Paul McNamara about life at Forest, which he found an unstable place, especially when Sean O’Driscoll, the manager who signed him, was sacked.

Although he played some games under that legendary left-back Stuart Pearce, when he took over, Harding eventually went on loan to Millwall, but wasn’t able to help them stave off relegation from the Championship.

He reveals in his interview with McNamara how disillusioned he became with the amount of dishonesty in football and, coupled with his pregnant wife losing two of the triplets she was expecting, he put family before football and, at the age of only 31, dropped down four divisions to play non-league with Eastleigh.

He talked about the tough decisions he’d had to make in an interview before a FA Cup tie Eastleigh played against Bolton Wanderers.

In 2016, Harding joined Whitehawk as a player, then became part of the coaching set-up, and was briefly caretaker manager before the appointment of Steve King.

Great strike rate at Brighton but journeyman Benjamin had 29 clubs!

T Benj BTNSELDOM in his remarkable 29-club career did Trevor Benjamin enjoy such a successful spell as the 10 games he spent on loan at Brighton.

The bustling striker who had thrived under Micky Adams at Leicester City the season before scored five times for Mark McGhee’s promotion-chasing side in 2004.

McGhee was keen to keep him through to the end of the season but because of the timing of the three-month deal he wouldn’t have been eligible to play in the play-offs.

As a result, he went back to Leicester and McGhee brought in Chris Iwelumo instead, and, with a goalscoring debut in an away win at Chesterfield, there was no looking back.

Born on 8 February 1979 in Kettering, Benjamin was brought up in Wellingborough, Northants, and, having done well for Wellingborough Colts, was picked up by Kettering Town, playing for their youth team and reserves.

Cambridge United took him on as a trainee and he made his first team debut aged only 16 against Gillingham and went on to score 46 goals in 146 appearances.

Such a scoring record caught the eye of Leicester boss Peter Taylor and, on 12 July 2000, Benjamin joined the Foxes for a fee of £1.3 million.

However, he managed only a single goal in the 2000-01 season and the following season was sent out on loan to Crystal Palace, Norwich City and West Bromwich Albion.

He returned to Leicester for the whole of the 2002-03 season, including playing against the Albion at Withdean.

He said in a matchday programme article for that season’s return match against Brighton on 19 April 2003: “Brighton are a very similar team to ourselves. They have got a good work ethic and never give up.

“I came on as a substitute for the last 10 minutes when we played against them at the Withdean Stadium just before Christmas and that was a tough night.

TBenj Lei action“The conditions were terrible and both sides had to work hard to beat the elements. But I think our quality shone through on the night.” (Leicester won 1-0).

The following season, Benjamin was back on his travels, initially to Gillingham, then Rushden & Diamonds and, in January 2004, to Brighton.

Benjamin’s first Brighton goal came after just 12 minutes of Albion’s home game against Plymouth Argyle, who were then top of the league table. Leon Knight added a second goal before a jubilant celebration in front of the Sky cameras and Albion prevailed 2-1.

He followed that up by netting Albion’s goal in a 1-1 draw away to Wycombe Wanderers, and was again on the scoresheet in the 2-1 away defeat to Grimsby Town.

A 3-0 home win over AFC Bournemouth saw Benjamin score the second of Albion’s three goals at Withdean. When Tranmere Rovers were dispatched by the same score, he once again scored the second goal.

Back at Leicester, when Craig Levein was installed as boss, he cancelled Benjamin’s contract in January 2005. Benjamin initially dropped down a couple of divisions to play for Northampton but, three months later, his old Leicester boss, Adams, took him to Championship side Coventry City. He helped to set up both goals on his debut for the Sky Blues as they beat Reading 2-1.

In Coventry’s matchday programme for their home game against Brighton on 2 April 2005, he talked about how he had been settling in and the efforts he’d been making to try to improve his game.

“I’ve been training quite hard with Alan Cork on my finishing since I got here and he’s great to work with. He’s trying to get me to focus on what I am best at and hopefully when the games start again the practice will pay off.”

Benjamin’s arrival at Coventry may have seen him make a leap of two divisions but he was by no means unfamiliar with football at that level having played with Leicester for five years in both the Premiership and the Championship.

