REGARDLESS of the often overblown ‘bitter rivalry’ between Brighton and Crystal Palace, many people have served both clubs with equal distinction, none more so than Martin Hinshelwood.
A player at Palace until injury curtailed his career when only 27, he went on to have a long career in the game, much of it with Brighton; more often in youth development as a coach and briefly as the no.1.
In the summer of 2002, his appointment as Albion boss 11 weeks after his former Palace teammate Peter Taylor had quit came as something of a surprise considering chairman Dick Knight declared he had interviewed seven candidates for the post.
In more recent times, Albion have had a Uruguayan, a Spaniard, a Finn and an Italian as head coach, back in 2002 it looked a strong possibility Knight might appoint wild-haired German coach Winfried Schafer, who had just managed Cameroon at the World Cup, but the chairman suspected his lack of command of English might be too big a hurdle to get over.
A terrific start
A clear favourite had been Steve Coppell but when the ex-Palace manager fell asleep during his conversation with Knight, apparently fatigued after a long-haul flight, the chairman was suitably unimpressed and, with time running out before the 2002-03 season got under way, Hinshelwood was appointed instead.
A 3-1 win away to Burnley looked like a terrific start but after a 0-0 home draw with Coventry, the side went on a disastrous 10-game losing spell (a 2-1 League Cup win over Exeter City the only bright spot amid the gloom).
Knight had already publicly signalled he would take decisive action after the sixth defeat in a row – a 4-2 home reverse to nine-man Gillingham!
He told the Argus: “If the team went ten matches losing every one, then you have got to do something about it.
“It’s very easy to criticise him (Hinshelwood). Obviously, he is a manager under pressure because we have just lost six games.
Getting his message across
“To suggest we should instantly sack him puts out the wrong message. Most people right now will think it was the wrong decision to appoint him, but I am not going to panic. I am going to monitor the situation.”
Of course, that monitoring didn’t take long to reach an inevitable conclusion – four more defeats and Hinshelwood was relieved of first team duties. He was made ‘director of football’ and Knight went back to Coppell to try to keep the Albion in the division. He very nearly managed it, too, but such a bad run of defeats had taken their toll on the points total.
As it happened, it wasn’t the first time Hinshelwood had found himself in the Albion hotseat: he was caretaker manager on three occasions: in 1993 (before Liam Brady’s appointment), in 2001 (after Micky Adams left for Leicester) and again in 2009, when he was in charge for a 4-4 FA Cup first round tie at Wycombe Wanderers after Russell Slade had been sacked and before Gus Poyet’s arrival.
When researching backgrounds of any number of players for this blog, Hinshelwood’s name is often cited as the one who either made the approach to bring them to Brighton or who was a major influence in their development.
For example, when Hinshelwood first joined the Albion in 1987, from Chelsea, he was instrumental in bringing from Stamford Bridge to the Goldstone Doug Rougvie and Keith Dublin, who both played their part in getting Albion promoted straight back to the second tier in 1988.
Hinshelwood had been reserve team manager at Chelsea for two years during the managerial reign of John Hollins, after first team coach Ernie Walley, his former Palace youth team coach, put in a good word for him.
His long association with Brighton began with a ‘phone call to Barry Lloyd to congratulate him on landing the Albion manager’s job. The former Fulham captain asked Hinshelwood to join him at the Goldstone – and he stayed for the next six and a half years.
He returned to the club in the summer of 1998, when Brian Horton had taken over, and was appointed Director of Youth, with Dean Wilkins as youth team coach.
Pensive Hinsh
An interview with the matchday programme pointed out that across the following 14 years, he oversaw a youth system that produced 31 players who made it through to the first team, although he said such success had very much been a team effort, name-checking Wilkins, centre of excellence managers Vic Bragg and John Lambert, scouting chief Mark Hendon and physio Kim Eaton.
Dean Hammond, Adam Hinshelwood, Adam Virgo, Adam El-Abd, Dean Cox, Jake Robinson, Dan Harding and later Lewis Dunk, Jake Forster-Caskey and Solly March all graduated from that period. “To have been a part of their journeys makes me immensely proud,” he said.
Hinshelwood left the Albion for a second time in 2012 and worked variously for Crawley, Portsmouth, Stoke City and Lewes. He returned to the Seagulls once again when the former head of academy recruitment at Stoke, Dave Wright, who had joined Brighton in 2019, invited him to take on a role of scouting 13 to 16-year-olds.
When Hinshelwood himself was that age, he had visions of following in his dad Wally’s footsteps. He had been a professional for Fulham, Chelsea, Reading, Bristol City and Newport County, and, although born in Reading (on 16 June 1953), young Martin had become accustomed to an unsettled childhood, moving around the country to wherever dad’s next club took him.
The family finally settled in New Addington, near Croydon, with Wally playing non-league football in Kent and Martin played representative football for Dover Under 15s, Croydon Boys and Surrey Under 16s.
He was on schoolboy terms at Fulham when Bobby Robson was manager but they didn’t think he would make it. It was while he was playing for Surrey Schools that former Spurs and Palace manager Arthur Rowe scouted him for Palace and he was taken on as an apprentice in 1969.
