Said hi to Dave Turner in a sweet shop on Kingston Broadway
Said hi to Connor Goldson in Shoreham Tescos
Helped the ginger Bobby Smith move his furniture out of his bungalow in Hawkins Crescent.
My dad played for Brighton A team in the late 40s.
My brother lives in Peter O'Sullivan's old house in Steyning.
Went to school with Peter O'Sullivan's stepson.
Went to school with Mel Hopkins son.
Trained by Jimmy Collins at Shoreham FC youth team
Peter Ward signed my running hat.
Beat Will Packham at tennis
My cousin went out with Steve Piper
I went for a pint with Peter O Sullivan in the William 4th.
Said hello to Garry Nelson in the beer garden at the Cricketers after we had beaten Bristol Rovers to get promo from the third.
Sat next to Chippy on a plane back from Turkey.
Knew Glenn Geard
Went to School with Jack Bertlonis's son.
Saw Steve Gritt outside East Croydon station.
I was booking a holiday in Thomas Cook when Dean Cox came in and booked a holiday with his mates at the same time.
One new year I'd had too much to drink and saw Charlie Oatway leaving Jurys Inn, I shouted "Alright Charlie", he said "What?" I shit myself and ran away #truestory
My uncle is good friends with Kerry Mayo
Tony Towner also moved house for us
I was actually the first 'coach mascot' for us against Torquay at Priestfield meaning i turned up at the coach station in Brighton and was picked off the coach to lead the team out, we won 2-0, even met helen chamberlain in the service station on the way back haha
I did some work experience for the BBC in glasgow, bumped in to Gordon Smith, had a chat about... you know what.
I was working in a call centre in Airdrie in Scotland and of all the random people that could have called us that day, I spoke to Andrew Whing's mum the day after he signed for us haha She said her name was Mrs Whing and sounded like a Brummie, so I said no relation to Andrew Whing the footballer? and she said yeah I'm his mum I'm just buying him some things for his move to Brighton! haha
Bumped into Nicky Rust once outside the stadium, my dad asked him for a photo, He asked if he should pick me up or crouch down for it (I was only very little at the time). My dad said you better crouch down you'll probably drop him! hahaha
I'm sure there are many many more, I cant be bothered to write any more though.
When I was 13 Ray Crawford brought the youth team (incl Towner) to train on my school's pitches and he gave me the stop watch to timekeep their practice game.
Brian Bromley was landlord of the pub across the road from me when I was a student in Portsmouth.
I sold Sammy Nelson a Graham Greene book when I worked in Hatchards in Brighton.
My eldest daughter went to school with Gerry Ryan's daughter, and a couple of years later my youngest daughter went to the same school with his son.
I swam in the same pool as Gerry when he was rehabilitating after breaking his leg. We were each with our respective families, so my daughters "met" his kids before they met at secondary school.
My dad knew Eric Gill and used to stay at his hotel, Simpsons on Madeira Drive.
He also met Frankie Howard when he got a contract to work on the North Stand, I went and they let me kick a ball about on the pitch, Frankie then got me into the FA Cup match against Norwich 1983 when The Goldstone was full 1 hour before kick off.
Also met Ron Challis at the bar of The Tunbridge Wells Golf Club not long after THAT match, I gave him an earful.
Richie Barker came to our house (when we lived in Rotherham) with a signed Albion shirt for my eldest lad who was most badly hurt when all the family were involved in a car smash. My middle lad then ended up teaching Richie's kid at secondary school, so 'the Bear' had to queue up to see 'sir' on Parent's Evening.
Oh, once the team circa 1997 were training in Preston Park some reason. I say training, they were just taking lot shots at the goal (no nets!). I returned a high and wide effort from someone. Sums up how far we’ve come really.