Football’s Ansah to making the game look dramatic

FICTIONAL football gained an unlikely champion in Andy Ansah.

The journeyman striker eventually mixed it with the game’s elite players as he built a new career in the world of football make-believe for TV and film.

His own exploits on the field were in less esteemed company, including stints playing in the lower leagues for Brighton, Brentford and Southend United.

Not too many Brighton fans will remember him, though, because his 25 appearances in the blue and white stripes coincided with the two seasons when home matches were played 90 miles from home in Gillingham.

With crowd numbers low and finances tight as a consequence, Albion were in no position to splash the cash in the autumn of 1997; indeed John Humphrey, Craig Maskell, Paul McDonald, Denny Mundee and Ian Baird, five of the squad who had kept the Seagulls in the league by the skin of their teeth only six months earlier, were let go in an effort to trim the wage bill.

It was in that climate that Ansah, who had dropped out of league football at the time, was picked up by Steve Gritt.

It only transpired in an interview Ansah gave to the Express in December 2011 that he came clean to the Albion about a kidney condition (nephrotic syndrome) he had suffered from since teenage years but had kept hidden at previous clubs.

It could at times make his body swell so much he could hardly walk and he would need hospital treatment to bring it under control.

He told the newspaper he had gone to extraordinary lengths to hide the illness from managers, coaches and fellow players for fear that it would mean the end of his career. When he felt poorly, he would wear tracksuit bottoms on the training ground to hide the swelling, and then feign illness.

At Brighton, however, the condition did not stop him being involved, although the majority of his appearances were as a substitute.

Apart from a start in a 5-0 mauling at the hands of Walsall in the Auto Windscreens Shield on 6 January 1998, he had made three Third Division appearances going on as a sub and was unused on seven occasions before his fortunes changed.

Although he missed a decent chance after going on as a sub in a 2-0 defeat at Rochdale, he made amends when Gritt gave him his first League start away to Exeter City, curving the ball beyond Ashley Bayes from Stuart Storer’s flick-on.

Sadly, a rogue refereeing decision helped the home side to a 2-1 win, and, with Albion floundering in second-to-bottom spot in the division, Gritt was sacked the following day.

Ansah retained his place for new manager Brian Horton’s first match – and he was on the scoresheet again. This time, his goal and a brace from Kerry Mayo gave the Seagulls a 3-2 win over Chester – the side’s first taste of victory in 10 matches!

“The emergency partnership of Stuart Storer and Andy Ansah has provided fresh movement and impetus up front, while wingers John Westcott and Steve Barnes saw far more of the ball on Saturday than they have been accustomed to,” reported The Argus.

Albion finished the season 23^rd of 24 teams but thankfully 15 points ahead of Doncaster Rovers in last place.

Ansah scored again in the last ‘home’ game of the season – a 2-2 draw with Horton’s old side Hull City (who finished 22^nd) – but, like a lot of players, he was out of contract at the end of the season.

Horton wanted to bring in his own players but, as it turned out, Ansah was offered a new one-year deal, with The Argus saying “Horton hasn’t been able to find a better replacement at the right price, so Ansah has been given a second chance”.

The manager explained: “He did well, but I was bringing new faces in. I’ve had a good look around and Andy is as good as what we could get. He can score goals and he can play in different positions.”

*Ansah lines up for the Seagulls in exile*

For his part, Ansah told the newspaper:“Technically I was given a free, but I knew I would be speaking to the gaffer again before pre-season.

“There was still a chance that I was going to get a contract and I’m very pleased that I have. I think Brighton are going to do things this season.”

Although Albion avoided flirting with relegation for the first time in three seasons, their 17th finishing spot was hardly cause to put the flags out, and Ansah made only two starts. He went on as a sub on nine occasions and was an unused sub on nine others.

Horton left mid-season to return to the north, assistant Jeff Wood struggled in a brief spell as no.1, and Micky Adams only arrived to take charge towards the very end. Ansah was one of nine players out of contract and released at the end of the season (the others were Derek Allan, Michael Bennett, Tony Browne, Lee Doherty, Danny Mills, Darragh Ryan, Peter Smith, Storer, Terry Streeter and Paul Sturgess).

While the Albion prepared to return to Brighton to play at the Withdean athletics stadium, Ansah embarked on a career that attracted a hell of a lot more viewers than had seen him perform at the Priestfield Stadium.

Brentford fan Nick Bruzon has told Andy’s remarkable story on a few occasions and his ‘last word’ blog goes into plenty of detail about it.

In summary, though, after leaving Brighton, Ansah worked as an actor for six seasons on the Sky TV football soap Dream Team, appearing for fictional Harchester United.

He recruited two other former Albion players for Harchester: Peter Smith and Junior McDougald. As one of the older players, early on he was asked the best way to shoot certain scenes and within a year he was the producer.

His ability to choreograph football scenes then led him to Hollywood as a consultant on Goal!, a US film trilogy about a Mexican immigrant who gets to play in the English Premiership.

He even got to spend a day working with his all-time hero Pele in Brazil. “He was an unbelievable guy, a real gentleman,” Ansah told the Southend Echo in a 2008 interview with John Geoghegan.

“Because of my footballing background, I can talk to the players and the crew and translate between the two.

“It’s my job to make sure the footballers feel relaxed and do what they do normally in front of a camera.

“Film has always been a big love of mine, ever since school. And with football, to a degree, you are on stage entertaining. So, there are a lot of similarities between the two.”

He choreographed the whole of the Mike Bassett: England Manager film (starring Ricky Tomlinson) and worked on three series of Wayne Rooney’s Street Striker.

As co-presenter of the Sky 1 programme, Ansah scouted the UK for talent, and took to Rooney 100 talented young footballers who he had to whittle down to win the Street Striker crown.

