Jamie Moralee’s pitfalls a valuable lesson for future prosperity

IT WOULD BE an understatement to say striker Jamie Moralee had mixed fortunes during his time with Brighton.

A one-time £450,000 signing, the former Crystal Palace player joined the lowly Seagulls on a free transfer when they were playing home games in exile at Gillingham in 1998-99.

His lack of goals earned a certain amount of derision from the handful of Albion followers who supported the club in those dark days.

And on one infamous occasion, in March 1999, he managed to get himself sent off within a minute of going on as a late substitute, without touching the ball.

To make matters worse, the punch he threw didn’t even catch the opponent, John Eyre, who promptly added to Albion’s woes by completing his hat-trick in a 3-1 home win for Scunthorpe United.

The Argus put Moralee’s “moment of madness” down to frustration at so regularly being on the subs bench (16 times – and only sent on in eight of them).

“He did not actually connect, but the intent was obvious and the resulting red card inevitable,” the newspaper reported.

Signed at the start of the season on a month-to-month contract, Moralee had a run of 14 starts under Brian Horton but after scoring just the one goal (in a 3-1 defeat against Mansfield), he was dropped to the bench.

Just before Horton quit to move to Port Vale, he gave Moralee a contract until the end of the season and in January, after Jeff Wood briefly took charge, the player hoped his impact as a sub when laying on a winning goal for Paul Armstrong against Scarborough would help change supporters’ views of his contribution.

“It was nice to be a bit of a hero for a change,” he told The Argus. “I was a bit unlucky with a goal which was disallowed at Chester in the game before and I just want to get on with Brighton and do my best.

“I’ll take the credit because I’ve not had much this season. Hopefully the corner has turned for me.”

Moralee said he had been asked to play several different roles and reckoned much of the criticism aimed his way was unjustified.

“I feel I have done all right,” he maintained. “I don’t think the supporters really appreciate me and they let me know that when I came on, but I will just keep doing my job.

“The players give me all the support I need and I am confident enough to go out and do the business. I certainly won’t hide.”

Having missed several matches after the red mist descended at Scunthorpe, a third manager arrived in the shape of Micky Adams, and Moralee started the last seven matches of the season under the new boss, scoring once.

But it wasn’t enough to earn a new deal and Moralee was one of eight players released at the end of the season. Having played under three managers in one season for the Albion, there was swift change in the dugout at his next port of call too.

He began the next season up a division with Colchester United, whose manager Mick Wadsworth said: “I remember him as a very outstanding young player with Millwall. We watched him several times during last season.

“He is very sharp in and around the penalty box and his hold-up play is exceptional – a quality we were sadly lacking in the season just gone.

“Jamie was an outstanding prospect as a young player with Millwall and was sold on to Watford for £450,000 around five years ago before his career became blighted by injuries.

“Last season was his first full season for some time as he battled to shrug off a string of injuries and has probably used Brighton to get back to full fitness and match sharpness.”

The season was only three games old when Wadsworth resigned and was replaced by Steve Whitton who saw his United side beat Reading 3-2 in his first match (Warren Aspinall scored twice and Nicky Forster scored one for the visitors). Moralee, making his league debut for Colchester, was subbed off on 76 minutes.

After that, Colchester went on an 11-game winless run and other than a positive spell in January, had a forgettable season and finished third from bottom. Moralee made 21 starts plus eight as a sub.

Born in Wandsworth, London, on 2 December 1971, Moralee joined Palace as a YTS trainee, working his way through the levels alongside Gareth Southgate. He was a regular in the Palace reserves playing up front with Stan Collymore.

But after just two first team starts and four sub appearances under Steve Coppell, he was traded as a makeweight in exchange for Millwall’s Chris Armstrong.

When unveiled to Lions fans in a matchday programme article, Moralee boldly declared: “Having broken though into first team football with Palace last season and learned from strikers like Mark Bright and Garry Thompson, I feel I’m ready to come to a club like Millwall and score twenty goals a season.”

Of the player he swapped places with, he even went as far as to say: “Chris was quick and by all accounts did very well here in the opening games this season, but I’ll score more goals than him.”

Continuing in a similar vein, he added: “I’m most effective in the box, I like the ball into my feet and, at the risk of sounding over confident, if I get the chances I’ll score goals for you.”

True to his word, Moralee did get amongst the goals for Mick McCarthy’s side and 20 goals in 63 appearances (plus 13 as a sub) over two seasons earned him a £450,000 move to Watford.

*Moralee made a big money move from Millwall to Watford*

But the Glenn Roeder signing had a tough time with the Hornets, only seeing his fortunes change after Graham Taylor returned to the club as manager. He explained the circumstances in a full-page piece in the Wolves v Watford matchday programme of 30 March 1996.

“Glenn bought me to play up front with a big target man, which I was used to at Millwall. But the partners I had were all smaller than me and I was now the big target man, a role that did not suit me and one that I do not enjoy.

“I had always been used to scoring, something that wasn’t happening, and this resulted in a loss of confidence.

“The intentions were there, but I needed a big target man to feed me the ball. It just did not work out.”

When Taylor took over from Roeder, Moralee got back the starting place he’d lost and learned how to play as a lone striker. “It is a lot of work but I believe I have developed into a better all-round player,” he said. “It is nice to have a manager with a little faith in me.”

After Watford were relegated to Division Two, in the summer of 1996 he moved on a free transfer to Crewe Alexandra where he didn’t register any goals and made just 13 starts and six sub appearances.

He ended the 1997-98 season with Royal Antwerp in Belgium and spent pre-season with Fulham before Horton took him on at the Albion, initially on a monthly contract basis, at the start of the 1998-99 season.

After his season at Layer Road, he linked up with former Crystal Palace colleague Peter Nicholas at Welsh Premier League side Barry Town. He spent three seasons with Barry, winning the Welsh Premier-Welsh Cup double each season. He was also involved in three Champions League campaigns with the club and netted 59 goals in 96 appearances.

Financial problems at Barry led to Moralee moving on and he had spells with Forest Green Rovers, Newport County and Chelmsford City before ending his playing career in 2006.

After retiring from playing, Moralee set up his own football agency, New Era, in conjunction with former Albion teammate Peter Smith, with Rio Ferdinand as its highest profile client.

In an interview for a webinar, Moralee said the agency aims to teach up and coming talented footballers how to avoid the pitfalls that affected his own playing career.

Describing his own “very up and down career with a couple of highs and many, many lows”, he explained to The Player, The Coach, The Person webinar: “When I got a few quid, I was spending it on all the wrong things. Buying cars and watches and going out too much; drinking too much. I wasn’t investing it.”

Hard work, application and a ruthlessness to succeed in life are aspects he’s now passing on having realised they were attributes that would have made a difference to his own career as a player.

“I needed to stay in football in some capacity,” he said. “I didn’t want to be a coach or manager.I knew that young players, if they got to the edge of the pitfalls I fell down, I could help them.”

