Lammie was a centre-forward of the old school variety – tough, rugged, selfish when he needed to be in front of goal, unselfish in terms of putting his body on the line for the benefit of others, a master of the dark arts of attacking play. “A bit of an assassin,” as he once put it. And yet a lovelier man you could not wish to meet.
Born and raised on the tough streets of Paisley, Lammie worked his way south of the border and eventually to the Albion via Burnley, Bury and Halifax Town, switching from midfield to centre-half to centre-forward along the way. It was Pat Saward who brought him to the Goldstone Ground in 1972.
Earlier that year the Albion had mauled Halifax 5-0 on Yorkshire soil. After the final whistle Lammie punched a hole in a dressing room door in frustration. The incident left an impression, quite literally, on Saward who managed to get his man at the second time of asking, with Halifax being hugely reluctant to sell.
Over the next 18 months Lammie established himself as an Albion first-team regular, though his record of eight goals in 49 games doesn’t really tell the whole story. In a struggling third tier team, he created plenty of opportunities for those around him with his clever, brave, uncompromising hold-up play.
Life at the Goldstone was also, conversely, made harder rather than easier by the eccentricities of a certain Mr Brian Clough, who took over as manager from Saward in November 1973. “I never thought he would stay,” Lammie once said of Clough’s brief nine-month reign. “He never made a commitment. He was supposed to be buying a house in the area but he was never there long enough to actually look. It was a three day a week job for him, and that’s nothing like enough. He sold us short.”
At the end of that season one of Clough’s last decisions as manager prior to jumping ship for Leeds United was to sell Lammie, along with John Templeman, to Exeter City. Lammie didn’t want to go, yet he proved to be a huge success in Devon. “I wish that I’d played a little later on, because there’s bad players out there getting paid silly money,” he told me only a few months ago, prior to being diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. “But, on the big picture, I’ve no complaints. It’s been a great life.”
Everyone at Brighton & Hove Albion send their condolences to Lammie’s family and friends.