Hinshelwood playing for Palace, up against Stoke’s George Eastham
Hinshelwood was given his first team debut by Bert Head in 1972. He played in midfield in the old First Division for a dozen matches but the side were relegated in his first season. The flamboyant fedora-wearing Malcolm Allison took over as manager and he was later replaced by Terry Venables.
Martin’s younger brother Paul (Jack Hinshelwood’s granddad) played in the same side at full-back and the brothers were alongside the likes of Kenny Samson and Peter Taylor. In 1975-76, when still a Third Division side, they shook the football world by making it to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where they lost to eventual winners Southampton, although Martin missed the game through a right knee injury. It eventually forced him to quit playing in 1978, after he’d made 85 appearances for Palace in five years.
Venables appointed him as youth team coach at Selhurst Park and although he spent 18 months as player-manager of non-league Leatherhead, he then resumed his Palace role under Steve Kember.
Alan Mullery dispensed with Hinshelwood’s services during his brief managerial reign at Palace but he kept his hand in at coaching with non-league clubs Kingstonian, Barking and Dorking.
Selsey-based Hinshelwood then had a spell as manager of Littlehampton before the Chelsea job came up.
DEAN WILKINS might have lived in the shadow of his more famous elder England international brother Ray but he certainly carved out his own footballing history, much of it with Brighton.
Albion fans of a certain vintage will never forget the sumptuous left-footed free-kick bouffant-haired captain Wilkins scored past Phil Parkes at the Goldstone Ground which edged the Seagulls into the second-tier play-offs in 1991.
Supporters from the mid-noughties era would only recall the balding boss of a mid-table League One outfit at Withdean comprising mainly home-grown players who Wilkins had brought through from his days coaching the youth team.
After Dick Knight somewhat unceremoniously brought back Micky Adams over Wilkins’ head in 2008, he quit the club rather than stay on playing second fiddle and subsequently went west to Southampton where he worked under Alan Pardew and his successor Nigel Adkins as well as taking caretaker charge of the Saints in between the two reigns.
Wilkins’ initial association with the Seagulls went back to 1983, when Jimmy Melia brought him to the south coast from Queens Park Rangers shortly after Albion’s FA Cup final appearances at Wembley.
Melia’s successor Chris Cattlin only gave him two starts back then and although he pondered a move to Leyton Orient, where he’d had 10 matches on loan, he opted to accept to try his luck in Holland when his Dutch Albion teammate Hans Kraay set him up with a move to PEC Zwolle. Playing against the likes of Johann Cruyff, Marco Van Basten and Ruud Gullit proved to be quite the footballing education for Wilkins.
Wilkins in the thick of it in Dutch football for PEC Zwolle
After two years in the Netherlands, 25-year-old Wilkins rejoined the relegated Seagulls in the summer of 1987 as the club prepared for life back in the old Third Division under Barry Lloyd.
Relegation had led to the sale for more than £400,000 of star assets Danny Wilson, Terry Connor and Eric Young but more modest funds were allocated to manager Lloyd for replacements: £10,000 for Wilkins, £50,000 for Doug Rougvie, who signed from Chelsea and was appointed captain, Garry Nelson, a £72,500 buy from Plymouth and Kevin Bremner, who cost £65,000 from Reading. Midfield enforcer Mike Trusson was a free transfer.
The refreshed squad ended up earning a swift return to the second tier courtesy of a memorable last day 2-1 win over Bristol Rovers at the Goldstone.
At the higher level, Wilkins had the third highest appearances (40 + two as sub) as Albion finished just below halfway in the table. The following season Wilkins was appointed captain and was ever-present as Albion made it to the divisional play-off final against Notts County at Wembley, having made it to the semi-final v Millwall courtesy of the aforementioned spectacular free kick v Ipswich.
Wilkins scored again at Wembley but it turned out only to be a consolation as the Seagulls succumbed 3-1 to Neil Warnock’s side.
As the 1992-93 season got underway, Wilkins, having just turned 30, was the first matchday programme profile candidate for the opening home game against Bolton Wanderers (a 2-1 win) when he revealed the play-off final defeat had been “the biggest disappointment of my career”.
The 1993-94 season was a write-off from October onwards when he damaged the medial ligaments in both his knees after catching both sets of studs in the soft ground at home against Exeter City.
Although injury plagued much of the time during Liam Brady’s reign as manager, the Irishman acknowledged his ability saying: “He is a very fine footballer and a tremendous passer of the ball and he possesses a great shot.”
Ahead of the start of the 1995-96 season, Wilkins was granted a testimonial game against his former club QPR, managed at the time by big brother Ray. But at the end of the season, when the Seagulls were relegated to the basement division, he was one of six players given a free transfer.
Born in Hillingdon on 12 July 1962, Wilkins couldn’t have wished for a more football-oriented family. Dad George had played for Brentford, Leeds, Nottingham Forest and Hearts and appeared at Wembley in the first wartime FA Cup final. While Ray was the brother who stole the limelight, Graham and Steve also started out at Chelsea.