David Antill wrote: ‘During his time with the Foxes he was loaned out to no fewer than seven clubs before eventually signing permanently with Northampton Town but he is delighted to be back in a league he enjoys playing, for a manager he believes can get the best out of him.

“I’ve always believed in my own ability and thought I could play at this level and it was great to be given the chance to return to this league with Coventry,” said Benjamin. “My confidence never really slipped – I never had a doubt about coming here and being able to deliver the goods.

“I know what Micky Adams is all about and he knows what I’m all about so I enjoy working with him. What he’s brought here is exactly what he brought to Leicester and that’s what brought him success there. He’s a hard-working manager and he wants exactly the same thing from all of his players and I think he’s getting that.”

After scoring only once for the Sky Blues, in the summer of 2005 the burly forward linked up with Peterborough United, where he signed a three-year deal. However, he was loaned out several times, appearing for Watford, Swindon Town, Boston United and Walsall.

There was some stability and a return to goalscoring when he moved to Hereford United. He scored 10 in 34 games for the Bulls but was released in May 2008 and ended up drifting across the non-league scene for the next four years, popping up at no fewer than 13 different clubs.

It was all a far cry from the heady days of 2001 and 2002 when he briefly reached the international arena.

He went on as a substitute for Howard Wilkinson’s England under 21s as they beat Mexico 3-0 in a friendly at Filbert Street on 24 May 2001. Because he hadn’t played in a competitive fixture, he was then able to swap allegiances and played two matches for the full Jamaica international side in 2002.

Wearside hero Gary Rowell blighted by injury after leaving Sunderland

gary rowell tony normanBRIGHTON fans never got to witness the best of prolific goalscorer Gary Rowell who, to this day, Sunderland fans eulogise in the same way Albion fans still sing about Peter Ward.

He died aged 68 on 13 December 2025, exactly 50 years to the day of his first appearance for the Black Cats following a long battle with leukaemia.

Rowell has a place in Sunderland’s best all time XI selection, in 2005 he topped a Football Focus poll as Sunderland’s all-time cult hero and, in 2020, was inducted into the SAFC Hall of Fame, which he described as ‘the best night of my life’.

There is a website that details every one of the 103 goals the Seaham-born footballer scored for the Wearsiders in 297 games after making his debut as a 71st minute substitute for Mel Holden in a 1-0 Sunderland win over Oxford United at Roker Park.

Unfortunately, the free-scoring striker-turned-midfielder was struck by a knee injury which hampered the latter part of his career, including his spells with Norwich City and the Seagulls.

Having left Sunderland on a free transfer after 12 years at the club, Rowell tore ligaments in his right knee on a pre-season tour of Scandinavia with Norwich before he even managed to kick a ball in anger.

In a year at Carrow Road, he made only six appearances – four as a substitute – and scored just the once, coming off the bench to net against Aston Villa. Typical of this spell between August 1984 and July 1985, he was substituted after only 16 minutes of his reserve team debut.

The following season, a £35,000 fee took him back to the North East to play for Middlesbrough, but, at the time, they were in the middle of a financial crisis and lost their second-tier status. Rowell top-scored with 10 goals in 27 appearances – two of them against the Albion at the Goldstone in January 1986 – but Boro were relegated in second-to-last spot (Brighton finished in 11th place that season).

Brighton were not exactly flush with cash themselves in the summer of 1986 when Alan Mullery, the manager who’d previously led them from third tier to the elite, returned to the club to replace Chris Cattlin.

Mullery found a very different set-up to the one he’d left acrimoniously in the summer of 1981. With little money available to be spent on new arrivals, hard-up Albion, not for the first time, had turned to the supporters in an effort to raise transfer funds.

Money from a scheme called the Lifeline fund went towards buying goalkeeper John Keeley for £1,500 from non-league Chelmsford, Darren Hughes for £30,000 from Shrewsbury Town, and Rowell from Middlesbrough on a free transfer (the Lifeline funds being used to help with his relocation to the South Coast).

Mullery explained the Rowell signing thus in his programme notes: “I see his role with us as coming forward from midfield and adding to our power in the box.

“We know he can get goals and he is a versatile player. When we further improve the squad, we may use him a little differently.”

