Tag: Leeds United

Career-ending leg break spawned physio role for George Dalton

A CAREER-ENDING leg break led one-time international hopeful George Dalton into a new career as a football physio.

Geordie-born Dalton was an emerging left-back at Newcastle United being watched as a possible candidate for a call-up to the England Under-23 side.

But he was never the same player after breaking a leg in a tackle with Leeds United’s Johnny Giles.

Then, only seven months after trying to resurrect his career with third tier Brighton, unlucky Dalton sustained a double fracture of the same leg in a freak collision and never played professionally again.

However, he turned his familiarity with the treatment table to good use and he later became Coventry City’s physio for the best part of 20 years.

Born in Dilston, Northumberland, on 4 September 1941, Dalton went through the junior ranks at Newcastle and turned professional at St James’s Park in 1958.

He made his Toon debut on 10 October 1960 in a 4-1 League Cup defeat away to Colchester United, and made his First Division debut the following February, ending up on the losing side in a 5-3 defeat away to Leicester City.

After Newcastle’s relegation to the old Division Two, Dalton made a lot more appearances (including being in the Toon side who thumped Brighton 5-0 at St James’ on 21 October 1961).

He was in and out of the side over the next two years but became a regular from March 1963 and, in January 1964, eagle-eyed Ken McKenzie, reporter for Newcastle’s The Journal, spotted England Under-23 selector Mr E.Smith in the stands at St James’s.

“This visit can only mean imminence of England Under-23s selection to meet Scotland at St James’s Park on Wednesday evening, February 5, and check up, particularly on George Dalton and Alan Suddick, of United,” he wrote. “On this basis, I feel that Mr Smith’s trip to Tyneside holds out very bright prospect of Forest Hall, Newcastle, product, Dalton, gaining his first representative honour on February 5.

“I know that Dalton has been recommended to the England selectors for some time by United directors and manager, and his consistency and clean, strong play has been commented on by influential observers at several away games.”

Unfortunately, the call-up didn’t happen, and revered reporter Ken Jones wrote in the Daily Mirror: “Despite local claims for left back George Dalton and inside forward idol Alan Suddick; neither has been chosen by the England team manager, and clearly they have no place in his ideas at present.”

Interestingly, the left-back berth went to Keith Newton, who later went with England to the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. Mike Bailey and Graham Cross both played in the Under-23s’ 3-2 win over Scotland, while the reserves that day were Peter Grummitt, Alan Mullery and Martin Chivers.

Within a matter of weeks, Dalton’s football fortunes were turned upside down when, in his 40th game of the season, on 30 March 1964, three days after Newcastle had surrendered an eight-game unbeaten run losing 1-0 at home to promotion-chasing Leeds on Good Friday, the full-back suffered a leg break that virtually finished his Newcastle career.

The Journal saw it thus: “This is the tale of a noble resistance by a Newcastle side who had Alan Suddick crippled in the 17th minute and lost George Dalton with a broken right leg (just above the ankle) with 14 minutes to go.”

mightyleeds.co.uk recorded it like this: “Newcastle finished with one man in hospital and another limping, but Leeds just about deserved to win their third hard match in four days. For once, however, there was no malice attached to the game and left-back Dalton confirmed he had broken his right tibia after himself kicking the sole of Giles’ boot.”

Dalton didn’t play his next Newcastle first team game for nearly two and a half years, and then it was just the one game. After that solitary appearance – his 94th for Toon – on 27 August 1966, when they lost a Division One match 2-1 at home to Spurs, he was cast into the shadows and eventually given a free transfer in May 1967.

Albion’s 1967-68 squad with Dalton circled in the back row

Third Division Brighton gave the player the chance to salvage his career and he arrived on the south coast in June 1967 together with a young centre forward, Bob Fuller, who went on to score regularly for Albion’s reserves but subsequently moved to South Africa and in later life became a senior executive at mobile phone companies Orange and 3.

There were a couple of familiar faces amongst Dalton’s new teammates: Dave Turner, had been a fringe player at Newcastle before joining Brighton in December 1963, while forward Kit Napier had moved to the south coast the previous summer.

Stewart Ogden also joined straight from school in the north east in the summer of 1967 and the matchday programme declared: “Instead of Sussex by the Sea, Albion’s rousing signature tune, they may be playing The Blaydon Races this season, with so many Geordies on the staff.”

Dalton took over the no.3 shirt from Bobby Baxter, who had moved on to Torquay United, and went straight into Albion’s starting XI alongside new £25,000 record signing John Napier from Bolton Wanderers.

The matchday programme acknowledged Dalton’s past injury misfortune and said: “We all hope the change of club will see this fine defender recapturing his old form. He is married and recently moved into a pleasant club house at Portslade.”

Dalton made 28 appearances in the first half of that 1967-68 season under Archie Macaulay before tragically suffering a double fracture of his right leg in a 0-0 draw at home to Oxford United.

It was on 27 January 1968 that Dalton was involved in a heavy collision with United’s Graham Atkinson (big Ron’s brother) and Albion goalkeeper Brian Powney.

The cruel blow came almost four years after the injury he’d sustained at Newcastle and the Albion matchday programme commented how he had “completely shaken off the effects and was playing with great confidence” adding: “Albion’s popular left-back has played some fine games this season and his stylish work has been admired by supporters of other clubs, as well as the Albion fans.”

In its Albion Postbag column, a correspondent from Newhaven, calling himself ‘Veteran Player’, wrote: “George Dalton has had two unlucky accidents and we all hope he comes back fit and well and able to continue to delight us with his polished full-back play.

“Brighton have nearly always been lucky with their left-backs, and we have had a string of really fine players in that position. George Dalton can be included in that impressive list.”

Macaulay was optimistic the player would recover and in October 1968 the programme told supporters: “George is doing light training, jogging round the pitch, up the terracing also carrying out weight training exercises.”

In the meantime, Mike Everitt had been brought in to fill the gap and, by the time Macaulay was succeeded as manager by Freddie Goodwin, as 1968 drew to a close, Dalton still wasn’t in contention.

It looked even less likely he’d get back in when Goodwin signed his former Leeds teammate Willie Bell from Leicester City, but his next career step was closely linked to both of them.

In the summer of 1970, Dalton, who’d combined studying physiotherapy with coaching the Albion junior team in the latter part of his contract, joined Goodwin and Bell as part of the new management team at Birmingham City.

Albion took serious umbrage at the exodus and the matter ended up with City having to pay £4,500 compensation for Goodwin (who still had 18 months of his contract remaining) and a £5,000 fine for illegally approaching Bell.

Dalton’s situation was viewed differently because he’d technically been a player out of contract thus free to make a move.

When Goodwin left City in 1976 and returned to manage in America, Dalton moved on to Midlands neighbours Coventry City, taking over as physio from Norman Pilgrim, and he retained the position for two decades.

Several former players had nothing but good things to say about him when interviewed in Steve Phelps’ book 29 Minutes From Wembley. Striker Garry Thompson spoke highly of the care with which Dalton treated him when he suffered a broken leg that put him out of the game for 11 months.

“George Dalton, our physiotherapist, was magnificent with me,” he said. “He kept saying my leg was going to be like a twig and I’d have to rebuild the muscles and learn to walk again.

“My Mum and Dad thought it was career over, but, the way I think about it now, I was so lucky because there weren’t that many options for me and I had to play football.

“George’s own career was ended by injury. He was a very good footballer when he trained with us so, when I broke my leg, he really took care of me and was superb.

“I couldn’t thank him enough and all George had was the sponge and two machines in the treatment room, the electric currents and the ultrasound, that was it.

“He worked miracles down the years with players and, if it wasn’t for him, I would not have played until I was 37. I owe him a lot.”

Garry’s praise for Dalton was echoed by Paul Dyson, who spent prolonged periods in the treatment room with ankle and back injuries during his teenage years. “George was a real character. We all had a lot of time for him and he tended a lot of us through our respective injuries.

“He used to drive us to the hospital in his Morris 1100 and had a great left foot. He’d played left-back for Newcastle United before his own career was ended by injury. There were the two machines in his room and he used to have ice cubes on sticks in his freezer.”

Dalton alongside boss John Sillett in the front row of this Coventry squad picture

Scottish international winger Tommy Hutchison was another admirer. “He was a smashing lad, George, very old-school. He suffered no fools and could always tell if a player was injured or not.

“In our days broken legs did finish careers, along with knee ligament injuries, and George rehabilitated so many players at Coventry. There was no squad rotation as you wanted to stay in the team and play every week because if you didn’t someone else would step in to take your place and you wouldn’t be able to get back in.”

Midfielder Andy Blair added: “George was a great physiotherapist, a terrific calming influence and a great man to have around.”

Experienced full-back Mick Coop was another who appreciated the physio. “George really was a lovely man who worked injured players very hard in the gym to get them back on to the pitch,” he said. “He was very quiet but did his job well and garnered a lot of respect off the playing squad. I can’t speak highly enough of him.”

Dalton keeps in touch with many of his former colleagues through the Coventry City Former Players’ Association, which has reported how he returned to live in Newcastle in retirement.

* Pictures from matchday programmes and various online sources.

Kiwi Chris Wood took off with the Seagulls

TWO former Chelsea teammates were instrumental in enabling fledgling Kiwi international striker Chris Wood to develop his goalscoring craft with the Seagulls.

Roberto di Matteo allowed Wood to leave West Brom on loan in the 2010-11 season to add attacking options to Gus Poyet’s promotion-seeking Seagulls.

It was a temporary move that not only bolstered Division 1 Brighton’s goalscoring threat that season but also sowed the seeds of a partnership with Ashley Barnes that Burnley have profited from in the Premier League.

The pair dovetailed well with Glenn Murray (during his first spell at the Albion) and it is testimony to just how good the third-tier trio were that they all went on to score goals at the highest level.

Wood, who only scored three times in 27 games for the Baggies, scored nine in 24 matches (plus seven as sub) for the Albion, who he joined after an expected 93-day loan stint with Barnsley had been cut short.

Described by The Argus as “a fresh-faced teenager in a man’s body”, towards the end of the season, Wood told Andy Naylor: “It has been a big experience. I have been playing week in and week out. That is something I needed to do at my age.

