CHARLIE OATWAY’S colourful life story has often appeared in the media and he now uses it to try to persuade wayward youngsters back onto the straight and narrow.
Brighton supporters of a certain vintage will remember a promotion-winning tenacious midfielder and captain who went on to be a coach at the club (see my 2018 blog post).
How he turned his life round was the subject of a book, Tackling Life, and, after injury brought a premature end to his professional playing career, he initially worked in the Albion in the Community scheme alongside former teammates Guy Butters and Danny Cullip.
He became first team coach under Gus Poyet in 2009 and followed the Uruguayan and assistant manager Mauricio Taricco to Sunderland, AEK Athens, Real Betis and Shanghai Shenua.
But he didn’t follow Poyet to French Ligue 1 side Bordeaux, popping up instead to help out his former Albion in the Community mentor, Dr Alan Sanders, who had become director of education, sport and health for Charlton Athletic Community Trust.
It was Sanders who Oatway had first turned to for advice at Brighton at the age of 30, subsequently going on to enrol on an adult literacy course to help with reading and writing.
At Charlton, Oatway delivered football courses for the community scheme, and shared his experiences with schoolchildren in south east London.
Sanders subsequently became chief executive at the Russell Martin Foundation, and Oatway joined as a relationships manager. Adopting the title of his book, Oatway’s Tackling Life programme aims to try to return to education young people between 11 and 14 who have dropped out of the system.
Dyslexic Oatway had a troubled childhood growing up in Shepherd’s Bush in a family where criminality was commonplace, and he didn’t attend school from the age of 14. He told the Safeguarding and Child Protection Association: “A lot of these kids are going through what I went through.
“They get to know me and my background. The things I’ve done, the things I haven’t done and then I can start to get through to them a bit.”
An integral part of the foundation’s offer, Oatway shares his personal experiences and imparts invaluable life lessons via interactive sessions, workshops, and mentoring, Topics he covers include resilience, self-belief, teamwork, and making responsible choices.
“The kids we deal with, any sort of authority, such as police or social workers, teachers, headmasters etc, they don’t tend to engage with. I try to break that down for them.”
The Southampton manager’s foundation works with 30 schools across Sussex, including all 10 secondary schools in Brighton and Hove, to build the confidence and skills of young people struggling with mainstream education.
“I get sworn at less by the kids than I used to by Gus,” said Oatway, who nonetheless always spoke highly of Poyet when standing in for the boss on occasional media duties.
For example, under scrutiny at Premier League Sunderland, Oatway responded angrily to criticism from former Black Cats chairman Niall Quinn, telling the Daily Express: “Gus works so hard on a daily basis. Even if he chooses to part company with me tomorrow, I’d still say the same about him.
“We all know how tough this job was when we got here, but the players and the gaffer have managed to do it, so he deserves a pat on the back and a little more respect.”
Sunderland successfully avoided relegation under Poyet and during the battle Oatway gave a typical rallying call: “Life’s a fight. You either stand up and be counted in everything that you do or you sink.”
GUS POYET’S penchant for speaking out cost him his job at Brighton and AEK Athens.
“There is a reason they nicknamed Poyet ‘Radio’: always on, always talking, especially when it comes to football,” wrote Sid Lowe, in The Guardian.
While the exact reasons for his departure from the Albion in 2013 were never made public, there was speculation that it revolved around him talking openly about his desire to move on moments after the Seagulls had lost a Championship play-off match against arch rivals Crystal Palace.
“I’ve not been in this situation before but I don’t like it,” Poyet said after the game. “It’s changed my view completely about everything I was prepared for, so we’ll see now. I have always said that all the time we keep improving I am going to be at this club and the day we hit the roof, I’m not. Is there something more?
“Right now I don’t know, so I need to make sure I know there is, because if not I am not going to stay forever.”
Poyet was suspended by the club three days later, along with the assistant manager Mauricio Taricco and first-team coach Charlie Oatway, with them only saying they were launching an internal inquiry.
Andy Naylor in the Argus of 17 May 2013 reckoned the suspensions related to “numerous alleged breaches of contracts” pointing out: “Poyet refused to deal with the retained list, announced by the club earlier in the day.
“He told the squad at a meeting at The Amex on Tuesday he would not be involving himself with players’ contracts, because they were not his decisions and he might not be the manager next season.
“Players leaving and staying at the end of their contracts were dealt with instead by chairman Tony Bloom and head of football David Burke.”
At the time, Poyet’s name was being mentioned as a potential successor to David Moyes at Everton, and Martin Jol’s position at Fulham was not thought to be secure.
In the Argus, Naylor wrote: “During his post-match press conference he demanded assurances from Bloom he would have enough money to continue improving the team after their promotion near-miss.
“Those remarks are not, however, thought to be instrumental in the action taken by the club. Poyet’s relationship with Bloom and other senior figures has deteriorated in recent weeks.
“The Uruguayan almost joined Reading in March and his decision to stay only papered over the cracks.”
Naylor observed that Poyet’s previously “wide-ranging powers” had been reined in since the appointment the previous year of chief executive Paul Barber, who was on the board at Spurs when Poyet lost his job as assistant to Juande Ramos.
“It became an open secret within the Amex that Poyet would leave at the end of the season, irrespective of how Albion fared in the play-offs,” he said.
The following month Poyet claimed he was sacked while live on air doing punditry for the BBC although the club maintained he knew full well that he wouldn’t be returning to the job he had been doing for three and a half years.
Announcing his sacking on the club website, a statement read: “This followed his suspension, an investigation, and a subsequent formal disciplinary process. In line with the club’s own procedures, and UK employment law.”
Wind on the clock three years to April 2016 and, after only five months in charge of AEK Athens, Poyet was labelled “immoral” by the Greek club’s owner, Dimitris Melissanidis for telling the Greek media he would be leaving the club at the end of the season. Sounds familiar?
A Reuters report of 20 April 2016 maintained: “Speaking to the media on Tuesday, a day ahead of AEK’s Greek Cup semi-final second leg match against Atromitos, Poyet further angered the club by revealing details of a private meeting he had held with Melissanidis.
“What he did was unacceptable, it was not the appropriate time to unsettle the team just hours before the semi-final,” Melissanidis told reporters.
