Steve Penney has never really missed playing football.

He is happy with his decision to admit defeat to injury at the age of 29 and glad he did not persevere longer through pain.

He enjoys life in Northern Ireland, running an optician’s practice with his wife, playing golf and sharing in the progress of their three daughters.

But the man voted by our readers as the greatest right winger Albion have ever had admits to one occasion when he wished he was still playing.

And that was in April when he made his first visit to the Amex.

Penney, a big Goldstone favourite in the 1980s, did not feel any emotion as he drove past the site of his old home ground. But the Amex experience got him.

“When I saw the new stadium, and the pitch, it was the first time since I gave up playing that I thought ‘I’d love to be out there’,” he told The Argus.

“It was that good. I just looked at that pitch. Imagine running on that.

“The bottom end at the Goldstone was often wet and heavy, which wasn’t ideal from a ball player’s point of view.

“I actually thought Brighton looked quite good in the game I saw against Watford.

“I had a great day. I saw a lot of old friends, including Gary Chivers and Andy Rollings.

“I half thought people wouldn’t remember me but they did. I had kids coming up saying ‘you were my mum’s favourite player’, things like that.

“l really didn’t feel anything when we drove around the site of the old ground. I knew what to expect. Anyway, my view is that things move on. Brighton have got a great stadium now.

“I just showed the friends I was with where the ground used to be and we drove on.”

Penney is certainly remembered. The man voted by readers into our all-time Albion XI in 2005 has done it again a decade on.

His closest challenger was another Irishman from yesteryear, Gerry Ryan.

Long-standing favourite Tony Towner and Will Buckley, a star from the Amex era who is now playing in the Premier League, came joint third.

Penney still remembers watching the 1983 FA Cup final, between Albion and Manchester United, on television back home in Ballymena.

By the early stages of the following season, he was wearing blue and white.

He said: “If you ask my highlight, it was playing alongside guys who had just been in the Cup final.

“The social side was good, I was a young lad in Brighton, I was playing well, I could hardly believe I was a professional footballer and I thought it would last forever.

“I’ve always kept track of Brighton. I was so pleased they were safe by the time I came over in April because I didn’t want to be there for a relegation battle.”

Penney made 138 league appearances in eight injury-affected years for Albion and had two games with Northern Ireland at the 1986 World Cup among his 17 caps.

He took an insurance payout because of his battered knees and set up a practice with his wife, a qualified optician.

HOW YOU VOTED

  • Steve Penney 22%
  • Gerry Ryan 18%
  • Will Buckley 13%
  • Tony Towner 13%
  • Wally Gould 11%
  • Gary Hart 9%
  • David Lopez 4%
  • Stuart Storer 4%
  • Others 6%

The 51–year-old said: “Having to retire was quite traumatic but it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened because the business is successful.

“Another two or three years of trying to battle on and maybe it wouldn’t have worked out so well.

“I’ve got no regrets. The injuries have had no lasting effects. When I walk upstairs I can maybe hear a slight crunching sound from the knee but that’s all.”

The ‘no regrets’ approach includes not quite making it to the top-flight. And missing out on a move to Crystal Palace.

He explained: “I spoke to their manager Steve Coppell a couple of times. I met him at the Gatwick Hilton. I think Palace offered £125,000 and Brighton wanted more.

“Just before that we had beaten them 3-0 and I’d been man of the match, got a couple of goals.

“But it never went through. I think their chairman Ron Noades was concerned about my knees.

“I know they are the arch enemy but Steve Coppell knows about right wingers so it was nice to know he appreciated me.”

He wasn’t the only one.