Tag: Jack Bonham

Button rarely pressed into action with the Albion

JOURNEYMAN goalkeeper David Button has travelled the length and breadth of the country in pursuit of playing time, his three years at Brentford being a rare settled spell in which he played 141 games.

Normally only a loanee or a back-up ‘keeper at a multitude of clubs, he had a season and a half as Fulham’s first choice but at Brighton between 2018 and 2020 he only made 10 first team starts.

Button was 29 when he signed for the Albion and he stepped into the boots vacated by Tim Krul, the previous back-up ‘keeper, who had moved on to Norwich City. With both upcoming goalkeepers Christian Walton and Robert Sanchez out on loan, boss Chris Hughton wanted a third senior ‘keeper.

Largely a watching brief

“He has a wealth of experience, having made over 300 appearances during his career so far, and I’m sure he will work well with Maty Ryan and Jason Steele,” said Hughton.

Button made his debut in a pre-season 2-1 friendly defeat against AFC Wimbledon, and realised from the outset that Ryan was going to be ahead of him.

“I’m not coming in blind to the situation, but I want to impress and be ready for the chance in the side – there has to be healthy competition wherever you are as a player and hopefully I can provide that for him,” he said. 

“There could be a chance for me and Jason in January if Maty goes away to the Asia Cup with Australia, so we’ll both be working hard to ensure we’re ready for that if the opportunity arises. 

“I know he’s very well thought of but at the same time you have to back yourself and work hard every day and do as well as you can.”

Indicating what might be expected of him, he said: “I’m confident with the ball at my feet – it’s a slightly different style to Fulham and we are allowed to go a bit more direct here and it’s something I feel I’m good at. 

“I think it’s a bit less risky – we play when we can and keep it when we can – the risk factor involved in playing it out of defence is less for me here though.”

Button certainly found a familiar face at training: goalkeeper coach Ben Roberts had previously worked with him at Charlton Athletic, and he said of him: “He has got a great reputation within the game and everyone he’s worked with speaks highly of him. I genuinely believe he’s one of the best at what he does.”

Button’s first competitive action for the Seagulls came in the fourth game of the season, a 1-0 home League Cup defeat to Southampton. He had to wait until December, when Ryan was away playing for Australia, to play in the Premier League.

In Premier League action v Everton

He kept a clean sheet in the first of them, a 1-0 home win over Everton, when he made a handful of saves, including turning a Richarlison effort onto a post.

“Although he’s a very experienced goalkeeper, it’s never easy when you’re coming in at this stage of the season and following Maty Ryan, who’s done so well for us,” Hughton said. “It wasn’t an easy decision because I’ve got two goalkeepers who are really pushing. But probably his experience managed to get him the nod (over Steele).

“It’s great for him to come into this first game and, not only be on a winning team, but also a clean sheet and that will do him the world of good.”

But that was as good as it got; Albion drew 2-2 at West Ham on New Year’s Day and lost to Liverpool (1-0) at the Amex and Man Utd (2-1) at Old Trafford. A 3-1 third round FA Cup win at Bournemouth saw then no.3 Jason Steele given a chance between the sticks.

On Ryan’s return, Button was back to the bench although he kept goal twice in Albion’s run to the semi-finals of the FA Cup: Button in the fourth round win over West Brom and in the fifth round win over Derby County. Hughton went with Ryan for the quarter final at Millwall and the semi v Man City.

When Graham Potter succeeded Hughton, Button spoke about the changes the goalkeepers then had to embrace. “We are now doing more work with our feet,” he told the matchday programme. “There is more onus on us to be better with the ball and to be comfortable with it.”

The opportunity to put it into practice was even less than previously for Button, though: he played just two League Cup matches in 2019-20 (Bristol Rovers and Aston Villa and one FA Cup tie (v Sheffield Wednesday).

At the start of the 2020-21 season, the ‘keeper swapped one Albion for another and signed for newly-promoted West Brom.

“I have ambitions of playing and helping the team as much as possible but I obviously understand that Sam (Johnstone) has got them promoted last season so he will start the season,” said Button.

“It’s up to me to push him and show the manager what I can do and take my chances when I get them. Hopefully there’ll be things I can bring to the squad certainly. I’m quite calm and comfortable with my feet too and commanding in my box so I’d say they’re my main strengths.”

