Tag: Mark Walton

‘Keeper Kuipers the crowd-pleasing former Dutch marine

The ever-enthusiastic Michel Kuipers celebrates

FORMER DUTCH MARINE Michel Kuipers earned back-to-back promotions with Brighton and Hove Albion and Crawley Town.

He was between the sticks for the Albion when they won promotion from the basement division in 2000-01 and the third tier in 2001-02.

And after 10 years with the Seagulls, during which he made a total of 287 appearances, he spent two years with Crawley where, over 49 matches, he won promotion from the Conference in 2011 and League Two in 2012.

Undeniably, it was Kuipers’ years with the Seagulls that defined his career after an inauspicious start when Micky Adams subbed him off at half-time on his debut away to Southend United. Replaced by Mark Cartwright in that match, he was left out of the next 11 matches before an injury to Cartwright enabled him to win back the shirt. He didn’t look back after that, though, and only missed three more matches as the Seagulls were crowned champions.

Early days between the sticks

Although there were to be plenty of ups and downs over the following years, when he wasn’t always first choice, Kuipers remained a crowd favourite for his agility as a shot stopper and his fanlike celebrations of goals and wins.

“I was a player but I also turned into a fan of the Albion,” he said in an interview with the matchday programme. “On the pitch I would celebrate each goal we scored like I was on the terraces with our supporters.

“After we had a good result in the game, I would celebrate with the players but always expressed my joy and gratefulness to the supporters.”

A sensational double-save in a televised game away to Wolves in November 2002 was a highlight for many and a one-handed reaction stop at Blackpool earned him a ‘save of the month’ award from sponsor Nationwide.

He didn’t always see eye to eye with Mark McGhee, who reckoned his kicking let him down, and the Scot said: “His desire to do well is unquestioned, but I had to make a decision and it was not always one he agreed with.”

McGhee was nonetheless full of admiration for the Dutchman and in a programme for Kuipers’ testimonial match v Reading in 2012, he recounted a specific role he played when Albion’s back-up goalie at the 2004 Second Division play-off final against Bristol City.

“I asked Michel to warm up, but in truth to get the supporters going. I remember him going down to the corner and waving with those huge arms – he absolutely galvanised the support.

“What was brilliant for me was that he did it despite his huge disappointment not to be playing himself – he did it for the team. The rest is history as the fans got behind the team. We got the penalty and went on to win the game.”

Later that evening, the trophy Albion won got bent when someone fell on it: with his bare hands, Kuipers straightened it!

Five years (from 19 to 24) in the Dutch Marines during which he’d parachuted from aeroplanes and learned to survive in harsh conditions, definitely left their mark. His training had taken him into jungles, deserts and the Arctic, but he said: “My love and passion for football was always there. In my spare hours I played for the Marines team.”

Born in Amsterdam on 26 June 1974, as a child Kuipers played football with his mates in front of some garages near the flats where he lived. He recalled they would be told off for hitting the ball against the garage doors, so he went in goal to try to save the ball from making loud bangs every time one of his friends scored.

“I was doing OK, so from that day onwards I played as a goalkeeper,” he said. He played for the local Blauw-wit under six team and went all the way through the age groups to the first team at 18.

A keen Ajax fan as a youngster, his idol was their goalkeeper Stanley Menzo – “one of the best goalkeepers of his generation” – and he also admired Menzo’s successor, Edwin Van Der Sar, who later played in England for Fulham and Manchester United.

Although Kuipers went straight from full-time education into the Marines, he also played part time for AFC Door Wilskracht Sterk (it means Strong Through Willpower) and Kuipers explained: “We won the Amsterdam regional league for the first time in 25 years and this brought me to the attention of Ian Holloway at Bristol Rovers.

“When I was offered a contract by him, I wasn’t sure I could leave the Army, but the officers knew I’d put 110 per cent into my job, so they were happy to release me.”

