A FORMER Brighton and Hove Albion star has backed a book about the club's time at Goldstone Ground.

John Templeman, who played 226 times for The Albion, has given his personal seal of approval by posing with the book, even wearing his 1969 shirt.

The book, entitled Wet Socks and Dry Bones, explores the lives of 50 Brighton and Hove Albion players who graced the Goldstone Ground.

Nic Outterside's 300-page book was inspired by WP Kinsella’s baseball classic Shoeless Joe, which in turn inspired the Hollywood movie Field of Dreams.

Wet Socks and Dry Bones chronologically tells the stories of past players to have played at Brighton’s former stadium.

The Argus: Former Albion John Templeman star has given his seal of approval for new Wet Socks and Dry Bones bookFormer Albion John Templeman star has given his seal of approval for new Wet Socks and Dry Bones book

The book features players from Arthur Hulme, who played for The Albion from 1902 to 1909, to Paul McCarthy, who played in the blue and white stripes between 1988 and 1996 – just a year before the Goldstone Ground was demolished.

Writer and publisher Nic has followed The Albion for 54 years, having attended his first match in September 1967.

His last book about football, Death In Grimsby, was published in 2019 and became an Amazon best seller.

“It was while finishing that book that the blinding flash of light took place, which led me here,” Nic said.

“The moment was Monday, 1st April 2019 - the day I heard the news that my boyhood Brighton and Hove Albion hero Kit Napier had died just 12 hours earlier at his home in Durban, South Africa, aged 75.

“There was a loud howl inside my head, as if part of my own life was gone. I was an impressionable 11-year-old kid in 1967 when I first saw Kit play, and for me, he was everything you wanted from a football hero and like all childhood heroes, I thought he would live forever.”

The Argus: The Goldstone GroundThe Goldstone Ground

Nic said he came up with the idea for the new book after realising that several stars from the Goldstone Ground era had passed away.

“They were now all ghosts of the Goldstone’s Field of Dreams and in something akin to Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe, I believed this was our moment in time to bring our ghosts home,” he added.

After meeting at the launch of Death in Grimsby, John offered to contribute to Nic’s new book.

“The book was a lot of fun,” Nic added, “But it was given an extra something special by John’s funny personal stories about Brian Bromley and Alex Dawson, away from just playing football. I am forever in his debt.”

The Argus: Former Albion star John Templeman with the new Wet Socks and Dry Bones book Former Albion star John Templeman with the new Wet Socks and Dry Bones book

John, now aged 73, played for Brighton and Hove Albion between 1966 and 1974, scoring 16 goals.

He went on to play a further 227 games for Exeter City and Swindon Town, before retiring in 1980.

He still lives in West Sussex and has a season ticket at the Amex.

Wet Socks and Dry Bones in paperback is priced £11.99, while the Kindle edition is priced at £3.99.