“AEK has never leaked any information from any of our meetings with him and for him to talk to the press about the contents of our meeting is immoral.”
Local media reported Poyet had been fired and would not be in the dugout for the match against Atromitos.
“AEK was informed of Gus Poyet’s decision that he will not stay with the club after the summer on Tuesday evening,” the club said.
“The important thing for AEK at the moment is the crucial semi-final with Atromitos, all of the other issues will be seen to after the match.”
After losing his job at Sunderland seven months previously, Poyet took over from Traianos Dellas in Athens in October 2015 on a deal until the end of the season, with the option to renew for another two years. Taricco and Oatway joined with him.
All smiles as Poyet arrives at AEK as manager
At the time of his appointment Poyet said: “I know that I have come to a huge club and I’ve been astonished by the reception that I have received.
“Our goal is to play to win every game, starting with the derby against Panathinaikos on Sunday (it finished 0-0), and maintain contact with the top positions.”
The ‘Yellows’ picked up a string of impressive results under Poyet but speculation about his future was never far away. In December 2015 he was linked to the managerial vacancy at Swansea City (following the departure of Garry Monk), prompting AEK to make a public declaration.
“We have not been approached by Swansea, there is no need for us to be approached and no propositions have been made from Swansea,” said a club spokesman. “Mr Poyet is happy at the club and will be our manager at least until the end of the season.”
AEK ended the regular season in second behind champions Olympiakos, although points were deducted for crowd trouble and they eventually finished third.
On his personal website, Poyet records that he led AEK Athens to the semi-finals of the Greek Cup and they won the three biggest derbies in the country against Panathinaikos, PAOK and Olympiakos over a month and a half. After he left, they went on to win the Greek Cup.
A month after his departure from Athens, Poyet was installed as head coach at Spanish La Liga side Real Betis, from Seville, on a two-year contract.
He subsequently managed in China, France and Chile but returned to Greece in February 2022 as the head coach of the country’s national team.
At one point it looked like he might return to Greece before then. It seemed all had been forgiven when, in September 2019, word had it that Poyet was lined up to return to AEK as the successor to the departed Miguel Cardoso.
However, agonasport.com said: “All of the signs seemed to be pointing towards Poyet returning to AEK as manager, but reports have now revealed that negotiations have reached a dead end. AEK are not willing to match the Uruguayan’s financial demands.”
TALENTED defender Grant Hall has suffered plenty of slings and arrows in a career that might not have got off the ground but for the influence and encouragement of former Albion captain Danny Cullip.
When he got a second chance at Brighton, he seized it, made it to the first team, was signed by Tottenham Hotspur and is still playing tier two football more than 10 years later.
In one of those strange quirks of football, Neil Warnock, the manager who signed Cullip for Sheffield United, made Hall his first signing when he took charge at Middlesbrough.
Warnock infamously dumped Cullip within three months of signing him for the Blades but he was a lot more complimentary about Hall, who had faced his demons at one of Cullip’s old clubs, QPR.
“Grant is a smashing lad and I’m sure the fans will really take to him,” Warnock told Boro fans after signing him in July 2020.
Born in Brighton on 29 October 1991, Hall was with the Albion as a schoolboy but was released when he was 16. That’s when he went to play for non-league Lewes where Albion’s former captain was seeing out the remaining days of his career.
“He (Cullip) was a massive influence on me,” the young defender told Albion’s matchday programme. “Danny talked to me every time I played. He gave me advice on what to do and he never had a go at me, which might not have helped me as a youngster. He was always positive and encouraging me.
“He was a great pro when he was playing so was a great person to be mentored by.”
Together with input from another former pro, Anthony Barness, and manager Kevin Keehan, Hall said: “I felt their belief and that gave me confidence and I became a better player. They helped me so much; I owe a massive thanks to them.”
The changed Hall brought Albion’s director of football Martin Hinshelwood back to his door with an invitation to return to the club two years after he’d left.
Hall was part of a hugely successful development squad under youth team coach Luke Williams, and eventually made it to the first team, joining Gus Poyet’s squad for training over Christmas 2011.
Although a centre back by preference, his debut was at left-back as a second-half substitute for assistant manager Mauricio Taricco in a memorable New Year’s 3-0 win over 10-man Southampton at the Amex. Saints’ Rickie Lambert was shown a red card and Matt Sparrow scored two belting goals for the Albion.
“I’ve waited a long time but it’s a great feeling to have finally made my debut,” said Hall. “Obviously there were a few nerves as I was getting my shirt on but once you step onto the pitch you just block everything out.
“You are just so focused on your game that you can’t even hear the crowd but I really enjoyed the experience.”
Hall did well enough to be given his full debut the following Saturday in the FA Cup against Wrexham, although Poyet couched his words of praise carefully after the youngster put in a composed display, suggesting certain representations on Hall’s behalf were not welcome.
“I would stay calm if I was anyone connected to Grant,” he said. “He played for half-an-hour against Southampton when we were eleven v ten, and then 90 minutes against Wrexham, with all respect to Wrexham, so we’ll see.”
Albion fans liked what they saw though, with correspondent ‘4everaseagull’ saying on the Argus discussion forum: “Hall’s performance was very assured against Wrexham and he looked very comfortable. For me he was MoM. He didn’t miss a header all game, and his positional play and passing were excellent. It really showed how important it is for all the respective teams at the club to play the same way. Feet on the ground for Hall but what a great prospect.”
Hall played alongside versatile Frenchman Romain Vincelot against the Welsh Conference side but there was plenty of competition at centre back with captain Gordon Greer usually featuring alongside Adam El-Abd, and a rookie Lewis Dunk beginning to emerge. Steve Cook, also 20, had returned from a loan spell at Bournemouth to help out during an injury crisis but he soon departed to Dean Court on a permanent basis, joining Tommy Elphick whose own Albion progress had been blighted by a serious injury.
Whatever had narked Poyet in January resurfaced when Hall rejected a three-year deal offered by Albion before his contract expired at the end of June. Hall chose to join Spurs instead, although Poyet was baffled and, in a convoluted but contorted way, went public with his criticism of the youngster’s move.
