Tag: Portman Road

Seething Knight dumped O’Callaghan for telling him how to run the Albion

CORK-BORN George O’Callaghan had something of a yo-yo footballing career after bursting onto the professional scene as a talented teenager.

Eyed by Arsenal and Spurs when he was in his formative years at Port Vale (then in the Championship), he turned to drink when ex-Albion captain and manager Brian Horton dropped him from the Vale first team.

Although the tall midfielder worked his way back into contention, he returned home to Ireland to rebuild his career before making several other attempts to succeed in the English game.

Over the course of five years, he was an influential cog in Cork’s League of Ireland side, the highlight coming with a championship win in 2005 when he scored eleven goals from midfield and was voted League Player of the Season.

He survived meningitis in 2006 just a handful of months before another Championship side, Ipswich Town, gave him another opportunity to make it in England but he struggled to hold down a place at Portman Road.

After only 13 appearances, the Tractor Boys were prepared to offload him to third tier Brighton. A deal was agreed in August 2007 but he made the move on loan rather than permanently because he still thought he could make it in Suffolk.

By then 28, the player brought experience and creativity to Dean Wilkins’ largely young side, slotting in effectively in the centre of Albion’s midfield alongside Dean Hammond, making 16 starts and one appearance off the bench.

But his Irish gift of the gab brought it all to a messy end. He publicly criticised chairman Dick Knight’s handling of contract negotiations in an explosive article in The Argus and didn’t play for the Seagulls again.

The Irishman told reporter Andy Naylor he thought the team was in danger of falling apart because chairman Knight had been too slow to sort out contracts and loans.

Knight countered: “We have given him the chance to shine and show his talents. It’s not George O’Callaghan’s business to tell the club what we should be doing.”

The midfielder spoke out after Albion capitulated 3-0 at Millwall on Boxing Day. He told Naylor: “There are a lot of lads who are very important to this team that don’t know if they are coming or going and I think it’s about time the club got a grip on it and sorted it out, because it has dragged on for too long and I feel it is starting to affect the players.

“I just don’t think it is right and it’s something the club needs to look at. It used to happen at Cork City when I was there and we lost a lot of good players. We lost Kevin Doyle and Shane Long for peanuts over contracts not being sorted out early and quickly.

“It makes you angry as a player. I can cope with it, because I am a lot older than the other lads, but the young lads are really upset and it’s not right.”

O’Callaghan’s version of events the club would have wanted to keep to themselves plainly differed from Knight’s while Wilkins was stuck in the middle.

“I know the manager tries his best behind the scenes,” said O’Callaghan. “He is fantastic. I think he works with a very small budget. It must be more frustrating for him, because he has built a team and it could easily fall apart now.

No holding back where O’Callaghan was concerned

“Things should have been sorted out a lot quicker. It has been a big thing in the squad in the last few weeks. I’ve mentioned it and the club need to sort it out now.”

The Irishman said he had encountered something similar at Ipswich the previous season, pointing out players just needed to know where they stood.

“I don’t want to stay and then see our best lads go, like Hammo,” he reasoned. “If we want to make that push for the play-offs and get back into the Championship it needs to be sorted.”

Knight was in no mood to take that sort of broadside from a loan player and told the reporter: “The team’s performance was absolutely woeful. I think certain players should be looking at themselves before trying to deflect criticism elsewhere. I thought it was a disgrace.

“George O’Callaghan is totally out of order. I would suggest he is trying to deflect attention away from his own performance, which was frankly poor, and he wasn’t the only one.

“Young players within the club are dealt with contract wise as and when the time is right.”

Knight maintained that he’d already agreed with Ipswich that both O’Callaghan and fellow Town loanee Matt Richards could extend their loans until the end of the season but neither player wanted to commit to it until they’d explored other options.

Unsurprisingly, O’Callaghan’s stay with the Seagulls came to an abrupt end and he returned to Portman Road.

Sidestepping the spat with Knight, O’Callaghan reckoned his return to Ipswich was his decision, telling The Argus: “I enjoyed playing regularly at Brighton but I spoke with the gaffer and decided it is right to try again at Ipswich and try to get first team action.

“They are a good bunch of lads at Brighton and I enjoyed playing with them so I hope things work out for them.”

When a month later there was no look-in happening with the Tractor Boys, he returned to Ireland once again to play for his old club, Cork City. It was part of a familiar pattern.

Deadline day signings David Martot and George O’Callaghan

O’Callaghan had joined the Albion on loan (the same day David Martot signed a similar arrangement from Le Havre) on August transfer deadline day having rejected a permanent move earlier that month (the clubs had agreed a £60,000 deal plus £15,000 based on appearances).

The player said at the time: “It would be a shame to leave Ipswich because the supporters have been brilliant to me, even though they never saw enough of me, and all the lads are fantastic, but I need to be playing regular football.”

Town manager Jim Magilton praised O’Callaghan’s ability and attitude and empathised with his frustration at not getting a run in the side. He said: “I don’t want to lose George but I wouldn’t stand in his way. He has been great since he has been here. He is very popular in the dressing room and he has done very well.

Tractor Boy O’Callaghan

“But he is 28 years of age and needs to be playing games. I have been there, so totally understand how frustrating it can be. We will do anything we can to help him.

“I have absolutely no problems with George. He has been top class since he came here. His attitude is first-class in training and in games.”

O’Callaghan had impressed Knight in a reserves match when Ipswich beat the Seagulls’ second string.

When O’Callaghan finally agreed the temporary move, Albion also wanted his Town teammate Richards on loan, but he too prevaricated, only to change his mind the following month. It was the first of three loan spells with the Albion. Brighton also wanted a third Ipswich player, injury-prone Dean Bowditch, who had briefly been on loan the previous season, and he eventually returned for a month in 2008.

Born in Cork on 5 September 1979, O’Callaghan left Ireland as a teenager to pursue his football dream and in a March 2020 podcast with the Irish Examiner, he talked about his early days at Port Vale when he was regarded as one of the hottest properties in football.

“Arsenal came in for me when I was 18,” he said. “I was waiting outside the manager John Rudge’s office and Pat Rice, who was Arsene Wenge’s assistant at the time, came out and said: ‘George, we can’t get you this time, we’ll get you next time,’.”

