"I'm a nice man, but I had a bad attitude during my time as a player which I regret." Words from Jimmy Collins who led the Albion to a Fourth Division title triumph in 1965.

Midfielder Collins was considered The General of the Championship-winning side and hit 17 goals during the season.

But he did not go out of his way to top the popularity charts during his five-year spell at the Goldstone.

Collins, who joined from Tottenham for £9,000 in 1962, said: "I was a bit of a Jack The Lad when I came.

"Arriving from Spurs after they just won the Double to a much smaller set-up was a bit of a culture shock.

"Some of the players were dreadful and I made myself unpopular by letting them know I thought they were no good.

"They had some good ones, of course, like Roy Jennings and Jack Bertolini, but I found the style in which the team played such a contrast to the good passing and movement they played at Spurs.

"Albion just hoofed it and chased after the ball a bit in the Wimbledon style. It upset me."

Collins confessed he even had punch ups behind the scenes with team-mates.

He said: "I had two or three fights, one was with Jimmy Cooper, another with Wally Gould. I also had one with Tony Marchi when I was at Spurs. They all occured during five-a-sides. I had a bit of a temper.

"I was a bit of a miserable little so and so. I was always moaning and snapping at my team-mates on the field and was probably made captain because I had the biggest mouth. I was anti-establishment, a rebel.

"I regret being like that. It's not nice to make yourself unpopular and it meant I didn't enjoy my football like I should have done.

"I've now become more tolerant."

Collins also admitted that he enjoyed a drink.

He said: "I was keen on off-the-field action. I sought out the nearest pub. I had, as I've said, a bad attitude.

"I could have carried on playing for a few years longer with the way players look after themselves today. Just look at the way Teddy Sheringham and Dennis Wise, in their mid thirties, are still in the Premiership."

A Hove girl put him on the straight and narrow in time to guide Albion to their title triumph.

He said: "If I hadn't have met Wendy I'd have ended up a fat alcoholic blob. She straightened me out. Meeting and marrying Wendy was the best thing I ever did."

The inside right was an integral part of Albion's goal-scoring machine which netted 102 League goals as it clinched the crown.

Besides Collins, Wally Gould (21), Bobby Smith (20), Jack Smith (18), Johnny Goodchild (10) and Bill Cassidy (10) reached double figures.

He said: "I don't think that will ever happen again. It was unbelievable. I remember I got the first goal against Barrow and the hundredth, thanks to the lay off by Bobby Smith, against Darlington."

Collins, Smith and Mel Hopkins, who lives at Shoreham Beach, were all part of the former Spurs club at the Goldstone under manager Archie Macaulay.

Collins said: "Archie did a good job and it was an exciting season.

"I remember he turfed me out of a snooker hall once. He didn't like his players in snooker halls. I think he became a traffic warden."

But Collins, with first team games limited at White Hart Lane as understudy to John White, joined Albion because he was taken by Macaulay's predecessor George Curtis.

He said: "George was a bit of a flash character and that's why I liked him. When we met to discuss the move, he rolled up a copy of the Daily Mirror and showed me how one of the Hungarian stars of the time, Hideguti, did a trick. That convinced me to come."

Collins made 221 appearances for Albion, scoring 48 goals, and was impressed with the support.

He said: "I'd played in front of 64,000 at Hampden Park when I was an amateur with Lugar Boswell Thistle in a Scottish Cup final, and, of course, Spurs had good gates. But Brighton had big crowds for a club in the lower divisions and I find it difficult to go past where the Goldstone used to be and see Toys 'R' Us in its place."

Collins was training to become a bricklayer when Spurs signed him for £1,000 in 1956.

But Collins, who lives in Shoreham, never went back to the trade. Now he is happy to do a couple of days a week as a ceramic tiler.

He said: "I've settled down a bit these days from when I was a rebel. I have two lovely daughters, Georgina and Jodi, and been married to Wendy for 37 years."

But Albion fans will never forget the fiery Scot who snapped his verbal barbs at team-mates and helped inspire the club to one of their greatest ever seasons.