Tag: Jimmy Greaves

Goalscorer Ray Crawford took on Brighton backroom role

RAY CRAWFORD, one of the foremost goalscorers of the 1960s, came close to a swansong with the Albion and ended up coaching the club’s youngsters.

Crawford had been a key player in Alf Ramsey’s First Division title-winning Ipswich Town side having begun at hometown club Portsmouth and later netted 41 goals in 61 appearances for Wolverhampton Wanderers.

He joined Brighton in the autumn of 1971 after he had read they were struggling to score goals. Earlier the same year, he’d hit the headlines at the age of 35 when he scored twice for Fourth Division Colchester United as they sensationally beat Don Revie’s First Division Leeds United 3-2 in the FA Cup.

After a subsequent short stint playing in South Africa, homesickness brought him and his family back to the UK and the search began for a way to continue his celebrated career in the game.

He got in touch with his former Ipswich teammate, Eddie Spearritt, a key member of Albion’s squad, and the utility player persuaded manager Pat Saward to offer Crawford a trial.

“I did well enough in my trial week for Pat to ask me to stay for another month and to see how things went,” Crawford recalled in his eminently readable autobiography Curse of the Jungle Boy (PB Publishing, 2007).

Crawford found the net for the reserves, but a contractual issue with his last club, Durban City (who wanted a fee the Albion weren’t prepared to pay) prevented him joining as a player.

Meanwhile, the previous goalscoring slump that had first drawn him to the club was remedied by a decent run of goals from Peter O’Sullivan to supplement a revival in the form of strikers Kit Napier and Willie Irvine.

It meant Crawford, at 36, hung up his boots (although he still managed a cameo 15 minutes for the reserves in October 1973) to concentrate on coaching.

In the days before large teams of scouts and analysis tools, he would also run an eye over Albion’s future first team opponents to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

“His dossiers on opposing styles and individual players have proved of great value in the team talks,” reported John Vinicombe in an Evening Argus supplement celebrating Albion’s promotion from the Third Division.

“When I returned to England after a spell with Durban City my only thoughts were of playing,” Crawford recalled. “Before I went to South Africa, I had a good season with Colchester United scoring 32 goals, and, of course, there were the two goals that I scored against the great Leeds United, knocking them out of the FA Cup, which still made me believe that my career was in playing.

Crawford scores v Leeds in the FA Cup

“But when my month’s loan from Durban City expired, and Pat Saward asked me if I would like to join the staff, I jumped at the chance.”

It didn’t stop Saward continuing to search for someone to supplement the strikeforce as the Albion went neck and neck with Aston Villa and Bournemouth for promotion.

Saward even brought in on trial another former England striker, the ex- Everton, Birmingham and Blackpool striker Fred Pickering from Blackburn Rovers. Like Crawford, he scored for the reserves but he wasn’t deemed fit enough for the first team.

Eventually, in March 1972, Saward found the missing piece of his jigsaw in Ken Beamish, a record transfer deadline day signing from Tranmere Rovers.

Beamish chipped in with some vital late goals to help Albion edge out the Cherries to secure Albion’s promotion as runners up to Villa.

The new man’s contribution earned Crawford’s approval in Brighton & Hove Albion Supporters’ Club’s official souvenir handbook, produced to celebrate the promotion.

Crawford as coach

He said: “I don’t like to single out players because football is a team game, but I must on this occasion. Ken Beamish added the final bite up front, and those vital goals that he scored helped us into Division II. What a player this boy is – he never gives up!”

It emerged in Crawford’s autobiography that he also had a friend in Albion chairman Mike Bamber, having got to know him when the Colchester team stayed at Bamber’s Ringmer hotel before a FA Cup tie.

Ever one for rubbing shoulders with stars, Bamber had subsequently invited Crawford back to Sussex to open a local fete in exchange for a weekend stay at the hotel with his family.

“Since that time, I had regarded Mike as a friend and a man I could trust,” said Crawford.

The former striker’s work with the club’s youngsters was evidently appreciated; for instance by Steve Barrett (below left) who said in 2011: “Ray was my coach when I was an apprentice and a young pro. Always had a great enthusiasm for the game and, even in training at the age of about 40, had a good touch and great eye for goal.

“Was great fun on our annual youth trips to tournaments to Holland or Germany. Was very modest in general but loved to remind everyone of his two goals for Colchester against the then mighty Leeds in the FA Cup. A really nice man.”

When Saward was sacked in the autumn of 1973, Crawford assisted caretaker manager Glen Wilson for the home fixture against Southport, which Albion won 4-0.

As for his relationship with Bamber, it counted for nothing as soon as the chairman astonished the football world by appointing Brian Clough and Peter Taylor to succeed Saward.

Crawford was angered by Clough’s “abrasive and stubborn” shenanigans, for instance being bought a pint in a Lewes hotel bar and then left waiting with Wilson as the former Derby duo disappeared for two hours.

“I wasn’t prepared to be treated like that and I soon found out that the way he spoke to people was as I’d expected,” Crawford recalled. “One day he left the players sitting in the dressing room for two hours before training. I don’t know why. It left a sort of threatening pressure on the players that I didn’t agree with.”

It probably didn’t help matters that Crawford’s outspoken wife Eileen also took issue with Clough when he tried to stop the players’ wives having a smoke while socialising before a match. “I don’t smoke, but if I did, it wouldn’t be anything to do with you!” she told him.

Crawford had heard that his first club, Portsmouth, were looking to revive a youth set-up that had been abandoned under a previous manager, so he applied to take on the role of setting it up and running it and headed back to Fratton Park in December 1973.

Born just a mile away from Portsmouth’s famous home ground, the eldest of four children, on 13 July 1936, Crawford initially looked unlikely to follow the sporting prowess of his dad, who had been a professional boxer, because of asthma.

Nevertheless, his enthusiasm for football was sparked by a display of skill from Pompey player Bert Barlow when he did a coaching session at his school, and he joined a local football club called Sultan Boys.

Then he was taken to see Portsmouth play at Fratton Park and he set his heart on stepping out onto that turf himself.