But in 18 months with Rovers, Kuipers only managed one first team appearance (against Bournemouth in March 1999). Indeed, it was while playing for Rovers Reserves against Brighton at Worthing that he caught the eye of Brighton boss Adams. He jumped at the chance when Albion offered him a trial and he played well enough in a Sussex Senior Cup semi-final against Langney Sports for Adams to persuade him to make a permanent move to the Seagulls with the intention of being back-up to Mark Walton.

When Walton suddenly upped sticks and joined Cardiff before the 2000-01 season had started, Kuipers found himself in the starting line-up for the opening game away to Southend.

Understandably, Kuipers was distraught at being taken off at half time but he knuckled down to try to win back the shirt and said: “If you’re mentally strong and you’ve got good self-confidence and belief then you just fight back and that’s the way I approached it in the following months.”

He credited the work he put in with goalkeeping coaches John Keeley and Mike Kelly, admitting: “They improved my technique and made me more professional.”

Even when Adams left for Leicester, Kuipers remained no.1 under Peter Taylor as the Seagulls soared to a second successive promotion.

Injury meant Kuipers missed the second half of the season when Steve Coppell’s side only just missed out on avoiding an immediate drop back to the third tier.

When Ben Roberts was preferred as first choice goalkeeper, Taylor, by then manager of Hull City, took Kuipers on loan in September 2003.

Albion rebuffed Hull’s attempt to sign him on a free transfer but shortly after his return to Sussex he was involved in a horror car smash on his way to training.

Remarkably, considering he was airlifted to hospital, he escaped serious injury although club physio Malcom Stuart reported: “Michel knows he was very lucky. There’s a degree of shock and he will need time for that to clear his system. Structurally there are no serious injuries, but he’s had several stitches and is very sore and uncomfortable muscularly.”

Manager McGhee added: “My God, we feared the worst. But in a sense it’s an absolute bonus, a miracle – they sent him home with a few cuts and bruises, a swollen face, a sore back and a sore neck, which in a week or two will be fine.”

Nevertheless, it was Roberts who kept his place as Albion won promotion via the aforementioned play-off final win in Cardiff. But in the first half of the 2004-05 Championship season, Kuipers was back in the saddle courtesy of injury to Roberts.

All was fine until a home game v Nottingham Forest on 22 January 2005 when Kuipers came off worse in a challenge with Kris Commons and the shoulder injury he sustained kept him out for the rest of the season. Former Arsenal ‘keeper Rami Shabaan and Southampton loanee Alan Blayney took over the gloves.

New competition arrived in the shape of Aston Villa loanee Wayne Henderson, who took over in goal at the start of the 2005-06 season and with the brief return of Blayney as well as Frenchman Florent Chaigneau as back-up, it seemed Kuipers’ Albion days might be over.

He was sent out on two loan spells at League Two Boston United – initially playing four times in December 2005, then 11 matches between February and April 2006.

With Brighton back in the third tier for the 2006-07 season, and another change of manager when McGhee gave way to Dean Wilkins, Kuipers found himself vying for the jersey with Henderson, who had been signed permanently. Local lad John Sullivan was beginning to emerge too. But there was no keeping a good man down and Kuipers was the ever-present first choice goalkeeper throughout the 2007-08 season.

At that time, he admitted he was still learning ways to improve thanks to goalkeeping coach Paul Crichton and told the matchday programme: “I am very pleased with the progress I have been making under Paul.

“My game has definitely improved and it is great to see the results of hard work on the training ground coming out in games.”

When Adams returned ahead of the 2008-09 season, Kuipers was still in pole position and he famously saved Michael Ball’s penalty when League One Albion beat Manchester City 5-3 on penalties in a second round League Cup tie at Withdean.

Although Sullivan had a run in the side, and Adams’ successor Russell Slade briefly turned to loanee Mikkel Andersen, Kuipers was once again in the box seat come the end of the season.

It wasn’t long after the arrival of Gus Poyet that Kuipers’ time at Brighton finally came to an end. A 2-1 home defeat to Norwich City in February 2010 was his last Albion start as Poyet turned instead to his ‘keeper of choice, Peter Brezovan.

