Tag: North Stand Chat

Casper Ankergren – the ‘Great Dane’ between the sticks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pictures from various online sources, matchday programmes and the Argus

Everton reject Mark Farrington earned rebuke at the Albion

BARRY LLOYD made a number of astute signings during some turbulent years in charge of the Seagulls; Mark Farrington wasn’t one of them!

Although Lloyd struck gold when he picked up Mike Small after seven years playing in Europe, his luck evaporated when he brought former Everton youth player Farrington back to the UK after a five-clubs-in-five-years spell in Holland, Belgium and Germany.

Lloyd agreed a £100,000 fee to sign him from respected Dutch outfit Feyenoord in 1991 – as a replacement for Small, who’d been sold to West Ham for £400,000. But in three years on the Albion’s books, Farrington mustered just four goals in 28 appearances. Subsequently, apart from a single league appearance for Hereford, he ended up at non-league Runcorn.

It’s no secret he’s gone down in Albion folklore as one of the club’s biggest flops, as evidenced by comments on the popular fans forum, North Stand Chat.

In 2004, in one of those discussions about all-time-worst player, ‘Metal Micky’ gave his vote to Farrington, adding: “The only one who came close to his utter shiteness was Ashley Neal.”

On another occasion, noting that Farrington managed to get on the scoresheet in a 3-1 win away to Burnley, ‘Pinkie Brown’ declared: “Mark Farrington scoring a goal rates alongside stepping in rocking horse crap, spotting Lord Lucan and going for a ride on Shergar. The last three are more realistic.”

On the same forum, ‘Withdean and I’ described him as: “The most expensive player ever to make so little impact at the Albion.”

It seems only right and fair, though, to try to balance the picture and I’m grateful to a November 2018 look-back article in the Sussex Express which recalled an occasion on 26 February 1994 when Farrington scored a goal in a 3-1 win at Huddersfield, and earned a plaudit from Lloyd’s replacement as manager, Liam Brady.

The newspaper reported: “For Farrington in particular, it had been a difficult season. He had made only sporadic appearances under Lloyd, but Brady was committed to give everyone a chance. ‘I brought Mark Farrington back into the side,’ said Brady. ‘As far as I am concerned, the slate is clean with everyone at the club and I am prepared to look at each and every player and Mark has done particularly well (in the reserves) and shown a good attitude’.”

It was good of Brady to give him the opportunity but at the start of the following season he brought in Junior McDougald to play alongside Kurt Nogan, and, in October 1994 Farrington left the club.

Born in the Allerton district of Liverpool on 15 June 1965, Farrington’s dad was a long distance lorry driver and his mum a shoe shop manageress. He attended Springwood Primary School and moved on to Hillfoot High School, where his footballing ability began to be recognised.

He also played for the local Allerton side and an Everton scout, Ray Marshall, spotted him. He was taken on as an associate schoolboy and then progressed to an apprenticeship. Unfortunately, his hopes of making it at Everton were dashed within weeks of him ending up on the losing side in the 1983 FA Youth Cup Final.

Farrington scoring features on the front cover of the Everton programme

Ironically, Farrington scored four times against Norwich City (see picture of one of them on front of programme) over two legs but City won a play-off and collected the trophy 6-5 on aggregate.

Everton decided not to offer Farrington a professional contract, but the opposition’s manager, Ken Brown, liked what he saw and took him on at Carrow Road.

A year later, he was blooded in an end-of-season top tier game away to Coventry City which the Canaries lost 2-1.

City history site Flown From The Nest notes he made a total of 18 appearances and scored twice before he was loaned to Cambridge United, where he scored once in 10 matches, and was then transferred to Cardiff City in July 1985.

City were newly relegated from the second tier. Farrington scored in the first game of the new season, a 4-1 win at Notts County, but Cardiff had a disastrous season and finished up relegated to the bottom tier. According to mauveandyellowarmy.net, Farrington scored only three more times in a total of 36 appearances for the Bluebirds before being sacked for a breach of club discipline by manager Alan Durban, who was sacked himself following relegation.

After an unsuccessful trial with Portsmouth, Farrington tried his luck on the continent.

At Dutch side Willem II Tillburg, he got into his goalscoring stride and bagged 26 in 61 appearances – by far his best scoring ratio for any club.

