Brighton win promotion to the First Division, 1979

It was Saturday 5th May 1979 and Albion had the long trip to the North East they had missed promotion the season before, losing on goal difference to Tottenham. This time destiny was in their own hands: they had to beat Newcastle United away. The weather was weird on the day of the match. It was sunny, it rained and it snowed. They went crash, bang, wallop and were three up by half-time. Brian Horton scored the first with a header, Peter Ward the second and Gerry Ryan the third to calm Brighton nerves, but not those of the manager Alan Mullery.

Going in at half-time, Mullery was screaming and going crazy. You would have thought they were losing 3-0. Brian Horton said to him: Boss, we’re winning. Relax. Newcastle scored a goal in the second half, but it was never going to be enough. Cue the celebration.

Peter Ward was on the last train out of Newcastle heading to the south coast. So was his captain Brian Horton and the rest of a triumphant team. The Seagulls were in a mood to celebrate as they boarded the Pullman Brighton Belle carriage on a special train with 12 coaches filled with fans.

It was like a party the whole way home as the team mingled with the fans, the most amazing thing is that when they arrived in Brighton at about one o’clock in the morning and fell out of the train, there were 2,000 fans waiting at the station to meet them.

They had won promotion to the First Division on the last day of the season and they were rewarded with a trip to America.

There was one sour note, though. “When we were on the plane,” the captain announced that our fiercest rivals Crystal Palace had won the league. Palace with a game in hand beat Burnley to pip Brighton to the title by one point.