At 14 he started to fill out in height and weight. “I changed quickly from a skinny, shy, asthmatic youth into a strong, young athlete, representing Hilsea Modern School and Portsmouth Schools in cross country running and in the 440 yards,” he said.

He also excelled at cricket and was offered the chance to have a trial with Hampshire County Cricket Club. But his heart was set on football.

Eventually a break came courtesy of a friend who was already in Portsmouth’s youth team. Crawford was invited to twice-weekly training and, after impressing, was taken on as a junior.

In the meantime, he worked by day for the Portsmouth Trading Company making concrete and breeze blocks, which involved spending around eight hours every day lifting 500 heavy blocks onto pallets to dry. It certainly got him fit.

The football club eventually offered him a contract after two years of training with them, but then (as was the case with all young men at the time) he had to do two years’ National Service in the army.

That’s where the title of his book comes in because he was posted to Malaya where word of his footballing ability had already spread. He was invited to play for Selangor Rangers, the biggest club in Kuala Lumpur, and the army also gave him permission to play for the Malayan Federation on a tour of Cambodia and Vietnam.

“Whilst I took part in many more football matches in Malaya than military exercises, I did go out into the jungle on a few occasions with the battalion,” he recalled.

Back at Portsmouth in the autumn of 1956, Crawford resumed his football career, initially in Pompey’s reserve team. After scoring 33 goals in 39 reserve team games, he finally got a first team call-up, making his debut in a 0-0 draw against Burnley at Fratton Park on 24 August 1957.

In the following game, he scored two in two minutes as Spurs were beaten 5-1 at home, but the following month he suffered a broken ankle that sidelined him for two months.

The beginning of the end of his fledgling Pompey playing career came in December that year when he lost it with the club chairman, Jack Sparshatt, who puzzlingly decided to enter the dressing room at half-time during a game, voicing his disapproval at the performance. Crawford told him to f*** off!

Perhaps not surprisingly he was left out of the side for a month.

He did get selected again in the new year, playing up front with Irishman Derek Dougan, but, that summer, Eddie Lever, the manager who’d given him his debut, was sacked and it wasn’t long before his replacement, Freddie Cox, sold Crawford to Ipswich.

Although he hadn’t wanted to move, future England boss Ramsey was persuasive and Crawford admitted: “I had no idea at the time that this would eventually turn out as one of the best decisions I ever made in life.”

The Hampshire lad adapted well to Suffolk and by the end of his first season at Town had scored 25 goals in 30 league games. Not a bad return but even better was to come and with Crawford and strike partner Ted Phillips rattling in the goals, Ipswich won back-to-back titles, winning the second tier championship in 1960-61 and the elite title in 1961-62.

Crawford scored 40 and Phillips 30 as Ipswich won promotion in 1961 and, at the higher level the following season, Crawford bagged another 37 goals.

Such prolific scoring inevitably brought him to the attention of the international selectors and, at the age of 25, he won two England caps. The mystery was why he didn’t win more.

Crawford made his England debut in a Home International against Northern Ireland at Wembley on 22 November 1961. He was credited with setting up England’s goal, scored by Bobby Charlton in the 20th minute, and the game ended in a disappointing 1-1 draw.

The 30,000 crowd for the Wednesday afternoon match was a record low for Wembley at that time. The prolific Ipswich striker only won one more cap, and then only because of a fractured cheekbone injury to first choice Alan Peacock of Middlesbrough.

Nonetheless, Crawford seized his chance and got on the scoresheet after only seven minutes against Austria in a friendly at Wembley on 4 April 1962.

He turned and buried a shot to give England an early lead which Ron Flowers increased with a penalty before half-time. Roger Hunt scored a third for England in the second half. Hans Buzek pulled one back for the visitors in the 76th minute.

As well as Hunt, future World Cup winners Ray Wilson and Bobby Charlton were also in the England line-up, together with 1966 squad members Jimmy Armfield and John Connelly. The team was captained by Fulham’s Johnny Haynes. Jimmy Melia was part of the squad but didn’t play.

Jimmy Magill, who later joined Brighton from Arsenal, was in the Irish side whose equaliser was scored by Burnley’s Jimmy McIlroy. Spurs’ Danny Blanchflower won his 50th cap for his country that day.

Having scored 33 goals in the First Division, Crawford was gutted not to be selected in the England squad for the 1962 World Cup in Chile and future England boss Ramsey was mystified too. “I just don’t understand it and I will go as far as saying it is downright unfair,” he said.

Crawford reckoned it was because England coach Harold Shepherdson, who also held a similar role at Middlesbrough, always advanced the claims of Boro’s aforementioned Peacock, who was chosen ahead of him despite scoring fewer goals, and in the Second Division.

Although Crawford was selected three times for the Football League representative side, he didn’t win any more full international caps.

Probably more surprising was that his old club boss Ramsey, who had seen him at close quarters for Town, didn’t turn to him after he’d taken charge of England in October 1962. But Ramsey had an embarrassment of riches at his disposal, not least in the shape of Jimmy Greaves and Bobby Smith along with Liverpool’s Hunt and later Geoff Hurst.

Crawford’s first meeting with Jackie Milburn, who took over from Ramsey as Ipswich boss, simply involved the former Newcastle and England centre-forward saying: “Nice to meet you Ray, you won’t be here long.”

Sure enough, he wasn’t. Despite his past successes, Ipswich cashed in and sold him to Wolves for £55,000 in September 1963.

His debut was somewhat ignominious as Wolves succumbed 6-0 at Liverpool (their ‘keeper Malcolm Finlayson was forced off injured) but Crawford scored twice in his second game as Wanderers won 2-1 at Blackpool (for whom Alan Ball scored).

Crawford went on to finish that first season with 26 League goals to his name in 34 games and was named Player of the Year, although Wolves finished in a disappointing 16th place.

Crawford, who is remembered fondly on the website wolvesheroes.com, had been joined at Molineux by Liverpool’s Melia (“a fine passer of the ball”) but when Stan Cullis, the manager who signed them both, was sacked, neither of them saw eye to eye with his successor, Andy Beattie.

Melia was sold to Southampton and the rift with the new boss saw Crawford switch to Black Country rivals West Brom in February 1965 for a £35,000 fee. He later reflected it was a case of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire because he didn’t enjoy a good relationship with Baggies boss Jimmy Hagan.

