ONE-TIME Manchester United youth Nehemiah Oriola has been earning rave reviews with Brighton’s under 21s in the season just ending.
The diminutive teenager has got well into double figures scoring for Albion’s second string and earlier in the season made his first team debut.
Oriola was a constant threat in the under 21s’ Premier League 2 play-off final win over his old club at the Amex last Saturday (16 May). Tyler Silsby’s 57th minute goal secured the trophy for the Albion.
Oriola was only 13 when he moved from West Ham to the north west and after three years with Man Utd he switched to the Seagulls in 2023.
After selection as a non-playing sub for first team games at home to Newcastle and away to Manchester United, Oriola went on to make his debut as a late sub for Georginio Rutter when Albion beat Leeds United 3-0 at the Amex on 1 November 2025.
His Albion under 21s coach, Shannon Ruth, said at the time: “He’s a player that possesses a real threat, but he’s also a wonderful team player.
“He’s dangerous in wide areas, he’s dangerous one v one, he can create, he can score, but he’s also got some wonderful teammate traits, where he’ll defend for the team when he has to.
“That gives him a really good chance because he’s an all-rounder, high-level offensively but really reliable defensively.”
In the under 21s 4 May Premier League 2 3-0 win over West Ham, reporter Nick Szczepanik declared: “Oriola was unplayable down the left” and purred: “Oriola was looking the player most likely to open up the visitors’ defence”.
Going for the spectacular
The youngster was given his first team breakthrough at a time when Karou Mitoma and Brajan Gruda were struggling with injuries.
Head coach Fabian Hurzeler told Sussex World Oriola was an “unbelievable talent”, explaining: “That’s what we saw so far, that’s why he was in the squad, because he deserved it.
“He’s part of the first-team environment, he’s doing really well in training, he shows some really good things.
“It’s important for him to adapt to the intensity, but he seems to do it quite smoothly.
“He’s a very good left-footed player, he’s very good one-against-one, he shows good reactions when he loses the ball. We’re very pleased.”
Oriola netted a brace (one a penalty) in a 2-1 under 21s win away to Wolves on 16 February and a month later again scored twice when the side hammered Everton 5-0 in Lancing.
He was also on the scoresheet in a 2-2 draw at Newcastle on 27 February and a 2-0 win at Burnley on 16 March. Those goals led to him being shortlisted for the Premier League 2 player of the month award and The Argus interviewed him in early April 2025.
“The first team are all nice people, they bring you into the group,” he said. “I learned a lot from it and then coming back down to the 21s, it’s trying to just implement that and I feel like I’m developing and improving every day.”
The youngster enjoyed the challenge of taking on the likes of Joel Veltman and Ferdi Kadioglu, telling reporter Brian Owen: “It just feels like it’s a good full-back to go up against, professional, so it’s a good test for me.
“I like the challenge whoever I go against in training, which again helps me develop and improve.”
He added: “Going up against them, they are aggressive and they are smart because they played the game at the highest level. That just allows me to develop and say I could do this better now, or now I’m going to do this.”
Hurzeler, who appreciates the youngster’s ability to play on either wing, told Sussex World: “He’s left-footed, but he can also play on the left wing, he’s quite flexible. He’s very good in coming out of tight and narrow space and good in decision-making.
“There are a lot of things he can improve, but I think it’s very important to not focus too much on the weaknesses he has.
“It’s really important to focus on the strength a player has. To give him an understanding of what he needs to do to play for us.”
Hurzeler added: “It’s about him, I said it to him. It’s about how hard he works, it’s about how humble he stays. What does it mean for him to be in the first-team environment?
“Is it like, all right, I’m satisfied now, or is it more like extra motivation to do more, to invest more, to sacrifice more, to make the next step?
“We support and try to give advice, but it’s a decision every player has to make on their own.”
A regular for United’s under 16s
Born on 11 June 2007, Oriola was on West Ham’s books at a tender age but switched to Manchester United in August 2020.
He featured for United’s under 16s and when still only 15 played once for the under 18s as a substitute in a win over Derby County.
He joined Brighton’s academy in September 2023 and his progress was rewarded with a first professional contract in the summer of 2025.
In a January 2026 article for The Athletic, Hurzeler told reporter Andy Naylor how the ball was in the player’s court with regards the next steps.
“It can go this path or that path, the path for a great career, (or) the path where they might end as a great talent, but not (have) a great career. And this decision we can’t do for them. That’s a decision the players have to do on their own.”
Recognising that road ahead, Oriola told Brian Owen: “Mentality is a big thing, a lot of hard work. Not dwelling on the past and just having the momentum to keep going. And just trying to have that personality; if the team needs someone or if the team needs something, trying to step up.”
THERE’S plenty of FA Cup history between Brighton and Manchester United and a goalkeeper who played for both has his own memories of the competition – not all of them good!
Although Tomasz Kuszczak played 32 league games for United, as a back-up at Old Trafford rather than first choice, he often found himself called upon in cup matches (eight FA Cup, 10 League Cup – including collecting a winners’ medal in 2010 – and 11 European games).
In April 2025, Kuszczak paid a return visit to Old Trafford to watch United’s 0-0 draw with Man City and snapped some selfies watching from the stands and (above) on the pitch with former teammate Darren Fletcher, now in temporary charge at United following the dismissal of Ruben Amorim.
At Brighton, where Kuszczak was the first choice for two seasons, he found the goalkeeping duties reversed for FA Cup ties and he gave way to either Casper Ankergren or Peter Brezovan.
Signing the Polish international for Gus Poyet’s Championship Brighton side was something of a coup and the boss told the club website: “There were clubs in England and abroad interested in Tomasz, but it says a lot for the ambition of this club that he wanted to sign for Brighton.”
Poyet later told The Argus: “When we had the chance, we got him. You don’t have too many chances sometimes to sign this sort of player, so it was very important.”
Kuszczak said one of the reasons he chose to join the Seagulls was because of what he’d seen when playing against them the previous season, while on loan at Watford.
“I was very impressed with the way the team played – it was totally different to the rest of the Championship and more like what I was used to at Manchester United.
“This team likes to pass the ball, they like to create, they are attractive to watch. The way Brighton play is the future of football.
“I had other clubs who wanted to sign me but my heart told me that this was the right choice.”
Kuszczak continued: “I have played Premier League football for eight years, with West Bromwich Albion and Manchester United, and I believe the structure is in place here to join them.
“The manager and coaching staff, the team, stadium, crowds, through to the plans for the new training ground, everything is geared up for playing at the highest level and I could sense that ambition to be a top club straight away.
“The Premier League is where I want to be again and I believe I can get there with Brighton. This club is heading in only one direction, and I want to play my part in helping us get there.”
During his time at Manchester United, five of Kuszczak’s eight FA Cup appearances were in the 2007 competition when United reached the final – although first choice Edwin van der Sar took over between the sticks for that game, when Chelsea won it 1-0.
The 2008 competition certainly wasn’t one Kuszczak remembered fondly. In a quarter-final against Portsmouth at Old Trafford on 8 March 2008, he went on as a sub for the injured van der Sar at half-time, but 30 minutes later was handed a straight red card for fouling Milan Baros.
Rio Ferdinand took over in goal but failed to save Sulley Muntari’s penalty, the only goal of the game.
In 2010, Kuszczak was in goal when League One Leeds United, with Ankergren in goal, pulled off a shock third round win at Old Trafford – United’s first exit at that stage of the competition since 1984 (the year they went into it as holders after beating Brighton in a replay in 1983).
Jermaine Beckford’s 19th minute goal clinched it for the Yorkshire side against a United who had Danny Welbeck playing up front alongside Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney.
There was some consolation the following month when United won the League Cup at Wembley, beating Aston Villa 2-1. James Milner opened the scoring from the penalty spot for Villa, sending Kuszczak the wrong way. But goals from Michael Owen and substitute Rooney clinched it for United.
The following year, Kuszczak was again in goal for United’s FA Cup third round tie at home to arch rivals Liverpool which United edged with an early goal by Ryan Giggs. Liverpool captain Steve Gerrard was sent off just past the half-hour mark for a two-footed tackle on Michael Carrick.
But Anders Lindegaard was chosen ahead of Kuszczak as United marched to the semi-finals, where they were beaten 1-0 by Manchester City. In the fifth round, United only narrowly overcame Crawley Town, who had former Albion ‘keeper Michel Kuipers in goal.
By the time the 2011-12 season came round, Kuszczak had slipped down the list of United custodians, with David de Gea first choice, and Lindegaard and Ben Amos also ahead of him.
In February 2012, Kuszczak was loaned to Championship side Watford, where he made 13 appearances, including that third-to-last game of the season at the Amex, which finished 2-2. Former Seagulls promotion-winner Chris Iwelumo was in Sean Dyche’s Hornets side that day when goals from Troy Deeney and Sean Murray (penalty) put the visitors ahead at half-time and second half replies from Inigo Calderon and Will Buckley, against his former club, ensured a share of the points.
It was on Kuszczak’s release from United in June 2012 that he moved to Brighton.
Born in Krosno Odrzańskie in western Poland on 20 March 1982, the son of a Polish army colonel, Kuszczak grew up in Wroclaw, the city on the River Odra whose Tarczyński Arena was a host stadium for the 2012 Euros.
When he was 11, Kuszczak fancied himself as a striker but soon realised he wasn’t quick enough.
“I was always taller than everyone else, a bit like my father and brother, and I loved climbing, jumping from trees, taking a risk, so the position of goalkeeper seemed idea to me,” he said in a matchday programme interview.
“My father and brother would take shots at me, hard shots as well, and I enjoyed trying to stop them.”
He began his career with one of his country’s top teams, Śląsk Wrocław, and a year after earning his first pay packet at the age of 16 crossed over the border to Germany to play for KFC Uerdingen 05 and Hertha Berlin.
Although he made 87 appearances for the Berlin side’s reserves, he was unable to dislodge ex-Palace ‘keeper Gabor Kiraly and Christian Fiedler to claim a first team spot.
He was capped at under 16, under 18 and under 21 level (14 caps) by Poland and, while never first choice ‘keeper for the senior international side, he made his debut in 2003, in a 4-0 win over Malta, and played 11 times for his country, the last time in 2012. He initially took over from Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek but, invariably, Artur Boruc and Wojciech Szczesny were picked ahead of him.
He moved to the UK in 2004 when Gary Megson signed him for West Brom. He was reserve ‘keeper behind Russell Hoult in his first season at The Hawthorns but managed 28 league appearances when competing for the gloves with the often-injured Chris Kirkland in his second season.
In one of those appearances, against Wigan Athletic in January 2005, he pulled off a spectacular save to deny Jason Roberts which was subsequently voted Save of the Season by Match of the Day viewers.
Four months later he went on for an injured Hoult at Old Trafford after only 19 minutes and he recalled: “I had a fantastic game, saving everything that came my way and we ended up drawing 1-1. It was a game which ultimately got me my move to United.”
Sir Alex Ferguson captured Kuszczak from West Brom
In a somewhat complicated transfer deal, Man U signed Kuszczak in the summer of 2006 in exchange for United’s former Albion loanee, Paul McShane, and young goalkeeper Luke Steele, but the first year of the arrangement was on a loan basis. In five seasons at United, he played a total of 61 games.