He is particularly pleased to have helped players who had rejection in their early days who went on to have successful careers, such as Welsh internationals Chris Gunter, Neil Taylor and Ashley Williams.

Moralee spoke openly about his 20-year friendship with Rio Ferdinand in a 2018 film for the ‘Best Man Project’ of The Campaign Against Living Miserably (Calm): an initiative to celebrate the power of friendships which supports men in looking out for their mates.

*Opening up on the power of friendships in football*

Season-opening hat-trick a dream come true for Freeman

THE NEW season opening game 26 years ago saw Darren Freeman score a hat-trick as the back-in-Brighton Seagulls hammered Mansfield Town 6-0.

For Freeman, who’d previously played under Micky Adams at Fulham and Brentford, it really couldn’t have been a better debut for his hometown club as the 1999-2000 season got under way at the Withdean Stadium.

Freeman hit the headlines again when he scored the first league goal of the millennium, crashing home a volley after only two minutes in a noon kick-off 4-2 Withdean win over Exeter City on 3 January 2000. It also earned him a magnum of champagne from league sponsor Nationwide.

“It was a dream come true to play for my hometown club,” Freeman later admitted. After he’d scored that hat-trick at Withdean, he managed to pick out his dad’s face in the 5,582 crowd and fondly recalled his ‘That’s my boy!’ look of pride.

If the start of the season was spectacular, trouble was lurking round the corner with Freeman ending up suspended for seven matches – all in the first half of the season. He incurred a three-game ban after being dismissed for a stamping incident at Cheltenham and worse was to follow after he spat in Plymouth defender Jon Beswetherick’s face.

Beswetherick said: “He caught me in the face with his fist just inside the 18-yard box. I ran after him to have a word in his ear and on the way back up the pitch he just spat in my face.

“He had to go. Footballers all say that is the lowest thing you can do. It was probably in the heat of the moment, but I am sure he regrets it now.”

Not only did he receive a four-game suspension, manager Adams fined him a week’s wages and said: “He let himself down, the club down, his family down and everybody connected with Brighton. He knows that and he is full of remorse. He has been left in no doubt at all that it’s not good enough.”

Freeman was top scorer with 13 goals by the end of the season but a new goalscoring hero had begun to emerge in the shape of raw teenager Bobby Zamora!

That’s not to say Freeman’s days in the stripes were over, but his second season was dogged by injuries. Two hernia operations ruled him out from the start of September to the middle of December, then, after he had worked his way back into the starting line-up, in February 2001 he put in a transfer request after being left out of the side for a home game against Blackpool, sparking an angry reaction from Adams.

“I picked a side against Blackpool which I thought would win us the game and he wasn’t in it,” he said. “He is entitled not to agree, but there is a wrong way and a right way of knocking on my door and he chose the wrong way.

“I’ve never had one player ask to leave a club where I have been a manager. This is somebody as well who I had the utmost time and respect for, having taken him to two of my previous clubs.”

Freeman had a change of heart the following month after Adams restored him to the bench.

“I want to be a part of things,” he explained. “Obviously I’ve had a bad season with injuries and a lot of it was frustration.

“When me and Micky had a chat and I asked for a transfer we both said a few things. We didn’t have a massive fall-out. We are both adults and we have got to get on with it.”

The Argus revealed Freeman’s mentor, and former Albion forward and Northern Ireland international Gerry Armstrong played a part in the decision.

“I speak to Gerry a couple of times a week,” Freeman said. “A man of his experience can only give you good advice. I’ve had a number of conversations with him. It was my own choice to come off the transfer list, but Gerry has talked some great sense into me.”

Albion finished the season as division champions but by then Freeman was having a third hernia operation having made just six starts plus 12 appearances off the bench.

“I admit that as much as I was pleased for the lads, I felt gutted I wasn’t really part of it,” Freeman admitted. He went to Lilleshall and worked through the summer in an effort to regain fitness and earn a new contract.

But it was an uphill battle and although he struggled through pre-season and played in Albion’s opening friendly at his old club Worthing, he told the Argus: “I could hardly walk after the game. I was up all night in absolute agony.”

He was sent to see Harley Street specialist Jerry Gilmore who delivered devastating news: “There is no way you can carry on playing professional football. You are in a right mess, but hopefully we can do something to give you a better quality of life.”

A fourth hernia operation followed but not being able to resume his career hit him hard.

“The club have played an absolutely massive part in helping me through and all of my family and friends, because it has really been a rough time,” he told the Argus.

“It has been great working with him (Adams). He gave me the opportunity to experience promotions, the freedom to express my way of playing and the opportunity to fulfil my ambition.”

In a matchday programme interview several years later, Freeman told Spencer Vignes: “On reflection, I was lucky. Some people play their entire career and don’t win anything, and yet every club I played for got promoted.”

Born in Brighton on 22 August 1973, Freeman went to Varndean School, started playing football with Hollingbury Hawks and then joined Whitehawk as a teenager before playing at Isthmian League level for Worthing and Horsham.

“I came through the non-league system and was given the opportunity to fulfil my dreams,” he told Vignes. “I wasn’t the greatest player but what I can say is I gave everything for every club I played for.”

Freeman turned professional with Gillingham under Tony Pulis in August 1994, where he played alongside future Fulham and Albion teammates Richard Carpenter and Paul Watson. He recalled how it was while he was playing for the Gills against Fulham that Adams’ no.2 Alan Cork got in his ear and told him not to sign a new contract at Priestfield because Fulham wanted to sign him.

Sure enough, as Freeman admitted to Vignes: “Once I knew Fulham were interested, then I was interested. They were, and are, a massive club and it was nice that a team like that wanted me.”

Impressed by Adams’ man-management skills, he said: “He made me feel wanted and that I was a big part of his plans for the 1996-97 season. He sold Fulham to me, saying we were going to do well. And we did, because we won promotion.”

Fulham fans website HammyEnd.com recalled: “The £15,000 Micky Adams paid to Gillingham for the services of shaggy-haired Darren Freeman proved to be a bargain.

“The popular forward quickly became a firm favourite with the Fulham faithful on account of his ability to terrorise defenders, either out wide or through the middle as a conventional centre forward.

“Injuries robbed Freeman of the chance to make good on his undoubted talented, but he still scored nine goals as the Whites went up from Division Three in 1997.”

In an interview with fulhamfc.com, Freeman said: “Micky brought in a great bunch of lads and the togetherness was fantastic. The team morale was really, really good.

“He was quite a young manager, I think he’d actually played that season, but he’d got a great bunch of lads together and we really kicked on.

“When you consider that it was Micky’s first full season as a manager, it’s incredible what he achieved. He went about his business and did his job fantastically.”

He added: “Micky had a lot of faith in me and I feel very privileged to have achieved my goals and my ambitions from when I was a kid, and to be a part of Fulham was the icing on the cake.

“We were paid to do a job but, when I look back at it, it was a dream come true and I don’t think you realise until later on in life how important it was. Fulham, to me, the fans and the whole club, it was just a special time for me.”

