The ‘Derry Pelé’ only briefly strutted his stuff at Brighton

PADDY McCourt put a dent in Brighton’s promotion hopes when he scored for managerless Barnsley at the Amex. Eight months later he joined the Albion’s renewed attempts to lift themselves out of the Championship.

The mazy dribbler from Derry lit up the evening of Tuesday 3 December 2013 when he gave the bottom-of-the-table Tykes an unlikely first-half lead.

Barnsley arrived at Falmer having just sacked manager David Flitcroft and when McCourt teased and tormented the retreating Seagulls defenders to net in the 35^th minute it ended a sequence of nearly five hours without a goal.

*McCourt celebrates scoring for Barnsley at the Amex*

Recalling what was something of a trademark finish by the bearded Irishman in a 2018 post wearebrighton.com described howMcCourt picked up a loose ball 40 yards out from goal, dribbled round Liam Bridcutt and Andrew Crofts, drifted past Matt Upson with a quick step-over, nutmegged Gordon Greer before playing a quick one-two with Worthing-born Marcus Tudgay, then ghosted round Stephen Ward before slotting the ball into the bottom corner of the goal past Tomasz Kuszczak in Albion’s goal.

Five minutes after the restart, the visitors went further ahead through Jacob Mellis before Upson pulled a goal back with a header from a Craig Conway corner. Barnsley had on-loan goalkeeper Jack Butland to thank for ensuring they left with all three points, making notable saves from subs Will Buckley and Leroy Lita (who moved to Barnsley the following year).

While Albion went on to finish sixth under Oscar Garcia but failed to get further than the play-off semi-final for the second year running, Barnsley, who’d appointed former Albion captain Danny Wilson as Flitcroft’s successor, exited the division the wrong way, finishing in 23^rd place.

Barnsley’s top scorer, Chris O’Grady, stayed in the division by signing for the Albion and a month later his former teammate, 30-year-old McCourt, released on a free transfer at the end of the season, joined him in Sussex after impressing new Seagulls boss Sami Hyypia in a trial period.

“We have seen enough of Paddy in the last week or so to know that he is a player who has quality going forward,” said Hyypia. “He is the type of player who can pick a pass and create a chance.”

That said, Hyypia only gave McCourt starts in two League Cup games (v Burton Albion and Tottenham Hotspur); his 11 other Albion appearances were all as a substitute.

When he did start, away to Burton, he set up goals for Rohan Ince and Craig Mackail-Smith in Albion’s 3-0 win and he told the matchday programme: “There’s nothing like playing games for your fitness and I’m sure that the more I play the better I will feel.”

Hyypia kept his feet on the ground, though, pointing out: “He needs to realise what he needs to do to improve and to be a very important player for the team defensively as well.”

Often described as a ‘maverick’, McCourt’s response was: “I like to get on the ball and be creative; that’s always been part of my game and something I’ve always been good at. I love taking on players, creating chances and now I just hope I can get a run in the team and show what I can do on a regular basis.”

He certainly couldn’t have been accused of lacking ambition, maintaining: “I still have aspirations to play in the Premier League and hopefully that will happen in my time here.

“I’ve played international football, I’ve played Champions League and Europa League football with Celtic, so the next step for me would be to play at the highest level in England – I would love that to happen.”

That international career was as strange as much of his career. There were 13 years between the first and last of 18 caps for Northern Ireland: he made his debut under Sammy McIlroy in 2002 (a 5-0 defeat against Spain) then had to wait seven years before he was selected again. That was in a 3-0 World Cup qualifier win over San Marino, when he went on as an 81^st minute sub for future Albion teammate Aaron Hughes.

He scored twice in Northern Ireland’s 4-0 win over the Faroe Islands in a Euro 2012 qualifier in August 2011 (when Hughes scored his first goal for his country in his 77^th appearance!).

McCourt’s second goal that day was reckoned to be one of the best ever goals seen at Windsor Park. According to the Belfast Telegraph, he “collected the ball just inside the opposition half and left three defenders in his wake with magical dribbling skills and impeccable close control before outfoxing another… then to cap it off he produced a stunning left foot chip over the bemused goalkeeper which floated into the net.”

McCourt helped manager Michael O’Neill’s side reach the Euro 2016 finals, but was not available for the finals in France because his wife Laura was seriously ill (more of which later).

“I really enjoyed it,” he told BBC Northern Ireland’s Mark Sterling in a lockdown interview in 2020. “Any time I was picked I turned up, and to be involved in the Euros qualifying campaign was fantastic.

“Everybody wants to play international football, The fans took to me straight away, were always singing my name and I hope I gave them some good memories.”

Born in Derry on 16 December 1983, McCourt’s early footballing promise was nurtured by Eunan O’Donnell, his PE teacher at Steelstown Primary School. At the club he joined as a youngster, Derry-based Foyle Harps, it was club chairman Gerry Doherty “who deserves more credit than anyone else” according to McCourt’s brother Leroy (who was his agent).

However, McCourt reckoned: “The street is where I learnt how to play football.”

In that lockdown interview with BBC’s Sterling, he said: “When I was younger there was more emphasis on players to develop themselves. We trained once a week for an hour with our clubs, when you might only get 40 or 50 touches of the ball at most, with 20 kids in a session.

“It was up to you to go out into the streets with your mates and practice your skills in small-sided games. We’d play for six or seven hours, there might only be four of you and you’d get thousands of touches.

“You were probably playing with older kids and on concrete as well, so that would improve your balance.”

Although given the moniker of the greatest Brazilian footballer of all time, McCourt’s boyhood hero was Robbie Fowler. “I’m a Liverpool and Celtic fan, and for some reason he was a player I just absolutely adored growing up,” he said.

“My memories are of seeing Fowler scoring – left foot, right foot, header – it didn’t seem to matter to him. He just had this unbelievable talent for putting the ball in the back of the net.”

McCourt’s first taste of professional football in England came at Third Division Rochdale, joining them in 2000 aged 17. But in an open and honest question and answer session in March 2018 at the Talent Development Academy Elite Soccer Coaching event, at the Magee Campus of the Ulster University, the player spoke about how youthful wrong lifestyle choices meant he blew the opportunity.

“I was nowhere near ready for it and the events that transpired in the next couple of years proved that. It’s very hard to know the situation you’re going into when you’re not prepared for it.

“I was coming from Foyle Harps, playing junior football and then going into a professional environment. It wasn’t that big of a jump in terms of what you did differently because Rochdale was a small club and you went in and trained and were home for 1pm living in digs and I didn’t drive at the time.

“You had so much spare time on your hands and as a young lad, you do daft stuff and make mistakes and I admit I made plenty. It was basic stuff like going out too much and not eating the right food.”

Although he made 94 appearances for Rochdale, around half were as a substitute and after unsuccessful trials with Motherwell and Norwich City he was eventually released in February 2005 and returned to the League of Ireland with Shamrock Rovers.

“Initially when I was at Rochdale I did quite well and broke into the first team quite early but when I came back I took stock. I made mistakes and wasn’t really living my life to be a professional footballer.

“I had six months with Shamrock Rovers where I didn’t make many changes to my lifestyle but I was doing quite well on the pitch.”

It was only when he returned to his home town and played at Derry City where things began to change under the positive influence of future Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny.

“I learned what it takes to become a proper athlete because you need to live a clean lifestyle to make it as a footballer and I wish I knew back then what I know now,” he said.

“There was a bit of sports science starting to come in at Derry in terms of what to do leading up to a game, and then your recovery sessions on a Saturday morning after a game. It was tiny, basic stuff but it started to kick in then and that helped me because I was getting information I didn’t have before. It was up to yourself to buy into it and I started to buy into it a bit more and started to see the benefit.”

Between 2005 and 2008 with Derry, McCourt won an FAI Cup, three League Cups, was involved in a league runners-up spot (2005) and was part of a UEFA Cup run in 2006.

He then got the chance to join Celtic, the side he’d supported as a boy, signing for a fee of £200,000 in June 2008. Hoops boss Gordon Strachan told the Derry Daily: “Paddy is as gifted a footballer as I’ve ever seen. Some players can pass but can’t dribble. Others can dribble but can’t pass. Paddy can do both.”

It wasn’t until the 2009-10 season that he forced his way into the first team and his first goal for the club was in a 4-0 League Cup win at Falkirk in September 2009 when he skipped past five defenders before chipping the goalkeeper.

His own favourite was his first goal at Parkhead in a 3-0 win over Hearts on 11 September 2010 which realised a lifetime ambition.

“I actually had dreams of scoring at Celtic Park,” he said. “I felt I had let that go when I had that setback at Rochdale. Self-doubt creeps in but I remember the night. It was Hearts at home and it was a very proud moment.