It was with encouragement from contacts in Hollywood that he put his work on a more commercial footing. He set up his own consultancy, Soccer on Screen, and among many football-based advertisements helped Guy Ritchie direct a Nike commercial for the 2010 World Cup. He has also advised EA Sports, makers of the Fifa video games.

Born in Lewisham, south east London, on 19 March 1969, Ansah was a promising winger during his school days and was playing at county level when he started to attract the attention of clubs.

Way before the days of organised academies, he was picked up by Charlton Athletic aged 11 and stayed with them until he was 16. When he turned 17, he signed as a professional at Crystal Palace.

Ansah told Bruzon: “Because I had been in the system from such a young age, I kind of got a bit complacent and a little bit fed up of football.

“When I left Palace, Steve Coppell said to me: ‘I’m not sure if you really want to play football so I’m going to release you.’

After a six-month break from the game, he joined non-league Dorking stayed out of the game for about six months and then joined Dorking, where Dave Goodwin, who had originally scouted him for Charlton, was working.

When he scored 14 goals in three months for Dorking, Brentford, Fulham and Reading all offered him a contract but he chose the Bees because assistant manager Phil Holder promised to pick him up and take him to play for the reserve team, which he was managing.

Ansah scored twice on his first start for Brentford in a 3-2 defeat at Bolton but only made eight appearances after falling out with manager Steve Perryman.

In a reserves match between Brentford and Southend, Ansah scored and caught the attention of Shrimpers boss David Webb, who eventually took him to Roots Hall.

Over the course of six years, he scored 38 goals in 180 appearances for Southend and, as well as Holder, reckoned Webb had been the biggest influence on his career.

“David gave me a licence to express myself,” Ansah told Bruzon. “He would say, ‘I don’t care what the outcome is, just go out there and express yourself.’ It really did work!”

Ansah was part of the United side that earned promotion to Division One (now the Championship) and was later named Southend’s 13th most popular player of all time.

“That in itself is a massive achievement,” he said. “It’s good to know that the fans enjoyed what I was doing when I was there. It’s always nice, to get that sort of feedback.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, when Webb took charge at Brentford, Ansah ended up following him, albeit on loan, scoring just the once (ironically against Brighton in a 2-1 Bees win on 26 November 1994) in four games and again the following season, when he scored once in six appearances.

But Ansah told Bruzon that he didn’t do himself justice because he wasn’t properly fit at that time and, if he had taken medical advice, he probably should have retired because of a knee injury.

“I was fighting to get myself back fit again,” he said. “My first game back I got a cut on my head within 15 minutes and then got it stitched up. I got man of the match but never could regain full fitness. At that stage, the surgeon told me I’d never be fully fit again with my knee.”

He played a couple of games at each of Peterborough, Gillingham and Leyton Orient before dropping out of the league with Hayes, Bromley and Heybridge Swifts.

Ansah’s son Zac spent 10 years with Arsenal’s academy. He moved on to Charlton Athletic when they were in the Championship but didn’t break through and had loan spells with League Two sides Plymouth Argyle and Newport County (playing a total of 26 matches) before moving into non-league football.

When Steve Gritt took on the ‘worst job in football’

BOURNEMOUTH-BORN Steve Gritt is synonymous with Brighton & Hove Albion’s darkest hour because he was in the almost scalding managerial hotseat at the time the club nearly went out of the league.

The mastermind behind Albion’s ‘Great Escape’ in 1997 grew up in the Dorset coastal resort and began his footballing career with his local club in the 1970s. He later worked as the Cherries chief scout, although, apart from etching his part in Brighton’s footballing folklore, most of his more memorable days in the game came at Charlton Athletic.

Somehow, against all the odds, he managed to keep the Seagulls up when most doomsters could only see the club losing its status – and possibly going out of business as a result.

Gritt, who had been out of work for 18 months having been cast adrift by a new chairman at Charlton, took over from the beleaguered Jimmy Case in December 1996 with Albion 12 points adrift at the bottom of the fourth tier.

“I was delighted when Brighton offered me the chance to return,” he wrote in his matchday programme notes. “I know a lot of people were calling it the ‘worst job in football’ but when you love football as I do then you don’t always see things that way.”

Gritt was certainly an old hand when it came to football’s vicissitudes: rejected by AFC Bournemouth as a teenager, he went on to enjoy the elation of promotion as well as enduring the despair of relegation during his time with the Addicks.

Quite what would have become of Albion if they’d lost their place in the league is now only speculation – thankfully it wasn’t a bridge Gritt had to cross.

“I’d spent 18 years at Charlton as player and joint-manager, with just six months away from it, at Walsall. Then a new chairman, Richard Murray, came in and he didn’t like the joint-manager situation, so he put Alan Curbishley in sole charge, and I left,” Gritt explained.

Without a full-time job in the game, he stayed in touch by doing some scouting work for Tony Pulis at Gillingham, Brian Flynn at Wrexham and a couple of stints for West Brom. He even pulled his boots back on to play for Welling and Tooting & Mitcham.

Eager not to continue to have to queue at the benefit office for dole money, he applied for the vacant Albion manager’s job and got it after an interview in Crewe with the despised chairman Bill Archer and his ‘henchman’ chief executive David Bellotti.

“I knew very little about what was going on at the club,” Gritt told Roy Chuter in a retrospective programme piece. “I’d read bits in the papers, but my only interest was in the football. I wasn’t going to get involved.

“The place was very low. Some of the senior players filled me in on what was happening. In my first few days, there was graffiti on the walls saying I was a stooge, a whistle protest, a fan chained himself to the goal at half-time at my first match – that bothered me as we were winning at the time and went on to beat Hull 3-0.

“Then the next week I had to go onto the pitch with a megaphone at Leyton Orient to get the supporters to leave after the match – and they already hated me! I thought ‘What is going on?’ but my job was to get some sunshine back into the fans’ Saturday afternoons.”