As with many others at Craven Cottage, Freeman’s fortunes changed when Kevin Keegan and Ray Wilkins were installed as managers by Mohamed Al Fayed and he joined something of an exodus across London to Brentford.

Coincidentally, Freeman scored on his league debut for Brentford in a 3-0 win over Mansfield (the Stags must have loved him!) and his teammates in that 1998-99 season included Watson, Lloyd Uwusu, Warren Aspinall and Charlie Oatway. Owusu ended the season as top scorer with 25 goals (Freeman scored nine) as the Bees won the Third Division championship.

After his playing days were brought to a premature end, Freeman spent five years as manager of his first club, Whitehawk, leading them to three promotions (from the Sussex County League to the Conference South) and in 2012 to winning the Sussex Senior Cup.

He briefly managed Peacehaven and Telscombe before occupying the manager’s chair at Lewes for nearly three years.

He subsequently became a football agent, initially spending 18 months with Sports Total, one of Europe’s leading football agencies, before joining forces with his former Brentford team at Dirk Hebel Sports Consulting (Hebel named one of his sons Darren after his teammate!).

Freeman told Vignes he relishes the opportunity to pass on his knowledge of the game to current players. “They say nothing compares to playing, but I find it very rewarding. It’s the next best thing to being out there, definitely.”

‘Rooster’ became pivotal to developing young players

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Andy Arnott’s United dream dashed by injury

A PLAYER who was on the brink of signing for Man Utd for £100,000 ended up playing for the Albion in exile.

But for an untimely hernia injury, Andy Arnott would have been an Alex Ferguson signing at Old Trafford.

As it turned out, the moment passed and the opportunity didn’t arise again. He later made 28 appearances for the Seagulls during the 1998-99 season when home games were played at Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium.

It was a ground Arnott was familiar with. Born in nearby Chatham on 18 October 1973, he joined Gillingham as a trainee and had only served one year of his apprenticeship when he was taken on as a professional.

Manager Damien Richardson gave him his debut for the Fourth Division club only four games into the 1991-92 season when he was just 17.

It couldn’t have gone better because he scored the Gills’ opening goal in a 2-0 home win over Scarborough.

This was a Gillingham side that included summer signing Paul Clark, who had been part of Alan Mullery’s successful Brighton side in the late 1970s, and Mike Trusson, who’d won promotion from the Third Division with the Seagulls under Barry Lloyd. A young Richard Carpenter was also breaking through.

Arnott scored three goals in 23 appearances by the season’s end although one goal and two appearances against Aldershot were later expunged from the records because the Shots were expelled from the league.

Nonetheless, the youngster’s emergence hadn’t gone unnoticed higher up the football pyramid and the offer of the chance to join United came along, ostensibly so that he could feature in their youth team’s involvement in the end-of-season Blue Star youth tournament in Zurich.

This was the era of the famous ‘Class of 92’ and Arnott found himself playing alongside David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.

“After impressing during his spell with United, Ferguson made a £100,000 offer to Gillingham which was turned down by the then manager Damien Richardson,” Albion’s matchday programme noted.

*In action for Gillingham against Albion’s Nicky Bissett*

The player then suffered a hernia injury that put him out of the game for a year, putting paid to any further interest from United.

“I was gutted at the time, but it was a case of just getting on with returning to fitness and playing football,” Arnott said.

Back at Gillingham, he played 50 matches and scored 12 goals but then, in January 1996, got a £15,000 move to Leyton Orient. He spent a season and a half with the Os under manager Pat Holland and played in every position to help out the team, including goalkeeper in one emergency.

*Arnott played under Micky Adams at Fulham*

In the summer of 1997, after Fulham’s promotion from Division Three under Micky Adams, Arnott moved to Craven Cottage for an undisclosed fee (thought to be £25,000).

Within a few months, Mohammed Al Fayed took over the club and sacked Adams.

“All of a sudden Fulham went from being an ordinary Second Division outfit to a multi-million pound club,” he said. “I felt sorry for Micky as he had done a fantastic job, but he did foresee what was coming and sorted out long term contracts for most of the players.”

The new management duo of Ray Wilkins and Kevin Keegan brought in their own players and Arnott found himself confined to the reserves with the likes of Mark Walton, winger Paul Brooker, and forward Darren Freeman.

He scored twice for Fulham Reserves in a 3-0 win over Albion’s reserve side on 21 October 1998, and that persuaded Brian Horton to take him on.

“A few clubs had shown an interest around that time, but Brighton were the first that I spoke to and I liked what I was hearing so I signed straight away,” he said.

Horton signed him by the end of the same month for £10,000, plus another appearance-related £10,000, and said in the matchday programme he was “absolutely tremendous” on his debut. It came in a 1-0 win in pouring rain at Barnet when Charlton loanee defender Emeka Ifejagwa scored the only goal of the game on his debut. “He (Arnott) and Jeff Minton forged a good partnership and I am looking for that to flourish,” said Horton.

In his player-by-player commentary of performances, programme columnist Paul Camillin said: “Brilliant debut. He showed a good array of passing skills and he might have the bite we’ve been lacking.”

It was the wrong kind of bite he displayed in only his fourth game, though, when he was shown a red card in the 55^th minute of Albion’s 2-0 win at Horton’s old club Hull City.

Defender Ross Johnson also went for an early bath for a second bookable offence but Albion’s nine men hung on for 35 minutes to complete their fourth successive away League win: the best such run for 62 years!

There’s little doubt Arnott’s arrival coincided with an upturn in the side’s form and in the matchday programme he took time to praise Albion’s loyal followers. “It is a fantastic advantage to have the number of away supporters we do,” he said. “It makes you want to play that little bit more to give them something back. They are absolutely magnificent.”

In the absence of Gary Hobson and Ian Culverhouse, Arnott was given the captain’s armband although that discipline was a bit questionable at times. He saw red for a second time, after Jeff Wood had taken over from Horton, for a second bookable offence at home to his old club Orient – Os captain Dean Smith (manager of relegation-threatened Leicester) also went for a second yellow – although Wood and Orient boss Tommy Taylor both slammed referee Rob Styles for his officiating.

Wood declared: “Too many officials want to stamp their authority on the game early and flash cards like they are going out of fashion.”

Although Arnott saw out the season in the starting line-up, when his old boss Adams took over from Wood, by the time the new season got under way back in Brighton, Adams had signed Paul Rogers and Charlie Oatway as his preferred midfield pair.

By the end of September, Arnott had been snapped up by Second Division Colchester United; initially on loan and then permanently when their new boss Steve Whitton completed a direct swap that saw Warren Aspinall join the Seagulls.

However, Arnott made only four starts plus eight appearances off the bench in that first season and his time with United was blighted by a long-standing groin injury.

“The whole thing has been an absolute nightmare. I have been struggling with the injury for 14 months and despite loads of rest, two operations and four cortisone injections, the problem is as bad as ever,” he told Colchester’s Daily Gazette in January 2001.

