Tag: John Napier

Steady Eddie had plenty of strings to his bow

ONE TIME Albion captain and utility player Eddie Spearritt played in the top flight for Ipswich Town and Carlisle United.

He made five starts and five appearances off the bench for second tier champions Ipswich at the beginning of the 1968-69 season before joining third tier Brighton for £20,000 in January 1969.

Play anywhere Spearritt was then a permanent fixture in the Albion line-up for almost five years, making 225 appearances, before Brian Clough turfed him out at the end of the 1973-74 season.

But he found himself back amongst the elite when newly promoted Carlisle United snapped him up for their one and only season (1974-75) amongst the big boys.

Spearritt made 17 starts and six appearances as a sub for the Cumbrians but, in spite of a superb winning start when they briefly topped the division, United finished the season in bottom spot.

Spearritt shapes to challenge Aston Villa’s Ray Graydon

Equally comfortable playing in midfield, at full back or sweeper, Spearritt had on-off spells as Albion’s chosen penalty-taker as well as chipping in with goals from open play. He even turned his hand to goalkeeping when necessary.

Another key attribute to his game was an ability to send in long throw-ins which could sometimes be as effective as a free kick or corner. It was a skill which earned him a place in a Longest Throw competition staged by BBC’s sport show Grandstand in 1970-71, although he didn’t win it.

Born in Lowestoft on 31 January 1947, Spearritt went to Lowestoft Grammar School and on leaving school was picked up by Arsenal. But when the Gunners didn’t keep him on, he returned to East Anglia and joined Ipswich as an apprentice in August 1963.

He signed a professional contract with Town in February 1965 and, as Tim Hodge details on prideofanglia.com, he made his league debut in the 1965-66 season in a 1-0 win away to Preston in the old Division Two.

That was the season when substitutes were first introduced into the English game and the record books show that Spearritt was the first Ipswich sub to score a goal.

He went on for Irish international Danny Hegan in a match away to Derby County on 15 January 1966 and scored Ipswich’s second goal. The game finished 2-2; Gerry Baker having scored Town’s first.

Over the next three years, Spearritt made a total of 69 appearances (plus 10 as sub) for Bill McGarry’s side, scoring 14 goals along the way. Twenty of those games came in the 1967-68 season when Ipswich won the old Second Division.

A 1-0 home defeat to Spurs in October 1968 was his last for the Suffolk club and he parted company with Town shortly after McGarry left Portman Road to take over at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

A debut v Crewe (left) and slaloming through the Plymouth Argyle defence (right)

Spearritt was one of Freddie Goodwin’s first signings for Brighton – just a few weeks before my first ever Albion game. He made his debut in a 3-1 home win over Crewe Alexandra and kept the number 10 shirt to the end of the season, by which time he had scored five times, including both Albion’s goals in a 2-2 draw at home to Tranmere Rovers.

In the 1969-70 season, not only was he part of the Third Division Albion side who pushed his old manager McGarry’s First Division Wolves side all the way in a memorable third round League Cup tie, it was his header from Kit Napier’s free kick that put the Albion 2-1 ahead just before half-time.

Scottish international Hugh Curran scored twice in eight second half minutes to clinch the win for Wolves but a bumper Goldstone Ground crowd of 32,539 witnessed a terrific effort by their side.

A few weeks’ later, in a marathon FA Cup second round tie with Walsall that required three replays before the Saddlers finally prevailed 2-1, Spearritt took over in goal during the second replay when a concussed Geoff Sidebottom was stretchered off on 65 minutes. Albion hung on for a 1-1 draw.

Spearritt was a midfield regular in his first two seasons but Goodwin’s successor, Pat Saward, switched him to left back halfway through the 1970-71 season and that’s where he stayed throughout 1971-72 when Albion won promotion from the old Third Division as runners up behind Saward’s old club, Aston Villa.

It was in the first half of that season that Spearritt took a call from ex-Ipswich teammate Ray Crawford, the former England international centre forward, who had returned homesick from a short stint playing in South Africa.

He persuaded Saward to offer Crawford a trial and although he didn’t make the league side he scouted upcoming opponents, played for the reserves and subsequently ran the youth team.

Meanwhile, Spearritt was a key part of the promotion side and player-of-the-season Bert Murray generously declared the award could have gone to Eddie for his consistency that season. As it happened, Spearritt did get the award the following season, although somewhat more ignominiously considering Albion were relegated.

All smiles as Pat Saward’s side toast promotion in 1972

In the close season after promotion, Spearritt tied the knot with Penelope Biddulph, “an accomplished professional dancer,” the matchday programme told us, and they moved into a new home in Kingston-by-Sea.

Spearritt started out at left back in Division Two but after ten games was ousted by the arrival of George Ley from Portsmouth. He then switched back into midfield, but by the end of that relegation season was playing sweeper alongside Norman Gall (for nine games) and Steve Piper (for two).

He scored (pictured above), along with Barry Bridges, in a 2-0 win at Huddersfield on 14 October but the team went on a disastrous run of 16 games without a win, although Spearritt did get on the scoresheet three times, including notching two penalties.

When Albion went to that footballing outpost Carlisle on 16 December, they had lost five in a row without managing a single goal. Carlisle were 5-0 up, goalkeeper Brian Powney was carried off with a broken nose, replaced between the sticks by Murray, then Albion won a penalty.

Spearritt took up the story in a subsequent matchday programme. “I used to be the club’s penalty taker but, after I had missed an important one at Mansfield in 1970, I lost the job. Penalty-taking is really all about confidence,” he said. “After I had missed that one at Mansfield, which cost us a point, the players lost confidence in me and the job went first to John Napier and was then taken over by Murray.

“Bert would have taken the penalty at Carlisle. He has already scored two this season. But he had gone in goal and it was decided it was too risky to fetch Bert out of goal to take the penalty.

“Nobody else seemed to want to take it so I just picked the ball up and put it on the spot. We were 5-0 down by then but I thought from a morale point of view that it was extremely important that I scored. You can understand my relief when I saw the ball hit the back of the net.

“Everybody was beginning to wonder when we would score again. I suppose with the run of bad luck we have been having it was almost inevitable that we should break our goal famine from the penalty spot.”

Towards the end of the dismal run, Albion drew First Division Chelsea at home in the third round of the FA Cup. The game was won 2-0 by Chelsea but it was an ugly, violent affair – The Argus labelled it ‘Goldstone day of shame’ – in which five players were booked and each side had a player sent off.

Spearritt, the first to be booked, found himself caught up in a huge controversy which resulted in Chelsea hard man Ron Harris being sent off by Leicester referee Peter Reeves; remarkably the only time in his career he was dismissed.

The Brighton man insisted he’d been hit by the defender and Saward said in diplomatic terms after the game: “Spearritt said he was struck on the mouth and that it was not an involuntary action but a blow. From what I saw, I couldn’t understand it.”

Esteemed football writer Norman Giller subsequently recorded it like this: “Harris got involved in a tussle with Spearritt, and, as he pushed him, Spearritt went down holding his face as if he had been punched. The referee directed Ron to an early bath. All the bones he had kicked, and here was Harris being sent off for a playground push.

“A Brighton-supporting vicar, with a pitchside view, wrote to the Football Association telling them what he had witnessed, and ‘Chopper’ was vindicated.”

Whatever the truth of the matter, Spearritt told Argus Albion reporter John Vinicombe that he’d been threatened by a Chelsea player after the incident. “He spoke to me several times and made it quite clear what he had in mind.”

Albion’s Ley was sent off for bringing down Tommy Baldwin and then getting involved in an altercation with Peter Osgood, who scored both Chelsea goals. Two minutes later David Webb went into the book for a ‘blatant foul’ on Spearritt.

Albion finally returned to winning ways the following month with a 2-0 win over Luton (on 10 February), and then beat Huddersfield, Carlisle and Swindon, prompting Saward to refer to “some outstanding individual performances” and adding: “I have been particularly pleased with the way Eddie Spearritt has been playing in recent weeks.

“He has maintained a high level of consistency this season and his work in defence and in midfield has been invaluable as the side has plugged away trying to turn the tide of results.”

Saward made Spearritt Albion’s captain at the start of the 1973-74 season back in Division Three and with the return of central defender Ian Goodwin and then the emergence of Piper in the sweeping role, he was soon back in midfield.

But when Saward was sacked in October and sensationally replaced by former Derby County League title winning management duo Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, Spearritt was one of the first to have his nose put out of joint by the new arrivals.

Journalist Spencer Vignes described what happened in Bloody Southerners (Biteback Publishing, 2018), his excellent book about that era.

Clough sought out long-serving centre back Norman Gall and, because he hailed from the same part of the country (ie the north east), told him he was making him the captain. Gall told Vignes: “Suddenly I’m captain, which I was really happy about. Eddie Spearritt didn’t like it though. He’d been captain up until then. In fact, he didn’t talk to me after that. That was the beginning of the end for Eddie.”

Spearritt was part of the side who capitulated 4-0, 8-2 and 4-1 in successive games against Walton & Hersham, Bristol Rovers and Tranmere Rovers, and he was dropped for six games, along with Ley (who never played for Albion again). Clough went into the transfer market and brought in midfielder Ronnie Welch and left back Harry Wilson from Burnley.

Although Spearritt was restored to the team in mid January, and had a run of seven games — including his 200th league game for Albion — when he was subbed off in a home win over Hereford United on 10 March 1974, it was to be his last appearance in an Albion shirt.

In five years he’d played 225 games (plus seven as sub) and scored 25 goals.

Come the end of the season, Spearritt was one of 12 players released by the club in what became known as the great Clough clear-out.

Perhaps surprisingly, though, his next step was UP two divisions to play in the First Division with then newly promoted Carlisle United.

One of his teammates there was defender Graham Winstanley, who later joined the Albion. The side was captained by Chris Balderstone, who was also a top cricketer. Journeyman striker Hugh McIlmoyle played up front while John Gorman, who later played for Spurs and became Glenn Hoddle’s managerial sidekick, was also in the team.

They memorably topped the division after three games…but predictably finished bottom of the pile by the end. In his two-year stay with the Cumbrians, Spearritt played 29 times, was sub twice and scored a single goal.

He moved back south in August 1976, signed by Gerry Summers at Gillingham, and made his debut in a League Cup first round second leg tie against Aldershot, then made his league debut against Reading.

In total, he made 22 appearances in his one season at the club — one of them at the Goldstone Ground on December 29 1976, when the Albion won 2-0 on a slippery, snow-covered pitch. Spearritt scored just the once for the Gills, from the penalty spot against Rotherham United at Priestfield.

