Tano incurred the wrath of plenty during Spurs playing days

GUS POYET’s loyal deputy, Mauricio Taricco, once labelled ‘The Premiership’s most hated footballer’, had a late and unexpected swansong to his playing career with Brighton.

It came six years after the Argentinian full-back thought his playing days were over when he sustained a bad injury on his debut for West Ham, having switched across London from Tottenham Hotspur, where he played alongside Poyet.

Taricco was no stranger to a red card during his days playing at the top level and he was also sent for an early bath in his comeback game when the Seagulls beat Woking on penalties in the FA Cup.

Some of Taricco’s actions drew fierce cricitism when he was at White Hart Lane, for instance the BBC’s chief football writer, Phil McNulty, wrote an excoriating piece which he began: “Taricco may have a modicum of limited talent, but he hides it brilliantly behind a selection of all that is sneaky and cynical in football.”

Spitting, diving and feigning injury were among the accusations levelled at Taricco, and he left Everton’s Thomas Gravesen nursing a shin wound that required 30 stitches.

After two sendings off in three games in 2002, McNulty said the Argentine was “swiftly becoming the Premiership’s most hated footballer” and concluded: “Taricco is a scar on the Premiership and on a club with a name for a certain style – and (Glenn) Hoddle must operate to remove it.”

Strong stuff but the BBC man was not alone in his scathing criticism; Leicester boss Dave Bassett was incensed when Taricco feigned injury to try to get Foxes’ Andy Impey sent off at White Hart Lane. “That man should be done away with,” said Bassett. “He is a disgrace to the game.”

After Taricco had been sent off at Old Trafford, and then again following “a wild lunge” on Graeme Le Saux in a match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Hoddle stood up for the Argentine defender, saying he’d been harshly criticised and that the reaction was disproportionate.

“I’m not saying that there haven’t been times this season that he’s done some silly things, and he admits that, but the two sendings off, in my eyes, have not been warranted,” said Hoddle. “The press have gone OTT on it.”

Not everyone viewed him harshly. Jonas Ahrell, of sports internet company Sportal, said: “A string of assured performances, along with great control, touch and distribution, has shown him to be a shrewd purchase by Spurs boss George Graham, who knows a thing or two about defenders.”

He explained how his nickname Tano is Argentine for Italian – his father was from Sardinia – and he described the defender as “articulate, impeccably-mannered and an all-round lovely bloke”.

Born in Buenos Aires on 10 March 1973, Taricco grew up playing football in the capital’s streets and he would eventually follow in the footsteps of Argentina’s famous World Cup stars Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa to White Hart Lane.

It was John Lyall who was instrumental in his arrival on European soil. Taricco had been playing for home city club Argentinos Juniors for only a year when Ipswich Town boss Lyall and experienced scout Charlie Woods were in South America on the hunt for new talent. Their main target was Uruguayan midfielder Adrián Paz, but they took a chance on 21-year-old Taricco too for whom a £175,000 fee was paid.

“You often see two players coming over together to help each other with a new culture and a new way of life but it proved to be me who stayed,” Taricco recalled in an Albion matchday programme article. “Although I was playing in the top league in my homeland, it was always an ambition to play in Europe.

“I think that Adrian leaving after a few months helped me. I was now more isolated, but it helped me to stand on my own two feet. I had to understand the language and mix with people.”

While Taricco quickly made his debut in the League Cup against Bolton Wanderers, he mainly had to be content with reserve team football initially until a change of management – from Lyall to George Burley – and relegation from the Premier League eventually worked in his favour.

Taricco made 167 starts for Town and although defending was his priority, he also scored half a dozen goals – memorably in a 2-0 League Cup win over Manchester United in 1997 and a 3-0 league win against Crystal Palace in 1998 which followed a solo run from inside his own half.

In a March 2020 interview with the East Anglian Daily Times, Taricco looked back fondly on his days at Portman Road, telling Richard Woodall: “I have great memories of being an Ipswich player – in particular the derby games against Norwich. I always knew what that game meant for the fans and for everybody involved with the club. Winning the derby, oh my god, it was a nice feeling.”

Woodall said fans remembered him as a big game player; for example, following a pre-match presentation of his Supporters’ Player of the Year award in 1997, he went on to score in that evening’s 2-0 win against Norwich. The Argentinian described the award at the time as the “greatest honour of my career”.

His cult status among Tractor Boys fans was best described by Csaba Abrahall in a piece for When Saturday Comes and, when he was sold to Spurs for £1.75m in November 1998, there was widespread outcry amongst the faithful.

Taricco became the first signing of Graham’s reign as manager at White Hart Lane, although he was injured at the time, causing a delay before he could make his debut.

“It was always my ambition to move to the Premier League, although I still left Ipswich with a heavy heart,” he said. “I was George Graham’s first signing, but I didn’t see that as an extra pressure – I knew Spurs had been watching me for a while, so I just got on with my football and I coped with the step up – I was a regular for much of my time at the club.

“At Ipswich, we lost in the play-offs and I was absolutely devastated because my dream had gone, that’s why I was so determined to make the most of the opportunity to play at the top level.”

Taricco maintained: “I think the fans at Ipswich and Tottenham liked me because they could relate to me. I’m like a fan when I’m playing. I want to win. When fans get a penalty, even if their player has dived, they jump for joy. I was the same and I’m on the pitch! I didn’t care about other players, fans, clubs. I was playing for my team and nothing else mattered.

“I always got stuck in. You don’t have to be big but you have to have the will to do it. Sometimes you give it, sometimes you take it, that’s football.

“Saying that, there were things I only learnt when I came here. For instance, when you see a 50-50 tackle here and someone gets hurt you just say ‘both players were committed’ and you carry on. In Argentina, there would be a red card and a fight breaking out. So, I learnt that I could get away with things here. If a bad tackle’s coming in and I knew a player was not going to get booked, I had to ‘manage’ things.”

Off the field, there were several managerial changes during his time at the Lane but Taricco learned most from Hoddle. “He was a very technical type of manager, as he was a player, and it was of prime importance to him to have his teams playing a particular type of football,” he said.

“I really appreciated this as someone who always wanted to play the ball on the ground, think forward and create lots of goal-scoring opportunities. He was a really positive manager and I can take a lot from my days working under him.”

The other important take from his time there was getting to know Poyet well (after the midfielder’s move from Chelsea in 2001) and developing a strong bond of friendship that would last through appointments at Albion and several other clubs.

Taricco’s time at Spurs came to an end in 2004 after 149 games (plus seven as a sub) when French manager Jacques Santini told him he was not part of his plans. He missed the start of the season through injury and then suspension and was allowed to join West Ham on a free transfer. It’s now quite well known that he sustained a bad injury on his Hammers debut against Millwall and voluntarily tore up his contract.

He moved to Sardinia with his wife and children, managed a property portfolio by day and kept himself fit turning out for his local team.