However, Button played just one Premier League game in that first season plus three cup matches.

There was slightly more involvement in 2021-22 when the experienced stopper made 11 appearances in all competitions, including playing the final five Championship games and keeping consecutive clean sheets in the last three matches, against Coventry City, Reading and Barnsley.

When Button swapped West Brom for League One Reading in August 2023, one Baggies supporter wasn’t sorry to see the back of him. “’It is definitely the right move to offload David Button, he has been the worst goalkeeper I have ever seen at Albion,” said fan Matt Smith on footballleagueworld.co.uk.

“We’ve had some pretty decent goalies since I’ve been going, however Button was absolutely atrocious over a significant period of time too. How on earth did we spend £1m on him?

“How Steve Bruce gave him a two-year contract at the end of the 2021-22 season is beyond me. He’s so bad honestly. He can’t catch a bloody cold. He’s awful.”

Born in Stevenage on 27 February 1989, Button was with local club Stevenage Borough in their centre of excellence and acknowledged the input of the Coaching FX goalkeeping school in his early development.

“Keith Fenwick was my first coach: his first-class and very enjoyable sessions definitely helped to develop my love of being a keeper,” he said.

Button moved from youth academy to professional at Spurs

An England schoolboy and youth international, Button moved on to Tottenham’s youth academy in 2003, signed a scholarship deal two years later and then earned a four-year professional contract in December 2007. However, he only had eight minutes of first team action for Spurs – as a substitute for Carlo Cudicini in a League Cup match – and was loaned out 13 times.

Over his four years as a Spurs pro, he had two spells each at Crewe Alexandra and non-League Grays Athletic, plus stints at Rochdale, Bournemouth, Luton, Dagenham & Redbridge, Shrewsbury Town, Plymouth Argyle, Leyton Orient, Doncaster and Barnsley.

In the 2009-10 season, he notched up a total of 36 League Two appearances (10 for Crewe and 26 for Shrewsbury) and 30 in League One the following season, when with Peter Reid’s Plymouth, where he kept Romain Larrieu out of the team for much of the campaign.

When he eventually left Spurs permanently, he didn’t travel too far, joining Chris Powell’s Charlton in the Championship for £500,000. Powell preferred Ben Hamer in goal, though, and Button was restricted to a handful of appearances before moving on to Brentford.

In an interview with getwestlondon, Button said: “It was a little bit of a frustrating time for me at Charlton. I would like to think I would have been given a chance a bit sooner there. It was a difficult year but it helped build my character.”

When Brentford sold Simon Moore to Cardiff, manager Uwe Rösler took Button to Griffin Park declaring: “We decided David was the perfect choice for us. He is at the right age and he is very hungry to make the number one spot his own.

“As soon as Simon left, David was our first choice. David will face strong competition for the goalkeeper spot from Jack Bonham and Richard Lee, when Richard is fit again.

“We have been strong there (in the goalkeeping positions) over the past two seasons and are even stronger this year.

“Goalkeeper is a crucial position and David is a very good player.”

For once, fortune fell favourably for Button and he ended up first choice as the Bees won promotion from League One at the end of his first season and reached the play-off semi-finals at the end of his second season.

The Brentford fans website bcfctalk was full of praise for the stopper, saying: “He was very much our first point of attack as well as our last line of defence and his quick and accurate distribution played a massive part on our overall style of play and freedom of expression.”

The website added: “He sometimes failed to deal effectively with crosses and he could also use his physique better as he is an enormous man, but he was utterly reliable and often quite brilliant and he won us numerous points with some incredible saves.”

Ahead of the 2015-16 season, at a pre-season training camp in Portugal, Button spoke about all of the club’s ‘keepers being put through their paces by goalkeeping coach Simon Royce, a one-time Albion loanee ‘keeper, and how he wanted to maintain his run of form.

“I need to find that level of consistency now for me,” he said. “I feel like I had quite a few good games last season but there were a few where I wanted to do better. I am aiming to keep my standards high in every minute of every game this season.”