“The only disappointing side with Grant Hall is that what he told us was the reason for not signing a contract was not true,” Poyet told the Argus. “He didn’t accept our contract for a reason but that reason is not happening.
“There was a clear reason he gave us as to why he did not want to stay here. I know what he said and it’s not happening, so it’s disappointing, no doubt.”
Albion clearly felt Hall had a future, and with the seven substitutes rule coming in it was felt his chances of being involved in the first team squad were pretty good.
Nevertheless, Poyet added: “Sometimes we try to advise players knowing the game, but my point of view is probably not the same as the player’s point of view. I just wish him well. I hope he can make it and can be playing at the highest level.
“I am not against him. He made a decision, nothing else, but I think it’s important to know the reason.”
While Hall went straight into Tottenham’s academy team and made his debut in a 2-1 friendly victory over Kingstonian, Albion began a drawn out wrangle over compensation, which was due because Hall was still under 24.
It wasn’t until the following January that Albion finally reached an undisclosed settlement with Spurs to prevent it going to a tribunal.
Hall featured in Spurs’ under 21 side from the start of the 2012-13 season but in three years on their books, he didn’t make a first team appearance. He had three loan spells away from White Hart Lane – at League One Swindon Town under the aforementioned Luke Williams – and at Birmingham City and Blackpool, both in the Championship.
In 2015 he made a permanent move to Queens Park Rangers, signed by former Albion full-back Chris Ramsey who had coached him at Tottenham.
“He’s an old-fashioned defender who can head the ball, tackle and he doesn’t mind putting his foot in when he needs to,” said Ramsey. “But he can play as well from the back, and that’s what we’ll be looking to do when the opportunities present themselves this season.
“He’s still a young boy and centre-half is a very responsible position, but he’s got experience in the Championship and that’s vitally important for us.”
Hall won the supporters’ Player of the Year award in his first season but suffered a serious knee injury towards the end of the 2016-17 season.
He started drinking heavily because he couldn’t cope with the pain of tendonitis in his knee, and two years later spoke out about the mental health issues he went through.
Hall encouraged others to talk about such problems in the way he did after he broke down in a meeting with QPR director of football Les Ferdinand and then manager Steve McLaren.
Ferdinand put him in touch with the Professional Footballers’ Association and he was able to understand that it was OK to speak about his issues.
“I had a really good conversation with them and they helped me understand that it’s okay to speak about your mental health. No-one is going to judge you for it and opening up about your mental well-being is a strength and not a weakness,” he told qpr.co.uk. “It was exactly what I needed. It felt like a huge release, a weight off of my shoulders and it allowed me to re-focus and start to look after myself again.”
Explaining how things unravelled, Hall said: “I went from a place where life was perfect, I had a great relationship with the QPR supporters and everything was going right on and off the pitch. Then all of a sudden everything seemed to come crashing down. It was a huge reality check for me and I now realise that you can never anticipate what is around the corner in life.”
Hall managed to turn that corner and worked hard to restore his fitness to the extent that he featured in 30 matches during the 2019-20 season. “Deep down it’s just a relief for me to be playing football again,” he said.
But after 128 appearances across five years at Loftus Road, where he had become club captain, he was unable to agree a new contract with QPR in the summer of 2020 and upped sticks at the age of 28 to become Warnock’s first signing at Middlesbrough.
“I’ve known Grant for a few years now,” said Warnock. “Everyone knows I’m looking at the spine of the team, and he’s the right fit for what we need.”
Unfortunately, not for the first time in his career, injury sidelined him for several of those early months on Teesside but on his return he proved a bright spot in a disappointing second half of the season.
“It’s been a massive plus because I didn’t personally think he’d be able to come back like he has, if I’m totally honest,” Warnock told Craig Johns, of gazettelive.co.uk. “I was worried he’d put a bit of weight on and I couldn’t see enough mobility.
“And yet he’s proven me entirely wrong. He’s come back fitness-wise better than I’ve ever seen him and he’s using his experience at the back for us to the point where he’s been a breath of fresh air for us.”
Warnock also told the reporter: “The thing I’ve been most impressed with, more than his heading or his contribution in that respect, has been his reading of the game against quick players. You would probably question how he would get on against a quick player, but he’s just revelled in it really.
“His quickness of thought has put him a long way ahead of some of these quick strikers that he’s been playing against. That’s what I’ve been pleased with more than anything.
“I always know he’ll chip in with an odd goal here and there, but his reading of the game has been outstanding.”
After Warnock’s departure, Hall was on the outside looking in under Chris Wilder although the new manager sought to give him public encouragement by saying he could still have a role to play. “He’s had a couple of little issues but he is back involved now and back part of the group,” he told gazettelive.co.uk. “Grant has an important role to play between now and the end of the season,” he said. “I think they all know they have to be ready when called upon.”
FOR A FEW seasons, it seemed Brighton’s left back spot would always be occupied by a player on loan.
In the second half of the 2011-12 season, it was Joe Mattock who slotted in there, having been edged out by a change of management at West Bromwich Albion.
“I am delighted to come and play where I am wanted and for a manager who feels I can do a job for him,” Mattock declared in a matchday programme.
Mattock made his debut as a substitute in Brighton’s 4 February 1-0 home win over his former club, Leicester City, and he subsequently made 14 starts after Gus Poyet borrowed him from the Baggies.
Mattock’s signing was largely to cover a long term hamstring injury to Marcos Painter after Romain Vincelot and Gus Poyet’s assistant, Mauricio Taricco, had been temporary stand-ins.
Mattock made his debut in Albion’s 2-1 win away to Leeds United on 11 February with fellow West Brom loanee Gonzalo Jara Reyes occupying the right-back spot.
Unfortunately, Albion only registered three more wins through to the end of the season, so it wasn’t a particularly successful period.
Mattock was on the scoresheet once, netting Albion’s only goal in a 3-1 defeat away to Blackpool, and the side finished 10th in the Championship.
Mattock was given a free transfer by the Baggies at the end of the season and, while Poyet viewed signing him permanently as an option, the defender went instead to Sheffield Wednesday, putting pen to paper on a three-year deal.