The idyll lasted five years before his old friend Poyet asked if he’d be interested in becoming his no.2 at Brighton. “Gus is a person I respect both as a man and for his football brain,” he said. “When he asked if I wanted to join him, I said ‘yes’ straight away – I was willing to swap everything I had for Brighton and it’s been a great decision.”

While the plan was always for him to use his knowledge and experience on the training ground and in the dugout, on 18 August 2010 there was a hint of a comeback when he suddenly played 45 minutes for Albion reserves in a 0-0 draw with Gillingham at Culver Road, Lancing. By then he was 37.

The matchday programme observed how he “turned in a cultured display, likewise one feisty challenge that has become a hallmark of an illustrious career”.

The assistant manager himself said: “It was a normal match and nothing more – there was not a lot of thinking behind my decision to play.

“West Ham v Millwall was my last professional game, although I played amateur league (for Castiadas) and regional league football (for Villasimius) in Sardinia right up until last November when I arrived at Brighton.

“But I’m not thinking about coming back to play, I’m just thinking about getting myself as fit as I can.”

However, he added: “If something happens with the team regarding an injury crisis or suspension and I can get fit enough and powerful enough to cope with League One, then who knows?

“I will now try to push myself more and try to get involved in training more often, when I can. If I can mix it up and do my own specific programme to get my sharpness and explosive power back, then I’m sure I will.”

Sure enough, three months later, Taricco stepped into first team action in the FA Cup, playing against Woking on 16 November 2010, although his involvement ended prematurely when he was sent off for two yellow cards – the second one for dissent.

He also played in the next round when it took two games to see off FC United and he finally made his 350^th senior appearance after a six-year absence from playing professionally.

“I love playing football, so it’s nice to play, although I feel like I need a bit more power in my legs,” he said. “If I can get that bit more power for the first four or five yards I’ll be happier, but I am 37 years old.

“Any game could be your last, so you have got to make the most of every opportunity. Every player needs to give his all because that’s what you need to make it to the top. That goes for training as well as matches and it’s the way I’ve always approached the game of football.”

He didn’t expect to play regularly, though, and said: “I still see myself as part of the coaching staff rather than the playing staff. I’m there if we need to rest players or if somebody is recovering from an injury, because it is a very long and intense season.

“It is nice to play, don’t get me wrong, and I have enjoyed training with the team, but there are players with better legs than me in the squad.”

By the end of the season in which Albion won promotion to the Championship, he’d started five games and been sub twice, but he was still not done with playing.

The following season, Poyet called on his assistant’s playing experience on nine occasions (plus three as a sub) although Taricco was never far from the headlines for the wrong reasons.

*Taricco looks back in anger after seeing red at St Mary’s*

I can remember watching at St Mary’s as Taricco so hotly disputed a controversial penalty award by Peter Walton when Lewis Dunk downed Jose Fonte, quite clearly outside the box, that his protests gained him a straight red card.

Taricco also didn’t cover himself in glory at the Madejski Stadium on Boxing Day when lively wideman Jobi McAnuff gave him a torrid time and got two goals in a 3-0 win.

He featured in a six-game spell spanning December and early January but the surprise New Year 3-0 home win over Saints, when young Grant Hall replaced him in the 54^th minute, turned out to be his last appearance as a player.

After his departure from the Seagulls with Poyet following the defeat to Palace in the 2013 Championship play-offs, Taricco followed his friend to Sunderland, AEK Athens, Real Betis, Shanghai Shenhua and FC Bordeaux.

He told the East Anglian Daily Times: “When I choose who to work with, I want to know that they are a decent human being, and Gus Poyet is certainly that. This quality is not always easy to find in football.

“Both of us come from similar cultures and we think about football the same way. As well as wanting to win, we both want to put our players in situations where they will flourish. Both of us feel that sometimes as players, our managers didn’t necessarily give us that chance.”

In October 2020, Taricco told the EADT: “Not being a coach now means I’ve had the time to think a lot, and I’m currently learning about world finance, how the world’s monetary system works, and why poverty still exists, so quite big topics!”

But he added: “When the phone goes and the right opportunity comes along, I’ll be ready to be assistant manager again!”

• Pictures from online sources and matchday programmes.

Chirpy as a Canary but Mark Walton squawked as a Seagull

A CAREER highlight saw Welshman Mark Walton keep goal for Norwich City in a FA Cup semi-final in front of 40,000 at Hillsborough but his time with the Seagulls was marred by Brighton’s boo boys.

Walton’s first action in an Albion shirt was in front of only a few Albion followers because Brian Horton signed him in the summer of 1998 when the side was playing in exile at Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium.

Walton, who’d been part of Micky Adams’ fourth tier Fulham promotion side in 1996-97, found himself out of favour at Craven Cottage once Kevin Keegan had been installed as manager following the club’s takeover by Mohamed Al-Fayed.

Not wishing to play second fiddle to Northern Ireland international Maik Taylor, Walton moved for £20,000 to Brighton, who were a ‘keeper light after Nicky Rust’s departure to Barnet. Walton was Horton’s first choice between the sticks in the opening 16 games of the season.

“When Maik arrived, it was a matter of when I went rather than anything else,” he told fulhamfocus.com. “I was at a stage in my career that I just wanted to play, so moving was a necessity. In retrospect, I probably should have thought harder about my decision to join Brighton.”

After he’d shipped six goals in two successive 3-1 defeats in October, young Mark Ormerod took over and kept the ‘keeper’s jersey until Horton quit to take over at Port Vale shortly into the new year.

Caretaker boss, Jeff Wood, who’d been a goalkeeper himself, reinstated Walton to the starting line-up for five matches, but he damaged a hamstring in a 3-0 defeat at Southend on 20 February and didn’t play again that season.

Walton must have been encouraged when his old boss Adams took over from Wood, and he shed a stone and a half during the summer to get back into shape. Although Ormerod started the first five games of the new season back in Brighton, Walton was then reinstated as first choice ‘keeper.

But a gaffe — wearebrighton.com recounted how Walton’s attempted clearance from a back pass cannoned into the back of Paul Watson and into the net for an own goal — as Albion succumbed 3-2 to previously winless Chester City on 18 September (despite a goalscoring debut for Danny Cullip) saw feelings running high.

Adams had the players in for an extra training session the following day and Walton was dropped for the next match. Before the month was over, he submitted a transfer request citing the stick he was receiving as his reason for wanting to go.

“It’s one of those things you cannot really do too much about,” he told The Argus. “I am not the first and I won’t be the last. Everybody hears it. It’s just general abuse from boo boys and it’s the same home and away.

“It is obviously not the best feeling in the world, but you are paid to do a job and you go out and give your best.”

The manager was clearly upset that Walton felt he had to leave because of criticism from supporters.

“I’m immensely disappointed that a boy has come in to see me and wants to leave the club because he feels he is not being given a fair crack of the whip by the fans,” Adams told The Argus. “I am disappointed it has come to this and that he feels he has got to bow to fan pressure.

“Mark is a great lad. Whichever eleven lads I put out on the pitch in the blue and white stripes, they are representing Albion and the fans have got to get behind them. They are going out to give their best for the supporters and the club.”