“I was really struggling just before Christmas and I visited the specialist who told me I’m pretty near to exhausting my options.

“When it’s at its worst the injury is unbearable, especially when I turn or attempt to hit a long ball.

“I’m still only 27 with what should be many years left in the game.”

Unfortunately, though, he was forced to call time on his professional playing career and dropped into non-league initially with then-Conference side Stevenage, then Dover Athletic, where he was captain, Welling United and Ashford Town.

After his playing days were over, he settled in Rochester and became a project manager for Dryspace Structures while retaining his football links as a coach for Ebbsfleet United’s under 16 team.

Teenage prodigy Newhouse quit game to teach maths

AIDAN NEWHOUSE scored twice on his Albion debut but only started two games for the Seagulls!

The former Fulham striker netted two of Brighton’s six goals in the 1999-2000 season opening match at the Withdean Stadium.

He replaced hat-trick man Darren Freeman with the Albion 4-0 up on 7 August 1999 and promptly added two more goals to complete a 6-0 rout of Mansfield Town (pictures below).

Newhouse, wearing the no.25 later worn iconically by Bobby Zamora, was given a start in a 2-0 league cup defeat away to Torquay United. Although he regularly went on as a substitute, often for Freeman, he only began one other game: a 1-0 home league win over Cheltenham Town.

*Newhouse* *had limited opportunities in Albion colours*

Newhouse had previously played under manager Micky Adams at Fulham in 1997, and, unluckily for him, Freeman and Gary Hart were the first choice forward choices in those opening months.

Competition for places intensified in the autumn with the arrival of Warren Aspinall and Lorenzo Pinamonte. Newhouse was swiftly on his way to Conference club Sutton United.

When they were relegated at the end of the season, he switched to Northwich Victoria in 2001, but only played one match before quitting and becoming a schoolteacher.

Born in the Wirral town of Wallasey on 23 May 1972, Newhouse showed so much early promise that he made his debut for Chester City before his 16^th birthday.

He was just 15 years and 350 days old when he was sent on as a substitute by manager Harry McNally on the final day of the 1987–88 season as Chester won away at Bury 1–0 in the Third Division.

The talented teenager was in David Burnside’s 1988-89 England side for the UEFA Under-18 Championship preliminary matches against Greece (home and away), France and Czechoslovakia, scoring in the 3-0 win away to Greece on 8 March 1989. He played up front with Andrew Cole, later of Manchester United and Newcastle United fame.

The following season he went on as a sub for Cole in a 0-0 draw with Denmark at Wembley; a game which was played at Wembley before the England-Brazil full international. Three weeks later he scored England’s third when he started in a 3-0 win over Poland, another game played before a full international (England v Denmark).

In July the same year, he started all three of England’s matches (a draw and two defeats) when they finished fourth in the UEFA Under-18 Championship in Hungary.

Chester cashed in on their young prodigy, selling him to then First Division Wimbledon for £100,000 in February 1990.

First team opportunities for Wimbledon were few and far between for Newhouse and he is in the same exalted company as former Albion loanee Gary Bull in being one of only four players to have scored on their single Premier League appearance.

Ironically, it came in a match in 1992-93 against Aston Villa best remembered for Dalian Atkinson’s individual goal that won the BBC’s Goal of the Season award. “It was deflected past the goalkeeper,” Newhouse told premierleague.com. “It was a bit of a low-life goal compared to Dalian Atkinson’s.”

It was Bobby Gould who gave him his Wimbledon debut but a stomach injury halted his progress under Gould’s successor Ray Harford, as well as the form of John Fashanu and Terry Gibson.

In a 1990-91 season matchday programme article, Newhouse said: “I was really looking forward to this season. Bobby Gould had given me a taste of first team action and I felt I was ready to really stake a claim for a place.

“Then I picked up the injury and it took me months even to get back into full training let alone playing well.”

Although he was a Wimbledon player for seven years, he went out on loan on four occasions: to Tranmere Rovers, Port Vale, Portsmouth and Torquay United. He eventually left permanently for Fulham in 1997.

He scored four goals in only 12 league and cup matches for Fulham: three in a two-legged League Cup match against Wycombe Wanderers and one in the league in a 2-0 win away to Bristol City on 2 September 1997 (Richard Carpenter scored the other). But, only a few weeks’ later, Adams was controversially replaced by Ray Wilkins and Kevin Keegan under the new Mohammed Al-Fayed regime.

Before long, Newhouse was on his way too. A £30,000 fee took him to Swansea City although, by the time he had arrived, Adams’ short tenure as boss was already over, his role filled by his former no.2 Alan Cork.

It’s probably an understatement to say things didn’t work out for Newhouse in South Wales. Indeed, in a FourFourTwo magazine poll inviting supporters to name their club’s worst player, Newhouse earned the tag from Swansea fans.

He failed to score in 17 appearances across two seasons and Steven Carroll, of the SOS Fanzine, cited a particular game in February 1999, when Carlisle visited the Vetch Field, to back up the claim.

“Due to injuries and suspensions, Newhouse was awarded a rare start. Early on, he was put through on goal and fouled by the ‘keeper inside the box – but while the referee looked set to award a penalty, with said goalkeeper on the floor and both Newhouse/the ball free, our hapless striker shot from close range and missed an open goal. No penalty.

“In the second half, Stuart Roberts received the ball on the edge on the box and was about to shoot, only for Newhouse to kick him in the back of the leg. He never played again after that.”

After retiring from the game in 2001, Newhouse became a maths teacher and he told premierleague.com: “Not all of us are Stevie G and the likes of Neymar,” he said. “I played 13 years, made about £250 a week on average.

“It shows you that, you know, we can do all sorts of things and eventually, to do a job that you enjoy, you will need some education. You will need that to give you an option and a choice.

“Teaching…it’s one of those things. It’s like football, there’s a camaraderie between you and the class.

“Once the guys realise they’re part of a team, there are some similarities. You can have a laugh with the lads and they realise you are there to try and help them succeed.”

Day of reckoning beckoned for talent spotter Mervyn

THE YOUNGEST goalkeeper to appear in a FA Cup final spent 20 months picking out future players for Brighton.

It was one of several different post-playing roles Mervyn Day filled for various clubs.

Day, who at 19 won a winners’ medal with West Ham in 1975, was Albion’s head of scouting and recruitment between November 2012 and the end of the 2013-2014 season under head of football operations David Burke.

At the time, his appointment was another indicator of the gear change taking place at the club as it built on the move to the Amex Stadium and sought to gain promotion from the Championship.

Day said in a matchday programme interview: “This club has come such a long way in such a short space of time.

“When you think of the debacle of the Goldstone, the wilderness of Gillingham, then Withdean, you only have to get a player through the front door at this wonderful stadium to have a chance of signing them.

“Hopefully, within the next year or so, the new training ground will be up and running and, when you’ve got that as well, you’ve got the perfect opportunity not only to encourage kids to sign but top quality players as well.