In spite of those older brothers who also made it as professionals, Wilkins attributed his development at QPR, who he joined straight from school as an apprentice in 1978, to youth coach John Collins (who older fans will remember was Brighton’s first team coach under Mike Bailey).
He made seven first team appearances for Rangers, his debut being as a substitute for Glenn Roeder in a 0-0 draw with Grimsby Town on 1 November 1980. After joining the Albion in August 1983, he had to wait until 10 December that year to make his debut, in a 0-0 draw at Middlesbrough, in place of the absent Tony Grealish. He started at home to Newcastle a week later (a 1-0 defeat), this time taking the midfield spot of injured Jimmy Case.
Perhaps the writing was on the wall when Cattlin secured the services of Wilson from Nottingham Forest, initially on loan, and although Wilkins had a third first team outing in a 2-0 FA Cup third round win at home to Swansea City, boss Cattlin didn’t pick him again. Instead, he joined Orient on loan in March 1984.
A long career in coaching began when Wilkins was brought back to the Albion in 1998 by another ex-skipper, Brian Horton, who had taken over as manager. With Martin Hinshelwood as director of a new youth set-up, Wilkins was appointed the youth coach – a position he held for the following eight years.
Return to the Albion as youth coach
His charges won 4-1 against Cambridge United in his first match, with goals from Duncan McArthur, Danny Marney and Scott Ramsay (two).
That backroom role continued as managers came and went over the following years during which a growing number of youth team products made it through to the first team: people like Dan Harding and Adam Virgo and later Adam Hinshelwood, Joel Lynch, Dean Hammond and Adam El-Abd.
At the start of the 2006-07 season, with Albion back in the third tier after punching above their weight in the Championship for two seasons, Wilkins was rewarded for his achievements with the youth team with promotion to first team coach under Mark McGhee.
By then, more of the youngsters he’d helped to develop were in or getting close to the first team, for example Dean Cox, Jake Robinson, Joe Gatting and Chris McPhee.
After an indifferent start to the season – three wins, three defeats and a draw – Knight decided to axe McGhee and loyal lieutenant Bob Booker and to hand the reins to Wilkins with Dean White as his deputy. Wilkins later brought in his old teammate Ian Chapman as first team coach.
Into the manager’s chair
Tommy Elphick, Tommy Fraser and Sam Rents were other former youth team players who stepped up to the first team. But, over time, it became apparent Knight and Wilkins were not on the same page: the young manager didn’t agree with the chairman that more experienced players were needed rather than relying too much on the youth graduates.
Indeed, in his autobiography Mad Man: From the Gutter to the Stars (Vision Sports Publishing, 2013), Knight said Wilkins hadn’t bothered to travel with him to watch Glenn Murray or Steve Thomson, who were added to the squad, and he was taking the side of certain players in contract negotiations with the chairman.
“In my opinion, his man-management skills were lacking, which was why I made the decision to remove him from the manager’s job,” he said. It didn’t help Wilkins’ cause when midfielder Paul Reid went public to criticise his man-management too.
Knight felt although Wilkins hadn’t sufficiently nailed the no.1 job, he could still be effective as a coach, working under Micky Adams. The pair had previously got on well, with Adams saying in his autobiography, My Life in Football (Biteback Publishing, 2017) how Wilkins had been “one of my best mates”.
But Adams said: “He thought I had stitched him up. I told him that I wanted him to stay. We talked it through and, at the end of the meeting, we seemed to have agreed on the way forward.
“I thought I’d reassured him enough for him to believe he should stay on. But he declined the invitation. He obviously wasn’t happy and attacked me verbally.
“I did have to remind him about the hypocrisy of a member of the Wilkins family having a dig at me, particularly when his older brother had taken my first job at Fulham.
“We don’t speak now which is a regret because he was a good mate and one of the few people I felt I could talk to and confide in.”
Youth coach
Knight knew his decision to sack the manager would not be popular with fans who only remembered the good times, but he pointed out they weren’t aware of the poor relationship he had with some first team players.
Knight described in his book how a torrent of “colourful language” poured out from Wilkins when he was called in and informed of the decision in a meeting with the chairman and director Martin Perry.
“He didn’t take it at all well, although I suppose he felt he was fully justified,” wrote Knight. “He was fuming after what was obviously a big blow to his pride.”
Reporter Andy Naylor perhaps summed up the situation best in The Argus. “The sadness of Wilkins’ departure was that Albion lost not a manager, but a gifted coach,” he said. “Wilkins was not cut out for management.”
Saints coach
One year on, shortly after Alan Pardew took over as manager at League One Southampton, he appointed Wilkins as his assistant. They were joined by Wally Downes (Steve Coppell’s former assistant at Reading) as first team coach and Stuart Murdoch as goalkeeping coach.
Saints were rebuilding having been relegated from the Championship the previous season and began the campaign with a 10-point penalty, having gone into administration. The club had been on the brink of going out of business until Swiss businessman Markus Liebherr took them over.