When the youngster protested to Rudge, he was told Arsenal had only offered £1m for him and Vale wanted £2m. O’Callaghan continued to progress in Vale’s Championship team but when Rudge was replaced by Horton, he was demoted back to the youth team.

In another podcast, A Footballer’s Life, O’Callaghan admitted to Graham Cummins that he turned to drink as his promising career stalled. “You’re responsible for your own actions so it’s ultimately your own fault. But nobody looked out for me or had my back at the club. Nobody caught me and said, ‘George, what’s going on, you’re not yourself’.

“Those days, the clubs didn’t care, it was old school, you were put out to do the job and if you didn’t you were replaced.

“You never asked anyone for help in those days. I kind of went into meltdown. Everything unravelled, I didn’t know what I was doing.”

When he eventually got back in the first team picture, he said Arsenal’s north London rivals Spurs then showed an interest in him. “David Pleat tried to sign me for Tottenham. But Brian Horton said: ‘You’re doing really well,’ and offered me a two-year deal and doubled my money.”

He asked Rudge’s opinion about the situation and when told he should stay at Vale because he’d struggle to get games for Spurs, he stayed put. “I took his advice and signed the contract. Within about 14 months I was finished, sent home.

“It was a massive mistake, a big, big mistake. I was too comfortable in the situation I was in. I probably didn’t have the guts to go ahead with it. I loved playing for Port Vale but I should have pushed for Arsenal and Tottenham. And then you can always go out on loan if it doesn’t work out.”

One of O’Callaghan’s early matches for Albion was against his old club and unsurprisingly he was a natural interviewee before the game. “It is a very special club to me because I started off my career there when I was only 15,” he told The Argus.

The Irishman scored four goals in 22 league starts plus 12 sub appearances for Vale and felt he probably had a point to prove coming up against them (Albion won 1-0 with a goal from Alex Revell).

“I never showed Port Vale fans what I can do,” he said. “I took a few wrong roads when I was a kid and it has taken me a while to get back to where I am now.

“It will be nice to put on a good performance and show them what they have missed; the player I have turned into. I never fulfilled my potential there.

“I started off doing well there as a kid but I didn’t really have the right guidance and it all went pear-shaped. As soon as John Rudge left as manager and Brian Horton came in, my chances were limited. I think that is where it all went wrong.

“Obviously, I wasn’t his type of footballer. People said he was a good footballer, but he wanted physical lads.

“Maybe at the time I wasn’t physical enough and he didn’t fancy me. I don’t blame him in any way because at the end of the day it is all down to yourself and how you look after yourself.”

He added: “I had so many knocks there that it took the fire out of me. I had to go back to Cork to get that fire back into me and build my career again.

“It was a big learning curve in my life. I lost my career in English football for a while and had to battle hard to get back.”

The player’s topsy-turvy career continued back at Cork City before he had another go in England, spending eight months at Tranmere Rovers. Once again he returned to Ireland, this time to play for Dundalk, but the lure of the English game beckoned again.

O’Callaghan linked up with Yeovil Town in the summer of 2009 and played in three pre-season friendlies. In the opening months of the season, he made 15 appearances (including six from the bench) but found it difficult to break into the team past the partnership of Jean-Paul Kalala and Shaun MacDonald.

Next stop, in December that year, was Waterford but before long he was back at Cork City once again. Brentford took him on a two-week trial but nothing came of it and instead he went to then Conference side Cambridge United but didn’t feature.

The wandering Irishman at one point tied his luck with Brunei side Duli Pengiran Muda Mahkota but he got into trouble for failing to bow to the Crown Prince.

His old Brighton and Ipswich teammate Nicky Forster took him on at Dover Athletic but he only played once for the Conference South team, and he announced his retirement on Christmas Eve 2012.

He briefly managed Sabah in the Malaysia Premier League in 2014 but he struggled to deal with El Hadji Diouf and was sacked in January 2015 when he started missing training sessions.

Four years after playing what he thought was his last game, he turned out for junior Cork club Rockmount.

After packing up playing, O’Callaghan became an agent and spent a year as a business development manager for William Hill. He was a general manager for gym chain Anytime Fitness for two years and later co-founded agency TEN Sports Management.

John ‘Stonewall’ Jackson a loyal George Petchey disciple

NOT TO BE confused with the founder and first manager of Brighton & Hove Albion, that man’s namesake, John Jackson, was a coach at the Goldstone in the ‘80s and the ‘90s.

Less well known was that he could have been in goal for Albion for the 1983 FA Cup Final. Rather like Steve Foster, back-up ‘keeper Perry Digweed was serving a suspension when the game against Manchester United came round.

Digweed had been sent off in a reserve match in early May 1983 and was banned for the final and the replay. So, if anything had happened to first choice Graham Moseley – and let’s face it, he had been known to have off-field mishaps at other times during his Albion career – the man between the sticks at Wembley could well have been Jackson.

Jackson had signed on emergency Combination forms in February 1983 and played for the Reserves in a 1-1 draw at home to Luton when Moseley and youth team ‘keeper Martin Hyde were both injured. He stayed on and helped coach the youth team alongside John Shepherd and with Moseley fully fit was not needed for first team duty (in those days, there were no substitute goalkeepers on the bench).

Jackson, who died aged 80 four days after Christmas 2022, had spent the earlier part of the 1982-83 season at Hereford United, who had just finished bottom of the Fourth Division. He had appeared in six matches at the end of a 19-year career. bullsnews.blogspot.com reveals that Jackson was the oldest league player to turn out for United. He was six days past his 40th birthday when he played against Darlington on 11 September 1982.

It was all a far cry from the days when he was Crystal Palace’s first choice goalkeeper for eight seasons. He subsequently followed his former Palace coach George Petchey to Orient (where he played in the same side as Albion’s 1983 FA Cup Final captain Tony Grealish) and Millwall.

It seemed wherever Petchey went, Jackson was sure to go too. When Petchey was Chris Cattlin’s assistant manager at Brighton, he brought in Jackson to coach the Albion goalkeepers once a week. It was certainly a job close to home for Jackson, who lived in Hangleton with his wife and three daughters.

