GUS POYET’S penchant for speaking out cost him his job at Brighton and AEK Athens.
“There is a reason they nicknamed Poyet ‘Radio’: always on, always talking, especially when it comes to football,” wrote Sid Lowe, in The Guardian.
While the exact reasons for his departure from the Albion in 2013 were never made public, there was speculation that it revolved around him talking openly about his desire to move on moments after the Seagulls had lost a Championship play-off match against arch rivals Crystal Palace.
“I’ve not been in this situation before but I don’t like it,” Poyet said after the game. “It’s changed my view completely about everything I was prepared for, so we’ll see now. I have always said that all the time we keep improving I am going to be at this club and the day we hit the roof, I’m not. Is there something more?
“Right now I don’t know, so I need to make sure I know there is, because if not I am not going to stay forever.”
Poyet was suspended by the club three days later, along with the assistant manager Mauricio Taricco and first-team coach Charlie Oatway, with them only saying they were launching an internal inquiry.
Andy Naylor in the Argus of 17 May 2013 reckoned the suspensions related to “numerous alleged breaches of contracts” pointing out: “Poyet refused to deal with the retained list, announced by the club earlier in the day.
“He told the squad at a meeting at The Amex on Tuesday he would not be involving himself with players’ contracts, because they were not his decisions and he might not be the manager next season.
“Players leaving and staying at the end of their contracts were dealt with instead by chairman Tony Bloom and head of football David Burke.”
At the time, Poyet’s name was being mentioned as a potential successor to David Moyes at Everton, and Martin Jol’s position at Fulham was not thought to be secure.
In the Argus, Naylor wrote: “During his post-match press conference he demanded assurances from Bloom he would have enough money to continue improving the team after their promotion near-miss.
“Those remarks are not, however, thought to be instrumental in the action taken by the club. Poyet’s relationship with Bloom and other senior figures has deteriorated in recent weeks.
“The Uruguayan almost joined Reading in March and his decision to stay only papered over the cracks.”
Naylor observed that Poyet’s previously “wide-ranging powers” had been reined in since the appointment the previous year of chief executive Paul Barber, who was on the board at Spurs when Poyet lost his job as assistant to Juande Ramos.
“It became an open secret within the Amex that Poyet would leave at the end of the season, irrespective of how Albion fared in the play-offs,” he said.
The following month Poyet claimed he was sacked while live on air doing punditry for the BBC although the club maintained he knew full well that he wouldn’t be returning to the job he had been doing for three and a half years.
Announcing his sacking on the club website, a statement read: “This followed his suspension, an investigation, and a subsequent formal disciplinary process. In line with the club’s own procedures, and UK employment law.”
Wind on the clock three years to April 2016 and, after only five months in charge of AEK Athens, Poyet was labelled “immoral” by the Greek club’s owner, Dimitris Melissanidis for telling the Greek media he would be leaving the club at the end of the season. Sounds familiar?
A Reuters report of 20 April 2016 maintained: “Speaking to the media on Tuesday, a day ahead of AEK’s Greek Cup semi-final second leg match against Atromitos, Poyet further angered the club by revealing details of a private meeting he had held with Melissanidis.
“What he did was unacceptable, it was not the appropriate time to unsettle the team just hours before the semi-final,” Melissanidis told reporters.
“AEK has never leaked any information from any of our meetings with him and for him to talk to the press about the contents of our meeting is immoral.”
Local media reported Poyet had been fired and would not be in the dugout for the match against Atromitos.
“AEK was informed of Gus Poyet’s decision that he will not stay with the club after the summer on Tuesday evening,” the club said.
“The important thing for AEK at the moment is the crucial semi-final with Atromitos, all of the other issues will be seen to after the match.”
After losing his job at Sunderland seven months previously, Poyet took over from Traianos Dellas in Athens in October 2015 on a deal until the end of the season, with the option to renew for another two years. Taricco and Oatway joined with him.
All smiles as Poyet arrives at AEK as manager
At the time of his appointment Poyet said: “I know that I have come to a huge club and I’ve been astonished by the reception that I have received.
“Our goal is to play to win every game, starting with the derby against Panathinaikos on Sunday (it finished 0-0), and maintain contact with the top positions.”
The ‘Yellows’ picked up a string of impressive results under Poyet but speculation about his future was never far away. In December 2015 he was linked to the managerial vacancy at Swansea City (following the departure of Garry Monk), prompting AEK to make a public declaration.
“We have not been approached by Swansea, there is no need for us to be approached and no propositions have been made from Swansea,” said a club spokesman. “Mr Poyet is happy at the club and will be our manager at least until the end of the season.”
AEK ended the regular season in second behind champions Olympiakos, although points were deducted for crowd trouble and they eventually finished third.
On his personal website, Poyet records that he led AEK Athens to the semi-finals of the Greek Cup and they won the three biggest derbies in the country against Panathinaikos, PAOK and Olympiakos over a month and a half. After he left, they went on to win the Greek Cup.
A month after his departure from Athens, Poyet was installed as head coach at Spanish La Liga side Real Betis, from Seville, on a two-year contract.
He subsequently managed in China, France and Chile but returned to Greece in February 2022 as the head coach of the country’s national team.
At one point it looked like he might return to Greece before then. It seemed all had been forgiven when, in September 2019, word had it that Poyet was lined up to return to AEK as the successor to the departed Miguel Cardoso.
However, agonasport.com said: “All of the signs seemed to be pointing towards Poyet returning to AEK as manager, but reports have now revealed that negotiations have reached a dead end. AEK are not willing to match the Uruguayan’s financial demands.”
A MIDFIELD player who helped keep Crystal Palace in the Championship frustrated Brighton fans in an injury-plagued two seasons with the Seagulls.
Kemi Agustien, who hailed from the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao, wasn’t fully fit when he joined Oscar Garcia’s Seagulls from Swansea City in the summer of 2013, and injuries he picked up restricted him to just 10 starts and seven appearances off the bench.
Albion’s ‘keyboard warrior’ followers were not at all impressed and poured out their vitriol, accusing the player of being overweight and not being committed to the cause.
The main gripe seemed to be frustration that a player who had played 31 games in the Premier League only fleetingly showed his capabilities in the division below.
It seems remarkable that Agustien once scooped the official man of the match award for a powerful display in Swansea’s midfield in a 1-1 top flight draw against Manchester United.
As Brighton fans would later discover for themselves, Agustien wasn’t shy at singing his own praises, saying after that United match in March 2013: “I put out a statement to the manager, the staff and for myself and my family.
“There were doubts over my fitness or if I had the ability to play in the Premier League but hopefully everybody who watched the game against Manchester United will have seen what I can do.
“I always put pressure on myself, I’ve been in and out of the team and, like every footballer, I want to play and start every week. It was my first start for such a long time and I thought I did well.
“I am not the sort of player who likes to talk about himself, but I think I can be proud with how I played.”
As so often seemed to be the case in his career, an injury stopped any hoped-for progress in its tracks and by the end of the season boss Michael Laudrup dispensed with his services on a free transfer, even though he still had a year left on his contract.
There was a sense of irony that the midfield slot Agustien took on at the Albion had become vacant when the Seagulls managed to offload Ryan Harley, another ex-Swansea player who had been a disappointment. Harley was allowed to join Swindon Town after a settlement was agreed on the remaining 11 months of his contract.
What Albion were getting in return was, on the face of it, an upgrade, and Agustien’s agent, Wessel Weezenberg, somewhat bullishly told the Argus: “Brighton are getting an excellent, all-round midfielder. He is a very technical player, physically good and strong, and will fit in well with their type of football due to his Dutch background.”
Head coach Garcia seemed to buy into it, too, saying: “He has experience in the Premier League with Swansea and his technical level, experience and confidence with the ball will help us a lot with the way we want to play.
“We will work with him, because he is not fit enough to play 90 minutes at the moment, but he wants to be fit as soon as possible and, with our fitness coaches, I don’t think it will take much time.”
Somewhat immodestly, Agustien reckoned he could fill any of the Albion’s midfield positions, explaining: “I feel I can play box-to-box, I have the power and the ability to do that. I can be dangerous in the final third, but if I need to hold I can do that as well.
“I think I’ve got all the strengths to do both but I know I can still improve. There is more to come from me.”
When he was sidelined with calf injury issues not long into his time at Brighton, he told the matchday programme: “I want to be an important part of this team, but the only way I can do that is when I’m fully fit.
“I can’t do myself justice on 80 or 90 per cent. I know when I’m 100 per cent I can bring quality to this team.”
Reflecting on his ill-fated spell at the Albion in a March 2020 interview with Tom Coleman of Wales Online, Agustien admitted: “It started all wrong. There was a certain pressure coming out of Swansea and going to Brighton.
“I had a meeting with the manager back then, and he told me how he wanted to play a certain way and that he wanted me to play in a certain position, as a number 10.
“For me, to start in that position was like adapting to a new style, and I wasn’t really fit because I didn’t really have a pre-season because of what happened with Swansea. I came quite late and I was overweight.”