“It might never have happened if I hadn’t made the sacrifices I made and I have a lot of people to thank for that.”

When Aiden McGeady left Celtic for Spartak Moscow in August 2010, Celtic manager Neil Lennon challenged McCourt to step into his shoes and said: “He’s wonderful to watch. He’s beautifully balanced and he’s got great vision and great feet and that’s why we decided to get him on a longer-term contract. He’s pleased and we’re pleased.”

In his five years in Glasgow, McCourt scored 10 goals in 88 appearances for the Hoops although he actually only made 20 starts. He collected medals for his part in Scottish Premier League title wins in 2011-12 and 2012-13 as well as Scottish Cup wins in 2011 and 2013.

That 3-0 2013 final win over Hibernian was his last game for Celtic before he joined English Championship Barnsley, who were managed by his former Rochdale teammate David Flitcroft.

The goal against Brighton in December 2013 was one of only two he scored for the Tykes in 15 starts plus eight appearances off the bench and Barnsley fans certainly had mixed views about his contribution.

Online chat group contributor ‘Jay’ posted: “At his best he was as good as I’ve ever seen. Be nice if he can produce that sort of form consistently, even if it’s not for us. All that talent shouldn’t go to waste.”

Another, ‘JLWBigLil’ reckoned: “One of the most skilful players I’ve ever seen play for Barnsley in all my years of going down to Oakwell. Possibly the right player at the wrong time for us.”

Whereas ‘MarioKempes’ opined: “There was no doubting his ability but the other key aspects such as workrate, fitness, stamina and heart were sadly lacking from his game.”

It almost certainly didn’t help McCourt’s cause at Brighton that new boss Hyypia struggled to get to grips with the task in hand and chopped and changed the line-up. The addition of several loan players didn’t help matters either.

Frustrated Albion fans reckoned McCourt should have had a bigger involvement than his few cameos off the bench, citing his influence in helping to salvage a point away at Watford, and planting the ball on Gordon Greer’s head to score a consolation goal from his corner kick at Middlesbrough.

After Hyypia left the club before Christmas, McCourt’s last Albion appearance was as a sub in the home Boxing Day 2-2 draw with Reading (on loan Glenn Murray scored twice for the visitors; Jake Forster-Caskey and Inigo Calderon for the Albion), going on for Danny Holla.

Nathan Jones was in caretaker charge that day and the pair were subsequently reunited at Luton Town the following season.

Before then, unable to get games under Albion’s new boss Chris Hughton, McCourt dropped into League One on loan at relegation-bound Notts County.

He scored County’s winner in their 1-0 win at Colchester on 3 March 2015 but they went on an 11-game winless run after that and went down with Crawley Town and Leyton Orient.

Released by Brighton that summer, McCourt joined the League Two Hatters under John Still in July 2015 and was followed there a month later by Mackail-Smith.

After a run of three starts in September, when Town won all three matches, McCourt played in a 1-1 draw with Leyton Orient on 20 October, before being restricted to a role on the bench.

On his return to the starting line-up in January 2016, away to Mansfield, he scored his fist Luton goal after just seven minutes in a 2-0 win. He told Luton Today: “It was great, all players want to play from the start and it’s been disappointing to sit on the sidelines.

“It was very frustrating because we’d just won three or four games in a row, then I came back from an international double header, was on the bench, played in the draw against Leyton Orient and that was it, I didn’t play again.

“I don’t know why, I didn’t ask the manager and he ended up getting the sack, but it was very disappointing as I felt that although I wasn’t where I wanted to be in terms of performance, I was playing, we were winning games.”

When former Brighton coach Jones was appointed as Still’s successor, McCourt told Luton Today: “He’s a coach who wants to play football, ball from the back, get between the lines, bring a wee bit of flair and creativity back to Luton, so hopefully I can play a big part in that.”

Unfortunately, he cut short his stay at Kenilworth Road after 16 starts and nine appearances off the bench to return to Ireland because his wife Laura had to undergo treatment for a brain tumour. She recovered after a successful operation and O’Court resumed playing at Glenavon.

According to the Belfast Telegraph: “It ended up being a disappointing half-season at Mourneview Park and was followed by a move to Finn Harps, where he was able to roll back the years, not least when he ghosted past a whole host of Sligo players and dinked home the finish with his inimitable swagger.”

That was in 2018 before he retired from playing and began coaching academy players at Derry City. He later became the club’s technical director and left in January 2024 before taking up a role as assistant to manager Declan Devine at Irish Premiership side Glentoran.

Perhaps the last words should go to reporter Daniel McDonnell, who wrote in the Irish Independent: “Football is nothing without entertainers. Punters paying cash to watch a game want to see individuals capable of doing things that the ordinary player could only daydream about. McCourt could do things that top pros were unable to manage.”

While recognising McCourt’s CV might have glittered more brightly, he declared: “There are players who will retire with more medals and more money that will never garner a comparable level of affection.

“Mention McCourt’s name to those who had the pleasure of watching him in full flight and responses will be delivered with a smile.”

Big-time beckoned for Bratislava-born Brezovan

LANKY Slovakian stopper Peter Brezovan, who saved penalties on his Albion and Swindon Town debuts, once came close to a dream move to Everton.

The Merseyside outfit had him on a five-day trial with a view to signing him on a permanent basis from Swindon.

“It was very rewarding just to train alongside Tim Howard and face all these international players,” he said. “It was an experience I’ll never forget.”

Former Man Utd ‘keeper Howard was Everton’s no.1 in 2007 and, having released Richard Wright that summer, manager David Moyes had only new signing Stefan Wessels and the little-used Iain Turner as back-up ‘keepers. Everton’s goalkeeper coach was the former England international Chris Woods.

While Everton didn’t follow up their interest in Brezovan with an offer (three years later they did sign a Slovakian goalkeeper, Jan Mucha), it sounded like Swindon rather over-egged their expectations of a big payday.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald reckoned a £300,000 eve of deadline day offer from Wolverhampton Wanderers had been rejected, saying: “Town will be asking for a substantial amount more.”

The newspaper added: “If the price is right, Town are ready to cash in on their number two keeper.” And manager at the time, Paul Sturrock reportedly told the Mirror: “If I was offered something like £2m, Brez would be an Everton player.”

The Toffees had originally taken an interest in Brezovan and invited him for a trial when he made an eye-catching start in English football in 2006. Not only did he save two penalties in his first game for Swindon, he conceded only five goals as Town won six of their opening seven matches and won the PFA Player of the Month award for September. Unluckily, a badly broken arm put him out of the game for nine months but Everton revived their invitation when Brezovan was fit again.

It probably didn’t help the ‘keeper’s progress at Swindon that successive managers came and went during his time at the club. It was Dennis Wise who signed him on a year’s loan from Czech side 1.FC Brno shortly after he’d taken over as Swindon manager, assisted by his former Chelsea teammate Gus Poyet, but by October the pair (along with goalkeeper coach Andy Beasley, who later spent a year at Brighton) left Wiltshire to take over at Leeds United.

County Ground caretaker managers David Tuttle and Ady Williams were followed by Sturrock for a year; David Byrne twice held the fort temporarily and Maurice Malpas was in charge for 11 months in 2008. When he left in November that year, Danny Wilson arrived the following month.

Born on 9 December 1979 in Bratislava, Brezovan’s first football memories were playing at right-back. In a matchday programme article, he explained: “In the first game of the season our ‘keeper got injured, so the biggest kid had to go in goal – and I’ve been there ever since. I’ve always been tall so looked upon to go in goal but, unlike a lot of kids, I enjoyed it.”

Brezovan spent his youth career at the city’s MŠK Iskra Petržalka and also played for Devin in the city before spending two years in the Czech Republic with FC Slovan Břeclav and HFK Olomouc. He then spent four years at FC Brno in South Moravia, although it was while he was on loan back in Bratislava, playing for FK Inter Bratislava, that he was spotted by Swindon and subsequently made the move to England.

In spite of his spectacular start for the Robins, when he couldn’t speak a word of English, it would be fair to say Swindon have mixed memories of his time at the County Ground, chronicled in detail on swindon-town-fc.co.uk. After former Albion captain Wilson released him at the end of the 2008-09 season, he was without a club for six months.

He had an unsuccessful trial at Crewe Alexandra in October 2009 but Poyet, not long after succeeding Russell Slade as Albion boss, signed him for a month at the beginning of December to cover a mini goalkeeper crisis he inherited.

Regular no.1 Michel Kuipers was injured and Slade’s misfit summer signing Graeme Smith had conceded 11 goals in three defeats and one win.

