The Brighton midfielder more popular than Gerrard, Ronaldo & Fabregas
Which football players do you think were the top sellers when it came to t-shirts in the 2008-09 season? Steve Gerrard? Cristiano Ronaldo? Cesc Febregas? Fernando Torres? All four of those global superstars were outsold by Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Doug Loft.
Gerrard may have been in his pomp with Liverpool and CR7 may have just helped Manchester United land their third European Cup, but neither sold more Cult Zeros t-shirts than Loft. Only seven players shifted more merchandise than the young Albion starlet.
Which was remarkable given that Loft started just 16 games in his three-and-a-half year Brighton career. Despite his lack of game time, he somehow became a cult figure who even had a day dedicated to him in the calendar – Doug Loft Day.
Saturday 25th October 2008 was the first Doug Loft Day. Struggling Brighton were away at Hartlepool United and some bright spark suggested on North Stand Chat that those hardy souls making the long trip to Victoria Park turn it into a celebration of Loft.
Primarily, this was to be done by purchasing a Doug Loft t-shirt from Cult Zeros – which, if we are being truthful, explains why Loft also outsold Arsene Wenger, Maradona, Bill Shankly, Robbie Fowler, George Best and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer.
Other ways to mark the occasion were also suggested. Loftmania at the time centred around replacing the word ‘love’ in classic songs with the name of the Albion’s young midfielder.
The dream was an away end singing ‘All You Need Is Loft’ by the Beatles. Or Joy Division’s ‘Loft Will Tear Us Apart’. Or Elton John’s classic ‘Are You Ready For Loft’. Or ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Loft’ by Queen. You get the picture.
Unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately – the singing tributes got canned as within 12 minutes, Kevin Kyle had Hartlepool 1-0 ahead.
Nobody felt much like heralding Doug Loft after that as Brighton gave an utterly woeful display to lose the game to that early Kyle strike.
To compound the misery of the 284 hardy souls who had trekked to Hartlepool, Micky Adams didn’t even name Loft in his matchday 16.
Adams wasn’t the first Brighton manager to underrate Loft, which is what made his position of popularity so peculiar.
Other than having a name that could replace ‘love’ in famous songs and a fantastic head of hair, Loft’s actual on-the-pitch impact during his time at the Albion was pretty limited.
And when he finally did break into the first team and it looked like the fan favourite might have a future at the club, he was released on a free. Ouch.
Loft was signed from Ryman League Hastings United in January 2006. Brighton were in a real battle to avoid relegation from the Championship and Mark McGhee desperately needed reinforcements during the transfer window.
Money was tight though and all he got was a 19-year-old from the eighth tier of English football who had never played professionally in his life. Hardly the sort of signing to turn the Albion’s season around and preserve their spot in the second tier.
Unsurprisingly, Loft was used sparingly as Brighton were inevitably relegated as the Championship’s bottom club at the end of the 2005-06 season.
McGhee afforded him three appearances off the bench, the last of which came in the 5-1 home defeat against Stoke City in the final game of the campaign.
Nobody who was at Withdean that day with Brighton connections will look back at that afternoon fondly. McGhee himself said the game didn’t matter in his post match comments but Loft could at least hold his head semi-high as the scorer of the Albion consolation six minutes from time.
It was a goal that underlined his potential – not that anybody realised. The Albion fans had long since given up on their team that day, instead celebrating Stoke’s third, fourth and fifth goals wildly with the mockery from the stands providing a damning verdict on Brighton’s efforts. Stoke supporters returned the favour by going mad when Loft netted. Feel free to join in with future Doug Loft days, Potters fans.
First team opportunities remained few and far between for Loft under McGhee’s successor Dean Wilkins even though he showed the ability to hit the net on the rare occasions he was called upon.
Loft’s second Brighton goal came in a 4-1 win over Leyton Orient in 2006-07 and his third in the first round of the 2007-08 FA Cup, a 90th minute equaliser from the substitutes bench away at Cheltenham Town.
That was by far his most important goal, but still not enough to convince Wilkins to give him a run in the team. Wilkins did at least give Loft a new contract at the end of the season before being ruthlessly replaced with Adams for the 2008-09 season.
Which was the season when the Loft love really began. He featured nine times under Adams in the first half of the campaign, including a start on the famous Withdean night when Brighton eliminated Manchester City from the League Cup.
Brighton lost only one of those games in which Doug Loft featured, a 2-0 defeat against The Leeds United. Despite his impressive record, Adams sent Loft on loan to Dagenham & Redbridge a little over a week before he was sacked as Albion boss.
Loft was meant to spend the remainder of the season with the League Two playoff hopefuls. With his contract expiring in the summer, it looked as though he had played his last game for the Albion. A dark day for all those who had been whipped into a frenzy by Loftmania.
Fate was clearly a Loft fan too though and she had other ideas. An injury crisis saw Russell Slade recall Loft from Dagenham for the final month of campaign, initially to fill a place on the bench.
It didn’t take Slade long to spot what his three predecessors had not – that Loft actually had some talent. He was a tidy player with a decent engine, could keep possession well and was positionally disciplined – attributes which made him the perfect fit for the tucked-in right midfield spot in Slade’s diamond formation.
Having made just six starts in the past three seasons, Loft started seven of Brighton’s last eight games of the season. The midfield four of Tommy Fraser sitting, Gary Dicker on the left, Loft on the right and Dean Cox at the tip of the diamond don’t really get the credit they deserve for their part in Slade’s great escape.
Loft was suddenly more than some joke songs and a face on a t-shirt. There would now be a genuine reason to hold Doug Loft Day on Saturday 25th October 2009.
Except Loft would be a Port Vale player by that date. Despite the role he had played in helping Brighton avoid the drop, Doug Loft was released within two weeks of the season finishing – just when it looked like he had made it at the Albion.
It was a brutal decision made by Slade and a horrible way for Brighton fans love – or should that be Loft – affair with Handsome Doug to end.
As a decent player technically, it would have been fascinating to see what Gus Poyet did with Loft’s talents – especially given Poyet’s miracle work in turning Adam El-Abd from a Jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none into Player of the Season in a League One title winning side.
Could the Uruguayan have brought a similar improvement out of an underrated and underused player? An interesting one to ponder.
Loft went onto spend five years at Vale Park, becoming club captain and racking up 196 appearances for the Valiants.
Spells with Gillingham, Colchester United, Shrewsbury Town and another loan with Dagenham followed before Loft dropped into non league with Billericay for the 2019-20 season – where, according to Soccerbase, he got booked in eight of his nine appearances for Billericay.
He never seemed an aggressive player during his 49 games with the Albion, but maybe we need to add double-hard bastard to Loft’s list of traits alongside great surname, superb hair and more t-shirts sold than Gerrard, Ronaldo, Febregas and Torres.
It must be Loft, Loft, Loft…
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