Tag: Watford

How the career of high rise Flatts came tumbling down

MARK FLATTS was destined for a glittering career after breaking into Arsenal’s first team when only eighteen.

It was the season when George Graham’s side finished in a disappointing 10th place in the league but won the League Cup and the FA Cup, beating Sheffield Wednesday in both competitions.

Flatts got seven starts plus four appearances off the bench and the following season, after he’d been troubled with a few injuries, Graham sent him out on loan to get some games under his belt.

His first loan was at Cambridge United, then in January 1994 Flatts joined forces with former Gunners legend Liam Brady at Brighton.

The former midfield maestro who’d graced the game at the highest level as a player had not long arrived at the Goldstone Ground, creating a buzz of anticipation amongst the largely disillusioned Albion faithful.

Brighton were bumping along around the foot of the third tier table when he arrived and it augured well that Brady could use his connections with his former club to secure the services of a prodigious young talent who’d already played a handful of matches in the Premier League.

He made his debut in a cracking 4-1 New Year’s Day home win over Cambridge United when Kurt Nogan scored a hat-trick and he was only on the losing side twice during his two months at the club, helping the Albion move away from the relegation zone.

Brady wrote about it in his autobiography Born To Be A Footballer, describing how “livewire” Flatts had heated up “a freezing Goldstone” on that debut day. “He’s a lovely young kid off the field but on the park there’s a strut about him. That’s exactly what we need. He’s full of tricks.”

Flatts started nine matches, came on as a sub once, and scored one of Albion’s goals in a 3-2 home win over Blackpool, but it was his skill on the ball and pace that fans enjoyed most.

After he had returned to Highbury, Brady thanked him for his contribution and said in his programme notes: “He gave the place a tremendous lift. He’s a very confident lad and he did us a real favour and hopefully he’s got something out of it as well. I think he has and I think he enjoyed his time with us.”

Flatts confirmed as much recently. Although he has kept a low profile for many years, in 2020, online from his home in Norfolk, he appeared in two podcasts talking about his career.

On the Shoot the Defence podcast in April 2020, Flatts talked admiringly of his time under Brady at Brighton – “He still had it in training” – as well as the experience of playing alongside senior pros Jimmy Case and Steve Foster at the Goldstone Ground.

“Loyal fans as well. It was a good time,” he said. “I got on well with the fans and a few of them still text me, so that’s nice. Liam Brady and Jimmy Case had seen me in a few games, said they wanted me on loan, and I went there and enjoyed it.”

Born in Islington on 14 October 1972 and brought up in Wood Green, Flatts played for Haringey Borough and Middlesex County school teams and he was playing for Enfield Rangers when he caught the eye of professional clubs.

He spent time training with Watford and West Ham, but his mum and older brother were Arsenal fans so, when they invited him to join them, it was no contest. The scout responsible for picking him up for the Gunners was the former Brighton wing-half, Steve Burtenshaw.

Flatts was one of the country’s top talented 14-year-olds who went through the FA National School of Excellence at Lilleshall before becoming a trainee at Highbury after graduating.

In the first edition of a new fans’ podcast Over and Over and Over Again on 20 August 2020, Flatts talked about how he, Andy Cole and Paul Dickov up front, Ray Parlour and Ian Selley in midfield, Scott Marshall at the back and Alan Miller in goal were all going through from youth team to reserves at the same time. “It was a good strong youth team,” he said. “Pat Rice was the youth team manager who brought us through. He was a good coach.”

Flatts signed professional in December 1990 and he progressed to the reserve side who were managed by another Arsenal legend, George Armstrong.

One particular reserve match stands out as memorable – but not because Flatts scored a goal in a 2-2 draw. Ordinarily, Flatts was accustomed to playing in front of a few hundred supporters for the second string, but on 16 February 1991 it’s reckoned more than 10,000 turned up.

The Ovenden Papers Football Combination game against Reading was originally scheduled to be an away fixture but freezing conditions meant the game was swapped to Highbury because it had undersoil heating.

The reason for the surge of interest was the match saw the return to playing of Tony Adams after his release from prison, having served half of his four-month sentence for drink driving. The amazing response of the Arsenal faithful was remembered in this football.london article in February 2018.  

Often niggled by injuries, Flatts was sidelined by one he hadn’t even been aware of, other than what felt like a small discomfort. “I got a stress fracture on my ankle and was playing on it for a month without realising,” he said.

Physio Gary Lewin arranged for him to see a Harley Street specialist and it was only after he was put through tests on a running machine that the problem was diagnosed. The injury required surgery that put him out of action for over a year.

Flatts got his first real involvement with the first team on a pre-season tour of Norway ahead of the 1992-93 season, getting on as a substitute against Stabaek and Brann Bergen. He was a non-playing sub in two subsequent pre-season friendlies away to Wolves and Peterborough.

It was back to reserve team football at the start of the season but Graham selected him to travel with the squad for an away game at Sheffield United on 19 September and he made his competitive debut as a 71st minute substitute for Anders Limpar, shortly before Ian Wright netted an equaliser for the Gunners.

His next involvement came in a third round League Cup encounter with Derby County. He was a non-playing sub in the away tie but started in Limpar’s place for the replay on 1 December 1992, when Arsenal edged it 2-1.

Flatts (right) celebrates Arsenal’s League Cup win with some familiar faces

He kept his place for the league game which followed four days later but was subbed off as Arsenal lost 1-0 at Southampton.

At one point, the Islington Gazette declared Flatts, Neil Heaney, Parlour and Dickov as the “next crop of Arsenal starlets who will take the club forward”.

As the year drew to a close, on 19 December, Flatts earned rave reviews for his showing in a 1-1 home draw against Lennie Lawrence’s Middlesbrough.

“It’s very unusual to have a quick player with a brain,” said manager Graham. “Mark has skill but he also has the application to go with it.”

Writing about how brightly Flatts shone in the game, Trevor Haylett, of the Independent, said: “He possesses an easy and deceptive running style which frequently carried him away from markers, and has a confidence that few of his colleagues shared in a desultory first 45 minutes.”

Haylett observed: “The problem for Graham is that his most productive line-up, with Merson in the ‘hole’ to distribute and ghost into scoring areas, leaves no room for Flatts, who amply justified his manager’s contention that he has a ‘very big future in the game’.”

Flatts kept his place for the following match, a goalless Boxing Day home draw against Ipswich Town, and was back on the bench away to Aston Villa three days later but came on for the second half in a game Arsenal lost 1-0.

The game he remembers most fondly came just over a fortnight later away to Manchester City at Maine Road. He sped past two players and crossed it for Paul Merson to score with a near post header that gave Arsenal a 1-0 win.

But competition for places was intense and he didn’t next get a start until 1 March against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, another game that finished goalless.

He had to wait until May for his next involvement, as a sub in a 1-0 defeat away to Sheffield Wednesday, who his teammates would play twice in the space of five days later that month to win the FA Cup on penalties, both games having ended in draws.

With the first of those matches only four days away, Graham put out a young side to face Spurs in the last league game of the season, and Flatts was part of a side who lost the north London derby 3-1, Dickov getting the Arsenal goal.

After his loan spell at Brighton, Flatts got back into the first team picture at Arsenal towards the end of the 1993-94 season, featuring in three successive league games: as a sub in a 1-1 draw with Wimbledon and starting in a 2-1 win at Villa and a 1-1 home draw against QPR.

While he travelled to Copenhagen with the squad for the European Cup Winners’ Cup Final on 4 May 1994, he didn’t play in the Gunners’ 1-0 win.

Flatts wasn’t back in the Arsenal first team set-up until December 1994, when he had a four-game spell, starting in a 2-2 draw away to Nottingham Forest, being a non-playing sub away to Manchester City and then coming on as a sub in a 3-1 defeat at home to Leeds on 17 December and in the goalless Boxing Day home match with Aston Villa.

He came off the bench in a third round FA Cup replay defeat to Millwall on 18 January 1995 but the following month the manager who had supported his development was sacked, and the young wideman went out on loan to Bristol City.

