Tag: Hull City

Peter Taylor disciple Junior Lewis helped Seagulls to promotion

JunLewJUNIOR LEWIS was a loyal disciple of Peter Taylor, linking up with him as a player or a coach at EIGHT different clubs.

Although he didn’t win the support of too many Leicester City fans during his time with the Foxes, his arrival for the final third of Brighton’s 2001-02 season helped them to claim the third tier crown.

One particular game stands out in the memory, and it came on a rain-soaked night against league leaders Reading at the Withdean Stadium.

I recollect watching the action from the front row of the covered east side of the ground – the roof affording no protection whatsoever as the rain swept in.

Reading hadn’t lost in 12 games but with Bobby Zamora in sparkling form, Albion beat the Royals 3-1.

Lewis marked his debut with a simple tap-in after Zamora had set him up. The striker with the golden touch had scored his 26th goal of the season to give Albion the lead on 59 minutes and then provided the assist for an unstoppable strike by Steve Melton.

Five days later, Lewis scored the only goal of the game at home to Huddersfield  and, as promotion came properly into view, boss Taylor talked to the Argus about the difference he had made to the side.

Brighton went on to overtake Reading to claim the title, rounding off the season with a 1-0 win away to Port Vale. Lewis finished with three goals in 15 appearances as the side Taylor inherited from Adams lifted the championship trophy.

lewis applaudsBorn in Wembley on 9 October 1973, Lewis was on Fulham’s books as a youngster and made it through to the first team, his debut coming as a substitute in a league game against Burnley in October 1992.

But he played only six games at first team level before dropping into non-league and playing for three years with Dover Athletic – where he was first managed by Taylor.

He went on to play for Hayes and Hendon before getting back into league football under Taylor at Gillingham.

In a season and a half with the Gills, he played 59 games before Taylor, by now manager of Premiership Leicester City, took him there initially on loan and then as a permanent signing in 2001.

Although he was a Leicester player for three years, he managed only 30 appearances for the Foxes because Taylor’s successors as manager sent him out on loan.

After the temporary move to Brighton, Lewis had two spells on loan at Swindon Town the following year, then, in 2004, he was reunited with Taylor at Hull City, initially on loan and then on a permanent basis.

After 52 appearances for Hull, he had fleeting spells with Brentford, Milton Keynes Dons, Edgware Town and Stevenage Borough.

He joined Taylor’s backroom staff as a coach at Wycombe Wanderers and then moved in a similar capacity when Taylor was appointed as boss at Bradford City, the eighth club where they’d worked together.

“I’ve worked with him at every level from the Conference right up to the Premier League and been lucky enough to get promotion at a lot of those clubs,” Lewis told the Bradford Telegraph and Argus. “I know how the manager works and how he likes things done from playing for him and working under him as a coach.”

In a FourFourTwo magazine article by Nick Moore on 19 February 2016, Lewis reckoned Taylor always sought him out because he reminded him of his younger self.

“We were both two-footed, but mainly left-footed, and we relied on a similar trick – feinting to cross but chopping back onto your right foot,” Lewis explained. “I watched a video of him play once and I thought: ‘I do that’.

“He trusted me to keep things ticking over. I fitted his philosophy, and he brought the best out in me. But I didn’t assume that when he moved, I’d automatically follow. When he took over Leicester in the Premier League I did really hope I’d join, but I didn’t hear from him for ages.”

Lewis also reckoned operating in a difficult position was a way to become a favourite. “I was always a two-footed holding midfielder. There aren’t a lot of us around, compared to more attacking players, probably because you don’t get as much glory.

“So, having me in that role meant Peter always knew he had one position sorted.”

Before joining Taylor at Bradford, Lewis had continued playing at Welwyn Garden City and after leaving Bradford pulled on the boots once more as player-coach back at Hendon in 2014.

To the astonishment of many, Lewis was named first team coach of Leeds United in June 2014, when the relatively unknown Dave Hockaday was appointed their manager, but the role lasted only a couple of months as the pair were sacked by controversial owner Massimo Cellino after a poor start which included a 2-0 defeat at home to Brighton on 19 August.

In 2015-16 Lewis was coaching Canvey Island before moving on to become first team coach at Barnet, when former Seagull Darren Currie took over as boss from the veteran John Still.  Lewis and Currie were relieved of their duties at Barnet in August 2020 when the club had to restructure after missing out on promotion back to the League.