He remained first choice in 2015-16, making 47 appearances, but talks on a new contract broke down. He came in for a bit of a backlash on social media when he decided to move on to west London rivals Fulham instead but he told getwestlondon: “It’s football. Probably in their eyes it’d have been nicer for me to move on to a different club. It is what it is.

“Hopefully they remember the good times and what I did for the club. I’ve got a great respect for the fans and for the way they treated me while I was there.

Fulham custodian

“I had a great three years at Brentford but felt it was time for a change and the opportunity to come here arose and it was something that interested me.”

Button had the support of manager Slavisa Jokanovic at Fulham but gradually lost the backing of the supporters to the extent he was jeered at Craven Cottage.

Supporter Dan Smith did a detailed analysis of where he thought things went wrong on fulhamfocus.com. “Having narrowly missed out on promotion in the playoffs, Button signed off his Brentford career as a good keeper at this level and someone highly regarded by the Bees faithful,” wrote Smith. “His shot stopping one of the best in the league with a very strong ‘long’ kick.”

Button kept a clean sheet on the opening day of the 2016-17 season and Smith said: “He looked decisive, confident and capable. But something happened gradually as the season developed.”

He maintained the ‘keeper’s form slowly deteriorated and blamed the way he was being managed rather than the player himself. “He looks very uncomfortable with the ball at his feet and isn’t helped by the lack of movement from the deeper players making it very difficult for him to pick someone out,” wrote Smith. “Mistake after mistake giving the ball away clearly damaged his confidence because mistakes in possession led to poor keeping errors, letting in shots he should be saving and would have saved at Brentford.”

Interestingly, with echoes of what Roberto De Zerbi has said of Steele and Bart Verbruggen, Jokanovic did blame himself rather than Button, saying he trusted the ‘keeper and had full confidence in him.

“It’s my responsibility sometimes. I put my keepers in some sort of trouble. We play a bit different and I want to start playing from the keeper.

“It’s more simple to kick the ball to the strikers as it’d give him more opportunity to be comfortable in the goal.

“He has all my confidence. Sometimes, when he makes a mistake it’s partly my responsibility as well.”

Nevertheless, eventually Button lost his starting spot to Marcus Bettinelli.

‘Rolls’ Royce was surprise Christmas presence at QPR

IN THE DAYS before wall-to-wall media coverage of all things football, I can remember turning up at Loftus Road to watch a Boxing Day match between QPR and Brighton and wondering who on earth was in goal for the Albion.

It was in the Second Division days when Michel Kuipers was an almost permanent fixture between the sticks for the Seagulls (he’d played 46 consecutive games). But, on 26 December 2001, there was a stranger behind Danny Cullip and Simon Morgan.

He was certainly a stranger to the players, who’d only met him a few hours before kick-off, but, thankfully, he was well known to manager Peter Taylor.

It turned out, Kuipers had pulled a thigh muscle in the previous Saturday’s 2-2 draw at home to Chesterfield and, rather than chance rookie Will Packham, Taylor opted for an experienced ‘keeper who he’d signed twice before.

Taylor had hastily gone back to his previous employer, Leicester City, on Christmas Eve, to sign Simon Royce on loan to cover the period Kuipers was indisposed.

Royce did well to keep a clean sheet in what finished a 0-0 draw, having not had a chance to train with his new teammates.

It transpired Royce had only met them a few hours earlier, at Reigate, en route to Shepherd’s Bush, as the Argus reported, having spent Christmas Day with his family at his Essex home.

Royce managed to pull off decent saves in each half of the encounter at Loftus Road, stopping a goalbound Danny Shittu header in the first half and dealing with a 20-yard shot from crowd favourite Doudou in the second.

Albion’s Paul Watson hit the bar with one of his trademark free-kicks early in the second half while Cullip went close to breaking the deadlock from a Watson corner, only for his header to be cleared off the line by Karl Connolly.

Taylor knew what he was getting with Royce having signed him for both Southend United and the Foxes, where, under Taylor’s successor, Dave Bassett, the ‘keeper had slipped down the pecking order following a bout of laryngitis.

“I had been second choice all season at Leicester, but the way Dave Bassett works, if you are ill or injured he changes it and you have to work your way back,” Royce told the Argus. “I did so well last year, but, when you don’t play, you get forgotten just as quickly.”

