Tag: Gary McAllister

Bradley Johnson always liked a pop from long range

Bradley Johnson scores on his debut v Leicester (photo Simon Dack)

THE COCA-COLA Kid’s cousin was an instant hit when he joined seventh-from-bottom Brighton on loan from second-placed League One rivals Leeds United in October 2008.

Bradley Johnson, who’d heard about the Seagulls from his relative Colin Kazim-Richards, scored twice on his debut as the Seagulls turned round a 2-0 half-time deficit to beat Leicester City 3-2.

“I hadn’t played for two months and Micky (Adams) asked if I was fit and I admitted I wasn’t match fit, but he said he would throw me in anyway,” Johnson recounted.

“The two goals I scored gave me great confidence as a player, but the win helped everyone,” he said. “On the night, the fans were immense and the result gave us all a good boost.”

In an Argus interview in March 2021, Johnson recalled: “I was a young boy from Leeds coming into a struggling team against a team who were flying so it was a bit daunting for me.

“I didn’t know what to expect but, as debuts go, I don’t think it could have gone any better.

“Anyone who knows me knows I like a shot and I’ve always had that since a young age. Some don’t go where planned but thankfully on that night they did.”

Albion had failed to score in their three previous games, against Hereford, Peterborough and Hartlepool, and soon found themselves 2-0 down to City courtesy of two Matty Fryatt goals.

Adams hauled off a somewhat better known loanee – the ineffective Robbie Savage – at half-time, along with wideman Kevin McLeod, and the changes galvanised the Albion in the second half.

Right-back Andrew Whing reckoned the withdrawal of Savage might have helped Johnson to shine. “Maybe he’d felt a bit in Robbie’s shadow up until that point,” he told Spencer Vignes. “But he really stepped up in the second half and scored twice, one of them an unbelievable strike. We needed a spark and that was it.

“Bradley deserved a lot of credit that night. He’d come to us from Leeds and he just took responsibility, scored twice and got us back into it. He really made an impression.”

After Johnson’s pair of long range strikes past David Martin in the Leicester goal, City defender Jack Hobbs sealed a memorable comeback for the Seagulls when he diverted Joe Anyinsah’s cross past his own ‘keeper.

It was a tad ironic that Johnson should have scored against Leicester too because at the start of that year he came very close to signing for them but couldn’t agree terms and ended up at Leeds instead.

Five days after his impressive Albion debut, Johnson was on the scoresheet again as Adams’ side beat Millwall 4-1 at the Withdean Stadium (Glenn Murray, two, and Dean Cox, the other scorers).

Kazim-Richards, whose £250,000 transfer from Bury to Brighton had been paid for via fan Aaron Berry winning a competition organised by the soft drink giant, had already moved on to Fenerbahçe in Turkey via Sheffield United by the time Johnson arrived in Sussex.

But he said: “My cousin Colin had played there so I knew Brighton and I knew a few lads, and that it was a good place to be. But it was Micky that really sold the place to me and I just wanted to play. That is all I wanted to do; I didn’t look at the side’s league position. I just wanted to be a part of what Micky spoke about and help the club beat relegation.”

Unfortunately, the mini revival in the autumn of 2008 didn’t continue although Johnson was on the winning side again when, in his 10th and last game for the Albion, two Nicky Forster goals earned a 2-0 win at Swindon Town, spoiling Danny Wilson’s first game in charge of the Robins (Peter Brezovan was in goal for Town).

By then, Johnson, who’d lost his place at Leeds following an injury, had scored four times for the Albion (some records show he scored twice in a 4-2 home defeat to MK Dons, others that the second Brighton goal was netted by Stuart Fleetwood).

Somewhat gallingly, Johnson was next seen at Withdean less than three weeks into the new year – back in the fold with Leeds as they took all three points in a 2-0 win on 17 January 2009.

“When I was out on loan, Leeds were struggling and when I went back Gary McAllister got the sack. Simon Grayson came in and I didn’t know where my future lay, but Grayson told me I had a part to play and it was down to me to train hard and prove myself,” he said.

“He was true to his word, and I kept my head down, then I ended up coming back to Brighton and played against them for Leeds. It was a bit surreal to be in the away dressing room, but that is football.”

Johnson became a regular at Elland Road for the next two years and was part of the Leeds side who won promotion to the Championship in 2010, as well as earning headlines in memorable FA Cup ties against Premier League opposition.

In particular, in a third round replay against Arsenal at Elland Road in January 2011, Johnson scored a spectacular goal for the home side although they lost the tie 3-1.

Having spent five years on Arsenal’s books as a promising youngster, it was a bittersweet moment for Johnson who said afterwards: “It was a goal I’m not going to forget. I’m an Arsenal fan myself and so are all my family.”

On the transfer list at the time because he couldn’t agree a new deal with Leeds, he eventually got the chance he craved to play in the Premier League that summer when he moved to newly promoted Norwich City, where his teammates included Elliott Bennett and Andrew Crofts.

It was Canaries boss Paul Lambert who sold the club to him at the time but he also sang the praises of his successor, Chris Hughton.

Johnson joined the Canaries

“Hughton did come in with a different style of play,” he told pinkun.com. “He was very tactical. He was mindful that we were playing in the Premier League against good players whereas Paul Lambert wouldn’t care, if we were playing Manchester United, he’d say ‘if they score two, we’ll score three’.

“Different approaches, different ideas and different philosophies. People weren’t happy with the way he played but we finished 11th. I can only speak for myself, but I really enjoyed my time there and Chris is a great manager.”

He added: “Credit to him when he got the sack because he stuck by his morals and got Brighton promoted.”