After he retired from playing Kuszczak completed a degree in sports journalism and he had already shown his writing ability during his time with the Seagulls, compiling a piece for The Footballers’ Football Column in December 2013 which appeared in the Daily Mail.
Perhaps he also showed his true colours regarding dropping down into the Championship when he wrote: “I miss the Premier League a lot. The idea around moving to Brighton was to get more games and put myself on the market.”
Kuszczak in the thick of it for Brighton against Blackpool
Although he added: “This move was all about giving me the opportunity of playing in the Premier League in the future. I would love to go with Brighton – that’s the aim. We’re ambitious and want promotion.
“It may sound arrogant but my place is in the Premier League. I came to England with West Bromwich Albion and enjoyed my time there, as I did at United. I want to be back in business in front of great crowds.
“I want my friends to be watching me on TV every week and have a chance of challenging the best in the world.”
Kuszczak certainly addressed the issue of more playing time during his two seasons with the Albion, completing 89 appearances across the two successive play-off promotion campaigns, initially under Poyet and then Oscar Garcia.
But within days of Garcia’s resignation after the play-off semi-final defeat to Derby, it was announced Kuszczak was being released.
There were a number of unsubstantiated and colourful reasons as to why he wasn’t retained by Brighton, but Andy Naylor in The Argus said neither Garcia nor his replacement, Sami Hyypia rated his ability with his feet or his distribution skills.
For around six months, Kuszczak was unable to find a new club but then Kenny Jackett took him to Wolverhampton Wanderers where he played 13 games deputising for the injured Carl Ikeme.
Midlands rivals Birmingham City swooped to sign him in the summer of 2015. Even though Harry Redknapp signed Brighton’s David Stockdale as first choice ‘keeper at St Andrew’s in 2017, Kuszczak found himself back in the first team after Steve Cotterill arrived as manager.
He spent four years at St Andrews, finally leaving in 2019 having made 89 appearances for the Blues.
After hanging up his gloves, he returned to Poland and started up his own construction company building houses and apartments.
He also completed his journalism studies and obtained his UEFA A coaching licence. He coached the Polish national team goalkeepers for six months between September 2023 and March 2024.
Kuszczak took a selfie as he watched from the Old Trafford stands in April 2025
INJURY has undoubtedly caused Danny Welbeck to miss more games of football than he would have wished but the game is full of admirers for the longevity of his career.
As Gabby Logan said on Match of the Day, like a good wine, Welbeck seems to be getting better with age. He has scored more Premier League goals per game in his thirties than he did in his twenties or teens.
His 10 Premier League goals for Brighton last season was his best goalscoring campaign in the top flight and in the autumn of 2025 he has already scored two goals apiece against Newcastle and Chelsea, opponents competing in the Champions League.
“I have the passion and love for football,” he told Match of the Day after scoring the pair against Newcastle. “It’s what I want to do. I feel good. I feel strong and fit so I won’t be stopping soon.”
And as BBC Sport reporter Ciaran Kelly pointed out, Welbeck has the knack of scoring crucial goals for the Seagulls: 11 of his last 12 Premier League goals for Brighton have either put the side ahead (eight) or drawn the game level (three).
Welbeck has now played more matches for Brighton than Manchester United, the club he joined aged eight and where he spent 15 years, rising from the club’s academy, making his way through the junior sides and going on to play 142 first team games (90 starts + 52 as sub) between 2008 and 2014.
The 29 goals he scored along the way played a big part in him earning selection for the England national team for whom he collected 42 caps between 2011 and 2018 having also won 42 caps across the various junior England levels. Welbeck netted 16 times for the full England side.
That there have been calls in certain spheres for United to try to take him back to Old Trafford as he approaches his 35th birthday are a mark of the man and the quality he still exudes.
Striker-turned-pundit Tony Cascarino even urged Thomas Tuchel to recall him for England as back-up for Harry Kane. He told talkSPORT: “Welbeck contributes in various ways beyond scoring. His goal tally isn’t huge, but it’s a decent level and, above all, he is an excellent team player.
“I’ve never seen anyone speak ill of his attitude or professionalism. He is truly an exemplary veteran,”
Cascarino added: “Poland still uses superstars like Robert Lewandowski. If a team needs a veteran, I think there’s absolutely no problem calling Welbeck back,”
Graham Potter was in charge when Welbeck arrived at the Albion in October 2020 on a free transfer, signing a one-year contract.
Welbeck scores for Albion at Old Trafford
Potter moved on but in October 2024 he couldn’t speak highly enough of what the player had brought to the Seagulls, in particular as an influence on others.
“Somebody like Danny is a role model. He can teach you how to act, how to be, how to condition yourself and how to interact with your team-mates at the highest level,” said Potter, speaking on BBC Sounds’ Planet Premier League podcast.
“He is a top player and a top person. Credit to the club – they didn’t just recognise that it is about signing young players, it is also about understanding what older players can do for the environment and for the collective.
“To have someone [in your squad] that has been there and done it, and can just handle it well, I think is priceless as a coach.
“If you see what Danny has had to go through, I think he is also a resilient character. He is a good human being, so he doesn’t get carried away too much with the nonsense of football.”
Potter’s successor Roberto De Zerbi was equally effusive. “Great player, great guy,” said the Italian. Speaking in April 2024, when his own Albion future was in doubt, he said of Welbeck: “We have to keep him for a lot of years. He is playing very well and he is important for the young players, for the dressing room.”
A couple of months earlier in the season, De Zerbi’s assistant, Andrea Maldera, told Andy Naylor of The Athletic: “Danny is one of the best teachers on the pitch.
“He is always positive and he is not only a teacher on the pitch. He can speak with a young player when he is eating with them or when he is on the bus.
“He always gives a lot of advice to everybody. He is a big teacher, he has the soul of a teacher. I don’t know what he wants to do in the future in his life, but he is always very clear-minded. On the pitch, it is the same. He doesn’t speak a lot, but he’ll go close to the players, sometimes work a little with them on the training ground.”
Welbeck himself appreciated the influences of more experienced players in his own early days and told BBC Sport’s Simon Stone: “At Manchester United there were lots of players to guide me and give me advice. It meant a lot back then hearing that sort of stuff, listening to people who had been through certain situations and different experiences, who have a lot of knowledge in the game.
“I am always happy to help with the other players. It is pretty easy for them to come and talk to me. It’s nice to pass on a bit of knowledge and experience.”
Born in the Longsight suburb of Manchester on 26 November 1990, Welbeck’s first games of football were played with his older brothers Wayne and Chris when he was just four or five.
Wes Brown, who was already on United’s books, and his brothers lived nearby and the young Welbeck was inspired to follow in Brown’s footsteps.
He actually had a trial for City when he was eight but they didn’t have an age group side for him. It was while he was playing for local side Fletcher Moss Rangers that United seized the opportunity to offer him a two-week trial, and he didn’t look back.
After progressing though the academy schoolboy squads, he made his debut for the youth team in December 2006, debuted for the reserves the following October and was United Young Player of the Year for the 2007-08 season, going on to sign as a professional in July 2008.
On the ball for United
Three months later, Sir Alex Ferguson gave him his first team debut, starting up front alongside Cristiano Ronaldo at home to Middlesbrough in the third round of the League Cup, when United won 3-1.
In November, he went on as a substitute to make his Premier League debut and scored United’s fourth goal in a 5-0 thumping of Stoke City, unleashing a swerving shot from 30 yards.
Welbeck was winning his first significant medal before that season was over after he had started for United in the League Cup final, when they beat Tottenham on penalties at Wembley (although Welbeck had been subbed off 10 minutes into the second half, the BBC match report noting “youngster Welbeck was having a tough time making an impact in the face of the physical presence of Dawson and King”).
He scored twice in eight matches on loan to Preston North End in 2010 and then spent the 2010-11 season on loan to Sunderland, scoring six in 28 matches (23 starts plus five as sub) for ex-United skipper Steve Bruce’s Premier League side.
“He has always had ability but made slow progress because he had a bit of a knee growth problem, so we knew we had to wait for him,” said Ferguson in August 2011. “We put him on loan to Sunderland last season and that is when he became a man. He has grown up.”
Dat Guy (Mancunian slang for The Man), the nickname given to him by former United teammate Ravel Morrison, was part of the 2012-13 Premier League title-winning squad (23 starts plus 17 as sub) which turned out to be Ferguson’s last in the hotseat.
He scored 10 in 24 starts plus 12 as sub under David Moyes, but Dutchman Louis van Gaal preferred to bring in Colombian striker Radamel Falcao and, after only three games at the start of the 2014-15 season, Welbeck was sold to Arsenal for £16m (Ferguson putting in a good word with Gunners boss Arsene Wenger).
Plenty of iconic United names, such as Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes and Bryan Robson, voiced their disapproval of the decision and former coach Rene Meulensteen was adamant Ferguson wouldn’t have sold him if he’d still been in charge.
Meulensteen told talkSPORT: “We were always keen on bringing young players through and giving them a chance. I had him from when he was 8, 9 years of age and I think the best of Danny is yet to come.
“He is a very versatile player and I’m 100 per cent sure he will do very, very well for Arsenal. Danny is a perfect match for Arsenal. He is such a versatile player.
“He is very good in short, creative, combination play, showing for the ball, passing and moving, picking up different positions. At the same time, he has the pace and power to break away if they break from their own half.”
Robson said: “He came through the ranks, he has a great attitude, he’s a great lad.” And Wayne Rooney told The Mirror: “Danny’s great to play alongside. If I’m completely honest, I’d probably like to still see him here, playing for Manchester United.”
Saying United let him go too quickly, Gary Neville added: “He’s actually perfect for how Manchester United should play. Threatening space in behind, playing off front players. This idea that he’s not good enough for Manchester United is absolutely rubbish.”
In a January 2025 interview with the Manchester Evening News, Welbeck remembered: “At the time I was playing on the left-wing a lot and in a 4-4-2, which is very difficult for me because I can’t make an impact on the game.
“I can play it to the best of my ability but that’s not best for the team, and I could make a bigger impact playing in my preferred position.
Welbeck and Ashley Young at United
“You start to have thoughts but at that time you’re still going to training and I was still giving 100 per cent and giving my all in every single game – that’s just me, I’m not going to change that. But you do start to think about what’s best for you.”
Apart from anything else, Welbeck was an established member of the England set-up by then.
He had been on loan at Sunderland when he was first called up to the England senior squad (following the withdrawal of Aaron Lennon) only days after scoring for England Under-21s in a win over Denmark.
Ironically, the opponents at Wembley on 29 March 2011 were Ghana – the country his parents came from – and Fabio Capello sent him on in the 81st minute as a sub for Ashley Young. The game ended 1-1.
He ultimately featured under four different England managers (albeit Stuart Pearce only managed one game) with the majority (29) under Roy Hodgson. His final England game was as a sub for Trent Alexander-Arnold at the 2018 World Cup in a 1-0 defeat to Belgium.