In an interview with Football Weekly News in 1979, Jackson said: “Petchey was coach at Palace, and manager of Orient, when I was with them, therefore I felt it was right to join the devil you know than the one you don’t know! I find George a straightforward and honest man to work with.”

When Petchey returned to the Albion in January 1994, as part of Liam Brady’s backroom team, it wasn’t long before Jackson was added to the staff to help his mentor develop young players.

And after Brady’s departure and Petchey’s elevation to become Jimmy Case’s assistant, Jackson took over running the youth team.

Jackson remained in post throughout the managerial upheavals of Case’s departure, the Steve Gritt reign, and the arrival of Brian Horton. But he left at the end of the 1997-98 season when Horton brought in Martin Hinshelwood as director of youth and former captain Dean Wilkins as youth team coach.

Born in Hammersmith on 5 September 1942, Jackson went to St Clement Danes School and spent time with Brentford as a junior. But it was Palace who swooped to sign him up, as Jackson explained in a 2019 cpfc.co.uk interview.

“Arthur Rowe spotted me playing for a London grammar school against an FA youth XI made up of players from other London teams and he got in touch with my teacher, and from that conversation I ended up having a couple of games with the Palace reserve side aged 18. Then, when I joined full-time, I eventually took the opportunity with both hands, literally!”

Jackson was often described as the best goalkeeper England never had. While he was unfortunate not to earn a full international cap, he played seven times for England Youth between February and May 1961, his teammates including the likes of Bert Murray, Ron Harris, Francis Lee and David Pleat.

He signed as a trainee at Palace in March 1962, and in the 1964-65 season initially shared the ‘keeper’s jersey with Welsh international Tony Millington (whose younger brother Grenville was briefly back-up ‘keeper to Brian Powney at Brighton).

Once Jackson established himself as first choice, he kept the shirt for the next eight seasons. At one stage, he played 222 consecutive games for Palace.

On the where-are-they-now.co.uk website, contributor Martin Wiseman said: “He was definitely one of the best goalkeepers I ever saw as Palace were pretty terrible most of the time and often he was the only thing that kept us in the game. When we played one of the bigger teams, the game was often just a succession of John Jackson saves. Brilliant player.”

Indeed, he was nicknamed ‘Stonewall’ Jackson (after the famous American Civil War Confederate general). Of his mentor Petchey, he said: “He used to work me hard but the harder you worked at your game the more you learned and the better you would become. He made me a more confident player.”

Unluckily for Jackson, it was an era when England were blessed with a string of fine goalkeepers. Apart from Gordon Banks, there was Gordon West (Blackpool and Everton), Jim Montgomery (Sunderland), Peter Bonetti (Chelsea) and, at under 23 level, Peter Grummitt was preferred.

The closest Jackson came to senior international recognition came on 17 March 1971 when he kept goal for a Football League XI that beat a Scottish League XI 1-0 at Hampden Park. Ralph Coates scored the only goal of the game and the English line up included World Cup winners Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst. Playing in defence alongside Moore were Paul Reaney (Leeds), Roy McFarland (Derby) and Derek Parkin (Wolves).

Jackson’s reign between the sticks for Palace came to an end when flamboyant Malcolm Allison took over as manager. Palace fans were not happy. In the book We All Follow The Palace edited by Tony Matthews (Eagle Eye 1993), Keith Brody wrote: “When Jacko left us, it marked the end of an era, culturally as well as football-wise.

“It is oddly fitting that he was swept away with the same disrespect that has come to symbolise the generation that replaced his ilk. Even though we have plenty to thank Big Mal for, his treatment of our hero means it should always be done through clenched teeth.

“It would have been offensive if a loyal, but crap, goalkeeper had been replaced by Paul Hammond and Tony Burns, but to do it to Jacko was unthinkable.

“Watching the ineffective Hammond for three long years after the joys of Jackson was almost unbearable. Every game was spent pondering on the value of what we’d given away.”

It was on 16 October 1973 that Jackson followed his former coach Petchey to Orient for £25,000 (Gerry Queen, Phil Hoadley, Bill Roffey and David Payne were other ex-Palace players who made that switch) and at Bloomfield Road he went on to attract a whole new band of admirers. Indeed, in Tony McDonald’s book Orient in the 70s, Jackson is described as “Orient’s greatest ever goalkeeper”.

Palace did give Jackson a testimonial match, however, and on 11 December 1973, a Selhurst Park crowd of 11,628 turned out for a match opponents Chelsea won 3-1.

Orient were a second tier side throughout Jackson’s time at the club, during which they had some unsuccessful tilts at promotion but enjoyed some exciting FA Cup runs, including making it to the semi-final in 1978 before losing 3-0 to Arsenal.

Their run to the semis included a memorable fifth round replay win over Chelsea, with Jackson pulling off a superb save to deny Clive Walker an equaliser as Orient clung on to a 2-1 lead courtesy of two Peter Kitchen goals.

Jackson had taken over from Ray Goddard as Orient’s no.1 and it must have been a very happy Christmas for him when promotion contenders Orient beat Palace 3-0 at home on Boxing Day 1973 in front of a bumper crowd of 20,611.

Come the end of the season, they missed out on promotion by a single point to Carlisle United after failing to beat Aston Villa (it was 1-1) in front of another huge crowd of 29,766, and the LWT cameras for The Big Match.  Days earlier Villa had lost 2-0 at Carlisle for whom Graham ‘Tot’ Winstanley proved an able deputy for suspended captain Bill Green.

Another memorable game filmed for The Big Match saw Jackson concede three on 7 April 1979 when Albion were on their way to promotion from the Second Division. Orient took the lead at Brisbane Road but Brighton equalised thus: “Paul Clark cracked in a seemingly unstoppable shot, miraculously John Jackson parried the effort but only to Peter Sayer, and (pictured above) the little Welshman slammed the ball joyfully into the home goal,” the matchday programme recorded. The game eventually finished 3-3, Albion’s other goals coming from Martin Chivers (his only one for Brighton) and Clark.

Three years earlier, Orient were finalists in the rather curious Anglo-Scottish Cup tournament of that time: 16 English teams and eight Scottish sides played a mix of group stage games and two-legged knockout matches.