It would be something of an understatement to say he wasn’t missed, bearing in mind the next loanee left back through the door was Wayne Bridge!
Born in Leicester on 15 May 1990, Mattock was a successful graduate of his hometown club’s academy system, initially as a forward, then as a midfield player before settling as a left-back from the age of 16. He was named Leicester’s academy player of the year in 2006-07.
Leicester caretaker boss Nigel Worthington gave him his first team debut as a substitute in his first game in charge, a 2-1 Championship defeat to Norwich City.
He was chosen at left-back for three more matches at the end of that season, a 2-1 defeat at home to Birmingham and 1-0 wins away to Preston and Barnsley.
Current day BBC pundit Dion Dublin was something of a guiding light to him as he was progressing. “He was a good bloke who spoke to all the young players,” Mattock told the matchday programme. “He was playing centre-back at the time, so taught me a few things about how to defend and how to be a professional footballer.”
While the 2007-08 season saw a veritable merry-go-round of managers as the side eventually lost their Championship status, Mattock’s performances attracted attention and it was said West Ham and Aston Villa had bids to buy him rejected.
After gaining England under 17 and under 19 caps, Mattock went on to win five England under 21 caps, making his debut in a 2-0 home win over Bulgaria in November 2007 alongside the likes of Joe Hart, James Milner and Theo Walcott.
He also played in a 1-1 draw away to Portugal, a 3-0 win over Republic of Ireland, he went on as a sub in a 0-0 draw at home to Poland and his last international action saw him start in the 3-2 defeat away to Ecuador in February 2009.
Although he was selected for the squad, Kieran Gibbs and Ryan Bertrand subsequently got the nod ahead of him.
In August 2009, unsettled Mattock finally got to follow former teammate Richard Stearman away from the Foxes when West Brom, newly relegated from the Premiership, paid a £1m fee to take him to The Hawthorns.
The manner of his exit didn’t go down well with Leicester boss Nigel Pearson, who said: “I like to deal with people straight up. I don’t like it when the player rings the chairman when we are playing a pre-season game to ask to leave when he is out of the country on international duty.
“That gives you a taste of the situation and we’ll wait and see what happens.”
Mattock made 29 starts plus five substitute appearances in Roberto di Matteo’s side as the Baggies were promoted back to the Premier League in runners up spot.
But he didn’t feature in West Brom’s elite side and instead was sent out on loan to Sheffield United where he met up with another loanee from the Black Country, Sam Vokes, who was later on loan with him at the Albion.
Di Matteo’s eventual successor, Roy Hodgson, didn’t fancy the defender either and, before he moved to Brighton, he spent time on loan at Portsmouth who were managed by his former West Brom coach, Michael Appleton.
After choosing to join Wednesday, Mattock barely got a look-in during his first season, when Dave Jones was Owls boss, and supporters were convinced he would be shipped out.
But he was selected for around half of the 2013-14 season’s fixtures under Stuart Gray, and played in 25 games, plus three as a sub, the following season.
“I didn’t have a great start at Wednesday,” Mattock told the Rotherham Advertiser. “I didn’t get on with the manager.
“Then Stuart Gray came in and played me all the time. I was told they thought they were going to offer me a new deal, but I got injured six weeks before the end of my third year and it didn’t happen.”
In the summer of 2015, he was one of 11 Owls players released and the left-back made the short South Yorkshire journey to Rotherham United.
Being settled in the area, he was keen not to have to up sticks and he was persuaded to join by then boss Steve Evans.
Evans was soon on his way from the AESSEAL New York Stadium but Mattock remained and has subsequently played under Neil Warnock, Alan Stubbs, Kenny Jackett and Paul Warne.
He is now in his seventh season with the Millers and has played more than 200 games for them in the Championship and League One.
“I was promoted from League One with Leicester when I was 19. The year after, I was promoted to the Premier League with West Brom,” he told the Rotherham Advertiser.
“When you’re young you don’t realise how much it should mean to you. You do when you’re older, so when we went to Wembley last season (2017-18) and won in the play-off final (they beat Shrewsbury Town 2-1), in front of all the family, in front of all the fans, it was a perfect day, one of the big highlights of my entire career.”
GUS POYET’s loyal deputy, Mauricio Taricco, once labelled ‘The Premiership’s most hated footballer’, had a late and unexpected swansong to his playing career with Brighton.
It came six years after the Argentinian full-back thought his playing days were over when he sustained a bad injury on his debut for West Ham, having switched across London from Tottenham Hotspur, where he played alongside Poyet.
Taricco was no stranger to a red card during his days playing at the top level and he was also sent for an early bath in his comeback game when the Seagulls beat Woking on penalties in the FA Cup.
Some of Taricco’s actions drew fierce cricitism when he was at White Hart Lane, for instance the BBC’s chief football writer, Phil McNulty, wrote an excoriating piece which he began: “Taricco may have a modicum of limited talent, but he hides it brilliantly behind a selection of all that is sneaky and cynical in football.”
Spitting, diving and feigning injury were among the accusations levelled at Taricco, and he left Everton’s Thomas Gravesen nursing a shin wound that required 30 stitches.
After two sendings off in three games in 2002, McNulty said the Argentine was “swiftly becoming the Premiership’s most hated footballer” and concluded: “Taricco is a scar on the Premiership and on a club with a name for a certain style – and (Glenn) Hoddle must operate to remove it.”
Strong stuff but the BBC man was not alone in his scathing criticism; Leicester boss Dave Bassett was incensed when Taricco feigned injury to try to get Foxes’ Andy Impey sent off at White Hart Lane. “That man should be done away with,” said Bassett. “He is a disgrace to the game.”
After Taricco had been sent off at Old Trafford, and then again following “a wild lunge” on Graeme Le Saux in a match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Hoddle stood up for the Argentine defender, saying he’d been harshly criticised and that the reaction was disproportionate.
“I’m not saying that there haven’t been times this season that he’s done some silly things, and he admits that, but the two sendings off, in my eyes, have not been warranted,” said Hoddle. “The press have gone OTT on it.”
Not everyone viewed him harshly. Jonas Ahrell, of sports internet company Sportal, said: “A string of assured performances, along with great control, touch and distribution, has shown him to be a shrewd purchase by Spurs boss George Graham, who knows a thing or two about defenders.”