After three seasons in the Premier League, the 2014–15 Championship season was one of Johnson’s most successful seasons with the Canaries: he became vice-captain to Russell Martin, appeared in 44 of the 46 league matches (including one appearance as a sub) and scored 15 goals.

He was voted fans’ Player of the Year and was part of the side that won the play-off final 2-0 against Middlesbrough to ensure City won back their Premier League place.

However, unable to get a place in Alex Neil’s side back among the elite, he switched to Derby County for £6m in September 2015.

That was the start of seven more seasons in the Championship: after 140 appearances over four years with the Rams, he moved on a free transfer to Blackburn Rovers, where he made 86 appearances over three seasons.

He eventually left Ewood Park at the end of the 2021-22 season and in the summer of 2022 joined MK Dons on a free transfer.

Johnson scored both goals as MK Dons turned round a disappointing start to the season by beating Port Vale 2-1 in their fourth match.

Johnson interviewed after scoring twice for MK Dons

Born in Hackney on 28 April 1987, Johnson was on Arsenal’s books from 1997 to 2002 but was released aged 15.

“Like any kid, being released from a club was horrible and I didn’t really feel like going back on a round of trials with other professional clubs, so instead I just played locally in Leyton.

He went to Ryman Premier side Waltham Forest but when he was 17 was invited for a trial at Cambridge United. He signed on a non-contract basis for eight months and was then offered a professional contract.

Johnson attracted suitors when playing for Northampton Town

But Northampton Town had been tracking him. “They made me a counter-offer which I accepted and that is where my career began,” he said.

That was in May 2005, and after he had been out on loan to gain experience at Gravesend & Northfleet and Stevenage Borough, he became a regular starter under Stuart Gray and his performances attracted scouts from clubs further up the league.

When that aforementioned move to Leicester fell through in January 2008, a few days later Leeds stepped in and paid a £250,000 fee for him.

He played in the same Leeds side as Casper Ankergren that lost the 2008 League One play-off final 1-0 to Doncaster, but picked up a back injury in pre season that led to him being sidelined. Although he returned to fitness, the side was doing well in his absence which meant he was unable to force his way back in. And then the chance to play competitive football was presented by the Albion.

Ooh la la: Seb Carole was a history-maker

DIMINUITIVE winger Sébastien Carole has a double entry in the history of Brighton and Hove Albion.

Not only was he the first Frenchman to play for the club, he was also the first to play under three completely separate contracts for Brighton’s first team.

As well as three different spells with the Seagulls (2005-06, 2009 and 2010), he spent two years at Leeds United where his son is now in their under 18 side.

Ironically Carole scored his first goal for Albion against Leeds, but his first Brighton manager, Mark McGhee, thought the player’s ability should have yielded far more goals.

“He’s got to get more goals,” McGhee told the Argus in November 2005. “He’s a great finisher, a great ball striker and he can manipulate the ball.

“He is going to get himself in scoring positions, because he makes space for himself when he comes inside, and in training he scores.”

That goal against Leeds came in a memorable 3-3 draw at Elland Road on 10 September 2005 but Carole’s only other goal that season came in a rare victory, 2-1, over Hull City on 16 December (Charlie Oatway got the other).

An eleven-game winless run from January to the end of March, in which only four points were picked up, pretty much sealed Albion’s fate and the promise of Carole on one wing and fellow Frenchman Alexandre Frutos on the other didn’t live up to expectations. Albion lost their Championship status with only seven wins across the whole campaign.

To cap it off, a disappointed McGhee saw Carole exercise a clause in his contract that meant he could leave Brighton on a free transfer if they were relegated.

“We gave Seb the opportunity to come here and be part of the team,” McGhee told the Argus. “Regardless of that clause, the decent thing for him to do would have been to stay, at least at the start of the season.”

Seagulls chairman Dick Knight explained the clause had to be inserted into Carole’s contract to ensure he’d join from Monaco in the first place.

“If that clause hadn’t gone in then Seb’s wages over the two years would have been higher and the signing-on fee would have been more, so it was a no-brainer,” he said. “We fought hard to keep him, but the agent has persuaded Seb to go.”

The winger chose to move to Leeds, beginning the first of several occasions he’d link up with manager Kevin Blackwell. But Blackwell was sacked after only three months and his eventual replacement, Dennis Wise, told the Frenchman he wouldn’t be part of his plans.

“I had a think about it, had a chat with my wife and I said that I would stay and fight for my place,” said Carole. “I had signed for three years and I wanted to prove I could be a good player for Leeds.

“That summer, Leeds were relegated, and I could have gone back to France and joined Le Havre but I chose to stay and fight for my place. Then, by a twist of fate, the left winger got injured, I got on, played well and after that Dennis Wise told me he didn’t want me to go.”

Wise’s assistant at Leeds was of course Gus Poyet – and the winger’s relationship with the Uruguayan would later be of use back on the south coast.

Unfortunately, when Wise left Leeds for Newcastle, replacement Gary McAllister wanted to bring in his own players so once again Carole found himself sidelined, and there was a mutual agreement to cancel his contract.

He was without a club for a few months although his old boss Blackwell, by now at Sheffield United, invited him to train with them and he played a few games for their reserve side, and he spent a short while training with Bradford City.

However, in December 2008 and January 2009 he linked up with League Two Darlington, where he played seven matches. “It was not far from where I was living and I needed some games for fitness,” he said. “I signed a monthly contract and left a week before I came back to Brighton on trial.”

Micky Adams, back at Brighton for what turned out to be an unsuccessful second spell, tried all sorts of permutations to try to turn round a string of disappointing results and the invitation extended to the Frenchman was one of the last avenues he explored before the Albion parted company with him.