A seventh place finish (seven points off the play-offs because of the deduction) meant another season in League One and the following campaign had only just got under way when Pardew, Downes and Murdoch were sacked. Wilkins was put in caretaker charge for two matches and then retained when Nigel Adkins, assisted by ex-Seagull Andy Crosby, was appointed manager.
It was the beginning of an association that also saw the trio work together at Reading (2013-14) and Sheffield United (2015-16).
Adkins, Crosby and Wilkins were in tandem as the Saints gained back-to-back promotions, going from League One runners up to Gus Poyet’s Brighton in 2011, straight through the Championship to the Premier League. But they only had half a season at the elite level before the axe fell and Mauricio Pochettino took over.
When the trio were reunited at Reading, Wilkins, by then 50, gave an exclusive interview to the local Reading Chronicle, in which he said: “This pre-season has given me time to learn about the characters of the players we’ve got at Reading and find out what makes them tick.
At Reading with Crosby and Adkins
“It’s my job then to make sure every player maximises his potential. That’s what I see my role as, to bring out the very best of them from now on and make them strive to attain new levels of performance.
“I will always keep working toward that goal. If we can do that with every individual and get maximum performances out of them, I believe we will be in for a great season.
“We’re back together now and it’s going fantastically well. I have loved every minute of it. I’m used to working with Nigel and Andy and we are carrying out similar work to what we’ve done in the past.”
The Royals finished seventh, a point behind Brighton, who qualified for the play-offs, and the trio were dismissed five months into the following season immediately following a 6-1 thrashing away to Birmingham City.
Six months later the trio were back in work, this time at League One Sheffield United, but come the end of the 2015-16 season, after the Blades had finished in their lowest league position since 1983, they were shown the door.
Between January 2018 and July 2019, Wilkins worked for the Premier League assessing and reporting on the accuracy, consistency, management and decision-making of match officials.
In the summer 0f 2019, he was appointed Head of Coaching at Crystal Palace’s academy, a job he held for 15 months.
A return to involvement with first team football was presented by his former Albion player Alex Revell, who’d been appointed manager of League Two Stevenage Borough. Glad to support and mentor Revell in his first managerial post, Wilkins spent a year as assistant manager at the Lamex Stadium.
MUCH-MALIGNED Mark McCammon was not afraid to stand his ground, answer his critics directly and to challenge injustice when he felt aggrieved.
Fans of Brentford, Brighton and Millwall voiced some strident – nay, downright offensive – opinions of his ability as a footballer.
Remarkably, the Barnet-born striker played in a FA Cup final and Europe for the Lions before Mark McGhee signed him a second time – for Brighton – having previously taken him to Millwall from the Bees on transfer deadline day in 2003.
McCammon and Neil Harris at the 2004 FA Cup Final in Cardiff
When his suitability to contribute to the Seagulls’ flagging cause in the Championship was called into question in a post-match radio phone-in, McCammon took umbrage and called the show himself to argue the toss with presenter Ian Hart.
Also, in what was something of a landmark case, McCammon took a subsequent employer, Gillingham FC, to courtand won a claim that he had been racially victimised.
It certainly wasn’t uncommon for McCammon to be at odds with the people running whichever club he was playing for.
He first joined the Seagulls on loan when he was out of favour and on the transfer list at Millwall.
He made his debut in a 1-0 home defeat to Stoke City in December 2004 and said: “I just want to get back playing and enjoying my football again.
“I have been in and out at Millwall and my fitness has dipped a little bit because I haven’t played. I’m happy to be playing under Mark again and I want to show what I can do.”
Although he didn’t get on the scoresheet in five matches, when McGhee made it a permanent move in February 2005 he told BBC Southern Counties Radio: “Not everyone understands the contribution Mark makes. We have become a much more effective team with him in the squad.”
McGhee was a great believer in the ‘one big one, one little one’ striking line-up, and was sure McCammon’s presence would help pint-sized Leon Knight to score goals.
Because of what followed, it is easy to forget McCammon scored three goals in his first two home games after signing on a permanent basis.
He scored a brace and won the man of the match award in a 3-2 defeat to Derby County and he got 10-man Albion’s second in a surprise 2-1 win over promotion-chasing Sunderland (Richard Carpenter scored the other, and Rami Shabaan made his debut in goal).
The Argus enjoyed building up the visit of McCammon’s old side Millwall to the Withdean, interviewing the player and the manager, who we learned called his new signing ‘The Fridge’.
McGhee urged McCammon to stay cool if he managed to score against his old club, but it was fellow striker Gary Hart who got the only goal of the game, in the 89th minute.
Ahead of the game, McCammon told the newspaper: “It would mean a lot to me to score the winning goal against them. I wasn’t given a chance there, but I’ve got a fresh start here. I’ve got a lot to prove.”
In the following game, he was subbed off at half-time in a 2-0 defeat at Stoke when he gave away a penalty. He underwent blood tests and McGhee said: “Mark is seeing a specialist to find out why he was feeling lethargic. It wasn’t the back injury he suffered against Millwall, he was just feeling ill and weak.”
That game was the first of a run of six defeats and Albion only won once in 11 matches – form which saw them avoid relegation by a single point.