“If we are fortunate enough to get ourselves into the Premier League at some point, we’ll be able to attract top, top players.”

It was a case of ‘the goalkeepers union’ that led to him joining the Albion. Day explained he’d been chatting to Andy Beasley, Albion’s goalkeeping coach at the time, who had been a colleague when Day was chief scout at Elland Road. Beasley wondered if he’d like to help coach Albion’s academy goalkeepers but Burke, who he also knew, stepped in and offered something more substantial: the job of scouting and talent identification manager.

He certainly brought a wealth of experience to the task. He had previously been assistant manager to former Albion midfielder Alan Curbishley at Charlton and West Ham; manager and assistant manager at Carlisle United, a scout for Fulham and the FA (when Steve McClaren was England manager) and chief scout at Leeds until Neil Warnock took charge.

In addition to that background, in the days before full-time goalkeeper coaches, Day had worked at Southampton under David Jones, Chris Kamara at Bradford City and John Aldridge at Tranmere Rovers. Then in 1997 Everton came along and he joined Howard Kendall’s backroom team alongside Adrian Heath and Viv Busby. “I was living in Leeds at that time, so distance wasn’t an issue, but it was an interesting trip across the M62 in the winter months,” Day recalled in an October 2021 interview with efcheritagesociety.com.

Brighton made Day redundant at the end of the 2013-14 season following a reshuffle of the recruitment department amid criticism of the quality of signings brought in.

That assessment might have been rather harsh because during his time at the club there was a change in manager (Oscar Garcia taking over from Gus Poyet) and, although the season ended in play-off disappointment, the likes of former Hammer Matthew Upson (who’d played under Day when he was at West Ham) had signed permanently on a free transfer (having been on loan from Stoke City for half the previous season).

The experienced Keith Andrews and Stephen Ward also joined on season-long loan deals and played prominent roles in Garcia’s play-off reaching side.

It was under Day’s watch that the promising young goalkeeper Christian Walton was signed after a tip-off from Warren Aspinall. Aspinall told the Argus in 2015: “I went to Plymouth to do a match report. I set off early and took in a youth team game off my own back. He was outstanding, commanding his box. I reported straight back to Gus (Poyet). He told Mervyn Day. He went to see him, Mervyn liked him.”

It wasn’t the first time Day had played a role in securing a goalkeeper for the Albion. As far back as 2003 he had an influence on Ben Roberts’ arrival at the Albion. Manager Steve Coppell revealed: “He is one of three goalkeepers at Charlton and at the moment nearly all the Premiership clubs are very protective about their goalkeepers.

“I have seen him play a number of times, although I certainly haven’t seen him play recently. I spoke with Mervyn Day (Charlton coach) and he says Ben is in good form. It’s a little bit of a chance and it will certainly be a testing start for him, but he is looking forward to the challenge.”

Day was also sniffing around another future Albion ‘keeper when he was chief scout for Bristol City (between 2017 and 2019). According to Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler, Mat Ryan was on their radar in the summer of 2017 when he swapped Belgium for England. In an interview with Socceroos.com, Tyler reveals he was asked by City’s ‘head of recruitment’ (thought to be Day) to glean the opinions of Gary and Phil Neville (manager and coach of Valencia at the time) on Ryan and whether he’d be suitable for the English game.

“I got a text saying, ‘Can you find out from the Nevilles whether they rate Mat Ryan’,” Tyler said. “It wasn’t my opinion they were looking for – quite rightly – it was Gary and Phil’s. I was able to do that and both Gary and Phil gave Mat the thumbs up.”

After leaving Brighton, Day moved straight into a similar role with West Brom, where he worked under technical director Terry Burton and first team manager Alan Irvine, but he was only there a year before linking up with the Robins. He has since been first team domestic scout for Glasgow Rangers, although based in his home town of Chelmsford.

Day was born in Chelmsford on 26 June 1955 and educated at Kings Road Primary School, the same school that England and West Ham World Cup hero Geoff Hurst attended. He moved on to the town’s King Edward VI Grammar School and represented Essex Schools at all levels. He joined the Hammers under Ron Greenwood on a youth contract in 1971.

“On my first day as an associate schoolboy I got taken by goalkeeping coach Ernie Gregory into the little gym behind the Upton Park dressing room and he had Martin Peters, an England World Cup winner, firing shots at me,” Day later recounted. “As a 15-year-old that was incredible.

“The bond got even closer when my father died when I was 17. I was an apprentice but Ron signed me as a full pro within a very short space of time to enable me to earn a little more money to help out at home. A short while later he gave me another increase. He was almost a surrogate father to me.”

In the early part of 1971, Day played in the same England Youth side as Alan Boorn, a Coventry City apprentice Pat Saward took from his old club to the Albion in August 1971.

The goalkeeper was just 18 when he made his West Ham United debut, on 27 August 1973, in a 3-3 home draw with Ipswich Town.

He went on to play 33 matches in his first season and only missed one game in the following three.

Tony Hanna, for West Ham Till I Die, wrote: “In only his eleventh game for the Hammers he received a standing ovation from the Liverpool Kop in a 0-1 defeat that could have been a cricket score but for his fine display and, in his next visit to Anfield, he saved a penalty in a 2-2 draw.”

Day recalled: “As a kid, I had no fear, I took to playing in the first team really, really well. At West Ham, the ‘keeper always had lots to do as we were an entertaining team. We had forward-thinking centre-backs in Bobby Moore and Tommy Taylor, and then after Bobby came Kevin Lock.”

*Mervyn Day in action for West Ham against Brighton at the Goldstone Ground, Hove.*

In 1974, Day progressed to England’s Under-23 side. He won four caps that year and a fifth in 1975 but it was a golden era for England goalkeepers at the time and he didn’t progress to the full international side, despite being touted for a call-up.

By the time Day won that last cap, he had been voted PFA Young Player of the Year and, at 19, had become the youngest goalkeeper to appear in a FA Cup Final, keeping a clean sheet as West Ham beat Fulham 2-0 at Wembley.

Hanna continued: “At times he was performing heroics in the West Ham goal and he was fast becoming a fans favourite. Tall and agile, he was a brilliant shot stopper and he was playing like a ‘keeper well beyond his years.”

However, by the 1977-78 season Day’s form had tapered off as the Hammers were relegated. “His confidence was so bad he was eventually dropped and he only played 23 games that season,” said Hanna. “There are several theories to what triggered the loss of form, but one thing that did not help the lad was the stick he was getting from the Hammers supporters.

“In hindsight Mervyn said that he was ill prepared for such a tough run of form. The early seasons had gone so well that he had only known the good times and when the bad ones came he struggled to come to terms with the pressure.”

In 1979, West Ham smashed the world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper to bring in Phil Parkes from QPR and Day was sold to Leyton Orient, where he replaced long-standing stopper John Jackson, who later became a goalkeeper coach and youth team coach at Brighton.

