Tag: Paul Lambert

Managerial turnover played havoc with goalscorer Bent’s career

FORMER England striker Darren Bent, who now shares his opinion of the game with listeners to talkSPORT, was still only 30 when he pulled on the stripes of Brighton, one of nine clubs he represented in the Premier League and Championship.

He couldn’t have got off to a better start when he scored on his debut at the Amex, netting against one of his former clubs, Fulham. Unfortunately, the visitors turned the game on its head and won 2-1.

Timing is everything in football and perhaps if Bent had joined the Albion in happier circumstances, there may have been a better story to tell. The Seagulls were about the ditch the manager who brought him to the club – an all-too-familiar scenario Bent encountered on many occasions throughout an 18-year playing career.

At Spurs he played under three different managers – he later described it as “the worst two years of my career” – and his temporary move from Aston Villa to Brighton came about because he’d been frozen out by Paul Lambert even though Gerard Houllier had smashed Villa’s transfer fee record to sign Bent from Sunderland for £18m in January 2011.

Bent arrived at the Amex in November 2014 with 184 goals in 464 career appearances behind him, and only three years earlier had won the last of 13 caps for England, for whom he scored four goals.

“His record speaks for itself,” said Albion boss Sami Hyypia. “He is a top-class striker with more than 100 Premier League goals with Charlton, Spurs, Sunderland and Aston Villa. I hope he will score plenty of goals for us during his time with us.

“There is no doubting his ability to score goals. He also wants to play regular games and that is evident in his willingness to step down from the Premier League to the Championship.”

The player himself told the matchday programme: “Anyone who knows me knows that all I care about is football.

“It has never been about money or anything like that. It has always been about playing football. I’m always at my happiest when I’m playing.”

Bent added: “Brighton felt like the perfect place to come and play football, especially for someone like Sami Hyypia, who I’ve played against many times over the years.

“As a manager, I think he is the right man. He is the kind of guy I want to play for.”

It was a generous assessment in the circumstances because Brighton had managed only two wins in 16 matches before Bent’s arrival.

The experienced striker’s second goal for the Albion looked like it might have earned the beleaguered coach a reprieve from the inevitable. He scored in the 10th minute away at Wolves, stooping to head Inigo Calderon’s first-time cross past goalkeeper Carl Ikeme. It was a lead that lasted until the 88th-minute but was cancelled out by a Danny Batth equaliser after Albion had played 30 second half minutes with 10 men following a red card shown to Bruno. Brighton parted company with the big Finn shortly afterwards.

Bent played one more game, under caretaker Nathan Jones, when Albion fought back from 2-0 down (both scored by on-loan Glenn Murray against his old club) to earn a home draw against Reading, but he was forced off injured after less than half an hour and the knock kept him out of the next game at Fulham, when Brighton won 2-0.

Hyypia’s replacement, Chris Hughton, spoke at his first press conference of trying to keep the player, but Bent had the chance to join a side at the opposite end of the Championship and he moved to promotion-seeking Derby County instead, scoring 12 times in 13 starts as the Rams missed out on a play-off spot by one point.

Released by Villa at the end of the season, he subsequently joined the Rams on a permanent basis in the summer of 2015. He saw even more managerial churn at Pride Park – Paul Clement and Darren Wassall in 2015-16 and three – Nigel Pearson, Steve McLaren and Gary Rowett – in 2016-17. Across the two seasons in the Championship, Bent scored 14 in 67 matches, but a hamstring injury sidelined him for the start of the 2017-18 season.

In January 2018 he went on loan to Championship strugglers Burton Albion under Nigel Clough where he scored twice in 14 appearances (nine starts + five off the bench) including netting the equaliser against his old club Sunderland when Burton’s 2-1 win relegated the Black Cats to the third tier of English football for only the second time in the club’s history. Burton also went down.

Released by Derby in the summer of 2018, he announced his retirement at 35 in July 2019.

Funny that he should end his career at Derby County because it was against them that he scored his first competitive goal for Tottenham in a 4–0 home victory in August 2007.

Bent had previously scored 37 goals in 79 matches over two seasons at Premier League Charlton Athletic before making what at the time was a record £16.5m move to White Hart Lane, where Dutch boss Martin Jol greeted him enthusiastically.

On target for Spurs

Although he already had Robbie Keane, Dimitar Berbatov, Jermain Defoe and Mido as forward options, Jol said of the new signing: “Darren’s strength is his stamina. Normally players will make runs three or four times in 45 minutes, he will do it all the time and if you manage to play balls behind the defence, he will be there.

“He has pace, he links play well and can see a pass – he can exploit the space and play as well.”

What happened subsequently is covered superbly in a 2019 article by Jack Beresford on Planet Football, but, to fast forward a little, Jol was shown the White Hart Lane exit and his replacement, Spaniard Juande Ramos (assisted by Gus Poyet) was a lot less enamoured by the big money signing.

Indeed, Beresford writes: “Bent later recalled how Tottenham became ‘a horrible place to be’ under Ramos, who regularly lambasted players over a lack of professionalism in regards to training and nutrition, demoting several senior figures to the reserves.”

Although Bent struggled to cement a regular starting spot in his first season at White Hart Lane, he was Spurs’ top scorer at the end of the 2008-09 campaign with 17 goals.

While things initially looked good under Bent’s third Spurs boss, Harry Redknapp, the manager’s decision to publicly humiliate the striker eventually brought an unhappy spell to an end.

Bent missed a golden chance to score in a match against Portsmouth and Redknapp told reporters after the game: “You will never get a better chance to win a match than that. My missus could have scored that one.

“Bent did not only have part of the goal to aim for, but he had the entire net – and he put it wide. Unbelievable. I was just so frustrated.”

Bent put in a transfer request and said: “No one goes out to deliberately miss. When you miss a chance and your manager comes out and supports you rather than criticises you, it’s a big help.”

Ironically, circumstances meant Bent went on to make 12 more appearances for Tottenham, scoring five times and his 12 league goals made him the club’s top scorer.

Although Redknapp said Bent had a future at the club, he signed Peter Crouch and Beresford reported Bent later said: “I didn’t feel Redknapp wanted me there. It’s massive to have the support of your manager and that’s not been the case for the last two years.

“My career stood still at Tottenham. There’s a lot of politics going on there. I scored a lot of goals, but it was the hardest two years of my life.”

In those two years, he scored 25 goals in 79 games for Tottenham, but 36 of those appearances had been as a substitute.

Born in Tooting, south London, on 6 February 1984, Bent seemed always destined to be a footballer because his dad Mervyn had been on the books of Wimbledon and Brentford as a youngster.

The family moved to Cambridgeshire when the young Bent was only 10 and his early football career was nurtured at Godmanchester Rovers.

Ipswich Town picked him up as a 14-year-old and nurtured him through their youth ranks until he signed his first professional deal on 2 July 2001. George Burley gave him his debut five months later as a sub in a 3-1 UEFA Cup win away to Helsingborgs IF.

He scored twice in seven league and cup appearances that first season but the Tractor Boys were relegated from the top flight. Burley was soon replaced, temporarily by Tony Mowbray, then Joe Royle, under whom he cemented a regular starting berth in the second tier over the next three seasons.

By the time he left Ipswich in 2005, he’d scored 56 goals in 141 appearances. Former Brighton midfielder Alan Curbishley was at the helm of the Addicks when they paid a fee of £2.5m to take him to The Valley.

He scored five goals in Charlton’s first four league games (including two in the opening day 3-1 win over future employer Sunderland), finished his first season with 22 league and cup goals and was named Charlton’s Player of the Year.

Bent top scored again the following season, with 15, but under three different managers – Iain Dowie, Les Reed and Alan Pardew – they were relegated to the Championship along with Watford and Sheffield United.

As described earlier, Spurs presented the opportunity for him to continue playing in the Premier League, and he continued playing at that level when Sunderland bought him for £16.5million in the summer of 2009. Demonstrating the knack he had at several clubs, he scored on his debut, giving the Black Cats a 1-0 win at Bolton.

Bent went on to score 24 league goals for the Black Cats in his debut season at the club – and you can only imagine how delighted he was (pictured below) to net two in a 3-1 win over Spurs at the Stadium of Light!

The first came after just 34 seconds of the game on 3 April 2010, and a 29th-minute penalty gave him his 23rd goal of the season, although incredibly Bent also saw two other penalties saved by Spurs ‘keeper Heurelho Gomes. He had also missed a penalty in the reverse fixture at White Hart Lane the previous November, when Spurs won 2-0.

He obviously wasn’t the most reliable from 12 yards: I witnessed a Bent penalty miss myself back in 2003 when he’d gone on as a sub for Ipswich against Brighton at Portman Road. With the score at 1-1, Richard Carpenter’s foul on Chris Makin gave Bent the chance to restore the home side’s advantage from the spot. But he blasted the ball over without goalkeeper Dave Beasant needing to make a save. Tony Rougier then put Albion ahead but a Martin Reuser thunderbolt evened it up.

Bent’s 18-month stay with Steve Bruce’s Sunderland proved to be his most prolific goalscoring spell in football, netting 38 goals in just 52 appearances.

In the first half of the 2010-11 season, his partner up front was young Manchester United loanee Danny Welbeck, but in the January 2011 transfer window Bent was on the move again, this time to Villa.

Once again, he got off to a great start for a new club, marking his debut with the only goal of the game in a win over Manchester City. It was the first of nine goals in 16 league appearances which put him joint top scorer with Ashley Young, even though he’d only arrived at the club in January.

