Brighton striker Mick Robinson gives the thumbs up sign as he celebrates on the pitch after their 2-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the 1983 FA Cup Semi Final at HighburyBrighton striker Mick Robinson gives the thumbs up sign as he celebrates on the pitch after their 2-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the 1983 FA Cup Semi Final at Highbury
Brighton striker Mick Robinson gives the thumbs up sign as he celebrates on the pitch after their 2-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the 1983 FA Cup Semi Final at Highbury
Ian Hart selects his three favourite Brighton players and gives an FA Cup message to Crystal Palace
There’s been a very interesting thread on North Stand Chat this week speculating on who out of the current Albion squad would be deemed a ‘Club Legend’?
A title thrown around the Albion across the decades, it really is subjective. Is it on playing ability or is it personality, how they conducted themselves on the pitch or perhaps equally as important off of it?
In answer to the original question, of the current squad, there’s only one standout candidate, Lewis Dunk. Although in time I hope Jack Hinshelwood will be someone we talk about in the future with same respect and affection we have for Dunky.
Beyond that, well frankly, with 52 years on the clock, I could probably fill three pages of the Herald sport with possible candidates for my own personal Albion legends, and the NSC thread has certainly got the old cogs whirring.
To reiterate, I’ve literally got reams of players who would be mentioned in dispatches but I’ve settled on three for various reasons.
The first is my own sparring partner on the wireless, Sir Norman Gall. A proud Tynesider he was signed from Gateshead in 1962, he played for the Albion for 12 years until his retirement due to injury in 1974. He made over 480 appearances for the club, predominantly at centre back.
As I was under 10-years of age, I only saw him play a couple of times, including my first ever visit to the Goldstone in April 1973.
But it was when I first met him years later and then the five years or so we had working together on the road, some of my happiest times watching the Albion.
He had an almost godlike persona to fans of a certain age. But every Albion fan I ever saw him come into contact with, he treated like a friend, and always had time for them, not just a legend a genuinely nice person.
Michael Robinson and the great escape
Another nice person off the field was Michael Robinson. Signed from Man City for £400,000 by Alan Mullery in the summer of 1980, 12 months after he been the most expensive teenager in domestic football when City paid Preston three quarter of a million pounds, only to be deemed a flop after a forgettable season at Maine Road.
Robinson’s three seasons at the Goldstone, saw him firstly score 19 League goals as Albion produced a ‘great escape’ and stayed up on the last day of the season having looked dead and buried before Easter.
His second season saw the Albion, by now managed by Mike Bailey, finish in their highest ever, to date, League finish 13th. And the third season, despite relegation, Robbo’s winner in the FA Cup semi final at Highbury against Sheffield Wednesday took Albion to their first ever FA Cup final.
Again like Norm, I never really met Robbo until after he left the Albion. When he returned for the 25th anniversary of the Cup Final in 2008 I was lucky enough to have a sit down with him for the radio.
Both with the mic on and off, he was a perfect Gent. In fact probably one of the nicest footballers I’ve ever met, and in the couple of times I subsequently met him before his sad passing in 2020, my opinion didn’t alter.
My third and final choice, is like Dunk, one of our own, Woodingdean’s very own Ian Chapman.
A football trailblazer in that he was the first graduate of the FA’s School of Excellence to make his league debut for the Albion aged 17, against Birmingham in 1987.
He served the club through thick and thin, playing nearly 300 games and towards the end of his tenure it was more thin than thick.
Whilst being released by a club is part and parcel of football, it was nothing short of disgusting that Chappers learnt of his 1996 release when he heard it on the 10am news bulletin on Southern FM.
Whilst already a legend in my book, and like the other two a genuinely nice person, Chappers legendary status was cemented after he’d left the Albion, when having been offered a contract by Crystal Palace he opted to go to Gillingham instead, why?
Because in his own words he was from Woodingdean, and playing for Palace and taking their money, he would still have to shave in the morning, and look in the mirror.
You cannot buy that level of class! And finally whilst on the subject of Crystal Palace, to quote the words of Borat, I really hope Palace win the FA Cup… NOT!
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