He added: “I had been ill a couple of weeks before, so I had lost my place on the bench at Leicester.

“I’d not really played much reserve team football for three or four weeks, so when Peter asked me if I fancied playing a few games I jumped at the chance. It’s nice to keep yourself match fit.”

Royce admitted knowing the manager certainly helped him to drop down two divisions for the chance to play, but the main reason was to get some games under his belt.

“Dropping down a couple of divisions doesn’t bother me at all,” he said. “It’s still a decent standard and Brighton are flying high.

“There are some very good teams in the Second Division, like QPR and Blackpool, so it’s not a problem. I’ve played in the Second Division before with Southend and I quite enjoyed it.

“This is a perfect opportunity for me to get some games in and let people know I am still around.”

Royce was delighted to start his spell with a clean sheet – but that was as good as it got because he conceded 13 goals in the other five matches he played.

Three days after his debut, he let in two but saved a penalty in a 2-2 draw at Blackpool. Albion’s 10-game unbeaten away league record shuddered to a halt in a 3-0 defeat at Wigan, during which Royce needed treatment after being clattered by a Latics striker.

Physio Malcolm Stuart tends to the clattered Royce at Wigan

When Royce finally got to make his Withdean debut, against Cambridge United, he spoiled the occasion with a gaffe, pushing a long-range shot from Paul Wanless into the path of Luke Guttridge for an easy tap-in. Thankfully a Bobby Zamora hat-trick meant the Seagulls prevailed 4-3.

Royce’s penultimate game was a 2-1 win away to Chesterfield but three days later he bowed out in ignominy as Albion were thumped 4-0 by Steve Coppell’s Brentford in a live ITV Digital match, Ivar Ingimarsson and Steve Sidwell scoring two of the Bees goals.

Born in Forest Gate, London, on 9 September 1971, Royce began his football career with non-League Heybridge Swifts while working as a painter and decorator. At the age of 20, a £35,000 fee took him to Southend, signed by former Chelsea defender David Webb, who was managing the Shrimpers back then.

He made his debut for Southend in a 3-1 home win over Grimsby Town in March 1992.

In seven seasons at Roots Hall, Royce made 169 appearances in Divisions One and Two, a couple of them under Taylor, before getting a move to Premier League Charlton Athletic on a Bosman free transfer.

Addicks boss Alan Curbishley briefly promoted him from third to first choice when Andy Petterson was loaned out to Portsmouth and Sasa Ilic lost form. He kept four clean sheets in a row in eight Premier League matches in the 1998-99 season, but injury issues then sidelined him. He didn’t feature at all in the 1999-00 season and, with the arrival of Dean Kiely at The Valley, decided to link up again with Taylor at Leicester, again moving on a Bosman ‘free’.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better move,” Royce told the Daily Gazette. “I played under Peter at Southend and I can’t wait to work with him again because he’s a great coach.

“He had a hard time at Roots Hall, but Peter has matured into an excellent manager in recent years, picking up valuable experience with both the England under-21 side and Gillingham.

“I owe Peter a lot. He knew I was out of contract at Charlton this summer, but he promised me that he would take me to whatever club he was at this year.

“At the time we spoke, Peter was still with Gillingham and I’d have been happy to play for him there in the First Division. But Peter got the Leicester job and he has remained true to his word and brought me on board.”

Initially an understudy to Tim Flowers, Royce had a run of 19 Premier League matches in the second half of the 2000-01 season, keeping clean sheets on seven occasions.

David Lacey, the renowned football writer for The Guardian, even hinted at international recognition for him, after newly installed England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson had been to watch Ipswich Town beat Leicester 2-0 at Portman Road.

“Eriksson was here primarily to run an eye over Richard Wright, Ipswich’s once capped goalkeeper, although, since Wright had so little to do, he must have gone away more impressed by Simon Royce, whose saves kept alive Leicester’s hopes of a point,” wrote Lacey. “Royce, back in the Leicester side because of another injury to Tim Flowers, showed excellent agility and anticipation in keeping out headers from Alun Armstrong and Matt Holland as Ipswich increasingly dominated the match.”