After health issues forced Houllier to step down as Villa boss, Alex McLeish took over for what was a tumultuous and under-performing season when relegation was only avoided by two points, although Bent was top scorer with 10.

McLeish’s successor Lambert not only took the captaincy off Bent, he also froze him out, only selecting him for 13 Premier League appearances. If he thought it was difficult enough to have three different managers in three seasons at Villa, when he spent the whole of the 2013-14 season on loan to Fulham, they had three different managers in one season!

Bent’s old Spurs boss Jol was in charge as the campaign got under way but, with only two wins in 14, he was replaced by former Man Utd no.2 René Meulensteen in December before Felix Magath took over in February. All the upheaval saw Fulham relegated with a team that included David Stockdale, Steve Sidwell, Aaron Hughes and Dan Burn. Bent scored six in 14 starts + 15 sub appearances.

If Bent was used to managerial change at club level, it wasn’t much better with the England national team: he played under three different managers in five years!

He had previously earned selection for his country at under 15, 16, 19 and 21 levels – he scored nine in 14 matches for the under-21s – and he was first called up to the full squad by Sven-Goran Eriksson shortly after he’d made the move from Ipswich to Charlton, although he didn’t play in a 4-1 defeat to Denmark.

“Making my Premiership debut for a new club, scoring my first brace in the Premiership and then to get the England call-up on the back of that was just a dream come true,” he told the FA website.

It was another six months before he made his full England debut, in a 2-1 win over Uruguay but he didn’t do enough to stake a claim for a place in the World Cup squad.

His next cap came as an 80th minute substitute for Joe Cole in the 3-2 defeat to Croatia in November 2007 that cost Steve McLaren his job when England failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 tournament.

By the time he made his second start for England, on 14 November 2009, Fabio Capello was in charge. England lost 1-0 in a friendly to Brazil in Qatar when Bent’s teammates included Matthew Upson, Wayne Bridge and James Milner.

“Bent was struggling to make an impact as he attempted to convince Capello of his worth, not helped by a lack of service that rendered his task almost impossible,” reported the BBC’s Phil McNulty. “He had one opportunity, but could not direct a header on target from Milner’s cross.”

He didn’t make the cut for the 2010 World Cup squad but in September was back in the fold and scored his first England goal after going on as a 70th minute sub for Jermain Defoe as England beat Switzerland 3-1 in Basle.

By now at Villa, it was the first of three goals in three games (he also netted against Denmark and Wales) after which he told the Birmingham Mail: “I’d love to be No 9 for as long as possible, there are a lot of top strikers about but Fabio keeps picking me and hopefully I can keep producing the goods.

“Even when the goals weren’t going in, I always believed I was good enough to score at this level and hopefully it’s showing now. I’m finally getting my chance and getting a good run in the side. I’m delighted with it.

“It has been years since my first chance and it’s certainly been a long, long wait but it’s finally come.”

He started the 2-2 Euro 2012 qualifier with Montenegro in October 2011 and the following month was in the side that beat World Cup holders Spain 1-0 at Wembley; it was his header from Milner’s cross that rebounded off a post for Frank Lampard to nod in.

Three days later, he played what turned out to be his – and Capello’s – last game for England as a 70th minute sub for Bobby Zamora when England beat Sweden 1-0 at Wembley.

Yet another man was at the helm when it came to selection for the Euro 2012 tournament and Roy Hodgson didn’t reckon Bent had recovered sufficiently from an injury to merit inclusion.

For all the highs and lows of a lengthy playing career, nothing came close to what he suffered in front of a nation of TV quiz viewers: he scored only three points over two rounds of Celebrity Mastermind and admitted to talkSPORT listeners: “Honestly? It was probably the worst experience of my life!”

He explained: “As a footballer you get nervous before games, when you take a penalty in front of thousands of people, when you join a new club, but when you’re sitting in that chair opposite John Humphrys, it’s pitch black in there and all you can see is him, his eyes looking at you and he’s asking you questions and you just go blank.”

High-flying Canary Culverhouse flew with lowly Seagulls too

ONE-TIME Norwich City hero Ian Culverhouse flew high in the Premier League and Europe with the Canaries and ended his playing days at basement Brighton where he began a lengthy coaching and managing career.

It was only at the end of November 2024 that Culverhouse began a new managerial post, taking charge of sixth tier (National League South) side St Albans City.

A few weeks previously he had parted company from Boston United because they were struggling to come to terms with life in the tier above.

Culverhouse was brought to Brighton by Brian Horton in 1998, shortly after he’d been picked up by non-league Kingstonian having been given a free transfer earlier in the year by Swindon Town. He’d spent three and a half years at the County Ground, including being a key player in their Second Division Championship-winning squad of 1995-96, but left the Robins after falling-out with manager Steve McMahon.

He’d only played twice for Kingstonian before he joined Brighton, who were playing in exile at Gillingham at the time.

Signed on a monthly contract initially, his presence as a sweeper helped plug holes at the back and saw Torquay United, Scarborough and Swansea City all beaten. But after two months, Horton decided to dispense with a sweeper and play a flat back four, so Culverhouse was let go.

But when Albion promptly lost 3-1 to Mansfield Town without him, Horton had a change of heart. He re-signed Culverhouse before a week was up, gave him a contract until the end of the season and even made him captain (in the absence of injured Gary Hobson). Quite some turnaround.

“He was one of the best readers of the game the Albion have had,” reckoned wearebrighton.com. “Culverhouse would always be in the right place at the right time, on the scene to stop danger before anybody realised that there was danger coming.”

The musically-minded wags amongst the Albion die-hards also found the perfect terrace song for him – sung to the tune of Our House by Madness, ‘Culverhouse, in the middle of defence’ became a popular ditty.

He completed 38 appearances for the Seagulls that season and took his first steps towards a coaching and managing career under Horton’s successor, Jeff Wood, when he began coaching the reserve side. Wood said: “Ian has shown on the field that he is a player of immense ability. In his new coaching role, he will now have the opportunity to pass his knowledge on to the younger players at the club.”

A grateful Culverhouse added: “This is a good opportunity for me and I am looking forward to it.

“It’s the first chance I’ve had to coach and it’s something I wanted to do anyway when my career finished. It has just come at a nice time.”

Albion’s then chairman, Dick Knight, told the Argus: “Ian has impressed me greatly with not only his experience but his attitude.

“He has been a real leader in the dressing room as well as on the field and we are giving him a chance to bring that know-how to bear on the coaching side.”

Culverhouse was retained as reserve team coach after Micky Adams took over from Wood towards the end of the season, and the new boss told the Argus: “Ian reminds me a bit of myself. You have got to get on the ladder somewhere. He is enthusiastic, has had a good career and sets himself high standards.

“He has a lot to learn in terms of coaching, but I hope he will become fully qualified along with the rest of my staff.

“He will still be registered as a player as well in case we need him in emergencies, but I don’t envisage him playing too many games.”

In fact, there was just the one final first team appearance for him, when Adams tried to bring a halt to a six-game winless run at the start of 2000. But it didn’t go well and he was subbed off in a 2-0 defeat at Hull.

“It is fair to say we have possibly seen the last of Culvs in a first team shirt,” Adams admitted later. “He is still registered as a player, but his career is probably over. It was me that persuaded him to play at Hull. He wasn’t sure he would be up to it in terms of fitness.”

Born in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, on 22 September 1964, Culverhouse was in the England Youth squad for an international junior tournament in Norway in the summer of 1982, starting in a 4-1 defeat to the home nation and gaining a second cap as a sub in a 3-2 win over Poland.

In the same year, he began as an apprentice at Tottenham. He impressed in Spurs’ youth and reserve sides and spent three years at the Lane. “I was playing alongside players like Ricky Villa, Ossie Ardiles and Glenn Hoddle, which was tremendous experience,” he said.

He even collected a UEFA Cup winners’ medal in 1984 as an unused substitute in the first leg of Spurs’ win (on penalties) over Anderlecht; future Albion boss Chris Hughton was left-back and recent signing from Albion, Gary Stevens, was in midfield, and scored one of the decisive penalties.

But Culverhouse only made one full appearance for the first team, plus one as a substitute, and in October 1985 moved to Norwich under Ken Brown for a £50,000 fee. He was part of the Norfolk club’s Second Division title-winning side of 1985-86 in his first season and became an established defender, usually as a right-back but also as a sweeper.

Culverhouse for the Canaries

He was part of the successful Canaries side that finished third in the inaugural Premier League season of 1992-93 after enjoying three top five finishes in the old First Division, reaching two FA Cup semi-finals (1989 and 1992) and playing in Europe (1993-94). He won the club’s player-of the-year award in 1990-91.

The excellent Norwich fans website Flown From The Nest blamed the Robert Chase regime for Culverhouse’s eventual departure from Carrow Road after nine years.

“From being an integral part of the City team that finished third in the Premiership and enjoyed UEFA Cup success, Ian Culverhouse found himself at the start of the 1994-95 season out of contract and out of favour with Robert Chase and manager John Deehan,” it said. “Similar problems had occurred the previous season with Dave Phillips.”

Culverhouse with the Robins

Together with the contract issues, Culverhouse went public to criticise Deehan’s decision to drop him, which ended any chance he had of regaining his place. Eventually, he was transferred to Swindon for the bargain sum of £150,000 in December 1994, the fee being fixed by a tribunal.

