A GARY GARDNER goal ended a winless Albion run of 12 league matches under Sami Hyypia in the autumn of 2014.
Just 54 seconds of the game against Wigan Athletic on 4 November had passed when the Aston Villa loanee netted for the Albion.
He got on the end of a Sam Baldock cross to give the Albion an early lead which they managed to hold onto for the entire match, in spite of several close shaves as the former Premier League opponents tried to salvage a point.
Gardner in action for Forest with Albion’s Jiri Skalak
The game also saw the return of Elliott Bennett, on loan from Norwich City, a first match (as sub for Bennett) for Greg Halford, on loan from Nottingham Forest, and a home debut in goal for teenage stopper Christian Walton.
It wasn’t the first time Gardner had scored at the Amex, though. That had come three years earlier, on his professional debut, when on loan at Coventry City a game which saw Albion beat the Sky Blues 2-1.
Gardner was no stranger to loans away from parent club Villa: he’d already been to Coventry and Sheffield Wednesday, and after Brighton he had temporary moves to Nottingham Forest, Barnsley and Birmingham City.
Indeed by the time Albion took on Forest at the Amex on 7 February 2015, Gardner was on the opposing side as the visitors gave new boss Dougie Freeman a winning start, edging it 3-2.
Gardner’s early development had encountered major setbacks caused by two cruciate knee ligament injuries.
Although he had made his Premier League debut for Villa in the 2011-12 season, the 15 starts and five sub appearances he made for Brighton was the first real regular run of football he’d enjoyed – and he was still only 22 at the time.
He scored again for Albion only four days after that Wigan winner, when the Seagulls were held 1-1 by Blackburn Rovers at the Amex. But with the brief Hyypia reign having come to an end, his appearance in the home Boxing Day 2-2 draw against Reading was his last in a Brighton shirt.
Inigo Calderon salvaged a point with a last-minute equaliser against a Royals side who had gone 2-0 up in 26 minutes courtesy of goals from on loan striker Glenn Murray!
Gardner had been Albion’s tenth new signing of the summer back in August, following in the footsteps of Villa teammate Joe Bennett, who’d joined on a season-long loan a week earlier.
“Gary is a quality midfielder who we have been aware of for some time,” said Hyypia, who explained the club was keen to have more options in that area of the side, especially with Dale Stephens out with a long-term injury.
“More importantly, given the considerable demands of the Championship, I want to be able to rotate the squad,” he said.
“Gary has had a tough couple of seasons due to injury, but he showed during a spell with Sheffield Wednesday last season that he is over those problems. We hope this loan spell will benefit everyone: Gary, us and Aston Villa.
“He is the type of midfielder who is active and mobile, but very importantly he has real quality on the ball – and is also capable of producing things from set pieces.”
Another midfield slot opened up during his time with the Albion when fellow midfielder Andrew Crofts suffered a cruciate injury against Watford.
“I am absolutely gutted for him. Having gone through exactly the same injury as him, with the two cruciate operations, I know exactly how he is feeling,” he said. “I know he will come through this.
“He is a strong guy, a model pro and he’ll be extra determined to get back playing for the club.”
Born in Solihull on 29 June 1992, Gardner was one of six brothers, and in a programme article he said the football-daft family had divided loyalties between Villa and Birmingham.
Just as well, because both Gary and eldest brother Craig ended up with the Blues having started off at Villa. Craig made 80 league and cup appearances for Villa, but later played for Sunderland, West Brom and Birmingham, where he became technical director after his playing days ended.
Gary was on Villa’s books from the age of seven and progressed all through the ranks until Alex McLeish gave him his first team debut as a substitute in a 3-1 win away to Chelsea. He made a total of five starts and 11 appearances off the bench in that 2011-12 season.
But it wasn’t until Villa were back in the Championship in the 2016-17 season that he had his longest run of games for his parent club, making 19 starts and eight appearances off the bench.
That squad, led by former Albion centre-back Tommy Elphick, thwarted already-promoted Albion’s hopes of winning the title in the final games of the season at Villa Park when a late, speculative long-range Jack Grealish shot squirmed through David Stockdale’s grasp to gain Villa a draw.
