Tag: Joe Anyinsah

Managerial change had habit of foxing Jason Jarrett’s progress

JASON JARRETT was one of multiple additions to Micky Adams’ struggling League One Brighton side in January 2009, advised to head to the Withdean by former Preston playing colleague Joe Anyinsah.

Anyinsah, who had been on loan at the Albion and declined the opportunity to stay in favour of moving to Carlisle United, nonetheless recommended the Seagulls to Jarrett.

The alliteratively named midfielder was 29 when he arrived on a free transfer hoping to reignite his career after a frustrating two-and-a-half years at Deepdale during which time he made just nine appearances.

“I was told by Alan Irvine I had a future at Preston North End, but there is only so long that you can sit on the bench,” he said. “I wanted to leave so that I can play some games and I have heard good things about Brighton so in the end it was a straightforward decision.”

He pointed out: “This is a chance to resurrect my career and I’m grateful to Micky Adams for bringing me down here.”

Jarrett was one of six new arrivals that month: Jim McNulty, Craig Davies, Calvin Andrew, Seb Carole and Chris Birchall were the others.

“We needed a bit more physical strength in midfield, which is why Jason is there,” Adams explained.

His debut for the Seagulls saw him in opposition to a club he’d very nearly signed for – Leicester City – after playing 13 games for them on loan in 2007.

And, in an even more bizarre twist, he ended up wearing the Foxes’ second kit of all yellow in the game on 27 January 2009 because the match referee deemed Albion’s would have clashed.

“Rob Kelly took me to Leicester and I was close to signing for them but it fell through when he was sacked,” Jarrett told the Argus ahead of the game.

“They are a big club and obviously the best team in the League. Everyone can see that, so it is going to be very difficult. They are a club that should definitely be in the Championship at the very least.”

Nevertheless, the Albion caused something of an upset by holding the high-flyers to a goalless draw, and the new man came close to netting the Albion a win.

Brighton were the 13th club of Jarrett’s career, most of which had been spent at Championship level. Anyone of a superstitious nature would say luck was not on his side.

Although he made 12 starts + two as a sub for the Albion, it was only a matter of weeks after he signed that Adams parted company with the Seagulls.

New boss Russell Slade stuck with Jarrett initially but then brought in his own man in Gary Dicker from Stockport County.

Having been given a contract only until the end of the season, Jarrett was not kept on, and it wasn’t long before he was reunited with Adams, this time at Port Vale.

Born in Bury on 14 September 1979, Jarrett started his career as a 16-year-old apprentice with Blackpool, and made his first team debut in November 1998. He moved on to Wrexham for the 1999-2000 season but only made one appearance for the Welsh side. Next up was hometown club Bury in the Second Division where he got a foothold in the team and featured in 69 matches. However, when they went into administration in 2002, they were forced to sell Jarrett to Wigan Athletic for £75,000.

Jarrett was a key part of the Latics midfield as they rose from the fourth tier through to the Championship, making 107 appearances under Paul Jewell.

A broken leg suffered in pre-season ahead of the 2004-05 season sidelined him and after he’d recovered he spent a month on loan at Stoke City under Tony Pulis.

Jarrett moved on before getting the chance to play in the Premier League for Wigan, instead joining Norwich City in the summer of 2005. He had previously played for Canaries boss Nigel Worthington at his first club, Blackpool, but, in common with a few other signings, his chances at Carrow Road were few and far between. He went on loan to Plymouth Argyle in the first part of the season, returning in January 2006, and two months later joined Preston on a temporary basis before making the switch to Deepdale permanent in May that year.

Once again, though, he found a manager in Paul Simpson reluctant to give him a regular starting berth so he went on loans to Hull City (where he played alongside Nicky Forster and David Livermore), Leicester (as mentioned above), QPR (for three months) and Oldham (where Craig Davies was a teammate).

He was picked out in the Albion matchday programme as Oldham’s star man ahead of their visit to the Withdean in February 2008, described as “a mobile, pacy central operator who can get forward but is also prepared to do the grimy tracking back and box-to-box work that are a good midfielder’s staple diet”.

He later returned to Oldham after his short term contract with Port Vale had expired. He’d been without a club in the latter half of the 2009-10 season but, in the summer of 2010, Oldham boss Paul Dickov took him on after a successful trial period. He told the club website: “We have a very young team and Jason’s experience helps us.”