The Dutchman continued his association with the Seagulls through involvement in the Albion in the Community programme and his long service was rewarded with a testimonial game at the Amex (a 1-1 draw v Reading when he played 15 minutes). He told BBC Radio Sussex: “Bar my family, this football club is the closest thing to my heart.

“I’ve been bleeding blue and white for the last 12 years so this is a very proud moment for me and my family.”

He added: “I love the Brighton supporters. They’ve been absolutely fantastic to me and a lot of the times when we had our backs against the wall, they were the 12th man.

“Especially as a goalkeeper, I really appreciate them backing the team. I think people appreciated me because I threw my body on the line for the club.”

Kuipers early days at Crawley saw him making headlines for all the wrong reasons – he was sent off twice in the first month, v Grimsby Town and v Forest Green Rovers – but he was in the Blue Square Bet Premier league side that had a terrific run in the FA Cup, only narrowly losing in the fifth round, 1-0 to Man Utd at Old Trafford in February 2011.

Kuipers’ loyalty was rewarded with a testimonial in 2012

On leaving Crawley in early 2013, he said: “When I joined, the club had finished mid-table in the Conference and I leave challenging for the play-offs in League One.

“The supporters have always backed me and I am really proud of the part I have played in raising the profile of Crawley Town with two successive promotions.

“It’s been a fantastic part of my career and I will always remember my time at the club.”

The final four months of his playing days were spent on the subs bench at Barnet, as back-up to first choice Graham Stack.

In 2020, Kuipers was behind the setting up of the PHX gym at Hollingbury.

Utility man Jamie Campbell a magnet for frustration

JAMIE CAMPBELL played in the top flight for Luton Town and later filled the left-back berth in the opening months of the season when Albion returned to Brighton after two years in exile at Gillingham.

However, by the time Albion won promotion from the fourth tier in May 2000, Campbell was on the outside looking in, Kerry Mayo having taken his place, and he was given a free transfer halfway through his two-year contract.

Campbell had been one of numerous new arrivals brought in by Micky Adams ahead of the 1999-2000 season having been given a free transfer by newly promoted Cambridge United where he had only missed one match in two years.

Although Albion famously beat Mansfield Town 6-0 in the season opener at the Withdean Stadium, subsequent form had some pondering whether it had been a flash in the pan.

Campbell, the only ever-present defender after eight games (three wins, two draws, three defeats), reassured supporters when he told the Argus: “At Cambridge we had some terrible hiccups at the start of the season. It was a new team, the same as Micky has put together here, and it does take time to gel.

“It’s early days yet. There are a lot of points to be played for and it’s a long old season. It’s far too early to start panicking. Let’s give it until Christmas, see where we are, and take it from there.”

In truth, there were few highlights for Campbell to enjoy in his time with the Seagulls. He put through his own net in only his fourth league outing, heading past the recalled Mark Walton at Darlington when filling in at centre back, although Gary Hart subsequently levelled it up.

He did score (left) in the right end to bag the only goal of the game in a Withdean win over Hartlepool on 6 November 1999, but the following month, when Albion were up against it with several players injured, ill or suspended, Campbell got himself sent off after only 25 minutes in a 2-0 defeat at Swansea City prompting Adams to drop him and relegate him to the reserves.

Campbell was shown the red card by Premiership referee Dermot Gallagher after twice sliding in recklessly on Jason Price in the space of just over a minute. He was Albion’s sixth player to be suspended that season.

“Campbell’s stupidity couldn’t have come at a worse time as a flu-ravaged squad had a hard enough task against the eventual Division Three champions without having to play for over an hour with 10 men,” recalled wearebrighton.com.

Campbell clears from Orient’s Martin Ling

Boss Adams, who had already fined Darren Freeman for a red card at Plymouth, told the Argus: “The boy will be disciplined. They’ve got to learn. In wet conditions like that, good defenders stay on their feet, it’s as simple as that.

“Obviously it’s a worry because with small squads in the third division you can’t afford too many sendings-off.”