Orient topped their group above Norwich, Chelsea and Fulham; they beat Aberdeen 2-0 on aggregate in the quarter finals and Partick Thistle 4-2 in the semis. They eventually lost out 5-1 on aggregate to Nottingham Forest, but it was Brian Clough’s first piece of silverware as Forest manager, and he said in his biography: “Those who said it was a nothing trophy were absolutely crackers. We’d won something, and it made all the difference.”

In common with many other English players at the time, Jackson tried his luck in the United States and in 1977 played for St Louis Stars, returning in 1978 when they became Californian Surf. His head coach was John Sewell, who’d been a playing colleague at Crystal Palace and Orient. Ironically, his predecessor at St Louis was Bill Glazier, the former Coventry City ‘keeper, who’d also been his predecessor at Palace.

It was the arrival of former West Ham ‘keeper Mervyn Day at Brisbane Road that signalled the end of Jackson’s time in Leyton and, in August 1979, Petchey, who’d taken over from Gordon Jago as boss at Millwall, signed him for £7,500.

“I have been in the game too long to end it in the reserves and decided that if I was to finish playing, it would be in the first team,” Jackson told Football Weekly News.

The then Third Division Lions went on to win the league. Jackson played a total of 53 matches for them that season and he was chosen by his fellow professionals in the 1979-80 PFA team of the year. (Former Brighton winger Tony Towner played 50 games for Millwall that campaign and scored 13 goals)

After two years with Millwall, by a curious turn of events, Bobby Robson signed him for the previous season’s First Division runners up Ipswich Town as a back-up to Paul Cooper.

His one league appearance for Ipswich was in a top-of-the-table clash against Manchester United, with Ipswich needing to win to stay in with a chance of winning the League Championship. And they did, 2-1, with John Wark scoring both and John Gidman replying for United.

The game was played in front of a 25,763 crowd at Portman Road and Jackson was given a standing ovation at the end after he’d pulled off three important saves. Robson was quoted in the Guardian as saying: “We have paid him a year’s salary to make those saves, but it was worth it!”

However, while Ipswich finished the season five points ahead of United, they were once again runners up, finishing four points behind champions Liverpool.

Even a second placed finish was enough to convince the English FA to give Robson the job of replacing Ron Greenwood as England manager after the country’s unbeaten exit from the World Cup in Spain.

While Jackson might have thought his playing days were over, they weren’t quite. Frank Lord signed him for Fourth Division Hereford United. Lord wasn’t long in the job, though, and he was succeeded by the Bulls’ long-serving former ‘keeper Tommy Hughes, who had played on loan for Brighton in 1973.

Jackson’s move into goalkeeper coaching at Brighton under Cattlin was to prove a career-defining moment for another top goalkeeper of that era: former Manchester City custodian Joe Corrigan.

“I got talking to him and it inspired me to look into doing something similar,” Corrigan told the Manchester City matchday programme on 29 September 2018. “So, it was down to Brighton indirectly that I moved into the next phase of my career.”

Corrigan had been signed by Jimmy Melia and was coming to the end of his illustrious playing career. He fell out with Melia’s successor, Cattlin, and went on loan to Stoke City, but eventually was forced to quit after being injured in an Albion reserve match.

He went on to become goalkeeper coach at Liverpool for 10 years, and also worked at Stockport, West Brom and Hull.

Jackson took a variety of different jobs outside of football – fitting blinds, working for a golf magazine, selling golf equipment and as a courier for Lewes Council. During his second spell back at the Albion, amongst the youngsters he took through was goalkeeper Will Packham.

Jackson signed him on as a YTS trainee after he left Blatchington Mill School in Hove, and he spent nine years on the club’s books.

‘Film star’ defender Osman’s cameo role for the Seagulls

RUSSELL OSMAN achieved lifelong fame for his appearance in the much-shown 1981 prisoner of war football film Escape to Victory but 17 appearances for Brighton in the latter stages of his career have largely been forgotten.

A cultured central defender who played in the same side as Jimmy Case at Southampton won 11 England caps at the peak of his game when a key part of Bobby Robson’s Ipswich Town side of the early 1980s.

He was 36 by the time he arrived on a monthly contract at third-tier Albion in September 1995 and what was happening on the pitch at that time was largely overshadowed by events off it.

News was emerging that the Goldstone Ground had been sold, leading to manager Liam Brady quitting in disgust in November 1995, passing on the reins to Case, who very reluctantly took on the job.

With Steve Foster and Stuart Munday struggling with injury, Brady brought in the experienced Osman to play alongside Paul McCarthy. His debut came in a 4-1 Auto Windscreens Shields game away to Cambridge United, the first of 12 successive games before Munday returned towards the end of November when Osman picked up a hamstring injury.

Meanwhile, Case pointed out in his first programme notes as manager, for the FA Cup game at home to Fulham on 14 December: “There is no secret he would still like to get back into management and we are happy to leave his position as it is on a month-to-month basis.”

Osman was back in the side for the 1-0 Boxing Day win away to Brentford and kept his place for the next two matches. But with Ross Johnson taking on the no.5 shirt, Osman got only one more start: in a 0-0 draw away to Hull City. He made one appearance as a sub in place of McCarthy and was twice a non-playing sub. As he turned 37, he took the opportunity to switch to Cardiff City, which, as the match day programme noted, was a lot closer to his Bristol home.

Born on 14 February 1959 in Repton, Derbyshire, Osman eventually followed in his dad Rex’s footsteps in becoming a professional footballer (Osman senior played for Derby County in the ‘50s), but it was rugby at which Russell excelled during schooldays at Burton on Trent Grammar. So much so that he played for England at under 15 level and captained his country as an under 16.

However, the sports-mad youngster also played football for his village team and when they reached the final of the Derby & District Cup, he was watched by Bobby Robson’s brother Tom, who lived in the area. “He came down and watched the game, we won the final and the next thing I knew I had a call from Ipswich to go on trial,” Osman said in an interview with the East Anglian Daily Times. “The rest is history. They were very good at getting kids to go on trial and they went that extra mile to make sure we were looked after and treated well.”

