Mullery was a big hit as Albion boss

Mullery said: "I actually hit one of my Fulham team-mates when we were playing Brighton. Mike was impressed that I was so keen to win and thought it would be a good idea if I became the manager."

His appointment heralded a golden age for Seagulls when they paraded international players and competed with the best following two promotions in three seasons to reach the old First Division.

But the closest Mullery came to assault as a manager was one soggy, snowy, midweek night at the Goldstone at the beginning of his renaissance work.

He said: "I remember it well. It started with a phone call from Glen Wilson, who was our kit man at the time, saying it was snowing and the club didn't have any orange footballs. I couldn't believe it and went to a local sports shop in Surrey where I lived at the time and brought some down.

"But I wasn't smiling later on. There were 14-15,000 inside the Goldstone for the Third Division match against Walsall of which two-thirds were uncovered and the fans were standing there getting soaked in diabolical conditions.

They watched a terrible first half which was like a practice match. We got to their 18-yard line and gave the ball away and they did likewise at the other end.

"At half-time the team were about to have some tea, but I threw all the tea cups up the wall and sent the players out into the centre circle to stand in the snow and rain and feel what the fans were feeling. Within 25 minutes they'd scored seven goals, with Peter Ward getting four and Ian Mellor three."

It was part of Mullery's managerial style. He said: "I was very strict. I had some strong characters but there was a structure and I would forgive one mistake but not two. You have to instill discipline."

But Mullery also kept his door open to players. He said: "We developed a terrific camaraderie."

Success in his first spell, which lasted from 1976 to 1981, was built on the Little and Large act of Ward and Mellor he established on his first day in what was his first job in management.

He said: "When I got the job I knew a few of the players by sight and had played against a couple but I didn't know them personally. I didn't have a clue what anybody was like at Brighton.

"So I asked Ken Gutteridge, a coach at the time who had come down from Derby with my predecessor Peter Taylor, to arrange three half-hour games and make sure one side was the one that nearly won promotion the previous season, including Fred Binney, who had scored 20- odd goals.

"On the other side there was this skinny lad who didn't weigh nine-and-a-half stone dripping wet. Within half-an-hour he'd scored three goals. I turned to Ken and asked who he was and he told me it was Wardy who had got into the side at the end of the previous season and scored five goals in eight games. I told him to take Binney out and stick this lad in and he scored three more after another 30 minutes to make it six in an hour.

"He had a wonderful ability to beat people and score goals, with terrific pace over the first ten yards.

"I put Ian Mellor up front to join him and pushed Steve Piper into midfield in his place.

"Ian had played left side midfield for many years and I thought he was wasted. He was a big gangly lad who could hold the ball up and had tremendous pace. It was a little and large combination.

"It just clicked and fell into place on the first day and we had a tremendous season and got promoted. Wardy scored a record 36 goals, he was phenomenal, and Ian scored around 20 and he'd never done that in his life."

Mullery also had the motivational skills of captain Brian Horton, who went onto to manage the club in the Nineties.

He said: "I arrived at Brighton with a playing attitude. I could still play because I was only 34, but I didn't need to because Brian was my manager on the field. He had this terrific respect of the players.

"Brian used to come into my office if there was a problem and I told him to go out there and sort it out and he did."

But to build a side fit for the top required money and Bamber was forthcoming.

Mullery said: "He could see the potential with 30,000 crowds when we were in the Third Division we even had 20,000 at one reserve game, and he gave me £3.5 million to spend, which was a tremendous amount of money in those days.

"I went out and bought Mark Lawrenson, Gary Williams, Steve Foster, Neil McNab, Gordon Smith, Michael Robinson and Andy Ritchie. Most of them were internationals. The only way you improve is to have good players."

Mullery believes that Lawrenson was his best signing.

He said: "We outbid Liverpool to get him. I phoned the Preston manager, Harry Catterick, and he told me Liverpool had offered £75,000. Mark was only 19 but when I told Mike he said: 'offer £100,00'. "Liverpool weren't prepared to up their bid so we got him and four years later we sold him for a million."

But the sale marked another dip in his roller coaster relationship with Bamber.

He said: "I didn't want to sell Mark but was told the club needed the money to pay an overdraft. I'd had four or five First Division clubs on the phone most Fridays wanting to know if he was available and when I was told about our money situation I phoned up Ron Atkinson and sold him to Manchester United. The only trouble was Mike sold him to Liverpool which is where he eventually went."

Mullery's return five years later was a marked contrast and lasted just eight months. He said: "It was a nightmare scenario because people thought I was a miracle worker."