After familiarising himself with the issues at a fans’ forum – “It helped me understand that the fans had to do what they had to do” – he devoted himself to improving the football and although the budget was tight, brought in the experienced defender John Humphrey and Robbie Reinelt, who would go on to score one of the most crucial goals in Albion’s history.

Puzzled by the plight of a side that contained good players in the likes of Craig Maskell, Ian Baird and Paul McDonald, Gritt maintained: “I never thought we’d go down.”

He recalled: “There was such a lot of experience. If I could organise them, we’d have a chance.”

Ultimately, the club’s fate was decided in the final two games of the season – at home to Doncaster Rovers and away to Hereford United.

“We knew we could beat Doncaster,” he said. “There was a big crowd and a tremendous atmosphere – very tense. Maybe that got to the players – we didn’t play as well as we had done, but once we were 1-0 up, we weren’t going to get beat. We had a great defence.”

Gritt recalled: “I was beginning to think that there wasn’t going to be any goals in the game as there hadn’t been too many chances during the game that I can remember.

“Suddenly we had a corner from which Mark Morris eventually hit the bar, confirming my thoughts. But suddenly the ball fell to Stuart (Storer) who struck it into the net to spark off unbelievable celebrations on the pitch, off the pitch and in the dugout.

“Could we now keep our composure and see the game out to a memorable 1 nil win? We did! What a day and what a memory.”

And so to Hereford, who needed to win to avoid dropping out of the league. Albion only needed a draw to stay up. Everyone knows the story. A goal down at half-time when Kerry Mayo put through his own net, Gritt reminded the players at half-time that their jobs were on the line.

He sent on Reinelt as a sub and in the 62^nd minute he slotted a second half equaliser to send the Albion faithful into ecstasy and condemn the Bulls to their fate.

“I think if it had been Brighton, we could have faded into obscurity,” he said. “Most of the players would have left, and I don’t think we could have coped.”

As things subsequently transpired, it was Gritt who would soon be on his way.

It’s perhaps a bit of a cliché to say there is no sentiment in football but when Gritt’s side had managed only four league wins up to February in the 1997-98 season, and were second bottom of the table, chairman Dick Knight wielded the axe.

“No one who cares about the Albion will forget Steve’s tremendous contribution to our survival last season,” said Knight. “This season, given our difficult circumstances, feasibly we were only seeking to preserve our league status by a safe margin, but to date that comfort zone has eluded us.”

Thankfully you can’t keep a good man down for long, though, and within two weeks of getting the Brighton bullet, Gritt was back in the saddle as assistant manager to Billy Bonds at Millwall.

Although Bonds was sacked by the Lions only six weeks after Gritt’s arrival, successors Keith Stevens and Alan McLeary kept him on, working with the reserve team. Then Mark McGhee took charge and got Gritt back involved with the first team to take on organisational work such as set plays.

After McGhee took charge at Brighton, Gritt switched across south London back to Charlton, where he ran their academy for the next six years.

He returned to his hometown club in 2011 to become chief scout, initially under Lee Bradbury and then his successor, Paul Groves.

But he was disappointed to be let go in September 2012, telling theEcho: “They have changed the way they are doing their recruitment so there wasn’t really any need for me to be there.”

Bournemouth chairman Eddie Mitchell explained: “We have got analysts on board now and all games are available on DVD. We are trying to build a database from these clips.

“We felt it was impractical to send somebody all over the country to watch games every day when we can get DVDs of games and players.

“It was a role which diminished for us. Whether it is the right way to go remains to be seen but we have got to look at effectiveness and costs.”

Gritt said: “It was a big thing last year for me to come back to the club where I grew up. I am disappointed it has come to an end like this, but life goes on.

“I have lost jobs in the past and, hopefully, I will bounce back. I am looking forward to the next chapter in my career and will just have to wait and see what comes up.”

Born in Bournemouth on 31 October 1957, Gritt’s early footballing ability was first seen in the Kings Park First School football team of 1969, as the Echo discovered when readers were asked to send in their old sports photos.

Gritt, a forward, was taken on as an apprentice by the Cherries and played a handful of games for the first team under John Benson before being released at the age of 18.

Colin Masters remembered on the Where Are They Now? website (in an October 2020 post) how Gritt linked up with non-league Dorchester who paired him up front with Ron Davies, the former Welsh international centre-forward who’d played for Southampton, Man Utd and Portsmouth.

“They were an exciting pair to watch at that level,” said Masters. “After three matches I was so impressed with Steve that I went and found the Dorchester club secretary and asked if he had signed Steve Gritt on a contract.

“The reply was ‘No’. Within two weeks, Charlton Athletic came in and took him (presumably for nothing) and he went on to have a very successful career for many years. Dorchester’s loss was Charlton’s gain!”

Between 1977 and 1993, Gritt played a total of 435 matches for the Addicks, including a relegation to the old Third Division in 1980 and two promotions – to the Second Division in 1981 under Mike Bailey and the First Division under Lennie Lawrence in 1986. He had a six-month spell with Walsall in 1989 before returning and experiencing another relegation in 1990.

Gritt became joint player-manager with Curbishley in 1991 and, under their stewardship for the next four years, the likes of Lee Bowyer, John Robinson, Richard Rufus and Shaun Newton established themselves as mainstays of the side.

When Charlton decided in 2021 to re-name their East Stand in Curbishley’s honour, a generous Gritt told londonnewsonline.co.uk it was a fitting tribute to his former colleague.

“We had our trials and tribulations but I’ve always judged that we did what was required to keep the club going. We had to steady the ship.

*Joint Charlton manager with Alan Curbishley*

“We would have loved to have kept Rob Lee, for example, but we had to do things for the well-being of the club so we could keep it going and give the fans something to shout about.