He emigrated to Australia the following summer and settled in Brisbane where he played 56 games for the Brisbane Lions between 1977 and 1980 and was their head coach in 1979. He subsequently coached Rochedale Rovers in the Brisbane Intermediate League, steering them to promotion to the Premier League in 1983.

Outside of football, he became estates manager for L’Oréal and in later years was better known as the uncle of Hannah Spearritt, once of the pop group S Club 7, who became an actress in the ITV drama Primevil.

Top Hatter Moore a temporary plug in Albion’s leaky defence

LUTON TOWN legend John Moore had a 32-year association with the Hatters as a player, coach and manager. He had a less remarkable one month’s loan in the stripes of Brighton.

As manager Pat Saward rather too rapidly dismantled Albion’s 1972 promotion-winning side, the experienced Moore was one of several old hands brought in to try to help Albion adapt to the old Second Division.

Saward was light on numbers in a defence which had conceded 23 goals in 12 games, and he had just parted company with former skipper John Napier, while injury-prone Ian Goodwin was in hospital having a knee cartilage operation. The side had only won once in the league in 12 starts.

But the arrival of Moore, together with Lewes-based Stan Brown from Fulham, gave the side an unexpected fillip and the Albion earned a surprise 2-0 victory away to Huddersfield Town (Eddie Spearritt and Barry Bridges the scorers) on 14 October 1972.

Saward was certainly impressed by the impact of his two new acquisitions. “The new men played a major part in our success,” he said. “It was quite remarkable really the way they slotted into the side as if they had been playing for Albion all season. John did exceptionally well in his role as sweeper.

“They are, of course, experienced professionals who have been around the game a long time. But even the best professionals sometimes take time to settle into new environments and this is why the performances of these two was so outstanding.”

Unfortunately, it was the only win of Moore’s brief stay. Albion drew the next three games and his final outing came in a 3-0 defeat at Millwall. That loss at The Den was the first of 12 consecutive league defeats.

Ironically, Albion only returned to winning ways when Moore was in opposition, lining up in the Luton side that lost 2-1 at the Goldstone on 10 February 1973. Ken Beamish scored both Albion goals, while future Albion signings Don Shanks and Barry Butlin were playing for the opponents that day.

Moore subsequently moved on to Northampton Town, where future Albion player John Gregory was beginning to make his way in the game, but the Scot ended his playing days after only 14 appearances.

Born on 21 December 1943 in the village of Harthill (halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh), Moore played initially for local side North Motherwell Athletic. In 1962, he joined Scottish League side Motherwell on a part-time basis, while also working in a factory.

He was a centre-forward when he initially went to Fir Park but in the only three games he played he started twice in midfield and once in defence. Given a free transfer in May 1965, a Luton scout in Scotland pointed him in the direction of then manager George Martin.

In a 2011 interview with Matthew Parsfield, for the Talk of the Town blog, he recalled: “George Martin flew up to Scotland to sign me. I remember sitting down with him in my living room with my family, and, it sounds far-fetched nowadays, but there were no contract negotiations and no haggling at all.

“He said ‘What do you want?’ He was actually talking about a signing-on fee, but I just said ‘I want an opportunity.’ He certainly gave me that.”

One particular long-standing fan, Mick Ogden, remembered Moore’s arrival with affection. Writing on the Hatters Heritage website, he recalled him turning up at a supporters’ club gathering in the company of manager Martin in May 1965.

“Despite the fact that he had travelled down from Glasgow that day, John spent the whole evening with us, firstly playing billiards against our members and then later we sat around listening to John talking about his life and obvious love of football,” wrote Mick.

“He told us he had signed from Motherwell and how he sat for many hours during the week talking football with his father, who was a Rangers fan. Apparently, these chats would often carry on until the early hours of the next day. John clearly had a great love and affection for his father.”

Another fan who remembered the player from his early Luton-watching days, ‘Mad Hatter’, said: “Moore wasn’t like other defenders; slender in physique compared to those he played alongside, he was more than a match for most of the opponents he came up against.

“Whilst on the books of the Hatters, Moore made 274 league appearances and more than played his part in helping Luton Town climb from Division 4 to Division 2.”

John Moore in action for Luton against West Ham’s Geoff Hurst

Indeed as well as under Martin, Moore also featured under Alan Brown, Alec Stock and Harry Haslam.

After his playing days were over, he spent time as manager of non-league Dunstable Town but when David Pleat took over as Luton manager, he took Moore back to the club as a coach.

After Pleat had moved on to take the hot seat at Spurs, Moore stepped up to become manager.

It was the 1986-87 season in the top-flight and Moore led the Hatters to a club-best seventh-place finish. But it appears he didn’t enjoy the limelight of such a position and he stepped down, handing over the reins to Ray Harford, assisted by Steve Foster. Luton went on to win the League Cup (then known as the Littlewoods Cup) beating Arsenal 3-2, with another ex-Albion skipper, Danny Wilson, one of the goalscorers.

When former player Jim Ryan took over as manager, Moore returned to the club as a coach for a third stint and stayed in that role under Pleat again, Terry Westley, Lennie Lawrence, Ricky Hill, Mick Harford, Joe Kinnear and Mike Newell until he reached the age of 60 in 2003 and chose to retire.

In the interview with Parsfield, he gave an insight into his approach. “When I became youth coach I always treated the boys like adults.

“I wasn’t interested in making them successful youth players, the only way to make a living is to become a first team player.

“I told them they had to work harder than the first team, because those older guys down the corridor aren’t going to just give you their first team place and their luxury lifestyle, you’ve got to work for it.”

He added: “Nobody’s career flows in a straight line, careers bob and weave, and players need the attitude of ‘When it gets hard, I don’t give in’. It’s when someone has the talent but not the attitude, that’s what frustrates you the most.”

On leaving Luton, Moore got involved in schools coaching in Bedford. But at Kenilworth Road, there is a permanent reminder of the player courtesy of The John Moore Lounge.

Confrontation was seldom far away in Micky Adams’ career

THE FIRST player ever to be sent off in a Premier League game managed Brighton twice.

Fiery Micky Adams saw red playing for Southampton when he decked England international midfielder Ray Wilkins.

“People asked me why I did it. I said I didn’t like him, but I didn’t really know him,” Adams recalls in his autobiography, My Life in Football (Biteback Publishing, 2017).

It was only the second game of the 1992-93 season and Adams was dismissed as Saints lost 3-1 at Queens Park Rangers.

Adams blamed the fact boss Ian Branfoot had played him in midfield that day, where he was never comfortable.

“He (Wilkins) was probably running rings around me. I turned around and thumped him. I was fined two weeks’ wages and hit with a three-match ban.”

It wasn’t the only time he would have cause not to like Wilkins either. The former Chelsea, Manchester United and England midfielder replaced Adams as boss of Fulham when Mohammed Al-Fayed took over.

His previously harmonious relationship with Ray’s younger brother, Dean, turned frosty too. When Adams first took charge at the Albion, he considered youth team boss Dean “one of my best mates”. But the two fell out when Seagulls chairman Dick Knight decided to bring Adams back to the club in 2008 to replace Wilkins, who’d taken over from Mark McGhee as manager.

“He thought I had stitched him up,” said Adams. “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.”

With the benefit of hindsight, Adams also regretted returning to manage the Seagulls a second time considering his stock among Brighton supporters had been high having led them to promotion from the fourth tier in 2001. The side that won promotion to the second tier in 2002 was also regarded as Adams’ team, even though he had left for Leicester City by the time the Albion went up under Peter Taylor.

Adams first took charge of the Seagulls when home games were still being played at Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium.  Jeff Wood’s short reign was brought to an end after he’d failed to galvanise the side following Brian Horton’s decision to quit to return to the north. Horton took over at Port Vale, where Adams himself would subsequently become manager for two separate stints.

Back in 1999, though, Adams had been at Nottingham Forest before accepting Knight’s offer to take charge of the Albion. He’d originally gone to Nottingham to work as no.2 to Dave Bassett but Ron Atkinson had been brought in to replace Bassett and Adams was switched to reserve team manager.

The Albion job gave him the opportunity to return to front line management, a role he had enjoyed at Fulham and Brentford before regime changes had brought about his departure from both clubs.

On taking the Albion reins, Adams said: “For too long now this club has, for one reason and another, had major problems. The one thing that has remained positive is the faith the supporters have shown in their club.

“The club has to turn around eventually and I want to be the man that helps to turn it around.”

The man who appointed him, Knight, said: “Micky is a formidable character with a proven track record. He knows what it takes to get a club promoted from this division. But, more than that, Micky shares our vision of the future and wants to be part of it. That is why I have offered him a four-year contract and he has agreed to that commitment.”

Not long after taking over the Albion hotseat, he was happy to say goodbye to the stadium he’d previously known as home when a Gillingham player in the ‘80s and it was a revamped squad he assembled for the Albion’s return to Brighton, albeit within the confines of the restricted capacity Withdean Stadium.

Darren Freeman and Aidan Newhouse, two players who’d played for Adams at Fulham, scored five of the six goals that buried Mansfield Town in the new season opener at the ‘Theatre of Trees’.

Considering he was only too happy to be photographed supporting the campaign to build the new stadium at Falmer, it’s disappointing to read in his autobiography what he really thought about it.

“My mates and I nicknamed it ‘Falmer – my arse’ although I never said this to Dick’s face,” he said. “There was always so much talk and we never felt like it was going to get done.”

The turning point in his first full season in charge was the arrival of Bobby Zamora on loan from Bristol Rovers. “The first time I saw him he came onto the training ground; he looked like a kid. But he was tall and gangly with a useful left foot; there was potential there.”

Interestingly, considering Adams makes a point of saying he usually ignored directors who tried to get involved on the playing side, he took up Knight’s suggestion that the side should switch to a 4-4-2 formation – and the Albion promptly won 7-1 at Chester with Zamora scoring a hat-trick!

After a so-so first season back in Brighton, not long into the next season Adams was forced to replace his no.2, Alan Cork, with Bob Booker because Cork was offered the manager’s job at Cardiff City, at the time owned by his former Wimbledon chairman, Sam Hammam. Adams reckoned Booker’s appointment was one of the best decisions he ever made.

Surrounded by players who had served him well at Fulham and Brentford, together with the additions of Zamora, Michel Kuipers and Paul Rogers, Adams and Booker steered Albion to promotion as champions. Zamora was player of the season and he and Danny Cullip were named in the PFA divisional XI.

Not long into the new season, the lure of taking over as manager at a Premier League club saw Adams quit Brighton, initially to become Bassett’s no.2 at Leicester City, but with the promise of succeeding him.