Flatts didn’t reckon much of the man management skills of Graham’s temporary successor, Stewart Houston, but it was the manager who eventually succeeded him who showed the youngster the door.

“Bruce Rioch took over, and said: ‘No, you’re not good enough’ and that was it,” Flatts recalled. He had another short loan spell, this time at Grimsby Town, in the 1995-96 season, but when his contract was up in 1996, he was given a free transfer.

When Flatts left the famous marble halls of Highbury, all that early promise rapidly evaporated and despite a handful of trials at several clubs, his career fizzled out, the player admitting he fell out of love with the game.

Initially, he headed off to Italy to try his luck with Torino in Serie B. He said while he enjoyed his few months there, a limit on the number of foreign players who could play at any one time edged him out of the picture.

According to arseweb.com, back in the UK he had trial periods with Manchester City (September 1996) and Watford (October 1986), although the scathing Hornets fans website, Blind, Stupid and Desperate has a less than flattering summary of his efforts to impress at Vicarage Road. He was briefly at Kettering Town in December 1996, then Barnet (1997-98 pre-season) and Colchester United (1999-00 pre-season) but none of them took him on.

Former Arsenal striker Martin Hayes, manager at Ryman League Division One side Bishop’s Stortford, signed him during the 1999-00 season.

And his last appearance on a team-sheet was as an unused substitute for Queens Park Rangers in a 2000-01 pre-season 4-2 away defeat at Dr Martens League Premier Division side Crawley Town.

Flatts told host Richie Wakelin on Over and Over and Over Again that he kept on picking up niggling injuries too regularly. “With fitness concerns, I just lost interest,” he said. “I ain’t got no regrets. I loved it at Arsenal. I loved playing football. George Graham had faith in me and he gave me a go.”

He said his teenage son and daughter both play football and he has done some coaching at a local level and has considered setting up his own coaching school. He has also done some scouting work for Cambridge United and Norwich City.

Flatts looks back at his football career during a 2020 podcast

Pictures from Albion’s matchday programmes and various online sources.

Malcolm in the middle was moustachioed marksman Poskett

MALCOLM POSKETT’s goals helped Brighton to win promotion from the second tier after he’d made a terrific start to his Albion career.

Only two days after putting pen to paper in Hove, Poskett netted the equaliser in a 1-1 draw away to Hull City on 4 February 1978 and a week later he marked his home debut with a goal in Albion’s 2-1 win over Burnley.

The game at Boothferry Park was only six minutes old when the home side went ahead but Poskett levelled it up just before half-time after a Tony Towner corner was headed goalwards by Andy Rollings and the new arrival diverted it into the net.

A £60,000 signing from fourth tier Hartlepool United, Poskett had taken over the no.9 shirt from Ian Mellor, who had only been in the side for one game in the injury absence of Teddy Maybank.

Maybank’s big money signing from Fulham four months earlier had broken up the highly successful Mellor-Peter Ward partnership that earned Albion promotion from the old Third Division, and Poskett’s arrival only served to illuminate the Goldstone exit door even brighter for Mellor, who swiftly departed for Chester.

A crowd of 22,694 saw the new man’s Division Two debut on an icy Goldstone Ground pitch. Poskett once again profited from a Towner pass to score. Skipper Brian Horton scored Albion’s other goal.

It all must have felt very showbiz to the lad from Teesside, used to playing in front of 5,000 crowds in the Fourth Division, especially when prior to kick off against the Clarets, Slade, a famous chart-topping pop group of the time, recorded a single on the pitch in front of the North Stand.

While Maybank reclaimed his starting berth from Poskett for six matches, he was troubled by a knee injury and Poskett got the nod for the remaining seven games of the season as Albion chased automatic promotion, which at that time was earned by the top three sides in the division. There were no play-offs.

Poskett repaid Mullery’s faith in him with a hat-trick in a 4-0 win away to Bristol Rovers and by netting the only goal of the game in the penultimate fixture at home to Charlton Athletic in front of 31,203 fans.

What happened next has been well documented: Albion missed out on promotion when Southampton (in second) and Spurs (third) conveniently drew 0-0 in the final match of the season; Spurs edging out the Seagulls on goal difference.

Maybank had a successful cartilage operation during the summer break and was initially the preferred partner for Ward as the new season got under way.

Poskett banged in a transfer request as a mark of his frustration but, after Mullery persuaded him to withdraw it, he got his chance back in the side and made the most of opportunities that came his way.

Mullery admitted in Matthew Horner’s biography of Ward (He Shot, He Scored, Sea View Media) that he wasn’t always fair on Poskett when reverting to the Ward-Maybank partnership.

He pointed out: “Malcolm Poskett did a terrific job when we signed him. He was one of the most under-rated goalscorers – absolutely brilliant.

“He was really similar to Wardy, very sharp and very quick but a bit taller and a bit stronger.”

By the end of the season that ended in promotion to the top tier of English football for the first time, Poskett had contributed 10 goals in 24 games (plus eight sub appearances). He was the substitute in the famous 3-1 win back in his native north-east when Newcastle were beaten by the Seagulls on 5 May 1979.

Brighton struggled to find their feet in more exalted company and Poskett barely got a look-in, coming on as a sub twice and only starting three matches, the last of which was in the resounding 4-0 defeat to Arsenal in the League Cup on 13 November 1979.

He scored twice, though: netting the only goal in an away League Cup win over Northampton Town, and four days later scoring along with Peter O’Sullivan as Albion pulled back a 2-0 deficit to draw 2-2 at West Brom.

Poskett wheels away to celebrate his only top flight goal, away to West Brom

However, with the arrival of Ray Clarke from Ajax, it was clear Poskett’s chances at the Albion were going to remain limited, so he dropped back down a level to join promotion-seeking Watford under Graham Taylor. Albion goalkeeper Eric Steele had already made a similar switch in the autumn of that season shortly after a famous spat with Gary Williams at Old Trafford. Mullery also secured a £120,000 fee for Poskett, so Albion did very nicely out of the deal.

“I would have loved to stay at Brighton for the rest of my career, but it wasn’t to be,” Poskett told Spencer Vignes in a retrospective matchday programme article. “One week I was partnering Peter Ward, the next it would be Teddy with Peter. I never got a run in the team, even though I scored a couple of goals when I did play.

“At least with Watford I got the chance to start games. People called us kick and run, a long ball side, but we had a lot of talented players like Ross Jenkins, John Barnes and Nigel Callaghan.”

Poskett struck up a friendship with fellow new boy Martin Patching and both were on the scoresheet (Poskett scored twice) in a memorable 7-1 League Cup thrashing of Southampton on 2 September 1980.

Although being Watford’s top scorer with 21 goals in the 1980-81season, when the Hornets finished ninth, the following season he found himself in the reserves after a three-game barren spell.

In a Watford matchday programme article, he mused: “It’s a strange profession – one minute you’re up and the next down.

“I played in the first three league games of the season without scoring and was dropped. But I’m scoring fairly regularly in the reserve side and my chance will come if I keep on hitting the net. I’m a battler and not the type of player to give less than 100 per cent, no matter what grade of football I’m playing in.”

Watford won promotion as runners up behind close rivals Luton Town but Poskett couldn’t shift Luther Blissett or Jenkins, who were the preferred strike pairing, and Gerry Armstrong, later to join Brighton, was invariably the back-up option.

Born in Middlesbrough on 19 July 1953, Poskett went to Beechwood Junior School and then on to Brackenhoe Secondary Technical. His footballing ability in school sides eventually led to him being selected for North Riding Schools.

He was a decent all-round sportsman – a useful cricketer who played for Middlesbrough Schools, he also featured in local leagues at table tennis, and enjoyed tennis and badminton too.

But at 16 the budding sportsman started out as an apprenticeship plater at Cargofleet Steelworks, only playing football for the local Beechwood Youth Club and then South Bank in the Northern League.

