By Tim Hodges
The Albion play Newcastle at the Amex in the FA Cup this Saturday for the first time since 1986 when the two teams met in a 3rd round match. The Albion won 2-0 at St James’ Park.
The clubs had met in the 3rd round three years earlier and, after a 1-1 draw at the Goldstone, replayed in the north east the following Wednesday (12 January 1983).
Although then only a Championship (Division 2) club, the Magpies were clear favourites to knock their Premier League – yes, that’s the Albion – well, First Division, opponents out of the FA Cup.
History shows the Seagulls won 1-0 with Peter Ward scoring his last ever goal for the club.
But the legend of that night still lives on today in that fortysomething-plus generation, split by the length of the country.
The referee that night was 42-year-old Trelford Mills, from Barnsley.
Mills also refereed Kevin Keegan’s first game for Newcastle earlier that season. It was an emotional day for Keegan, who scored the winner against QPR.
FA Cup folklore tells us that in the last minutes of the 3rd round replay that January evening, referee Mills disallowed what would have been an equaliser from Keegan.
He had also disallowed another equaliser a while earlier.
Surely one of the bravest refereeing performances ever witnessed in the north east.
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of catching up with Trelford Mills, now 70. He briefly took me back to the mid 1980s.
“I was working hard in the match,” said Mills. “I remember Brighton went one up, then Imrie Varadi went through on goal, but quite clearly controlled the ball with his wrist.
“I think the Brighton keeper realised this, just as most of the players did, and let the ball go into the goal just to waste a bit of time.
“I just restarted with a free kick.
“In fact, I have spoken to Imrie since. I think he accepts my version now.”
Trelford then described his memory of the second disallowed goal.
He said: “Jeff Clarke managed to win a ball in the penalty area, but only because he had his arm around the defender’s neck (Michael Robinson). Keegan bundled the ball into the goal, but I had blown up a few seconds before it went in.”
“Keegan did his Mick Channon cartwheel arm in front of the Gallowgate end, but I just jogged across to where I wanted the free kick taken from and indicated as to why I had disallowed the goal.”
“When we sat in the dressing room after the match I remember chatting to one of my linesman, John Morley, when this police officer turns up. ‘You’d better hang on here a while, Trelford,’ he says. ‘There are 2,000 Geordies outside and they all want your autograph.'”
Eventually Mills and his assistants were given a police escort away from the stadium.
Nowadays he is the referees liaison officer on match days at Oakwell. He looks after the match officials and makes sure they receive the after-match DVD and also explains a bit about the history of the club and its surrounding area, including the colliery where his father used to work.
Mills refereed the 1987 FA Vase Final and joked that he thought they’d given him a Rugby League match, as St Helen’s beat Warrington 3-2 in one of the old Wembley’s lowest ever attendances.
His last match was Tottenham v Southampton in the old First Division in May 1990, reluctantly retiring at 48.
In one last quip, Mills recalled a match in 1987 at the Baseball Ground when Derby had beaten Plymouth to reach the old Division 1.
After the game, Derby assistant boss Roy McFarland came in to the referees room and presented him with a spare bottle of champagne.
“Did Arthur (Cox) not want to bring it in?” Mills asked. “Oh no, Trelford,” replied McFarland.
Arthur Cox was the manager of Newcastle United on 12 January 1983.
Trelford still has the empty bottle in his trophey cabinet.
I remember standing on the West Stand terrace of the Goldstone in 1983-4 season, when the Albion were back in Division 2 and playing Newcastle.
The ref that day was being quite generous to the Albion.
A Geordie voice behind me chirped: “It’s not that man Mills again, is it?”
It was a pleasure to talk to the referee who was once the bravest man on Tyneside.
My recollection was somewhat different – two good goals disallowed by a referee who loved being on the back page of the papers.
Mills cheated a lower division team out of FA Cup glory that night with two incompetent decisions.
It would have been a pleasure for a Brighton supporter to meet the man who cheated Newcastle out of a place in the next round of the FA Cup with two poor decisions to disallow two perfectly good goals. Of course it also would have re-written the history books had those two goals been allowed because Brighton wouldn’t have reached the FA Cup Final that season.
My recollection of that night was a highly inept performance from the ref and a 2nd division team being denied a great night knocking out a team from the 1st division. Mills even today is not forgiven for that disgraceful performance.