Life after Brighton – what happened to Russell Slade’s first Albion line up?
When you think of Russell Slade’s first game in charge of Brighton and Hove Albion away at Leyton Orient on Saturday March 7th 2009, what do you remember most?
For some, it will be Sean Thornton’s 88th minute goal winning the game for Orient. For others, it will be Scott McGleish of all bloody people scoring a first half penalty. It could even be Slade himself, clad in an all-brown suit that looked like it hadn’t seen the light of day for at least a decade, saluting the fans with a fist clenched in the air to rapturous applause before kick off.
Or perhaps it’s that when the Albion took to the field at Brisbane Road, you didn’t actually recognise half the team? Following the previous weeks 4-0 home defeat to Crewe Alexandra, caretaker boss Dean White had brought in nearly as many new faces as he’d sold televisions in his shop in Hastings.
That meant that for Slade’s first game at the helm, he handed out five debuts to players all signed on loan. How many other club’s have signed half a new team in the space of five working days in the middle of March? There can’t have been many.
How many of those that were in Brighton’s line up for the 2-1 defeat at Orient do you remember? And what happened to them after they left Withdean, most as completely forgotten footnotes in the history of the Albion?
Mikkel Andersen
Having shipped four goals at home to a Crewe side who had relegation worries of their own, goalkeeper was an obvious area to look for improvement. With Michel Kuipers sidelined with another injury and John Sullivan struggling, the Albion turned to 21-year-old Andersen, who arrived for a month from Reading. He ended up making five appearances, conceding 10 times along the way before returning to the Madjeski Stadium. Andersen later enjoyed two-seasons as Bristol Rovers number one, easily his most successful spell in a career in England which spanned six clubs. He returned to his native Denmark in 2013, where he was part of the Midtjylland side who famously beat Manchester United in the Europa League in 2016. He now plays for Lyngby BK.
Andy Whing
One of the few success stories of that 2008-09 campaign, Whing ended up being voted Player of the Season as one of the only individuals who seemed to give a toss that we were heading for League Two. He ended up playing 111 times for the Albion before becoming one of the first victims of Gus Poyet’s move to a more passing style of football as he was replaced by Inigo Calderon. Whing linked up again with Slade at Orient before going onto play for Oxford United. He is now manager of Kidderminster Harriers’ Under 23 side.
Matt Heath
Centre back Heath was the second debutant at Brisbane Road and he marked the occasion with the Albion’s goal, scoring after 17 minutes. He played six times in total on loan from Colchester United, also managing to pick up a red card in a 2-0 defeat at Scunthorpe United. His final appearance came in the terrible 2-0 reversal at MK Dons, after which he was recalled by Col U, where he remained until the summer of 2013. Six months with Northampton Town followed before he retired with an impressive 272 career games under his belt.
Adam El-Abd
El-Abd was still considered something of a liability when Slade took over, thanks to his penchant for giving away stupid fouls and playing at least one woefully short back pass every month. Slade recognised this, settling on a centre back partnership of Adam Virgo and Tommy Elphick for the run-in but El-Abd eventually turned out to be a better player than both of those once Poyet arrived at the club. His transformation under the Uruguayan was probably the biggest achievement of Poyet’s spell in charge as El-Abd became a full Egypitan international and won the Albion’s Player of the Season Award in a League One title winning side not exactly short of talent. He eventually left the Amex in January 2014 after 342 games, going onto play for Bristol City, Bury, Swindon Town, Gillingham, Shrewsbury Town and Wycome Wanderers, whom he captained to promotion from League Two last season. He also has one of the more ridiculous songs in Albion history. ADAM EL ABD DO DO DO DO DO, ADAM EL ABD DO DO DO DO, ADAM EL ABD DO DO DO DO DO, DO DO DO, DO DO DO, DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO.
Gary Borrowdale
The third debutant was left back Borrowdale, who had been borrowed from Queens Park Rangers as a result of the injury Jim McNulty picked up the previous week which ultimately so him having to have a kidney removed. Borrowdale made the position his own and played in virtually every game between the Orient defeat and the end of the season. Slade tried to sign him in the summer but QPR wouldn’t play ball and so he remained at Loftus Road. He later had loan spells with Charlton Athletic, Carlisle United and Barnet and is now spending his time coaching at Greenwich Borough.