Gardner was a non-playing sub that day and when he fell down the pecking order in 2017-18, he spent the season at Barnsley.
Gardner followed his brother to Birmingham City
After spending the entire 2018-19 season on loan at Birmingham, he then made the switch permanently (in a swap with Spaniard Jota) and has been there since.
In July 2021 he signed a new deal to extend his stay at St Andrews until June 2024.
Gardner earned international recognition at various levels and made his England under 21 debut as a substitute in a 4-1 win over Israel at Barnsley on 5 September 2011 and the following month replaced Ross Barkley as England won 2-1 in Norway.
A month later he scored twice in a 5-0 win over Iceland after going on as a sub for Jason Lowe at Colchester. Four days on, his involvement was once again off the bench when young England were beaten 2-1 by Belgium in Mons.
His last appearance was against the same opponents the following February when England exacted revenge at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough. In a 4-0 win, Henri Lansbury scored twice before Gardner replaced him.
His contemporaries in the side at that time included the likes of Jack Butland, Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
TRICKY playmaker Mark Yeates spent five years as a Tottenham Hotspur player but it was with Brighton that he played his first competitive football.
Yeates looked like a useful loan signing when he joined new manager Mark McGhee’s Albion squad in November 2003. He drew plenty of admirers and featured in 10 games over two months.
It wasn’t long before McGhee was talking about the possibility of signing him on a permanent basis, but Spurs had other ideas. He eventually had to leave north London to pursue his career but he ultimately made nearly 500 professional appearances.
Eighteen-year-old Yeates arrived on the south coast shortly after Zesh Rehman had also signed on loan (from Fulham), Albion having lost midfield duo Charlie Oatway and Simon Rodger to injuries.
The diminutive Irishman made his debut in McGhee’s first match in charge: a 4-1 defeat to Sheffield United at Withdean.
The matchday programme’s assessment was thus: “The second half was better. Mark Yeates moved into the centre of midfield and so had an opportunity to show what he can do. He could beat players, look up, and try a perceptive through ball. Wide on the left in the first half, he’d been exposed and given the ball away too often.”
On the day England won the Rugby World Cup, Yeates was one of six Albion players booked as the Seagulls beat Notts County 2-1 at Meadow Lane; an eventful game which saw Adam El-Abd make his league debut, Leon Knight score twice and John Piercy sent off for two bookable offences.
After only his third game, Yeates was off on international duty, playing for the Republic of Ireland under 19s away to France.
It was in early December that McGhee spoke about wanting to take Yeates on a permanent basis, telling the club’s website: “I’ve said already that I knew before he came here what a good player he is and I imagined he would do well in this team, and he has done that.”
McGhee told the Argus: “He has a kind of Gaelic confidence. Robbie Keane had it and Mark is similar in that respect.
“His character is perfect really for the way he plays. It goes with the ability and flair.”
Yeates hailed from the same Tallaght district of Dublin as Keane – a player McGhee knew well having given him his English football debut at 17 when manager of Wolves.
After extending his stay at the Albion to a second month, Yeates told the Argus: “Before I came here I had never really played in the centre of midfield. I usually play up front off a big man.
Yeates takes control watched by Adam Hinshelwood
“The gaffer tried me up front in the first half at QPR (in the LDV Vans Trophy) but we didn’t get the ball into mine and Leon’s feet, and with two little men you are not going to get much joy.
“At Tottenham we play with wingbacks and two holding midfielders and I am allowed a free role.
“I have to be a bit more disciplined here. Sometimes I can go running about a bit, it’s just up to the lads to call me back in to help out.”
Yeates appreciated the opportunity Albion had given him to taste senior football, telling the newspaper: “It’s great for me just to be getting first team football, plus the reason I am staying here is because they are a good bunch down here.”
He observed: “It’s a lot more fast and furious because everyone is playing for their living. You have to give a bit more and get more out of yourself which you probably wouldn’t get in a reserve game.
