Tag: Shoreham

Graham Winstanley: fledgling Magpie, Carlisle legend, able Albion deputy

GRAHAM Winstanley spent five years at Brighton but only made 70 appearances, plus one as a sub. Most of his time with the Seagulls was spent as a dependable reserve.

Manager Peter Taylor drafted in the central defender to replace Grimsby-bound Steve Govier in the autumn of 1974 and he kept the no.6 shirt for all but two games through to the end of the season.

Govier had only been signed from Norwich City in May that year (together with Andy Rollings and Ian Mellor) but, unlike his co-signings, who had long Albion careers, Govier lasted only 16 games.

Winstanley, a Carlisle United regular for several seasons, had been edged out of the first team picture at Brunton Park following their surprise rise to the top division.

He arrived at the Goldstone in October 1974, on loan initially, and was even made captain during that time. He signed permanently for £20,000 the following month, moved into a house in Shoreham with wife Joan, and stayed in the south for five years despite limited first-team opportunities.

Born in the small north-east village of Croxdale, three miles south of Durham, on 20 January 1948, Winstanley joined Newcastle United straight from Washington Grammar School and, after serving an apprenticeship, turned professional.

He made his first team debut on Christmas Eve 1966, in a 2-1 home defeat to Leeds United.

With the likes of Ollie Burton, John McNamee and Bobby Moncur ahead of him, Winstanley struggled to establish himself at St James’ Park, only featuring seven times for the first team, five times as a starter and twice as a substitute.

Newcastle sold him to Carlisle for £8,000 in 1969, and it was at Brunton Park where he carved out a reputation as a powerful centre back who could also play full back.

In June 1972, against the Italian giants Roma in the Olympic Stadium, he scored a goal for United seven minutes from time that sealed a famous 3-2 win in the Anglo-Italian Cup. Four-Four-Two magazine voted it 45th of 50 top Greatest European Moments!

It may seem implausible to today’s reader to believe that Carlisle could win promotion from the equivalent of the Championship and play a season in the Premier League but that’s exactly what the Cumbrians did in 1974. They finished in third place, in the days before play-offs, a point behind Luton Town and 16 points behind champions Middlesbrough.

Although Winstanley had been part of Alan Ashman’s promotion side, he was not a first choice in the top division, and, after 165 appearances for United, headed south to Brighton.

His influence initially alongside Rollings, and then Steve Piper, brought much needed stability to the defence but the side struggled for goals that season and eventually could only achieve 19th place.

In January 2014, the excellent blog The Goldstone Wrap reflected on Winstanley’s influence at that time, and reproduced an Argus article angled on how the player – nicknamed Tot (he was the youngest of three brothers) – wore contact lenses while playing.

Having taken over the Albion team captaincy from Ernie Machin, Winstanley was appointed club captain in August 1975 but, with the arrival of the cultured former Millwall and West Ham defender, Dennis Burnett, was dislodged from a starting berth and only played three more times that season.

Even when Taylor’s successor, Alan Mullery, dispensed with Burnett’s services, the 1976-77 season saw Graham Cross partner Rollings, restricting Winstanley to just five appearances.

The following season Mark Lawrenson arrived, so it wasn’t as though the competition for a place was getting any easier! However, in that season, Rollings missed several matches through injury and Winstanley proved an able deputy on 19 occasions.

One of his stints in the side included the final seven matches when Albion came so close to earning promotion and Winstanley even got on the scoresheet in the 3-1 home win over Tottenham Hotspur on 15 April 1978.

“It was from a free-kick that got played out wide to the left and when the ball came over I just sneaked in at the back and hit it,” he recalled in an Albion programme feature of 14 March 2009. “It spent a long time coming to me in the air and an even longer time before it hit the back of the net.” It happened in front of a crowd of 32,647 packed into the Goldstone, and the game was interrupted by trouble-making Spurs supporters.

He kept the shirt for the opening two fixtures of the 1978-79 season but only played three more times in that promotion-winning campaign, the last of which came in a 1-1 draw away to Luton Town on 21 April, when neither Lawrenson nor Rollings were available.

When his contract was up in July 1979, he was granted a free transfer and he returned to Carlisle where he made a further 69 appearances. “I could have stayed but I didn’t really fancy it to be honest,” he told Spencer Vignes in a matchday programme article. “I knew I only had a certain amount of ability. I was never a First Division player. That’s why it was the best thing to do.”

During his time in Sussex, he coached Sunday team Boundstone Old Boys and, after his playing career came to an end, he was manager of non-league Penrith for a while. However, he subsequently had a variety of jobs outside the game, in and around Carlisle. He worked for a wholesale electrical company, as a milkman, selling insurance, as a partner in a building supplies company, as well as working for the Post Office and a local newspaper.

The cheek of Parris in the autumn briefly lightened Brighton gloom

LIGHTER moments were few and far between as an Albion follower in 1995. A despised regime seemingly intent on taking the club into oblivion had spread such disillusionment among fans that gates were badly hit.