After he left Brighton in 2000, Culverhouse became youth coach at Barnet and two years later joined Leyton Orient in a similar role before being elevated to assistant manager. He left the Os in August 2005 – replaced by future Villa boss Dean Smith – but was then appointed coach at Wycombe Wanderers by former Swindon boss John Gorman.

When Paul Lambert succeeded Gorman, he and Culverhouse developed a strong bond. He followed Lambert to Colchester United to become assistant manager, then returned to Norwich in the same role, where he didn’t forget Wood’s role in setting him on the coaching ladder, being instrumental in the former Albion manager’s appointment as Norwich’s goalkeeping coach.

At the end of their first season, Lambert and Culverhouse steered Norwich to the League One title. The following season, they won promotion to the Premier League and finished 12th in their inaugural season back at the elite level. When Lambert quit Norwich to take charge at Aston Villa in July 2012, Culverhouse and fellow ‘lieutenant’ Gary Karsa followed him.

Coach at Villa under Paul Lambert

In June 2013, Lambert told the Birmingham Mail how much trust he placed in his right-hand man. “My assistant boss Ian Culverhouse has a real eye for a player,” he said. “If he reckons we should go for someone I will back his judgement 100 per cent.”

But in April 2014 Culverhouse and Karsa were suspended by the club after being accused of bullying and aggressiveness by players and other staff members, and they were sacked the following month.

Between January 2016 and February 2017, Culverhouse was assistant manager to veteran boss John Still at Dagenham & Redbridge. He left the Daggers to become manager of Southern League Premier Division side King’s Lynn Town. In May 2018, he moved on to Grantham Town but left after only five months and returned to King’s Lynn.

He led them to a second place finish in the Southern League, and. in the subsequent play-offs against Northern Premier League Warrington, saw the Linnets win 3-2 in extra time to earn a place in the National League (North) for 2019-20.

This was the Covid-affected season in which the fixtures weren’t completed. Lynn finished the games played two points behind York City with two games in hand. The National League board ultimately decided, using an “unweighted points per game” formula that Lynn would have won the title and they therefore gained promotion to the National League.

However, on 29 November 2021 he was sacked by Lynn on the back of a run of eight league defeats in a row which left the club second from bottom of the National League and struggling for survival. 

Two months later, he was back in management at National League North Kettering Town, together with assistant Paul Bastock, although that tenure only lasted four months.

Next stop was Boston United in September of the same year, a club all too familiar to Bastock, who played 679 games for the Pilgrims (and broke Peter Shilton’s record in competitive club football when he made his 1,250th appearance in the game in 2017).

The pair helped to preserve Boston’s league status in their first season and then guided them to promotion via the play-offs in May 2024. United’s struggle in higher company – only two wins in 16 matches – led to Culverhouse and Bastock leaving the Jakemans Community Stadium in October 2024.

Bradley Johnson always liked a pop from long range

Bradley Johnson scores on his debut v Leicester (photo Simon Dack)

THE COCA-COLA Kid’s cousin was an instant hit when he joined seventh-from-bottom Brighton on loan from second-placed League One rivals Leeds United in October 2008.

Bradley Johnson, who’d heard about the Seagulls from his relative Colin Kazim-Richards, scored twice on his debut as the Seagulls turned round a 2-0 half-time deficit to beat Leicester City 3-2.

“I hadn’t played for two months and Micky (Adams) asked if I was fit and I admitted I wasn’t match fit, but he said he would throw me in anyway,” Johnson recounted.

“The two goals I scored gave me great confidence as a player, but the win helped everyone,” he said. “On the night, the fans were immense and the result gave us all a good boost.”

In an Argus interview in March 2021, Johnson recalled: “I was a young boy from Leeds coming into a struggling team against a team who were flying so it was a bit daunting for me.

“I didn’t know what to expect but, as debuts go, I don’t think it could have gone any better.

“Anyone who knows me knows I like a shot and I’ve always had that since a young age. Some don’t go where planned but thankfully on that night they did.”

Albion had failed to score in their three previous games, against Hereford, Peterborough and Hartlepool, and soon found themselves 2-0 down to City courtesy of two Matty Fryatt goals.

Adams hauled off a somewhat better known loanee – the ineffective Robbie Savage – at half-time, along with wideman Kevin McLeod, and the changes galvanised the Albion in the second half.

Right-back Andrew Whing reckoned the withdrawal of Savage might have helped Johnson to shine. “Maybe he’d felt a bit in Robbie’s shadow up until that point,” he told Spencer Vignes. “But he really stepped up in the second half and scored twice, one of them an unbelievable strike. We needed a spark and that was it.

“Bradley deserved a lot of credit that night. He’d come to us from Leeds and he just took responsibility, scored twice and got us back into it. He really made an impression.”

After Johnson’s pair of long range strikes past David Martin in the Leicester goal, City defender Jack Hobbs sealed a memorable comeback for the Seagulls when he diverted Joe Anyinsah’s cross past his own ‘keeper.

It was a tad ironic that Johnson should have scored against Leicester too because at the start of that year he came very close to signing for them but couldn’t agree terms and ended up at Leeds instead.

Five days after his impressive Albion debut, Johnson was on the scoresheet again as Adams’ side beat Millwall 4-1 at the Withdean Stadium (Glenn Murray, two, and Dean Cox, the other scorers).

Kazim-Richards, whose £250,000 transfer from Bury to Brighton had been paid for via fan Aaron Berry winning a competition organised by the soft drink giant, had already moved on to Fenerbahçe in Turkey via Sheffield United by the time Johnson arrived in Sussex.

But he said: “My cousin Colin had played there so I knew Brighton and I knew a few lads, and that it was a good place to be. But it was Micky that really sold the place to me and I just wanted to play. That is all I wanted to do; I didn’t look at the side’s league position. I just wanted to be a part of what Micky spoke about and help the club beat relegation.”

Unfortunately, the mini revival in the autumn of 2008 didn’t continue although Johnson was on the winning side again when, in his 10th and last game for the Albion, two Nicky Forster goals earned a 2-0 win at Swindon Town, spoiling Danny Wilson’s first game in charge of the Robins (Peter Brezovan was in goal for Town).

By then, Johnson, who’d lost his place at Leeds following an injury, had scored four times for the Albion (some records show he scored twice in a 4-2 home defeat to MK Dons, others that the second Brighton goal was netted by Stuart Fleetwood).

Somewhat gallingly, Johnson was next seen at Withdean less than three weeks into the new year – back in the fold with Leeds as they took all three points in a 2-0 win on 17 January 2009.

“When I was out on loan, Leeds were struggling and when I went back Gary McAllister got the sack. Simon Grayson came in and I didn’t know where my future lay, but Grayson told me I had a part to play and it was down to me to train hard and prove myself,” he said.

“He was true to his word, and I kept my head down, then I ended up coming back to Brighton and played against them for Leeds. It was a bit surreal to be in the away dressing room, but that is football.”

Johnson became a regular at Elland Road for the next two years and was part of the Leeds side who won promotion to the Championship in 2010, as well as earning headlines in memorable FA Cup ties against Premier League opposition.

In particular, in a third round replay against Arsenal at Elland Road in January 2011, Johnson scored a spectacular goal for the home side although they lost the tie 3-1.

Having spent five years on Arsenal’s books as a promising youngster, it was a bittersweet moment for Johnson who said afterwards: “It was a goal I’m not going to forget. I’m an Arsenal fan myself and so are all my family.”

On the transfer list at the time because he couldn’t agree a new deal with Leeds, he eventually got the chance he craved to play in the Premier League that summer when he moved to newly promoted Norwich City, where his teammates included Elliott Bennett and Andrew Crofts.

It was Canaries boss Paul Lambert who sold the club to him at the time but he also sang the praises of his successor, Chris Hughton.

Johnson joined the Canaries

“Hughton did come in with a different style of play,” he told pinkun.com. “He was very tactical. He was mindful that we were playing in the Premier League against good players whereas Paul Lambert wouldn’t care, if we were playing Manchester United, he’d say ‘if they score two, we’ll score three’.

“Different approaches, different ideas and different philosophies. People weren’t happy with the way he played but we finished 11th. I can only speak for myself, but I really enjoyed my time there and Chris is a great manager.”

He added: “Credit to him when he got the sack because he stuck by his morals and got Brighton promoted.”

After three seasons in the Premier League, the 2014–15 Championship season was one of Johnson’s most successful seasons with the Canaries: he became vice-captain to Russell Martin, appeared in 44 of the 46 league matches (including one appearance as a sub) and scored 15 goals.

He was voted fans’ Player of the Year and was part of the side that won the play-off final 2-0 against Middlesbrough to ensure City won back their Premier League place.

However, unable to get a place in Alex Neil’s side back among the elite, he switched to Derby County for £6m in September 2015.

That was the start of seven more seasons in the Championship: after 140 appearances over four years with the Rams, he moved on a free transfer to Blackburn Rovers, where he made 86 appearances over three seasons.

He eventually left Ewood Park at the end of the 2021-22 season and in the summer of 2022 joined MK Dons on a free transfer.

Johnson scored both goals as MK Dons turned round a disappointing start to the season by beating Port Vale 2-1 in their fourth match.

Johnson interviewed after scoring twice for MK Dons

Born in Hackney on 28 April 1987, Johnson was on Arsenal’s books from 1997 to 2002 but was released aged 15.