At RC Genk he scored five in 17 matches, and 10 in 30 games for Fortuna Sittard, including a hat-trick against PSV Eindhoven and four against Volendam. Next up on his European travels was Hertha Berlin for eight months, but he struggled to settle in Berlin and didn’t register a goal in nine games.

Dutch giants Feyenoord came to his rescue and, after he’d scored twice in a friendly, they bought out the rest of his Hertha Berlin contract. He scored once in five matches but when Gunther Bensson, the coach who’d bought him left, he failed to see eye to eye with his successor and began to seek a move. Lloyd took him on trial at Brighton and he scored in a reserves match against Ipswich.

“In May 1991 I had the chance to go to Spain to play for Seville but that fell flat and in August Barry called me again and I came to the Goldstone,” he told the matchday programme. “I had missed the pre-season training and all the other players had a head start and I suffered. I injured an ankle early on and one thing led to another. It soon became a nightmare, one injury followed another,” he said.

Farrington saw various specialists to try to get to the bottom of several niggles that were keeping him sidelined and months went by before he finally got the all-clear.

Goal-shy journeyman striker Leon Best drew derision

FOR SOMEONE purporting to be a striker, Leon Best fired blanks at a good many of the clubs he played for.

Such was his time at Brighton where he failed to get on the scoresheet in 13 games (six as a starter, seven as a substitute).

When he featured for AFC Bournemouth in the third tier, he fared slightly better. He managed three goals in 14 starts plus three as a substitute when on loan from Premier League Southampton during the 2006-07 season.

The somewhat derogatory phrase ‘journeyman’ was tailor-made for the likes of Best, who appeared for 13 different league clubs, failing to score for five of them and only registering double figure tallies at three.

Brighton supporters, on the whole, are normally supportive of anyone who appears for their team, but feelings boiled over at Best’s apparent lack of desire when pulling on the Seagulls stripes.

He was part of the struggling 2014-15 side which narrowly avoided the drop from the Championship, and I recall him being booed when he came on as a substitute at the Amex. On reflection, of course, such derision was unlikely to improve his demeanour.

The keyboard warriors of North Stand Chat weren’t slow to vent their anger, with one correspondent suggesting: “We’ve not seen much in the way of desire, endeavour, hunger or appetite from someone you would hope feels he has something to prove.”

Chris Hughton had not long been in the manager’s chair when he was casting around for players to help Albion climb away from the foot of the table.

Perhaps not unreasonably, he turned to a player who’d scored goals for him in the Premier League during his time at Newcastle United.

Hughton told the Argus: “I know Leon very well, having signed him during my time at Newcastle and I am delighted to have him here.

Screen Shot 2021-06-10 at 14.55.50“He is a strong, physical presence, he knows the Championship and knows the position we are in. We wanted new faces, to freshen up the squad, and Leon will add competition alongside our existing strikers.

“I signed him previously at Newcastle. I know he can be a very good player and he did very well for me both in the Championship and Premier League. He also had a very good spell with Newcastle after I left the club.”

Best scored 10 in 46 games for the Magpies but, at his next club, Blackburn Rovers, he managed only two in 16, hence them sending him out on loan.

While Best had scored five in 16 playing on loan at Sheffield Wednesday in 2013-14, he scored a big fat zero in 20 games for Derby County earlier in the 2014-15 season so perhaps expectations should not have been high when he arrived at Brighton on 20 January 2015.

Nevertheless, Hughton told Brian Owen: “I am very pleased he is here. He gives us another attacking option and I hope he can produce the same form he did for me when we worked together at Newcastle.” In short, he didn’t.

Born in Nottingham on 19 September 1986, his first steps into the professional game came with his local side Notts County. When international recognition came calling, he chose to represent his mother’s birth country, the Republic of Ireland, and was capped at under 17, under 19 and under 21 levels before gaining seven full caps in 2009-10.

Southampton snapped up Best in 2004 and gave him his league debut aged 18, ironically against his future employer, Newcastle.

But opportunities were limited with the Saints and over the course of three years on their books they loaned him out to QPR, Sheffield Wednesday, Bournemouth and Yeovil Town.

In 2007, Best transferred to then Championship side Coventry City for £650,000 and arguably his most successful goalscoring spell came during his time there, as he netted 23 goals in 104 appearances over three seasons.

