ROCK-solid centre-half Andy Crosby won a Division 3 Championship medal with the Albion in 2001 before experiencing two frustrating near-miss seasons as captain of Oxford United.
Brighton’s achievement provided him with his first-ever promotion, but it didn’t turn out to be his last: he climbed out of the same division with Scunthorpe United and then, against all the odds, reached the Championship with the Iron – twice.
Micky Adams, who was a player at Leeds when Crosby was in their youth ranks, had been unsuccessful in trying to sign the defender when he was in charge of Brentford.
But as Adams set about building his first squad at the Albion, he managed to secure Crosby’s services for a £10,000 fee in the summer of 1999.
“I didn’t need any convincing at all to sign,” said Crosby. “It was good timing for me and it worked out fantastically well,” he told Richard Walker. “Sometimes it’s hard to see where you’re going when you’re just keeping your head down and working hard at a struggling club so the Albion did wonders for my career.”
In a matchday programme interview with Spencer Vignes, he added: “I couldn’t wait to sign. Even at that level, I still thought of them as a big club.
“My only reservations were that I’d never lived down south and that we’d just bought a house. We also had a one-year-old daughter. But in the end the pros outweighed the cons.”
The family moved into a house at Stone Cross, near Eastbourne, and Crosby made his debut (albeit with a broken toe!) in the 6-0 Withdean win over Mansfield (as featured in my recent blog post about Darren Freeman).
He developed an effective central defensive partnership with Danny Cullip, and he said: “Although we were very different characters away from the 90 minutes, something really clicked between us and everyone knows how vital it is to have a good centre-half pairing, just as much as a good front two working for each other.
“Our paths have crossed since, and the talk’s always of great memories from Brighton days.”
Hired as a stopper rather than a scorer, Crosby helpfully weighed in with five goals as Albion found their feet back in Sussex.
Then in the following season, Crosby was at the heart of the defence when Albion won the league. “That win down at Plymouth and the home game against Chesterfield where we sealed the Championship will stay with me forever,” he said. “It was just an amazing ride.”
Crosby continued: “We had this great spirit, a team desperate to do really well.
Pouncing to score and celebrate against future employer Hull City
“I’ve got nothing but good memories of the place. It was the first time I’d ever been involved in a promotion campaign as a player. For the first time in my life, I was seeing on a day-to-day basis what it takes to be successful.
“We played some great football and the fans were fantastic. I’ve said it before but if you can’t play for them you can’t play for anyone.”
He added: “Withdean was a funny place but somehow we were able to use it to our advantage. Other clubs didn’t like playing there.”
Getting to grips with Paul Watson
Once elevated to the higher level, Crosby lost his starting place to Simon Morgan and Adams’ successor Peter Taylor continued with Cullip and Morgan as his preferred centre-back pairing.
By then 28, Crosby didn’t fancy a watching brief and in December 2001 he moved on a free transfer to Oxford, the first United signing made by Ian Atkins. He said: “I didn’t want to go, and Peter said he wanted me to stay, but I wanted to play. Going to Oxford meant first team football.”
Although Crosby’s first half season with Oxford saw them struggle near the foot of the division, the 2002-03 campaign ended with them only a point off the play-off places and the central defender scored winning goals in four of the 53 matches he played.
It got better for him on a personal level the next season when his fellow pros named him in the 2003-04 PFA team of the year, but United missed out on the play-offs by three points.
Another string to Crosby’s bow at Oxford was being an accomplished penalty taker. He never missed a spot kick in normal play and, in 2003-04, one of the five he buried was at Scunthorpe’s Glanford Park.
In the summer of 2004, he declined a new contract believed to have been on worse terms than the previous one and chose to move back to the north to join Scunny.
Nonetheless, the Oxford Mail said of him: “The 31-year-old centre back has been a model of consistency in his time at the Kassam Stadium.
“Ideally suited to the Third Division with his uncompromising, no-nonsense style, the hard-tackling defender, who is also good in the air, was also greatly respected by his teammates for his cool professionalism.”
He may have started out in the basement division with Scunthorpe, but what followed was the stuff of dreams. Crosby himself later admitted: “When I joined, if someone had told me I’d be playing for Scunthorpe in the Championship, I would have called them a doctor.
“But it reaffirms your belief in football a little bit, especially when you’re involved first-hand, to see a club of Scunthorpe’s size still being able to pull off what was nothing short of a minor miracle.”
In an interview with the Scunny website, Crosby pointed out: “I was 31 when I arrived at Scunthorpe and I had to use my knowledge and experience in whatever capacity I could, and set standards on and off the pitch. It was something I enjoyed doing and I think it’s something that’s either in you or it’s not.
“My whole time at Scunthorpe was great and I never thought when I signed that we’d get to the Championship twice. It was fantastic and the highlight of my career without a shadow of a doubt.
“I was captain of a promotion-winning team from League One to the Championship, playing at some massive stadiums.”
Although knee injury issues limited him to nine appearances in the 2008-09 season, he was restored to the side for the play-offs and led Scunny to a 3-2 League One play-off final win over Millwall at Wembley in May 2009 (Matt Sparrow scored twice for Scunny).
“It was a great way to end playing,” he admitted. “I have some fantastic memories and look back at my time at the club with nothing but fondness.”
By then he had already been working as assistant manager to Nigel Adkins, the former Iron physio and after playing a total of 715 games for six league clubs he was also Adkins’ assistant manager at Southampton, Reading, Sheffield United, Hull City and Tranmere Rovers.
Crosby, who took over from Adkins as manager of League Two Tranmere in February 2025, said “I’ve got a fantastic relationship with Nigel. He’s been fantastic for me, changed me as a person and polished off a few of the rough edges. I’ve got nothing but great words to say about him.”
Into the manager’s chair
In an interview with tribalfootball.com, he said: “My coaching journey has been full of learning experiences, and I’m a much better coach now than when I started. I was fortunate to work with some fantastic players.
“My best experience was at Southampton, where we achieved back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League, working with incredible players like Lallana, Lambert, and Schneiderlin. Even the difficult moments teach you a lot, though. Results didn’t always go our way, but even then, those experiences helped me grow as a coach.”
Crosby also saw the development of the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Ward-Prowse and Luke Shaw during nearly two and a half years at Southampton. While at Bramall Lane, he also worked with future England internationals Aaron Ramsdale and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Even at Hull, he had the fortune to work with Fikayo Tomori, on loan from Chelsea, and Jarrod Bowen.
Born in Rotherham on 3 March 1973, miner’s son Crosby was raised in the village of Maltby. He supported the Millers as a youngster but was rejected by them as a player when he was 11. At 14, though, he was taken on at Leeds.
When he didn’t progress beyond the youth team at Elland Road, former Leeds captain and manager Billy Bremner took him on at Doncaster Rovers and gave him his league debut aged 18.
He played 60 times for Donny over a couple of seasons (and spent a month on loan at Conference side Halifax) before moving to the north east and spending five years at Darlington, notching up a total of 211 appearances.
He was captain of the losing side in the 1996 Third Division play-off final at Wembley when Jim Platt’s Darlo lost by a single goal to Neil Warnock’s Plymouth Argyle.
Off-field financial issues marred his time at Chester City in the 1998-99 season, so his move to Brighton was a welcome change.
Reflecting on that time with the Seagulls, he said: “In any walk of life, if you get a really good group together, recruit well and get good characters in who complement each other well, then you should succeed. A lot of that was down to Micky.
“It was the fittest I’ve ever been – that was down to him – but that work and organisation brought its reward which is something I’ve taken with me into my own coaching career.”
Before his current (August 2025) position at Prenton Park, he also coached the Northern Ireland under 21 international side and spent three years coaching and managing at Port Vale.
BRIGHTON provided a step up in class for Jamie Murphy when they bought the Scottish winger from League One Sheffield United in August 2015.
“I feel like I’ve been able to play in the Championship but I’ve never been given the opportunity,” he said. “It’s thanks to the club for giving me that opportunity.”
Murphy was 25 when he joined the Albion on a four-year deal. The fee was undisclosed but was reported to be £1.8m.
He was Albion’s ninth summer signing and his arrival was somewhat overshadowed by the return of Bobby Zamora to the Albion. But boss Chris Hughton said at the time: “He is somebody we monitored very closely last season and he was one of Sheffield United’s most influential and creative players.
“He’s a winger who can play on either flank and he will give us extra options in both wide positions. He’s a very good age, an age where he can continue to develop as a player and build on his experience.”
Murphy quickly settled at the club, finding a few familiar voices in the likes of captain Gordon Greer (he discovered their respective parents lived round the corner from each other in Glasgow and even drank in the same pub!), sports therapist Antony Stuart who Murphy knew at his first club, Motherwell, and assistant manager Colin Calderwood, whose Hibernian side he had played against.
He scored his first goal for the club in a 2-2 draw at Bolton on 26 September 2015 – but was later sent off in the same match. Zamora, making his first Albion start since returning to the club, set up Dale Stephens to put Albion ahead and Murphy increased the lead after a surging run into the penalty area by Liam Rosenior.
Neil Danns pulled one back before half time and Murphy saw red for a heavy tackle on Danns in the 75th minute. Albion had to settle for a point when Gary Madine headed an injury-time equaliser.
Impressive displays and another goal, against MK Dons, helped to earn him the November player of the month award – and, courtesy of the sponsor, the opportunity to drive a Porsche for 48 hours.
Murphy scored four more goals in a season’s total of 31 starts plus six appearances off the bench and he revealed in a matchday programme article how his eye for a goal stemmed from playing as a striker earlier in his career.
“When I was a kid, I was always the quickest so I always scored a lot of goals but as I got older and then turned professional with Motherwell it got harder and harder. I’m not the biggest player in the world, so I got moved out to the wing, but I still think like a striker when I’m in front of goal.”
Unfortunately, the campaign ended in disappointment when Albion missed out on promotion from the Championship. Hughton’s side finished third and Murphy’s form for Brighton earned him a call-up to the Scotland squad for two friendlies in March 2016, although he remained an unused sub.
When Albion lost in the two-legged Championship play-off semi-final to Sheffield Wednesday, Murphy was an unused sub (Anthony Knockaert and Jiri Skalak got the nod) but it was a familiar feeling for Murphy who had experienced semi-final heartache in two League One play-offs (2013 and 2015) for Wednesday’s fierce city rivals.
Hughton had plenty of competition for the wide spots in Albion’s 2016-17 promotion challenge, reducing Murphy’s starts to 20 plus 15 appearances off the bench.
He tried hard to seize his chance when it was presented. He scored twice in a 4-0 League Cup win over Colchester United at the start of the season and was the ‘other’ scorer in the Bonfire Night 2-0 win at Bristol City when Steve Sidwell scored a worldy from the halfway line.
A 3-0 home win over Reading at the end of February saw Murphy put in a man-of-the-match performance and he scored his first goal in 16 matches (Sam Baldock and Knockaert the other scorers).
He was praised for his pace on the break and excellent decision-making and later told the matchday programme: “It was one of my best performances. I always feel as if I’ve given 100 per cent – but sometimes things go for you, sometimes they don’t.
“I was delighted to get the goal; it’s been coming these past couple of weeks. But all across the team we’ve played well, done our jobs and obviously come away with a great win. It was a big game and we put in a very professional performance.”
Expanding on the whole-squad approach, Murphy said: “Anyone can come in and do a job. When I was on the bench I always felt there was a chance for me coming and I’m sure the boys on the bench feel that as well.
“We’re in this as a squad, it’s not just about the starting 11.” And he also spoke about the part the Amex crowd played. “It’s great as a player when you know you’ve got that backing of the fans behind you.
“When this place is rocking it really makes a big difference to us as a team. The fans get right behind us home and away.”
Murphy was certainly at the heart of the celebrations (above) when the Seagulls finally made it over the promotion finishing line, via a 2-1 win over Wigan Athletic, and he fondly recalled crowdsurfing (together with teammates Ollie Norwood and Skalak) on a happy, packed train from Falmer to the centre of Brighton as players joined with fans to celebrate the achievement.
The players were headed to a party in central Brighton laid on by chairman Tony Bloom and Murphy told The Athletic’s Andy Naylor in 2021: “There was no other way to get from the stadium to the party. The train station is 100 yards away, so we thought, ‘Why not just jump on a train?’.
“I don’t know what we were thinking, or if we thought it was going to be empty. Obviously, it wasn’t!
“It’s one of the best memories I have of that day. I’ve still got the video on my phone of us crowdsurfing and then coming off the train and getting carried down on someone’s shoulders, all the way down to the party.”
Once the Albion were in the Premier League, Murphy’s playing time was virtually non-existent (one start and three sub appearances in the league; one League Cup outing), and although speculation arose about a possible move, Hughton tried to play it down.
In December 2017, he told the Argus: “At this moment, if I am looking at the options I have in the wide areas, it’s been unfortunate for Jamie because of what we’ve had and no injuries in that area.
“He is still very much part of our plans. It only takes a lack of form, an injury or a couple of injuries and then he is very much back in the squad.”
Murphy in action for Glasgow Rangers
Within weeks, though, the winger joined Glasgow Rangers (the team he supported as a boy), initially on loan until the end of the season, before making the move permanent in the summer of 2018.
Hughton told the club website: “Jamie is a great lad, a fantastic professional and has a desire to play – and while we were in no hurry to see him leave, we do understand his desire to play for his boyhood team and one of the biggest clubs in Scotland.
“He’s been excellent for the club, ever since we signed him from Sheffield United, and wrote himself into club folklore as a crucial part of our promotion-winning side last season.”
Murphy played 18 league and cup matches (plus one as a sub) as Graeme Murty’s reign came to an end and during that initial time back in Scotland earned two full caps to go with his previous under 21 honours. They came in friendlies against Costa Rica and Peru: going on as an 87th minute sub for Matt Ritchie in a 1-0 win over Costa Rica and starting in a May 2018 2-0 defeat in Peru ((he was replaced by Oli McBurnie in the 67th minute).