“Like any kid, being released from a club was horrible and I didn’t really feel like going back on a round of trials with other professional clubs, so instead I just played locally in Leyton.

He went to Ryman Premier side Waltham Forest but when he was 17 was invited for a trial at Cambridge United. He signed on a non-contract basis for eight months and was then offered a professional contract.

Johnson attracted suitors when playing for Northampton Town

But Northampton Town had been tracking him. “They made me a counter-offer which I accepted and that is where my career began,” he said.

That was in May 2005, and after he had been out on loan to gain experience at Gravesend & Northfleet and Stevenage Borough, he became a regular starter under Stuart Gray and his performances attracted scouts from clubs further up the league.

When that aforementioned move to Leicester fell through in January 2008, a few days later Leeds stepped in and paid a £250,000 fee for him.

He played in the same Leeds side as Casper Ankergren that lost the 2008 League One play-off final 1-0 to Doncaster, but picked up a back injury in pre season that led to him being sidelined. Although he returned to fitness, the side was doing well in his absence which meant he was unable to force his way back in. And then the chance to play competitive football was presented by the Albion.

Determined Joe pursued his dream to the top

JOE BENNETT played more league matches (41) than any other outfield Brighton player during the 2014-15 season.

Not bad for a loan signing who’d been edged out at Aston Villa after a season in their first team.

Bennett’s appearance record for the Seagulls was perhaps even more noteworthy in that it spanned the reigns of three managers.

Brought in by Sami Hyypia, the defender retained the left-back berth during Nathan Jones’ temporary spell in charge right through to the end of the season after Chris Hughton had taken over.

Bennett hasn’t been afraid to travel the length and breadth of the country plying his trade as a footballer.

It all began in his home town, Rochdale, where he was born on 28 March 1990. His early promise with a football saw him join up with the under-eights at their centre of excellence.

When he was 10, his parents separated and he moved to the north east to live with his mum and stepdad in Swainby, eight miles north east of Northallerton.

He quickly got fixed up with Sunday league side Northallerton Town. One of their coaches, Gary Ramsbotham, also scouted for Middlesbrough and through him Bennett went for a trial and got taken on.

His progress suffered a setback when he was 15. He was de-registered by Boro and had a year away from the club, during which time he worked hard on his fitness and strength before being taken back on.

“The year away really helped me focus on my football and I realised then how badly I wanted to make it,” he told Tony Higgins in an interview for gazettelive.co.uk.

As he progressed through the youth ranks, Bennett, who’d originally been a striker, was converted to a left-back by Boro coach Steve Agnew.

He also had a perfect work experience stint from school when he got to go training with Boro’s under 18 side, and he relished the opportunity of being a ballboy at Riverside home games.

Eventually, he made it to the first team, Gareth Southgate giving him his debut as a substitute in the final game of the 2008-09 Premier League season against West Ham, although Boro had already been relegated by then.

Bennett thought he’d get chances to play in the Championship, but new boss Gordon Strachan turned to more experienced players, and Bennett only made 13 appearances in 2009-10.  

It was a different story following the arrival of Tony Mowbray and the young full-back was a regular over the following two seasons, eventually starting 84 matches for Boro and going on as a sub eight times.

He earned the club’s young player of the year title at the end of the 2010-11 season and the North East Football Writers’ Association’s young player of the year accolade in 2011-12.

2011 was a good year for him because he also caught the eye of the international selectors and won three caps for England under-21s.

His debut came in a 1-0 defeat away to Italy on 8 February 2011, he was a sub for Ryan Bertrand in England’s 2-1 home defeat to Iceland on 28 March, and he started the 5 September game against Israel at Barnsley’s Oakwell ground which England won 4-1, with Jonjo Shelvey and Ross Barkley pulling the strings in midfield.

In August 2012, Premier League Aston Villa paid £3m to take him to Villa Park. Boss Paul Lambert told avfc.co.uk: “Joe’s a really good player, young and hungry to succeed and he’s exactly the type of player we want here at the football club.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he will thrive in this environment and he fits in exactly with what we are trying to build here.

“His energy level is really high and he can get up and down the pitch really well, which will be important for the team and important in terms of how we want to play as a team.

“He’s an exciting signing for the club and I’m really pleased we’ve been able to take him here.”

While Bennett made 30 appearances for Villa in his first season, increased competition and back and knee injuries restricted his involvement in 2013-14 to only seven matches.

At the start of the 2014-15 season, Albion had been expecting Irish international Stephen Ward to join permanently after his season on loan from Wolves. But his last-minute u-turn en route to putting pen to paper on the deal meant the Seagulls were in the market for a new left-back because new boss Hyypia wanted someone more experienced than Adam Chicksen.

With playing time at Villa again looking like only being sporadic, Bennett went along to Elland Road on 19 August 2014 and liked what he saw as Albion won 2-0 in what would turn out to be one of the few decent performances under Hyypia.

“I went to watch them against Leeds and I think that just made me realise what a good team they are,” said Bennett. “They just kept the ball really well, from the back to the front, defended well and they looked like they had a lot of energy.

“The full-backs like to go forward as well which is part of my game as I like to go forward and get involved a bit more up the pitch, so it was nice to see.

“I spoke to the manager and he told me a bit about how he likes the team to play and how I could fit in to that, and hopefully I can.”

After the Hyypia reign came to an early end, Bennett remained suitably diplomatic in interviews and in a matchday programme feature spoke about the positive influence on his game of former full-back Hughton.

“Obviously it’s good for me on a personal level having a former defender as manager,” he said. “He knows his stuff and is there to give me plenty of advice, especially in the left-back role. Since the gaffer came in he’s been working hard on defensive shape and being more compact as a team.”

He spoke about Hughton’s greater emphasis on defending compared to Hyypia’s desire for the full-backs to push up. “I’ve got a more defensive role now but I’m really enjoying my football under Chris. I feel I’m learning all the time,” he said.

At one point it looked like Bennett might join Albion on a permanent basis, but when Tim Sherwood took over from Lambert, he indicated the full-back may yet have a future at Villa Park.

The new Villa boss ran his eye over the defender and said: “Joe has done very, very well. I am now looking forward to seeing him in pre-season.”

He did enough to earn a one-year contract extension and scored his first goal for the club in a 5-3 League Cup win over Notts County. But, with Aly Cissokho still ahead of him in the pecking order, and with only an hour to go before the end of the August transfer window, Bennett was loaned to newly-promoted AFC Bournemouth.

Ostensibly he was signed as cover for Tyrone Mings and Charlie Daniels, but he hoped the move would give him the opportunity to play regularly in the Premier League.

“I’m really excited about the prospect of playing for Bournemouth and hopefully helping them perform well this season,” he told Villa’s website. “They’ve already made a positive start to the new season and, like everyone else, I’ve been really impressed with the fantastic job Eddie Howe has done. They have a really good side.”

Unfortunately, it didn’t unfold how Bennett had hoped. He didn’t make any appearances for Bournemouth and returned early to Villa Park after suffering an achilles tendon injury.

Recovered from the injury, Bennett joined Sheffield Wednesday on loan in mid-January 2016 until the end of the season. Again, a permanent move looked on the cards, especially when new Villa boss Roberto Di Matteo indicated he wouldn’t be part of his first-team plans.

Villa chairman Tony Xia blocked the move, not wishing to sell to a Championship rival, but, within a fortnight, Bennett moved on a free transfer to fellow Championship side Cardiff City. A calf injury meant he had to wait two months before making his debut, but he went on to spend an eventful five years in South Wales, riding a rollercoaster emotionally, on and off the field.

Nevertheless, his popularity with the Bluebirds was perhaps best encapsulated by chairman Mehmet Dalman who described him as “the best left back in the league”.

Bennett endured a somewhat turbulent relationship with boss Neil Warnock, although he admitted in an extended interview with Oscar Johnson: “He is a nice, genuine and down-to-earth guy. He was really good to me during his time here.

“At first, I don’t think he really fancied playing me to be honest, but I was the only left-back at the club, so he didn’t have a choice.

“Our relationship got better as it went along and he was really good for me both personally and as a player.”

That didn’t seem to be the case in January 2018 when Bennett was in the headlines for the wrong reason. He escaped what looked like a straight red card for a bad foul on Leroy Sane in a FA Cup tie against Manchester City but eventually saw red for a second booking, which incurred Warnock’s wrath.

“I was disappointed he got sent off at the end,” said Warnock. “Obviously he doesn’t want to go to Leeds next weekend, because it was an absolutely pathetic challenge when on a booking. To do something like that I think is disrespectful to teammates.”

Even so, Bennett was a regular fixture in defence during Cardiff’s brief spell in the Premier League, playing 30 of the 38 matches.

“Being relegated after one season was obviously gutting, but nobody had given us a chance of staying up before the season began, so to battle as long and hard as we did was definitely something to be proud of,” he said.

“We had a really good team and got some really good results over the course of the season. I think that, with a little bit of luck, we could maybe have stayed up. If VAR had been in use, we might have done it because we had some horrible decisions go against us.”

In March 2019, Bennett opened up to Dominic Booth about how it felt playing against the backdrop of losing the father who had first urged him to pursue his dream of becoming a professional footballer.

He remained with Cardiff and was enjoying a new lease of life after Mick McCarthy’s appointment as manager when he suffered an anterior cruciate knee ligament injury in March 2021 that put him out of the game for the rest of the season.