When Welbeck suffered a badly broken night ankle in a Europa League match for Arsenal in November 2018, and was forced to withdraw from the England squad, Gareth Southgate revealed how the squad showed their strong bond with him by placing his photo on a TV they were watching ahead of a Nations League match.
And after he’d left Arsenal in the summer of 2019, but was still recovering from the ankle injury, the FA helped his comeback by allowing him to use all of the facilities he needed at the St George’s Park national centre.
Welbeck nets in the FA Cup against Newcastle
Another illustration of the enduring relationships Welbeck has built during his career came after he’d scored an extra-time winner for Brighton at St James’ Park in March 2025 to book an FA Cup quarter-final against Nottingham Forest.
Ferguson phoned the player after the game, and Welbeck told BBC Football Focus: “He talked about the goal and the performance. He was buzzing and to have that sort of connection, he is a manager who is always looking out for his players, always wants the best for them, and still to this day is in contact.”
At Arsenal, Welbeck played under another great manager and he told the programme: “Sir Alex Ferguson got success in his own way, Arsene Wenger had success in his way. There’s different ways to reach success. Those two managers played a huge part in my life, not just my career.”
• More about Welbeck’s time at Arsenal in my next blog post.
DEFENSIVE midfielder Toby Collyer can genuinely be placed in the ‘one that got away’ category as far as Brighton are concerned.
Worthing-born Collyer excelled as a teenager in Albion’s youth set-up but chose to move on to Manchester United when he was 18.
He has since made it through to United’s first team, getting on as a sub in the last two matches under Ruben Amorim having been blooded by former boss Erik Ten Hag.
After involvement with the first team squad from February 2024 as a non-playing sub, he impressed in pre-season games and played in the Community Shield match at Wembley against Manchester City.
He made his Premier League debut as a half-time substitute for Casemiro when United lost 3-0 to Liverpool at Old Trafford and his first competitive start was in the 7-0 beating of Barnsley in the Carabao Cup, when he played at left-back.
Born in Worthing on 3 January 2004, Collyer’s talent began to be honed when he was only 11 playing for Albion’s under-12s squad.
He attended Angmering School and Ian Gooding, his former teacher, told the BBC: “Toby was the epitome of dedication. Even as a young student, he had an undeniable mentality and drive to succeed in top-level sport.
“His commitment to his studies and football was evident in everything he did.” Gooding said, “It was clear from the beginning that Toby wasn’t just a talented athlete; he was someone who truly wanted to excel and make a mark in the world of sports.”
Collyer made his debut for Brighton’s under-18s just a few weeks after turning 15 and never looked back.
“Even though he didn’t play a great deal at under-16 he still trained,” former Albion under-18s coach Mark Beard told Sussex Live. “You could see he was going to be a top-class player.
“He is a pleasure to coach. He is so low maintenance, what I mean by that is you don’t know he is there. He gets on with his job. He regularly put in displays of 8/10 at the least.
“You want 11 of these type of players in the team. You know what you’re going to get in training, he works hard, he wants to improve, he’s intelligent. He’s a good all-round kid.”
A defensive midfielder happy to tackle and control play from deep, he also showed his versatility by filling in at centre-back with Albion’s under-18s. He also captained England at under-16 and under-17 level, highlighting his leadership qualities and tendency to lead by example.
In an extended interview with the Manchester Evening News, Beard said: “I was made aware of Toby probably from around the age of under-14s. I was the u18 manager and he used to come up and train with us, despite being much younger and I gave him his debut toward the end of his under-15 year. He was always a little bit smaller back then and he seemed to shoot up in height suddenly when he became a scholar.
“Everyone would say he was the best player in the age group every year, but he was just one of them that you hardly noticed. He just got on with his job, there was no trouble and he worked hard.
“He took everything on board like a sponge. There were obviously a few things as he got older that we needed to work on and as he shot up a bit and he needed to redevelop.
“Toby sort of changed the way he played, so different types of passing, defending and he became a real good all-round midfielder once he’d learnt those two of three key areas.”
The coach admired the youngster’s ability to cover left and right from a central position, closing players down and winning the ball. “His ball retention was different class,” said Beard.
“I had such a good team at Brighton, with Evan Ferguson and players like that, and everyone would say Evan was unbelievable, but he’d touch the ball 10 times, score a goal and run about 8km.
“Toby would run around 13km every single game, he’d have 200 touches of the ball and have the best defensive duel win-rate. His stats would be astronomical, honestly, absolutely ridiculous.
“You really don’t get that with many players. He’d be under the radar, but those are the players you want in your team more than anyone else.”
Collyer captained England at under-16 and under-17 level and played 25 games for Albion’s under-18s and under-21s in the 2020-21 season. But he couldn’t agree terms on a new deal at Brighton, after which he was frozen out and given only one game in the 2021-22 season.
The teenager had a successful trial period with United, appearing in a friendly game for the club’s under-23s against Huddersfield Town, and impressed the coaching staff sufficiently to be offered a three-year contract.
There had been no shortage of suitors eager to take him on and Beard encouraged him to join United over the likes of Chelsea and Spurs. As things transpired, he was the first (and only) signing of the Ralf Rangnick era and became a regular in United’s under-18s and under-21s.
Originally given a three-year contract, in July 2024 he had it extended to 2027 with an option to extend to 2028.
Injuries hampered his early days at United but under-21s manager Travis Binnion told the Manchester Evening News: “We’re talking about a really good young player with high potential. “When you have a spell out of the game and have a couple of injuries that stop you playing, it takes a while to get going, but when we signed him, we had no doubts about what he was capable of – he’s a fantastic athlete and effective without the ball.
“Toby is also making great strides with the ball, so we’re talking there about someone who can be really effective in all moments of the game.”
It was in pre-season ahead of the 2024-25 season that Collyer saw action for the first team for the first time, being handed the captain’s armband when part of a complete half-time team change in a 1-0 defeat to Rosenborg in Norway.
He then started the 2-0 win over Rangers before getting another 45 minutes against Arsenal in Los Angeles.
Interviewed by United media’s Sam Carney about his first experience of an overseas tour with the first team, he said: “It’s really, really, really valuable. Everyone wants to be able to play in the first team. So I think getting experiences like this in a stadium like this as well, it’s the top level, and obviously the opposition [was top level] as well today.
“I’m taking everything step by step and hopefully I’ll get many more opportunities to show what I can do.”
Although United lost 2-1 to the Gunners, Collyer said: “I thought I had an okay game. I thought there was a lot of things I could have done better, but it’s great to experience a game like today and I can take it into the next game, and even into training tomorrow.”
United writer for The Athletic, Carl Anka, liked what he saw, observing: “Collyer is a calm operator on the ball, favouring safe, short passes either sideways or backwards, while showing himself capable of occasional long switch passes.
“He is also skilled at receiving the ball on the half turn, letting passes come across his body before swinging his hips around to protect the ball from opponents looking to pressure him.
“Tall, strong and with a good sense of how to delay opposition counter-attacks, there are moments where his play can resemble Declan Rice when he broke into West Ham United’s first-team squad.”
The reporter added: “Athletically gifted, Collyer can cover 20-30 yards quickly — but rather than sprint around with wild abandon in search of the ball, Collyer works to disrupt easy passes inside the opposition half. Collyer’s defensive work centres on blocking off the more obvious passes opponents can make before looking to intercept the ball for his team.”
Interviewed for United’s matchday programme, United Review, Collyer talked about sharing the field with the likes of Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes.
“Without them, I wouldn’t be able to reach the level I’ve got to at the minute. I think as much as I’ve done hard work, they’ve worked hard with me as well to help me and give me tips. It’s massive for me.”
Collyer earned a call up to the England under-20 squad in October 2024, and United’s Binnion said: “He’s a fantastic lad. He’s got a superb attitude and he’s getting what he deserves.”
He was on the bench for United’s 3-3 Europa League draw with FC Porto at the beginning of October but, later that month, was ruled out by injury; reports reckoning he would be sidelined for a month.
Shortly after Ruud Van Nistelrooy took over as manager at Leicester, The Sun reported the former United assistant manager was keen to take Collyer on loan. The newspaper also reported that former Albion midfielder Steve Sidwell had tipped Collyer to be a “shining star just like Kobbie Mainoo.”
Collyer was plunged into the heat of battle as a substitute in United’s dramatic FA Cup third round win at Arsenal on 12 January 2025, and Steven Railston, Manchester United writer for the Manchester Evening News, liked what he saw.
“Toby Collyer made his first appearance under Ruben Amorim against Arsenal and took his chance with both hands,” wrote Railston.
“The youngster was introduced to the game with nine minutes of normal time remaining and deserves praise for the maturity he demonstrated under immense pressure.”
The reporter noted that Amorim chose to introduce Collyer over the more experienced Casemiro, who was available on the bench and wrote: “The 21-year-old embraced the occasion when it was possible to be overawed, seemed to cover every blade of grass and proved to United’s new head coach that he can provide value to the squad.”
WHEN ANDY RITCHIE scored at the Goldstone Ground on 7 September 1996, it was a very different place to the stadium he’d graced as Player of the Year 14 years previously.
Ritchie was in his 20th season as a professional when he scored his 200th career goal for Scarborough against his former Albion teammate Jimmy Case’s Seagulls in a Nationwide Division 3 match.
Just 4,008 hardy souls dotted around the crumbling old stadium supported the Albion that afternoon compared to the sell-out 28,800 crowd who packed in to see Ritchie’s last home match in Albion’s attack when they beat Norwich City 1-0, courtesy of a Case goal, in a quarter-final of the 1983 FA Cup.
Ritchie’s last endeavours in Albion’s colours came a week later and, ironically, were in front of 36,700 at Old Trafford on 19 March 1983 when he had a goal disallowed against the club who sold him to the Seagulls for what at the time was a record £500,000.
The curiosity of that deal was covered in my 2017 blog post about Ritchie and I’ve since discovered how a number of observers were dumbfounded by Dave Sexton’s decision to let him leave United.
That Sexton more often preferred the strike pairing of Joe Jordan and Jimmy Greenhoff baffled football writer Mike Anderson who, after Ritchie’s switch to the Albion, detailed how the departed forward’s numbers were more favourable.
“Since making his debut for United against Everton three seasons ago he has proved himself to be a more consistent marksman than the Scottish international,” wrote Anderson.
“By the end of the 1978-9 season Ritchie had scored 10 goals in only 20 full League appearances, compared with Jordan’s nine goals in 44 games. And when last season finished he had hit 13 goals in 23 full games (plus six substitute appearances), whereas Jordan had taken his tally to only 22 goals in 76 games.”
Anderson’s opinion was shared by Tony Kinsella, writing in When Saturday Comes in November 1997, he described Ritchie as “a muscular whippet of a striker with two scorching feet, a delicious first touch, and a bonce of solid granite”.
Kinsella wrote: “In four frustrating campaigns, Ritchie notched an admirable average of a goal every two games, a somewhat superior rate to his cohorts. In retrospect, I guess Ritchie was in the right place at the wrong time. He possessed more skill than Jordan and cut a more daunting physical presence than Greenhoff, but fell short of both when it came to vice versa.