Much-travelled Ade Akinbiyi a big hit in brief Seagulls spell

A STRIKER with wildly differing fortunes in a varied and much-travelled career made a good early impression when joining Albion on loan from Norwich City back in the autumn of 1994.

Ade Akinbiyi had not long since broken through to the City team as a teenager and he scored four times in seven games on loan to the Seagulls.

Just turned 20, Akinbiyi arrived at a time when Liam Brady’s Albion hadn’t registered a win for 11 games and, although Albion lost the first game he played in, the remaining six produced three wins and three draws.

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There is some YouTube footage of him scoring Albion’s second goal on a snowy pitch at Hull City’s old Boothferry Park ground in a game that finished 2-2.

“He is powerful and big and he can take knocks and we have missed having somebody in that mould,” Brady wrote in his matchday programme notes.

Later in his career Akinbiyi would prove to be a real handful for the Seagulls – I recall him shrugging off a powder-puff challenge from a young Dan Harding at Withdean and muscling his way to a winning goal for Stoke City. Manager Mark McGhee subbed Harding off and publicly lambasted him afterwards.

Born in Hackney on 10 October 1974, Akinbiyi was more interested in athletics at an early age, as he told the Lancashire Telegraph.

“I was interested in football but not massive on playing it,” he said. His school PE teacher persuaded him otherwise. “I went to play for my district team, Hackney, and it all started from there.”

From Hackney, Akinbiyi joined nearby Senrab, the team that blooded the likes of Bobby Zamora, Leon Knight, John Terry and Jermain Defoe.

His age group earned a place in a children’s tournament in Great Yarmouth called the ‘Canary Cup’ where he was spotted by a scout for nearby Norwich, who signed him as a schoolboy.

“The schoolboy and youth team system was second to none, as it still is now,” said Akinbiyi. But he found it hard living away from home, missing his mum’s native Nigerian cooking.

But after finding new digs with a few of his team-mates, he stuck at it and earned a dream debut as a substitute against Bayern Munich in the return leg of their UEFA Cup second round game, less than a month after his 19th birthday.

“I thought my debut would come in a cup game, perhaps against lower league opposition, not against Bayern Munich,” he said. “Not many people make their debut in a European cup competition.”

Although Akinbiyi made 51 league appearances for Norwich, his Canaries career never really took off, hence the Brighton loan spell and a similar move to Hereford United.

Eventually, though, a manager who believed in him, Tony Pulis, made him a record £250,000 buy for Gillingham in January 1997. Akinbiyi repaid Pulis’ faith in him with 29 goals in 67 starts, leading to Bristol City paying £1.2million for the striker following their promotion to the old Division One (now the Championship).

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After scoring 21 goals in 47 league appearances for the Robins, in 1999 he completed a £3.5m move to Wolverhampton Wanderers. In the same year, he played his one and only game for Nigeria, in a friendly against Greece in Athens.

He made a great start at Wolves, scoring eight times in his first 12 games for Colin Lee’s side, but a year later, switched to Premier League Leicester City, after the Foxes’ boss Peter Taylor (later to replace Micky Adams at Brighton) paid out a £5m fee for the striker.

Ade A LeicesterAkinbiyi was brought in to replace Emile Heskey, a real Filbert Street hero who had been sold to Liverpool for £11m. However, his goal touch eluded him and he managed to score only 11 goals in 58 league appearances for the club – some Leicester fans dubbing him Ade Akin-Bad-Buy!

Akinbiyi looked back on it in an interview with Four Four Two magazine and said: “I came in as Emile Heskey’s replacement, but he is a different breed of footballer.

“He’s big, strong and scores goals, but, back then, if Heskey wasn’t scoring a lot he could get away with it. He was the local hero. I was a different player – I’d be running in behind and trying to cause people problems. But Leicester looked at my record in the Championship and thought I’d come and do the same thing.”

Eventually they cut their losses and sold him to Division One Crystal Palace for £2.2m. At Selhurst, he was rather ignominiously given the number 55 shirt! Having scored just one goal in 14 league and cup appearances, in 2003 he was loaned to Stoke City, under his old boss Pulis.

He scored twice – the second goal coming in the last game of the 2002-03 season, when the Potters won 1-0 against Reading to seal their Division One (now the Championship) status (the season Albion were relegated).

Akinibiyi discussed the events in an interview with another ex-Stoke, Burnley and Brighton striker, Chris Iwelumo, for Stoke City FC TV.

AA chat with CIIt led to Akinbiyi joining on a permanent basis, on a free transfer, and he became a cult hero with the Stoke City crowd.

