Basil Bright

Basil Bright (born 1932) is a Welsh former professional footballer and manager, who featured for Stoke City but is most closely associated with Barry Town, where he holds the record for most points won as manager.

Playing career

Bright was born in Cwmfelinfach in 1932, and soon after leaving school was employed as backroom staff by Ipswich Town at their Portman Road ground. Bright first came to Barry Town at the end of the 1950–51 season playing a handful of games for the club, and actually scored a debut goal in the 4–2 loss at home to Worcester City.

After this brief experience, he signed pro forms for Stoke City during summer 1951 and went on to play nineteen times for Stoke City's Central League team during the 1951–52 season. When Stoke's long-serving manager Bob McGory finally left the club after 17 years in charge in May 1952, Bright was released.

Bright then trialled for two months with Tottenham Hotspur, but soon found himself getting interest at Ninian Park. When Bright could not agree terms with the Bluebirds, Barry Town (under the management of Bill Jones), stepped in to snap up the promising 20-year-old.

Looking forward to developing the youngster, few would foresee that Bright would be associated with the club as a player, player-manager, and manager for a further 26 years! A career that would take him from the peak of Barry Town's highest achievement, to the depths of its worst ever season on record.

On re-joining the club in November 1952, Bright made his second Barry debut as a right-half away at Tonbridge where he scored in the 5–2 win for the Linnets. His home debut came a week later when Barry Town entertained Gravesend & Northfleet at Jenner Park, a game dominated by a Stan Richards hat-trick in another 5–2 win for the Linnets. Bright eventually got his Jenner Park debut goal in yet another 5–2 victory, this time against Lovell's Athletic.

Towns biggest game for some time was missed by Bright because of injury, a game which saw over 9,000 spectators swell Jenner Park for a 6th Round tie to Cardiff City, which Town lost 3–2. However, Bright did make 20 appearances throughout the season, and played his part in helping to record Barry Town's then biggest ever Southern League points haul of 47. He also featured in the 3–0 South Wales and Monmouthshire Cup Final victory over Cardiff City Reserves in front of 4,500 fans.

Bright's first full season in 1953–54 saw him clock up 52 first team appearances in a season that saw Town reach the heady heights of 7th in the Southern League, and also notch up 100 goals in a season for the first time. This achievement came from the boots of Stan Richards, Bryn Allen, Jim McGhee and to a lesser extent Derek Tapscott who was transferred to Arsenal for £8,000 earlier in the season. The season ended with a friendly against IFK Stockholm, the first overseas visitors to Jenner Park.

More firsts came the following season when Barry Town lifted the Welsh Cup for the first time in May 1955 when the Linnets beat Chester City in a replayed Cup Final at Ninian Park. Town also had an excellent end to a good season which saw them again finish 7th in the League on an equal record points tally of 47. The bad times though, were just around the corner.

The late 1950s saw a slump in form and in crowd attendances which severely affected cash flow at the club but the occasional big game did swell the coffers from time to time. A testimonial for fellow Linnet Bill Bellas saw Bright and the Barry Town squad face an Allstar XI which featured amongst others Alf Sherwood, Ivor Allchurch, Dai Ward, Mel Charles, and the most publicised player in Britain; John Charles.

The services of ex-Cardiff City striker Neil O'Halloran for 1959–60 ultimately did little to lift Barry Town away from the league's basement placings and Town were relegated out of the Southern Leagues Premier Division, a status the club would never get back. Highlights throughout the desperate 1960s were few, but worth a mention is Barry Town's first FA Cup 1st Round tie for a decade when the Linnets were cruelly denied a famous win over Queens Park Rangers in front of a crowd of over 7,000 at Jenner Park.

Relegation from the League's top flight didn't give the club a safe haven, as Barry Town soon found its way to the lower regions of the 1st Division, and would bounce around the re-election or relegation places until the mid-1970s.

Management career

1964–65 saw Basil Bright installed as player-manager, but it was a desperate season with only five semi-pro players on the books, one of whom was local lad Ken Gully. A new low was reached in 1966–67 when Bright's youngsters were thrashed 15–0 on aggregate by Bath City in the Southern League Cup, thankfully only 230 souls saw the 5–0 Jenner Park defeat. It is still the club's biggest ever aggregate loss – despite the European games since – and was the final act in almost 500 minutes of football that saw Town failing to score a single goal. It only got worse for Bright though. The enforced sale of Ken Gully to Kettering Town came back to haunt the club as Gully scored all four goals in a Rockingham Road defeat that cost Basil Bright his job. Quickly installed in his place was Neil O'Halloran.

As the club continued to lurch from crisis to crisis, Basil Bright returned to Jenner Park in time for the 1971–72 season, but he was soon to be made all too aware of the playing standards he had inherited. It was to be Barry Town's worst ever season, collecting only 9 points all season, attendances slumped further to pitiful levels – as the 69 fans who attended the Dunstable Town game would have testified. Bright, as a player, had witnessed crowds of 9,000 at Jenner Park, but was now at the helm in front of only 69. With Barry Town in his blood, it must have hurt him as much as it hurt the very few supporters present.

Still, the 20 years of gloom would eventually begin to lift, and Bright was to make some very famous signings. Names such as Mike Cosslett, Tommy Hocking, Mel Donovan, Bobby Smith and Clive Ayres were all signed under Basil Bright, and by the end of the 1975–76 season Town found itself in the middle of one of its best runs of form for 30 years. The Club finished with a record haul of points (48) and finished 6th in the League. It had been a long and difficult journey, but Basil Bright had helped turn the club's fortunes around.

Success brought an increase in spectators through the gates, and by the 1976–77 season a crowd of 3,500 (mostly through clever marketing of free tickets to school children) was at Jenner Park to see a high-flying Barry Town team take on champions Worcester City, eager to finish a season unbeaten. Bright's men won 3–1 in front of the TV cameras, which no doubt also inspired a pitch invasion from the Town's school population! For Barry Town, a final league position of 5th place was richly deserved and showed what could be done with a settled, talented squad.

In what would be Bright's final season with Barry Town, the club took off for Scandinavia for a series of pre-season friendlies in which the club performed admirably. One player invited along to be with the team by Basil Bright was young Gavin Price, and though Price returned with Barry Town he was soon signed by Charlton Athletic. Although Bright's tenure with Town ended with an acrimonious resignation in April 1978, his legacy lives on in many ways with Gavin Price taking over the manager's role of Barry Town AFC in 2004, and Cosslett involved with today's side as coach.

References

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