After surgery, he made a swift-than-expected recovery and, even though he’d been given a free transfer at the end of his contract, he continued his recovery by training with the Bluebirds.

“The club had a duty of care to aid the player’s rehabilitation and, as such, Bennett has been at the club’s Vale of Glamorgan HQ gradually working his way back to fitness,” reported walesonline.co.uk.

McCarthy explained that a new deal had been in the offing before the injury, but it never got signed. “I was quite sad about it because I spoke to Benno when I came in, I knew his contract was running out,” he said. “I discussed with him about staying, then injury comes and it changed it all.”

Bennett was not the only departure at the end of the season, and a statement on the club website read: “We would like to place on record our sincerest thanks and best wishes to Sol Bamba, Joe Bennett and Junior Hoilett who will be moving on this summer upon the expiration of their current deals.

“The three players joined us in 2016 and would go on to become key figures in our 2017-18 promotion squad. Between them they made a total of 478 appearances across a five-year period, representing a significant contribution to the club’s recent progress and history.”

Bennett subsequently moved north and signed a two-year deal with Wigan Athletic.

Why Shane Duffy is forever grateful to Everton

SHANE DUFFY has seized the opportunity to re-establish himself at the heart of Brighton’s defence to the obvious delight of the manager who appeared to have shunned him.

With injury sidelining Dan Burn and Covid-19 isolation protocol ruling out Joel Veltman, Duffy stepped up with a solid performance in the season-opener at Burnley, and a goalscoring return to the Amex in the 2-0 win over Watford.

“It was a fantastic header from Duffy, he’s a monster in the box,” boss Graham Potter told the BBC after the televised Watford match. “He is so big and strong to stop – it was a great goal.”

Duffy’s form has been a reminder of the solid centre-back partnership he formed with Lewis Dunk as the bedrock of Brighton’s promotion from the Championship in 2017.

Although a metatarsal injury in a 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest meant he missed out on the run-in, Duffy was obviously confident of being restored to the line-up when the Premier League season got under way.

“I’m looking forward to going back to Everton to see a few mates but they’re all going to be big games,” Duffy said in a matchday programme article. “I feel more ready for it than I was four or five years ago at Everton, and I deserve another crack at it, but I know I’ve got to work hard.”

While additions to the squad were to be expected as the Albion sought to stay among exalted company, the Duffy-Dunk pairing at the back didn’t look much like being broken up. Certainly not under Chris Hughton.

Happy with his mainstays at the heart of the defence, Hughton allowed Connor Goldson to leave for Glasgow Rangers and Uwe Hünemeier to return to Germany and Duffy was comfortable alongside Dunk as Albion retained their top division status. And so it remained for Albion’s two first two seasons back amongst the elite.

But when Potter replaced the popular Hughton in 2019, it soon became apparent Duffy didn’t fit the mould of the sort of ball-playing centre-back he wanted in the side.

Although he started the season under Potter, his place was gradually taken over by big money signing Adam Webster. Duffy invariably ended up warming the bench and at the start of the 2020-21 season, with Ben White preferred alongside Dunk and Webster, he jumped at the chance to go on loan to Glasgow giants Celtic, the team he’d supported as a boy.

Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out to be quite the dream move Duffy had hoped for, with criticism arrowing in from all quarters as the Republic of Ireland international underwhelmed in the centre of the Hoops defence, and Celtic could only watch as city rivals Rangers won the Scottish title.

Doubtless the irony wasn’t lost on Duffy that his first match back in a Seagulls shirt saw him up against Rangers in a pre-season friendly, when the home fans ensured he was given a ‘warm’ reception.

But let’s go back to where it all started.

Born in Derry, Northern Ireland, on 1 January 1992, Duffy was playing for Northern Ireland Under-16s against England in the Victory Shield when he caught the eye of watching Everton boss David Moyes.

Duffy had been playing for his local side, Foyle Harps, at the time and, although Arsenal took him on trial and offered him a scholarship, Everton invited him to train with them and offered him a professional contract immediately.

“Of the two clubs, I just had a good feeling about Everton; obviously it was more of a family club, and there’s also the Irish connection with the city of Liverpool, so it was easy for me to settle in,” Duffy told the matchday programme.

In his second season at Goodison Park, he made his first team debut aged just 17 in a Europa League match against AEK Athens.

“David Moyes handed me my debut and I owe him a lot because he always had belief in me, whereas I could have gone somewhere else and maybe ended up back in Ireland,” he said. “I was raw as I hadn’t been with an academy before, but he was patient with me, as were all the coaches, and I came through the youth team and reserves before I got my break in the Europa League and then later in the Premier League.”

Duffy played against Brighton when the third-tier club’s youngsters (with Dunk in defence) acquitted themselves brilliantly in the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup against Everton at the Withdean on 21 January 2010 before eventually losing 2-0. The programme pen picture said of him: “Strong in the tackle and dependable in the air, Shane is considered a ball-playing defender.”

Duffy recalled: “I’d just turned 18 and had recently broken into the Everton team in the Europa League. I do remember Dunky a little bit because we were marking each other at corners.”

A month after his visit to Withdean, Duffy decided to switch allegiance to the Republic having previously captained Northern Ireland’s Under-19s. It came just as he was selected for the full international squad to face Albania in a friendly in Tirana where he was expected to receive his first cap in the absence of captain Aaron Hughes (who later spent a season with Brighton) and Chris Baird.

Disappointed Northern Ireland boss Nigel Worthington told The Guardian: “There is a loophole where a player can walk away after a lot of time and investment has gone in. Until it is resolved, that’s where we are. Shane has represented Northern Ireland all the way through from a very early age to the Under-21s.

“I am a big admirer of Shane. I like him as a player and a lot of work has gone in with different coaches. I am disappointed with the situation as he is going to be a very good player. Shane has decided, after discussing the matter with his family, to represent the Republic. As a manager, I have got to respect that.”

Duffy, who had close family ties to Donegal in the Republic, said the decision to switch his allegiance from Northern Ireland was the right thing to do to help his international career.

Speaking to evertontv, Duffy said:“It was difficult for me to leave because of what they’ve done for me in Northern Ireland since I was young. They brought me through the ranks which gave me the chance to come to Everton.

“It was hard to leave all the coaches and all the players, but it was always a case of wanting to come to my own country. I spoke to a couple of people about it because I didn’t want to disrespect Northern Ireland, but I just had to do what was best for me and I thought it would be best for me to switch.”

Astonishingly, in his first-ever training match with the Republic, under manager Giovanni Trapattoni, he was involved in a freak collision that lacerated his liver and emergency surgery was required to save his life as he lost a huge amount of blood.

After a speedier-than-expected recovery, Duffy was soon lining up for the Republic’s Under-19s and Under-21s and he went on to make 20 appearances for the Under-21s.

In 2012 he was called up to the senior squad to replace the injured Richard Dunne but missed out on the squad for the 2012 Euros. He had to wait until June 2014 to make his full debut and it was another two years before he was next involved.

He was called up to the side who famously beat Italy in a 2016 Euros group match to qualify for the final 16 but was then sent off as the Republic bowed out 2-1 against France. Nevertheless, under Martin O’Neill, Duffy became established in the side and in March 2018 was named his country’s Player of the Year. He told the matchday programme: “When I heard the news, I was shell-shocked, but when it sunk in it gave me time to reflect on how far I’ve come in a short space of time.

“So much has happened: the Euros, failing to reach the World Cup in the play-offs, winning promotion with Brighton, playing in the Premier League.

“The manager noticed a difference in me when he brought me back into the side two years later, and that’s because I went away, played games and I worked hard. I got myself properly fit, dedicated, and I feel like I’ve benefited from that.”

Reflecting on the experiences given to him by Hughton and O’Neill, Duffy pointed out: “Chris has given me the chance to play in the Premier League where I’m developing, and Martin has given me the chance to play on the big stages and in a big tournament.

“You take little things out of each one of them and it’s coming together a bit now, and hopefully there’s more to come. I’m still a bit raw in some things I do but I’m getting better and it’s a nice feeling to go out knowing you can compete with top players and feel comfortable.”

Duffy went on to captain the Republic for the first time in a 1-1 draw against Denmark in November 2019 and retained the captaincy in Stephen Kenny’s first game in charge, in September 2020; a 1-1 draw against Bulgaria.

As an established international, Duffy has nearly 145,000 followers on Twitter.

Looking back, by his own admission, Duffy had realised his early exposure to senior football at Everton was going to be short-lived, telling the club’s website at the time: “I know I’m not ready to play in Everton’s first team yet as I’m so young but if I’m needed I’ll do my best for the team. A loan would obviously make me better and make me more mature on the pitch.”

Initially that loan came at Burnley in the Championship, but he only played one game under Eddie Howe and, in 2011-12, he had a more fruitful loan at League One Scunthorpe United, playing 19 games under Alan Knill.

An injury to Phil Jagielka prompted Everton to recall Duffy from Scunthorpe in January 2012 and a week after playing against Hartlepool he found himself going on as a substitute for Sylvain Distin against Spurs at White Hart Lane.

Spurs had Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Emmanuel Adebayor in their line-up but Duffy said: “I refused to get overawed by the occasion. I just treated it as another football match, another opponent, and only afterwards did I take in what had happened.”

He said: “Everton are a club that will always mean a lot to me because they gave me my chance as a professional and shaped the player I am today. David Moyes was a big influence on my career; he helped me a lot.”