In March 2005, Burnley signed him for £600,000 – and he was promptly sent off on his debut! The game was only two minutes old when he head-butted George McCartney of Sunderland, and was shown a straight red.

Less than a year later, he was on the move again, switching to Sheffield United in January 2006 for what was then a club record £1.75m fee.

He scored on his Blades debut against Derby County but by October that year he was in the news for his alleged involvement in a training ground bust-up with team-mate Claude Davis.

In all, Akinbiyi made only five appearances for the Blades in the Premiership in 2006 and, on New Year’s Day 2007 he returned to Burnley for a £650,000 fee, with add-ons.

He scored in his first game back, against Reading, but only notched three by the season’s end. Burnley fans have some good memories of him, particularly in a brief spell when he played alongside loan signing Andrew Cole, but on 2 April 2009, Burnley offloaded him to Houston Dynamo.

Dave Thomas, a prolific writer on all things Burnley, talked about Akinbiyi’s cult hero status among Burnley fans, telling thelongside.co.uk: “Ade certainly had a talent and that talent was scoring goals. The story that he was utterly bad at this is totally inaccurate, but that is the legend that developed, at one club in particular, Leicester City.

“In truth, at Burnley too, he missed sitters that Harry Redknapp might say his wife could have scored. But then so do all other players and, in many games, he displayed all the things that he was good at, and the attributes that he had in abundance.”

After he was released by Houston, back in the UK he played 10 games for Notts County, as they won the League Two title In 2009-10, and the following season pitched up in south Wales to play for then non-league Newport County.

In July 2013, Akinbiyi became a player-coach for Colwyn Bay, managed by his former Burnley teammate Frank Sinclair, but both resigned in January 2015 after a 5-0 defeat at Boston.

Akinbiyi now lives in Manchester and in 2015 was interviewed about work he has done as an ambassador for Prostate Cancer UK after his father died from the disease.

‘Dynamic and energetic’ international Keith Andrews wanted longer Brighton stay

15486REPUBLIC of Ireland international midfielder Keith Andrews was something of a revelation during a season-long loan at Brighton & Hove Albion.

Now plying his trade as a pundit for Sky Sports, Andrews had previously played for the other Albion as well – West Bromwich – although his stay there was even briefer than his time with the Seagulls.

With the looming expectation that back-to-back Player of the Season Liam Bridcutt would shortly follow old boss Gus Poyet to Sunderland (which eventually happened in January 2014), Brighton turned to Andrews to cover the defensive midfield slot in 2013-14.

Arriving at the Amex in August 2013 just short of his 33rd birthday on a season-long loan from Bolton Wanderers, Andrews was not at all happy with the way the Trotters ‘disposed’ of him, telling bbc.co.uk: “Nobody really had the decency to even phone me as I was leaving.

“I think I deserve a little bit more respect than that, I suppose. I always felt I’d done things well at that club, been very professional and treated people like I like to be treated.

“To end on that note was a bit sour but you can’t be surprised by anything in football.”

Even if Seagulls supporters viewed his signing as somewhat underwhelming, Andrews himself was delighted and excited, saying: “If it wasn’t the right move, I certainly wouldn’t have gone and I didn’t feel any pressure to leave.

“It was a move that genuinely excited me. To come to a club that plays in the fashion and style that Brighton do was something that really appealed to me.

“I have still got a huge appetite for the game and I feel I can have a big impact here. I have come into a squad that has a wealth of experience and ability that will make me be the player I know I can be.”

And boss Oscar Garcia sought to dispel any doubts, telling bbc.co.uk: “He is a player with experience at the top level of the English game and international football – including World Cups and European Championships.

“Keith is a player who I know will enjoy the way we like to play. He is a dynamic and energetic player.”

It wasn’t long before supporters began to be pleasantly surprised by Andrews’ contribution on the pitch, and off it the new signing also began to show his aptitude for handling the media.

As early as September 2013, Andrews was speaking eloquently about his teammates, for example telling BBC Radio Sussex his views about striker Leonardo Ulloa.

“He is a handful and has got a bit of everything,” he said. “He is a big player for us at the moment as he is really leading the line on his own. He allows us to bring other players, such as Bucko [Will Buckley] and Ashley Barnes, into play.

“He is very effective and I’ve seen first hand in training how strong he is and what a handful he is to deal with. I have only been here a few weeks but I have been very impressed by the mix we have got in the dressing room. We’ve got experience, youth, foreign, English and Irish.

