Yearly Archives: 2013

Mar 16 2013
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Media Coverage

Backpass Magazine: Steve Foster interview

backpass1

Backpass Magazine is a fantastic read for anyone who loves football culture of yesteryear. Priced £3,95, the magazine has been going since the summer of 2008. The current issue, issue 27, with cover star Liverpool’s Roger Hunt, features the Steve Foster photo above in the glorious Highbury sunshine in April 1983. It also includes a two page interview with Fozzie. He says:

I started there under Alan Mullery. He was followed by Mike Bailey, a lovely man and manager who was sacked for not smiling enough! Jimmy Melia took over and that’s when everything started to take off, especially with the FA Cup run.

There is a mistake in the interview as Foster appears to suggest that Albion finished 13th under Mullery in 1982 before becoming defensive under Bailey. That high finish was, of course, under Bailey. However, this does not take away from the fact the interview is an enjoyable read with Foster characteristically forthright in his views about managers and players.

Anyway, I won’t spill the beans as this magazine is in some newsagents despite problems with the barcode restricting supply.

Brighton have been very well served by the magazine over its 27 issues:

    Issue 1 has a short article on Bristol Rovers’ Bannister and Warboys, the nemesis of Brighton in 1973 in the 8-2 defeat
    Issue 2 has a short article on how Brighton got the Seagulls nickname, and a summary of the 1982/83 season with a review of the FA Cup Final. Also mentions the club ‘unveiled plans for a new £7 milion stadium to be opened in 1985. They are still waiting!’
    Issue 4 has memories of Norman Gall and a feature on the Leatherhead Lip giantkillings
    Issue 5 has an interview with Jim Walker
    Issue 7 has an interview with Mel Hopkins although there is no Albion references other than a photo of Hopkins
    Issue 10 has reviews of the Peter Ward and Martin Chivers biographies, an interview with Peter Ward, and Mike Tiddy obituary
    Issue 13 has an interview with Jimmy Melia, a feature on the famous ‘penalties’ match with Crystal Palace in 1988/89, and a Bobby Smith obituary
    Issue 14 has an Alan Davies retrospective with comment by Gary Stevens. Also, a Mel Hopkins obituary
    Issue 15 has interviews with Ian Goodwin and Gerry Ryan
    Issue 16 has an interview with ex-Albion coach Ray Crawford
    Issue 17 has a flashback to the epic cup tie between Brighton and Walsall in 1969/70
    Issue 18 has a Ken Beamish interview and Goldstone retrospective
    Issue 19 has a Bernie Gallagher obituary
    Issue 24 has a retrospective of Southern TV’s football coverage and the Preston days of Alex Dawson – only a very brief Albion mention in each plus a photo of Dawson in a Brighton shirt
    Issue 25 has a feature on Brighton & Hove Albion kits and an Ernie Machin obituary
    Issue 26 has an interview with Brian Horton
    Issue 27 has an interview with Steve Foster
    Issue 28 has a short article on Spencer Vignes’ ‘A Few Good Men’ book
    Issue 29 has a synopsis of the John Shepherd book, an article on the 2-8 defeat to Bristol Rovers, and obituaries of Tony Grealish and Freddie Jones

Some back issues are still available. Get them from their website before they go! Digital back issues will be available soon.

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Mar 15 2013
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Photo Opportunities

Celebrate Red Nose Day with Barry Lloyd and Doug Rougvie

lloydandrougvie

Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day first kicked off 25 years ago in 1988, and who better to launch it than Barry Lloyd and ‘Doug The Thug’?

Sadly, there was not much time left together for this comedy double act as Lloyd dropped his skipper Rougvie in favour of Robert Isaac in the Division Three promotion run-in.