He scored twice and created two more in a practice match against the youth team as Adams ran the rule over him at a trial. “He’s not somebody I’ve worked with before, but everyone at the club speaks highly of him so we will take a look,” said the manager.

The early signs for Carole under Adams were good: he went on as a 56th-minute substitute for Chris Birchall at home to Hartlepool on 2 February, putting in a cross for Nicky Forster to convert.

Sections of the Withdean faithful voiced their disapproval of Adams’ choice of change, but the manager was typically forthright in his response, telling the Argus: “We can all sit in the stands sometimes and play football manager.

“I decided Seb Carole would give us an impetus. That was no reflection on what Chris Birchall had done. I can’t be worried about what the fans are thinking. I’ve got to do what I think is best and stand there and be as brave as I can be.

“Seb travels well with the ball, delivered a couple of great crosses and put one on a plate for Fozzie.”

It wasn’t long before Adams was on his way and although Carole liked what he heard from incoming boss Russell Slade, the new man preferred Dean Cox as his wide option.

Carole told Brian Owen of the Argus: “I love the way he talks. He’s got so much passion and he has tried to do something different.

“He wants us to play a bit of football at times when it’s possible because obviously the pitch doesn’t allow you to play that much. We can see something has happened since he came here.”

However, Carole’s part in ‘the great escape’ was somewhat peripheral, making only five starts plus seven appearances off the bench.

He later said: “Micky Adams signed me and I think I did well under him, then he left and Russell Slade came and I wasn’t really in his plans.

“I wasn’t really involved in the team. I was on the bench most of the time and I didn’t understand why, because I thought I could bring something to the club.

“I was a little bit upset about the whole situation. I didn’t get the chance to do well in that second spell.”

Released by the Albion in June 2009, Carole was attracted by the prospect of playing under the legendary John Barnes at Tranmere Rovers and signed a short-term deal at the start of the 2009-10 season.

However, once again managerial upheaval would be Carole’s downfall. Rovers won only three of their first 14 matches and Barnes was shown the Prenton Park door.

“I was disappointed when he was sacked,” Carole told the Argus. “When I went there we had a long chat about how he wanted to play and I signed because of him, because I knew what he was like as a player and would play the way I like.

“I think it was a little bit unfair and a little bit early for him to be sacked, because he didn’t get the finance to make the signings he wanted.

“I definitely think if he had stayed then I would have stayed longer. When they put the physio (Les Parry) in charge, I just felt it wasn’t that good for me.”

The third coming of Carole at the Albion, on a week-to-week deal, was as a direct result of his having played under Poyet at Leeds, the winger telling the Argus: “He knew what to tell me in a certain way to get the best out of me. That is what he was good at when he was at Leeds.

“He was only the assistant manager to Dennis Wise but, more than anyone else, he was talking to the players in the right way and players were listening to him.

“He brings you confidence and you trust him and he will bring a togetherness to Brighton, which is important to get the team back on track.

“He is exactly the same as when he was at Leeds. He is really relaxed and wants to play a certain system. Obviously, that will take time. I think what he is trying to put in place here will bring the club back to where it deserves to be.”

Poyet was equally positive about taking on the Frenchman. “I know Seb better than anyone,” he said. “Seb’s a winger, not just right or left. People say he’s right-footed but he did a terrific job for us at Leeds on the left.

“We’ve been playing without a natural left-sided winger. People look at Dean Cox out there but I see him a bit more inside. I don’t think we have another player like Seb.

“People will compare him to Elliott (Bennett) but he’s a different type of player. Elliott is more direct, more about speed, more going past people with his speed. Seb is about checking in and out and dummies, taking players out of position with his skills. We don’t have that player. That’s why he is coming in.”

It was six weeks before he got his first start and he fancied his chances of getting a longer deal, especially when a hamstring injury forced Kazenga LuaLua to return to Newcastle.

“With Kaz injured for the rest of the season, I think I have got a massive chance now,” he said. “It’s up to me and how I perform.

“I was pleased to be back in the starting eleven. You always get frustrated when you are not playing but I trust Gus and I know exactly what he wants.

“I kept my head down and kept working hard and knew I would get another chance.”

His best run in the side saw him feature in four games on the trot: a 2-0 win at Oldham, a 3-0 home win over Tranmere, a 2-2 draw at home to Southampton and a 2-0 defeat at Hartlepool.

Carole certainly felt pumped up for the game against Rovers, reckoning he had a point to prove to Parry. “He didn’t play me at all. I want revenge and to show him,” he told the Argus before the match. “If I could score and just kill them I’d be happy.”

Carole didn’t score but he did put in an inviting cross that Andrew Crofts seized on to score a second goal for the Albion on the half hour. Glenn Murray had opened the scoring in the seventh minute and debutant Ashley Barnes went on as a sub to score the third.

Dropped after the Hartlepool defeat in favour of on-loan Lee Hendrie, Carole was a non-playing substitute for four matches and, although he played in the season’s finale, a 1-0 win at home to Yeovil, that was his last game in an Albion shirt.

Born in Cergy-Pontoise, a suburb of Paris, on 8 September 1982, Carole’s first memories of football were as a five-year-old having a kickabout with his dad, Jean-Claude, who had played for Paris Saint Germain’s academy but whose career didn’t take off because of an accident.

Carole went to La Fiaule school in Vaureal from the age of three to 10 where he played football every Wednesday. Apart from football, he also had an aptitude for maths. He went on to La Bussie and joined Monaco at the age of 14. He progressed through the ranks before eventually playing 11 times for the first team, including once in the Champions League.

Carole was 21 when he first came to the UK in January 2004, joining Alan Pardew’s West Ham on loan at the same time that Bobby Zamora joined the Hammers from Tottenham Hotspur.