Over the course of the 2013-14 season, Agustien made just eight starts plus six appearances off the bench in Garcia’s side, and he was an unused substitute on eight other occasions. Rohan Ince, Jake Forster-Caskey, Andrew Crofts and loan signing Keith Andrews formed the mainstay of the midfield before the arrival of Dale Stephens.
Albion supporters were, it would be fair to say, divided in their opinions about Agustien’s contribution. For example, ‘Clean Sheet’ on the Argus comment section said: “This guy has the potential to be a game-changer. He needs to get fit and motivated. If this happens, then he could be like a major new signing.”
But ‘Steveg1958’ reckoned: “This guy is unbelievable. He needs firing now and kicking out. What a joke. If any of the rest of us worked like him, we would be given the push. How he has got away with this for so long at Albion is nothing short of scandalous.”
On the popular fans forum North Stand Chat, ‘BensGrandad’ said: “He shows great skill and some brilliant passes but he appears to be lazy and not prepared to tackle back when required, or when he loses the ball. Perhaps that is where the problem lies.”
‘Stumpy Tim’ maintained: “He’s not mobile enough to play centre-mid. Wouldn’t mind seeing him in one of the forward positions as he’s definitely one of the more creative players in the team.”
If Agustien thought his Albion fortunes might change when Sami Hyypia replaced Garcia, he was to be disappointed. He made just two starts under the former Liverpool man, plus one substitute appearance, all at the start of the season.
He was sent on as a sub for Forster-Caskey in the opening day 1-0 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday that got Hyypia’s reign off to an ignominious start.
I do recall him putting in a decent shift away to Leeds United later the same month, contributing to a fine 2-0 win which saw Albion leave Elland Road with all three points, although he had to go off after twisting an ankle.
He started in a 2-0 League Cup win over Cheltenham Town but was replaced by Kazenga LuaLua on 68 minutes and wasn’t seen in first team action again.
He underwent surgery for a persistent thigh muscle injury, and Hyypia’s successor Chris Hughton didn’t rule him out altogether, but he said at the end of February 2015: “At this moment he is quite a way from being fit and ready to play.
“He hasn’t been fit for most of the season. If he is able to get fit and available for any part of the season we’d be delighted.” But he left the club without reappearing in the first team.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t done OK at that level, either, because he had already played 18 games for Birmingham City in the Championship during the 2008-09 season, and, in the 2010-11 season, three starts for Swansea under Brendan Rodgers and, when he hadn’t been able to win his City place back after injury, six starts and two appearances off the bench on loan at Dougie Freedman’s Crystal Palace as they fought to avoid the drop at the end of the season.
Explaining the Palace loan, Rodgers told Sky Sports News: “I felt Kemy needed games. He has found it difficult this season. I brought him in and he is a good lad, but some players are all right if they are not playing and others are not.
“Kemy is the type who wants to play. He came here injured and the players in his position have done very, very well.
“He has another season on his contract with us and, while it hasn’t quite happened for him here as he would have wanted, I want to see him getting games. Hopefully, come the start of pre-season, he will be fully fit.”
He got off to a decent start under Freedman when Palace won 2-1 against a Barnsley side which had former Brighton loanees Paul McShane in defence and Diego Arismendi, who went on as a substitute.
The Palace website reported Agustien impressed with his distribution on his debut, combining well with James Vaughan, and in a 2-1 defeat at Ipswich, it was an Agustien free kick that found skipper Paddy McCarthy who scored the visitors’ goal.
The loanee was in the starting line-up for Palace’s crucial away trip to Hull City when both sides needed a point to be sure of staying up. It finished 1-1. And his last game in Palace colours was in the final game of the season when the home side succumbed 3-0 to Nottingham Forest.
PROLIFIC second tier goalscorer Leroy Lita was a Gareth Southgate free transfer signing for Middlesbrough where he scored 20 in 82 games.
Two years after Boro cashed in and sold him for £1.75m to newly promoted Premier League side Swansea City, Lita joined an injury-hit Brighton side three months into Oscar Garcia’s reign.
Goals had been harder to come by for Lita after Brendan Rodgers had signed him for the Swans and he was sent out on loan, spending time back in the Championship with Birmingham City and Sheffield Wednesday.
It was a familiar story for Lita who had been Reading’s first £1m player when Steve Coppell signed him from Bristol City in 2005.
He netted a goal every three games for the Royals, but towards the end of his four years at the Madejski Stadium, he’d gone on loan to Charlton Athletic and Norwich City.
By the autumn of 2013, Lita had become something of a footballing nomad, fed up with a lack of first team action under Michael Laudrup.
With Albion’s leading striker Leo Ulloa out for two months with a broken foot, and Craig Mackail-Smith and Will Hoskins also sidelined, Garcia brought the diminutive striker to Brighton on a three-month loan arrangement.
“He is strong, fast and direct, and he has shown he can score goals in the Championship,” Garcia told the club website. “He offers us something different going forward.”
I can remember being at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster, when he scored his only goal for the club two minutes after going on as a substitute for Jake Forster-Caskey (he’d played with his stepdad Nicky Forster at Reading).
Forster-Caskey had scored a wonder goal with his left foot from 35 yards before Rovers equalised but visiting Albion went on to collect three points in a 3-1 win (David Lopez scored the other with a long range free kick).
Lita had made his debut in a 0-0 draw at Yeovil on 11 October, going on as a sub for Ashley Barnes and his home debut saw him replacing another loanee, Craig Conway, in a 1-1 draw with Watford.
The eager striker made a public plea via the Argus to be given a start but Garcia only ever used Lita off the bench for the Seagulls (he went on as a sub on five occasions and was an unused sub for three games).
“The staff have a bit of doubt but I feel fine,” Lita said. “When I am on the pitch my mind just takes over anyway. “I don’t ever feel tired or not match fit. I know you still need your match fitness, but you have to get that at some point, so hopefully this week.”
Having got off the mark for the fifth Championship club he had served on loan, he added: “Once you get that first goal you are thinking about the next one and the next one. I am just looking forward to scoring plenty of goals.
“I know I can score goals wherever I go so I’ve never had that doubt. Whoever has doubted me it’s up to them. My belief in myself is not going to end until I am 50 years old and can’t move!”
But with Ulloa’s fitness restored, Lita’s final appearance in an Albion shirt was on 3 December when he went on for Barnes at the Amex as the Seagulls succumbed 2-1 to Barnsley.
Maybe Lita’s Albion spell was cursed from the start when he was handed squad number 44 (all the fours, droopy drawers)?
He was still only 28 when he arrived at the Amex with an impressive record of 101 goals in 330 league and cup games, 14 of which had been in Reading’s 2006-07 Premier League season.
“I know the Championship well,” Lita said in the matchday programme. “Consistency is the main thing at this level because everyone beats everyone; some teams start well and drop off, while others start badly then pick up a run of results. So, it’s all about putting a good run together then you never know what might happen.”
Lita followed in the footsteps of former Swansea teammates Kemy Agustien and Andrea Orlandi to the Amex, but he also knew Liam Bridcutt and Andrew Crofts from his time as a youngster at Chelsea.
He recalled summer training camps at Horsham with Bridcutt and he played in the same Chelsea junior side as Crofts. “They have both gone on to become really good players,” he said.
“It helps when you go to a club and know a few people but I think the style of play here will also suit me.
“It is similar to Swansea and the club only signs players here who know the system.
“I played against Brighton last season, scoring on my home debut for Sheffield Wednesday, and although we won that day, I was still impressed by the way the team played.” He had also played at the Amex before when he was on loan at Birmingham and (below right) was the subject of a page feature in the matchday programme.
Born in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo on 28 December 1984, it was as a teenager on Chelsea’s books that he couldn’t believe his luck to be sharing a training pitch with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen.
“I would go home and see them on TV and the next day I would be training with them,” he told The Guardian. “It was unbelievable.”
Reporter Jon Brodkin wrote: “Chelsea broke his heart by releasing him but his three years at the club he supports were hardly wasted. The thrill of being a ballboy was surpassed by training with the first team’s front two.”
Lita told him: “I was 15 and the academy director said he had spoken to my school and I could have a couple of days off a week to train with the first team and the ressies [reserves]. It was a great opportunity and I learned a lot from it.
“Hasselbaink’s finishing was unbelievable, he didn’t mess about. He could place it and smash it. I mainly did finishing with them, not much else, but I could see as well how professional they were and how they looked after themselves.”
After Lita’s release, he contacted a few clubs – Fulham were interested but didn’t offer a contract – and he was aware that after leaving Arsenal Andy Cole had made a new start to his successful career at Bristol City.
It was the Robins who gave Lita an opportunity and former Albion skipper Danny Wilson handed him his first team debut at the beginning of the 2002-03 season when he was still only 17.
His first league goal was a late winner on 28 September 2002 to secure a 3-2 victory after going on as a substitute at Port Vale (for whom an 18-year-old Billy Paynter had scored).
“The striker hit a glorious goal to end Vale’s hopes of a point after they had fought back to level matters just a minute earlier,” said the BBC report of the game.