“In reserve football, players are going through the motions. It’s just a matter of playing a game.”
After he’d played his final game on loan, a 0-0 home draw with Oldham Athletic, the matchday programme observed: “Yeates showed some neat touches and was Albion’s most creative outlet once again.”
When Albion struggled to beat Barnsley 1-0 in the FA Cup, the matchday programme noted: “The passing abilities of Mark Yeates, and his desire to get into the penalty area, were sorely missed.”
Back at Spurs, Yeates had to wait until the very last game of the season to make his Premier League debut. He’d previously been an unused substitute when Glenn Hoddle’s Tottenham were thrashed 5-1 by Middlesbrough at the end of the 2002-03 season.
But in May 2004, David Pleat selected him to start in a side also featuring Ledley King, Jamie Redknapp, Christian Ziege, Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane.
The fixture at Molineux ended in a 2-0 win for the visitors and Yeates helped Spurs take the lead against the run of play, laying on a cross for Keane to score against his former club. Defoe netted a second to seal the win.
Born in Tallaght on 11 January 1985, Yeates was the eldest son of former Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers, Athlone Town and Kilkenny City striker Stephen Yeates, who died aged just 38 following a tragic accident, just as Mark was making his way through the youth ranks at Spurs.
The young Yeates first played competitive football with Greenhills Boys, a club who his grandfather and father had been involved with, and then moved on to Cherry Orchard, a Dublin side renowned for producing a number of players who went on to have successful professional careers.
In an extended interview with Lennon Branagan for superhotspur.com, Yeates recalled how Tottenham scout Terry Arber did a two-day coaching course at Cherry Orchard, after which he, Willo Flood (later to play for Manchester City and Dundee United) and Stephen Quinn (who went on to play for Sheffield United) were invited to London for a trial with Spurs.
Yeates was only 15 but he was taken on and had to up sticks from home and move into digs in London.
“As a skilful dribbler who was regularly a source of assists and goals in the youth set-up, Yeates quickly demonstrated to the coaching staff at Tottenham that he possessed the raw materials required to graduate to the next level,” wrote Paul Dollery in an October 2021 article for the42.ie.
Sadly, his progress through the youth ranks was interrupted by the shock news of his father’s death in an accident. Yeates told Dollery how it could have all gone the wrong way, but he thankfully remained focused.
“It was really tough, but you’d ask yourself what else you could do if you didn’t keep going – go home to your estate in Tallaght, drink cans every weekend and get roped into whatever else?
“I could have done that, or I could look at the three-year contract that was on the table at Tottenham and get my head down to go after that.
“It was hard, but a bit of willpower and the desire to be a footballer – which I had since I started kicking a ball – got me through it.”
In his interview with Branagan, Yeates said: “I started to train with the first team at a decent age and really being involved quite a bit as well as being a regular with the reserves group with Colin Calderwood and Chris Hughton at the time.
“I’ve just got so many unbelievable things to say when I look back now and I can only say so many good things about Spurs because it sort of built me and gave me so much.”
It was in January 2005 when Yeates next appeared for the Spurs first team, Martin Jol sending him on as a sub in the third round FA Cup tie against Brighton at White Hart Lane when Tottenham edged it 2-1.
The following week he once again replaced Pedro Mendes as a sub when a star-studded Chelsea side won 2-0 on their way to winning their first Premier League title under Jose Mourinho. He also got on in the next game, as Spurs crashed 3-0 at Crystal Palace,
While he could have continued to bide his time at Spurs, he preferred to go out on loan again to get some games under his belt. He played four times for League One Swindon Town and then had a season-long loan at Colchester United, helping them to promotion from League One in 2005-06 in a squad which included Greg Halford and Chris Iwelumo.
Further loan spells followed at Hull City and Leicester City but, in the summer of 2007, he joined Colchester on a permanent deal.
Yeates scored 21 goals in 81 games for United drawing him to the attention of future England manager Gareth Southgate who took him to Middlesbrough (who had just been relegated from the Premier League) for a £500,000 fee.