It prompted Hughton to spend £1.5m of Mike Ashley’s money to take Best to Tyneside on 1 February 2010.

Maybe the warning bells should have been sounding in those first few months on Tyneside when he didn’t register a goal in 13 Championship appearances and fell behind Andy Carroll and Peter Lovenkrands in the pecking order.

Although he managed a couple of goals in pre-season matches, the early part of the 2010-11 season was marred by a cruciate knee ligament injury. Nevertheless, when he returned to action in the January, he did it in some style, bagging a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over West Ham. He got a further three goals before injury ruled him out once again.

3490663In the following season, he went 12 games without scoring but in the summer of 2012, Blackburn Rovers paid £3m to take him to Ewood Park – only for him to pick up an anterior cruciate knee injury one month into the season, ruling him out of action for six months.

The temporary move to Brighton was one of three loans away from Blackburn before they finally released him by mutual consent in July 2015.

It wasn’t until November 2015 he managed to find another club, pitching up for six months at Championship side Rotherham United. When he couldn’t agree terms on a new deal with the Millers, he instead moved to Ipswich Town, ostensibly as a replacement for Daryl Murphy.

He made six starts and six appearances as a substitute without scoring and, by January 2017, manager Mick McCarthy had lost patience with him and declared he wouldn’t play another game for the club.

Released by Town in the summer of 2017, Best managed to secure a two-month deal with Charlton Athletic in November 2017 but he sustained a knee injury on New Year’s Day 2018 and hasn’t played since.

An all-too-fleeting, injury-dogged career for the late Bernie Gallacher

WELL-known names from the football world paid their respects at the funeral of tenacious left-back Bernie Gallacher.

Gallacher, who played for Aston Villa and Brighton, died in Sutton Coldfield in August 2011, aged 44, after a short illness.

Ginger-haired Gallacher was born in Johnstone, near Paisley, in Scotland, on 22 March 1967 and he played football for his school teams, St Peter’s Primary and St Aelred’s High.

His brother John played for Scotland schoolboys but Bernie missed out because he broke a leg just before a big game. Nevertheless, scouts from Leicester City and Villa had been tracking him and, at 16, he chose to join Villa, who’d won the European Cup the year before.

“Football was his life and he often played two or three games a day when we were growing up in Johnstone,” his other brother Charlie told the Paisley Daily Express. “I’ll never forget his debut for Villa because it was against Manchester United at Old Trafford and I remember thinking it didn’t get any better than that.”

It was the final game of the 1986-87 season and Villa were already heading back down to the old Division Two (now Championship). In an Albion matchday programme article, Gallacher said: “The Old Trafford match was a great occasion, but a bit unnerving in front of a cpacity crowd.

“The crowd seemed to be breathing down my neck – at that time I was used to only a couple of hundred watching the reserve side.”

The opportunity came under Graham Taylor after Gallacher successfully made it through the apprentice ranks. Taylor told the Birmingham Mail: “Bernie was reliable, wanted to do well and was never going to cause any trouble. He was a manager’s dream.

“He wanted to do his best and he wasn’t going to cause me any problems on or off the pitch.

“There are a number of players who don’t get recognised in football and Bernie was one of those. He would come out and give us a seven out of ten performance every week.

“If he’d had more confidence and belief in himself we might have seen some nine out of ten performances.”

Gallacher made a total of 72 appearances for Villa between 1985 and 1990, but former Villa teammate, Pat Heard, recalled: “Bernie became a cult hero during the 1987-88 promotion season and never gave less than 100 per cent every game.”

That season he played in all but one of Villa’s league games as they earned automatic promotion back to the top tier. But he only played 13 more top-flight games for Villa, seven of which came in the 1989-90 season when the Midlands club were runners up behind Liverpool, seven points ahead of third-placed Tottenham Hotspur. His final appearance in a Villa shirt came against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in November 1990.

He had a brief loan spell at Blackburn Rovers and also played a couple of games for Doncaster Rovers before heading south to join Barry Lloyd’s second tier Brighton in the autumn of 1991, having been released by Villa.

Gallacher took over the left-back slot when Sussex lad Ian Chapman was injured and made his debut in a 1-0 defeat away to Blackburn on 2 November.He kept his place through to the end of what proved to be a disastrous season with Albion relegated in 23rd spot. While defending was his no.1 priority, Gallacher got on the scoresheet in a 2-1 Boxing Day defeat at Leicester.

