I flicked the V-sign and said I wouldn’t give £5 for any Palace player
HOW ALAN MULLERY SPARKED THE TOP FLIGHT’S MOST BIZARRE GRUDGE MATCH
THE facts are often disputed, but there is no doubt that the moment petrol was poured on the smouldering coals of Crystal Palace and Brighton’s fierce rivalry came on December 6, 1976.
It involves an irate Alan Mullery, then Brighton manager, flicking V-signs, a baying Palace mob and five £1 notes.
Palace and Brighton meet in the top flight for the first time in 36 years tonight in a fixture where special measures have to be taken to ensure violence does not erupt at the Amex Stadium.
The story of how and why a club in south London and another on the South Coast, separated by almost 50 miles, became such fierce rivals begins in the 1970s.
There was violence among fans during a friendly early in the decade. By midway through the 1970s they were competing in the doldrums of Division Three and ugly clashes marred every game.
But the night that ignited the acrimony came at the end of a 1976 FA Cup first-round second replay at Stamford Bridge, a neutral venue. Mullery’s Brighton and Palace, managed by Terry Venables, could not be separated over two matches but at the final whistle of the third meeting it descended into pandemonium.
Palace had won 1- 0 but an incensed Mullery felt referee Ron Challis had disallowed a perfectly good equaliser when Brian Horton was forced to retake a penalty and missed.
‘I’d been accused of fanning the flames of a rivalry between the two clubs,’ Mullery writes in his autobiography. ‘ Trouble flared with Palace when a controversial penalty incident knocked Brighton out of the FA Cup. I was furious and at the final whistle I remonstrated with the referee.
‘As I walked back down the tunnel, Palace fans spat all over me. I gave them two fingers, thenen did an awful interview bad-mouthingouthing their supporters and saying I wouldn’t give a fiver for any of the Palace players. I could have handled things better, but I just totally lost it. It didn’t go down too well at Selhurst Park and I knew the fans there still held a grudge.’
Palace folklore has it that Mullery ripped five £1 notes from his pocket in front of Palace’s baying mob, tore them up and hurled the pieces on to the floor, declaring the club was not even worth that. Some accounts claim boiling coffee was thrown over Brighton’s manager.
The incident clearly still rankles Mullery, 76, who gave a terse response to a call from Sportsmail, saying that ‘it was between two blokes years ago’.
Reports from the time lie somewhere in-between. Jeff Powell wrote in Sportsmail that Mullery ‘ stormed on to the Stamford Bridge pitch to confront referee Ron Challis, turned to hoist both hands in a double V-sign at Crystal Palace fans and then gave vent to his anger in an extraordinary after-match interview.
‘Brighton’s anger at the manner of their defeat left the referee needing police protection, first to get past Mullery’s outburst and a later to get out of Chelsea’s ground through a mob of angry a Brighton fans.’
When asked by journalists j what he thought t of the Palace supporters’ goading, Mullery flung the five £1 note notes on the floor and declared: ‘So what? They are only Crystal Palace fans. They are not worth that.’
To realise how much Mullery was hated by Palace fans, one only has to look at what happened when he became their manager in 1982.
He said: ‘I regularly received abusive phone calls and anonymous letters at Palace,’ he remembers. ‘OK, we had two disappointing seasons, finishing 15th and 18th in the Second Division, but nothing could justify some of the filth directed at me. I found the constant abuse very difficult to deal with. Threats eventually turned to violence. As I walked to my car after a humiliating home defeat, a gang of Palace supporters attacked me. A friend helped to keep them at bay until the police arrived, but it was a nasty incident. It really scared me.’
In modern times, the ill-feeling is as strong as ever. Chris Waters, spokesman of Crystal Palace Supporters’ Trust, can recall bricks being thrown at fans as they were escorted by police to Falmer Station, next to the Amex Stadium, and a 12-foot steel wall having to be erected outside Selhurst Park to separate fans, only for fighting to break out at nearby Selhurst and Norwood Junction Stations.
‘If you’re not in it, you don’t understand,’ Waters said. ‘ We’re separated by more than 40 miles but it’s way stronger than the Millwall rivalry. In the 50s and 60s people point to Millwall, but 100 per cent Brighton are our main rivals now.
‘It’s the only game where your name is written on the ticket and you’ve got to provide ID on entry. A lot of people don’t realise how massive it is because it doesn’t make logical, geographical sense.’
Liz Costa, vice- chairman of Brighton Supporters’ Club, said: ‘It’s not just a rivalry, it’s bitter hatred. Sometimes the games are absolutely toxic.
‘At the Amex they put on special trains from Falmer Station so the Palace supporters don’t have to travel back via Brighton. There has been a lot of violence in the streets. The red mist always seems to appear.’