A FORMER Albion manager has died at the age of 88.

George Petchey, who played 400 league games at West Ham, QPR and Crystal Palace, had spells for the Seagulls between 1983 and 1986 and again between 1994 and 1996.

Tim Carder, historian at the club, said Petchey was not a manager in the normal sense.

He said: “At the Albion, George was employed 1983 to 1986 as, first, youth development officer before becoming first-team coach/assistant manager in November 1984 under manager Chris Cattlin.

“Cattlin was sacked just before the end of the 1985/86 season with one game remaining.

“George became caretaker manager for that one game, a 2-0 defeat away to Hull City in Division Two (now the Championship) on May 2, 1986. However, he left the club shortly after when Alan Mullery was reappointed manager.

“His second stint with the club came in January 1994, when he was again appointed youth development officer by new manager Liam Brady.

“However, in November 1995 Brady resigned amid the chaos following the sale of the Goldstone ground.

“The coach, Jimmy Case, was appointed manager and he appointed George as his assistant. The club fell like a stone into the bottom division (now League Two) and to the bottom of it amid utter chaos and supporter demonstrations. Case was sacked in December 1996 and George was again put in charge as a caretaker manager. However, no games were played during his week in charge.

“Steve Gritt was appointed manager and brought in his own assistant, Jeff Wood. George left the club, but returned about a month later to assist with the youth development work on a voluntary basis.”

Petchey had previously spent six years at Leyton Orient, where Laurie Cunningham was among those to benefit from his eagerness to develop young talent.

Cunningham would go on to represent England and become the first Englishman to play for Real Madrid.

A minute’s applause will be observed prior to kick off before Leyton Orient’s fixture against Northampton Town today.

Petchey later held roles at Chelsea and Newcastle.

He was also at Millwall for six years.

A club statement said: “Millwall Football Club is saddened to hear of the passing of former manager George Petchey.”

His family said he died peacefully at home on December 23 and his funeral was held in Brighton last week.

A statement read: “A dearly loved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather who will be sadly missed by us all. God bless.”