“While I thought I had a shot at another promotion, it wasn’t a certainty,” Adams explained. “I knew I had put together a team of winners, and I knew I had a goalscorer in Bobby Zamora, but football’s fickle finger of fate could have disrupted that at any time.”

He admitted in the autobiography: “Had I been in charge at the age of 55, rather than 40, then I perhaps would have taken a different decision.”

While Albion enjoyed promotion under Taylor, what followed at Leicester for Adams was a lot more than he’d bargained for and, to his dismay, he is still associated with the ugly shenanigans surrounding the club’s mid-season trip to La Manga, to which he devotes a whole chapter of his book, aiming to set the record straight.

On the pitch, he experienced relegation and promotion with the Foxes and he doesn’t hold back from lashing out about ‘moaner’ Martin Keown, “one of the worst signings of my career”. Eventually, he’d had enough, and walked away from the club with 18 months left on his contract.

After a break in the Dordogne area of France, staying with at his sister-in-law and her husband’s vineyard, he looked for a way back into the game. He was interviewed for the job of managing MK Dons but was put off by a Brighton-style new-ground-in-the-future scenario. Then Peter Reid, a former Southampton teammate, was sacked by Coventry City. He put his name forward and took charge of a Championship side full of experienced players like Steve Staunton and Tim Sherwood.

The side’s fortunes were further boosted by the arrival of Dennis Wise, but, in an all-too-familiar scenario Adams had encountered elsewhere, the chairman who appointed him (Mike McGinnity) was replaced by Geoffrey Robinson. It wasn’t long before it was obvious the relationship was only going to end one way. As Adams tells it, Robinson was influenced by lifelong Sky Blues fan Richard Keys, the TV presenter, and it was pretty much on his say-so that Adams became an ex-City manager after two years in the job.

With an ex-wife and three children to support as well as his partner Claire, Adams couldn’t afford to be out of work for long and fortunately his next opportunity came courtesy of Geraint Williams, boss of newly promoted Colchester United, who took him on as his no.2.

However, it only got to the turn of the year before he was out of work once again, although, from what he describes, he wasn’t enjoying his time with the U’s anyway because Williams kept him at arm’s length when it came to tactics and team selection.

He was amongst the ranks of the unemployed once again when Albion chairman Knight gave him a call, but, with the benefit of hindsight, he said: “Going back turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of my life.”

Adams blamed the backdrop of “the power struggle” between Knight and Tony Bloom on the lack of success during his second stint in the hotseat, and he reckons it was Bloom who “demanded my head on a platter”. The fateful meeting with Knight, when a parting of the ways was agreed, famously took place in the Little Chef on the A23 near Hickstead.

Looking back, Adams conceded he bowed to pressure from Knight to make certain signings – namely Jim McNulty, Jason Jarrett and Craig Davies in January 2009 – who didn’t work out. He reflected: “I shouldn’t have taken the job in the first place. I’d let my heart rule my head but, in fairness, I didn’t have any other offers coming through and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

“I wouldn’t ever say he (Knight) let me down, but he had his idea about players. I did listen to him, and maybe that’s where I went wrong.”

He added: “Going back to a club where success had been achieved before felt good, yet, the second time around, the same spark wasn’t there no matter how hard I tried.”

Born in Sheffield on 8 November 1961, Micky was the second son of four children. It might be argued his penchant for lashing out could have stemmed from seeing his father hitting his mother, which he chose to spoke about at his father’s funeral. Adams is obviously not sure if he did the right thing but he felt the record should be straight.

The Adams family were always Blades rather than Wednesdayites and, at 15, young Micky was in the youth set-up at Bramall Lane having made progress with Sunday league side Hackenthorpe Throstles.

While he thought he had done well under youth coach John Short during (former Brighton player) Jimmy Sirrel’s reign as first team manager, Sirrel’s successor, Harry Haslam, replaced Short and, not long afterwards, Adams was released.

However, Short moved to Gillingham and invited the young left winger to join the Gills. Adams linked up with a group of promising youngsters that included Steve Bruce.

In September 1979, he had a call-up to John Cartwright’s England Youth side, going on as a sub in a 1-1 draw with West Germany, and starting on the left wing away to Poland (0-1), Hungary (0-2) and Czechoslovakia (1-2) alongside the likes of Colin Pates, Paul Allen, Gary Mabbutt, Paul Walsh and Terry Gibson.

Adams honed his craft under the tutelage of a tough Northern Irishman Bill ‘Buster’ Collins and began to catch the attention of first team manager Gerry Summers and his assistant Alan Hodgkinson, who had played 675 games in goal for Sheffield United.

He made his debut aged just 17 against Rotherham United but didn’t properly break through until Summers and Hodgkinson were replaced by Keith Peacock (remember him, he was the first ever substitute in English football, in 1965, when he went on for Charlton Athletic against John Napier’s Bolton Wanderers) and Paul Taylor.

“Keith saw me as a full-back and that was probably the turning point of my career,” Adams recalled.

Once Adams and Bruce became regulars for the Gills, scouts from bigger clubs began to circle and at one point it looked like Spurs were about to sign Adams. That was until he came up against the aforementioned Peter Taylor, who was playing on the wing for Orient at the time (having previously played for Crystal Palace, Spurs and England).

“He nutmegged me three times in front of the main stand and, to cut a long story short, that was the end of that. Gillingham never heard from Spurs again,” Adams remembered.

Even so, Adams did get a move to play in the top division when Bobby Gould signed him for Coventry City. Managerial upheaval didn’t help his cause at Highfield Road and when John Sillett preferred Greg Downs at left-back, Adams dropped down a division to sign for Billy Bremner’s Leeds United (pictured below right with the legendary Scot).

“He had such a big influence on my career and life that I wouldn’t have swapped it for the world,” said Adams. But life at Elland Road changed with the arrival of Howard Wilkinson, and Adams found himself carpeted by the new boss after admitting punching physio Alan Sutton for making what an injured Adams considered an unreasonable demand to perform an exercise routine even though he was in plaster at the time.

Nevertheless, Adams admits he learned a great deal in terms of coaching from Wilkinson, especially when an improvement in results came about through repetitive fine-tuning on the training pitch.

“It is the one aspect of coaching that is extremely effective, if delivered properly,” said Adams. “I learnt this from Howard and took this lesson with me throughout my coaching and managerial career.”

However, Adams didn’t fit into Wilkinson’s plans for Leeds and he was transferred to Southampton, managed by former Aston Villa, Saints and Northern Ireland international Chris Nicholl. Adams joined Saints in the same week as Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock and the pair were quickly summoned by Nicholl to explain the large size of the hotel bills they racked up.

Adams moved his family from Wakefield to Warsash and he went on to enjoy what he reflected on as “the best few years of my playing career”. He was at the club when a young Alan Shearer marked his debut by scoring a hat-trick and the “biggest fish in the pond at the Dell” was Jimmy Case.

Adams described the appointment of Branfoot in place of the sacked Nicholl as a watershed moment in his own career. “Overall he was decent to me and I found his methods good,” he said. And he pointed out: “I was getting older, I’d started my coaching badges and I already had one eye on my future.”

Adams recalled an incident during a two-week residential course at Lilleshall, after he had just completed his coaching badge, when he dislocated his shoulder trying to kick Neil Smillie.

“I was left-back and he was right-wing, and he took the piss out of me for 15 minutes. The fuse came out and I decided to boot him up in the air,” Adams recounted. “The only problem was that I missed. I fell over and managed to dislocate my shoulder hitting the ground. It was the worst pain I’ve ever had.”

If life was sweet at Southampton under Branfoot, that all changed when he was replaced by Alan Ball and the returning Lawrie McMenemy. Adams and other older players were left out of the side. Simon Charlton and Francis Benali were preferred at left-back. Eventually Adams went on a month’s loan to Stoke City, at the time managed by former Saints striker Joe Jordan, assisted by Asa Hartford.

On his return to Southampton, and by then 33, Adams was given a free transfer.

Former boss Branfoot came to his rescue, inviting him to move to League Two Fulham as a player-coach in charge of the reserve team. Branfoot also signed Alan Cork and he and Adams began a longstanding friendship that manifested itself in becoming a management pair at various clubs.

On the pitch, Branfoot struggled to galvanise Fulham and, with the team second from bottom of the league, he was sacked – and Adams replaced him. He kept Fulham up by improving fitness levels and introducing more of a passing game.

But he knew big changes were needed if they were going to improve and he gave free transfers to 17 players, despite clashing with Jimmy Hill, who had different ideas.

An admirer of what Tony Pulis was doing at Gillingham, Adams signed three of their players: Paul Watson, Richard Carpenter and Darren Freeman. He also got in goalkeeper Mark Walton and centre back Danny Cullip. Simon Morgan was one of the few who wasn’t let go, and Paul Brooker emerged as a skilful winger. All would later play under him at Brighton.

Promotion was secured and Adams was named divisional Manager of the Year but after all the celebrations had died down Mohamed Al-Fayed bought the club and things changed dramatically.

“The club was in a state of flux as it tried desperately to come to terms with its new status as a billionaire’s plaything,” Adams acerbically observed. “From having nothing, we had everything.”

Before too long, in spite of being given a new five-year contract, Adams was out of the Craven Cottage door, replaced by Wilkins and Kevin Keegan.

But he wasn’t out of work for long because Branfoot’s former deputy, Len Walker, introduced him to the chairman of Swansea City, who were on the brink of relieving Jan Molby of his duties as manager.

Various promises were made regarding funds that would be made available to him but when they were not forthcoming he realised something was not right and he quit, leaving Cork, the deputy he’d taken with him, to take over.

By his own admission, if he hadn’t been sitting on the £140,000 pay-off he’d received from Fulham, he probably would have stayed. As it was, he was out of work once again…..until he had a ‘phone call from David Webb, the former Chelsea and Southampton defender who was the owner of Brentford, but in the process of trying to sell the club.

His brief was to keep the side in the league and to make it attractive to potential purchasers. It was at Griffin Park that he first met up with the aforementioned Bob Booker, who was managing the under 18s at the time. “He is one of the most loyal and trustworthy friends I have ever known,” said Adams. “He would do anything for you.”

However, although he signed the likes of Cullip and Watson from Fulham, he wasn’t able to stop the Bees from being relegated. During the close season, former Palace chairman Ron Noades bought the club and announced he was also taking over as manager.

Once again, Adams was out of a job but his next step saw him appointed as no.2 to Dave Bassett at Nottingham Forest.

Which brings us almost full circle in the Adams career story, but not quite.