But the young Frenchman only made one substitute appearance, going on in the 87th minute for Jobi McAnuff as the Hammers beat Crewe Alexandra 4-2 at the Boleyn Ground on 17 March.

The following season he was sent on loan to French Ligue 2 side Châteauroux where he scored once in 11 matches.

It was truly the long and the short of it when in August 2005 Albion announced the joint signing of 5’7” Carole and 6’5” Florent Chaigneau, a French goalkeeper on loan from Stade Rennes. Describing them as “exciting additions to the squad”, Albion chairman Knight said: “The fact that we have been able to attract these young players who have already represented France at various levels, is a measure of the progress we are making at this club. We will give them the stage to make their names in England.”

Carole made his debut in the third game of the season, rather ironically once again Crewe Alexandra were the opponents, in a 2-2 home draw, and Chaigneau played his first match 10 days later as Albion bowed out of the League Cup 3-2 away to Shrewsbury Town. While Carole established himself in the side, Chaigneau only made two more appearances.

Although Carole played for France through the age groups up to 19, in 2010 he played three games for Martinique, the Caribbean island side, in the Didgicel Cup.

After failing to get the hoped-for longer contract at Brighton, Carole spent the 2010-11 season with French Ligue 1 team OGC Nice. He subsequently returned to the UK and spent six months at League One strugglers Bury, managed by his old boss Blackwell, but was released having made just five substitute appearances. He then proceeded to drift around various non-league sides in Yorkshire.

He later set up his own football school, which he ran for a year, and has since been an agent (C & S Football Management). His son Keenan is currently playing for the Leeds under 18 team.

Casper Ankergren – the ‘Great Dane’ between the sticks

DANISH goalkeeper Casper Ankergren earned the League One player of the month award four times – twice with Leeds United and twice with Brighton.

When the Yorkshire club dumped him after he’d played 143 games for them, Gus Poyet, his former assistant manager at Elland Road, gave him the chance to revive his English football career. He spent seven years as a player at Brighton and between 2017 and 2021 assisted Ben Roberts with coaching Albion’s goalkeepers.

The Dane was only truly Albion no.1 for a season and a half, and fans were often divided about his capabilities. But his ability with the ball at his feet suited the way Poyet wanted the Albion to play, and as a coach chimes perfectly with the expectations placed on today’s Albion goalkeepers.

“He really is key to the way we pass it out from the back,” observed ‘Murraymint’ on North Stand Chat, noting his ball playing and vision for a pass as “excellent”.

Ankergren himself explained in a podcast on the club website in 2020: “I was always quite comfortable with the ball at my feet, probably because I played outfield as a kid.

“At Leeds I wasn’t supposed to play it to the centre backs but under Gus you had to play it short; he would go mental if you didn’t. That was his philosophy. I’ve always been a big fan of possession-based football.”

On the eve of the 2010-11 season, Poyet’s goalkeeping options were narrowed when first-choice Peter Brezovan was nursing a wrist injury and he wasn’t happy to start the campaign with either of the inexperienced understudies, Michael Poke or Mitch Walker.

Poyet told the club’s official website: “Goalkeeper is a key position in the team, and with Brezovan injured, we wanted to bring some experience to that position.

“Casper brings that experience and has played at this level and higher. I have worked with him at Leeds United, and know exactly what he is capable of, he also knows what it takes to get promoted from League One.”

Ankergren hadn’t even had time to get to know his new teammates when he made his Albion debut in a 2-1 win in the season-opener away to Swindon Town the day after signing.

Unfortunately, he didn’t cover himself in glory on his home debut when a mistimed punch helped Rochdale to get a last-gasp equaliser in a 2-2 draw at Withdean.

The ’keeper admitted he later hid himself away in his Jury’s Inn hotel feeling dreadful about the mistake. “I was devastated, but that’s football. As a keeper you can do well for 90 minutes but if you cock up in the 91st minute that’s all people remember you for,” he said in a matchday programme article. “It’s part of the game as a goalkeeper and you have to accept it.”

He certainly made up for it to the extent that he won the first of two nPower League One Player of the Month awards that season for his displays the following month, when he only conceded once in five matches as Albion secured 13 out of 15 points.

Ankergren won the award again in March 2011 when the Seagulls won eight matches out of eight – with six clean sheets for Ankergren – to consolidate their gallop towards the League One title.

In April 2011, Ankergren, speaking at the PFA awards in London, said: “He [Gus] was asking us to be perfect and although there’s no such thing in football, we were close, the way we did it, the way we played – he’s very, very pleased. He couldn’t ask for much more, I think.

“At the beginning of the season I had a chat with him and he said he thought a top six finish would be possible. But no, we finished first – an amazing season.”

The promotion with Brighton was more personally satisfying for Ankergren because he was involved from the beginning to the end of the season.

“I played a lot of games for Leeds last season when we went up but I didn’t play the last eight or nine games and that was a big blow for me,” he said. “I’ve played every game in the league this season and obviously it’s great, that’s what you want to do as a footballer; you want to play every game and win and achieve something.”

He was in goal for the memorable first Amex league fixture against Doncaster and kept the shirt for the first 15 games of the 2011-12 Championship season. But after a seven-game winless run, Steve Harper came in on loan from Newcastle United.

When Harper returned to the North East, he got back in the side for seven more matches, but after four successive defeats in December, Poyet rang the changes for the New Year’s Day match at home to Southampton. Brezovan started in Albion’s surprise 3-0 win and stayed in goal through to the end of the season.