“You don’t know if you really want to drop down that many levels, but I thought I could start scoring some goals, kick on my season and hopefully push my career up. It’s worked out very well.”

He somewhat presciently added: “I want to play in the Premier League one day, hopefully consistently.”

While that time would still be a little way off, Wood’s role in Brighton’s promotion squad earned him a League One winners’ medal and Poyet reckoned he left the south coast a much better player than the one who arrived six months previously.

“We helped him a lot,” Poyet told The Argus. “When he was here, he was one type of player and, when he went back, he was in shape, he was quicker, more mature, he scored ten (sic) goals, he did well.”

Wood went on to become something of a nemesis for Brighton, often scoring against the club for various other sides he played for on loan or on a permanent basis.

After he scored twice against the Seagulls in December 2012 while on loan at Millwall, Poyet sang his praises to the media, declaring: “He is the kind of player we would like to bring in. He’s only 21 and I feel he will be a top, top player.

“When he was with us on loan, he was a baby but now he is maturing. He’s a man now.

“He’s clinical and brave and we have played a part in helping him on his way.”

Di Matteo’s successor at West Brom, Roy Hodgson, had also sent the young striker out on loan, the shorter distance to Midlands neighbours Birmingham City, during Chris Hughton’s tenure as manager. He scored 11 in 15 games (+ 14 as a sub) for the Blues before spending the second half of the 2011-12 season at Bristol City.

Next up was Millwall for the first half of the 2012-13 season but WBA curtailed that stay because they wanted to sell him, and he joined Leicester in a permanent deal.

At Leicester, Wood was mainly involved off the substitutes’ bench as Nigel Pearson’s Foxes won the Championship in 2014, but one of his most memorable goals was a stunning long-range volley against his future employers, Burnley, in a 2-0 win at Turf Moor. “That was a nice one,” he said. “It kind of clinched Leicester’s championship. It was a ‘make or break’ game for who was going to win the league that year.”

Wood found his chances of Premier League football stymied by the arrival of Leonardo Ulloa from Brighton and after only seven substitute appearances ended the season on loan at Ipswich Town. Before Leicester’s famous title-winning season was under way, Wood had moved on to Leeds for £3m.

Wood felt he wasn’t given a fair crack of the whip at the King Power Stadium, telling the Leicester Mercury: “I was disappointed that I didn’t get more of a chance.

“I did well and felt I deserved at least an opportunity with the way I had played. That’s football at the end of the day, managers make the decisions, you have to live by them and move on.

“I think that experience has made me into a better player. It helped me to adapt and do things in a different way. It helps you prepare mentally, to understand and control.

“Not everything is going to be rosy along the way in your career. You’ll always have your ups and downs and it’s about how you deal with the downs which helps you become so much better.

“I don’t like sitting in the stands. I just wanted to get out, play football and progress my career.”

Wood scored 27 goals in Leeds’ 2016-17 Championship season under Garry Monk but, after beating Brighton 2-0 on 18 March, they fluffed their lines in the run-in, winning only one of the remaining eight matches and missing out on the top six as Brighton went up with Newcastle. To rub salt in the Yorkshire wounds, Huddersfield were promoted via the play-offs.

Wood, though, had the chance finally to make it to the elite when Burnley dangled a £15m fee to take him to Turf Moor, where he was to be reunited with Barnes.

Explaining his decision to make the move, Wood told The Times: “It had been my dream since I was a kid to play in the Premier League.

“I had spent seven years in the Championship waiting to get that break and I couldn’t guarantee that I would get another chance.”

The success of the Wood-Barnes partnership was analysed in a 2019 article by Benedict O’Neill for planetfootball.com in which Murray harked back to the 2010-11 season.

“I was the older head when they came in as two young lads,” he said. “We forged quite a formidable trio. It was good because they were just young and learning their trade – they got valuable game time and scored plenty of goals in that season.

“They’ve both gone on to have fantastic careers.”

Wood ended the 2020-21 season as Burnley’s top goalscorer with 12 goals (his fourth consecutive season in double figures) and he also collected their Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season accolades.

After netting a hat-trick against Wolves in April 2021, Andy Jones, for The Athletic, purred: “Unstoppable, unplayable. This was Wood at his best.

“Burnley’s big No 9 epitomised all the key components of the display, setting the tempo, pressing with energy, intensity and importantly, intent. No ball was a lost cause, no pass was going to be easy for Wolves.”

Burnley boss Sean Dyche told the Burnley Express: “His hold up play is improving all the time, his physicality is improving – he can be a real handful as well as being a talented player.

“I’ve been very impressed with him over the season for sure.”

In January 2022, Wood made a £25m move to Newcastle United but after finding his first team starts limited moved on to Nottingham Forest a year later, initially on loan until the end of the season. The move was made permanent in the summer of 2023.

He was Forest’s top scorer with 15 goals in 35 appearances in the 2023-24 season and when he scored the winner in Forest’s 3-2 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford in December 2024, his header meant he became Forest’s record Premier League scorer, overtaking Bryan Roy, by moving to 25 in the competition.

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 7 December 1991, Wood swiftly showed great promise in his homeland before his coach over there, Roger Wilkinson, switched to West Brom and recommended the youngster be taken on at Albion’s academy.

Wood’s English mother, Julie, had been instrumental in him taking up football rather than the oval-shaped ball game Kiwis are more accustomed to.

“I came over and they liked what they saw and offered me a scholarship,” he told the Birmingham Mail.

After he proved successful at youth team and reserve level, Wood made his West Brom first-team debut in 2009 away to Portsmouth.

In the same year, he made his international debut and, aged just 18, was in the New Zealand squad at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He has gone on to play nearly 60 times for his country. He also became the youngest captain of New Zealand when he led the side for the first time in November 2014.

A goal by over-age Wood against South Korea helped New Zealand secure their first ever men’s football win at an Olympic Games in Tokyo but the host nation beat them in a penalty shoot-out to deny the striker the chance of a medal.

Casper Ankergren – the ‘Great Dane’ between the sticks

DANISH goalkeeper Casper Ankergren earned the League One player of the month award four times – twice with Leeds United and twice with Brighton.

When the Yorkshire club dumped him after he’d played 143 games for them, Gus Poyet, his former assistant manager at Elland Road, gave him the chance to revive his English football career. He spent seven years as a player at Brighton and between 2017 and 2021 assisted Ben Roberts with coaching Albion’s goalkeepers.

The Dane was only truly Albion no.1 for a season and a half, and fans were often divided about his capabilities. But his ability with the ball at his feet suited the way Poyet wanted the Albion to play, and as a coach chimes perfectly with the expectations placed on today’s Albion goalkeepers.

“He really is key to the way we pass it out from the back,” observed ‘Murraymint’ on North Stand Chat, noting his ball playing and vision for a pass as “excellent”.

Ankergren himself explained in a podcast on the club website in 2020: “I was always quite comfortable with the ball at my feet, probably because I played outfield as a kid.

“At Leeds I wasn’t supposed to play it to the centre backs but under Gus you had to play it short; he would go mental if you didn’t. That was his philosophy. I’ve always been a big fan of possession-based football.”

On the eve of the 2010-11 season, Poyet’s goalkeeping options were narrowed when first-choice Peter Brezovan was nursing a wrist injury and he wasn’t happy to start the campaign with either of the inexperienced understudies, Michael Poke or Mitch Walker.

Poyet told the club’s official website: “Goalkeeper is a key position in the team, and with Brezovan injured, we wanted to bring some experience to that position.

“Casper brings that experience and has played at this level and higher. I have worked with him at Leeds United, and know exactly what he is capable of, he also knows what it takes to get promoted from League One.”

Ankergren hadn’t even had time to get to know his new teammates when he made his Albion debut in a 2-1 win in the season-opener away to Swindon Town the day after signing.

Unfortunately, he didn’t cover himself in glory on his home debut when a mistimed punch helped Rochdale to get a last-gasp equaliser in a 2-2 draw at Withdean.

The ’keeper admitted he later hid himself away in his Jury’s Inn hotel feeling dreadful about the mistake. “I was devastated, but that’s football. As a keeper you can do well for 90 minutes but if you cock up in the 91st minute that’s all people remember you for,” he said in a matchday programme article. “It’s part of the game as a goalkeeper and you have to accept it.”

He certainly made up for it to the extent that he won the first of two nPower League One Player of the Month awards that season for his displays the following month, when he only conceded once in five matches as Albion secured 13 out of 15 points.

Ankergren won the award again in March 2011 when the Seagulls won eight matches out of eight – with six clean sheets for Ankergren – to consolidate their gallop towards the League One title.

In April 2011, Ankergren, speaking at the PFA awards in London, said: “He [Gus] was asking us to be perfect and although there’s no such thing in football, we were close, the way we did it, the way we played – he’s very, very pleased. He couldn’t ask for much more, I think.

“At the beginning of the season I had a chat with him and he said he thought a top six finish would be possible. But no, we finished first – an amazing season.”

The promotion with Brighton was more personally satisfying for Ankergren because he was involved from the beginning to the end of the season.

“I played a lot of games for Leeds last season when we went up but I didn’t play the last eight or nine games and that was a big blow for me,” he said. “I’ve played every game in the league this season and obviously it’s great, that’s what you want to do as a footballer; you want to play every game and win and achieve something.”

He was in goal for the memorable first Amex league fixture against Doncaster and kept the shirt for the first 15 games of the 2011-12 Championship season. But after a seven-game winless run, Steve Harper came in on loan from Newcastle United.

When Harper returned to the North East, he got back in the side for seven more matches, but after four successive defeats in December, Poyet rang the changes for the New Year’s Day match at home to Southampton. Brezovan started in Albion’s surprise 3-0 win and stayed in goal through to the end of the season.

Fan Bradley Stratton later observed: “Brighton’s return to the Championship at the Amex highlighted the need for another change in goal. Ankergren and Brezovan, whilst competent in League One, were regularly found out at the higher level.

“They inspired little confidence in fans, and there was no doubt Poyet would use the summer window in 2012 to bring in a new man who could galvanise the Albion back line and restore confidence to a defence that had conceded six goals at both West Ham and Liverpool that year.”