Handed his debut on a drizzly, grey December afternoon at Exeter (I know, because I was there, getting wet on the uncovered terrace behind the goal!), Brezovan went from zero to hero, according to writer Richie Morris, after upending former Albion loanee Stuart Fleetwood in the penalty area and then impressively saving Marcus Stewart’s spot kick.

“The former Slovakian under 21 international pulled off a string of comfortable, but reassuring saves,” wrote Morris. “True, he did nearly gift the home side a goal with a wayward clearance, but, considering how long he has been out of first team football, he can be happy with a solid performance.”

A somewhat modest Brezovan attributed his penalty save to goalkeeper coach Tony Godden’s homework. “He told me where Marcus Stewart puts his penalties and I dived the right way but it was a great feeling to help the team to victory,” he said.

On another occasion, Brezovan expanded on his technique with penalties, telling the matchday programme: “It’s mainly instinct on the day. You get the stats guys who help you with your preparation – they will tell you where certain players tend to put the ball but sometimes you just have to go with how you feel in that moment and go for it.

“I don’t get the lads to take penalties at me after training either – I hate doing that. It’s all about how you are on the day.”

Brezovan’s arrival signalled the departure of the hapless Smith who ended his six-month nightmare in English football by returning to Scotland, moving on a free transfer to Hibernian. And the Slovakian’s short-term arrangement ultimately extended into a four-and-a-half-year spell as a Brighton player.

There were occasions when he was tempted to move on for more regular game time, but he confessed to loving the area and stayed put even though first team opportunities were few and far between.

In that first season, fans’ favourite Kuipers, not for the first time, found his place under threat because of the 6’6” Brezovan’s form. But a blunder by the new man in a game at home to Wycombe prompted Poyet to bring back the former Dutch marine (chef) at the start of the new year.

Kuipers had an eight-game run in the starting line-up but then broke a finger. Brezovan, having had his contract extended, seized his chance and kept his place through to the end of the season.

Brezovan told the matchday programme: “We are good friends, we train well together, and so I really feel for him. We don’t feel like rivals at all in that respect but I know that while I am in the team I will be giving my all to make sure I maintain my place.”

It paid off because Poyet offered him a two-year contract at the end of the season, saying: “Peter has earned his new contract. Initially he came to play and help us out but I expected he would prove he was worth a longer deal and he has done that.

“He has been a very important part of our turnaround since Christmas and now his challenge is to make the position his own for next season and beyond.”

And the ‘keeper told the Argus: “Together with my girlfriend, I’ve really settled here. I think that Brighton is the nicest city in England and we’re really happy here.

“I owe a lot to the manager because he brought me to the club and I’m glad he wants me to stay. That’s why it was so easy to sign the deal. The manager will no doubt bring in more good players in the summer so it’s going to be an exciting season.”

He was right about the excitement because Albion went on to win the League One championship title; what he might not have anticipated was that because he was nursing a wrist injury on the eve of the season opener against his old club Swindon, Poyet moved quickly to sign another ‘keeper who he’d worked with at a previous club: Casper Ankergren.

The Dane, released by Leeds, instantly became first choice ‘keeper and Brezovan spent most of the season watching from the bench, making just seven starts in the FA Cup (the first and second round matches both went to replays). Close to the end of the season he went on as a sub for the injured Ankergren in the 18^th minute of the 25 April league game at Colchester United, making important saves from Ian Henderson and David Mooney as the Albion salvaged a point in a 1-1 draw.

Brezovan was also in goal for the penultimate game of the season, and the last ever played at the Withdean, when Huddersfield won 3-2. A defensive gaffe by Inigo Calderon, who left Brezovan stranded by chesting the ball down inside the area, let in Benik Afobe to put Town 2-1 ahead; sub Matt Sparrow equalised for the Seagulls and, although Brezovan twice made excellent saves to deny defender Jamie McCombe, sub Danny Ward scored a last-minute winner.

Brezovan resumed his place on the bench as 2011-12 got under way with Ankergren once again Poyet’s first choice no.1, although, after he’d shipped 13 goals in eight games in the autumn, the manager brought experienced Newcastle custodian Steve Harper on loan for five games.

Brezovan preferred to see the positive side of it, though, telling the matchday programme: “That was a good experience for all the goalkeepers. He is a vastly experienced ‘keeper and we have learned from his time here.”

After Albion went through a four-game losing streak in December, Brezovan got the call to take over from Ankergren in the new year match at home to Southampton when an injury-hit Albion sprung a surprise, winning 3-0 with a memorable brace from midfielder Sparrow.

It was only after the game that Poyet revealed how his plan to change ‘keepers nearly didn’t come to fruition. “For the last week Peter has been waiting for his wife to have a baby, every day,” Poyet told the Argus. “I needed to wait until 1.30 to tell him he was playing. The baby was due three or four days ago, so we were all thinking ‘come on girl, go on’!”

Later the same month, Brezovan was hailed a hero when he saved a crucial spot-kick in a penalty shoot-out in a third round FA Cup replay at Wrexham and he told Brian Owen of the Argus: “I enjoyed it. The pressure is all on the strikers at penalties because they can just mess it up. You have nothing to lose, you are practically without pressure.

“I knew one player and where he goes and I saved his penalty so we could have a laugh in the end.”

Nevertheless, Poyet was obviously still unsure about the goalkeeping situation. He let third choice Michael Poke go on loan to Bristol Rovers but brought in Columbian David Gonzalez, who’d been with Man City for two years, to put pressure on Brezovan and Ankergren.

“The gaffer wanted to bring in another keeper. You have to face it, with Casper, and keep working to keep our positions,” said Brezovan.“I’ve got another year. If you want to stay at a club for a long time, you have to play. You can’t be just like a useless second or third choice. This is my opportunity and I am going to do everything to stay in goal.”

He did indeed stay in goal but on two occasions let in six! The first drubbing was handed out by Liverpool in the fifth round of the FA Cup at Anfield (with Albion famously conceding three own goals in a 6-1 defeat).

After Brezovan shipped another six against West Ham at the Boleyn Ground, Poyet had seen enough. The patient Gonzalez replaced Brezovan in goal for the following game, one of six changes to the side that capitulated to the Hammers.

Come the new season, Brezovan and Ankergren had even more of a challenge on their hands when experienced Polish international and former Manchester United ‘keeper Tomasz Kuszczak arrived at the Amex.

It pushed Brezovan down the pecking order to third choice ‘keeper and he played only once all season, in a 2-1 win at Huddersfield when Kuszczak had a finger infection that ruled him out and Ankergren picked up an injury in training two days before the game.

Brezovan stayed at the club as no.3 ‘keeper for the 2013-14 season and once again injuries to the first and second choices in Oscar Garcia’s side presented him with a rare opportunity. He ended up playing eight games, four in the league and four in the FA Cup.

He made his first appearance for 13 months in the 7 December 3-1 win at home to Leicester after Kuszczak pulled out in the warm-up with a stomach muscle strain, with Ankergren already sidelined with a wrist injury. In an interview with the Argus, on his 34^th birthday, Brezovan spoke openly about possibly moving on to get more games.

“It’s hard because Brighton is a beautiful place and I love the people around here. It’s not easy to go.

“If there was an offer from the same level, I would probably try it. Going to a lower division, getting injured and then to be there on the bench is risky.”

And of his sudden chance back in the Albion goal, he reflected: “That’s football. Things can happen quickly and it’s beautiful. It shows how everyone is important. When you don’t play for a long time, even in training, you start to think it’s hard to motivate yourself.

“That’s why you need good lads around you. I love the guys here. They always help you to be motivated. When you play and your contract is running out you need to find that motivation.”

His appearance in the fifth round FA Cup replay defeat (1-2) at Hull City on 24 February turned out to be his last first team game and he was released at the end of his contract that summer having featured 62 times for the Seagulls.

He trained with Oxford United during pre-season and at the start of the next season joined Portsmouth for a month as cover for Paul Jones. On transfer deadline day, he signed a one-year contract with Tranmere Rovers.

Although he played seven games for Rovers, he lost his place to regular ‘keeper Owain Fon Williams. He had a loan stint at Southport in early 2015 but at the end of the season, following Rovers’ relegation from League Two, he was released.

Interviewed by the Argus in December 2015, Brezovan had returned to Brno in the Czech Republic, quit football and turned to publishing music online.

“I lost a little bit of motivation,” he said. “The football wasn’t going anywhere and I’d had enough. I’m focusing on this now.”

Stockdale’s key role in Albion’s rise to the Premier League

DAVID STOCKDALE kept 20 clean sheets as Brighton were promoted from the Championship to the Premier League.

