Crunching tackler ‘Tank’ Clark: a legend at two seaside clubs

VIKING lookalike Paul Clark made a lasting impression on plenty of players with robust tackling which earned him ‘legend’ status among fans of Brighton and Southend United.

Described in one programme article as “the big bustling blond with the biting tackle”, Clark was given the nickname ‘Tank’ for his no-nonsense approach. A Southend fan lauded “his crunching tackles and never say die attitude”.

Clark himself reflected: “Wherever you go the supporters tend to like someone who is wholehearted and when it came to 50-50 challenges, or even sometimes 60-40, I didn’t shy away from too many, and the supporters just took to it.”

Giving further insight to his approach, he said: “You can go right up to the line – as long as you don’t step over it, then you’re OK.

“I used to pick up a booking during the first five or 10 minutes, then I knew I had to behave myself for the rest of the game. Despite the reputation I had, I was never sent off in over 500 games.”

*A trademark strike at home to West Ham*

Former teammate Mark Lawrenson said of him: “You would hate to have to play against him because quite often he would cut you in two. With him and ‘Nobby’ (Brian Horton) in the side, we definitely didn’t take any prisoners. One to rely on.”

A former England schoolboy international, it was said of the player in a matchday programme:

“Paul is the first to admit that skill is not his prime asset but there is no doubt as to the strength of his tackle. He is a real competitor and is also deceptively fast, being one of the best sprinters on the Goldstone staff.”

Born in south Benfleet, Essex, on 14 September 1958, Clark went to Wickford Junior School where he played for the school football team and the district primary schools’ side. When he moved on to Beauchamp Comprehensive, selection for his school team led to him playing for the Basildon Schools’ FA XI.

This in turn led to him being selected to play for England Schools at under 15 level, featuring against Scotland, Ireland, Wales, West Germany and France before going on a tour of Australia with the same age group. Contemporaries included future full time professionals Mark Higgins, Ray Deakin, Kevin Mabbutt and Kenny Sansom.

Clark left school at 16 before taking his O levels when Fourth Division Southend offered him an apprenticeship. He made his first team debut shortly before his 18^th birthday in a 2-1 win over Watford.

Two months later, he won the first of six England Youth caps. He made his debut in the November 1976 mini ‘World Cup’ tournament in Monaco against Spain and West Germany alongside future full England internationals Chris Woods, Ricky Hill and Sammy Lee.

The following March, he played in England’s UEFA Youth tournament preliminary match against Wales when they won 1-0 at The Hawthorns. Sansom was also in that side. And he featured in all three group matches at the tournament that May (England beat Belgium 1-0, drew 0-0 with Iceland and 1-1 with Greece). Teammates included Russell Osman and Vince Hilaire.

Clark was only a third of the way into his second season at Southend when Alan Mullery sought to beef up his newly-promoted Brighton side in the autumn of 1977, and, in a part exchange deal involving Gerry Fell moving to Roots Hall, Clark arrived at the Goldstone. He made his debut for the Seagulls in a goalless draw at White Hart Lane on 19 November 1977 in front of a crowd of 48,613. And he came close to crowning it with a goal but for an outstanding save by Spurs ‘keeper Barry Daines.

*In full flight, as captured by photographer George Erringshaw*

When Spurs visited the Goldstone later that season, Clark put in a man of the match performance and scored a memorable opener, following a solo run. A subsequent matchday programme article was suitably poetic about it.

“It showed all the qualities looked for in a player: determination, speed, skill and most of all the ability to finish….if any goal was singled out, Paul’s was certainly one to treasure.”

Albion went on to beat Spurs 3-1, although the game was remembered more because it was interrupted twice when the crowd spilled onto the pitch.

After only 12 minutes, referee Alan Turvey took the players off for 13 minutes while the pitch was cleared of Albion fans who’d sought safety on the pitch from fighting Spurs’ hooligan fans.

In the 74th minute, with Spurs 3-1 down and defender Don McAllister sent-off, their fans rushed the pitch to try to get the game abandoned. But police stopped the invasion getting out of hand and the game continued after another four-minute delay.

Clark’s goal on 16 minutes had been cancelled out six minutes later when Chris Jones seized on a bad goal kick by Eric Steele but defender Graham Winstanley made it 2-1 just before half-time.

Albion’s third goal was surrounded in controversy. Sub Eric Potts claimed the final touch but Spurs argued bitterly that Malcolm Poskett was offside.

Clark remembered the game vividly when interviewed many years later by Spencer Vignes for the matchday programme. The tenacious midfielder put in an early crunching tackle on Glenn Hoddle and after the game the watching ex-Spurs’ manager Bill Nicholson told him: “Well done. You won that game in the first five minutes when you nailed Hoddle.”

Said Clark: “I was 19 at the time so to get a pat on the back from him was much appreciated.”

It was one of three goals Clark scored in his 26 appearances that season (nine in 93 overall for Albion) but he wasn’t always guaranteed a starting berth and in five years at the club had a number of long spells stuck in the reserves.

Midfield enforcer or emergency defender were his primary roles but Clark was capable of unleashing unstoppable shots from distance and among those nine goals he scored were some memorable strikes.

For instance, as Albion closed in on promotion in the spring of 1979, at home to Charlton Athletic, Clark opened the scoring with a scorching 25-yard left foot volley in the 11th minute. Albion went on to win 2-0.

The following month, Clark demonstrated his versatility at St James’ Park on 3 May 1979 when Albion beat Newcastle 3-1 to win promotion to football’s elite level for the first time. Clark played in the back four alongside Andy Rollings because Mark Lawrenson was out injured with a broken arm.

*Celebrating promotion with Peter O’Sullivan and Malcolm Poskett*

“Not many people can say they played in a side that got Brighton up to the top flight,” said Clark. “It’s something I’m still immensely proud of.”

Once they were there, Clark missed the opening two matches (defeats at home to Arsenal and away to Aston Villa) and had an ignominious start to life at the higher level when he conceded a penalty within three minutes of going on as a sub for Rollings away to Manchester City on 25 August 1979.

Some observers thought Clark had played the ball rather than foul Ray Ranson but referee Pat Partridge thought otherwise and Michael Robinson stepped up to score his first goal for City from the resultant penalty. It put the home side 3-1 up: Teddy Maybank had equalised Paul Power’s opener but Mike Channon added a second before half-time.

Partridge subsequently evened up the penalty awards but Brian Horton blazed his spot kick wide of the post with Joe Corrigan not needing to make a save. Peter Ward did net a second for the Seagulls but they left Maine Road pointless.

Ahead of Albion’s fourth attempt to get league points on the board, Clark played his part in beating his future employer Cambridge United 2-0 in a second round League Cup match.

Three days later, he was on the scoresheet together with Ward and Horton as Albion celebrated their first win at the higher level, beating Bolton Wanderers 3-1 at the Goldstone.

It was Clark’s neat one-two with Ward that produced the opening goal and on 22 minutes, Maybank teed the ball up for Clark, who “belting in from the edge of the box, gave it everything and his shot kept low and sped very fast past (‘Jim’) McDonagh’s right hand,” said Evening Argus reporter John Vinicombe.

Gerry Ryan replaced Clark late in the game and after 12 starts, when he was subbed off three times, and four appearances off the bench, his season was over, and it wasn’t even Christmas.

A colour photo of a typical Clark tackle (on QPR’s Dave Clement) adorned the front cover of that season’s matchday programmes throughout but he didn’t start another game after a 4-0 League Cup defeat at Arsenal on 13 November.