“It was a great time when we got back to The Valley (they’d spent several years sharing Selhurst Park with Crystal Palace).

“Then the club made a decision which I was never going to agree with. But when I look back to see what Alan did – he went on to do a significant job – I cannot complain. Ultimately what he achieved he thoroughly deserved.”

Gritt said: “When I was there we had to make sure we weren’t seen to be having disagreements although I cannot recall us having too many anyway.

“When we were on the training ground, we each knew what the other one would be doing during the sessions. We both had jobs to do on the day.

“I was more of a player than he was at that time – so the management side was more in his hands. It was fairly straightforward, until the club decided that they wanted one man in charge. That was obviously disappointing for me at the time but I have thoroughly enjoyed my career.

“Alan gave the club a massive block to build on – but no one could have envisaged how the club went after he left. It was a massive disappointment.”

After he left Bournemouth in 2012, Gritt dropped out of league football and spent five years as assistant manager at Ebbsfleet United, working with his former Charlton teammate (and ex-Albion youth team manager) Steve Brown and then Daryl McMahon, who he subsequently followed to League Two Macclesfield Town, Conference side Dagenham & Redbridge and Isthmian League Hornchurch.

Zeke Rowe’s three goals and a red card as Albion went down

CHELSEA loanee Zeke Rowe scored three goals in nine matches for doomed Brighton and ended his spell with the ignominy of being sent off.

Rowe, a 22-year-old striker who had scored plenty at youth level for Chelsea, was one of five new faces to join Jimmy Case’s relegation-bound Seagulls in the spring of 1996.

Winger Paul McDonald and striker Craig Maskell joined permanently from Case’s old club, Southampton, together with Saints defender Derek Allan, on loan initially and then permanently. Future captain Gary Hobson signed from Hull City.

All found themselves plunged into what turned out to be a fruitless battle to avoid relegation against a toxic backdrop created by the people running the club at that time – the hated Archer / Stanley / Bellotti regime – who tried to sell the club’s home without having a new ground to move to.

In the same matchday programme that announced the arrival of the five new players, the publication also detailed the impending departures of the likes of former first team regulars Steve Foster, Ian Chapman, Dean Wilkins, John Byrne, Stuart Myall and Stuart Munday; not to mention directors Bernard Clarke, Peter Kent, Dudley Sizen and Denis Sullivan. To misquote Shakespeare: Something was definitely rotten in the state of Hove!

Rowe made his debut in a 1-1 draw at home to Rotherham United, on 30 March, and then got off the mark with a goal away to Swindon Town four days later, although the Albion went down 3-2 (Jeff Minton scored the other).

Rowe’s picture adorned the front cover of the matchday programme for the 9 April home match v Burnley when his goal earned the Seagulls a win.

And his solitary goal also proved to be the decider in another 1-0 home win, over fellow strugglers Carlisle United, managed at the time by Mervyn Day.

Rowe’s dismissal for fighting with York City’s John Sharples came in a Thursday morning game, played five days after the official end of the season, in front of a post-War record low gate of 2,106 fans at the Goldstone.

The fixture had been rearranged because the original game 12 days previously had been abandoned after disgruntled Albion supporters had stormed the pitch in protest at the proposed sale of the ground and broken both crossbars.

It drew hysterical reaction in some quarters (probably because it was only a few weeks before England played host to Euro 96) but had the desired effect of bringing the rogue direction of the club to the attention of the football authorities who somewhat late in the day intervened to stop the Albion going out of business.

The original York game had looked like being the last ever at the Goldstone but a stay of execution saw the club stay for one more season before the site was redeveloped and the Seagulls were forced to groundshare at Gillingham.

The only happy supporters at the Goldstone on 9 May 1996 were around 400 followers of the Minstermen because their side overcame going a goal down to a Maskell opener to win 3-1, a result which prevented them joining Albion in the drop. Gary Bull, who had enjoyed a successful time on loan with Brighton at the start of that season, had equalised for York.

One City fan, Simon Worden, wrote an amusing blog about the whole occasion, and explained: “Whilst I should have been in a lecture at university at Preston, as I was only 19 at the time, I decided that the match was too important to miss and travelled down the day before to watch the match and stayed in a very cheap B&B.”

After witnessing the win, he said: “All the York fans were jumping around on a Thursday morning singing ‘We are staying up’ and enjoying the sunshine.

“One of the best days even and, whilst I was very tired, it was an enjoyable (but expensive) trip back to Preston where I had to catch up with my studies!”

Also watching on was Michael Knighton, chairman of Carlisle United, who, as a consequence of the result, were relegated with the Albion. Greg Wood, covering the game for The Independent, spiced up his report with a couple of choice quotes from him.

“Once York had gone 2-1 ahead, Brighton just weren’t interested,” said Knighton. “We’ve been relegated and we’ll never know if we should have been. This competition should be based on fairness, and towards us it hasn’t been.”

Wood also observed: “After York’s third goal, a member of their board turned to Knighton and made some distinctly unsporting gestures. Ordinary supporters have probably been expelled for less.”

Born in Hackney on 30 October 1973, Rowe was a frequent goalscorer in Chelsea junior teams playing alongside the likes of Neil Shipperley, Muzzy Izzet, Michael Duberry and Craig Burley.

But a first team breakthrough eluded him and before his time at Brighton he had scored twice in 10 games on loan at Barnet and had a trial with Swindon Town that didn’t work out.

When Chelsea let him go in the summer of 1996, he moved to Second Division Peterborough United under Barry Fry and was quickly off the mark netting the Posh opener in a 3-3 home draw with Millwall on 10 September 1996.

He was on target again, four days later, ironically against York City, in a 2-2 draw. But the season didn’t end well for Posh, because they were relegated. Rowe only scored once more in his 15 starts and 14 appearances off the bench that season.