It meant only 5,659 were at the Goldstone Ground on 28 October 1995 to see an amusing incident that can still be seen on YouTube.

Step forward George Parris, a star at West Ham United a decade previously, who had joined the Seagulls to help out his old Hammers teammate Liam Brady, by then trying to manage a club in turmoil.

Bristol Rovers humiliated Brighton & Hove Albion 8-2 at the Goldstone Ground in 1973, shortly after ‘Old Big ‘ead’ Clough had taken charge, but, 22 years later, it was the Rovers goalkeeper who was left with the red face.

That was all down to quick-thinking Parris. The experienced defender-midfielder found himself on the blind side of the Rovers goalkeeper and, as the ‘keeper rolled the ball forward to clear it, Parris nipped in, got a toe in to win the ball, swivelled and buried it into the empty net.

These days he would almost certainly have been penalised for a foul as he appeared to use his shoulder to nudge the no.1 off balance, but, back in 1995, the goal stood.

He talked about the incident, and his career, in an interview with the Argus in November 2001.

George Michael Ronald Parris was born in Ilford on 11 September 1964. His talent for football saw him chosen to play for England Schoolboys and he joined West Ham United from school.

He signed professional for the Hammers in 1982 and made his league debut at Upton Park in a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool in May 1985.

Also making their debut that day, for what would be their one and only first team appearance for the Hammers, was central defender Keith McPherson, who played 35 games for the Albion between 1999 and 2000.

Parris meanwhile became the regular left-back in the 1985-86 season when West Ham finished third in the top flight. He was comfortable in either full-back position, but could also fill in as a defensive midfielder.

He was part of the West Ham side who were Littlewoods Cup semi-finalists in consecutive seasons and FA Cup semi-finalists in 1990-91.

In 12 years at Upton Park, ‘Smokey’, as he was known, made 290 league and cup appearances, chipping in with 17 goals too.

But it was an era when he had to endure some dreadful racism, which he talked about in a 2014 interview with Sam Wallace in the Independent.

Former Hammers skipper, Alvin Martin, said of Parris: “What we remember most about George was his friendly disposition and true honesty which was reflected best when he was on the field. George is one of the most reliable professionals anyone could wish to play alongside.”

Sadly, when West Ham decided to honour Parris’ 11 years’ service at the Boleyn Ground with a testimonial match at the end of the 1994-95 season, there was a dismally low turn-out as reported on website theyflysohigh.co.uk.

Parris had left the Hammers in March 1993, a £100,000 fee taking him to Birmingham City, and his infectious enthusiasm soon made him a fans’ favourite at St Andrews. Unfortunately, when Barry Fry took over as manager, he made it plain Parris didn’t fit into his plans.

Brady brought him to the Seagulls on a three-month loan and he also had loan spells with Brentford and Bristol City before spending a summer in Sweden with IFK Norrköping.

Brady invited him back to the Goldstone in September 1995 to play on a month-by-month contract basis, and he stayed until 1997, taking on the captaincy when Paul McCarthy was injured.

“Being captain of Brighton was a great honour for me, and I’d like to think that my characteristics rubbed off on the other players,” he told the matchday programme in 2019. “At that stage in my career I was able to deal with the responsibilities that the captaincy brings.

“You have to know that what works for some players will not work for others and you have to be the manager’s voice on the pitch. There was no added pressure that I felt and I’d like to think I shouldered it all quite well.”

Matchday programme portrait of the former West Ham player

Parris scored five times in 88 games for the Seagulls before briefly joining Southend United in August 1997.

Sadly, there was a hidden side to Parris’s life: he was a compulsive gambler and he later told the whole harrowing story in a four-hour long DVD.

He also spoke to the dailymail.co.uk about how he considered suicide after his addiction and mounting debts spiralled out of control in the late 90s.

It came after another large bet on the horses lost, he walked out of a bookies and seriously considered ending it all. He revealed: “I drove up to Newhaven. I can remember looking out over the bridge there and thinking ‘What do I do?’

“I couldn’t see how I was going to get myself out of the big hole I was in. I’d begged and borrowed from everyone I knew and, yes, I did give serious thought to killing myself.

“I owed money to my closest friends and family and had nowhere else to go. But, thankfully, I pulled myself together and went home and confessed to my then wife that I’d lost every penny I had gambling.”

Gradually Parris pieced his life back together and obtained coaching qualifications, such as the UEFA A licence, and became a Football Association-approved level-two coach educator.

Parris stayed on the south coast, living in Rottingdean, and had spells as player-manager of non-league Shoreham and St Leonards, but also ran youth football and cricket schools.

In 2016, Parris took interim charge of Albion’s women’s team and guided them to promotion to Women’s Super League Two. When Hope Powell took over the women’s team in August 2017, Parris reverted to the role of regional talent club technical director, a post he left in September 2019.

In November 2017, Parris was honoured alongside Albion manager Chris Hughton (another former playing colleague) at the Football Black List Awards in London for their contributions to coaching and management.