“Sexton, notorious for fielding sides greyer than a Mancunian sky, had the courage to blood a teenage goalkeeper, Gary Bailey, but got cold feet when dealing with the loose cannon that was Andy Ritchie.”
A young Ritchie at Manchester United
In a lengthy chat for the Fore Four 2 podcast, Ritchie revealed how it was Steve Coppell who took him under his wing as a newcomer to the United first team and ensured he got fixed up with a pension; something Ritchie hadn’t even considered.
And his roommate at United was wandering winger Mickey Thomas, who ended up following him to Brighton and also to Leeds!
While Sexton may have had reservations about Ritchie, plenty of other managers were keen to take him from United. Tommy Docherty, who had first signed Ritchie for the Red Devils, had wanted to take him to Queen’s Park Rangers but he was sacked as Rangers’ manager before a bid was in the offing. Chelsea and Newcastle made inquiries too.
Aston Villa offered United £350,000 for him but, after attending with his dad a face-to-face meeting with the glum-faced manager Ron Saunders, they turned down the move feeling he hadn’t conveyed that he really wanted him.
Ritchie also declared: “United were my home town team and I loved it at Old Trafford.
“It had been my aim since joining the United staff to be a success in their first team. I would have got a large amount of money had I gone to Villa, but I put self-satisfaction before money. I had received a lot of encouragement from the training staff at Old Trafford and I wanted to justify their faith in me by doing well at United.
“I knew that a transfer would mean adjusting to a side playing a different style of football. I felt that I might just as well spend that time proving I was worthy of a place at United where I was part of possibly the best club in the country. Unfortunately, I found myself playing reserve team football again until Brighton came in for me.”
In a 2019 interview with the Albion website, Ritchie remembered: “We always had a good team spirit and we all used to go out together. Everyone played golf and we’d be out in the nightclubs, Bonsoir and others where you had to wipe your feet on the way out.
“Great times, absolutely fantastic. And the spirit transferred itself onto the pitch. I used to joke at Q&As that we had so many great individuals but put us together and we were crap because the social life got in the way of our football. But no, it was a fantastic club to be involved in.”
Ritchie attended a rugby-playing grammar school and played cricket and hockey for Cheshire, only turning to football at 13 or 14. He played for Manchester and Stockport Boys and scored six goals in nine games for England schoolboys under skipper Brendan Ormsby, who went on to play for Aston Villa.
In the 1983 Shoot! album, Ritchie explained: “It was while I was playing for Stockport Boys that I first realised I had a chance of a career as a professional footballer.
“I was selected for the England Under-15 side and played at Wembley Stadium. The first was against Wales. We won 4-2 and I scored a couple of goals. I then scored another when England beat France 6-1. They were great moments for me and my family.
“Appearing for England was definitely the highlight of my young career but I also enjoyed playing for Stockport and in local Sunday football.
“I played for a team called Whitehill, who were sponsored by Manchester City. It was then that I realised I could play for the Maine Road club.
“I had trials with Leeds United, Burnley and Aston Villa, but I only wanted to play for City.”
It was while playing for Stockport Boys v Manchester Boys that former United captain Johnny Carey, scouting for his old club, spotted Ritchie and made an approach.
“I went down to The Cliff (United’s training ground) and never looked back,” he said. “It didn’t take me very long to soak in the atmosphere and appreciate the tradition and name of Manchester United and, in the end, I was quite happy to sign for the Old Trafford club.”
Ritchie was 15 when he put pen to paper, and he turned professional on 5th December 1977.
Handed his first start in United’s first team shortly after his 17th birthday, he played four matches without scoring but had caught the eye of the England Youth selectors. He made four appearances under joint managers Brian Clough and Ken Burton, making his debut in a 3-1 win over France on 8 February 1978. England drew the return leg of that UEFA Youth tournament preliminary match 0-0.
He went with the England squad to Poland for the 31st UEFA Youth tournament in May 1978, played in a 1-1 draw v Turkey and a 1-0 defeat v Spain but a trapped nerve in his hip meant he sat out the 2-0 defeat to Poland that meant England didn’t qualify from their group. That squad included Terry Fenwick and Vince Hilaire, Tony Gale and Ray Ranson.
“The following year I was selected for England Youth again for the Mini World Cup in Austria. Unfortunately, I went over on my ankle in training and could not make the trip,” Ritchie recalled.
Ritchie hoped his move to Brighton might boost his chances of gaining a full England cap, but he ended up winning a solitary England under-21 cap when he was called up by the same Dave Sexton who’d sold him from United! “That really was a bit bizarre,” Ritchie later recalled.
He featured in a 2-2 draw with Poland at West Ham’s Boleyn Ground on 7 April 1982. Fellow striker Mark Hateley scored both England’s goals.
Ritchie in action for Leeds against Brighton
Ritchie’s time with Leeds was something of a mixed bag. The record books show he scored 44 times in 159 matches after he was signed by player-manager Eddie Gray. Playing in the second tier at the time, Leeds still had Gray, Peter Lorimer and David Harvey from the Revie era but Ritchie joined a mainly young side where the likes of John Sheridan, Tommy Wright and Scott Sellars were developing.
As Tony Hill observed on motforum.com: “Much of his time at Leeds was spent in dispute over his contract and for over a year he was on a weekly contract before moving to Oldham Athletic for £50,000 in August 1987.”
It was at Oldham where Ritchie really made his mark, scoring 82 goals in 217 league games (including 30 as a substitute) and helping them reach the League Cup Final and the FA Cup semi-final in 1990 and to win the old Second Division in 1991.
In 2020 the club’s official website declared: “Andy Ritchie is regarded as a club legend at Oldham Athletic and one of the greatest players to play for the club, having served Latics as a player as well as having a spell as manager.”
That goalscoring return to the Goldstone with Scarborough in early September 1996 came a year after he had joined the Seadogs as player coach on a free transfer. It was one of 17 he netted in the league from 59 starts and nine appearances from the bench.
By then a couple of months short of his 36th birthday, thankfully the Seagulls prevailed 3-2 courtesy of goals from Stuart Storer and two from Craig Maskell (the 99th and 100th of his career).
It certainly wasn’t the first time Ritchie had netted against the Seagulls. Twenty months after departing the Goldstone he scored the only goal of the game, tapping in from eight yards out, when Leeds beat the Seagulls at Elland Road.
He also scored for Oldham to knock Albion out of the FA Cup when the Latics won 2-1 in the fourth round on 27 January 1990. In a 1-1 draw at the Goldstone two months later, Ritchie missed a penalty but he made amends the following season scoring home and away against the Albion, netting twice in their 1 December 1990 6-1 thumping of the Seagulls on Oldham’s plastic pitch and scoring both when the Latics left the Goldstone 2-1 winners on 2 March.
He returned to Oldham on 21 February 1997 after Neil Warnock took him to Boundary Park as his player-assistant manager. He scored three times in 32 appearances, many of which were as a sub.
But when Warnock left to join Bury at the end of the following season, Ritchie was appointed as his successor. He managed 179 games, winning 59, drawing 45 and losing 75 with a win percentage of 32.96%.
After being sacked in 2001, he was out of work for three months before being appointed academy director at Leeds at a time when fellow ex-Man Utd player and coach Brian Kidd was head coach under Terry Venables and David O’Leary.
He found himself out of work again in 2003 when Peter Reid took charge but six months later he joined Barnsley, initially as academy manager before becoming first team coach under Paul Hart.
When Hart left Barnsley in March 2005, Ritchie was appointed caretaker manager and then landed the position permanently in two months later.
At the end of the following season, he led the club to a penalty shoot-out win over Swansea City in the League One play-off final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.
But the Championship season was only four months old when Ritchie was relieved of his duties with the Tykes struggling in the relegation zone.
Four months later, he was appointed manager of League One Huddersfield Town and told the club’s website: “There’s such massive potential here.
“There is no doubt that the club is geared up for promotion to the Championship and that has to be the aim now. It’s now a case of getting the players re-motivated and once we get into the Championship, we can reassess the situation.
“I tasted promotion last season and it was a great feeling – now I want to do it again as soon as possible.”
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to steer the Terriers to that goal and, after a 4-1 defeat against his former employers Oldham, he parted company in April 2008.
They won only 22 of his 51 games in charge although they did enjoy their best FA Cup run for 10 years which only came to an end in the fifth round when they were beaten 3-1 by a Chelsea side under Avram Grant that included Wayne Bridge and Steve Sidwell.
After all that, Ritchie returned in a watching brief to where it all began: at Old Trafford.
On matchdays, he worked as an ambassador in a hospitality lounge, and contributed to MUTV and Radio Manchester.
ALTHOUGH I wasn’t even born when Dave Sexton was winning promotion with Brighton, I remember him well as a respected coach and manager.
The record books and plenty of articles have revealed Sexton scored 28 goals in 53 appearances for Brighton before injury curtailed his playing career.
As a manager, he took both Manchester United and Queens Park Rangers to runners-up spot in the equivalent of today’s Premier League and won the FA Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup with Chelsea.
On top of those achievements, he was the manager of England’s under 21 international side when they won the European Championship in 1982 and 1984, and worked with the full international squad under Ron Greenwood, Bobby Robson, Terry Venables, Glenn Hoddle, Kevin Keegan and Sven-Göran Eriksson.
Sexton coached under several England managers
On his death aged 82 on 25 November 2012, Albion chief executive Paul Barber said: “I know Dave was an extremely popular player during his days at the Goldstone Ground and, as a friend and colleague during my time working at the FA, I can tell you that he was held in equally high esteem.
“He was a football man through and through. I enjoyed listening to many of Dave’s football stories and tales during our numerous hotel stays with the England teams and what always came through was his great love and passion for the game.
“Dave was a true gentleman and a thoroughly nice man.”
Former West Ham and England international, Sir Trevor Brooking, who worked as the FA’s director of football development, said: “Anyone who was ever coached by Dave would be able to tell you what a good man he was, but not only that, what a great coach in particular he was.
“In the last 30-40 years Dave’s name was up there with any of the top coaches we have produced in England – the likes of Terry Venables, Don Howe and Ron Greenwood. His coaching was revered.”
Keith Weller, a £100,000 signing by Sexton for Chelsea in 1970, said: “I had heard all about Dave’s coaching ability before I joined Chelsea and now I know that everything said about his knowledge of the game is true. He has certainly made a tremendous difference to me.”
And the late Peter Bonetti, a goalkeeper under Sexton at Chelsea, said: “He was fantastic, I’ve got nothing but praise for him.”
One-time England captain Gerry Francis, who played for Sexton at QPR and Coventry City, said: “Dave was quite a quiet man. You wouldn’t want to rub him up the wrong way given his boxing family ties, but you wanted to play for him.
“Dave was very much ahead of his time as a manager. He went to Europe on so many occasions to watch the Dutch and the Germans at the time, who were into rotation, and he brought that into our team at QPR, where a full-back would push on and someone would fill in.
“He was always very forward-thinking – a very adaptable manager.”
Guardian writer Gavin McOwan described Sexton as “the antithesis of the outspoken, larger-than-life football manager. A modest and cerebral man, he was one of the most influential and progressive coaches of his generation and brought tremendous success to the two London clubs he managed.”