“It is a good atmosphere and if we hold onto what we have got I am more than confident we can have a very successful season.”

As the months progressed, Andrews became an established part of the side which Garcia ultimately led to the play-offs. In December 2013, Andrews made use of the platform offered by the Daily Mail’s Footballers’ Football Column to expand on his enjoyment of his time at the Amex.

“The club made a big impression on me when I played against them for Bolton last season, in terms of their style of football and their new stadium, and when they came in for me it was a very easy decision in footballing terms,” he said. “It’s not an easy decision, moving 250 miles away from your home in the north-west, but Brighton made it very clear they wanted me and Bolton made it clear they didn’t.

“It came out of the blue, but I felt it was a chance to be a part of something really exciting.”

Garcia’s decision to quit after the failure to get past Derby County in the play-off semi-finals was the catalyst for a number of changes in the playing personnel, although Andrews hankered to make his move to Sussex permanent having been involved in 37 appearances since his temporary move.

keith ands v sheff wedHe registered one goal during that time, an 89th minute equaliser at home to Sheffield Wednesday in October.

In a May 2014 interview with the Bolton News, he said: “It would be something I’d be interested in. When the people are so good to you and make you feel so welcome, the fans have been fantastic, it’s a one-club town.

“No-one supports anyone else and the attendances are something that I haven’t experienced in football for a long, long time. We’ve got the best attendances in the whole league although other clubs in the league are supposedly bigger.

“It’s a club I would like to stay involved in but contract-wise I’m contracted to a different club next season, I’m only here on loan. These things are not always in your hands and you can’t always dictate where you go and how your career pans out.

“But I would certainly like to stay on at Brighton into the future because I have thoroughly enjoyed it this year.”

The midfielder also reflected positively on his time at the Amex in a blog post for Sky Sports, pointing out: “Although I was only at the Amex for one season I have a lot of affection for the club as I think they try to do things in the right manner for the club to evolve with real sustainability for years to come.

“There are good people involved behind the scenes there, none more so than in the academy. Last season I worked closely with the academy manager John Morling and the development coach Ian Buckman as I was in the middle of my UEFA ‘A’ licence and they couldn’t have done any more to help me.

“It was a great experience to work with them as they prepared weekly and monthly schedules with the rest of the coaches and sports scientists to ensure the young lads had the best chance of developing their games, both technically and physically.

“I was amazed at the schedule a 14-year-old at the club had and a little envious to be honest as it certainly wasn’t like that in my day!”

Born in Dublin on 13 September 1980, Andrews came through the ranks of Drumcondra side Stella Maris before being picked up as a junior by Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he stayed for six years.

He made his first team debut on 18 March 2000 in a 2-1 win at Swindon and at 21 was Wolves’ youngest ever captain in a game against QPR, but he was sent out on loan on three separate occasions, playing briefly for Oxford United, Stoke City and Walsall.

After 72 appearances for the Molineux side, in 2005 he moved on to Hull City, where injury blighted his only season with them He then had a two-year spell with Milton Keynes Dons, where he had a productive midfield partnership with Alan Navarro, and he assumed the captaincy of Paul Ince’s side.

His second season was a huge success as the Dons won promotion to League One; Andrews scoring the goal which secured the success. He also scored in the club’s 2-0 win over Grimsby Town in the Football League Trophy at Wembley.

Andrews was chosen in the PFA Team of the Year, won the League Two player of the Year Award and was listed 38th of FourFourTwo magazine’s top 50 Football League players.

The Irishman followed his old Dons boss Ince to Premier League Blackburn Rovers in September 2008 and, two months later, at the comparatively late age of 28, made it onto the international scene with Ireland, making his debut as a substitute in a 3-2 friendly defeat against Poland.

It was the first of 35 international caps. He was involved in Ireland’s 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign and although the country was winless at the 2012 European Championship in Poland and Ukraine, Andrews was named FAI Player of the Year for 2012.

Meanwhile, Andrews’ third season at Blackburn (2010-11) had been curtailed by injury, restricting him to just five Premier League appearances, and in August 2011 he went on a half-season loan to Ipswich Town.

A permanent switch looked on the cards but on deadline day of the January 2012 transfer window he ended up joining West Brom on a six-month deal. After 14 Premier League appearances for the Baggies, his contract came to an end and his next port of call was newly-relegated Bolton Wanderers, who he joined on a three-year contract in the summer of 2012.