He explained how his nickname Tano is Argentine for Italian – his father was from Sardinia – and he described the defender as “articulate, impeccably-mannered and an all-round lovely bloke”.
Born in Buenos Aires on 10 March 1973, Taricco grew up playing football in the capital’s streets and he would eventually follow in the footsteps of Argentina’s famous World Cup stars Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa to White Hart Lane.
It was John Lyall who was instrumental in his arrival on European soil. Taricco had been playing for home city club Argentinos Juniors for only a year when Ipswich Town boss Lyall and experienced scout Charlie Woods were in South America on the hunt for new talent. Their main target was Uruguayan midfielder Adrián Paz, but they took a chance on 21-year-old Taricco too for whom a £175,000 fee was paid.
“You often see two players coming over together to help each other with a new culture and a new way of life but it proved to be me who stayed,” Taricco recalled in an Albion matchday programme article. “Although I was playing in the top league in my homeland, it was always an ambition to play in Europe.
“I think that Adrian leaving after a few months helped me. I was now more isolated, but it helped me to stand on my own two feet. I had to understand the language and mix with people.”
While Taricco quickly made his debut in the League Cup against Bolton Wanderers, he mainly had to be content with reserve team football initially until a change of management – from Lyall to George Burley – and relegation from the Premier League eventually worked in his favour.
Taricco made 167 starts for Town and although defending was his priority, he also scored half a dozen goals – memorably in a 2-0 League Cup win over Manchester United in 1997 and a 3-0 league win against Crystal Palace in 1998 which followed a solo run from inside his own half.
In a March 2020 interview with the East Anglian Daily Times, Taricco looked back fondly on his days at Portman Road, telling Richard Woodall: “I have great memories of being an Ipswich player – in particular the derby games against Norwich. I always knew what that game meant for the fans and for everybody involved with the club. Winning the derby, oh my god, it was a nice feeling.”
Woodall said fans remembered him as a big game player; for example, following a pre-match presentation of his Supporters’ Player of the Year award in 1997, he went on to score in that evening’s 2-0 win against Norwich. The Argentinian described the award at the time as the “greatest honour of my career”.
His cult status among Tractor Boys fans was best described by Csaba Abrahall in a piece for When Saturday Comes and, when he was sold to Spurs for £1.75m in November 1998, there was widespread outcry amongst the faithful.
Taricco became the first signing of Graham’s reign as manager at White Hart Lane, although he was injured at the time, causing a delay before he could make his debut.
“It was always my ambition to move to the Premier League, although I still left Ipswich with a heavy heart,” he said. “I was George Graham’s first signing, but I didn’t see that as an extra pressure – I knew Spurs had been watching me for a while, so I just got on with my football and I coped with the step up – I was a regular for much of my time at the club.
“At Ipswich, we lost in the play-offs and I was absolutely devastated because my dream had gone, that’s why I was so determined to make the most of the opportunity to play at the top level.”
Taricco maintained: “I think the fans at Ipswich and Tottenham liked me because they could relate to me. I’m like a fan when I’m playing. I want to win. When fans get a penalty, even if their player has dived, they jump for joy. I was the same and I’m on the pitch! I didn’t care about other players, fans, clubs. I was playing for my team and nothing else mattered.
“I always got stuck in. You don’t have to be big but you have to have the will to do it. Sometimes you give it, sometimes you take it, that’s football.
“Saying that, there were things I only learnt when I came here. For instance, when you see a 50-50 tackle here and someone gets hurt you just say ‘both players were committed’ and you carry on. In Argentina, there would be a red card and a fight breaking out. So, I learnt that I could get away with things here. If a bad tackle’s coming in and I knew a player was not going to get booked, I had to ‘manage’ things.”
Off the field, there were several managerial changes during his time at the Lane but Taricco learned most from Hoddle. “He was a very technical type of manager, as he was a player, and it was of prime importance to him to have his teams playing a particular type of football,” he said.
“I really appreciated this as someone who always wanted to play the ball on the ground, think forward and create lots of goal-scoring opportunities. He was a really positive manager and I can take a lot from my days working under him.”
The other important take from his time there was getting to know Poyet well (after the midfielder’s move from Chelsea in 2001) and developing a strong bond of friendship that would last through appointments at Albion and several other clubs.
Taricco’s time at Spurs came to an end in 2004 after 149 games (plus seven as a sub) when French manager Jacques Santini told him he was not part of his plans. He missed the start of the season through injury and then suspension and was allowed to join West Ham on a free transfer. It’s now quite well known that he sustained a bad injury on his Hammers debut against Millwall and voluntarily tore up his contract.
He moved to Sardinia with his wife and children, managed a property portfolio by day and kept himself fit turning out for his local team.
The idyll lasted five years before his old friend Poyet asked if he’d be interested in becoming his no.2 at Brighton. “Gus is a person I respect both as a man and for his football brain,” he said. “When he asked if I wanted to join him, I said ‘yes’ straight away – I was willing to swap everything I had for Brighton and it’s been a great decision.”
While the plan was always for him to use his knowledge and experience on the training ground and in the dugout, on 18 August 2010 there was a hint of a comeback when he suddenly played 45 minutes for Albion reserves in a 0-0 draw with Gillingham at Culver Road, Lancing. By then he was 37.
The matchday programme observed how he “turned in a cultured display, likewise one feisty challenge that has become a hallmark of an illustrious career”.
The assistant manager himself said: “It was a normal match and nothing more – there was not a lot of thinking behind my decision to play.
“West Ham v Millwall was my last professional game, although I played amateur league (for Castiadas) and regional league football (for Villasimius) in Sardinia right up until last November when I arrived at Brighton.
“But I’m not thinking about coming back to play, I’m just thinking about getting myself as fit as I can.”
However, he added: “If something happens with the team regarding an injury crisis or suspension and I can get fit enough and powerful enough to cope with League One, then who knows?
“I will now try to push myself more and try to get involved in training more often, when I can. If I can mix it up and do my own specific programme to get my sharpness and explosive power back, then I’m sure I will.”