Born in Islington on 6 April 1930, the son of middleweight boxing champion Archie Sexton, his secondary school days were spent at St Ignatius College in Enfield and he had a trial with West Ham at 15. But, like his dad, he was a boxer of some distinction himself, earning a regional champion title while on National Service.
Sexton played 77 games for West Ham
However, it was football to which he was drawn and, after starting out in non-league with Newmarket Town and Chelmsford City, he joined Luton Town in 1952 and a year later he returned to West Ham, where he stayed for three seasons.
In 77 league and FA Cup games for the Hammers, he scored 29 goals, including hat-tricks against Rotherham and Plymouth.
It was during his time at West Ham that he began his interest in coaching alongside a remarkable group of players who all went on to become successful coaches and managers.
He, Malcolm Allison, Noel Cantwell, John Bond, Frank O’Farrell, Jimmy Andrews and Malcolm Musgrove used to spend hours discussing tactics in Cassettari’s Cafe near the Boleyn ground. A picture of a 1971 reunion of their get-togethers featured on the back page of the Winter 2024 edition of Back Pass, the superb retro football magazine.
One of the game’s most respected managers, Alec Stock, signed Sexton for Orient but he had only been there for 15 months (scoring four goals in 24 league appearances) before moving to Brighton (after Stock had left the Os to take over at Roma).
Albion manager Billy Lane bought him for £2,000 in October 1957, taking over Denis Foreman’s inside-left position. Sexton repaid Lane’s faith by scoring 20 goals in 26 league and cup appearances in 1957-58 as Brighton won the old Third Division (South) title. But a knee injury sustained at Port Vale four games from the end of the season meant he missed the promotion run-in. Adrian Thorne took over and famously scored five in the Goldstone game against Watford that clinched promotion.
Nevertheless, as he told Andy Heryet in a matchday programme article: “The Championship medal was the only one that I won in my playing career, so it was definitely the high point.
Sexton in Albion’s stripes
“All the players got on well, but a lot of what we achieved stemmed from the manager’s approach. It was a real eye-opener for me. We were a free-scoring, very attacking side and I just seemed to fit in right away and got quite a few goals. It was a joy to play with the guys that were there and I thoroughly enjoyed those two years.”
Because of the ongoing problems with his knee, he left Brighton and dropped two divisions to play for Crystal Palace, but he was only able to play a dozen games before his knee finally gave out.
“I suffered with my knee throughout my playing career,” said Sexton. “In only my second league game for Luton I went into a tackle and tore the ligaments in my right knee.
Knee trouble curtailed his Palace playing days
“I also had to have a cartilage removed. The same knee went again when I was at Palace. We were playing away at Northampton, and I went up with the goalkeeper for a cross and landed awkwardly, my leg buckling underneath me, and that sort of finished it off.”
In anticipation of having to retire from playing, he had begun taking coaching courses at Lilleshall during the summer months. Fellow students there included Tommy Docherty and Bertie Mee, both of whom gave him coaching roles after he’d been forced to quit playing.
Docherty stepped forward first having just taken over as Chelsea manager in 1961, appointing Sexton an assistant coach in February 1962. “I didn’t have anything else in mind – I couldn’t play football any more – so I jumped at the chance,” said Sexton. “It was a wonderful bit of luck for me as it meant that my first job was coaching some brilliant players like Terry Venables.”
The Blues won promotion back to the top flight in Sexton’s first full season and he stayed at Stamford Bridge until January 1965, when he was presented with his first chance to be a manager in his own right by his former club Orient.
Frustrated by being unable to shift them from bottom spot of the old Second Division, Sexton quit after 11 months at Brisbane Road and moved on to Fulham to coach under Vic Buckingham, who later gave Johan Cruyff his debut at Ajax and also managed Barcelona.
Perhaps surprisingly, Sexton declared in 1993 that the thing he was most proud of in his career was the six months he spent at Fulham in 1965. “Fulham were bottom of the First Division. Vic Buckingham was the manager. He had George Cohen, Johnny Haynes . . . Bobby Robson was the captain. Allan Clarke came. Good players, but they were bottom of the table, with 13 games to go.
“I did exactly the same things I’d been doing at Orient. And we won nine of those games, drew two and lost two – and stayed up. It proved to me that you can recover any situation, if the spirit is there.”
When Arsenal physiotherapist Mee succeeded Billy Wright as Gunners manager in 1966, he turned to Sexton to join him as first-team coach. In his one full season there, Arsenal finished seventh in the league and top scorer was George Graham, a player the Gunners had brought in from Chelsea as part of a swap deal with Tommy Baldwin.
When the ebullient Docherty parted company with Chelsea in October 1967, Sexton returned to Stamford Bridge in the manager’s chair and enjoyed a seven-year stay which included those two cup wins.
In a detailed appreciation of him on chelseafc.com, they remembered: “Uniquely, for the time, Sexton brought science and philosophy to football: he read French poetry, watched foreign football endlessly and introduced film footage to coaching sessions.”
In those days Chelsea’s side had a blend of maverick talent in the likes of centre forward Peter Osgood and, later, skilful midfielder Alan Hudson. No-nonsense, tough tackling Ron “Chopper” Harris and Scottish full-back Eddie McCreadie were in defence.
As Guardian writer McOwan said: “Sexton was embraced by players and supporters for advocating a mixture of neat passing and attacking flair backed up with steely ball-winners.”
I was taken as a young lad to watch the 1970 FA Cup Final at Wembley when Sexton’s Chelsea drew 2-2 with Leeds United on a dreadful pitch where the Horse of the Year Show had taken place only a few days earlier.
Chelsea had finished third in the league – two points behind Leeds – and while I was disappointed not to see the trophy raised at Wembley (no penalty deciders in those days), the Londoners went on to lift it after an ill-tempered replay at Old Trafford watched by 28 million people on television.
Sexton added to the Stamford Bridge trophy cabinet the following season when Chelsea won the European Cup Winners’ Cup final against Real Madrid, again after a replay.
But when they reached the League Cup final the following season, they lost to Stoke City and it was said Sexton began to lose patience with the playboy lifestyle of people like Osgood and Hudson, who he eventually sold.
The financial drain of stadium redevelopment, and the fact that the replacements for the stars he sold failed to shine, eventually brought about his departure from the club in October 1974 after a bad start to the 1974-75 season.
Sexton wasn’t out of work for long after parting company with Chelsea
He was not out of work for long, though, because 13 days after he left Chelsea he succeeded Gordon Jago at Loftus Road and took charge of a QPR side that had some exciting talent of its own in the shape of Gerry Francis and Stan Bowles.
Although the aforementioned Venables had just left QPR to work under Sexton’s old Hammers teammate Allison at Crystal Palace, Sexton brought in 29-year-old Don Masson from Notts County and he quickly impressed with his range of passing, and would go on to be selected for Scotland. Arsenal’s former Double-winning captain Frank McLintock was already in defence and Sexton added two of his former Chelsea players in John Hollins and David Webb.
Sexton said of them: “The easiest team I ever had to manage because they were already mature . . . very responsible, very receptive, full of good characters and good skills. They were coming to the end of their careers, but they were still keen.”
Sexton was a student of Rinus Michels and so-called Dutch ‘total football’ – a fluid, technical system in which all outfield players could switch positions quickly to maximise space on the field.
Loft For Words columnist ‘Roller’ said: “Dave Sexton was decades ahead of his time as a coach. At every possible opportunity he would go and watch matches in Europe returning with new ideas to put into practice with his ever willing players at QPR giving rise to a team that would have graced the Dutch league that he so admired.
“He managed to infuse the skill and technique that is a hallmark of the Dutch game into the work ethic and determination that typified the best English teams of those times.
“QPR’s passing and movement was unparalleled in the English league and wouldn’t been seen again until foreign coaches started to permeate into English football.”
His second season at QPR (1975-76) was the most successful in that club’s history and they were only pipped to the league title by Liverpool (by one point) on the last day of the season (Man Utd were third).
Agonisingly Rangers were a point ahead of the Merseysiders after the Hoops completed their 42-game programme but had to wait 10 days for Liverpool to play their remaining fixture against Wolves who were in the lead with 15 minutes left but then conceded three, enabling Liverpool to clinch the title.
Married to Thea, the couple had four children – Ann, David, Michael and Chris – and throughout his time working in London the family home remained in Hove, to where he’d moved in 1958. They only upped sticks and moved to the north when Sexton landed the Man Utd job in October 1977.
He once again found himself replacing Docherty, who had been sacked after his affair with the wife of the club’s physiotherapist had been made public.
Sexton (far right) and the Manchester United squad
It was said by comparison to the outspoken Docherty, Sexton’s measured, quiet approach didn’t fit well with such a high profile club which then, as now, was constantly under the media spotlight.
The press dubbed him ‘Whispering Dave’ and although some signings, like Ray Wilkins, Gordon McQueen and Joe Jordan, were successful, he was ridiculed for buying striker Garry Birtles for £1.25m from Nottingham Forest: it took Birtles 11 months to score his first league goal for United.
Sexton took charge of 201 games across four years (with a 40 per cent win ratio) and he steered United to runners-up spot in the equivalent of the Premier League, two points behind champions Liverpool, in the 1979-80 season. United were also runners-up in the 1979 FA Cup final, losing 3-2 to a Liam Brady-inspired Arsenal.
As he said in a subsequent interview: “I really enjoyed my time at United. You are treated like a god up there and the support is fantastic. I had mixed success but it’s something that I wouldn’t have missed for the world.
“It’s tough at the top however and while other clubs would have been quite happy in finishing runners-up, it wasn’t enough for Man Utd. That’s the name of the game and I bear no grudges over it at all.”
As it happens, Sexton’s successor Ron Atkinson only managed to take United to third in the league (although they won the FA Cup twice) and it was another seven seasons before they were runners-up again under Alex Ferguson’s stewardship.
But back in 1981, United’s loss was Coventry’s gain and their delight at his appointment was conveyed in an excellent detailed profile by Rob Mason in 2019.
The new Coventry boss saw City beat United 2-1 in his first game in charge
“By the time the name of Dave Sexton was being put on the door of the manager’s office at Highfield Road the gaffer was in his fifties and a highly regarded figure within the game,” wrote Mason. “That sprang from the style of pass and move football he liked to play. His was a cultured approach to the game and Coventry supporters could look forward to seeing some attractive football.”
One of the happy quirks of football saw his old employer take on his new one on the opening day of the 1981-82 season – and the Sky Blues won 2-1! They won by a single goal at Old Trafford that season too, but overall away form was disappointing and in spite of a strong finish (seven wins, four draws and one defeat) they finished 14th – a modest two-place improvement on the previous season.
On a limited budget, Sexton struggled to get a largely young squad to make too much progress but he did recruit former England captain Gerry Francis, who’d been his captain during heady days at QPR, and he was a good influence on the youngsters.
Sexton’s second season in charge began well but ended nearly disastrously with a run of defeats leaving them flirting with relegation, together with Brighton. One of his last league games as City manager was in the visitors’ dugout at the Goldstone. Albion beat the Sky Blues 1-0 courtesy of a Terry Connor goal on St George’s Day 1983 – but it was Sexton’s side who escaped the drop by a point. Albion didn’t.
