I remember the first time I read the name of the man who was to become my favourite footballer. The headline on the back page of the Evening Argus in March 1976 read: “Vale hard man Horton signs for Albion.” Under it was a picture of a beaming and bearded man signing with manager Peter Taylor alongside him.
The arrival of midfield player Brian ‘Nobby’ Horton at Brighton and Hove Albion from Port Vale for £30,000 and wages of £100 a week proved - as much as his earlier capture of striker Peter Ward - that Brian Clough’s old sidekick could still spot a player. He had heard that Vale needed some cash quickly and nipped in ahead of Crystal Palace to snap up an absolute bargain.
Like most fans, I assumed that the Argus headline had told most of the story. Vale were known as an uncompromising outfit who tackled first and saved any fancy stuff until much later. The former captain probably exemplified that. But what we saw on Horton’s debut far exceeded our modest expectations.
Yes, he liked a tackle all right. But he won the ball cleanly, and he knew how to use it, spraying passes to wingers Peter O’Sullivan and Tony Towner from what would nowadays be called a holding midfield role. But he got forward too when the occasion called for it and he could hit a shot as hard and true as anyone, and that included from the penalty spot.
The number four shirt and the armband were his personal property from early on, and after a near miss at promotion in his first season, Taylor resigned. The new boss was Alan Mullery, and Horton has said that he feared for his place with a former England player in his position coming in as a possible player-manager. But after watching just 30 minutes of a training game on his first morning in charge, Mullery knew he would not have to pull his boots on and confirmed Horton as skipper and his general on the field.
It was the correct decision. Nobby led the team to promotion from the third division in 1977, scoring a vital penalty in the 3-2 victory over Sheffield Wednesday at the Goldstone Ground that clinched it. Like Mullery, he was not afraid to challenge any teammate who was not pulling his weight, although his hardest stares were reserved for any opponent unwise enough to trying to dispossess him.
He almost drove the team to another elevation the following season, only for Brighton to miss out on the final day as Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur played out a tame goalless draw that took them both up instead.
Horton admits that he feared that his chance to play at the top level of English football had passed him by. And he cringed when Mullery promised the fans that they would make up for the disappointment in the following campaign. But the manager was proved right and it was Horton who bulleted home a near-post header to open the scoring as Brighton won a place in the first division with a 3-1 victory at Newcastle on the final day of the 1978-9 season.
There was nobody who deserved to lead Brighton out for the first top-flight game in their history in August 1979 more than Brian Horton, and after a slow start he and the team settled in at the new level, eventually beating reigning European Cup holders Nottingham Forest home and away. Peter Taylor, now back with his old mate Cloughie as Forest’s assistant, had a good view from the dugout of how well his former signing was doing.
Horton left Brighton in 1981 for Luton Town, whom he would also captain into the old First Division. Eventually he went into management at a host of clubs including Manchester City, returning in that thankless role to a diminished and exiled Brighton, who were playing in the fourth tier at Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium. The memories of that time are pale and few, but we’ll always have his 215 games as captain and inspiration. And there were not many bad ones in that number.
Memory added on June 23, 2021
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