His performances for South Bank caught the eye of Middlesbrough and he was taken on as a professional. But after 18 months in their reserves, manager Jack Charlton gave him a free transfer and he opted to become a plater on North Sea oil rigs to earn a wage.

He didn’t turn his back on football altogether, turning out part-time for Whitby Town in the Northern League. Scoring an incredible 98 goals over two seasons was bound to attract attention.

George Aitken, later a Watford coach and then a coach under Mullery at Brighton, was Workington manager at the time and tried to sign Poskett, but, disillusioned by his Boro experience he chose to stick with Whitby until Hartlepool manager Billy Horner convinced him he could still make it in the professional game.

For a £25 transfer fee, Horner took him on and devoted hours of extra time working on the youngster’s skills and sharpness. It paid off.

“My work rate was non-existent, but Billy Horner really worked on me and got me going,” Poskett told Shoot! magazine. “If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would have got anywhere – I’d still be in non-League soccer. It was so hard at first, I felt like packing it in, but he kept me at it and I’m very grateful now.”

His goalscoring at Hartlepool caught the eye of Ken Craggs when he was a coach at Fulham and when Craggs switched to become Mullery’s no.2 at the Goldstone, Poskett followed soon after, the £60,000 fee representing a tidy profit for the struggling North East minnows.

In an interview with The Argus in 2017, Poskett recalled: “Brighton was one of the best times of my life.

“I came in during the season when we just missed out on promotion and the lads were fantastic. It was a fabulous place to live as well.

“I had to come from one end of the country to the other but, once I got there, there were lads from up north, the Midlands, so it was a good mixed bunch and I felt right at home.”

After helping Watford to promotion in 1982, Poskett headed back north and played for Carlisle United for three seasons, thriving under the managership of Bob Stokoe, who’d led Sunderland to FA Cup glory in 1973.

In the penultimate game of the 1983-84 season, Poskett scored his 100th career goal – and his 101st – as Carlisle  drew 2-2 at home to Crystal Palace in front of a paltry crowd at Brunton Park of just 3,038.

Poskett subsequently had six months at Darlington, before switching to Stockport County in January 1986.

Appearances were few and far between and he went on loan to his old club Hartlepool in March the same year before moving back to Carlisle in August 1986. He finally hung up his boots at the end of the 1987-88 season.

He remained in the town and in 2017 was working as an examiner at Pirelli, the tyre manufacturer.

Pictures from Albion matchday programmes and online sources.

Set-piece expert Darren Currie earned Uncle Tony’s approval

THE PINPOINT accuracy of Darren Currie’s passing and shooting was a joy to watch, even though a lack of pace stopped him being as good a player as his famous uncle.

Currie was a decent player in his own right, making nearly 700 appearances for 15 different clubs, but wherever he went he was always known as the nephew of the former Sheffield United, Leeds, QPR and England creative midfielder Tony Currie.

Perhaps with a hint of family bias, Uncle Tony said in an interview for ITV Digital: “Darren is, without doubt, the best crosser of the ball, after Beckham, in the country. He’ll produce nine times out of ten, right foot or left foot.”

The young Currie attributed his crowd-pleasing skills to the start he was given in the game by West Ham. After 10 years stuck in the lower leagues, Currie was given a platform to perform in the Championship by Brighton, and he very nearly made it to the top when transferred for £250,000 to high-flying Ipswich Town.

As if by a cruel twist of fate, Ipswich lost to the Hammers in the 2004-05 Championship play-off semi-finals having just missed out on automatic promotion.

“Playing for West Ham at youth and reserve levels was a terrific way to start a career,” Currie told the Ipswich Star. “They gave me everything but my debut.”

He certainly came close though, featuring alongside recognised first-teamers like Lee Chapman and Frank Lampard in friendlies and testimonials, but he had to move elsewhere to gain competitive first-team action.

Initially he had loan spells with Shrewsbury Town and Leyton Orient, and when the Shrews bid £70,000 for him in 1996, he chose to drop down a couple of divisions to get regular football.

“The difference in money was only about £50. The then West Ham manager Harry Redknapp called me in and said that I was an adult and had to think about continuing to play regular first team football,” Currie explained. “I was given the opportunity to have a new contract at West Ham or moving permanently to Shrewsbury.

“I was a young pro at West Ham and I had been out on loan a couple of times and I got the buzz for playing at three o’clock on a Saturday afternoon. There was no other feeling like it.

“I thought to myself I’ll go to Shrewsbury and I’ll play really well for a year and I’ll get a move back up to the top.

“My naivety kicked in then because it didn’t quite happen. I thought I’d done OK and I was linked with a couple of moves but the route back to the top wasn’t as simple as I thought it would be in my head.”

Indeed, it was a decade in which, after three seasons with the Shrews, he moved on briefly to Plymouth Argyle, then to Barnet (three seasons) and Wycombe Wanderers (three seasons).

Currie said it got to a point where Wycombe couldn’t afford to keep him, and boss Tony Adams made it clear he was free to look elsewhere.

Mark McGhee invited him to Brighton for a trial and was impressed with the way he knuckled down in training to get himself fit following a programme devised by McGhee’s deputy, Bob Booker.

Currie was offered a 12-month contract but it was more about the opportunity to play at a higher level that prompted him to sign.

“It wasn’t a fantastic offer – put it this way, Peterborough offered me three years – but it wasn’t about the money,” Currie told Spencer Vignes in an Albion matchday programme article.

“It was about the football and playing in the Championship. I was determined to do well and to prove myself, which I did. That’s when people began to sit up and take notice.”

Currie’s ability on the ball carved him out to be a crowd-pleaser and the first of two goals for the Albion typically came from a free kick in a 3-2 home defeat to QPR that left Argus reporter Andy Naylor purring over its execution.

“Currie, having shaved a post and hit the bar with two earlier free-kicks, made it third time lucky from 20 yards just before the break. It was a sumptuous effort from the set-piece expert which rendered Rangers’ keeper Chris Day motionless.”

His other goal came in a 1-1 draw at home to Sheffield United, more noted for Albion wearing the limited-edition Palookaville strip to help publicise backer Fatboy Slim’s latest album.

Injury-hit Albion considered it a point gained rather than two dropped and Naylor complimented Leon Knight for “superbly crafting” Currie’s goal by evading his marker and threading a square pass through the legs of Leigh Bromby.

“Currie, with time as well as room, picked his spot to score, which meant even more to him because of the opposition,” wrote Naylor, informing readers that the Yorkshire side had rejected him as a 16-year-old following a fortnight’s trial.

Unfortunately for Currie, he was only on the bench when the Albion travelled to Upton Park on 13 November 2004. After three successive defeats, McGhee confessed he set the side up not to lose rather than go for a win.

Somewhat ironically, the Seagulls blagged a 1-0 win courtesy of a Guy Butters goal, in a real backs-to-the-wall match, with veteran striker Steve Claridge ploughing a lone furrow up front.

It was only in the 90th minute of the match that McGhee introduced Currie in place of Claridge to play out the final few minutes of the game.

Currie only played 22 games for Brighton over four months but the fee they received for him from Ipswich gave a vital boost to club funds when they were struggling to compete in the division because of the restricted crowd numbers at Withdean. Having signed him on a free transfer, the deal was a no-brainer for the Albion hierarchy, even if it weakened a squad who subsequently only avoided relegation back to the third tier by a single point.

McGhee wasn’t that surprised to see Currie go, telling the Argus: “He was obviously happy here, but I thought he was doing so well that he would keep his options open.

“I cannot see Darren being a regular for Ipswich in the Premiership if they are promoted, but his skills and touch are good enough to justify him making a contribution to a squad in the Premiership.”

It didn’t pan out like that, but Currie was nonetheless grateful to the Albion, and told Vignes: “I am so pleased I had the chance to be a part of it all down there, to see what the support is like and to play with a group of lads who stick together through thick and thin.