Support came too from part-time goalkeeping coach John Keeley, who said: “Mark looks ever so fit now and the way he has trained and looked after himself in the summer shows he wants to prove to people he is a good goalie.

“As a goalkeeper you want the crowd on your side because it gives you a certain amount of confidence, especially when you are playing at home.”

Adams showed his faith in Walton by restoring him to the starting line-up and he was rewarded for his loyalty by two shut-outs on the road as Albion drew 0-0 at Peterborough and beat Carlisle United 1-0.

The matchday programme noted of the big ‘keeper’s performance at London Road: “Walton didn’t put a foot, or should that be hand, wrong during the 90 minutes, prompting praise from supporters, who chanted his name at the final whistle.”

Adams added: “Mark was terrific. I cannot speak highly enough of him. He is a good, honest pro and he answered his critics.”

Walton collected a player of the month award for conceding only one goal in five matches during October. He kept the shirt for the rest of the season, only missing two games towards the end, and playing a total of 45 games.

But the last-day 1-0 home win over Carlisle United turned out to be his last for the Seagulls. It was reported he’d verbally agreed a new contract but just before the start of the new season he chose to move on to Cardiff, along the road from where he was born in Merthyr Tydfil on 1 June 1969.

As it turned out, the move worked out well all round because Walton helped the Bluebirds win promotion from Division Three as runners up behind the Seagulls in top spot, Adams having unearthed a more than capable replacement in Michel Kuipers.

In an interview with Dan Smith in 2018 for fulhamfocus.com, Walton explained how his footballing life began at South Wales valleys village side Georgetown Boys Club and, because he suffered from severe asthma when he was 12, he decided it would be better to play in goal than in an outfield position. He was inspired by Phil Parkes of West Ham, Jimmy Rimmer of Aston Villa and Everton’s Neville Southall.

Walton played youth team football for Swansea City but his first senior professional club was Luton Town, where he spent six months. With the experienced Les Sealey and Andy Dibble ahead of him, he wasn’t able to break through to the first team. He moved initially on loan to Colchester United, managed by Mike Walker, who’d previously kept goal for the Us after a distinguished career at Watford.

Walker gave him his debut at Layer Road as an 18-year-old in August 1987 and he went on to make a total of 56 appearances for United, having moved permanently for £17,500 in December 1987, by which time Roger Brown was in charge.

Walker, meanwhile, had moved on to take charge of Norwich’s reserve side and, on his recommendation, City signed the Welsh goalkeeper for £75,000 in 1989.

“I owe Mike Walker a debt of gratitude to this day, as he basically taught me from scratch and helped develop me into a solid keeper with a sound technique,” Walton told Ed Couzens-Lake in a 2013 article for myfootballwriter.com.

Walton spent most of his three years at Carrow Road as understudy to first choice Bryan Gunn. It was because of a serious back injury to Gunn that Walton found himself facing Sunderland in the 1992 FA Cup semi-final, when a single goal from John Byrne settled the tie.

Looking back on his time with the Canaries, Walton told Couzens-Lake: “I loved my football and I loved Norwich, and, for me, it is still ‘my club’. The camaraderie of the dressing room was fantastic – indeed, whilst I don’t miss playing one bit, I do miss the changing room banter, all the characters, bad and good, and those shared triumphs, disasters and the shared sense of humour.”

The admirable Flown From The Nest website notes Walton made 28 appearances for the first team and 114 for their reserves. He had loan spells with Wrexham and Dundee United, trials with St Johnstone and West Ham, but it was Bolton Wanderers during Bruce Rioch’s reign that he next saw first team action, playing three games for the Trotters.

After his release from Norwich, a bizarre series of circumstances which he explained to fulhamfocus.com saw him spend two years out of the game before a Fulham fan, who was a member of the Norfolk cricket club he’d been playing for, wrote to Adams and suggested he give Walton another crack at league football.

“Micky telephoned and invited me for a trial. After three weeks, I was offered a year’s contract,” he said.

When ousted by the upheaval at the Cottage, Walton went on loan to Gillingham in March 1998 but couldn’t agree terms for a permanent move and on transfer deadline day ended up back at Norwich on loan as cover for Andy Marshall.

After his stint with the Albion and initial success at Cardiff, Walton slipped down the pecking order and briefly tried his luck with a semi-professional side in Melbourne, Australia.

He returned to South Wales after retiring from playing and went on to gain a first-class sports psychology degree at Cardiff Metropolitan University, a Masters degreeand a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) which led him to become a teacher for 10 years.

He also worked for Cricket Wales as a researcher and community coach and in January 2021 joined the cricket staff of Glamorgan.

“Cricket has always been a passion of mine,” he told his new employers’ website. “I’ve always played but that became more sporadic when I focused on football, but I always tried to sneak in the odd game here and there which was often in midweek.

“I played some league cricket in Norfolk, Essex and Wales and was able to represent Wales Minor Counties. Then about 20 years ago I fell into coaching and it’s prospered from there and I’ve coached every age group within Cricket Wales.”

• Pictures from the Albion matchday programme and online sources.

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 10^th 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 71^st 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.

Everton reject Mark Farrington earned rebuke at the Albion

BARRY LLOYD made a number of astute signings during some turbulent years in charge of the Seagulls; Mark Farrington wasn’t one of them!

Although Lloyd struck gold when he picked up Mike Small after seven years playing in Europe, his luck evaporated when he brought former Everton youth player Farrington back to the UK after a five-clubs-in-five-years spell in Holland, Belgium and Germany.

Lloyd agreed a £100,000 fee to sign him from respected Dutch outfit Feyenoord in 1991 – as a replacement for Small, who’d been sold to West Ham for £400,000. But in three years on the Albion’s books, Farrington mustered just four goals in 28 appearances. Subsequently, apart from a single league appearance for Hereford, he ended up at non-league Runcorn.

It’s no secret he’s gone down in Albion folklore as one of the club’s biggest flops, as evidenced by comments on the popular fans forum, North Stand Chat.

In 2004, in one of those discussions about all-time-worst player, ‘Metal Micky’ gave his vote to Farrington, adding: “The only one who came close to his utter shiteness was Ashley Neal.”

On another occasion, noting that Farrington managed to get on the scoresheet in a 3-1 win away to Burnley, ‘Pinkie Brown’ declared: “Mark Farrington scoring a goal rates alongside stepping in rocking horse crap, spotting Lord Lucan and going for a ride on Shergar. The last three are more realistic.”

On the same forum, ‘Withdean and I’ described him as: “The most expensive player ever to make so little impact at the Albion.”

It seems only right and fair, though, to try to balance the picture and I’m grateful to a November 2018 look-back article in the Sussex Express which recalled an occasion on 26 February 1994 when Farrington scored a goal in a 3-1 win at Huddersfield, and earned a plaudit from Lloyd’s replacement as manager, Liam Brady.