Fan Bradley Stratton later observed: “Brighton’s return to the Championship at the Amex highlighted the need for another change in goal. Ankergren and Brezovan, whilst competent in League One, were regularly found out at the higher level.

“They inspired little confidence in fans, and there was no doubt Poyet would use the summer window in 2012 to bring in a new man who could galvanise the Albion back line and restore confidence to a defence that had conceded six goals at both West Ham and Liverpool that year.”

After Tomasz Kuszczak arrived to become the senior goalkeeper, Ankergren’s first team action in 2012-13 was limited to four starts plus one as a sub.

Two of those were in the FA Cup against Premier League opposition. The third round FA Cup win over Newcastle United was his first appearance in the first team for 13 months and he said: “Although I have not been playing for the first team, I’ve always trained as hard as ever because you never know what’s round the corner and you want to push the other keepers hard, so I was ready. It’s still hard to be thrown straight back into action because you need to play regularly to get into the rhythm of things, but I was pretty happy with my performance against Newcastle.”

And there was nothing he could do to prevent Theo Walcott’s late deflected winner as Arsenal won the fourth round tie 3-2 at the Amex, when Leo Ulloa scored on his debut.

As if to emphasise his point about memorable howlers, one of his two league games that season was at Nottingham Forest, when he fumbled a last-minute equaliser at the City Ground, allowing Henri Lansbury’s long-range effort to earn the home side a point in a 2-2 draw.

Poyet was quick to sympathise with the goalkeeper and said: “To begin with I thought the shot must have taken a deflection but when I’ve seen it again I nearly killed myself!

“When you are a keeper you pay the price and Casper has done that today. He was having a very, very good game, making two or three good saves, coming for crosses and kicking very well. And in training he will save 1,000 shots like that, but we wanted him to save it today.

“Goalkeeper is a terrible position to play but we lose together and we win together – at least we got a point.”

In Oscar Garcia’s only season in charge, Ankergren played only two first team matches but he was kept on under Sami Hyypia and, with the arrival of David Stockdale and the emergence of youngster Christian Walton limiting his likely involvement even further, he made just the one appearance in the 2014-15 season, in Albion’s 4-2 League Cup win away to Swindon Town.

He confessed on the podcast that he struggled to get his head round the situation and contemplated quitting the game but was talked out of it by goalkeeping coach Andy Beasley.

With the arrival of Niki Maenpaa as back-up to Stockdale, Ankergren could have been forgiven for thinking his chances of ever playing first team football again had gone, but in a bizarre set of circumstances during a FA Cup tie at Lincoln City on 28 January 2017, Ankergren had to come off the bench in the 56th minute when Maenpaa went off injured.

The Finn had injured his shoulder in the melee that resulted after Glenn Murray had committed a foul in the penalty area and the first thing Ankergren had to do was to face the resultant penalty, which was scored.

Five minutes later he was picking the ball out of the back of the net again after inexperienced Chelsea loanee Fikayo Tomori had skewed a shot past the beleaguered ‘keeper. To rub salt in the wound, Albion lost 3-1, enabling City to reach the last 16 of the competition for the first time in their 115-year history. The consolation for Albion, of course, was that they were able to concentrate on the league, and they went on finally to win promotion to the elite level they’d left in 1983.

That promotion signalled the end of Ankergren’s playing days but the start of a career as a goalkeeping coach which he admitted in the podcast he’s enjoying immensely.

Born in the Danish coastal seaport of Køge on 9 November 1979, Ankergren played football with his mates from an early age on a pitch close to his home. He also played handball in the winter – it’s a big sport in Denmark – and it got to the point where he had to decide which one to pursue seriously because his parents said he couldn’t do both. He chose football because he enjoyed it a bit more, although he reckoned the hand-eye coordination involved in handball was an asset as he pursued his career as a goalkeeper.

When he started out playing organised football with Solrød FC, he switched from centre half to midfielder to striker and only went in goal when their keeper got injured.

He was only 12 when he was signed by his hometown’s local professional club, HB Køge. Before he became a full professional, he worked for a pizzeria delivering pizzas and at an after-school club. After leaving school, he continued his education at college for a further two years because he wanted to be a policeman if football didn’t work out.

But having broken into the Køge first team, he caught the attention of Brondby, who were probably the biggest club in Denmark at the time.

He joined them in May 2000 and started full-time the following January. “It was a big, big step for me,” he told the podcast. “I didn’t really enjoy it at first. It was a bigger step than I expected it to be.”

Their first-choice keeper, Morgens Krogh, had won Euro ‘92 with the national team so it was tough to compete with him. But the youngster made his debut when Krogh was injured and eventually took the no.1 spot. As well as winning one championship, he topped it by winning the league and cup double in 2005-06.

Ankergren also gained experience playing in the Europa League against teams like Locomotiv Moscow, Espanol and Palermo.

Shortly after he signed a new three-year contract with Brondby, unbeknown to him they signed Stephan Andersen from Charlton Athletic, and Ankergren wasn’t assured he’d still be first choice. “I’d had enough and wanted to try something different so while I was away with the national team (the B side) in Asia, I got a call from my agent saying Leeds were interested.”

Ankergren just missed out on a full international cap, although he was on the bench for games against Luxembourg and the Czech Repubic. He did win a handful of under 21 caps, and he said: “I’ve represented my country at various junior levels and remember making my under 16 debut against England. On the other side that days was Wes Brown and Michael Owen – you could tell both would have successful careers. Owen looked something special and he scored against me in a 4-1 defeat. I didn’t have my best game.”

Ankergren joined Leeds on loan initially, making his debut aged 27 in a 2-1 home win over Crystal Palace on 19 February 2007. Although it panned out to be one of the most turbulent times in the club’s history, Ankergren found life at Leeds more relaxed under Dennis Wise and Poyet than he had in Denmark.