On signing a three-year deal, Yeates said: “This is massive for me. There was interest from other clubs but there was only one thing on my mind once my agent told me Middlesbrough had been in touch.
“This club belongs in the Premier League, the fans deserve to be there and I can’t wait to play in front of them. It’s a Premiership club in my mind – all you have to do is look around the facilities, the training ground, the stadium, everything is spot on.”
Yeates reckoned his versatility would suit Boro. “I can play on the right or the left,” he said. “I played a full season’s Championship football on the right for Colchester, while I played most of last season on the left. But then, in probably eight of the last 10 games, I played behind the front two.
“For a winger, I think my goals record is quite good,” he added. “I got 14 last season and nine by Christmas the season before I got injured.
“I like to get on the ball and take on defenders. The number one job of being a wide man is creating chances and I certainly like to do that, but scoring goals isn’t a bad habit to have either. I promise the fans I’ll give 110 per cent. I’m hungry to prove that I deserve to be here.”
Fine words but it didn’t pan out well for him because Southgate was sacked in October 2009 and his successor Gordon Strachan shunned the Irishman. By January 2010, Yeates was on the move again, this time to Sheffield United.
Blades boss Kevin Blackwell told the club’s website: “He’s a player we have looked at before, I’ve had my eye on him for a year or two but we couldn’t agree terms with Colchester. I’m delighted to finally get my man, although I was surprised that Boro would let him go.”
Yeates was reunited with Stephen Quinn and another former Albion loanee, Darius Henderson, was up front for the Blades. Yeates reckoned he had his best ever spell playing under Blackwell’s successor, Gary Speed.
“He was just an unbelievable man and, going back to when I was at Tottenham as a young lad, he was the prime example of the player you should aspire to be like,” he said. “He had faith in me.”
Unfortunately, when Speed left to manage Wales, former Albion boss Micky Adams took charge and the pair didn’t see eye to eye, as he explained to watfordlegends.com.
“I was at Sheffield United and it was the season when we went from the Championship to League One. Micky Adams was the manager and we weren’t getting on. In the summer Micky was sacked and Danny Wilson came in as manager.
“I trained for the full pre-season with the club, but I was aware that there were a couple of clubs keeping an eye on my situation throughout the summer. It was Blackpool and Watford who put in offers for me, and I spoke with both clubs, but when I met Dychey (Sean Dyche) I decided to sign for Watford.
“I still had a house in Loughton so overall it was a good opportunity to get back down south, and everything that Sean said to me on the phone really appealed to me.”
Yeates was at Watford for two seasons, initially under Dyche and then Gianfranco Zola, but his contract wasn’t renewed in the summer of 2013 and he decided to link up once again with his former Colchester and Hull boss, Phil Parkinson, at League One Bradford City.
He was one of the goalscorers for Bradford when they completed a massive upset by beating Premier League table toppers Chelsea 4-2 at Stamford Bridge in the fourth round of the 2015 FA Cup.
However, released that summer, he switched across the Pennines to join Oldham Athletic and six months later was on the move again, this time to Blackpool.
“Since leaving Hull it’s been a bit up and down,” he told Branagan. “I was on a short term deal at Oldham which went alright before then deciding to go to Blackpool because of a longer contract which was put in front of me which I don’t regret, as I’ve been living around the St Annes area now for five years and my children have grown up here and are at school and it’s a great area to raise a family in.”
His final league club as a player was Notts County, who he joined on a short-term deal in January 2017, and he appeared in 11 games plus three as a substitute as new manager Kevin Nolan’s side turned what at one point looked like relegation from the league into a 16th place finish (although two years later County lost the league status they’d held for 157 years).
After playing non-league for Eastleigh, in 2019 Yeates moved closer to home and signed for AFC Fylde. In September 2021, he became an academy coach at Fleetwood Town, although he continued to keep his hand in as a player at Bamber Bridge.
Reflecting on the player’s career, Dollery wrote: “With a ball at his feet, Yeates was one of the most technically accomplished Irish players of his generation, cut from the same cloth as the likes of (Wes) Hoolahan and Andy Reid.
