There will be a minute’s applause ahead of Saturday’s game against Burnley following the sad news of Steve Burtenshaw’s passing.
The former Albion coach and player died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, aged 86.
Born in Portslade in November 1935, Steve was a successful schoolboy player, skippering both Brighton and Sussex Boys while a pupil at Portslade County Secondary School.
In August 1951 he joined the Albion ground staff and won an FA County Youth Cup winner’s medal in 1952 when Sussex beat the Liverpool Association 3-1 over two legs.
Signed as a professional in November 1952, the budding wing-half made his first-team debut just five months later, away at Exeter City, aged just 17, but took several seasons to establish himself in the side because of National Service with the Army.
While he made 28 league appearances – mainly as a right-half – in Albion’s 1957/58 promotion campaign, it was only when Steve switched to left-half in 1960 that he became a first-team regular for four seasons.
Nevertheless, he was a superb club man and was granted a testimonial in November 1963 before being appointed assistant coach the following year.
In total, he made 252 appearances for the Albion, scoring three goals, with his final match coming in December 1966.
After helping the reserves until December 1967, Steve began another long association, this time with Arsenal, initially as first-team coach before taking over as chief coach in 1971 when Don Howe left the club.
He later went on to coach QPR and Everton and also had spells as manager of Sheffield Wednesday and back at Loftus Road, before a return to the Gunners, where he had spells as youth-team coach, caretaker manager and chief scout.
The Albion were, however, always close to Steve’s heart and he had been president of the Albion Heritage Society since 2015.
We pass on our sincere condolences to his family, friends and to the staff and residents of the care home in Worthing where Steve lived in more recent years.