Brian Horton suffered a pay cut to sign for Port Vale in 1970, exchanging ashes for a place in Gordon Lee’s midfield.
It’s the beginning of a wonderful football league career. Six years, 258 games and 37 goals with Vale as a player, then in the elite with Brighton and Luton and a managerial career in Hull, Oxford, Manchester City, Huddersfield and Brighton before returning to Vale in 1999 for another. Five years.
In fact, Two Thousand Games: A Life In Football is the name of the new year-old autobiography, written with journalist Tim Rich.
This is the story of the race that, as he tells The Sentinel and StokeonTrentLive, began when the Valley took a chance at it and received a pay cut.
He said: “I had been released through Walsall at the age of 17, I was very small at the time, about five feet and four inches.”
“I went to paint on a structure site with someone I knew and played part-time with Hednesford. We were blocking the breeze. When the shell in place, we made the inner walls in a position to accommodate the plasterers.
“I enjoyed working, got bigger, more powerful and more fit, and then played with Hednesford, my local club, with former professionals. We had a smart team.
“I make a lot of money from that and I bet on Hednesford, and when Gordon Lee introduced me to the contract, it was part of what I earned. But I wanted to be a footballer again, so I took a chance.
In theory, Lee too, even if it wasn’t a bet, even if the payout wasn’t the look of style that has become a component of Vale’s legend.
Horton added: “Port Vale had no money, so he spoke to Hednesdford’s secretary at a game and bought him a style. But then Vale came back and played a game at Hednesford that can keep the receipts.
“Vale was made up of non-league players and loose transfers. But it was great, we had team spirit. No one wanted to play with us because we were a strong, physical and complicated team to deal with.
“I enjoyed my time there. Gordon Lee was well organized, disciplined. I owe him everything I have essentially because he brought me back to the game.
“Lol Hamlett the physiotherapist Roy Sproson was still betting before retiring and becoming coach.”
“Then we had Tommy McLaren, Clinton Boulton, John Brodie, Billy Summerscales, Tony Loska, Tony Lacey, John Connaughton and also Keith Ball when I first went there. They were players.
Horton would have a chance at a higher level, this came through a season in Brighton, rival of Vale’s Division 3 promotion in 1976.
He said, “I didn’t even know about it. We were playing at Crystal Palace on Tuesday night and the deadline on Thursday.
“I finished the game and Sproey said, “We sold you in Brighton, we agreed the rate, 30,000 euros, and there’s a wait for you.”
It is not that Horton opposed joining the Seagulls, where he appointed captain through Peter Taylor and would continue to succeed in the most sensible flight with them under Alan Mullery.
“I get a lot more money in Brighton. It remains one of the biggest clubs, with 18,000 players. Some other people said it wasn’t football city, but we moved on to the next point and gave us 30,000.”
Having left Vale for Brighton as a player, Horton headed in the opposite direction as a coach in 1999 when Vale’s president, Bill Bell, recruited him to upgrade To John Rudge.
The Seagulls had no ground, played in Gillingham and were two divisions under Championship Vale.
Horton adds: “I had returned to Brighton, who almost lowered the league when I entered. We almost controlled to stay in the league and brought about 20 players, 20 eliminated and replaced the youth policy. And everything.
“I had signed a contract there and I’m happy. We were doing well and on the play-offs.
“I was watching a game in Wycombe and I was on the phone to say that John Rudge had been fired, would I have to tell them about the job? I told him I had to contact my president in Brighton to get permission.”
“I met Bill Bell and (Vice President) Andy Belfield. I went back to a club where I’d played and knew so well.
“But it was a very complicated choice, one of the most important decisions I’ve had to make in football. If it had been someone else, I could have refused, but the Vale.
Horton believes Vale’s retention in his first season is one of his most productive achievements at Vale Park. The club was relegated the following year, but would possibly have produced its most productive fate of his reign in the 2000/01 part of the season.
Vale had endured a repressed first part of the campaign, staying out of the promotion claim and losing in the FA Cup on Canvey Island.
But they were remodeled in the new year. Horton went from side to 3-5-2 and his team played 23 games with two losses that led to the final of the LDV Vans Trophy at Millennium Stadium where they beat Brentford.
The recorded, such as Mark Goodlad, Micky Cummins, Marc Bridge-Wilkinson and Steve Brooker have shone on this team.
He added: “Most of them were loose transfers that were needed at the time. I had to replace that and bring new blood, a lot of them were young players.
“I had played with hinds and when I was training in Hull (1984-86), which was very much at the time.
“But at Vale, Matty Carraher did the great task excellently. That allowed Marc Bridge-Wilkinson to bomb from the center of the field and adapted to the players we had. I’m not defensive, it’s a very offensive team.
“In the race to the final we beat Stoke and we couldn’t play that period. It was a shame that the race came too late.”
Vale may depend on that to win a promotion, however, they were eighth in the standings when Horton left in February 2004. The club entered management under Bill Bell in 2002 and Horton disagreed with the new 2001 Valiant owners who took over in the summer. 2003.
He said: “I just couldn’t paint with the new owners. I just asked them to pay me, which they did. It’s a disgrace because we were fine.
“I couldn’t paint for them as well.
“I know bill Bell has received a lot of criticism, yet during my time there, he has never interfered with the purchase, promotion or establishment of a team. He was of a different kind.
Horton returned to Vale last season as a spectator and is pleased to see them pass, fighting for the promotion of League Two.
He said, “I went to some games. Colin Garlick, with whom he had worked at Macclesfield, is still there, as is Estelle (Baggley) (senior manager). Then I came back to take some pictures that lead to the book.
“Rudgie there and I met owner Carol and her husband. It’s great to be back, and when it starts, I’ll be back.
“Vale shouldn’t be in the last league. It was bad luck what happened last year because they were so close to qualifying for the play-offs. I had two smart moments there, so I still have that affinity with the club and I need them.” do it right.
Two Thousand Games: A Life in Football, it’s today.