Over the next two seasons, he only made four more starts for United and 13 appearances as a sub, while also going out on loan to Kettering Town and Doncaster Rovers.

Rowe later moved to Welling United where, according to the fanzine Winning Isn’t Everything, he was a disappointment after a bright start. It said: “Ezekiel Bartholomew Rowe, to give him his full name. Another in the long line of loanees from Uncle Barry Fry, he was brought in late in the 1998-99 season as the club attempted another Houdini act. Joined permanently in the summer, was on fire pre-season and then… he was shit. Had an impressive tattoo, erm, apparently.”

At King’s Lynn, Rowe played under his former Peterborough teammate Tony Spearing, who won the FA Youth Cup with Norwich City. (That 1983 success saw the Canaries draw 5-5 with Everton over two legs – Mark Farrington scoring four of Everton’s goals – before edging a replay 1-0).

Rowe ended his playing days with Conference North side Hinckley United where he was a teammate of Stuart Storer, who famously scored the last ever goal at the Goldstone – against Doncaster Rovers – a year after Rowe’s dismissal at that much-loved old stadium.

The Christmas presence at the heart of Albion’s ‘90s defence

INJURIES beset Derek Allan’s promising career but he played 100 games at the heart of Brighton’s defence during turbulent times and remembers warmly “a wonderful club”.

In an exclusive interview with In Parallel Lines, Allan reveals the niggles that affected him and recalls the people who helped to shape his playing career.

The Scot remains involved in the game as an academy coach at Greenock Morton and his only lament is that the sports nutrition and science today’s footballers are able to call on to prevent and cure injury wasn’t available when he was playing.

Born in Irvine, on the West Coast of Scotland, on Christmas Eve 1974, Allan’s first steps towards a professional career came with selection for Scottish schools’ representative sides, being picked at all levels from 12 through to 16.

Ayr United, the club based a 20-minute drive from his home town, took him on as a YTS trainee and he moved quickly through the ranks before signing as a professional at the age of 17.

George Burley, the former Ipswich and Scotland international full-back, was beginning his managerial career with The Honest Men at that time but it was his assistant, Dale Roberts, who’d also played for The Tractor Boys, who helped Allan the most.

“Dale was a huge figure in my early days: a fantastic guy,” said Allan. “He had me out every day striking footballs; he was an incredible guy.” Roberts sadly died from cancer aged 46 in 2003.

After only five appearances for United in the 1992-93 season, Allan was sold to Southampton for £75,000. He explained how the move came about. “I was spotted playing for Ayr at Hamilton Accies on a cold Tuesday night in 1993. Ian Branfoot (Southampton manager at the time) came to watch someone else and took me instead.”

It must have been quite an upheaval to leave home and family to start a career on the south coast, but Allan said it was the making of him.

“It was a huge learning curve for me and I wasn’t really prepared to leave family and friends at that time.

“But that few months after leaving set me up for life. It made me the person I am today.”

Scottish under-18 and under-21 honours were added to his schoolboy recognition but his progress during three years at Southampton was hampered by injury.

“It was the story of my career, really,” he said. “Looking back, I lost 18 months of a three-year contract to injury and it was a crucial time in my development.

“In hindsight, I could have done more myself to look after myself better, although there were no sports scientists back then to help with nutrition, recovery etc.”

That backdrop of injury meant he was restricted to just one first team appearance for the Saints, when he was a late substitute for Matthew Bound in a 1-0 defeat at Manchester City on 1 May 1993.

Ken Monkou was at the heart of the Saints defence at the time and a certain Micky Adams was left-back with Jason Dodd also prominent.

It was in March 1996 when former Saint Jimmy Case, by now rather reluctantly in the hotseat at the Albion, went back to his old club to take the young centre-back on loan in the same week that future captain Gary Hobson was signed permanently from Hull City, and forward Zeke Rowe from Chelsea.

*Seagulls’ ex-Saints quartet: Maskell, McDonald, Allan and Case*

“I felt at that time Jimmy, with his connection to Saints, and his understanding of the game would be ideal for me,” Allan recalled. “Unfortunately, we all know what happened.”

Nevertheless, he was certainly among familiar faces because Case had not long previously persuaded his old club to part with Paul McDonald and Craig Maskell.

Allan took over the no.5 shirt from Ross Johnson for his debut but was on the losing side as Albion went down 3-2 at Swindon Town.

After an initial eight games, Allan’s move became permanent and he often appeared alongside Hobson in the heart of the defence, although, with a combination of poor results, injuries and frequent managerial changes, he wasn’t always an automatic starter.

The likes of Johnson, the experienced Mark Morris and, for a while, young Kevin McGarrigle provided competition as Albion bumped around the basement.

However, in his first full season with the Seagulls, 1996-97, Allan played 32 matches as the club scrabbled to avoid dropping out of the league, surviving only courtesy of the last-game 1-1 draw at Hereford. By then, of course, Steve Gritt had taken over from Case and Allan rated him highest of the different bosses he played under.

“Steve Gritt was definitely the best for me personally, it’s just a shame the injuries I got stopped me from showing what I could do consistently,” he said.

The off-the-field shenanigans, with rogue directors trying to sell the ground for redevelopment without having a new ground to move to, must also have been a difficult backdrop for any of the side at that time.

Allan said: “It’s easy to see the problems they had at that time and it’s a very different club now. The fans were unbelievable back then and they supported us every week even though we played under some huge pressure.

“I didn’t do myself justice really, playing with injuries and stuff like that, but it’s a wonderful club and fanbase. The fans never really got to see the best of me, which was a shame.”

Towards the end of his time with the Seagulls, he went on the transfer list and didn’t see eye to eye with Brian Horton, who’d returned to the club as manager. Allan declared it was “just the usual disagreements that happen between player and manager” which is now all water under the bridge.