Jason Jarrett
Midfielder Jarrett had been one of the last, desperate signings made by Micky Adams before he bit the bullet. The absolute definition of a mercenary, Slade worked out very quickly that the former Preston North End midfielder was here to pick up a very large pay cheque for doing as little work as possible. He made just three further starts under Slade before being jettisoned. In 2013, he began refereeing in the Lancashire Sunday Football League and is now attempting to make it as a match official. It takes all sorts…
Tommy Fraser
The former Under 18s captain enjoyed easily his best spell at the Albion in the great escape under Slade, which made it even funnier when he was released come the end of the season after 92 games over three years. The highlights of his time at Withdean included scoring an overhead kick away at Hereford United a month after the defeat at Orient and using North Stand Chat in order to try and find the home address of a poster who he felt had been overly critical. Fraser went onto play for Port Vale and Barnet before joining the Sussex non-league circuit. He was last seen turning our for Shoreham in the Southern Combination League and is now apparently in exile somewhere due to getting in a spot of bother with the wrong sort of people.
Al Bangura
Bangura was the fourth player to make his debut at Orient and certainly the most interesting. He arrived at Withdean on-loan from Watford just over a year after nearly being deported back to his native Sierra Leone. Bangura started six games in his month at Withdean before returning to the Hornets. Spells with Blackpool, Azerbaijani team Gabala and Forest Green Rovers followed and he later revealed that he was originally brought to Europe from Guinea by a human trafficker in order to be used as a male prostitute.
Kevin McLeod
Another player to be filed under the umbrella of players signed by Adams who just wanted money. You could see that McLeod had talent, he just couldn’t be bothered to use it. Played just eight times in nine months under Slade and Poyet wasn’t impressed either, releasing him to join Wycome within three months. McLeod played just 11 more times as a professional for the Chairboys before going onto join a Sunday League side in Colchester, where he apparently “continued to play at a high level while enjoying a few pints with the team afterwards.” Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all…
Craig Davies
That Adams paid actually money for Craig Davies remains one of the more startling moments of his reign of terror. Rarely has a Brighton player enraged the Seagulls support like Davies, a man who mixed incompetence – such as the ability to put the ball over the bar when faced with an open goal three yards away – with a complete lack of effort. He was the main target of the “You’re not fit to wear the shirt” chants which followed the defeat at MK Dons, with his final Brighton record reading 23 games and surprisingly, one goal. Remarkably, he’s actually gone onto have a relatively decent career, scoring with some regularity for Chesterfield, Barnsley, Bolton Wanderers and Oldham Athletic. He currently plies his trade for Mansfield Town.
Lloyd Owusu
The fifth and final debutant and without a doubt one of the most important signings that Brighton have ever made. Without Owusu’s goals in the final two months of the season, then the Albion would’ve been relegated to League Two and the brilliant 10 years we’ve experienced since might not have happened. We might enjoy taking the piss out of White for being a former television salesman, sporting a bit of a belly and having curly hair that made him look like a sheep, but this was actually a fantastic piece of business from the caretaker boss. Owusu arrived from Cheltenham Town as a result of their financial worries and hit seven goals in 14 appearances. Slade was desperate to keep him come the end of the season, but a move to Australia proved too good to turn down and he departed with the blessing and thanks of every Albion supporter. Owusu is now a teacher Down Under.
Sebastien Carole (McLeod 56)
French winger Carole had been brought back to the Albion for a second spell by Adams just prior to his departure. He’d been a hit originally in the 2005-06 season as one of the few positives from an otherwise terrible campaign that ended in relegation under Mark McGhee, before moving to The Leeds United and Darlington. It was the League Two Quakers from where he returned, going onto play seven times under Slade and being another who’s Albion career ended in the MK Dons debacle. Or so we thought. Having been released at the end of the season, Carole joined Tranmere for the first half of the 2009-10 campaign before Poyet decided to give him a third bite of the cherry and signed him for the Albion again in January. That final spell yieled nine appearances and he has since moved back to the Leeds area, playing for the fantastically named Burton Leonard Squirrel in the Harrogate and District Sunday League.
David Livermore (Fraser 61)
The former Millwall legend played just twice under Slade before being loaned to Luton for the rest of the season. Despite clearly having no future at Withdean, he remained on the payroll until February 2010 when Poyet finally managed to shift him to Barnet. Livermore was appointed manager of Histon that summer, overseeing their relegation from the Conference in his first season and a 16th placed finish in Conference North the following year. He can now be found back at the Den as assistant boss to Neil Harris.
