It was a sad day for Albion fans when goalscorer Terry Connor left relegated Brighton for Portsmouth. From summer 1987 (I’m not sure if it’s from Shoot! or Match):
A short move down the South Coast has put Terry Connor on course for a return to the First Division. Twenty-four-year-old Terry was linked with a number of clubs during the season, but his £200,000 move to Portsmouth came out of the blue with the player insisting: “It’s been claimed that I said I would never play for Brighton in the Third Division, but that’s just not true. I never said anything of the sort. I admit that last season was a disaster for the club but I hadn’t asked for a transfer and just wanted some time to think about my future. Then I got a call from Brighton manager Barry Lloyd and he told me Portsmouth had come in for me and the club were prepared to let me go. No player likes to drop down a division and, of course, everybody wants to play in the top flight. I’m no different and, if the club were prepared to sell me for the right price and I wanted to get into the First Division, then it’s quite simply good business for all concerned.”
Connor had previously experienced top flight football with Leeds and Brighton:
His flirtation with the First Division ended when he was swapped with Andy Ritchie and arrived at the Goldstone ground just in time to see the club drop in the Second. “Leeds were my home-town club and it took me about a season to settle in Brighton,” says Terry. “Then, earlier this season, I won my first England Under-21 cap, managed to get a goal and, at that stage, Brighton were just below half-way in the Second and there wasn’t too much to worry about. But there were problems in the boardroom, with the manager and with the players and all of a sudden we were in the Third.
The move did not go well for Connor. Having been relegated from Division One with Leeds in 1982 and Brighton in 1983, he made it an unwelcome hat-trick as Portsmouth under Alan Ball crashed out of the top flight after just one season, in 1988. As a manager, of course, the ex-Goldstone favourite was also in charge of Wolverhampton Wanderers as caretaker boss as the side slid out of the Premier League in 2012.
An interesting article from Shoot! in 1974, with some striking cyan and black design work:
Since leaving Derby in November, Brian and his right-hand man Peter Taylor have not enjoyed an overnight success. In fact, they couldn’t have feared a more frightening start in the opening games. A humiliating 4-0 FA Cup defeat at home by amateurs Walton and Hersham was followed three days later by an even more shattering 8-2 home trouncing from Bristol Rovers in the League.
But gradually results picked up, and Clough and Taylor achieved their first aim – to clear away any relegation clods hanging over the club.
“Peter Taylor and I are determined to do well at Brighton, says Clough. “There is plenty of scope and potential here and we can see no reason why this club can’t go places.”
Certainly the club has crowd potential, which brings in useful revenue. Brighton & Hove’s population is even larger than Derby’s.
“We know our resources and we have to spend accordingly,” says Taylor. “I go mainly for youngsters. If they can play a bit they are bound to get better as they build up experience.”
Apart from those early defeats, Clough has been in the limelight for other matters. He stopped his trainer treating players with minor knocks on the field and also gagged his men from giving Press interviews.
But he has not always had things his own way. In April the Football League refused him permission to sign a replacement goalkeeper after the transfer deadly, although both Peter Grummitt and Brian Powney were injured.
It’s strange that Ray Clarke seems almost a forgotten striker in Brighton’s history. Fans waxing lyrical about the late 1970s speak in high regard for the Peter Ward-Ian Mellor striking partnership that terrorised Third Division defences in 1976/77. They also talk glowingly of Michael Robinson’s swashbuckling centre-forward style and, of course, Gordon Smith’s famous chance in 1983.
But where is the praise for Ray Clarke, the striker that helped turn Peter Ward from a struggling top flight striker into a force in Division One?
Clarke’s 28 goals for Mansfield fired the Stags to the Fourth Division Championship in 1974/75 and his 24 goals the following campaign contributed immensely to keeping the side in the Third Division. This led to a remarkable £80,000 transfer to Sparta Rotterdam in Holland in July 1976, where he was top scorer (with 16 and 24 goals) in each of his two seasons there.
In Marshall Cavendish’s Football Handbook Part 59, there’s a fascinating piece about Ajax in the late 1970s under coach Cor Brom, as the new generation struggled to gain recognition while living in the shadow of the ‘Total Football’ side of Cruyff et al, plus this magnificent photo of Ray Clarke, looking for all the world like a ’70s fashion king in his Ajax get-up.
Londoner Ray Clarke, the player Brom had brought with him from Sparta of Rotterdam, was also the target of criticism inside the club. Clarke, once rejected by Spurs, is a strong and unselfish striker with an excellent scoring record. Last season he finished as Ajax’s top scorer with 38 goals – 26 in the league, six in the cup, six in the UEFA Cup – but during the summer they sold him to Bruges for £200,000.