“That such a claim isn’t backed up by international achievements can perhaps be partly explained by his own admission that he didn’t marry his talent with a devotion to other aspects of the game that were beginning to play a more prominent role in the life of a professional footballer.
“If fitness coaches scheduled a gym session, Yeates felt his time would be better spent by staying on the training pitch to perfect his free kicks. A predilection for crisps, fizzy drinks and nights out didn’t aid his cause either.”
Yeates recognised he could have done things differently and said: “The reality was that I didn’t live like a saint.
“Everyone who knows me would know that that’s just not my personality. I’ve always been a fella who likes a bit of craic; just a normal Irish lad from an estate who happened to love playing football.”
• Pictures from the Albion matchday programme and various online sources.
WATFORD play-off final goalscorer Darius Henderson was the perfect foil for pint-sized Leon Knight at the beginning of Albion’s 2003-04 season.
Steve Coppell borrowed the 6’4” striker from his old pal Alan Pardew at Reading giving him game time that was eluding him at the Madejski Stadium.
There was plenty of competition for places in Reading’s forward line at the time with Nicky Forster, Shaun Goater and Nathan Tyson ahead of him.
It had led to another forward, Martin Butler, being sold to Rotherham and because Pardew generally picked a lone frontman, Henderson found himself on the fringes.
“The solitary striker system, and the superb form of Nicky Forster, meant the vast majority of his appearances came as a substitute,” the Albion matchday programme noted.
Young Henderson at Reading
In fact, he’d started only five league matches for Reading after turning professional in August 1999; but he had appeared 65 times as a substitute!
Given the chance of a start with the Seagulls, he got off to a flyer with the opening goal of the season from the penalty spot in a 3-1 win at Oldham, as well as netting the opener in a 2-0 home win over Luton Town.
Henderson, who celebrated his 22nd birthday while with the Seagulls, was adept at setting up chances for Knight too, outjumping QPR’s defence to set up Knight to score the winner as Albion won 2-1 at the Withdean and following it up at Plymouth where a strong run and cross teed up Knight for Albion’s third in a thrilling 3-3 draw.
It was good news when Pardew agreed to the loan being extended by another month, Coppell admitting: “It’s as good as it gets as far as I am concerned.
“Darius has given us a physical presence we didn’t have before and with him in the side I didn’t feel as exposed as we were defending set pieces.”
Unfortunately, Coppell couldn’t resist the lure of the Madejski Stadium when Pardew was poached to manage West Ham, and Henderson returned to Berkshire after 10 matches.
Born in Sutton, Surrey, on 7 September 1981, Henderson was brought up in Doncaster, south Yorkshire, and, after being rejected by Leeds, it was Rovers who gave him his first steps towards a professional career.
However, he joined Reading’s academy in 1999 and was one of three of that squad – along with Tyson and Alex Haddow – to make it through to the first team.
Although Coppell gave him game time at Brighton, the manager faced the same striker surplus issues as Pardew once he arrived at Reading, and he therefore sanctioned Henderson’s departure in January 2004. He’d made only 12 starts for the Royals but 71 appearances as a sub.
He was signed by Andy Hessenthaler’s Gillingham, telling the club’s official website: “I have had a good chat with the chairman and the gaffer and as far as I’m concerned I’m over the moon and am looking forward to playing now and getting to know my new team-mates.
“There was limited first-team options for me at Reading which was made clear by Steve Coppell. There was no doubt in my mind that I had to get away.”
He scored 10 goals in one and a half seasons with the Gills, as well as enjoying a prolific loan spell at Swindon Town, where he scored five times in six games.
The day before the 2005-06 season got underway, a £450,000 fee took him to Watford where he enjoyed the best three years of his career.
He became something of a fans’ favourite, with Matt Reveley, of footballfancast.com, explaining: “Darius is a player that often epitomises Watford’s footballing ethic (for) the 110 per cent effort and workrate that Watford fans like to see from their players.”