His 14 games at the bottom of the Championship couldn’t halt the slide towards relegation which was confirmed emphatically with a points deduction when the club went into administration.

“I saved a couple of penalties early on, which won over the fans, including an important one against fellow strugglers Luton,” he said. He denied Dean Morgan from 12 yards with only four minutes left of a tense afternoon, and he told a supporter’s blog: “There were a few minutes, plus stoppage time to go against Luton so I had to stay focused as they were down there with us, so the win was vital.

“I had also saved a penalty away at Cardiff City but unfortunately we still lost the game.”

After signing on permanently, Ankergren was first choice as Leeds acclimatised to third tier football in 2007-08. He made 54 appearances in all competitions and, having conceded only one goal in five league games in September 2007, won his first League One Player of the Month award.

It wasn’t always plain sailing at Elland Road, though, and he was sad to see Poyet depart to become assistant manager to Juande Ramos at Spurs in November 2007, followed early in the new year by Wise, who became director of football at Newcastle.

“Gus was really, really respected up in Leeds. It was a big loss when he went to Tottenham – we really missed him, but I kept in touch after he left,” said Ankergren.

“I liked his style. If you do well, he’ll let you know – but if you don’t do well, he’ll also let you know. There’s none of this going behind your back; he’ll say it to your face, which is what I like.”

He also felt a sense of loss with Wise’s departure. “It was a massive disappointment for me personally,” he said. “Wisey is a good man, he had given me the chance to play in England and I will always be grateful to him.”

In March 2008, the goalkeeper faced an “improper conduct” charge brought by the FA for allegedly throwing a missile into the crowd at the County Ground, Swindon. He was fined £750 but not banned.

Gary McAllister was installed as manager and steered the club to the end of season play-offs against Doncaster Rovers and, despite some important saves by Ankergren, they lost. “I don’t know why but we never turned up at Wembley,” said Ankergren. “It was a strange feeling which let me flat, and it took a long time to get over that. We came so near, yet so far.”

Ankergren admitted to sheridan-dictates.com that he did not particularly enjoy the 2008-09 season. “It appeared that McAllister didn’t know his best team. I was in the side one week then the next he would pick Dave Lucas. Goalkeepers need games to stay sharp and focused and the thought of being dropped played on me and I did not perform to the standards I expected from myself.

“McAllister had been an outstanding midfielder but he was a League One manager with a League One squad. I think he expected too much from a group who didn’t have the ability that he had been blessed with as a player.

“The atmosphere was not great around the club and I thought that McAllister made some very strange decisions.

“Although I did not have any real issues with the manager, I have to be honest and say that I was not too disappointed when he was sacked and Simon Grayson was brought in.”

Grayson’s reign started on Boxing Day 2008 and he put Ankergren back into his team to play Leicester City. Leeds had fallen into mid-table but turned things around to earn a place in the play offs against Millwall who won the two-legged semi-final.

“Looking back, could we handle the favourites tag?” Ankergren asked. “It was another horrible feeling, but we were all determined to come back for pre-season training and go one better.”

However, although Lucas had left the club, Ankergren faced new competition in Shane Higgs and Grayson went with him at the start of the 2009-10 season.

But when Higgs was injured at MK Dons on 26 September 2009, Ankergren appeared as a substitute and eventually won his place back, even though United brought in Frank Fielding and David Martin as loan goalkeepers, and he had the feeling Grayson didn’t really rate him.

Ankergren re-established himself with a string of impressive performances and clean sheets and was the last line of defence in a memorable 1-0 FA Cup third round win for Leeds at Old Trafford in January 2010, including pulling off a terrific save to deny Danny Welbeck.

He was also in goal against Spurs in the next round when it took a replay at Elland Road before the north London club finally won through.

However, the beginning of the end of his time at Elland Road came when he made a mistake in a 2-0 home defeat against Millwall on 22 March 2010, and he didn’t return to the side for the remaining nine games as they went on to win promotion to the Championship as runners up behind Norwich City.

“I remember sitting with Paul Dickov in the dressing room having a beer and reflecting on what we had achieved,” Ankergren told sheridan-dictates.com. “We went over to the Centenary Pavilion for the end of season dinner and on to a nightclub, It was a great night but deep down I knew that I had played my last game for the club as my contract was up.”

Ironically, his replacement at Leeds was fellow Dane, Kasper Schmeichel, son of Ankergren’s goalkeeping idol, Peter, who also played for Brondby before going on to achieve fame at Manchester United.

Ankergren’s 11-year association with the Seagulls came to an end in September 2021 when he returned to his home country as head goalkeeping coach at Brondby.

Pictures from various online sources, matchday programmes and the Argus

Leicester lad Matt Heath plugged Albion defensive gap

Heath celebratesDUCK-loving Matt Heath didn’t shirk a challenge and came to Brighton’s rescue in 2009 when injury and suspension decimated Albion’s available defenders.

Albion were fighting for their League One lives and were in between managers when Heath arrived in March to plug a gap caused by Tommy Elphick, Adam Hinshelwood and Adam Virgo all being sidelined.

Experienced former Leicester City central defender Heath joined on loan from Colchester United, signed at the same time as striker Lloyd Owusu, who undoubtedly made more of a noteworthy contribution with some vital goals and his famous ‘raising the roof’ goal celebration.

As well as defensive problems, Albion also had Nicky Forster, Glenn Murray and loan signing Calvin Andrew out injured as they approached a period of games vital to their chances of staying in the division.

On signing the pair, caretaker manager Dean White told the Argus: “The injury situation meant it was vital to bring players in and Matt and Lloyd are two good additions. They certainly strengthen the squad and both have good experience at this level and higher.”