After the debacle of his second stint in charge of Brighton, he was twice manager at Port Vale, each spell straddling what turned out to be a disastrous period in charge of his family’s favourite club, Sheffield United.

It was Adams who gave a league debut to Harry Maguire during his time at Bramall Lane, but the side were relegated from the Championship on his watch, and he was sacked.

Adams took charge of 249 games as Vale boss but quit after a run of six defeats saying he’d fallen out of love with the game.

It didn’t prevent him having another go at it, though. He went to bottom of the league Tranmere Rovers and admitted in his book: “It was arrogance to think I could turn round a club that had been relegated twice in two seasons.”

In short, he couldn’t and he ended up leaving two games before the end of what was their third successive relegation.

“It was a really poor end to a career that had started so promisingly at Fulham,” he said.

Back-up ‘keeper Alan Dovey’s limited chances to shine

THE LIFE of a back-up ‘keeper can be pretty soul destroying, with first team opportunities often few and far between.

Such was the lot of former Chelsea youngster Alan Dovey, who was deputy to longstanding no.1 Brian Powney at the start of the 1970s, and only played eight first team matches for Brighton in two years.

Dovey initially joined on loan in March 1971. Powney’s rival for the no.1 shirt at the start of the season had been the experienced Geoff Sidebottom but he had been forced to retire because of a head injury.

Saward subsequently brought in Ian Seymour from Fulham on a temporary basis when Powney was out for three games, but Chelsea boss Dave Sexton, who’d previously played for the Albion, did his old side a favour by lending them youth team goalie Dovey until the end of the season.

He had to wait until the last two games before getting his chance to shine, making his debut in a 3-1 win away to Bristol Rovers and then appearing in the season’s finale at Wrexham, which ended in a 1-1 draw.

The loan became a permanent transfer that summer, Albion securing the young ‘keeper’s services for £1,000.

He played three times in Albion’s 1971-72 promotion season, and manager Pat Saward appeared content with the youngster, telling Goal magazine “It’s hard having to leave him out again, but what can you do. Chelsea manager Dave Sexton did us a great favour when he let Alan go for £1,000.”

His first game of the season was at Carrow Road, Norwich, when Albion were knocked out in the second round of the League Cup 2-0.

However, under the headline ‘Dovey’s daring display’ the matchday programme declared: “Despite the 2-0 defeat, the former Chelsea goalkeeper had a fine game and thrilled spectators with some daring saves. He had been nursing an injury and this was an in-at-the-deep-end experience but he came through it with great credit.”

It was more than three months before he got his next first team outing, but he once again earned rave notices for his performance in a 2-1 win away to York City, earning Albion’s Man of the Match accolade from Evening Argus reporter John Vinicombe.

The following matchday programme reported: “It was ‘all go’ for Alan. He had to race out of his goal in one York raid and was booked for an infringement, and also had numerous adventures in keeping out shots, centres and breaking up penalty box scrambles.”

Dovey was only ever back-up to Brian Powney

Saward didn’t next call on Dovey until 15 March, a 1-0 home defeat to Oldham Athletic which temporarily put the brakes on Albion’s bid for automatic promotion. Remarkably, that game against Oldham (which also saw a debut as substitute from new signing Ken Beamish) was the first time Dovey had played in front of the Goldstone faithful.

When Albion entertained Exeter City in the first round of the League Cup on 16 August 1972, the crowd may have been 6,500 down on the attendance for the season opener against Bristol City four days earlier but the game presented Dovey with another chance to show what he could do. (The game also saw the return of former captain John Napier to the centre of defence, although he was most likely being ‘shop windowed’ with a view to a transfer).

It is interesting to read an Exeter-angled summary of the game, which declared: “There was no denying that the first half belonged to City, and they deservedly led after 22 minutes with Fred Binney’s goal. There were a few moments early on when the back four and reserve goalkeeper Alan Dovey were little more than strangers in the night. 

“Eventually the pattern knitted together and Dovey gained confidence to make two fine saves in the last 20 minutes from Binney (who two years later joined the Albion in exchange for John Templeman and Lammie Robertson) and Dick Plumb – shots that could so easily have caused a shock defeat.”

Albion eventually prevailed thanks to goals from Willie Irvine and Beamish.

The two league matches Dovey featured in that season were not games he’d look back on fondly. Away to Preston North End on 25 November, Albion’s rookie ‘keeper conceded four when he deputised for ‘flu-hit Powney.

It was the same scoreline at Sunderland, who hadn’t won in 11 games, but who went on to reach that season’s FA Cup Final in which they famously beat Leeds United 1-0.

The Wearsiders hadn’t won at home since September but Brighton went to Roker Park having lost their previous nine matches and, according to the Sunderland Echo, “The winning margin could well have been doubled…. they applied themselves to the task of mastering Brighton’s strong-arm tactics and taking them apart.”

Sunderland took the lead in the ninth minute. Joe Bolton’s hammered left-foot shot struck Dovey in the face, knocking him over, and Billy Hughes pounced on the rebound to drive home a low shot.

Dennis Tueart added a second in the 45th minute and Brighton found the going tougher still in the second half.

After surviving a goalmouth scramble, Sunderland got their third goal in the 58th minute. A free-kick against George Ley for pushing Tueart was taken by Bobby Kerr, whose well-placed drive to the near post was brilliantly headed into goal by Hughes.

Hughes twice came close to completing a hat-trick but it was Bolton who hit what the Echo described as the goal of the game: “a right-foot drive, of such power that Dovey had no chance”.

Struggling to come up with a solution to the disastrous run, Saward went public and started to point the finger at players who he reckoned weren’t cutting it.

Dovey was transfer-listed along with veteran defender Norman Gall and Bertie Lutton. Lutton got a surprise move to West Ham but Gall stayed put and Dovey was released at the end of the season without playing another game.

Born in Stepney on 18 July 1952, Dovey grew up in Chadwell St Mary in Essex and played for Thurrock Boys before joining Chelsea straight from school in 1968 after writing to them to ask for a trial.

He became a youth team regular as well as playing a handful of games for the reserves. On 18 January 1969, he was in goal for a Chelsea side (which also included future first teamer and England international Alan Hudson) when they beat Brighton 5-2 in a South East Counties League youth team fixture.

It was always going to be difficult for Dovey to progress at Stamford Bridge because Worthing-born Peter Bonetti was an almost permanent fixture in Chelsea’s first team and he was understudied initially by Scotland under-23 international Tommy Hughes (who later played three games for the Albion on loan from Aston Villa in 1973) and then future Welsh international John Phillips, who was briefly Graham Moseley’s back-up during Albion’s second season (1980-81) in the First Division.

However, Dovey made national newspaper headlines when he came close to making a first team appearance on 10 January 1970.

Both Bonetti and Hughes went down with ‘flu ahead of a key match between third-placed Chelsea and Leeds United, who were in second place. Chelsea tried to get the game postponed but the Football League wouldn’t hear of it.

The Daily Mirror reported: “Chelsea failed to convince the Football League last night that it would be unfair to put 17-year-old Alan Dovey in goal against Leeds today.

“Dovey, untried beyond an occasional game in the reserves, stands by to face the League Champions.”

Veteran football reporter Ken Jones wrote: “Bonetti has no chance of playing. Unless Hughes has improved by this morning, Dovey will be drafted into the team.”

Chelsea boss Sexton told Jones: “We are hoping Hughes will recover. But if he doesn’t, we shall just have to put Alan in.

“It’s not the sort of thing we like doing with a youngster, but he won’t let us down if he has to play.”

Jones noted that although Dovey had only been a professional for six months, he didn’t display any nerves when interviewed.

“The things that happen in League football happen in youth football,” Dovey told him, “so it will only be the pace and the skill which will be different.

“When Dave Sexton told me I might have to play, that itself was a great thrill. It will be an even greater thrill if I do play against such a great side as Leeds.”

As it turned out, Hughes was adjudged fit after all, although he might have regretted it. In what was only his fifth senior game in five years at the club, he shipped five goals as United won 5-2 in front of a Stamford Bridge crowd of 57,221.

In August that year, Dovey was once again on standby to step up to the first team squad when Hughes suffered a broken leg. But Sexton went into the transfer market instead and bought Phillips from Aston Villa.

The Goldstone Wrap in 2014 noted Dovey stepped away from full-time football after the Albion let him go to pursue a career in insurance. Nevertheless, he played part-time for various Sussex clubs.

Notably he was at Southwick, along with former Albion teammate Paul Flood, at the same time as Ralf Rangnick, later to take temporary charge of Manchester United, was on their books.

Dovey also played for Worthing for three seasons, in their double promotion-winning squad of the early ‘80s, until, in April 1984, manager Barry Lloyd publicly criticised him, telling the Argus: “Alan has done exceptionally well for us over the past three years, but he’s not really aggressive enough in this premier division.”

Fledgling manager sought advice from Revie, Clough and Taylor

JOHN NAPIER is still coaching youngsters in America as he approaches his 76th birthday. NICK TURRELL’s In Parallel Lines blog caught up with him for a trip down memory lane.  Here, he talks about getting into coaching.

A signed photo from my scrapbook

GOING right back to his days at Brighton, John Napier has always been interested in helping young footballers to develop.

“When I stopped playing, I really wanted to get into the coaching side,” he explained. “I had worked in the youth system at Brighton and in Bradford, and I just loved being around young players.”

Ken Blackburn

Testimony to that comes from two former Brighton youngsters who enjoyed the opening article in this five-part series. Ken Blackburn said via Facebook: “I was an apprentice and pro during part of his career with Brighton. I saw on a daily basis how good he was, but just as important a lovely human being and top bloke.”

And Gary Croydon added: “I was a youth team player at the time, and he often came to watch our games, offering advice.”

It was at Bradford City, where he’d been transferred from Brighton in 1972, that Napier got his first official coaching job.

Napier (left) with former Albion teammate Allan Gilliver (right) in their Bradford City playing days

After his playing days had ended, he returned to Valley Parade in November 1975, working with manager Bobby Kennedy, the former Manchester City player who had taken over from Bryan Edwards in January of that year.

A seven-game losing streak saw Kennedy sacked in February 1978, and Napier took over the hotseat. Unfortunately, his tenure was brief and unpopular. He was in charge when City were relegated from the Third Division to the Fourth.

“It only lasted a year, but I learned so much about what it takes to be in charge and making decisions,” he said.

Fascinatingly, he revealed: “One of the first things I did as a young manager at the age of 32 was to drive over to Elland Road and sit down with the great Don Revie.

“We had a great conversation about management; what a gentleman he was. I also made the trip down the motorway to meet with Brian Clough and Peter Taylor at Nottingham: another great experience.

