It was 30 years ago today...

Nobby Horton brought his team to play
Against the Geordies that they call the Toon
10,000 seagulls over the moon
So let me introduce to you
The one and only Peter Ward
And ALAN MULLERY'S BLUE AND WHITE ARMY!!!

PG
(Feel free to add your own verse)

(Feel free to add your own verse)

Click to expand...

The boy stood on the burning deck
eating red hot scollops
a slippery bugger flew down his pants
and burned him on the bollocks

(Feel free to add your own verse)

Click to expand...

Im on a roll now

water water everywhere and all the boards did shrink
water water anywhere nor any drop to drink

(Feel free to add your own verse)

Click to expand...

this is great

There was an old lady from ealing
who wanted to wash the ceiling
so she laid on her back
she opened her crack
and pissed all over the ceiling

Peter Grummit said:

Nobby Horton brought his team to play
Against the Geordies that they call the Toon
10,000 seagulls over the moon
So let me introduce to you
The one and only Peter Ward
And ALAN MULLERY'S BLUE AND WHITE ARMY!!!

PG
(Feel free to add your own verse)

Click to expand...

remember that game, were they not in the chicken run ?? night match wernt it ?? they never stopped singing the whole game.. i take it i got the right match ?

There was a young man from Kent
Whose ?? was incredibly bent
To save himself trouble
He bent it round double
And instead of coming he went.

There was a young man called Ward
Who scored and scored and scored
Thirty six in one season
Was good enough reason
To applaud and applaud and applaud.

There was a young striker called Davies
Who couldn't hit barn doors at three paces
So he went to a shrink
Who plied him with drink
And told him to tie up his laces

wideguy said:

remember that game, were they not in the chicken run ?? night match wernt it ?? they never stopped singing the whole game.. i take it i got the right match ?

Click to expand...

Was it not the game at Newcastle when we won promotion? Before I was even born.

Peter Grummit said:

Nobby Horton brought his team to play
Against the Geordies that they call the Toon
10,000 seagulls over the moon
So let me introduce to you
The one and only Peter Ward
And ALAN MULLERY'S BLUE AND WHITE ARMY!!!

Click to expand...

It was 30 years ago today...
My little Triumph Herald chugged away
From Edinburgh towards the Toon,
But high up in those border hills,
The engine coughed and then went still -
I had to wait for the result on the MEDIUM WAVE BAND!

and can be senn again and again and agin on ITV 4 this week

The Big Match Revisited is on TV this week ...
ITV4 11:55am Thu 7 May
Elton Welsby introduces more highlights from 1979, featuring Wrexham v Sunderland and Newcastle United v Brighton & Hove Albion

See full details


ITV4 + 1 12:55pm Thu 7 May
Elton Welsby introduces more highlights from 1979, featuring Wrexham v Sunderland and Newcastle United v Brighton & Hove Albion

See full details



ITV4 4:10pm Thu 7 May
Elton Welsby introduces more highlights from 1979, featuring Wrexham v Sunderland and Newcastle United v Brighton & Hove Albion

See full details



ITV4 + 1 5:10pm Thu 7 May
Elton Welsby introduces more highlights from 1979, featuring Wrexham v Sunderland and Newcastle United v Brighton & Hove Albion

See full details



ITV4 12:00pm Fri 8 May
Elton Welsby introduces more highlights from 1979, featuring Wrexham v Sunderland and Newcastle United v Brighton & Hove Albion

See full details



ITV4 + 1 1:00pm Fri 8 May
Elton Welsby introduces more highlights from 1979, featuring Wrexham v Sunderland and Newcastle United v Brighton & Hove Albion

See full details




From The Sunday TimesMay 4, 2008

Caught in time: Brighton win promotion to the First Division, 1979Greg Struthers
Peter Ward, the Brighton & Hove Albion striker, was on the last train out of Newcastle, heading to the south coast. So were his captain, Brian Horton, and the rest of a triumphant team. The Seagulls were in a mood to celebrate as they boarded the Pullman Brighton Belle carriage on a special train with 12 coaches filled with fans. They had won promotion to the First Division on the last day of the season.