After Tomasz Kuszczak arrived to become the senior goalkeeper, Ankergren’s first team action in 2012-13 was limited to four starts plus one as a sub.

Two of those were in the FA Cup against Premier League opposition. The third round FA Cup win over Newcastle United was his first appearance in the first team for 13 months and he said: “Although I have not been playing for the first team, I’ve always trained as hard as ever because you never know what’s round the corner and you want to push the other keepers hard, so I was ready. It’s still hard to be thrown straight back into action because you need to play regularly to get into the rhythm of things, but I was pretty happy with my performance against Newcastle.”

And there was nothing he could do to prevent Theo Walcott’s late deflected winner as Arsenal won the fourth round tie 3-2 at the Amex, when Leo Ulloa scored on his debut.

As if to emphasise his point about memorable howlers, one of his two league games that season was at Nottingham Forest, when he fumbled a last-minute equaliser at the City Ground, allowing Henri Lansbury’s long-range effort to earn the home side a point in a 2-2 draw.

Poyet was quick to sympathise with the goalkeeper and said: “To begin with I thought the shot must have taken a deflection but when I’ve seen it again I nearly killed myself!

“When you are a keeper you pay the price and Casper has done that today. He was having a very, very good game, making two or three good saves, coming for crosses and kicking very well. And in training he will save 1,000 shots like that, but we wanted him to save it today.

“Goalkeeper is a terrible position to play but we lose together and we win together – at least we got a point.”

In Oscar Garcia’s only season in charge, Ankergren played only two first team matches but he was kept on under Sami Hyypia and, with the arrival of David Stockdale and the emergence of youngster Christian Walton limiting his likely involvement even further, he made just the one appearance in the 2014-15 season, in Albion’s 4-2 League Cup win away to Swindon Town.

He confessed on the podcast that he struggled to get his head round the situation and contemplated quitting the game but was talked out of it by goalkeeping coach Andy Beasley.

With the arrival of Niki Maenpaa as back-up to Stockdale, Ankergren could have been forgiven for thinking his chances of ever playing first team football again had gone, but in a bizarre set of circumstances during a FA Cup tie at Lincoln City on 28 January 2017, Ankergren had to come off the bench in the 56th minute when Maenpaa went off injured.

The Finn had injured his shoulder in the melee that resulted after Glenn Murray had committed a foul in the penalty area and the first thing Ankergren had to do was to face the resultant penalty, which was scored.

Five minutes later he was picking the ball out of the back of the net again after inexperienced Chelsea loanee Fikayo Tomori had skewed a shot past the beleaguered ‘keeper. To rub salt in the wound, Albion lost 3-1, enabling City to reach the last 16 of the competition for the first time in their 115-year history. The consolation for Albion, of course, was that they were able to concentrate on the league, and they went on finally to win promotion to the elite level they’d left in 1983.

That promotion signalled the end of Ankergren’s playing days but the start of a career as a goalkeeping coach which he admitted in the podcast he’s enjoying immensely.

Born in the Danish coastal seaport of Køge on 9 November 1979, Ankergren played football with his mates from an early age on a pitch close to his home. He also played handball in the winter – it’s a big sport in Denmark – and it got to the point where he had to decide which one to pursue seriously because his parents said he couldn’t do both. He chose football because he enjoyed it a bit more, although he reckoned the hand-eye coordination involved in handball was an asset as he pursued his career as a goalkeeper.

When he started out playing organised football with Solrød FC, he switched from centre half to midfielder to striker and only went in goal when their keeper got injured.

He was only 12 when he was signed by his hometown’s local professional club, HB Køge. Before he became a full professional, he worked for a pizzeria delivering pizzas and at an after-school club. After leaving school, he continued his education at college for a further two years because he wanted to be a policeman if football didn’t work out.

But having broken into the Køge first team, he caught the attention of Brondby, who were probably the biggest club in Denmark at the time.

He joined them in May 2000 and started full-time the following January. “It was a big, big step for me,” he told the podcast. “I didn’t really enjoy it at first. It was a bigger step than I expected it to be.”

Their first-choice keeper, Morgens Krogh, had won Euro ‘92 with the national team so it was tough to compete with him. But the youngster made his debut when Krogh was injured and eventually took the no.1 spot. As well as winning one championship, he topped it by winning the league and cup double in 2005-06.

Ankergren also gained experience playing in the Europa League against teams like Locomotiv Moscow, Espanol and Palermo.

Shortly after he signed a new three-year contract with Brondby, unbeknown to him they signed Stephan Andersen from Charlton Athletic, and Ankergren wasn’t assured he’d still be first choice. “I’d had enough and wanted to try something different so while I was away with the national team (the B side) in Asia, I got a call from my agent saying Leeds were interested.”

Ankergren just missed out on a full international cap, although he was on the bench for games against Luxembourg and the Czech Repubic. He did win a handful of under 21 caps, and he said: “I’ve represented my country at various junior levels and remember making my under 16 debut against England. On the other side that days was Wes Brown and Michael Owen – you could tell both would have successful careers. Owen looked something special and he scored against me in a 4-1 defeat. I didn’t have my best game.”

Ankergren joined Leeds on loan initially, making his debut aged 27 in a 2-1 home win over Crystal Palace on 19 February 2007. Although it panned out to be one of the most turbulent times in the club’s history, Ankergren found life at Leeds more relaxed under Dennis Wise and Poyet than he had in Denmark.

His 14 games at the bottom of the Championship couldn’t halt the slide towards relegation which was confirmed emphatically with a points deduction when the club went into administration.

“I saved a couple of penalties early on, which won over the fans, including an important one against fellow strugglers Luton,” he said. He denied Dean Morgan from 12 yards with only four minutes left of a tense afternoon, and he told a supporter’s blog: “There were a few minutes, plus stoppage time to go against Luton so I had to stay focused as they were down there with us, so the win was vital.

“I had also saved a penalty away at Cardiff City but unfortunately we still lost the game.”

After signing on permanently, Ankergren was first choice as Leeds acclimatised to third tier football in 2007-08. He made 54 appearances in all competitions and, having conceded only one goal in five league games in September 2007, won his first League One Player of the Month award.

It wasn’t always plain sailing at Elland Road, though, and he was sad to see Poyet depart to become assistant manager to Juande Ramos at Spurs in November 2007, followed early in the new year by Wise, who became director of football at Newcastle.

“Gus was really, really respected up in Leeds. It was a big loss when he went to Tottenham – we really missed him, but I kept in touch after he left,” said Ankergren.

“I liked his style. If you do well, he’ll let you know – but if you don’t do well, he’ll also let you know. There’s none of this going behind your back; he’ll say it to your face, which is what I like.”

He also felt a sense of loss with Wise’s departure. “It was a massive disappointment for me personally,” he said. “Wisey is a good man, he had given me the chance to play in England and I will always be grateful to him.”

In March 2008, the goalkeeper faced an “improper conduct” charge brought by the FA for allegedly throwing a missile into the crowd at the County Ground, Swindon. He was fined £750 but not banned.

Gary McAllister was installed as manager and steered the club to the end of season play-offs against Doncaster Rovers and, despite some important saves by Ankergren, they lost. “I don’t know why but we never turned up at Wembley,” said Ankergren. “It was a strange feeling which let me flat, and it took a long time to get over that. We came so near, yet so far.”

Ankergren admitted to sheridan-dictates.com that he did not particularly enjoy the 2008-09 season. “It appeared that McAllister didn’t know his best team. I was in the side one week then the next he would pick Dave Lucas. Goalkeepers need games to stay sharp and focused and the thought of being dropped played on me and I did not perform to the standards I expected from myself.

“McAllister had been an outstanding midfielder but he was a League One manager with a League One squad. I think he expected too much from a group who didn’t have the ability that he had been blessed with as a player.

“The atmosphere was not great around the club and I thought that McAllister made some very strange decisions.

“Although I did not have any real issues with the manager, I have to be honest and say that I was not too disappointed when he was sacked and Simon Grayson was brought in.”

Grayson’s reign started on Boxing Day 2008 and he put Ankergren back into his team to play Leicester City. Leeds had fallen into mid-table but turned things around to earn a place in the play offs against Millwall who won the two-legged semi-final.

“Looking back, could we handle the favourites tag?” Ankergren asked. “It was another horrible feeling, but we were all determined to come back for pre-season training and go one better.”

However, although Lucas had left the club, Ankergren faced new competition in Shane Higgs and Grayson went with him at the start of the 2009-10 season.

But when Higgs was injured at MK Dons on 26 September 2009, Ankergren appeared as a substitute and eventually won his place back, even though United brought in Frank Fielding and David Martin as loan goalkeepers, and he had the feeling Grayson didn’t really rate him.

Ankergren re-established himself with a string of impressive performances and clean sheets and was the last line of defence in a memorable 1-0 FA Cup third round win for Leeds at Old Trafford in January 2010, including pulling off a terrific save to deny Danny Welbeck.

He was also in goal against Spurs in the next round when it took a replay at Elland Road before the north London club finally won through.

However, the beginning of the end of his time at Elland Road came when he made a mistake in a 2-0 home defeat against Millwall on 22 March 2010, and he didn’t return to the side for the remaining nine games as they went on to win promotion to the Championship as runners up behind Norwich City.

“I remember sitting with Paul Dickov in the dressing room having a beer and reflecting on what we had achieved,” Ankergren told sheridan-dictates.com. “We went over to the Centenary Pavilion for the end of season dinner and on to a nightclub, It was a great night but deep down I knew that I had played my last game for the club as my contract was up.”

Ironically, his replacement at Leeds was fellow Dane, Kasper Schmeichel, son of Ankergren’s goalkeeping idol, Peter, who also played for Brondby before going on to achieve fame at Manchester United.

Ankergren’s 11-year association with the Seagulls came to an end in September 2021 when he returned to his home country as head goalkeeping coach at Brondby.

Pictures from various online sources, matchday programmes and the Argus

Paynter left a blank canvas at Seagulls and Blades

A JOURNEYMAN striker who fired blanks for Brighton and Sheffield United only found very occasional purple patches of goalscoring in a 12-club, 17-year career.