North Stand Chat contributor, Blue Seagull, recalled: “The ball was played to him on the left touchline right in front of me; he cut inside one, went past another, and unleashed a shot from the edge of the area. Great goal!”

Gallacher took over the captain’s armband when normal skipper Gary Chivers and club captain Dean Wilkins were both unavailable, but it wasn’t the first time he had led a side. At Villa he’d captained the youth and reserve sides.

“Captaining a side is a privilege and I’ll be happy to do it until either Deano or Chivs is back,” he said.

He played 45 games for Brighton in total but his career was cut short by a bad injury. “Unfortunately, he suffered a horrendous cruciate ligament injury which all but ended a fantastic career,” his brother recalled in 2011. “We were all extremely proud of Bernie, as he really did make a name for himself at Villa Park and is still remembered fondly for his time with the club.”

He made a couple of appearances for Northampton Town after he left Brighton, but he was forced to retire from the game aged just 27. He later worked in the probation service.

Gordon Cowans, Brian Little and Steve Staunton were among the former Villa heroes who paid tribute to him at his funeral.

Fans took Alan Duffy to their hearts after debut goal

Hair-raising moment
Distinctive ‘mutton chops’ look
Debut goal v Bradford City
In action v Reading
In the the thick of it v Rotherham
Heading for goal v Shrewsbury

TWENTY-year-old Alan Duffy couldn’t have wished for a better start to his Brighton career than scoring a belter on his debut.

A £10,000 signing from Newcastle United, he was quickly off the mark on 17 January 1970 in a 2-1 Third Division win over Bradford City.

He appeared to be “the Third Division answer to George Best by beating two Bradford players and smashing a ferocious shot in off the crossbar” according to Seagulls TV, which recounted he was a “stocky striker with a robust style”.

Fan Mo Gosfield, posting on North Stand Chat in January 2011, described the goal as “one of my top 10 Albion moments, because it took your breath away”.

Mo added: “He had all the makings of a cult figure at Brighton. The swagger, the shock of hair, the slight beer belly. I loved him, but he never quite lived up to that sensational start.”

The fans in the old North Stand adapted the Hare Krishna chant to incorporate his name and, after that promising debut, the young striker kept his place in the starting line-up through to the end of the season.

He repaid manager Freddie Goodwin’s faith in him with five more goals. Particularly memorable were Duffy’s two goals in Albion’s 2-1 win over Reading on Good Friday when a huge crowd of 32,036 packed into the Goldstone.

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Brighton were top of the league going into the game and looking a good bet for promotion.

Former goalkeeper Brian Powney discussed that game – and Duffy – when he was interviewed by Brian Owen for an article in the Argus on 20 February 2017.

There were question marks over both Duffy’s goals – a suspicion of handball for one, the other possibly offside – but, while both stood, a seemingly good goal from the youngster was ruled out later on.

Looking back on the game was a painful reminder for Powney, who dislocated a finger which physio Mike Yaxley had to put back while out on the pitch, it being the era long before substitute goalkeepers were available.

Unfortunately, too, Albion blew their promotion chances by losing four of the last five games after that Easter win over the Royals.

The only other points collected came in the penultimate game, a 2-1 home win over Rotherham, when Duffy again scored twice – one a penalty.

Asked about Duffy in that 2017 interview, Powney said: “Alan was hit and miss, a bit madcap.

“He had a lot of talent and, had he applied himself, he would have had a longer career. He was a good player but not such a good pro.”

Like many a player before and since, a change of manager in that World Cup summer of 1970 didn’t help Duffy’s progress at Brighton although, according to Seagulls TV: “Weight issues and injury woes, starting with a thigh problem on the opening day, marred his 1970-71 campaign.”

Duffy began in the no.8 shirt for the opening two games of that season under Goodwin’s replacement,Pat Saward, but a thigh injury picked up away to Bristol Rovers proved more problematic than first thought and he missed a large part of the first half of the season.

Duffy was out of the side from mid-October to February and, on his return to the starting line-up, was involved in one of the most curious incidents I ever saw at the Goldstone.

On 27 February 1971, against Preston North End, Albion won a controversial penalty at the south stand end of the pitch after Duffy somewhat unconvincingly tumbled in the area.