Manager Aidy Boothroyd paired him with Marlon King and Henderson’s 14 goals in 27 matches contributed towards Watford winning promotion to the Premier League.
Henderson scores against Leeds in the play-off final
It couldn’t have been sweeter when he scored a late penalty to round off Watford’s 3-0 win over Leeds in the 2006 play-off final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
As Henderson told watfordlegends.com: “Leeds released me when I was 16, and ever since that very day they released me I have always had the drive to go on and prove them wrong, so it was a great feeling to prove my point to them.
“The whole day though was memorable, just a terrific day all round and to score as well topped it off perfectly. I was mentally exhausted after the game though. It was incredibly draining and very emotional.”
The win sent the Hornets up with Henderson’s former club Reading and future employer Sheffield United.
Goals were far harder to come by amongst the elite and he managed only three as Watford went back down to the Championship.
He had scored 31 times in 117 appearances for the Hornets before being sold to the Blades for £2m in July 2008.
Before that, the striker could have joined Preston North End after a £1.3m fee was agreed between the clubs, but he decided to stay at Vicarage Road and fight for his place.
When Kevin Blackwell ‘sold’ United to him, though, he was persuaded. “Sheffield United is a massive club and it was a great opportunity for me so I went for it,” he told watfordlegends.com.
Henderson once again got amongst the goals, netting 21 for United, including one in April 2011 in a surprise 3-2 win over his old club Reading. It wasn’t enough to prevent relegation under Micky Adams, though, and Henderson moved to Millwall to take over the main striker role from Steve Morison, who had switched to Norwich City.
Goals galore for the Lions
Henderson’s goals continued to flow and he registered three hat-tricks and a brace in his first Championship season with the Lions. In total, he scored 26 times in 56 matches for them, including his 100th professional goal.
Wage bill trimming in January 2013 saw him move to fellow Championship side Nottingham Forest where his teammates included Dan Harding, Greg Halford and Gonzalo Jara Reyes. Unfortunately, he was more often a substitute than a starter for Billy Davies’ side.
Forest forward
In the summer of 2014, former Albion boss Russell Slade picked him up on a free transfer for third-tier Leyton Orient on a three-year deal, although Slade left the club in September.
Henderson was also on the move again after only one season in East London, heading back up north with Scunthorpe United. But after failing to register a goal in 16 matches, he moved to Tony Mowbray’s Coventry City (above) in February 2016 on a short-term deal, once again failing to get on the scoresheet in five substitute appearances.
He joined his last league club in August 2016, linking up with League Two Mansfield Town, where he scored once in 13 matches before manager Steve Evans released him. He dropped out of the league and moved to Eastleigh Town. But he played only two games for the National League side and retired from playing in April 2017.
According to Everything Orient, Henderson now works as a consultant for AFC Bournemouth.
Bearing in mind the number of clubs he played for, it’s not really surprising @DHenderson7 has 13,500 followers on Twitter.
TIME was of the essence when utility player Greg Halford agreed to make a temporary move to Brighton.
He penned a deal to join the Seagulls temporarily at Nottingham Forest’s training ground at 12.30pm and then got in his car to drive to Brighton for 6pm in time to be involved in the squad for that evening’s game at the Amex against Wigan Athletic.
It was 4 November 2014 and he was Sami Hyypia’s sixth loan signing – even though only five were eligible to play in any matchday squad (emergency loan goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi only played one game).
Regular centre backs Gordon Greer and Lewis Dunk were perilously close to suspension and deputy Aaron Hughes was sidelined with an ankle injury, so Hyypia moved to bring in an experienced back-up.
Albion hadn’t registered a win in the previous 11 league matches but the 29-year-old Halford proved to be a lucky charm as the side finally reacquainted themselves with the taste of victory. Fellow loanee Gary Gardner got the only goal of the game and Halford made an appearance off the bench towards the end of the game.
“I wasn’t really expecting to get any game time. I thought I’d just be in and around the lads, to get a feel for how everything works,” he told the club programme. “But I’m glad I got a few minutes at the end.”