The striker played only 16 matches for Albion, scoring eight goals, before asking for a transfer in March 1966 and being granted his wish. “I did my best but never had a decent run of games in the first team,” he said. “It never quite worked out but I enjoyed most of my time there and the fans could not have been better.”

It was former club Ipswich, battling at the wrong end of the Second Division, who rescued him and, even though it meant dropping down a division, he was happy to return to Portman Road under Bill McGarry.

Crawford struck up a useful striking partnership with prolific American-born Gerry Baker. By the end of the season, he’d scored eight goals in 13 appearances and Town managed to avoid relegation.

He was part of the Ipswich side that won the Second Division championship the following season, netting 25 goals in 48 appearances, and by then was approaching his 32nd birthday.

The goals continued to flow with Ipswich back amongst the elite, Crawford scoring 21 in 42 games in the 1967-68 season. But more managerial upheaval was around the corner, when McGarry left to become manager of Wolves.

“When McGarry left for Wolves, I had lost my master and mentor, leaving a psychological gap for me that wasn’t going to be filled by anyone else however qualified or good they were as a manager,” said Crawford.

Even before Bobby Robson succeeded McGarry, Crawford started to weigh up his options and he decided he fancied a move to South Africa, where his old Ipswich teammate Roy Bailey had settled.

Although Town chairman John Cobbold initially agreed to give him a free transfer, the Board later changed their mind and decided they wanted some compensation for his services. Instead of going to South Africa, he ended up moving to Charlton Athletic for £12,000.

The move to The Valley turned sour after he refused to join a training camp organised by manager Eddie Firmani because his family were ill and he needed to be at home to look after them. He was sacked after playing just 22 games for the Valiants, during which time he scored seven goals.

Southern League Kettering provided a short-term means of getting back into playing but it was Fourth Division Colchester United who took him on and he repaid their faith by scoring 31 goals in 55 matches under Dick Graham, the most memorable being that pair against Leeds.

Crawford eventually got his move to South Africa in August 1971, joining Durban City, but his family couldn’t settle and they returned to the UK three months’ later.

During his time as youth coach at Portsmouth, he was responsible for signing Steve Foster and, in his autobiography, recalls how a tip-off from Harry Bourne, a local schoolteacher set him on the path of the future Albion and England centre-back.

Foster had been released by Southampton and Crawford went to the family home in Gladys Avenue, Portsmouth, to invite him to train with Pompey. Foster’s mother was at a works disco at Allders and Crawford went to find her there and had to shout above the sound of the music that Portsmouth were interested in signing her son.

The youngster, 18 at the time, got in touch the next day and, before long, was switched from a centre-forward to a centre-back, after Crawford’s former Ipswich teammate Reg Tyrrell told him: “That no.9, he’s no centre-forward, but he’d be a good number 5.”

After he left Portsmouth in 1978, Crawford took over as manager at Hampshire league side Fareham Town and later managed Winchester City before finally retiring from the game in 1984 to become a merchandising rep.

Bobby Moore’s Dear mate netted five in seven for Albion

A STRIKER who once scored five goals in 20 minutes for West Ham took slightly longer when playing for Brighton but still netted five in seven games.

Brian Dear (nicknamed Stag, geddit?) won the European Cup Winners’ Cup with West Ham in front of 97,974 fans at Wembley in May 1965. Only the month before, he’d netted in the 44th, 53rd, 56th, 59th and 64th minutes of West Ham’s 6-1 demolition of West Brom in front of 27,706 fans at the Boleyn Ground.

Dear scores one of his five v WBA

Two years later, 23-year-old Dear found himself travelling to Workington to make his debut for Third Division Albion. The train journey there had been made worse by a derailment that meant Albion only arrived at the Borough Park ground 45 minutes before kick-off. Although Kit Napier scored against his former club, a sparse crowd of just 2,863 saw the visitors beaten 2-1.

Quite some change in fortunes for Dear, who had joined Brighton the previous day – transfer deadline day – in March 1967 when manager Archie Macaulay, a one-time Hammers player, went back to his old club to secure the forward’s services.

“No fee was paid at the time of the transfer. This will be discussed at the end of the season, and from now until then, it is up to Brian to prove his worth as to whether there will be a place at the Goldstone Ground for him in the future,” Macaulay wrote in the matchday programme.

Albion were bumping along in the lower half of the old Third Division at the time so it was quite a step down for Dear, but Brighton were keen to make his move permanent.

It wasn’t long before he showed what he was made of; Dear scored twice in his third game, on Easter Saturday, as Scunthorpe United held the Albion to a 2-2 draw at the Goldstone. Two days later he scored the only goal of the game as Albion beat visitors Watford 1-0. He was on the scoresheet again when Albion visited Boundary Park, Oldham, but the home side rallied in the second half to end up 4-1 winners.

Back at the Goldstone the following Saturday, he scored Brighton’s opener in a 2-0 win over Oxford United (top picture), but that was the end of his scoring in Albion’s colours. He missed three matches in April and his last game for Brighton was in a goalless draw away to Shrewsbury.

His hoped-for permanent signing didn’t happen and he returned to West Ham where the following season he went on to enjoy the most consistent spell of his Hammers career, scoring 16 goals in 29 matches (plus one as sub). The East Londoners finished in mid-table: a season in which Manchester City were champions, two points ahead of second-placed Man Utd.

Dear rises to get in a header at the Goldstone Ground, with the West Stand in the background

“As a fan watching him, he was frustrating at times but he had the natural talent required for the top level and he certainly knew how to score goals,” said Tony Hanna, of the excellent fans website West Ham Till I Die.

Born in Plaistow, London, on 18 September 1943, Dear joined West Ham straight from school at the age of 15 and was an England schoolboy international who played against Scotland, Wales and Ireland in 1959.

On 29 December 1960, he scored twice for an England Youth XI when they beat an AFA Public Schools XI 8-0. Phil Beal and Bert Murray were among his teammates.

Dear made his league debut for the Hammers away to Wolves on 29 August 1962 but there were only two more first team appearances that season.