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Mar 14 2013
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Around The Goldstone, Media Coverage

Club Call from 1972/73

This is taken from Roy of the Rovers magazine:

1972-73

The line-up is this:

Back row: Ian Goodwin, Kit Napier, Stewart Henderson, Alan Dovey, Brian Bromley, Brian Powney, Eddie Spearritt, John Templeman, John Napier;

Middle row: Mike Yaxley (trainer / physio), Bert Murray, Norman Gall, Willie Irvine, Pat Saward (manager), Ken Beamish, Bertie Lutton, Peter O’Sullivan, Ray Crawford (coach);

Front row: Steve Piper, Tommy Armstrong, Alan Boorn, Steve Breach.

For more about these players during this disastrous campaign, please visit my other Albion site Seagulls TV.

The summary in Roy of the Rovers magazine includes these ‘facts’:

Formed: 1900.
Nickname: “Albion” (or Shrimpers).

I’ve seen the club erroneously nicknamed the Shrimps. But this is the first time I’ve seen us down as the Shrimpers which is equally wrong. I suppose it’s preferable, though. Wouldn’t have liked to have been the Shrimps and having to play Southend (the ‘Shrimpers’)!

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Mar 13 2013
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Media Coverage

John Napier poses for the Jimmy Hill Football Weekly

johnnapier

Strappling centre-half John Napier was Brighton’s record £25,000 signing from Bolton in August 1967. A year earlier he made his full debut for Northern Ireland in Belfast, losing 2-0 to West Germany.

Along with Norman Gall, Napier formed the bedrock of Albion’s defence in the late 1960s, winning the club’s first Player of the Season award in 1968/69.

Two years later, he was still turning it on for the Albion. In particular, his performance at Reading in April 1971 warmed the cockles of the heart of Evening Argus’ John Vinicombe, who wrote: “This was a magnificent display by John Napier. He was absolutely commanding and this rated as his best perfomance of the campaign. Nothing beat him and this mastery inspired confidence all around.”

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Mar 12 2013
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Photo Opportunities

Sex god Keith Dublin

keithdublin

Something rather sleazy about this photo, don’tcha think? Would you ask an autograph from this man?!

Signed from Chelsea for £50,000 in the summer, Keith Dublin was an ever-present left-back during the 1987/88 Third Division promotion before blossoming into a classy central defender.

Extracts from his profile in the Brighton v Bristol City programme from February 1988:

Most embarrassing moment: Smacking the ball into the referee’s face, but it was a pure accident.
Favourite Food: Chicken Kiev.
Radio: L.W.R. and T.K.O. pirate stations
How I Would Improve Football: Have a change of referee at half-time! But serious, I’m quite happy the way it is.
Ambitions: To further myself in my chosen career and live a happy peaceful life.

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Mar 11 2013
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Around The Goldstone, Media Coverage

Beamish winds up Lawrenson

Here’s Ken Beamish, bought in March 1972, posing in PE shorts before the ill-starred 1972/73 season.

beamish

The all-action striker was Albion’s top scorer, with ten goals, as the team slid back into the Third Division.

Fast forward eight seasons to 1980/81 and Beamish was back at Tranmere, the club from which Pat Saward had signed him. Rovers were a Fourth Division side by then but they had the matter of a two-legged 2nd Round League Cup tie with Brighton & Hove Albion, now a top flight club.

In Mark Lawrenson’s ‘The Autobiography,’ he takes up the story on page 152:

“You learn, sometimes the hard way, the steps you need to take to protect yourself physically and psychologically. Opponents will always be testing you to see if you can be conned into losing your temper and, with it, your self-control. Ken Beamish certainly caught me out playing for Tranmere. We won the first leg comfortably, but I fell for the five card trick in the return. I can honestly say he tried to tackle me just below the hip and for the next five minutes I just went crazy. Ken, an old pro who had played for a lot of clubs including Brighton, obviously set out to try and unsettle me. If that tackle did not do any lasting damage it certainly wrecked my concentration and I was eventually sent off for a remark to a linesman. I was still fuming as I headed for the tunnel and looking across at Beamish who gave me a sly wink. Sure, the laugh was on me, but it was a lesson I have never forgotten.”

marklawrenson

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Mar 10 2013
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Club Colours

Shirts of the wrong era

Here’s the yellow away shirt of the 1978/79 as worn by the regular centre-half during that season… er, Martin Keown.

keown

And here’s the mid-1980s adidas kit with NOBO sponsor, as worn by the main goalgetter in that side… um, Peter Ward?

peterward

Somewhere, I’ve also got video footage of Michael Robinson wearing the Albion shirt of 1972/73.