One of several infamous McCammon incidents occurred following the Seagulls’ 1-1 draw at Turf Moor on 16 April.
After a lucklustre first half display when Albion went in 1-0 down, McGhee ripped into the team at half-time and McCammon and fellow striker Chris McPhee were told they weren’t holding the ball up well enough.
According to an account in the Daily Telegraph, McCammon argued back in a fiery exchange with the boss, claiming a lack of service from midfield was the issue. He didn’t reappear for the second half, being replaced by fired-up teenager Jake Robinson and Albion managed to salvage a point courtesy of an equaliser from Dean Hammond.
A delighted McGhee said of Robinson: “We say when people get their chance they have to take it and I thought he took it absolutely brilliantly. He was different class.”
But McGhee’s ire with McCammon hadn’t cooled at the final whistle – he ordered him off the team bus and told him to return south in the kit-carrying vehicle instead.
Not fancying a tight squeeze alongside sweaty shirts, shorts and socks, McCammon chose to return by train.
“After the match I told him I didn’t want him travelling back on the team bus with the rest of us and that he was to return home with two other members of staff in another club vehicle,” McGhee told Sky Sports News.
McCammon apologised to McGhee afterwards but any subsequent first team opportunities were few and far between after that.
At the start of the 2005-06 season, he managed a recall for a Carling Cup match away to Shrewsbury Town and pleased his manager by scoring a goal and laying one on for Robinson, even though the Albion went down 3-2.
“I thought Mark was much better. That type of performance is what we expect of him and it’s what he can do,” said McGhee. “Now he’s got to reproduce that in the Championship.
“He set his standard tonight in terms of his effort and the simple way he played the game. He didn’t complicate things; he laid it off, held it up, laid it off, then got in the box; he won a lot of headers; took a lot of stick and kept going. He got a goal, made a goal and I thought he was terrific.”
But McGhee, with other forward options in the shape of Colin Kazim-Richards, Robinson, Knight and Gary Hart only called on McCammon for three starts and five sub appearances.
“He (McGhee) asked me to go out on loan to a lower league team and I think I’m better than that,” said McCammon when, incensed by criticism of him on the BBC Southern Counties Radio post-match phone-in after a game in February, called in and took issue with show host Hart.
“I went on trial at Watford and I got called back to train for no apparent reason. I think I was hard done by there, a bit unlucky. I’m back but I’m not in the squad but I don’t think I’ve been given a long enough chance.”
Once again suggesting the team’s issue was service through to the front players, he responded to Hart’s personal criticism of him saying: “When you kick a ball in professional football you can tell me whether I’m good enough for this standard.
“You don’t know anything about me. What you said is very disrespectful.
“I’ve been out since the beginning of the season with ankle and knee injuries. I had surgery on both. I came back and made three first-team starts but it takes about seven or eight games to get your rhythm back. I think it’s a bad comment you have made.”
The striker also took aim at the Withdean faithful, claiming: “All we hear is supporters whingeing.
“If they get behind the team it will give the players an extra boost. All the first team players at Brighton listen to the radio and they hear the supporters being 100 per cent negative.
“It’s a team game, it’s not about individuals. The supporters need to get behind the team a bit more.”
If the player didn’t think much of the fans, it would be an understatement to say they were none too impressed by the player.
Amongst a veritable litany of abuse from Albion supporters, this from ‘The Full Harris’ on North Stand Chat encapsulated the opinions of many.
“Mark McCammon is the worst player to have played for us in this division … he just simply doesn’t have a clue. He is unfit, he doesn’t know where he is meant to be running, he can’t shoot. For a man of his size, he is pathetic in the air.
“He is clumsy, he has the touch and control of a Sunday league centre half, he is about as prolific as an impotent monk, he is an embarrassment, he is a disgrace, he is lazy and, personally, I object in the extreme to my paying his wages when I believe many of the crowd around me could do a better job and they would do it for free.”
Long before Dominic Cummings referred to his erstwhile boss, Boris Johnson as “a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other”, supporters voiced something similar of McCammon. The song went like this:
Super, super Mark Super, super Mark Super, super Mark Supermarket Trolley.
Perhaps it was no surprise that McCammon was allowed to leave Albion on loan, linking up with League One Bristol City, where he scored four goals in 11 appearances.
He didn’t play another game for the Albion and, in the summer of 2006, joined Doncaster Rovers after impressing boss Dave Penney on trial.
Although born in Barnet on 7 August 1978, McCammon qualified to play for Barbados through his mother and he won five caps for the Caribbean country. He scored on his debut against Antigua and Barbuda in a 3-1 win in September 2006 and two days later hit a hat-trick when Barbados beat Anguilla 7-1.
Two years later he returned to international action for two World Cup qualifiers against the United States. Barbados lost 8-0 in California and 1-0 in Bridgetown.
McCammon was with QPR as a teenager but it was Cambridge United who took him on as a YTS and he joined Cambridge City on loan at 19 to gain experience.
He played just six games for United between 1997 and March 1999 but was signed by Premier League Charlton, managed by Alan Curbishley.