Billy Paynter didn’t manage a single goal in 10 games on loan for Gus Poyet’s Seagulls and carried with him from parent club Leeds United the somewhat unkind epithet ‘Barn door Billy’ for his proverbial inability to hit one with a banjo.

A subsequent half-season loan spell at Sheffield United under Nigel Clough yielded a similar zero in the goals scored column.

A journey around the message boards on supporter websites uncovers some brutal and unflattering comments about Paynter’s contribution for their team and yet it was a career that yielded 131 goals in 529 games – one in four.

And it all began promisingly under the guidance of former Albion captain and manager, Brian Horton.

Born in the Norris Green area of Liverpool on 13 July 1984, Paynter joined Port Vale’s academy at the tender age of 10 and turned professional soon after his 16th birthday.

Horton gave Paynter his first team debut when he was only 16 years and 294 days old on 3 May 2001 as a 61st-minute substitute at home to Walsall.

It was 10 months before he made a start, although he got a few more sub appearances, and Vale supporters had to wait until the start of the 2002-03 season for his first goal, after he’d replaced injured crowd favourite Steve McPhee in a home game against Wrexham.

Eventually, Paynter got into his stride and his popularity with the fans saw him voted Player of the Year in 2004-05.

His 34 goals in 158 games for Vale caught the eye of another former Albion manager, Peter Taylor, at then-Championship side Hull City.

Signed initially on loan, a fee of £150,000 took him on a permanent two-and-a-half-year contract to the KC Stadium in January 2006.

The following month Paynter turned out as a right-sided midfield player for a Football League Under-21 team (selected and managed by Taylor) in a game against an Italian Serie B side at the KC Stadium.

Taylor also experimented with him in the same position for Hull but, having scored only three times in 23 matches, Paynter was on the move again after only eight months.

He switched to Southend United, also in the Championship, for £200,000 in August 2006 and somewhat ironically, his only goal for the Shrimpers was scored against Brighton in a 3-2 League Cup win at Roots Hall in September 2006.

A lack of goals and a hamstring injury meant his stay in Essex was cut short and for the second half of the 2006-07 season he went on loan to League One Bradford City, where he managed four goals in 15 matches, including one on his debut.

On August deadline day in 2007, Paynter’s next move saw Paul Sturrock sign him for Swindon Town. Within a month he had netted a hat-trick against Bournemouth and added two more in a 5-0 win over Gillingham the following month.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for him, though, and after a two-month goal drought which had seen him lose his place, he told BBC Radio Swindon: “You can try and do too much and get caught up with it, but if you relax and get on with your game, I think it will come naturally.”

Paired with Simon Cox initially, Paynter got amongst the goals in support of the main man. But he stepped up a gear after Cox was sold to West Brom in the summer of 2009. His new strike partner was a young Charlie Austin and the pair enjoyed a rich seam of goalscoring form in the 2009-10 season under former Albion captain Danny Wilson.

Paynter had a spell where he scored 15 goals in 17 games and ended the season with 29 goals in 52 matches, his best goals-to-games ratio in a season. Swindon’s captain that season was none other than Gordon Greer, who remains a close friend of Paynter.

Four of Paynter’s goals had been scored against Leeds and, in the summer of 2010, he moved to Elland Road on a Bosman free transfer, with Wilson admitting to BBC Radio Wiltshire: “Anybody who scores nearly 30 goals in a season will be wanted by bigger clubs than us.”

Leeds boss Simon Grayson said: “He has matured as a player over the last couple of years and he had a fantastic season last season. He works ever so hard, holds the ball up well and he has proved he knows where the back of the net is.

“When we knew he was available we were desperate to get him. We feel he will be a good acquisition for the club, and I am delighted to have got him.”

Unfortunately, his time at Leeds didn’t start well when he picked up a shin stress fracture in a pre-season match in Slovakia, leading to him missing the start of the season.

It wasn’t until the second week of October that he was able to make his Leeds debut and starts were rare as Luciano Becchio and Davide Somma were Grayson’s preferred selection up front. Paynter didn’t register his first goal for Leeds until the following March, in a 2-1 win at Preston. It was his only goal in 23 matches that season.

As the 2011-12 season got under way, Grayson had added Mikael Forssell to his striking options and the manager encouraged Paynter to talk to other clubs, with Sheffield United and Brighton discussed as possible destinations.

Paynter preferred to stay and try to stake a claim for a place but, having only played once as a sub in the opening game of the season, he decided to make a three-month loan switch to Brighton at the end of October 2011.

On 29th October 2011, he made his Brighton debut as a 67th-minute substitute for Matt Sparrow in a 0-0 draw away to Birmingham City.

The first of his six starts came on 1 November in a 0-1 defeat at Watford. He came off the bench a further three times and, without troubling the scorers, returned to Elland Road in January.

Back at Leeds he had to wait until April before he was selected by new manager Neil Warnock for a home game against Peterborough United. Paynter scored twice in a 4-1 win and, when replaced by substitute Becchio in the final minute, left the field to a standing ovation. But he picked up an Achilles injury in the following game away to Blackpool and was made available for transfer at the end of the season.

Paynter earned a place in a planetfootball.com poll listing 13 of Leeds’ “worst and weirdest signings under Ken Bates” although he was good-humoured enough to acknowledge it in a 2018 Under the Cosh podcast.

“I’ve always said there’s some players that will be remembered for being good, there’s some players that will be remembered for being sh*te,” he said. “No one remembers the OK players. Take the positives out of a bad situation, in that way I will be remembered!”

It was former Brighton striker Dean Saunders who was responsible for Paynter’s next move, picking him up on a free transfer for League One Doncaster Rovers on 13 August 2012.

While Saunders left the Keep Moat Stadium in January 2013 to join Wolves, Paynter played his part in Rovers winning promotion back to the Championship under Brian Flynn, top-scoring with 15 goals as Rovers returned to the second tier as champions.

An anonymous Donny fan recalled: “He had some good games for us and made the pass from the missed penalty at Brentford that enabled (James) Coppinger to score and win us promotion. He is best played in the box. He causes all sorts of problems. He is a tough guy and takes no prisoners. I liked him but I would say League One is his limit.”

A familiar face in the shape of Brian Horton arrived as assistant manager to new Donny manager Paul Dickov (Flynn had been promoted to director of football) in the summer of 2013.

It must have given Paynter some satisfaction on 27 August 2013 when he scored in a League Cup tie at home to Leeds, although the visitors ran out 3-1 winners. However, that was his only goal and, after managing only one start and 11 appearances off the bench, up to Christmas, he was sent on loan to League One Sheffield United for the second half of the 2013-14 season.

An exiled Blades fan living in Leeds, ‘Blader’ said: “I am uninspired and don’t see this is a great signing. I’ve seen him play many a time and never seen him perform notably and he is a laughing stock in Leeds for how badly he performed.”

A blunt Blade

He made his debut as a sub against Notts County on 11 January 2014 but spent much of the time on the sub’s bench as manager Nigel Clough preferred to play with ‘a false 9’. Paynter made just six starts and came off the bench seven times but no goals were forthcoming. United finished seventh, one place off the play-off places, seven points adrift of sixth-placed Peterborough United.

Paynter was only a spectator as United remarkably reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, losing 5-3 at Wembley to Hull City, Jamie Murphy, later to play for Brighton, among the Blades scorers. A young Harry Maguire at the back for the Blades was named the League One player of the year.

The last three seasons of his playing career saw Paynter drop into League Two and he joined Carlisle United on the same day as former Albion midfielder Gary Dicker.

However, the season wasn’t even a month old when Graham Kavanagh lost his job as manager. His successor Keith Curle steered them to a fifth from bottom finish.

Paynter’s involvement was limited to 12 starts plus eight appearances off the bench and he and Dicker clashed with Curle when they sought PFA guidance after they were fined for allegedly failing to attend training sessions.

In the close season, Paynter headed 90 miles east to Hartlepool United, who’d just avoided dropping out of the league after finishing four points above Cheltenham Town.

The goal touch returned as Paynter top scored with 15 goals in 35 appearances as Hartlepool finished in 16th place courtesy of a decent run of wins in the spring under new boss Craig Hignett.

The managerial door revolved once more at Victoria Park the following season but Hignett’s successor Dave Jones (the former Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday boss) couldn’t prevent Hartlepool from heading out of the league, controversially parting company with the club with two games to go following an on-screen rant by United’s best known fan, Jeff Stelling.

Club captain Paynter, who had openly questioned Jones’ tactics in the local press, joined forces with fitness coach Stuart Parnaby to assist caretaker Matthew Bates for the final two fixtures.

It was one of those footballing fates moments that they needed a miracle against Paynter’s old club Doncaster in the final match and it was given a big build-up in the Mirror.

“Although we lost at Cheltenham last weekend, the lads had a lot more fight in them. I can understand it when players lose confidence or belief, but you can’t drop out of the Football League after 100 years without a fight,” he said.

“It’s one of those strange coincidences that we need to beat my old club to stand a chance of survival. I really enjoyed my time at Doncaster, and I’ll never forget that day we were promoted to the Championship, but I hope the supporters understand my loyalty is with Hartlepool now.”

Hartlepool hitman

Although Hartlepool won 2-1, they had been relying on other results going their way and Newport’s 2-1 win over Notts County 2-1 meant they stayed up and the North East side lost their league status. Having contributed just four goals in 26 matches, Paynter left the club.

While he attempted a brief extension to his playing career, training at non-league AFC Fylde, Southport and Warrington Town, he retired from playing in November 2017 and turned to coaching. He joined Everton’s academy in February 2018 before returning to his first club, Port Vale as professional development phase lead coach in October 2020.

On rejoining, he said: “It’s a joy to be back where it all started. Coming through PVFC’s Centre of Excellence from the age of 10, I know what the DNA of Port Vale is and what sort of players we should be producing.”

Pictures from various online sources and the Albion matchday programme.

How Shots stopper Mark Beeney’s move saved the Albion

MARK BEENEY has coached young goalkeepers at Chelsea for nearly 20 years, but Brighton fans who saw him play remember his most important ever save.

The proceeds from his sale to Leeds United for £350,000 on 20 April 1993 quite literally saved the Albion from being wound up by the Inland Revenue.