He was chosen by his peers in the PFA Championship team of the year and was runner up to Anthony Knockaert as player of the season.

What seemed like a mystery at the time, though, was that he then remained in the Championship by signing a three-year contract with Birmingham City (at the time managed by Harry Redknapp).

“I’m not ashamed to say I put my family first and football second for a change,” Stockdale explained, referring to his desire to sign a longer term deal than the Seagulls offered because he didn’t want the upheaval of a move that might have unsettled his daughter’s education at a time she was about to take exams.

Stockdale had joined the Seagulls from Fulham in the summer of 2014 and was first choice ‘keeper for three seasons, playing a total of 139 matches for the club.

Remembered for some notable performances between the sticks, Stockdale impressed off it too. In the wake of the Shoreham air crash, he showed great compassion for the victims.

Before the next game, away to Ipswich Town, he wore personalised gloves and a training top bearing the names of two of them, Albion groundsman Matt Grimstone, who was Worthing United’s goalkeeper, and his teammate Jacob Schilt.

He also spent time talking to Matt’s family, visiting with Albion ambassador Alan Mullery. “We are all guilty of complaining about the little things in life but there are far more important things to worry about and I wish more people realised that,” he told the matchday programme.

At the end of the season, Stockdale’s support was recognised by the award of the PFA Community Champion trophy. “A lot of tears were shed,” he told Albion reporter Andy Naylor, when he got the inside track on Stockdale’s story in an interview for The Athletic on 17 November 2019.

“I’d spoken to Matt a few times, with him being a goalkeeper. We used to shout across at each other. I’d joke, ‘You come and train with us and I’ll do that (groundskeeping)’.”

The way the club rallied round didn’t surprise the goalkeeper because he’d heard good things from Fulham teammate and all time Albion legend Bobby Zamora when he was mulling over the move.

“I knew it was a good club, a very progressive club, but when Bobby told me it was the best club, that was good enough for me,” he said.

There was a familiar face waiting for him at training too because the goalkeeping coach when he arrived was Antti Niemi, who had taken him under his wing in his early days at Fulham.

“I was only 21 at the time, at a big Premier League club, and he spoke to me a lot in those early days,” he said. “Although he’s the goalkeeping coach here now, it sometimes feels the same as it did back then.

“He’s the one putting on the sessions now, and I’ve enjoyed them like I did when I trained with him before,” he said.

Even so, Stockdale was even more impressed by Niemi’s successor, Ben Roberts. “There’s no better goalkeeping coach than him,” he said. “Ben and I had tried to work together at previous clubs and it hadn’t come off. So, when we finally did at Brighton, he said ‘this is what I want you to work on, stay with me and trust me and the process’.

“It wasn’t always easy, I was 30 at the time trying to adapt my style, sometimes it’s hard. But I trusted him and it worked. He’s shown with numerous keepers that he can help anyone improve. That’s why people hold him in such high regard.”

A personal highlight for Stockdale came in January 2017 at the Amex when he made a double save from a Fernando Forestieri penalty against Sheffield Wednesday that helped put Brighton top of the division.

Less memorable were two own goals in a 2-0 defeat at Norwich City when Alex Pritchard shots rebounded off the woodwork, hit him and went in.

And when Albion had a chance to clinch the Championship title at Villa Park, Stockdale fumbled a long-range Jack Grealish shot to concede a late equaliser which meant Newcastle finished top instead.

“I left with great memories, on a high, apart from the Villa game,” Stockdale told Naylor. “It was one of those when everyone knows it was a mistake. It just wasn’t meant to be, but as a player you feel the responsibility.

“We got what we wanted, got promoted, but I think it left a bit of a bad feeling.”

Born in Leeds on 20 September 1985, Stockdale stayed in Yorkshire in the early part of his career, initially in the youth sides of Huddersfield Town and York City.

It was York who took him on as a trainee, in 2000, and in the last game of the 2002-03 season, aged just 17, Terry Dolan gave him his first team debut as a half-time substitute for Michael Ingham, who was suffering a shoulder injury, although City lost 2-0 to Oxford United.

By then in the Conference, Stockdale made 19 consecutive appearances for the Minstermen between August and December 2004 before being dropped by caretaker manager Viv Busby.

It was during that run of games that Stockdale first gained international recognition, being selected for the England C (non-league) squad for a friendly v Italy (he went on as a sub for Nikki Bull).

After his club disappointment, he told the York Evening Press: “I was gutted when I was taken out of the team but I’ve just gone back to the training ground and worked as hard as I can.

“I have got my best years to come. I am only 19 and I hope I can get a contract for next year and stay at the club.”

When former Albion midfielder Billy McEwan took charge, he offered Stockdale his first professional contract, although the youngster prevaricated over signing it, much to the manager’s dismay.

McEwan told the York Evening Press: “If the players don’t want to sign, then it’s up to them. They can go because I want players who want to play for York City Football Club.

“But David Stockdale is the biggest disappointment to me and I have told him that. He’s a young apprentice getting his first professional contract and the last thing in his mind should be money. That should be of secondary importance and he should be grateful York City are offering him a contract.

“On the evidence of his last performance of the season, he has to do better if he wants to get into the team.

“At the moment, he has potential but so have a lot of players. Maybe he feels he can get an automatic number one spot but that’s up for grabs this summer.”

Shortly after signing the contract, Stockdale went on loan to Northern Premier League club Wakefield-Emley and the following March joined Worksop Town on a temporary basis.

Stockdale was released by York at the end of the 2005-06 season with some more harsh words from McEwan about his weight ringing in his ears. After signing for League Two Darlington, Stockdale told the York Evening Press being released had been the incentive he needed to save his career.

“I have done well in pre-season and got back into shape after letting myself go at York, which was well-documented,” he said. “I accept now that was the case and agree with the manager but I would have preferred not to have been criticised in public.

“It has probably given me a kick up the backside though to get me going again and I feel a better person now. I would have loved to have stayed at York because I was there for a long time and have a great affection for the club.

“I would like to thank everybody there for all the help they have given me. The fans were always great and I learnt everything there so it was a bit of a shock to go.”

Clearly benefiting from full-time goalkeeping coaching from former Darlington, Bristol Rovers and Middlesbrough no.1 Andy Collett, Stockdale became manager Dave Penney’s preferred first choice ‘keeper, ousting former Derby and Bolton stopper Andy Oakes.

Scouts from Birmingham and Newcastle were said to be monitoring his development but it was Fulham who stepped in and signed him in April 2008 for an undisclosed sum (thought to be £350,000 rising to a possible £600,000). He was loaned back to Darlo to finish the season when they lost out in the League Two play-off semi-finals.

Although he was at Fulham for six years, much of Stockdale’s time on their books was spent out on loan: in League Two with Rotherham United, League One at Leicester City, and in the Championship with Plymouth Argyle, Ipswich Town and Hull City.

Nevertheless, his parent club did give him a reasonable sprinkling of first team outings: he played a total of 52 games, 39 in the Premier League.

Indeed in 2011, when he was covering for the injured Mark Schwarzer, Fabio Capello, the England boss at the time, called him up for international duty, although he didn’t get to play.

His best run of games for Fulham in the Premier League came in the 2013-14 season when he made 21 appearances (he also played five cup games).

After he left Brighton, Stockdale was Birmingham’s first choice ‘keeper throughout the 2017-18 season (apart from two months out with an injured wrist). He played 39 games, having replaced the previous season’s no.1, Tomasz Kuszczak, who had also moved to City from Brighton.

Blues only narrowly avoided relegation from the Championship with Redknapp only lasting until mid-September as manager; Lee Carsley briefly in temporary charge, Steve Cotterill for five months and then Garry Monk.

Monk brought in Lee Camp as his first-choice ‘keeper and Stockdale was sent out on loan to three different League One clubs: Southend United (on an emergency seven-day arrangement), Wycombe Wanderers and Coventry City.

After making a single appearance for Birmingham under Monk’s successor Pep Clotet at the start of the 2019-20 season, Stockdale rejoined Wycombe in January 2020 on a half-season loan.

He then moved to Wycombe on a permanent contract in September 2020 but only played twice, with Ryan Allsop the preferred no.1. In February 2021, he linked up with League Two Stevenage on loan and played five matches before having to return to Wycombe when Allsop was injured.

He kept the shirt until the end of the season, when Wanderers were relegated to League One, and, with Allsop having been released, Stockdale stepped up and was ever-present throughout the 2021-22 season. His 18 clean sheets earned him the League One Golden Glove award, jointly with Michael Cooper of Plymouth.

Nevertheless, with his contract up, he then returned to Yorkshire, signing for Darren Moore’s Sheffield Wednesday, where he played 27 games in the 2022-23 season.