The newspaper reported: “For Farrington in particular, it had been a difficult season. He had made only sporadic appearances under Lloyd, but Brady was committed to give everyone a chance. ‘I brought Mark Farrington back into the side,’ said Brady. ‘As far as I am concerned, the slate is clean with everyone at the club and I am prepared to look at each and every player and Mark has done particularly well (in the reserves) and shown a good attitude’.”

It was good of Brady to give him the opportunity but at the start of the following season he brought in Junior McDougald to play alongside Kurt Nogan, and, in October 1994 Farrington left the club.

Born in the Allerton district of Liverpool on 15 June 1965, Farrington’s dad was a long distance lorry driver and his mum a shoe shop manageress. He attended Springwood Primary School and moved on to Hillfoot High School, where his footballing ability began to be recognised.

He also played for the local Allerton side and an Everton scout, Ray Marshall, spotted him. He was taken on as an associate schoolboy and then progressed to an apprenticeship. Unfortunately, his hopes of making it at Everton were dashed within weeks of him ending up on the losing side in the 1983 FA Youth Cup Final.

*Farrington scoring features on the front cover of the Everton programme*

Ironically, Farrington scored four times against Norwich City (see picture of one of them on front of programme) over two legs but City won a play-off and collected the trophy 6-5 on aggregate.

Everton decided not to offer Farrington a professional contract, but the opposition’s manager, Ken Brown, liked what he saw and took him on at Carrow Road.

A year later, he was blooded in an end-of-season top tier game away to Coventry City which the Canaries lost 2-1.

City history site Flown From The Nest notes he made a total of 18 appearances and scored twice before he was loaned to Cambridge United, where he scored once in 10 matches, and was then transferred to Cardiff City in July 1985.

City were newly relegated from the second tier. Farrington scored in the first game of the new season, a 4-1 win at Notts County, but Cardiff had a disastrous season and finished up relegated to the bottom tier. According to mauveandyellowarmy.net, Farrington scored only three more times in a total of 36 appearances for the Bluebirds before being sacked for a breach of club discipline by manager Alan Durban, who was sacked himself following relegation.

After an unsuccessful trial with Portsmouth, Farrington tried his luck on the continent.

At Dutch side Willem II Tillburg, he got into his goalscoring stride and bagged 26 in 61 appearances – by far his best scoring ratio for any club.

At RC Genk he scored five in 17 matches, and 10 in 30 games for Fortuna Sittard, including a hat-trick against PSV Eindhoven and four against Volendam. Next up on his European travels was Hertha Berlin for eight months, but he struggled to settle in Berlin and didn’t register a goal in nine games.

Dutch giants Feyenoord came to his rescue and, after he’d scored twice in a friendly, they bought out the rest of his Hertha Berlin contract. He scored once in five matches but when Gunther Bensson, the coach who’d bought him left, he failed to see eye to eye with his successor and began to seek a move. Lloyd took him on trial at Brighton and he scored in a reserves match against Ipswich.

“In May 1991 I had the chance to go to Spain to play for Seville but that fell flat and in August Barry called me again and I came to the Goldstone,” he told the matchday programme. “I had missed the pre-season training and all the other players had a head start and I suffered. I injured an ankle early on and one thing led to another. It soon became a nightmare, one injury followed another,” he said.

Farrington saw various specialists to try to get to the bottom of several niggles that were keeping him sidelined and months went by before he finally got the all-clear.

Steve Harper’s part in the Seagulls-Magpies goalkeeping ‘trade’

BRIGHTON and Newcastle United clearly have a similar eye for goalkeepers with a string of custodians having played for both clubs.

A few years before I started watching, Dave Hollins, older brother of ex-Chelsea midfielder John, moved to Tyneside in 1960 after three years with the Albion, and played twice as many games for Newcastle in the early part of that decade than he had for Brighton.

Back in the first Alan Mullery era, Eric Steele, who went through the Newcastle ranks without making the first team, arrived at Brighton to replace the injured Peter Grummitt in 1977 and was in the side that won promotion to the elite via a 3-1 win at St James’ Park in 1979.

Dave Beasant, who Newcastle bought from Wimbledon for £850,000 in 1988 – although he only played 20 games for the Magpies – was between the sticks for the Albion for 16 games in 2003.

More recently, Dutchman Tim Krul – who’d been at Newcastle a decade – spent a couple of seasons as back-up to Mat Ryan and would probably be disappointed he didn’t get more game time.

My post on this occasion, though, is about Steve Harper, United’s longest-ever serving player having been there 20 years. He later went back as one of the coaches working with Steve Bruce, as well as being goalkeeping coach to the Northern Ireland international side.

Harper is a qualified UEFA A coach and UEFA A goalkeeping coach, and holds a Masters degree in Sport Directorship.

Back in 2011, Harper was happy to lend his experience to the second tier Seagulls during Gus Poyet’s tenure as manager, a decision applauded by Alan Pardew, Toon boss at the time.

“He just wanted to play,” Pardew told the Chronicle. “Not all the top players in the country would have gone on loan – you’re vulnerable.

“You’re going down a division, but he was prepared to do that, and fair play to him.”

For his part, Harper told BBC Sport: “Everybody knows I haven’t played enough football until the last two-and-a-half years.

“I hadn’t played a competitive game for about six months so it was nice to blow the cobwebs out.”

In his first Seagulls match, unfortunately Albion lost against West Ham to a single goal from Harper’s former teammate Kevin Nolan, and he said: “It was disappointing to lose against West Ham with the possession we had.

“Now I’m here, it’s time to get stuck in. We want Brighton to consolidate and finish as high as we can. People tell me it’s a lovely city. I’m looking forward to seeing more of it.”

Harper recalled the time fondly in an interview for the Albion website in 2019.

He featured in five games for the Seagulls, keeping two clean sheets. While he conceded five goals, three came away to Southampton when the Seagulls were unjustly punished by referee Peter Walton.

Harper told journalist Nick Szczepanik: “I would have stayed longer given the opportunity. They made me feel very welcome.”

He even managed to give two of his new teammates a surprise when he started speaking to them in Spanish. Playing behind Spanish speakers Inigo Calderon and Gonzalo Jara Reyes, he explained to Andy Naylor, then of The Argus: “After five years of Bobby Robson and his multi-lingual team talks my Spanish is okay.

“Calde got quite a shock with how much Spanish I know, but I had Colocinni and Enrique in the team with me at Newcastle.”

After his brief spell with the Albion, Harper returned to Newcastle and played nine more games for them the following season before moving on to Hull City (at the time managed by current Toon boss Bruce), where he played alongside Liam Rosenior.

Born in Seaham on 14 March 1975, Harper grew up in the County Durham mining village of Easington and went to its local comprehensive school. Originally a striker at local Sunday league level, he only started playing in goal from the age of 17 and he turned out for Newcastle’s youth team while he was still at college doing A levels.

In fact he was offered a place at John Moores University in Liverpool to study for a Sports Science degree but he deferred it when Newcastle offered him a one-year contract. He signed in 1993 as a back-up for first choice Pavel Srnicek, later Shaka Hislop and subsequently Shay Given.