Having lost his place, things then got worse for Campbell in February of the new century when he had to undergo a hernia operation, dashing any hopes he might have had of winning back a starting place. With Mayo and new arrival Nathan Jones vying for the left back spot, Campbell became surplus to requirements.

He moved on to Exeter City where he was almost ever-present in the 2000-01 season under Noel Blake and was named the Grecians’ player of the year.

Not long into his first season at St James’s Park, he was interviewed by the local paper and compared the situation at City to his experience with Brighton, because Blake, like his former Leeds teammate Adams, had assembled a new squad of players.

“You’ve got to quickly get to know everyone’s strengths and weaknesses so you can gel as a team,” he said. “He (Blake) has got standards and he wants people to believe in them.

“The boss runs things very professionally, he thrives on running the club like a First Division or even a Premiership club.

“And the good thing with the boss is that he admits he is still learning and his door is always free for us to knock on.”

On his return to the Withdean in the red and white stripes of Exeter three days before Christmas 2000 (above), Campbell’s penchant for own goals once again came to the fore when he deflected a Gary Hart effort that was going wide past the City ‘keeper to contribute to a 2-0 win for the Seagulls.

Not long into the 2001-02 season, Blake was replaced by former City player John Cornforth and, although Campbell played 20 games for the Grecians that season, he switched to Conference side Stevenage Borough in March 2002, where he linked up with former Albion players Simon Wormull and Andy Arnott.

The website boroguide.co.uk seems to be singularly underwhelmed by the Wayne Turner signing declaring: “It was perhaps indicative of the poor form that we found ourselves in that Campbell was often a beacon of mediocrity.

“In defence or midfield, the utility player often had little impact; frustration becoming a buzz word when describing JC’s performances.

“So, it was only natural therefore, that he ended up at Woking. Like many other former Boro’ players who didn’t live up to expectations, all roads lead to Kingfield.”

That move took place in February 2003, and he moved on again a year later, to Havant & Waterlooville where he stayed until July 2005, when he retired from playing.

Born in Birmingham on 21 October 1972, he was a trainee at Luton before signing professional in July 1991. He broke through under David Pleat in the 1991-92 season when Town were relegated from the top flight after 10 seasons at that level.

Young Hatter Campbell

 Campbell made four starts plus nine appearances off the bench as the Hatters lost their place amongst the elite. Pleat’s squad also included a young Kurt Nogan and combative midfielder Chris Kamara.

On other occasions Campbell was part of Town line-ups that included one-game Albion loanee goalkeeper Juergen Sommer and Arsenal loanee striker Paul Dickov. The excellent Hatters Heritage website said of him: “Jamie was regarded as a utility man at Kenilworth Road with his versatility meaning that he was used mainly as a substitute, which sadly ensured that he could never claim a permanent position in the Hatters side.” Somewhat ignominiously, the fans podcast We Are Luton Town named the defender in their worst-ever Hatters XI.

When he found first team opportunities were limited at Kenilworth Road, Campbell went on loan to Mansfield Town and Cambridge United and left Luton in July 1995 to sign for Barnet.

During two seasons at Underhill, Campbell featured in 67 league matches (and scored five goals) before moving back to Cambridge on a permanent basis in August 1997.

While playing for the Us, Campbell put the ball in the wrong net but ended up on the winning side in a memorable second round second leg League Cup match in 1998.

Roy McFarland’s basement league United side knocked out Premier League Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 on aggregate, having nicked a 1-0 win at Hillsborough in the first leg.

Campbell for Cambridge tries to block a cross by Albion’s Paul Armstrong

Fan Matt Ramsay recalled: “Jamie Campbell’s freak headed 20-yard own goal summarised the cruel nature the sport can possess as it handed the big guns the initiative.

“Yet just as supporters began to embrace the familiar underdog emotion of consoling each other with the knowledge that at least it was a valiant effort, the magic moment arrived.