He was sub for the following two games; the memorable 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest and a 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough, but Mullery had signed the experienced Peter Suddaby to play alongside Steve Foster, releasing Lawrenson to demonstrate his considerable repertoire of skills in midfield alongside skipper Horton and Peter O’Sullivan.

Young Giles Stille also began to press for a place and later in the season, Neil McNab was added to the midfield options, leaving Clark well down the pecking order in the reserves. Portsmouth wanted him but he rejected a move along the coast, although he had a brief loan spell at Reading, where he played a couple of games.

But Clark wasn’t finished yet in Albion’s colours and, remarkably, just over a year after his last first team appearance, with the Seagulls struggling in 20^th spot in the division, he made a comeback in a 1-0 home win over Aston Villa on 20 December 1980.

Albion had succumbed 4-3 to Everton at Goodison Park in the previous match and Mullery told the Argus: “We badly needed some steel in the side and I think Clark can do that sort of job.”

Under the headline ‘The forgotten man returns’ Argus reporter Vinicombe said Mullery hadn’t changed his opinion that Clark was not a First Division class player, but nevertheless reckoned: “Paul’s attitude is right and I know he’ll go out and do a good job for me.”

For his part, Vinicombe opined: “The strength of Clark’s game is a daunting physical presence. His tackling is second to none in the club and Mullery believes he will respond to the challenge.”

Clark kept the shirt for another nine matches (plus one as a sub), deputising for Horton towards the end of his run, but his last first team game was in a 3-1 defeat at Norwich at the end of February.

Clark remained on the books throughout Mike Bailey’s first season in charge (1981-82) but, with Jimmy Case, Tony Grealish and McNab ahead of him, didn’t make a first team appearance and left on a free transfer at the end of it.

He returned to Southend where he stayed for nine years and was player-manager on two occasions. Fans website shrimperzone.com moderator ‘Yorkshire Blue’ summed up his contribution to their cause thus: “In the top five all-time list for appearances, an inspiration in four promotions, one of the toughest tacklers of all-time and a man whose commitment for his home-town club could never be doubted.”

Clark was still only 27 when he had his first spell as manager, in caretaker charge after Dave Webb had quit following a bust-up with the club chairman, and he managed to steer United to promotion back to the third tier.

When Webb’s successor Dick Bate lasted only eight games of the new season, Clark was back at the helm, in turn becoming the youngest manager in the league.

His first hurdle ended in a League Cup giant killing over top flight Derby County (who included his old teammate John Gregory) when the Us had another former Albion teammate, Eric Steele, in goal.

A Roy McDonough penalty past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton at Roots Hall settled the two-legged tie (the second leg was goalless at the Baseball Ground) which the writer described as “arguably their biggest ever cup shock”.

In the league, player-manager Clark guided Southend to a safe 17th place but it went pear-shaped the following season. Clark only played 16 games, Southend were relegated, and Webb returning midway through the season as general manager.

Back-to-back promotions in 1989-90 and 1990-91 proved to be a more than satisfactory swansong to his Southend career, and in the first of those he found himself forming an effective defensive partnership with on-loan Guy Butters in the second half of the season.

In 1990-91, he missed only six games all season as the Shrimpers earned promotion to the second tier for the first time in their history, and he had a testimonial game against Arsenal.

But, after a total of 358 games for Southend, he left Roots Hall to join Gillingham on a free transfer.

Over three seasons, he played 90 league games, and was caretaker manager in 1992, before retiring at the end of the 1993-94 season. Gillingham’s top goalscorer with 18 that season was a young Nicky Forster and other Albion connections in that squad included Mike Trusson, Paul Watson, Neil Smillie, Andy Arnott and Richard Carpenter.

After Gillingham, Clark played non-league for Chelmsford City but left to become assistant manager to Tommy Taylor at Cambridge United. In 1996 he followed Taylor in a similar role to Leyton Orient.

Southend fans hadn’t heard the last of him, though – quite literally. He became a co-commentator on Southend games for BBC Radio Essex.

In the 2009-10 season, Clark was temporarily assistant manager to Joe Dunne at Colchester United.

Boo boys saw off international ‘keeper Wayne Henderson

DISGRUNTLED former Albion goalkeeper Wayne Henderson helped Grimsby Town keep their place in the Football League.

The Republic of Ireland international stopper, forced away from Brighton by a section of voluble supporters, was on loan to the Mariners in 2009 as they desperately tried to avoid the drop.

Although there were Grimsby grumbles on his debut, Henderson’s mission was a success, Town avoiding the drop by four points. But it was only a stay of execution because they finally fell out of the league for the first time in 100 years in 2010.

By then, Henderson was back at parent club Preston North End, who had bought him from the Seagulls for £150,000 on deadline day in January 2007.

He managed only 10 appearances for the Lancashire club – his last game coming in the final match of the 2009-10 season – and in March 2011, when only 27, he was forced to quit the game after two years plagued with spinal injuries.

Much had been expected of the young Irishman at Brighton after an initial loan spell from Aston Villa, where he had been coached by former Seagulls ‘keeper Eric Steele. He made his Albion debut away to Derby County, together with fellow countryman Paul McShane (on loan from Manchester United), in the opening game of the 2004-05 season.

Manager Mark McGhee said the youngster hadn’t put a foot wrong. “His kicking really took the pressure off us,” he said. “He was composed and took a couple of crosses towards the end which also helped relieve the pressure.”

McGhee had first hoped to sign Henderson in January 2005 to help solve a goalkeeping crisis created by a serious shoulder muscle injury to Michel Kuipers in a home match against Nottingham Forest.

Youngster Chris May, son of former Albion defender Larry May, had come off the bench to replace Kuipers in the match but McGhee didn’t see him as experienced enough in the battle to stay in the Championship. The previous season’s first choice ‘keeper, Ben Roberts, was a long-term absentee with a back injury, so McGhee had few options.

The Seagulls hoped a contractual hitch relating to Henderson’s previous loan spell at Notts County could be resolved in time to enable him to make his debut for the Albion at Elland Road. But it couldn’t and Brighton turned to Blackburn’s David Yelldell instead. That was the game where the loan goalkeeper famously wore a bright pink goalkeeper jersey and predictably suffered abuse from the Leeds crowd.

Although Clarke Carlisle put Leeds ahead just before half time, Yelldell had the last laugh when defender Guy Butters prodded home an equaliser in the 81^st minute.

When McGhee didn’t see Yelldell as a long-term option, he turned to one-time Arsenal ‘keeper Rami Shabaan, who hadn’t played a competitive game for two years, but he let in 13 goals in six games. The manager brought in Southampton’s Alan Blayney, and he was between the posts for the last seven games of the season when Albion just managed to cling on to their tier two status.

McGhee finally managed to bring in Henderson ahead of the new season and, perhaps mindful of the goalkeeping headache he’d had the previous season, found he suddenly had an embarrassment of riches in that department.

Promising youngster Richard Martin appeared as a back-up on the bench, as did season-long French loanee Florent Chaigneau. In September, Southampton’s Blayney also returned for another loan spell and eventually took over the gloves when Henderson’s three-month loan from Villa came to an end.

Intriguingly, Henderson’s penultimate game on loan was a 1-1 draw with Ipswich at the Withdean when another Villa loanee, Stefan Postma was in goal for the visitors.

It had been Henderson’s understanding that a permanent move would follow soon after he’d featured in a 1-1 draw at home to Wolves on 1 November. But a two-month on-off saga began which, according to McGhee and chairman Dick Knight, was largely down to demands made by Henderson’s agent.

Albion agreed a fee with Villa of £20,000, plus £15,000 if he helped avoid relegation from the Championship. He didn’t.