Murphy signed a three-year contract with Rangers and was the club’s first goalscorer under new manager Steven Gerrard, netting the opener in front of a crowd of 49,309 at Ibrox in a Europa League qualifying match against North Macedonian side Shkupi.
He had played in just five Europa League games and two Scottish Premiership games before suffering a career-changing injury in a League Cup tie at Kilmarnock in late August.
The anterior cruciate ligament tear in his left knee, sustained on the astroturf pitch at Rugby Park in an innocuous coming-together with an opponent, put him out of action for 14 months.
Gerrard told the Glasgow Times: “Jamie’s coming to terms with it. He’s found it tough. He was upset at the beginning and understandably so.
“It is a tough one to take as a footballer. But we will give him every bit of help and support off the pitch that he needs. We will make sure that he sees the right specialists and gets the job done properly.
“Then as a team we will rally around him and make sure he is in good spirits. He is here for the long term. He is a big player for us.
“What Jamie has to do now and what we have to help him do is make sure he does everything in his powers to come back strong and doesn’t have any setbacks.
“He has got an opportunity to work on his whole body and make sure he comes back really strong.”
“It is a big blow. He found consistency straight away. He was on a big buzz from signing long-term for the club.
“He knows the league, he knows the club, he is very well-liked in the dressing room. We have had a big cog, a big piece of the jigsaw, taken away from us.
“We are still coming to terms with it. I know Jamie is as well. I’m not going to try and play it down. It’s a big blow.”
As it turned out, Murphy played only two more matches for Rangers after returning to fitness in October 2019 and in January 2020 linked up once again with his former Sheffield United boss Nigel Clough on a six-month loan at League One Burton Albion.
“I have worked with Nigel Clough before and had some of my greatest moments as a footballer under him, so it was an easy one to pick,” he said. “I want to be back enjoying football again. It has been a nightmare time with my knee but I’m now just looking forward to playing again.
Clough said: “To get a player from Rangers of Jamie’s quality is brilliant. The fact that we have worked with him before and that we get on well with his agent has helped.
“He wants to get out and play some football. He was out for a while with a knee injury, which is one of the reasons he’s coming out, but he’s fully fit now. What he did for us at Sheffield United and how he played there means we are very excited to have him on board.
“He plays wide mainly but can play up the middle as well. He carries the ball very well, makes goals and scores goals. He will be a great asset as we try and push for a place in the top six.”
He scored seven goals in 10 matches but then returned to Scotland and joined Hibernian, initially on loan and then permanently.
After making a total of 50 league and cup appearances for Hibs, he linked up with Clough for a third time in February 2022, signing on loan at League Two Mansfield Town. He scored once in 16 appearances for the Stags.
Murphy joined Ayr United in 2023
When he left Hibs at the end of his contract in June 2022, he switched to Perth for a year to play for St Johnstone where he scored five times in 29 appearances and in June 2023 was on the move again, this time to Scottish Championship side Ayr United.
Born in Glasgow on 28 August 1989, Murphy was inspired by Rangers strikers Ally McCoist and Mark Hateley as a boy and played junior football at Westwood Rovers and Drumchapel Thistle before linking up with Clyde. He joined Motherwell aged 11 and broke through to the first team at 17 in 2006 under former Albion boss Mark McGhee.
He said of McGhee: “He was the first man to give me a real chance in the first team. I played a good run of games, played in Europe and played well so he was big for me at the time.”
In 11 years at Fir Park, Murphy helped the club reach a Scottish Cup Final and regularly qualify for European football.
Having scored 50 goals in 215 games for Motherwell, he was then bought in January 2013 by former Albion captain Danny Wilson, who had switched allegiance in Sheffield to manage United.
It was Stuart McCall who sold Murphy to a club he had served as a player and a manager, and he believed at a reported fee of £106,000 they were getting a bargain for the 23-year-old.
McCall told the Daily Record: “We are not getting anywhere near what he is worth but he has given this club great service over the years. He is a great kid and goes with our blessing.
“It is probably the right time for Jamie to move on and flourish elsewhere.
“I would love to have kept him until the summer and it is disappointing for us. But Jamie is a talented boy and can force himself into the Sheffield United team.
“Sheffield United may be a League One side now but they are a great club for him to go to.
“I am hopeful they will be in the Championship next season and they are a Premiership club in the making as they have that status.”
McCall added: “I told Jamie they have a great fanbase, fantastic set-up and good manager in Danny Wilson.” However, Wilson’s two-year tenure at Bramall Lane came to an end in May that year. He was replaced by David Weir (now Albion’s technical director) and Murphy’s third United boss was Clough, who, on awarding Murphy a two-year contract extension in January 2015 said: “Jamie has caused Premier League defenders countless problems in our cup runs.”
With his playing days now winding down, Murphy has an eye on the future and on X (formerly Twitter) in October 2023 he posted that he had successfully passed the UEFA A coaching licence.
In an extended interview with the Hibernian club websitein January 2021, he spoke about his desire to become a manager. “That’s something I definitely want to try,” he said. “I like the problem-solving aspect of it, being able to watch a game and pick apart a team’s strengths and weaknesses.
“I probably watch games in a different way now and it started when I was injured. I wasn’t able to train for the best part of a year, so I found myself taking down notes in a journal whenever I’d watch a game – about how teams would play, how they won or lost the game.”
ONE OF BRIGHTON’S more successful season-long loan signings spent six years at Wolverhampton Wanderers having arrived as a 15-year-old from Dublin.
Keith Andrews signed on at Molineux on the same day as another Irish youngster, Robbie Keane, although he didn’t hit quite the same heights as the prolific goalscorer.
Nonetheless, Andrews eventually represented his country on no fewer than 35 occasions – not a bad achievement considering he had to wait until he was 28 before winning his first cap.
The self-styled ‘Guvnor’ Paul Ince, who Andrews had first encountered at Wolves, ultimately took the Irishman’s career onto a different level, initially when manager at MK Dons and then with Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League.
“I picked up so much from him, although probably a whole lot more when he managed me later on and I wasn’t in direct competition for a place in the team,” he said.
“I needn’t have been concerned when he came to MK, because he made me feel like a million dollars from the first conversation we had on the phone.
“He pretty much based the team around me, let me lead the dressing room like he had at Wolves, and I think that working relationship was mutually beneficial for both of us.
“He coached me and nurtured me and gave me some of his pearls of wisdom, and ultimately gave me the confidence to go and show I could become the player he felt I could become.
“Offers started coming in for me, but Incey asked me to stay, and said that if he got a job in the Premier League, he would take me with him.
“That happened with Blackburn, and I know he had to fight to get me there as the club weren’t keen on bringing in a player from League One.
“But he wanted me there, he knew what I was like and how he could trust me, and I would like to think that even though unfortunately Incey wasn’t there anywhere near as long as he would have liked, I vindicated his decision and desire to get me there.”
However, it was from Bolton Wanderers that Andrews joined the Seagulls for the 2013-14 season and he played a pivotal role – literally – taking over from the initially-injured, then transfer-seeking Liam Bridcutt as Albion’s defensive midfielder.
I covered head coach Oscar Garcia’s view of his signing in a previous blog post about the player in January 2019. Andrews featured in 35 matches for the Seagulls and scored once as Garcia steered Albion to a second successive tilt at the Championship play-offs, only for the team to lose out to Derby County in the two-legged semi-final.
Burnden Aces, a Wanderers fans website, interviewed Albion fan Chris Field to ask his opinion of Andrews and his summary was “good” but inconsistent.
Field couldn’t understand why neither Bolton nor Blackburn fans had rated the Irishman, saying:
“He’s come into our midfield and held it together fantastically well. We needed a bit more Premier League/Championship experience in our midfield and he’s fitted that bill superbly.
“Possibly he wasn’t used in the right way with Dougie Freedman’s style of football. In our free-flowing passing game, he’s fantastic in the holding role. A change of scenery has done him good.”
When Garcia quit the club after the play-offs defeat, it also marked the end of Andrews’ time with the Seagulls, although he later expressed his gratitude for the time he spent at the club.
“Although I was only at the Amex for one season, I have a lot of affection for the club as I think they try to do things in the right manner for the club to evolve with real sustainability for years to come,” he wrote in a Sky Sports blog.
“There are good people involved behind the scenes there, none more so than in the academy. Last season I worked closely with the academy manager John Morling and the development coach Ian Buckman as I was in the middle of my UEFA ‘A’ Licence, and they couldn’t have done any more to help me.
“It was a great experience to work with them as they prepared weekly and monthly schedules with the rest of the coaches and sports scientists to ensure the young lads had the best chance of developing their games, both technically and physically.”
He added: “I was amazed at the schedule a 14-year-old at the club had and a little envious to be honest as it certainly wasn’t like that in my day!”
Born in Dublin on 13 September 1980, Andrews went to Ardscoil Ris secondary school in Dublin and his football reputation grew in the schoolboys sides of Stella Maris and Elm Mount.
“Most young players are playing at quite a high level in Ireland,” Andrews told the Wolves website. “I played in the DDSL – the Dublin District Schoolboy League – and trials at English clubs became quite frequent for a lot of us.
“I must have gone on trial to about 10 or 12 clubs and then you just have to start narrowing it down to who you like, who likes you. I then started to visit Wolves more frequently and just got a good feeling about it.
“I felt very at home in Wolverhampton, I was very well looked after from the moment that I went over as an under-14 at the time. I had a few contract offers from different clubs, but Wolves just felt right and I felt the club would offer me the best chance of playing first-team football at a high level.”
Andrews reflected that he probably started out too young although he said: “I relished playing football full-time and I enjoyed the environment that I went into. I enjoyed living in Wolverhampton, I enjoyed the family I was living with; they looked after me.
“There were some tough times, some teary phone calls home, and you go through some really difficult moments, but that was all part of the journey of building your character and trying to forge a career in the professional game, which isn’t easy.”
He went through the Wolves academy alongside the likes of Keane, Matt Murray, Joleon Lescott and Lee Naylor and said it was a “proper apprenticeship” adding: “The structure must have been in a good place. It was a well-run football club with the Hayward family in charge of it.”
Appreciating the values that were drilled into him from an early age, he said the academy was where he learned how to approach the game and how to do things the right way. He then progressed under youth team coach Terry Connor before turning professional in September 1997.
He made his first team debut under Colin Lee as a substitute on 18 March 2000 in a 2-1 win at Swindon. He also went on in a 2-0 home win over Crewe but, when further openings didn’t follow, he went on loan to Oxford and scored the winner on his full league debut away at Swansea.
Under Lee’s successor, Dave Jones, in the last game of the 2000-01 season, he was Wolves’ youngest ever captain aged 21 in a 1-1 draw at home to QPR.
“I looked around the dressing room and saw some really experienced players, players whose boots I had cleaned as an apprentice, and so to be chosen as captain was a huge day in my career,” says Andrews. “The game was fairly forgetful but certainly not for me!”
Managers came and went, some giving Andrews a chance, others sending him out on loan. In 2005, after just 24 starts for Wolves, plus no fewer than 47 appearances as a sub, he moved on to Hull City, where injury blighted his only season with them.
Promotion winner at MK Dons
He then had a two-year spell with Milton Keynes Dons, where he had a productive midfield partnership with Alan Navarro, and he assumed the captaincy of Ince’s side.
In his second season, the Dons won promotion to League One; Andrews scoring the goal which secured the success. He also scored in the club’s 2-0 win over Grimsby Town in the Football League Trophy at Wembley.
Andrews was chosen in the PFA Team of the Year, won the League Two player of the Year Award and was listed 38th of FourFourTwo magazine’s top 50 Football League players.
It was in September 2008 that he followed old boss Ince to Blackburn Rovers. He stayed for three years although during his time at Ewood Park he was subjected to barracking from a small section of supporters.
Some fans didn’t believe he merited a starting berth but injuries meant he got a chance and made 37 appearances in his first season at the club, scoring four goals in Rovers’ battle for survival.
Under Sam Allardyce, an approach from Fulham to sign him in 2009 was rebuffed and he was rewarded with a new four-year deal instead. In March 2011, an Andy Cryer exclusive in the Lancashire Telegraph said Allardyce’s successor Steve Kean backed the player and still saw him as a key member of his first team squad even though the player had been sidelined by a groin injury for five months.
The player’s agent, Will Salthouse, told Cryer: “Keith loves the club. He has a contract for two more years at the club and he wants to stay. Keith is not looking to go anywhere.
“There has been interest from other clubs but Keith has not even spoken to them. The club have said they want him to stay and I can dismiss the rumours that he will be leaving.”
Nonetheless, at the start of the following season, Andrews joined Championship side Ipswich Town on a half-season loan.
Instead of moving to Suffolk permanently, on deadline day in January 2012 he joined Wolves’ Black Country rivals West Brom, under Roy Hodgson, on a six-month deal.
Into the bargain, Andrews, making his debut for West Brom, scored the fourth goal in a 5-1 rout of their neighbours that sealed the fate of Mick McCarthy’s reign in charge at Molineux.
“I joined Wolves at the age of 15 and, having then lived in the Midlands for a few years, I knew all about this derby,” Andrews told the Express & Star.
“I was a fan who had been to games and to different derbies like Celtic against Rangers, and I was well aware of games which had more significance growing up even playing schoolboy football and Gaelic football as well.
“Once I had been in Wolverhampton for a while it was made pretty clear to me that Wolves against Albion was a big deal.
“Sometimes people try to throw derbies and rivalries at you at certain clubs when they don’t really exist but Wolves and Albion is proper, it’s fierce.
“At Wolves everyone would be telling you much they hated the Baggies and how important those two games of the season were – so yes, I was well aware of it!”
Although personally delighted to score, Andrews said: “I also had a lot of friends on the Wolves team that day – Ireland team-mates – and my overriding emotion as I walked off the pitch as I looked at Mick and Terry Connor was sadness.