Duffy spent the 2013-14 season on loan at Yeovil – “another fantastic learning curve for me” – when Gary Johnson’s side were in the Championship and although Moyes’ successor Roberto Martinez offered Duffy a new contract at Everton, he was warned he would have to wait to establish himself because he was still young and inexperienced.

So, in the summer of 2014, he decided to join Paul Lambert’s Championship side Blackburn Rovers and, while a knee injury restricted his appearances in his first season at Ewood Park, he became a permanent fixture alongside Grant Hanley in 2015-16.

When Gordon Greer’s imposing reign as Brighton centre-back and captain came to an end in 2016, Hughton turned to Duffy as his replacement (Greer went back to Rovers). The fee was undisclosed but was reported in The Mirror to be £4m.

It remains unclear where Duffy’s future lays although his performances in the opening two games of the season suggest there could yet be a future for him under Potter. The manager didn’t hold back in his praise for the big Irishman, but the defender didn’t get carried away.

Duffy opened up to the media after the win at Burnley, talking about what he’d been through over the previous 12 months, but he pointedly added: “It is only one game and a lot can still happen, but as long as I am here I’ll try and help the team whether that’s on the pitch or off the pitch with the younger lads. That is what I am here to do.”

He said he had “hit rock bottom” when affected by off-field problems (for example, his father Brian died aged 53 in May 2020), but he praised the Seagulls for continuing to offer him support and he added: “I am still taking it day by day and be like an 18-year-old try and impress every day, try and improve and try and help as much as I can. I feel like if you do that you get the reward sometimes when maybe you don’t expect it.”

Duffy also spoke openly and honestly to Sky Sports as part of the build-up to the game against Watford.

Pictures from Albion’s matchday programme and online sources.

Benno’s quick route to the top after ‘fantastic’ Albion chapter

SEVENTEEN GOALS in 100 appearances don’t tell the whole story of Elliott Bennett’s two seasons as a Brighton player.

Russell Slade signed 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’s Alfie 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.

Andrew Crofts just couldn’t stay away from the Seagulls

ANDREW Crofts is one of that rare breed of player who had three separate spells at Brighton, although the latter time was only as player-coach with the under-23s.

The Welsh international midfielder returned to the Seagulls after only a month as player-coach at Yeovil Town when Liam Rosenior left the Albion to move to Derby County.

His signing as an over-age player as well as a coach was explained by technical director Dan Ashworth, who hailed the “innovative step” and told the club website: “The thinking behind the playing role is to have someone of his experience out there on the pitch alongside our younger players, and to impart that crucial knowledge he has gained from his time in the game.

“To have that experience out on the field, in the pressure situation of a game, will be of enormous benefit to our young players and have a positive impact on their collective and individual development.”

Crofts first joined the club in the summer of 2009 during Russell Slade’s managerial reign and, when Gus Poyet took over the managerial chair, he appointed Crofts as captain for his first game in charge.

The midfielder repaid the faith in that televised away game at St Mary’s on 15 November by scoring in Albion’s memorable 3-1 win. Crofts retained the armband through to the end of the season and his form had caught the attention of Championship side Norwich City.

Crofts made the switch to Carrow Road and played 44 games as Paul Lambert’s outfit won promotion to the Premier League in runners up spot.

In the top-flight, though, Crofts was no longer a mainstay of the midfield, starting just 15 matches in 2011-12, and coming off the bench on 10 occasions.

“Towards the end of the season I was in and out,” he told the Albion matchday programme in 2019. “Paul then went to Aston Villa and when the chance came up to return to the Albion I jumped at it.”

“It felt like coming home and I wanted to replicate what we had done with Norwich. It was a completely different club compared to the one I’d left, with the Amex Stadium and plans for the new training ground.”

Poyet wasted no time in seizing the chance to re-sign him, telling the club website: “When we knew about the possibility to bring him back we worked very hard to do that.

“I am delighted to have him back. He is going to be a very important player.

“He is coming back to a club that he knows and he was happy to come back – that shows his commitment,” said Poyet. “He leads by example and we want players like that on the pitch.”

Unfortunately, that season his playing time was limited by two long-term spells out injured, and the following season it got worse. After sustaining a serious cruciate knee ligament injury in January 2014, he was sidelined by an almost identical injury again in October 2014.

When the player suffered the first injury in an away game at Birmingham, Poyet’s successor, Oscar Garcia, said: “He will be a big loss and I feel sorry for Crofty. He has been excellent and has been a key player.”

Crofts battled over many months to regain fitness only to suffer a partial tear of his anterior cruciate ligament and a tear to the meniscus in a match against Watford in October 2014, putting paid to any involvement in the rest of the 2014-15 season.

Head coach Sami Hyypia told the club website: “We are all devastated for Crofty. He is an important member of our squad and worked incredibly hard to get back to full fitness after last season’s knee injury.

“Crofty is a very strong character and he will continue to receive the best possible care and treatment from our medical staff throughout his rehabilitation.”

Unfortunately for him, by the time he was fit again, another new manager was in place and Dale Stephens and Beram Kayal were firmly established as Chris Hughton’s preferred midfield pairing. So, in March 2016, Albion loaned him back to his first club, Gillingham, until the end of the season.

On leaving the Seagulls that summer, he moved to Charlton Athletic under his former Albion boss Slade, on a one-year contract, and made a total of 54 appearances for the Addicks.

Although born in Chatham, Kent, Crofts qualified to play for Wales because his grandfather hailed from the principality. He earned a total of 29 caps, spread over 13 seasons, initially under John Toshack, most coming under Gary Speed, before making his final appearance against Panama in November 2017, in Chris Coleman’s last game as Wales manager.

Crofts v Rooney in a Wales v England match
Welsh international

Crofts was on Chelsea’s books from the age of 10 to 15, going through the ranks with John Terry, with whom he shared digs. One of his coaches was ex-Albion and Chelsea defender Gary Chivers. After being released by Chelsea, he linked up with Gillingham as a trainee and worked his way through the youth and reserve sides, making a surprise first team debut against Watford in May 2001 when only 16.

It wasn’t until 2004 and 2005 that he became a first team regular. His first Gills goal was scored in the Championship clash at the Withdean Stadium on Boxing Day 2004 when the Seagulls won 2-1.

Crofts eventually took over the captaincy at Gillingham but, after the side were relegated to League One, manager Mark Stimson believed the role was too much of a burden on the player. After more than 200 appearances for the Gills, he was made available for transfer and, in 2008-09, went out on loan to Peterborough United and then Conference side Wrexham under former Albion striker Dean Saunders.

When he joined Albion on a free transfer in June 2009, boss Slade said: “He’s an international player so that’s not bad for a start. He’s got good pedigree and was an important player for a good Gillingham team at the time.

“He can sit in for you defensively or he can get forward. He has got a good work ethic and I’m pleased to get him.”

Towards the end of his league playing days, Crofts had spells at Scunthorpe United in 2017-18 then Newport County for the 2018-19 season, playing under his former Gillingham teammate Michael Flynn, who he played alongside at Priestfield between 2005 and 2007,

Flynn made his old pal captain and said: “He’s a gentleman and he’s somebody I trust a lot. So signing him was really a no-brainer.

“Andrew coming in is a massive signing for the club. He’s the ultimate professional and he’s in fantastic condition.”

Crofts himself said: “I played with Michael Flynn at Gillingham and he was a winner. I loved playing with him and I can’t wait to play for him now with him being my gaffer.”

Unfortunately, injury issues restricted Crofts to just 12 appearances for Newport and he was released at the end of the season.

On leaving County, Crofts moved to Yeovil Town as player-coach with manager Darren Sarll saying: “To bring a player of Andrew’s experience into the club at this time is a great coup.

“He still has a thirst and hunger for playing and winning promotions and it’s refreshing to be part of the very early stages of his coaching career.

“He’ll be a valuable asset to the squad both as a player and in terms of passing on his experience and knowledge to the younger members of the squad.”

But then the opening arose with the Albion and he didn’t hesitate to return. When Graham Potter left the Albion, Crofts temporarily took on the head coach position and was retained as a first team coach under Roberto De Zerbi and his successor, Fabian Hurzeler.

• In an interview with Andy Naylor of The Athletic in December 2020, Crofts talked at length about his career, his coaching ambitions and some of the big names he played alongside.

Canaries hero Culverhouse was Seagulls skipper, then coach

Culvs BHA

A DEFENDER who enjoyed Norwich City’s European journey in the early 90s ended his playing days as captain of the Seagulls before embarking on a coaching career running the reserves.

Ian Culverhouse was part of some of the Canaries’ best years flying high in the football pyramid – later being named by fans as their best ever right-back.

In February 1999, Albion’s then chairman, Dick Knight, told the Argus: “Ian has impressed me greatly with not only his experience but his attitude. He has been a real leader in the dressing room as well as on the field and we are giving him a chance to bring that know-how to bear on the coaching side.”

Manager Jeff Wood added: “Ian has shown on the field that he is a player of immense ability. In his new coaching role, he will now have the opportunity to pass his knowledge on to the younger players at the club.”

Culverhouse added: “This is a good opportunity for me and I am looking forward to it.

“It’s the first chance I’ve had to coach and it’s something I wanted to do anyway when my career finished. It has just come at a nice time.”

It was former boss Brian Horton who first brought Culverhouse to the Albion, from non-league Kingstonian, signing him on a month-to-month contract in August 1998.