Clarke spent only one season with Ajax… and early on he had problems adjusting. ‘One problem was that the quality here is so much higher than anything I’ve been used to before,’ he said. ‘Ajax have some fabulous players – Rudi Krol, for example… I don’t think it’s possible to appreciate just how good he is until you’ve played with him. It was only in the last three or four months that I started to play the way I know I can.’ Clarke’s 26 league goals put him second only to European Golden Boot winner Kees Kist of Alkmaar in the Dutch League.
Clarke’s spell in Belgium at Bruges was very brief as Alan Mullery snapped him up for Brighton in October 1979 for £175,000. As John Vinicombe wrote in ‘Super Seagulls’:
He spent only five months with Bruges and admitted that it had been a mistake not to go straight back to England. ‘It was quite an upset then for me to leave Ajax. I had heard a whisper they wanted to buy some new players and that they intended to raise the money by selling me. So I thought that if that was their attitude, I might as well accept the offer Bruges had made me.’
Before Clarke’s arrival at the Goldstone, Brighton & Hove Albion were finding life tough in the top flight, bottom after twelve matches, having recently shipped four goals at home to Norwich City. However, as Vinicombe continues:
The arrival of Clarke was a vital injection and his cheerfulness did much to cast off the blues. He was a fresh mind looking at Albion’s situation, and reminded despairing fans: ‘It is ridiculous for people to write Brighton off at this stage. I remember in my second season at Mansfield the team was bottom after 26 games with only 16 points, but in our last 20 games we won 15 and drew five and finished sixth (sic: 11th) from top.’ That was the sort of fighting talk people wanted to hear on the eve of a second meeting with Arsenal.
Ray Clarke made his Brighton debut in a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal, but scored a consolation goal against League Champions Liverpool in the next match at the Goldstone in November 1979. Then came the match that was the turning point of the season. Albion travelled to City Ground to European Champions Nottingham Forest more in hope than expectation, and pulled off a sensational result, winning 1-0. See the picture on the right for Clarke having a shot under the watchful eye of Viv Anderson and Martin O’Neill. It was Forest’s first home defeat in Division One since they were promoted to the top flight in April 1977.
Clarke’s strength and selfless play had a profound effect on Peter Ward. Before partnering up with Clarke, Ward was finding it hard against First Division defences. He had only scored twice in twelve Division One matches. Supported by Clarke’s hold up play and service, Albion’s star player transformed into a striker that hit around one goal every two games in Division One, quite a useful asset to have to get Albion climbing up the table. By the end of the season, in the games playing alongside Clarke, Peter Ward scored fourteen times in only thirty First Division matches, an exceptional tally in a team in the lower half of the table. Clarke himself weighed in with eight League goals as Brighton finished in sixteenth position, comfortably safe from relegation. He even managed to score against his old club Mansfield in the FA Cup, something that he finds bittersweet.
In Matthew Horner’s ‘He Shot, He Scored, the biography of Peter Ward,’ Ward says:
‘Ray was a good player – not at all flash , just a sound, straightforward target man. I liked playing with him and after he joined and Teddy (Maybank) left, we played every game together. I hadn’t had a regular partner since Ian Mellor in the Third Division and it helped to have some consistency. When I played alongside Ray I probably played the best football of my Brighton career – it was a shame that he left so soon.’
Here’s an example of a chance Ray Clarke fashioned for Ward:
Clarke was sold to Newcastle United in July 1980, perhaps as an outcome of seeing a specialist. As an interview with Spencer Vignes in the Brighton v Preston programme from 2004/5 says: ‘The specialist told him it was his hips which, to cut a long story short, were disintegrating. He might have four years left, or just 12 months. It was hard to tell’ and to make things worse Clarke was uninsured so Brighton would not receive a penny if he broke down while with the club. Maybe that is why he was sold so quickly. Perhaps Mullery was determined to buy Michael Robinson anyway. What is clear, however, is that without Clarke as a striking partner, Peter Ward went back to a low scoring rate in the First Division. Partnered with Robinson, Ward got one goal in eleven League matches at the start of 1980/81 before being sold to Nottingham Forest where, again, he was far from prolific. Neither did he hit a rich scoring vein on his loan spell back at Brighton in 1982/83 when he scored just two goals in 16 Division One matches. As for Clarke, his spell at Newcastle was over when he broke down with injury after only fourteen matches in 1980/81. He was just 28 when his playing career ended.