Beeney had played 55 league and cup games in the Albion goal that season (missing only one because of a suspension) and he didn’t have much say in what happened next, as he remembered in an interview with the Argus in 2001.

“Albion were at Plymouth and the night before the game manager Barry Lloyd told me that he had given Leeds permission to talk to me and that he wanted me to negotiate a deal otherwise the club were history,” he said.

“I didn’t really have much choice because if I’d have turned down the chance I’d have been unemployed anyway with the financial situation at Albion.”

Howard Wilkinson, the former Albion winger who had led Leeds to the old Division One title the previous season, had been looking for a ‘keeper to compete with the ageing John Lukic, and Beeney fitted the bill….as well as footing the bill for Brighton where the taxman was concerned.

The move was certainly an upheaval in terms of geographical location but it presented Beeney with the chance to leap from third tier football into the Premier League.

It didn’t quite pan out as he might have hoped – most of his action was for Leeds’ reserve side! – but over the course of six years he played 49 games in the Premiership and 68 first team games in total for the Elland Road outfit.

Born in Pembury, near Tunbridge Wells, on 30 December 1967, Beeney went to St Francis Primary School in Maidstone then to St Simon Stock, a Catholic secondary school.

He first came to the attention of talent spotters when playing for Ringlestone Colts, a successful Maidstone junior side, and he was invited to join Gillingham, Kent’s only professional side at the time, as an associate schoolboy.

He made sufficient progress to be taken on as an apprentice by the Gills and turned professional in August 1985. He only played two first team games, though, and was given a free transfer by manager Keith Peacock.

Beeney, circled, when with the Maidstone United squad who won promotion to the league

He joined Maidstone United in January 1987 and, although they were in the GM Vauxhall Conference at the time, he helped them to gain promotion to the Football League in 1989.

His form for Maidstone led to international recognition when he played as a second half substitute for the England C (semi-professional) side in a 1-1 draw away to Italy on 29 January 1989. The game at Stadio Alberto Picco in La Spezia saw Fabrizio Ravanelli, a Champions League winner with Juventus seven years later, score the Italians’ goal.

Back at Maidstone, it wasn’t the best news for Beeney when Peacock arrived as manager. He ended up going on loan to Aldershot, where he played seven games. On his return, Maidstone’s goalkeeping coach Joe Sullivan recommended him to Brighton boss Barry Lloyd and the Seagulls paid a £25,000 fee to take him to the Goldstone in March 1991 as back-up to Perry Digweed.

Wheeler-dealer Lloyd had sold John Keeley to Oldham Athletic for £238,000 a year before – not a bad return for a player who cost £1,500 – and with the inexperienced Brian McKenna not really a meaningful challenger for Digweed’s place, Beeney was ideally suited to the Seagulls.

However, he had a rather ignominious start when, on 20 April 1991, Albion lost 3-0 at home to Oxford United but he kept a clean sheet second time around when he was between the sticks for a 1-0 win at Hull City before Digweed returned to star in the end-of-season excitement that culminated in a trip to Wembley for the play-off final.

Beeney’s third senior Albion appearance couldn’t have come in stranger circumstances, and I was at close quarters to witness it. I was a guest in the directors’ box at The Den, Millwall, on the evening of 4 September and tracksuited Beeney was sat a couple of rows behind me, having travelled but not been included in what in those days was a 13-man squad.

During the warm-up, Digweed suddenly pulled up with an injury and, after physio Malcolm Stuart attended to him, it was evident he wouldn’t be able to take part in the game. But the referee was poised to start the match, so the ‘keeper’s jersey was handed to Gary Chivers to go between the posts to avoid delaying the kick-off.

A discussion between the managers and the officials gave the green light to allow Albion to replace Digweed with a recognised ‘keeper and, although he hadn’t been due to be involved, Beeney was summoned from the stand to enter the fray as an emergency substitute.

Eight minutes of play had elapsed by the time he’d managed to leg it down to the changing room and get himself ready for action. John Crumplin, who had started the game in Chivers’ right-back slot instead of being on the bench, was forced to come off without having broken into a sweat, and a relieved Chivers resumed his more traditional defensive position.

Into the bargain, the eventful evening saw the Seagulls come away with a 2-1 win – their second successive victory at The Den, having won 2-1 there in the second leg of the play-off semi-finals four months earlier.

Digweed’s injury meant Beeney then had his first extended run in the side, playing in 30 of the following 31 league and cup games (loan American goalkeeper Juergen Sommer deputising in a 0-0 away draw at Cambridge United) before Digweed was finally restored to the no.1 spot in early February. Only five of the remaining 16 games were won and Albion were relegated back to the third tier.

When the new season got under way, Beeney had stepped up to become first choice ‘keeper, and, when interviewed in a matchday programme article, said: “I came as second string ‘keeper as I knew Perry was the number one but I have always wanted to establish myself and this season I have had my chance.”

As referred to earlier, his final Albion appearance came away to Plymouth on 17 April, and Beeney left the club having featured in 87 games plus that one as sub. He told the Argus he retained great affection for the Seagulls. “I remember it as a friendly club even though they didn’t have much to be cheerful about with the taxman trying to shut them down and the players were wondering whether they would get paid.

“There was a good spirit in the dressing room with experienced types like Fozzie (Steve Foster) and Johnny Byrne around the place who had seen it all before.

“I spent the least time there but it is the one former club that makes me most welcome. I appreciate that.”

With Beeney transferred, Digweed returned for the final three games of the season, but the 3-2 home win over Chester turned out to be his last game for the club, and Albion began the following season with 18-year-old Nicky Rust as their first-team ‘keeper.

Because Beeney’s transfer had gone through outside of the window, Leeds gained special dispensation from the FA and their opponents, Coventry City, to allow him to make his debut in the final game of the 1992-93 season, there being nothing of consequence at stake with both sides comfortably sitting in mid-table.

Beeney conceded three in the game at Highfield Road but the game finished 3-3, diminutive Rod Wallace a hat-trick hero, rescuing a point for Leeds with goals in the 87th and 90th minutes to add to his first half strike.

In his first full season at Elland Road, Beeney shared the no.1 spot with Lukic, but the former Arsenal stopper had the upper hand in the following two seasons.

And just when Beeney thought he would make the breakthrough, Leeds signed Nigel Martyn from Crystal Palace to take over from Lukic.

Beeney told the Argus: “I thought I was going to be no. 1 and Paul Evans no. 2 in 1996 and both Paul and I were told a deal with Nigel was not going through. A couple of days later he had joined. I was disappointed. But I decided to buckle down as we were happy at the club and in the North with my family. I ended up playing more than 400 reserves games, I was hardly ever injured, and it was frustrating.”

Beeney handles ouotside the box at Old Trafford and is sent off

One time when he did get a start, against Manchester United at Old Trafford, on 14 April 1996, he was sent off after 16 minutes! Wilkinson never picked a sub keeper, so defender Lucas Radebe had to go in goal.

The excellent Leeds archive website ozwhitelufc.net.au remembers Beeney as: “A big keeper, his meticulous planning left him well prepared as he keenly watched videos of potential penalty-takers. He proved a capable deputy for John Lukic, taking over from him when his form dipped. His contract was extended in June 1996 for a further two years, but he had to retire due to injuries sustained in a reserve game at Stoke City when he ruptured an Achilles tendon in March 1999.”

In fact, he ruptured it twice in the space of eight months, he told the Argus, and he quit playing professionally after taking the advice of Leeds’ boss at the time, David O’Leary, whose own career had ended with a similar injury.

“The medical people said the Achilles would not hold up to what was needed at the level I was at,” he said. “I sought a second opinion afterwards and was told the Achilles was strong but it’s so short it doesn’t give me the spring I need to play at the top.”

Beeney set up an executive chauffeur business – Victoria Beckham was among his clients – but a former playing colleague at Aldershot, Steve Wignall, had taken over as manager at Doncaster Rovers, and offered him a return to playing.

“I just wanted somewhere to train,” Beeney told the Argus. “He (Steve) said they needed cover as a goalkeeper so I might as well sign on. I played four reserve games and was substitute for the first team.”

Eventually, after eight years living in Yorkshire, Beeney moved the family back to Kent so sons Mitchell and Jordan could be nearer their grandparents. He linked up with Dover Athletic as a back-up ‘keeper and played in a couple of pre-season friendlies but was mainly standby to first choice Paul Hyde.

In October 2001, he switched to Sittingbourne as manager, and also began working two days a week with the young goalkeepers at Chelsea (under 21s, under 17s and under 16s).

He left Sittingbourne in 2004 when the role at Chelsea was made a permanent position, and he’s been coaching the Premier League club’s reserve and academy ‘keepers ever since, although he did work with the first team ‘keepers temporarily when Jose Mourinho was in charge in 2007.

Beeney the goalkeeping coach pictured in 2010

Both his sons went through the Chelsea academy as goalkeepers. Mitchell was at Chelsea from 2007 until 2018. He came close to first-team action as a non-playing substitute for a home 1-1 draw with Liverpool in May 2015, which he spoke about in an interview with the42.ie and he did get to play league football out on loan at Newport County and Crawley Town. When he finally left Chelsea, he moved to Ireland to play for Sligo Rovers and returned to the UK in 2019 to join Hartlepool United.

Younger son Jordan left Chelsea in 2014 after seven years and joined Charlton Athletic where he spent four years before being given a free transfer.

Pictures from Albion matchday programmes and online sources.

Kish and caps invaluable experience in promotion season

WHEN RADOSTIN Kishishev signed for the Albion in the summer of 2010, they acquired the services of an experienced international footballer to help in their push for promotion from the third tier.

That ‘Kish’ was 35 at the time might have been a concern but the nous he brought to the side more than compensated for the inevitability that his best years were behind him.

As manager Gus Poyet told the Argus: “He is an excellent professional and has kept himself in superb shape throughout his career.

“His quality is obvious, there is no doubt about that, but we had to be sure about his fitness. But he has proved that age is no barrier.

“That experience and quality will bring a lot to the team and will also help our younger players in their development.”

With 88 caps for Bulgaria to his credit (he was in his country’s Euro ’96 squad for the tournament in England, then played in the 1998 World Cup in France and was involved up to 2009), Kishishev had seen Premier League action with Charlton Athletic, mainly as a right-back, as well as playing for Leicester City and Leeds United, when Poyet was assistant manager to Dennis Wise.