“I was determined to hear from the best. It was important that I try to get better in all areas.”

One of his dealings in the transfer market was to secure the services of Mick Bates, who had played under Revie at Leeds. Napier agreed a £20,000 fee to sign the midfielder from Walsall, where he had been captain. Bates died aged 73 in July 2021.

The young manager wasn’t afraid to impose discipline, as the Bradford Telegraph & Argus reported on 25 September 1978: “Bradford City manager John Napier today imposed a new strict disciplinary code for his players following the recent disappointing 3-1 home defeat by lowly Newport County.

“Days off have been cancelled, training sessions will be held in the afternoon as well as in the morning, all privileges will be taken away and discipline will be ‘very strict’, said Napier.”

Sadly, it didn’t pay off and after just 34 games in charge (11 wins, five draws and 18 defeats) he was sacked and replaced by George Mulhall, the former Halifax Town manager (incidentally, Mulhall was the manager who reluctantly sold Lammie Robertson to Brighton and got Napier’s former Irish teammate Willie Irvine in exchange).

In December 1979, Napier intended to turn his back on coaching and management to start a new football-related venture in America, taking his young family to settle in San Diego.

As he explained to soccertoday.com in a January 2015 article: “My new venture was to be a successful businessman, and with the help of friends in Escondido we opened a soccer store, named The Soccer Locker. This was to be my future in the game, so I thought.

“Well, things don’t always go the way you want them to, as I found out the hard way. There was not too much interest in soccer in 1979.”

The article charts the difficulties the business underwent and how Napier contemplated packing it in and returning to England.

“It was very frustrating as a business person to spend long hours waiting for a customer to walk through the door,” he told soccertoday.com. The business was eventually liquidated in 1985, but, before then, Irish eyes started smiling when opportunity knocked.

Award-winning sportswriter and columnist for The Times-Advocate, Bob Gaines, invited Napier to write a regular column for a start-up football magazine and, having penned some pieces for the Bradford Telegraph & Argus during his time in Bradford, Napier took on the opportunity.

“This was promotion we needed, and it did help, but not a lot. We were still struggling to get by each month and walk-in customers were non-existent,” he said.

Good fortune was round the corner, though, when one of the shop’s customers invited him to start coaching a high school football team. It was way below the level he wanted to be at, but it was work.

“I was really ready to return to England and the professional game after a not very prosperous outlook in California for the first six months,” he admitted.

Nevertheless, he got to know Ron Newman, a former Portsmouth and Gillingham player, who was the head coach of the local professional side, San Diego Sockers (Napier had played for the forerunner of the Sockers – San Diego Jaws – after that franchise had replaced the Baltimore Comets).

Newman offered Napier a one-year contract as the Sockers’ youth coordinator. “Each day I would come to the office and set up events at local elementary and middle schools,” he recalled. “The players would visit and talk to the kids and do some exhibition stuff on the playgrounds and school fields. It was a lot of fun, and the players liked it.”

He also began coaching an under-23 team called the Escondido Royals, who played decent level opposition in and around Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. After that, he didn’t look back.

“I got my top US soccer coaching licence many years ago and have worked for US soccer as a coaching educator in my area (southern California), getting thousands of young coaches their licence on their pathway to their future in the game,” he said. “It has been a rewarding experience.”

In another 2015 soccertoday.com article, Napier said: “I have been fortunate to see the growth of youth soccer in this country since 1979. What an incredible experience to be part of and to have helped youth soccer grow and flourish in America.

“Anybody who was around in soccer during the early eighties and was able to watch it develop to where the sport is today has to have an inner satisfaction. I know I certainly do.

“Soccer, internationally and domestically, both at the higher professional level as well as at the youth levels, has grown tremendously. In fact, I am very, very proud.”

Inducted into the CalSouth Hall of Fame in 2015

The genial Irishman told me: “I have coached many levels in my time in the USA and have seen the growth of the game take off, especially in the last 25 years or so.

“There are now more kids playing soccer than any other youth sport, such as baseball and American football. The girls’ programs especially have seen an enormous growth, the success of the national women’s team has raised the roof for girls’ soccer.

“I have been fortunate to have had some good really good players in the past and, even now, I see some former pupils in the US national teams.

“At the present, Aaron Long is playing in the national team and another, Bobby Wood, was in Germany and played for the US team.

“On the girls’ side, Catarina Macario, who plays in the present US women’s national team, and in Lyon (France) for their women’s team.

“Many others are playing in the national youth teams – boys and girls – so I am proud of my work in youth soccer. It is very rewarding to be able to give back to the game that gave me so much.”

When I interviewed Napier in the early Spring of 2022, he revealed: “I will be 76 in a few months, and I coach regularly for my club, San Diego Soccer Club Surf.

Napier still coaches at San Diego Soccer Club Surf

“My week consists of four weekday sessions of three to four hours daily and, at the weekend, I coach my teams both Saturday and Sunday.”

The weekend after our interview he was heading off to Phoenix Arizona for back-to-back games before returning home, to Monday practice again – a round trip of about 800 miles.

“As long as I have the passion and desire to enjoy the game and the energy to be involved, I will keep at the game that gave me everything,” he said.

In a blog for San Diego Soccer Club Surf, Napier details his football career and concludes: “My life journey in soccer has been amazing. I often dreamed as a young boy growing up in a far-off land of being a ‘soccer player’.

“Never did I think that I would have the career that I have had – the places I have been, representing my country, the players I had the honour to play with and against, the amazing people and wonderful coaches I have met. It has been a wonderful soccer life and still is.”

• Ever the gentleman, John ended our interview by saying: “I want to thank all the Brighton fans that may read these articles.

“It seems like yesterday when I was driving up to the Goldstone from my home on Shoreham Beach.

“They were good days, and to any of my ex-team mates out there drop me an email, I am easily found on the internet.”

Brothers in arms but not actually related: Kit was just a pal

John Napier competes with Aston Villa’s Andy Lochhead

JOHN NAPIER is still coaching youngsters in America as he approaches his 76th birthday. NICK TURRELL’s In Parallel Lines blog caught up with him for a trip down memory lane.  Here, in the fourth of five articles, he recalls his Albion teammates and some memorable opponents.

AS A YOUNG lad starting out watching Brighton in the late ‘60s, I assumed two players sharing the same not-particularly-common surname must have been brothers.

But defender John Napier and striker Kit Napier spoke with different accents.

“I think back then most people thought we were brothers, but we had to explain he was from Scotland and I was from Northern Ireland,” he said.

“But I was a great friend of Kit’s. Our families spent a lot of time together. I even went up one summer with Kit to Dunblane in Scotland where he was from, and we had a great time.

No relation – Kit Napier

“Kit was a really good player. He knew how to finish in the box, a real goal shark. He was quick over short distances and scored some great goals over his time at Brighton.

“You would not see him for a while and then, like all good goalscorers, he would jump in with a half chance, and you would think ‘Where did he come from’?”

Napier was sorry to hear of Kit’s death in 2019. “His son did keep in touch with me from South Africa and kept me up to date with what was happening,” he said.

“I know he will always be remembered fondly in Brighton.”

The towering centre-half spoke warmly about the team spirit he experienced during his time with the Albion.

In that 1971-72 promotion squad, Napier was one of three Northern Irish internationals, and I wondered whether their nationality gave them a special bond.

“We were all good friends and spent family times together,” he said. “The great thing about Brighton back then was how all the players jelled together.

“There were no cliques in the group. We all liked being together, it did not matter which part of the country we were from. When we went out, it was always as a group with families.

“Willie Irvine was another known for his goalscoring ability, much like Kit Napier; sharp around the box and tried to get on the end of every cross in the box.

Napier with fellow Irishman Willie Irvine

“I remember Willie scoring a great goal for us against Aston Villa in our promotion year.”

Bertie Lutton

And Bertie Lutton? “Bertie was also a good player. He had some flair about his movement with the ball. I remember his long flowing head locks back then also.

“Both were well received by the Goldstone crowds. We had several Irish players through the years.”

Sadly, having been based in America for a good many years, Napier has not managed to stay in touch with his former teammates, although, via this article, he issued an open invitation to any of them to get in touch with him.

George Ley

“I did talk to George Ley, who lived in Dallas, a couple of times, and Kit Napier’s family in South Africa,” he said.

“I did see Peter O’Sullivan when Brighton were over in America on a tour in the 80s, but nothing else. I wish I had.

“I knew that Dave Turner was coaching in Canada, Stewart Henderson was at Southampton coaching for a long-time.

“But I was also at Bradford many years before I came to America in 1979, so I completely lost touch.

“The years have gone by so fast.”

In my previous article, I referred to Pat Saward’s praise for Napier’s handling of marksman Ted MacDougall, so I wondered who were the toughest opponents he faced.

“That’s a good question: back then the old Third Division was a tough league, it didn’t matter who you played against,” he said. “You were in for a physical battle in every game. It was never easy.”

The big man continued: “I did not really pay attention to who I was marking. I always went out with the mindset to get my job done for the club.

Penalty box ‘wrestling’ isn’t anything new; at least the ref saw the funny side!

“We would talk about individuals sometimes, and what their strengths were, but very rarely worried too much about players.

“MacDougall was at Bournemouth at the time: he was a handful. Andy Lochhead at Aston Villa was another. I am sure there were many more, but I did not lose sleep thinking about how I was going to stop players.

“There were good days and bad days, which we all had. But if we were on the winning side, it was always a good day!”

Napier added: “I met up with Ted MacDougall a few years ago when we were both in a US coaching class in Los Angeles.

“He was based in Atlanta at the time. We talked about old times and battles we had through the years. It is amazing how many former UK players are living over here in the States, working in various coaching positions.”

A little-seen away strip for the Albion in the 1970-71 season

• In the final part of this series of articles, the blog looks at how Napier got into coaching, the influences he sought, and what he’s doing now.

Lanky Lurgan lad lined up alongside George Best

JOHN NAPIER is still coaching youngsters in America at the age of 75. NICK TURRELL’s In Parallel Lines blog caught up with him for a trip down memory lane.  Here, in the third of five articles, we look at how it all began.

This cracking Bolton News picture shows Napier leading out Bolton’s under 18 side at Bromwich Street in January 1963, during the big freeze of that winter.

JOHN NAPIER was born in Lurgan, 18 miles south west of Belfast, on 23 September 1946.

Napier was football daft from a young age and he said: “Looking back at my childhood, I always wanted it from a young age. It was my dream. I had two uncles that played at pro level in Northern Ireland and they worked with me at a young age.