“I knew where Wolves were in the league, the pressure they were under, and what might happen after such a result.
“I knew Terry from the help he had given me when I was at Wolves, and while I didn’t know Mick personally, he is someone I have always looked up to and have the utmost respect for with what he has achieved in the game.
“Wolves at the time were struggling, and that was something that carried on after the decision was made for Mick to leave.”
On the expiry of his Baggies contract, Andrews joined newly relegated Bolton on a free transfer, and, although he made 26 Championship appearances, he struggled with an achilles problem and then a thigh injury which eventually required surgery.
It was Bolton’s signing of Jay Spearing from Liverpool at the start of the 2013-14 season that made him surplus to requirements for the Trotters and opened the door to him joining the Seagulls.
A year later, Andrews joined Watford on loan while Brighton struggled under Sami Hyypia but after half a season returned to MK Dons where he eventually began coaching.
He later appeared frequently on Sky Sports as a pundit and became a coach to the Republic of Ireland side under Stephen Kenny. In December 2023, he was appointed a first team coach at Sheffield United following the return of Chris Wilder to Bramall Lane.
RUSSELL SLADE had an eye for picking up footballing gems for nothing and he worked an unlikely miracle to spare relegation-bound Albion from the drop.
The one-time PE teacher who never played professional football himself was only Brighton manager for eight months but keeping them in League One in an end-of-season nailbiter was a much-lauded achievement.
He did it with some astute forays into the loan market and snapping up free agent Lloyd Owusu who made a crucial contribution to Albion’s injury-hit misfiring forward line.
Some years earlier, when youth team manager at Sheffield United, Slade famously picked up three young players – Phil Jagielka, Nick Montgomery and Michael Tonge – discarded by other clubs who went on to become Blades stalwarts.
At Brighton, his summer re-shaping of the squad he inherited put down the foundations on which his successor Gus Poyet was able to build a successful side capable of promotion.
In particular, Slade took great pride in bringing Andrew Crofts to the Albion on a free transfer from Gillingham, the club later selling him on to Norwich City for what was believed to be £300,000.
Slade signing Elliott Bennett, bought from Wolverhampton Wanderers for £200,000, was later sold to the Canaries for a fee believed to be £1.5million.
“The majority of my player signings went on to play crucial roles in this promotion season,” Slade asserts on his LinkedIn profile. “During my closed season I began what proved to be an extremely successful transitional period.”
If Slade had failed to keep Albion up at the end of that 2008-09 season, it is doubtful Poyet would have been drawn to the task of lifting the side through the leagues and possibly there would have been a longer wait to see Championship football at the Amex.
Slade’s tenure at the Albion may well have been longer if Tony Bloom hadn’t taken over control of the club from Dick Knight, who was chairman at the time Slade was brought in to replace Micky Adams.
Adams reckoned he was a victim of the power struggle between the two and it seems clear that Bloom wanted to install his own man once he was fully in the driving seat of the club.
Although Slade’s achievement in keeping Albion up was rewarded with a permanent two-year deal in the summer of 2009, the new season got off to a terrible start with no wins in the first six games, one of which saw Albion on the wrong end of a 7-1 thumping at Huddersfield.
Time was up for Slade after rocky start to the season
With only three wins and three draws in the next 10 games, after a 3-3 home draw against Hartlepool at the end of October, Slade was sacked with the side only out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
Bloom said: “It is not a decision we have taken lightly and one taken with a heavy heart. Russell is a good man – which made it an even harder decision to take – but it is one which has been made in the club’s best interests.
“Like all Albion fans, I am extremely grateful for Russell’s achievements at the end of last season, as he kept us in League One against the odds.”
When he reflected on his tenure in the Albion book Match of My Life, Slade explained: “Despite the club’s perilous position, I felt it was a great opportunity. I signed on a short-term deal, with the incentive to keep the club in the division.
“I inherited a huge squad but it was decimated by injuries and many of the players were loan signings or youngsters, but, in spite of that, I still thought there was enough within the squad to keep Brighton up.”
With 14 games to save the club from the drop, the first two ended in defeats but when Slade’s previous employer Yeovil Town were thumped 5-0 at the Withdean, there was cause for optimism.
A 3-2 Withdean win for Swindon, for whom Gordon Greer and Billy Paynter scored, threatened Brighton’s survival but it turned out to be the only defeat in the last seven games.
Albion memorably lifted themselves out of the relegation zone three games from the end of the season when they won 2-1 at Bristol Rovers, long-serving Gary Hart teeing up goals for Owusu and Palace loanee Calvin Andrew. Both players were also on target to earn a point in a 2-2 draw at Huddersfield.
After safety was secured in the last game of the season courtesy of barely-fit substitute Nicky Forster’s goal against Stockport, fans invaded the pitch and Slade was carried shoulder high by the Albion faithful.
“My hat got nicked and my head scratched, but it didn’t really matter,” he said. “When I finally got back to the office, I sat there with Bob Booker and Dean White and was absolutely exhausted – both emotionally and physically.”
Born in Wokingham on 10 October 1960, Slade’s route into professional football didn’t follow the traditional path.
“At 18 I had a chance to go to Notts County but I got into university so I went away to get a degree in sport instead,” he said. After completing his degree over four years at Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, Lancashire, he became a PE teacher at Frank Wheldon Comprehensive School in Nottingham (it later became Carlton Academy).
“My experiences helped me be more prepared and organised,” he explained. “I took numerous coaching courses and it allows you to be really open minded and dealing with different situations.
“I had qualifications to be a coach in swimming, athletics, badminton, basketball, cricket and tennis. It not only broadens your horizons but allows you to look at things in different ways.”
While he was qualifying as a teacher, he joined Notts County as a non-contract amateur player, appearing in their reserves and manager Neil Warnock appointed him an assistant youth coach under youth team head coach Mick Walker.
When Warnock was sacked in January 1993, County were bottom of football’s second tier (having been relegated from the top flight in the final season before the Premier League started), and Walker and Slade took charge of the first team, keeping them up with three points to spare.
The pair almost took County to the play-offs the following season, only missing out by three points, and also reached the final of the Anglo-Italian Cup, where they lost 1-0 to Brescia at Wembley.
After only one win at the start of the 1994-95 season, Walker was sacked in September and Slade took over as caretaker manager.
After managing only six wins and five draws in 23 matches, Slade reverted to assistant when ex-Everton boss Howard Kendall was appointed manager.
Kendall only lasted three months at Meadow Lane and Slade left the club at the same time but he later acknowledged how much he had learned from Kendall, Warnock and Jimmy Sirrel (an ex-Albion player who was a Notts County legend as manager and general manager).
“I’ve had a good upbringing,” he said. “The one for player management and for talking to players was Howard Kendall, without a doubt.
“He was terrific – had something about him. He had that X factor and you would listen to Howard – and when he coached you took it on board as well.”
Slade told walesonline.co.uk: “Working with Howard was massive because of his man management and his ability to give a football club direction.
“Neil was the big motivator out of all the coaches and managers I have worked with over the years.
“He took County into the top flight and his best work came at 10 minutes to three. He was exceptional, able to get every last drop of effort and energy from his team.”
Slade dropped into non-league football as manager of Southern League Midland Division Armitage but when they finished bottom of the division and then went into liquidation, Slade followed the chairman Sid Osborn to his new club, Leicester United.
That side finished 16th in the Southern League Midland Division, but they too went out of business in August 1996.
Kendall, in charge of Sheffield United, recruited Slade as youth team coach at Bramall Lane and even tried to take him with him when he returned to Everton in June 1997, but Blades demanded a compensation payment the Toffees weren’t prepared to pay.
Kendall said some while later: “I wanted Russell, who I knew from Notts County, to come and coach my kids. He was at Sheffield United at the time, and they didn’t want to lose him. He’s a talented coach who would have been a popular figure at Goodison.”
Slade remained in Sheffield and, in an interview with The Guardian in October 2013, recalled: “My best three spots were when I was at Sheffield United [in 1998].
“At the time I was doing a lot of work on released players because we needed to strengthen our youth squad and in one evening I took Phil Jagielka, Nick Montgomery and Michael Tonge – all for nothing.”
Montgomery made just short of 400 appearances for United and Tonge and Jagielka both played more than 300 games for the club. Jagielka became one of the best defenders in the top flight (at Everton) and won 40 England international caps.
“That was my best night’s work ever,” said Slade. “You don’t half get a buzz when you see those. When we played Everton in the [Capital One] Cup last season Phil gave me a signed shirt with ‘Thanks very much, Russ’ written on it.”
It was in March 1998 that Slade found himself in caretaker charge of the United first team after the departure of Nigel Spackman, overseeing a draw and a defeat, and he also stepped in for two games in November 1999 when Adrian Heath left the club, again overseeing a draw and a defeat before Warnock arrived at Bramall Lane.
It was at Scarborough where Slade landed his first full-time job as a league manager in his own right. During a three-year spell, he helped rescue the club from relegation, resigned when they went into administration but withdrew it when a fans petition urged him to stay.
A highlight was guiding the side on an excellent FA Cup run, when they memorably played Premier League Chelsea in a televised home tie. The Seadogs were only defeated 1-0 by a Chelsea side that included a young Alexis Nicolas in their line-up.
Next up for Slade was the first of two spells as manager of Grimsby Town. Supporters were calling for his head when they only managed a mid-table finish in the 2004-05 season, but an upturn the following season saw them flirt with automatic promotion and have a good run in the League Cup, beating Derby County and Tottenham.
Slade’s Mariners beat a Spurs side that included Jermaine Jenas, Michael Carrick, Robbie Keane and Jermaine Defoe 1-0. In the next round they went down 1-0 at home to a Newcastle United side managed by Graeme Souness, a goal from Alan Shearer sealing it for the visitors.
Grimsby slipped into the play-offs on the last day of the season and beat local rivals Lincoln City in the semi-finals to reach the play-off final at the Millennium Stadium.
But they missed out on promotion when Cheltenham Town edged the tie 1-0, and Slade was on his way.
He might not have reached League One with Grimsby but he was taken on by Yeovil Town on a three-year contract, declaring when appointed: “It is a fantastic opportunity for me as I think Yeovil are a very progressive club. They are going through a period of transition and I am really looking forward to the challenges that are ahead.”
Slade once again found himself a play-off final loser when the Glovers, captained by Nathan Jones, lost 2-0 to Blackpool in the 2007 League One end-of-season decider at Wembley.
It was a heartbreaking finish especially after Yeovil pulled off one of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of play-off football by coming from 2-0 down to beat Nottingham Forest 5-4 on aggregate in the semi-finals.
“Russell Slade’s side gained many plaudits for an impressive campaign in which they almost went up despite being one of the pre-season favourites for relegation,” said somersetlive.co.uk.
Small consolation for Slade was to receive the League One Manager of the Year award, but disappointment followed in 2007-08 when they won only four games in the second half of the season to leave them only four points clear of relegation.
When things didn’t improve in 2008-09, a frustrated Slade reportedly fell out with Yeovil chairman John Fry over a lack of transfer funds and he left Huish Park by mutual consent in February 2009.
The vacancy at the Albion was almost tailor-made for Slade, and chairman Dick Knight admitted he had spoken with the aforementioned former Seagull, Nathan Jones, about the managerial candidate.
“I had a long chat with Nathan and he told me some good stuff,” Knight told the Argus. “It was a very honest appraisal and I took that into account.
“When I met with Russell initially he impressed me greatly. His CV speaks for itself and his confidence and tactical shrewdness were obvious when I interviewed him.
“He has delivered at this level. He has an extremely competent track record at clubs who have punched above their weight, like Grimsby and Yeovil.
“His players like him. He will convey confidence to our squad and give them a lift.”
Stockport chief Jim Gannon had turned down the job and former England international Paul Ince didn’t even want to hold talks.
“The quality of applications was tremendous, even up to the last minute, from the top of the top league in Romania to one from Portugal which was very interesting but not appropriate at this time,” said Knight.
“By handing the mantle to Russell at this stage, the club is in good hands to address the task right now of staying in League One. We have got a very good and capable man.”
The rest, as they say, is history and, to borrow another familiar phrase, it was a case of not keeping a good man down after his departure from the Seagulls.
It wasn’t long before Barry Hearn, the sports promoter owner of Leyton Orient, was hiring Slade to try to improve the fortunes of the East London minnows.
It turned out to be a great move because Orient was where Slade had his longest ever spell as a manager, presiding over 241 matches with a 42 per cent win ratio.
Amongst the players he recruited were two who had played under him at Brighton: Andrew Whing and Dean Cox. Ex-Seagull from another era, Alex Revell, also joined and a certain Harry Kane took his first steps into competitive football on loan from Spurs on Slade’s watch.
The manager’s trademark baseball cap that he could be seen wearing at each of the clubs he served even had its own sponsor at Orient. City of London tax advisory firm Westleton Drake put their logo on the headwear.
Slade repeated the magic touch he’d shown at Brighton to keep Orient in League One and in his first full season in charge took them to seventh place, only missing out on the play-offs by one place.
Along the way was a memorable fifth round FA Cup tie with Arsenal, forcing a 1-1 draw at home before succumbing 5-0 at the Emirates.
There was certainly no questioning Slade’s commitment to the Os’ cause, as Simon Johnson, writing for the Evening Standard on 23 September 2010, observed: “His wife Lisa and four children are living more than 200 miles away in Scarborough, meaning he is all alone most evenings to worry about the side’s plight.”
Slade lived in one of the flats next to the stadium and told Johnson: “Most people get the chance to get away from the office if they have a bad day, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“I come back from training and work in the office for a few hours and then go to my flat. I love my job and enjoy the fact my finger is on the pulse and I’m right on top of things.”
When Sheffield United sacked manager David Weir (later to become Albion’s director of football) in October 2013, there was speculation Slade might be in the running for the job, but the out of work Nigel Clough was appointed.