“Just as football is cruel when it goes against you, the success brings delirium. As Trevor Benjamin thumped home a right wing freekick to put United back into the lead, and as the final whistle fifteen minutes later heralded a major cup upset, there was proof that there is reward for the eternal hope that all fans of all clubs require.”

Nicky Rust played more than 200 games then quit at 24

IT SEEMS extraordinary that a young goalkeeper who played more than 200 first-team games for Brighton quit the professional game at 24.

Nicky Rust had been one of the country’s elite young players when he graduated from the FA School of Excellence at Lilleshall. Then, at Arsenal, he was coached by the club’s legendary former ‘keeper Bob Wilson and trained alongside England international David Seaman.

But with little likelihood of 18-year-old Rust dislodging the established Seaman any time soon (and Alan Miller as back-up), Arsenal let him go in the spring of 1993. He ended up playing for five different managers in five years with the Albion.

Young Rust found himself picking the ball out of his net after only four minutes of his debut in Albion’s colours. That was on trial on 23 April 1993 away to Norwich City when Albion’s reserves, under Larry May, were looking for their first win in TWENTY attempts!

The Canaries included big money signing Efan Ekoku in their side and he opened the scoring before Rust had even had chance to break into a sweat.

However, a fairly strong Brighton side, including striker Andy Kennedy, returning to action after a back injury, Ian Chapman and Dean Wilkins, equalised with a Wilkins special: a 25-yard free kick that flew into the top corner past Mark Walton, a goalkeeper who would join Brighton five years later. Kennedy won it for the Albion with a cool finish past Walton in the last minute of the game.

Rust’s arrival was as a direct replacement for Mark Beeney, whose £350,000 move to Leeds three days previously had quite literally saved the club from going under (all the money went to pay an overdue tax bill with the Inland Revenue threatening to wind up the Albion).

By the time the summer came round, cash-strapped Albion also let go long-serving ‘keeper Perry Digweed, who’d been with the club for 12 years. So Rust, still only 18, suddenly found himself first choice at the start of the new season.

“I was thrown in the deep end and didn’t have time to think about nerves,” Rust told the Argus in a 2002 interview. “Barry Lloyd brought me in. Obviously, like any youngster, I had aspirations of making it in the Premiership.”

Arsenal boss George Graham was a former teammate of Lloyd’s going back to their days together at Chelsea and that friendship had already helped Albion obtain the services of defender Colin Pates on loan two years earlier (Pates also made a permanent move to the Albion that summer).

“Arsenal were and are a big club,” said Rust. “I had Bob Wilson as a goalkeeping coach and David Seaman was there offering me a lot of good, sound advice. He was a bit like myself in temperament, laid back, and we got on very well. But unfortunately for me it didn’t work out, and I was released. I was pleased Albion wanted me.”

Albion lost their opening two games, 2-0 at Bradford City in the league and 1-0 at Gillingham in the League Cup but two wins and a draw followed. While the side’s subsequent poor form ultimately led to the end of Lloyd’s reign, Rust kept his place when Liam Brady took over and was Albion’s regular no.1 for the next four years, much of which was played out against huge turbulence off the pitch.

“There was a lot of turmoil when I was there and saving our league status was a huge relief and was, in a strange way, one of my highlights,” he said. “The club’s problems were constantly there in the background and we were getting headlines for all the wrong reasons.”

On the pitch, Rust only missed two games in his first three years at the Albion. He equalled a club record for clean sheets with five on the bounce across February and March 1995.

The young goalkeeper had his own place in Portslade and also proved to be something of a landlord for other young players. He welcomed to his home temporarily during their loan spells former Arsenal teammates Mark Flatts and Paul Dickov and, longer term, striker Junior McDougald who had been at Lilleshall at the same time.

“Even though he was ex-Spurs and I was an ex-Gunner we got on really well,” he said. “We came from similar areas. I was from Cambridgeshire and he was from Huntingdonshire.”

Rust played his 100th league game for the Albion away to Bournemouth the day before he celebrated his 21st birthday on 25 September 1995. Teammate Steve Foster celebrated his 38th birthday on the day of the game, which Brighton lost 3-1. “Fozzie was a big influence in the dressing room,” Rust remembered. “He was highly respected and one of the loud characters. I certainly got my ear bent.”