The Argus sought the opinion of former Albion no. 1 Steele who felt Henderson had a chance to make a name for himself with the Seagulls.

“With Thomas Sorensen as the no. 1 and Stuart Taylor bought in from Arsenal, Wayne’s route in terms of playing first team football was always going to be limited,” Steele told the paper. “Our problem is that we only need one goalkeeper to play in one position and it’s just been a question of what level he would make his mark.

“He’s 22 now and he really had to be looking to move on and I wish him all the best. I’ve worked with him now for four and a half years and always thought he would make a good living from the game.

“I think that’s summed up by the fact that Brighton are going to pay a small fee and we’ll also get sell-ons. He’s the same height, he’s got the same build and he has got the same attributes as Shay Given (Newcastle and Republic of Ireland). And he just needs the chance to go and play.

“He’s been away at Wycombe and been away at Notts County, who would have signed him had they had the money. He’s done it in the Second Division and the First, now he’s got the chance to do it in the Championship.”

Even if supporters of the club he’d just joined had doubts about his merits, the Republic of Ireland selectors were confident enough to give him a first senior call up in February 2006, and he made his full international debut on 1 March 2006, as a second half substitute in a 3–0 win over Sweden.

After the Albion had forfeited their tier two status that season, and the omitted Kuipers had been transfer-listed after falling out with McGhee, Henderson opened his heart to the Argus.

“Michel is liked by the fans and hopefully one day I will get the respect of the fans I feel I deserve,” he told Andy Naylor. “Michel has that because he has been at the club for a long time. I have mixed feelings about him being on the transfer list because it’s good to have someone with his reputation at the club pushing me, but sadly he fell out with the manager.

“Hopefully, I can prove the fans who are criticising me wrong but if they are set in their ways there is nothing I can do about that. It’s a shame if that is the way they feel but I couldn’t care less. I am not going to worry about it.

“I know myself how well I have done, and I am an international player because of that.”

Although he started the new season as first choice ‘keeper, three defeats on the spin saw McGhee sacked and Kuipers back in the starting line-up.

New boss Dean Wilkins restored the Irishman to the team in October which was enough to convince Eire manager Steve Staunton, a former Aston Villa colleague, to put him into a Euro 2008 qualifier against the Czech Republic, when first choice Shay Given and back-up Paddy Kenny were unavailable.

“I knew Stan from Villa, yes, but I like to think I’m being picked on merit not just because he knows what I’m capable of,” said Henderson. “I’ve got a long way to go in all aspects but being at Brighton and playing first-team football means I’m developing under pressure and getting a chance to show Stan (Staunton) what I can do.”

The Irish drew 1-1 and, having been to Dublin to watch the match, Albion goalkeeping coach John Keeley believed Henderson could be Albion’s ‘keeper for 10 years.

“I’m so pleased for Wayne. It proves what a good goalkeeper he is,” said Keeley. “He has taken some stick but people should appreciate him.”

The coach praised his handling at Lansdowne Road, the way he had made himself available for back-passes from his full-backs, and his composure. Highlighting a fine one-handed save he made to deny Milan Baros, Keeley said: “The save that he made just before half-time was world class.”

He added:“I honestly believe that Wayne is a better ‘keeper than Paddy Kenny. His all-round game is more suited to international football.”

*Henderson makes his Eire debut, replacing Shay Given*

Keeley reckoned: “He’s 22 and we’ve got a world-class player. With Wayne being so young we’ve got a goalkeeper now for the next ten years. That’s the way I look at it.”

The following month, Henderson even made the headlines when he wasn’t playing! Injury ruled him out of Albion’s side to face Bradford City at Valley Parade on 4 November and he decided to watch from the seats behind the goal.

When Dean Bowditch scored an 89^th-minute winner for the Seagulls, the exuberant ‘keeper jumped over the hoardings – and was promptly escorted out of the ground by a steward!

“It was over-zealous stewarding,” he said afterwards. “Alex Revell made the goal and he was celebrating right in front of where I was sitting in the front row of the stand.

“The natural thing was to go and celebrate within him but one of the Bradford stewards – who knew I was one of the non-playing squad members – took exception to my celebration.

“I think he was a Bradford supporter and perhaps he thought I was trying to rub his nose in it – but I wasn’t. I was just pumped up to see the lads score a last-minute winner.

“The next thing I was being grabbed by a steward and then I was marched out of the ground where the police took my name and address, but I think they saw the funny side of it.”

Henderson wasn’t laughing a few weeks later. He’d returned from injury but the side was on a losing streak in December. Away to Bournemouth on New Year’s Day, it looked like Albion might come away with a point but in stoppage time the ‘keeper lost his footing and gifted the Cherries a win, and a section of Brighton supporters booed him off the pitch.

After a 3-0 defeat to West Ham in the FA Cup third round, the Seagulls entertained Millwall at Withdean and a mix-up between Henderson and Joel Lynch led to the visitors winning by the only goal of the game.

Manager Dean Wilkins dropped him and it was the last time he played for the club. The barracking had got to him to the extent he had submitted a second transfer request of the season and, referring to the fans who’d got on his back, he told the Argus: “They love their football as much as anyone else but the way they reacted was pathetic really.”

After securing a deadline day move to Preston, he said: “It was disappointing the way it finished. I was devastated at being left out of the team. The mistake I made against Bournemouth could have happened to anybody and the Millwall game was a mistake by someone else that caught me out.”

Now free to air his feelings about the series of events, he said: “A lot of fans have certain opinions of players. For me the whole experience at Brighton was more like the X Factor.

“It just seemed to be a personality contest and I couldn’t enjoy my football.”

He continued: “I’ve never felt welcome at the club, except by the coaching staff and the players. The coaching staff have been magnificent, and I wish them all the best, because, if anyone is going to get anything out of the kids, it is Dean (Wilkins) and Dean (White), so I hope they are given a fair crack of the whip.

“Outside of them and the lads, a handful of fans have backed me lately and I really respect that but there were an awful lot of fans who didn’t and other people at the club who, for some reason, made it more difficult than it should have been.”

Within the tight confines of the small capacity Withdean Stadium, perhaps it was always going to be a tall order for Henderson to supplant crowd favourite Kuipers.

The ‘former Dutch marine – chef’ Kuipers, as he was serenaded by the singing section, had endeared himself to the Albion crowd after Micky Adams brought the previously unknown shot-stopper to the club in 2000. Subsequent managers brought in their own alternatives but Kuipers, always a reliable shot-stopper, had a habit of bouncing back.

If Henderson was perturbed by unfavourable crowd opinion at Brighton, it seems there was similar mood music when he made his debut for Grimsby.

Manager Mike Newell brought him in along with three other loan players (Joe Widdowson, Peter Sweeney and Barry Conlon) and, in 14 games he played through to the end of the season, five wins and three draws were enough to give them a finish four points above the relegation trapdoor (Chester City and Luton Town went out of the league).

The excellent Cod Almighty fans website observed some fans booed and jeered Henderson on his home debut because the gale force wind kept blowing his goal kicks into touch.

Pete Green, on the same website, later wrote: “These temporary Mariners have played an enormous part in preserving the club’s status in the Football League – even as repeated mistakes by experienced, longer-term Town players such as Phil Barnes and Tom Newey continued to jeopardise it. Henderson has already gone back to Preston, and we stand no chance of signing him permanently.”

While the other three loan players did sign permanently, Newell brought in another Irish international goalkeeper in Nick Colgan the following season.

Born in Dublin on 16 September 1983, Henderson followed in the goalkeeping footsteps of his father and brothers. Dad Paddy played for Shamrock Rovers; brothers Dave and Stephen played in the League of Ireland. Even his nephew, Stephen, was a goalkeeper – most notably for Portsmouth, Charlton and Nottingham Forest after also going through the youth ranks at Villa.