“I would say they toughened me up. I was never afraid to try new things. I left home at 15 to pursue my dreams, and it worked out. It was not easy – it never is – but you must keep at it. Failure was not an option in those times.”

In another interview, Napier said he adopted Spurs as his favourite side when he was 10 or 12. He had three uncles living in north London who were all avid Tottenham supporters and they would send him programmes, pictures and pennants that the youngster put up on his bedroom wall.

𝗟𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 – 𝗜𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝘂𝗽, 𝗠𝗶𝗱-𝗨𝗹𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗮𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮 𝗖𝘂𝗽 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝟭𝟵𝟲𝟭

Napier was good enough to represent his country at every level. He played for the schoolboy side at under 15 and under 16 level, and was the youngest Irish player, at 17, in the youth side that reached the final of the UEFA European Under-18 Championship tournament in April 1963.

In front of a crowd of 34,582 at Wembley, he had the misfortune to score an own goal with his head after only five minutes and England went on to beat the Irish 4-0 (Ray Whittaker, Jon Sammels and John Sissons scoring the other goals).

Remarkably, Northern Ireland’s greatest ever player, George Best, only played in two youth internationals for his country.

Napier was in the same side as Best when the Irish drew 1-1 with England at Boundary Park, Oldham, on 11 May 1963.

A week later they were selected together again and Best scored his country’s goal as they drew 1-1 with Wales in Aberystwyth.

After winning his only full cap against West Germany in 1966 (see previous article), Napier won two Under-23 caps, also both against Wales. He was in the side that beat Wales 2-1 at Windsor Park, Belfast on 22 February 1967, although the game was abandoned on 72 minutes because of a waterlogged pitch and Welsh and Irish sources differ as to whether the result stood.

Napier had moved to the Albion by the time he made his second appearance; this time the game took place at Ninian Park, Cardiff, on 20 March 1968 and the Irish included the likes of Pat Rice, Tommy Jackson, Dave Clements, Bryan Hamilton and Sammy Todd, who all became established full internationals. But the game was the last of Napier’s international career, at the age of 21.

As Napier said above, he was only 15 when he joined Bolton, choosing them over Everton and Sunderland, who had also shown an interest.

“I really enjoyed my early experience at Bolton,” he told thefootballnetwork.net. “George Taylor and George Hunt, my first coaches at Bolton, and also Nat Lofthouse had a lot to do with my early development. I used to talk to Nat a lot about my game.”

Napier training with Francis Lee and Brian Bromley

Napier rose through the youth ranks alongside the likes of Brian Bromley, Dave Hatton and future England and Manchester City star Francis Lee.

The boots of longstanding centre half Bryan Edwards were big ones to fill but Bolton boss Bill Ridding gave Napier the opportunity to stake his claim. He made his first appearances in the senior side in the final two games of the 1964-1965 season.

Napier helped the side keep clean sheets against Leyton Orient and Cardiff City as the Trotters just missed out on promotion, finishing third, as Newcastle went up as champions along with runners up Northampton Town.

As well as Lee and Bromley, Bolton at that time had a side that included Welsh international striker Wyn Davies (often Napier’s roommate for away matches), England international goalkeeper Eddie Hopkinson and Gordon Taylor, who went on to become chairman of the PFA.

For the following 18 months, Napier was a regular at the heart of the Bolton defence, missing just three games in his first full season and playing a part in the game against Charlton Athletic which saw the Addicks’ Keith Peacock become the first substitute used in English football when replacing goalkeeper Mike Rose in a game at Burnden Park on 21st August 1965.

The Ulsterman himself was involved in the first ever Bolton substitution when, following injury, he was replaced in the 3-2 defeat at home to Southampton by Gordon Taylor.

• In the next instalment of this five-part series of articles, Napier describes the camaraderie that existed amongst the Brighton players during his time at the club, and his approach to the opponents he faced.

‘Kingpin’ and skipper dropped for top-of-the-table clash

JOHN NAPIER is still coaching youngsters in America as he approaches his 76th birthday. NICK TURRELL’S In Parallel Lines blog caught up with him for a trip down memory lane.  In the second of five articles, John recalls Pat Saward signalling the end of his time with the Albion.

SUCH WAS JOHN Napier’s prominence at Brighton, he made an extraordinary 106 consecutive appearances for Albion. Until March 1972.

“I was lucky with injuries, which normally keeps players out,” he recalled. “Mine were mostly cuts around the head area or a broken nose – but nothing serious to keep me out.

“And with Norman Gall beside me, we had a great understanding together. I always took pride in my role in the team. Nothing is for ever, for sure, but you always wanted to be on the field.”

Captain Napier in the number 5 shirt was the status quo as winter turned to spring in 1972 and Albion’s chances of promotion from the Third Division looked ever more promising as they vied for one of the top two spots with Aston Villa and Bournemouth.

On the back of two defeats, Albion prepared to face Villa at the Goldstone on 25 March.

Manager Pat Saward – a former FA Cup winner with Villa – mysteriously and controversially dropped his ‘kingpin’ for what was undoubtedly one of the biggest games of the season. Even BBC’s Match of the Day had taken a rare foray into the lower leagues to feature the match.

Napier found himself replaced by Ian Goodwin, a rugged but injury-prone defender who had played under the manager during his coaching days at Coventry City. Regular right-back Stewart Henderson was also left out.

Not only had Napier been ever present and the captain up to that point, only two months earlier, Saward had been publicly singing his praises to the extent that he was suggesting the defender deserved a recall to the Northern Ireland side.

“The way he is playing, he ought to walk into the side,” Saward told Goal magazine. “He has been consistent all season. Recently Ted MacDougall hardly got a kick against him (that was in a 2-0 Boxing Day win for the Albion against Bournemouth). Ted is dangerous when he is inside the box but John hardly let him get near the ball.”

The article referred to Napier as “the kingpin of the Brighton defence” and went on to say Napier, 25, formed “one of the best pairings in the Third Division with 28-year-old Norman Gall”.

Speculation around Napier’s possible call-up came because Liam O’Kane, who normally partnered Allan Hunter in the Ireland side, was sidelined with a broken leg at the time.

How the programme covered Napier’s omission

The matchday programme following Napier’s shock dropping highlighted that he had previously played 239 matches for the Albion “the last 106 of these being played successively, a splendid record”.

Saward didn’t refer specifically to the player but in his column for the Evening Argus ahead of the Villa game had written: “A manager must always make decisions for the good of the club as a whole. There can be no room for sentiment. There are times when a player who has given his all, and fallen under severe pressure, has to come out of the side for a rest.”

In his programme notes for the following match, he simply said: “We had lost the previous two matches (1-0 at home to Oldham and 2-1 at Bradford City) and I made several team changes which I thought were necessary, and our players responded magnificently.”

Indeed, Albion won the match 2-1 and Willie Irvine scored a terrific goal, still available to watch on YouTube, that was judged by legendary Celtic manager Jock Stein to be Match of the Day’s third best goal of the whole season.

So, all these years later, can Napier shed any more light on exactly what happened? In short, no. “I still am not sure why that happened,” he said. “I know it is all part of the game. There were no signs that I was playing any different.

A signed photo from my scrapbook

“I was the club captain when Pat arrived and he did not change that. I played many games with him as the manager. He had me in the office the week before the Villa game and we talked about a lot of things, as we were right in the promotion mix with a good chance of going into the Second Division.

“I should have probably realised when he wanted to talk in the office. That was not too common with Pat, it was usually a full team meeting.

“He did say he was leaving me out and I would be sub (ed. he wasn’t). Obviously, I was not happy and told him so. I really did not get an explanation as to why, and that is the part that was difficult.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, Napier added: “That is about the time my relationship with Pat started to go downhill fast. Even though we won promotion, I felt that there were going to be changes going into the Second Division.

“I had been in that promotion side for mostly all the season and felt I did not get the recognition for being part of our success. We were barely on speaking terms at the end of the season.

“Players react in different ways with different managers. I also was a little stubborn back then and was not afraid to speak my mind. I have nothing bad to say about Pat: he had success at the club which was needed at that time. We moved on. It happens all the time in soccer.”

I imagined it must have been hard to watch from the sidelines as the team went on to win promotion, and Napier admitted: “Every player wants to play, of course, and being a sub or even not in the game day squad, I had never experienced that part before, so it was tough.”

But he added: “Even though I was disappointed in not playing the last few games, I was really happy for the club and the players.

“Those guys at that time were my brothers; we went through a lot the previous few years trying to battle out of the Third Division, and the Goldstone crowd deserved it.

“We had an unbelievable year; the stadium was full each home game towards the end, everywhere we went the town was buzzing with excitement, nothing brings the fans and players closer than a promotion race.”

I wondered too whether it was a small consolation that it was Napier’s former Bolton teammate Brian Bromley who took over as captain.

“Brian was a great friend. We were both young 15-year-olds on the Bolton Wanderers ground staff, so we were together every day for many years, and both got in the Bolton first team about the same time and played many games together.

“He was very much a technical player. I thought he would go on to play for England, I really did. When he came to Brighton from Portsmouth, I was happy we got him, and knew he would do well at this club. Brian was always a leader; he led by example on the field with his play, never really a ‘get in your face’ person, but respected as a player. There are always different types of leadership qualities that help with teams.”

The defender was not involved in any of the 12 games that rounded off the season with promotion from the old Third Division in runners up spot, although he did return to the side for an end-of-season joint testimonial game for Brian Powney and Gall which First Division Chelsea won 3-2.

Nevertheless, Saward let it be known he would entertain offers for both him and his namesake Kit.

How the Argus reported the transfer listing of John and Kit Napier

Napier takes up the story. “I asked Pat for a transfer at that time. I thought about it deeply as I loved the area and my home on Shoreham Beach. My daughter was born in Hove (she is 52 now), but I did not see me getting back in the team whilst the management remained, so I felt it was best for me to try to move my family back to the north of England.

“I worked hard every day in training hoping maybe there would be reconciliation, but it was not to be, and I was still on the outside looking in. I wanted to play and realised that was not going to happen.

“Pat did say he would help but would want a decent size fee for me to move on. We were both hotheads and I wasn’t a very patient person and wanted it to happen as quickly as possible.”

Both Napiers were still at the club as the new season got under way although Kit was transferred to Blackburn Rovers in September and John eventually got his move north the following month. Before that, though, he was recalled for a 2-1 home win over Exeter City in the League Cup.

A rare Division Two outing for Napier shortly before he left the club.

He went on as a substitute for Ken Beamish in a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa, and then, with Goodwin hospitalised for knee cartilage surgery, Napier was restored alongside Gall for a five-game run in September 1972. But his last appearance for the Albion came at home to Hull City on 7 October, when a 14,330 crowd saw Albion recover from a half-time deficit to draw 1-1 with a goal from Bert Murray.