“I actually saw Brian years later and we had a laugh about it,” he said. “He was an angry man, the same as me!”

At the end of his Albion stint, Allan stepped into the Conference with Kingstonian — a “great club with a great manager in Geoff Chapple” — and he made 75 appearances in two years.

Allan was on the bench when Kingstonian beat Kettering Town 3-2 to win the FA Trophy in front of 20,034 fans at Wembley in May 2000. Geoff Pitcher, who later played briefly for the Seagulls in the 2001-02 season, was in Kingstonian’s midfield that day.

“I finished my last season there as Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year,” said Allan. “I think that was the beginning of my thoughts of shifting to getting a new career long term. It was the best decision I ever made.”

Problems off the field meant in 2001 he moved back to Scotland, where he joined Queen of the South on a semi-professional basis for three years. During his time there, they won the Bell’s Cup and the Scottish Football League Division 2 Championship.

After 60 appearances for The Doonhamers, Allan’s last port of call as a semi-pro player was at Scottish Division Two Dumbarton for the 2004-05 season, making five appearances plus one as a sub.

Asked to sum up his career, he issues an upbeat thought, saying: “Great promise, bad luck, brilliant life memories and no regrets. Not many people can say they played for these wonderful clubs. I have memories that will last a lifetime.”

Before those playing days had ended, in 2002, Allan began a new career as a technical recruitment consultant, spending 11 years with NES Global Talent. Since 2013, he has been head of recruitment and talent acquisition for engineering services provider Booth Welsh, part of the global Clough Group.

He obtained the UEFA Advanced Youth A coaching licence in 2014 and is currently the under-18 academy coach at Greenock Morton.

“We have brought through some great young guys who have careers in the game,” he said. “I still love the competitive side and it’s great still to be involved.”

Today, Allan occasionally exchanges messages with former Albion teammates Hobson and Kerry Mayo but he is in more regular contact with McDonald, who only stood down in July 2021 after 18 years as an academy coach at Kilmarnock.

• Pictures from Albion matchday programmes and various online sources.

John Humphrey – unsung hero of 1997 great escape

ONE OF the unsung heroes of Albion’s last-gasp survival feat in 1997 knew a thing or two about playing for clubs in precarious circumstances.

John Humphrey’s first club was Wolverhampton Wanderers during a bleak period in their history: they dropped into the basement division under the controversial ownership of the Bhatti brothers.

The right-back later played ‘home’ games for Charlton Athletic at Selhurst Park and Upton Park when the football authorities deemed The Valley unfit to stage matches.

And he ended his professional playing days turning out for Brighton in ‘home’ games at Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium (as pictured above).

Humphrey came to Brighton’s rescue in the autumn of his career.

With Albion’s very existence under threat as 1996 turned to 1997, Albion handed the managerial reins to Steve Gritt, and former Charlton teammate Humphrey was his first signing: a free transfer from Gillingham, who were playing in the division above.

Humphrey was 36 at the time with nearly 650 professional matches behind him, including a good many in the top-flight with Wolves, Charlton and Crystal Palace. Indeed, he was Charlton’s player of the year in 1988, 1989 and 1990.

After four matches on the bench, Humphrey replaced Peter Smith at right back and played in Albion’s last 11 games of that 1996-97 season, only ending up on the losing side three times. wearebrighton.com said his impact made him “a seriously underrated piece of the Great Escape jigsaw”.

“Steve wanted me because I was experienced, could get the players organised and was able to talk them through matches,” Humphrey told the Argus. “He knew I was steady, reliable and dependable, that nine games out of ten I’d play pretty well and that I would give 100 per cent.

“It was a lot of pressure but I’d been through a few promotions (three) and relegations (six) with Wolves, Charlton and Crystal Palace.” He continued: “The stressful situations I had gone through with those other clubs had given me experience of how to try and keep a season alive.

“I could do a job for Brighton and I felt I did that and the team turned out to be good enough to hang on. It was one of the biggest achievements of my career.”

Humphrey remembered the pressure going into the Hereford match was “horrible” because of the media focus but he added: “It might have been going out of the frying pan of Gillingham into the fire at Albion but I’m glad I made the jump.”

Unfortunately, then chief executive David Bellotti tried to renege on a deal Gritt had agreed verbally with Humphrey that he’d get a new one-year contract if Albion stayed up.

“When I was told I was being released, I thought it was a pretty poor show. But Steve, to his credit, then fought my corner and I stayed on.”

With the Goldstone sold, and Albion forced to play ‘home’ games at Gillingham, Humphrey retained his place in the side and played in 13 matches but, along with other senior players, such as Craig Maskell, Paul McDonald, Denny Mundee and Ian Baird, he was let go to save money on wages.

Humphrey accepted the package he was offered, called time on his long professional career, and dropped into the non-league scene, playing initially for Chesham, then Carshalton, Dulwich Hamlet and Walton and Hersham.

He got a break into a new career as a teacher at Whitgift School in Croydon courtesy of former Albion defender, Colin Pates, who’d played with Humphrey at Charlton.

“I knew Colin from Charlton when we roomed together,” Humphrey told the Argus. “I was aware he was at the school and he said he needed help for after-school sessions and asked me to come along. So I did and the football took off at the school and I got involved in other sports like rugby and basketball and got a full-time job there.”

After leaving Whitgift School, Humphrey became head of football at Highgate School in north London.

Born in Paddington, west London on 31 January 1961, Humphrey was picked up by Wolves after he played against their junior team for a North London club called Bourne Hall.

He recounted how events unfolded in an interview with wolvesheroes.com: initially signing schoolboy forms, then progressing to coaching in school holidays, before earning an apprenticeship.