Sure enough, three months later, Taricco stepped into first team action in the FA Cup, playing against Woking on 16 November 2010, although his involvement ended prematurely when he was sent off for two yellow cards – the second one for dissent.
He also played in the next round when it took two games to see off FC United and he finally made his 350th senior appearance after a six-year absence from playing professionally.
“I love playing football, so it’s nice to play, although I feel like I need a bit more power in my legs,” he said. “If I can get that bit more power for the first four or five yards I’ll be happier, but I am 37 years old.
“Any game could be your last, so you have got to make the most of every opportunity. Every player needs to give his all because that’s what you need to make it to the top. That goes for training as well as matches and it’s the way I’ve always approached the game of football.”
He didn’t expect to play regularly, though, and said: “I still see myself as part of the coaching staff rather than the playing staff. I’m there if we need to rest players or if somebody is recovering from an injury, because it is a very long and intense season.
“It is nice to play, don’t get me wrong, and I have enjoyed training with the team, but there are players with better legs than me in the squad.”
By the end of the season in which Albion won promotion to the Championship, he’d started five games and been sub twice, but he was still not done with playing.
The following season, Poyet called on his assistant’s playing experience on nine occasions (plus three as a sub) although Taricco was never far from the headlines for the wrong reasons.
Taricco looks back in anger after seeing red at St Mary’s
I can remember watching at St Mary’s as Taricco so hotly disputed a controversial penalty award by Peter Walton when Lewis Dunk downed Jose Fonte, quite clearly outside the box, that his protests gained him a straight red card.
Taricco also didn’t cover himself in glory at the Madejski Stadium on Boxing Day when lively wideman Jobi McAnuff gave him a torrid time and got two goals in a 3-0 win.
He featured in a six-game spell spanning December and early January but the surprise New Year 3-0 home win over Saints, when young Grant Hall replaced him in the 54th minute, turned out to be his last appearance as a player.
After his departure from the Seagulls with Poyet following the defeat to Palace in the 2013 Championship play-offs, Taricco followed his friend to Sunderland, AEK Athens, Real Betis, Shanghai Shenhua and FC Bordeaux.
He told the East Anglian Daily Times: “When I choose who to work with, I want to know that they are a decent human being, and Gus Poyet is certainly that. This quality is not always easy to find in football.
“Both of us come from similar cultures and we think about football the same way. As well as wanting to win, we both want to put our players in situations where they will flourish. Both of us feel that sometimes as players, our managers didn’t necessarily give us that chance.”
In October 2020, Taricco told the EADT: “Not being a coach now means I’ve had the time to think a lot, and I’m currently learning about world finance, how the world’s monetary system works, and why poverty still exists, so quite big topics!”
But he added: “When the phone goes and the right opportunity comes along, I’ll be ready to be assistant manager again!”
• Pictures from online sources and matchday programmes.
SEVENTEEN GOALS in 100 appearances don’t tell the whole story of Elliott Bennett’s two seasons as a Brighton player.
Russell Sladesigned him in August 2009 from Wolverhampton Wanderers for £200,000, but it was under the guidance of Gus Poyet that he flourished and was a stand-out performer when Albion won promotion from League One in 2011.
Not only was he chosen by his fellow professionals in the PFA League One team of the year (along with teammates Gordon Greer and Inigo Calderon), he was Four Four Two magazine’s League One Player of the Year.
Always diplomatic in interviews about personal achievements, typically he said: “If you win awards, it’s nice personally but you have to remember you can’t win them without your teammates. If I’m setting up goals, then it means our strikers are on their game as well as they’re getting on the end of my crosses.”
In a matchday programme feature, he added: “These individual awards really are not possible unless you have a good team around you, so this award is really on behalf of the whole squad and coaching staff.”
Bennett acknowledged the impact Poyet made on improving him as a player. “Gus has given me different roles to play throughout the season. I’m a lot more aware as a player as a result and I’m better with the ball now. There’s still lots for me to work on, but the gaffer has really brought my game on. I definitely owe him a lot.”
In another matchday programme article, he once again paid tribute to Poyet, his assistant Mauricio Taricco and coach Charlie Oatway. “I feel like I’m improving all the time and I owe so much to the coaching staff: the gaffer and Tano, while Charlie has got my head right. I used to beat myself up if I gave the ball away but Charlie has stamped that out of me. Technically, all three have helped me and I’ve also been playing in the middle a bit more, which has added another string to my bow.”
Bennett continued: “While I’m known for being a winger, my link-up play has also improved this season, which has really pleased me. I’m now more involved and it’s important that I keep on learning. The gaffer will always pull me to one side if he sees something that can help improve me – which he does with everyone – and then it’s a case of trying to replicate that on a match day.
“When you’ve got a gaffer who’s played the game at the highest level, you can only learn from him – and if you didn’t listen you’d be pretty stupid.
“I’ll play anywhere for the good of the team – I’ve even played right-back this season, but I must admit that I do prefer playing in a more advanced role where I can create things for the team. Whether that’s right wing, the left wing or even behind the strikers I don’t mind. I just love being involved.”
Bennett’s impact wasn’t confined to games, either. He and Liam Bridcutt used to visit Westdean Primary School, near Withdean, where they listened to youngsters reading. His wife, Kelly, worked for the club too.
Aware they had a hit property on their books, Albion awarded Bennett a new three-and-a-half-year deal in November 2010, when Poyet told the club website: “Elliott has been a good pro and has earned this new contract.
“He has shown he is capable of playing in a number of positions, he enjoys playing our style of football and I think he will continue to get better as a player.”
For his part, Bennett said: “Gus is a big factor for me. I will always be grateful to Russell Slade for signing me, but the current gaffer has brought his own style of play.
“I have really taken to the club ever since I arrived from Wolves last summer. I feel I have grown up as a person and developed as a player.”
Unfortunately for Brighton, Bennett’s superb contribution drew plenty of admirers and, when Norwich City offered £1.9million to give him the chance of Premier League football, the lure was too great to resist for player and club.
While his promoted teammates looked forward to Championship football in the brand new Amex Stadium, Bennett joined Paul Lambert’s Canaries to test his talent at the highest level.
Bennett told HITC Sport’sAlfie Potts Harmer: “Brighton was a fantastic part of my life and a fantastic chapter of my career, I loved every minute of it.
