Tony Vessey only played one match for Albion but it was a day he will never forget.

Tucked in alongside Steve Foster, with Gary Stevens to his right, Mark Lawrenson and Brian Horton in front of him and Michael Robinson further forward, Vessey made his debut on March 7, 1981.

The match was in the old First Division and Albion ran out 4-1 winners against Coventry City.

Another day Vessey will not forget is a certain date in June, 1981 - the day Alan Mullery resigned as Seagulls boss.

Mullery's successor, Mike Bailey, never really rated Vessey. He gave him a free transfer the following season, Vessey went to play in Sweden and in doing so waved goodbye to his Football League career.

Vessey, now 39 and working as an independent financial advisor in Hove, reflected: "If Mullers had still been there, I might have still been there.

"But if anybody had picked their time to be at Brighton, those three or four years I had would have been that time."

Born in Derby, Vessey was playing for Derby Boys and a Sunday side when he first came to Albion's attention.

He explained: "I was spotted by a scout on a Sunday morning when I was 14.

"I came down for a trial and signed schoolboy forms after that trial. It led to being an apprentice in 1978. I signed pro in 1979 and was a regular in the reserves.

"It was great. In my first year as an apprentice we got promoted from the old Second Division to the First Division.

"It was a great time to be around. It was the best time the club has ever had. We had such a good side and a great atmosphere."

A tall centre back, Vessey's progress in the reserves was sufficient that by the 1980-81 season he was pushing for a place in the first team.

"I had been playing well in the reserves. On the Tuesday the week before my debut I was sub against Southampton at home. I didn't get on but we won 2-0. I went with the squad to Norwich the following Saturday but wasn't involved," he said.

"We had a number of injuries. John Gregory failed a fitness test on the Friday and I knew on the Friday afternoon I was going to be playing.

"I was a bit nervous but that is what you are in the game for."

Despite wearing the No. 11 shirt, Vessey partnered Steve Foster in the centre of Albion's defence for the visit of Coventry.

He recalled: "It was wet, cold and quite muddy and it was a pretty even game. I wasn't overly pleased with the way I was playing. I thought I could have done better.

"We went 2-1 up. They had Tom English and Gary Thompson up front. I held my own reasonably well.

"Mark Lawrenson was playing in midfield and Gerry Ryan was on the bench. We were winning 2-1 with 20 minutes left and we were under pressure. It was the natural thing for Mullers to pull me off. He did that, put Lawrenson at the back and Gerry Ryan came on in midfield.

"Fozzie really helped me a lot and we had Brian Horton in midfield. So, I had a lot of experience around me.

"We had Mike Robinson and Andy Ritchie up front, Neil McNab in midfield and Gary Stevens at rightback. It wasn't a bad side to say the least."

Vessey was not to know but those 70 minutes marked the start and finish of his first team career. The shock departure of Mullery three months later effectively spelt the end of his time at the club.

With an injury doubt over Foster, he appeared on the teamsheet as a substitute against Everton at Goodison Park in the September of Bailey's first season in charge but he did not get on and was never called up to the squad again.

Vessey said: "It was downhill from there. Jimmy Melia was club scout at the time. He fixed me up with a trial in Sweden. I had that trial and they came back and wanted to sign me.

"I had been on the list for a free transfer for a couple of months, there had been no interest so I thought, why not?"

Vessey spent seven months with a team called Vasalund but, being away from the English game for that period, he found it difficult to get fixed up with another League club when he returned. A trial with Cardiff City proved unsuccessful and he drifted into the non-league game.

After a short spell at Steyning Town, he spent four seasons at Worthing where Barry Lloyd had assembled an excellent side.

However, another change of manager, this time with Lloyd moving to the Albion to work initially alongside the returning Mullery, signalled the beginning of the end for those good times at Woodside Road.

Crawley Town was his next port of call and in 1992 he was captain of the Reds side which lost 5-0 to the Albion in the third round of the FA Cup at The Goldstone.

It was a memorable, not to mention a proud, moment.

Vessey said: "It was great because there were four or five of us in the side who had been at the Albion before. To go back there in the third round of the FA Cup and to get the crowd we had there was tremendous. I think they are still record gate receipts for the club."

There was success in the Sussex Senior Cup and then Vessey took over as manager in 1994, after a spell as caretaker. However, that lasted just a matter of months due to Vessey's work commitments.

He continued to turn out as a player for Crawley for a while before winding down his career with a short but successful stint in the County League with Burgess Hill.

These days, Vessey has no involvement with football and watches few matches.

He works for Hunter Hammond in Hove, after being introduced to them by Paul Hammond, the former Littlehampton manager.

He said: "I still look out for the results but I have not been to many games. I have a daughter who is now two-and-a-half and she takes up quite a lot of my time.

"I have been to see Crawley in pre-season and I watched a game at Lewes.

"Once you have been out of the game for two or three years it is difficult to get back in but I will not say it will never happen."

As for the Seagulls, Vessey believes they are in safe hands. He said: "It all seems to be coming into place. Peter Taylor is an excellent appointment. I played against him when he was player-manager of Dartford and his whole attitude even at that level was very professional. He has gone on in leaps and bounds from there.

"They just need to get the ground to fall into place and hopefully the manager and the chairman will take them on. Who knows whether the Premier League will follow but they are heading in the right direction."

Now happily settled in Sussex, Vessey admits he never envisaged moving back to Derby.

It is a salient point that if Vessey had arrived in Brighton a few years later than he did, when Albion had begun to fall from grace, he may have enjoyed a more extensive League career with the club. But Vessey admits football is "all about ifs and buts".

He said: "My one regret was that the year Alan Mullery left he offered me a new one-year contract and I went in for more money.

"If I had gone in for a two-year contract I may have seen off Mike Bailey.

"But I have played in the equivalent of the Premiership and that is the ultimate thing for a footballer."