“Back then, as there were no agents, you had to try to help yourself as a player and it was not uncommon for players to call other clubs and managers or coaches they knew,” Napier explained. “But it is not so easy when there is a transfer fee involved.

“I did get a call from Bryan Edwards who had taken over as the manager of Bradford City in the Third Division. Incidentally, I had taken over the centre-half position at Bolton when Bryan retired as a player.”

Edwards had a long career at Bolton and was in their 1958 FA Cup winning side when two Nat Lofthouse goals settled the game against a Manchester United side depleted by the Munich air disaster three months earlier. Freddie Goodwin and Alex Dawson were in the United line-up that day.

Napier eventually signed for Bradford City after a wrangle over the fee

But back to October 1972. Edwards was told Albion wanted £15,000 for Napier, who said: “I did go in to see Pat after Bradford talked to them, but he told me the club wanted the full asking price. I was mad at the time and some heated words were said. Finally, after a few weeks of happenings, they both decided to make the fee £10,000, and I moved north to Bradford.”

Napier enjoying life playing in the States

He played 107 games for Bradford City across six seasons at Valley Parade, interspersed with loan spells in the USA at Baltimore Comets, playing alongside former Albion and Bradford teammate Allan Gilliver, and its franchise follow-up, San Diego Jaws (which later became San Diego Sockers).

Following his release by Bradford, and temporary return from the States, Napier joined non-league Mossley in September 1975.

His central defensive partner there was his former Bradford City teammate, and former Leeds United and Huddersfield Town defender, Roy Ellam.

Napier made his Mossley debut in a 4-0 win over Macclesfield Town on 23 August 1975, and he went on to play in all but one of the Lilywhites’ next 24 games. He even got on the scoresheet in a 2-1 win over Gateshead in November 1975.

But, by the end of the month, he had returned to Bradford City as an assistant coach, which was an area of the game he had always looked to move into.

• In the next instalment of this series of articles, we look at the early days of Napier’s career.

Facing Franz Beckenbauer the highlight of John Napier’s career

FIFTY years ago, Brighton spent the summer preparing for life in the old Second Division having won promotion in front of 30,000+ crowds at the Goldstone Ground. For one player, though, his five years at the heart of the Albion’s defence – many as the club captain – were drawing to a close.

Seven years later, John Napier moved permanently to the United States to embark on a new life. Today, at the age of 75, he is still coaching. NICK TURRELL’s In Parallel Lines blog caught up with him for a trip back down memory lane. 

Here, in the first of five articles, John reflects on the highlight of his career, how he came to join the Albion, and his appointment as club captain.

A BRIGHTON captain in the making faced Uwe Seeler, Franz Beckenbauer and Co in a warm-up game for the 1966 World Cup tournament in England.

It was the one and only time John Napier appeared as a full international for Northern Ireland, but that day on 7 May 1966 has lived with him into his old age.

Napier at 75 still treasures his Irish international shirt

“Walking out at Windsor Park, Belfast, against West Germany was probably the biggest highlight of my soccer career,” he said. “All my family were there watching and afterwards we had a large dinner and I was sat directly across from Uwe Seeler and Franz Beckenbauer. It was some night I will never forget.”

A crowd of 22,000 at Windsor Park saw the country who’d two months later take England into extra time at the World Cup final secure a 2-0 win courtesy of goals by Seeler and Fredy Heiß.

The call-up was reward for Napier’s form with second tier Bolton Wanderers, where he had just been named Player of the Season.

Against the Germans, Napier, aged just 19, played alongside Terry Neill and in front of the great Pat Jennings. One of the full-backs that day, Jimmy Magill, who was coming to the end of his international career, had already moved from Arsenal to Brighton by then. Magill came from the same town, Lurgan, as Napier.

Napier did get selected to play for his country again, after he’d joined the Albion. He was due to play in a friendly against Israel in Tel Aviv in 1968.

But as Napier recalled: “Before we were due to fly out from Heathrow, we were told that there had been an uprising in the Middle East, and it would not be safe to play the game under those circumstances.

“I was looking forward to that game as Terry Neill had an injury and it was a chance for me to get back in the national side again, so it was disappointing.”

By the time the fixture was rearranged (in September the same year), Napier was out of the picture. For the record, Northern Ireland won 3-2; Napier’s future Albion teammate Willie Irvine scored twice with Derek Dougan netting the other.

“Although I loved my time at Brighton, I felt the international chances did not come back as I would have liked,” Napier reflected. “I did get selected a few times but I also got injured and missed a chance to play against England. There was also a Scotland game at Hampden which clashed with a Brighton League Cup game where I was not released. Being behind Terry Neill (the Arsenal skipper) did not help either because he never missed many games.”

At £25,000, 20-year-old Napier was a record signing by the Albion when Archie Macaulay persuaded him to leave Burnden Park and head for the south coast at the start of the 1967-68 season.

“£25,000 was a lot back then,” Napier recalled. “Brighton had come in with a £20,000 first offer which Bolton refused. I don’t think at the time that Bolton wanted to let me go, so I was told, so they kept refusing offers from Brighton. There were a couple of other clubs in at the time, so that is why the fee went to £25,000.”

The Irishman continued: “It was a difficult decision because I was still young and ambitious. But, at the same time, I felt I needed to break from Bolton for a fresh start and Brighton came in with a very good offer that Bolton accepted.

“I had gone through a sticky patch the last few months at Bolton, being in and out of the first team. I had made my debut at Bolton before my 19th birthday and was an ever present in the first team for a long time. I was voted Bolton Player of the Year in 1966 so I was well liked in the town and never felt like I would be anywhere else.”

Nevertheless, he admitted that he asked for a transfer because he was not getting on with the Bolton management. “I was strong willed and I went to talk to Nat Lofthouse (the club’s legendary former centre forward who was part of the second team training staff).

“I always admired him as a person and a player,” said Napier. “He did not say go but he did say I was still very young and had my whole career in front of me. So, it was a big decision, but it was also a large financial decision, because I did make a good amount through signing-on fees, wages and also a bonus from Bolton because I had been there since I was 15. So, financially, I was so much better off at Brighton.”

He continued: “When you are young like I was, things change fast, and they sure did for me. I left many of the players I had grown up with in the Bolton youth teams and many great players I was playing with: Francis Lee, big Wyn Davies, Freddie Hill, Eddie Hopkinson – all internationals.”

At Brighton, Napier quickly established a formidable partnership with Norman Gall at the back, so what was the secret of their success?

Napier and Gall at the heart of the team picture – as well as defence

“I loved playing at the back alongside Norman,” Napier explained. “We had a good understanding of what was needed in the middle at the back.

“We hit it off straight away and played many times together, and so consistently. We were tough and could read and feed of each other.

“I was good in the air and was able to master tall number 9s, as we had a lot back then. Norman was quicker than me and could handle speedy players alongside the big guys, so it was a good combination.

“I was more sit back in the pocket, and Norman would venture forward more, but we were defenders in the old tradition.”

It turns out one of Napier’s biggest fans was the renowned comedian, actor and musician Norman Wisdom, who was an Albion director in the ‘60s. “He was always at our games and brought a laugh into the dressing room even if we lost,” said Napier. “A great character. I was thrilled in later years when I read that I had been his favourite player at Brighton. I hope he wasn’t joking!”

How the matchday programme reported a first Albion goal for the Irish defender

The Irishman received Albion’s first-ever Player of the Season award (below centre, as featured in Seagulls! The Story of Brighton & Hove Albion FC by Tim Carder and Roger Harris) for his consistent performances at the heart of Albion’s defence in the 1968-69 season. He played in all 52 Albion matches that season.

“I was very proud of getting that award especially as it came from the fans at the Goldstone Ground,” he said. “It was a surprise to me at the time, I loved playing there and I think the crowd did appreciate the work we put in.

“I had a good rapport with the fans; I felt that they respected the way I played, always giving my best output. I also did a lot of work in the community at the time, as did most of the players. We were always out somewhere. I remember coaching a local team in the evenings.”

He added: “Brighton was a good club; it was a club that players wanted to come to, and the club took care of us well. We travelled like a First Division outfit and we stayed at the best hotels at the time. Sometimes on trains travelling north we would be in close quarters with Arsenal or Tottenham players, and I would be meeting up with old teammates like Pat Jennings, Pat Rice, Terry Neill, on the same trains. Brighton had a reputation for bringing in big name players through the years.”

Typical of Napier’s contribution to the Albion at that time was this high praise from John Vinicombe, the reporter who covered the club for the Evening Argus. After a 3-0 win at Reading on 21 April 1971, he wrote: “This was a magnificent display by John Napier. He was absolutely commanding and this rated as his best performance of the campaign. Nothing beat him and this mastery inspired confidence in all around.”

Remarkably the Napier-Gall partnership straddled the reigns of three managers: Macaulay, Freddie Goodwin and Pat Saward.

“Macaulay was a no-nonsense type of manager,” said Napier. “I enjoyed playing for him. He had success with most of his clubs, he knew how he wanted his line up and would go after players for specific positions. Most of the daily training work was done by coaches; I think Joe and Glen Wilson were involved at the time.”

And Goodwin? “For me he was the best man manager I had the pleasure to play for. He brought different ideas to the club, he had been a good player and also had coached in the USA. He was a coach that would be able to lift you as an individual, both as a person and as a player.

“I remember my individual conversations with him. He was so positive in those areas that I felt I wanted to take that onto the field and strive. I think he was the same with most of the players. We had a good group that felt very comfortable with his playing style. As professionals, we are all different in how we respond to management, sometimes good and sometimes bad.

“It is a tough role and obviously not easy to get players on the same page. He managed to do it most of the time before he left to go to Birmingham City.

“I remember him introducing us to a new powder he brought from America called Gatorade we used to dilute in water and drink for energy. That was the first time Gatorade was seen in the UK; now look at it today!”

Napier continued: “Also, he would bring in fancy-coloured boots from companies for us to try out instead of the old black and white ones. That was so funny: we would wear bright blue boots in training but I don’t think anyone wanted to wear them in a game in case the crowd got on to them. How times have changed!

“I loved them; they were softer and very comfortable, but I’m not sure who the manufacturer was.”

Goodwin appointed Napier club captain and the former defender pointed out: “I wanted to be that person, to be a leader and to continue to try to bring success to the club. I always felt that Brighton was a sleeping giant back then.”