Halford explained how he’d agreed to join the Seagulls because he’d been frozen out at Forest after Stuart Pearce took over as manager.
The player said he was familiar with the south coast having previously played for Portsmouth.
Asked what he could bring to the side, he added: “I can add a bit of height, I can score goals and obviously I can defend, which is my main attribute. I’m here to help the team and manager in any way I can.”
It wasn’t long before he was helping out a different manager as the side’s run of poor form brought a premature end to Hyypia’s brief time in charge.
Halford, though, hung around at the Amex, his loan extended by Hyypia’s successor, Chris Hughton, and he had made 14 starts and five substitute appearances by the season’s end, when the Seagulls narrowly escaped the drop back to the third tier.
Born on 8 December 1984 in Chelmsford, Essex, Halford began his professional career at nearby Colchester United. I well remember a Chelmsford-based work colleague telling me about this talented young footballer who’d been head and shoulders the best player in a local schoolboy football team his son had played for.
That player was Halford, who progressed from Colchester’s youth team and made his first team debut in April 2003. Loan spells at non-league Aylesbury Town and Braintree Town were part of his development, but he eventually made his mark at Colchester and was named in the PFA League One team of the year in 2005-06.
Played mainly at right-back, Halford’s speciality was his ability to deliver searching long throws which led to a good proportion of goals for Colchester.
After playing more than 150 games in five years for the Us, Halford wanted to prove himself at the highest level. He got a move to Premier League Reading in January 2007 but he couldn’t make the breakthrough there and ended up switching to Sunderland, signed by Roy Keane.
Just six months later, Sunderland made him available on loan and he joined Championship side Charlton until the end of the season. Then he spent the whole of the 2008-09 season on loan to Sheffield United, featuring in 49 of their 56 games that season.
His personal highlight was scoring the only goal of the game as United beat Preston to reach the 2008-09 play-off final.
Unfortunately, United lost the final 1-0 to Burnley, and that summer Halford was on the move again, this time to newly-promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers. Although he featured in 20 games, a regular starting berth eluded him and, in October 2010, he joined Championship side Portsmouth. Initially on loan, he eventually joined Pompey on a permanent basis but relegation to the third tier brought with it the need to trim budgets and in July 2012, they offloaded Halford to Nottingham Forest.
Under Billy Davies, Halford was generally deployed as a striker but when Pearce took over at the City Ground, he didn’t get close to the first team. On his return from Brighton at the end of the 2014-15 season, he was released by Forest and joined Rotherham United on a free transfer.
Manager Steve Evans appointed him captain but, after a winless run of five games, he was deposed and only played one more game for the Millers before joining Birmingham City on loan.
That spell was also brief and although he returned to Rotherham and played 15 games for them in the 2016-17 season, he then joined Cardiff City and made 33 appearances in two seasons for Neil Warnock’s side.
AN UNDERSTUDY to eccentric Crystal Palace goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly played a dozen games in goal for Brighton in the spring of 2007.
Scott Flinders was just 20, and suffering from the effects of a bout of ‘flu, when he answered a call from fledgling manager Dean Wilkins to help solve a goalkeeper crisis.
With first choice Michel Kuipers injured, Wilkins considered it too early to risk rookie ‘keepers Richard Martin and John Sullivan, so he turned to Albion’s arch rivals to borrow 6’ 4” Flinders.
“I always thought Millwall were Palace’s biggest rivals but then I got told, I think it was by Dougie Freedman or Clinton Morrison, that it is Brighton,” Flinders told The Argus. “It didn’t put me off signing. It is just about playing games.”
Flinders made a slightly shaky start in a win away to Gillingham, and in a defeat to Bristol City on his first appearance at Withdean, but he made some important stops to help earn points in consecutive away draws at Crewe and Blackpool.
Manager Wilkins told The Argus: “We knew we were bringing in somebody who was not 100 per cent for the first couple of matches. Scott has recovered from that and he has done very well for us.
“We are still in a position where we need another ‘keeper with a bit more experience than the young lads we’ve got.”