The following season, which culminated in West Ham beating a Preston North End side captained by Nobby Lawton 3-2 (Alex Dawson scored one of Preston’s goals), saw Dear struggle to get into the side and he made just three league appearances.

That five-goal haul v West Brom – when the crowd taunted the Baggies with a rendition of  ‘Oh Dear what can the matter be’ – helped take his 1964-65 season stats to 14 goals in just 15 appearances but he was part of the XI who won the European Cup Winners Cup 2-0 at Wembley. He scored four goals in previous rounds but it was outside right Alan Sealey who scored both Hammers goals against TSV Munich 1860 in the final.

Dear once again spent most of the 1965-66 season in a back-up role, featuring in just 10 first team matches while Hammer of the Year Geoff Hurst scored an impressive 40 goals in all competitions before going on to cement his name in English football history with a hat-trick as England won the World Cup in July 1966.

Hurst went one better the following season, netting 41 times, while Dear ended the season exploiting an opportunity to play competitive football with the Albion.

Throughout it all, Dear became a close friend of the legendary Bobby Moore, and in April 2021 West Ham invited the former striker to talk to the club’s academy players about the man he first met when he joined the club in 1958, the year Moore made his first-team debut against Manchester United at the tender age of 17.

“After that first period, that’s when we began to become friends,” Dear told the schoolboys. “We were all mates. You are all different ages at the academy, but you all know one another, how you play, what you do – it’s the same as us.

“Bobby was a bit shy. Once he felt comfortable with you, that was it. You had everything he could give, and he’d give everything to you. He was an amazing fella.”

The West Ham website said: “Dear and Moore were also inseparable off the pitch, enjoying a close friendship for over three decades before the icon’s tragic passing on 24 February 1993, at the age of just 51.”

Dear told the schoolboys: “You would have loved him if you’d have met him. He was a wonderful, wonderful man, and you lads should be very proud that you’re involved in the club that he was a part of.”

West Ham through and through, Dear did eventually leave Upton Park in February 1969, scoring seven times in 13 appearances for Fulham but they were relegated to the Third Division. He swiftly moved on to Millwall but only managed a handful of games before returning to West Ham in 1970.

However, his short-lived second spell is best remembered for his involvement in a curfew-busting drink before a FA Cup tie at Blackpool on 2 January 1971. Having been told icy weather would most likely mean the match would be called off, Dear, Moore, Jimmy Greaves, Clyde Best and physio Rob Jenkins went out late to ex-boxer Brian London’s club in the seaside resort.

Unfortunately, the game went ahead, West Ham were surprisingly beaten 4-0 by bottom-of-the-league Blackpool, and someone dobbed in the errant Hammers group.

Dear’s appearance as a sub that day was his last involvement in professional football. Manager Ron Greenwood turfed him out, along with Greaves, while Moore and Best were fined. Best later told his version of the story to the Knees Up Mother Brown website.

Before hanging up his boots, Dear played briefly for non-league Woodford Town. Football was in his blood and he became catering manager at Southend United and later worked in its commercial department.

West Ham Till I Die writer Tony Hanna concluded: “By Brian’s own admission he ‘enjoyed life’ more than most professional footballers. His stocky build was more often likened to being overweight and he enjoyed a beer after training, and also after matches.

“Being left out of the team, especially if he had scored the previous week, only further demotivated him in a career where he never really cemented a first team place.”

Boss weighed into ex Spurs teammate Joe Kinnear

JOE KINNEAR was no stranger to expletive-filled rants so we can only imagine how he reacted when his former Tottenham Hotspur teammate Alan Mullery told him he was a stone overweight and shouldn’t expect any special treatment at Brighton.

The right-back who’d won silverware alongside the former Spurs skipper ended up leaving the Goldstone acrimoniously after his former colleague took over as Albion boss.

Having made 258 appearances in 10 years at White Hart Lane, Kinnear only played 18 games for Brighton after being signed by Mullery’s predecessor, Peter Taylor in August 1975.

He’d followed fellow former Spurs defender Phil Beal to third-tier Brighton, both having been eased out of the door as Tottenham’s new boss Terry Neill re-shaped the award-winning squad built up by the legendary Bill Nicholson and his faithful assistant, Eddie Baily.

Back when Taylor and Brian Clough were turning round the fortunes of Derby County, they had acquired the services of former Spurs hardman Dave Mackay, a friend of Kinnear’s, so he was no stranger to turning to experienced old pros.

“I left Tottenham because although I was good enough to hold down a regular first team place, manager Terry Neill didn’t think so,” Kinnear told Shoot! magazine. “I’m 28-years-of-age and have plenty of soccer at senior level left in me. Brighton have the potential to become as big-time as Spurs once were.”

Three days after signing, the Irishman made his Albion debut at right-back in a 1-0 home defeat to Cardiff City and, while he played in the following game too, previous regular right-back Ken Tiler was restored to the line-up for the next three months.

Nevertheless, his lack of involvement at Brighton didn’t stop the Republic of Ireland selecting him and he made what was his last and 26th appearance for his country as an 83rd minute substitute for Tony Dunne in a 4-0 win over Turkey at Dalymount Park, Dublin, on 29 October (Don Givens scored all four).

Kinnear was on Brighton’s bench a few times in the days of only one substitute, and he managed four consecutive starts in December, but he had to bide his time for his next starting spot, which only came when a bad injury in mid-March brought an end to Tiler’s involvement in Albion’s promotion push.

It was timely because on 23 March a testimonial match for him against Spurs took place at the Goldstone. It had been part of the arrangement made when he signed, and the Albion XI who took to the field in front of 7,124 fans included Kinnear’s old teammates Terry Venables, Mackay and Jimmy Greaves, along with guest star Rodney Marsh.

Spurs were in no mood for sentiment, though, and ran out 6-1 winners, with Kinnear scoring a consolation for Albion from the penalty spot.

As Albion’s promotion bid unravelled, Kinnear played in 10 league matches, only three of which were won. Although he was successful with another penalty, this time against Chesterfield, the Spireites won 2-1 with two penalties of their own.

Fingers were pointed at Kinnear for a gaffe in a decisive Easter game at promotion rivals Millwall which Albion ended up losing 3-1.