They say what goes around comes around, and at the start of the 2023-24 season Stockdale went back to York City, although he sustained an injury early on in the season that caused him to be sidelined from the National League team.

As well as his familiar playing role, Stockdale began to look towards a time when he hangs up the gloves by also being appointed York’s head of recruitment. However, he was let go from the role in April 2024.

Away from his direct involvement in club football, he began a postgraduate diploma in Global Football Sport Directorship with the PFA Business School.

How the gaffes of goalie González worked both ways

DAVID GONZÁLEZ might well have been an experienced international goalkeeper but conceding a soft goal on his debut didn’t go down well with the Albion faithful.

Brighton fans were a whole lot happier when the same player shipped five AGAINST the Seagulls four months later.

Columbian González, who’d spent two years as a Manchester City back-up ‘keeper, only played twice for the Seagulls during a short-term deal in 2012.

After signing him in January that year, manager Gus Poyet finally gave him a chance at the end of the season after Peter Brezovan had conceded six in a thrashing at West Ham. González was one of six changes to the line-up that had capitulated at the Boleyn Ground.

But, against Watford at the Amex three days later, there were only six minutes on the clock when the Colombian saw Sean Murray’s cracker of a free-kick sail over him into the net.

When González did make a routine save, supporters in the North Stand greeted it with sarcastic applause, which incensed Poyet. In his post-match interview with the Argus, he said: “If David had let a goal in through his legs I wouldn’t agree but I would understand that sometimes we take the mickey out of somebody, but it wasn’t like that so they need to be careful.

“I don’t like it because they are being unfair to an unbelievable group of players who are bringing plenty of joy to this football club and attacking any single person is attacking the whole club.”

The ‘keeper’s debut hadn’t got much better when Troy Deeney put Watford 2-0 up with a penalty a minute before half-time. Thankfully Albion hit back in the second half and forced a draw with goals from captain Inigo Calderon and former Hornet Will Buckley.

Ironically, the Watford ‘keeper that night, Tomasz Kuszczak, was brought in by Poyet that summer and González ended up at Barnsley – the side he made his only other Albion appearance against in the last game of the season.

*González keeps goal for Albion at Barnsley* *and, below, sees five go past him when playing FOR the Tykes at the Amex at the start of the next season*

At least he didn’t concede at Oakwell, although the 0-0 bore draw was a dire spectacle: a typical end-of-season encounter.

Almost the only things of note were that Barnsley included a young John Stones in their line-up together with David Button in goal and former Albion flop Craig Davies was up front.

In one of those strange quirks of football, González was back at the Amex at the end of August having been drafted in by the Tykes to cover a goalkeeping injury crisis.

It was not a happy return. As the Yorkshire Post reported: “Brighton were 2-0 up after only 14 minutes, with goals from Ashley Barnes and former England defender (Wayne) Bridge, with Barnsley goalkeeper David González at fault on both occasions.”

González dropped a free-kick by Craig Noone for Barnes to tap in after three minutes and the Colombian was “simply a bystander” when Bridge beat him to his left with a low drive from 25 yards. It was Bridge’s first league goal for nine years.

*Ashley Barnes wheels away after scoring past Albion’s former ‘keeper*

Barnsley pulled a goal back with a 36th-minute penalty from Davies after Andrew Crofts fouled Jacob Mellis, but Craig Mackail-Smith got the final touch on Barnes’s shot a minute later.

Mackail-Smith scored again four minutes after half-time with a close-range header and Barnes made it 5-1 10 minutes from time, slotting home Kazenga LuaLua’s cross.

Barnsley boss Keith Hill said afterwards: “We had 12 players out but I have no excuses whatsoever. It was inept and I include myself in that. The opposition were excellent and it could have been up to 10-1.”

Born in Medellín on 20 July 1982, González began his career at his hometown club Independiente Medellín and he played more games for them than any other club he subsequently joined (he returned for a four-year spell between 2015-19). And in June 2022 he was appointed their manager.

González also had two separate spells with another Columbian side, Deportivo Cali (he ended his playing career with them in 2020) and left South America for Turkey in 2007, spending two seasons with Çaykur Rizespor.

After failing to make an impression with Argentinian side Club Atlético Huracán he had a successful trial at Manchester City in late 2009 during Roberto Mancini’s reign. He wasn’t named in their 2010-11 Premier League squad but he was the reserve side’s regular ‘keeper until, in the second half of the season, he was sent on loan to Leeds, where he remained back-up behind Kasper Schmeichel and Shane Higgs.

He was unlucky not to get a chance back at City when he sustained an injury at the same time as Shay Given and no.2 Stuart Taylor. Marton Fulop was brought in on loan from Sunderland instead.

At the start of the following season, González was sent on a six-month loan arrangement to Aberdeen, where he hoped his performances would catch Mancini’s eye.

“I want to have a good spell at Aberdeen and to show Mancini that I should be considered for the team,” he told the Daily Record. “But Man City have so much money they can go out and buy just about any player they want.

“The way things are going they will become the best team in the world and I see that happening sooner than a lot of people think.”

The goalkeeper featured in 14 games for the Scottish Premier League club when first choice Jamie Langfield was sidelined following a seizure. On his return to Manchester, his contract was terminated by mutual consent and the free agent was taken on by Brighton, where Poyet had just dropped Casper Ankergren and installed Brezovan as his first choice ‘keeper.

Poyet told seagulls.co.uk: “David is an international with an excellent pedigree, playing over 300 senior games at the top level in South America, Turkey and Scotland. He has won the league in Colombia and has been capped by the national team.

“The idea is for David to compete with Peter and Casper to be first choice. Peter has come in recently and done very well, and is currently number one, but it’s now up to both David and Casper to put pressure on him to be first choice.”

That mauling at the Amex in August 2012 was one of only three Championship games González played for Barnsley and in Albion’s matchday programme he had admitted he saw his time with the Tykes as a shop window.

“I want people to come and have a look, to see what I’m capable of, but nothing else has been said really,” he said. “I’m just here for the time being while the boys are out with injury and suspension, so I’m just going to enjoy it and try to do the best I can.” Oops!

The following year he moved back to Columbia, initially playing for Deportivo Pasto, then Águilas Doradas before returning to Independiente Medellín in 2015.

Casper Ankergren – the ‘Great Dane’ between the sticks

DANISH goalkeeper Casper Ankergren earned the League One player of the month award four times – twice with Leeds United and twice with Brighton.

When the Yorkshire club dumped him after he’d played 143 games for them, Gus Poyet, his former assistant manager at Elland Road, gave him the chance to revive his English football career. He spent seven years as a player at Brighton and between 2017 and 2021 assisted Ben Roberts with coaching Albion’s goalkeepers.

The Dane was only truly Albion no.1 for a season and a half, and fans were often divided about his capabilities. But his ability with the ball at his feet suited the way Poyet wanted the Albion to play, and as a coach chimes perfectly with the expectations placed on today’s Albion goalkeepers.

“He really is key to the way we pass it out from the back,” observed ‘Murraymint’ on North Stand Chat, noting his ball playing and vision for a pass as “excellent”.

Ankergren himself explained in a podcast on the club website in 2020: “I was always quite comfortable with the ball at my feet, probably because I played outfield as a kid.

“At Leeds I wasn’t supposed to play it to the centre backs but under Gus you had to play it short; he would go mental if you didn’t. That was his philosophy. I’ve always been a big fan of possession-based football.”

On the eve of the 2010-11 season, Poyet’s goalkeeping options were narrowed when first-choice Peter Brezovan was nursing a wrist injury and he wasn’t happy to start the campaign with either of the inexperienced understudies, Michael Poke or Mitch Walker.

Poyet told the club’s official website: “Goalkeeper is a key position in the team, and with Brezovan injured, we wanted to bring some experience to that position.

“Casper brings that experience and has played at this level and higher. I have worked with him at Leeds United, and know exactly what he is capable of, he also knows what it takes to get promoted from League One.”

Ankergren hadn’t even had time to get to know his new teammates when he made his Albion debut in a 2-1 win in the season-opener away to Swindon Town the day after signing.

Unfortunately, he didn’t cover himself in glory on his home debut when a mistimed punch helped Rochdale to get a last-gasp equaliser in a 2-2 draw at Withdean.

The ’keeper admitted he later hid himself away in his Jury’s Inn hotel feeling dreadful about the mistake. “I was devastated, but that’s football. As a keeper you can do well for 90 minutes but if you cock up in the 91^st minute that’s all people remember you for,” he said in a matchday programme article. “It’s part of the game as a goalkeeper and you have to accept it.”