After relegation to the old First Division, McCammon played five times for the Addicks as they won the title with a squad that included John Robinson, Steve Brown and Paul Kitson on loan from West Ham. McCammon also spent time on loan at Swindon Town in January 2000.
That summer, McCammon left The Valley to sign for Second Division Brentford for a fee said to be £100,000. He scored six times in 33 appearances in his first season at Griffin Park. He scored 10 in a total of 75 appearances for the Bees but it seems their supporters were also unconvinced about his merits.
Stan Webb, on the excellent BFCTalk website, said: “Mark McCammon was yet another misfit who cost a significant fee. Despite looking every inch a footballer, he signally failed to deliver.
“He is best remembered for his cataclysmic miss from a free header at Loftus Road which might have changed our recent history had he scored, as he surely should have done.
“And yet for all the criticism he faced, he eventually became a sort of anti-hero as fans recognised that he was always giving everything he had and appreciated his efforts even though he was just not up to scratch.”
By contrast, McCammon’s time in south Yorkshire was relatively successful, although if he felt he was dogged by bad luck, in November 2006 he had a headed goal away to Brentford chalked off after the ref didn’t notice the ball went through a hole in the back of the net. Thankfully Donny still won 1‑0.
Across two seasons, he scored 13 goals in 70 matches for the south Yorkshire side and went on as a 71st minute sub for Richie Wellens in the 2008 League One play-off final at Wembley when Donny beat Leeds United 1-0. Leeds had Casper Ankergren in goal and Bradley Johnson in their line-up.
However, McCammon chose to head south that summer and signed a three-year contract with recently relegated League Two Gillingham.
He scored five goals in 35 matches in his first season at Priestfield but 2009-10, when the Gills were back in League One, was a different story.
By February 2010, a lack of starts saw him seek a loan to get some match fitness. Gills boss Mark Stimson told BBC Radio Kent: “Going out on loan will be good for him and the club. He needs games and if he comes back fit in four weeks that would be great.”
He added: “We want him sharp and scoring goals then he could come back because we might need someone like him. Last season he stepped in and put in a good shift.
“At the moment he’s frustrated, like all the other boys who are not playing. He didn’t want to drop down to League Two. Now he’s seriously thinking about it because it might get his career back on track.”
McCammon joined Bradford City for a month, playing four games, before returning to the Gills. But the following season, when Andy Hessenthaler had returned as manager, saw the final dismantling of McCammon’s league playing career.
The club dismissed him in 2011 for alleged misconduct but he didn’t go quietly and took them to an employment tribunal claiming he had been unfairly sacked and ‘racially victimised’. He won £68,000 in compensation and Gillingham and chairman Paul Scally were subsequently each fined £75,000 by the FA “for failing to act in the best interests of the game and bringing the game into disrepute”.
Furious Scally appealed the fines, which were set by an independent regulatory commission, saying they were “manifestly excessive, totally disproportionate and completely unjust” and, although the board reduced the club’s fine to £50,000, the sanction against Scally was upheld.
McCammon told the original hearing in Ashford, Kent, that he and other black players at the club were treated differently from white players. For example, he said, he was ordered to attend the ground amid ‘treacherous’ snowy driving conditions or be fined, while some white players were told they were not required.
The club tried to “frustrate him out” by refusing to pay private medical bills for injury treatment, while a white teammate had been flown to Dubai for treatment at the club’s expense, he claimed.
McCammon, who, on £2,500 a week, was the club’s highest-paid player, was also told not to blog while others were permitted to, he said. During an injury spell, he had to stay behind at the club for four hours longer than other injured and non-injured players, he claimed.
The tribunal heard he was dismissed after a disciplinary hearing following a confrontation in which he accused club officials of being “racially intolerant” regarding the decision to order him in during the heavy snow.
The tribunal found in McCammon’s favour and his solicitor, Sim Owalabi, said it was believed to be the first time a footballer had successfully brought before an employment tribunal a case of race victimisation against a professional football club.
After all the legal to-ing and fro-ing, the player himself, by then aged 35, said: “It was traumatising and it sort of sabotaged my career in the football world, my progress.
“I had football clubs after me and that just deteriorated. It’s very, very unfortunate.”
He dropped down to Conference level with Braintree Town in October 2011 and later played for Lincoln City, on loan and then on a permanent basis, when they were in the same division.
WES FOGDEN is still playing the game he loves despite injuries blighting much of a career that might never have got off the ground.
Being told he might not play again when undergoing an operation to remove a benign tumour on his spine as an 18-year-old at Brighton made him even more determined to enjoy every moment of being able to step out onto a football pitch.
Although he eventually broke through to Albion’s first team, it was at AFC Bournemouth that he got regular league football as the Cherries began their rise through the football pyramid.
Brighton-born Fogden has stayed in Dorset and now plays part-time for Poole Town while working as head of football for Branksome-based Elite Skills Arena, a business owned by former Bournemouth chairman Eddie Mitchell.
“Bearing in mind the amount of time injured, I’ve missed out on about five seasons of football,” Fogden told The News, Portsmouth’s Neil Allen in an interview published on 1 December 2022.
