With Albion heading to defeat by Swansea City on October 31, 1995, manager Liam Brady looked to his bench.

He opted to send on Jimmy Case for defender Stuart Tuck but even the former Liverpool star could not head off the Halloween horror of a 2-0 reverse before 4,230 at the Goldstone.

That turned out to be the final appearance by Case in a long and distinguished career which saw him win honours in England and Europe with the Reds and help the Seagulls to their only FA Cup final.

He announced his retirement ten days later.

It was also the last time Albion fielded a player who was older than the boss. Until this season.

Brady was 39, Case was 41.

You do not have to be that age now to be older than your head coach, as a handful of current Seagulls have shown.

Nor do you have to be in the final stages of your career.

Danny Welbeck, for example, is looking fitter and stronger than ever a month short of his 34th birthday.

And that fact was brought up again yesterday as Huerzeler took questions at his customary press conference ahead of the Premier League weekend.

Huerzeler said: “I am not surprised, no, because I see him working every day and he’s a special character, a special player.

“I already mentioned this a lot of times how important he is not only for the club, but also for me and for his team-mates.

“And that’s why I’m not surprised, because I’m always convinced if you work hard, if you have a passion for something, if you are disciplined and are passionate for something, then you will be successful in the long term and you get what you deserve and at the moment he gets what he deserves.”

Welbeck’s experience and his defensive effort from the front will both be key at St James’ Park.

Huerzeler has spoken about Albion needing to calm things down defensively after a run of four games, in league and cup, which has seen them score ten and concede ten.

The fact he says that starts from the front is not a negative reflection on Welbeck, whose work-rate has been impressive.

And he is also calling for a balance between emotional heads and cool heads amid what can be an impressive atmosphere at Newcastle.

The Seagulls boss raised a smile or two when he rated the atmosphere at St James’ Park as the second best in the Prem – behind the Amex!

But there will be the customary big build-up to this game and we know how loud the Gordies can be – and that they can be subdued.

Hurzeler said: “We are really looking forward to going there. It will be a big challenge for sure. It will be intense.

“It’s important to have a cool head there.

“It will be emotional and I think emotions are important for a football game, but in the most important moments, you have to stay calm and you have to think rationally without emotions.

“That’s why it will be a mix between having a cool head and an emotional head.

“Trusting the player’s own quality, trusting the process, focussing on the things you can control, focus on the small things. Then you will gain your self-confidence.

“That will be the challenge for the Newcastle game.

“It will be a fight, you have to work for the game.

“You have to work for the momentum and you work for it by winning duels.

“You have to go into the duels and you have to win them. You have to be ruthless.

“Then when you win the duels, you can gain self-confidence and then you will get the momentum and then also the quality. from us.”

The older heads will be key. Back in the mid-1990s, the Case/Brady combination happened on many occasions.

Prior to that, club historian Tim Carder can only see one similar pairing since the war.

That was in November, 1947, when Don Welsh (36) fielded 38-year-old Bert Stephens.

Tim said: “There were also quite a few such cases early on under Charlie Webb, but we don’t have all the dates of birth from that era.”