Lammie Robertson: Clough favourite until his Brighton clear out
When Brian Clough and Peter Taylor arrived at the Goldstone Ground in November 1973, it is fair to say they were not overly impressed with the players they inherited. Striker Lammie Robertson was a rare exception, featuring in 28 of Clough’s 34 matches as Brighton boss.
One of the first things Clough and Taylor did following their shock appointment was to take the squad for a night away at the White Hart Hotel, Lewes.
The duo wanted to take stock of the players in this struggling Division Three side they would now be working with, having led unfashionable Derby County to their first league title just 18 months earlier.
“The first thing he (Clough) did was to go round the lads and ask them what they wanted to drink,” Robertson said of the excursion.
“They started asking for orange juice or a soft drink, but he said, ‘No, a proper drink’. He was always testing people and coming up with the unexpected.”
Taylor infamously described the squad as “a bunch of amateurs and layabouts” after the White Hart stay. Clough meanwhile sought to dampen expectations that even he of Derby miracles could lead Brighton to promotion in the seven months remaining of the season.
“Forget promotion, just be happy to avoid relegation,” Clough said shortly before the Albion suffered the embarrassment of losing 4-0 at home to Isthmian League side Walton & Hersham in a FA Cup first round replay.
Clough was proven correct. Brighton ended the campaign 19th in what was admittedly a very tight table. Whilst the Albion were only two places above the relegation zone, the eight point gap meant they were as close to sixth spot as they were tumbling into Division Four.
Once Clough and Taylor had declared their players a bunch of amateurs and layabouts, they set about signing new ones. This did lead to an improvement in results, including a run of only two defeats in 14 matches between the end of December and mid-March.
Brighton hit the dizzy heights of ninth as a result, sparking talk of a late charge into the promotion picture. But it was not to be and just two victories from the final 10 saw the Albion slump to their lowly finishing position.
Before Clough, Lammie Robertson had been out of the Brighton side. The forward started only four of the opening 15 matches of the campaign after a falling out with former manager Pat Saward.
“Things hadn’t been going too well for me at Brighton when Clough arrived,” Robertson told The Sunday Post when looking back on his career.
“The previous manager, Pat Saward, wasn’t my favourite person and he’d left me out of the team. Then Clough arrived, having just won the league championship with Derby County. He brought me straight back in.”
Brighton drew the first two games of the Clough Era, 0-0 at home to York City and 2-2 at Huddersfield Town. In match three, Robertson provided the cross from which Pat Hilton headed home the only goal away at Walsall to give Clough his first victory.
Robertson finished the 1973-94 season with four goals, but that does not tell the whole story. A versatile player, his main attribute was creating chances rather than scoring.
He did this to good effect through a Brighton career in which he was most frequently deployed as a traditional target man, holding the ball up and bringing others into play.
Robertson though could also operate on the wing if needed, as evidenced by that assist for Hilton which got Clough off the mark as Albion boss.
Born in Scotland and having previously been at Burnley and Bury, Robertson arrived at the Goldstone Ground in December 1972 from Halifax Town for a fee of £17,000 plus Willie Irvine going in the opposite direction.
It was a case of Saward getting his man at the second time of asking. Nine months earlier and the Albion were on their way to a surprise promotion into Division Two, hammering Halifax 5-0 at the Shay in March 1972.
Robertson punched a hole in the dressing room door in frustration after the game. Suitably impressed by his passion and will to win, Saward made a bid for Robertson. Halifax said no.
When Brighton returned in December with a cash-and-player offer involving Irish international forward Irvine moving to the Shay, it proved too good for Halifax to turn down.
Robertson left having scored 20 goals in 150 games for the Shaymen, including 11 in the first four months of the 1972-73 campaign – nearly half of Hallifax’s total.
The Albion meanwhile were trying to rejig their forward line in an attempt to score more goals and ensure their stay in the second tier lasted longer than a single season.
This included selling Kit Napier, one of the most popular strikers in Albion history. Napier had contributed 19 goals in all competitions through the previous promotion winning campaign.
Barry Bridges arrived to take Napier’s place for a record fee of £28,000. Irvine’s 17 goals in 1971-72 counted for little either as he became the makeweight in the deal which brought Lammie Robertson to Brighton.
Robertson did not pitch up in Sussex at the best of times with the Albion in the midst of 13 game losing streak. After going goalless through his first four starts, Robertson found himself out of the team until the start of March when Saward opted for a new-look frontline.
It consisted of Robertson and Ken Beamish with Peter O’Sullivan and young Tony Towner providing ammunition from the wings.
Robertson went onto score four times in the final 11 games of the campaign but despite the late rally, the Albion were unable to pull off an unlikely escape from relegation. That dreadful losing streak earlier in the campaign ultimately meant a swift return back to Division Three.
Saward could not stop the rot going into the 1973-74 campaign. With Brighton in the relegation zone and Goldstone crowds dipping below 6,000, chairman Mike Bamber sacked Saward before pulling off one of the biggest coups in English football history by convincing Clough and Taylor to come to the Albion.
As soon as the full time whistle was blow on the 1973-74 season, the duo opted to totally rebuild the squad. Known as the Clough Clear Out, 12 players were put on the transfer list.
Not even Robertson was immune and despite having been used so regularly by Clough, found himself joining Exeter City alongside John Templeman in a swap deal for prolific Grecians striker Fred Binney.
The move to St James’ Park worked out well for Robertson as he attained cult hero status with Exeter. He scored 25 goals in 133 league games over three seasons, helping the Grecians win promotion out of Division Four in the 1976-77 campaign.
Robertson finished his career with spells at Leicester City, Peterborough United, Bradford City and Northwich Victoria. He even managed to play against Pele and Franz Beckenbauer when spending the summer of 1976 in the USA with Chicago Sting, winning 4-1 over the star-studded New York Cosmos.
Following his passing after suffering from prostate cancer, every tribute to Robertson spoke of what a great man he was. In retirement, he loved nothing more than to drink a pint and talk about his playing days.
They must have been some stories too, thanks to those encounters with Clough, Pele and Beckenbauer. Robertson played against George Best when with Halifax and Frank McLintock was his manager at Leicester.
Some career. Some man. Even Clough liked him.