The following Spring, Slade once again found himself in charge of a team in the final of the League One play-offs. Although Orient drew 2-2 with Rotherham United, they missed their last two penalties in the shoot-out to decide the winner and once again he left Wembley disappointed. His only consolation was once again being named League One Manager of the Year.
Even though the club narrowly missed out on the step up to the Championship, Slade himself made it shortly into the new season. After a change of ownership at Orient, Slade resigned and was appointed manager at Cardiff City in October 2014, succeeding Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
History records Slade’s reign being heavily hampered by a lack of finance and being forced to cut the wage bill significantly and cancelling the contracts of several highly paid players. There was even an embargo on new signings during his second season.
The Bluebirds finished mid-table in his first season and then missed out on the play-offs the following season, losing 3-0 at Sheffield Wednesday in the penultimate game of the season to dash hopes of a top six finish.
Slade was removed from his post to be replaced by his head coach Paul Trollope (later Albion assistant manager to Chris Hughton) but was retained as Head of Football.
Slade decided it wasn’t for him and switched to a more familiar dugout job at Charlton Athletic.
Given a three-year contract by unpopular owner Roland Duchatelet, Slade lasted just 16 matches before he was sacked, although a club statement said: “The club would like to thank Russell for his tireless work during his time at The Valley, particularly the processes and disciplines he has instilled at the training ground.”
He wasn’t out of work for long, though, because Coventry City, sitting 21st in League One and enduring their worst run of results for 43 years, appointed him.
On the wrong end of a 4-1 defeat at Bristol Rovers in his opening match, on Boxing Day, he oversaw just three wins in 16 games and was sacked on 5 March.
In circumstances similar to the atmosphere at The Valley, Sky Blues fans were in dispute with the club’s owners, and the Ricoh Stadium was empty week after week.
Surprisingly, he guided the club to a Checkatrade Trophy final – Coventry later won the competition in front of more than 40,000 of their supporters at Wembley – but by then Slade had been sacked, having equalled the record for the most games (nine) without a win for a City manager before winning at the tenth attempt.
Andy Turner, writing for the Coventry Evening Telegraph, pulled no punches when he said: “Russell Slade will go down in Coventry City history as arguably the worst manager to have taken charge of the club.”
Slade’s take on it was: “It was not a good decision for me to go there, I didn’t do my homework enough before going there.”
Once again, though, Slade was back in work just over a month later when he returned to one of his former clubs, Grimsby Town.
Succeeding Marcus Bignot, Slade took charge with Grimsby 14th in League Two and they won two and drew another of their remaining five matches to stay in that position by the season’s end.
After making an encouraging enough start to the 2017-18 season, the side’s form dipped badly over the festive period, and with no wins on the board the club sank like a stone towards a relegation battle. Slade was sacked after a run of 12 games without a win, including eight defeats.
There was no swift return to management after his Grimsby departure, though, and it was another 18 months before he next took charge of a side, National League North side Hereford United, with former Albion full-back Andrew Whing as his assistant.
Not long afterwards, though, Slade started up his own business, Global Sports Data and Technology, and his tenure with the Bulls lasted only five months, club chairman Andrew Graham saying: “Unfortunately the existing business commitments of Russell Slade do not meet with the current demands of this football club.” Hereford had recorded only one win in 18 games at the time.
The ever-resilient Slade was back in the game the following month when his former player, Alex Revell, appointed manager at Stevenage, invited him to join his staff as a managerial consultant.
Revell, who played under Slade at Orient and Cardiff, said: “I have always respected Russ and it will be a great boost to be able to use his experience around the training ground and on matchdays.”
Plenty of disgruntled fans from clubs where Slade had been less than successful took to social media to mock the appointment.
Nevertheless, Revell was certainly right about experience because Slade could reflect on a managerial career that saw him serve 11 different clubs, taking charge of 865 matches, winning 314, drawing 240 and losing 311.
In his new venture, Slade champions the cause of the way performance data information is handled, as described in a BBC news item in October 2021.
It focuses on companies who take data and process it without consent. “It’s making football – and all sports – aware of the implications and what needs to change,” he said.
SKY SPORTS pundit Lee Hendrie has reached heights and plumbed depths in a life that saw him stop off at third-tier Brighton in 2010 after 17 years with Aston Villa.
Hendrie was something of a forgotten man of football when Gus Poyet snapped him up for the Seagulls on loan from Derby County in March 2010.
Hendrie featured in eight Albion games in the last six weeks of the season: four wins, two draws and two defeats.
Turning out in League One was quite a fall for a player Glenn Hoddle selected for England, but he told the matchday programme: “The main thing is to play football. If you’re not playing then you tend to get forgotten but hopefully I can get some game time between now and the end of the season.”
And he later said to football.co.uk: “I went to Brighton to get my face back out there. Gus Poyet was brilliant. He got the lads together in a circle and said, ‘******* hell, we’ve got Lee Hendrie here’. Let me tell you, after feeling so unwanted I suddenly felt 10 feet tall.” Hendrie made his debut as a 75th minute substitute for Sebastien Carole in a 3-0 home win over Tranmere Rovers, and he told the matchday programme: “We could have had more than three goals and I should have scored.”
But Hendrie was bubbling after his involvement and said: “Listening to the gaffer in the changing room, you can see why the lads are playing with a lot of confidence and have improved so much.
“I’ve played under a few managers, but not many, can I say, are like Gus, who is so enthusiastic and tells the players to go and enjoy themselves. There is nothing a player wants more than a gaffer telling you to enjoy your game.”
Of Albion’s midfield triumvirate of Gary Dicker, Alan Navarro and Andrew Crofts, it tended to be Dicker who was edged out by Hendrie’s arrival.
However it was in Crofts’ place that the loanee got his first start, in a 2-0 Easter Monday defeat at Hartlepool in which former Albion loanee ‘keeper Scott Flinders prevented the visitors from leaving with a point. Hendrie was subbed off on 58 minutes when Kazenga LuaLua took over.
Hendrie went on as a sub for Dicker in the following home game against Carlisle United and it was his cross that set up what looked like a late equaliser by Tommy Elphick, only for Gary Madine to nick all three points with a second for United two minutes from the end.
Hendrie started in place of Dicker away to Gillingham but gave way to the Irishman in the 79th minute and the game ended 1-1. Hendrie started once again in the 1-0 win away to Southend, but Dicker replaced him on 65 minutes.
Hendrie’s third successive start in place of Dicker came at home to Bristol Rovers, when Albion won 2-1, but once again he didn’t last the 90 minutes as Dicker took over on 74 minutes.
In the penultimate game of the season, away to MK Dons, the game finished goalless although Alex Rae and Diego Arismendi were red carded for brawling. Hendrie started and Dicker replaced him on 58 minutes.
The on-loan midfielder’s only full 90-minute appearance came in the last game of the season when Yeovil were beaten 1-0 at the Withdean Stadium; Elliott Bennett scoring the only goal of the game a minute before half-time.
The chances of a permanent deal for Hendrie looked unlikely with Poyet admitting: “We were very pleased with him and he was pleased to be here. We will wait to see if, when we start putting the squad together, there is a possibility of it happening. It’s not an easy one, because of the wages.”
Born in Solihull on 18 May 1977, football was in Hendrie’s blood: Scottish dad Paul had played for Villa’s arch rivals Birmingham City and he was playing professionally for Portland Timbers at the time his son was born. He later played for Bristol Rovers, Halifax Town and Stockport County.
For someone who became Villa through and through, Hendrie admitted to the Birmingham Mail that he had actually been at city rivals Birmingham’s school of excellence before ‘Big’ Ron Atkinson snapped him up as a teenager.
As well as his dad having played for them, his nan was a City season ticket holder and his uncle also supported them. “Villa didn’t come and scout me at the time and Blues were the first club that did. It was an opportunity for me to get myself into the pro ranks and see what it was all about. Dad said it would be good to go and have a feel for it, which I did.”
But ever since he’d scored two goals in a schools’ cup final victory for his school, Washwood Heath, against Hodge Heath at Villa Park, he had dreamed of playing for Villa.
The dream came closer when Hendrie signed on the dotted line as a 14-year-old at Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground, although he remembers his dad tempering his excitement.
“When we came out after I’d signed, I’d got given a load of training clobber and I thought this was it, I’d made it,” he said. “My dad said: ‘Take a step back, you, you ain’t got anywhere yet, this is the start of a long road. Just because you’ve got all the kit it doesn’t mean you’re a professional footballer and an Aston Villa player – relax yourself’.”
Hendrie and his best mate Darren Byfield, who had been strike partners in Erdington Star and Erdington & Saltley district team as kids, developed a reputation as a dynamic duo on and off the pitch, and soon became Atkinson’s ‘teacher’s pets’.
Atkinson converted Hendrie from a centre forward to left winger (even predicting he’s one day play for England in that position) and the duo continued to do well for the Villa youth team.
As it turned out, it was Atkinson’s successor, Brian Little, who ended up giving Hendrie his first team debut – although it was memorable for all the wrong reasons!
It came two days before Christmas in 1995 when he went on as a 33rd minute substitute for Mark Draper away to Queens Park Rangers. He collected a yellow card for kicking the ball away and was red carded in stoppage time; a second booking for an innocuous foul on Rufus Brevett. Into the bargain, Villa lost 1-0.
A devastated Hendrie revealed it was the opposition player-manager, Ray Wilkins, rather than Little, who put a comforting arm round him. “Someone who I’ve seen play football, a legend of the game, to come and console me and say: ‘This is football, welcome to football, these are the ups and downs you’re going to have in your career’.
“He said there’s lot of people who are talking highly of you, you’ve got a big future in the game, kid. As he got up, he tapped my shoulder and said: ‘Keep that up’.”
Few subsequent chances were given to him under Little but, when John Gregory took over, he became more established.
He would go on to make a total of 308 appearances for Villa (243 league and cup starts), scoring 32 goals, with his best performances coming in Gregory’s tenure. He wasn’t quite the same player under Graham Taylor or David O’Leary.
It was on November 18 1998 that he won his one and only England cap, sent on by Glenn Hoddle as a 77th minute substitute for Villa team-mate Paul Merson in a 2-0 win over the Czech Republic at Wembley. Two other Villa teammates, Dion Dublin and Gareth Southgate, were also part of Hoddle’s squad.
Unfortunately for Hendrie, Hoddle was sacked two months later and no subsequent England bosses called on him. “It’s a regret that I didn’t go on and make more of my England career,” he said. “It’s great that I’ve got a cap and it’s something you can’t take away from me, but I hate being classed as a one-cap wonder.”
Hendrie’s days at Villa came to an end in August 2006, his last involvement being from the bench in Martin O’Neill’s first match in charge, a 1-1 Premier League draw at Arsenal on the opening day of the 2006-07 campaign.
While Hendrie, by then 30, was excited about playing for O’Neill, the new boss had other plans and told him he was not part of them.
Initially he joined Stoke City under Tony Pulis on a season-long loan but Bryan Robson at Sheffield United outbid the Potters for his services on a permanent basis, and he signed a three-year deal at Bramall Lane at the start of the 2007-08 season.
Unfortunately, when Robson swiftly parted company with the Blades, Hendrie didn’t see eye to eye with his successor, Kevin Blackwell, who accused the player of being a money-grabber.
“Sheffield United was just the worst thing I could have done,” he told the Claret & Blue podcast.
“Kevin Blackwell was one of the worst managers I have ever, ever been under. He put the nail in the coffin for (my career).”
Blackwell sent him on loan to Leicester City, where he played nine games, and he later went to Blackpool too. United moved him on to Derby County but when he struggled for games there, he joined Brighton.
If the spell at Brighton was a temporary relief from his mounting problems, he revealed in a Guardian interview with Donald McRae that 2010 turned out to be one of the worst years of his life, and he attempted suicide on several occasions.
A property empire he had built up amassed insurmountable debts which even saw his mother’s home repossessed. He lost his own house as well, and it sent him into depression. Divorce and bankruptcy made the situation even worse.
“The football was almost over and my head was gone. I’d been trying to sell property, but the housing market crashed,” he said. “I got to the stage where I just wanted to end it all. I’d hit rock bottom.”
The ups and downs of Hendrie’s colourful life have featured in various media interviews.
The rise and fall tale was charted by the sporting.blogand Hendrie’s spoken about his troubles on Sky Sports, where he later became a pundit.
He was in tears on Harry’s Heroes: Euro Having A Laugh discussing his depression struggles with Vinnie Jones. The BBC radio programme You and Yourshighlighted his plight in a March 2013 episode.
On the footballing front, a brief spell at Bradford City was followed by a host of short stopovers at Bandung (2011), Daventry Town (2011), Kidderminster Harriers (2011-12), Chasetown (2012), Redditch United (2012) and Tamworth (2012-13) before he retired as a professional.
He then played for Corby Town (2013), Highgate United (2013), Basford United (2013 – 2015), Montpellier (2016-17), Redditch United (2016), Nuneaton Griff (2019) and Highgate United (2019) on a non-professional basis.
As he tried to find a new purpose in life, alongside his media work, Hendrie set up FootieBugs, a football academy for kids aged from three to 12.
Hendrie chats on TV with Dion Dublin, a former Villa teammate
THE FIRST player ever to be sent off in a Premier League game managed Brighton twice.
Fiery Micky Adams saw red playing for Southampton when he decked England international midfielder Ray Wilkins.
“People asked me why I did it. I said I didn’t like him, but I didn’t really know him,” Adams recalls in his autobiography, My Life in Football (Biteback Publishing, 2017).
It was only the second game of the 1992-93 season and Adams was dismissed as Saints lost 3-1 at Queens Park Rangers.
Adams blamed the fact boss Ian Branfoot had played him in midfield that day, where he was never comfortable.
“He (Wilkins) was probably running rings around me. I turned around and thumped him. I was fined two weeks’ wages and hit with a three-match ban.”
