Tag: Paul Wood

‘Rooster’ became pivotal to developing young players

FORMER BRIGHTON apprentice Kevin Russell enjoyed a 20-year playing career in which he scored 105 goals in 552 games but he had forgettable spells at three South Coast clubs.

As we learned in my previous blog post, England Youth international Russell scored goals for Albion’s youth team and reserves but moved on before making the first team after a falling out with manager Chris Cattlin.

He got on better with Alan Ball at Portsmouth but only played eight games in three years at Pompey.

In March 1994, he was back in the south after a £125,000 move from Burnley to AFC Bournemouth. Unfortunately, his time at Dean Court coincided with dismal form on the pitch and financial pressures off it.

Russell was signed by Tony Pulis, who, it turned out, was in the final throes of his first spell as a manager, having succeeded Harry Redknapp at Dean Court.

The side had a dreadful run of form the month after Russell joined, suffering five defeats and three draws in eight matches. It was in the last of these that Russell finally got on the scoresheet for the Cherries as they picked up a point in a 1-1 draw at Hull City (his only goal in 17 matches).

While Mark McGhee won the Division Two title with Reading and Russell’s former club Burnley won promotion via a play-off final win over Stockport County, the Cherries finished a disappointing 17th in the table.

Portsmouth-born Russell had joined a squad (above) that included a number of players with past or future Brighton connections: Gary Chivers, Mark Morris, Paul Wood, Steve Cotterill and Warren Aspinall.

Cotterill recalled in a 2023 interview with gloucestershirelive.co.uk: “I know Rooster very well. I played with him at Bournemouth and he’s a great guy and a good coach.

“I liked him when I played with him because he used to stick crosses on a sixpence for me. I remember scoring a few goals from his crosses.”

Back in 1994, Pulis was sacked early on in the new season and former player Mel Machin took over, but the Cherries had managed only one win and a draw in their first 14 matches by the time they met the Albion at the Goldstone on 2 November 1994.

The game ended in a 0-0 draw and, although they won their next game, by Christmas they’d only got nine points from 21 games. Staring down the barrel of relegation, a last ditch revival in fortunes saw the season go down in memory as ‘The Great Escape’ because Bournemouth managed to avoided the drop by two points.

Russell, who had scored twice in 18 matches, had moved on by then and according to Aspinall, in a September 2011 interview with the Bournemouth Daily Echo: “Mel wanted rid of myself and Kevin Russell.”

Russell, who later had a habit of scoring against the Cherries – he hit four in 10 games against them – said after a 2001 encounter between Wrexham and Bournemouth: “The club was in a bad state when I was there, but Mel Machin and Sean O’Driscoll have turned things round and you know you’re always going to have a hard game against them.

“I don’t try any harder than normal when I play against them, but because I am playing up front and not in midfield or out wide, I get more chances to score.”

Aspinall had a couple of trial matches for the Albion before being packed off to Carlisle, while in February 1995 Russell joined First Division strugglers Notts County where he was reunited with former Leicester teammates Gary Mills and Phil Turner.

Howard Kendall was in charge at the time but County, who got through four managers that season (including Russell Slade for four months), finished bottom of the table having won only nine matches all season.

Russell then returned to his spiritual home in north Wales and, over the next seven years, played a further 240 matches for Wrexham, scoring 23 goals along the way.

One of the most memorable was a last-minute winner at the Boleyn Ground in January 1997 as Wrexham pulled off a FA Cup giant-killing against West Ham. Having held the Hammers to a 1-1 draw at the Racecourse Ground, Russell went on as a 75th minute sub in the replay and scored a screamer in the dying seconds against a side that included Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard.

While the Dragons fans were elated, protesting home supporters spilled onto the pitch in anger at Harry Redknapp’s side’s performance and lowly Premier League position.

Slaven Bilic, later West Ham’s manager, was playing alongside Ferdinand and remembered the game thus: “We were struggling. We weren’t conceding a lot of goals but we couldn’t score and then Wrexham came and they scored at the end of the game, a great goal from 25 yards. After that we signed Johnny Hartson and Paul Kitson and we stayed up.”

When Russell’s playing days were over, he stayed on as a coach and worked as assistant manager under Denis Smith, taking Wrexham to promotion from the Third Division in 2002-03 and winning the LDV (English Football League) trophy in 2005.