Kishishev expressed his gratitude to Poyet for rescuing his English football career at Brighton. “I thought I was going to retire after moving back to Bulgaria,” he said. “I thought I would stay there and finish my career.

“I am very pleased with the way things have worked out and I really appreciate the chance I have been given to play for Brighton.”

In a matchday programme article, he said: “My desire for football is still so strong. As a footballer you should keep plying for as long as you can because you are a long time retired.”

However, in the autumn of 2010, Kishishev was indicating his stay on the south coast would only be for the one season because of the wear and tear he was feeling.

After being part of the side in season-defining away wins 3-0 at Peterborough and 4-0 at his old club Charlton, he told the Argus: “It is becoming harder and harder every year. My legs are getting tired and painful so it’s difficult to continue playing.”

Nonetheless, Kishishev was heavily involved throughout the season, starting a total of 25 games and coming on as a substitute in 11 others.

He missed a couple of months of action when allowed compassionate leave to return to Bulgaria, but Poyet was glad to welcome him back in March 2011 to bring a steadying influence to the final run-in.

For instance, after coming on as a sub when Albion eventually overcame Carlisle 4-3, Poyet said: “Kish came on and understood the game better than anyone else on the pitch.

“He knew where the danger was, how to pass it, when to make a foul. That is down to experience and quality, so I’m pleased to have him back.”

Kishishev was released in May 2011 and he returned to Bulgaria to play one last season with the club where it all began for him 20 years earlier: Chernomorets Burgas.

He started 16 League games for them, came on as a substitute in three more, and played his final game on 19 May 2012 in a 1-1 home draw with Locomotiv Sofia.

The background to his compassionate leave became public a few months later when in October 2012 his wife died of cervical cancer aged just 38. She had first been diagnosed with the illness while Kishishev was in the UK playing for the Albion.

Born in the Black Sea coastal city of Burgas on 30 July 1974, Kishishev also made 75 appearances for the city’s Neftochimik side and although he subsequently moved to Turkey to play for Bursapor, after only 20 games in six months there he returned to Bulgaria in January 1998 to join Litex Lovech, who he helped to win two league titles (1998 and 1999).

The bulk of his English career was spent in the top flight with Charlton under Alan Curbishley, and on a return visit to The Valley in 2017, Kishishev told the Charlton website: “It was always good when we beat the best teams. Arsenal; we beat them 1-0 on New Year’s Day and I think Graham Stuart scored. Chelsea; we beat them in their first year of Roman Abramovich on Boxing Day. 

“I have great memories of games first of all, and then the crowd. The warmness they gave me all the time is one of the first things I remember. 

“When I look back, I was one of Curbs’ favourite players. He always picked me and believed in my skills and ability, and I was so glad to have been part of that great team.”

Towards the end of his Charlton days, he joined Leeds United on loan and Leeds fan site ozwhitelufc.net details Kishishev’s career and explains his popularity at Elland Road, where he made 10 appearances as they unsuccessfully battled against relegation from the Championship.

When released by the Addicks in June 2007, he chose to join Leicester City on a two-year contract, with boss Martin Allen telling the BBC: “I watched him play against Belarus recently. I wanted to check he still had energy and enthusiasm – and he played well.

“I’m delighted that he has agreed to come here. He gives us some steel in the centre of midfield.”

Unfortunately, the move came during the reign of Milan Mandaric as chairman and managers came and went with alarming regularity. Allen was replaced by Gary Megson, but he only lasted nine games, and then Ian Holloway took over.

Just four months after signing for the Foxes, and having made only six starts plus five appearances as a sub, Kishishev headed back on loan to Leeds.  He told the Leeds website: “I signed a two-year at Leicester and the start wasn’t very good, for the team and myself as well.

“Life changes all the time and I’ve got another spell here and I hope it will be for longer. Once I knew that Gus and Dennis wanted me to come, I agreed 100 per cent.

“I’m happy and I hope I can play some part for Leeds and keep the same standards.”

Just six days after he signed, Poyet quit Leeds to become first team coach at Tottenham and five days after his three-month loan came to an end, Wise moved on to become a director at Newcastle.

Kishishev made only seven appearances in that second spell and it seemed his time in England was over when he chose to move back to Bulgaria and rejoin Litex Lovech.

That was until he was reunited with Poyet once more at Brighton. He was already studying for his UEFA A coaching licence at that time and he has since managed and coached in Bulgaria.

Let down by ‘little’ Sammy, ‘big’ Sami struggled from the start…

HINDSIGHT is a wonderful thing but few would disagree that Sami Hyypia’s reign as Albion manager was doomed almost from the start.

Inexperienced boss Hyypia had barely got his feet under the table at the Amex before former Liverpool assistant manager, Sammy Lee, pulled the rug from under his proposed new regime.

Hyypia, not unreasonably, had thought the former no.2 to Rafa Benitez would bring vital experience to his backroom team because the Albion position was only the former Reds central defender’s second managerial job.

Lee, despite accepting the position on 27 June 2014, decided two days later to reject the deal because he’d agreed to become Ronald Koeman’s deputy at Southampton instead.

Hyypia had only been in post three weeks, so, it would be fair to say, Lee’s decision must have been a hammer blow – especially as his first choice for no.2 said ‘no’ too! Jan Moritze Lichte, who’d been at Bayer Leverkusen when Hyypia made his managerial bow – which lasted only nine months – had already declined to join him in the UK for “personal reasons”.

Thus, Hyypia had to rely on two of previous boss Oscar Garcia’s coaching staff, Nathan Jones and Joaquin Gomez, to assist on the coaching side, although his fellow countryman, Antti Niemi, did accept the offer to become goalkeeping coach.

On the playing side, there had been a large turnover of personnel in the wake of Garcia’s departure – and, it emerged, the players coming in weren’t being signed by Hyypia but were the picks of head of football operations, David Burke.

It was always going to be a tough ask to replace Leonardo Ulloa up front – and journeyman Chris O’Grady certainly didn’t provide an answer.

There was a sense of excitement when Hyypia’s Liverpool links saw the arrival on loan of Joao Teixeira, but the number of players only at the club on a temporary basis should have been something of a wake-up call.

The permanent signing of one-time West Ham forward Sam Baldock looked like a sound investment – he’d hit the net regularly enough at Bristol City in the division below – but he found goals hard to come by at the higher level.

As if to highlight the player upheaval and shaky managerial team foundations, Albion lost the first two games of the season, single goal defeats at home to Sheffield Wednesday and away to Birmingham City.

If a 2-0 win away to Leeds United followed by a 2-1 home win over Bolton suggested a corner had been turned, Albion then went on an 11-game winless run.

If he hadn’t been aware beforehand, Hyypia would have quickly realised the calibre of player Burke provided him with fell way short of what was required if the side were going to repeat the previous two seasons’ achievement of finishing in the play-off positions.

Not only was there a lack of consistency in personnel on the pitch, those who were selected appeared to be confused as to exactly how Hyypia wanted them to play.

Andy Naylor tried to analyse Hyypia’s philosophy early on in the season, reporting: “We have already seen 4-1-2-3, 4-1-2-2-1, 4-4-1-1. Hyypia is combining Southern European technical accomplishment in possession and mobility with a more Northern European tempo and directness.

“The width is provided by advanced full-backs, the chances for a narrower strike force by the players who like to operate, in modern coaching speak, ‘between the lines’, exploiting pockets of space in the area dividing the opposition defence and midfield.”

The theory might well have been sound but the practice was found wanting.

Having won only one game in 18 matches, and after only six months in charge, Hyypia resigned shortly before Christmas.

At his last home game in charge – a 1-0 defeat to Millwall – the Albion faithful demonstrated they’d had enough, calling for him to go and, in the North Stand, unfurling a banner making that message loud and clear.

Hyypia himself admitted the atmosphere had been tough to handle but, in an interview with the Argus, had vowed to turn things round.

It was an unseemly end for someone who as a player had been rated one of the best defenders ever to pull on a Liverpool shirt. But Hyypia was by no means alone in not being able to continue the prowess he’d shown on the playing side into management.

Liverpoolway.co.uk charts the player’s career succinctly; a Gerard Houllier signing in 1999, over the course of a decade he collected winners medals across several competitions: the Champions League, the FA Cup (twice), the UEFA Cup, the UEFA Super Cup (twice), the League Cup (twice) and the Charity Shield.

Born on 7 October 1973 in Porvoo, Finland, Hyypia’s football career blossomed with now dissolved Kuusankosken Kumu before switching to MyPa, where he stayed four years, helping them to win the Finnish Cup in 1992 and 1995. He moved to Holland to play for Willem II for four years where for a time his defensive partner was Jaap Staam, who subsequently played for Manchester United. Liverpool signed Hyypia for £2.6m in 1999, ironically following up a tip from a TV cameraman!

After being capped 27 times by Finland under 21s, he earned his first full cap in 1992 and, with 105 caps for Finland, he is second only to Jari Litmanen as his country’s highest capped player.

After his Liverpool playing days came to an end, Hyypia went to play in the Bundesliga for Bayer Leverkusen and two years later joined the club’s coaching staff.

In a rather unusual arrangement, Hyypia and former under19s coach Sascha Lewandoski jointly replaced Robin Dutt as head coach but Hyypia took sole charge in June 2013. He was sacked in April 2014.

After his brief time in charge of Brighton, it was another eight months before he found another head coach role, this time taking charge of FC Zurich in August 2015. But with the club heading for relegation in May 2016, he was sacked.

The Finn has yet to re-appear in the dugout, although he has pulled on his boots again to play for a Liverpool Legends side. It remains to be seen whether he’ll give coaching or management another go, although he told BT Sport in February 2019: “I will coach and manage again one day but not yet. I get some enquiries quite regularly, but nothing has yet been that interesting I would jump into it.”

He added: “I wouldn’t change any decision to go so quickly into coaching. A lot of people said I made a mistake going into it so early, but I learned a lot.

“You learn a lot more from the bad moments than the good moments. Those years when things were not going my way, I learned so much and I am much better and more ready now.”