Rust’s 210 games for Albion place him eighth in the list of longest-serving goalkeepers in the club’s entire history. But an injury and loss of form in the 1996-97 season led to him losing his place to local lad Mark Ormerod, who had started the season and was in goal for the final six matches when Albion only just survived dropping out of the league.

Rust had to play a waiting game as Ormerod continued as first choice at the start of the 1997-98 season. Unluckily for him, his chance of returning to the starting XI coincided with his partner having their first child. In November 1997, after only two wins in 15 matches, manager Steve Gritt was planning to rest Ormerod and reinstate Rust for an away game at Hull City.

But Rust’s pregnant partner went into labour and he dashed to be with her for the birth. Typically, Ormerod kept the first away clean sheet Albion had managed for TWENTY months and when he repeated the feat the following Saturday at Hartlepool, they were the first successive clean sheets since Rust’s run of five in March 1995!

Rust had to wait another fortnight, after Ormerod had been beaten twice in a defeat at home to Rotherham, before finally getting his chance to return to first-team duties.

Before long he demonstrated what he was capable of in a game close to home territory, at Peterborough United on 28 December 1997.

Albion were under severe pressure but held on for a 2-1 win and Gritt said: “We showed a great deal of fighting spirit and commitment to overcome their attacks and, on the day, had Nicky Rust in superb form to keep them out when they got through our last line of defence.”

The game was marred by young Darragh Ryan breaking a leg but Jeff Minton celebrated his 24th birthday by scoring Albion’s first goal and substitute Robbie Reinelt added Albion’s second – the first goal he’d scored since that all-important equaliser in the last game of the previous season at Hereford.

It came halfway through a run of 17 league games Rust played that season, the last of which (a 2-0 defeat at Exeter City) coincided with Gritt’s last game in charge.

New boss Brian Horton went with Ormerod and Rust had to watch on from the sidelines, although he did prove quite adept at offering his opinion on matches when drafted in as a summariser for South Coast Radio coverage of games.

The matchday programme noted he had been “doing an excellent job with his inside knowledge whilst, at the same time, earning the respect of his fellow players whose loved ones have been listening at home”.

While admitting he’d rather have been playing, Rust said he enjoyed the commentary banter. “His perception of the game and sense of humour have certainly come through on the air; they have received many favourable comments from listeners,” the programme noted.

However, disillusioned with life as an understudy, Rust chose to leave the Seagulls at the end of that season.

“I had got used to being No.1, but I wasn’t complacent and worked hard to get back in,” he told the Argus. “But it wasn’t the best of times for me.

“Brian Horton called me in one day and said: ‘You’re not in the team, how are you feeling?’ I said I thought I needed a new challenge. He told me not to rush into anything and I waited until the end of the season when I still felt the same way. It was very amicable.”

However, the grass definitely wasn’t greener on the other side. He spent pre-season with Orient but didn’t get taken on and moved to Barnet instead.

On his debut for Barnet, he picked the ball out the back of his net NINE times as the ‘keeper’s new club went down 9-1 at home to Peterborough, the cause not being helped by two Barnet players being sent off, one as early as the ninth minute.

After only two games for Barnet, Rust switched to Conference side Farnborough Town (where former Albion defender Wayne Stemp was playing at the time).

“The trouble was that the only contract Barnet could afford, because of limited finances, was just not enough,” Rust told the Argus. “It just wasn’t viable for me to sign it. I had a young family, my partner Clare, a childhood sweetheart by the way, and baby daughter Eloise to consider. Quite simply, the family came first. I wasn’t prepared to put them at risk by being selfish.” They later had a son, Harrison.

Rust chose to quit the full-time game and went on to run his own building business.

“A lot of goalkeepers go on forever but, in my case, I thought, at 24, that I ought to go out and get a proper job,” he said. “I don’t regret it for a moment.”