That same year his loyalty and service to the club were rewarded with a pre-season testimonial against Manchester United – managed by his former teammate and captain Darren Ferguson’s dad!

Russell played the first 14 minutes of the match against a largely youthful United before being replaced by Ferguson. United won the game 3-1 with goals from Giuseppe Rossi, Liam Miller and Frazier Campbell and one of their subs that day was Paul McShane.

“I can’t speak highly enough of Alex for bringing his side here for me,” said Russell. “I’ve been treated to a special team with a lot of quality. I know there were a lot of young players out there, but you could see the potential they’ve got is immense.”

A crowd of nearly 6,000 watched the match and Wrexham secretary Geraint Parry said: “It just shows how well respected Kevin Russell is after his many years in the game.”

Smith and Russell were sacked in January 2007 but he went straight to Peterborough with Ferguson, who had been appointed Posh player-manager.

“We had an unbelievable time at Peterborough,” Russell told John Hutchinson. “We took them from the bottom league to the Championship in successive seasons in 2008 and 2009.”

There was a brief and unsuccessful spell for the managerial duo at Preston North End in 2010 – they were sacked four days after Christmas with Preston bottom of the Championship – but they weren’t out of work for long because they were re-appointed at Peterborough the following month.

They lost their first game back in charge though – to Brighton. Albion, on course to be league one champions under Gus Poyet that season, beat Posh 3-1: Chris Wood two and Elliott Bennett the scorers while Craig Noone made his home debut for the Seagulls.

After three years at Peterborough, Russell moved back to the Potteries to join the coaching staff at Stoke (below) and stayed for nine years! He mainly worked with the under 18s and under 21s but also helped with the first team in between managerial changes in 2018 and 2019.

In May 2023, Russell joined Cheltenham Town as assistant manager to Wade Elliott. He was in caretaker charge for two matches when Elliott was sacked four months later but didn’t want the job on a permanent basis and left the club in October 2023 when Darrell Clarke was appointed.

Robins chairman David Bloxham said: “I am extremely grateful to Kevin for all his hard work and dedication and for his willingness to step in to manage the side in an extremely difficult period between Wade leaving and Darrell’s appointment.”

Once again, Russell wasn’t out of work for long. In January 2024, he was reunited with former Stoke technical director Mark Cartwright, a former goalkeeper who played 15 matches in Brighton’s 2000-01 promotion winning side, at Huddersfield Town.

Back in the game at Huddersfield Town

He was appointed as B team manager with a glowing endorsement from Cartwright, now Town’s sporting director, who said: “Not only is Kevin a great coach, but he also has a brilliant ability to develop relationships with young players.

“He’s a lively character and he knows how to relate to individuals to get the best out of them. Whilst at Stoke City, he played the pivotal role in developing players such as Nathan Collins, Harry Souttar, Tyrese Campbell, and Josh Tymon, alongside many others.

“He’s been so successful in doing that because he has a great understanding of the qualities that senior coaching staff want to see in young players.”

It was chirpy Chiv of the Cherries after six years with the Seagulls

THESE DAYS Gary Chivers is a familiar face around the hospitality lounges at Brighton’s Amex Stadium and Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge, the two clubs where he spent most of his playing days.

His association with Chelsea goes back to the tender age of 10, when he joined their academy, and he went on to play in their first team for five years. After six years with Brighton, he played out the final two years of his 16-year career at AFC Bournemouth under fledgling boss Tony Pulis. Among his teammates were Mark Morris, Warren Aspinall, Paul Wood and Steve Cotterill, all of whom also played for the Seagulls.

Born in Stockwell, London, on 15 May 1960, Chivers started supporting Chelsea at the age of eight, and, like many future professionals, got a foothold in the game at Stepney-based development club Senrab.

He told journalist Nick Szczepanik in a 2018 Backpass magazine article (below): “My brother had been training with Chelsea and my dad took me along when I was ten, and I went into their academy about two years before I should have.”

Chiv in BackpassAlthough initially a midfielder, coach Ken Shellito turned him into a defender and Chivers’ versatility in defence meant he could play centrally or in either full-back berth. Among his early contemporaries were John Bumstead, Colin Pates and Micky Fillery: Pates would later join him at Brighton.