He certainly made up for it to the extent that he won the first of two nPower League One Player of the Month awards that season for his displays the following month, when he only conceded once in five matches as Albion secured 13 out of 15 points.

Ankergren won the award again in March 2011 when the Seagulls won eight matches out of eight – with six clean sheets for Ankergren – to consolidate their gallop towards the League One title.

In April 2011, Ankergren, speaking at the PFA awards in London, said: “He [Gus] was asking us to be perfect and although there’s no such thing in football, we were close, the way we did it, the way we played – he’s very, very pleased. He couldn’t ask for much more, I think.

“At the beginning of the season I had a chat with him and he said he thought a top six finish would be possible. But no, we finished first – an amazing season.”

The promotion with Brighton was more personally satisfying for Ankergren because he was involved from the beginning to the end of the season.

“I played a lot of games for Leeds last season when we went up but I didn’t play the last eight or nine games and that was a big blow for me,” he said. “I’ve played every game in the league this season and obviously it’s great, that’s what you want to do as a footballer; you want to play every game and win and achieve something.”

He was in goal for the memorable first Amex league fixture against Doncaster and kept the shirt for the first 15 games of the 2011-12 Championship season. But after a seven-game winless run, Steve Harper came in on loan from Newcastle United.

When Harper returned to the North East, he got back in the side for seven more matches, but after four successive defeats in December, Poyet rang the changes for the New Year’s Day match at home to Southampton. Brezovan started in Albion’s surprise 3-0 win and stayed in goal through to the end of the season.

Fan Bradley Stratton later observed: “Brighton’s return to the Championship at the Amex highlighted the need for another change in goal. Ankergren and Brezovan, whilst competent in League One, were regularly found out at the higher level.

“They inspired little confidence in fans, and there was no doubt Poyet would use the summer window in 2012 to bring in a new man who could galvanise the Albion back line and restore confidence to a defence that had conceded six goals at both West Ham and Liverpool that year.”

After Tomasz Kuszczak arrived to become the senior goalkeeper, Ankergren’s first team action in 2012-13 was limited to four starts plus one as a sub.

Two of those were in the FA Cup against Premier League opposition. The third round FA Cup win over Newcastle United was his first appearance in the first team for 13 months and he said: “Although I have not been playing for the first team, I’ve always trained as hard as ever because you never know what’s round the corner and you want to push the other keepers hard, so I was ready. It’s still hard to be thrown straight back into action because you need to play regularly to get into the rhythm of things, but I was pretty happy with my performance against Newcastle.”

And there was nothing he could do to prevent Theo Walcott’s late deflected winner as Arsenal won the fourth round tie 3-2 at the Amex, when Leo Ulloa scored on his debut.

As if to emphasise his point about memorable howlers, one of his two league games that season was at Nottingham Forest, when he fumbled a last-minute equaliser at the City Ground, allowing Henri Lansbury’s long-range effort to earn the home side a point in a 2-2 draw.

Poyet was quick to sympathise with the goalkeeper and said: “To begin with I thought the shot must have taken a deflection but when I’ve seen it again I nearly killed myself!

“When you are a keeper you pay the price and Casper has done that today. He was having a very, very good game, making two or three good saves, coming for crosses and kicking very well. And in training he will save 1,000 shots like that, but we wanted him to save it today.

“Goalkeeper is a terrible position to play but we lose together and we win together – at least we got a point.”

In Oscar Garcia’s only season in charge, Ankergren played only two first team matches but he was kept on under Sami Hyypia and, with the arrival of David Stockdale and the emergence of youngster Christian Walton limiting his likely involvement even further, he made just the one appearance in the 2014-15 season, in Albion’s 4-2 League Cup win away to Swindon Town.

He confessed on the podcast that he struggled to get his head round the situation and contemplated quitting the game but was talked out of it by goalkeeping coach Andy Beasley.

With the arrival of Niki Maenpaa as back-up to Stockdale, Ankergren could have been forgiven for thinking his chances of ever playing first team football again had gone, but in a bizarre set of circumstances during a FA Cup tie at Lincoln City on 28 January 2017, Ankergren had to come off the bench in the 56^th minute when Maenpaa went off injured.

The Finn had injured his shoulder in the melee that resulted after Glenn Murray had committed a foul in the penalty area and the first thing Ankergren had to do was to face the resultant penalty, which was scored.

Five minutes later he was picking the ball out of the back of the net again after inexperienced Chelsea loanee Fikayo Tomori had skewed a shot past the beleaguered ‘keeper. To rub salt in the wound, Albion lost 3-1, enabling City to reach the last 16 of the competition for the first time in their 115-year history. The consolation for Albion, of course, was that they were able to concentrate on the league, and they went on finally to win promotion to the elite level they’d left in 1983.

That promotion signalled the end of Ankergren’s playing days but the start of a career as a goalkeeping coach which he admitted in the podcast he’s enjoying immensely.

Born in the Danish coastal seaport of Køge on 9 November 1979, Ankergren played football with his mates from an early age on a pitch close to his home. He also played handball in the winter – it’s a big sport in Denmark – and it got to the point where he had to decide which one to pursue seriously because his parents said he couldn’t do both. He chose football because he enjoyed it a bit more, although he reckoned the hand-eye coordination involved in handball was an asset as he pursued his career as a goalkeeper.

When he started out playing organised football with Solrød FC, he switched from centre half to midfielder to striker and only went in goal when their keeper got injured.

He was only 12 when he was signed by his hometown’s local professional club, HB Køge. Before he became a full professional, he worked for a pizzeria delivering pizzas and at an after-school club. After leaving school, he continued his education at college for a further two years because he wanted to be a policeman if football didn’t work out.

But having broken into the Køge first team, he caught the attention of Brondby, who were probably the biggest club in Denmark at the time.

He joined them in May 2000 and started full-time the following January. “It was a big, big step for me,” he told the podcast. “I didn’t really enjoy it at first. It was a bigger step than I expected it to be.”

Their first-choice keeper, Morgens Krogh, had won Euro ‘92 with the national team so it was tough to compete with him. But the youngster made his debut when Krogh was injured and eventually took the no.1 spot. As well as winning one championship, he topped it by winning the league and cup double in 2005-06.

Ankergren also gained experience playing in the Europa League against teams like Locomotiv Moscow, Espanol and Palermo.

Shortly after he signed a new three-year contract with Brondby, unbeknown to him they signed Stephan Andersen from Charlton Athletic, and Ankergren wasn’t assured he’d still be first choice. “I’d had enough and wanted to try something different so while I was away with the national team (the B side) in Asia, I got a call from my agent saying Leeds were interested.”

Ankergren just missed out on a full international cap, although he was on the bench for games against Luxembourg and the Czech Repubic. He did win a handful of under 21 caps, and he said: “I’ve represented my country at various junior levels and remember making my under 16 debut against England. On the other side that days was Wes Brown and Michael Owen – you could tell both would have successful careers. Owen looked something special and he scored against me in a 4-1 defeat. I didn’t have my best game.”

Ankergren joined Leeds on loan initially, making his debut aged 27 in a 2-1 home win over Crystal Palace on 19 February 2007. Although it panned out to be one of the most turbulent times in the club’s history, Ankergren found life at Leeds more relaxed under Dennis Wise and Poyet than he had in Denmark.

His 14 games at the bottom of the Championship couldn’t halt the slide towards relegation which was confirmed emphatically with a points deduction when the club went into administration.

“I saved a couple of penalties early on, which won over the fans, including an important one against fellow strugglers Luton,” he said. He denied Dean Morgan from 12 yards with only four minutes left of a tense afternoon, and he told a supporter’s blog: “There were a few minutes, plus stoppage time to go against Luton so I had to stay focused as they were down there with us, so the win was vital.

“I had also saved a penalty away at Cardiff City but unfortunately we still lost the game.”

After signing on permanently, Ankergren was first choice as Leeds acclimatised to third tier football in 2007-08. He made 54 appearances in all competitions and, having conceded only one goal in five league games in September 2007, won his first League One Player of the Month award.

It wasn’t always plain sailing at Elland Road, though, and he was sad to see Poyet depart to become assistant manager to Juande Ramos at Spurs in November 2007, followed early in the new year by Wise, who became director of football at Newcastle.

“Gus was really, really respected up in Leeds. It was a big loss when he went to Tottenham – we really missed him, but I kept in touch after he left,” said Ankergren.

“I liked his style. If you do well, he’ll let you know – but if you don’t do well, he’ll also let you know. There’s none of this going behind your back; he’ll say it to your face, which is what I like.”

He also felt a sense of loss with Wise’s departure. “It was a massive disappointment for me personally,” he said. “Wisey is a good man, he had given me the chance to play in England and I will always be grateful to him.”