The 6ft 4ins Heath had made 11 appearances for Colchester that season but only one start since the turn of the year.

He played in six games and scored on his debut away to Leyton Orient on 8 March, the game which marked the beginning of Russell Slade’s period in charge of the Seagulls. Ultimately a recurrence of groin trouble brought an end to his brief Albion career.

Ironically, it was Slade’s predecessor at the Withdean, Micky Adams, who’d been Heath’s manager at Leicester, Coventry City and Colchester.

Born in Leicester on 11 January 1981, Heath came through the Foxes academy, made his debut in the 2001-02 season and went on to play 60 first team games for the club, including 17 Premier League games alongside Ricardo Scimeca. During the 2003-04 season, he had an eight-game loan spell with Stockport County.

Heath scors 4 Leic

In 2005, Adams went back to his old club to take Heath to Coventry City for a £45,000 fee. He played 26 games for the Sky Blues in 2005-06 but only eight games the following season and, in November 2006, was loaned out to Leeds United who made the move permanent in January 2007.

Heath relished his time playing under manager Dennis Wise and his assistant Gus Poyet but after playing 50 games for Leeds, Wise’s successor Gary McAllister deemed him surplus to requirements at Elland Road and Heath once again went to play for Adams, this time at Colchester.

He initially joined on loan but then spent five seasons on the Us’ books, making a total of 106 appearances, albeit during his time with them he had a couple of spells out on loan.

One of those was that brief stint at Brighton and the following season he played four games for Southend United.

When his contract was up at Colchester, he switched to Northampton Town, where the manager was one of his old Colchester bosses, Aidy Boothroyd, but he didn’t make any first team appearances and left the club to join non-league Harrogate Town in January 2008 where he made 29 appearances. Next up was Harrogate Railway FC.

However, Heath simultaneously pursued an education role in sport, and he became a course manager and lecturer at Askham Bryan College in York having studied football coaching at the University of East Anglia.

In March 2019, Askham Bryan College announced it was becoming a sports hub for Leeds United, with Heath playing a prominent role.

Heath talked about the importance of former professional players having a plan for life after football in an interview with Non-League Yorkshire.

He said: “I’ve had so many good friends in the pro game and they’re all five years younger than me and I’ve told all of them to do something because you have so much time on your hands when you’re playing pro football.

“I’ve said: ‘Get a qualification or do something because when it all finishes, you either get lucky and fall into something like myself or you’ll be in a place where you’re not sure what to do’.

“I think most of the lads in the pro game don’t realise that it just stops like that.”

In 2015, Heath combined his day job with captaining Northern League – North West Division side Tadcaster Albion and then became assistant manager for two years, working under Billy Miller, who was his boss (head of sports and public services) at Askham before being promoted to a director.

Heath subsequently became a teacher-coach in Leeds’ education department, working with a group of would-be footballer students in Nottingham.

“The kids finish their GCSEs and want to carry on in education and the college provide a programme where they carry on with their education, get a Level 3 BTEC-extended Diploma and we link it alongside training every day and play in the National League as well, ” he explained to Jonathan Waldron of the Colchester Gazette, in a February 2021 interview.

“So the kids get the training, the education and luckily I’ve got a role there where I’m part of both of it, in the classroom and out on the training field as well and matchdays for our college.”

Telling the reporter that he still looks out for the results of all the clubs he used to play for, he added: “It’s nice to reminisce but my family just tell me to shut up if I go on about it!

“I was lucky; dedication and hard work gets you a long way in football and you have to have a bit of a rub of the green, along the way and managers and coaches who take an interest in you and see something and then roll with it a little bit.

“I’m proud of what I achieved.”

Heath college coach

Key building blocks for Steve Sidwell’s Premiership future

seagull-sidWHEN a flame-haired midfield player called Steve Sidwell joined the Albion on loan from Arsenal in 2002, it wasn’t the first – or last – time he would link up with manager Steve Coppell.

Coppell had organised a similar arrangement the season before when he was in charge at Second Division Brentford, and Sidwell played 30 times for the Bees.

When Coppell acquired his services for the bottom-of-the-second-tier Seagulls, it was instantly apparent that here was a talent destined to perform on a much bigger stage. In a 12-game spell, he scored five goals. They were the building blocks of a career that saw him go on to play in the Premiership for 11 seasons, and against Huddersfield in early 2017 made his 500th career appearance.

So many things are easy in hindsight but presumably if Albion had already been playing at a new stadium at Falmer, Sidwell may have stuck with the Albion rather than moving on to Reading where the Madejski Stadium was already a reality.

In the Royals matchday programme for the Reading v Albion Championship clash in 2005-06, cover boy Siddy was interviewed at great length and recalled his time with Brighton with fondness.

“It was the first time I had played at this level – before then I had been in Arsenal’s youth team and on loan at Brentford in the Second Division – so I was grateful for that opportunity,” he said. “The best description of my time there would be ‘short but sweet’.

“The fans at Brighton were fantastic, especially away from home,” he continued. “”At the time we were bottom of the league and battling against relegation, but they still turned up every week and always backed us.”

Sidwell recounted how it was during that time that he forged his long term friendship with Bobby Zamora and he also spoke of how he played in the same Colliers Wood Sunday football team as fellow midfielder Alexis Nicolas.

Eleven months after Sidwell went to Reading, Coppell made the same choice and enjoyed the best of Sidwell as his scintillating partnership with James Harper in the centre of midfield helped to take Reading out of the Championship and into the Premiership.

Let’s just go back to the 2002-03 season, though, and recall the impact Sidwell made in Brighton’s valiant effort to defy the relegation odds.