Coventry’s narrow escape from relegation cost Sexton his job (although he remained living in Kenilworth, Warwickshire) and it proved to be his last as a club manager, although he was involved as a coach when Ron Atkinson’s Aston Villa finished runners up in the first season (1992-93) of the Premier League – behind Ferguson’s United, who won their first title since 1967.
Sexton was happy to be working with the youth team, the young pros and the first team. “Mostly I’ve been concerned with movement, up front and in midfield. Instead of the traditional long ball up to the front men, approaching the goal in not such straight lines,” he explained.
The quiet Sexton had a valid retort to the reporter’s surprise that he should be working in the same set-up as the flamboyant Atkinson. “It’s like most stereotypes,” he said. “They’re never quite as they seem to be. Ron’s got a flamboyant image, but actually he’s an idealist, from a football point of view.
“He’s got a vision, which might not come across from the stereotype he’s got. I suppose it’s the same with me. I’m meant to be serious, which I am, but I like a bit of fun, too. And, obviously, the thing we’ve got in common is a love of football.”
Relieved to be more in the background than having to be the front man, Sexton told Williams: “The reason I’m in the game in the first place is that I love football and working with footballers, trying to improve them individually and as a team.
“So, to shed the responsibility of speaking to the press and the directors and talking about contracts, it’s a weight off your shoulders. Now I’m having all the fun without any of the hassle.”
Atkinson had invited his United predecessor to join him at Villa after he had retired from his job as the FA’s technical director of the School of Excellence at Lilleshall, and coach of the England under 21 team.
It had been 10 years since Bobby Robson had appointed him as assistant manager to the England team (Sexton had coached Robson at Fulham). He had previously been involved coaching England under 21s alongside his club commitments since 1977 leading the side to back-to-back European titles in 1982 and 1984. The 1982 side, who beat West Germany 5-4 on aggregate over two legs, included Justin Fashanu and Sammy Lee, and in a quarter final v Poland he had selected Albion’s Andy Ritchie, somewhat ironically considering he had sold him to the Seagulls when manager at United.
In April 1983, Albion’s Gary Stevens played for Sexton’s under 21s in a European Championship qualifier at Newcastle’s St James’ Park, which was won 1-0. The following year, Stevens, by then with Spurs, was in the side that met Spain in the final, featuring in the first of the two legs, a 1-0 away win in Seville. Somewhat confusingly, his Everton namesake featured in the second leg, a 2-0 win at Bramall Lane. England won 3-0 on aggregate. Winger Mark Chamberlain, later an Albion player, also played in the first leg.
After the Robson era, Sexton worked with successive England managers: Venables, Hoddle and Keegan. When Eriksson became England manager in 2001, he invited Sexton to run a team of scouts who would compile a database and video library of opposition players – a strategy Sexton had pioneered three decades previously.
Viewed as one of English football’s great thinkers, Sexton had a book, Tackle Soccer, published in 1977 but away from football he had a love of art and poetry and completed an Open University degree in philosophy, literature, art and architecture. He was awarded an OBE for services to football in 2005.
Sexton was always a welcome guest at Brighton and here receives a reminder of past glories from Dick Knight
ALEX DAWSON was even younger than Evan Ferguson when he scored a FA Cup semi-final hat-trick.
The bull-like centre forward who broke through at Manchester United in the wake of the Munich air crash wrote his name in football record books on 26 March 1958.
Dawson was just 18 years and 33 days old when he netted three goals in United’s 5-3 win over Fulham in front of 38,000 fans at Highbury, north London. No-one that young has ever repeated the feat.
Eleven years later, Dawson scored twice for Brighton in a Third Division match against Walsall. It was my first ever Albion game. He followed up the two he got in that game with six more in four other games I saw that 1968-69 season. They were enough to sow the seeds of a lifetime supporting the Albion and the burly Dawson, wearing number 9, became an instant hero to an impressionable 10-year-old.
Dawson scored twice v Walsall in 1969
Dawson is no longer with us but the memory of his goalscoring exploits live on amongst those fans of a certain vintage who had the pleasure of seeing him in action.
A man who played alongside him at Wembley in 1958 – Freddie Goodwin – made Dawson his first signing for Brighton, for £9,000, not long after he had taken over as manager in the winter of 1968.
By then, he was plying his trade with Bury. He had left United in 1961 after scoring a remarkable 54 goals in 93 games, including one on his debut aged just 17 (in a 2-0 win over Burnley).
After losing 2-0 to Bolton Wanderers in 1958, another losing Wembley appearance followed six years later. He scored a goal for Preston North End but the Lancastrian side lost 3-2 to West Ham United.
United pair Freddie Goodwin and Alex Dawson were reunited at Brighton
Nevertheless, Dawson was prolific for Preston scoring 132 goals in 237 league and cup games over six years. The purple patch I saw him have for Brighton saw him find the net no fewer than 17 times in just 23 games, including three braces and four in an away game at Hartlepool. That was only one behind top scorer Kit Napier whose 18 came in 49 matches.
Alex Dawson in snow action at the Goldstone Ground
In a curtain-raiser to the 1969-70 season, Dawson scored four times as Albion trounced a Gibraltar XI 6-0 at the Goldstone. But the signing of Allan Gilliver and, in the New Year, young Alan Duffy, began to reduce his playing time. He got 12 more goals in 28 appearances (plus three as sub) but, when Goodwin left the club, successor Pat Saward edged him out.
Even in a loan spell at Brentford he scored seven in 11 games. Greville Waterman, on bfctalk.wordpress.com in July 2014, recalled: “He was a gnarled veteran of thirty with a prominent broken nose and a face that surely only a mother could love, but he had an inspirational loan spell at Griffin Park in 1970.”
Still smiling and scoring goals at Corby
Released by the Albion at the end of the 1970-71 season, Dawson’s final footballing action was with non-league Corby Town, where he didn’t disappoint either.
In his first season at Occupation Road, he finished top scorer with 25 goals in 60 appearances and by the time he retired from playing on 4 May 1974, his tally for the Steelmen was 44 in 123 appearances.
When the curtain came down on his career, Dawson had scored 212 goals in 394 matches – more than one every two games. A true goalscorer.
It was in the wake of the decimating effect of the Munich air disaster that Dawson found himself thrust into the limelight at a tender age.
The crash claimed the lives of eight of United’s first choice team – Dawson’s pals. Youngsters and fringe players had to be drafted into the side to fulfil the remaining fixtures that season. One was Dawson, another was Goodwin.
Thirteen days after the accident, Dawson took his place beside survivors Bill Foulkes and Harry Gregg and scored one of United’s goals as they beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 in the fifth round of the Cup.
He scored again as United drew 2-2 with West Brom in the sixth round, before winning through 1-0 in a replay to go up against Fulham in the semi-final.
Dawson told manutd.com: “In our first game with Fulham (played at Villa Park), Bobby Charlton scored twice in a 2-2 draw, and I was put on the right wing. I was a centre-forward really and, when we played the replay at Highbury four days later, I was back in my normal position.
“Jimmy (Murphy) said before the game: ‘I fancy you this afternoon, big man. I fancy you to put about three in.’ I just said: ‘You know me Jim, I’ll do my best,’ but I couldn’t believe it when it happened.
“The first was a diving header, I think the second was a left-footer and the third was with my right foot.
“It was a long time ago, of course, and it’s still a club record for the youngest scorer of a hat-trick in United’s history. Records are there to be broken and I’m surprised that it’s gone on for over half a century.
“I’m a proud man to still hold this record. Even when it goes, nobody can ever take the achievement away from me.”
While Dawson was my first Albion hero, when he died in a Kettering care home at the age of 80 on 17 July 2020 the esteem in which he was held by others also came to the fore in the tributes paid by each of the clubs he played for.
Born in Aberdeen on 21 February 1940, Dawson went to the same school as United legend Denis Law, but his parents moved down to Hull and Dawson joined United straight from Hull Schoolboys.
Dawson and future Preston and Brighton teammate Nobby Lawton were both on the scoresheet as United beat West Ham 3-2 in the first leg of the 1957 FA Youth Cup Final and Dawson scored twice in the 5-0 second leg win. West Ham’s side included John Lyall, who later went on to manage them.
On redcafe.net, Julian Denny recalled how Dawson once scored three hat-tricks in a row for a United reserve team that was regularly watched by crowds of over 10,000.
After that goalscoring first team debut against Burnley in April 1957, he also scored in each of the final two matches that season (a 3-2 win at Cardiff and a 1-1 draw at home to West Brom) to help United win the title and secure their passage into Europe’s premier club competition.
Obviously, circumstances dictated Dawson’s rapid rise but, with the benefit of hindsight, some say his United career may have panned out differently if he hadn’t been thrust into first team action at such a young age.
He was just short of his 18th birthday when the accident happened. In an interview with Chris Roberts in the Daily Record (initially published 6 Feb 2008 then updated 1 July 2012), he recalled: “I used to go on those trips and had a passport and visa all ready but the boss just told me I wasn’t going this time.
“I had already been on two or three trips just to break me in. I know now how lucky I was to be left in Manchester. The omens were on my side.”
Dawson went on to describe the disbelief and the feelings they had at losing eight of the team, including Duncan Edwards several days later.
“We were all so close and Duncan was also a good friend to me before the accident,” said Dawson. “Duncan was such a good player, there is no doubt about that. He was a wonderful fellow as well as a real gentleman.
“I will never, ever forget him because he died on my birthday, 21 February, and before that he was the one who really helped me settle in.”
Dawson gradually became an increasingly bigger part of the first-team picture at United, making 11 appearances in 1958-59 and scoring four times. The following season he scored 15 in 23 games then went five better in 1960-61, scoring 20 in 34 games.
He was at the top of his game during the last week of 1960 when he scored in a 2-1 away win at Chelsea on Christmas Eve, netted a hat-trick as Chelsea were thumped 6-0 at Old Trafford on Boxing Day, and then scored another treble as United trounced neighbours City 5-1 on New Year’s Eve.
A fortnight later he had the chance to show another less well-known string to his footballing bow…. as a goalkeeper!
It was recalled by theguardian.com in 2013. When Tottenham were on their way to the first ever double and had an air of near-invincibility about them, they arrived at Old Trafford having lost only once all season, and had scored in every single game.
Long before the days of a bench full of substitutes, when ‘keeper Harry Gregg sustained a shoulder injury, Dawson had to take over in goal.
Dawson excelled when called upon, at one point performing, according to the Guardian’s match report, “a save from Allen that Gregg himself could not have improved upon”.
The article said: “Tottenham’s attempts to get back into the game came to nought and Dawson achieved what no genuine goalkeeper had all season: keep out Tottenham’s champions-elect. In the end, there were only two games all season in which Spurs failed to score, and this was one of them.”
Scoring for Preston North End
Tottenham’s north London neighbours, Arsenal, finished a disappointing 25 points behind Spurs in 11th place, but United manager Matt Busby had been keeping tabs on the Gunners’ prolific centre forward David Herd (Arsenal’s top scorer for four seasons), and in July 1961 took him to Old Trafford for £35,000. It signalled the end of Dawson’s time with United.