Why Saint Dan riled the Albion

DAN HARDING was promoted twice with Southampton and once with the Seagulls and later cut short his career because of family tragedy.

Personally, I’m not sure he really need to be cast as ‘public enemy no.1’ because of the way he left Brighton.

With the benefit of hindsight, it was really no surprise that he chose to turn his back on playing at Withdean in favour of Elland Road, Leeds.

OK, the stringing-out of the contract negotiations, and public slanging match that accompanied them, didn’t help matters.

But football careers are short and the Amex was a long way off becoming a reality when Harding decided to opt for pastures new.

“I really enjoyed my time at Brighton but you can’t compare the size of the two clubs or the facilities,” he told the Leeds matchday programme at the time. “It has been like going from one world to another.”

Ironically, it seems his success on the pitch with Brighton, which led to him gaining international recognition, might well have been the unsettling influence.

Former Albion boss Peter Taylor selected him for England under-21s as the 2004-05 season got underway. He made his England debut as a substitute for Micah Richards in a 3-1 win over Ukraine at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, on 17 August 2004. Future full internationals James Milner and Darren Bent were in the same squad.

He started the 8 October 2004 match against Wales at Ewood Park, Blackburn: a 2-0 win courtesy of goals from Milner and Bent. He also started the game four days later when the under 21s drew 0-0 away to Azerbaijan in Baku. His last cap came the following month in a 1-0 defeat away to Spain when he was replaced by Ben Watson. Future Albion loanee Liam Ridgewell was also a substitute in that game.

It was this platform that sowed the seeds of discord, according to former chairman Dick Knight’s take on the circumstances surrounding Harding’s acrimonious departure from the Albion.

In his autobiography Mad Man: From the Gutter to the Stars, Knight reckoned it was while on international duty that Harding was “egged on by his agent about his value after talking to players with bigger clubs, on bigger wages”.

Knight went on: “Early on, I offered him a sizeable contract renewal but he sat on it. He kept saying he wanted to stay, but I don’t think he had any intention of doing so.

“Because he was under 24, we were entitled to compensation. Shaun Harvey, the Leeds chief executive – who became CEO of the Football League in July 2013 – tested me with a couple of paltry sums before finally offering £250,000, which I rejected.”

DH Leeds action 2Via the Football League tribunal system, Knight managed to get the figure up to £850,000, part achievement-based, and with a 20 per cent sell-on clause.

All in all, not a bad return for a player who came through the Albion’s youth and reserve ranks after being spotted at 15 playing for Hove Park Colts.

Born in Gloucester on 23 December 1983, the young Harding loved kicking a football from the moment he could walk and enjoyed watching his dad, Kevan, turn out for the Army team.

The family was posted to Brighton, and Harding was taken to the Goldstone Ground by his mum, Linda. One of his earliest memories was on 23 September 1992 seeing a 17-year-old David Beckham make his Manchester United debut as a substitute for Andrei Kanchelskis in a League Cup tie that finished 1-1.

Harding joined the Albion initially on schoolboy terms for a year and was then taken on as a YTS trainee, progressing through the juniors and reserves before eventually making his first team debut on 17 August 2002, during Martin Hinshelwood’s brief reign, as a substitute for Shaun Wilkinson in a 2-0 home defeat to Norwich City.

After Hinshelwood was replaced by Steve Coppell, and Harding sustained a back injury, the youngster played no further part in the first team picture that season, but he was awarded a new contract in April 2003.

In the first part of the 2003-04 season, Harding was a regular on the bench, but, on 21 February 2004, Coppell’s successor, Mark McGhee, gave him his full debut in place of the suspended Kerry Mayo in a 3-0 win over Bournemouth.

Dan Harding

Harding kept his place through to the end of the season, making a total of 23 appearances, including being part of the side that lifted the divisional play-off trophy at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, as the Seagulls beat Bristol City 1-0.

“In hindsight, it was a very lucky time for me. I broke into a team that was winning games and was promoted,” he told the Daily Echo. “Looking back now, I don’t think I appreciated at the time what a big achievement it was.”

Sent off in only the second game of the following season for two bookable offences, it wasn’t long before his contract discussions were aired publicly, with McGhee telling the Argus in October: “It’s starting to really frustrate me.

“Dan keeps telling us and saying publicly he wants to sign but we cannot tie his agent down to have a meeting with us. He has to be honest with us.”

Harding in turn denied he was being difficult, telling the Argus that talks were ongoing.

The off-field issues certainly seemed to be troubling Harding and McGhee publicly blamed the defender for a 2-0 defeat at Millwall in December. He was also outmuscled by Stoke City’s Ade Akinbiyi in a game at Withdean, leading to a late winner for the visitors. Across the season, McGhee dropped him on four occasions because of such inconsistency.

When he won his place back in February, he told the Argus: “I had to prove not only to the gaffer but to the other players and the fans that I want that position back.

“That’s where I prefer to play. I like to call that my position. I don’t mind playing on the left hand side of midfield or centre midfield, but I do love playing at left-back.

“Hopefully I can reproduce the same sort of form and keep my confidence up. Everyone wants to be playing, so when you are left out it’s a bit of a kick in the teeth. It’s not nice, but you have to pick yourself up and try to get back into the team.”

DH leeds action 1However, the Brighton contract offer was declined and on 7 June that summer, Harding put pen to paper on a deal with Leeds, whose fans were no doubt delighted to read that he used to follow their fortunes when he was a youngster.

“When I lived in Germany, they showed quite a lot of Leeds games on telly and, in a strange way, I kind of ended up supporting them because it was the only football I really got to see out there,” he said.

His dad later took him to a Leeds FA Cup match v Wolves, and he added: “I have to admit I have been a closet Leeds fan. Obviously, I didn’t shout about it when I was playing for Brighton and it’s kind of strange now that this move has happened.”

If Harding doubted the size of the task at Elland Road, he’d only have had to read the comments of manager Kevin Blackwell, often Neil Warnock’s no.2, who was the Leeds manager at the time.

In an article about Harding in the club programme, Blackwell said: “It has been a big transition for him. No disrespect to Brighton, but coming from the scaffolding at Withdean to Elland Road was a big step-up for Dan. He was nervous in the first couple of games, but he has started to settle down.”

He talked about how he needed to cement his place at United, and added: “If he does succeed here, all the doors will be open to him. I have no doubt that once he develops certain aspects of his game and his self-confidence, he will go a long way because he is a real athlete with a great left foot.”

Brighton fans vented their displeasure at how things had turned out every time Harding touched the ball when Leeds entertained the Seagulls on 12 September 2005; a game which finished 3-3. The fact two of Albion’s goals came from crosses on Harding’s flank prompted Blackwell to drop him for the following match.

After only seven games, Harding picked up an injury and, over the course of the season, played just 21 matches for United. In August 2006, the Yorkshire club used the full-back as a makeweight in a deal which took future Albion loanee Ian Westlake from Ipswich to Leeds.

He was a regular at Portman Road for a couple of seasons but, in his third season, manager Jim Magilton deemed him surplus to requirements and sent him out on loan to Southend United. I recall going to a match at Roots Hall and seeing him have an outstanding game against Brighton.

Later the same season, with Ipswich bobbing along in mid-table, Harding seized the chance to join Steve Coppell’s promotion-chasing Reading, and he played in their play-offs defeat to Burnley.

When Roy Keane took over at Ipswich in 2009, Harding was sold to Southampton; manager Alan Pardew’s first signing for the Saints. Harding’s former Albion youth coach, Dean Wilkins, was part of Pardew’s coaching team.

Harding reflected in an interview with the Southern Daily Echo that what followed were the happiest three years of his career, in which he played 121 games and chipped in with five goals.

In 2010-11, he was named in the PFA League One team of the year along with teammates Kelvin Davies, Jose Fonte, Adam Lallana and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

In the harsh and fickle world of football, Brighton fans relished Brighton’s 3-0 win over Southampton at the Amex on 2 January 2012 when Albion winger Will Buckley gave Harding such a torrid time that, to compound his humiliation, the former Brighton player was subbed off by boss Nigel Adkins with five minutes of the first half still to play.

Although part of the Saints side that won promotion back to the Premier League that May, Harding didn’t get the chance to play at the top level because Adkins moved him on to Nottingham Forest.

Harding talked in detail to the Echo’s Paul McNamara about life at Forest, which he found an unstable place, especially when Sean O’Driscoll, the manager who signed him, was sacked.

Although he played some games under that legendary left-back Stuart Pearce, when he took over, Harding eventually went on loan to Millwall, but wasn’t able to help them stave off relegation from the Championship.

He reveals in his interview with McNamara how disillusioned he became with the amount of dishonesty in football and, coupled with his pregnant wife losing two of the triplets she was expecting, he put family before football and, at the age of only 31, dropped down four divisions to play non-league with Eastleigh.

He talked about the tough decisions he’d had to make in an interview before a FA Cup tie Eastleigh played against Bolton Wanderers.

In 2016, Harding joined Whitehawk as a player, then became part of the coaching set-up, and was briefly caretaker manager before the appointment of Steve King.

Leicester lad Matt Heath plugged Albion defensive gap

Heath celebratesDUCK-loving Matt Heath didn’t shirk a challenge and came to Brighton’s rescue in 2009 when injury and suspension decimated Albion’s available defenders.

Albion were fighting for their League One lives and were in between managers when Heath arrived in March to plug a gap caused by Tommy Elphick, Adam Hinshelwood and Adam Virgo all being sidelined.

Experienced former Leicester City central defender Heath joined on loan from Colchester United, signed at the same time as striker Lloyd Owusu, who undoubtedly made more of a noteworthy contribution with some vital goals and his famous ‘raising the roof’ goal celebration.

As well as defensive problems, Albion also had Nicky Forster, Glenn Murray and loan signing Calvin Andrew out injured as they approached a period of games vital to their chances of staying in the division.

On signing the pair, caretaker manager Dean White told the Argus: “The injury situation meant it was vital to bring players in and Matt and Lloyd are two good additions. They certainly strengthen the squad and both have good experience at this level and higher.”

The 6ft 4ins Heath had made 11 appearances for Colchester that season but only one start since the turn of the year.

