SeagullSimon
New member
Strange though it may seem now, Mark McGhee used to play cricket in a car park at Ashton Gate. The Brighton boss, whose team face Bristol City in a crucial game tomorrow, was an apprentice at the club for two years during the mid-1970s after being spotted in Scotland by youth coach Dave Merrington.
But the Glasgow-born striker found himself behind fellow young guns Shaun Penny and Kevin Mabbutt in the pecking order and in the end returned to his homeland. He joined Morton and went on to enjoy a successful playing career with Newcastle, Aberdeen, Hamburg and Celtic.
And his City connection does not end there. The former Reading, Leicester, Wolves and Millwall manager has twice been a candidate for the manager's job at Ashton Gate only to be pipped at the post by Tony Pulis and later Danny Wilson.
McGhee recalls fondly his days as a Robins apprentice: "As I was walking through Ashton Gate for the Plymouth game recently, I remembered I used to play cricket during the summer in one of the car parks with my team-mates!
"I was a £500-a-year trainee and I enjoyed my time there, but I needed first-team football and it wasn't going to happen at Bristol, not with so many boys in front of me."
McGhee guided Millwall to promotion to Division One in 2001 before taking over from Steve Coppell at Brighton last October.
Nevertheless, he continues to cast a keen eye over developments at Ashton Gate and believes he knows one major reason why City are still languishing in the Second Division.
"Bristol City are perceived as a big club in this division and opposing players have no problems motivating themselves to play against them," he said.
"The upshot is it is harder for them to be promoted from Division Two than for most clubs, and it means they have to be a bit better than everyone else consistently throughout the season.
"When I played for Celtic, they were everybody's biggest game and it's no different for City, and Sheffield Wednesday, who face similar problems to City now they are trying to get out of the division.
"I went to the Plymouth game, where there around 20,000 people inside Ashton Gate, and it's those sort of fixtures players want to perform in. No disrespect, but it appeals more to playing at places like Colchester and Chesterfield.
"I have often come away from Bristol thinking they are the best team in the division, but beating so-called smaller sides, who raise their game when they play you, is not as easy as people might think. Under that sort of pressure, Danny Wilson and Frank Barlow have done a terrific job."
McGhee is looking to cement a place in the play-offs at the very least tomorrow for his current club but stressed: "We shouldn't give up on a top-two finish yet, because there are teams still to play each other up there and points are going to be dropped.
"But one thing we can't do is go to Bristol feeling we are already in the play-offs. The complacency thing worries me. We need a win and the sooner we get it the better.
"I would anticipate that, regardless of the result, we will have come away from Ashton Gate tomorrow evening having played as well as at any time during our best spells."
But the Glasgow-born striker found himself behind fellow young guns Shaun Penny and Kevin Mabbutt in the pecking order and in the end returned to his homeland. He joined Morton and went on to enjoy a successful playing career with Newcastle, Aberdeen, Hamburg and Celtic.
And his City connection does not end there. The former Reading, Leicester, Wolves and Millwall manager has twice been a candidate for the manager's job at Ashton Gate only to be pipped at the post by Tony Pulis and later Danny Wilson.
McGhee recalls fondly his days as a Robins apprentice: "As I was walking through Ashton Gate for the Plymouth game recently, I remembered I used to play cricket during the summer in one of the car parks with my team-mates!
"I was a £500-a-year trainee and I enjoyed my time there, but I needed first-team football and it wasn't going to happen at Bristol, not with so many boys in front of me."
McGhee guided Millwall to promotion to Division One in 2001 before taking over from Steve Coppell at Brighton last October.
Nevertheless, he continues to cast a keen eye over developments at Ashton Gate and believes he knows one major reason why City are still languishing in the Second Division.
"Bristol City are perceived as a big club in this division and opposing players have no problems motivating themselves to play against them," he said.
"The upshot is it is harder for them to be promoted from Division Two than for most clubs, and it means they have to be a bit better than everyone else consistently throughout the season.
"When I played for Celtic, they were everybody's biggest game and it's no different for City, and Sheffield Wednesday, who face similar problems to City now they are trying to get out of the division.
"I went to the Plymouth game, where there around 20,000 people inside Ashton Gate, and it's those sort of fixtures players want to perform in. No disrespect, but it appeals more to playing at places like Colchester and Chesterfield.
"I have often come away from Bristol thinking they are the best team in the division, but beating so-called smaller sides, who raise their game when they play you, is not as easy as people might think. Under that sort of pressure, Danny Wilson and Frank Barlow have done a terrific job."
McGhee is looking to cement a place in the play-offs at the very least tomorrow for his current club but stressed: "We shouldn't give up on a top-two finish yet, because there are teams still to play each other up there and points are going to be dropped.
"But one thing we can't do is go to Bristol feeling we are already in the play-offs. The complacency thing worries me. We need a win and the sooner we get it the better.
"I would anticipate that, regardless of the result, we will have come away from Ashton Gate tomorrow evening having played as well as at any time during our best spells."