It’s strange seeing these ‘out of time’ pictures, especially when players become so associated with certain kits. The Wardy one is obviously from a cameo appearance at a testimonial. However, in the case of Keown and Robinson, old Albion gear was used for training and practice matches years after they ceased being used in first team matches, and then chucked. A pity, as they’d be worth a fortune now!

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Mar 09 2013
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Media Coverage, Photo Opportunities

70-goal tester

70goaltester

At the start of the 1986/87, Ashdown Garage offered the players a new BMW if they could score 70 goals during the course of the campaign. With goalscoring aces Dean Saunders and Terry Connor, backed by World Cup wing wizard Steve Penney and the motivational powers of Alan Mullery, back at the helm, surely this was going to be a possibility?

Unfortunately, cost-cutting at the Goldstone Ground led to many experienced players such as Graham Moseley, Steve Jacobs and Dennis Mortimer leaving before the campaign started, considerably weakening the spine of the side. And equally sadly, it was not an offer of one car each, but one for the team, with the individual driving off with the car being selected by lots if the team was successful.

By January 3rd, the team under Alan Mullery was on a meagre 25 goals following a 2-1 win at Grimsby. Not an amazing season, but acceptable and forgivable given the dire finances of the club. Then, Mullery was harshly sacked even though the side were 15th in the League and comfortably away from the relegation zone.

And you probably know the nightmare under Barry Lloyd that happened next. From early January to the end of the season, Brighton scored a pathetic 13 more goals. Indeed, it took Lloyd over three and a half months to record his first victory as manager, but at least it was a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace. Those three points gained by Brighton in April were enough to deny Palace a play-off place at the end of the season. However, it couldn’t save our campaign. Unsurprisingly, Brighton crashed to the Third Division. This was not how life on the fast lane was meant to be.

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Mar 08 2013
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Media Coverage

Focus on: Gary Williams

Happy birthday, Gary!

garywilliams

Date of birth: 8 March 1955.
Car: Chrysler Horizon.
Favourite player: Liam Brady.
Favourite TV shows: The Kenny Everett Video Show and Fawlty Towers.
Most difficult opponent: They’re all easy.

From Shoot! Magazine in 1979/80.

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Mar 07 2013
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Around The Goldstone, Media Coverage

The glorious bubble perm of Peter Ward

peterward2

In this perm, Wardy hit ten goals to help fire Albion into the top flight and then another sixteen to help keep Brighton amongst the elite. In Scoop Magazine, from 12 July 1980, it says:

Although he’s a hero down Brighton way, life hasn’t always been easy at the Goldstone Ground for star striker Peter Ward.

He was on the transfer list last summer and again in the autumn.

But when Brian Clough failed to whisk the talented star away to Nottingham Forest, it triggered off a South Coast revival!

Peter sat down and had a long chat with his manager, Alan Mullery, and sorted out a lot of problems. He felt much happier after that and it showed in his big match performances.

“I had a very good Christmas,” Peter smiled. “First there was my first hat-trick in Division One against Wolves. Then I scored again on Boxing Day, when we beat our old rivals, Crystal Palace. Those results obviously helped everyone at the club and we went on to hold our First Division place last season quite comfortably.”

Sadly, in the summer of 1980, Ward ill-fatedly grew a moustache to add to the perm. Not sure why – perhaps the additional weight – but he was never the same again. He scored just one League goal in eleven games at the start of the 1980/81 season before signing for Brian Clough, where again he was far from prolific. Ward did rejoin the Albion on loan in 1982/83 and his two League goals in 16 League matches barely hinted at what kind of player he was in the late 1970s. Goldstone regulars spoke of how his movement was not what it was.

Some players are weighed down by their big transfer fee. Ward may well fit into the rare category of star players weighed down by their ‘taches.

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