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Cult Heroes







dougdeep

New member
May 9, 2004
37,732
SUNNY SEAFORD
Either of them!
 


Kinky Gerbil

Im The Scatman
NSC Patron
Jul 16, 2003
58,032
hassocks
Wardywonderland said:
Robbie Reinelt been said before. Without THAT go we would not be posting on here now. The club would have folded and we would not have a club to support.

Brett Ormerod for the save from Foster after we had scored.

guess you mean mark ormerod?
 


fatboy

Active member
Jul 5, 2003
13,094
Falmer
Wardywonderland said:

Brett Ormerod for the save from Foster after we had scored.
And for making the transition from third division keeper to premiership striker.
 


Curious Orange

Punxsatawney Phil
Jul 5, 2003
9,988
On NSC for over two decades...
Here is what I wrote to Auntie Beeb:

Sir,

I think this Cult Heroes idea is great, and I'm really looking forward to seeing which players turn up on Football Focus from week to week.

Here are my nominations for Brighton & Hove Albion.

1) John Crumplin - John came to Brighton from non-league as a right winger, and he was rubbish, he couldn't dribble, he never beat his man, and his crossing was woeful. He was regularly a substitute, and a huge grumble would go round the Goldstone Ground whenever it looked like he might be about to come on. The consensus was that he shouldn't really be playing league football. But then the Albion drew Liverpool away in the cup, and Crumps found himself playing out of position at right-back against one John Barnes who, at that time, was the best winger in England. I was listening on the radio that day, and what I heard astounded me, John Crumplin marked the great John Barnes out of the game. Then, even as commentator John Lees reported on another thumping tackle on Barnes from Crumplin, a new sound could be heard over the airwaves, it was the crowd at Anfield, not the Liverpool fans though, but the Brighton fans, and the sound was a constant chant of "Johnny Crumplin, Football Genius!!!". And so a player was reborn, and a cult started. John Crumplin started to be a regular at right back, and it was the making of him. He found his confidence, became a reliable defender, and even managed on his ventures forward to beat the last man a few times and deliver some quite good crosses!! He even scored directly from corners on a couple of occasions. The "Johnny Crumplin, Football Genius" chant became a regular feature at the Goldstone, and even T-shirts with that legend and a mug-shot of the man himself could often be seen amongst the support.

2) Steve Foster - The North Stand at the Goldstone Ground literally worshipped the "Man in the Headband". To the tune of Kum-by-ya they'd sing "Steve Foster, My Lord", and he was worth it. Now you must keep in mind that I didn't see Fozzie playing for the Albion in his first spell at the club, my Dad probably quite rightly thinking that a football ground in 1980 wasn't the place to take a five year old, so all I knew of him prior to the second coming was that his mug-shot was on the back of an England scrapbook I'd been given for the '82 World Cup, that my Dad would get excited whenever he'd turn up at the Goldstone with Luton/Oxford (once Dad had deemed I was old enough to go to football), and that he'd been thoroughly beaten by Paul Gasgoigne of Match of the Day once. That second spell Fozzie had with Brighton was when they were on a downward spiral, and arguably Steve Foster postponed the Albion reaching their lowest ebb for a couple of seasons, the reason being that even though the veteran defender had long since lost any pace that he had his positioning and timing was so good that nothing got past him. He'd win everything in the air, still posessed a vicious tackle, and had the confidence and experience to out-fox even the most dangerous of forwards with a little sidestep. Simply put the Albion were a poor side when he wasn't it, and when he retired relegation to the 3rd Division followed, and a date with destiny for my third nominee...

3) Robbie Reinalt - If it wasn't for the woodwork at Hereford Craig Maskell would have received my final nomination. Robbie Reinalt is a name that brings a smile to every Brighton fans lips, as he represents a moment of hope when things really were about to end for Brighton and Hove Albion. It's odd that Robbie's reputation is wrapped up soley in that one game, but Brighton's entire season came down to that one game so perhaps it is appropriate. It was 1997, the Goldstone had been sold in blatant case of profiteering by the hated board led by Bill Archer and David Belotti the year before (a situation no club must EVER be put in again), and Brighton had looked certainties for relegation to the Conference all season. But the appointment of Steve Gritt, which most people had seen as a way of the board finishing the job of putting the Albion out of business, had actually resulted in a turn around in form. The Goldstone became something of a fortress in its dying days, and the Albion clawed their way from twelve points adrift to go level on points with second-bottom Hereford thanks to Stuart Storer's last ever goal at our spiritual home against Doncaster. All we had to do was not lose at Hereford the following week and we'd stay up. I was at University at the time, so another date with the radio was needed to hear what could be our final game ever. Things didn't go well. The first half the Albion played really, really badly, and Kerry Mayo (who is still a Brighton player, and something of a cult figure in his own right) put through his own net to give Hereford what looked like the win they needed to retain their own league status. I was worried, as the second half drew on I could feel tears starting to well in my eyes because I knew that it was all over. But as Hereford started to get nervous themselves Brighton started to get some poor attacks on goal going. Eventually Craig Maskell managed to get clean through on goal, this could be it, but his shot hits the post...., it's not going to happen...., and comes back to Robbie Reinalt, who calmly slots home the re-bound. I think this was with about fifteen minutes to go, but it seemed more like an hour to me, hunched over my radio as I was, praying that Hereford wouldn't find a way back. But the Albion survived, they survived more comfortably the next season, still finishing second bottom thanks to Doncaster, and are still surviving today, but still homeless, and still living in hope that Mr Prescott says "Yes" to the stadium at Falmer, but that we are here at all is all thanks to Robbie Reinalt's crucial contribution to Brighton history.

Hope you enjoyed reading about my cult heroes, please feel free to contact me if you require any further information.

Kind regards,

Andrew Palmer
 






Braders

Abi Fletchers Gimpboy
Jul 15, 2003
29,224
Brighton, United Kingdom
edna krabappel said:
Nathan Jones from the current squad. Has a small but devoted army of fans, and a whole load of doubters.

Perfect cult hero material.
agreed

reinalt as well , now for player number 3 hmmmmmmm... possibly virgo
 


Stumpy Tim

Well-known member
Here's what I wrote:

1. Ian Chapman. Brighton born & bred tough-tackling centre midfielder or left-back. Would be a playing legend anyway, but two further incidents stick out in my mind. Firstly, he was allegedly given a free tranfer after years of loyal service after having a heated argument with our previous owners who sold our ground and sent us to Gillingham! He gave up years of his career by expressing his dissatifaction with what was going on. Secondly, I met Chappers three years ago and he was telling me how he was offered a job at local rivals Crystal Palace. He didn't take the job because, "I have to look at myself in the mirror every day". LEGEND!

2. John Byrne. John Byrne was one player who always looked that little bit classier than anyone else on the pitch. With Mike Small he led us to the Play-offs & one game from the top flight in 1991. I always rememebr him playing for Sunderland the following season at Brighton (after being sold against his wishes for pittance) and he missed a sitter in front of the North Stand -as he ran back he gave the Brighton fans the thumbs up. Did he miss on purpose - who knows but I like to think so!

3. Bobby Zamora. Bobby scored goals galore for the Albion and turned down many chances to leave us for teams in the division above or with more money. Having such a young player at the club brought in loads of new young fans & he was such a nice guy with it. Brighton fans all hope he hits form for the Hammers this season & gets to play at the top level where he belongs
 




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