MOLANGO’S BRIGHT BOW

HOPEFULLY when Maheta Molango succeeds Gordon Taylor as the PFA’s chief his impact there can endure longer than his very brief success as a player.

Swiss-born striker Molango (right) exploded onto the English football stage, scoring on his debut for Brighton after just 12 seconds.

Safe to say that’s as good as it got. The Seagulls were soon rueing the decision by chairman Dick Knight and manager Mark McGhee back in 2004 to reward a player plucked from the lower German leagues with a threeyear contract.

“He needed to toughen up. He was getting knocked about in training,” said McGhee, who had been deceived by the then 21-year-old scoring four goals in three pre-season games against Woking, Weymouth and Crawley Town.

“No one can take away that goal against Reading inside the first minute on his debut. He took it really well,” recalled Knight.

Molango, 38, only made another five appearances for the club before being farmed out on loan.

Knight added: “He might not have had a distinguished playing career but you could see as a person he was very bright. He had a presence.” Molango’s loan tour involved Lincoln City, Spanish side UB Conquense, Oldham Athletic and

Wrexham – whose manager at the time Denis Smith admitted last week that he was struggling to remember the four games the next PFA Chief Executive played under him.

It was left to Dean Wilkins, who had taken over as Brighton boss, to finally end his time as a Seagulls forward.

He stated: “I did sympathise with him greatly because he got offered a long contract for somebody with such inexperience, and was never able to make the breakthrough. It was very difficult for him.”

A move to Grays Athletic failed to work out, Molanga playing a handful of games before heading off to Spain, where he trained as a lawyer specialising in sport.

“He was a very bright guy and was fluent in five languages,” said Knight. “I think the PFA have made a very shrewd appointment.”