Wayne played for the same Cherry Orchard club in his home city that also spawned the likes of Mark Yeates, Dave Langan, Andy Reid and Stephen Quinn.

John Gregory was in charge at Villa Park when Henderson joined Aston Villa in July 2001. A year later, he was in goal when Villa won the FA Youth Cup (below), beating Everton – with Wayne Rooney playing up front – 4-2 on aggregate over two legs. Also in the Villa side that day was Liam Ridgewell, who later had a brief loan spell at Brighton, and Peter Whittingham, who went on to play more than 500 professional games and died in tragic circumstances aged just 35.

*Joy for Henderson as Aston Villa win the 2002 FA Youth Cup*

Although Henderson was chosen on Villa’s first team bench occasionally, he didn’t play any competitive fixtures for the first team. Those opportunities came via loans.

After a month at non-league Tamworth in the spring of 2004, he spent a month on loan at Second Division Wycombe Wanderers under Tony Adams towards the end of the 2003-04 season, when their last place finish meant they were relegated to the newly formed League Two.

The following season he joined Notts County, another of the clubs who’d been relegated with Wycombe, and had two loan spells, three months under Gary Mills and then a month under his successor, caretaker boss Ian Richardson.

Paul Simpson signed Henderson for Preston but when injuries forced him to retire at just 27, he told skysports.com: “I’ve decided to actually step out of football and give my body time to heal for once.

“It is exciting for me though because I’m looking to go into a completely different environment from playing but stay within football at the same time.

“I’ve been trying to get back fit for a few years now with injections and operations, but I’ve decided that rest is the way forward for it now.

“I’ve not signed anything yet, but there are a good few options for me to choose from, which I am really excited about.”

Henderson, who married 2010 Apprentice winner Liz Locke, now works as a licensed intermediary for agency YMU, who, among plenty of other elite footballers, represent Albion’s Evan Ferguson and Andrew Moran.

Duffy had Burleigh pal for company on his Albion arrival

HISTORY has seen a whole string of goalkeepers play for both Newcastle United and Brighton. Dutchman Tim Krul was the most recent and others stretching back over the years – Eric Steele, Dave Beasant, and Steve Harper – have featured in this blog at various times.

My post this time, though, centres on Martin Burleigh, for many years an understudy to Northern Irish international Iam McFaul.

When stocky striker Alan Duffy travelled 350 miles from home to join Brighton in early 1970, it was with some relief that he found the familiar face of Burleigh amongst his new teammates.

*How Albion’s matchday programme reported Duffy’s delight in meeting up with a familiar face*

The goalkeeper, who was only 18, was on loan at the Albion at the time. The previous year he and Duffy had been in the same Newcastle United youth team.

Not only did that side do the Northern Intermediate League and cup double, 10 days before the first team won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the youth team brought even more silverware to Tyneside – winning a prestigious international youth tournament at Feyenoord’s ground in Rotterdam.

*Toon’s trophy-winning youth team of 1969*

Unlike Albion’s new £10,000 permanent signing, though, Burleigh was to have only a short-lived stay in Sussex. Manager Freddie Goodwin had brought in the Toon no.3 ‘keeper (Iam McFaul was first choice and John Hope his deputy) as cover while Albion were reduced to only one fit goalkeeper (Brian Powney) following a serious head injury to Geoff Sidebottom in the first match of a marathon second round FA Cup tie against Walsall (it took four games to decide it; those were the days before penalty shoot-outs).

Thankfully Powney avoided injury so young Burleigh was not called into match action, and he returned to the north east still waiting to make his league debut. Indeed, he had to wait until Boxing Day 1970 for that chance. Although Toon went down 3-0 at Leeds United, opposition manager Don Revie praised the youngster, saying: “I thought he had a fine game. He had no chance with the goals. Some of the saves he made showed he has a fine future ahead of him.”

It would seem Toon boss Joe Harvey wasn’t so sure and it was more than a year before Burleigh got his next chance to shine, making his home debut in a 4-2 win over Coventry City on 8 January 1972.

Once again it was to be his only first team appearance of the season, but in the 1972-73 season he finally got a run of games when McFaul was injured. He played in 11 matches but then had the misfortune to fracture a finger in a collision with Mick Channon during a 1-1 draw at Southampton, and McFaul returned.

The Toon 1892.com website recalls Burleigh then having a struggle with weight issues and he had a public dispute with manager Harvey which saw him walk out of the club saying he was going to join the RAF. But Newcastle retained his registration and when the dust settled on the dispute he was sent on loan to Darlington before making the move permanent in October 1974 for a fee of £8,000.

He was only at Darlington for a season before switching across country to Carlisle United, where he spent two seasons.

When Burleigh died at the age of 70 on 27 September 2021, Carlisle chairman Andrew Jenkins said: “Martin was a big character who was a pleasure to have around. He was tall and strong in stature and very stylish in the way he kept goal.

“We used to talk about how he very much had the manner of how the goalkeepers in Europe used to do things, with flair and a bit of theatre.

“I remember that Alan Ashman was really keen to get him signed and over here to join us. When he was speaking to the board about him, he said that the fans would be queuing along Warwick Road to watch him – he felt he was that good.”

His death was mourned by former Newcastle teammates too and several ‘Toon Legends’ remembered him at a gathering at the Tyneside Irish Centre.

*Tribute on Twitter following Burleigh’s death*

“Martin was a great friend and a lot of players who played alongside him at Newcastle from junior to first team level want to pay their respects to a real character,” Toon Legends official Chris Emmerson told Chronicle Live.

After his spell at Carlisle, where he also had to bide his time behind first choice Allan Ross, Burleigh returned to Fourth Division Darlington for two more seasons, during which time (in October 1978) he kept goal when the north east minnows only narrowly lost (1-0) to First Division Everton in a third round League Cup tie.

Burleigh went on to spend three seasons in goal for Hartlepool, ending his league career with a total of 222 appearances.

He then became a painter and decorator but continued playing for non-league sides in the area, appearing for Bishop Auckland, Spennymoor and Langley Park until packing up playing in 1984.

Born in Willington, County Durham, on 2 February 1951, Burleigh was playing for his hometown team at 17 when Newcastle signed him in 1968, initially as an amateur.

Kenneth Scott, in The Toon1892 Chronicles, wrote: “He displayed within the junior and reserve teams that he was more than capable between the posts and it was not long before he turned professional.”

That happened in December 1968 and before the end of the season he was in goal for the Newcastle youth team under coach Keith Burkinshaw (who later managed Spurs) when they won the international tournament in Holland, beating an Arsenal side containing the likes of Ray Kennedy, Sammy Nelson, Charlie George, Eddie Kelly, and Pat Rice.

The achievement was somewhat overshadowed by the first team’s triumph in the old Inter-Cities Fairs Cup when Toon beat Hungarian side Ujpest in the two-legged final, skipper Bobby Moncur lifting the trophy in Budapest.

Although Burleigh managed to edge out McFaul’s deputy Hope to become the no.2 at St James’s Park (Hope joined Sheffield United along with David Ford in exchange for John Tudor in 1971), the form and fitness of the Northern Irish international (who later spent three years as manager of Newcastle) always kept him on the sidelines.

• Incidentally, in line with the tradition of Albion ‘sharing’ goalkeepers over several decades, when McFaul was in the manager’s chair in January 1988 he took Albion’s long-serving Perry Digweed on a month’s loan with the Magpies. He played in their reserves but didn’t appear in the first team. The following month he went on loan to relegation-threatened Chelsea where he featured in three matches: a 3-3 draw away to Coventry City, a 0-0 home draw v Everton and a 4-4 draw at Oxford United.