“I’ve had pretty much every injury going. Cruciate ligament damage to both knees, hamstrings, ankles, I’ve broken my nose four or five times, I fractured my cheekbone when going up for a header in the FA Youth Cup against Andy Carroll.
“There was even the time when the ball smacked me in the private regions, requiring an operation and putting me out for four or five weeks. A real variety of injuries.
“But I wouldn’t have it any other way. As long as I’m fit, I want to be playing every game, especially after what happened at Brighton.”
Fogden was never short of admirers for the way he bounced back from the devastating blow of being told he might never be able to play football again.
Tommy Elphick, who also went through Brighton’s youth ranks before moving to Bournemouth, said: “One thing with Wes is that you know he is going to dig in for you. He is a very good player; a footballer who can play at right-back, right wing or in central midfield.”
The player himself told the Albion matchday programme: “When I was told that I might not play again was the worst moment of my life but to come through it is a great achievement.”
After surgery to remove the tumour from his spine was thankfully successful, Fogden had to spend three months in a body cast before slowly recovering throughout the 2006-07 season.
He was grateful to the support of physio Malcolm Stuart, fitness coach Matt (‘Stretch’) Miller and physio Kim Eaton in aiding his return to fitness.
Albion sent him out on loan to Dorchester Town to gain experience but when Dean Wilkins’ squad was hit by ‘flu, the midfielder, who had previously been part of Wilkins’ successful Albion youth team, was recalled.
He made his first team debut at right-back in a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie against Swansea City when he was up against future Albion player Andrea Orlandi.
Fogden kept the shirt for the following Saturday’s league game at Oldham but was unfortunate to be sacrificed early in a reshuffle Wilkins was forced to make after wantaway Dean Hammond had got himself sent off early in the game. Nathan Elder went on as a substitute and scored a last-ditch equaliser for the Seagulls.
After that, Fogden’s involvement was a watching brief from the subs bench although he did get on in the 64th minute of a game at Cheltenham, replacing Albion’s goalscorer Jake Robinson in a 2-1 defeat.
Fogden subsequently went back out on loan, this time to Bognor Regis Town, and when Micky Adams was brought back to the Albion over Wilkins’ head that summer, he preferred to select more experienced players.
Fogden returned to Dorchester on loan initially and made the move permanent in October 2008. “Dropping out of league football wasn’t a tough decision,” he told afcb.co.uk. “Dorchester Town offered me a good deal, they were the only professional club in the Conference South at the time and it was a good opportunity to play first team football week-in-week-out.”
A cost-cutting exercise early in 2009 saw Fogden let go and he joined Havant & Waterlooville, who were in the same division. He was voted the Supporters’ Player of the Season in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
Having contemplated a career outside of football, he enrolled to take a degree in sports coaching and PE at Chichester University but Bournemouth boss Lee Bradbury gave him a second chance to build a career in league football.
“It was a difficult decision to put my studies on hold when Bournemouth approached me,” he said. “I was a year and a half in and I wasn’t expecting that call.
“After speaking to my family and the university, I decided to give the professional game one last shot.”
With the three-year deal done, Fogden said: “I’m really pleased to get back here at this level.
“It is a big jump for me. I was only young when I made my few appearances for Brighton and the pace was a lot quicker so hopefully I can just adapt as soon as I can.”
Bradbury told BBC Radio Solent: “Wes is a young prospect, who has a good grounding from his time at Brighton. He can play on either wing and can also play up front or in behind the strikers.
“He’s well thought of in the non-league circuit, and I saw it as a good opportunity to get him down here and integrate him into our squad.”
After three substitute appearances, Fogden produced an eye-catching performance on his full debut in a 1-1 draw at Colchester United in October 2011, Bournemouth’s Daily Echo observing that he “showed some neat touches in a lively display” playing just behind the striker in an attacking midfield role.
“I thought Wes Fogden was probably the best player on the park for us,” said Bradbury. “He was different class. He had great energy levels and worked really hard. He set the standard for the rest of the team.
“He has played off the striker quite a lot. He can play on either wing or up front in a partnership.
“He has got a lot of uses. He showed on Tuesday night what great quality he has, what a great professional he is and the fitness he has as well.”
The following March, after Fogden struck a 20-yard winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Brentford, Bradbury was once again full of praise for his signing. “I’m delighted for him. It was a terrific strike,” he said. “His energy levels are fantastic and he works so hard for the team. He’s very durable and a pleasure to work with.”
Fogden was part of a group of players who shared a close bond through meeting up at the Cotea coffee shop in Westbourne. The group included Ryan Fraser, Marc Pugh, Benji Buchel and Shaun MacDonald.
MacDonald, who joined Cherries two months before Fogden, told the Glasgow Times: “Just before I left, we all started going to Cotea in Westbourne. The food was always perfect, the coffee really nice and the people who own it are lovely.”
Fogden remained part of the set-up during Paul Groves’ brief reign after taking over from Bradbury, and then the return from Burnley of Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall. “Eddie and Jason gave the whole club a lift, the fans, the staff and the players, and we went on a roll that didn’t stop,” said Fogden.