In his end-of-season summary, the Evening Argus Albion watcher John Vinicombe pointedly considered it was the injury ruling out Tiler that had been a key turning point in the failure to gain a promotion spot.

Kinnear himself suffered a serious knee injury in the penultimate game of the season, a 1-1 home draw against Gillingham, capping a dismal afternoon in which he also had a penalty saved. His departure on a stretcher on 19 April 1976 was his last appearance in an Albion shirt, other than being pictured kneeling on the end of the front row in the August pre-season team photo.

What happened next was covered in some detail in a 2013 blog post on thegoldstonewrap.com. In short, Mullery had arrived as manager following Taylor’s decision to quit and link up again with Clough, who’d taken over at Nottingham Forest.

Mullery was unimpressed by his former teammate’s level of fitness and attitude and called him out in front of the squad. Peter Ward, the new kid on the block at that point, thought it was the wrong approach and, in Matthew Horner’s book He Shot, He Scored, said: “It seemed that Mullery and Kinnear didn’t get on very well.”

Contractually, Albion still owed Kinnear money but it was evident he wasn’t going to feature while Mullery was in charge and a settlement had to be reached. Eventually Kinnear moved on to become player-manager of non-league Woodford Town, beginning a career in coaching and management that ultimately took him back to the top level of the game, albeit frequently attracting headlines for some extraordinary and controversial behaviour.

But let’s stick with Kinnear the player for the moment. Born in Kimmage, Dublin, on 27 December 1946, he moved to Watford at the age of seven. After leaving school, he became an apprentice machine minder in a print works and played amateur football for St Albans City. It was there he was spotted by the aforementioned Baily, who invited him to join Spurs’ pre-season training. He initially signed as an amateur in 1963, turning professional two years later.

His breakthrough season was 1966-67. He made his debut for the Republic of Ireland on 22 February 1967 in a 2-1 defeat to Turkey and won a regular place in the Spurs side when Phil Beal was sidelined with a broken arm. Kinnear performed well in Beal’s absence and he ended it as a member of the side which beat Chelsea 2-1 in the 1967 FA Cup Final.

“I was 20 when we played in the 1967 FA Cup Final and I got Man of the Match, so it was a great start for me,” Kinnear told tottenhamhotspur.com.

All was going well until January 1969 when in a home game against Leeds United he broke his right leg in two places, and he was out of the side for a long while.

Kinnear’s misfortune provided an opportunity for emerging youngster Ray Evans, as this Spurs archive website recalls: “When he got his chance through an injury to regular right back Joe Kinnear, Evans took over in that position and provided a threat with fast, over-lapping runs along with a notable fierce shot that chipped in with a few goals for the club.  Strong in the tackle and quick to recover his position, his height also helped him when teams tried to play diagonal passes in behind him.”

Evans had long spells in the side, especially in the 1973-74 season when Kinnear barely got a look-in, but the Irishman battled for his place and was first-choice right-back in Spurs’ League Cup winning sides of 1971 and 1973, and the UEFA Cup winning line-up in 1972.

The revered Nicholson had encouraged Kinnear to become a coach once his playing days were over, but he struggled to get a foot on the ladder in the UK. Ex-Derby boss Mackay, with whom he used to go to Walthamstow dogs after training, took him on as his assistant in the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, then later at Doncaster Rovers after Kinnear had spent time in India and Nepal.

Eventually, in 1992, he got his chance at Wimbledon, defying the purists with a brand of football that saw them finish in sixth place in 1993-94 – and Kinnear won the League Managers’ Association Manager of the Year award.

Over seven years, The Dons played 364 games under him, winning 130, drawing 109 and losing 125. Despite not even playing at their own ground – they played home matches at Selhurst Park – Wimbledon continued to defy the critics with their resilience in the Premier League and progress in the cups but in 1999 Kinnear stood down as manager after suffering a minor heart attack.

He later enjoyed success in two years (2001-03) at Luton Town and had colourful spells as manager of Nottingham Forest (2004) and manager (2008-09) then director of football (2013-14) at Newcastle United.

Acres of newsprint and plenty of clips on YouTube record some extraordinary behaviour following his appointment by Mike Ashley at Newcastle. Perhaps one of the best summaries is on planetfootball.com, with reporter Benedict O’Neill saying: “Mike Ashley’s mismanagement of Newcastle has been a long-term affair with many bizarre decisions, but his appointment of the long-forgotten Joe Kinnear — twice! — may just be the strangest of all.”

Kinnear, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2015, died aged 77 on 7 April 2024.

Pictures from my personal scrapbook, matchday programmes and various online sources.

Big Chiv’s Brighton cameo at the end of an illustrious career

 

FORMER England international Martin Chivers rose majestically to head home a goal in a 3-3 draw between Leyton Orient and Brighton & Hove Albion.

It was textbook Chivers – a replica of so many similar goals he’d scored for Spurs and England during his glory days – and it put Albion 2-1 up. It turned out to be his one and only goal for the Albion.

It came in one of just five games he played for the Seagulls as his illustrious playing career drew to a close. In Teddy Maybank’s absence through suspension just as Brighton inched closer to promotion to the elite for the first time ever, Chivers – once one of this country’s top centre forwards – was an ideal stand-in.

The game at Brisbane Road on 7 April 1979 saw former Spurs League Cup winning teammates Chivers and Ralph Coates on opposing sides and, a 3-3 thriller was a cracking match for ITV’s The Big Match to have chosen for showing the following Sunday afternoon.

A month later Albion would travel to St James’s Park, Newcastle and clinch that dream promotion.

John Vinicombe, faithful chronicler of Albion’s fortunes for the Evening Argus, declared: “Make no mistake, Albion are First Division bound after that tremendous match at Orient.”

Mike Calvin in the Sunday Mirror, said: “Chivers’ bullet like header became an instant candidate for ITV’s goal of the season.”

While Ian Jarrett in The Sun said: “Martin Chivers’ 32nd minute goal came straight out of the former England striker’s scrapbook. ‘It was a dream goal. I’d like to have it on tape so that I could watch it being played back again and again,’ Chivers told him.

