Steve Coppell had taken Albion’s fight against relegation to the third tier to the final day of the 2002-03 season, but in the end, a great escape had not been possible. That left former Palace boss Coppell pondering his future at Withdean.
“There was a question mark because I had only signed, I think, until the end of the season,” Steve says. “I looked at it, spoke to [assistant manager] Bob Booker, had conversations with everyone. It is hard to bounce back when you have been relegated. And while teams in the second tier were shocked or unnerved by Withdean, I knew it wouldn’t have much effect on third-tier teams. So it took a while to decide whether to come back.”
But he did, and after he signed Leon Knight from Chelsea to replace the goals of the departed Bobby Zamora, the team won five and drew two of the first nine games, Knight scoring twice on his debut in a 3-1 win at Oldham.
“I had seen Leon play and I thought he could be a little bit special,” Steve says. “He came in and started scoring and looking a real threat. I very soon realised that he was a bit different, not as a player, but as him, if I can put it that way. But in terms of performance he was terrific.
“We made such a good start that it had vindicated a change of style, and with Guy Butters, who hadn’t played much, coming in and becoming a regular and looking solid as a rock. I thought if we kept our heads and didn’t get carried away, we were on course for getting back up.”
History records that they did win promotion back to the second tier at the first time of asking, Knight scoring the winner from the penalty spot in the play-off final against Bristol City at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. But Steve Coppell was no longer in charge.
On September 10, Alan Pardew stepped down as manager of Reading and before long the eyes of Royals chairman John Madejski turned in Albion’s direction. “At the beginning of the season I had stressed to Dick Knight that if a top division club came in for me that I would be interested in going but when Reading came in for me, my take on it was totally different from his.
“We played at Middlesbrough in the League Cup and stayed in the north-east because we were playing Hartlepool on the Saturday. While we were in the hotel, I got a call from Dick. Bear in mind that we were top of the table and I knew I had a decent side in that division. Dick said he had had John Madejski on the phone and he would like to speak to me. I knew John as a good owner, a local man made good who looked after his club, which I appreciated. Obviously I knew Alan Pardew as he had played for me at Palace and he had said what a good club Reading was.
“But I said, ‘Listen Dick, I am really enjoying Brighton, we have a really good team, who should get promoted. If you don’t want me to speak to Reading and you don’t want me to go, then I’m perfectly okay with that, and it will never be mentioned again. I’m enjoying life here.’ As a manager, you find yourself in so many difficult situations that to be in one that you are happy with is unusual.
“But Dick said that I should have the conversation because he knew what football was like and otherwise there might be things going on behind the scenes. Without wanting to make out that I was in some way totally different from everyone else, I said: ‘I don’t know what you’re used to, but I’m happy and I don’t want to go. But if you want me to go, I’ll go.’ But he insisted that I should talk to them, so the next week I went to see Nick Hammond, who had just taken over as Reading’s director of football.
“I met him at a hotel in Reading and he made me an offer. I told him I’d let him know later and that evening I phoned him and said: ’Thanks for the offer but I’m okay where I am.’ The offer wasn’t significant financially and I just turned it down. I told Dick and then later in the week I got another phone call from Nigel Howe, the Reading managing director. He said: ‘I think we got off on the wrong foot. Can we have another chat?’ So we did and he made me what I thought was a decent offer that I was happy with. I told Dick that I’d had another offer that I couldn’t really refuse. So I left, but with a heavy heart, to be honest. And I was delighted when Brighton got promoted that season, because I thought they were a good team.”’
Mark McGhee took over from Steve at Withdean and led the team through the play-offs. Steve proved the wisdom of John Madejski’s choice by taking Reading into the top flight for the first time in their history in 2005-06 with a record 106 points. And his good memories of Withdean continued.
“After an outstanding pre-season, we lost 2-1 at home to Plymouth in the first game, a very poor performance. So the second game was very important,” Steve says. “It was against Brighton at Withdean, we won 2-0 without too much trouble and that game was arguably the most critical. From then on we lost only one game in the remaining 44.”
Reading finished eighth in their first season in the Premier League before dropping back into the second tier in 2008. Steve resigned after a play-off defeat by Burnley in 2009. He then took over at Bristol City before becoming director of football at Crawley Town and later Portsmouth. Most recently he has managed Indian Super League clubs Kerala Blasters, Jamshedpur and ATK.
Now 65, he is pleased to see Albion and Palace in the Premier League after both have known their fair share of troubles. “I remember that when Ron Noades sold Palace to Mark Goldberg in 1998, within eight months he had lost £40m, so you look at that and see how quickly you can lose the thread at a football club. We had 20 months of administration at Palace. It was very close to going under.
“And from managing at Brighton, you saw how hard people had worked for that club to survive when its back had been very much against the wall. You need key people to make the difference. Tony Bloom came in and has put a lot of money in and he must be so proud to see the way it is now in comparison to what was really a hand-to-mouth existence at Withdean. And now it’s so fabulously competitive at the top level of the English game. I’m so pleased for Brighton. It was always a strong club when Mike Bamber was chairman, with a great supporter base. It’s great to see those two clubs with the rivalry they have and matches between them being so significant again. And I think I’m in a unique position to appreciate that.”