Howe’s appreciation of Fogden was demonstrated in an interview with the Daily Echo, when he said: “Wes is a hard worker and a real team player but has got ability as well. He is a very good footballer, he has quality on the ball and you can`t underestimate that.”
Describing him as a valued member of the squad, the manager added: “Wes has certainly got the fire inside him to want to improve and to keep his place and I have been very impressed with him.”
Having made 59 appearances for the Cherries, including 32 League One starts, Fogden didn’t make any appearances in the Championship during the first half of the 2013-14 season and moved on to Portsmouth in January 2014.
Ahead of the move, Howe told BBC Radio Solent: “He’s been a really good servant to the club in his time here, he’s been an outstanding professional and someone who we have really enjoyed working with.
“But it’s been difficult to give him, although he has been injured this season, as much game time as he wants.”
Looking back on it a couple of years later, Fogden said: “I still had 18 months on my contract but decided that moving to Pompey was right for me.
“It was sad to leave, but it was time for a new chapter in my career. After the injuries I had when I was young it made me realise that, ultimately, I just love playing; if you’re not in that starting eleven on a matchday it’s very difficult.”
Born in Brighton on 12 April 1988, Fogden started playing football from an early age. “I was four or five years old, playing with boys a couple of years above me in my older brother’s team, which was run by my dad,” he said. “I signed for Brighton at 11 years old and played right the way through my school years.”
That senior school was Patcham High and in 2001 Fogden was in a Sussex under-14s squad alongside the likes of Richard Martin, Joel Lynch, Tommy Elphick, Tommy Fraser, Scott Chamberlain and Joe Gatting who all went on to play for the Albion.
He was part of the hugely successful Albion youth team of 2006 who, against all the odds, beat the youth sides of Premier League clubs Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers in the FA Youth Cup before losing on penalties to Newcastle United (managed by Peter Beardsley) in the quarter finals.
It was only after he had signed on as a professional at 18 in 2006, that he found out about his spine tumour.
“Initially I was told I would never play football again,” he recalled. “A diagnosis like that definitely changes the way you think about things; you take each day as it comes and enjoy it for what it is.”
Fogden’s time at Portsmouth was disrupted by a serious knee injury and he was only able to make 29 appearances in 19 months at Fratton Park. He later suffered a similar injury while playing for Dorking Wanderers and, in a March 2022 interview with Surrey Live, said: “With both of my ACL injuries I gained a lot of experience in the exercises I’d need to do,” he said.
“With the first ACL I had, I had a great physio at Portsmouth, Sean Duggan, who gave me a step-by-step plan. It was an unbelievable plan and I’ve used a lot of that into what I’ve done this season.
“Every minute of every game is a bonus now. I’m one of those that likes to play every minute anyway because of the injuries I’ve had. You cherish the moments you are out there.”
Fogden’s last professional league action came at League Two Yeovil Town where he was the 12th of 19 new signings made by Paul Sturrock ahead of the 2015-16 season.
He scored two goals in 17 appearances (plus one as sub) but was released in the summer of 2016 by Sturrock’s successor Darren Way.
He returned to Havant & Waterlooville in the Isthmian Premier League, helping them to promotion to the National League South and over four seasons made 154 appearances, scoring 23 goals.
For the 2020-21 season, Fogden switched to National League South outfit Dorking Wanderers, where he was once again dogged by injuries, including a nasty head injury that required hospital treatment.
He dropped back down to football’s sixth tier with Poole Town for the 2022-23 season because of the travel requirements playing and training for Dorking entailed.
There had been times when it clashed with his day job demands and taking on more at Elite Skills Arena had also influenced the decision. ESA owner Mitchell was chairman at Dorchester way back when the player went there on loan from Brighton.
“I’ve been working for Eddie Mitchell for a while now and have known him going back 15 years. He’s been really good to me,” he said.
As regards continuing to play, Fogden told The News: “All the time I can move about the pitch and be involved, playing as well as I can, then I’ll stay in the game. I’m still playing central midfield, right in the action, attacking and defending. I’m still going.
“When you’re a footballer, injuries are going to happen, the way I play is always twisting and turning, being involved, action packed. Freak injuries occur for me because of that – I can’t change my playing style.
“Considering I’m a bit shorter than a lot of players and at elbow height, it doesn’t help with my facial area. The same for dead legs, my thighs are knee-height compared to most players, it’s just one of those things.
“As I’ve got older, I’ve learnt to get away from some of the injuries which maybe I could have avoided previously. I’m still all-action, but sometimes it’s a case of pulling out of tackles I know I haven’t got any chance of winning.
“Are my injuries connected with the back? I don’t think anyone can really know, there might be a bit of a lack of mobility in that area, which could cause hamstring injuries and give less knee support, and perhaps a pelvic imbalance. I don’t know, I’m not really sure.
“It has been 16 years since that back operation and I’m still playing. Without football I wouldn’t be anywhere near the person I am. It’s strange thinking back to how it could have been, had it not been for a fantastic surgeon.”
In parallel lines 