How a Brighton and Hove Albion transfer saga left the Seagulls looking for a new manager

This week we’re back to 1981, the summer of love if you were Charles and Diana, Adam Ant was the new Elvis Presley, unfortunately elsewhere inner-city Britain was gripped by series a riots the like this country had never seen before.

Meanwhile down at the Goldstone, Alan Mullery’s Seagulls had performed ‘The Great Escape’ in the Old Division One, seemingly doomed before Easter, 4 straight wins, away at Palace and Sunderland and home to Leicester and Leeds had seen them stay up on the last day.

However, the inevitable was about to happen that summer when after 152 games for the club, Mark Lawrenson, still arguably the greatest player to ever pull on an Albion shirt, was attracting attention from the giants of English domestic football and a straight transfer tussle between reigning European Champions Liverpool and Manchester United.

Given the personalities involved the 5-year relationship between Chairman Mike Bamber and manager Alan Mullery was always going to be tempestuous, but ultimately successful, seeing the club rise from the old Third Division to the First in 3 years and equally as significant stay there for a further two years.

A huge factor in everything staying on track was the contribution of then Vice Chairman Harry Bloom, granddad of Tony, who acted as a conduit between the two headstrong individuals, from the day Mullery arrived at the Goldstone in 1976.

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Sadly, Harry died in October 1980 on the way to a First division fixture at Stoke City, so wasn’t around when the Lawrenson situation blew up in the summer of 1981.

Effectively there were two bids on the table, £900,000 from Liverpool, whilst Mullery had agreed a cash plus player swap with the newly installed Ron Atkinson at Old Trafford.

Mullery, to this day a man of his word, had ‘shook hands’ with Big Ron and Lawro was on his way to United, that is until the late John Vinicombe, a local journalistic legend, telephoned Alan to inform him that Liverpool had issued a press release to say Lawrenson had signed at Anfield.

Bamber had effectively undermine his manager, binned the United offer and gone with Liverpool.

Not only furious Mullery realised that his position at the Albion was now untenable, and he resigned immediately.

Could Harry Bloom have calmed the troubled waters?

Without a doubt, but with him gone so began yet another pivotal sliding door moment for the Albion.

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Mullery was replaced by former Charlton boss Mike Bailey, whilst ironically Mullery ended up at the Valley.

One of his Bailey’s first signings was Jimmy Case from Liverpool, perhaps a hidden part of the Lawrenson deal? Who knows, but Jimmy’s four-year tenure at the club, saw him achieve legendary status, arguably on a par with the departed Lawrenson.

Bailey, for his part, got the Albion to a then-to-date-highest finish, 13th, in 81/82, before being sacked in the December of 1982 because a groundswell of fans had said the football was ‘boring’ and, voting with their feet, the crowds had dipped below the break-even figure of 15,000.

But we will never know what would have happened if Bamber and Mullery had actually spoken to each other regarding Lawrenson that summer.

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