“It was like a party the whole way home as we mingled with the fans,” recalls Ward. Defender Gary Williams was also at the party. “The most amazing thing,” he says, “is that when we arrived in Brighton at about one o’clock in the morning and fell out of the train, there were 2,000 fans waiting at the station to meet us.”

It had been a long trip for Albion, who had missed promotion the season before, losing on goal difference to Tottenham. This time destiny was in their own hands: they had to beat Newcastle United away.

“We were up there four or five days before the match and got acclimatised to their weather,” Ward jokes. “We played golf one day and trained every day. It was the way our manager, Alan Mullery, kept the players together.

“The weather was weird on the day of the match. It was sunny, it rained and it snowed. We went crash, bang, wallop and were three up by half-time.” Horton scored the first with a header, Ward the second and Gerry Ryan the third to calm Brighton nerves, but not those of the manager.

“Going in at half-time, Mullery was screaming and going crazy. You would have thought we were losing 3-0. Brian Horton said to him: ‘Boss, we’re winning. Relax’.” Newcastle scored a goal in the second half, but it was never going to be enough. Cue the celebration. They were rewarded with a trip to America.

There was one sour note, though. “When we were on the plane,” says Williams, “the captain announced that our fiercest rivals, Crystal Palace, had won the league.” Palace, with a game in hand, beat Burnley to pip Brighton to the title by one point.

Ward was later sold to Nottingham Forest. He returned on loan to help Albion to the 1983 FA Cup final against Manchester United. “The final was nerve-racking,” says goalkeeper Graham Moseley. “You wanted everyone to play well and not get beaten 6-0. Fortunately, we did well and nearly beat United.” Gordon Smith almost scored the winner but the match finished 2-2 and United won the replay 4-0.

One player missing was the on-loan Ward. “Before the sixth round, I told [manager] Brian Clough at Forest that Brighton wanted to keep me until the end of the season. Cloughie said: ‘Son, I have never been to a cup final and neither will you’.” Recalled north, Ward never got his chance.

1 Giles Stille Ahard-working midfielder who made only 27 league appearances in five seasons because of injury. Became a manager in Sweden, where he coaches.

2 Teddy Maybank A striker who scored 16 goals in two seasons, he works in construction and has appeared on TV shows Blind Date and The Weakest Link, which he won.

3 Malcolm Poskett The much-travelled forward spent two seasons with Brighton. He finished his career in Carlisle, where he makes a living selling cars.

4 Gary Williams He enjoyed five years at the Goldstone ground in defence. He had a television company and now works for a family-run catering business in Brighton.

5 Mike Kerslake An England youth full-back who failed to out of league football.

6 Gerry Ryan A goal-scoring winger who spent seven winters at the Albion. Ryan won 18 caps for the Republic of Ireland. He is landlord of the Witch Inn in Lindfield.

7 Steve Foster A defender who had two spells at the club and played nearly 300 league games for them. He won three England caps and was a member of the 1982 World Cup squad. make the Brighton first team and dropped. Works in insurance and was part of a consortium that recently bid for Luton Town.

8 Andy Rollings A six-year tenure at the Goldstone ground was the highlight of the central defender’s career. He runs the Chalet Cafe in Preston Park, Brighton.

9 Graham Moseley A goalkeeper who spent nine years at Brighton but missed the match at Newcastle after putting his hand through a window on holiday in Jersey. He sold caravans and owns properties in Brighton. He is a delivery driver in Chepstow.

10 Eric Steele This England schoolboy goalkeeper played for seven league clubs and was at Brighton for two years. He is goalkeeping coach at Manchester City.

11 Martin Chivers On the last legs of a career that brought him 24 England caps and success at Tottenham, the striker played in five league games for Brighton. He is a matchday host at Spurs.

12 Mark Lawrenson Signed from Preston for £100,000, he played a crucial role in central defence in his four-year stay. Sold to Liverpool for £900,000, he had great success at Anfield. He won 38 caps for the Republic of Ireland and is a pundit with the BBC.