Flinders seemed happy to extend his loan from one month to two and said: “The fans have been absolutely excellent towards me, even though I am coming from a rival club.
“John Keeley, the goalkeeping coach, has been different class and I am delighted to be here.”
Unfortunately, Albion lost all five of their matches in April and finished 18th, six points clear of relegation.
Born in Rotherham on 12 June 1986, Flinders joined nearby Barnsley as a youth trainee in 2003 and made it through to the first team in 2005 when former Albion striker Andy Ritchie was the manager.
He took over from Ross Turnbull and featured in 11 games over three months before losing his place and subsequently having to settle for being understudy to Republic of Ireland international Nick Colgan.
However, Flinders earned his own international recognition in the shape of five caps for the England under 20 side, three of them in the 2005 Toulon tournament. He made his debut in a 3-0 win against the Korean Republic in a side which also featured Liam Ridgewell, Liam Rosenior and Greg Halford.
He kept his place three days later in a 0-0 draw with France, then came on as a sub three days later in a 1-1 draw with Mexico.
In August the same year, he started against Russia but was substituted as the side went down 4-0. A teammate in that one was Will Hoskins. His final match was at Turf Moor when England drew 2-2 with Holland, although he was subbed off again. In that England team was future England centre-back Gary Cahill while the left-back was Gary Borrowdale, who played on loan at Brighton under Russell Slade in 2009.
Frustrated playing second fiddle at Barnsley, Flinders had trials at Chelsea and Wigan Athletic but he ended up at Crystal Palace in 2006 as part of an exchange deal involving midfield player Sam Togwell.
It’s believed Palace paid an initial fee of £250,000 with additional instalments to be paid according to appearances.
However, Flinders only made one league cup appearance before being sent on loan to Gillingham. It was the first of five loans away from Selhurst Park, the lengthiest being his time at Brighton.
Other loan spells saw him spend time with Yeovil Town, Blackpool and Falkirk and he was released by Palace in May 2009 after playing just 13 games for them in three years.
His years of understudying finally came to an end when he headed to the north east in the summer of 2009 and joined Hartlepool United, where he established himself as first-choice ‘keeper.
Flinders even got on the scoresheet while at Hartlepool, scoring with a 94th minute header against Bournemouth on 30 April 2011 to earn his side a point in the last home game of the season.
The 2012-13 season was a particular triumph for him when he earned the accolades of Player’s Player, Supporter’s Player, Away Player of the Year and Hartlepool Mail SportsMail Player of the Year.
In six years at Hartlepool, he made more appearances – 276 – than any other ‘keeper in the club’s history, eventually moving on in June 2015 to League Two York City.
It was alleged Dons striker Lyle Taylor grabbed Flinders by the testicles and, as he retaliated, the goalkeeper was alleged to have used racist abuse.
Flinders denied the charge but was found guilty by the FA following an independent regulatory commission. Fined £1,250, Flinders was also warned about his future conduct and ordered to complete an education course.
York initially suspended Flinders but then loaned him out to National League rivals Macclesfield Town, who he subsequently joined on a contract from January to June 2017.
On deadline day in August 2017, he joined League Two Cheltenham Town, with boss Gary Johnson telling the club’s website: “Scott has played over 400 league and cup games in his career and there is no substitute for experience.”
In January 2020, Flinders suffered a broken leg in a game against Oldham which put him out of the game for nine months.
Under Billy Davies, Halford was generally deployed as a striker but when Pearce took over at the City Ground, he didn’t get close to the first team. On his return from Brighton at the end of the 2014-15 season, he was released by Forest and joined Rotherham United on a free transfer.
That spell was also brief and although he returned to Rotherham and played 15 games for them in the 2016-17 season, he then joined Cardiff City and made 33 appearances in two seasons for Neil Warnock’s side.
Flinders made a slightly shaky start in a win away to Gillingham, and in a defeat to Bristol City on his first appearance at Withdean, but he made some important stops to help earn points in consecutive away draws at Crewe and Blackpool.
In parallel lines 