The recent consternation over excrement being used to write the words ‘We Hate Palace’ in the Crystal Palace changing room at the recent play-off match at the Amex stadium echoes some stories often told about the last-but-one match of maverick footballer Robin Friday, who played for Reading and Cardiff City.
Friday, the forward seen by some as one of the most gifted footballers of the 1970s, was involved in Reading’s epic League Cup 1st round tussle with Peter Taylor’s Brighton in August and September 1974. It stretched to three replays. Eventually, the Royals triumphed 3-2 at the Goldstone despite Ricky Marlowe hitting two goals for the Albion. In the Reading Evening Post, it was reported:
“When Murray’s shot hit the post, this time jubilant Robin Friday was there, sliding on his back to push it in the goal. When it was all over Friday lay stretched out on the turf…”
The performances of this colourful character helped Reading win promotion from the Fourth Division in 1975/76. In 1976/77, Reading made a great start to the campaign, reaching 3rd spot by early October, but began to falter and were eventually relegated. Friday played in Reading’s 3-1 home defeat to Alan Mullery’s Albion side in November 1976, with the Royals failing to make the most of their very good chances. As his dip in form and disciplinary problems continued, however, Friday joined Second Division Cardiff City in December 1976.
His star burned brightly at times at Cardiff but he suffered a mystery virus that laid him low for several months. His return match, his penultimate game for the Bluebirds, came against Brighton in October 1977. However, it was another Welshman who won the rave reviews. In the Daily Mirror:
Cardiff hit by Welsh wizard
Brighton 4-0 Cardiff
This was a case of a Welsh side torn apart by a Welsh international. Brighton’s Peter O’Sullivan scored twice and tormented a Cardiff team which looked to have big problems. To make things worse, Robin Friday, the striker Cardiff hoped would lift them on his return after a long illness, was sent off after 55 minutes. He clashed with Brighton’s Mark Lawrenson in midfield and got the red card from referee Alan Robinson after kicking out in retaliation. Alan Campbell, Cardiff’s most effective player, was booked for protesting. Said manager Alan Mullery: “Sully was brilliant – surely there is no midfield man in the country playing better.” Brighton’s other scorers were Peter Ward and Ian Mellor.
Friday had been sent off for kicking Mark Lawrenson in the face. From Bluebirds Banter:
Robin Friday was fed up. He’d been sent off after falling out with Brighton’s Mark Lawrenson at their old Goldstone Road ground in 1977 – and took it out on his own team-mates! They returned to the away dressing room after the final whistle and discovered that Friday had thrown all of their clothes, everything he could find, into the team bath.
“There had been quite a battle between Robin and Brighton’s Lawrenson,” said David Giles, who was in the Bluebirds squad. “I was on the bench and went on for Steve Grapes when we were 2-0 down in front of nearly 23,000 spectators.
“It all flared up just after half-time when Lawrenson tackled Robin and he didn’t like the challenge. So he kicked out and was sent off.
“We lost 4-0 and when we got back to the dressing room we knew Jimmy Andrews would have something to say. One of the lads went into the shower room to get out of the way and he shouted ‘Robin’s thrown all our clothes into the bath’.
“Brighton had a big plunge bath and all our gear was floating in it. We wrung our underwear out and had to put that on. The rest of our stuff was soaked and we borrowed tracksuits from Brighton to wear home.
“Robin got a club suspension for that.”
Legend also has it that Friday broke into Brighton’s dressing room and defecated in Mark Lawrenson’s bag! (See The Bleacher Report: Robin Friday.
Surprisngly, in Paolo Hewitt and Paul McGuigan’s book about Friday, ‘The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw,’ there is no mention of the incidents in the home dressing room and the away one.
Perhaps it’s because it didn’t happen. Roger Titford has put together a very wonderful 50-page photo-essay called ‘The Legend of Robin Friday’ which traces exactly how the legend of ‘the greatest footballer you never saw’ came about and where it’s turning into pure myth. Well worth the £3 price for the digital read. It says:
“It’s the mainly anti-hero charisma that drives the legend nowadays. Just as a terrorist of one generation becomes a politician of the next so today’s football world takes just the bits it wants from the legend of Robin Friday. This is where the legend takes its wings and flies into the world of myth, exaggeration and putting together incidents that happened separately. The thing with Bobby Moore – over in a moment. No, he didn’t kiss the policeman after the wonder goal, as it says on YouTube. And no, despite what it says on some punk football T-shirt website, he didn’t crap in Mark Lawrenson’s kit-bag after being sent off. Dishonourably, arguably out of character, he kicked the young Brighton centre-half in the face as he lay on the ground. No one then knew that Lawrenson would turn into an establishment BBC pundit of somewhat complacent and annoying nature – so maybe that’s what makes it ‘funny’ for some today.”