“I played at the Goldstone when I was a kid, playing youth team football with West Ham, so I know how important the stadium issue is for everyone. I always will be extremely grateful to the Brighton fans and Mark McGhee because without a doubt without their help this opportunity wouldn’t have come along.”

Currie explained in a matchday programme article how McGhee had helped to develop his game and to add other dimensions which improved him. “I owe a helluva lot to Mark and Bob Booker,” he said.

Currie became an instant hit with the Tractor Boys fans earning the man of the match accolade in two of his first four games.

“I tend to build up a rapport with supporters wherever I go,” he told the Ipswich Star. “I am my own biggest critic and I know when I have done well, and I am very satisfied with my contribution so far.”

After his brief cameo for the Seagulls at West Ham, he got the chance to play against his boyhood club three times that season with Ipswich.

He was in the Town side that lost 2-0 at home to the Hammers on New Year’s Day 2005. Then, in the first leg of the play-off semi-final, Currie and Matt Richards (later a loanee with the Albion) were half-time substitutes who helped Ipswich to recover a deficit to draw 2-2.

Currie started the second leg and had Ipswich’s best opportunities with a shot straight at James Walker, then a long-range drive 10 minutes before the interval which the goalkeeper hopelessly misjudged but fumbled to safety. But they failed to make the final when Bobby Zamora scored two second half goals for West Ham to earn them a 2-0 second leg win. West Ham beat Preston in the play-off final.

Born in Hampstead on 29 November 1974, Currie’s early footballing talent drew interest from Watford and Chelsea, but he decided to join West Ham’s academy.

“The facilities were great, the training for us there as kids was first class and I really enjoyed my time there,” Currie said.

“A lot of the player I became was what I was taught as a kid at West Ham,” he told twtd.co.uk. “It was all about the ball and all about the technical skill and how to manipulate the ball. It was a way I enjoyed playing anyway so it was a really good fit for me.”

After signing professional in 1993, he was a regular in the West Ham reserve side and a trawl through the excellent archive website whu-programmes.co.uk records show he played in a Football Combination game away to Brighton on 1 April 1994, and later the same month was up against Guy Butters in Portsmouth’s reserve side at the Boleyn Ground. Mark Flatts and Paul Dickov were in opposition when the Hammers stiffs entertained their Arsenal counterparts at home on 11 May.

In an Avon Insurance Combination match at the Goldstone Ground on 30 November 1994, Currie scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in a West Ham side also featuring Lee Chapman and Frank Lampard.

The following summer, Currie played in four matches when he was part of West Ham’s squad on a centenary tour of Australia.

Shrewsbury boss Fred Davies, a former playing colleague of Redknapp’s at Bournemouth, took Currie on full time after his two loan spells at Gay Meadow.

He moved on to Plymouth Argyle in 1998 but only played five matches in three months, then switched to Barnet where he made 136 appearances, plus seven as a sub, in three years.

Wycombe Wanderers paid £200,000 to sign him in the summer of 2001 and manager Lawrie Sanchez told BBC Three Counties Radio: “He’s obviously a quality player. He gets crosses in and that’s an area where we weren’t very good last year. He’s come to add that to our game and his free kicks will trouble the ‘keeper as well.

“It was quite a lot of money for our club to spend but I’ve got to back my judgement. I’d looked at him for a while and quite liked him. He gives us something we haven’t got, he’s a great technician. He hasn’t got particularly great pace but what he does with the ball is tremendous. We’re hoping he does all the things he was doing at Barnet and a little bit more for us.”

Sanchez added: “A lot of people looked at him for a long time. He’s always been considered one of the best players in the Third Division and hopefully we’ll give him the stage where he can prove he’s one of the best players in the Second Division.”

After Currie’s flirtation with promotion to the Premier League ended in disappointment, Joe Royle left Portman Road and his replacement Jim Magilton axed Currie from the side in the 2006-07 season. He was sent on loan to fellow Championship sides Coventry City and Derby County, for whom he made a play-offs appearance as a substitute, although he wasn’t involved in the final when County beat West Brom 1-0.

That summer, on the expiry of his Ipswich contract, Currie moved on a free transfer to League One Luton Town. He made 38 appearances for the Hatters but when they went into administration, were deducted 10 points and relegated, he was among several players given a free transfer.

Micky Adams, back in the hotseat at the Albion, was hopeful of getting Currie back to Brighton for a second spell, telling BBC Southern Counties Radio on 11 July: “He’s a player I’ve admired for a long, long time. We want him, and he wants to come back. He’d offer competition for places and fantastic delivery from set pieces.”

But at the end of the month the player rejected the terms on offer and took up a three-year contract at Chesterfield instead.

While the first year at Saltergate went OK, in the second season, the manager who signed him, Lee Richardson, had been replaced by John Sheridan, and Currie was out of the picture. He went on loan to fellow League Two side Dagenham & Redbridge and the deal was made permanent in January 2010. Currie played in 16 matches as the Daggers won promotion to League One.

They went straight back down the following season, and Currie departed for Conference South outfit Borehamwood as player assistant manager. He was there less than three months before moving to Isthmian League Hendon for a year as a player.

In October 2012, Currie returned to Dagenham & Redbridge, initially as a development coach and later as assistant manager under John Still.

In June 2018, Currie was appointed assistant manager at National League side Barnet, working under Still. He succeeded Still in December 2018, initially as caretaker, before landing the role permanently in January 2019.

Currie, assisted by former Albion loanee midfielder Junior Lewis, came close to getting Barnet promoted to League Two but, having missed out, and the club struggling financially because of the Covid-related lack of fan revenue, both left the club in August 2020.

Great strike rate at Brighton but journeyman Benjamin had 29 clubs!

T Benj BTNSELDOM in his remarkable 29-club career did Trevor Benjamin enjoy such a successful spell as the 10 games he spent on loan at Brighton.

The bustling striker who had thrived under Micky Adams at Leicester City the season before scored five times for Mark McGhee’s promotion-chasing side in 2004.

McGhee was keen to keep him through to the end of the season but because of the timing of the three-month deal he wouldn’t have been eligible to play in the play-offs.

As a result, he went back to Leicester and McGhee brought in Chris Iwelumo instead, and, with a goalscoring debut in an away win at Chesterfield, there was no looking back.

Born on 8 February 1979 in Kettering, Benjamin was brought up in Wellingborough, Northants, and, having done well for Wellingborough Colts, was picked up by Kettering Town, playing for their youth team and reserves.

Cambridge United took him on as a trainee and he made his first team debut aged only 16 against Gillingham and went on to score 46 goals in 146 appearances.

Such a scoring record caught the eye of Leicester boss Peter Taylor and, on 12 July 2000, Benjamin joined the Foxes for a fee of £1.3 million.

However, he managed only a single goal in the 2000-01 season and the following season was sent out on loan to Crystal Palace, Norwich City and West Bromwich Albion.

He returned to Leicester for the whole of the 2002-03 season, including playing against the Albion at Withdean.

He said in a matchday programme article for that season’s return match against Brighton on 19 April 2003: “Brighton are a very similar team to ourselves. They have got a good work ethic and never give up.

“I came on as a substitute for the last 10 minutes when we played against them at the Withdean Stadium just before Christmas and that was a tough night.

TBenj Lei action“The conditions were terrible and both sides had to work hard to beat the elements. But I think our quality shone through on the night.” (Leicester won 1-0).

The following season, Benjamin was back on his travels, initially to Gillingham, then Rushden & Diamonds and, in January 2004, to Brighton.

Benjamin’s first Brighton goal came after just 12 minutes of Albion’s home game against Plymouth Argyle, who were then top of the league table. Leon Knight added a second goal before a jubilant celebration in front of the Sky cameras and Albion prevailed 2-1.

He followed that up by netting Albion’s goal in a 1-1 draw away to Wycombe Wanderers, and was again on the scoresheet in the 2-1 away defeat to Grimsby Town.