13 John Gregory A midfielder, he spent two seasons with Brighton and won six England caps. He has managed Aston Villa, Derby and QPR, where he was dismissed last October.

14 Paul Clark An England youth defender signed from Southend, he had four seasons with the Seagulls. Clark managed Southend to promotion and commentates on Essex radio.

15 Peter Sayer A Wales winger who spent two seasons at Brighton is bar manager of the Preston golf club.

16 Brian Horton A determined midfielder, he finished his playing career at Hull, where he became manager. He was also in charge at Manchester City, Brighton and Port Vale. He has returned to Hull City as assistant manager.

17 Peter O’Sullivan A Brighton stalwart, the winger played in 435 league matches in 11 years and won three caps for Wales. He works for a Brighton plant-hire company.

18 Peter Ward Prolific striker for the Albion with 79 goals in 178 league outings in first of two spells. He lives in Tampa Bay, Florida, where he coaches youth football.

Some say only 7,500 Albion were at St James's Park , the highlights are on the Big Match revisited on ITV4 so it will be interesting to see how many we took. I expect R M Taylor to estimate the away following at being in excess of 16,000

Barrel of Fun said:

Was it not the game at Newcastle when we won promotion? Before I was even born.

Click to expand...

well i can remember newcastle playing at goldstone, not sure when it was? sure it was a weekday match !

My uncle went and told me there were sunderland fans there supporting brighton....?
is that true ?

Peter Grummit said:

Nobby Horton brought his team to play
Against the Geordies that they call the Toon
10,000 seagulls over the moon
So let me introduce to you
The one and only Peter Ward
And ALAN MULLERY'S BLUE AND WHITE ARMY!!!

PG
(Feel free to add your own verse)

Click to expand...

I read The Argus today oh boy
about a skillful team that made the grade....

Psychobilly freakout said:

My uncle went and told me there were sunderland fans there supporting brighton....?
is that true ?

Click to expand...

No, there were Newcastle supporters wanting US to win so that Sunderland would not go up!!!!!

I heard that there were supposedly Sunderland fans there too (presumably ones who couldn't make it to Wrexham or whoever the Rokerites were playing) who wanted Newcastle to win for probably the first and last time in their lives!

If you could choose one day in your life to live again then this would probably be mine.

Mrs was heavily pregnant and i was so scared I'd miss the game. I snuck out very early to walk into town for the train. Once the train was moving I knew there was no way I could be called back, bad dad! no mobiles in those days either.

The tension had been building all week so it was great that the team got straight into the game and had sealed it by half-time, all the goals coming at our end. And yea, it did snow for a while too!

It was mayhem at the end and also the journey home but pulling into Brighton station was something else. In those days pubs closed at 11.00, disco's at 1.00 but the station was packed. you could hear the noise from Preston Park station.

I really was too knackered to carry on the party, had to walk home.

oh, and my lad was born 10 days later and is, of course, an ardent Albion fan.

wideguy said:

remember that game, were they not in the chicken run ?? night match wernt it ?? they never stopped singing the whole game.. i take it i got the right match ?

Click to expand...

Take it you weren't there then!

Saturday afternoon 3.00pm kick off. Don't remember the floodlights being on at all!!!!!!!!

10,000 of us there and they haven't had as big an away following since. Closest was when Hull played them in the cup a few years ago but they only took 7,500.

Freddie Goodwin. said:

oh, and my lad was born 10 days later and is, of course, an ardent Albion fan.

Click to expand...

does he also like Celtic?

Jamon Jamon said:

does he also like Celtic?

Click to expand...

I think you know that he does!

drew said:

Take it you weren't there then!

Saturday afternoon 3.00pm kick off. Don't remember the floodlights being on at all!!!!!!!!

10,000 of us there and they haven't had as big an away following since. Closest was when Hull played them in the cup a few years ago but they only took 7,500.

Click to expand...

sorry im refering to the game at the goldstone