It wasn’t the only time he would have cause not to like Wilkins either. The former Chelsea, Manchester United and England midfielder replaced Adams as boss of Fulham when Mohammed Al-Fayed took over.
His previously harmonious relationship with Ray’s younger brother, Dean, turned frosty too. When Adams first took charge at the Albion, he considered youth team boss Dean “one of my best mates”. But the two fell out when Seagulls chairman Dick Knight decided to bring Adams back to the club in 2008 to replace Wilkins, who’d taken over from Mark McGhee as manager.
“He thought I had stitched him up,” said Adams. “I told him that I wanted him to stay. We talked it through and, at the end of the meeting, we seemed to have agreed on the way forward.
“I thought I’d reassured him enough for him to believe he should stay on. But he declined the invitation. He obviously wasn’t happy and attacked me verbally. I did have to remind him about the hypocrisy of a member of the Wilkins family having a dig at me, particularly when his older brother had taken my first job at Fulham.
“We don’t speak now which is a regret because he was a good mate and one of the few people I felt I could talk to and confide in.”
With the benefit of hindsight, Adams also regretted returning to manage the Seagulls a second time considering his stock among Brighton supporters had been high having led them to promotion from the fourth tier in 2001. The side that won promotion to the second tier in 2002 was also regarded as Adams’ team, even though he had left for Leicester City by the time the Albion went up under Peter Taylor.
Adams first took charge of the Seagulls when home games were still being played at Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium. Jeff Wood’s short reign was brought to an end after he’d failed to galvanise the side following Brian Horton’s decision to quit to return to the north. Horton took over at Port Vale, where Adams himself would subsequently become manager for two separate stints.
Back in 1999, though, Adams had been at Nottingham Forest before accepting Knight’s offer to take charge of the Albion. He’d originally gone to Nottingham to work as no.2 to Dave Bassett but Ron Atkinson had been brought in to replace Bassett and Adams was switched to reserve team manager.
The Albion job gave him the opportunity to return to front line management, a role he had enjoyed at Fulham and Brentford before regime changes had brought about his departure from both clubs.
On taking the Albion reins, Adams said: “For too long now this club has, for one reason and another, had major problems. The one thing that has remained positive is the faith the supporters have shown in their club.
“The club has to turn around eventually and I want to be the man that helps to turn it around.”
The man who appointed him, Knight, said: “Micky is a formidable character with a proven track record. He knows what it takes to get a club promoted from this division. But, more than that, Micky shares our vision of the future and wants to be part of it. That is why I have offered him a four-year contract and he has agreed to that commitment.”
Not long after taking over the Albion hotseat, he was happy to say goodbye to the stadium he’d previously known as home when a Gillingham player in the ‘80s and it was a revamped squad he assembled for the Albion’s return to Brighton, albeit within the confines of the restricted capacity Withdean Stadium.
Darren Freeman and Aidan Newhouse, two players who’d played for Adams at Fulham, scored five of the six goals that buried Mansfield Town in the new season opener at the ‘Theatre of Trees’.
Considering he was only too happy to be photographed supporting the campaign to build the new stadium at Falmer, it’s disappointing to read in his autobiography what he really thought about it.
“My mates and I nicknamed it ‘Falmer – my arse’ although I never said this to Dick’s face,” he said. “There was always so much talk and we never felt like it was going to get done.”
The turning point in his first full season in charge was the arrival of Bobby Zamora on loan from Bristol Rovers. “The first time I saw him he came onto the training ground; he looked like a kid. But he was tall and gangly with a useful left foot; there was potential there.”
Interestingly, considering Adams makes a point of saying he usually ignored directors who tried to get involved on the playing side, he took up Knight’s suggestion that the side should switch to a 4-4-2 formation – and the Albion promptly won 7-1 at Chester with Zamora scoring a hat-trick!
After a so-so first season back in Brighton, not long into the next season Adams was forced to replace his no.2, Alan Cork, with Bob Booker because Cork was offered the manager’s job at Cardiff City, at the time owned by his former Wimbledon chairman, Sam Hammam. Adams reckoned Booker’s appointment was one of the best decisions he ever made.
Surrounded by players who had served him well at Fulham and Brentford, together with the additions of Zamora, Michel Kuipers and Paul Rogers, Adams and Booker steered Albion to promotion as champions. Zamora was player of the season and he and Danny Cullip were named in the PFA divisional XI.
Not long into the new season, the lure of taking over as manager at a Premier League club saw Adams quit Brighton, initially to become Bassett’s no.2 at Leicester City, but with the promise of succeeding him.
“While I thought I had a shot at another promotion, it wasn’t a certainty,” Adams explained. “I knew I had put together a team of winners, and I knew I had a goalscorer in Bobby Zamora, but football’s fickle finger of fate could have disrupted that at any time.”
He admitted in the autobiography: “Had I been in charge at the age of 55, rather than 40, then I perhaps would have taken a different decision.”
While Albion enjoyed promotion under Taylor, what followed at Leicester for Adams was a lot more than he’d bargained for and, to his dismay, he is still associated with the ugly shenanigans surrounding the club’s mid-season trip to La Manga, to which he devotes a whole chapter of his book, aiming to set the record straight.
On the pitch, he experienced relegation and promotion with the Foxes and he doesn’t hold back from lashing out about ‘moaner’ Martin Keown, “one of the worst signings of my career”. Eventually, he’d had enough, and walked away from the club with 18 months left on his contract.
After a break in the Dordogne area of France, staying with at his sister-in-law and her husband’s vineyard, he looked for a way back into the game. He was interviewed for the job of managing MK Dons but was put off by a Brighton-style new-ground-in-the-future scenario. Then Peter Reid, a former Southampton teammate, was sacked by Coventry City. He put his name forward and took charge of a Championship side full of experienced players like Steve Staunton and Tim Sherwood.
The side’s fortunes were further boosted by the arrival of Dennis Wise, but, in an all-too-familiar scenario Adams had encountered elsewhere, the chairman who appointed him (Mike McGinnity) was replaced by Geoffrey Robinson. It wasn’t long before it was obvious the relationship was only going to end one way. As Adams tells it, Robinson was influenced by lifelong Sky Blues fan Richard Keys, the TV presenter, and it was pretty much on his say-so that Adams became an ex-City manager after two years in the job.
With an ex-wife and three children to support as well as his partner Claire, Adams couldn’t afford to be out of work for long and fortunately his next opportunity came courtesy of Geraint Williams, boss of newly promoted Colchester United, who took him on as his no.2.
However, it only got to the turn of the year before he was out of work once again, although, from what he describes, he wasn’t enjoying his time with the U’s anyway because Williams kept him at arm’s length when it came to tactics and team selection.
He was amongst the ranks of the unemployed once again when Albion chairman Knight gave him a call, but, with the benefit of hindsight, he said: “Going back turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of my life.”
Adams blamed the backdrop of “the power struggle” between Knight and Tony Bloom on the lack of success during his second stint in the hotseat, and he reckons it was Bloom who “demanded my head on a platter”. The fateful meeting with Knight, when a parting of the ways was agreed, famously took place in the Little Chef on the A23 near Hickstead.
Looking back, Adams conceded he bowed to pressure from Knight to make certain signings – namely Jim McNulty, Jason Jarrett and Craig Davies in January 2009 – who didn’t work out. He reflected: “I shouldn’t have taken the job in the first place. I’d let my heart rule my head but, in fairness, I didn’t have any other offers coming through and it seemed like a good idea at the time.
“I wouldn’t ever say he (Knight) let me down, but he had his idea about players. I did listen to him, and maybe that’s where I went wrong.”
He added: “Going back to a club where success had been achieved before felt good, yet, the second time around, the same spark wasn’t there no matter how hard I tried.”
Born in Sheffield on 8 November 1961, Micky was the second son of four children. It might be argued his penchant for lashing out could have stemmed from seeing his father hitting his mother, which he chose to spoke about at his father’s funeral. Adams is obviously not sure if he did the right thing but he felt the record should be straight.
The Adams family were always Blades rather than Wednesdayites and, at 15, young Micky was in the youth set-up at Bramall Lane having made progress with Sunday league side Hackenthorpe Throstles.
While he thought he had done well under youth coach John Short during (former Brighton player) Jimmy Sirrel’s reign as first team manager, Sirrel’s successor, Harry Haslam, replaced Short and, not long afterwards, Adams was released.
However, Short moved to Gillingham and invited the young left winger to join the Gills. Adams linked up with a group of promising youngsters that included Steve Bruce.
In September 1979, he had a call-up to John Cartwright’s England Youth side, going on as a sub in a 1-1 draw with West Germany, and starting on the left wing away to Poland (0-1), Hungary (0-2) and Czechoslovakia (1-2) alongside the likes of Colin Pates, Paul Allen, Gary Mabbutt, Paul Walsh and Terry Gibson.
Adams honed his craft under the tutelage of a tough Northern Irishman Bill ‘Buster’ Collins and began to catch the attention of first team manager Gerry Summers and his assistant Alan Hodgkinson, who had played 675 games in goal for Sheffield United.
He made his debut aged just 17 against Rotherham United but didn’t properly break through until Summers and Hodgkinson were replaced by Keith Peacock (remember him, he was the first ever substitute in English football, in 1965, when he went on for Charlton Athletic against John Napier’s Bolton Wanderers) and Paul Taylor.
“Keith saw me as a full-back and that was probably the turning point of my career,” Adams recalled.
Once Adams and Bruce became regulars for the Gills, scouts from bigger clubs began to circle and at one point it looked like Spurs were about to sign Adams. That was until he came up against the aforementioned Peter Taylor, who was playing on the wing for Orient at the time (having previously played for Crystal Palace, Spurs and England).
“He nutmegged me three times in front of the main stand and, to cut a long story short, that was the end of that. Gillingham never heard from Spurs again,” Adams remembered.
Even so, Adams did get a move to play in the top division when Bobby Gould signed him for Coventry City. Managerial upheaval didn’t help his cause at Highfield Road and when John Sillett preferred Greg Downs at left-back, Adams dropped down a division to sign for Billy Bremner’s Leeds United (pictured below right with the legendary Scot).
“He had such a big influence on my career and life that I wouldn’t have swapped it for the world,” said Adams. But life at Elland Road changed with the arrival of Howard Wilkinson, and Adams found himself carpeted by the new boss after admitting punching physio Alan Sutton for making what an injured Adams considered an unreasonable demand to perform an exercise routine even though he was in plaster at the time.
Nevertheless, Adams admits he learned a great deal in terms of coaching from Wilkinson, especially when an improvement in results came about through repetitive fine-tuning on the training pitch.
“It is the one aspect of coaching that is extremely effective, if delivered properly,” said Adams. “I learnt this from Howard and took this lesson with me throughout my coaching and managerial career.”
However, Adams didn’t fit into Wilkinson’s plans for Leeds and he was transferred to Southampton, managed by former Aston Villa, Saints and Northern Ireland international Chris Nicholl. Adams joined Saints in the same week as Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock and the pair were quickly summoned by Nicholl to explain the large size of the hotel bills they racked up.
Adams moved his family from Wakefield to Warsash and he went on to enjoy what he reflected on as “the best few years of my playing career”. He was at the club when a young Alan Shearer marked his debut by scoring a hat-trick and the “biggest fish in the pond at the Dell” was Jimmy Case.
Adams described the appointment of Branfoot in place of the sacked Nicholl as a watershed moment in his own career. “Overall he was decent to me and I found his methods good,” he said. And he pointed out: “I was getting older, I’d started my coaching badges and I already had one eye on my future.”
Adams recalled an incident during a two-week residential course at Lilleshall, after he had just completed his coaching badge, when he dislocated his shoulder trying to kick Neil Smillie.
“I was left-back and he was right-wing, and he took the piss out of me for 15 minutes. The fuse came out and I decided to boot him up in the air,” Adams recounted. “The only problem was that I missed. I fell over and managed to dislocate my shoulder hitting the ground. It was the worst pain I’ve ever had.”
If life was sweet at Southampton under Branfoot, that all changed when he was replaced by Alan Ball and the returning Lawrie McMenemy. Adams and other older players were left out of the side. Simon Charlton and Francis Benali were preferred at left-back. Eventually Adams went on a month’s loan to Stoke City, at the time managed by former Saints striker Joe Jordan, assisted by Asa Hartford.
On his return to Southampton, and by then 33, Adams was given a free transfer.
Former boss Branfoot came to his rescue, inviting him to move to League Two Fulham as a player-coach in charge of the reserve team. Branfoot also signed Alan Cork and he and Adams began a longstanding friendship that manifested itself in becoming a management pair at various clubs.
On the pitch, Branfoot struggled to galvanise Fulham and, with the team second from bottom of the league, he was sacked – and Adams replaced him. He kept Fulham up by improving fitness levels and introducing more of a passing game.
But he knew big changes were needed if they were going to improve and he gave free transfers to 17 players, despite clashing with Jimmy Hill, who had different ideas.
An admirer of what Tony Pulis was doing at Gillingham, Adams signed three of their players: Paul Watson, Richard Carpenter and Darren Freeman. He also got in goalkeeper Mark Walton and centre back Danny Cullip. Simon Morgan was one of the few who wasn’t let go, and Paul Brooker emerged as a skilful winger. All would later play under him at Brighton.
Promotion was secured and Adams was named divisional Manager of the Year but after all the celebrations had died down Mohamed Al-Fayed bought the club and things changed dramatically.
“The club was in a state of flux as it tried desperately to come to terms with its new status as a billionaire’s plaything,” Adams acerbically observed. “From having nothing, we had everything.”
Before too long, in spite of being given a new five-year contract, Adams was out of the Craven Cottage door, replaced by Wilkins and Kevin Keegan.
But he wasn’t out of work for long because Branfoot’s former deputy, Len Walker, introduced him to the chairman of Swansea City, who were on the brink of relieving Jan Molby of his duties as manager.