A disastrous run of 12 defeats in the first part of the season had dumped Albion at the foot of the table and manager Martin Hinshelwood had been replaced by Coppell, who rung the changes and started turning round the fortunes on the pitch.

Sidwell came in from Arsenal and scored the first of his five goals in a 2-2 draw away to Preston. He scored the only goal of the game in a Boxing Day win at Norwich and two days later scored both the goals in a 2-2 home draw with Burnley (celebrating in this Argus picture below).

Siddy youthfulOne of my favourite memories came at Highfield Road, Coventry, on January 11 2003 when Albion probably deserved to win but had to settle for a point in a 0-0 draw. Before the kick off, Albion fans were chanting his name during the warm-up, urging him to stay, because there had been speculation linking him with moves to other clubs.

Sidwell’s performance that day was acknowledged by no less an authority than the Scotland midfield maestro Gary McAllister, who was player-manager of Coventry at the time.

McAllister told the press after the game: “I was very impressed with Brighton. They passed it well. The front two were always a threat to us, joined by Steve Sidwell creating in the middle of the park and the two guys wide.

“Brighton were as good a side as we have seen at Highfield Road this season.”

Two days later, the Argus was reporting on the clubs interested in signing the promising youngster, including Stoke and Reading. Coppell told them: “What will be will be. I personally think the level of his performance will almost demand Arsenal not letting him go because he has done so well.

“Alternatively, they are going to move him on and take what money they can now. There will, I’m sure, be a lot of people in for him.

“He just wants to play football. I think the more we take these kind of decisions off his shoulders and just let him turn up and play then we are going to get the best out of him.”

siddy arseSidwell, who was out of contract at Arsenal at the end of the season, said: “Stoke put a bid into Arsenal. I went up there and it’s a great set-up and a fantastic club but we will see what happens.”

Interesting then, that the Potters did eventually get their man several years later.

However, in 2003 Reading was his destination and he spent four and a half years with them, helping them to win  promotion from the Championship and playing in their debut Premier League season.

In July 2007, at the end of his contract, Sidwell moved on a free transfer to Chelsea, the team he’d supported as a boy. “People think that because I was with Arsenal from the age of nine to 20 that I support them, but I’ve always been Chelsea. I was born in Tooting, my mum and dad are from Tooting Bec and Balham, so I was born into a Chelsea-supporting family,” he said in an Albion matchday programme article.

So, he said it was a “no-brainer” to go there. “I was joining a club that had won back-to-back titles under a manager who was a breath of fresh air in the game and I’d be playing and training with some of the best players in the world.”

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The wealth of talent meant competition for places at Stamford Bridge restricted Sidwell’s game time, although he did clock up 25 games for the Blues. With the benefit of hindsight, he said: “It was the right move, it just came at the wrong time. I was only 24 so it came too soon. I’d only had one season of Premier LEague football under my belt and wasn’t quite ready for such a big jump from Reading.

“Maybe if I’d gone to Newcastle or West Ham (they’d both been interested) for a couple of years and played really well there, then I would have been better equipped but, like I said, when Chelsea comes knocking you don’t turn the opportunity down.”

He added that off-field issues, such as Mourinho leaving in the September to be replaced by Avram Grant, caused unrest amongst the players. But he added: “In hindsight, I wished I’d stayed another six months because Luiz Felipe Scolari came in and you never know what might have happened then.”

However, in the summer of 2008, in search of more regular playing time, he moved on to Aston Villa on a three-year deal. His time at Villa Park was often interrupted by injury and he made 64 appearances in two and a half years before Mark Hughes ended up signing him twice – for Fulham and Stoke City.

In 2011, Sidwell returned to London and scored 17 goals in 115 appearances over three and a half years, before leaving Craven Cottage when Fulham were relegated from the Premiership in 2014. “I went there on the back of their Europa League run and they were still riding the crest of a wave,” he said in an Albion matchday programme article.  He reckoned he played the best football of his career there and said: “In my first year we finished eighth in the Premier League.

“When I first went there, our home record was phenomenal. It didn’t matter who came to the Cottage, we always thought we would get the win. In the season we got relegated, it was surprising how quickly that mentality had changed.”

siddystokeHughes took him on a free transfer to Stoke but he managed only 13 appearances so jumped at the chance once again to link up with his old pal Zamora to join Albion on loan in early 2016 to supplement their efforts to get promoted from the Championship.

Although the form of Beram Kayal and Dale Stephens meant he struggled to nail down a regular spot, he was a great option to bring off the bench and memorably got the last-gasp winner in a televised away match at Nottingham Forest. “When I was getting taped up, I said to the bench I was going to score, it was just fate,” he said. “I managed to pop up with the goal, and it was a great feeling to see the ball hit the back of the net and you could see from the celebrations what it meant to us all.”Screen Shot 2021-04-04 at 17.19.48

I was in the away end that evening and despite a persistent Nottingham drizzle making the post-match walk back to my hotel pretty unpleasant, I dried off in the company of some other Albion followers in the hotel bar and reflected on a great skin-of-the-teeth win.

As we know, Siddy signed permanently in the summer of 2016, and has had a lot more game time this season. I was also fortunate to be at Ashton Gate on Bonfire Night that year when he scored that magnificent long range effort from inside the centre circle.

Footnote: I didn’t have to join in the last line of the Stevie Sidwell song….because I’m already in possession of similarly-coloured locks. We gingers have to stick together!

sidwell-reading

Pictures show the young Sidwell in Brighton’s away kit in 2002-03, as he appeared in the Coventry programme, and a portrait from Reading’s programme for the 10 December 2005 game v Brighton.