When the new season kicked off, Dawson had a new apprentice looking after the cleaning of his boots….a young Irishman called George Best. In his 1994 book, The Best of Times (written with Les Scott),
Best said: “Alex Dawson was a brawny centre forward whose backside was so huge he appeared taller when he sat down. To me, Alex looked like Goliath, although he was only 5’10”. What made him such an imposing figure was his girth.
“He weighed 13st 12lbs, a stone heavier than centre half Bill Foulkes who was well over 6ft tall. What’s more, there wasn’t an ounce of fat on Alex – it was all muscle.”
Best’s responsibilities for Dawson’s boots didn’t last long, however, because in October that year, Busby sold the centre forward to Preston for £18,000.
In 1967, Dawson took the short journey to Bury FC where his goalscoring exploits continued with 21 goals in 50 appearances, before he joined Goodwin’s regime at Brighton.
What a career to look back on: Alex Dawson recalling his goalscoring exploits
BRIAN CLOUGH and Peter Taylor were shrewd operators in the transfer market but their first signing for Brighton was a flop.
Possibly panicked into making changes to a side shipping goals at an alarming rate, their spending of £20,000 on Ken Goodeve was money wasted.
The former Manchester United youth captain managed only six appearances and left the club seven months later.
In the autumn of 1973, fresh with a transfer fund previous manager Pat Saward could only have dreamt of, the former Derby County managerial duo bought Goodeve from Luton Town, where he’d struggled for games after leaving Old Trafford.
Clough and Taylor had been less than impressed with the squad they’d inherited at the Goldstone Ground – particularly after witnessing successive capitulations to Bristol Rovers (8-2) and non-league Walton & Hersham (4-0).
As they sought to shape the side with their own players, the first arrival through the door was Goodeve, who would at least have found one familiar face in the dressing room. He and Peter O’Sullivan played in the same Manchester United youth and reserve sides (see programme line-ups below).
In April 1969, they had reached the FA Youth Cup semi-finals where West Brom beat them 5-3 on aggregate, winning 3-2 at home in the first leg and 2-1 at Old Trafford, when it was reported a crowd of 20,000 were watching.
Goodeve and O’Sullivan played in the same United reserve side as the likes of Jimmy Rimmer in goal, John Fitzpatrick, Nobby Stiles and Don Givens.
In April 1970, Goodeve was one of four fringe United players – Givens, Jimmy Ryan and Peter Woods were the others – who were sold to Luton for a combined total of £35,000.
In two seasons at Kenilworth Road, Goodeve captained the Town reserve side but managed only nine appearances, plus six as a sub for the first team.
He was still only 23 when he joined the Albion. He was handed the no.6 shirt alongside Norman Gall for the away game at Tranmere Rovers on 8 December, along with fellow debutant Peter Grummitt, initially on loan from Sheffield Wednesday, in goal.
But neither new boy could halt the slump, as Albion caved in to a 4-1 defeat. Left-back George Ley didn’t play another game for the club after that game at Prenton Park.
Young Steve Piper was drafted in to play alongside Gall in the following match – a 1-0 defeat at Watford – and Goodeve was handed Eddie Spearritt’s no.4 shirt instead.
He retained his place in the side for the Boxing Day clash with Aldershot (when Burnley youngsters Harry Wilson and Ronnie Welch made their debuts) but this time in place of Ronnie Howell in midfield. Again, Albion lost 1-0.
Clough and Taylor continued to chop and change and Goodeve was dropped to the bench for the next four matches, only getting a brief look-in on the action when going on for Welch in the 2-1 home win over Rochdale on 19 January.
John Vinicombe, Albion writer for the Evening Argus, was not impressed. “The chief disappointment so far has been the failure of Ken Goodeve to recapture his Luton form. Goodeve, who started in the back four with Albion at Tranmere, has subsequently appeared in midfield and so far not made his mark,” he wrote.
Goodeve found himself playing in the reserves with a growing band of former first-teamers and, it wasn’t until 25 March that he got another sniff of first team action.
That was when he stood in at right-back for Paul Fuschillo away to Wrexham (0-1) and five days later at York City (0-3). But that was it. After five starts and one appearance as a sub, he didn’t play for the Albion again.
In the close season, he was offloaded to Watford for half the amount Albion had forked out seven months earlier.
At last, at Vicarage Road, he got plenty of playing time under his former Luton teammate, Mike Keen, who had taken over as Hornets manager.
Indeed, in only the second month of the new season, Goodeve was back at the Goldstone in the Watford side beaten 2-0 courtesy of goals by Ricky Marlowe and Welch.
Goodeve in action for Watford against Albion’s Fred Binney
Born in Manchester on 3 September 1950, Goodeve joined United on schoolboy terms in October 1965 and was signed up as an apprentice the following year. In September 1967, he signed a professional contract at Old Trafford.
By the time he departed Old Trafford in April 1970, he’d not managed to make the step up to the United first team.
At Luton, his teammates included John Moore, who’d previously been on loan with Brighton, Barry Butlin, who played five games on loan at Brighton in 1975, and Don Shanks, who was a Mike Bailey signing in 1981.
After the sparse playing time with Brighton, Goodeve played 69 consecutive games for Watford between 1974 and 1976 but a groin strain ended his professional career.
He was able to pursue a non-league career at Bedford Town for five years and was in their 1980-81 side that won the Southern League Cup.
He subsequently played for a number of non-league outfits in the same region, as detailed in this Watford FC archive and ended up as player-manager of Bedfordshire side Wootton Blue Cross between 1993 and 1997.
According to the Hatters Heritage website, Goodeve continued to play football until he was 47 before becoming customer care manager for Galliard Homes in London, commuting from Wootton every day.
WILF TRANTER, who died in July 2021, was one of a number of former Manchester United players to pitch up at Brighton in the 1960s.
He arrived at the Goldstone Ground on 5 May 1966, signed by Archie Macaulay, and made his debut the following day, taking over Derek Leck’s no.4 shirt in a 3-1 defeat at Shrewsbury Town.
A back injury kept him out of action at the start of the 1966-67 season and he had to wait until the end of October to return to the first team, in a home 1-1 League Cup draw against Northampton Town. He must have been thankful to have been a non-playing sub for the replay at Northampton as the Cobblers smashed Albion 8-0 to progress to the fifth round.
Restored to the side for the 5 November 2-0 home win over Oldham Athletic, Tranter settled into a regular slot and, according to the matchday programme, had a run of “rattling good games”.
“Strongly-built Tranter has played his part in our recent recovery and climb up the league table,” it declared. He only missed three games over the following four months, through to the beginning of March.
He then dropped right out of the picture, with Albion flirting dangerously close to the drop, before returning in a much-changed line-up for the last game of the season (a 1-1 draw away to Doncaster) after safety had been secured two games previously, courtesy of a 1-1 home draw against Middlesbrough.
Tranter and fellow defenderNorman Gall
With big money signing John Napier preferred alongside Norman Gall in the centre, and young Stewart Henderson looking to take over the right-back shirt from the ageing Jimmy Magill, there was stiff competition for places in defence.
However, at the start of the 1967-68 season, Tranter made the right-back spot his own and even managed to get on the scoresheet with a goal in Albion’s 3-1 win at Mansfield on 21 October 1967.
The Albion programme said Tranter raced through and caught Town by surprise before hammering home and Evening Argus Albion reporter John Vinicombe described the goal as “a truly splendid effort”. It was Tranter’s only goal for the club. One of the other scorers that day, John Templeman, notched his first for the Albion. Charlie Livesey had opened the scoring.
A familiar face arrived at the Goldstone that autumn when former United midfielder Nobby Lawton joined for a £10,000 fee from Preston North End. Tranter missed only a handful of matches as Albion hovered in mid-table but his time at the club drew to a close with 55 league and cup appearances to his name, plus two as a sub.
His final start for Brighton came in an ignominious 4-0 defeat at Watford on 23 March 1968. He did appear as a substitute for Dave Turner in a 1-1 home draw with Barrow on 27 April but, at the season’s end, he was one of seven players transfer listed.
Maybe if he’d stuck around, his Albion career would have been longer because by the end of that year another of his former United colleagues, Freddie Goodwin, took over as manager, and among his first signings was former Busby Babe Alex Dawson.
But, by then, Tranter was playing for Baltimore Bays in the North American Soccer League (NASL), featuring in 12 matches during a six-month spell alongside former Manchester United inside forward Dennis Viollet. The side was coached by Gordon Jago, later QPR and Millwall manager.
Tranter in action for Baltimore Bays
On his return to the UK in January 1969, Tranter signed for Fulham where he played 23 matches in three years. Among his teammates at Craven Cottage were Barry Lloyd, who later managed Brighton, together with goalkeeper Ian Seymour and midfielder Stan Brown, who both had loan spells with the Albion.
Tranter returned to the UK at Fulham
Tranter was born in Pendlebury on 5 March 1945 and went to St Gregory’s Grammar School, Ardwick Green, Manchester, from 1956 until 1961.
He progressed from his school team to become captain of Manchester Boys and also played for Lancashire Boys before signing apprentice forms with United in September 1961.
Although he was taken on as a professional in April 1962, he had to be content with reserve team football for the majority of his time at Old Trafford. In United’s reserve side, Tranter played alongside Bobby Smith (who also later played for Brighton) and Nobby Stiles in midfield, when George Best was on the left wing.
On 7 March 1964, Tranter got to make his one and only first team appearance for United in a 2-0 win away to West Ham.
A crowd of 27,027 at the Boleyn Ground saw him take Bill Foulkes’ place in the side. While United’s goals were scored by David Herd and David Sadler, by all accounts Tranter did well to quell the threat of Hammers’ striker Johnny Byrne.
Manager Matt Busby rested Denis Law, Best and Bobby Charlton for the game – because United were facing the Hammers in the FA Cup semi-final the following Saturday. The weakened Reds might have won the league game but the back-to-full-strength side lost the Cup semi-final 3-1 in front of 65,000 at Hillsborough.
In the final at Wembley, the Hammers won the cup 3-2, beating Preston North End, captained by the aforementioned midfielder, Lawton. Hammers conceded two goals, one scored by the also-referrred-to Dawson.
After his previous post-Albion stint in the States, Tranter returned four years later and played 14 NASL matches for St Louis Stars. Amongst his teammates in Missouri was John Sewell, the former Charlton, Crystal Palace and Orient defender, who later managed the Stars.
Back in the UK, Tranter dropped into non-league football with Dover Town but in the late ‘70s linked up with fellow former United reserve Smith as assistant manager at Swindon Town.
His time in the County Ground dugout proved eventful in more ways than one.
Towards the end of the 1978-79 season, when Town and Gillingham were both chasing promotion, a fiery encounter at Priestfield in March (when a fan got on the pitch and knocked out the referee!) was followed by an even more explosive encounter between the two clubs in May.
The whole story is told from different angles but Town midfielder Ray McHale, who would later join Brighton, was at the centre of some ugly tackling by the Gills. In the tunnel after the game Tranter was alleged to have made some “unsavoury” remarks which led to someone punching him in the face. He had to go to hospital for treatment.