In the days when strikers invariably hunted in pairs, Chivers had previously starred for Tottenham Hotspur alongside the late Scot, Alan Gilzean, as Spurs put silverware in the White Hart Lane trophy cabinet in three successive seasons.

The team captain during that successful period was Alan Mullery and after the midfielder had hung up his boots and taken charge of the Seagulls, he turned to his old teammate in his hour of need.

 

With regular striker Maybank facing a two-match suspension, Mullery bought the 34-year-old Chivers for £15,000 from Norwich City just before transfer deadline day in March 1979 and he made his debut in a home 0-0 draw against Notts County on 31 March.

Chiv v CharltonEven a crocked Chivers (by his own admission, a troublesome Achilles tendon restricted his fitness) could do a job for the Albion in an emergency, the young manager believed.

“I took a bit of a chance on him, but he was terrific for us,” Mullery recalled in a retrospective matchday programme article. “He was a proven goalscorer and helped us both on and off the pitch.”

Chivers explained exactly how it came about in his autobiography, Big Chiv – My Goals in Life, which he discussed in an interview with the Argus in 2009.

Maybank returned to the side for the successful promotion run-in and, during the summer, Chivers had an operation on his Achilles. The new season, amongst the elite for the first time, was 13 games old before Chivers saw action for the Seagulls.

He appeared as a substitute in a 2-1 defeat away to Coventry City on 20 October, and the national media singled him out for mention.

 

“When Chivers came on for Ward 11 minutes after the break, the game at last came to life. From then on, Brighton were more decisive in attack and played with more confidence,” said the Daily Telegraph.

Sunday Express reporter William Pierce added: “Martin Chivers went on as a substitute for the out-of-touch Peter Ward and the ex-England striker twice might have scored.”

That contribution earned Chivers a starting place at Maybank’s expense in the next game, a 4-2 home defeat to his old club Norwich, and he stayed up top, this time partnering Maybank, in a 0-0 home draw with Arsenal in the fourth round of the League Cup.

But that was the last time he appeared in the first team. Mullery turned instead to another former Spur, Ray Clarke, and he and Ward were the preferred front pairing for the rest of the season.

Chivers remained with the club, appearing regularly in the Reserves through to the end of the season, and doing some scouting work, but his top-flight career was finally over.

But let’s take a look back at what had gone before. It was an impressive rise to fame.

Born in Southampton on 27 April 1945, Chivers was a pupil at the city’s Taunton’s Grammar School and wrote to his local club asking for a trial. His prowess as a goalscorer grew rapidly.

chiv SaintAfter playing regularly for Southampton’s youth side, his breakthrough came in September 1962 when just 17. He made his first-team debut against Charlton Athletic and signed as a full-time professional in the same week. He became a first-team regular the following season.

In February 1964, Chivers and future teammate Mullery were called up (along with future Albion goalkeeper Peter Grummitt) by Alf Ramsey as Reserves for the England under 23 side for a 3-2 win over Scotland, played in front of 34,932 fans at St James’s Park, Newcastle.

Two months later, at Stade Robert Diochon in Rouen, shortly before his 19th birthday, Chivers made a goalscoring debut for the Under 23s when coming on as a substitute for Geoff Hurst as England drew 2-2 with France.

It was the start of a record-breaking Under 23 career; in four years he appeared 17 times.

Southampton skipper Terry Paine, who was part of England’s 1966 World Cup winning squad, played alongside Chivers as he developed. “The potential was always there, especially when he made the Southampton first team. But the one thing he may have lacked was determination,” he told Goal magazine.

On Saints’ promotion to the top division in 1966, Bates supplemented his attacking options with the addition of established international Ron Davies from Norwich.

Davies and Chivers proved a twin threat to opponents but Chivers was somewhat overshadowed by the Welshman, and Paine said: “They just weren’t compatible. It didn’t work having two big blokes up there together. Chivers was playing second fiddle. He was no match for Ron in the air, there was never any doubt about that.”

It eventually led to Chivers putting in a transfer request in December 1967 and, a month later, having scored 106 goals in 190 appearances for Southampton, he was transferred to Tottenham for £80,000 with winger Frank Saul, an FA Cup winner with Spurs in 1967, a £45,000 makeweight going in the opposite direction.

Saints fans had a new hero in the emerging Mike Channon and inevitably comparisons were drawn between the two. “Martin had more finesse on the ball when he was Mike’s age, without punching his weight,” said Southampton boss Ted Bates. “Mike, however, has more drive and desire, a ruthless approach which Martin never had.”

Indeed, even in the early days at Spurs, fans failed to see why Spurs had shelled out what at the time was the biggest ever transfer fee in the country for the striker, with the legendary Jimmy Greaves and Scot Alan Gilzean the preferred front pairing.

It didn’t help matters when he was sidelined for months by a serious knee injury, although Bates felt the spell out actually proved to be a turning point in his career.

“During that long spell out of action I think he must have taken a good, long look at the game and examined himself thoroughly,” said Bates. “The result is that he now uses the full range of his talents.”

Bates believed he lacked belief in his own power and seemed reluctant to use his size to his advantage. “We were always trying to get Martin to use his physique properly,” said Bates. “He knew he had to be more aggressive, but in those days a big, strong centre-half could swallow him.”

 

It looked as though Chivers was going to be an expensive flop and, in an interview with Ray Bradley for Goal magazine, he admitted he’d been through a crisis at Spurs and his career had been at a crossroads.

“It was a hell of a frustrating time for me,” he said. “No matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t strike form. I suppose I was really battling to regain confidence again after injury.

“The fans, disgruntled with the form we had been showing, were gunning for me and finally they got their way when I was dropped.

“Things looked black for me but I was determined to fight my way back into the side. The turning point for me, I think, came in a reserve game against Northampton at the end of the season.”

Reserve team manager, Eddie Baily, took him aside and had a private chat, telling him the only way he’d get back his confidence was to fight for it on the pitch.

“He instilled in me that I must be more aggressive, that I must put myself about more if I was to win back my first team place,” said Chivers. “That little pep talk seemed to do the trick. It was a wet pitch and I really gave it all I had and ended up by scoring five goals.