Owen Coyle was the manager at that time but his tenure came to an abrupt end in October that year. Although Andrews played 25 times under his successor, Dougie Freedman, the following season he was edged out by the signing from Liverpool of Jay Spearing.

After his loan season with Brighton, Andrews had a similar arrangement at Watford but he didn’t enjoy the same success there and ended up curtailing the deal and going back to MK Dons on loan for the latter part of the season.

When the curtain came down on his playing career at the end of the 2014-15 season, he’d completed 413 career appearances and scored 49 goals.

He became first team coach at MK Dons and harboured ambitions of becoming manager when Karl Robinson departed, but he was overlooked and began working as a coach with the junior Irish international teams, and turned to punditry with Sky Sports.

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Paul McShane wrote his name in Albion’s history in one season

McShane

FLAME-HAIRED Irish centre back Paul McShane was a complete revelation during a season on loan to Brighton from Manchester United.

The 2005-06 season ended ingloriously for the Seagulls but McShane was imperious, given a platform to launch a career which saw him play most of it in the second tier of English football, and almost 100 times at the top level, together with earning him 33 full caps for his country.

Although he was given a squad number by United, and had been selected by Sir Alex Ferguson for pre-season matches, McShane didn’t get the chance to play any proper competitive football for United’s first team.

United reserve team manager, Brian McClair, a former Celtic teammate of Albion manager, Mark McGhee, could see the benefit of giving McShane first team football at a decent level and an initial half-season loan was agreed, then, in January, it was extended to the season’s end.

Brighton were missing the long-term injured Adam Hinshelwood and although veteran Jason Dodd had been signed to add experience to the defence, his season was to be plagued by injury, so McShane was a near permanent fixture alongside Guy Butters in the centre of the back four.

The young defender shared a flat in Hove with fellow Republic of Ireland international Wayne Henderson and in an early season profile article, Butters was quick to acknowledge the quality of the youngster. “He is an excellent player. He’s only 19 but you see he’s got that Premiership quality about him,” said Butters. “He’s very confident; he likes to bring the ball down and play.”

The former Spurs and Portsmouth defender said he reminded him of Richard Gough, a former teammate at Tottenham. “He’s strong; not the tallest, but makes up for that with his great leap. Very good on the ball, quick and great in deep positions.”

McShane coverHis passion and aggression sometimes got the better of him and the only reason he wasn’t ever present was a penchant for bookings – 12 over the course of the season – which earned suspensions, and a couple of injury-induced absences. And he was missed when he wasn’t available.

After he’d picked up an ankle injury that required him to return to Old Trafford for treatment, the matchday programme put together an article extolling the merits of the young defender in which it said: “Paul’s cool reading of the game and his ability to overcome some of the most effective attacking players in the division marked him out as a fine prospect, and he proved competitive in the air and on the ground, his pace and positional sense being a real asset.”

In their end-of-season player ratings, the Argus summed up his contribution thus: “Talent and determination in abundance. Rash in the tackle at times but that is a product of his insatiable hunger. Will be sorely missed next season.”

Such was the impact of McShane’s outstanding performances over the course of the season that he was selected as the Player of the Season, the first time a loan player had ever been given the honour.

Butters was convinced it was the right choice and told the Argus: “He’s done really well for us. He’s scored some vital goals. Obviously the one away to Palace springs to mind.

“He has been solid all-round. He is very aggressive, ultra-competitive and hates losing, even in training.”

It’s perhaps inevitable that any player who scores a winning goal against arch rivals Crystal Palace earns a place in Albion folklore. McShane’s scruffy effort, which appeared to go in off his shoulder, at Selhurst Park on 18 October 2005 proved to be the only goal of an intense scrap but how it went in became irrelevant as time passed.

“Crystal Palace was a special night, because of the rivalry,” said McShane. “It was a great atmosphere and scoring that goal was brilliant.”

He scored three other goals over the season, including a crucial opener in a 2-0 win away to Millwall as the Seagulls put up a valiant, but hopeless, fight to avoid the drop, but it will always be the goal at Selhurst that fans remember most.

McShane confessed in an interview with Andy Naylor in the Argus that relegation had hurt, but the season for him had been “brilliant” and “a great experience”.

He said: “It has given me a chance to get out there and make my name in the Championship and I think I have done that well enough.

“It has given me a great opportunity to get the experience I need to take back to Manchester and hopefully give it a good crack there, because I’ve learnt so much this season.

“Brighton have been brilliant to me. They’ve treated me really well. They’ve made me feel very welcome, the fans and the people around. That has helped a lot. It has been great.”