And yes, it mentions him doing a poo in the Mansfield bath but not in the Brighton bath in the game above.
Clearly, though, Mullery was not at all impressed with Friday:
“The foul by Friday was one of the worst I have ever seen. He kicked my player in the face when he was on the ground! How can you defend that sort of behaviour?”
But he was impressed by the performance of another Welsh Bluebird, Peter Sayer, who the Albion signed four months later. In April 1978, finishing fourth, Albion missed out on promotion out of Division Two by goal difference despite beating Blackpool on the last day of the season. The result relegated Blackpool, helping Cardiff to beat the drop by a single point.
An artist’s impression of Michael Robinson and Bryan Robson makes the cover of this very special Cup Final Souvenir Issue of Match Weekly. Inside, unsurprisingly, Cup Final talk dominates:
Eight pros predict a Manchester United victory (Craig Johnston, Gary Bannister, John Hollins, Steve Perryman, Chris Woods, Paul Walsh, Geoff Pike, John McAlle and Graham Sharp, Terry Fenwick). Tommy Caton and Chris Waddle go for a Seagulls victory.
Elsewhere, Steve Gatting talks of the pain of missing out on the FA Cup Final when Arsenal reached that stage in 1979 and 1980. He says: ‘It’s a great feeling to finally get the chance to play in an FA Cup Final and I just can’t wait to walk on that famous turf.’
In their lovely V-necked and pinstriped Cup Final kit, there is also a Brighton team photo in the centre-spread, and Graham Moseley is quizzed in Cup Final Focus, along with Arnold Muhren. Finally, an artist’s impression of the teams’ Cup Final run is included. Here’s Brighton’s:
This colour image of the Goldstone Ground comes from the annual Football Champions:
The number 9 is Albion centre-forward Dennis Windross who cost £1,000 from Middlesbrough in November that season. The Yorkshireman had a purple patch of four goals in five games around the turn of the year during the campaign, including a goal against League champions Burnley in the FA Cup. However, the goals completely dried up after this and he lost his place in the side in early April. Brighton finished in 16th position in Division Two.
Out of favour, Windross was swopped for Darlington’s Bobby Baxter in the summer.
Who says the Albion have not triumphed in international club competitions?
A magnificent Albion performance leads to Brighton triumphing 2-0 against mighty Maccabi Netanya in the Jewish Chronicle Cup at the Goldstone in 1980, thanks to goals by Ray McHale and Peter Sayer.
Mark Lawrenson is presented with the trophy by newspaper editor Geoffrey Paul.
Two seasons on, the Cup maintains pride of place at the Goldstone. Until Fred Dineage breaks it!
From Marshall Cavendish’s splendid Football Handbook (Part 8):
“The new defensive patterns with a man spare at the back mean more and more coaches are looking to attack from wide positions, and winers are back with a bang.”
Brighton’s new touchline terror Gerry Ryan is one man who is pleased to see what was a dying breed back in demand.
“Wingers win matches,” Gerry explained to Handbook. Defences are left trying to turn and close down on the ball, plus pick up players running at them into space from deep when the winger gets it across. It’s more difficult for them to provide cover.”
Few managers utilise the winger more than Tommy Docherty. “He’s a great believer in attacking football,” says Gerry. “He was always making the point at Derby that our job was not just to win but to win in an entertaining way. And wingers are great entertainers. There’s a tradition of wingers being the men loved by the crowd, from Stanley Matthews to Peter Barnes. But in the old days they operated in a restricted area and relied on service. Now that isn’t on. I have to drop back into midfield and help out when the opposition have the ball. Today’s wingers have not only got to turn on the skill and beat defenders; they must be as involved as any midfield ball-winner.”
At the end of ‘Up, Up And Away,’ John Vinicombe’s account of Brighton’s promotion to the First Division, he paints a rosy picture of the relationship between chairman and manager in 1979:
It took the arrival of Mike Bamber to bring about a new era, for, without Bamber, there would have been no Mullery – no promotion. They are twin architects of Albion’s success and the key to their thinking can be seen in Bamber’s motto on the wall of his Goldstone office – “they can, because they think they can”:
(In the photo above, from ‘Through Open Doors’ by Brian Radford, you can just about see the slogan).