A 3-0 home win over AFC Bournemouth saw Benjamin score the second of Albion’s three goals at Withdean. When Tranmere Rovers were dispatched by the same score, he once again scored the second goal.

Back at Leicester, when Craig Levein was installed as boss, he cancelled Benjamin’s contract in January 2005. Benjamin initially dropped down a couple of divisions to play for Northampton but, three months later, his old Leicester boss, Adams, took him to Championship side Coventry City. He helped to set up both goals on his debut for the Sky Blues as they beat Reading 2-1.

In Coventry’s matchday programme for their home game against Brighton on 2 April 2005, he talked about how he had been settling in and the efforts he’d been making to try to improve his game.

“I’ve been training quite hard with Alan Cork on my finishing since I got here and he’s great to work with. He’s trying to get me to focus on what I am best at and hopefully when the games start again the practice will pay off.”

Benjamin’s arrival at Coventry may have seen him make a leap of two divisions but he was by no means unfamiliar with football at that level having played with Leicester for five years in both the Premiership and the Championship.

David Antill wrote: ‘During his time with the Foxes he was loaned out to no fewer than seven clubs before eventually signing permanently with Northampton Town but he is delighted to be back in a league he enjoys playing, for a manager he believes can get the best out of him.

“I’ve always believed in my own ability and thought I could play at this level and it was great to be given the chance to return to this league with Coventry,” said Benjamin. “My confidence never really slipped – I never had a doubt about coming here and being able to deliver the goods.

“I know what Micky Adams is all about and he knows what I’m all about so I enjoy working with him. What he’s brought here is exactly what he brought to Leicester and that’s what brought him success there. He’s a hard-working manager and he wants exactly the same thing from all of his players and I think he’s getting that.”

After scoring only once for the Sky Blues, in the summer of 2005 the burly forward linked up with Peterborough United, where he signed a three-year deal. However, he was loaned out several times, appearing for Watford, Swindon Town, Boston United and Walsall.

There was some stability and a return to goalscoring when he moved to Hereford United. He scored 10 in 34 games for the Bulls but was released in May 2008 and ended up drifting across the non-league scene for the next four years, popping up at no fewer than 13 different clubs.

It was all a far cry from the heady days of 2001 and 2002 when he briefly reached the international arena.

He went on as a substitute for Howard Wilkinson’s England under 21s as they beat Mexico 3-0 in a friendly at Filbert Street on 24 May 2001. Because he hadn’t played in a competitive fixture, he was then able to swap allegiances and played two matches for the full Jamaica international side in 2002.

Sprinter’s boys took different tracks after starting Gunners

A GUNNER from the age of nine gained valuable first team experience with the Seagulls but ultimately fell short of reaching the same heights as his brother.

Commonwealth Games gold-medal winning sprinter Wendy Hoyte saw sons Justin and Gavin climb through the academy and reserve ranks at Arsenal.

Justin played 68 first-team games for the Gunners and went on to make a name for himself in the North East, but younger brother Gavin only played four first-team games for Arsenal and had to set his sights lower to pursue a professional career.

The younger Hoyte spent most of the 2009-10 season as a Brighton player and, although only 19 at the time, got a rough ride from Seagulls supporters who expected more from someone who’d played at the top level of the game.

Initially signed on loan in October 2009 by Russell Slade to cover for the injured regular right-back Andrew Whing, Hoyte was handed his debut against Slade’s former club Yeovil Town at Huish Park.

“I am delighted to know the club wants me,” the youngster told The Argus. “They have got a lot of games this month and I just want to get out there and play.”

As it turned out, Hoyte outlasted Slade at the Withdean, and his temporary transfer was extended when Gus Poyet took over as manager.

The young full-back in the no.27 shirt gained a good amount of game time until Poyet unearthed Inigo Calderon in January 2010.

Even then, Poyet was happy to retain the services of the Arsenal youngster, telling the Argus: “We explained to Gavin before asking Arsenal that there was probably a player coming.

“Arsenal knew that as well, so nothing has been hidden. Everyone knows where they stand.

“We are working on different aspects of the game with Gavin, because he has got something which is very difficult to find sometimes in football, the speed to recover.

“When you have that ability, you don’t need to go to ground, because you are quicker than most players.

“He is young and there is plenty to come. We want to help him become a Premier League player or top Championship player.”

G Hoyte stripes

Hoyte got another chance to prove himself when Calderon picked up a nasty hip injury in April, bringing his total number of Albion games over the season to 21.

When it looked like the popular Spaniard was going to move to Southampton instead of accepting a contract offer from the Seagulls, Argus reporter Andy Naylor ventured: “Gavin Hoyte’s encouraging conclusion to the campaign suggests he might even be capable of rising to the occasion if he returns on loan from Arsenal.”

It didn’t come to that, though, and, over the next two years, he dropped down another division with loan spells at Lincoln City and AFC Wimbledon.

When he realised there was little hope of him ever getting close to the Arsenal first team, he left for Dagenham and Redbridge, having spoken to Arsenal goalkeeping coach Tony Roberts, who’d played for the Daggers himself.

Born in Leytonstone on 6 June 1990, Hoyte followed in his brother’s footsteps to Arsenal and progressed to the point of being appointed the under 18 team captain in the 2006-07 season when he was still only 16.

“I am very vocal during games, although I wouldn’t quite say that I was a Tony Adams, but that’s the sort of captaining style I try to emulate,” Hoyte told the Arsenal matchday programme. “I have captained at schoolboy level and in particular in tournaments and so I do have some experience, but I did not expect to be captain of the under 18s so early.”

Hoyte captained Arsenal’s under 18s when he was only 16

Hoyte was also capped at England under 17, under 18, under 19 and under 20 levels. In the 2009 UEFA under 19 championships, he played in two qualifiers in the space of four days when England beat Slovakia 4-1 and Scotland 2-1; his teammates including current Albion no.3 Jason Steele in goal, and future full international Kieran Trippier.

He was part of the squad who took part in the finals in Ukraine, starting twice and coming on as a substitute three times as England finished runners up to the hosts. The side was managed by Brian Eastick, who’d been an Albion coach during the Mike Bailey era.

Hoyte’s one game for the under 20s came as a substitute in a 1-1 draw away to Uzbekistan on 2 October 2009, when a fellow substitute was Sam Baldock. Two non-playing subs in that game were Jonathan Obika and Gary Gardner, who both had spells on loan with the Seagulls.

Hoyte looked back on his Arsenal time in an interview with Will Unwin for planetfootball.com and said: “When you’re there you always think you’re going to make it – I was pretty confident.

“I had my older brother there as well, so that helped a lot, seeing how he progressed.

“That was a big thing for me, seeing him play every week, watching him, thinking, ‘I want to try and get to where he is’.”

Hoyte was an unused substitute for several first team games before making his debut in a 6-0 League Cup win over Sheffield United, and starting in the next two rounds, against Wigan and Burnley. His Arsenal career only seemed to be heading in one direction.

“Just to play at the Emirates was massive, coming out to a big crowd,” he told Unwin. “There were a lot of young boys in the team so that helped me with confidence and eased it.

“But there were a lot of players in front of me, so I didn’t think about playing in the Premier League. It was always in the back of my mind, but I wasn’t thinking I was going to play immediately.”

But 11 days after the second of those League Cup appearances, Hoyte was handed his Premier League debut, after William Gallas had been stripped of the club captaincy for criticising team-mates amid a poor run of only one win in four games.

G Hoyte v Man City

Up against Robinho of Manchester City, he was taken off after an hour of a 3-0 defeat, and it would prove to be both the start and end of his top-flight career.

Hoyte didn’t recall getting much feedback after the game, although it wasn’t long before he was awarded a new contract. He made his fourth appearance for the club in a League Cup quarter-final defeat to Burnley at the start of December – but he didn’t play for Arsenal again.

He was sent out on loan to Championship side Watford for the second half of the 2008-09 season, featuring in 10 matches, and he eventually left Arsenal in 2012 when his contract expired.