He went on to play non-league closer to home with Cambridge City and later helped out with once-a-week goalkeeper coaching.

Born in Ely, Cambridgeshire, on 25 September 1974, his father Alistair was a policeman in Great Shelford, just south of Cambridge, and his mother Corinne ran her own curtain making business. Rust was one of five children: there were three brothers (James, Philip and Thomas) and a sister (Francesca).

From Swavesey Primary School he moved on to Sawston Village College and the promising youngster was chosen for the Cambridgeshire and East Anglia representative sides.

He then gained a place at the FA School of Excellence at Lilleshall. Apart from McDougald, other contemporaries were Kevin Sharp and Jamie Forrester from Leeds United and Tottenham’s Sol Campbell, Danny Hill and Andy Turner.

Rust had trials at Tottenham and Luton Town, and Manchester United showed some interest, but he chose Arsenal as an associated schoolboy. It was the summer of 1991 when he joined them on a full-time basis as a YTS trainee.

The young ‘keeper played for England at under 15, under 16 and under 18 level and after joining the Albion was at one point put on standby for England under 21s.

Andy Arnott’s United dream dashed by injury

A PLAYER who was on the brink of signing for Man Utd for £100,000 ended up playing for the Albion in exile.

But for an untimely hernia injury, Andy Arnott would have been an Alex Ferguson signing at Old Trafford.

As it turned out, the moment passed and the opportunity didn’t arise again. He later made 28 appearances for the Seagulls during the 1998-99 season when home games were played at Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium.

It was a ground Arnott was familiar with. Born in nearby Chatham on 18 October 1973, he joined Gillingham as a trainee and had only served one year of his apprenticeship when he was taken on as a professional.

Manager Damien Richardson gave him his debut for the Fourth Division club only four games into the 1991-92 season when he was just 17.

It couldn’t have gone better because he scored the Gills’ opening goal in a 2-0 home win over Scarborough.

This was a Gillingham side that included summer signing Paul Clark, who had been part of Alan Mullery’s successful Brighton side in the late 1970s, and Mike Trusson, who’d won promotion from the Third Division with the Seagulls under Barry Lloyd. A young Richard Carpenter was also breaking through.

Arnott scored three goals in 23 appearances by the season’s end although one goal and two appearances against Aldershot were later expunged from the records because the Shots were expelled from the league.

Nonetheless, the youngster’s emergence hadn’t gone unnoticed higher up the football pyramid and the offer of the chance to join United came along, ostensibly so that he could feature in their youth team’s involvement in the end-of-season Blue Star youth tournament in Zurich.

This was the era of the famous ‘Class of 92’ and Arnott found himself playing alongside David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.

“After impressing during his spell with United, Ferguson made a £100,000 offer to Gillingham which was turned down by the then manager Damien Richardson,” Albion’s matchday programme noted.

In action for Gillingham against Albion’s Nicky Bissett

The player then suffered a hernia injury that put him out of the game for a year, putting paid to any further interest from United.

“I was gutted at the time, but it was a case of just getting on with returning to fitness and playing football,” Arnott said.

Back at Gillingham, he played 50 matches and scored 12 goals but then, in January 1996, got a £15,000 move to Leyton Orient. He spent a season and a half with the Os under manager Pat Holland and played in every position to help out the team, including goalkeeper in one emergency.

Arnott played under Micky Adams at Fulham

In the summer of 1997, after Fulham’s promotion from Division Three under Micky Adams, Arnott moved to Craven Cottage for an undisclosed fee (thought to be £25,000).

Within a few months, Mohammed Al Fayed took over the club and sacked Adams.

“All of a sudden Fulham went from being an ordinary Second Division outfit to a multi-million pound club,” he said. “I felt sorry for Micky as he had done a fantastic job, but he did foresee what was coming and sorted out long term contracts for most of the players.”

The new management duo of Ray Wilkins and Kevin Keegan brought in their own players and Arnott found himself confined to the reserves with the likes of Mark Walton, winger Paul Brooker, and forward Darren Freeman.