Osman recalls many aspects and anecdotes of his career on a blog, Golf, Football and Life, and he said he would be forever grateful for the dedication shown by Ipswich’s youth team coach, Charlie Woods, who became Robson’s right-hand man throughout his career.

“Charlie used to drive from Ipswich to my dad’s pub in Repton on a Friday to pick me up and take me back down to Ipswich, putting me up for the night in his and Pat’s house, just so that I could make the game on a Saturday morning,” he wrote. “I doubt that you would get many coaches who would make an eight-hour round trip just to get a schoolboy to a game.”

Osman became an apprentice at Portman Road in July 1975 and signed on as a professional in March 1976. Eventually, he and Terry Butcher took over the centre back roles previously filled by Northern Ireland international Allan Hunter and England international Kevin Beattie.

Osman in action for Ipswich against Arsenal’s Liam Brady, later to become his boss at Brighton

The 1980-1981 season was certainly momentous in Osman’s life. He played in 66 matches (including four for England) over the course of the season as Ipswich won the UEFA Cup, finished runners-up in the old First Division and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

For a large part of the season, Town looked like they would win the First Division title for the first time since 1962 under Alf Ramsey but only three wins from the last 10 matches meant they had to settle for second place, four points behind Aston Villa.

At the end of the season, Robson asked the squad if any of them fancied spending the summer playing more football to help make a feature film. Osman and teammates John Wark, Kevin O’Callaghan, Robin Turner, Laurie Sivell, Paul Cooper and Beattie jumped at the chance and spent five weeks in Budapest making Escape to Victory, directed by the legendary John Huston.

The Escape to Victory football team which featured Osman (back, left)

Osman played the part of prison camp inmate Doug Clure and he has since talked and written about the experience, in July 2021 remembering the experience in an interview with a BBC reporter. Osman recounts how the Ipswich lads and other professionals such as Bobby Moore, Pelé, Mike Summerbee and Ossie Ardiles played football scenes alongside established actors Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone.

Beattie was Caine’s ‘double’ in the football scenes and Cooper helped Stallone with goalkeeping skills. Turner and Sivell played for the German team and Osman, Wark and O’Callaghan had speaking roles.

“Michael was brilliant, he made all the lads feel at home on set by telling a few funny stories and taking all the tension out of the situation,” said Osman. “I managed to deliver my lines and we were off and running, literally.”

Osman’s first international football recognition came for England under 21s in February 1979 as a substitute for Billy Gilbert in a 1-0 win over Wales at Swansea. In September the same year, he got his first start at that level alongside his Ipswich teammate Butcher (in a 1-0 win over Denmark at Vicarage Road).

The first of Osman’s 11 full England caps came on 31 May 1980, in a 2-1 win v Australia in Sydney which was the game in which Peter Ward made his one and only appearance for the full England side, appearing as an 82nd minute substitute for Alan Sunderland.

Osman was 21 at the time and he went on to play in five competitive matches and five more friendlies, rather curiously only playing for his country on home soil three times, and only being on the winning side twice, both times against Australia.

Osman did make a couple of appearances for the England B side: on 26 March 1980 he played in a 1-0 win over Spain at Roker Park, Sunderland (Joe Corrigan was in goal) and later the same year, on 14 October, he was in the B team that beat the USA 1-0 at Old Trafford.

He had been in Ron Greenwood’s provisional squad of 40 for the 1982 World Cup but was not included in the final 22, Albion’s Foster getting the nod instead as reserve centre back.

Osman’s last international was on 21 September 1983, when England lost 1-0 to Denmark in a Euro 1984 qualifier, by which time his former club manager Robson had taken over from Greenwood, who’d given Osman his first six caps.

Although Ipswich challenged at the top of the First Division in 1981-82, they once again finished four points behind the champions, this time Liverpool, and after Robson left to take on the England manager’s job, the side was gradually broken up. Osman and Eric Gates both left in 1985.

After making 385 appearances for Town, Osman signed for Leicester City for £240,000 where he played 120 games under three different managers: Gordon Milne, Bryan Hamilton and David Pleat.

When the Foxes dropped down to the second tier, it was Southampton, and manager Chris Nicholl, who gave Osman – at 29 – the chance to play at the top level again.

A tribunal-determined fee of £325,000 took him to The Dell where he made his debut in the opening match of 1988-89, a 4-0 win over West Ham. He initially partnered Kevin Moore at the heart of their defence, then later Neil Ruddock.

“At Southampton I played just behind the great Jimmy Case, and what an experience that was,” Osman recalled. “Every day there would be something that made you smile about playing with Jimmy; well, it did if he was on your side anyway. Hard as a rock, cute and clever as a footballer, better than people gave him credit for, a wonderful passer of the ball. Sometimes his playing ability was overshadowed by his extravagances off the pitch!”

The Southampton FC player archive enthusiastically records Osman’s time with the Saints, which was largely successful at first. With Alan Shearer, Rod Wallace and Matt Le Tissier scoring the goals, the side finished seventh in the table. But they couldn’t sustain that success the following season and Nicholl was sacked. Writer Duncan Holley on sporting-heroes.net recalled: “One of the manager’s last actions had been to sanction the signing of Jon Gittens from Swindon and Russell had been displaced for the final run in.”

Nicholl’s successor, Ian Branfoot, picked Osman at left-back for the opening four games of the 1991-92 season but, as Osman told Ian Carnaby in a 2007 interview: “The day Ian Branfoot walked through the door, my Southampton career was over. All those years I’d been a centre-half, but he thought I’d make a good left-back.”

Osman joined Bristol City on loan initially before making the move permanent for a £60,000 fee, and he put down roots in the city. After about a year as a player, manager Jimmy Lumsden was sacked and Osman, as a senior player, was asked to take temporary charge.

However, Denis Smith, sacked as Sunderland boss in December 1991, took over at City in March 1992, with Osman named player-assistant manager. In a 2020 Facebook interview, Osman somewhat sharply said: “Denis Smith didn’t last too long because he wasn’t a very good manager, so they offered me the job.”

That happened in January 1993 and he remained in the manager’s chair at Ashton Gate just short of two years. He steered City to mid-table finishes in 1993 and 1994.