Centre forward Kit Napier took the spot-kick;  ‘keeper Alan Kelly saved it, but referee Tom Reynolds ordered a retake because of encroachment. As Napier steadied himself for the retake, Duffy stepped forward, pushed his teammate out of the way, took the penalty himself – and missed!

In the Argus, reporter John Vinicombe wrote: “Napier watched aghast as the ball thudded against the bar. Duffy hung his head, as well he might.” The game finished in a disappointing 0-0 draw.

“The manager went mad at him afterwards,” Powney recalled, and Saward promptly dropped Duffy to the bench for the next two matches.

In the meantime, the manager brought in the experienced Bert Murray and Willie Irvine on loan to add some nous and quality. Although Duffy did get back in the side for six games, the rest of the time he was on the bench.

One time when he entered the fray from the bench against Aston Villa, a BBC radio commentator described him as “a square little man – an oddity” but he was soon singing his praises for a through ball that set up Napier to score.

His only goals of the season came in the same match – against Bradford City, in a 3-2 win at Valley Parade on Easter Monday. Duffy struck twice in the second half as Albion came back from being 2-1 down at half-time.

By the season’s end, he had made just 15 starts, and was subbed off on five occasions. There were seven appearances off the bench, plus three occasions when he was a non-playing sub.

In 1971-72, he made just one start – in a league cup match – and was only ever a substitute in the league, coming on 12 times and not being used on 10 other occasions.

A Brighton & Hove Gazette special publication noted that shortly after coming on as a substitute in a second round FA Cup game at home to Walsall in December 1971, he was booked for fighting with the Saddlers’ goalkeeper, Bob Wesson.

A subsequent post-match incident with the goalkeeper led to Duffy being suspended for six weeks. His final appearance saw him come on for Murray in a 4-2 win away to Oldham Athletic in mid-January 1972.

Saward clearly didn’t see Duffy as a long-term part of his plans and when he plunged into the transfer market on deadline day in March, the Geordie was used as a makeweight in the deal which brought Tranmere Rovers striker Ken Beamish to the Goldstone for a fee of £25,000. On the same day, Wolves’ Irish international Bertie Lutton returned to the Albion following a loan spell earlier in the season.

In two years at Prenton Park, Duffy made 33 appearances and scored just twice, before heading back to the north east in 1973 to join Darlington.

In the 1973-74 season, he played 24 games for Darlington without getting on the scoresheet and the following season drifted into non-league football, playing for Consett.

It was quite some fall from that glorious day on 21 September 1968 when he had made his Newcastle first team debut against Manchester United at Old Trafford in a 3-1 defeat.

Born on 20 December 1949 in Stanley, Co Durham, Duffy joined Newcastle in 1966 and on 7 April 1968 won an England Youth international cap when he featured in a 0-0 draw away to Bulgaria.

The game took place in Nimes, France, and was part of the UEFA Youth tournament. Amongst his teammates were Burnley’s Dave Thomas and Steve Kindon and fellow Magpie Alan Foggon.

After that debut at Old Trafford, Duffy didn’t play for the first team again until 9 August 1969, coming on as a sub in a 1-0 defeat v West Ham.

His next chance came on 20 September 1969 when he came on as a sub in a 1-1 draw with Southampton.

A week later, he got a start in another 1-1 draw, this time against Wolverhampton Wanderers. But Toon1892.com recounted: “In his time at Newcastle he was always considered to be Pop Robson’s deputy rather than a first team choice.”

When the Toon decided to let him join Brighton, Duffy had to admit he’d never previously ventured that far south before. At least there was a familiar face waiting for him when he arrived: at the time, Albion had a young Newcastle goalkeeper, Martin Burleigh, on loan.

The matchday programme revealed how manager Goodwin and club secretary Alan Leather had quite a journey travelling to the North East to clinch the deal for Duffy because bad weather caused them to alter their train and plane arrangements.

Leather then had to dash from Newcastle to the Football League headquarters at St Annes on the Lancashire coast to register the paperwork ahead of the 48-hour deadline for new signings so that Duffy would be eligible to play in Albion’s away game at Barrow. He managed it…..but then the match was postponed!

Pictures from my scrapbook either originated in the matchday programme or were published in the Evening Argus. Also featured, a special publication produced by the Brighton & Hove Gazette.