He scored twice for Fulham Reserves in a 3-0 win over Albion’s reserve side on 21 October 1998, and that persuaded Brian Horton to take him on.

“A few clubs had shown an interest around that time, but Brighton were the first that I spoke to and I liked what I was hearing so I signed straight away,” he said.

Horton signed him by the end of the same month for £10,000, plus another appearance-related £10,000, and said in the matchday programme he was “absolutely tremendous” on his debut. It came in a 1-0 win in pouring rain at Barnet when Charlton loanee defender Emeka Ifejagwa scored the only goal of the game on his debut. “He (Arnott) and Jeff Minton forged a good partnership and I am looking for that to flourish,” said Horton.

In his player-by-player commentary of performances, programme columnist Paul Camillin said: “Brilliant debut. He showed a good array of passing skills and he might have the bite we’ve been lacking.”

It was the wrong kind of bite he displayed in only his fourth game, though, when he was shown a red card in the 55th minute of Albion’s 2-0 win at Horton’s old club Hull City.

Defender Ross Johnson also went for an early bath for a second bookable offence but Albion’s nine men hung on for 35 minutes to complete their fourth successive away League win: the best such run for 62 years!

There’s little doubt Arnott’s arrival coincided with an upturn in the side’s form and in the matchday programme he took time to praise Albion’s loyal followers. “It is a fantastic advantage to have the number of away supporters we do,” he said. “It makes you want to play that little bit more to give them something back. They are absolutely magnificent.”

Arnott and Jamie Moralee

In the absence of Gary Hobson and Ian Culverhouse, Arnott was given the captain’s armband although that discipline was a bit questionable at times. He saw red for a second time, after Jeff Wood had taken over from Horton, for a second bookable offence at home to his old club Orient – Os captain Dean Smith (manager of relegation-threatened Leicester) also went for a second yellow – although Wood and Orient boss Tommy Taylor both slammed referee Rob Styles for his officiating.

Man of the Match

Wood declared: “Too many officials want to stamp their authority on the game early and flash cards like they are going out of fashion.”

Although Arnott saw out the season in the starting line-up, when his old boss Adams took over from Wood, by the time the new season got under way back in Brighton, Adams had signed Paul Rogers and Charlie Oatway as his preferred midfield pair.

By the end of September, Arnott had been snapped up by Second Division Colchester United; initially on loan and then permanently when their new boss Steve Whitton completed a direct swap that saw Warren Aspinall join the Seagulls.

However, Arnott made only four starts plus eight appearances off the bench in that first season and his time with United was blighted by a long-standing groin injury.

“The whole thing has been an absolute nightmare. I have been struggling with the injury for 14 months and despite loads of rest, two operations and four cortisone injections, the problem is as bad as ever,” he told Colchester’s Daily Gazette in January 2001.

“I was really struggling just before Christmas and I visited the specialist who told me I’m pretty near to exhausting my options.

“When it’s at its worst the injury is unbearable, especially when I turn or attempt to hit a long ball.

“I’m still only 27 with what should be many years left in the game.”

Unfortunately, though, he was forced to call time on his professional playing career and dropped into non-league initially with then-Conference side Stevenage, then Dover Athletic, where he was captain, Welling United and Ashford Town.

After his playing days were over, he settled in Rochester and became a project manager for Dryspace Structures while retaining his football links as a coach for Ebbsfleet United’s under 16 team.

Confrontation was seldom far away in Micky Adams’ career

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“He thought I had stitched him up,” said Adams. “I told him that I wanted him to stay. We talked it through and, at the end of the meeting, we seemed to have agreed on the way forward.

“I thought I’d reassured him enough for him to believe he should stay on. But he declined the invitation. He obviously wasn’t happy and attacked me verbally. I did have to remind him about the hypocrisy of a member of the Wilkins family having a dig at me, particularly when his older brother had taken my first job at Fulham.

“We don’t speak now which is a regret because he was a good mate and one of the few people I felt I could talk to and confide in.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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