Two Gillingham players – future Albion coach Dean White and Ken Price – were accused of inflicting Tranter’s injuries but they were subsequently found not guilty at Swindon Crown Court.
The following season, Swindon memorably beat Arsenal in the League Cup after forcing a draw at Highbury, although Tranter was lucky to be at the game. On the eve of the match, he escaped serious injury when his car spun out of control in heavy rain and skidded through a gap in a roadside hedge before landing safely in a field.
After leaving Swindon, Tranter had spells managing non-league sides, notably following in the footsteps of his old United teammate Foulkes by taking the reins at Southern Midland Division side Witney Town.
He then had a season in charge at Banbury United and took over at Hungerford Town between 1992 and 1993. At Hungerford, he is fondly remembered for overseeing the refurbishment of the old changing rooms, leaving a 20-year legacy at the club.
According to the Pitching In title, Tranter eventually left the game to focus on business interests in property and care homes.
His wife Carol died aged 70 in 2016 and Tranter died in his sleep aged 76 on 2 July 2021.
• Pictures from matchday programmes and online sources.
IT LOOKED LIKE the so-near-and-yet-so-far story of Oliver Norwood’s flirtation with the Premier League would end in disappointment.
Twice the former Manchester United reserve helped teams to win promotion from the second tier, only then to remain in that division when the sides he played for didn’t see him as a Premiership player.
It happened first of all with Brighton in their 2016-17 promotion under Chris Hughton.
The following campaign Norwood went on a season-long loan to Fulham and was at the heart of their midfield as they won promotion.
Fulham didn’t look to retain him, though, and for 2018-19 he was once again loaned out by Brighton; this time to Sheffield United.
Halfway through the season, they turned the loan into a permanent transfer and, after helping the Blades to win promotion, Norwood finally got his chance to show his skills in what amounted to an impressive return to the top-flight of English football.
How BBC’s Match of the Day Tweeted Norwood’s record
Born in Burnley on 12 April 1991, Norwood was only six when he first came to the attention of Manchester United, spotted playing for Fulledge Colts in his home town.
“My earliest football memory is being on trial at the Manchester United academy aged six and being totally overawed by it,” he told the Albion matchday programme. “I remember standing there at The Cliff, biting my fingernails, and the coach, Paul McGuinness, saying ‘Are you going to join in?’ After that, I was fine and it was really exciting to be part of the club’s academy.” He joined the Red Devils on schoolboy terms at seven and spent 15 years on their books, playing in the same youth teams as Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard.
During the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, Norwood made appearances for United’s under-18 team and, ultimately, he signed on as a trainee in July 2007.
He became an under-18 regular in 2007-08 and also made his debut for the United reserve side. After netting nine goals in 28 appearances for the under-18s in 2008-09, Norwood was signed as a professional.
He was a reserve team regular in 2009-10 and said he owed a lot to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was in charge of United reserves at that time.
“I owe a lot to Manchester United for the experiences and education I had there,” Norwood told the matchday programme, United Review. “The club taught me not just about football but life. I was taught how to be a good person.
“Ole played a huge role in terms of my development as a footballer and a person. The lessons he taught me in the reserves have stayed with me throughout my career.
“I’ll always be grateful to Manchester United, to Ole, to (former reserves manager) Warren Joyce, for the upbringing they gave me in the game.”
Norwood got a sniff of the first team when Sir Alex Ferguson called him up to the first team squad for a Champions League match away to Wolfsburg. He travelled with the squad to Germany but didn’t get selected in the final matchday 18.
In search of a first team breakthrough, Norwood decided to gain experience on loan with lower league clubs and his first port of call was Carlisle United in September 2010. Ironically, his first match was against Brighton – a 0-0 draw at Brunton Park. Unfortunately, after just five starts and two sub appearances, he tore a thigh muscle and had to cut short his loan and return to Old Trafford for treatment.
The following season, he went out on loan again, this time to League One Scunthorpe United where Alan Knill, Chris Wilder’s no.2 at Sheffield United, was the manager.
In an interview with the aforementioned Joyce, the former reserves manager explained how it was only a change in Norwood’s diet that started to bring about the required improvements to his game.
“I got him to write down everything he ate. And I meant everything. I said, ‘We have to look at your diet and get you absolutely super fit’. I told him we couldn’t allow the ability he had to be wasted.”
Joyce told The Athletic’s Richard Sutcliffe in a 23 June 2020 article: “Once we’d sat him down (after returning from Scunthorpe) and analysed everything, he got himself really ripped. He started eating the right things and worked so hard to get into shape. He is getting the rewards from that now.”
Norwood spent the second half of the 2011-12 season in Coventry City’s unsuccessful effort to beat the drop from the Championship but, having acquired a taste for football at that level, declined the offer of a contract extension on his return to Old Trafford.
He told Talksport at the time: “I want to play every week like I was this season in the Championship. It’s been the hardest decision in my life for me to make but there comes a time when you have to be realistic.”
He opted to join newly promoted Huddersfield Town in the Championship on a three-year contract, and Sutcliffe’s article reveals Norwood was so determined to make the move that he drove down to Heathrow Airport to apprehend holiday-bound Town manager Simon Grayson to persuade him to sign him.
Nevertheless, United boss Sir Alex Ferguson had some encouraging parting words that the midfielder never forgot. “You’re not going to make it at Manchester United, but I believe one day you will play in the Premier League.”
Norwood was a permanent fixture in the Terriers’ midfield for two seasons before switching to fellow Championship outfit Reading at the beginning of the 2014-15 season.
Signed by Nigel Adkins on 21 August, 11 days later he was joined at the Madejski by Glenn Murray, on loan from Crystal Palace.
When the Royals were hammered 6-1 by Birmingham City in mid-December, Adkins was sacked and replaced by Steve Clarke. His second game in charge, on Boxing Day, saw Reading visit the Amex, with Brighton under caretaker manager Nathan Jones. Murray scored twice for the visitors, but Albion rescued a point with a 90th minute equaliser from Inigo Calderon.
Norwood completed the season having made 35 appearances plus seven as a sub and although he made the second highest number of appearances – 50 – the following season, when the Royals visited the Amex on 15 March 2016, under Brian McDermott, their third manager of that campaign, Norwood was a non-playing sub as the Royals lost 1-0 to a James Wilson goal.
The next time the two sides met (a 2-2 draw at the Madejski on 20 August), Norwood was part of Chris Hughton’s squad, having signed for the Seagulls at the start of the 2016-17 season, along with Murray and Steve Sidwell. Norwood was a 68th-minute sub for Sam Baldock.
Manager Hughton said of Norwood: “Oliver is another excellent addition to our squad.
“He has a good grounding coming from Manchester United, and has a wealth of experience playing in the Championship and at international level.
“He’s a box-to-box midfielder and an excellent passer of the ball, so he gives us extra options in midfield and adds further depth to our squad.”
Although he played for England at youth level, he also qualified for Northern Ireland, and chose that country to enable him to experience more opportunities at international level.
Norwood made his full international debut during Nigel Worthington’s time as manager, coming on as a substitute in a 2-0 friendly defeat by Montenegro in Podgorica in August 2010.
He was a regular in Worthington’s successor Michael O’Neill’s midfield when the side qualified for Euro 2016 and played in all four of the team’s matches in the finals in France.
However, having made 57 appearances for his country, he decided in August 2019 to retire from international football when only 28.
Although Norwood made 20 starts for the Albion, he was almost as often used as a substitute, making 17 appearances off the bench, as the Seagulls soared to promotion.
Norwood had a starting berth when Beram Kayal was injured and he told the matchday programme: “This has been a big opportunity for me. The gaffer brought me to the football club and obviously I’ve been desperate to get into the team and play games.
Norwood had plenty to say
“Obviously I understand how football works. When the team’s winning and doing really well you have to bide your time, but an opportunity has come my way and it’s been important for me to grab it with both hands and do all I can to stay in the team.”
It has since transpired that the midfielder was most likely distracted by off-field issues during his season with the Seagulls, as thestar.co.uk reported.
“I went to Brighton after the 2016 Euros, and it was a difficult period in my life,” said Norwood. “My wife, Abigail, was pregnant and really ill, so we were living apart. My head wasn’t fully there.”
He told The Star he only fell in love with football again when he went on loan to Fulham, and subsequently was at loggerheads with Brighton when they didn’t accede to his request for a permanent move. “They said I could leave, but then turned down bids when they came in and started asking for silly things. I don’t think clubs realise sometimes that they’re messing with people’s lives. I had plenty of arguments, saying: ‘You don’t want me here, so let me go’.”
With Dale Stephens and Kayal the preferred central midfield pairing, plus the arrival of Davy Propper for Albion’s first season back amongst the elite, Hughton had been happy to let Norwood join Fulham on a season-long loan.
Norwood made 47 appearances for Fulham in 2017-18, particularly when filling in for the injured Tom Cairney until the Scot’s return from injury towards the end of the season.
His passing accuracy and all-round contribution were favourable, as this footballwhispers.com article assessed, and he proved a vital cog in their promotion via the play-offs when they beat Aston Villa 1-0 in the play-off final.
The website football.london was surprised Fulham didn’t opt to sign him permanently. “Norwood was a key figure under Slavisa Jokanovic, seamlessly plugging the gap left by Tom Cairney as a result of his injury and can be credited with a huge role in getting the club promoted in the first place, with his tackle on Conor Hourihane in the play-off final one that will forever be remembered by Fulham fans,” wrote Phil Spencer. “His vision and incisive passing was key to Fulham’s free-flowing style of play – meaning it was a little surprising that his loan switch to west London was never made permanent.”
Fans have contrasting views about his contribution, as this collection of quotes demonstrates. Some appreciated his ‘Hollywood’ long passes, others are perhaps summed up by this Fulham fan who said: “100% effort every time he played. Honest player. Not stellar but above average.”
Fulham’s loss was Sheffield United’s gain and in wishing Norwood well in his pursuit of more playing time with the Blades, Hughton told Albion’s website: “Ollie was one of our promotion-winning team in 2016-17 and will rightly be remembered as part of that historic team which took the club to the Premier League.”
Critics of Fulham’s strategy of splashing the cash on so-called name players for what proved to be an unsuccessful bid to retain their newly-won status in the Premier League couldn’t help pointing out the irony of Norwood’s situation.
“Fulham could only wave to Norwood on their way back down after ditching him for Jean Michel Seri,” said footyanalyst.com.
The Blades were promoted as runners up behind Norwich City in a season in which Norwood played 43 league games. He told The Observer’s Paul Doyle: “Last season was a big season for me. It was the most I’ve played. I’m definitely a better player now. At everything really. My understanding of the game. Tactically, technically, what needs to be done.”
He told Doyle: “It’s taken a bit longer than I would have liked but it was a dream come true to finally make the level that everybody across the world wants to play at.”
Norwood certainly seized the opportunity to shine at the top level, playing 40 games plus one as sub in all competitions as the Blades confounded the critics by finishing in ninth place, and taking on the captain’s armband in Billy Sharp’s absence.
Pictures from various online sourcesand the Albion matchday programme.
In parallel lines 