Rowell , who discovered Mullery had tried to sign him back in 1979 (but Sunderland hadn’t informed him), joined just after the start of the season, in time to be given a place on the bench for the away 1-1 draw with his former club Sunderland. He went on for Kieran O’Regan with 18 minutes left.

He kept the bench warm for two more matches before getting his first start in place of Northern Irish centre-forward Gerry Armstrong in a 2-2 draw away to Plymouth Argyle on 13 September.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Mullery was reporting his absence from the side because of an ankle injury sustained in training.

Nevertheless, interviewed by Tony Norman in the matchday programme, Rowell, who was 29 and married with two small children, said: “I’m delighted with the move. I’ve found it to be a very friendly club and people have gone out of their way to make us feel at home. Now I want to repay the club by playing well for the team.”

The longest run of games he got in an Albion shirt came in November and December 1986 when he took over from winger Steve Penney for six matches (two wins, two draws, two defeats).

rowell BW HS

A broken toe and a troublesome hamstring made him feel injury-jinxed but, during his run back in the side, he had what Mullery described as “his best game since joining us” in a 3-0 win over Shrewsbury Town on 21 December. Six days later, the toe went again, and he didn’t play for the rest of the season.

Mullery was then controversially dismissed the following month and Rowell had to wait until the start of the following season for successor Barry Lloyd to select him.

He featured in three pre-season friendlies, all of which ended in defeats and wore the no.4 shirt in the opening two fixtures of the 1987-88 season, but those were his only first-team starts that campaign. His midfield berth was taken over by the experienced Alan Curbishley.

By October, the matchday programme reported Rowell and fellow midfielder Dale Jasper had been placed on the transfer list following long discussions with Lloyd. Curiously, it added: “However, both players are keen to stay with the club, regardless of any offers made, and will be battling hard for first team places.”

Rowell subsequently appeared seven times as a substitute for the first team, but he was largely confined to the Reserves for whom he made 20 appearances and scored once. In February 1988, he moved to Dundee on trial, but, when not taken on, moved the following month to Carlisle United.

After just seven games for the Cumbrians, he finished his professional career at Burnley, where he scored once in 19 appearances.

Born in Sunderland on 6 June 1957, Rowell grew up in the mining village of Seaham, became an apprentice at Sunderland in 1972 and two years later turned professional.

In 1976, when Sunderland were struggling in the First Division, manager Jimmy Adamson gambled on the introduction of the 19-year-old Rowell: it paid off in spades as he scored 44 goals in two and a half seasons.

During that prolific spell, Rowell was in the squad for two end of season England Under 21 Championship preliminary matches; he went on for Laurie Cunningham in a 1-0 win over Finland in Helsinki on 26 May 1977 but wasn’t involved in a 2-1 win over Norway in Bergen six days later. This was an England side including future full internationals Peter Barnes and Peter Reid.

He was also a non-playing member of Dave Sexton’s squad that assembled at the Goldstone Ground three months later, but he had to watch as an over-age Peter Ward (22), playing on home turf, of course, scored a hat-trick in a 6-0 win over Norway. The aforementioned Curbishley was also a non-playing onlooker in that squad.

footballinprint.comUndoubtedly, the stand-out moment of Rowell’s Sunderland career came when he scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 win over arch rivals Newcastle United at St James’ Park, which he referred to in a profile article (see above).

In a vote for Sunderland’s best players of the 1970s, Rowell was described as “a lovely footballer. Though not blessed with blistering pace, he would ghost into goal-scoring positions and his finishing was deadly.” Rowell was an expert penalty taker, scoring 25 of 26 he took for Sunderland.

Some observers reckon but for injury he would surely have gone on to gain full England international honours. However, his career was severely disrupted by a serious knee injury sustained in a March 1979 game against Leyton Orient.

After a lengthy recovery, he resumed scoring goals regularly but there were doubts over his being able to maintain fitness for the duration of a whole season.

As part of a big team rebuilding exercise carried out by manager Len Ashurst in 1984, Rowell was allowed to move to Norwich.

After his playing days ended, Rowell became a financial consultant in Burnley and those loyal Sunderland supporters still got to hear their hero because, for a number of years, he was a commentator on Sunderland games for Metro Radio.

  • Pictures mainly from matchday programmes. Sunderland profile article: footballinprint.com.