Malcolm in the middle was moustachioed marksman Poskett

MALCOLM POSKETT’s goals helped Brighton to win promotion from the second tier after he’d made a terrific start to his Albion career.

Only two days after putting pen to paper in Hove, Poskett netted the equaliser in a 1-1 draw away to Hull City on 4 February 1978 and a week later he marked his home debut with a goal in Albion’s 2-1 win over Burnley.

The game at Boothferry Park was only six minutes old when the home side went ahead but Poskett levelled it up just before half-time after a Tony Towner corner was headed goalwards by Andy Rollings and the new arrival diverted it into the net.

A £60,000 signing from fourth tier Hartlepool United, Poskett had taken over the no.9 shirt from Ian Mellor, who had only been in the side for one game in the injury absence of Teddy Maybank.

Maybank’s big money signing from Fulham four months earlier had broken up the highly successful Mellor-Peter Ward partnership that earned Albion promotion from the old Third Division, and Poskett’s arrival only served to illuminate the Goldstone exit door even brighter for Mellor, who swiftly departed for Chester.

A crowd of 22,694 saw the new man’s Division Two debut on an icy Goldstone Ground pitch. Poskett once again profited from a Towner pass to score. Skipper Brian Horton scored Albion’s other goal.

It all must have felt very showbiz to the lad from Teesside, used to playing in front of 5,000 crowds in the Fourth Division, especially when prior to kick off against the Clarets, Slade, a famous chart-topping pop group of the time, recorded a single on the pitch in front of the North Stand.

While Maybank reclaimed his starting berth from Poskett for six matches, he was troubled by a knee injury and Poskett got the nod for the remaining seven games of the season as Albion chased automatic promotion, which at that time was earned by the top three sides in the division. There were no play-offs.

Poskett repaid Mullery’s faith in him with a hat-trick in a 4-0 win away to Bristol Rovers and by netting the only goal of the game in the penultimate fixture at home to Charlton Athletic in front of 31,203 fans.

What happened next has been well documented: Albion missed out on promotion when Southampton (in second) and Spurs (third) conveniently drew 0-0 in the final match of the season; Spurs edging out the Seagulls on goal difference.

Maybank had a successful cartilage operation during the summer break and was initially the preferred partner for Ward as the new season got under way.

Poskett banged in a transfer request as a mark of his frustration but, after Mullery persuaded him to withdraw it, he got his chance back in the side and made the most of opportunities that came his way.

Mullery admitted in Matthew Horner’s biography of Ward (He Shot, He Scored, Sea View Media) that he wasn’t always fair on Poskett when reverting to the Ward-Maybank partnership.

He pointed out: “Malcolm Poskett did a terrific job when we signed him. He was one of the most under-rated goalscorers – absolutely brilliant.

“He was really similar to Wardy, very sharp and very quick but a bit taller and a bit stronger.”

By the end of the season that ended in promotion to the top tier of English football for the first time, Poskett had contributed 10 goals in 24 games (plus eight sub appearances). He was the substitute in the famous 3-1 win back in his native north-east when Newcastle were beaten by the Seagulls on 5 May 1979.

Brighton struggled to find their feet in more exalted company and Poskett barely got a look-in, coming on as a sub twice and only starting three matches, the last of which was in the resounding 4-0 defeat to Arsenal in the League Cup on 13 November 1979.

He scored twice, though: netting the only goal in an away League Cup win over Northampton Town, and four days later scoring along with Peter O’Sullivan as Albion pulled back a 2-0 deficit to draw 2-2 at West Brom.

*Poskett wheels away to celebrate his only top flight goal, away to West Brom*

However, with the arrival of Ray Clarke from Ajax, it was clear Poskett’s chances at the Albion were going to remain limited, so he dropped back down a level to join promotion-seeking Watford under Graham Taylor. Albion goalkeeper Eric Steele had already made a similar switch in the autumn of that season shortly after a famous spat with Gary Williams at Old Trafford. Mullery also secured a £120,000 fee for Poskett, so Albion did very nicely out of the deal.

“I would have loved to stay at Brighton for the rest of my career, but it wasn’t to be,” Poskett told Spencer Vignes in a retrospective matchday programme article. “One week I was partnering Peter Ward, the next it would be Teddy with Peter. I never got a run in the team, even though I scored a couple of goals when I did play.

“At least with Watford I got the chance to start games. People called us kick and run, a long ball side, but we had a lot of talented players like Ross Jenkins, John Barnes and Nigel Callaghan.”

Poskett struck up a friendship with fellow new boy Martin Patching and both were on the scoresheet (Poskett scored twice) in a memorable 7-1 League Cup thrashing of Southampton on 2 September 1980.

Although being Watford’s top scorer with 21 goals in the 1980-81season, when the Hornets finished ninth, the following season he found himself in the reserves after a three-game barren spell.

In a Watford matchday programme article, he mused: “It’s a strange profession – one minute you’re up and the next down.

“I played in the first three league games of the season without scoring and was dropped. But I’m scoring fairly regularly in the reserve side and my chance will come if I keep on hitting the net. I’m a battler and not the type of player to give less than 100 per cent, no matter what grade of football I’m playing in.”

Watford won promotion as runners up behind close rivals Luton Town but Poskett couldn’t shift Luther Blissett or Jenkins, who were the preferred strike pairing, and Gerry Armstrong, later to join Brighton, was invariably the back-up option.

Born in Middlesbrough on 19 July 1953, Poskett went to Beechwood Junior School and then on to Brackenhoe Secondary Technical. His footballing ability in school sides eventually led to him being selected for North Riding Schools.

He was a decent all-round sportsman – a useful cricketer who played for Middlesbrough Schools, he also featured in local leagues at table tennis, and enjoyed tennis and badminton too.

But at 16 the budding sportsman started out as an apprenticeship plater at Cargofleet Steelworks, only playing football for the local Beechwood Youth Club and then South Bank in the Northern League.

His performances for South Bank caught the eye of Middlesbrough and he was taken on as a professional. But after 18 months in their reserves, manager Jack Charlton gave him a free transfer and he opted to become a plater on North Sea oil rigs to earn a wage.

He didn’t turn his back on football altogether, turning out part-time for Whitby Town in the Northern League. Scoring an incredible 98 goals over two seasons was bound to attract attention.

George Aitken, later a Watford coach and then a coach under Mullery at Brighton, was Workington manager at the time and tried to sign Poskett, but, disillusioned by his Boro experience he chose to stick with Whitby until Hartlepool manager Billy Horner convinced him he could still make it in the professional game.

For a £25 transfer fee, Horner took him on and devoted hours of extra time working on the youngster’s skills and sharpness. It paid off.

“My work rate was non-existent, but Billy Horner really worked on me and got me going,” Poskett told Shoot! magazine. “If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would have got anywhere – I’d still be in non-League soccer. It was so hard at first, I felt like packing it in, but he kept me at it and I’m very grateful now.”

His goalscoring at Hartlepool caught the eye of Ken Craggs when he was a coach at Fulham and when Craggs switched to become Mullery’s no.2 at the Goldstone, Poskett followed soon after, the £60,000 fee representing a tidy profit for the struggling North East minnows.

In an interview with The Argus in 2017, Poskett recalled: “Brighton was one of the best times of my life.

“I came in during the season when we just missed out on promotion and the lads were fantastic. It was a fabulous place to live as well.

“I had to come from one end of the country to the other but, once I got there, there were lads from up north, the Midlands, so it was a good mixed bunch and I felt right at home.”