With Chelsea already relegated, Chivers made his first team debut on 21 April 1979, aged 18, as he recounted in a December 2017 interview on the Chelsea website. Irish legend Danny Blanchflower was the manager who handed him his debut, at Stamford Bridge against Middlesbrough, which finished in a 2-1 win in front of just 12,007.

Chivers did enough to keep his place for the last four games of the season, and he told Szczepanik how in one he had to mark Arsenal’s Malcolm Macdonald and another Manchester United’s Joe Jordan.

In the second tier the following season, an injury to first choice right-back Gary Locke gave Chivers a chance to establish himself under new manager Geoff Hurst, and he retained the shirt for much of the season.

In total he made 148 appearances for Chelsea, scoring four goals, one of which was voted runner-up in Match of the Day’s Goal of the Season competition in 1980-81.

He got on the end of a Clive Walker cross following a delightful flowing move as top-of-the-table Newcastle were beaten 6-0 by second-placed Chelsea.

Chivers deputised at left-back for the injured Chris Hutchings towards the end of the 1982-83 season, by which time John Neal had taken over as manager. Chelsea were at a low ebb and only a point from a goalless draw against Middlesbrough on 14 May 1983 saved from them from relegation to the old Third Division. Neal overhauled the playing staff, and Chivers was amongst the casualities.

Explaining how he didn’t see eye to eye with Neal, he added: “I didn’t want to go, but you have to play games.”

He briefly switched to relegated Swansea City, under John Toshack, but only stayed six months as managers came and went in rapid succession. Seeking a move back to London, he joined QPR under Terry Venables – “the best manager I ever played for” – where he played alongside John Byrne, another player he’d be reunited with at the Albion.

At the end of his contract, he moved on to Watford during the uncomfortable spell when former Wimbledon boss Dave Bassett was in charge, but he got the feeling he didn’t fit in. Brighton boss Barry Lloyd, himself a former Chelsea player, agreed a £40,000 fee with the Hornets as Chivers dropped down a division to third-tier Albion, where he linked up with some familiar ex-Chelsea faces in Doug Rougvie, Robert Isaac and Keith Dublin.

He explained to Szczepanik: “I decided to go to Brighton because I had a look at their fixtures and I even asked for a promotion bonus because I was so confident they would go up.”

The confidence was well-placed because promotion was duly gained, and Chivers went on to become part of the furniture for the next six years, including playing in the play-off final at Wembley in 1990-91.

An incident that led to a Notts County goal still rankles with Chivers. “At 0-0, I played the ball off Tommy Johnson for a goal kick and David Elleray, the referee, gave a corner that they scored from. I saw him a few years ago and went over to set the facts straight. He said: ‘You’re not still going on about that from 20 years ago?’ and I said: ‘Too right I am!’ I walked away from him because it was winding me up, but it was because of how much it would have meant to the club.

“We would have gone on from there if we had got into the First Division but instead we ended up having to sell Mike Small and Budgie (John Byrne) and we went down at the end of the next season.”

Albion played a  benefit match for Chivers against Crystal Palace just before the start of the 1992-93 season and Chivers left the club in 1993, not because he wanted to, but because players on “decent money” had to go.

His enthusiasm for the club continues to this day, bantering with supporters in corporate hospitality and the Albion club website carried an article about the former defender’s divided loyalties when the Albion entertained Chelsea on New Year’s Day.

 

  • Pictures mainly from the club programme.

Cherries legend Mark Morris and the memorable Storer moment

mark morris bw bourne

STUART Storer is rightly remembered as the scorer of the vital winner against Doncaster Rovers in the last ever match at the Goldstone Ground.

Few remember exactly how the ball fell kindly to him that rain-lashed afternoon on 26 April 1997, but close scrutiny of the much-played clip before games at the Amex (also available on YouTube) shows it was from a rebound off the bar following a header by centre back Mark Morris.

Although defending was his priority, Morris had chipped in with a fair few goals over the years – including getting the winner for the Albion on his debut in a 3-2 win at Hartlepool on 2 November 1996.

Morris was a seasoned pro who had captained Bournemouth and Wimbledon and been part of a promotion-winning side at Sheffield United.