It wasn’t until the following season that he was given a professional contract and it was only after Brian Tinnion succeeded Wilson as manager in 2004-05 that Lita established himself in the City side. He scored 29 goals in all competitions and that form earned him a call-up to the England under-21s, Lita having decided not to play for his birth country.
He scored on his debut on 8 February 2005 when he went on as a sub for Justin Hoyte in a 2-1 defeat against the Netherlands at Derby’s Pride Park.
Those goals also earned him a £1m move to Reading, even though Tinnion advised him against the move, believing a Premiership club would come in for him.
“Once I got down here, I knew it was right,” Lita told The Guardian. “I want to go a step at a time. Reading are a good club, they’re looking to get into the Premiership and that’s where I want to be.”
He went on to score 15 goals in 25 league and cup games (+ seven as a sub) as Reading topped the Championship, and he returned to the England under-21 fold in February 2006.
He was on home turf at the Madejski Stadium when he earned his second cap, again as a sub, replacing David Nugent in a 3-1 win over Norway (future Albion loanee Liam Ridgewell was among his teammates).
A year later, after finding the net in the Premier League with Reading, Lita got a third cap as a substitute (for James Milner) and scored again in a 2-2 draw against Spain at Pride Park. Liam Rosenior was also a substitute that day.
Lita’s first start for the under 21s came the following month, on 24 March, in a 3-3 draw with Italy in the first game played at the new Wembley Stadium, in front of 55,700. On 5 June the same year, Lita scored England’s fifth goal in a 5-0 win over Slovakia at Carrow Road after he’d gone on as a sub for Nigel Reo-Coker.
Lita was an overage player in the 2007 UEFA European Under 21 Championship: he missed an 88th minute penalty after going on as a sub in a 0-0 draw with the Czech Republic but scored in each of the three games he started: 2-2 v Italy, 2-0 v Serbia and 1-1 v the Netherlands (who won the tie 13-12 on penalties). But a full cap eluded him.
Lita was a regular throughout Reading’s first top-flight campaign. In a side that include Ivar Ingimarsson and Steve Sidwell, Lita scored 14 times in 26 league and cup starts plus 12 appearances off the bench.
But with Kevin Doyle and Dave Kitson the preferred strike duo in 2007-08, Lita’s game time was much reduced and he went on loan to Charlton in March 2008.
It was a similar story the following season when he scored seven times in 16 games during a three-month loan at Norwich City – the haul included a hat-trick against eventual champions Wolves.
The excellent Flown From The Nest website, that profiles former Norwich players, recalled how that treble attracted the interest of plenty of other clubs, but City boss Glenn Roeder said: “It’s a better problem to have than him not scoring and playing rubbish – then none of us want him. What can you do?
“He was brought here to score goals. He was a little bit rusty in his first game which was understandable. He did better in the second game against Bristol City when he had a couple of chances which unfortunately never went in, and then in the third game on Tuesday night, we saw the real Leroy Lita and what he is all about.”
Lita returned to Reading and played in a FA Cup third round defeat at Cardiff and although Sheffield United made a bid for him, he preferred to stay with the Royals.
Nevertheless, at the end of the season, he finally left the Madejski and headed to Teesside on a three-year deal.
On signing for Boro, Lita said: “The manager has been after me for about a year, it’s great to feel wanted. I have a lot of respect for the gaffer and I want to do well for him and the club.
“I aim to repay him for his faith in me with goals. That’s the main strength to my game and I’m looking forward to scoring goals for Middlesbrough.”
He told the Northern Echo: “I’m raring to go. I haven’t enjoyed the last two seasons one bit, but this is a fresh start and I’m excited about the challenge.
“Other clubs were interested in signing me, but there was only once place I wanted to go and that was Middlesbrough.”
Southgate added: “Leroy has a hunger to score goals and his goalscoring record in the Championship in particular is very strong.
“His record says he gets one in two at this level so that will be important for us. I think he has a point to prove and, when he’s fully fit, he will relish the challenge.”
It wasn’t long before Southgate was succeeded by Gordon Strachan but Lita made the second highest number of appearances (41) in that season’s squad and scored nine goals as Boro finished mid-table.
There was yet another managerial change the following season, with the return of former player Tony Mowbray, but Boro once again finished mid-table with a side that featured Joe Bennett at left back and Jason Steele in goal.
Lita scored 11 times in 40 matches, which was enough to attract newly-promoted Swansea. “I’ve had a good chat with Leroy,” said Mowbray. “He has a chance to play in the Premier League and good on him. His talent has earned him that chance.”
But he only scored twice in six starts (+ 12 appearances off the bench) all season and in September 2012, Lee Clark signed him on a three-month loan for Birmingham.
“I know Leroy very well having worked with him at Norwich during a loan spell in which he scored seven goals in 16 games,” said Clark. “He’s a proven goalscorer who has power and pace and there’s no doubt that he’ll add quality to my squad.”
Lita scored three goals in 10 games for Birmingham before being recalled early, but in late January 2013, he joined Sheffield Wednesday on loan until the end of the season.
Wednesday manager Dave Jones told BBC Radio Sheffield: “Leroy has a lot of experience at this level and the one above. It could be with a view to a permanent deal. This lets us have a look at him and he can have a look at us.” But he only scored twice in nine appearances for the Owls.
Released by Swansea at the end of the 2013-14 season, Lita was then reunited with Danny Wilson, manager at newly relegated League One Barnsley.
“He was my first manager and I like the way he works,” said Lita. “He’s got a lot of trust in me and I’ve got a lot of trust in him.
“I enjoyed my time under him as a youngster. He helped me a lot and helped me progress in my career so far. I just want to get back to playing football regularly again and I’m going to get that opportunity here.”
He scored in his first two league games but didn’t register again for 21 games. When Wilson was replaced by Lee Johnson in February 2015, within a matter of weeks Lita joined lowly Notts County on loan until the end of the season but was unable to prevent their relegation.
On expiry of his Barnsley contract, Lita moved to Crete side AO Chania in August 2015 but was back in England the following March, signing a short term deal with League Two Yeovil Town, where he scored once in eight games. That was his last league club in England.
He scored five goals in 21 games for Thai Premier League side Sisaket in 2017 and on his return to the UK turned out for a number of non-league clubs: Margate, Haverhill Rovers, Salisbury and Chelmsford City.
In May 2020, the Coventry Evening Telegraph hailed his signing for Nuneaton Borough, whose manager Jimmy Ginnelly told the newspaper: “His partner is from Nuneaton and they’ve recently moved into a house on The Longshoot, which is just five minutes from the ground, so this is a win-win situation for both parties.
“These sorts of players don’t come onto Nuneaton’s radar very often so we moved quickly and obviously all of us here at the Boro are very excited.”
He scored eight goals in 33 appearances for Nuneaton, went on to play for Southern League Premier Division Central rivals Stratford Town before moving on to Hednesford Town, where he’s still playing.
In March 2022, the Express and Star reported: “Lita lit up Keys Park last night as he smashed a debut hat-trick to help Hednesford to a 3-1 victory over Stourbridge.”
AIDAN NEWHOUSE scored twice on his Albion debut but only started two games for the Seagulls!
The former Fulham striker netted two of Brighton’s six goals in the 1999-2000 season opening match at the Withdean Stadium.
He replaced hat-trick man Darren Freeman with the Albion 4-0 up on 7 August 1999 and promptly added two more goals to complete a 6-0 rout of Mansfield Town (pictures below).
Newhouse, wearing the no.25 later worn iconically by Bobby Zamora, was given a start in a 2-0 league cup defeat away to Torquay United. Although he regularly went on as a substitute, often for Freeman, he only began one other game: a 1-0 home league win over Cheltenham Town.
Newhousehad limited opportunities in Albion colours
Newhouse had previously played under manager Micky Adams at Fulham in 1997, and, unluckily for him, Freeman and Gary Hart were the first choice forward choices in those opening months.
Competition for places intensified in the autumn with the arrival of Warren Aspinall and Lorenzo Pinamonte. Newhouse was swiftly on his way to Conference club Sutton United.
When they were relegated at the end of the season, he switched to Northwich Victoria in 2001, but only played one match before quitting and becoming a schoolteacher.
Born in the Wirral town of Wallasey on 23 May 1972, Newhouse showed so much early promise that he made his debut for Chester City before his 16th birthday.
He was just 15 years and 350 days old when he was sent on as a substitute by manager Harry McNally on the final day of the 1987–88 season as Chester won away at Bury 1–0 in the Third Division.
The talented teenager was in David Burnside’s 1988-89 England side for the UEFA Under-18 Championship preliminary matches against Greece (home and away), France and Czechoslovakia, scoring in the 3-0 win away to Greece on 8 March 1989. He played up front with Andrew Cole, later of Manchester United and Newcastle United fame.
The following season he went on as a sub for Cole in a 0-0 draw with Denmark at Wembley; a game which was played at Wembley before the England-Brazil full international. Three weeks later he scored England’s third when he started in a 3-0 win over Poland, another game played before a full international (England v Denmark).
In July the same year, he started all three of England’s matches (a draw and two defeats) when they finished fourth in the UEFA Under-18 Championship in Hungary.