However, by 1981, things had turned for the worse. Manager Alan Mullery resigned after disagreeing with Mike Bamber about the chairman’s plans to reduce the size of the coaching staff and how to resolve the Mark Lawrenson transfer saga. Mullery had cut a deal with Manchester United that involved cash plus a part exchange of a player, but Bamber had already set his sights on a money only £900,000 deal with Liverpool. Mullery decided it was time Bamber found a new club manager.
From Alan Mullery – ‘The Autobiography’ (2007):
Angry.
That’s how I felt in the days after I left Brighton. I thought I’d achieved more than any previous manager at the club. I’d started with a decent Third Division team and developed it into a Division One side filed with top-level players – Mark Lawrenson, one of the best defenders of modern times; John Gregory, Steve Foster and Gary Stevens, all of whom went on to play for England; Michael Robinson of Eire; Neil McNab and Gordon Smith, both Scottish internationals.
Plenty of that calibre would never have dreamed of joining Brighton and Hove Albion before I took over. My credibility helped me to sign them. I’m not saying I deserve all the praise for the rapid rise the club enjoyed during my five-year stay, but I sure as hell played my part. Our two seasons in the top flight were tough, there’s no denying that, but any club should expect a similar period of transition.
If I had continued to enjoy the backing I’d received while Harry Bloom was alive, I’m sure we could have consolidated our position as a First Division club. Instead I was out of the cold and Brighton went on to be relegated just two seasons later.
Did I regret walking out after my confrontation with Mike Bamber? Was I too headstrong? The honest answer is yes, I was fiery and prone to rush into emotional decisions. I should have taken my time to think things through before resigning, but it wouldn’t have changed anything in the long term. If I had backed down over the Lawrenson transfer, I believe Bamber would have walked all over me from that moment on. And my pride was too strong to allow that. Our split was inevitable.
As Mullery departed from Brighton & Hove Albion that summer, “the truth was,” he later wrote, “my best days as a manager were already behind me.”
My team mates are a varied collection of characters, from the very shy to the extremely noisy and unpredictable.
Graham Moseley: Our ‘Mose’ is a great lad for charity work. The other week he dragged his three kids with him on a wind-swept charity trudge along the seafront – a do organised by our tremendous supporters’ club. He’s also a very fine keeper.
Gary O’Reilly: Just arrived from the heady regions of Spurs and quickly added his wit and outspoken character to our dressing room. “Gaz” is a fine player and a great asset to the side.
Eric Young: “Youngers” is such a powerful and impressive player, yet he is too quiet! I believe that he can go all the way if he can develop the verbal side of his game and organise everything round him. Always loses his contact lenses!
Steve Gatting: “Gats” has a smooth, relaxed approach to his game that stems from his ability to read situations quickly. That earns him time on the ball and he’s good at using it. Loves golf and can relax for hours with a few good records.
Chris Hutchings: “Hutch” is another fine golfer – he spends a lot of time on the course with “Gats” and a very fine left-back who began his career with Chelsea.
Danny Wilson: Danny is currently attending relaxation classes with his wife, who’s expecting a baby in a few months. Only hope he doesn’t relax too much! Tenacious midfield player who has made a big impact since joining the club from Nottingham Forest.
Steve Jacobs: Known to us all as “Duggie” … and he hates it. Stems from our discovering that his middle name is Douglas. Sorry Steve!
Gary Howlett: Talented young Dubliner who is one of the reasons we now have a squad strong enough to stay the pace of the season. Started his career with Home Farm and joined us via Coventry.
Terry Connor: There’s danger in the air when Terry’s around. Chases lost causes, frightens defenders and scores good goals. “T.C” is the type of forward who will win a game for you out of almost nothing.
Frank Worthington: Takes a lot of stick from us because of the flashy and sometimes astonishing clothes he wears on match-days. Loves the rock and roll scene.
Steve Penney: Fast, tricky and now finding that defenders are ready for him and willing to spare two men to shut him out.
In the upbeat article Case is adamant that “if we work hard and keep our sights fixed on one game at a time, we have the necessary know-how and experience to make a return to the First Division.”
Well, he was right in one respect. He did make a return to the top-flight, but it was with Southampton, as Chris Cattlin made a massive mistake by selling the Liverpudlian for a mere £30,000 to Brighton’s south coast rivals in March 1985. The Seagulls missed out on promotion by just three points.
The Goldstone Wrap 