Various promises were made regarding funds that would be made available to him but when they were not forthcoming he realised something was not right and he quit, leaving Cork, the deputy he’d taken with him, to take over.
By his own admission, if he hadn’t been sitting on the £140,000 pay-off he’d received from Fulham, he probably would have stayed. As it was, he was out of work once again…..until he had a ‘phone call from David Webb, the former Chelsea and Southampton defender who was the owner of Brentford, but in the process of trying to sell the club.
His brief was to keep the side in the league and to make it attractive to potential purchasers. It was at Griffin Park that he first met up with the aforementioned Bob Booker, who was managing the under 18s at the time. “He is one of the most loyal and trustworthy friends I have ever known,” said Adams. “He would do anything for you.”
However, although he signed the likes of Cullip and Watson from Fulham, he wasn’t able to stop the Bees from being relegated. During the close season, former Palace chairman Ron Noades bought the club and announced he was also taking over as manager.
Once again, Adams was out of a job but his next step saw him appointed as no.2 to Dave Bassett at Nottingham Forest.
Which brings us almost full circle in the Adams career story, but not quite.
After the debacle of his second stint in charge of Brighton, he was twice manager at Port Vale, each spell straddling what turned out to be a disastrous period in charge of his family’s favourite club, Sheffield United.
It was Adams who gave a league debut to Harry Maguire during his time at Bramall Lane, but the side were relegated from the Championship on his watch, and he was sacked.
Adams took charge of 249 games as Vale boss but quit after a run of six defeats saying he’d fallen out of love with the game.
It didn’t prevent him having another go at it, though. He went to bottom of the league Tranmere Rovers and admitted in his book: “It was arrogance to think I could turn round a club that had been relegated twice in two seasons.”
In short, he couldn’t and he ended up leaving two games before the end of what was their third successive relegation.
“It was a really poor end to a career that had started so promisingly at Fulham,” he said.
BARRY BUTLIN is one of that pantheon of players who’ve scored winning goals for the Albion against Crystal Palace.
He may sound like the alliterative title of a south Wales holiday camp, but this was a moustachioed striker who’d joined Third Division Brighton on loan from Second Division Nottingham Forest.
When former Albion boss Brian Clough couldn’t find a place for him in his Forest line-up in September 1975, previous managerial partner, Peter Taylor, going it alone at the Albion, was more than happy to add Butlin to his forward line options.
Butlin had started his career at Derby County on the periphery of Clough and Taylor’s squad at the Baseball Ground.
During his five years as a Rams player, he’d twice been out on loan to Notts County, scoring eight in 20 games in 1968-69 and another five in 10 appearances in the 1969-70 season.
While Derby won the First Division title in 1972, Butlin was sold for £50,000 to Luton Town, where he made his mark with an impressive 24 goals in 57 matches.
One of them came in a 1-1 draw at Elland Road during Clough’s ill-fated 44-day spell as Leeds manager, and, in a typically odd Clough way, in the post-match press conference he put his arm around Butlin and told the journalists: “This is who you want to write about after that wonderful goal. He deserves it.”
The following month, Butlin’s goalscoring exploits for the Hatters saw Forest boss Allan Brown take him to the City Ground for a fee of £120,000.
Imagine how he must have felt when his old Derby boss Clough arrived to take over at Forest in January 1975!
Nevertheless, the striker said all the right things publicly ahead of the manager’s first game, a third round FA Cup replay against Spurs, as recorded in Jonathan Wilson’s excellent book Brian Clough: Nobody Ever Says Thank YouThe Biography (Orion Books 2011).
“The lads all know that everybody is starting from scratch with everything to prove,” said Butlin. “Brian Clough has the ability to make an average player good and a good player great.”
Such a show of loyalty might have been understandable in the circumstances but Wilson also recalls Clough’s eccentric attitude towards players when they were injured. Butlin fractured his cheek in a training ground incident when at Derby.
“As he lay on the ground, Clough screamed at him to get up, insisting there was nothing wrong with him,” wrote Wilson. “Even after he’d been taken to hospital, Clough refused to believe anything was the matter.
“When Butlin’s wife turned up looking for her husband and mentioned an ‘accident’ to Clough, he snapped: ‘I’ll tell you when there’s been an accident’.”
Although Butlin feared the worst when Clough arrived at Forest, he wasn’t instantly discarded, finishing that season with seven goals in 33 games (plus one as a sub), while fellow forward Neil Martin netted 12 in 30 matches (plus two as a sub).
Butlin had a front row seat in this Forest line-up
But Clough clearly had other ideas about who he wanted in attack and brought in John O’Hare, who had done well for him at Derby, but less well during the ill-fated spell at Leeds, and introduced a young Tony Woodcock.
Intriguingly, that summer Martin was reunited with Taylor at Brighton and, within a matter of weeks, Butlin was also heading to the Albion, although his move was only temporary.
As it happened, Martin got off to a decent start alongside Fred Binney up front, scoring three times in the opening matches. But Taylor obviously considered Butlin offered a more potent threat; and it wasn’t long before fans saw why.
Butlin lets fly and scores the winner at Selhurst Park in 1975
In only his second game, in the third minute of Albion’s clash with Palace at Selhurst Park on 23 September 1975, Butlin got on the end of a Gerry Fell cross and hit an unstoppable shot that turned out to be the only goal of a pulsating game played in front of a crowd of 25,606 – a quite remarkable number for a third tier fixture.
“It still sticks with me, that one,” Butlin told Spencer Vignes, in his book Bloody Southerners (Biteback Publishing), which details the Clough-Taylor period at the Goldstone.
“It was the start of a cracking time down at Brighton,” said Butlin. “I only wish I could have gone on a little longer.”
Butlin soars to connect with this header
Butlin followed up that midweek winner at Palace with another goal on his home debut four days later when Chesterfield were beaten 3-0 (Peter O’Sullivan and Binney the other scorers).
Although not on the scoresheet, he also featured in two more wins (2-1 at Shrewsbury Town and 1-0 at home to Preston). However, in his absence Forest had gone through a mini slump, losing four out of five matches.
Butlin had taken his wife and children to Sussex with him, staying in the Courtlands Hotel in Hove. They all really liked the area, and the player had hopes of making the move a permanent one. Clough had other ideas.
“Brighton made me so welcome, but Forest weren’t doing very well at all,” Butlin told Vignes. “When I came to the end of my loan period, Brian got me straight back up to Forest and I had a real purple patch during which I played really well.”
In fact, he finished the season with eight goals from 38 games played as Forest finished eighth in the old Second Division.
Collector’s item
“We had this team meeting before one game and Brian said: ‘If sending you down to Brighton gives you that impetus, then I’d better start sending some more players down there!’
“I’d seen the seafront and the wonderful countryside and thought it was the prelude to us staying there as a family, but it wasn’t to be. I was disappointed to say the least.”
Born in the south Derbyshire village of Rosliston, on 9 November 1949, Butlin attended Granville County Secondary School in Woodville from 1961 to 1966, and proudly records on his LinkedIn profile that he obtained six GCEs. He was also the school football captain.
He signed on for Derby in July 1967 but the likes of Richie Barker and Frank Wignall initially, then O’Hare and Kevin Hector, were ahead of him as the Rams progressed from the old Second Division into the First, before winning the title in 1972.
Chances for Butlin were few and far between. He made just four first team appearances in five years but those loan spells at Notts County at least demonstrated there was a player in the making, able to find the back of the net.
A knee injury prevented him making an immediate impact at Luton, after Harry Haslam had signed him, but he was the top scorer as Town gained promotion to the elite in second place in 1973-74.
The Hatters assured promotion by securing a 1-1 draw at West Brom in the penultimate game of the season, and midfield player Alan West relived the moment in an interview with theleaguepaper.com.
“I remember Barry Butlin, who was magnificent in the old centre forward’s role that season, got the vital goal,” he said. “I played in midfield with Peter Anderson and Jimmy Ryan. Peter was a great player and finished that season as our second highest scorer behind Barry.”
Just before Christmas in 2014, Butlin and West were among several former players who got together for a 40th anniversary celebration dinner. Also there were John Faulkner, Gordon Hindson, Alan Garner, Jimmy Husband, John Ryan, Jimmy Ryan, Don Shanks and Ken Goodeve.
Luton history website hattersheritage.co.uk remembers Butlin as “brilliant in the air and no slouch on the ground” and mentions the shock fans felt when he was sold to Forest, particularly as Town were desperate for goals at the time.
In the 1976-77 season, Butlin once more went out on loan, this time to Reading, and the heave-ho from Forest he had long expected finally came when Peter Withe was brought in.
Butlin was sold to Peterborough United and in two seasons with the Posh he scored 14 goals in 77 matches. His teammates at London Road included former Forest colleagues Jim Barron and Peter Hindley as well as former Albion midfielder Billy McEwan.
United just missed out on promotion from the Third Division, finishing fourth in 1977-78. It was a disastrously different second season, by which time another former Albion player, Lammie Robertson had joined them – when Posh were relegated to Division Four.
Butlin’s final club was Sheffield United, as they faced their first season outside the top two divisions. Signed by his former Luton boss Harry Haslam, Butlin scored 12 times in 53 matches for the Blades, but by the end of 1980-81 season, after Martin Peters had taken over, United were relegated to the fourth tier for the first time in their history.
Butlin retired and spent three decades working as a financial adviser and mortgage manager in Sherwood, Nottingham.
He lived in Derby and between July 2000 and October 2010 was secretary and treasurer of the Derby County Former Players’ Association.
TALENTED defender Grant Hall has suffered plenty of slings and arrows in a career that might not have got off the ground but for the influence and encouragement of former Albion captain Danny Cullip.
When he got a second chance at Brighton, he seized it, made it to the first team, was signed by Tottenham Hotspur and is still playing tier two football more than 10 years later.
In one of those strange quirks of football, Neil Warnock, the manager who signed Cullip for Sheffield United, made Hall his first signing when he took charge at Middlesbrough.
Warnock infamously dumped Cullip within three months of signing him for the Blades but he was a lot more complimentary about Hall, who had faced his demons at one of Cullip’s old clubs, QPR.
“Grant is a smashing lad and I’m sure the fans will really take to him,” Warnock told Boro fans after signing him in July 2020.
Born in Brighton on 29 October 1991, Hall was with the Albion as a schoolboy but was released when he was 16. That’s when he went to play for non-league Lewes where Albion’s former captain was seeing out the remaining days of his career.
“He (Cullip) was a massive influence on me,” the young defender told Albion’s matchday programme. “Danny talked to me every time I played. He gave me advice on what to do and he never had a go at me, which might not have helped me as a youngster. He was always positive and encouraging me.
“He was a great pro when he was playing so was a great person to be mentored by.”
Together with input from another former pro, Anthony Barness, and manager Kevin Keehan, Hall said: “I felt their belief and that gave me confidence and I became a better player. They helped me so much; I owe a massive thanks to them.”
The changed Hall brought Albion’s director of football Martin Hinshelwood back to his door with an invitation to return to the club two years after he’d left.
Hall was part of a hugely successful development squad under youth team coach Luke Williams, and eventually made it to the first team, joining Gus Poyet’s squad for training over Christmas 2011.
Although a centre back by preference, his debut was at left-back as a second-half substitute for assistant manager Mauricio Taricco in a memorable New Year’s 3-0 win over 10-man Southampton at the Amex. Saints’ Rickie Lambert was shown a red card and Matt Sparrow scored two belting goals for the Albion.
“I’ve waited a long time but it’s a great feeling to have finally made my debut,” said Hall. “Obviously there were a few nerves as I was getting my shirt on but once you step onto the pitch you just block everything out.
“You are just so focused on your game that you can’t even hear the crowd but I really enjoyed the experience.”
Hall did well enough to be given his full debut the following Saturday in the FA Cup against Wrexham, although Poyet couched his words of praise carefully after the youngster put in a composed display, suggesting certain representations on Hall’s behalf were not welcome.
“I would stay calm if I was anyone connected to Grant,” he said. “He played for half-an-hour against Southampton when we were eleven v ten, and then 90 minutes against Wrexham, with all respect to Wrexham, so we’ll see.”
Albion fans liked what they saw though, with correspondent ‘4everaseagull’ saying on the Argus discussion forum: “Hall’s performance was very assured against Wrexham and he looked very comfortable. For me he was MoM. He didn’t miss a header all game, and his positional play and passing were excellent. It really showed how important it is for all the respective teams at the club to play the same way. Feet on the ground for Hall but what a great prospect.”
Hall played alongside versatile Frenchman Romain Vincelot against the Welsh Conference side but there was plenty of competition at centre back with captain Gordon Greer usually featuring alongside Adam El-Abd, and a rookie Lewis Dunk beginning to emerge. Steve Cook, also 20, had returned from a loan spell at Bournemouth to help out during an injury crisis but he soon departed to Dean Court on a permanent basis, joining Tommy Elphick whose own Albion progress had been blighted by a serious injury.
Whatever had narked Poyet in January resurfaced when Hall rejected a three-year deal offered by Albion before his contract expired at the end of June. Hall chose to join Spurs instead, although Poyet was baffled and, in a convoluted but contorted way, went public with his criticism of the youngster’s move.
“The only disappointing side with Grant Hall is that what he told us was the reason for not signing a contract was not true,” Poyet told the Argus. “He didn’t accept our contract for a reason but that reason is not happening.
“There was a clear reason he gave us as to why he did not want to stay here. I know what he said and it’s not happening, so it’s disappointing, no doubt.”
Albion clearly felt Hall had a future, and with the seven substitutes rule coming in it was felt his chances of being involved in the first team squad were pretty good.
Nevertheless, Poyet added: “Sometimes we try to advise players knowing the game, but my point of view is probably not the same as the player’s point of view. I just wish him well. I hope he can make it and can be playing at the highest level.
“I am not against him. He made a decision, nothing else, but I think it’s important to know the reason.”
