Jack Bertolini the Mr Consistent of 1960s Brighton & Hove Albion

Jack Bertolini played 279 times for Brighton & Hove Albion. He was a model of consistency between 1958 and 1966. And Seagulls supporter on Twitter @That_man_gaz fancied Bertolini’s daughter in the 1970s.

It is the last of those fact that leads to what you are reading about Bertolini. With all things quiet on Planet Albion and several glasses of Sunday night rioja consumed at WAB Towers, we decided to ask you lot which random Albion player you wanted to see an article about.

The most tenuous reason came from @That_man_gaz about Bertolini. But even without the whole liked his daughter 50 years ago thing going on, Jack Bertolini is a man who deserves to have his story told outright as a loyal servant through some pretty choppy times for Brighton.

Bertolini was born in Alloa. The eagle eyed may have spotted that his name is not one you would term as traditionally Scottish; his grandfather came from Italy.

Even before arriving at the Goldstone Ground, Bertolini had a thing for Albions. There cannot be many players who have played for three clubs bearing that name.

Bertolini did, turning out for Alva Albion Rangers as a 17-year-old in August 1951 before moving onto Stirling Albion three months later.

His from at Annfield was soon good enough to earn him a move to England, where he joined Division Three North club Workington Town in January 1953.

Bertolini worked part-time as a pipe-fitter at the Solway Colliery during his first three years with Workington. A year after his arrival at Borough Park and the Reds appointed a certain Bill Shankly as their manager.

Shankly had resigned as Grimsby Town boss a few weeks earlier, part through disillusionment with a lack of money and partly because his wife and he were homesick.

Workington moved them closer to their native Scotland. It would not be the last time a wife’s desire to live somewhere had a lasting impact on the career of Bertolini.

Shankly spent 18 months working with Bertolini before resigning to move to Huddersfield Town. The next man in the Workington hot seat was Joe Harvey, who converted Bertolini into a right-half with great success.

Bertolini was soon attracting interest from higher up the English football pyramid. He seemed likely to seal a move to Huddersfield for a reunion with Shankly, his former boss who rated him so highly.

But then Brighton came calling. And there was something about the Albion (other than the name, obviously) which convinced Bertolini to ignore the overtures of his old manager and uproot 385 miles to move the furthest south he had ever lived in his life.

That something was Mrs Bertolini. Her husband had represented Division Three North in the annual challenge match against Division Three South, held at Selhurst Park on October 30th 1957.

This brought him to the attention of Brighton manager Billy Lane, who was looking to strengthen his squad in the summer of 1958 ahead of the club’s first ever season in the second tier.

Mrs Bertolini instantly fell in love with Sussex and so it was to the Goldstone Ground the family headed, Jack leaving Workington as a bona fide club legend at the age of only 24 following 181 league appearances and 35 goals.

By the end of his eight years with Brighton, he had reached similar acclaim with Seagulls supporters. Bertolini played 31 times in his first campaign at the Albion as Lane led the club to survival, despite famously losing their opening fixture 9-0 away against Middlesbrough.

Bertolini made his debut in that hammering at Ayresome Park; a classic case of “Welcome to Brighton, it is not always this bad”. And for Bertolini, it was not, although his Albion career did not get off to the most auspicious of starts.

He played in all four of Brighton’s opening Division Two fixtures, which yielded one win, three defeats and 19 goals conceded.

From September through to November, Bertolini was out of the side. Results did not improve by much and Brighton sat 18th in the table when he was recalled by Lane.

Having won only three of their opening 19 matches, the Albion went onto be victorious in 12 of the next 23. Bertolini was a big part of that, described in the press as “an unqualified success.”

Brighton finished that 1958-59 season 12th of 22 teams and set their highest ever home attendance, 36,747 cramming into the Goldstone for the visit of Fulham on December 27th. Bertolini was outstanding in the 3-0 win against the Cottagers.

In the 1959-60, 1960-61, 1961-62 and 1962-63 seasons, Bertolini did not miss a single game. A run of 193 consecutive appearances over more than four years smashed all previous records by an outfield player and was only bettered a decade later when Peter O’Sullivan came along.

That 1961-62 campaign ended in relegation to Division Three. Worse was to come in 1962-63, the Albion suffering back-to-back demotions to end up in Division Four.

They were harrowing times to be a Brighton supporter, so it says much about Jack Bertolini that he was one of the few positives in one of the darkest on-the-pitch periods the Albion have experienced.

The Premier League Era equivalent of Bertolini would probably be Joel Veltman. Like Veltman, Bertolini was a model of consistency who rarely put a foot wrong.

Whether he played in midfield as a right-half or wore the number two shirt in the defence, you could count on Bertolini to deliver at least a 7/10 performance every time he stepped onto the pitch.

He was a player with skill and heart, who never gave less than 100 percent. Many Brighton fans of a certain vintage describe Jack Bertolini as their favourite player of the time, which says everything.

Bertolini remained a regular until the 1964-65 season, when he played 27 times as Brighton won the Division Four title.

He made two appearances before October of the 1965-66 campaign, the month when he was stretchered off in a reserve team game.

The injury turned out to be knee ligament damage, which in those days was often terminal to a professional football career. Bertolini was subsequently advised by doctors to retire at the age of 31.

Those 279 outings in the blue and white stripes returned 14 goals. Retirement did not spell the end of his association with the Albion or Sussex football, either.

Bertolini took up an office job at the Goldstone and helped coach the youth team. He managed Whitehawk in the Sussex County League and his love of the beautiful game extended to running Sussex Sunday League club Fishersgate in the mid-1970s.

Having uprooted from Cumbria and turned down Shankly to move to Sussex, the Bertolinis remained in Brighton & Hove forevermore.

When Jack passed away in 2021, tributes were written from Brighton to Workington to Alloa. He was undoubtedly one of the greats who made an impressions wherever he played his football.