Former Albion keeper celebrates his 90th birthday

Former goalkeeper Eric Gill was the Albion’s first choice shot stopper during their 1957-58 promotion winning season.

The 90-year-old reached the milestone on Tuesday and marked the occasion with a small family celebration before the new coronavirus lockdown came into force.

Eric, who now lives in Peacehaven, played in a record-breaking 247 consecutive matches for The Seagulls between 1953 and 1958.

But it is the Albion’s promotion from the Third Division South to the Second Division that Eric remembers most fondly.

He said: “The best time was when we won promotion, they’d never won promotion ever before.

“There were big celebrations and an open top bus through the town. It was wonderful because the players were all up on the top and everywhere we went everybody was cheering.

“It was quite unusual, but it was certainly nice because it was the first time they had won promotion so it was very special all round.”

While we are now used to hearing news of players signing for huge sums and earning enormous wages, things could not have been more different in Eric’s day.

The goalie signed for just £400 and his wages were capped at £20 a week, but he said he enjoyed playing “just as much as they do now.”

He told The Argus: “I played for 20 years and if I’d have been playing for 20 years now, I’d be a very rich man.”

“But it’s like everything else, it changes. The game is a lot quicker now of course, and I think the players are fitter than they used to be.

“There’s all this modern technology that they’ve got, and I think they’re looked after much better than we were in the old days.”

During Eric’s time at the Albion, the team played at the now demolished Goldstone ground in Hove.

He said: “When Brighton was going for promotion, a period of about two years, the crowds were really good.

“I can remember passing the kids down and sitting them on the track round the ground.

“Look at the difference between the Goldstone ground and The Amex, it’s absolutely wonderful.

After leaving Brighton, Eric went on to make 225 appearances in the Southern League for Guildford City But he said Albion’s results are always the first he checks after a game.