In March 2008, the goalkeeper faced an “improper conduct” charge brought by the FA for allegedly throwing a missile into the crowd at the County Ground, Swindon. He was fined £750 but not banned.

Gary McAllister was installed as manager and steered the club to the end of season play-offs against Doncaster Rovers and, despite some important saves by Ankergren, they lost. “I don’t know why but we never turned up at Wembley,” said Ankergren. “It was a strange feeling which let me flat, and it took a long time to get over that. We came so near, yet so far.”

Ankergren admitted to sheridan-dictates.com that he did not particularly enjoy the 2008-09 season. “It appeared that McAllister didn’t know his best team. I was in the side one week then the next he would pick Dave Lucas. Goalkeepers need games to stay sharp and focused and the thought of being dropped played on me and I did not perform to the standards I expected from myself.

“McAllister had been an outstanding midfielder but he was a League One manager with a League One squad. I think he expected too much from a group who didn’t have the ability that he had been blessed with as a player.

“The atmosphere was not great around the club and I thought that McAllister made some very strange decisions.

“Although I did not have any real issues with the manager, I have to be honest and say that I was not too disappointed when he was sacked and Simon Grayson was brought in.”

Grayson’s reign started on Boxing Day 2008 and he put Ankergren back into his team to play Leicester City. Leeds had fallen into mid-table but turned things around to earn a place in the play offs against Millwall who won the two-legged semi-final.

“Looking back, could we handle the favourites tag?” Ankergren asked. “It was another horrible feeling, but we were all determined to come back for pre-season training and go one better.”

However, although Lucas had left the club, Ankergren faced new competition in Shane Higgs and Grayson went with him at the start of the 2009-10 season.

But when Higgs was injured at MK Dons on 26 September 2009, Ankergren appeared as a substitute and eventually won his place back, even though United brought in Frank Fielding and David Martin as loan goalkeepers, and he had the feeling Grayson didn’t really rate him.

Ankergren re-established himself with a string of impressive performances and clean sheets and was the last line of defence in a memorable 1-0 FA Cup third round win for Leeds at Old Trafford in January 2010, including pulling off a terrific save to deny Danny Welbeck.

He was also in goal against Spurs in the next round when it took a replay at Elland Road before the north London club finally won through.

However, the beginning of the end of his time at Elland Road came when he made a mistake in a 2-0 home defeat against Millwall on 22 March 2010, and he didn’t return to the side for the remaining nine games as they went on to win promotion to the Championship as runners up behind Norwich City.

“I remember sitting with Paul Dickov in the dressing room having a beer and reflecting on what we had achieved,” Ankergren told sheridan-dictates.com. “We went over to the Centenary Pavilion for the end of season dinner and on to a nightclub, It was a great night but deep down I knew that I had played my last game for the club as my contract was up.”

Ironically, his replacement at Leeds was fellow Dane, Kasper Schmeichel, son of Ankergren’s goalkeeping idol, Peter, who also played for Brondby before going on to achieve fame at Manchester United.

Ankergren’s 11-year association with the Seagulls came to an end in September 2021 when he returned to his home country as head goalkeeping coach at Brondby.

Pictures from various online sources, matchday programmes and the Argus

Paul McShane wrote his name in Albion’s history in one season

McShane

FLAME-HAIRED Irish centre back Paul McShane was a complete revelation during a season on loan to Brighton from Manchester United.

The 2005-06 season ended ingloriously for the Seagulls but McShane was imperious, given a platform to launch a career which saw him play most of it in the second tier of English football, and almost 100 times at the top level, together with earning him 33 full caps for his country.

Although he was given a squad number by United, and had been selected by Sir Alex Ferguson for pre-season matches, McShane didn’t get the chance to play any proper competitive football for United’s first team.

United reserve team manager, Brian McClair, a former Celtic teammate of Albion manager, Mark McGhee, could see the benefit of giving McShane first team football at a decent level and an initial half-season loan was agreed, then, in January, it was extended to the season’s end.

Brighton were missing the long-term injured Adam Hinshelwood and although veteran Jason Dodd had been signed to add experience to the defence, his season was to be plagued by injury, so McShane was a near permanent fixture alongside Guy Butters in the centre of the back four.

The young defender shared a flat in Hove with fellow Republic of Ireland international Wayne Henderson and in an early season profile article, Butters was quick to acknowledge the quality of the youngster. “He is an excellent player. He’s only 19 but you see he’s got that Premiership quality about him,” said Butters. “He’s very confident; he likes to bring the ball down and play.”

The former Spurs and Portsmouth defender said he reminded him of Richard Gough, a former teammate at Tottenham. “He’s strong; not the tallest, but makes up for that with his great leap. Very good on the ball, quick and great in deep positions.”

McShane cover His passion and aggression sometimes got the better of him and the only reason he wasn’t ever present was a penchant for bookings – 12 over the course of the season – which earned suspensions, and a couple of injury-induced absences. And he was missed when he wasn’t available.

After he’d picked up an ankle injury that required him to return to Old Trafford for treatment, the matchday programme put together an article extolling the merits of the young defender in which it said: “Paul’s cool reading of the game and his ability to overcome some of the most effective attacking players in the division marked him out as a fine prospect, and he proved competitive in the air and on the ground, his pace and positional sense being a real asset.”

In their end-of-season player ratings, the Argus summed up his contribution thus: “Talent and determination in abundance. Rash in the tackle at times but that is a product of his insatiable hunger. Will be sorely missed next season.”

Such was the impact of McShane’s outstanding performances over the course of the season that he was selected as the Player of the Season, the first time a loan player had ever been given the honour.

Butters was convinced it was the right choice and told the Argus: “He’s done really well for us. He’s scored some vital goals. Obviously the one away to Palace springs to mind.

“He has been solid all-round. He is very aggressive, ultra-competitive and hates losing, even in training.”

It’s perhaps inevitable that any player who scores a winning goal against arch rivals Crystal Palace earns a place in Albion folklore. McShane’s scruffy effort, which appeared to go in off his shoulder, at Selhurst Park on 18 October 2005 proved to be the only goal of an intense scrap but how it went in became irrelevant as time passed.

“Crystal Palace was a special night, because of the rivalry,” said McShane. “It was a great atmosphere and scoring that goal was brilliant.”

He scored three other goals over the season, including a crucial opener in a 2-0 win away to Millwall as the Seagulls put up a valiant, but hopeless, fight to avoid the drop, but it will always be the goal at Selhurst that fans remember most.

McShane confessed in an interview with Andy Naylor in the Argus that relegation had hurt, but the season for him had been “brilliant” and “a great experience”.

He said: “It has given me a chance to get out there and make my name in the Championship and I think I have done that well enough.

“It has given me a great opportunity to get the experience I need to take back to Manchester and hopefully give it a good crack there, because I’ve learnt so much this season.

“Brighton have been brilliant to me. They’ve treated me really well. They’ve made me feel very welcome, the fans and the people around. That has helped a lot. It has been great.”

In conclusion, he told Naylor: “The club is part of me now. You never know what will happen in the future but Brighton will always have a place in my heart.”

Perhaps rather presciently, Naylor commented: “McShane’s fierce commitment is unlikely to be seen in an Albion shirt again. If he does not make it at Manchester United, there are sure to be Championship clubs interested in signing him.”

With Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidić United’s regular centre back pairing, and Wes Brown as back-up, it was always going to be a difficult ask to dislodge them, and in August 2006 McShane left Old Trafford together with goalkeeper Luke Steele as makeweights in the deal that took goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak to United.

mufcmcshane McShane and Steele had both been members of United’s winning FA Youth Cup team of 2003, a side which also included Kieran Richardson and Chris Eagles, who went on to make names for themselves in the game.

McShane, born in Wicklow on 6 January 1986, played hurling, Gaelic football, rugby and badminton (his dad, Sean, and uncle played Gaelic football for Dublin) in his early years in Ireland but eventually began to demonstrate his soccer prowess with junior clubs and was playing for St Joseph’s Boys AFC in Dublin when United snapped him up in 2002.

“I was 16 when I signed; I wasn’t going to until I went to Old Trafford with my mum and dad,” McShane said. “It was so down to earth for such a big club. I would be getting the best coaching and training, also playing with some of the best players in the world.”

He added: “Alex Ferguson has been brilliant to me and my family; a very nice man. He just cracks jokes all the time.”

After his success with United’s Youth Cup team, McShane’s first senior football came in 2004 during a brief loan spell with Walsall, where he played four games and scored once.

At Championship West Brom, McShane played 42 games in the 2006-07 season as the Baggies finished fourth and agonisingly lost to Derby County in the play-off final.