While Hall went straight into Tottenham’s academy team and made his debut in a 2-1 friendly victory over Kingstonian, Albion began a drawn out wrangle over compensation, which was due because Hall was still under 24.
It wasn’t until the following January that Albion finally reached an undisclosed settlement with Spurs to prevent it going to a tribunal.
Hall featured in Spurs’ under 21 side from the start of the 2012-13 season but in three years on their books, he didn’t make a first team appearance. He had three loan spells away from White Hart Lane – at League One Swindon Town under the aforementioned Luke Williams – and at Birmingham City and Blackpool, both in the Championship.
In 2015 he made a permanent move to Queens Park Rangers, signed by former Albion full-back Chris Ramsey who had coached him at Tottenham.
“He’s an old-fashioned defender who can head the ball, tackle and he doesn’t mind putting his foot in when he needs to,” said Ramsey. “But he can play as well from the back, and that’s what we’ll be looking to do when the opportunities present themselves this season.
“He’s still a young boy and centre-half is a very responsible position, but he’s got experience in the Championship and that’s vitally important for us.”
Hall won the supporters’ Player of the Year award in his first season but suffered a serious knee injury towards the end of the 2016-17 season.
He started drinking heavily because he couldn’t cope with the pain of tendonitis in his knee, and two years later spoke out about the mental health issues he went through.
Hall encouraged others to talk about such problems in the way he did after he broke down in a meeting with QPR director of football Les Ferdinand and then manager Steve McLaren.
Ferdinand put him in touch with the Professional Footballers’ Association and he was able to understand that it was OK to speak about his issues.
“I had a really good conversation with them and they helped me understand that it’s okay to speak about your mental health. No-one is going to judge you for it and opening up about your mental well-being is a strength and not a weakness,” he told qpr.co.uk. “It was exactly what I needed. It felt like a huge release, a weight off of my shoulders and it allowed me to re-focus and start to look after myself again.”
Explaining how things unravelled, Hall said: “I went from a place where life was perfect, I had a great relationship with the QPR supporters and everything was going right on and off the pitch. Then all of a sudden everything seemed to come crashing down. It was a huge reality check for me and I now realise that you can never anticipate what is around the corner in life.”
Hall managed to turn that corner and worked hard to restore his fitness to the extent that he featured in 30 matches during the 2019-20 season. “Deep down it’s just a relief for me to be playing football again,” he said.
But after 128 appearances across five years at Loftus Road, where he had become club captain, he was unable to agree a new contract with QPR in the summer of 2020 and upped sticks at the age of 28 to become Warnock’s first signing at Middlesbrough.
“I’ve known Grant for a few years now,” said Warnock. “Everyone knows I’m looking at the spine of the team, and he’s the right fit for what we need.”
Unfortunately, not for the first time in his career, injury sidelined him for several of those early months on Teesside but on his return he proved a bright spot in a disappointing second half of the season.
“It’s been a massive plus because I didn’t personally think he’d be able to come back like he has, if I’m totally honest,” Warnock told Craig Johns, of gazettelive.co.uk. “I was worried he’d put a bit of weight on and I couldn’t see enough mobility.
“And yet he’s proven me entirely wrong. He’s come back fitness-wise better than I’ve ever seen him and he’s using his experience at the back for us to the point where he’s been a breath of fresh air for us.”
Warnock also told the reporter: “The thing I’ve been most impressed with, more than his heading or his contribution in that respect, has been his reading of the game against quick players. You would probably question how he would get on against a quick player, but he’s just revelled in it really.
“His quickness of thought has put him a long way ahead of some of these quick strikers that he’s been playing against. That’s what I’ve been pleased with more than anything.
“I always know he’ll chip in with an odd goal here and there, but his reading of the game has been outstanding.”
After Warnock’s departure, Hall was on the outside looking in under Chris Wilder although the new manager sought to give him public encouragement by saying he could still have a role to play. “He’s had a couple of little issues but he is back involved now and back part of the group,” he told gazettelive.co.uk. “Grant has an important role to play between now and the end of the season,” he said. “I think they all know they have to be ready when called upon.”
MIKE TRUSSON has spent a lifetime in football since Plymouth Argyle spotted his raw teenage talent, took him on as an apprentice and gave him his professional debut at 17.
After playing more than 400 matches over 15 years, he became prominent in football marketing, coaching and scouting, often in association with his good friend Tony Pulis, who he played alongside at Gillingham after leaving the Albion.
As recently as late 2020 he was assistant manager to Pulis for an ill-fated brief spell at Sheffield Wednesday.
Much fonder memories of his time in the steel city were forged when he was twice Player of the Year at Sheffield United.
In an exclusive interview with the In Parallel Lines blog, Trusson told Nick Turrell about his time with the Seagulls, his first coaching job at AFC Bournemouth and the formative years of his career.
A goalscoring home debut for Mike Trusson
A MOVE TO SUSSEX in the summer of 1987 ticked all the right boxes for Mike Trusson.
An experienced midfielder with more than 300 games under his belt already, he welcomed the opportunity to be part of the rebuilding job Barry Lloyd was undertaking at the Goldstone following the club’s relegation back to the third tier. He was one of seven new signings.
The move also brought him a whole lot closer to his family in Somerset than south Yorkshire, where he’d lived and played for seven years.
And it gave him the chance to earn more money.
The only problem was he had a dodgy left knee – it was an injury that prevented him making his first team debut for the Seagulls for four months, and it troubled him throughout his first season.
Frequent leaping to head the ball had resulted in a torn patella knee tendon that had needed surgery during the latter days of the player’s time at Rotherham United, where for two years his manager had been the legendary former Leeds and England defender Norman Hunter.
Prior to the injury, Blackburn Rovers had bid £200,000 to sign him, but nothing came of it and a contractual dispute with the Millers (who were not keen to give him what he said he was entitled to because of the injury) led to him being given a free transfer (Hunter subsequently signed former Albion midfielder Tony Grealish).
Trusson fancied a move south to be nearer his folks and had written to several clubs, Albion included, who he thought might be interested in his services (these were the days before agents).
Although Millwall and Gillingham had shown an interest, it was a call from Martin Hinshelwood, Lloyd’s no.2, that saw Trusson head to Sussex for an interview where he met the management pair, chairman Dudley Sizen and director Greg Stanley.
Trusson looks back on the encounter with amusement because not only did they agree to take him on but they offered him more money than he was asking for because they said he’d need it in view of the North-South disparity in property prices.
“Brighton was a big club. Only four years earlier they’d been in the Cup Final and some of those players from that time were still at the club,” he said. “From my point of view, it was a big career move. It ticked all the boxes.”
Initially Trusson shared a club house in East Preston with fellow new signings Kevin Bremner, Garry Nelson and Doug Rougvie before moving his wife and daughter down and settling in Angmering, close to the training ground (Albion trained at Worthing Rugby Club’s ground at the time).
Before he could think about playing, though, he had to get fit. Scar tissue after the operation on his knee had left him in a lot of pain, and although he passed his medical, the pain persisted.
New physio Mark Leather told him straight that he wouldn’t be able to train, let alone play, with the leg in the condition it was. It had shrunk in size due to muscle wastage so his first two months at the Albion were spent building it back up and regaining match fitness in the reserves.
In the meantime, former full-back Chris Hutchings was keeping the no.8 shirt warm until he finally got a move to Huddersfield that autumn.
Trusson recalled: “I was aware there was a rebuilding process going on. It was a very different group to ones I’d experienced at other clubs. A lot of the lads travelled down from London so there was not much socialising.”
There was certainly lots of competition for places during his time at the club. Sometimes Dale Jasper would get the nod over him and he could see Lloyd preferred the ball-playing types like Alan Curbishley and Dean Wilkins, and later Robert Codner and Adrian Owers.
“I thought if I was going to play, I had to change,” Trusson reflected. “I became more of a midfield enforcer and left it to the better players to play.”
As such, he was surprised yet delighted to score on his home debut, albeit, more than 30 years on, he doesn’t remember much about it.
For the record, it was on 12 December 1987, in front of a rather paltry 6,995 Goldstone Ground crowd, that Trusson scored the only goal of the game against Chester City as Albion extended an unbeaten run to 15 matches. (Chester’s side included former Albion Cup Final midfielder Gary Howlett, who was on loan from Bournemouth).
In that injury-affected first season, he played 18 games plus seven as sub. He had been on the subs bench for three games as the season drew to an exciting climax, but he was not involved in the deciding game when Bristol Rovers were beaten 2-1 at the Goldstone.
Teaming up with Garry Nelson against Arsenal in the FA Cup
When the 1988-89 season got under way, Trusson was on the bench for the first two league games and he got a start in a 1-0 defeat away to Southend in the League Cup. After the side suffered eight defeats on the trot, Trusson was back in the starting line-up for the home game v Leeds on 1 October and Albion chalked up their first win of the season (1-0).
Unsurprisingly, Trusson kept his place for the next clutch of games, although Curbishley returned and kept the shirt for an extended run.
It wasn’t until the new year that he won back a starting place but then he had his best run of games, keeping the shirt through to the middle of April.
The previous month he was sent off (above) in the extraordinary match at Selhurst Park which saw referee Kelvin Morton award five penalties in the space of 27 minutes, as well as wielding five yellow cards and Trusson’s red. Four of the penalties went to Palace – they missed three – but they went on to win 2-1 against the ten men. Manager Lloyd said: “I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in such a crazy game – we could have lost 6-1 but were unfortunate not to gain a point.”
Looking back, Trusson reckoned: “I was always conscious I wasn’t Barry’s type of player.” With a gentle but respectful sense of understatement, he said: “He was not the most communicative person I have met in my life!”
In essence, perhaps not surprisingly, Trusson would seek an explanation as to why he wasn’t playing when he thought he deserved to, but it wasn’t always forthcoming. He recalled that defender Gary Chivers, who he was reunited with at Bournemouth and who he stays in touch with, used to call Lloyd ‘Harold’ after the silent movie star!
Nevertheless, he said: “Tactically Barry was a good manager. When he did talk, he talked a lot of sense.”
It was during his time at Brighton that Trusson started running end-of-season soccer schools for youngsters. He was honest enough to admit they gave him an opportunity to earn a bit of extra money to put towards a holiday rather than laying the foundations for his future career as a coach.
That was still a little way off when, at 29, he left the Albion in September 1989 having played 37 games. By then, Curbishley, Codner and Wilkins were firmly ensconced as the preferred midfield trio, and he wanted to get some regular football. Cardiff wanted him but his family were settled in West Sussex so he opted for Gillingham, which was driveable, although he stayed in a clubhouse the night before matches.
It was at Priestfield where he began to establish a close friendship with Tony Pulis, who was winding down his playing career and was similarly commuting to north Kent (from Bournemouth).
“We had always kicked each other to bits when we played against each other but often ended up having a drink and a chat afterwards, and got on,” said Trusson. “We were also keen golfers, and both talkers; we had our views (even if we didn’t always agree) and the friendship developed.”
This is a good point to go back to the beginning because it was his early appreciation of the art of coaching that would ultimately become the foundation for what followed later.
Born in Northolt on 26 May 1959, Trusson had trials with Chelsea as a schoolboy but a bout of ‘flu put the kibosh on any progress. It also wasn’t helped by the family relocating to Somerset, not a renowned hotbed for nurturing football talent.
The young Trusson went to Wadham Comprehensive School in Crewkerne and his hopes for another crack at professional football were given a huge boost when a Plymouth Argyle vice-president, who was involved with the local youth football side he played for, organised for him to have a trial at Home Park.
Argyle liked what they saw and offered him an apprenticeship, and the excellent greensonscreen.co.uk website details his career in the West Country.
It was Trusson’s good fortune that former England goalkeeper Tony Waiters – a coach ahead of his time – was Argyle boss and he gave him a first team debut aged just 17 in October 1976.
Waiters was a great believer in giving youngsters their chance to shine at an early age; he’d already worked for the FA as a regional coach, for Liverpool’s youth development programme, and been manager of the England Youth team, before being appointed Argyle manager. He later went on to manage the Canadian national team at the 1986 World Cup.
Waiters and his assistant Keith Blunt, who later took charge of the Spurs youth team in the 1980s (and was technical director at the English National Football School at Lilleshall between 1991 and 1998) together with Bobby Howe, the former West Ham and Bournemouth defender, completely opened Trusson’s eyes to what could be achieved through good coaching.
“They were in the vanguard of English coaching in the mid to late ‘70s,” he said. “I joined Plymouth as a kid having never been coached. Growing up in Somerset, we just used to play games.
“From when I was 15 to 17, they taught me so much, talking me through so many aspects of the game, and coaching me to understand why I was doing certain things on the pitch, giving advice about things like timing and angled runs.”
In an Albion matchday programme interview, Trusson told reporter Dave Beckett: “They kept us in a youth hostel and looked after us really well, even providing us with carefully planned individual weight and fitness programmes.
“Certainly you couldn’t fault them on their ideas. Out of the 20 apprentices I knew brought on by the scheme, 17 made the grade as pros. That’s an astonishingly high return by anybody’s standards.”
Although Argyle were relegated in his first season, Trusson kept his place under Waiters’ successors in the hotseat: Mike Kelly, Lennie Lawrence and Malcolm Allison. Bobby Saxton was in charge by the time he left Plymouth in the summer of 1980 to join then Third Division Sheffield United.
He was signed by Harry Haslam but, halfway through a season which it was hoped would see Blades among the promotion contenders, things went horribly wrong when Haslam moved ‘upstairs’ and former World Cup winner Martin Peters took over the running of the team. United were relegated to the fourth tier for the first time in their history.
Peters and Haslam quit the club and former Sunderland FA Cup Final matchwinner Ian Porterfield, who had just won the Division Three title with Rotherham, took charge.
Player of the Year at Sheffield United
Blades bounced straight back as champions, losing only four games all season, and Trusson was their Player of the Year. He earned the accolade the following season as well, when they finished 11th in Division Three.