Chester cashed in on their young prodigy, selling him to then First Division Wimbledon for £100,000 in February 1990.
First team opportunities for Wimbledon were few and far between for Newhouse and he is in the same exalted company as former Albion loanee Gary Bull in being one of only four players to have scored on their single Premier League appearance.
Wimbledon scorer
Ironically, it came in a match in 1992-93 against Aston Villa best remembered for Dalian Atkinson’s individual goal that won the BBC’s Goal of the Season award. “It was deflected past the goalkeeper,” Newhouse told premierleague.com. “It was a bit of a low-life goal compared to Dalian Atkinson’s.”
It was Bobby Gould who gave him his Wimbledon debut but a stomach injury halted his progress under Gould’s successor Ray Harford, as well as the form of John Fashanu and Terry Gibson.
In a 1990-91 season matchday programme article, Newhouse said: “I was really looking forward to this season. Bobby Gould had given me a taste of first team action and I felt I was ready to really stake a claim for a place.
“Then I picked up the injury and it took me months even to get back into full training let alone playing well.”
Although he was a Wimbledon player for seven years, he went out on loan on four occasions: to Tranmere Rovers, Port Vale, Portsmouth and Torquay United. He eventually left permanently for Fulham in 1997.
He scored four goals in only 12 league and cup matches for Fulham: three in a two-legged League Cup match against Wycombe Wanderers and one in the league in a 2-0 win away to Bristol City on 2 September 1997 (Richard Carpenter scored the other). But, only a few weeks’ later, Adams was controversially replaced by Ray Wilkins and Kevin Keegan under the new Mohammed Al-Fayed regime.
Scoring for Fulham
Before long, Newhouse was on his way too. A £30,000 fee took him to Swansea City although, by the time he had arrived, Adams’ short tenure as boss was already over, his role filled by his former no.2 Alan Cork.
It’s probably an understatement to say things didn’t work out for Newhouse in South Wales. Indeed, in a FourFourTwo magazine poll inviting supporters to name their club’s worst player, Newhouse earned the tag from Swansea fans.
He failed to score in 17 appearances across two seasons and Steven Carroll, of the SOS Fanzine, cited a particular game in February 1999, when Carlisle visited the Vetch Field, to back up the claim.
“Due to injuries and suspensions, Newhouse was awarded a rare start. Early on, he was put through on goal and fouled by the ‘keeper inside the box – but while the referee looked set to award a penalty, with said goalkeeper on the floor and both Newhouse/the ball free, our hapless striker shot from close range and missed an open goal. No penalty.
“In the second half, Stuart Roberts received the ball on the edge on the box and was about to shoot, only for Newhouse to kick him in the back of the leg. He never played again after that.”
After retiring from the game in 2001, Newhouse became a maths teacher and he told premierleague.com: “Not all of us are Stevie G and the likes of Neymar,” he said. “I played 13 years, made about £250 a week on average.
“It shows you that, you know, we can do all sorts of things and eventually, to do a job that you enjoy, you will need some education. You will need that to give you an option and a choice.
“Teaching…it’s one of those things. It’s like football, there’s a camaraderie between you and the class.
“Once the guys realise they’re part of a team, there are some similarities. You can have a laugh with the lads and they realise you are there to try and help them succeed.”
A 93RD-MINUTE winning goal in a Championship match against Peterborough United was as good as it got in Stephen Dobbie’s brief stay with Brighton.
Dobbie left the Albion for Crystal Palace just five months into a three-year contract after failing to live up to the hope that he would be the answer to Albion’s shortage of a genuine goalscorer.
“He has great quality which will unlock defences and I have no doubt he will also score plenty of goals,” Poyet said on capturing a player who had a goalscoring pedigree at Championship level with Swansea City and Blackpool, as well as in Scotland.
“He has played and proven himself at this level and in the Premier League. His goals helped Blackpool win promotion in 2010 and he returned on loan to help them reach the play-off final last season,” he said.
Dobbie was one of four players who joined Brighton on 31 August 2012; fellow Swansea player Andrea Orlandi also arrived, along with Dean Hammond, on loan from Southampton, and Athletic Bilbao’s David Lopez.
Seldom a starter, Dobbie’s first Albion goal came after he’d gone on as a 64th minute substitute for Andrew Crofts at home to Peterborough. Despite relentless Albion pressure, the game looked to be heading for a goalless draw when Dobbie produced a composed finish from an Ashley Barnes pass in the third minute of added on time.
A delighted Poyet said: “We needed quality and Dobbie showed us what he is capable of and that won us the game. It was real quality and that’s what we needed to score tonight.
“On another day, another player would have smashed that and it would not have gone in. The touch was magnificent and we are all delighted.”
Dobbie added: “Before I came on the gaffer told me to keep doing what I have been doing in training. I was confident that my time would come. Hopefully I can kick on and show the sort of form I have showed before in the Championship.”
As it happened, Dobbie did score in the next match too although an astonishing game at Molineux possibly summed up his time with the Albion. He had a great chance when through on goal that Carl Ikeme saved; he then put Albion 3-2 up with an 89th minute penalty – but 10-man Wolves hit back with a 90th-minute equaliser.
“We are all a bit gutted because the three points were there to be taken and on another day we probably would have scored four or five,” said Dobbie afterwards.
Dobbie didn’t score again and after just five starts plus 10 appearances off the bench Poyet decided to cut his losses and ship the player out on loan to Palace.
He couldn’t put his finger on exactly why it hadn’t worked out and was open in his assessment when talking to the Argus about it.
“I don’t think there is one reason, one person responsible,” said Poyet. “I think it didn’t click, that’s all. I am more than happy to take the blame but it’s a mix of things, the way we play, the player, the results, the team.
“The moment it was a possibility to get him I was convinced he was the perfect player for us, to play between the lines, arrive late, get goals, play in different positions in a front three or even behind the striker.”
Earlier in the season, Dobbie said matters off the pitch had made it difficult for him to settle. He had been living in a hotel with his wife and young son for a month during which time his wife gave birth to their second child.
“It was quite hard living in the hotel with my wife and little boy but thankfully we’re now settled in a house and another little boy has since come along, so I can concentrate fully on my football,” he told the matchday programme. “It’s not easy when you’ve got so much going on, it takes a period of adjustment, but now I’m able to just focus on what I’m doing on the training ground.”
At least the move to Palace reunited Dobbie with a familiar face: he had played under Palace boss Ian Holloway during two loan spells at Blackpool. Dobbie scored three times in 15 matches for Palace as they won promotion via the play-offs (thankfully he didn’t play in the semi-finals v Brighton).
Albion and Palace had to make the transfer a loan initially to comply with FIFA regulations regarding the number of clubs a player can play for on a permanent basis in one season, but the loan became permanent in the summer.
Although he signed a two-year deal at Selhurst Park, he only played in one Premier League game and one League Cup tie before returning to Bloomfield Road on loan to Blackpool for a third time.
It was perhaps inevitable that Dobbie should score an equaliser for relegation-threatened Blackpool when they salvaged a point in a disappointing 1-1 draw at the Amex on 21 April 2014.
Blackpool player-manager Barry Ferguson said:“It was a great strike. [Dobbie] has quality and it’s up to him to produce it more often.
“I let him play where he wants to. I’ve known him a long time and, apart from what he does on the ball, his work-rate off the ball is excellent.”
Although still under contract with Palace, Dobbie spent the 2014-15 season on loan at newly promoted League One side Fleetwood Town.
Released by Palace at the end of that season, he spent pre-season on a trial basis at Championship side Bolton Wanderers and when boss Neil Lennon liked what he saw he was given a one-year contract with the Trotters.
In 2016, Dobbie returned to the club where he’d previously been most prolific as a goalscorer: Queen of the South. In his first spell (2006-09), he scored 55 goals in 105 games for the Scottish First Division outfit.
That level of goalscoring prowess returned second time around, as he netted 111 goals in 178 games over five seasons in the Scottish Championship. He topped the Championship scoring charts in 2017 and 2018 and his 43 goals in 2018-19 was the best ever total for a Queens player in a single season.
Born in Glasgow on 5 December 1982, Dobbie grew up in the tough Barlanark district of the city, and in an interview with the Daily Record he described his experience playing street football in the area.
He was a Rangers fan and, although it was Hearts who first showed interest in him, he spent two years as a youth player at Ibrox Park.
“I signed for the club when I was about 10 or 11,” he recalled. “I was quite lively as a kid but I was soon brought back down to earth whenever I got to meet my heroes. It was intimidating walking into a room and there’s Gazza, Brian Laudrup and Ally McCoist sitting there.”
He added: “They were world class and although I never got to follow them into the first team, it was a brilliant club and I loved my time there.”
While he scored goals for Rangers reserves, he didn’t break through to the first team with his boyhood heroes. The first of many loan moves in his career saw him go to Sydney in Australia and score three times in three games for Northern Spirit.
In the summer of 2003, he was transferred to Hibernian and made a total of 33 Scottish Premier League and cup games during his first season at Easter Road. But a regular starting berth eluded him and he went on loan to Scottish First Division St Johnstone.