Much of his time at Newcastle was as a more than capable deputy to whoever was first choice although in United’s 2009-10 season in the Championship, under Chris Hughton, he was the main man and played 45 matches.

Harper had nothing but praise for Hughton, telling chroniclelive.co.uk: “He came in at an incredibly difficult, turbulent time after relegation.

“Chris was the man at the centre of a perfect storm who steered us through some very choppy waters.

“He did a wonderful job and I don’t think he got enough credit. It was no surprise to me to see him go on to do an excellent job at Birmingham City and then at Brighton.”

In total, Harper played 199 games for Newcastle, featuring under nine different managers – Kevin Keegan and Bobby Robson being his favourites.

Periodically over the years, he went out on loan to gain first-team action, appearing between the sticks for Bradford City, Gateshead, Stockport County, Hartlepool and Huddersfield. The Brighton move was his sixth spell out on loan.

Harper’s long service for Newcastle was rewarded with a testimonial against AC Milan in 2013 before he left the club to join Hull, where he spent two seasons.

Six months after his departure from Hull, he was taken on by then Premier League Sunderland as cover for Jordan Pickford and Vito Mannone, but he didn’t make a first-team appearance and was released at the end of the season.

Glorious home debut as good as it got for Abdul Razak

city action 2 A MAN-OF-THE-MATCH home debut was as good as it got when Abdul Razak joined Albion on loan from Manchester City in February 2012.

Already being mentioned as a possible successor to Yaya Toure, there were high hopes for the Ivorian 19-year-old.

He joined originally on a three-month loan with fellow City youngster Gai Assulin (pictured together below), who came on as a substitute for Razak when manager Gus Poyet gave him his debut in a goalless draw away to Hull City.

assulin and razak

With regular midfielder Gary Dicker sidelined through injury, Poyet needed reinforcements in the middle of the park and the promising City youngster looked like he might be a great solution.

He’d already had a month’s loan at Portsmouth earlier the same season, and he was the stand-out performer when the Seagulls beat Ipswich Town 3-0 at the Amex on 25 February 2012.

Two goals from Ashley Barnes and one from Craig Mackail-Smith sealed the win, Brian Owen in the Argus, writing: “Victory extended their unbeaten league run to nine games and was largely inspired by Abdul Razak, who was superb in midfield on his home debut.”

Poyet was concerned about the level of fitness of the City pair, but after that game at Hull told the Argus: “Abdul was better than in training, because of the space, the way he attacks and the ability he has got and strength. He has been missing playing 90 minutes.

“He is stronger than he looks. He can hold the ball, do a trick, have a shot. He is good passing the ball, we just need to make him play the way we play, especially without the ball.”

When signing for the Seagulls, Razak told the official club website: “I like to pass the ball and that’s why I decided to come to Brighton.

“I had a few options, but I chose Brighton because I like the way that they play football. I have seen some of the games and the way Brighton play is different, so I have got to adapt to that. I have spoken to the manager and he is going to give me plenty of information and we will take it from there.”

Unfortunately for him, the more experienced Dicker returned from injury quicker than expected and, after just four starts and two appearances off the bench, the displaced Razak cut short his loan and returned to Manchester.

Wearebrighton.com recently said Razak admitted some while later in a TV interview that he fell out with Poyet, prompting his early departure from the south coast.

There was a similar story when he went on loan to Charlton Athletic later the same year. He joined at the end of September, ostensibly on a three-month deal, but went back to City after a month having made only two first team appearances.

A year later, Razak signed for Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala on a season-long loan deal with the aim of it becoming a permanent arrangement, which it did within a month. He left City having made three starts and seven substitute appearances for the first team.

The following January, Razak moved back to the UK on a short-term contract with West Ham, but he didn’t make an appearance for the first team and left in April.

“It didn’t work at West Ham due to Sam Allardyce, as I like to play football and that’s not his style,” Razak told Will Unwin, in an extended interview in March 2017. “Then my work permit expired, so I had to wait for another one. The Home Office take a long time to reply, so then I was without a club. So I ended up four months without a club.”

Eventually, he moved to Greece and played a handful of games for Crete outfit OFI in 2014-15, and, in the same season, tried his luck back in England when former City legend Paul Dickov gave him a short-term contract with League One Doncaster Rovers, for whom he played nine matches.

After taking advice from Swedish international and former City colleague John Guidetti, Razak started to rebuild his career in Sweden with AFC United in Eskilstuna and, after a dozen games, he was picked up on a three-year deal by leading Swedish club IFK Gothenburg. But in 2018, he moved on again; this time to Uppsala-based IK Sirius.

Born on 11 November 1992 in Bouake, in the south west African country of Ivory Coast, Razak was a youth team player on the books of Crystal Palace initially but joined Manchester City’s elite development squad in July 2010.

Within seven months, he had made his first team debut when manager Roberto Mancini sent him on as a substitute for David Silva in the final minute of a Premier League game against West Brom on 5 February 2011.

city action 1 Five days later, he came on as an 80^th minute sub for Yaya Toure, and then had a starting spot on 21 September in a League Cup game against Birmingham City. He next appeared in the same competition’s second round, against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The midfielder played one league game in that 2011-12 season, when City dramatically won the title, beating QPR 3-2 with that Sergio Aguerro goal right at the end of the last game of the season.

In the following season’s curtain-raiser, the FA Community Shield, played at Villa Park, Razak was an unused substitute in City’s 3-2 win over Chelsea.

He has played five times for his country; twice in 2012 and three times in 2013.

Injury-hit Albion among six to borrow Borrowdale

DEFENDER Gary Borrowdale couldn’t have been more aptly named for a loanee which is just as well because he found himself in that situation half a dozen times over five years.

He made a temporary switch to Brighton from QPR in March 2009 to fill the spot vacated when Albion’s regular left-back Jim McNulty suffered a shocking injury in a 4-0 home defeat to Crewe Alexandra.

While McNulty needed an operation to remove a kidney, former England under 20 international Borrowdale had the chance to resurrect his flagging career with the Seagulls.

For a player who’d clocked up 100 appearances for Crystal Palace by the time he was 21, there was the inevitable ‘noise’ about helping out the arch rivals, but Borrowdale just wanted some game time, and he was one of five debutants who pulled on Albion’s sky blue second kit for the game at Brisbane Road on 7 March 2009.

Brighton lost that match 2-1 but, under Russell Slade’s astute stewardship, Borrowdale acquitted himself well during 12 matches through to the end of the season and the Albion just managed to retain their third-tier status.

Borrowdale montage “I made my debut for Palace at 17 and played my first game in the Premiership at 18, so it was a great start and Palace will always be dear to me as a result,” Borrowdale told Spencer Vignes for a matchday programme article.

“The highlight of my career would be the promotion I had with Palace when we went from the Championship to the Premiership,” he said, referring to the play-off win over West Ham, the day before Albion beat Bristol City in their own divisional play-off.