Day spent four years at Brisbane Road before moving to Aston Villa as back-up ‘keeper to Nigel Spink. After a falling-out with Villa boss Graham Turner, he switched to Leeds under Eddie Gray and then Billy Bremner. During Bremner’s reign, he had the humiliation of conceding six at Stoke City at the start of the 1985-86 season and, in spite of vowing it wouldn’t happen again, let in seven in the repeat fixture the following season. Amongst his Leeds teammates that day were Andy Ritchie and Ian Baird.

Nevertheless, he ended up playing more games (268) for Leeds than any of his other clubs. He rarely missed a game up to the end of 1989-90, the season when was he was named Player of the Year and collected a Second Division championship medal.

Howard Wilkinson offered him a post as goalkeeping coach for United’s first season back in the elite, having lined up a £1m move for John Lukic from Arsenal. Day had a couple of loans spells – at Luton Town and Sheffield United in 1992 – but was otherwise back-up for Lukic, alongside his coaching duties, until Wilkinson saved Brighton’s future by signing Mark Beeney from the Seagulls.

After eight years at Elland Road, Day moved to the Cumbrian outpost of Carlisle in 1993. When he moved into the manager’s chair at Brunton Park, he not only led them to promotion from the Second Division in 1997, but they also won the (Auto Windscreens Shield) Football League Trophy. United beat Colchester 4-3 on penalties at Wembley after a goalless draw; one of the scorers being the aforementioned Warren Aspinall, later of Brighton and Radio Sussex.

Day worked under Curbishley at Charlton for eight years between 1998 and 2006, helping the club stabilise in the Premier League.

And, in December 2006, he followed Curbishley as his No.2 to West Ham, where the duo spent almost two years.

It was in 2010 that he returned to Leeds as chief scout, working under technical director Gwyn Williams. United manager Simon Grayson said at the time: “We’re restructuring the scouting department under Gwyn and Mervyn will be both producing match reports and watching our opposition and working on the recruitment of players.

“Merv’s knowledge and experience will prove important to the football club as we look to progress and develop what we are doing.”

FA Youth Cup winner McPherson shored up leaky Seagulls defence

CENTRAL defender Keith McPherson made just one top division appearance for West Ham’s first team but went on to have a lengthy professional career, with a swansong at Brighton & Hove Albion.

Born of Jamaican parents in Greenwich on 11 September 1963, McPherson signed as an apprentice for the Hammers in 1980 and was a member of the FA Youth Cup winning side in 1981 (they beat Spurs 2-1 over two legs).

It was only the second time in the club’s history they had won the trophy and the excellent theyflysohigh.co.uk faithfully records the details on its website; headlined by the fact young Paul Allen had played in the Hammers FA Cup winning side the year before but was still eligible to play for the youth team.

WHU K McP McPherson’s single first team appearance came at home to Liverpool on 20 May 1985, the last game of the season, which finished 3-0 to the visitors.

Unable to break through again, he had an 11-game loan spell with Cambridge United before a fee of £15,000 took him to Northampton Town in January 1986. He went on to play 216 times for the Cobblers over the next four and a half years.

In the summer of 1990, he joined then First Division Reading where he played for nine years.

Royals’ manager Ian Porterfield signed him having been impressed when the defender scored twice against Reading in previous visits to Elm Park.

McPherson Read McPherson was a regular at the heart of the Royals defence at Elm Park and the Madejski Stadium, and was a key part of the Mark McGhee side that won the Division 2 Championship in 1994.

After spending nine years at Reading, many as captain, and making 317 league and cup appearances, he joined the Albion at the age of 35 shortly before the March transfer deadline in 1999 as beleaguered manager Jeff Wood tried to shore up the centre of a defence which had been leaking goals at an alarming rate.

He made his debut in a hard-fought 0-0 draw away to relegation-threatened Hartlepool which registered Albion’s first point for seven games and first clean sheet since the start of November.

*King, McPherson, Doherty and trainee Duncan McArthur all made debuts at Hartlepool*

The game also saw Wood give debuts to another experienced defender in former Swindon full-back Phil King together with young Charlton loanee Lee Doherty.

With Albion up against it in the league, McPherson even played with a broken nose, manager Wood telling the Argus: “He is happy to play. It doesn’t affect his breathing and his nose is not the prettiest anyway.

“He is very important to us. I brought him in for his experience and if he didn’t play it would weaken us considerably.”

Before the season was out, the experienced defender had played 10 games under three managers and ended up as captain!

Caretaker manager Martin Hinshelwood handed him the armband for his one match in charge, at Plymouth, and McPherson carried on as captain when Micky Adams took over as manager for the final five fixtures.

One of Adams’ first moves once the season had ended was to secure McPherson’s signature for the following season. Adams told the Argus: “Keith is an older and experienced professional who has still got a bit of life in him.”

For the veteran defender, it was all something of a whirlwind. He said: “It has been very eventful. Jeff brought me down and when the chairman decided he had to go that made my position precarious. When something like that happens, all you can do is play well.”

He continued: “I’m delighted. Micky Adams must have liked what he has seen.”

Having helped Reading to promotion from the old Fourth Division in 1987, McPherson pointed out: “I know all about the hustle and bustle at this level. It’s a matter of being organised. The gaffer has made it clear he wants promotion, which is good for the club and the fans.

“We are going to be playing back in Brighton next season and he wants winners.”

*McPherson in the 1999-00 squad photo with Gary Hobson and Charlie Oatway*

McPherson went on to play 25 times that season but, having turned 36, it was his last season in a professional career that saw him play more than 500 games.

The emergence of Danny Cullip curtailed his appearances but, when released on a free transfer at the end of the season, together with Warren Aspinall, Adams said: “The door is not closed on them. They have been good lads, model pros.

“They have done well for us this season, but their appearances have been restricted because of other people’s good form.”

When McPherson decided to move to non-league Slough Town to wind down his playing days, Adams told the Argus: “We are sorry to see him go. He is a good pro who always works hard and tries his best.”

After 75 appearances for Slough, McPherson went back to Reading as a coach.

According to getreading.co.uk, he now lives in Surrey and does computing at a private school.

Pictures: various online sources, and Albion matchday programmes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pictures mainly from the club programme.

Fluctuating fortunes for Guy Butters after beginning alongside Spurs stars

Spurs’ programme remembers the early years of his career.

A programme cover shows Butts in action for Pompey v Oxford.

GUY BUTTERS saw plenty of highs and lows in a 20-year playing career that started with great promise at Tottenham Hotspur and included six years at Brighton, where he still works.

Butts coaches for Albion in the Community, he’s scouted players, hosted hospitality lounges and still turns out to play in charity matches, not to mention sharing a constant flow of corny jokes with his 3,700+ followers on Twitter!

Promotion via the play-offs at Cardiff in 2004 and being chosen as player of the season would be up there in terms of highs with Brighton.

My personal favourite came on 13 November 2004, when Butters scored the only goal of the game as Albion committed daylight robbery in front of 29,514 packed into West Ham’s Boleyn Ground.