“His words of encouragement after the match made me realise that it was up to myself if I wanted to succeed.”

With Greaves having departed the club for West Ham, once Chivers was back in the first team he did well up against Jack Charlton and Norman Hunter of Leeds, and he began to recapture his form. A good start to the 1970-71 season saw everything start to slot into place.

“I’ve always liked scoring goals,” he said. “Ever since I was a boy I liked to see the ball hit the back of the net.”

After scoring twice to help Spurs beat Aston Villa in the 1971 League Cup Final, Chivers said: “I feel fabulous. That’s the only way to describe how I feel after scoring two goals in my first-ever appearance at Wembley.

“Spurs are back on the glory trail and those two goals have really sealed my comeback this season.”

In a series of Goal articles about Chivers in November 1971, writer Warwick Jordan declared: “There have been few more exciting centre forwards to grace the game and there is little reason to dispute the claim that the Tottenham striker could become one of the best ever,”

 

A whole raft of top division players and managers were happy to put on record their admiration for the centre-forward. Everton boss Harry Catterick described him as “the new John Charles” and claimed: “Chivers has emerged this year as the most talented centre-forward in Britain.”

Leeds manager Don Revie was a big admirer, saying: “Chivers is a better player than Geoff Hurst. The comparison is appropriate as both men possess a high degree of skill not normally found in strikers of their heavy build.

“It’s hard to choose between them, but I consider Chivers has the slight edge as he does not rely so much on the men around him. He has the ability to take the ball through on his own and create chances out of nothing.”

Manchester City team boss Malcolm Allison said: “This boy is the best all-round centre-forward in Britain. He’s big, strong, skilful and exciting. A tremendous player who will always get goals.”

Stoke midfielder Mike Bernard told the magazine: “Chivers has got guts, skill, aggression, ball control and tremendous determination. You can’t fault the guy.”

Teak-tough centre back John McGrath, who once had a brief spell on loan to the Albion from Southampton, added: “That bad injury has helped to make him a much more determined player. When your career is in the balance it gives you a greater determination to succeed. Chivers has come back to the game a different player.

“He’s a much more physical player now. A more confident player than he was before. He’s developed more character.

“People don’t realise how fast he is. He’s got a sort of loping run, a bit ungainly. But it’s deceptive because he is gathering speed all the time.”

 

Despite gaining that record number of England under 23 caps, it wasn’t until early 1971 that he got his chance on the full international stage. His reinvigorated Spurs form led to him making his full England debut away to Malta on 3 February 1971, when England gained a 1-0 win under the captaincy of his Spurs teammate Mullery.

He scored his first goal for England two months later in a 3-0 win against Greece at Wembley.

It was said Chivers really arrived as an international star after a powerful two-goal performance in a 3-1 win over Scotland at Wembley on 22 May 1971.

“This has been the greatest day of my life,” said Chivers, after that win. “I didn’t know I was playing until lunchtime on the same day. I was determined to show I was worth my place.

“I know a lot depended on my display in that game. I know I could have jeopardised my international future if I had not grabbed the opportunity.”

Afterwards, though, he declared: “Now I feel I have established myself as an England player.”

Fellow England striker Francis Lee told Goal’s Jordan: “He’s a football manager’s dream. At his present rate of progress, he could become the greatest centre-forward this country has seen.

“His tremendous potential blossomed during that game in Switzerland (scored in a 3-2 win in Basle, 13 October 1971) where his performance made the difference between victory and possible defeat.

“But his finest game for England so far was the one against Scotland. Today he is the hottest soccer property in the game. He’s going to be a big winner for England.”

In total, he scored 13 times in 22 starts plus two appearances from the subs bench, but, in less than three years, Chivers’ England career was over.

He never played for his country again after being subbed off in the crucial game that meant England wouldn’t qualify for the 1974 World Cup – a 1-1 draw with Poland at Wembley in 1973.

 

In eight years at Spurs, Chivers scored 174 goals in 367 games, his greatest success coming between 1970 and 1973, when he scored more than 20 goals in successive seasons, and was a key part of the side that won the 1971 and 1973 League Cups, finished third in the league in 1971, and picked up the 1972 UEFA Cup.

He had two seasons in Switzerland, playing for Servette, before returning to the English game with Norwich in 1979-80, before the move to Brighton.

On leaving Brighton, he went initially to Southern League Dorchester Town as player-manager, then Norwegian side Vard and finished playing 10 games for Barnet in 1982-83.

It was a phenomenal scoring record to notch 255 goals in 546 appearances.

After he’d finished playing, Chivers became a hotelier in Hertfordshire (during which time I got to speak to him in a professional capacity, helping to promote my client’s involvement in his business) and for several years he has been a matchday host at White Hart Lane.

 

Pictures from a variety of sources, especially Goal and Shoot magazines and matchday programmes.

 

 

Chelsea starlet Barry Bridges a Brighton record signing

5-bridges-in-stripesENGLAND international Barry Bridges was once Brighton & Hove Albion’s record signing for the princely sum of £28,000.

Much of his career ran in parallel with Bert Murray. Both young stars at Chelsea in the early to mid-60s, they were transferred to Birmingham City in 1966 and joined the Albion in the early 1970s.

Norfolk-born Bridges had come to the attention of Chelsea while playing for local side Norwich & Norfolk Boys and had a dream debut in 1959 at just 17, scoring in a local derby against West Ham. It was in the 1961-62 season that he established himself in the Chelsea first team, Jimmy Greaves having been transferred to AC Milan.

In what turned out to be  superb 1964-65 season for him and the club, he scored 27 goals in 42 appearances for Chelsea and collected a League Cup winners’ medal when they beat Leicester City 3-2 over two legs.

It was in May 1966 when Tommy Docherty started breaking up his squad and Bridges left Chelsea for Birmingham having scored 93 goals in 205 league appearances for the London club.

Bridges went one better than Murray and earned full England international honours. Four caps in fact. He was just a few days short of his 24th birthday when he made his debut in a 2-2 draw with Scotland at Wembley in April 1965.

bb-england-w-sir-a

Bridges pictured with Sir Alf Ramsey, Jack Charlton and Nobby Stiles while on England international duty.