“When we won the title there, League One was full of teams who are now flying, you look at Southampton, Bournemouth and Huddersfield, it was a strong League One that year, and we played some fantastic stuff.
“The stadium coincided with promotion and I’d just signed a new contract. I think I would have stayed there for many years had it not been a Premier League move, but I don’t regret moving to Norwich. When an opportunity like that comes you have to take it as a player. You don’t know if it will come again.”
Lambert was delighted to land the youngster having previously had a bid to sign him in January that year rejected. “He is a young and exciting player with plenty of pace,” Lambert told the Norwich website. “He can play in a wide position or in behind the forwards, he’s a quick lad and he’s got a winning mentality.
“He played his full part in what Brighton achieved last season and that desire to succeed will stand him in good stead here.”
Bennett declared: “It’s an unbelievable opportunity for me to fight for a place in a team which will be playing in the Premier League.
“I like the mentality at Norwich City that has seen them get back-to-back promotions and I’m grateful to Paul Lambert for giving me the chance to be part of what’s happening at the club.
“I didn’t make it through at Wolves, which was my home-town club, and Brighton gave me the opportunity and I’m grateful for that.
“Now I’m just really excited about the chance to try to help Norwich in the Premier League.”
Bennett certainly seized the opportunity and in his first season was delighted to score the winning goal in Norwich’s 2-1 win over Spurs at White Hart Lane. He’d played 57 games in the Premier League when his career suffered a major hiatus. In the first home game of the 2013-14 season, against Everton, he sustained a cruciate injury which ruled him out of all but the last game of that campaign, as City were relegated.
Frustrated by the lack of starts at Norwich as they began life back in the Championship, Bennett was happy to return to the Seagulls on loan as Sami Hyypia tried various permutations to get some wins on the board.
Bennett received a warm reception from the Seagulls supporters as he stepped out at the Amex for a home game against Wigan Athletic on 4 November and helped the side to their first win in eight matches.
Unfortunately, the upturn in fortunes was all too brief and, although Bennett’s loan was extended by a second month, six winless games saw Hyypia exit the hotseat. “I had nothing but respect for him,” Bennett later told The Athletic. “He gave me an opportunity, after a big injury, to get out and play some football. He didn’t have to bring me back. I was thankful for that. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out.”
Bennett’s final appearance came in the memorable 2-0 win over Fulham under caretaker manager Nathan Jones.
He returned to Norwich just as Alex Neil was taking over from Neil Adams as manager and was part of the squad who won promotion back to the Premier League via a play-off win over Middlesbrough.
But back in the elite, first team opportunities were limited and during the first part of the 2015-16 season Bennett went out on loan again, this time to Bristol City, where Steve Cotterill was the manager.
Bennett made 14 appearances for the Robins but soon after his deal expired in January 2016, a £250,000 fee saw him move permanently to Blackburn Rovers, where, from the start of the 2019-20 season, he became club captain, and he continued to be a well-respected part of Tony Mowbray’s set-up.
Bennett has certainly endeared himself to the Rovers supporters and has even been hailed as a modern-day ‘Mr Blackburn’ by website roverschat.com, who lauded his contribution to the club.
“Elliott Bennett’s evergreen positivity, fan interactions, and trademark fist pump were key in improving the culture at Rovers, as the dark, grey clouds over Ewood Park that had called it home since 2011 ever so slowly began to dissipate.
“His leadership has been a key contribution, as even when he is not playing for Rovers, he still is managing to inspire others to become the best version of themselves.”
One of those times spent out of the side came when Bennett tested positive for Covid-19 in May 2020 although the player said he didn’t feel unwell, and typically was thinking of others when interviewed about it.
“There seems to have been a lot of hysteria about footballers returning to training, but it’s not a big deal at all,” he said. “It’s the people who are seriously ill in hospital that we need to worry about, not footballers who are fit and healthy, and who aren’t showing any signs of being unwell.”
The popular Bennett is an active participant on social media and has 76,000 followers on Twitter.
In the summer of 2021, he moved to League One Shrewsbury Town, just 15 miles from Telford where he was born on 18 December 1988,
Bennett first showed his talent playing for local Telford team Hadley Juniors. Wolves scouts Les Green and Tony Lacey spotted him and invited him to train with the club’s under sevens and under eights. Remarkable as it sounds, he was offered a contract at the age of nine! “From then I just worked my way up through the age groups,” he told wolves.co.uk in a January 2019 article.
“The coaching was fantastic, the level of care we got was outstanding and we had the chance to travel the world. We got to go to Holland, we went to Japan, and it was a fantastic experience for me. Going to Japan and winning the under-12 World Cup was probably one of my favourite memories I have from the playing side of the academy.”
At Thomas Telford School, Bennett captained the school team as they won the county cup five years in a row. He was also a talented 200m runner who represented Shropshire at sprinting.
After leaving school to go on a scholarship at Wolves, he signed professional in 2007.
“The biggest moment for me was being given my professional contract,” he said. “I always dreamt of one day being able to pull on that gold and black shirt and play at Molineux, and thankfully I did.”
He got a taste of first team action in pre-season matches, scoring after only five minutes in a 3-2 win at Hereford United, and in 2007-2008 he made two appearances for the first team in the League Cup.
Mick McCarthy gave him his first competitive start in a 2-1 win over Bradford City on 15 August 2007 but he was replaced by Stephen Ward at half-time, and on 28 August was in the Wolves side humbled 3-1 after extra time by lowly Morecambe.
Although he was involved with the first team squad for some league matches, he didn’t get any game time, but gained experience going out on loan, initially playing 11 games at League One Crewe Alexandra, and later featuring in 19 League Two games for Bury.
He spent the whole of 2008-09 on loan with Bury, scoring three goals in 52 matches.
It must have been quite a wrench for Bennett to contemplate moving away from the club he’d been associated with for 14 years, but it was a former Brighton striker, the then Wolves assistant manager Terry Connor, who persuaded him to spread his wings and move to the Albion, as he revealed in a Football the Albion and Me interview.
He explained that he’d still got two years left on his contract at Wolves and being very much “a home person” he’d not considered leaving home in Telford, 20 minutes away from Wolverhampton.