Taylor told the journalist: “Simon Royce’s goalkeeping was the only positive thing to come out of our own performance.”

Any hopes Royce had of taking over the no.1 shirt permanently at Leicester were dashed when Taylor paid £2.5m to install Ian Walker as his first choice ‘keeper.

After his loan spell at Brighton, he went on a similar arrangement to Manchester City later that same season, although he didn’t play any first team games.

The following season he went on loan to QPR, where he featured 17 times.

On his release from Leicester, he moved back to Charlton on a two-year contract, but made only one Premier League appearance in 2003-04.

He was quite literally a loan Ranger in 2004-05, initially playing a couple of games for Luton Town and then returning to QPR, making 13 appearances in their Championship side.

He made a permanent move to Loftus Road in 2005 and, in an away game at Stoke City, was in the news when caught up in a crowd invasion, although manager Ian Holloway said his ‘keeper was fine: “Simon Royce is a big lad and he can look after himself.”

Royce recounted the incident in an interview for brentfordfc.com. “We’d won the game 2-1. I always kept a towel and a water bottle by my left-hand post, so I bent down to pick them up and felt someone jump on my back.

“At first, I assumed it was a team-mate because we’d won the game, but then I looked down and saw a pair of trainers and felt a blow to the back of my head. It was a Stoke supporter who’d run on to the pitch, shouting ‘I’m going to do you, Roycey!’

“I had my hand on the post so managed to pick him up and throw him in the net. After that the stewards rushed on and we had more supporters on the pitch – it was complete mayhem. The fan in question was sentenced to four months in prison for assault.”

Royce managed to hold down a regular starting berth for the first time in several years during his time in west London, playing 32 games in 2005-06 and 22 in 2006-07.

However, he was back on the loan circuit, briefly, when in April 2007 he moved to League One Gillingham to play in their last three games of the season.

During the summer break, he signed for the Kent club on a permanent basis. He featured in 36 matches in the 2007-08 season, and was named Supporters’ Player of the Year, although the Gills were relegated.

When Royce penned a new one-year deal in the summer of 2008, manager Mark Stimson told the club website: “I’m delighted with Simon’s decision.  He’s going to be a vital player for us next season and one that we will need to help get this club back to where we want to be.”

He was first-choice ‘keeper throughout the 2008-09 season, making 49 appearances as Gills were promoted back to League One via the League Two play-off final at Wembley. Royce, by then 38, said keeping a clean sheet as Gillingham beat Shrewsbury Town 1-0 was one of his career highlights. Former Seagulls Albert Jarrett and Mark McCammon were on the Gillingham subs bench that day.

Unfortunately, in December 2009, Royce sustained several injuries in a car accident.

Stimson told BBC Radio Kent: “His knee is in a bad way and he has a bad neck. He’s going to be out for a couple of weeks. He’s had a scan on his knee, we should get the results of that this week.

“He’s also had X-rays on his neck. I’m praying it’s just a couple of weeks because he’s a big player for us. Until we get the scan results we have to wait and see. He’s been a big part of it. He’ll be missed.”

As it turned out, Royce never regained the no.1 spot from Alan Julian, who’d stepped in to replace him, and he left Gillingham at the end of the season to take up a goalkeeper coaching job at Brentford, during which time former Albion no.2 David Button was among the goalkeepers he helped to develop.

Royce eventually left Griffin Park in the summer of 2018 after eight seasons with the Bees.In thanking him for his contribution, Phil Giles, Brentford’s co-director of football, told the club website: “He leaves behind a fantastic legacy, having developed some top goalkeepers during his time here, including Simon Moore, David Button, Dan Bentley, Jack Bonham and Luke Daniels.”

He returned to Gillingham as goalkeeper coach for the 2019-20 season, working with Bonham once again, and on 28 September 2019, at the age of 48, suddenly found himself on the substitute’s bench for Gills’ away game against Oxford United when reserve goalkeeper Joe Walsh suffered an injury just before kick-off. His previous involvement in a competitive match had been more than eight years earlier, for Brentford, in a 4-1 defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge.

Royce remained on the bench as Oxford won 3-0 and, at the season’s end, he left Priestfield as part of a Covid-related cost-cutting measure.

Pictures from various online sources.