After helping Watford to promotion in 1982, Poskett headed back north and played for Carlisle United for three seasons, thriving under the managership of Bob Stokoe, who’d led Sunderland to FA Cup glory in 1973.

In the penultimate game of the 1983-84 season, Poskett scored his 100^th career goal – and his 101^st – as Carlisle drew 2-2 at home to Crystal Palace in front of a paltry crowd at Brunton Park of just 3,038.

Poskett subsequently had six months at Darlington, before switching to Stockport County in January 1986.

Appearances were few and far between and he went on loan to his old club Hartlepool in March the same year before moving back to Carlisle in August 1986. He finally hung up his boots at the end of the 1987-88 season.

He remained in the town and in 2017 was working as an examiner at Pirelli, the tyre manufacturer.

Pictures from Albion matchday programmes and online sources.

Albion rookie Richard Martin became Sven goalie at City

RICHARD MARTIN could justifiably be dubbed ‘The Nearly Man’ of goalkeeping.

Once thought to have the potential to play 200 games for the Albion, he left the Seagulls having only ever warmed the first team bench.

In an unlikely turn of events, he went from back-up League One Seagulls ‘keeper to no.3 behind Kasper Schmeichel and Joe Hart at Premier League Manchester City, thanks to former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson.

After two years at City, he went on loan to Burton Albion, then worked under Ben Roberts and Nathan Jones as back-up ‘keeper at Yeovil Town before enjoying fleeting fame on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico.

Doubtless it wasn’t the career he expected when his teenage promise between the sticks led to him earning trials with Liverpool and Everton.

Born in Chelmsford on 1 September 1987, Martin spent part of his childhood in Liverpool but the family were living in Burgess Hill when the young goalkeeper was picked up by the Albion.

Martin was only 16 when Liverpool took him on a week-long trial and Albion manager Mark McGhee went public in the Argus on 4 February 2004, explaining why he thought the youngster should stick with the Seagulls.

*Warming up for the Albion (pictured by the Argus)*

“We have put forward a reasonable argument to the boy and to his parents as to why we think he should stay here,” said McGhee. “The thing we can promise him at a club like ours, like any other young player in any other position, is that if he is good enough he will be fast-tracked into the first team or certainly onto the bench.

“If he goes to Liverpool there is no chance of that happening. At the very best he is going to spend two or three years at youth level, then at reserve level and in five years’ time he might start to make an impression in the first team squad.

“By that time, he would have played 200 games for us and be worth a lot of money and move to Liverpool under different circumstances.”

The Argus reckoned Albion could have got compensation of at least £200,000 if Martin, a Liverpool supporter, had ended up at Anfield. But Liverpool didn’t take him on, he remained an Albion scholar, progressed through the youth ranks and was awarded a two-year professional contract in the summer of 2005, before his scholarship was due to expire.

With Michel Kuipers sidelined by injury, Martin and fellow young ‘keeper John Sullivan shared opportunities to play for the first team in pre-season friendlies ahead of the 2005-06 season. Martin appeared against Le Havre, Oxford United and Bournemouth, as well as coming on as a sub in two other matches.

A sizeable Albion following went over to France to watch Albion’s 2-0 defeat to Le Havre when Martin began in goal in the absence of Michel Kuipers. The Argus reported: “Martin flew high to his right to brilliantly tip away a 12th-minute thunderbolt from Jean-Michel Lesage which was dipping and swerving towards the top corner from 25 yards.”

Goalkeeping coach John Keeley went further and told the matchday programme: “That was an absolute world-class save. I’m sure if Michel had made it people would still have been talking about it – it was that good..

“He can take big positives out of that and the other bits he had to do in the first half.”

When the season proper got under way, Martin found himself on the bench for 14 matches as Irish international Wayne Henderson, on loan from Aston Villa, was the established first choice. But then Frenchman Florent Chaigneau arrived on a year-long loan from Rennes.

In December 2005, Everton took Martin on trial and for a while there was speculation that a nice fat transfer fee from selling the youngster could be reinvested in signing a much-needed striker for the first team. But the move didn’t materialise because Everton boss David Moyes didn’t think Martin was big enough.

The Argus reported: “Martin impressed during a recent trial with the Merseyside giants but Goodison boss Moyes has decided not to sign the slimly-built 18-year-old from Burgess Hill due to his size.”

Instead of heading to Goodison, Martin went on loan to non-league Kingstonian, competition for the no.1 spot at Albion having increased with the permanent signing of Henderson from Villa.

Martin was part of the successful Albion youth side of 2006 from which six players went on to play first team football. But even at youth level he was competing with Sullivan, who eventually edged ahead of him and did manage to break through into the first team.

Competitive football game-time was considered the best option for Martin and the following season he went on a season-long loan deal to Conference South Dorchester Town. But his stay was cut short by injury. Once recovered, in the second half of the season, he joined Folkestone Invicta where he played 12 matches.

However, on his return to the Albion his contract wasn’t renewed, and he was without a club until the surprise opportunity arose at Manchester City, where the goalkeeping coach at the time was ex-Albion No. 1 Eric Steele.

Martin told the Argus: “This is completely unexpected. I’d like to think Brighton were wrong to let me go but these things happen.

“I went up to City initially just for a week to do a bit of training, because my agent knows Eric.

“(First choice Andreas) Isaksson and Joe Hart picked up injuries, they had a reserve game which I played in and then I carried on training.

“I don’t think I am in contention for the first team, I will just be in the reserves and go from there. Hopefully the month will be extended if I can keep on doing well.”

Sure enough, it was and boss Eriksson was happy to give Martin a season-long contract.

His only first-team action came on 22 May 2008 when replacing Schmeichel for the second half in an end-of-season charity match in Hong Kong against a South China Invitational XI.

Even after Steele switched allegiance to Manchester United and Eriksson had moved on, Martin had done enough to establish himself as third in line behind Hart and Schmeichel.

Mark Hughes took over as manager and Martin remained at the club working with ex-Chelsea ‘keeper Kevin Hitchcock, who Hughes had taken with him from Blackburn.

Martin was given the no.13 squad number for the 2008-09 Premier League and UEFA Cup campaign and it was an irresistible opportunity for the Argus to catch up with him ahead of Brighton’s home Carling Cup tie against City at Withdean in September 2008 when Albion sprung a big shock by winning the penalty shoot-out.

Reporter Andy Naylor discovered Martin had been philosophical, rather than disappointed, about the way things turned out with Albion. “When I look back at the situation at that time it was all about getting results and Michel (Kuipers) and Wayne (Henderson) were the two generally ahead of me,” he said. “I got a lot of good experience at Brighton and that set me in good stead for coming up to Manchester.”

Unfortunately, a knee injury Martin sustained shortly after sidelined him until the following March. Then in April, City allowed him to move temporarily to Burton Albion as cover because their first choice ‘keeper Kevin Poole was injured.

When released by City in the summer of 2009, more Albion connections provided him with his next opportunity, and finally the opportunity to play league football, at Yeovil Town.

*Martin at Yeovil (picture by YTFC Digital)*

In the Seagulls’ 2004 play-off winning season, Martin was a youth-teamer when Glovers assistant boss Jones was Albion’s left-back and goalkeeping coach Roberts was between the sticks.

Ahead of Brighton’s 2-2 draw at Huish Park on 10 October 2009, Martin told Brian Owen of the Argus: “I was fortunate I got the call from Yeovil in the summer and went down there for a trial. They liked what they saw. Of course, I know Nathan and Ben well and the fact they knew about me must have helped them make a decision.”

