Paul Holsgrove went from free signing to £110,000 sale in 39 days
The Brighton career of Paul Holsgrove lasted 39 days and zero minutes of competitive football. Yet it earned cash-strapped Albion £110,000 profit and led manager Brian Horton to be compared to Del Boy or a city banker, depending on what you read.
Horton spent the summer of 1998 completing one of the biggest overhauls of a Seagulls squad ever attempted. And with good reason.
Brighton had finished the previous campaign 91st out of 92 in the Football League for the second season running, only avoiding 92nd position via the sort of luck needed to win big on the National Casino app.
1997-98 was a whole lost worse than 1996-97, however. Whereas the Albion hauled themselves clear of bottom spot under Steve Gritt in 1996-97 in a great escape worthy of survival, 1997-98 saw them acquire just 35 points.
That was 12 less than the previous year and in any other campaign, would have guaranteed relegation. Brighton survived only because fate intervened and Doncaster Rovers had an even more miserable time of it, their fans battling to keep their club in business whilst the owner plotted to burn down the main stand at Belle Vue for insurance purposes.
The Albion could not rely on another club having such desperate off-the-field problems to stay up again. Seven new faces came in during the summer. Some were successful – hello, Gary Hart – others, not so much.
Brighton claim to fames for Glen Thomas and Jamie Moralee extend to a back pass shocker away at Brentford and getting sent off 60 seconds after being introduced as a substitute against Scunthorpe United.
Holsgrove was one of of the more intriguing signings of Horton’s busy summer. He had been a regular in the second tier for Stoke City towards the end of the 1997-98 season, playing 12 times after joining the Potters on a free transfer in what proved to be a nomadic campaign for the midfielder.
He began it with three appearances at Reading, a Division One club at the time like Stoke. 10 matches in Division Two followed with Grimsby Town before a return to the second tier and eight games with Crewe Alexandra.
In total, Holsgrove had played 33 times in 1997-98 at a much higher level than the bottom of the fourth tier. At a time when Brighton were signing forklift truck drivers from Stansted for £1000 and a set of kit, the capture of Paul Holsgrove represented quite a coup.
So much so that Horton had the 30-year-old marked down as his potential Albion captain for the upcoming campaign. In terms of Holsgrove’s place in midfield, the idea was that his experience and more defensive nature would allow Jeff Minton more freedom to flourish.
Minton duly did that, ending the 1998-98 season being named in the PFA Division Three team of the year even though Brighton finished a lowly 17th.
Horton had departed by that point, taking up the vacant manager job at Port Vale in January with the Albion fighting for a playoff spot.
Losing their manager saw Brighton tumble down the standings over the next three months under Jeff Wood before Micky Adams arrived to steady to ship once the prospect of another relegation battle becoming worryingly possible.
Holsgrove was long gone before Adams took over, Wood was appointed or Horton left. In fact, he was gone before Brighton even got their Division Three season underway on Saturday 8th August with defeat at Carlisle United.
Understandably given his quality and experience, there were other clubs considering offering Holsgrove a contract that summer of 1998.
One with concrete interest were Hiberninan, looking to make an instant return to the Scottish Premier Division following relegation at the end of the 1997-98 campaign.
Hibs boss Alex McLeish chose a bad time to go on holiday though and whilst he was sunning himself somewhere in the days when mobile phones were barely a thing, Horton and Dick Knight made their move.
As a result, Paul Holsgrove became a Brighton player, much to the disappointment of McLeish. Hibs’ only option now if they wanted to take Holsgrove from the Priestfield to Easter Road would be to strike a deal with the Albion.
Horton subsequently received a phone call from McLeish. Hibs were offering £50,000. Brighton said no. When Hibs came back with £70,000, Horton says in his autobiography that Knight was tempted to accept. The Albion manager though convinced his chairman they could hold out for more.
Holsgrove pulled on a Brighton shirt for the first time in a friendly against Lewes next. Horton’s new-look midfield got off to the best possible start; with Holsgrove alongside him, Minton ran the show with a goal and assist as the Albion won 3-1 at the Dripping Pan.
The pair were deployed again in tandem as second half substitutes during a 0-0 draw against Charlton Athletic reserves at the Addicks training ground.
Horton said afterwards of the fledgling partnership between Holsgrove and Minton: “I like my four in midfield to play like that and it worked well again.”
There would be no chance for it to work well for a third time. Hibs came back with £100,000. When the offer reached £110,000, Horton and Knight sanctioned the move and Holsgrove headed north of the border.
“After a summer of dealings in the post-Bosman transfer marker, the Albion have seemed to benefit financially in a quite peculiar way,” said the Albion matchday programme for the first home game of the 1998-99 season against Chester City.
“Five players have signed for the club, all exercising their rights to move for free. Also joining are Mark Walton and Gary Hart, who cost the club £20,000 and £1,000 respectively.”
“On top of this, the £110,000 received for Holsgrove five weeks after he exercised his right to move to the Albion on a free and Brian Horton’s business acumen would make Derek Trotter green with envy. In total, seven new players signed and a profit of £89,000.”
Or as Horton himself put it in his autobiography: “£110,000 was more than my salary. I had effectively paid for myself.”