He signed as a professional in 1979 and made his first-team debut in the old top- flight in a 3-0 Easter Monday win at Southampton in 1980. His second game ended in a 3-0 defeat to Brighton.

They came under John Barnwell and, by the time Humphrey left the club in 1985, he’d served under three other managers; the last being former Manchester United boss Tommy Docherty.

Although the side was relegated in 1981-82, Humphrey embarked on what was a 78-game unbroken spell in the side. He was ever-present when they were promoted in 1982-83.

“I loved my time at Wolves,” he told wolvesheroes.com. “I only left because we went down again in 1984-85 and I didn’t fancy playing in the Third Division. Charlton came in for me and they took John Pender from Wolves a few weeks later as well.”

Wolves under the Bhatti brothers were in freefall and a lack of investment in the side saw them suffer three consecutive relegations – in 1984, 1985 and 1986 – ending up in the old Fourth Division for the first time in the club’s history.

Humphrey joined an Addicks side newly-promoted to the elite and, although Lennie Lawrence’s side often struggled to retain their status, they remained in the top-flight until 1990, and many supporters thought the right-back was good enough for international selection.

On charltonlife.com in September 2012, Queensland Addick recalled his impressive level of fitness, and said: “The number of times he ran the right wing at great pace during a game was quite incredible.”

By the time he left Charlton in August 1990, he’d played 231 games and it was said his £400,000 transfer to top-flight Crystal Palace was linked to the fact that at the time Charlton were playing home matches at Selhurst Park.

In a five-year stay at Selhurst, Humphrey played 192 games (plus 10 as sub). Known principally for his defending, Humphrey was delighted to mark his 150^th appearance for Palace with a 35-yard equaliser for the Eagles against his old club, Wolves, in a 1993 1-1 home draw.

Between December 1993 and May 1994, while Palace were winning promotion from the second tier under Alan Smith, Humphrey was out on a six-month loan at Reading, playing nine games for Mark McGhee’s Second Division side.

He then returned to second-tier Charlton on a free transfer for the 1995-96 season, playing in 36 matches, after Alan Curbishley had taken sole charge.

Next stop was Gillingham, for the first part of the 1996-97 season, but he confessed he didn’t see eye to eye with manager Tony Pulis, so he was happy to answer the call from Gritt to aid basement Brighton’s cause.

Why the ‘hook’ at Edgar Street was a great relief to ex-Saint Paul McDonald

Paul McD on ball IF PAUL MCDONALD hadn’t been subbed off in that infamous game away to Hereford United in 1997, Brighton might have gone out of existence.

That’s some statement to make, but it’s a thought that has crossed the diminutive wideman’s mind over the years.

It was McDonald who gave way for substitute Robbie Reinelt to enter the fray and, as the history books thankfully record, it was he who buried the equalising goal to restore Albion’s status as a Football League club and condemn Hereford to relegation instead.

Even as recently as August 2017, in a preview to the Albion’s opening Premier League game against Manchester City, the current day Kilmarnock academy director shared his thoughts with the Daily Record (pictured below).

“The prospect of top-flight football would have been the furthest thing from anyone’s mind at full time at Hereford but I’m over the moon to see them in the position they are in now,” said McDonald.

“I’m often reminded of that game and I’m actually claiming the assist because Robbie Reinelt replaced me. I’m just glad the chance didn’t fall to me or they might well have ended up as a non-league club!

“Seriously, it was a huge day for Brighton. I’ve never been involved in a game with so much at stake.

“It is a massive club and to be in the position they were in was bad.

“If we had lost to Hereford then in an extreme circumstance they could have folded but businessman Dick Knight had come in as chairman and he may not have let that happen.”

Born in Motherwell on 20 April 1968, McDonald was spotted playing local boys club football in his home town by Hamilton Academical and he was taken on in June 1986.

Over the course of seven years, he made a total of 215 appearances for the Accies before trying his luck south of the border.

Premier League Southampton paid £75,000 for his services but he failed to make a breakthrough and managed just three substitute appearances for Saints.

During the 1995-96 season, he was loaned out to Jimmy Mullen’s third tier Burnley where he made 11 appearances in two months, his only goal coming in a 2-0 Auto Windscreens Shield win away to Peterborough.

However, one of his matches included a 3-0 win over Brighton (in which one of the Clarets’ scorers was Kurt Nogan) and, according to the excellent clarets-mad.co.uk, McDonald so impressed watching Brighton manager Jimmy Case that day that it prompted him to sign the winger the following February.

Case persuaded hard-up Albion to part with £25,000 (or £40,000 according to the matchday programme) to take McDonald along the coast, where at last he managed to get plenty of game-time.

In two years with the Seagulls, he played more than 60 games and scored five times. The first came in a 2-1 defeat away to Exeter City; he was also on the scoresheet in a 3-0 home win over Hull City, then scored from the spot in a 3-2 home win over Fulham in the Auto Windscreens Shield three days later.

He was twice more successful from the penalty spot, one coming five minutes from the end of the game to secure an unforgettable 4-4 draw with Orient at the Goldstone, the other in a 2-0 home win over Cardiff.

At the start of the following season, with the Albion in exile at Gillingham, McDonald was on the scoresheet in a 1-1 draw with Macclesfield, the toxic atmosphere around the proceedings captured by The Independent.

As financial constraints forced Albion to let go of five senior players in December 1997, McDonald returned to Scotland with Dunfermline. He then moved onto Partick Thistle and Greenock Morton before finishing his playing career back where it started at Hamilton Academical.

McDonald stayed in the game, initially working at Hamilton as youth development manager, before becoming the SFA community coach at Kilmarnock in 2003.

In 2013, he became academy director and in October 2017, McDonald was appointed caretaker manager of Kilmarnock after Lee McCulloch stepped down as boss with the club bottom of the table.