Martin was on the bench for the Albion fixture but had made his league debut shortly before as a substitute when first-choice Alex McCarthy (at the time on loan from Reading) was sent-off 20 minutes into a 2-2 draw with Stockport County. With McCarthy banned, Martin got his first start in a defeat at Southampton.

However, in total he made just three league and two cup appearances in that first half of the season and in January 2010 was loaned to Conference National bottom-placed side Grays Athletic – and within the space of a fortnight had conceded 11 goals in three matches!

Although he returned to Yeovil after a month, McCarthy’s fine form denied him any further first team action at Huish Park and he was released in July 2010. After brief spells with Havant & Waterlooville and Crawley Town, Yeovil re-signed him on 31 December 2010.

*Plenty to say in goal for Puerto Rico Islanders*

However, in March 2011 he had the opportunity to head to the Caribbean and play for Puerto Rico Islanders, who at the time were in the second tier of the North American Soccer League. He made his debut in May 2011 having initially been back-up ‘keeper and then signed for a second season, during which he established himself as first choice and played a total of 33 matches.

*Talking on camera after the NASL player of the month award*

In August 2012 he was named NASL player of the month, and he was interviewed about the experience of playing for the Islanders. There is an excellent montage feature in which the commentator purrs in this YouTube footage: “Richard Martin has the reflexes of a jungle cat.”

Back in the UK in 2013, Martin played briefly for Whitehawk and Burgess Hill before retiring.

Steve Harper’s part in the Seagulls-Magpies goalkeeping ‘trade’

BRIGHTON and Newcastle United clearly have a similar eye for goalkeepers with a string of custodians having played for both clubs.

A few years before I started watching, Dave Hollins, older brother of ex-Chelsea midfielder John, moved to Tyneside in 1960 after three years with the Albion, and played twice as many games for Newcastle in the early part of that decade than he had for Brighton.

Back in the first Alan Mullery era, Eric Steele, who went through the Newcastle ranks without making the first team, arrived at Brighton to replace the injured Peter Grummitt in 1977 and was in the side that won promotion to the elite via a 3-1 win at St James’ Park in 1979.

Dave Beasant, who Newcastle bought from Wimbledon for £850,000 in 1988 – although he only played 20 games for the Magpies – was between the sticks for the Albion for 16 games in 2003.

More recently, Dutchman Tim Krul – who’d been at Newcastle a decade – spent a couple of seasons as back-up to Mat Ryan and would probably be disappointed he didn’t get more game time.

My post on this occasion, though, is about Steve Harper, United’s longest-ever serving player having been there 20 years. He later went back as one of the coaches working with Steve Bruce, as well as being goalkeeping coach to the Northern Ireland international side.

Harper is a qualified UEFA A coach and UEFA A goalkeeping coach, and holds a Masters degree in Sport Directorship.

Back in 2011, Harper was happy to lend his experience to the second tier Seagulls during Gus Poyet’s tenure as manager, a decision applauded by Alan Pardew, Toon boss at the time.

“He just wanted to play,” Pardew told the Chronicle. “Not all the top players in the country would have gone on loan – you’re vulnerable.

“You’re going down a division, but he was prepared to do that, and fair play to him.”

For his part, Harper told BBC Sport: “Everybody knows I haven’t played enough football until the last two-and-a-half years.

“I hadn’t played a competitive game for about six months so it was nice to blow the cobwebs out.”

In his first Seagulls match, unfortunately Albion lost against West Ham to a single goal from Harper’s former teammate Kevin Nolan, and he said: “It was disappointing to lose against West Ham with the possession we had.

“Now I’m here, it’s time to get stuck in. We want Brighton to consolidate and finish as high as we can. People tell me it’s a lovely city. I’m looking forward to seeing more of it.”

Harper recalled the time fondly in an interview for the Albion website in 2019.

He featured in five games for the Seagulls, keeping two clean sheets. While he conceded five goals, three came away to Southampton when the Seagulls were unjustly punished by referee Peter Walton.

Harper told journalist Nick Szczepanik: “I would have stayed longer given the opportunity. They made me feel very welcome.”

He even managed to give two of his new teammates a surprise when he started speaking to them in Spanish. Playing behind Spanish speakers Inigo Calderon and Gonzalo Jara Reyes, he explained to Andy Naylor, then of The Argus: “After five years of Bobby Robson and his multi-lingual team talks my Spanish is okay.

“Calde got quite a shock with how much Spanish I know, but I had Colocinni and Enrique in the team with me at Newcastle.”

After his brief spell with the Albion, Harper returned to Newcastle and played nine more games for them the following season before moving on to Hull City (at the time managed by current Toon boss Bruce), where he played alongside Liam Rosenior.

Born in Seaham on 14 March 1975, Harper grew up in the County Durham mining village of Easington and went to its local comprehensive school. Originally a striker at local Sunday league level, he only started playing in goal from the age of 17 and he turned out for Newcastle’s youth team while he was still at college doing A levels.

In fact he was offered a place at John Moores University in Liverpool to study for a Sports Science degree but he deferred it when Newcastle offered him a one-year contract. He signed in 1993 as a back-up for first choice Pavel Srnicek, later Shaka Hislop and subsequently Shay Given.

Much of his time at Newcastle was as a more than capable deputy to whoever was first choice although in United’s 2009-10 season in the Championship, under Chris Hughton, he was the main man and played 45 matches.

Harper had nothing but praise for Hughton, telling chroniclelive.co.uk: “He came in at an incredibly difficult, turbulent time after relegation.

“Chris was the man at the centre of a perfect storm who steered us through some very choppy waters.

“He did a wonderful job and I don’t think he got enough credit. It was no surprise to me to see him go on to do an excellent job at Birmingham City and then at Brighton.”

In total, Harper played 199 games for Newcastle, featuring under nine different managers – Kevin Keegan and Bobby Robson being his favourites.

Periodically over the years, he went out on loan to gain first-team action, appearing between the sticks for Bradford City, Gateshead, Stockport County, Hartlepool and Huddersfield. The Brighton move was his sixth spell out on loan.

Harper’s long service for Newcastle was rewarded with a testimonial against AC Milan in 2013 before he left the club to join Hull, where he spent two seasons.

Six months after his departure from Hull, he was taken on by then Premier League Sunderland as cover for Jordan Pickford and Vito Mannone, but he didn’t make a first-team appearance and was released at the end of the season.

Dennis Burnett – England World Cup trio’s teammate – added finesse to Brighton’s defence

WITH all due respect to his predecessors in the number 6 shirt, Dennis Burnett was a classy addition to Brighton’s defence when he signed from Hull City in 1975.

At the end of his first season with Brighton, when they toyed with promotion from Division 3 but just missed out, Burnett was selected in the PFA Third Division Team of the Year, which said everything about his stature amongst his fellow professionals. Albion’s Peter O’Sullivan was also selected while the goalkeeper was Eric Steele, then with Peterborough, and Crystal Palace winger, and, future Brighton manager, Peter Taylor, was also in the XI.

Before 1975, Brighton fans had been used to seeing their centre halves hoof it, but Burnett play more in the style of another famous former West Ham number 6. OK, he might never have reached Bobby Moore’s level but he played alongside the great man for a while and came through the ranks at West Ham when they had a reputation for playing cultured football.

He started off in the West Ham youth team and was in the 1963 FA Youth Cup winning side alongside the likes of Harry Redknapp, Clive Charles, Bobby Howe and John Sissons.

Burnett made his first team debut for the Hammers as a 21-year-old in October 1965, along with Jimmy Bloomfield (the future Orient and Leicester manager), in a 3-0 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage. He made 24 league appearances in 1965-66, the most he managed in any one season for the Hammers.

