Chris Birchall, Beckham’s mate who wasn’t great
On paper, Chris Birchall should have been an excellent signing for a struggling Brighton side in January 2009.
Here was a player who just two-and-a-half years earlier had cost Championship side Coventry City £325,000. He’d helped Trinidad & Tobago qualify for their first ever World Cup Finals and starred in the tournament in Germany against Sweden, England and Paraguay. And after leaving the Albion, he’d go onto win two MLS Western Conference Championships, two MLS Supporters’ Shields and an MLS Cup as a teammate of David Beckham at LA Galaxy.
Yet in his five month spell with the Brighton, he was absolutely useless. He quite plainly didn’t want to be there, making just 10 appearances for the club and winning only three times in Brighton colours. By the end of the 2008-09 season, Tommy Fraser and Doug Loft were Russell Slade’s first choice midfield pairing and Birchall was confined to the reserves, desperately trying to battle his way out of his contract to move to the United States.
It was Slade’s predecessor, Micky Adams, who signed Birchall amid much fanfare. By this point in time, Adams’ transfers were being met with great suspicion. In his first spell at the club, the Albion boss’ obsession with only signing players who he had previously worked with had worked out brilliantly. He’d led Fulham out of the bottom tier three years before being appointed as Brighton boss by Dick Knight in April 1998 and so calling on a set of players to repeat the trick was a move that paid off handsomely.
Fast forward a decade, and Adams’ transfer policy was a disaster. He was lumbering us with players he’d worked with as assistant manager at Colchester United (Kevin McLeod) or individuals from his last managerial job at Coventry (Colin Hawkins, Kevin Thornton), none of whom offered anything.
Birchall was another Adams old boy, the two having worked together at the Ricoh Arena where the midfielder had fallen out of favour at the start of the 2008-09 season. As a result, he’d spent December on loan with the Albion’s League One rivals Carlisle United, who were prepared to take him on a permanent basis.
A verbal contract had been agreed with the Cumbrians, only for the player to back out at the last minute having apparently received a lucrative offer from MLS side San Jose Earthquakes. That should have set alarm bells ringing for what would go onto happen during his time at Withdean.
Unfortunately for Birchall, San Jose withdrew their offer after he’d informed Carlisle he wouldn’t be making the move to Brunton Park. Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop had travelled to England with a view to watching Birchall play but the midfielder was an unused sub in the matches that Yallop attended and that was enough for the MLS side to pull the plug on the deal.
He still harboured hopes of moving to the MLS though – another alarm bells moment – even when he was on trial with the Albion a week later. Birchall told The Argus, “San Jose or Brighton is a massive decision for me to make as far as my career goes and it’s one which I’ll have to think very carefully about.”
“I’m in a far better position now than I was at Coventry because both these new offers can be beneficial for me, but I’ve got to take a good look along with my agent and see which is the better one. The fact that going to the US will mean I’m closer to Trinidad is definitely something that I will think about and fitness wise I’m not worried because I will definitely be active in England before the MLS season starts.”
Birchall’s Brighton trial was a success as he impressed in one reserve team outing against Reading and was signed on a deal until the end of the season. Adams handed him his debut a day later as The Leeds United won 2-0 at Withdean and he played in draws at Cheltenham Town and Leicester City and a 2-1 win over Hartlepool United throughout the remainder of January.
He then missed the Albion’s defeats to Peterborough United and Carlisle while on international duty as Trindidad got their World Cup 2010 Qualifying campaign underway with a 2-2 draw in El Salvador, returning for what proved to be Adams’ last match in charge away at Luton Town in the Paint Pot Southern Area Final.
It was an interesting evening for Birchall at Kenilworth Road. He’d set up Nicky Forster’s 20th minute equaliser with an excellent slide-rule pass but then went onto miss the Albion’s decisive fifth penalty in the shoot which followed the game finishing 1-1 as Luton advanced to Wembley.
That result – and by association, that miss – cost Adams his job and Birchall managed a further three appearances under caretaker boss Dean White, winning in White’s first game in charge away at Millwall and drawing against Northampton Town before a heavy 4-0 defeat at home to Crewe Alexanda. Slade’s first home game in charge didn’t go much better, Birchall coming off the bench as Southend United left Withdean with a 3-1 success.
It was after that defeat against the Shrimpers that Birchall jetted off on international duty again and it was while he was with Trindidad that Birchall’s agent asked if he could stop off on the way home and train with LA Galaxy for a few days. When the Albion had the nerve to say no, they can’t have our player for a couple of training sessions when we’re in the middle of a League One relegation battle, Galaxy slapped a “discovery notice” on Birchall, which may sound like something an eight-year-old dreams up in the school playground while pretending to be an astronaut, but actually means that no other MLS side could sign Birchall.
Not that the Albion were going to let Birchall walk out on the club without a fight. Dick Knight said of his desire to leave, “Chris is our most experienced midfielder, he’s an international and we need him here. If we were mid-table then probably we would let Chris go. But Galaxy haven’t respected our relegation battle and haven’t bothered to make direct contact.”
They’d made contact with Birchall though, offering him a two-year deal starting immediately to cover for David Beckham, who would miss the first part of the MLS season while on his annual loan to AC Milan. It was just up to Birchall to get out of playing for Brighton.
Slade was clearly as unimpressed with the situation as Knight, saying, “We’ve had no contact from LA Galaxy, but Chris’s representative has been in touch to tell us he’s had a verbal offer of a one-year deal, with a club option of an extension. Obviously it’s an attractive offer but, first and foremost, I need to consider the Albion and we need Chris here in the fight for survival.”
Except, we didn’t. Slade played Birchall just once more that season, in the 2-1 win away at Hereford United, after which he was left to rot in the reserves as the Albion completed their Great Escape from relegation. Whether he had actually downed tools or Slade just didn’t want to play a bloke who had no interest in being at the club, we’ll never know.
What we do know is that the Albion made Birchall see out his contract despite having no intention of playing him, a fantastic piece of bastard behaviour from all concerned. He eventually got his move to LA Galaxy in June 2009 and spent a trophy-laden two years playing alongside Beckham – all a far cry from what ended up being a pathetic six months with the Albion.