BZ GB Brighton were up against it going into the game and had taken veteran Steve Claridge on for a month to help them out of a striker crisis. Hammers threw everything at the Albion that afternoon but somehow the Seagulls kept the ball out and, on 68 minutes, Butts, up for a Richard Carpenter free kick, got his head on the end of it to send the ball into the back of the net in front of the Seagull faithful.

Even after versatile Adam Virgo and Hammers’ Haydn Mullins were sent off for a scrap on 74 minutes, and West Ham bought on substitute Bobby Zamora, the scoreline remained 1-0 to the Albion.

A couple of months later, it was obviously a special day for Butters when, on 8 January 2005, he was given the captain’s armband to lead the Albion in their third round FA Cup tie against Spurs at White Hart Lane.

A programme portrait and skipper for the day in the FA Cup at White Hart Lane.

The matchday programme recalled how Butters “was very much the discovery of the 1988-89 season when manager Terry Venables lifted the tough tackling former Spurs trainee from our reserves to the first team to play alongside Gary Mabbutt and Chris Fairclough in a back three.

“Guy was also in there alongside such names as Paul Gascoigne, Chris Hughton, Chris Waddle, Paul Walsh, Terry Fenwick, Paul Stewart, (former Brighton Cup Final hero) Gary Stevens and Paul Allen. And he kept his regular place the following season when Gary Lineker was added to the squad.”

Born on 30 October 1969 in Hillingdon, he made his debut shortly after his 19^th birthday in a League Cup game against Blackburn, and suffered the agony of scoring an own goal. But on his full league debut as a sub against Wimbledon on 12 November 1988, he made amends with a goal in the right end.

“We won that one 3-2 but it’s probably better remembered by Spurs fans as the game in which Gary Stevens was injured following a tackle by Vinnie Jones,” Butters told the Spurs programme.

“I’ve got great memories of my time at Tottenham but, looking back, I recall spending much of my time trying to avoid Gazza who was always up to something! But it was the players around me that I will never forget – I was in there with men who had appeared in World Cups, and that’s my abiding memory.”

The year after his Spurs debut, Butters also earned international honours. In June 1989, he was involved in three England under 21 tournament matches in Espoirs de Toulon matches.

He started in the 3-2 defeat to Bulgaria on 5 June, and was replaced by substitute Neil Ruddock. Two days later, he came on as a sub for Dean Yates in England’s 6-1 thrashing of Senegal in Sainte Mazime. Two days after that, he came on as a sub for Ruddock, as the under 21s drew 0-0 with the Republic of Ireland in Six-Fours-les-Plages.

Of that side, Carlton Palmer, David Batty and David Hirst went on to gain full England caps, but those three games were Butters’ only representative appearances.

After limited game time at Spurs in the 1989-90 season, Butters went out on loan to Fourth Division Southend United, scoring three times in 16 games.

Steve Sedgley, Fenwick and Gudni Bergsson were all ahead of him as potential partners for Mabbutt so, on 28 September 1990, he was transferred to Portsmouth for a fee of £375,000, having made a total of 35 league appearances for Tottenham.

At Pompey, he played at the back alongside Kit Symons and colleagues included Mark Chamberlain on the wing and Warren Aspinall up front, together with his ex-Spurs teammate Paul Walsh, now better known as a Sky Sports pundit.

But there were mixed fortunes for Butters at Pompey, which he spoke about in a November 2016 interview for the Portsmouth website. He was there six years and enjoyed some good times when Jim Smith was manager.

guy butters YouTube

He had a brief spell on loan with Oxford United in 1994 and he eventually realised his time at Fratton Park was up when a regime change saw the arrival of Terry Venables, who was the Spurs boss when he was sold to Portsmouth.

Tony Pulis signed him for Gillingham for £225,000 on 18 October 1996 and, in six years at Priestfield, one game in particular stands out for the unfortunate pivotal moment Butters played in it.

It was 30 May 1999, the Football League Second Division play-off final to determine the third and final team to gain promotion and Gillingham were up against Manchester City, remarkably, at that time, struggling to get out of the third tier of English football.

Goals from Carl Asaba and Bob Taylor on 81 and 87 minutes looked to have given Pulis’ side victory. But Kevin Horlock had pulled one back for Joe Royle’s City and, as normal time expired, former Albion loanee Paul Dickov equalised for City in the fifth minute of added on time to level the scores at 2-2.

With no further scoring in extra time, it went to penalties. City scored three of their first four; Gills had scored only one of their three. So, the pressure was on Butters, the fourth penalty taker, to bury it to keep the Gills in it.

When Butters stepped up and hit it low to ‘keeper Nicky Weaver’s left…. it was within the 20-year-old’s reach, and he pushed it away. Cue wild celebrations as City won the shoot-out 3-1.

“Missing that penalty was one of the worst moments of my life but you have to move on and I am not afraid to have another go,” Butters told interviewer Alex Crook in an article for the 2004 Division Two play-off final match programme. “At the time, I just wanted the ground to swallow me up but nobody blamed me because it was just one of those things.”

Consolation for Butters came the following year when Gillingham returned to Wembley and on that occasion won 3-2 in extra-time against Wigan Athletic. As with Pompey, Butters had six years in total with the Kent club and played 159 league games before being released in the summer of 2002.

The 2002-03 season was already under way by the time Butters joined Albion on a free transfer and, in the September, he was doing his own personal pre-season workout programme in a bid to get fit.

“When I first came here I had to do a lot of extra work with Dean White,” Butters told Brian Owen, of the Argus. “It was a case of trying to cram a lot of stuff into a little space of time. I wasn’t really getting too much time to recover after it.”

The managerial change from Martin Hinshelwood to Steve Coppell didn’t do Butters any favours either. Virgo and Butters were the centre back pairing for Coppell’s first match – a 4-2 home defeat to Bristol City – and both were then discarded into the wilderness. Virgo went on loan to Exeter and, after Coppell brought in Dean Blackwell to play alongside Danny Cullip, Butters was sent out on loan to Barnet.

But when injury meant Blackwell’s career was over, the door opened again for Butters and he seized the opportunity to such an extent that as Albion won promotion back to the second tier via the play-offs, he was voted player of the season.

GB potseas by Bennett Dean • 2004 Player of the Season pictured by Bennett Dean.

In fact, it was the arrival of Mark McGhee to succeed Coppell that was very much a turning point in Butters’ career because he had previously been considering hanging up his boots.

In Match of My Life (www.knowthescorebooks.com), he said: “Mark was a real breath of fresh air as manager. Straight away he helped me with a special diet and fitness programme aimed at improving my general match fitness, but, more importantly, helping me work towards prolonging my professional football career.

“He was the first manager to do that and under his guidance I began to thrive and really enjoy my football again.”

As the Argus previewed the 2004-05 season with a special publication, they declared: “Buoyed by a great run of form in last season’s run-in and looking in good shape in training, Butters is ready for another stab at the second tier of English football.”