A look through City fans’ forum One Team In Bristol (otib.co.uk) reveals mixed opinions about Osman’s time in charge although some believed he was dealt a raw hand by the Ashton Gate hierarchy. It was said he was dismissed after the directors called him in and said they wanted European football within 10 years. Under Osman’s successor, Joe Jordan (appointed in November 1994), the Robins were relegated.

One significant highlight from Osman’s City reign was leading them to a shock 1-0 win at Anfield in a FA Cup third round replay in January 1994, a result which brought an end to Graeme Souness’ time as Liverpool manager.

Hailed as “the class of ‘94 etching their names into the club’s roll of honour” the achievement was apparently masterminded in the club’s canteen a few days earlier when Osman and his assistant Tony Fawthrop decided to deploy Brian Tinnion just behind the strikers instead of out wide, and he ended up scoring the only goal of the game.

After Osman’s departure from Ashton Gate, his next stop was Plymouth Argyle, where his old Ipswich teammate Steve McCall was a key player in Peter Shilton’s side.

When Shilton left, McCall took charge of the Pilgrims for two months as temporary player-manager, then Osman took over the running of the side for the last few weeks of the season. However, because of an ongoing legal case with Bristol City, Osman couldn’t be given the title manager or receive payment. He was known as ‘adviser of team affairs’. The arrangement didn’t last, though, because Argyle appointed Neil Warnock as manager that summer.

It was three months later that Osman took up Brady’s offer of a return to playing with Brighton. After moving on from the Goldstone in February 1996, Osman signed for Cardiff City as a player.

Team manager Phil Neal left to become Steve Coppell’s assistant at Manchester City in October 1996, director of football Kenny Hibbitt took charge for a month, then Osman ran the side for a month. He took the managerial reins in time for a first-round FA Cup clash with non-league Hendon. The Bluebirds made hard work of a 2-0 win, but earned a second-round tie against Gillingham, which they lost 2-0.

Osman remained working under Hibbitt until January 1998 when, according to one observer, he “departed due to draw fatigue” (over the season, City drew an astonishing 23 matches out of 46, only winning nine times) and was replaced by the returning Frank Burrows.

Direct involvement in the game has since been sporadic. He and Kevan Broadhurst were appointed as caretaker managers of Bristol Rovers until the end of the season on 22 March 2004 but they were only in charge for just over a month as former Oxford United boss Ian Atkins was appointed manager on 26 April.

Three years later, former Southampton teammate Paul Tisdale recruited Osman as interim assistant manager and, between February 2011 and August 2013 he was assistant academy coach back at Ipswich when ex-Albion striker Sammy Morgan was the academy manager.

Osman had a hand in Ipswich taking on Tyrone Mings. Mings was playing for the same non-league Chippenham team as Osman’s son Toby and Osman senior recommended him to Town boss Mick McCarthy, as he explained to the East Anglian Daily Times.

After he left Ipswich, Osman embarked on a co-commentator / pundit career covering Indian football, initially working alongside the veteran commentator John Helm. It involved travelling extensively in India although he was latterly based in a Mumbai studio – until Covid-19 restrictions intervened.

One brief hiatus to that career came in the summer of 2015 when he was invited by his old Ipswich defensive partner, Butcher, to be his assistant at Newport County. Unfortunately, the partnership was short-lived. They were sacked just a few months into the new season after a string of poor results.

Pundit Osman meets up with ex-Albion boss Steve Coppell, boss of Kerala Blasters

Aside from sharing his views on Indian football, ever the all-round sportsman Osman is a keen golfer, cyclist and runner, and espouses the energy and recovery powers of a juicing diet, having fresh vegetable juice and fruit juice smoothies every day.

Osman uses his blog to cover a variety of topics, he has 5,100 followers on Twitter, and, during lockdown in 2020, took part in an interesting online interview with India-based The View and Reviews Show.

Osman shares thoughts about his career and the wider game in an online interview

“I have worked in the media for 20 years now,” Osman said in an interview for Kings of Anglia magazine. “I worked for Eurosport, starting prior to the Euro 2000 championships and I go a long way back with them and the BBC. I also started working in India through a contact I made at Eurosport about 15 years ago.”

Pictures from a variety of online sources, and matchday programmes.

History-maker Joel Lynch went to Town after Brighton breakthrough

SUSSEX lad Joel Lynch made Brighton & Hove Albion history when he was made first team captain aged just 19 and 186 days.

The ‘youngest-ever Albion captain’ honour was a measure of the maturity the defender had displayed in Dean Wilkins’ young line-up in April 2007, even if it was a temporary appointment in the absence of the rested Guy Butters and the injured Dean Hammond.

“I wasn’t even captain of my school team,” Lynch told Argus reporter Andy Naylor. “I am 19 years old and it is a great honour. I am grateful to the gaffer for having so much faith in me and it will be good for my confidence.”

Unfortunately, the experience against Doncaster Rovers at Withdean was marred when Lynch missed a clearance, the player he was supposed to be marking, Graeme Lee, scored and Rovers went on to win 2-0.

It was a minor blip at the beginning of a career which saw Lynch become a consistent Championship defender for more than a decade after emerging from Brighton’s youth ranks in the ‘noughties’.

Born on 3 October 1987 in Eastbourne, Lynch made his way through the age group sides with the Albion, often alongside another local youngster who went on to have a good career, Tommy Elphick.

“We played all the way through the youth teams together since the age of about ten,” Lynch told Naylor of the Argus. “Both of our games really changed and we really grew up when we went to Bognor on loan. We did really well there for Bognor and ourselves.”

 Lynch pictured in the Argus alongside Tommy Elphick when they were together as under 14s in 2001, and still together a couple of years later.

As well as being part of the Brighton team which reached the quarter finals of the FA Youth Cup in 2006, the year couldn’t have begun better for Lynch when Wilkins’ predecessor, Mark McGhee, handed him his first team debut in a narrow 2-1 defeat away to Southampton on 2 January 2006.

He went on to play 16 times that season, and also registered his first goal for the club, which is a fond memory for me and my son, Rhys. It came on Easter Saturday 2006, and we made a last-minute decision on the day to travel up to Ipswich to watch the game.