That move was turned into a permanent switch but in 2006-07, when once again he couldn’t nail down a regular starting spot, he was loaned to Third Division Dumbarton, where he hit a purple patch, scoring 11 goals in 18 matches.
Such form attracted Queen of the South; he joined them on 5 January 2007 and enjoyed a successful two-and-a-half-year spell.
After he’d finished the 2008-09 season as the Scottish First Division’s top goalscorer with 24 goals, Swansea City, then in the Championship, made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“Dobbie has reinvented himself in the last two seasons and is at the best stage of his career,” said Swansea manager Roberto Martinez.
Aged 26 at the time, Dobbie was reunited with Swans top scorer Jason Scotland who he’d played with at St Johnstone in 2005-06.
“He has been through many different moments since his Rangers days, but I firmly believe he is now ready for a new challenge,” said Martinez. “He is a typical Swansea player – very gifted and strong technically.
“He’s also a natural goalscorer, has high standards and is hungry to show off his talent in the Championship.”
Dobbie’s first goals for Swansea somewhat ironically came against Brighton when the Welsh side dumped Russell Slade’s side out of the Carling Cup with a 3-0 victory at the Liberty Stadium.
He scored again in the next round but injury then kept him out of the side and by the following February he was on his way to Blackpool on loan for the first time.
Ironically, Dobbie went on to play for Blackpool in their 3-2 Championship play-off win over the Swans bitter rivals Cardiff City, which saw him branded “Secret Agent Dobbie” by a certain section of the Swansea faithful.
Back at Swansea, Dobbie finally got his place back after Brendan Rodgers had taken over from Paulo Sousa in the manager’s chair.
Dobbie score four times for the Swans but he eventually found himself back on the bench playing second fiddle to loan signing Marvin Emnes and Craig Beattie.
Nevertheless, he chipped in with some important goals from the bench and once again found himself playing in the Championship play-off final, this time getting on the scoresheet as Reading were beaten 4-2.
Remarkably, he featured in a third successive Championship play-off final, again with Blackpool, having failed to hold down a place in Swansea’s Premier League side. He made eight appearances at the elite level but didn’t get on the scoresheet.
Dobbie joined Holloway’s Blackpool in March 2012 but they missed out on another promotion when West Ham beat them 2-1 at Wembley.
In April 2021, Dobbie announced his departure from Queen of the South, with the Daily Record declaring: “The 36-year-old has scored 166 times in 282 games over two spells with the club and is regarded as one of their best players of all time.”
Having put down roots in the North West (even when he was playing for Queen of the South he would commute from his home on the Fylde coast), it was little surprise to see him start the 2021-22 season with AFC Fylde of the Vanarama National League North.
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.
“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.
IT’S NOT often Brighton and Liverpool have had something in common but, when it came to striker Dean Saunders, they both sold him to raise money. And they weren’t alone.
In the Albion’s case, it happened in 1987 when manager Barry Lloyd was forced to cash in on the free transfer signing to raise £60,000 to go towards players’ wages.
For their part, five years later, Liverpool let the Welsh international depart Anfield for £2.3m because boss Graeme Souness wanted the money to buy a central defender.
When Saunders was remarkably transferred for £1m from the Maxwell-owned Oxford United to the Maxwell-owned Derby County, it prompted former Brighton and Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson to quit as boss at the Manor Ground after he’d been promised there would be no transfers likely to weaken his squad.
Saunders’ long and much-travelled career began in Swansea, the place where he was born on 21 June 1964, the son of former Swansea and Liverpool wing-half Roy Saunders.
He attended GwrossydJunior School and was soon appearing in the school football team on Saturday mornings and playing minor football in the afternoons. He went on to Penlan Comprehensive in Swansea and his career began to blossom, playing in the school team at all levels under sports master Lee Jones, a former British gymanstics champion. Saunders played for the Swansea Schools representative sides at under 11, 13 and 15 levels.
“I can remember enjoying watching the Swansea players train when I was a lad,” he told Tony Norman in an Albion matchday programme article. “I was lucky because my dad was the assistant manager, so I could go to pre-season training and things like that.
“I used to kick a ball around on the sidelines and dream of playing for Swansea.” That dream turned to reality after he joined the Swans in 1980 as an apprentice (when John Toshack was the manager), turned professional in 1982, and made his debut in the 1983-84 season. He scored 12 times in 49 appearances but in his final year had a goalless four-game loan at Cardiff City.
Manager John Bond released him on a free transfer after a turbulent season in which the Swans only narrowly avoided relegation to the basement division and Chris Cattlin, who’d been impressed when he saw Saunders playing for Swansea Reserves at the Goldstone Ground, snapped him up for Brighton.
“I was amazed when the Welsh club let him go for financial reasons,” Cattlin wrote in his matchday programme notes for the opening game of the season. “He is young, quick and, if he works hard, he has a great chance.”
By the end of that season, Saunders had scored 19 goals in 48 league and cup games and was voted player of the season. His performances in the second tier for the Albion caught the eye of the Welsh national team manager, Mike England, and on 26 March 1986 Saunders made his full international debut for Wales as a substitute in a 1-0 win away to the Republic of Ireland. It was the first of 75 caps.
Saunders scored his first international goals when he netted twice in a 3-0 friendly win over Canada in Vancouver on 19 May 1986, after which England said: “He goes past defenders with his tremendous pace and his finishing against Canada was a revelation.
“The experience he gained at Brighton has done him the world of good. To finish top scorer in his first full season of Second Division football tells its own story.”
Saunders, who shared a house with Albion’s young Republic of Ireland international Kieran O’Regan, said being happy at home had helped him to settle down quickly.
“I liked Brighton from the day I arrived,” he said in a matchday programme article. “It reminds me of my home town of Swansea and I like living by the sea.”
A lover of all sports, Saunders revealed how he liked to play cricket in the summer, when he turned out for Haywards Heath, and he played snooker with O’Regan and Steve Penney.
That summer, Saunders told Shoot! magazine: “I had both cartilages out of my left knee at 18 and had both Swansea and Cardiff turn me down. I’ve had my share of the downs. From the moment I joined Brighton, my career has turned for the better.”
The young striker continued: “Swansea just gave me away – despite the fact that I was top scorer in a team coming apart. Cardiff City gave me a few games but always seemed to have reasons for not playing me consistently when I was on loan there.
“So, I had every incentive to make the break from Welsh football and I joined Brighton. Brighton can go places.
“I was disappointed that we didn’t make the First Division first time around. But all the lads are convinced that we will get there next season. I’ve been given a three-year contract so there are tremendous incentives to do better.”
It didn’t work out that way, though. After only a mid-table finish, Cattlin was sacked and there were rumblings of financial issues beginning to reverberate around the corridors of the Goldstone. Alan Mullery returned as manager but had limited funds to invest in the team, and, with echoes of the Pat Saward era back in the early ‘70s, the club turned to fans for financial help to bring in players.
After Mullery’s unseemly swift departure halfway through the season, former Worthing boss Lloyd took over and fans were completely mystified as to how he could leave out Saunders in favour of Richard Tiltman, who Lloyd had plucked from local football. Since then, it has been suggested his omission was more to do with money than football ability.
There was great consternation that Albion collected only £60,000 when Lloyd sold Saunders to Oxford in early March 1987, especially as the Seagulls were fast hurtling back to a level of football they’d manage to avoid for ten years.
That was no longer a concern for Saunders who recovered the goalscoring touch he’d shown during his first season at the Goldstone Ground, scoring 33 goals in 73 games for Oxford before being sold to Derby for £1m against Lawrenson’s wishes 19 months after arriving at the Manor Ground.
A popular goalscorer for Derby
Meanwhile, the goals kept flowing for Saunders as he netted 57 in 131 games for Derby. The side finished fifth in the old First Division by the end of Saunders’ first season with the Rams, and he’d contributed 14 goals. The Derby Telegraph noted: “From the moment ‘Deano’ arrived, the players were inspired and the crowd enthused. The signing also suited the post-war tradition of 5ft 8in goalscoring heroes at the Baseball Ground – Raich Carter, Bill Curry, Kevin Hector and Bobby Davison.
“Derby fans were too wise to comment on height. What mattered was Saunders’ speed, eel-like turn and persistence. He scored six in his first five games, starting with two against Wimbledon when he captured supporters’ hearts with the immediacy of a Kevin Hector. A close-in header and long-range right-footer were beautiful appetisers.”
Despite Saunders scoring 24 goals for Derby in 1990-91, the side was relegated and Saunders and teammate Mark Wright were snapped up by Liverpool. Reds paid £2.9m to take Saunders to Anfield, boss Souness believing he’d be an ideal strike partner for their established Welsh international striker, Ian Rush.
Saunders made his Liverpool debut on 17 August 1991 in a 2-1 win over Oldham Athletic (Mark Walters and defender Wright also played their first league games for Liverpool); Ray Houghton and John Barnes scored Liverpool’s goals.