He played in six games and scored on his debut away to Leyton Orient on 8 March, the game which marked the beginning of Russell Slade’s period in charge of the Seagulls. Ultimately a recurrence of groin trouble brought an end to his brief Albion career.

Ironically, it was Slade’s predecessor at the Withdean, Micky Adams, who’d been Heath’s manager at Leicester, Coventry City and Colchester.

Born in Leicester on 11 January 1981, Heath came through the Foxes academy, made his debut in the 2001-02 season and went on to play 60 first team games for the club, including 17 Premier League games alongside Ricardo Scimeca. During the 2003-04 season, he had an eight-game loan spell with Stockport County.

Heath scors 4 Leic

In 2005, Adams went back to his old club to take Heath to Coventry City for a £45,000 fee. He played 26 games for the Sky Blues in 2005-06 but only eight games the following season and, in November 2006, was loaned out to Leeds United who made the move permanent in January 2007.

Heath relished his time playing under manager Dennis Wise and his assistant Gus Poyet but after playing 50 games for Leeds, Wise’s successor Gary McAllister deemed him surplus to requirements at Elland Road and Heath once again went to play for Adams, this time at Colchester.

He initially joined on loan but then spent five seasons on the Us’ books, making a total of 106 appearances, albeit during his time with them he had a couple of spells out on loan.

One of those was that brief stint at Brighton and the following season he played four games for Southend United.

When his contract was up at Colchester, he switched to Northampton Town, where the manager was one of his old Colchester bosses, Aidy Boothroyd, but he didn’t make any first team appearances and left the club to join non-league Harrogate Town in January 2008 where he made 29 appearances. Next up was Harrogate Railway FC.

However, Heath simultaneously pursued an education role in sport, and he became a course manager and lecturer at Askham Bryan College in York having studied football coaching at the University of East Anglia.

In March 2019, Askham Bryan College announced it was becoming a sports hub for Leeds United, with Heath playing a prominent role.

Heath talked about the importance of former professional players having a plan for life after football in an interview with Non-League Yorkshire.

He said: “I’ve had so many good friends in the pro game and they’re all five years younger than me and I’ve told all of them to do something because you have so much time on your hands when you’re playing pro football.

“I’ve said: ‘Get a qualification or do something because when it all finishes, you either get lucky and fall into something like myself or you’ll be in a place where you’re not sure what to do’.

“I think most of the lads in the pro game don’t realise that it just stops like that.”

In 2015, Heath combined his day job with captaining Northern League – North West Division side Tadcaster Albion and then became assistant manager for two years, working under Billy Miller, who was his boss (head of sports and public services) at Askham before being promoted to a director.

Heath subsequently became a teacher-coach in Leeds’ education department, working with a group of would-be footballer students in Nottingham.

“The kids finish their GCSEs and want to carry on in education and the college provide a programme where they carry on with their education, get a Level 3 BTEC-extended Diploma and we link it alongside training every day and play in the National League as well, ” he explained to Jonathan Waldron of the Colchester Gazette, in a February 2021 interview.

“So the kids get the training, the education and luckily I’ve got a role there where I’m part of both of it, in the classroom and out on the training field as well and matchdays for our college.”

Telling the reporter that he still looks out for the results of all the clubs he used to play for, he added: “It’s nice to reminisce but my family just tell me to shut up if I go on about it!

“I was lucky; dedication and hard work gets you a long way in football and you have to have a bit of a rub of the green, along the way and managers and coaches who take an interest in you and see something and then roll with it a little bit.

“I’m proud of what I achieved.”

Heath college coach

Brighton briefly on the trail of the ‘loansome’ Sam Vokes

‘LOANSOME’ Sam Vokes joined Brighton temporarily on the eve of transfer deadline day in January 2012.

He was 22 at the time and had already had five loan spells away from Molineux since joining Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 2008. Vokes told BBC Sussex: “I need to settle down in my career and it’s a fantastic chance for me to come here and play some football.

“It’s a matter of playing games and, as a striker, scoring goals.”

Vokes had been troubled by injury and had found it difficult to establish himself in the Wolves side. The season before, he had been out on loan at Bristol City, Sheffield United and Norwich, and earlier in the 2011-12 season had scored two goals in nine appearances on loan at Burnley.

Eddie Howe, who’d managed Vokes during his first spell at Bournemouth, had taken him to Turf Moor to partner Jay Rodriguez. But when his deal with Burnley expired in mid-January, Albion boss Gus Poyet stepped in and persuaded him to join the Seagulls.

Vokes was invited to the Amex to watch the side’s FA Cup fourth round tie against Newcastle and, two days after the 1-0 win, put pen to the loan deal.

7188430“I don’t want to sit around – I love playing,” said Vokes. “Brighton have a great way of playing football that is different to a lot of teams in the Championship.”

The young striker told the Albion matchday programme: “I’m a southern boy. I know the area well, and I know what football means to people down here.

“It’s been difficult for me to settle anywhere, moving from place to place on loan, but now I just want to play football. I love the game. I need to play, it’s all I want to do.

“I would like to stay and if all goes well we will see what happens in the summer, but my main aim at the moment is to start playing football again and scoring goals.”

Poyet told the media: “Sam was one of the players we’ve been following for a long time but it’s been difficult to get him.

“The idea was to bring someone who will give us that presence and strength in the air that we don’t have.

“We’ve got the time to explain how we play, and what he needs to do for us. The quicker he adapts, the easier for us. I’m delighted to have him and I hope it works for him.

“He’s been trying to find that place that he can stay for a few years.”

As it turned out, Vokes struggled to dislodge incumbent strikers Ashley Barnes and Craig Mackail-Smith, and he made just seven starts plus five substitute appearances.

SV- BHA stripes

Although he scored on his full home debut in a 2-2 draw v Millwall, he only got two more goals, a last-minute equaliser in another 2-2 draw, at home to Cardiff City, and Albion’s lone strike in a 1-1 draw away to Nottingham Forest.

In July 2012, it was reported Wolves were demanding £500,000 for the player’s signature on a permanent basis, and that Brighton and Burnley were both keen to sign him.

Vokes burnley

Howe had always been keen to get the player back to Burnley and, although officially undisclosed, it’s believed a £350,000 fee took him to Turf Moor where he finally settled down and, over the next seven years, scored 62 goals in 258 appearances.

Born in Southampton on 21 October 1989, Vokes was brought up in Lymington and was a Southampton fan at an early age. He even had a trial with them when he was just 10 but wasn’t taken on.

It was when he was playing football for local sides in the New Forest that he was spotted by Bournemouth and joined them in 2005. He was only 17 when he made his first team debut in December 2006 (in a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest) and although he scored 12 goals in the 2007-08 season, the Cherries were relegated from League One.

Vokes WolvesWolves stepped in to sign him that May and he came off the bench in the opening game of the following season to score an equaliser in a 2-2 draw at Plymouth Argyle. However, Chris Iwelumo and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake were the main men scoring goals as Wolves won the Championship that year, and Vokes’ involvement was mainly off the bench.

With his parent club in the Premier League, Vokes was loaned out to League One Leeds United on a three-month deal, although he only scored once in eight games. One of those matches was against the Albion at Withdean and Vokes recalled picking up his first footballing scar when an Adam El-Abd elbow caught him in the face.

Once Vokes finally settled down at Burnley after his various loan moves, it can’t have helped his cause when the man who signed him quit Turf Moor to return to Bournemouth.

Indeed, when Sean Dyche replaced Howe, his go-to centre forward at first was Charlie Austin, but when Austin was sold Vokes got more of a chance to show his worth alongside Danny Ings.

The partnership that began to evolve surprised Burnley fans who’d wondered whether Vokes was only ever destined to be a bit-part player.

“Everyone was concerned to be honest,” said Tony Scholes on uptheclarets.com. “We’d seen some potential in Ings but there wasn’t much confidence that Vokes could become a regular, goalscoring striker at Championship level.

Burnley Football Club_1st Team head Shots_30/7/15He went on: “Our shortage of strikers was highlighted by the fact that he played the full 90 minutes in all of the first 26 league games that season, but he wasn’t just filling in. He was turning in some outstanding performances, linking up really well with Ings and both were scoring goals aplenty.”

Unfortunately, a cruciate knee injury sidelined him for a lengthy spell and Burnley bought Ashley Barnes from Brighton as they sought to bolster their forward options.

A fit Vokes eventually reclaimed his place and formed a useful partnership with big money signing Andre Gray when Barnes himself was also hit by a cruciate injury.

In the early part of last season, Vokes often found himself on the bench, with Barnes and Chris Wood starting ahead of him, and, in January, he decided to drop back down to the Championship, joining Nathan Jones’ new regime at Stoke City, with former England international Peter Crouch going in the opposite direction.

As is often the way these days, the fee was ‘undisclosed’ but was rumoured to be in the order of £7m, and Stoke offered Vokes a three-and-a-half-year contract.

His popularity at Burnley was reflected in a thoughtful parting message thanking the club and the Clarets fans, in which he said: “You made the club a ‘home’ for myself and all my family and for that I’m eternally grateful.”

He added: “It’s been an incredible journey that we’ve been on over the past seven years, with promotions, relegation, survival and even European football through the Europa League.

“There have been so many highlights and every step along the way has been a joy, but now I am looking forward to a new challenge.”

Dyche, meanwhile, told the Stoke Sentinel: “Sam has been an absolutely fantastic servant, not just as a player but as a person.

“There was a bit of frustration that he hasn’t played as much as he’d like and this presents a fresh challenge, so, with all that factored in, it became a win-win deal.

“We feel we’ve got a good deal financially for the business and Sam has got a fresh chance somewhere different.”

Since July 2021, Vokes has been leading the line for League One Wycombe Wanderers.

Vokes Wales

Vokes may have been born and brought up in England but, thanks to having a grandfather born in Colwyn Bay, he became eligible to play for Wales and has earned more than 60 caps since making his debut in 2008, including their most recent game against Belarus.

A stand-out moment for his adopted country came during the Euro 2016 tournament when he came on as a substitute and (pictured above) sealed Wales’ 3-1 win over Belgium with an 85th-minute goal to reach the semi-finals.

  • Pictures from various online sources.