The spot kick highs and lows of penalty king Denny Mundee

SPOT KICK specialist Denny Mundee played for the Seagulls during the dark days when they nearly dropped out of the league having enjoyed better times with Bournemouth and Brentford.

His older brother, Brian, also played for the Cherries and another brother, Barry, was forced to quit football at 18 because of injury. It was a case of third time lucky when young Denny finally broke through into league football. Previous attempts to make it, at QPR and Swindon, had got nowhere.

Born Dennis William John Mundee in Swindon on 10 October 1968, Denny first showed his footballing talent at his local primary school (Liden), as a contemporary wrote some years later on the Brentford fans forum, Griffin Park Grapevine.

The poster, called ‘SmiffyInSpain’ said: “Went to primary school with Denny in Swindon and he was a class act then. Went to separate secondary schools, but still kept in contact with him as an opponent at school level football.

“Of all the players of the same age, Denny stood out by far. Of all the penalties he took against me, he never missed.”

Indeed, Mundee was noted for his success rate from the 12-yard spot, taking on the penalty taker duties at whichever side he played for.

The young Mundee was first offered an apprenticeship at Third Division Bournemouth but decided to join First Division QPR as a junior, where he spent a year.

Released in the summer of 1986, he joined home town team Swindon for a season, but again failed to make the grade. It took a drop down to Southern League Premier side Salisbury before things began to click. Scoring 20 goals in 34 appearances brought him back to the attention of Bournemouth, who snapped him up in March 1988.

Although he made his Bournemouth debut towards the end of the 1988-89 season, he had loan spells with Weymouth, Yeovil Town and Torquay United before establishing himself with the Cherries.

It was in 1991-92 that he laid claim to a regular place, and, as right-back, made 41 league appearances that season.

His winning spot-kick in a 4-3 penalty shoot-out decider in the third round of the FA Cup against Newcastle United in January 1992 earned Mundee hero status in a Cherries’ Legends Gallery put together by BBC Dorset.

United, managed at the time by Argentine legend Ossie Ardiles, were floundering at the bottom of the old Second Division, while Harry Redknapp’s Third Division Cherries had already held the Magpies 0-0 at Dean Court before taking the tie to penalties after the replay at St James’ Park had ended 2-2 on 90 minutes.

However, by the end of the following season, Mundee had become something of a utility player, slotting in to various positions, and, in August 1993, he chose to leave the south coast club on a free transfer.

In just over five years, he had started 93 games for the Cherries and come on as a sub in another 29 games.

Former Chelsea and QPR defender David Webb had taken over as manager at Brentford and Mundee was among his first signings.

Bees fans remember him being signed as a full back but, on being ‘thrown up top’, he was a revelation and finished his first season at Griffin Park with 11 goals.

Perhaps ironically, Brentford, in 16^th, finished a point and a place above Bournemouth that 1993-94 season. Mundee scored 11 times, including a memorable hat-trick in a 4-3 defeat at home to Bristol Rovers.

DMHS Six of his goals that season came in a run of four consecutive games between 27 November and 27 December, four of them penalties.

Mundee found himself part of a side that featured the free-scoring Nicky Forster in attack alongside Robert Taylor.

Described as “whole-hearted” and “a crowd pleaser”, Mundee earned something of a reputation for a shuffle, or a twiddle, he would deploy to get past opponents. ‘Brickie Chap’ on griffinpark.org said of him: “A player that always tried his best. Not the most gifted we have ever had down here but deffo one for providing quality entertainment.”

Unfortunately for a player normally so reliable from 12 yards, it was a penalty he failed to convert that Brentford fans have never really got over.

Mundee’s miss in a 1995 Division Two play-off match against Neil Warnock’s Huddersfield came in what was apparently the first-ever televised penalty shoot-out featured on Sky.

It was all the more galling because Mundee had scored twice from the spot past Town’s Steve Francis the previous season but, on this occasion, he blew the chance to put Brentford two goals ahead when he was outguessed by the ‘keeper. When Jamie Bates missed too, Brentford’s season was over.

Any other year, as runners-up, Brentford would have been promoted automatically, but, because of a reorganisation of the Premier League that year, only the top team went up automatically, hence their participation in the play-offs.

Mundee’s erstwhile primary school teammate wrote: “I watched the Huddersfield match in ‘95 and I would have put my mortgage on him netting like he did for Bournemouth at Newcastle a few years earlier.”

mundee In two years with the Bees, Mundee made 73 starts plus 25 appearances as a sub but, when his old Bournemouth teammate Jimmy Case took over the Albion’s managerial reins from Liam Brady, he and another ex-Cherry, Mark Morris, headed to the Goldstone Ground to try to help the Seagulls’ cause.

With the poisonous off-field developments at the club an ugly backdrop to the playing side, neither could do anything to halt Albion’s slide into the bottom tier.

Things went from bad to worse and on 1 February 1997, bottom of the league Brighton drew 1-1 at Mansfield Town, Mundee scoring for the Seagulls with a follow-up after his initial penalty was parried. Albion were nine points adrift and relegation from the league was looking virtually certain.

However, as we all now know, the drop was averted courtesy of that nail-biting draw at Hereford.

Although Mundee remained on the books for the following season, in December 1997 he, Morris, Craig Maskell, Paul McDonald and John Humphrey were all released to save money.

Mundee had played 58 games plus four as sub for the Albion, chipping in with eight goals.

Also burdened by ankle and back injuries, it spelled the end of his professional career although he did manage a handful of games with various non-league outfits.

Ten years ago, a cousin of Denny’s confirmed that he had moved to Throop, a village on the outskirts of Bournemouth, and was working for the same plastering business as brother Brian.

In parallel lines

Memories from 55 years following Brighton & Hove Albion

Tag: Paul McDonald