Borrowdale returned to west London after his spell on the south coast but in March 2010 he went on loan to Charlton Athletic and the following year had temporary spells at Carlisle United and Barnet.

His league career seemed to be over when QPR released him in June 2012 and he went over to Northern Ireland to join second tier outfit Carrick Rangers.

In January 2014, he looked to have got a foothold back in the English professional game when loaned by Margate to Gillingham, but he didn’t play any first-team games and was released at the end of the season.

Former Albion boss Peter Taylor told the club’s official website: “He’s done very well, lost weight every week and looked fitter every week.

“I just don’t think he’s ready for League One football, especially considering if we have to play Saturday and Tuesday. As a result, I have decided to let him go.”

Borrowdale then linked up with Greenwich Borough, initially as a player, before becoming a coach.

Born in Worcester Park, south London, on 16 July 1985, Borrowdale came through the youth ranks at Selhurst Park and Trevor Francis handed him his debut for Crystal Palace in December 2002.

When Iain Dowie took over as manager, Borrowdale quickly became a regular in the first team. He also represented England at each of the age groups from 16 to 20, playing alongside the likes of Gary Cahill in defence.

In a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands, played at Turf Moor, Borrowdale’s teammates included fellow Palace youngster Scott Flinders in goal and future Albion player Will Hoskins.

Borrowdale won Palace’s Young Player of the Year award in 2006-07, but, when Dowie moved on to manage Coventry City, Borrowdale joined him there, a tribunal fixing the transfer fee at £650,000.

The move didn’t work out, though, and, with Dowie gone, Borrowdale was sidelined, eventually being sent out on loan to Colchester United and then QPR.

Paulo Sousa took him on loan in November 2008 and, although he didn’t feature, made the move permanent in January 2009 on a three-and-a-half-year deal. He made just 22 appearances for QPR during that time.

Borrowdale stripes

• Pictures as featured in the Albion matchday programme.

Rami’s route from Rome’s Olympic arena to Albion’s ‘Theatre of Trees’ – and then the World Cup!

IN ALBION’S 2004-05 Championship season, both regular goalkeepers, Michel Kuipers and Ben Roberts, were injured.

A rookie American ‘keeper, David Yeldell, was signed on loan from Blackburn Rovers but didn’t inspire confidence and was discarded after just three games.

Instead, Albion manager Mark McGhee turned to Rami Shaaban, a Swedish-born goalkeeper with a Finnish mother and Egyptian father who hadn’t played a competitive match for two years!

However, that game had been for Arsenal in the Champions League in the 70,000-capacity Olympic Stadium in Rome!

Now, here he was on 19 February 2005 lining up for Albion in front of 6,647 at Withdean – The Theatre of Trees – against eventual champions Sunderland.

It proved to be an eventful debut, which I watched with my 10-year-old daughter, Holly (during her brief flirtation with wondering why her Dad was obsessed with this football lark). Albion played more than an hour of the game with only 10 men, Adam Virgo being sent off by referee Dermot Gallagher for two yellow cards.

Shaaban, Albion’s fourth different goalkeeper in the space of five games, did not have that much to do but he made an instinctive stop to keep out a cross from Dean Whitehead, fisted away a Sean Thornton effort and did well to hold Julio Arca’s shot from 15 yards.

He told The Argus afterwards: “It’s a great start. I’ve always been lucky with my first games at new clubs.

“At Arsenal, I had a clean sheet. That was in the Champions League, so it was a bit different, but you have to start somewhere and I’m very pleased to get 90 minutes of competitive football.

“I was more nervous playing here than for Arsenal, because before I went to Arsenal I was match fit. Here I had not played competitive football for two years, so this was a big milestone for me.”

albion action

Against all the odds, Albion won the game 2-1 with Albion’s goals coming from a deflected Richard Carpenter shot and a rare Mark McCammon header from a corner.

Born on 30 June 1975 in Solna, Stockholm, Shaaban’s professional football career began with the local Saltsjöbadens IF who he played for 39 times in 1994-95. Then, while studying at university in Cairo, he played for Zamalek and Ittihad Osman.

After university, he spent four years in Chile, between 1997 and 2001, playing initially for Coquimbo Unido and then Deportes Temuco.

Good performances there alerted his hometown club Djurgårdens, of Sweden’s first division, and it was while he was playing there that Arsenal snapped him up.

But his good fortune was to run out quite quickly. Originally drafted in by Arsenal as a possible successor to David Seaman, he suffered a freak training ground accident on Christmas Eve 2002 that left him with a broken leg.

It took him a year to recover and during that time the Gunners signed Jens Lehmann who went on to establish himself as Arsenal’s no.1.

Shaaban did play five games for Arsenal – three Premier League games and two in the Champions League – but he never did make it back to play for Arsenal competitively again after his injury.

However, he did warm the bench in the latter part of the famous Arsenal ‘Invincibles’ season (2003-04), because regular back-up ‘keeper Stuart Taylor had picked up an injury.

In January 2004, Shabaan was loaned to West Ham for a month, but didn’t play for the first team, and then at the season’s end he was released.

Immediately before joining Brighton, he had been training back in Sweden with Djurgårdens, but he was recommended to McGhee by former Wolves goalkeeper coach Hans Segers who had moved to Spurs where Shaaban had recently had a trial.

After spending two weeks training with the Albion, the ‘keeper impressed McGhee, who told the matchday programme: “He’s done well. There’s no doubt about it, he’s a good goalkeeper. We have to now consider what we do with him. We’re going to need two goalkeepers that can play in the team between now and the end of the season.”

Shaaban kept goal for the Albion for six games one of which, on 12 March 2005, saw him harshly penalised in a 5-1 defeat away to Plymouth Argyle, which I attended with my son, Rhys.

Of course, as fans, we would say it, wouldn’t we, but it was never a 5-1 game, and that was largely down to an unbelievable performance by referee Phil Crossley.

Albion, wearing yellow, started brightly enough and soon had the ball in the net. Admittedly the action was at the far end from us, but we couldn’t see anything wrong with the goal (I think the ref ruled out Guy Butters’ header because he claimed the ball from Carpenter’s free kick curled out over the line before the cross came into him).

It was the first of several injustices meted out to the Albion that afternoon by Crossley. Plymouth took a lead as early as the ninth minute when Nick Chadwick finished off a neat one-two with Dexter Blackstock, who, ironically, manager McGhee had tried to sign on loan from Southampton earlier that season.

Our hopes were raised, though, when Charlie Oatway, on his 200th League appearance for the Seagulls, scored with a deflected header from another Carpenter free-kick.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Plymouth were back in front when Crossley failed to spot Adam Hinshelwood being pushed as he went to head the ball. Instead he saw the ball hit the young centre half’s hand and awarded a penalty which Paul Wotton converted.

Then, though, came an almost unbelievable bit of nitpicking by a linesman which led to Plymouth scoring again!