The side’s prolific goalscorer at that time, Keith Edwards, a former teammate who now works as a co-commentator covering Blades matches for Radio Sheffield recently told the city’s daily paper The Star: “He was such a likeable character in the dressing room.
“I had a great understanding with him. He was a great team man, good for the dressing room and could play in a lot of positions. Every now and then he got himself up front with me and he worked his heart out.
“He looked after you as a player, he could be a tough lad. We played Altrincham one week and he got sent off for whacking someone that had done me a previous week. He was handy.
“And he was such a good character to have in the team.”
After three years at Bramall Lane, and 126 appearances, (not to mention scoring 31 goals), he was then swapped for Paul Stanicliffe and, instead of involvement in a promotion bid, found himself in a relegation fight at Rotherham United.
Trusson enjoyed his time with the Millers under George Kerr and over four years he played 124 games and chipped in with 19 goals. It was a regime change, and the aforementioned injury, that saw life at Millmoor turn sour.
A brief spell playing for Sing Tao in Hong Kong followed the end of his time with Gillingham and on his return to the UK his pal Pulis, who had taken over as Bournemouth manager from Harry Redknapp, invited him to become youth team coach at Dean Court.
Linking up with former Gillingham teammate Tony Pulis at Bournemouth
“I loved it and, when David Kemp moved on, I got the opportunity to coach the first team,” he said.
“We were very young and we were struggling to avoid relegation,” he recalled. “We kept them up and it was great experience. We both learned so much and we spent a lot of time together.”
When Pulis was sacked, Trusson was staggered to be offered the job as his replacement but turned it down out of loyalty to his friend.
The pair have since worked together at various clubs. For example, he was a senior scout at Stoke City and head of recruitment at West Brom.
“I’ve worked for him as a scout at pretty much every club he’s been at,” said Trusson, who cites trust, respect and judgement as the attributes Pulis saw in him.
Trusson was also once marketing manager for football-themed restaurant Football, Football in London – he managed to woo Sean Bean, the actor who is a well-known Blades fanatic, to the opening – and he had a marketing job for the PFA.
He runs his own online soccer coaching scheme and was working as a European scout for Celtic when, in an unexpected return to football’s frontline in November 2020, he was appointed assistant manager of Sheffield Wednesday.
Assistant manager at Wednesday
Pulis replaced Garry Monk at Hillsborough and turned to Trusson as his no.2. In that interview with The Star, Edwards said: “He’s a great lad. I was slightly surprised to see him get the job at Wednesday, but it was completely understandable.
“He’s a clever bloke, knows his football and has stayed in the game all this time, which is to his credit. His experience of scouting, coaching and having played in several different positions makes him a massive asset to any football club, I’d say.”
Edwards recalled how his former teammate had an eye for coaching from a young age. “He was always keen to get into that, he always wanted to lend a hand to the coaches,” he said.
“Some players would get off as quickly as they could to their families or whatever they were doing with their time. He wasn’t like that, he bought into the club thing. Some players were always around the place and he was like that, very understanding and willing to help out.
“I had massive fall-outs with the odd person, you know how it is, but I never saw Truss like that. He was always so calm and understanding of other people’s opinion. That’s how and why he’s stayed in the game throughout all this time. That either comes naturally to you or it doesn’t.
“I remember he always had a way of talking to people, whether that’s players or fans or board members or coaches. That’s stuck with him today.”
DIMINUITIVE winger Sébastien Carole has a double entry in the history of Brighton and Hove Albion.
Not only was he the first Frenchman to play for the club, he was also the first to play under three completely separate contracts for Brighton’s first team.
As well as three different spells with the Seagulls (2005-06, 2009 and 2010), he spent two years at Leeds United where his son is now in their under 18 side.
Ironically Carole scored his first goal for Albion against Leeds, but his first Brighton manager, Mark McGhee, thought the player’s ability should have yielded far more goals.
“He’s got to get more goals,” McGhee told the Argus in November 2005. “He’s a great finisher, a great ball striker and he can manipulate the ball.
“He is going to get himself in scoring positions, because he makes space for himself when he comes inside, and in training he scores.”
That goal against Leeds came in a memorable 3-3 draw at Elland Road on 10 September 2005 but Carole’s only other goal that season came in a rare victory, 2-1, over Hull City on 16 December (Charlie Oatway got the other).
An eleven-game winless run from January to the end of March, in which only four points were picked up, pretty much sealed Albion’s fate and the promise of Carole on one wing and fellow Frenchman Alexandre Frutos on the other didn’t live up to expectations. Albion lost their Championship status with only seven wins across the whole campaign.
To cap it off, a disappointed McGhee saw Carole exercise a clause in his contract that meant he could leave Brighton on a free transfer if they were relegated.
“We gave Seb the opportunity to come here and be part of the team,” McGhee told the Argus. “Regardless of that clause, the decent thing for him to do would have been to stay, at least at the start of the season.”
Seagulls chairman Dick Knight explained the clause had to be inserted into Carole’s contract to ensure he’d join from Monaco in the first place.
“If that clause hadn’t gone in then Seb’s wages over the two years would have been higher and the signing-on fee would have been more, so it was a no-brainer,” he said. “We fought hard to keep him, but the agent has persuaded Seb to go.”
The winger chose to move to Leeds, beginning the first of several occasions he’d link up with manager Kevin Blackwell. But Blackwell was sacked after only three months and his eventual replacement, Dennis Wise, told the Frenchman he wouldn’t be part of his plans.
“I had a think about it, had a chat with my wife and I said that I would stay and fight for my place,” said Carole. “I had signed for three years and I wanted to prove I could be a good player for Leeds.
“That summer, Leeds were relegated, and I could have gone back to France and joined Le Havre but I chose to stay and fight for my place. Then, by a twist of fate, the left winger got injured, I got on, played well and after that Dennis Wise told me he didn’t want me to go.”
Wise’s assistant at Leeds was of course Gus Poyet – and the winger’s relationship with the Uruguayan would later be of use back on the south coast.
Unfortunately, when Wise left Leeds for Newcastle, replacement Gary McAllister wanted to bring in his own players so once again Carole found himself sidelined, and there was a mutual agreement to cancel his contract.
He was without a club for a few months although his old boss Blackwell, by now at Sheffield United, invited him to train with them and he played a few games for their reserve side, and he spent a short while training with Bradford City.
However, in December 2008 and January 2009 he linked up with League Two Darlington, where he played seven matches. “It was not far from where I was living and I needed some games for fitness,” he said. “I signed a monthly contract and left a week before I came back to Brighton on trial.”
Micky Adams, back at Brighton for what turned out to be an unsuccessful second spell, tried all sorts of permutations to try to turn round a string of disappointing results and the invitation extended to the Frenchman was one of the last avenues he explored before the Albion parted company with him.
He scored twice and created two more in a practice match against the youth team as Adams ran the rule over him at a trial. “He’s not somebody I’ve worked with before, but everyone at the club speaks highly of him so we will take a look,” said the manager.
The early signs for Carole under Adams were good: he went on as a 56th-minute substitute for Chris Birchall at home to Hartlepool on 2 February, putting in a cross for Nicky Forster to convert.
Sections of the Withdean faithful voiced their disapproval of Adams’ choice of change, but the manager was typically forthright in his response, telling the Argus: “We can all sit in the stands sometimes and play football manager.
“I decided Seb Carole would give us an impetus. That was no reflection on what Chris Birchall had done. I can’t be worried about what the fans are thinking. I’ve got to do what I think is best and stand there and be as brave as I can be.
“Seb travels well with the ball, delivered a couple of great crosses and put one on a plate for Fozzie.”
It wasn’t long before Adams was on his way and although Carole liked what he heard from incoming boss Russell Slade, the new man preferred Dean Cox as his wide option.
Carole told Brian Owen of the Argus: “I love the way he talks. He’s got so much passion and he has tried to do something different.
“He wants us to play a bit of football at times when it’s possible because obviously the pitch doesn’t allow you to play that much. We can see something has happened since he came here.”
However, Carole’s part in ‘the great escape’ was somewhat peripheral, making only five starts plus seven appearances off the bench.
He later said: “Micky Adams signed me and I think I did well under him, then he left and Russell Slade came and I wasn’t really in his plans.
“I wasn’t really involved in the team. I was on the bench most of the time and I didn’t understand why, because I thought I could bring something to the club.
“I was a little bit upset about the whole situation. I didn’t get the chance to do well in that second spell.”
Released by the Albion in June 2009, Carole was attracted by the prospect of playing under the legendary John Barnes at Tranmere Rovers and signed a short-term deal at the start of the 2009-10 season.
However, once again managerial upheaval would be Carole’s downfall. Rovers won only three of their first 14 matches and Barnes was shown the Prenton Park door.
“I was disappointed when he was sacked,” Carole told the Argus. “When I went there we had a long chat about how he wanted to play and I signed because of him, because I knew what he was like as a player and would play the way I like.
“I think it was a little bit unfair and a little bit early for him to be sacked, because he didn’t get the finance to make the signings he wanted.
“I definitely think if he had stayed then I would have stayed longer. When they put the physio (Les Parry) in charge, I just felt it wasn’t that good for me.”
The third coming of Carole at the Albion, on a week-to-week deal, was as a direct result of his having played under Poyet at Leeds, the winger telling the Argus: “He knew what to tell me in a certain way to get the best out of me. That is what he was good at when he was at Leeds.
“He was only the assistant manager to Dennis Wise but, more than anyone else, he was talking to the players in the right way and players were listening to him.
“He brings you confidence and you trust him and he will bring a togetherness to Brighton, which is important to get the team back on track.
“He is exactly the same as when he was at Leeds. He is really relaxed and wants to play a certain system. Obviously, that will take time. I think what he is trying to put in place here will bring the club back to where it deserves to be.”
Poyet was equally positive about taking on the Frenchman. “I know Seb better than anyone,” he said. “Seb’s a winger, not just right or left. People say he’s right-footed but he did a terrific job for us at Leeds on the left.
“We’ve been playing without a natural left-sided winger. People look at Dean Cox out there but I see him a bit more inside. I don’t think we have another player like Seb.
“People will compare him to Elliott (Bennett) but he’s a different type of player. Elliott is more direct, more about speed, more going past people with his speed. Seb is about checking in and out and dummies, taking players out of position with his skills. We don’t have that player. That’s why he is coming in.”
It was six weeks before he got his first start and he fancied his chances of getting a longer deal, especially when a hamstring injury forced Kazenga LuaLua to return to Newcastle.
“With Kaz injured for the rest of the season, I think I have got a massive chance now,” he said. “It’s up to me and how I perform.
“I was pleased to be back in the starting eleven. You always get frustrated when you are not playing but I trust Gus and I know exactly what he wants.
“I kept my head down and kept working hard and knew I would get another chance.”
His best run in the side saw him feature in four games on the trot: a 2-0 win at Oldham, a 3-0 home win over Tranmere, a 2-2 draw at home to Southampton and a 2-0 defeat at Hartlepool.
Carole certainly felt pumped up for the game against Rovers, reckoning he had a point to prove to Parry. “He didn’t play me at all. I want revenge and to show him,” he told the Argus before the match. “If I could score and just kill them I’d be happy.”
Carole didn’t score but he did put in an inviting cross that Andrew Crofts seized on to score a second goal for the Albion on the half hour. Glenn Murray had opened the scoring in the seventh minute and debutant Ashley Barnes went on as a sub to score the third.
Dropped after the Hartlepool defeat in favour of on-loan Lee Hendrie, Carole was a non-playing substitute for four matches and, although he played in the season’s finale, a 1-0 win at home to Yeovil, that was his last game in an Albion shirt.
Born in Cergy-Pontoise, a suburb of Paris, on 8 September 1982, Carole’s first memories of football were as a five-year-old having a kickabout with his dad, Jean-Claude, who had played for Paris Saint Germain’s academy but whose career didn’t take off because of an accident.
Carole went to La Fiaule school in Vaureal from the age of three to 10 where he played football every Wednesday. Apart from football, he also had an aptitude for maths. He went on to La Bussie and joined Monaco at the age of 14. He progressed through the ranks before eventually playing 11 times for the first team, including once in the Champions League.
Carole was 21 when he first came to the UK in January 2004, joining Alan Pardew’s West Ham on loan at the same time that Bobby Zamora joined the Hammers from Tottenham Hotspur.
But the young Frenchman only made one substitute appearance, going on in the 87th minute for Jobi McAnuff as the Hammers beat Crewe Alexandra 4-2 at the Boleyn Ground on 17 March.
The following season he was sent on loan to French Ligue 2 side Châteauroux where he scored once in 11 matches.
It was truly the long and the short of it when in August 2005 Albion announced the joint signing of 5’7” Carole and 6’5” Florent Chaigneau, a French goalkeeper on loan from Stade Rennes. Describing them as “exciting additions to the squad”, Albion chairman Knight said: “The fact that we have been able to attract these young players who have already represented France at various levels, is a measure of the progress we are making at this club. We will give them the stage to make their names in England.”
Carole made his debut in the third game of the season, rather ironically once again Crewe Alexandra were the opponents, in a 2-2 home draw, and Chaigneau played his first match 10 days later as Albion bowed out of the League Cup 3-2 away to Shrewsbury Town. While Carole established himself in the side, Chaigneau only made two more appearances.
Although Carole played for France through the age groups up to 19, in 2010 he played three games for Martinique, the Caribbean island side, in the Didgicel Cup.
After failing to get the hoped-for longer contract at Brighton, Carole spent the 2010-11 season with French Ligue 1 team OGC Nice. He subsequently returned to the UK and spent six months at League One strugglers Bury, managed by his old boss Blackwell, but was released having made just five substitute appearances. He then proceeded to drift around various non-league sides in Yorkshire.
He later set up his own football school, which he ran for a year, and has since been an agent (C & S Football Management). His son Keenan is currently playing for the Leeds under 18 team.
In parallel lines 