Brighton on cloud nine as caretaker Billy Lane oversaw record league win
As far as impressive job interviews go, you will not find one better than Billy Lane in 1951. Lane was in caretaker charge of Brighton & Hove Albion when on Wednesday 18th April, he oversaw a 9-1 win against Newport County, setting a club-record for the biggest ever league victory in Seagulls history.
It was a result that ultimately helped convince the Brighton board to give Lane the job. This proved to be a very prudent decision as seven years later, he became the first manager to lead the Albion into the second tier of English football when lifting the Division Three South title at the end of the 1957-58 season.
Lane’s big chance arrived when former boss Don Welsh was headhunted by Liverpool a month before Newport were walloped at the Goldstone. Welsh had done a solid-if-unspectacular job in turning the Albion from a side who had to seek re-election to the Football League after finishing bottom of Division Three South in 1948 into one who were relatively stable in midtable.
What made the hammering of Newport all the more impressive was that under Welsh, the Albion were known for their defensive football. Welsh’s final match in charge took place on Saturday 10th March 1951 and saw Exeter City beaten 4-1 at the Goldstone.
It was only the second time in two years that the Albion had scored more than three goals in a game; somewhat ironically, Newport had again been the opponents on the receiving end of a 5-0 thrashing when they visited Hove on Saturday 14th January 1950.
Welsh had barely cleared his desk and packed up his things for the move to Anfield and Lane was radically altering Brighton’s style of play.
The newly installed caretaker boss had initially been appointed as assistant to Welsh in the summer of 1950. During his playing days, Lane was a dashing centre forward who once scored a hat-trick in two minutes and 30 seconds for Watford against Clapton Orient.
Lane wanted his team to play with the purpose and flair that had characterised his own game. He was told by the Brighton board that he had the job until such time as a successor could be found.
With the Albion sitting 17th in the table at the time, untroubled by either promotion race or relegation battle, that effectively meant until the summer as there was nothing to play for.
Still, Lane was not about to let the opportunity pass him by. His message to the players was simply “go out and enjoy yourself.” And they bloody did.
Lane’s first game in charge saw Brighton hammer Northampton Town 5-1 at the Goldstone. Word quickly got around that if you headed over to Hove for an Albion home game with Lane at the helm, you were likely to see a lot of goals.
Attendances duly rose. For the 9-1 humbling of Newport, Brighton pulled in a crowd of 12,114 on a Wednesday. That was a 25 percent increase on the 8,305 who had turned out for Welsh’s final game in charge, which took place in the much more friendly timeslot of Saturday afternoon.
The Newport match was Lane’s seventh in charge. He had lost just once, a 3-1 defeat at Southend United. Despite this upturn in results and the goals that had been flowing since his appointment, nobody could have predicted what was to happen on that record-breaking evening against Newport.
One report from the game said: “Not for many seasons has there been quite the measure of enthusiasm as witnessed as Newport County were thrashed 9-1.”
Remarkably, it was only 2-0 to Brighton at half time. 45 minutes later and the Albion had added a further seven to their total, setting a record win which still stands to this day.
Johnny McNichol had a particularly good day, scoring four of Brighton’s nine-goal haul. The other scorers were Ken Bennett with two, Doug Keene, Des Tennant and a Jack Mansell penalty.
The result felt like a turning point for the Albion; especially as County were no slouches. In fact, Newport would finish above Brighton in the table despite the 9-1 defeat they suffered at the Goldstone.
We won’t be offering any prizes for guessing what happened next, however. In typical Albion style, the Seagulls followed up their now club-record league win by going down 2-1 away at Leyton Orient three days later.
It is reassuring to know that even as long as 70 years ago, Brighton could still veer from the sublime to the ridiculous inside of 72 hours – the 1950s equivalent of beating Northwich Victoria 8-0 one week and losing 1-0 at home to Tranmere Rovers the next. Or getting done 1-0 by nine-man Walsall four days before eliminating Manchester City from the League Cup.
Following the back-to-Earth-with-a-bump defeat against Orient, Brighton won two and lost two of their final four matches. The last game of the 1950-51 season resulted in another of those ‘typical Brighton’ moments as the Albion ended the campaign with a 3-0 away defeat against… Newport. From Brighton 9-1 Newport to Newport 3-0 Brighton in the space of 17 days.
The Albion finished the season in 13th spot and the board had over 50 applicants for the position of manager. After much deliberation, Lane was eventually confirmed as the successful candidate.
With Lane now at the helm on a permanent basis, attendances continued to rise and goals continued to flow throughout the 1951-52 season. The Albion were now embarking on an unprecedented period of success, culminating in the winning of the Division Three South title in 1958 at the 31st attempt.
It all started though with that audition against Newport, when Lane put Brighton on cloud nine and wrote himself into the record books. Not bad as job interviews go.