Goalkeepers often go right to the edge of their penalty area before drop-kicking a clearance up field and, just as Shaaban did so, the lino flagged to claim he had taken it out of the area.

Crossley was obliged to award a free kick right on the edge of the penalty area and Wotton duly dispatched a thunderbolt into the net. It was as good as a penalty.

Although 3-1 down, it still looked like Albion were in with a chance, but Plymouth got a fourth on 36 minutes when David Norris evaded several despairing tackles before slotting past Shaaban.

To make matters worse, shortly into the restart Carpenter was consumed by red mist when Chadwick stopped him taking a quick free kick and, having pushed the guy in the chest, was sent off for the first time in his career.

So, 4-1 down and with only ten men, a difficult task just got harder: Plymouth continued to plug away and with just seconds remaining, substitute Scott Taylor rounded the hapless Shaaban to notch a fifth.

In the post-match interviews, McGhee described Chippy’s dismissal as “an absolute joke” and the refereeing as “shambolic”. And of the decision which led to Plymouth’s third, he said: “We see goalkeepers kicking at the edge of the box week in and week out and never in my career have I seen a linesman so sharp to put his flag up.”

Unfortunately for Shaaban, in his short time with the Albion he had conceded 13 goals, so McGhee turned to another loanee ‘keeper, Alan Blayney, from Southampton, who took over between the sticks for the remaining seven games of the season, when four draws and a win saw Albion do just enough to avoid the drop.

Shaaban remained on the bench and, at the end of the season, Albion decided not to take him on long-term. A year later he was called up to the Sweden squad for the 2006 World Cup!!

After his release from Brighton he had a trial with Dundee United but played only once, and also went on trial at Bristol City, but wasn’t taken on. Instead he went to Frederikstad in Norway, where he spent two years, and then joined Stockholm-based Hammarby, where he managed 26 appearances.

Those games led to him being selected for Sweden’s 2006 World Cup squad, although he had never previously been involved with the national side. In fact, in 2006 (and 2007) he was named Swedish goalkeeper of the year.

He made his debut as a half-time substitute in a warm up game with Finland and he played in his country’s 2006 World Cup opener, a 0-0 draw against Trinidad and Tobago, in place of injured first choice Andreas Isaksson.

He also played four Euro 2008 qualifying games for the Swedes, in which he kept a vital clean sheet in a 2-0 win over a Spain side which included the likes of Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas and David Villa and was also a member of their final stage squad.

Earlier in his career Shaaban could have chosen to play for Finland but decided to represent Sweden because, at that time Finland had two strong national team goalkeepers in Antii Niemi (later Albion’s goalkeeping coach) and Jussi Jääskeläinen, a Premier League ‘keeper for Bolton for many years.

After retiring from the game, Shabaan set up his own Swedish-based company, Rami Fresh, supplying Egypt-grown fruit and vegetables. The Sun did an article about him on 5 July 2023.

Photos from Albion matchday 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!

Saint Dean a sinner in some Albion fans’ eyes

HASTINGS-born Dean Hammond enjoyed two spells with the Albion having joined the club aged 11 and progressed from the school of excellence though the youth team and reserves to become a first team regular and captain of the side.

He also went on to captain Southampton as they rose from League One to the Premiership.

However, it’s a pretty surefire bet to say fans would be divided if asked to judge his contribution.

An over-the-top celebration in front of the Albion faithful after scoring for Southampton at Withdean made him public enemy number one in many people’s eyes.

The way he left the club under a cloud, suggesting they lacked ambition, was another catalyst for rancour.

Personally, I struggled with his penchant for missing some unbelievable, gilt-edged chances to score. There was one away at Leicester (one of his future employers) – a proverbial ‘easier to score than miss’ – that was particularly galling in a game that finished 0-0.

Putting all these things to one side, there is no denying that he ultimately enjoyed a decent career and, while his most successful years were spent in the second tier of English football, he also got to play at the highest level.

Albion have struggled for a good many years to bring through promising local talent from schoolboy level but Hammond was one of the few who made it.

Born a couple of months before Brighton’s 1983 FA Cup Final appearance, he made his Albion bow in December 2000 when former Saints full-back Micky Adams put him on as a substitute in a 2-0 Football League Trophy win over Cardiff, but it was only when former youth coach Martin Hinshelwood briefly held the first team manager’s role that he got his next chance.

That came as an 85th minute substitute for Nathan Jones in a 4-2 defeat at Gillingham in September 2002 and 10 days later he made his first start and scored his first Albion goal (celebrating below right) after only eight minutes in a 3-1 League Cup defeat to Ipswich.

When Hinshelwood was sacked, new boss Steve Coppell opted for experience over youth and Hammond’s next competitive action came during two spells out on loan in 2003 – at Aldershot (seven games) and Orient (eight games).

In an Argus interview in November 2006, Hammond said: “It’s been up and down for me at Brighton. I loved it when I came through the youth team and then broke into the first team at quite a young age.”

Hammond watched from the sidelines at the Millennium Stadium in May 2004 as the Albion won promotion to the Championship via play-off victory over Bristol City. A couple of months later, the Argus was reporting how he had been given three months to prove he had a future with the club.

He did enough in a handful of games to be offered a contract until the end of the season and, although he was mainly used from the bench between October and March, by the season’s end he was playing a pivotal role in helping to steer Albion clear of the drop zone, scoring the equaliser in a 1-1 draw away to Burnley and getting both goals in a vital 2-2 draw at home to West Ham.

Before the 2006-07 season got under way, manager Mark McGhee obviously felt players like Hammond needed toughening up and sent him and a few others to some boxing sessions with former world heavyweight title contender Scott Welch, from Shoreham, at his Hove gym.

Hammond told Andy Naylor of the Argus: “When the gaffer mentioned it, I think the boys were thinking ‘Boxing? How is that going to help us’. But he worked on the mental side, as well as the power and strength stuff.

“If we felt tired or felt we couldn’t go on, he was pushing us and he said it would help us in a game. I think he’s right. When we went back for pre-season training you tended to push yourself that bit more, so I think it will help in the long run.”

Unfortunately, it didn’t help enough because the season saw Albion relegated back to the third tier. It wasn’t long before former youth coach Dean Wilkins was installed as manager and youngsters were given a chance to flourish in the first team, with Hammond appointed captain.

“I would say it is the best time of my career and I am really enjoying it,” he told Naylor. “It’s brilliant at the moment.”

In the same interview, however, there were perhaps the first rumblings of his discontent with the progress of the club.

“I’ve been here since the age of 11. I’m like every other player. I’m ambitious and I want to do the best I can in my career and play as high as I can. Hopefully that will be with Brighton.”

A career-ending injury to Charlie Oatway and Richard Carpenter’s departure from the club in January 2007 led to Hammond taking over the captain’s armband and 2006-07 was undoubtedly his best Albion season. He finished with 11 goals from 39 appearances and the award of Player of the Season.

D Ham v W Ham It was in the 2007-08 season that it turned sour between player and club, even though before a ball had been kicked he told the Argus he thought Brighton had it in them to make the play-offs.