After two seasons in League Two with Dagenham, he spent the 2014-15 season with League One Gillingham, featuring in 35 matches. He dropped down to League Two with Barnet, ended up at National League Eastleigh until the end of the 2017-18 season before returning to Dagenham in 2018-19.

It proved to be a frustrating season for him under the managership of former Albion boss Peter Taylor, but, reunited with former manager John Still at Maidstone United, he has been a regular at right-back in 2019-20 and scored just the third goal of his career against Dulwich Hamlet in December.

Along with his brother, the younger Hoyte has enjoyed the opportunity to play international football with Trinidad and Tobago, as he told socawarriors.net, and spent 20 minutes on the same pitch as Lionel Messi in a friendly as Argentina warmed up for the 2014 World Cup.

Relegation scrap was chicken feed for troubled Bangura

IN THE TUMULTUOUS days after Albion dispensed with the services of Micky Adams in early 2009, virtually half the side was made up of loan players.

Away to Leyton Orient on 7 March 2009, five loanees were involved, including Al Bangura, a 21-year-old midfielder from Watford.

Goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen was on loan from Reading, QPR’s Gary Borrowdale was left-back and Lloyd Owusu, released by Cheltenham, was up front.

Colchester United’s Matt Heath scored Albion’s only goal in a 2-1 defeat, as well as conceding a penalty, while Bangura was considered fortunate to escape with just a yellow card for a high challenge on Charlie Daniels.

The game saw new boss Russell Slade take charge for the first time, inheriting signings authorised by caretaker manager Dean White, who said of Bangura: “Al is someone we have been aware of for some time. He is a lively, energetic and tenacious midfielder.”

Bangura was just grateful to be playing in the UK having come close to being deported back to his native Sierra Leone the previous year.

Six years later, he revealed to the BBC that he was originally brought to Europe from Guinea by a human trafficker in order to be used as a male prostitute.

He had a lucky escape but the experience prompted him to take action to work with the Premier League to prevent other vulnerable young people being similarly caught up.

prog spreadBangura was profiled in the matchday programme

Bangura started six games for the Albion, and he said: “It’s not bothering me that I’m dropping down a division because I want to make sure I help them out of trouble and do my best for them.”

In his third game, he was alongside Jason Jarrett in the centre of midfield when Albion thrashed Yeovil Town 5-0 at Withdean, threading through a pass for Nicky Forster to score.

However, at the expiry of his loan, he returned to Watford but was released at the end of the season and joined Blackpool who were in the Championship at the time.

Limited to just 10 games for the Tangerines, Bangura headed for Turkey to play for Mersin Idmanyurdu and then played five games for Azerbaijani team Gabala, managed by the former Arsenal captain Tony Adams.

Hockaday w Al BHis former youth coach at Watford, Dave Hockaday (left, who briefly managed Leeds United) signed him for Conference Premier outfit Forest Green Rovers in 2011, and he completed 91 appearances for them before getting a chance to return to league action with Coventry City.

The aforementioned Hockaday had become under 21 manager at the Sky Blues and Bangura won a short-term contract after a successful trial, although he didn’t feature in Tony Mowbray’s league side.

After spending time working with the Premier League on the issue of the growing number of African boys being tricked into leaving their home for the promise of a football career in Europe, he returned to playing in the National League, initially with St Albans City and then Nuneaton Town.

Bangura talksIn October 2016, Bangura spoke to the Santa Marta Group – an alliance of international police chiefs, bishops, religious communities and NGOs – at an international conference in Rome to tackle human trafficking and modern slavery.

Born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 24 January 1988, Alhassan Bangura sensed trouble when his family expected him to get involved in some kind of secret society at the age of 14 so he ran away to Guinea where he met a Frenchman who promised to help him realise his dream of pursuing a football career in the UK.

That dream very nearly turned into a nightmare when he realised on arrival in England aged only 15 that he was being lined up as a male prostitute. Luckily, he screamed out, escaped the room where he was being held, and pleaded for help from a Nigerian passer-by who directed him towards the Home Office to get official assistance.

Bangura WatThe ’system’ thankfully came to his aid and before long a Watford scout spotted him playing football in a park and signed him up to the Hertfordshire club’s youth academy, where he was nurtured by assistant academy director Chris Cummins, who was also recognised for helping Hameur Bouazza, Adrian Mariappa and Lloyd Doyley to make it through to the first team.

Bangura was just 17 when then Watford boss Ray Lewington, better known as Roy Hodgson’s loyal assistant, gave Bangura his first team debut in April 2005, away to Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.

Eleven months later he scored his first goal. It came at Vicarage Road v Derby County – a right-footed 20-yard half-volley in the fourth of six minutes of stoppage time to earn Watford a point in a 2-2 draw.

Bangura was voted Watford’s Young Player of the Season in 2005-06, a year in which he made 37 appearances (24 of them as substitute).

After Watford won promotion in May 2006, Bangura made his first Premier League appearance against Man Utd in August 2006. He was still only 18, and came on as a sub for Gavin Mahon on 30 minutes.

While everything seemed to be going well, Bangura faced a bombshell in November 2007 when a deportation tribunal failed to extend his right to stay in the country.

Al B on TV

Watford led a successful campaign for him to be granted asylum and, on 14 January 2008, Bangura won his appeal for a work permit, receiving support from FIFPro (world representative organisation for pro footballers), Watford MP Claire Ward, Sir Elton John, former Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd and former Home Secretary David Blunkett.

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 BackpassAlthough 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.

When football didn’t deliver the right break for Colin Dobson

THE architect of Brighton’s humiliating 8-2 home defeat to Bristol Rovers in 1973 was none other than a player who might have been wearing Albion’s stripes if injury hadn’t struck.

Goalscoring winger Colin Dobson turned goal provider the day Rovers were rampant at the Goldstone Ground. Twenty-one months earlier he’d left the same pitch on a stretcher, not certain that he’d ever be able to play again.

Dobson had joined Brighton on loan in January 1972, making his debut in a mid-season friendly against his parent club, Huddersfield Town, on 18 January.

Ironically, his first meaningful Albion action came against Rovers when he was a substitute in a 2-2 draw at Eastville on 22 January.

Dobson was also on the bench for the home 1-0 win over Swansea City the following Saturday. He was elevated to the starting line-up away to Wrexham on 5 February, when goals from Willie Irvine and Peter O’Sullivan sealed a vital 2-1 win.

It was during his full home debut against Walsall on 12 February that his short-lived Albion career came to a sudden halt. Albion lost 2-1 and Dobson suffered an ankle fracture.

It had been expected that Albion would sign him permanently, and he told the Evening Argus that he had been offered a good deal to do so, but the injury put paid to the transfer being completed.

With Pat Saward’s side heading towards promotion with Aston Villa, the Irish manager instead went back to Wolverhampton Wanderers to sign Bertie Lutton, who had been on loan earlier in the season.

Lutton duly played his part as the Seagulls acquired the necessary points to earn promotion, while Dobson nursed an injury which at the time threatened to end his playing days.

His six-year Huddersfield career at an end, in the summer of 1972 he accepted a role as player-coach at Bristol Rovers, working under his former Sheffield Wednesday teammate, Don Megson.

Dobson Rovers

Thus it was that he was part of a Rovers side who had gone 18 matches unbeaten when they showed up at the Goldstone on a cold winter’s day on the first day of December 1973 to tackle Brian Clough’s Albion in front of The Big Match television cameras.

The game was only five minutes old when Dobson played in Alan Warboys who beat Norman Gall before passing to his strike partner Bruce Bannister to open the scoring.

Seven minutes later, Dobson took Warboys’ pass and laid on a pinpoint centre for Gordon Fearnley to score with a header. The game was still six minutes short of half-time when another Dobson centre was met by Warboys to make the score 5-1 to the visitors.

John Vinicombe, Albion reporter for the Argus, declared in his summary: “To Colin Dobson, freed by Albion when a broken ankle looked like ending his career, the accolade for a thinking player.