Before the new season got underway, McShane was one of 12 new signings manager Roy Keane made for Sunderland, newly-promoted to the Premier League.

He scored an own goal in only his second league game but Sunderland salvaged a 2-2 draw at Birmingham and he went on to make 21 appearances (plus one as sub) as the Black Cats finished just three points clear of the drop zone.

In the following season, McShane went on loan to Premier League new boys, Hull City, and having played 19 games for the Tigers made the move permanent the following season. The KFC Stadium would be his home for the next six years, although he was sent out on loan twice, to Barnsley in 2011 and Crystal Palace in 2012.

In the final game of the 2012-13 season, McShane scored a vital goal for Hull which guaranteed them promotion back to the Premier League, and he earned a new two-year contract from manager Steve Bruce.

However, with Curtis Davies, Alex Bruce and James Chester ahead of him, his appearances were limited, although he did get on as a substitute in Hull’s 3-2 FA Cup Final defeat to Arsenal.

McShane featured 23 times as Hull relinquished their Premier League status in 2015, and he was among six players released by the club, including Liam Rosenior, who moved to Brighton, of course, and goalkeeper Steve Harper, who’d had a short loan spell at Brighton from Newcastle.

McShane wasn’t without a club for long, and joined Reading in July 2015, with manager Steve Clarke telling the club website: “I knew that Paul’s contract with Hull City was due to expire and was always monitoring the situation. When we met up earlier in the summer for a chat I knew that Paul would be a good signing for Reading FC and I’m pleased that we managed to get the deal completed.

“As well as his obvious talents as an experienced defender who is aggressive both in the air and on the ground, I felt that he was a good character to bring into our squad.
“Paul has gained good experience at many clubs and, like Stephen Quinn, was an important part of a promotion-winning team. He has a winning mentality and it will be good for our two young central defenders, Michael Hector and Jake Cooper, to train and play alongside Paul.”

After four years at Reading, over which he played 103 games, in 2019 McShane switched to League One Rochdale.

In July 2021, McShane returned to Man Utd as player-coach for the under 23 side and made two appearances for the under 21s in the EFL Trophy as an over-age player. When he retired from playing at the end of the 2021-22 season he took up the role of professional development phase coach (covering under 18s through to under 23s).

“I’m calling it a day playing now,” he told manutd.com .”I’ve had 20 years playing and I’ve come back into the club as a player-coach in the under 23s. It’s been a great year and great experience but now it’s time to fully focus on the next stage of my career, which will be in coaching.

“It’s amazing how things work out. It’s a great way to end my career, to come back here and help the future generation with their careers. It was perfect, to be honest with you, when this role came about, and I’m grateful to the people who made it happen. I think it’s a great way to end my playing days.”

Man City legend Joe Corrigan played the clown in Brighton

BRIGHTON fans often enter into a debate about the best goalkeeper ever to play for the club.

Although he was past his best when he joined the Seagulls, former England international Joe Corrigan would certainly be a contender.

Corrigan was, quite literally, at 6’4” a giant among goalkeepers and a colossus for Manchester City at the highest level before a second tier spell with Brighton towards the end of his playing career.

He subsequently became a top goalkeeping coach and amongst the ‘keepers he worked with was another former Seagulls favourite, Tomasz Kuszczak, when at West Brom.

After taking over from Harry Dowd, Corrigan was a near permanent fixture in goal for Manchester City between 1970 and 1983, winning a European Cup Winners’ Cup medal at the end of his debut season.

But for his career coinciding with Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence, he would surely have won more than the nine England caps he accumulated.

In total Corrigan made 592 appearances for City, a club record for a goalkeeper, and he was City’s Player of the Year three times.

In 1983, at the age of 34, Corrigan was sold to American club Seattle Sounders for £30,000, but he stayed in the US only a few months, and, in September that year, returned to England with Brighton.

Unfortunately for Joe it was at that turbulent time when, although Jimmy Melia was still the manager, chairman Mike Bamber had installed Chris Cattlin as first team coach behind Melia’s back.

Within a matter of weeks of the 1983-84 season starting, Melia was fired and Cattlin took over.

Corrigan was not impressed. In his 2008 autobiography (Big Joe, The Joe Corrigan Story) he declared Cattlin “the worst manager I’d ever played under” although he described his teammates as “a terrific bunch of lads” and he seemed to enjoy a decent social life on the south coast (pictured below for the matchday programme by Tony Norman, tucking into candy floss on the pier).

corrigan candy For instance, at the annual players Christmas ‘do’ – if the account in Jimmy Case’s autobiography is anything to go by.

Corrigan became big pals with Case during his time at Brighton and the Scouse midfield favourite recounts in Hard Case (John Blake Publishing), a time the players went out on their Christmas ‘bash’ in Brighton wearing fancy dress.

Corrigan wore white tights and a tutu and at one point stood in the middle of the road directing traffic while his teammates crossed – beckoning cars facing a red light to go and stopping cars that were on a green light. “I am still not sure how he survived that incident without having his collar felt,” said Case.

“Joe is a big, soft lad with a heart of gold but he has a painful way of showing it.”

One of his party pieces was to catch people off guard with a short jab in the ribs or arm. One playful punch landed on physio Mike Yaxley broke two of his ribs!

Case described Joe as “a star performer on the pitch and a bloody clown off it”.

Corrigan played 36 times for the Seagulls, including performing heroics in the famous 2-0 1984 FA Cup win over Liverpool, when goals by Terry Connor and Gerry Ryan meant the Seagulls dumped the mighty reds out of the cup two years in succession (following the 2-1 win at Anfield during the 1983 run to the cup final).

Sadly, as revealed in Big Joe, The Joe Corrigan Story, his time with Brighton ended on a sour note and when Cattlin opted for Perry Digweed as his first choice ‘keeper for the 1984-85 season, it all turned publicly ugly.

The club fined Corrigan for speaking out of turn to the press but Corrigan successfully got the fine overturned thanks to help from the PFA.

Under a heading ‘Truth’ Cattlin wrote in his matchday programme notes: “Our club made the papers this week for the wrong reasons, when a Football League tribunal upheld an appeal by Joe Corrigan against a club fine imposed upon him recently.

“Obviously I must accept the decision of the tribunal, just as I expect my players to accept a referee’s decision on the field. However, my dispute with Joe was not about his right to say anything to the press, but simply about what he said.

“At this club I don’t mind players speaking to the press in a responsible manner. I must though reiterate that I don’t want them slagging the staff, fellow players, fellow managers or the club.”

As it became clear he would never play for Brighton again, he went out on loan to Stoke City and Norwich but then back in Brighton Reserves sustained an injury to his neck that ended his career.

Corrigan retired from playing and initially helped to run a haulage business back in Manchester. But the lure of goalkeeping drew him into coaching at a number of clubs: City, Barnsley, Bradford, Tranmere and Stoke all on a part-time basis. Most notably, though, he spent 10 years at Liverpool, until the arrival of Rafa Benitez, then had spells at Celtic, Middlesbrough and West Brom.

The seeds for that part of his career were sown at Brighton, courtesy of John Jackson, the former Crystal Palace goalkeeper, who used to coach the Albion ‘keepers once a week.

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

When at 60 in 2009 he brought down the curtain on a 42-year career in the game, Tony Mowbray, manager of West Brom at the time, told the Birmingham Mail’s Chris Lepkowski: “Joe has been a pleasure to work with. His knowledge and experience have been a big help to me and I’ll be sorry to see him go.

“He’s a great character, a true gentleman and everyone at the club wishes him a long and happy retirement.”

Corrigan told the Mail: “Everyone says you know when the time is right to retire – and I feel this is mine.

“I’ve had just over four great years at this club and want to say a massive thank you to the Albion fans, who have always been very supportive of me and made me feel really welcome.

“The staff and players – particularly the keepers – have also been a pleasure to work with.

“Ironically, my final home game here will be against Liverpool, a club where I spent ten happy years, and we went to City two weeks ago, which obviously is always a special occasion for me.”

In the 2025 New Year’s honours list, Corrigan received an MBE for services to charitable fundraising.

2 Joe diving 3 Joe shouting 4 JC w GR SG EY

Pictures from my scrapbook show Corrigan punching clear of Chelsea’s David Webb, diving headlong to deny Chelsea’s Keith Weller, letting his teammates know his thoughts, and in an Albion squad line-up alongside Eric Young and behind Gerry Ryan and Steve Gatting.

J Cor sept 18

Joe pictured in the Man City matchday programme in September 2018.

In parallel lines

Memories from more than 55 years following Brighton & Hove Albion

Tag: Tomasz Kuszczak