He continued: “I personally as a player had some of my best spells under Freddie. We had a good group. It is never easy getting results in the lower divisions. I really can’t remember any of the big games, but we were close, and I think everyone knew it was only a matter of time before Brighton went forward.

“When Freddie left to take the Birmingham job it was disappointing for the players. We knew it was because he was doing such a great job with us, but it was still hard to swallow.”

Napier and the 1969-70 Albion squad

• In the next instalment, Napier reveals how his amazing Albion appearance record came to a shuddering halt.

Even fearsome John McGrath couldn’t stop the rot

IN ALBION’S bleak midwinter of 1972-73, manager Pat Saward was desperate to try to reverse a worrying run of defeats.

The handful of additions he’d made to the squad promoted from the old Third Division in May 1972 had not made the sort of improvements in quality he had hoped for.

An injury to Norman Gall’s central defensive partner Ian Goodwin didn’t help matters and Saward chopped and changed the line-up from week to week to try to find the right formula.

Previously frozen out former captain John Napier was restored for a handful of games (before being sold to Bradford City for £10,000). The loan ranger’ (as Saward was dubbed for the number of temporary signings he brought in) then tried Luton Town’s John Moore in Goodwin’s absence.

Youngster Steve Piper was given his debut at home to high-flying Burnley, but Albion lost that 1-0. Then Saward tried left-back George Ley in the middle away to Preston, but that didn’t work either. North End ran out comfortable 4-0 winners with Albion’s rookie ‘keeper Alan Dovey between the sticks after regular no.1 Brian Powney went down with ‘flu.

As December loomed, and with Goodwin still a couple of weeks away from full fitness after a cartilage operation, Saward turned to John McGrath, a no-nonsense, rugged centre-half who had played close on 200 games for Southampton over five years.

“With his rolled-up sleeves, shorts hitched high to emphasise implausibly bulging thigh-muscles, an old-fashioned haircut and a body dripping with baby oil, ‘Big Jake’ cut an imposing figure,” to quote the immensely readable saintsplayers.co.uk.

In Ivan Ponting’s obituary in the Independent following McGrath’s death at 60 on Christmas Day 1998, he reckoned his “lurid public persona was something between Desperate Dan and Attila the Hun”.

Although McGrath had begun the 1972-73 season in the Saints side, the emerging Paul Bennett had taken his place, so a temporary switch to the Albion offered a return to first team football.

Albion had conceded eight goals in three straight defeats and hadn’t registered a goal of their own, so, even though the imposing centre-half was approaching the end of a playing career that had begun with Bury in 1955, it was hoped his know-how defending against some of the best strikers in the country might add steel in the heart of the defence, and stem the flow of goals.

In short, it didn’t work. McGrath played in three matches and all three ended in defeats, with another eight goals conceded.

In his first match (above left), Middlesbrough won 2-0 at the Goldstone. At least the deficit was slimmer in his second game: a 1-0 loss away to George Petchey’s Orient in which Lewes-born midfielder Stan Brown played the last of nine games on loan from Fulham.

McGrath’s third match saw Albion succumb to a thrashing at Carlisle United. By then, Brighton had lost five in a row and still hadn’t managed to score a single goal. Stalwart Norman Gall was dropped to substitute to allow the returning Goodwin to line up alongside McGrath, and Bert Murray led the side out resplendent in the second strip of red and black striped shirts and black shorts.

Carlisle hadn’t read the script, though, and promptly went 5-0 up. To compound Albion’s agony, with 20 minutes still to play, goalkeeper Powney was carried off concussed and with a broken nose.

In those days before substitute goalkeepers, Murray (who’d swapped to right-back that day with Graham Howell moving into his midfield berth) took over the gloves. Miraculously, Albion won a penalty and because usual spot kick taker Murray was between the sticks, utility man Eddie Spearritt took responsibility having relinquished the job after a crucial miss in a game in 1970.

Thankfully, he buried it, finally to make a much-awaited addition to that season’s ‘goals for’ column.

No more was seen of McGrath, however. Gall was restored to the no.5 shirt and was variously partnered by Goodwin, Piper and, towards the end of the season, Spearritt.

After another heavy defeat, 4-0 at Sunderland, which had seen another rare appearance by Dovey in goal, he was transfer-listed along with Gall and Bertie Lutton, as Saward pointed the finger. Lutton got a surprise move to West Ham but Gall stayed put and Dovey was released at the end of the season without playing another game.

The run of defeats eventually extended to a total of 13 and was only alleviated after a big shake-up for the home game versus Luton Town on 10 February.

Powney, who’d conceded five at Fulham in the previous game, was replaced by Aston Villa goalkeeper Tommy Hughes on loan; out went experienced striker Barry Bridges in favour of rookie Pat Hilton and exciting teenage winger Tony Towner made his debut. Albion won 2-0 with both goals from Ken Beamish, and the monkey was finally off their backs.

Although the following two games (away to Bristol City and Hull) were lost, results did pick up, but it was all too little too late and Albion exited the division only 12 months after their promotion.

Born in Manchester on 23 August 1938, McGrath sought unsuccessfully to get into the game as an amateur with Bolton Wanderers but at 17 he joined Bury who were in the old Division Two at the time.

Although they were subsequently relegated, McGrath was part of the 1961 side that went on to win the Third Division Championship. By the time they lifted the trophy, though, he had moved on to Newcastle United for a fee of £24,000, with Bob Stokoe (later renowned for steering Second Division Sunderland to a famous FA Cup win over Leeds United in 1973) a makeweight in the transfer.

It was a busy time for the young defender. On 15 March 1961, he made his one and only England Under-23 appearance against West Germany at White Hart Lane, Tottenham, playing alongside future World Cup winners George Cohen at right-back and the imperious Bobby Moore.

Also in the young England side for that 4-1 win was Terry Paine, who would later become a teammate at Southampton.

Newcastle had hoped the defender would prevent their relegation from the top flight, but it didn’t happen as they went down having conceded 109 goals; their worst ever goals against tally.

Joe Harvey eventually succeeded Charlie Mitten as manager as Newcastle adapted to life back in the Second Division, and McGrath (below left and, in team picture, back row, far left) played 16 matches in a side in which full-back George Dalton (below, back row, far right) had started to emerge.

Future Brighton captain Dave Turner was one of the successful FA Youth Cup-winning side Harvey inherited, but his first team outings were rare and he was sold to the Albion in December 1963.

Meanwhile, McGrath really established himself, featuring in 41 games in 1963-64 (Dalton played in 40) as Newcastle finished in a respectable eighth place.

The 1964-65 season saw McGrath ever-present as Toon were promoted back to the First Division, pipping Northampton Town to the Second Division championship title by one point. McGrath – “a monster of a centre-half, who was as tough as he was effective” was “the cornerstone” of the promotion side, according to newcastleunited-mad.co.uk.

McGrath retained his place in Toon’s first season back amongst the elite but the arrival of John McNamee and the emergence of Bobby Moncur started to restrict his involvement.

That pairing became Harvey’s first choice, and young Graham Winstanley was in reserve too, so, after playing only 11 games in the first half of the 1967-68 season, McGrath, by then 29, was sold to Southampton for £30,000. He’d played 181 games for United.

In Ted Bates’ Saints side, McGrath was a rock at the back alongside Jimmy Gabriel, although, as saintsplayers.co.uk records, he wasn’t too popular with opposing managers: Liverpool’s Bill Shankly accusing Southampton of playing “alehouse football”.

He went on to make 194 appearances (plus one as a sub) for Saints, before becoming youth coach at the club, part of the first team coaching staff when Southampton won the FA Cup in 1976, and then reserve team manager.

Not content with a backroom role, McGrath took the plunge into management and made his mark with two clubs in particular: managing Port Vale on 203 occasions and Preston North End in 205 matches.

According to Rob Fielding he became a cult hero at Vale Park with his unorthodox ways, once putting FIFTEEN players on the transfer list…which resulted in a six-match unbeaten run!

Winger Mark Chamberlain, who went on to play for Stoke and England, and later Brighton, was one of the young players McGrath introduced.

Long-serving Vale defender Phil Sproson, who was originally signed by former Albion midfielder Bobby Smith, rose to prominence under McGrath and said: “I’ll always be grateful because he taught me how to play centre-half.”

Fielding reckoned McGrath’s finest hour was steering Vale to promotion from the old Fourth Division in 1982-1983, even though by then he had sold Chamberlain to Stoke.

Against a backdrop of player unrest and what were perceived to be ill-judged moves in the transfer market, McGrath was sacked in December 1983 and replaced by his assistant, John Rudge.

He wasn’t out of work for long, though, and took the reins at basement side Chester City where he was in charge for just under a year. Most notably in that time, he gave future Arsenal and England defender Lee Dixon his first taste of regular football.

While success eluded him at Chester, his arrival at Preston in 1986 proved fruitful, North End striker Gary Brazil recalling: “It needed a catalyst and it needed a change and very fortunately for the club and for the players, John McGrath came walking through the door who was like a Tasmanian devil. He came in and the world changed really, really quickly for the better.”

McGrath led Preston to promotion from the bottom tier in 1987 with a squad built around Sam Allardyce and veteran Frank Worthington.

Manager McGrath and Frank Worthington celebrate promotion

“Frank Worthington was a delight to have around and set a real high standard for a lot of us in terms of how we train,” said Brazil. “He just stunned me how he was always first out training.”

The turnround McGrath oversaw, with Deepdale crowds rising from below 3,000 to more than 16,000, rejuvenated the club and the city.

Brazil reminisced: “It was the best year of my football life that year that we got promoted. It wasn’t just an experience playing but an experience of a group of players and how well they could bond and John was integral to that. He was a very, very clever man.”

Indeed McGrath was viewed as having saved North End from the ignominy of losing their league status, the club having had to apply for re-election the season before he arrived at Deepdale.

Edward Skingsley’s book, Back From The Brink, features a black and white photograph of McGrath on its cover and tells the story of North End’s transformation under his direction.

Describing his appointment as “a masterstroke” he reckoned the club owed him a massive debt for masterminding their resurgence and subsequent stability.

“Without him, it is debatable whether Preston North End would even exist today, never mind play in the latest fantastic incarnation of Deepdale,” said Skingsley. “Thank goodness he caught Preston North End before it died.”

McGrath left Preston in February 1990 and had one last stab at management, this time with Halifax Town. He succeeded Saints’ FA Cup winner Jim McCalliog and was in charge at The Shay for 14 months but left in December 1992. Five months later they lost their league status, finishing bottom of pile.

The silver-tongued McGrath was subsequently a popular choice on the after-dinner speaking circuit and a pundit on local radio in Lancashire but died suddenly on Christmas Day 1998.