However, he only made eight appearances and in January 2011 he dropped out of the league, initially playing for Conference North FC Halifax Town, then Airbus UK in Wales, before, in May 2013, signing for Conference side Chester. When they were relegated from the Conference in April 2014, Jarrett moved to Salford City.

After his playing days were over, Jarrett set up his own business: ProBall Sport. On his LinkedIn profile, he describes its aims thus: “At ProBall Sport we provide fun, educational sport activities for primary and secondary schools plus nutrition and well-being workshops.

“The power of school sports changed my life,” Jarrett writes. “I know first-hand how much of a positive impact it can have on young children, whether that be in pushing them on towards becoming a professional sports person or keeping them fit, active and healthy.

“I believe that first class sports coaching from a young age had a profound effect on my life and achievements so I developed Proball Sport to directly support and inspire today’s pupils to give them the chance to experience something similar, hopefully, even more special.”

Bradley Johnson always liked a pop from long range

Bradley Johnson scores on his debut v Leicester (photo Simon Dack)

THE COCA-COLA Kid’s cousin was an instant hit when he joined seventh-from-bottom Brighton on loan from second-placed League One rivals Leeds United in October 2008.

Bradley Johnson, who’d heard about the Seagulls from his relative Colin Kazim-Richards, scored twice on his debut as the Seagulls turned round a 2-0 half-time deficit to beat Leicester City 3-2.

“I hadn’t played for two months and Micky (Adams) asked if I was fit and I admitted I wasn’t match fit, but he said he would throw me in anyway,” Johnson recounted.

“The two goals I scored gave me great confidence as a player, but the win helped everyone,” he said. “On the night, the fans were immense and the result gave us all a good boost.”

In an Argus interview in March 2021, Johnson recalled: “I was a young boy from Leeds coming into a struggling team against a team who were flying so it was a bit daunting for me.

“I didn’t know what to expect but, as debuts go, I don’t think it could have gone any better.

“Anyone who knows me knows I like a shot and I’ve always had that since a young age. Some don’t go where planned but thankfully on that night they did.”

Albion had failed to score in their three previous games, against Hereford, Peterborough and Hartlepool, and soon found themselves 2-0 down to City courtesy of two Matty Fryatt goals.

Adams hauled off a somewhat better known loanee – the ineffective Robbie Savage – at half-time, along with wideman Kevin McLeod, and the changes galvanised the Albion in the second half.

Right-back Andrew Whing reckoned the withdrawal of Savage might have helped Johnson to shine. “Maybe he’d felt a bit in Robbie’s shadow up until that point,” he told Spencer Vignes. “But he really stepped up in the second half and scored twice, one of them an unbelievable strike. We needed a spark and that was it.

“Bradley deserved a lot of credit that night. He’d come to us from Leeds and he just took responsibility, scored twice and got us back into it. He really made an impression.”

After Johnson’s pair of long range strikes past David Martin in the Leicester goal, City defender Jack Hobbs sealed a memorable comeback for the Seagulls when he diverted Joe Anyinsah’s cross past his own ‘keeper.

It was a tad ironic that Johnson should have scored against Leicester too because at the start of that year he came very close to signing for them but couldn’t agree terms and ended up at Leeds instead.

Five days after his impressive Albion debut, Johnson was on the scoresheet again as Adams’ side beat Millwall 4-1 at the Withdean Stadium (Glenn Murray, two, and Dean Cox, the other scorers).

Kazim-Richards, whose £250,000 transfer from Bury to Brighton had been paid for via fan Aaron Berry winning a competition organised by the soft drink giant, had already moved on to Fenerbahçe in Turkey via Sheffield United by the time Johnson arrived in Sussex.

But he said: “My cousin Colin had played there so I knew Brighton and I knew a few lads, and that it was a good place to be. But it was Micky that really sold the place to me and I just wanted to play. That is all I wanted to do; I didn’t look at the side’s league position. I just wanted to be a part of what Micky spoke about and help the club beat relegation.”

Unfortunately, the mini revival in the autumn of 2008 didn’t continue although Johnson was on the winning side again when, in his 10th and last game for the Albion, two Nicky Forster goals earned a 2-0 win at Swindon Town, spoiling Danny Wilson’s first game in charge of the Robins (Peter Brezovan was in goal for Town).