In October, it looked like he was being released, but when captain and sweeper Gary Hobson picked up an injury, Horton reinstated Culverhouse on a contract to the end of the season, and appointed him captain.

culvsbw

Culverhouse, by then 34, could look back on the experience of 369 games for Norwich, and 115 for Swindon Town. He said: “The future of Brighton is looking very exciting and it’s great to be considered a part of the plans.”

When Wood was sacked with six games of the season still to be played, Culverhouse told the Argus: “I am shocked and absolutely gutted for the bloke.

“It’s down to the players he puts out there. We have let him down.”

Culverhouse survived the managerial upheaval and when new manager Micky Adams took charge, he told the Argus: “Ian reminds me a bit of myself. You have got to get on the ladder somewhere. He is enthusiastic, has had a good career and sets himself high standards.

“He has a lot to learn in terms of coaching, but I hope he will become fully qualified along with the rest of my staff.

“He will still be registered as a player as well in case we need him in emergencies, but I don’t envisage him playing too many games.”

In 2000, Culverhouse became youth coach at Barnet and two years later joined Leyton Orient in a similar role before being elevated to assistant manager. He left the Os in August 2005 – replaced by future Villa boss Dean Smith – but was then appointed coach at Wycombe Wanderers by Glenn Hoddle’s former no.2, John Gorman.

When Paul Lambert succeeded Gorman, he and Culverhouse developed a strong bond. He followed Lambert to Colchester United to become assistant manager, then returned to Norwich in the same role, where he didn’t forget Wood’s role in setting him on the coaching ladder, being instrumental in the former Albion manager’s appointment as Norwich’s goalkeeping coach.

When Lambert upped sticks from Norwich to join Aston Villa, Culverhouse went with him, and, in June 2013, the Birmingham Mail carried a lengthy article talking about the trust Lambert placed in his right-hand man, and how much he rated his judgement.

But in April  2014 Culverhouse was suspended by the club and, following an internal investigation into “off the field matters”, was dismissed.

Between January 2016 and February 2017, Culverhouse was assistant manager to veteran boss John Still at Dagenham & Redbridge. He left Dagenham to become manager of Southern League Premier Division side King’s Lynn Town. In May 2018, he moved on to Grantham Town but left after only five months and returned to King’s Lynn where he recently signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract.

Born on 22 September 1964 in Bishop’s Stortford, Culverhouse spent his early football career at Tottenham Hotspur and was capped at England Youth level. He impressed in Spurs’ youth and reserve sides and spent three years at the Lane.”I was playing alongside players like Ricky Villa, Ossie Ardiles and Glenn Hoddle, which was tremendous experience,” he said.

He even collected a UEFA Cup winners’ medal in 1984 as an unused substitute in the first leg of Spurs’ win (on penalties) over Anderlecht; future Albion boss Chris Hughton was left-back and recent signing from Albion, Gary Stevens, was in midfield, and scored one of the decisive penalties.

But Culverhouse only made one full appearance for the first team, plus one as a substitute, and in October 1985 moved to Norwich City under Ken Brown for a £50,000 fee.

He was part of the Norfolk club’s old Second Division title-winning side of 1985-86 and became an established defender, usually as a right-back but also as a sweeper, as the Canaries flew high in the Premier League, finishing third in 1992-93 after enjoying three top five finishes in the old First Division.

After nine years as a player at Carrow Road, he was somewhat controversially sold for £150,000 to Swindon where he was a key part of their League One Championship winning squad in 1995-96 but left in May 1998 after falling out with boss Steve McMahon.

He began the 1998-99 season with Kingstonian before Horton revived his league career with the Seagulls.

The multi-million pound striker who scored on his Albion debut

STRIKER Darren Bent spent the last month of 2014 with Championship-struggling Brighton as the hapless Sami Hyypia tried to bring a halt to a dismal run of form.

Unable to command a regular starting spot at Aston Villa, Bent made an encouraging enough start, scoring on his debut against Fulham.

But the game ended in a 2-1 defeat and his only other goal came at Molineux two days before the axe fell on Hyypia’s time in the hotseat as Albion drew 1-1 with Wolves.

Bent told BBC Radio Sussex he’d reached “boiling point” in his frustration at the lack of starts under Paul Lambert at Villa. Previous boss Gerard Houllier had smashed Villa’s transfer fee record to take Bent from Sunderland for an initial £18m in January 2011, but, after Lambert became manager in 2012, he made just 13 Premier League appearances.

albion D BentAt the time he headed to the Amex, Bent had scored 184 goals in 464 career appearances, not to mention scoring four while winning 13 caps for England.

“I hope he will score plenty of goals for us during his time with us,” Hyypia had told the club website. “His record speaks for itself. He is a top-class striker with more than 100 Premier League goals with Charlton, Spurs, Sunderland and Aston Villa.

“Three years ago, he was a regular in the England squad under Fabio Capello; there is no doubting his ability to score goals.

“He also wants to play regular games and that is evident in his willingness to step down from the Premier League to the Championship.”

Bent told the matchday programme: “It doesn’t bother me that I’ve had to drop down a division to play football. Anyone who knows me knows that all I care about is football.

“It has never been about money or anything like that. It has always been about playing football. I’m always at my happiest when I’m playing.”

At least Bent found some familiar faces in the Albion dressing room in fellow Villa loanees Joe Bennett and Gary Gardner and former Fulham teammates David Stockdale and Aaron Hughes.

“Brighton felt like the perfect place to come and play football, especially for someone like Sami Hyypia, who I’ve played against many times over the years,” Bent added. “As a manager, I think he is the right man. He is the kind of guy I want to play for.”

Bent goalBent returned to Villa after playing in five games and although new boss Chris Hughton indicated a willingness to bring him back, the striker was soon on his way to Derby County for the remainder of the season.

He scored 12 in 17 games for Steve McLaren’s Rams and subsequently joined them on a permanent basis in the summer of 2015. After two seasons in the Championship with Derby, scoring 14 in 67 matches, a hamstring injury sidelined him for the start of the 2017-18 season and in January 2018 he went on loan to Championship strugglers Burton Albion.

Having been without a club since released by Derby in the summer of 2018, he announced his retirement at 35 in July 2019.

Since then, he has joined the football pundit circuit, although not everyone is convinced he’s making that good a job of it!

pundit D BentNevertheless, Talksport and Sky Sports are happy to give him a platform and, in an interview with Metro, he suggested what might be the most difficult aspect of it. “I played with some of these guys and regard them as friends so, when they have had a bad game, will I be able to dig them out? It’s finding the line between being objective and respectfully constructive.”

Only in January 2020, Bent could be found arguing the case for Lewis Dunk to be recalled by England. The former striker is also active on Twitter with @DarrenBent attracting just short of 492,000 followers.

Born in Tooting, south London, on 6 February 1984, Bent was probably destined to be a footballer because his dad Mervyn had been on the books of Wimbledon and Brentford as a youngster.

The family moved to Cambridgeshire when the young Bent was only 10 and his early football career was nurtured at Godmanchester Rovers.

Ipswich Town picked him up as a 14-year-old and nurtured him through their youth ranks until he eventually made it to the first team in November 2001.

In four seasons with Ipswich, he scored 56 goals in 141 appearances before then Premier League Charlton Athletic paid a fee of £2.5m to take him to The Valley.

After two successful seasons in which he bagged 37 goals in 79 games for the Valiants, he made another big money move, this time to North London to join Spurs.

It was in June 2007 they paid a club record £16.5m and he scored 25 in 79 games for them before a similar fee saw him move to Sunderland, then in the Premier League, in the summer of 2009.

After 18 months in the North East, Bent put in for a transfer and Aston Villa paid £24m to sign him on a four-and-a-half year contract. He marked his debut with the only goal of the game in a win over Manchester City.

In his second season with Villa, Bent took on the captaincy for a while but managerial changes meant his face didn’t always fit and he spent the whole of the 2013-14 season on loan to Fulham, where he scored six in 30 matches.

Saint Dean a sinner in some Albion fans’ eyes

HASTINGS-born Dean Hammond enjoyed two spells with the Albion having joined the club aged 11 and progressed from the school of excellence though the youth team and reserves to become a first team regular and captain of the side.

He also went on to captain Southampton as they rose from League One to the Premiership.

However, it’s a pretty surefire bet to say fans would be divided if asked to judge his contribution.

An over-the-top celebration in front of the Albion faithful after scoring for Southampton at Withdean made him public enemy number one in many people’s eyes.

The way he left the club under a cloud, suggesting they lacked ambition, was another catalyst for rancour.

Personally, I struggled with his penchant for missing some unbelievable, gilt-edged chances to score. There was one away at Leicester (one of his future employers) – a proverbial ‘easier to score than miss’ – that was particularly galling in a game that finished 0-0.

Putting all these things to one side, there is no denying that he ultimately enjoyed a decent career and, while his most successful years were spent in the second tier of English football, he also got to play at the highest level.

Albion have struggled for a good many years to bring through promising local talent from schoolboy level but Hammond was one of the few who made it.

Born a couple of months before Brighton’s 1983 FA Cup Final appearance, he made his Albion bow in December 2000 when former Saints full-back Micky Adams put him on as a substitute in a 2-0 Football League Trophy win over Cardiff, but it was only when former youth coach Martin Hinshelwood briefly held the first team manager’s role that he got his next chance.

That came as an 85th minute substitute for Nathan Jones in a 4-2 defeat at Gillingham in September 2002 and 10 days later he made his first start and scored his first Albion goal (celebrating below right) after only eight minutes in a 3-1 League Cup defeat to Ipswich.