He had answered the call to join Brighton when his old Bournemouth teammate Jimmy Case was manager, as he told The Argus in a 2001 interview. The Seagulls were struggling at the foot of the bottom division with the trapdoor to oblivion gradually creaking open.

Maybe if the Morris header had gone in rather than rattling the bar, a different name would have been etched into the annals of Albion history.

Of the vital last-ditch game at Hereford, Morris told The Argus: “As a player, we were playing for the future of a club steeped in tradition. It was one of the biggest games in my career and the result was paramount.

“I was about 35 then. It was getting to be close to the end of my career and I wanted to end on a decent result. Hopefully I played some part in keeping the club up.” Continue reading “Cherries legend Mark Morris and the memorable Storer moment” →

Cattle auctioneer Kevin Bremner gave clubs a promotion prod

bremner-portraitAS GOALSCORING partnerships go, the pairing of Kevin Bremner and Garry Nelson was something of a masterstroke by Albion manager Barry Lloyd.

Having to readjust to life back in Division 3 after relegation in 1987 meant cashing in on some of the better players – the sale of Terry Connor, Danny Wilson and Eric Young raised over £400,000 – and replacing them with bargain buys.

At £65,000 for Bremner and £72,500 for Nelson, Lloyd showed how shrewd an operator he could be in the transfer market. When Nelson was injured and sidelined for a while, £80,000 was paid to bring in Paul Wood to play alongside Bremner.

Bremner was born on 7 October 1957 in Banff in the Scottish Highlands and worked as an auctioneer in the cattle market in his home town as well as playing Highland League football.

He didn’t make his start in the English league until the relatively late age of 23. That was with Colchester United and he made his debut in a 2-2 home draw with Barnsley in Division 3 on 11 October 1980.

He went on to make 93 consecutive appearances for Colchester in the third and fourth divisions and scored 35 goals while Bobby Roberts was in charge. All was going well until Bremner got in a dispute with the club and found himself out of the side.

Division 1 Birmingham took him on a month’s loan and, after he’d scored a goal in his four games there, Roberts’ repplacement at Colchester, former Ipswich and Northern Ireland centre half Allan Hunter, recalled him to Layer Road. However, former boss Roberts had moved on to Division 3 Wrexham, and he took Bremner on loan at the Racecourse, where he also got on the scoresheet.

“He wanted to take me on permanently but they couldn’t afford it so my next stop was Home Park, and a spell at Plymouth Argyle,” he told the Albion matchday programme. “It was touch and go whether or not I’d stay there in the long term, but once Lincoln and Millwall showed an interest I knew that I’d soon be on my way.”

He chose Millwall – “it was closer” – and joined the Lions in December 1982 for a £25,000 fee. He was one of eight new signings made by manager George Graham as Millwall were floundering at the bottom of Division 3 at the time. In a remarkable turn-round, they picked up 27 points in 12 games to escape relegation.

He was then part of the Millwall side who won promotion from Division 3 in 1984-85. In total, Bremner scored 33 goals in 87 games for the Lions. “It was a fabulous couple of years even though the side was struggling when I joined,” he said. “Playing at The Den is great – it’s wicked for away teams because the atmosphere is so strong.”

Next stop was Reading for a £35,000 fee. He spent two seasons with the Royals and enjoyed a successful partnership with lofty Trevor Senior which helped the Royals to promotion as champions from Division 3 in 1986.

I can remember going to watch Albion play Reading in November 1986 and Bremner scored twice in a 2-1 win for the Royals at Elm Park. He finished the season with 15. Albion signed him from Reading for £65,000 in July 1987.

Brem flowAfter a flying start with Brighton, in which he scored 11 goals, the league goals dried up for Bremner but strike partner Nelson couldn’t stop scoring as Albion powered their way to automatic promotion.

Second spot behind Sunderland was clinched via a 2-1 Goldstone win over Bristol Rovers on 7 May, Bremner finally ending his goal drought with a diving header, and Nelson, inevitably, getting the winner – his 32nd goal of the season.

What was all the more remarkable about the pairing was that it was the first season Nelson had played as an out-and-out striker.