In conclusion, he told Naylor: “The club is part of me now. You never know what will happen in the future but Brighton will always have a place in my heart.”

Perhaps rather presciently, Naylor commented: “McShane’s fierce commitment is unlikely to be seen in an Albion shirt again. If he does not make it at Manchester United, there are sure to be Championship clubs interested in signing him.”

With Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidić United’s regular centre back pairing, and Wes Brown as back-up, it was always going to be a difficult ask to dislodge them, and in August 2006 McShane left Old Trafford together with goalkeeper Luke Steele as makeweights in the deal that took goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak to United.

mufcmcshaneMcShane and Steele had both been members of United’s winning FA Youth Cup team of 2003, a side which also included Kieran Richardson and Chris Eagles, who went on to make names for themselves in the game.

McShane, born in Wicklow on 6 January 1986, played hurling, Gaelic football, rugby and badminton (his dad, Sean, and uncle played Gaelic football for Dublin) in his early years in Ireland but eventually began to demonstrate his soccer prowess with junior clubs and was playing for St Joseph’s Boys AFC in Dublin when United snapped him up in 2002.

“I was 16 when I signed; I wasn’t going to until I went to Old Trafford with my mum and dad,” McShane said. “It was so down to earth for such a big club. I would be getting the best coaching and training, also playing with some of the best players in the world.”

He added: “Alex Ferguson has been brilliant to me and my family; a very nice man. He just cracks jokes all the time.”

After his success with United’s Youth Cup team, McShane’s first senior football came in 2004 during a brief loan spell with Walsall, where he played four games and scored once.

At Championship West Brom, McShane played 42 games in the 2006-07 season as the Baggies finished fourth and agonisingly lost to Derby County in the play-off final.

Before the new season got underway, McShane was one of 12 new signings manager Roy Keane made for Sunderland, newly-promoted to the Premier League.

He scored an own goal in only his second league game but Sunderland salvaged a 2-2 draw at Birmingham and he went on to make 21 appearances (plus one as sub) as the Black Cats finished just three points clear of the drop zone.

In the following season, McShane went on loan to Premier League new boys, Hull City, and having played 19 games for the Tigers made the move permanent the following season. The KFC Stadium would be his home for the next six years, although he was sent out on loan twice, to Barnsley in 2011 and Crystal Palace in 2012.

In the final game of the 2012-13 season, McShane scored a vital goal for Hull which guaranteed them promotion back to the Premier League, and he earned a new two-year contract from manager Steve Bruce.

However, with Curtis Davies, Alex Bruce and James Chester ahead of him, his appearances were limited, although he did get on as a substitute in Hull’s 3-2 FA Cup Final defeat to Arsenal.

McShane featured 23 times as Hull relinquished their Premier League status in 2015, and he was among six players released by the club, including Liam Rosenior, who moved to Brighton, of course, and goalkeeper Steve Harper, who’d had a short loan spell at Brighton from Newcastle.

McShane wasn’t without a club for long, and joined Reading in July 2015, with manager Steve Clarke telling the club website: “I knew that Paul’s contract with Hull City was due to expire and was always monitoring the situation. When we met up earlier in the summer for a chat I knew that Paul would be a good signing for Reading FC and I’m pleased that we managed to get the deal completed.

“As well as his obvious talents as an experienced defender who is aggressive both in the air and on the ground, I felt that he was a good character to bring into our squad.
“Paul has gained good experience at many clubs and, like Stephen Quinn, was an important part of a promotion-winning team. He has a winning mentality and it will be good for our two young central defenders, Michael Hector and Jake Cooper, to train and play alongside Paul.”

After four years at Reading, over which he played 103 games, in 2019 McShane switched to League One Rochdale.

In July 2021, McShane returned to Man Utd as player-coach for the under 23 side and made two appearances for the under 21s in the EFL Trophy as an over-age player. When he retired from playing at the end of the 2021-22 season he took up the role of professional development phase coach (covering under 18s through to under 23s).

“I’m calling it a day playing now,” he told manutd.com .”I’ve had 20 years playing and I’ve come back into the club as a player-coach in the under 23s. It’s been a great year and great experience but now it’s time to fully focus on the next stage of my career, which will be in coaching.

“It’s amazing how things work out. It’s a great way to end my career, to come back here and help the future generation with their careers. It was perfect, to be honest with you, when this role came about, and I’m grateful to the people who made it happen. I think it’s a great way to end my playing days.”

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

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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 24th, 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 50th 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.

back row burnett