“He masterminded the operation in unbelievably generous space. Bruce Bannister knifed through for the early, killing goals, and Alan Warboys, superbly balanced and fast on the slightly frozen pitch, looked the perfect striker, taking his four goals so cleanly.”

An incandescent Clough told the media: “I was ashamed for the town and the club that 11 players could play like that. I feel sick. We were pathetic. This side hasn’t got enough heart to fill a thimble.”

Rovers went on to win promotion to the second tier that season and Dobson eventually completed 63 league and cup games for them before retiring at the end of the 1975-76 season.

Born on 9 May 1940 in Eston, North Yorkshire, Dobson joined Sheffield Wednesday at 15, and made a name for himself with the Owls in the days when they played in the top tier of English football.

He earned a reputation as a goalscoring winger after making his debut in 1961 and scored 52 goals in 193 games over the next five years.

He was twice capped by England Under 23s: on 29 May 1963, he came on as a substitute for Alan Suddick as England beat Yugoslavia 4-2 in Belgrade. Alan Hinton scored a hat-trick for England and the other goal was a penalty by Graham Cross, then with Leicester but later a Brighton player. Future England World Cup winner George Cohen was the side’s right-back.

Four days later, with Ernie Hunt leading the line, Dobson started for England when they lost 1-0 to Romania in Bucharest.

In 1966, Dobson made the switch to second division Huddersfield for a £21,000 fee and he was Town’s top scorer in the 1967-68 season (with 14 goals) and 1968-69 (with 11).

Although full international honours eluded him, in the summer of 1968, he was selected for the Football Association Commonwealth tour of the USA, New Zealand, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

He was also part of the side Ian Greaves led to the 1969-70 Second Division title, but he only made a handful of top-flight appearances, and his last Huddersfield appearance was against Stoke City in an FA Cup fourth-round replay in January 1971.

Once his playing days were over, Dobson worked for a whole host of clubs in a coaching or scouting capacity, including Port Vale, Coventry City, Aston Villa, clubs in the Middle-East (Bahraini side West Riffa; Al Rayyan in Qatar; Kuwaiti side Al Arabi, and Oman’s Under-17s), Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon, Gillingham, Watford and Stoke, where he renewed his acquaintance with John Rudge, who he had known at Huddersfield and Bristol Rovers, who was director of football for the Potters.

It was during his time with Stoke that he discovered the future Manchester United and England goalkeeper Ben Foster, a chef playing part-time non-league football at the time.

Foster later told the Birmingham Mail: “There was a scout called Colin Dobson who worked for Stoke but was living in Warwick.

“One night he saw some floodlights, stopped off and had a watch of the game and I caught the eye. That was it. He made a note of it and came to watch me a few more times.

“I owe it all to him. Top man. Whether I’d still be working as a chef if he hadn’t spotted me, I don’t know.”

Dobson died in Middlesbrough aged 82 on 16 February 2023.

  • Pictures from my scrapbook. Originally sourced from the Evening Argus, Shoot! and Goal magazines.

‘Mad Dog’ Kennedy’s eyes weren’t always on the ball!

A Ken shot

IN A ‘10 worst Albion strikers you’ve seen’ list, Andy Kennedy would be a leading contender.

On the rare occasions he scored, he would celebrate with an exaggerated swagger befitting scoring the winning goal in a cup final – all rather out of place in a humdrum third tier league match!

The disdain in which the supporters of Watford hold him is hilariously summed up by Darren Rowe in an article on Blind, Stupid and Desperate.

“If an opposing team wanted to keep him under control, they did not need to mark him, merely make sure that he was offside, which, for long spells of the game, he would be,” opined Rowe. “Andy always seemed to have forgotten to put any studs in his boots. If ever he felt he could get away with it, his legs would give way at the edge of the box.”

In the same online title, author Chris Stride is a little more appreciative, before putting the knife in!

“He had good control, strength, ball skills and packed a powerful shot. In his early days at Blackburn, I saw him score a magnificent 25-yard curler and have an all-round blinding game against Aston Villa in the FA Cup.

andy kennedy - wat“When he signed for Watford I was hoping for more of the same. All we ever got was one long range effort away to Southend in the First Round of the Coca-Cola, and a couple of seasons of strolling around the pitch preserving his hairstyle and energy for (page three model girlfriend) Maria Whitaker.”

A Blackburn Rovers fan, posting in February 2018 under the name Drog on roversfans.com, also shared an amusing recollection of Kennedy’s time at his club.

“My main memories of Walsall though are from an occasion at homely former ground Fellows Park where Andy Kennedy netted a brace in a 2-1 win.

“My travelling companions and I managed to gain admission to the less than Babylonian splendour of something exotically named the Terry Ramsden Suite, after a colourful but ill-fated owner, where I was hoping to perhaps pass my congratulations on to Andy and his then-paramour, a lass named Maria Whittaker whom I greatly admired but sadly she had not made the trip to the Midlands.

“I can’t remember exactly what she looked like but the captions which accompanied her frequent newspaper appearances always made me think she’d make a sparkling conversationalist.”

It seems the shapely Ms Whitaker must have occupied Kennedy’s mind quite a lot. Non-League Paper contributor Liam Watson, once a player with Witton Albion, recalled in a 2013 article: “We also signed the striker Andy Kennedy – long dark hair, good looking fella – and he was knocking off the page three girl, Maria Whittaker, at the time. That was all he talked about.”

Born in Stirling on 8 October 1964 the son of an engineer father and beautician mother, Kennedy went to Wallace High School in the town and first gained football representative honours at under 13 level. It was his performances for Stirling Boys Club that caught the eye of Glasgow Rangers scout Davie Provan.

In those days he was a winger but after going through the ranks at Ibrox and signing professional at 17, he was converted into a central striker. He eventually broke through into the first team in 1982.

He mustered 20 games for the Scottish giants, scoring three times, but also spent some time on loan at Seiko in Hong Kong. Clearly it was time to move on from Glasgow!

In March 1985, Birmingham City were faltering as promotion candidates in the chasing pack at the top of the old Second Division when manager Ron Saunders took on the 20-year-old Kennedy at St Andrews.

Andy-Kennedy           Kennedy displays a more conventional goalscoring celebration for Birmingham

On 8 April, with regular striker David Geddis suspended and Blues trying to end a run that had seen just one win in the previous six games, Kennedy was called up for his debut at home to Sheffield United.

And what a start he made! Not only did he score with a header past former Villa ‘keeper John Burridge, he also set up Wayne Clarke to make it 3-0 and Blues went on to win 4-1.

Kennedy’s good form continued as he scored four in seven appearances and the stuttering Blues went from fourth to second and won automatic promotion back to the elite.

Kennedy was leading goalscorer the following season….but with just nine goals that didn’t say much, as the Blues went straight back down!

Throughout the course of his three-year contract with Birmingham he made 76 league appearances but scored just 18 goals and, in March 1987, was loaned to Sheffield United, where he scored once in nine games.

In the summer of 1988, he was on the move again, this time to Blackburn Rovers for a £50,000 fee. To be fair, the Ewood Park faithful probably saw the best of him as he netted 25 goals in 59 appearances during his two years at the club.

Watford were his next club and he joined for a fee of £60,000 in August 1990. But he failed to make an impact and was loaned out to Third Division Bolton Wanderers. Unfortunately, a back injury curtailed his time with the Trotters and he only managed one game before returning to Vicarage Road.

In his unhappy time with the Hornets, he made just 25 league appearances and scored only four goals.

A KenIt was a ‘phone call from Barry Lloyd‘s no.2 Martin Hinshelwood that heralded his arrival at the Goldstone. He joined Brighton for a nominal fee in September 1992, making his debut as a substitute for Steve Cotterill in a 1-0 home defeat to Reading on 26 September 1992.

“I am delighted to be here with a great bunch of lads and now I am determined to play my part in scoring goals and getting the club promotion,” he told the matchday programme.