Saunders scored his first goal for the Reds 10 days’ later in a 1-0 win over QPR at Anfield but a Liverpool history website reckons he struggled to adapt to Liverpool’s passing game. “He was used to Derby’s counter-attacking style, scoring many of his goals by using his exceptional pace,” it said. “Saunders wasn’t very prolific in the league with about one goal every four games but flourished in the UEFA Cup with nine goals in five matches that included a quadruple against Kuusysi Lahti.”
Saunders scored twice in Liverpool’s successful FA Cup campaign, which culminated in them lifting the trophy at Wembley after beating Sunderland.
Although he scored twice in seven games at the start of his second season at Anfield, a cashflow issue meant Souness was forced to sell him to raise funds to dip into the transfer market.
Saunders explained: “Graeme called me in one day and told me he needed a centre-half [Torben Piechnik], and that he could raise the money by selling me to Aston Villa.
“I couldn’t believe he was prepared to let me go, but he said he didn’t think my partnership with Ian Rush had worked out, and Rushy wouldn’t be the one going anywhere. That was it.”
Saunders had scored 25 goals in 61 appearances for Liverpool, the last coming in a 2-1 home win over Chelsea (Jamie Redknapp scoring the other Liverpool goal) on 5 September 1992.
Among the goals again at Aston Villa
The Welshman had the last laugh, though, because only nine days after his departure from Liverpool he scored twice in Villa’s 4-2 victory over the Reds.
“Obviously I had a big incentive to do well today and I’m thrilled to have scored,” said Saunders. “Both my goals went through the goalkeeper’s legs.”
Signed by Ron Atkinson, Saunders spent three seasons at Villa, initially developing a formidable strike partnership with Dalian Atkinson, and then pairing up with Dwight Yorke. Saunders’ brace in the 1994 League Cup final helped beat Manchester United 3-1.
Villa history site lerwill-life.org.uk remembers him as “a spring-heeled attacker and very popular with the supporters” and adds: “Not big in size, he was very speedy and scored some spectacular goals including a 35-yard spectacular against Ipswich.”
His time at Villa Park came to an endwhen Brian Little took over as manager, and Saunders was reunited with his old Liverpool boss Souness in Turkey. A £2.35million fee took him to Galatasaray for the 1995-96 season and he netted 15 goals in 27 Turkish League matches.
Next stop for Saunders was back in the UK at Nottingham Forest, but the 1996-97 was an unhappy one as the manager who signed him, Frank Clark, was sacked in December after a bad run of defeats and Forest’s slide towards relegation continued under Stuart Pearce and Dave Bassett.
Sharpshooter for the Blades
By the time Forest had bounced straight back up, Saunders had left the club, moving in December 1997 to second-tier Sheffield United for a year under Nigel Spackman and caretaker managers Russell Slade and Steve Thompson. United made the play-offs but lost out to Sunderland in the semi-finals. In December 1998, Saunders moved abroad again to link up with Souness a third time, at Benfica in Portugal.
Up front for the Bantams
The following summer, he returned to England and joined Bradford City, where his former Brighton teammate Chris Hutchings was assistant manager, then briefly manager. Saunders was a regular in his first season at Valley Parade, when the Bantams managed to narrowly avoid relegation from the Premier League, but he played only a handful of games in 2000-01, when they were relegated. Saunders retired as a player shortly before his 37th birthday and became a coach at Bradford before linking up with Souness again, this time as a coach.
He joined him at Blackburn Rovers and then Newcastle United, but when Newcastle sacked Souness early in 2006, Saunders lost his job as well.
In the following year he began taking the Certificate in Football Management course run by the University of Warwick; and this led to him being granted his UEFA Pro Licence coaching badge, a qualification that allowed him to be appointed as assistant to John Toshack with the Welsh national team.
In October 2008, Saunders replaced Brian Little as manager of Wrexham, newly relegated to the Conference. He eventually managed to steer the north Wales outfit into the play-offs in the 2010-11 season, but they were knocked out by Luton Town and, in September 2011, Saunders was appointed manager of then Championship club Doncaster Rovers.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t save Rovers from relegation and they went back down to League One with only 36 points from their 46 League fixtures.
Having guided Rovers to second place in League One, Saunders was appointed manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers in January 2013, but he couldn’t prevent them being relegated from the Championship and he was sacked three days after relegation was confirmed courtesy of a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Gus Poyet’s Albion.
Suffering relegation with Wolves
Saunders told the media after the game: “We have to get some players in who think like I’m thinking, who want to win, fresh minds, no damage done to them, no confidence issues, no ‘been here too long’ issues, no ‘I don’t know if the manager likes me’ issues. Once I get my own team on the pitch, imagine what the supporters will be like.”
Saunders, with only five wins from his 20 games in charge, didn’t get that chance and rather ruefully said of his opponents that day: “A few years ago they were bankrupt and without a stadium, but they’ve shown what is possible and, with the momentum, they have could well get into the Premier League.”
Just after Christmas 2014, Saunders was named as the interim manager of Crawley Town after the previous incumbent John Gregory stood down for health reasons.
Saunders then became manager of League One side Chesterfield on 13 May 2015 but his stay there lasted only five months.
In June 2016, Saunders was part of the BBC pundit team for their coverage of the Welsh national team’s games at Euro 2016 and made the headlines during the tournament when it was revealed that he had incurred parking charges of over £1,000 from Birmingham Airport’s short stay car park as he wasn’t expecting Wales to progress as far as they did. The charge was eventually waived by the airport who asked him to make a donation to charity instead.
His subsequent involvement in football has been as a pundit on BT Sport’s Saturday afternoon Score programme as well as on the radio with talkSPORT. He hit the headlines in 2019 when he was jailed for failing to comply with a roadside breath test but the initial punishment was quashed and changed to a suspended sentence. Via the League Managers’ Association, Saunders issued a statement in which he said: “I made a terrible error of judgment for which I have been rightly punished, and I wholeheartedly regret that it happened.”
Pictures from the Albion matchday programme and various online sources.
JUNIOR MCDOUGALD played professional football for 23 years and managed to combine it with acting, featuring in Sky 1’s Dream Team series.
Brighton fans of a certain vintage will remember him as a nippy, diminutive forward who scored 22 goals in 88 matches (+ seven as sub) during a difficult period for the club.
By his own admission (in an interview with the Argus), he left too soon, and a move to Rotherham United didn’t work out.
Born in Big Spring, Texas, on 12 January 1975, McDougald grew up in the UK and his early potential saw him associated with Tottenham Hotspur from the age of nine.
He was subsequently chosen as part of a group of the country’s top 25 14-year-old footballing prospects to be nurtured at the FA’s National School at Lilleshall.
On his graduation from Lilleshall in 1991, he joined Spurs as a trainee. Alongside McDougald both at Lilleshall and Tottenham was Sol Campbell, the defender who went on to star for Spurs and Arsenal, as well as England. Campbell told tottenhamhotspur.com: “I’ve some fond memories of Junior. We used to play against each other when we were 13, then we were at Tottenham and Lilleshall when we were 14.
“He’s a smashing lad and I can’t speak highly enough of him. He’s a good bloke, a good man and a fabulous footballer.”
McDougald joined the full professional ranks at White Hart Lane in the summer of 1993, but when he didn’t make the breakthrough to their first team, he made the switch to Brighton.
He described his time at Spurs as “a dream come true” and, in an article on tottenhamhotspur.com, said: “I know it’s an old cliché but I’d always supported Spurs.
“I think it’s well documented now that I even wrote to Jim’ll Fix It to ask to go training with them!”
He added: “It was a great experience, a positive experience and it was always my dream to play for the club.”
Spurs fanzine My Eyes Have Seen The Glory (mehstg.com), recalled him as “a young striker who scored a large number of goals for the Tottenham junior sides, but progressed no further than the reserves at White Hart Lane. Blessed with good pace, but a little on the short and light side.”
Unfortunately, while his contemporary Campbell went on to superstardom, McDougald was released at the age of 19.
“It was very disappointing to leave,” he said. “But at the same time, I was ambitious and, when Liam Brady at Brighton called me, I saw it as a great opportunity. I wanted first team football.
“Any disappointment was hidden by excitement. It was a new start.”
I can remember seeing McDougald make his debut in the opening game of the 1994-95 season, away to Swansea City at their old Vetch Field ground; Albion resplendent in the turquoise and black striped shirts in the style of the kit once worn by boss Brady at Inter Milan.
McDougald’s subsequent one-in-four scoring ratio with the Seagulls was set against the backdrop of financial turmoil at the club and he was there when the club was relegated to the fourth tier.
“There was no stability off the field and that could transfer itself on to it,” he told the Argus. “I was very young and Liam Brady was a great help. I was pleased to have played with legends like Steve Foster, although he was coming to the end of his career.
“The supporters were fantastic and really good to me as a young player. Overall, I had two enjoyable years there and I’m delighted to see them doing so well now. They’ve always had the potential and the fans deserve the success.”
Towards the end of his second season with the club, he was loaned to Chesterfield, where he scored once in nine games, and he then chose to move to Rotherham United for £50,000 in August 1996.
“It is only when you leave somewhere sometimes that you realise how good a club it was,” he told the Argus. “I have fantastic memories of Brighton. The support was so good and they have such potential.
