In a poignant week when football said farewell to Gordon Lee, Brian Horton raised a glass to the manager who signed him for a pint of shandy.
Lee, the former Newcastle, Everton and Blackburn boss, passed away at the age of 87 on Tuesday, leaving a treasure trove of experience and fond memories spanning five decades in some of the game's hotbeds.
More than half a century ago, when Lee had taken over from Stanley Matthew s as Port Vale manager, the club was skint and he had to rebuild the side from free transfers and non-League bargains.
Horton, the son of a Staffordshire miner, was catching the eye in Hednesford Town's midfield when Lee took his 10-year-old son Gary on a scouting mission to watch the Pitmen.
What happened next is one of football's great transfer coups.
“Before he joined Aston Villa, Gordon had played for Hednesford and he continued to follow the club's fortunes,” said Horton.
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“Although Port Vale had just won promotion to the Third Division they had no money, and there was no question of a transfer fee changing hands if they wanted to sign me.
“But Gordon told the club secretary at Hednesford that he would buy him a pint of shandy from the club bar 'to make it worth your while' - so the story Gordon always told was that I had been sold for a pint of shandy.”
To spend an hour talking football with Horton, now 73, is like listening to the soundtrack of your lifetime.
As a player, manager and assistant, his career spanned more than 2,000 games* at professional level – only Sir Alex Ferguson and Graham Turner are thought to have clocked up as many shifts at the coalface.
Horton captained the Luton side who won a dramatic shoot-out at Maine Road on the last day of the season in 1983 to relegate Manchester City.
Raddy Antic's last-gasp winner, and Hatters boss David Pleat's uncoordinated jig across the pitch in his beige suit, sent the Kippax into mourning, but Horton was soon forgiven when he returned as City boss 10 years later.
“I didn't get much flak – City supporters were always great with me,” he said. “I wanted to play attacking football, and when I go back now they still recall a game where we beat Tottenham 5-2 when Ossie Ardiles was Spurs manager.
“The last time I’d faced Ossie, managing Oxford against Newcastle, we had also won 5-2 and he had been sacked the next day. And unfortunately for him, history repeated itself: Same scoreline, and he only lasted two more matches before his chairman, Alan Sugar, fired him.
“John Motson, who has seen lots of memorable games, once told me it was one of the best he had ever commentated on.”
Horton remains so revered at City that when he went to a dinner to celebrate Vincent Kompany's contribution to the Blue Moon's rise on his 70th birthday, a well-wisher appeared over his shoulder towards midnight to acknowledge his three-score and 10.
“I turned round and it was Pep Guardiola, wishing me a happy birthday,” said the man known as 'Nobby' (because a former team-mate at Hednesford compared his playing style with England 1966 World Cup hero Nobby Stiles).
“How cool is that? I was almost starstruck – but I asked if I could come and watch one of his training sessions, and he was happy to oblige until the pandemic got in the way. But it's something I would still love to do – you're never too old to learn in this game.”
Horton also featured in one of the opposition's most memorable moments at the Etihad – as assistant when former Hull manager Phil Brown put his team in detention and held his half-time pep talk on the pitch in December 2008.
He said: “I had been up in the stands, connected to the dugout by one of those radio earpieces, and I was making my way down at the break when Phil told me 'I'm going to keep them on the pitch.'
“I said, 'You what?' But, look, as a manager you only have seconds to make decisions – and you have to go with your gut feeling, as long as you can live with the consequences.
“To be fair, we were 4-0 down and getting hammered in front of about 5,000 travelling fans. And the following year, when Jimmy Bullard scored at the same end and we drew 1-1, unknown to us he had organised a goal celebration where he sat the players around him and he pointed at them like Phil had.”
The inquest wasn't as public, or as serious, when Horton took charge of a Port Vale XI at long-serving striker Foyle's testimonial and found a guest player puffing on a cigarette in the showers before kick-off.
Apologising profusely, the celebrity explained he was out of his comfort zone and felt more nervous than playing in front of 80,000 fans at Knebworth.
Robbie Williams never quite made the grade as a footballer. But he could sing a bit.
*Two Thousand Games: A Life In Football, by Brian Horton with Tim Rich (Pitch Publishing)