Back in the second tier in 1988-89, Albion struggled to make an impression against better quality opponents although Bremner did score 15 goals, including a hattrick in a New Year’s Eve 4-0 mauling of Birmingham City. In September 1988, he took over the goalkeeper gloves (below) at home against West Brom when Perry Digweed was forced off with a serious groin injury.

In a matchday programme interview, Bremner said: ”I’m probably enjoying the game more than at any time before. I regret not coming into the professional game earlier but I’m delighted at the way things have turned out.

“We always thought we could do well at the Goldstone and after two years of hard work I’d like to think that we can put the club back on the map and, besides, I’d like another try in the First Division.”

The programme notes declared: “It’s his consistent scoring record that has opposing defenders on tenterhooks. His total commitment invariably creates an opportunist goal and he is a popular player with the fans.”

Brem runBremner scored 12 in the 1989-90 season, five of them coming in the space of a week at the start of the season! He was virtually ever-present but Albion struggled in the lower half of the table for most of the season. His goal in a 1-1 draw away to Blackburn in the final game of that campaign was his last for the club. In 134 games (plus three as sub), he’d scored 36 goals.

He moved on to Peterborough United in the close season as manager Lloyd had a new strike partnership up his sleeve in the shape of John Byrne and Mike Small.

After a year at Peterborough, Bremner moved back to Scotland to play for Dundee but in the spring of 1992 had a month’s loan spell at Shrewsbury Town.

Back in the far north of Scotland he had spells as player-manager with Brora Rangers and his old club Deveronvale then in 1995 he became youth team manager at Gillingham and stayed for eight years, and was then academy coach at Millwall for three years. He subsequently coached youngsters in Kent, at an academy and at an independent school.

  • Pictures show the front page of the Evening Argus following Albion’s promotion from Division 3 in 1988 with Bremner diving to score; a shot of Bremner in action against West Ham that appeared on the front of a matchday programme, a portrait from a matchday programme at the beginning of the 1989-90 season, and other action pictures from matchday programmes.

Gary Lineker cleaned defender Larry May’s boots

larry may wednesINJURY cut short Larry May’s playing career at Brighton but, during a purple patch of his four-year spell at Barnsley, he impressed his peers to the extent he was in the 1986-87 PFA team of the year.

Alongside him in that selection were Lee Dixon, the ITV football pundit who in those days played for Stoke City prior to his move to Arsenal, and former Albion full back John Gregory, who was playing in midfield for Derby County at the time.

Centre back Larry began his career with Leicester City and played over 200 games for them between 1977 and 1983. When given a run in the first team by former Rangers manager Jock Wallace, Larry’s boots were looked after by none other than Gary Lineker: the Match of the Day host being a Filbert Street apprentice at the time.

Leicester’s club historian John Hutchinson – who said of May: “He was very strong in the air, a powerful tackler and had pace” – drove down to Brighton in 2015 to interview Larry about his time with the Foxes and published the story on foxestalk.co.uk.

Leicester had spotted him playing for a local youth team in Birmingham and invited him for a trial. Aged 17, he made his debut in the top division against Bristol City when one of his teammates was Frank Worthington, another who later played for the Albion.

In the following season, Jimmy Bloomfield, the manager who gave him his debut, departed and was replaced by Frank McLintock, who didn’t give May much of a look-in.

Screenshot
May played in front of ex-Norwich goalkeeper Kevin Keelan for the Tea Men

He went to play for New England Tea Men (a franchise owned by the Lipton tea company) in America under ex-Coventry manager Noel Cantwell to get some games but ruptured a cruciate ligament which some thought might end his career before it had even got off the ground.

Back at Leicester, McLintock was succeeded by Wallace and he paired May at the back with John O’Neill – a partnership that endured for the best part of five years.

In those early times, though, May admitted he had to play through pain and regularly ice his knee.

Not only was May ever-present in the 1979-80 side that won promotion from Division 2, he headed the only goal of the game at Leyton Orient on the last day of the season to clinch the title. Striker Alan Young, who played for Albion in the 1983-84 season, was another ever-present.

Leicester only survived a season in the top flight and following relegation Gordon Milne replaced Wallace as manager, guiding them to promotion in his first season. May, though, didn’t see eye to eye with the former Liverpool midfielder and ended up handing in a transfer request.