Although Albion were destined to relinquish their Championship status, they had a new-found confidence in their play thanks to the belated arrival of much-needed hold-up centre forward, Gifton Noel-Williams (on loan from Burnley).

He’d scored on his debut in a home draw against Luton and got an assist by laying on a goal for Paul Reid in a 2-0 win at Millwall two weeks before.

At Portman Road, always a favourite away ground, Albion, wearing the stylish all-burgundy away strip, opened the scoring when Noel-Williams buried a cross from Colin Kazim-Richards.

To add to the unexpected delight, teenage defender Lynch made sure our trip was a memorable one. Ipswich failed to clear a corner properly and when Reid returned the ball to the penalty area, Kazim-Richards jumped simultaneously with ‘keeper Shane Supple and the ball broke for Lynch (above left) to prod it in.

Albion, never wanting to make life too easy for themselves or their fans, allowed Ipswich to pull a goal back when Alan Lee flicked on from former Seagull Darren Currie’s cross for substitute Nicky Forster – a future £75,000 signing for Albion – to score. But thankfully it was too late for Ipswich to salvage anything from the game.

It was all to turn pear-shaped on the Easter Monday at home to Sheffield Wednesday, but for a couple of days at least the Great Escape still seemed a possibility.

In December 2006, the matchday programme devoted a two-page article to Lynch’s progress in the first team, pointing out how he had begun at left-back, stepped in as a left-sided centre-back – his more natural position – and even played right-back in the 8-0 thrashing of Northwich Victoria in the FA Cup.

Lynch spoke of the experience he had gained playing alongside the veteran defender Guy Butters, telling the programme: “I learned a lot from him, Guy’s had a great career and he is still playing great football. Hopefully I will just slot in there when the time comes and, in the meantime, I will play wherever the manager wants me to play and hopefully stay in the team. I’ve still got a lot of years ahead of me to make the centre-half slot my own.”

Lynch confessed being handed the no.5 shirt at the start of the season had given him a massive boost. “So far, I have really enjoyed this season. I have had my ups and downs and missed a few games due to my performances,” he said. “There have been things that I have had to sort out within my game, but I think I have resolved them now and I am slowly regaining my confidence and my performances have been improving week by week since I regained my place in the team.

“I feel more confident and my self-belief has improved a lot. I want to keep improving and I think that I can help the team in a big way.”

Lynch said a lot of the younger players had been inspired by Bobby Zamora’s elevation to Premiership football and added: “Hopefully a few years down the line we all will be playing at a higher level with Brighton in a new stadium.”

Interviewed by the Argus on the eve of the 2006-07 season, Lynch said: “Last season was a season to just keep on progressing and doing well.

“This season is one where I really want to push on. I want to play a major part in getting the club promoted and express myself more so maybe more clubs are interested in me or I get called up for England.”

Pretty bold stuff from a 19-year-old player still aiming to establish himself, but, having been awarded a three-year contract, he certainly wasn’t short of confidence. “I’ve got to do something really big or something big should happen,” he continued.

“We’ll take it one game at a time but you’ve got to aim for promotion. You can’t aim for anything else.”

Lynch certainly made his mark across the League One season, playing in a total of 44 league and cup games.

The following season was only a matter of a few weeks old when Lynch was sidelined by a hairline fracture in his left leg and ligament damage when twisting to clear in a game against Millwall. Then when he returned sooner than expected, he suffered a hamstring problem.

Perhaps if Albion’s move to the Amex had come sooner, Lynch might have stuck around, but he clearly felt he needed to be playing at a higher level than the Seagulls could attain at the time and, in September 2008, having made 88 first-team appearances, forced through a loan move to Nottingham Forest, with various extensions taking the loan through to the end of the season.

In July 2009, the deal eventually became permanent, with Forest paying a £200,000 fee and offering Lynch a three-year contract. Albion obtained midfielder Matt Thornhill on a six-month loan from Forest as part of the arrangement.

The young defender initially found it difficult to break through as a regular at Forest, with most of his appearances coming as a stand-in left-back.

It was in the 2011-12 season that he began to get games in his preferred position, at first playing alongside Wes Morgan and then, after Morgan’s transfer to Leicester, pairing with Luke Chambers.

In November 2011, writer Peter Blackburn waxed lyrical about Lynch’s form at Forest via the seatpitch.co.uk platform, describing him as “a tough-tackling, committed, classy and agile defender”.

Blackburn added: “Capable of reading the game, nipping in front of the attacker to steal the ball and hold his own in the air, Lynch also seems to possess the sort of driven cross-field ball out of defence not seen on the fair shores of the Trent since prodigal son, Michael Dawson so entertained the crowd.”

No doubt it would have delighted Lynch that he scored a last-gasp equaliser for Forest at the Amex in March 2012.

Four months later, he rejected a new deal at Forest to become a fifth new signing made by Simon Grayson at Huddersfield Town, and in August the same year he got onto the international stage – not for England, though, but Wales. He qualified for Wales because his father came from Barry in South Wales, and he made his debut as a substitute in a friendly against Bosnia and Herzogovina.

HuddExam LynchLynch made 22 appearances in his first season with the Terriers; nine more the following season, and 35 in 2014-15. In January 2015, Lynch was winner of the Examiner Huddersfield Town Player of the Month award, with writer Doug Thomson saying: “He scored a stunning goal to help clinch a welcome 3-1 win over Watford. But Lynch, who stung the Hornets with an overhead kick, also excelled in the centre of defence.

“And the former Brighton and Hove Albion and Nottingham Forest man played a key role when Town finally ended their long wait for an away win, and kept a clean sheet to boot, at Wigan Athletic.

“Calm and composed both on the ground and in the air, the 27-year-old brings plenty of experience to the backline. Lynch also works well alongside skipper Mark Hudson.”

lynch qprAfter making 40 appearances for Town in 2015-16, he departed Yorkshire for London and signed a three-year deal with Championship side Queens Park Rangers.

The fee was undisclosed but was believed to be something of the order of £1.2 million and the QPR manager at the time, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink told bbc.co.uk: “He offers us something a little bit different. He’s left-sided, which will give us better balance, and has that ability to bring the ball out from the back.”