He kept the no.9 shirt in the next two games, played in May, a 1-0 win over Hungary at Wembley and was the scorer of England’s goal in a 1-1 draw away to Yugoslavia. His fourth and final game was in a 3-2 friendly defeat against Austria in October 1965. Injury prevented him staking a claim for a place in the 1966 World Cup squad.

In 1971, Bridges went on an end-of-season tour to Australia with an English FA squad that also included Peter Grummitt (then of Sheffield Wednesday) and Dennis Mortimer (of Coventry at the time). The squad went to Dublin first to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the FA of Ireland, drawing 1-1 with the Republic, before heading Down Under where they won all nine of the matches they played in various locations across a month.

BridgesChels

Birmingham paid a then club record fee of £55,000 to acquire Bridges and in two seasons in the West Midlands he scored 46 goals in 104 outings.

Interviewed by bcfc.com in 2014, Bridges said: “What persuaded me to join Birmingham more than anything was the chairman, Clifford Coombs. He was a great guy and wanted to put the club back on its feet. He told me that I was going to be his first signing and he really wanted me to join.”

In his first season he helped Blues to a League Cup semi-final – ironically against Queens Park Rangers – the club he would move to next.

In August 1968, a £50,000 deal saw him move to Loftus Road, where he was part of a strong forward line playing alongside Frank Clarke and the flamboyant Rodney Marsh with his old Chelsea teammate Terry Venables pulling the strings in midfield.

Unfortunately the campaign ended in relegation from the old First Division but in 1969-70 he linked up well alongside Marsh and Clarke and scored 24 goals in all competitions.

Bridges QPR

QPR decided to cash in on him and sold him to Millwall in 1970 and in 1972 he was part of a Millwall side who only narrowly missed promotion to the top division. The Lions were already celebrating promotion on the pitch at The Den when news came through that in fact promotion rivals Birmingham had beaten Sheffield Wednesday to go up, contrary to a rumour that had been circulating in the ground that they’d been losing.

“The four supporters who had been chairing me on their shoulders dropped me. Everyone was stunned, and we had to troop off the pitch all bitterly disappointed and choked,” said Bridges. “I desperately wanted to play First Division football again and so did the rest of the lads. We were all sick.”

When Pat Saward signed him for Brighton in September 1972, it was evident from the start that this was a player who had played at the highest level.

Unfortunately, although Bridges could easily cope at that level, others either didn’t step up or the new players didn’t gel – arguably Saward made too many changes – but, whatever the reason, Brighton couldn’t stop losing and were left floundering at the foot of the table.

Bridges made his debut in a 1-1 draw away to Aston Villa but it was another four matches before he got his first goal, ironically against his old club Millwall, in a 3-1 defeat at home.

Bridges seldom had the same partner up front, early on playing with Willie Irvine, on other occasions with Ken Beamish and later with Lammie Robertson after Saward brought him in from Halifax in exchange for Irvine.

My abiding impression of him was that he appeared to be too good for the rest of the team. His speed of thought was often way ahead of the rest so he would put passes into areas where he would expect a teammate to be, only to be disappointed that they hadn’t read it, so he was made to look wasteful.

One of the few moments of pleasure for Bridges in what was otherwise a season of doom and gloom was the prospect of a FA Cup third round tie against Chelsea at the Goldstone in January 1973. Bridges was in great demand for pre-match interviews in view of his past association with the London club.

“It’s a tremendous draw for the club and a dream draw for Bert Murray and myself who both started our careers at Chelsea,” Bridges told Goal magazine. “Personally it will be nice to see most of the Chelsea lads again. I grew up with Peter Bonetti, Ron Harris and Ossie (Peter Osgood).”

Bridges hoped a good performance in the Cup would help to reinvigorate the lacklustre league form and said: “It’s a crying shame that we’re struggling because the facilities here are second to none. Obviously we need to start getting results now before it’s too late. A win against Chelsea could be just the boost we need to get out of trouble in the league.”

As it turned out, not only did the game end in defeat (2-0) for the Albion but it drew national headlines for all the wrong reasons – ‘day of shame’ for example – as Harris and Brighton left back George Ley were sent off, five were booked and the mood on the pitch led to fighting on the terraces with 25 people arrested.

However, Albion’s fortunes did eventually improve – although it was without Bridges, who in the final few games of the season was restricted to appearances off the bench.

Back in the third division, Bridges was restored to the starting line-up and scored in the opening game in a 1-1 draw at Rochdale.

He was part of the team Brian Clough and Peter Taylor inherited in October and, after they secured their first win courtesy of Pat Hilton’s goal in a 1-0 win away to Walsall, Bridges told the press: “I did more running about in this game than I had in the previous 10 matches.

“I’m 32 now, but with this chap geeing me up I reckon I can go on playing for several more years. We were a bit on edge before the game and the first thing he told us was to relax. Afterwards he told us he was pleased with the effort we showed and we can work from here and go places.

“Though I was sorry to see Pat Saward go – he was a great coach – I think Brian’s got what it takes to make us a good side. He’s just what the club have been waiting for.”

But three games later, as one of the team humiliated in a 4-0 home FA Cup defeat to Walton & Hersham at the end of November, Bridges was unceremoniously dropped and didn’t play again for the first team until February.

Although he then had a run in the team, scoring six times in a 17-game spell, he was among twelve players Clough and Taylor offloaded at the end of the season.

That brought down the curtain on his league career but he continued playing – initially in South Africa with Johannesburg side Highlands Park and then in Ireland – where when player-manager of St Patrick’s Athletic he also gave game time to another former Brighton striker, Neil Martin. He also managed Sligo Rovers before returning to his native Norfolk to manage non league sides Kings Lynn and Dereham Town.

In 2013, the QPR programme caught up with him to discover he was living in Norwich close to where he was brought up, and still getting along to watch matches.

1-england-bridges2-chelsea-bridges4-bridges-in-hoopsB Bridges Btn GOALBarry Bridges (Lions)Barry Bridges (Millwall yellow)

  • Pictures from my scrapbook show Barry in his England and Chelsea days, in Millwall’s white and change yellow shirts, in QPR’s familiar hoops, and in the Albion stripes.