“I thought I was doing the best thing for my career when I left. I wasn’t to know I would go to Rotherham, score on my debut, get injured in the same game and not play for three months.”
He had a relatively successful six-month spell at Toulon in France but efforts to re-establish himself back in the UK with Cambridge, Millwall and Orient didn’t work out.
“With the gift of hindsight maybe I would have stayed at Brighton for another season or two and established myself,” McDougald said in the Argus interview.
It was only when he signed for Dagenham & Redbridge in 1999 that he got back in the headlines, in particular when, in January 2001, he scored in the FA Cup 3rd round as the non-league Essex side held Alan Curbishley’s then Premier League Charlton Athletic to a 1-1 draw.
The 4th round draw paired the winners of the tie with Spurs, so it looked like it would be a perfect match for the former Spurs youngster, but the Addicks edged the replay 1-0 in extra time to spoil his dream.
Nevertheless, his form for Dagenham saw him selected for the England semi-professional side at a Four Nations Trophy tournament in 2002, where he was up against his clubmate Tony Roberts, the former Spurs goalkeeper.
Alongside the serious business of earning a living from playing football, McDougald also appeared for the fictional Harchester United side in Sky’s Dream Team, together with former Albion players Peter Smith and Andy Ansah.
“It was through Andy who actually recruits the players,” he said. “Pete Smith told me it was fun and it is. We just do what footballers do and are filmed playing, in changing rooms and night clubs. It is a good little avenue.”
By the time Dagenham made it into the Football League, McDougald had moved on to St Albans and, in the 2003-04 season, he was part of a Canvey Island squad that also included former Brighton players Mickey Bennett, the aforementioned Peter Smith, and Jeff Minton.
He later played for Kettering Town, Histon, and Cambridgeshire side St. Ives.
McDougald, a Born-again Christian, has since become the co-founder and director of children’s charity Sports Connections Foundation which uses sport to help and inspire children.
MANCHESTER United youngster Jesse Lingard scored four goals in 17 appearances for Brighton in their 2013-14 Championship season.
As well as helping the Seagulls to reach the play-offs, the move proved a useful development step for Lingard, who later become a regular at United and played for England at the 2018 World Cup.
Former United boss Jose Mourinho spoke about the value of the experience in an interview with manutd.com ahead of a Brighton v Man Utd Premier League game in May 2018.
Although Sir Alex Ferguson involved him in the first team squad a couple of times in the 2011-12 season, his real senior football education began during a three-month loan to Leicester City (he was sent with Michael Keane) in November 2012.
And, although Lingard went on United’s pre-season tour Down Under in the summer of 2013, he joined Birmingham City on loan in September 2013.
He scored a total of six goals in 13 games for the Blues, including a debut four goals at home to Sheffield Wednesday.
Birmingham hoped to keep Lingard
They’d been hoping to re-sign him for the rest of the season but Albion nipped in at the end of February 2014 and he headed south to join Oscar Garcia’s promotion-chasing side until the end of the season.
Garcia told the club website: “We are delighted we have finally secured Jesse until the end of the season. He is one of the most exciting young English players and has already created a lot of interest following his successful loan spell at Birmingham.
“We worked hard to secure a talent who has already shown that he can play at Championship level, and I am very pleased to have added Jesse to our striking options.
“He has an excellent pedigree, having come through the academy at Old Trafford, and there is no doubt that he has a lot of talent and ability. I am really looking forward to working with him.”
Lingard got on the scoresheet in the 4-1 away win at already-crowned champions Leicester City, and four days later also found the net in a 3-0 win over Charlton.
In the third minute of added on time at home to Yeovil Town, Lingard added to Kazenga LuaLua’s opener to secure a 2-0 win in the last home league fixture.
He then scored Albion’s goal in the play-off first leg at home to Derby, but, with Albion losing the game 2-1, they were always on the back foot going into the second leg when County ran riot against the injury-ravaged Seagulls to win 4-1.
Lingard went back to United and got his first competitive first team start under Louis van Gaal in the season-opener against Swansea at Old Trafford, but the occasion was marred by him having to go off with a knee injury after only 24 minutes – and United lost 2-1.
The injury set his career back six months and, on his recovery, Lingard was sent out on loan again in February 2015 when former United assistant manager Steve McLaren took him to Derby County.
Back at Old Trafford the following season, he got his first United goal in November 2015 when United beat West Brom 2-0, and he began to establish himself, making a total of 40 appearances by the season’s end.
In fact, that season ended on a particularly high note for Lingard when he came off the bench to score the winning goal for United in the 2016 FA Cup Final against Crystal Palace.
The 2017-18 season saw him involved even more, when he made 48 appearances, and, even through managerial upheaval, he continued to be a regular member of the United first-team squad.
Born in Warrington on 15 December 1992, Lingard went to the town’s William Beaumont Community High School and was on United’s books from the age of seven.
He progressed through the different age groups but, as a slow developer physically, was still playing at under 16s level when he was 18.
Nevertheless, as a youth player at Manchester United, he helped them to win the FA Youth Cup in 2010-11.
An extended feature on Lingard’s development appeared in the matchday programme for Albion’s game at Old Trafford in November 2017.
One of the coaches involved in his development, academy advisor Tony Whelan, said: “Jesse has had to be patient throughout his career. As a younger player, he was physically under-developed so he had to play a younger age group. That wasn’t easy, but he had the patience, intelligence and trust in the coaching staff to know that those decisions were made in his best interests, that we knew at some point he was going to grow. At some point, all that ability would be able to come out.
“He’s got a wonderful mindset, so his ability to come on and make an impact on the game is down to the fact he’s resilient, he has a wonderful mentality, and he is a great observer of the game. That comes out all the time in the way he deals with things. And on top of that, he has his excellent technical ability.”
Whelan added: “He’s only of slight build, so he’s developed great technical ability, good passing, dribbling, he’s a really good mover – very fluid, a wonderful mover – and he’s athletic without looking that athletic.”
The coach said: “You don’t get in our first-team squad without being a very accomplished player. He’s also playing for the national team fairly regularly. That’s testimony to Jesse’s abilities as an all-round footballer now.”
Lingard was 23 when he made his full England debut, at Wembley against Malta, on 8 October 2016, and he went on to become part of the England squad that reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2018.
He scored his first England goal in a 1-0 win away to the Netherlands in March 2018, and has since scored three more times in 24 matches; against Panama at the World Cup, against the USA at Wembley in November 2018 and three days later also at home against Croatia.
He’d already appeared on the international stage earlier in his career, playing three times for England under 17s in 2008 and scoring twice in 11 games for the under 21s between 2013 and 2015.
Coach Whelan summed up Lingard thus: “From the day he first walked into this football club at seven years of age, he always had a smile on his face. He’s always loved playing, always loved the game, always had wonderful enthusiasm, and in some ways he’s inspired the coaches with his love of the game and love of the ball.
“You never had to ask him to work hard, he was always running around, always energetic, always mischievous, and those are the qualities he brought.”
In an interview with the Albion matchday programme for Brighton’s home game with United in 2017-18, Lingard reflected on his loan spell with the Seagulls and said: “I wanted to go to the club because I knew they were a good club with a great stadium and great fans – it was the perfect club to go on loan to.”
He added: “The stadium, the staff, the fans, you could see the ambition of the club. I always knew that the club would make it into the Premier League. It was heading in that direction for a couple of seasons.”
The 2019-20 season saw a marked decline in Lingard’s fortunes with his starts for United under double figures, and most of his involvement coming off the bench. He also lost his place in the England squad.
It was revealed a business venture had performed badly and, sadly, trying to cope with personal issues involving his family impacted Lingard’s form and demeanour.
After United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer challenged him publicly over his declining performances, he decided to talk about the problems publicly.
After the curtain came down on the season, Lingard told his 6.6 million Instagram followers: “This season has been difficult for so many reasons. I lost who I was as a player and person, but I never wanted to give up.
“I knew who I really was on and off the pitch and knew that having been there before I could get there again.”
“This meant working harder than I’d ever done before and trusting in those around me that they knew how to best help me achieve that.
“I know the fans have been frustrated but in all this time my love for this club and everyone connected to it has never left me.”
“This team, this club is my family and I will continue to keep working harder than ever to help this team achieve its goals.”
However, with several new faces arriving at Old Trafford prior to the start of the 2020-21 season, football’s rumour mill was busy suggesting Solskaer was looking to offload Lingard.
In January 2021, Lingard joined West Ham on a half-season loan and the change of scene seemed to give his career a boost. He scored twice on his debut in a 3-1 win over Aston Villa and finished the season with nine goals in 16 appearances for the Hammers.
He returned to Man Utd for the 2021-22 season, playing in 22 league and cup games but only scoring twice.
When his contract wasn’t renewed at Old Trafford, in the summer of 2022, Lingard signed a one-year deal with newly promoted Nottingham Forest on a reported £200,000 a week.
TOUGH-TACKLING midfielder Bobby Smith made more than 200 appearances for Manchester United’s reserve side.
He played alongside emerging talents such as George Best and Nobby Stiles but wasn’t able to follow them in making the step up to the first team.