A skip through recollections of Kennedy on North Stand Chat hardly stand as a ringing endorsement to his contribution in the stripes, the most complimentary coming from Austrian Gull, who maintained: “He wasn’t always that bad – we’d been spoilt by the beast that was Mike Small and Kennedy could never come close to reaching that level. Wasn’t the most hardworking but him and (Kurt) Nogan were okay. We certainly had a lot worse than Kennedy to come.”

Meanwhile backson reckoned: “Frustrating player. When we played United in the cup at Old Trafford, I seem to remember he was genuinely fouled in the box but went down so damn theatrically, like he’d been shot, it wasn’t given.”

Others recall him through that nickname ‘Mad Dog’ (first coined in a News of the World article about his affair with Ms Whittaker). Gwylan said: “Mad Dog wasn’t that bad – he was just lazy and looked unfit. If he had the attitude of Gary Hart, say, he’d have been an excellent player for us as he had a fair degree of ability.”

Pinkie Brown also observed: “Certainly had ability when he felt inclined. Sadly, as he had a bad attitude and was lazy, supporters saw little of that ability. One of those players who could have gone further had he been more focused.”

Several fans remember how he didn’t react well to observations from the terraces pointing out his shortcomings. Bladders was amused to recall: “One time, when he lazily chased a ball that went out of play, my old man told him to ‘put some bloody effort in Kennedy’. Kennedy then threatened to jump into the South Stand and smash his face in if he gave him any more lip.”

I must say on checking with the record books, I am staggered to discover he scored 10 times in 42 games for Brighton – although I do remember those over the top celebrations.

It’s said he left the club in 1994 after Liam Brady told him he wasn’t good enough to play for the reserves in the Sussex Senior Cup Final.

He ended his English league career with a cameo at Gillingham and at the age of 30 tried his luck in Hong Kong again, this time with Tsing Tao, before returning to the British Isles to play in Northern Ireland with Portadown and Shelbourne in Dublin.

As he was not the sort of player likely to be invited back to the club to reminisce over old times, he appears to have slipped below the radar in recent times.

However, Kennedy has linked up as a coach with the Rangers Soccer Schools programme at home and in North America. In 2005, Kennedy was part of a team of Rangers coaches who ran soccer schools in Canada. According to a Birmingham Mail report in 2015, Kennedy stayed in Canada at Ajax FC.

Shankly ‘disciple’ George Aitken coached Mariners and Seagulls

MEDIA-friendly Jimmy Melia stole all the limelight as Brighton stormed to the final of the 1983 FA Cup but a quiet, wavy-haired Scot alongside him played a big part in the achievement.

George Aitken was joint caretaker manager with Melia for three months after Mike Bailey’s dismissal in December 1982, and he’d previously been in the dugout alongside Alan Mullery and Ken Craggs during Albion’s rise through the divisions having originally been brought to the club by Peter Taylor.

.When he died aged 78 in August 2006, Jimmy Case told the Cumbrian Times & Star: “George was a great character, a great friend and coach right the way through my time at the club. “Jimmy Melia was in the front line with his white shoes but George was right there in terms of the workings of the club and picking the team. He was well respected for his knowledge of the game.”

Mark Lawrenson also paid tribute in an interview with Argus reporter Paul Holden, telling him: “George never got carried away. He had seen it all before. He was a very wily old fox. He was from the old school, a good, honest, true, loyal man.

“He knew his football, knew his players and liked a laugh. He had one of those infectious laughs.”

Micky Adams said: “He was a great football man, George. When I first joined Brighton as manager, he was one of my biggest allies. He always popped into the office to chew the cud and talk football. He loved Brighton and was a well-respected man who loved the game.”

Holden also reported that at Aitken’s testimonial dinner in 1988, former Albion secretary, Stephen Rooke, said: “He may never have reached the dizzy heights attained by many of his friends and acquaintances over the years but he represents a rare breed, in fact the very lifeblood of our national game.

Aitken tiler sully 78

Aitken puts Ken Tiler and Peter O’Sullivan through their paces in pre-season training in 1978

“Deep down George is a very private person but his reliability and honest, down-to-earth approach has, quite rightly, earned him enormous respect throughout the football world.”

Aitken had been a manager in his own right at Workington, and he and Melia had both been players under one of the game’s legends – Bill Shankly.

Shankly managed Workington between 6 January 1954 and 15 November 1955, when Aitken was a strong and commanding centre back for the Cumbrian side, and five of Melia’s 10 years playing for Liverpool were under Shankly’s managership.

Born in Dalkeith, Scotland, on 13 August 1928, Aitken was educated at Dalkeith High School and played football for Midlothian Schools.

His step up to senior football came at Edinburgh Thistle, which was essentially a feeder side for Hibernian.

David Jack, remembered as the first player ever to score at Wembley, had become manager of Middlesbrough in 1944, and took Aitken to Ayresome Park after the war.

“I was 20 at the time and it took me two seasons to reach the first team,” Aitken recalled in an Albion matchday programme article.

“Middlesbrough had a great team at the time and I played alongside the likes of (England internationals) Wilf Mannion and George Hardwick.”

Aitken made his debut against Fulham in 1951-52, but only made 18 top division appearances and, in July 1953, was sold to nearby Workington for £5,000.

It was the beginning of a long-standing relationship with a club who in those days played in the basement division of the Football League and is now in the Northern Premier League – the seventh tier of English football.

Aitken amassed 262 league appearances for Workington and, in the 1957-58 season, played against the famous Busby Babes at home in the 3rd round of the FA Cup in front of a record 21,000 crowd – just a month before the Munich air crash. Dennis Viollet scored a hat-trick for United in a 3-1 win.

“The game was an experience that I’ll never forget,” said Aitken, who kept on the wall of his house a picture of him with United’s skipper that day, Roger Byrne, who not long after that match perished in the Munich air crash.

Aitken retired as a player in 1960 but he stayed on at Borough Park as a coach, initially under Joe Harvey, who later enjoyed success at Newcastle United, and then Ken Furphy, who went on to manage Watford, Blackburn and Sheffield United before moving to the USA and taking charge of four different clubs.

Aitken had a brief spell as Workington manager between March and June 1965 (stepping in after Keith Burkinshaw – later famously boss of Spurs – had left) but then followed Furphy to Watford in 1965 as his coach. During that time, Watford, then in Division Two, famously beat Shankly’s Liverpool 1-0 in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup before losing to eventual winners Chelsea in the semi-finals.

The lure of Workington was to draw him back to the north west, though. When the manager’s job became vacant in 1971, Aitken took over and stayed for three seasons, eventually leaving in October 1974.

grimsby 75

In the 1975-76 season, he was trainer-coach during Tommy Casey’s spell managing Grimsby Town (where, as in picture, one of the players was former Albion defender Steve Govier), but left the Lincolnshire outfit to join Peter Taylor’s coaching set-up at Brighton in 1976. The Scot ended up staying for 10 years.

Aitken and wife Celia had three children and I well remember one of them, Bruce, appearing for Worthing FC.Aitken 2

George was clearly football daft, and in a matchday programme feature of September 1985, Celia told Tony Norman: “Football has always been his hobby, as well as his way of earning a living. He really loves the game. It’s not unusual for us to be driving somewhere and to stop because George has seen a game going on in a park by the road. He can’t resist watching for a while.”

During Chris Cattlin’s reign as manager, Aitken was the reserve team manager and chief scout, and in the programme article he said: “I can look back on some very happy memories. I was assistant manager when we took the club to Wembley and that experience is something I’ll never forget. But that is all in the past and what really matters to me is the future for Brighton Football Club. So, I enjoy going out to look for youngsters who could do a good job for us in years to come.”

After being sacked by Brighton, Aitken did scouting work for Graham Taylor during his spells at Watford and Aston Villa and then had three years working for the FA during Taylor’s reign as England manager. His last football role  was at Bolton Wanderers when Colin Todd was the manager.

end shot aitken armchair

Pictures from a variety of sources including the matchday programme, online sites and the Argus.