By then, Johnson, who’d lost his place at Leeds following an injury, had scored four times for the Albion (some records show he scored twice in a 4-2 home defeat to MK Dons, others that the second Brighton goal was netted by Stuart Fleetwood).

Somewhat gallingly, Johnson was next seen at Withdean less than three weeks into the new year – back in the fold with Leeds as they took all three points in a 2-0 win on 17 January 2009.

“When I was out on loan, Leeds were struggling and when I went back Gary McAllister got the sack. Simon Grayson came in and I didn’t know where my future lay, but Grayson told me I had a part to play and it was down to me to train hard and prove myself,” he said.

“He was true to his word, and I kept my head down, then I ended up coming back to Brighton and played against them for Leeds. It was a bit surreal to be in the away dressing room, but that is football.”

Johnson became a regular at Elland Road for the next two years and was part of the Leeds side who won promotion to the Championship in 2010, as well as earning headlines in memorable FA Cup ties against Premier League opposition.

In particular, in a third round replay against Arsenal at Elland Road in January 2011, Johnson scored a spectacular goal for the home side although they lost the tie 3-1.

Having spent five years on Arsenal’s books as a promising youngster, it was a bittersweet moment for Johnson who said afterwards: “It was a goal I’m not going to forget. I’m an Arsenal fan myself and so are all my family.”

On the transfer list at the time because he couldn’t agree a new deal with Leeds, he eventually got the chance he craved to play in the Premier League that summer when he moved to newly promoted Norwich City, where his teammates included Elliott Bennett and Andrew Crofts.

It was Canaries boss Paul Lambert who sold the club to him at the time but he also sang the praises of his successor, Chris Hughton.

Johnson joined the Canaries

“Hughton did come in with a different style of play,” he told pinkun.com. “He was very tactical. He was mindful that we were playing in the Premier League against good players whereas Paul Lambert wouldn’t care, if we were playing Manchester United, he’d say ‘if they score two, we’ll score three’.

“Different approaches, different ideas and different philosophies. People weren’t happy with the way he played but we finished 11th. I can only speak for myself, but I really enjoyed my time there and Chris is a great manager.”

He added: “Credit to him when he got the sack because he stuck by his morals and got Brighton promoted.”

After three seasons in the Premier League, the 2014–15 Championship season was one of Johnson’s most successful seasons with the Canaries: he became vice-captain to Russell Martin, appeared in 44 of the 46 league matches (including one appearance as a sub) and scored 15 goals.

He was voted fans’ Player of the Year and was part of the side that won the play-off final 2-0 against Middlesbrough to ensure City won back their Premier League place.

However, unable to get a place in Alex Neil’s side back among the elite, he switched to Derby County for £6m in September 2015.

That was the start of seven more seasons in the Championship: after 140 appearances over four years with the Rams, he moved on a free transfer to Blackburn Rovers, where he made 86 appearances over three seasons.

He eventually left Ewood Park at the end of the 2021-22 season and in the summer of 2022 joined MK Dons on a free transfer.

Johnson scored both goals as MK Dons turned round a disappointing start to the season by beating Port Vale 2-1 in their fourth match.

Johnson interviewed after scoring twice for MK Dons

Born in Hackney on 28 April 1987, Johnson was on Arsenal’s books from 1997 to 2002 but was released aged 15.

“Like any kid, being released from a club was horrible and I didn’t really feel like going back on a round of trials with other professional clubs, so instead I just played locally in Leyton.

He went to Ryman Premier side Waltham Forest but when he was 17 was invited for a trial at Cambridge United. He signed on a non-contract basis for eight months and was then offered a professional contract.

Johnson attracted suitors when playing for Northampton Town

But Northampton Town had been tracking him. “They made me a counter-offer which I accepted and that is where my career began,” he said.

That was in May 2005, and after he had been out on loan to gain experience at Gravesend & Northfleet and Stevenage Borough, he became a regular starter under Stuart Gray and his performances attracted scouts from clubs further up the league.

When that aforementioned move to Leicester fell through in January 2008, a few days later Leeds stepped in and paid a £250,000 fee for him.

He played in the same Leeds side as Casper Ankergren that lost the 2008 League One play-off final 1-0 to Doncaster, but picked up a back injury in pre season that led to him being sidelined. Although he returned to fitness, the side was doing well in his absence which meant he was unable to force his way back in. And then the chance to play competitive football was presented by the Albion.