And Butters said: “This year I did a bit in the summer when I was on holiday and the gaffer put us through our paces so I’m sure that when the season starts I’ll be pretty match fit.

“It’s a big step up but, if we can get a few results away from home, not too many of those big teams are going to fancy coming to Withdean.”

The Argus spots a lighter refreshing moment!
Butters and Cullip were opponents when the Seagulls won at Sheffield United, another moment captured by the Argus.

Three years later, at the age of 37, Butters was still with the Seagulls and looking forward to what would ultimately turn out to be his last in the stripes.

“I thoroughly enjoyed it last year,” Butters told Andy Naylor. “It is probably one of the most enjoyable seasons I’ve had.

“I missed out on pre-season last year through injury. The gaffer was amazed I played as many games as I did.

“I cannot see why, with a decent pre-season under my belt and, as long as I look after myself, that I cannot do the same again.

“I just want to go on playing as long as I can and along the way enhance my CV with coaching badges.”

Manager Dean Wilkins finally released Butters at the end of the 2007-08 season, during which he had been sent off for the first time in his career.

He’d played a total of 187 games for the Seagulls and carried on playing with Havant & Waterlooville briefly plus a seven-game spell on loan at Lewes before trying his hand at management with Winchester City and Eastleigh.

Guy + Nick

I got the chance to meet Guy when he kindly presented an award at an event I was involved in organising: what a great bloke!

South Coast suited utility man Paul Wood at Brighton, Bournemouth and Pompey

paul wood (red)

THE quote at the top of an Albion matchday programme feature about Paul Wood sums up his Brighton career perfectly.

“I’ve played so many positions at the Albion. I’m not sure that I consider myself a centre-forward any more.

“Actually, playing on the right as I am now takes my career virtually full circle – I always used to be a winger before I joined Portsmouth.”

Manager Barry Lloyd bought Wood from Portsmouth for £40,000 in the summer of 1987 to play up front alongside Kevin Bremner, with Garry Nelson wide on the left.

Nelson, of course, thought otherwise – and 32 goals in a promotion season playing down the middle rather proved him right.

Thus Wood found himself deployed in that rather dubious-sounding role of ‘utility player’.

“A couple of goals would have done me great guns when I got a chance up front,” Wood admitted. “I don’t think I let anybody down when Nelson and Bremner were injured but I wasn’t putting them away.

“It didn’t really bother me too much. I was most happy just to be getting first team football, especially as I had spent the previous year at Portsmouth, while they got promoted to Division One, watching from the stands.”

A pelvis ligament problem had sidelined Wood at Fratton Park so the new lease of life as part of a promotion-winning squad was a welcome break.

After making his Albion debut in a 2-0 home win over Fulham on 29 August 1987, Wood admitted: “I found it very tiring after playing only one hour of reserve football in the last nine months. But I enjoyed the experience and I’m looking forward to creating and taking more chances.”

PW col Born in Saltburn-by-the-Sea in the north east on 1 November 1964, at one point it was thought Wood’s football career was over almost before it had begun.

As a talented schoolboy footballer, he was spotted playing for Middlesbrough Boys as the side won the English Schools’ Trophy. His school headteacher had connections at Elland Road so he went for a trial but only 15 minutes into the game broke a leg.

It seems he had broken a knuckle at the back of his knee and the Leeds physio, Bob English, took a look at the injury and said: “Sorry son, you’ve broken your leg, ripped all the ligaments, and I think you’re finished.”

Thankfully for the budding young footballer, the dire diagnosis was wrong, but it put him off trying to make it at Leeds and instead he got picked up by Portsmouth whose scout in the north had seen him playing for Guisborough under-16s.

It was a long way from home, but he appreciated the club’s more caring nature and when a homesick Wood mentioned how he was feeling, manager Frank Burrows took £30 from his own pocket to send the youngster home for a break.

Wood’s Pompey debut eventually came, ironically at Middlesbrough, after Bobby Campbell had taken over in the manager’s chair.

Originally, he had only travelled with the squad so that he could visit friends and relatives but a couple of players fell ill and Wood got his big chance.

“Before I knew it, I was in the team,” he said. “I think that’s the best game I’ve ever played, although it flew past so fast.”

Another favourite moment came when he scored two in a 4-0 win over Shrewsbury. England World Cup winner Alan Ball had succeeded Campbell as manager and said after the 21-year-old’s performance ‘a star is born’. Wood told portsmouth.co.uk: “That will stay with me for the rest of my life. For somebody who has achieved what he has in football and the respect he commands to come out and give me that compliment was a great feeling.

“It was a game where everything seemed to go right. I scored a couple and was in confident form.”

A run in the team followed for Wood, who made 25 league appearances as Pompey fell just short of promotion.

The following season, he only played seven games at the start of the season before sustaining the pelvic injury he put down to playing three times on plastic pitches in the space of three weeks.

paul wood portrait

By the time Wood had made his recovery, Pompey were playing in the top flight and he had fallen down the pecking order. The move to Brighton came about after Wood scored a hat-trick for Portsmouth’s reserves.

He told portsmouth.co.uk: “I was disappointed to go because I never really wanted to leave but I had a mortgage to pay and no bonuses on appearance money was forthcoming.”

Ironically it was the long-term injury problems to crowd favourite Steve Penney that presented Wood with a lot of his games at Brighton and when Penney got back into the side in 1989, Wood put in a transfer request because he felt he was doing well enough to merit a place.

Penney was to move on before Wood but eventually, after two and a half seasons with the Seagulls in which he played 88 games + 17 as sub, and scored just eight goals, he was sold.

That canny transfer market operator Lloyd had acquired the services of one-time England international wideman Mark Barham, who had been written off elsewhere because of injury issues, so he dispensed with Wood’s services by selling him to promotion-chasing Sheffield United.

On 5 May 1990, Wood was on the scoresheet as Dave Bassett’s United beat Leicester City 5-2 to earn promotion to the top division. Playing alongside him were future Blades manager Chris Wilder, former Albion assistant manager Bob Booker and Mark Morris, who went on to play for Bournemouth and Brighton.

In 1991, Wood played 21 games for Bournemouth on loan from United, before making the move permanent, and in three years with the Cherries he scored 18 times in 78 appearances.

Then, in a deal that saw the Cherries acquire out-of-favour Portsmouth striker Warren Aspinall (known to BBC Radio Sussex listeners as a matchday summariser) Wood returned to Fratton Park.

He said: “It was fantastic for me to get the opportunity to return to the club.”

Pompey used him as more of a utility player than ever before, Jim Smith playing him in midfield and his successor Terry Fenwick even trying him at wing-back. Sadly, though, he suffered a bad knee injury that curtailed his professional career, causing him to retire in 1996.

He managed to play 20 games and score 15 goals for a Hong Kong side, Happy Valley, in 1997-98 and back in the UK linked up with National League South side Havant & Waterlooville.

He spent five years there, retiring at the end of the 2002-03 season after playing 137 games and scoring 48 goals.

Wood now runs his own Bournemouth-based decorating business.