In March 1966, he collected a League Cup runners-up medal playing right back in a side that lost 5-3 over two legs to West Brom. The team was captained by Bobby Moore, and included Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst, just four months before all three played in England’s one and only World Cup win.

Burnett went on to complete 66 league and cup appearances for West Ham.

Born in Southwark on 27 September 1944, perhaps it was no surprise his next stop was Millwall. West Ham sold him to The Lions in 1967 for £15,000, and the vast majority of his football career was spent at The Den, playing in the second tier.

Playing alongside Barry Kitchener at centre half and Harry Cripps at left back, he was part of a team that nearly made it to the First Division, particularly in 1971-72.

In a scene you would never get now in the mobile phone age, Millwall were leading Preston at home and the word went round The Den that rivals for promotion Birmingham were losing at Sheffield Wednesday. It looked like Millwall would be promoted to the elite for the first time in their history and the news spread to the players on the pitch.

Unfortunately, the rumour was completely wrong. Birmingham were leading, not losing. Club skipper Cripps had even gone round the Preston players telling them Millwall were going up but level-headed Burnett didn’t get carried away.

millwall-history.org records: On-the-field skipper Dennis Burnett was less convinced. “I wasn’t going to believe it until I knew for sure,” he said. “Those last few minutes were agonising. We played on in a dream. It was the longest 20 minutes ever for me.”

As the end of the game approached, the crowd jammed the touchline, waiting to cheer off the Millwall players. The pressure behind Millwall’s goal was so great that the woodwork began to buckle.
Centre-forward Barry Bridges (who would join Brighton five months later) ran back to appeal to the fans to be patient. When the referee blew for the last time – suspiciously early – half the 20,000 crowd stormed on to the pitch. Cripps was carried aloft and some of the other players lost their shirts.

Finally the correct score from Hillsborough was announced and the crowd fell silent and faded away.

The following season, Millwall struggled near the bottom of the table and manager Benny Fenton moved Burnett into midfield.

“As a sweeper I was a bit restricted,” he told Goal’s Ray Bradley, who described him as “one of the most accomplished and stylish players outside the First Division”.

“I had to stay back and wasn’t so involved,” said Burnett. “ Now I find I can express myself more and go up in support of the attack.”

Unlike his illustrious former Hammers teammates, full international recognition eluded him but in April 1973 Burnett was part of an English FA squad managed by Sir Alf Ramsey that thrashed Gibraltar 9-0 in a ‘friendly’. Frank Worthington (of Leicester at the time) scored a hat-trick.

Hankering for another shot at top division football, Burnett went on to the transfer list at The Den. He got his move, but only to a club in the same division.

After clocking up 257 appearances for Millwall, in 1974, Terry Neill paid £80,000 to take Burnett to Hull City, where a young Stuart Pearson, future West Ham, Man Utd and England international was making a name for himself.

However, when Neill left to become manager of Spurs, his replacement John Kaye brought in his own man while Burnett was out of the side suspended. After losing his place, Burnett had a brief loan spell back at Millwall.

During the summer of 1975, he played 21 games in the States with St Louis Stars (for whom former Chelsea and England goalkeeper Peter Bonetti was playing) before Brighton manager Peter Taylor secured his services for the Seagulls.

In an article in Shoot incorporating Goal, Burnett explained how, although he’d been sidelined for two months with an ankle ligament injury, he’d got back in the side only to be sent off in a game away to Bristol City.

“It was a most unjust decision. Even the opposition seemed flabbergasted,” he said. “Anyway, I never played for Hull again. The signing of Dave Roberts from Oxford United put paid to my chances of a first team recall, following my suspension.

“Eventually, manager John Kaye called me into his office and asked if I wanted a move. A price of £30,000 was put on my head, later reduced to £15,000. No one came for me so in April I went to the United States and played for St Louis Stars in Missouri, a North American Soccer League club.

“While there I received another contract from Hull City, which I refused to sign. I lodged an appeal against it to the Football League Management Committee. Surprisingly they upheld it, and, during July, I received a letter to say I’d been given a free transfer.

“I arrived back in England on August 24^th, made and received a number of ‘phone calls which resulted in my being offered a three-year contract by Brighton, plus excellent wages, which at the age of 31 was fantastic for me,

“Added to all this is the potential of Brighton in terms of location, players and attendances. It was a move not to be resisted.”

Burnett told the magazine he felt Brighton were much better prepared for promotion than Millwall had been. “Had we gone up, we would have needed a miracle to survive in the First,” he said. “At Brighton, we are winning matches without being fully stretched. The right blend is there and we can only get better.

“If I look after myself, I can get through another four or five seasons, by which time Brighton could be up amongst the big boys.”

Burnett was obviously a good judge because Brighton certainly got themselves up amongst the ‘big boys’ four years later – although by then he was no longer a part of it.

After a successful first season in which he developed a formidable central defensive partnership with Andy Rollings, and earned that placed in the PFA team of the year, perhaps there were signs that age was catching up with him.

In his end of season review in the Evening Argus, Albion reporter John Vinicombe observed: “Over the course of the season, the most improved player was Andy Rollings who profited by the experience of Dennis Burnett at his elbow.

“There were times when Burnett looked unflappable in the centre of the defence. As time wore on, and situations became more frenetic, that casual style, no doubt a legacy of his West Ham upbringing, now and again landed him in trouble.”

Maybe manager Taylor thought the same because one of the last things he did before quitting and rejoining Brian Clough was to sign veteran defender Graham Cross, which spelled trouble for Burnett.

Under new manager Alan Mullery, in the league at least, Cross was preferred alongside Rollings. Burnett deputised for Rollings when he was injured – for example, he played alongside Cross in the memorable 7-2 demolition of York City – and was given some games in midfield, but mainly in the League Cup he got the chance to shine.

He played in memorable games against First Division opponents Ipswich, West Brom and Derby, and was assured alongside Cross in the memorable narrow 2-1 defeat at the Baseball Ground in November 1976.

Vinicombe reported: “Cross and Burnett played coolly and neither looked out of place among the high-priced cream.”

He kept his place for a league game away to Port Vale five days later, but that 2-2 draw was his last in an Albion shirt.

In early February 1977, together with ex-Spur Phil Beal, he agreed a pay-off with the club and played non league with Ilford for the remainder of the season before returning to the States and another 19 games for St Louis Stars, where he was joined by former Albion teammate Fred Binney.

Mullery explained several years later in his autobiography that he had inherited a squad of 36 professionals and needed to prune the numbers. The older players were the obvious ones to go and, although Beal and Burnett went quietly, he had more truck dispensing with Joe Kinnear’s services – but that’s a story for another day.

On his return to these shores, Burnett headed for Ireland to play for Shamrock Rovers, at that time managed by the legendary Johnny Giles.

The defender subsequently played for three years in Norway, for SK Haugar, and popped up back in Sussex in 1994 as assistant manager of Sussex County League side Lancing, and played in a 2-1 defeat against Horsham YMCA in the FA Cup a month before his 50^th birthday!

According to Wikipedia, Burnett ran a painting and decorating business in Sussex after he left football and was working in the hospitality suites at Upton Park before West Ham moved to the Olympic Stadium.

Pictured above are a Newham Recorder shot of Burnett in West Ham colours; in action for Millwall (from Goal), and in Albion’s stripes (from Shoot!). Below, an archive shot of the St Louis Stars side of 1975 with Burnett in the back row wearing the 18 shirt and Peter Bonetti in the centre of the front row.

In parallel lines

Memories from 55 years following Brighton & Hove Albion

Tag: Eric Steele