In an Albion matchday programme, May said: “”We fell out over something and nothing really but at 24 you think you know it all and there was no future for me once I’d asked for a transfer. “Thinking back, I realise that I should have got on with it.”

As it was, in August 1983 he dropped a division and joined Barnsley for a fee of £110,000, signed by the legendary former Leeds hard man, Norman Hunter.

larry may bw“For a man with a reputation of being one of the fiercest characters in football it was unbelievable – I’d say he was definitely the nicest fellow I’ve ever played for,” said May.

While on the books at Oakwell, with a nod towards a longer future in the game, May took his full FA coaching badge.

He told foxestalk.co.uk: “I was happy at Barnsley but, in retrospect, I should have bided my time and stayed at Leicester really. But I was a bit young and naïve. I loved it at Leicester. Leicester were the best club I ever played at. It was my best time in football and I loved it there.”

After three years with Barnsley, former Albion winger Howard Wilkinson took May to Sheffield Wednesday. He had just turned 28 and the move represented a step back up in standard.

“It was an important move at that stage in my career but looking back it was never brilliant for me at Hillsborough,” he said.

Amongst the competitors for his place was Nigel Pearson, later to be better known for some eccentricities in management with various clubs.

At the start of the 1988-89 season, a move south to Brighton was mooted but Wilkinson held onto him because of some early season injury problems. However, Barry Lloyd got his man towards the end of September 1988 and May joined Brighton for £200,000.

His debut in a 2-1 Goldstone win over Leeds brought to an end a run of eight defeats at the beginning of the season but it was back to losing ways – both 1-0 – in the following two games which, ironically, were against his former clubs, Barnsley, at home, and Leicester, away.

monoMay

The return fixture with Leicester was a happier outcome for May, though, because he was the sponsors’ man of the match in a 1-1 draw.

In his programme notes for the Barnsley game, manager Lloyd said: “I know he’ll have a big impact on the way we play….at 29, we know he has a lot of football left in him.”

Captain Steve Gatting had a programme column that season and he also welcomed the central defender, adding: “His experience in the top two divisions is bound to rub off onto some of younger players. When we’ve played against Larry in the past he’s tended to be the man of the match and I’m sure everyone at the Goldstone wishes him and his family every success.”

Understandable sentiments, of course, and such a shame that before the season’s end, after only 25 games, the cruciate ligament in his right knee was shattered in an accidental collision with teammate Paul Wood during a magnificent 2-1 home win over Man City.

“I knew straight away, having had knee trouble before, how serious it was,” he said. “It wasn’t Paul’s fault. It was just one of those things.” He was carried off on a stretcher and it was his last game for the club.

It was in the matchday programme for Albion’s game v Ipswich Town on 27 September 1989 that news of his forced retirement was announced.

“The sudden decision has stunned 30-year-old Larry and his family who were beginning to settle in the Brighton area after moving from Wakefield last year,” the announcement read. “In a 12-year career in the game, Larry has made more than 400 senior appearances, 364 in the league.”

A dejected May told the programme: “It hasn’t sunk in yet because I just don’t believe that I’m finished. I honestly thought that I could carry on playing at league level until I was 35. I’ve always been fit generally and never had a weight problem and this has really hit me.

“When the specialist told me that I shouldn’t play again my first reaction was that it had to be wrong. Now I’ve got to rethink and I’m not really sure about my future.”

Manager Lloyd added: “The announcement that Larry May had been forced to retire from playing was a particularly sad one. He performed very well for us last season and put heart and soul into everything around the club.”

Thankfully Larry was able to put that coaching badge to good use when Lloyd made him reserve team coach and, after a time working for the Surrey FA, he later returned to the club as Head of Sports Participation for Albion in the Community.

His links to the club also extended to his sons: Chris was a young goalkeeper who once had to replace the injured Michel Kuipers during a game and Steve was a centre-back who was in the youth set-up.

1-larrymaystripes2-argusmayintheface3-may-quits4-coach-may

Larry and his sons Steve (left) and Chris

• Pictures include Larry May in matchday programmes; captured by an Evening Argus cameraman getting a hand in the face; the programme announcement of his retirement; in an Albion team line-up as a coach, and with his sons.