“I remember Terry pulling me into his office and saying ‘Look, I went to Brighton in a similar position to yourself, you’ve got to go out and forge your own career. Become a man, become a person, don’t be Elliott Bennett from the academy at Wolves. You’re Elliott Bennett the professional footballer, create your own path.’
“And from that conversation I thought ‘You have to take the shackles off and go and try something different’ and you can’t really get a much better place to live than Brighton, as I later found out. It turned out to be the best decision I have made since I started playing.”
The week before he signed, he went to watch Albion away at Huddersfield…..and saw his new employer thrashed 7-1. Luckily, he’d made up his mind to join before the game!
“I was a guest of Tony Bloom,” he said. “I had a good chat with him before the game and he told me the vision. He told me where he wanted to take the club. I was blown away to be honest. I couldn’t wait to get started.”
Pictures from Albion matchday programmes and various online sources.
A FIVE-YEAR professional football career bookended by 3-1 results against Crewe Alexandra almost certainly wouldn’t have been the path John Piercy would have chosen for himself.
One saw him make a promising debut for Tottenham Hotspur on 13 October 1999, subbed off to a terrific ovation from a 25,000 crowd at White Hart Lane on 74 minutes as they progressed in a League Cup game against the lower league opposition.
The other was a League One defeat for Brighton & Hove Albion at humble Withdean Stadium on 6 November 2004, subbed off ignominiously only 12 minutes into the second half with many in the crowd of 6,163 unaware that the hereditary bowel disease afflicting him was putting paid to his hopes of a football career.
Born in Forest Gate, east London, on 18 September 1979, Spurs first spotted Piercy as a stand-out 12-year-old, talented enough to represent England Schoolboys.
He became a trainee with Spurs at the age of 16 and signed as a professional in July 1998.
It was George Graham who gave him his first team debut for Spurs in that game against Crewe, starting him up front alongside Chris Armstrong in a side that featured future Brighton player and assistant manager Mauricio Taricco in defence.
The Spurs goals were scored by Oyvind Leonhardsen, David Ginola and Tim Sherwood, but spursodyssey.com was full of praise for the young Piercy.
“One young man who will remember this night more than most is 20-year-old debutant John Piercy, who won the home fans’ hearts with two terrific efforts on goal, and an eye-catching performance all round,” it said. They even went as far as to suggest he might be ‘the new Ginola’.
The performance was good enough to earn him a place on the bench for the following Saturday’s Premier League game away to Derby County and he was called into action in the second half to replace Armstrong as Spurs won 1-0.
He made two more league appearances that season and an excellent Spurs archive website said of him: “The solidly built East Londoner had the ability to lead the line and to make chances for his team-mates, by going wide and taking people on.
“Some work was needed on his first touch and his pace, but he was strong, direct and knew where the goal was. Preferred to play wide on the left of midfield, but was deployed at full back in the reserves to good effect.”
Chris Hughton was the Spurs reserve team manager at the time and said of Piercy: “John is able to adapt well to different roles which is why we’ve played him at full-back in pre-season when we’ve been stretched in those areas. But I’d say his best position is definitely right or left of midfield.”
On 4 April 1999, he started for England under 20s against the USA in the World Youth Championships in Nigeria, but was subbed off in a game England lost 1-0. His teammates that day included future full international Ashley Cole, and the side was managed by former Albion full-back Chris Ramsey.
Frustrated by the lack of first team opportunities at Spurs, Piercy, by then based in Eastbourne, opted to join Brighton in September 2002 during Martin Hinshelwood’s brief reign as manager.
Hinshelwood told the BBC: “He’s a player who can play in a variety of positions. That will give us plenty of options.”
A first team breakthrough at Brighton was slow to happen, however, with Hinshelwood’s successor, Steve Coppell, opting for experience in the ultimately unsuccessful battle to avoid relegation from the second tier. Piercy top-scored for the reserves that season, netting 13 goals from midfield.
However, shortly after Mark McGhee’s appointment, he did get some game time and in December 2003 also registered his first league goal in a 1-0 win at home to Wrexham.
Later the same month, he went one better playing up front in place of the suspended Leon Knight and scored twice in a resounding 4-0 home win over Wycombe Wanderers.
More often than not, though, he was brought on as a substitute rather than starting games. He made just eight league starts and in six of them was subbed off.
His other appearances (16) were all from the bench and that was the role he found himself in at the 2004 play-off final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, although his contribution was certainly effective.
Piercy replaced Nathan Jones in the 77th minute. “He (McGhee) made a change with just over 10 minutes left and we went on to win the game, so no one is going to complain, are they?” Jones told walesonline.co.uk.
Reports also recorded how Brighton threatened Steve Phillips’ goal moments after Piercy replaced Jones, Iwelumo glancing the substitute’s cross wide of the far post.
Sadly for Piercy, while he showed promise on the football pitch, he began to suffer the horribly debilitating effects of colitis, as he described in an interview with the Argus.
He praised the support he got from McGhee and reserve team boss Dean White but it reached a point where it was evident the illness was simply sapping too much energy from him to continue a full-time professional football career.
That defeat at home to Crewe proved to be his last game for the Albion and he announced his retirement aged 25 shortly afterwards.
“He knows his capabilties and I know his capabilities,” said McGhee in a matchday programme article. “He’s a player that could easily cope with the standard of the Championship but this illness has just affected him in a way that he just can’t get fit enough to do himself justice.”
Chairman Dick Knight added: “It is a great shame that such a skilful player, with such tremendous natural ability, has seen his career curtailed in such a cruel way. All at the club are devastated for him to be hanging up his boots at the relatively young age of 25.”
Piercy subsequently regained sufficient fitness to play a season with non-league Eastbourne Borough and then took up a coaching role with the club.
Nowadays he is a sports coach at Ocklynge Junior School in Eastbourne where he teaches youngsters football and PE, and is also a coach at CACL Sports in the town.
Frustrated by the lack of first team opportunities at Spurs, Piercy, by then based in Eastbourne, opted to join Brighton in September 2002 during Martin Hinshelwood’s brief reign as manager.
In parallel lines 