Like many before and since, he had to look elsewhere to establish a career in the game, and 85 of his 307 senior career appearances came in the colours of Brighton & Hove Albion, the fourth of seven clubs he served as a player.
Smith stayed in the game as a manager and coach for 26 years after hanging up his boots, his most notable achievement coming in December 1979 as boss of Third Division Swindon Town when they overcame the mighty Arsenal in a thrilling League Cup quarter final.
Born in Prestbury, Cheshire, on 14 March 1944, Smith won six England Schoolboys (under 15s) caps, playing right-half with future World Cup winner Martin Peters playing on the left.
He went on to win two England Youth caps: on 9 March 1961, he was in an England side (which also included John Jackson in goal and future Luton and Spurs boss David Pleat) that lost 1-0 to the Netherlands in Utrecht and three days later was again on the losing side, this time 2-0, to West Germany in Flensburg, when teammates included John Milkins, Portsmouth’s ‘keeper for many years, and striker John O’Rourke, who played for various clubs. Smith turned professional with United the following month.
I’ve discovered an old programme (above) for a Man Utd reserve fixture against West Brom during that era. It shows Smith alongside Wilf Tranter (who also later played for Brighton, and was Smith’s assistant manager at Swindon), Nobby Stiles in midfield, and George Best on the left wing.
In 1964, when a first team call-up continued to elude Smith, he lowered his sights and went to play for a former United colleague at Scunthorpe United. That colleague was Freddie Goodwin who would later be his manager at Brighton as well.
At Scunthorpe, Smith finally saw league action and played 87 games in two seasons before being transferred for £8,000 to Grimsby Town. In two years with the Mariners, he played 56 games before joining the Albion in June 1968.
My distant memory of Smith was of a tough-tackling midfielder who was in the shadow of the likes of Nobby Lawton and Dave Turner when it came to his popularity with supporters. And manager Goodwin hit back strongly when a section of fans voiced their disapproval of the player.
Smith scored the only goal of the game after only 50 seconds away to Stockport County on 23 January 1970, but in the previous home game (a 2-1 win over Bradford City) there had been a few shouts from the terraces in Smith’s direction.
In his weekly article for the Brighton and Hove Herald, Goodwin said: “I was most disappointed to hear certain sections of the crowd getting at Bobby Smith.
“He has done nothing to warrant this behaviour. He is a 90-minute aggressive player and his value to the team lies in his ability to win the ball from the opposition.
“He is well aware of his limitations as a player, but there is no-one who can accuse him of ever giving less than 100 per cent.
“This sort of behaviour by a small minority of spectators does nothing to help the team or the individual players.
“Any player who takes the field as a representative of Brighton and Hove Albion does so because he has been selected for the team by me.
“It is my responsibility that a player represents the Albion. So, to barrack any player is most unfair to him.”
Smith in action against the backdrop of the packed East Terrace at the Goldstone. Albion won 4-0
His 85 games for the Albion came across three seasons: 33 in 1968-69 and 26 in each of the following two seasons. Goodwin’s successor, Pat Saward, released him at the end of the 1970-71 season, and, in June 1971, he went on a free transfer to Chester City.
After only four months in the North West, he switched to the North East, joining Hartlepool United, initially on loan. Over two years, in which Len Ashurst’s side only just avoided the old re-election places, Smith played in 76 matches before moving on to Bury in August 1973. He signed as a player-coach but didn’t feature in the league side, instead taking over as manager – aged only 29 – from Allan Brown in December 1973.
It was the start of a coaching and managerial career that would span more than a quarter of a century.
He took Bury to promotion from the fourth tier by the end of that 1973-74 season, and remained in charge for just under four years, He was at the helm for a total of 215 games; the record books showing he achieved a 41.9 per cent win rate.
A six-month stint followed at Port Vale, between November 1977 and May 1978, but, of his 33 games in charge, he only presided over six wins (there were 14 draws and 13 defeats).
Swindon paid £10,000 compensation to lure him to the County Ground, where, as mentioned, his assistant manager was the aforementioned Tranter.
The official Swindon website remembered: “Despite being a relatively young manager, he guided Swindon to a promotion challenge in his first season in charge – missing out by three points, after losing the last two games of the season.”
Part of the secret had been Smith’s signing of strikers Andy Rowland and Alan Mayes.
Smith (far right) as manager of Swindon, with Tranter (far left), Chris Kamara (circled back row) and skipper Ray McHale (centre front row).
His major achievement came the following year, when Town beat Arsenal 4-3 in a replay to reach the League Cup semi-final.
When one considers the size of League Cup game crowds now, it seems extraordinary to discover around 7,000 Swindon fans (in a gate of 38,024) had made the trip to Highbury for the initial tie, which finished 1-1.
The Gunners had famously lost to lowly Swindon in the 1969 League Cup Final at Wembley, so the humble Wiltshire club smelled history repeating itself.
In the replay, with 21,795 packed into the County Ground, Steve Walford and John Hollins scored own goals and future Brighton manager Liam Brady scored twice for Arsenal. One of the key players for Swindon was future Sky Sports reporter Chris Kamara.
Unsurprisingly, the giant killing attracted plenty of media attention and Smith was interviewed live on Football Focus by presenter Bob Wilson.
Smith pointed out that his side had been well grounded and, after the initial draw against Arsenal, had thumped his old club Bury 8-0, equalling Swindon’s biggest winning margin in a league game. Amongst the scorers were Rowland and Billy Tucker – two of four ex-Bury players in Swindon’s starting line-up. Another was Brian Williams – Bury’s youngest ever player – and one of the other goalscorers, Ray McHale, (later to play for Brighton in the top division) went on to have a loan spell at Gigg Lane later in his career.
The Robins beat top-flight opponents Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 at home in the first leg of the semi-final but went down 3-1 at Molineux in controversial circumstances, Wolves scoring the decisive goal five minutes from the end.
“We were so unfortunate because Wolves should have been down to 10 men,” Kamara told the Swindon Advertiser. “Alan Mayes got hit by the goalkeeper (Paul Bradshaw). He came out of his goal, didn’t get anywhere near the ball and he clattered Alan and broke his two front teeth and his nose but didn’t get sent off.
“I know everyone looks at situations and says ‘You were unlucky’ but that was a turning point in the game, and we ended up losing.”
It later emerged that the tie could have had a dramatic impact on Kamara’s playing career. In a 2010 interview with FourFourTwo magazine, he explained how he was once on Manchester United’s radar during Ron Atkinson’s reign.
“I was at Swindon and my manager Bobby Smith said, ‘Big Ron’s coming to watch you.’ We were playing in the 1980 semi-final of the League Cup against Wolves, but I had the ’flu and didn’t play so well. I’m not saying that’s the reason he didn’t sign me, but Ron went back to his old club, West Brom, and signed Remi Moses instead.”
With the benefit of hindsight, the cup run took its toll on the Swindon side. Before the semi, they were just five points from a promotion place, with four games in hand. But only five of their last 18 games were won, and they lost nine away games on the trot, resulting in a disappointing 10th place finish.
Smith had spent large – by Swindon’s standards – including £250,000 on two players, David Peach and Glenn Cockerill, both of whom never fitted in at the club.
When Swindon lost their first five matches of the 1980-81 season, Smith was relieved of his duties.
He later took charge at Newport County and Swansea City, as well as coaching at the Swans, Blackpool, Cardiff City, and Sheffield Wednesday, together with a spell as assistant manager of Hereford United.
He was assistant manager to Frank Burrows at the Vetch Field but when the chairman at the time announced his intention to sell up, and no funds were being made available for new players, Burrows left of his own accord and Smith became caretaker manager.
Contributor Colin_swansea, on the fans website scfc2.co.uk, observed: “After Tosh left we had caretakers Doug Livermore for 30 days, Les Chappell for 23 days prior to Tosh returning, and after Tosh had left for a second time on the 5th March 1984 Les returned as caretaker until the end of the season.
“Our manager’s position was even more farcical after Frankie Burrows left with his assistant Bobby Smith taking over until a bust up during the Xmas period when Doug Sharp wouldn’t sanction the buying of rubber studded boots to combat the winter conditions.
Smith interviewed after his Swindon side held Spurs to a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup
“Smith left on 22 December 1995, Jimmy Rimmer was caretaker to 7 February 1996, Kevin Cullis became manager for a week, a two-game spell of two defeats, Rimmer returned for eight days as caretaker, before Jan Molby’s appointment on 22 February 1996. Molby’s replacement as manager on 9 October 1997 was Micky Adams who lasted 13 days and three league defeats with his assistant Alan Cork taking over until the end of the season.
“Cork didn’t fit the profile for the club’s new owners, Silver Shield, and he was offloaded at the end of the season. Ironically his successor, John Hollins, didn’t sign one player the following season when the club reached the play offs.
“Never a dull moment being manager of the Swans during the 80s and 90s!”
TOUGH-TACKLING midfielder Bobby Smith made more than 200 appearances for Manchester United’s reserve side.
Smith (far right) as manager of Swindon, with Tranter (far left), Chris Kamara (circled back row) and skipper Ray McHale (centre front row).
In parallel lines 