When Hinshelwood was sacked, new boss Steve Coppell opted for experience over youth and Hammond’s next competitive action came during two spells out on loan in 2003 – at Aldershot (seven games) and Orient (eight games).

In an Argus interview in November 2006, Hammond said: “It’s been up and down for me at Brighton. I loved it when I came through the youth team and then broke into the first team at quite a young age.”

Hammond watched from the sidelines at the Millennium Stadium in May 2004 as the Albion won promotion to the Championship via play-off victory over Bristol City. A couple of months later, the Argus was reporting how he had been given three months to prove he had a future with the club.

He did enough in a handful of games to be offered a contract until the end of the season and, although he was mainly used from the bench between October and March, by the season’s end he was playing a pivotal role in helping to steer Albion clear of the drop zone, scoring the equaliser in a 1-1 draw away to Burnley and getting both goals in a vital 2-2 draw at home to West Ham.

Before the 2006-07 season got under way, manager Mark McGhee obviously felt players like Hammond needed toughening up and sent him and a few others to some boxing sessions with former world heavyweight title contender Scott Welch, from Shoreham, at his Hove gym.

Hammond told Andy Naylor of the Argus: “When the gaffer mentioned it, I think the boys were thinking ‘Boxing? How is that going to help us’. But he worked on the mental side, as well as the power and strength stuff.

“If we felt tired or felt we couldn’t go on, he was pushing us and he said it would help us in a game. I think he’s right. When we went back for pre-season training you tended to push yourself that bit more, so I think it will help in the long run.”

Unfortunately, it didn’t help enough because the season saw Albion relegated back to the third tier. It wasn’t long before former youth coach Dean Wilkins was installed as manager and youngsters were given a chance to flourish in the first team, with Hammond appointed captain.

“I would say it is the best time of my career and I am really enjoying it,” he told Naylor. “It’s brilliant at the moment.”

In the same interview, however, there were perhaps the first rumblings of his discontent with the progress of the club.

“I’ve been here since the age of 11. I’m like every other player. I’m ambitious and I want to do the best I can in my career and play as high as I can. Hopefully that will be with Brighton.”

A career-ending injury to Charlie Oatway and Richard Carpenter’s departure from the club in January 2007 led to Hammond taking over the captain’s armband and 2006-07 was undoubtedly his best Albion season. He finished with 11 goals from 39 appearances and the award of Player of the Season.

D Ham v W HamIt was in the 2007-08 season that it turned sour between player and club, even though before a ball had been kicked he told the Argus he thought Brighton had it in them to make the play-offs.

“We can beat anyone in the division. It’s just about being consistent. Realistically we can push for the play-offs,” he told Brian Owen.

Considering he had been at the club from such an early age, what happened next clearly rankled with chairman Dick Knight, who talked about it in his autobiography, Mad Man: From the Gutter to the Stars, the Ad Man who saved Brighton.

Knight accused Hammond’s agent, Tim Webb, of touting his client around Championship clubs while there was an offer on the table from the Albion that would have made him the highest paid player at the club.

“Hammond kept telling the local media that he wanted to stay and sign a contract, but I think he was being told to hold out for more money,” said Knight.

Because Hammond could have walked away from the club for nothing at the end of the season, the pressure was on to resolve the situation one way or another by the close of the January transfer window.

All the off-field stuff was clearly affecting Hammond’s head and I can remember a game at Oldham in the second week of January when he lunged into a reckless challenge after only nine minutes which certainly appeared to be a deliberate attempt to get himself sent off. That early dismissal was his last action for the Seagulls until his return to the club in 2012.

“I didn’t want to sell Dean but I was forced to,” said Knight, who persuaded Colchester United to buy him for £250,000, with a clause added in that Brighton would earn 20 per cent of any subsequent transfer involving the player. “In normal circumstances, I might have got more, but time was running out,” Knight added.

The move to Colchester wasn’t an unbridled success because his arrival couldn’t prevent them being relegated from the Championship, but, with Paul Lambert as manager, Hammond took over the captaincy in December 2008 and by the season’s end was voted Player of the Season.

Throughout the season there had been speculation that Southampton wanted to sign him and a deal duly went through in August 2009. At the time, Alan Pardew was the Saints manager and Hammond’s former Albion youth team coach and first team manager, Dean Wilkins, was Southampton first team coach, and played a part in him deciding to make the move. “His knowledge of the game and his passion for football is second to none and he was really good for Southampton – he had a good partnership there with Alan,” said Hammond.

D hammo trophyAs had happened at his previous two clubs, it wasn’t long before Hammond was taking on the captaincy and he got to lift the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at Wembley on 28 March 2010 (above) when Pardew’s team beat Carlisle United 4-1 – the first piece of silverware Saints had won since the 1976 FA Cup.

“I was really enjoying my football and it was like a new beginning for everyone connected with the club,” he said in an Albion matchday programme article. “Nicola Cortese came in off the field and a raft of new signings had been made, the likes of Rickie Lambert, Jason Puncheon, Lee Barnard, Radhi Jaidi, Dan Harding, Michail Antonio and Jose Fonte. When you add the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin and Adam Lallana, we had the makings of a really good team. It took us a little time to gel, but once we clicked we had a really good season.”

When Albion travelled to St Mary’s on 23 November 2010, the matchday programme inevitably featured their captain and former Seagull. It said: “Hammond was barely out of nappies when he first started supporting the Seagulls. He can even recall the days they played in front of 20,000 crowds at the old Goldstone Ground.

“The new Brighton stadium will hold just over 22,000 and the Saints midfielder said: ‘There’s no doubt they’ll fill it, certainly for their early games. That’s just about the size of their fan base and, if anyone deserved a bigger ground, it’s them’.”

Reflecting that he had certainly made the right career move, Hammond said: “I’ve developed as a player. I have a slightly deeper midfield role which means I pass the ball more and get involved in the game more.”

After two seasons in the third tier, Southampton famously finished runners up to Brighton in 2010-11 to regain their place in the Championship. Hammond was a regular throughout the 2011-12 season, although at times contributing from the bench, as Saints won promotion back to the Premier League, runners up behind Reading.

However, manager Nigel Adkins obviously didn’t see Hammond as top tier material and on transfer deadline day (31 August 2012) the midfielder agreed a season-long loan deal back at Brighton.

D Hammo 2By then 29, Hammond told the Argus: “It’s a different club now. The stadium is amazing and I can’t wait to get going.

“I saw the plans when I was 15 and it’s amazing to see it come to life. It will be a dream to play at this stadium as a Brighton player and I have been dreaming of that since a boy.”

Hammond made 33 appearances plus five as a sub during that season, alongside fellow loanees Wayne Bridge and Matt Upson, and said: “I loved my year back at the club. It was brilliant.

“I’d been sold the dream of the new stadium since I was 15 coming through the ranks, so to walk out of that tunnel for the first time as an Albion player was a fantastic feeling and one I’ll always cherish.”

Hammond reflected that the side did well to reach the play-offs but drew too many games. “We were only four points off automatic promotion and just didn’t do ourselves justice in that play-off game against Crystal Palace.

“Having drawn 0-0 at Selhurst Park, we really fancied finishing off the job at the Amex, but it just didn’t happen for us on the night. That has to rate as one of the biggest disappointments of my career.”

When manager Gus Poyet departed the Albion in the wake of the play-offs loss, Hammond returned to parent club Southampton, but, three months later he signed a two-year contract with Championship side Leicester City. Manager Nigel Pearson told the club’s website: “We’re really pleased to be able to add a player of Dean’s quality and experience to the squad.

“As well as having played a considerable number of games in his career, he also arrives with promotion credentials and will be a very positive influence on the squad both on and off the pitch.”

DHLCFC

Hammond added: “Once I knew of Leicester’s interest I wanted to come. My mind was made up. There was some interest from other clubs, but once Leicester was mentioned, and I spoke to the manager, I wanted to come here.

“It’s a massive football club. They came close last year in the play-offs and they’ve got a good history. It’s a club that’s going places and wants to push to the Premier League. It’s very exciting to be here.”

While facing midfield competition from Danny Drinkwater and Matty James, Hammond nevertheless played 29 games as Leicester were promoted and he finally got to play in the Premiership, albeit competition and injury restricted his number of appearances to 12.

Not all Saints fans felt it right that he had been abandoned as soon as the club reached the Premiership and, on the eve of his return to St Mary’s as a Leicester player, Saints’ fansnetwork.co.uk considered supporters might like to “thank him for his contribution to our resurgence in the game …. without Dean Hammond perhaps none of what they are enjoying in the Premier League would have been possible”.

Although Hammond earned a one-year extension to his contract in July 2015, he was not involved in the side that surprised the nation by winning the Premier League.

He had gone on loan to Sheffield United, then managed by his old Saints boss Adkins, and made 34 appearances for the Blades by the season’s end. However, he didn’t figure in new boss Chris Wilder’s plans and left the club in the summer of 2016.

Russell Slade gave him a trial at Coventry City in January 2017 but he didn’t get taken on and eventually he returned to Leicester to work with their under 23s. He later became loans manager for the Leicester City Academy.

Hammond opened up about his career, and some of the difficulties he’s faced since stopping playing, in an interview with James Rowe for The Secret Footballer.

  • Most photos from Argus cuttings; plus Southampton programme, Albion programme and Leicester City website.