The 1991 Play-Off Final game against Notts County is certainly a case of what might have been for both us as a team and Brighton & Hove Albion as a football club.
We’d beaten Millwall convincingly over two legs at the semi-final stage; we’d handed out a 4-1 tonking at the Goldstone which, in all honesty, could have been more – and having ridden an early storm at The Den in the second leg, which also included our coach being rocked from side to side when we arrived and all manner of abuse hurled at us as we walked out for our warm-up, we progressed to Wembley with a 6-2 aggregate victory.
After what we’d endured over those 90 minutes on and off the pitch, we deserved our champagne celebrations in the changing room afterwards, but we were mindful that we still had a job to do. Notts County stood in the way of us and a place in what is now the Premier League.
This was uncharted territory for many of the lads, myself included. I’d missed out on the 1986 League Cup Final with QPR against Oxford United, and while I’d been to Wembley to watch England and Chelsea, to actually play at such an iconic venue made the hairs stand up on my neck just thinking about it – and I’m sure it was the same from everyone else.
The club took us to the stadium the day before the game, just to get a feel for the surrounds, which was a great idea. The pitch was vast, so too were the changing rooms and those legendary baths that so many great players had been pictured in down the years.
We all had a laugh and a joke as we walked up that famous tunnel into the daylight – the Twin Towers and the Royal Box standing proudly to our right – but come the day itself, the game-face came on and it was time to get serious. You could sense that this was something very different to anything we’d experienced before, and I remember looking over at Nicky Bissett, who had missed a big chunk of the season through injury, and he was very, very nervous. I think we all were.
While hindsight is a wonderful thing, I do think that we made a monumental mistake by changing the system that had got us through the two games against Millwall. Instead of 4-4-1-1, the gaffer [Barry Lloyd] opted for three of the back, with Stefan Iovan as a sweeper.
Now Stefan might have been a European Cup winner with Steaua Bucharest, but he’d only joined us prior to the semi-finals and, at that stage of his career, it was clear he had no pace. Notts County could sense that was our weakness and they were playing balls over the heads of our wing-backs, namely Steve Gatting and myself, and exposing our centre-backs. In all honesty, they were having a field day and a young Tommy Johnson – who, of course, would later go on to become a top player with Aston Villa and Celtic – was running rings around poor Stefan.
To be fair, we actually made the better start, but in games like this, you need everything to go for you – and old Lady Luck luck looked to have deserted us. County scored the opener after half an hour, which came from a corner that never was. I tackled Dean Thomas but the ball clearly came off him. The TV replays proved conclusive. However, the referee, David Elleray, gave the corner and Johnson scored the first of his two goals that day.
Twenty-five years later I was introduced to David in a press lounge and I said to him, “Do you regret giving the wrong decision that day?” He replied, “You’re not going on about a game that happened 25 years ago are you?” To which I added, “As it happens, yes I am, because it could have changed the fortunes of the club being in the top flight, and us keeping our same players.”
That first half was a tight affair and I also vividly remember Clive Walker getting hold of the ball. He did well in the game but on this occasion he should have got his head up and put me through. That’s all he needed to do, play the ball to me, and I was in on goal. I think he went alone and hit the outside of the post – and it’s those small margins that were going against us.
Dean Wilkins also hit the crossbar shortly after the break from a free-kick and that’s when you start to think it’s not going to be your day. As it was, the game was pretty much over as a contest once Johnson had scored after an hour and although Dean scored a late consolation, we came off licking our wounds, having lost 3-1.
There was stony silence in the changing room afterwards. Nobody said a word as we slumped into those big baths. I think the chairman popped his head round the door to tell us to keep our heads up, but we all knew a marvellous opportunity had passed us by. We’d fallen at the final hurdle.
Although we didn’t quite appreciate it at the time, that defeat would have huge implications, with the club’s very existence hanging by a thread. I knew straight away that ‘Budgie’ [John Byrne] would be sold, then they had an offer for ‘Smally’ [Mike Small] from West Ham and that was our forward line gone. Others would also be sold to keep the wolves from the door.
We all know what came next and while it still hurts me now when I recall that day at Wembley, I also have a smile when I think about that squad and what we had achieved. I think we were the first team to get to the play-offs with a negative goal difference and while we conceded a fair few, we scored plenty as well. It was always an entertaining game down at the Goldstone.
We also had such a fantastic camaraderie and a togetherness in that squad which I would never experience again. Yes, the tackles would fly in during training and words would be said, but once we were back inside the changing room, we’d spent hours in there, having a laugh and a joke – we always had each other’s backs.
I’ll also never forget the sight of so many Albion fans at Wembley that day. It really was something to savour as we emerged from the tunnel onto the pitch. They deserved more. It proved what fantastic support the football club had and that passion would be needed more than ever in the years that followed...