“We can beat anyone in the division. It’s just about being consistent. Realistically we can push for the play-offs,” he told Brian Owen.

Considering he had been at the club from such an early age, what happened next clearly rankled with chairman Dick Knight, who talked about it in his autobiography, Mad Man: From the Gutter to the Stars, the Ad Man who saved Brighton.

Knight accused Hammond’s agent, Tim Webb, of touting his client around Championship clubs while there was an offer on the table from the Albion that would have made him the highest paid player at the club.

“Hammond kept telling the local media that he wanted to stay and sign a contract, but I think he was being told to hold out for more money,” said Knight.

Because Hammond could have walked away from the club for nothing at the end of the season, the pressure was on to resolve the situation one way or another by the close of the January transfer window.

All the off-field stuff was clearly affecting Hammond’s head and I can remember a game at Oldham in the second week of January when he lunged into a reckless challenge after only nine minutes which certainly appeared to be a deliberate attempt to get himself sent off. That early dismissal was his last action for the Seagulls until his return to the club in 2012.

“I didn’t want to sell Dean but I was forced to,” said Knight, who persuaded Colchester United to buy him for £250,000, with a clause added in that Brighton would earn 20 per cent of any subsequent transfer involving the player. “In normal circumstances, I might have got more, but time was running out,” Knight added.

The move to Colchester wasn’t an unbridled success because his arrival couldn’t prevent them being relegated from the Championship, but, with Paul Lambert as manager, Hammond took over the captaincy in December 2008 and by the season’s end was voted Player of the Season.

Throughout the season there had been speculation that Southampton wanted to sign him and a deal duly went through in August 2009. At the time, Alan Pardew was the Saints manager and Hammond’s former Albion youth team coach and first team manager, Dean Wilkins, was Southampton first team coach, and played a part in him deciding to make the move. “His knowledge of the game and his passion for football is second to none and he was really good for Southampton – he had a good partnership there with Alan,” said Hammond.

D hammo trophy As had happened at his previous two clubs, it wasn’t long before Hammond was taking on the captaincy and he got to lift the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at Wembley on 28 March 2010 (above) when Pardew’s team beat Carlisle United 4-1 – the first piece of silverware Saints had won since the 1976 FA Cup.

“I was really enjoying my football and it was like a new beginning for everyone connected with the club,” he said in an Albion matchday programme article. “Nicola Cortese came in off the field and a raft of new signings had been made, the likes of Rickie Lambert, Jason Puncheon, Lee Barnard, Radhi Jaidi, Dan Harding, Michail Antonio and Jose Fonte. When you add the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin and Adam Lallana, we had the makings of a really good team. It took us a little time to gel, but once we clicked we had a really good season.”

When Albion travelled to St Mary’s on 23 November 2010, the matchday programme inevitably featured their captain and former Seagull. It said: “Hammond was barely out of nappies when he first started supporting the Seagulls. He can even recall the days they played in front of 20,000 crowds at the old Goldstone Ground.

“The new Brighton stadium will hold just over 22,000 and the Saints midfielder said: ‘There’s no doubt they’ll fill it, certainly for their early games. That’s just about the size of their fan base and, if anyone deserved a bigger ground, it’s them’.”

Reflecting that he had certainly made the right career move, Hammond said: “I’ve developed as a player. I have a slightly deeper midfield role which means I pass the ball more and get involved in the game more.”

After two seasons in the third tier, Southampton famously finished runners up to Brighton in 2010-11 to regain their place in the Championship. Hammond was a regular throughout the 2011-12 season, although at times contributing from the bench, as Saints won promotion back to the Premier League, runners up behind Reading.

However, manager Nigel Adkins obviously didn’t see Hammond as top tier material and on transfer deadline day (31 August 2012) the midfielder agreed a season-long loan deal back at Brighton.

D Hammo 2 By then 29, Hammond told the Argus: “It’s a different club now. The stadium is amazing and I can’t wait to get going.

“I saw the plans when I was 15 and it’s amazing to see it come to life. It will be a dream to play at this stadium as a Brighton player and I have been dreaming of that since a boy.”

Hammond made 33 appearances plus five as a sub during that season, alongside fellow loanees Wayne Bridge and Matt Upson, and said: “I loved my year back at the club. It was brilliant.

“I’d been sold the dream of the new stadium since I was 15 coming through the ranks, so to walk out of that tunnel for the first time as an Albion player was a fantastic feeling and one I’ll always cherish.”

Hammond reflected that the side did well to reach the play-offs but drew too many games. “We were only four points off automatic promotion and just didn’t do ourselves justice in that play-off game against Crystal Palace.

“Having drawn 0-0 at Selhurst Park, we really fancied finishing off the job at the Amex, but it just didn’t happen for us on the night. That has to rate as one of the biggest disappointments of my career.”

When manager Gus Poyet departed the Albion in the wake of the play-offs loss, Hammond returned to parent club Southampton, but, three months later he signed a two-year contract with Championship side Leicester City. Manager Nigel Pearson told the club’s website: “We’re really pleased to be able to add a player of Dean’s quality and experience to the squad.

“As well as having played a considerable number of games in his career, he also arrives with promotion credentials and will be a very positive influence on the squad both on and off the pitch.”

DHLCFC

Hammond added: “Once I knew of Leicester’s interest I wanted to come. My mind was made up. There was some interest from other clubs, but once Leicester was mentioned, and I spoke to the manager, I wanted to come here.

“It’s a massive football club. They came close last year in the play-offs and they’ve got a good history. It’s a club that’s going places and wants to push to the Premier League. It’s very exciting to be here.”

While facing midfield competition from Danny Drinkwater and Matty James, Hammond nevertheless played 29 games as Leicester were promoted and he finally got to play in the Premiership, albeit competition and injury restricted his number of appearances to 12.

Not all Saints fans felt it right that he had been abandoned as soon as the club reached the Premiership and, on the eve of his return to St Mary’s as a Leicester player, Saints’ fansnetwork.co.uk considered supporters might like to “thank him for his contribution to our resurgence in the game …. without Dean Hammond perhaps none of what they are enjoying in the Premier League would have been possible”.

Although Hammond earned a one-year extension to his contract in July 2015, he was not involved in the side that surprised the nation by winning the Premier League.

He had gone on loan to Sheffield United, then managed by his old Saints boss Adkins, and made 34 appearances for the Blades by the season’s end. However, he didn’t figure in new boss Chris Wilder’s plans and left the club in the summer of 2016.

Russell Slade gave him a trial at Coventry City in January 2017 but he didn’t get taken on and eventually he returned to Leicester to work with their under 23s. He later became loans manager for the Leicester City Academy.

Hammond opened up about his career, and some of the difficulties he’s faced since stopping playing, in an interview with James Rowe for The Secret Footballer.

Most photos from Argus cuttings; plus Southampton programme, Albion programme and Leicester City website.

In parallel lines

Memories from more than 55 years following Brighton & Hove Albion

Tag: West Ham