Hamstring and foot injuries hampered opportunities to show his worth to the Loftus Road faithful, a frustrating situation he talked about in January 2018, but he has since become a regular at the heart of the Rs’ defence.

Perhaps with an eye to the future, Lynch has a profile on the professional networking site LinkedIn.

Pictures sourced from The Argus (Simon Dack / Liz Finlayson), matchday programmes, Huddersfield Examiner and QPR websites.

 

Ex-Baggie Georges Santos sparked notorious Bramall Lane battle

Santos stripesTHE REVENGE exacted by Frenchman Georges Santos against an opponent who had inflicted serious injuries to him sparked one of the most notorious football incidents of the modern era.

Four years later, the 6’3” former West Bromwich Albion, Sheffield United and QPR player joined the Seagulls on a one-year deal.

Born in Marseilles on 15 August 1970, Santos began his football career as a 16-year-old trainee with his local club.

After 10 years playing in France, he moved to the UK in 1998, signing for Tranmere Rovers, who, at the time, played in the Championship and were managed by former Liverpool striker John Aldridge.

A centre-half who also liked to play as a defensive midfielder, Santos became something of a cult hero to Rovers fans. He described his time at Prenton Park in an interview with Total Tranmere in 2011, and also spoke about it as a guest on the A Trip to the Moon podcast.

A contractual dispute led to a messy end to his time at Rovers and he was one of five players new West Brom boss Gary Megson recruited in March 2000 to help halt the Baggies’ slide towards relegation from the First Division.

The mission succeeded, Albion scraping into 21st place, but Santos’ stay at The Hawthorns was a brief one. Having been involved in just eight games, he moved on to Sheffield United in the summer of 2000.

It was on 16 March 2002 that the so-called Battle of Bramall Lane took place between Neil Warnock’s Blades and Megson’s Baggies, for whom current boss Darren Moore was playing.

There were three goals, three United red cards, and, when two Blades players hobbled off injured, the game had to be abandoned because they only had six players left on the pitch!

It was the only time in the history of professional football in England that a match had to be abandoned because one team no longer had enough players to be able to continue.

The background to what unfolded perhaps explains – but certainly couldn’t excuse – what followed.

Just over a year before, when Welsh international midfielder Andy Johnson had been playing for Nottingham Forest against Sheffield United, Santos had suffered a fractured cheekbone and a seriously damaged eye socket following an elbow by Johnson.

There had been no apology forthcoming from Johnson while Santos had to have a titanium plate inserted. He was sidelined for over four months amid fears he could lose his sight in the damaged eye.

With Megson having been a Sheffield Wednesday player, there was added friction in the air at Bramall Lane, not helped by Blades skipper Keith Curle having also captained West Brom’s neighbours, and promotion rivals, Wolves. Striker Paul Peschisolido had also been a Baggie.

Possibly recognising the volatility that might be unleashed if Santos had started the game v West Brom, Warnock only chose him as a substitute, but when the Baggies went 2-0 up, Santos and Patrick Ruffo were sent on.

“Santos launched himself at Johnson at the first opportunity,” according to skyysports.com, recalling the incident some years later. “It was a shocking tackle that could easily have badly injured his opponent and the red card was inevitable.”

The West Brom website, highlighting the contribution Santos had made in helping the club to avoid relegation in 2000, also reflected on the explosive controversy some years later.

Not only had Santos launched two-footed into Johnson, in the melee that followed Ruffo headbutted striker Derek McInnes, so both were shown the red card. Then, after two United players were unable to continue because of injury, referee Eddie Wolstenholme had no alternative but to abandon the game.

Santos and Ruffo received six-game bans, were transfer-listed by the Blades and neither played for the club again.

Santos was without a club until December 2002, but that didn’t stop him making his international debut – lining up for Cape Verde, where both his parents came from, in an Africa Cup of Nations match against Mauritania in September 2002. He subsequently won three more caps.

His club career was rescued when he signed a deal with Grimsby Town as emergency cover for the injured Steve Chettle. Although he couldn’t help the Mariners avoid relegation from League One in 2003, he was voted their Player of the Season.

But, because he didn’t fancy dropping down a division, he rejected a new deal at Blundell Park and moved to Ipswich Town in the summer of 2003. Playing under the experienced Joe Royle, he said: “I always had a lot of respect for Joe. If the team had a bad game, he’d come in and say for everyone to go home. He never said things he might regret and always took time to cool down.”

After a season at Portman Road, Santos then switched to Ian Holloway’s Queens Park Rangers where he spent two seasons, completing 77 appearances.

It was in August 2006, aged 36, that Santos pitched up at Brighton’s Withdean Stadium and Mark McGhee signed the experienced defender-midfielder on a one-year contract.

The player told BBC Southern Counties Radio: “I had clubs in Scotland and England interested, but Brighton looks the good option – I like the challenge.

“The manager wants me to bring my experience to a young team. My ambition is for us to make the top two.”

Having made a substitute appearance in a 2-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest, Santos made his first start at home to Boston United in the Carling Cup.

McGhee said: “I was delighted with Georges Santos’ full debut. He won his headers and it makes a hell of a difference to see the ball go back over the heads of our midfielders – instead of dropping down between them and the back four.”

Santos Alb action

Unfortunately, McGhee’s services were dispensed with in early September 2006 and former youth coach Dean Wilkins took over the reins.

Wilkins was always keen to give as many opportunities as he could to the emerging young talent he had nurtured through Albion’s youth team so the ageing Santos didn’t really fit into the picture.

Thus, after only half a season with the Albion, and having featured in only 12 games for the Seagulls, he was sent on loan to Jim Smith’s Oxford United – his ninth club.

On being released by the Albion at the end of his one-year deal, he linked up with Chesterfield, but he didn’t get any games at Saltergate and left the club in November 2007.

He then dropped into the non-league arena, appearing briefly for Alfreton Town and Farsley Celtic before finishing his playing career with Fleetwood Town at the age of 38.

Santos is now a scout for Olympique Marseille covering the UK, Italy and Switzerland. He frequently visits Sheffield to catch up with family and stays in touch with his old friend John Achterberg, the former Tranmere ‘keeper.