Month: June 2026

Jurgen Locadia: the big money flop on the World Cup stage

BRIGHTON fans may have been forgiven for doing a double take at the sight of Jurgen Locadia at the World Cup.

The big money flop who only scored six in 46 appearances (23 starts + 23 as a sub) for the Seagulls led the line for footballing minnows Curaçao in Group E at the 2026 World Cup when they lost twice (2-0 to Côte d’Ivoire and 7-1 to Germany) but forced an honourable 0-0 draw with Ecuador.

The Dutchman won 35 caps for the Netherlands across under-17 to under-21 levels, but switched allegiance to Curaçao (the Dutch Caribbean island his family came from) who were managed by veteran boss Dick Advocaat, the man who launched Locadia’s PSV Eindhoven career.

Curaçao goalkeeper Eloy Room, a Miami FC teammate of Locadia, was largely instrumental in persuading other Dutch-born players with Curacaoan roots to join Advocaat’s squad in their unlikely World Cup adventure, which was made easier with the tournament’s expansion to 48 teams.

Although Locadia had been called up to the Dutch senior squad on various occasions between 2014 and 2017, he had withdrawn through injury. When he was fit and selected for games against Belarus and Sweden in 2017, he was an unused substitute.

Locadia scores the winner for Albion against Everton

Locadia’s time with Brighton was a costly disappointment apart from back-to-back matches at Christmas 2018 when he got an equaliser in a home draw with Arsenal and the winner as Everton were beaten at the Amex three days later.

He also buried a decent strike (right) in the March 2019 FA Cup quarter final against Millwall when Albion recovered from 2-0 down, reducing the deficit with Locadia’s shot on the turn before Solly March’s lofted free-kick slipped through ‘keeper David Martin’s hands to equalise. Albion won the penalty shoot-out 5-4.

Debut goal in FA Cup v Coventry

In the same competition, Locadia had made a goalscoring debut for the Seagulls 13 months earlier, converting an Anthony Knockaert cross in the 15th minute as Albion beat Coventry City 3-1 at the Amex.

A week later, after going on as a sub, he notched the fourth goal when Albion beat Swansea City 4-1 at Falmer.

He’d been at the club a month, unable to play because he was nursing a hamstring injury when signed from PSV, but such a start seemed to justify the then record £14.1m paid out for a player who’d already scored nine goals in 15 games for PSV earlier that season.

Boss Chris Hughton declared: “He is a player we have been aware of for some time and it’s been no secret we have wanted to add a striker of his type.

“He is a strong, powerful and quick centre-forward with a real eye for goal, and will increase our attacking options in the second half of the season.

“Jurgen already has a prolific goal record with PSV in the Dutch top division and it is one we hope he can continue here with us in the Premier League.”

Alas, after that early promise other goals were few and far between and a perceived lack of effort together with going public about not wanting to head the ball as well as a seemingly greater enthusiasm for being a DJ and producing house music didn’t endear him to Albion fans.

Born in Emmen in the Netherlands on 7 November 1993, Locadia was only five years old when he got his first taste of football with youth side VV Bargeres.

Spotted by local side FC Emmen, he rose through their ranks and had his first international call-up for the Dutch under-15s.

Tilburg-based Willem II took him on for the 2009-10 season and in June 2010 he joined PSV Eindhoven, where he remained for seven seasons, making 176 appearances, including 118 starts, scoring 62 goals and adding 39 assists across all competitions.

After scoring two hat-tricks in his first dozen games, in May 2014 the Sky Sports Scout feature profiled what it described as “one of the most exciting talents we have seen in recent times”.

Introduced to the first team squad during Advocaat’s reign, the article noted: “The 6ft 3in striker looks to have everything in his locker to take him to the top of the game. Similar in stature to somebody like Patrick Kluivert – it would be very easy to make comparisons between Locadia and the Dutch striking legend.

“Perhaps slightly quicker than Kluivert, it is clear Locadia’s main attribute is his eye for goal – he is happiest in the box. But he is anything but a goal poacher. Two good feet, he is capable of holding the ball up and he is also a real danger when playing off the last defender. All in all, he is a top, top prospect.”

A title winner at PSV Eindhoven

Locadia was part of the PSV side that won the 2015-16 and 2017-18 Eredivisie championships as well as consecutive Dutch Super Cups in 2016 and 2017. He also made a combined 30 appearances in UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches.

In less than a year at Brighton, there were already rumblings of discontent which Hughton was questioned about.

While away on international duty, Locadia had told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf of his frustrations at a lack of game time claiming he had not had the chance “to show what I am worth”.

Hughton said the player’s comments were “taken out of proportion” but admitted: “That doesn’t escape the fact that he would like to play more. We expect every player that is not playing so much to think the exact same way.

“I have no problems with his views. He is a very good individual, he trains well and the most important thing is he is very motivated to play here.”

In action in Potter’s first match against Watford

Hughton’s successor Graham Potter had not long been in the hot seat before sanctioning loans for the Dutchman: to Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga and Cincinnati in the MLS.

Yet Potter still seemed to hold out hope that Locadia might turn a corner in an Albion shirt. After reintroducing him to the squad in September 2021, the head coach told a fans forum: “Obviously, he has got an opportunity to show what he can do, he has got talent, he has got ability.

“Things have not quite worked out how he would have liked since he has been here. He has got to knuckle down and show what he can do because there is a player there.”

He made his first Brighton appearance in over two years on 22 September 2021, going on as a 76th-minute substitute for double goalscorer Aaron Connolly in a 2–0 home third round League Cup win over Swansea. In the next round, away to Leicester City, he started in the 2-2 draw when the home side went through 4-2 on penalties.

Three days later, he was an unused substitute in a 2–2 away league draw at Liverpool and his final appearance in the stripes was as a 68th-minute substitute for misfiring Neal Maupay in a home 0-0 draw against Leeds United in November when, according to wearebrighton.com, a loose ball fell invitingly to him on the edge of the penalty area but he fell over his own leg when attempting a shot.

A free transfer to Bochum

Early into the new year, Albion cut their losses and gave the player a free transfer to German side Bochum, Potter telling the club website: “Jurgen is keen to play, and Bochum provides him that opportunity, and the possibility to reinvigorate his career in the Bundesliga, where he has previously enjoyed success with Hoffenheim.”

After just half a season in Germany, his next stop was Persepolis in the Persian Gulf Pro League. But he left Iran in December 2022 amid security concerns after the Dutch government warned its nationals not to remain in the country. There had been nationwide protests in Iran in the previous three months and other European countries like Germany, France and Belgium had also urged their citizens to leave Iran.

Locadia’s next destination was China and he scored seven goals in 23 appearances for Cangzhou Mighty Lions in the Chinese Super League.

From there he moved to Spain and played for Basque side SD Amorebieta, a second-tier side, but, after their relegation, in June 2024 The Sun was reporting he was about to join his fifth club in two years, Alicante-based third division side Intercity.

He scored 10 goals in 24 appearances before heading back to the States in December 2025 to sign for Miami.

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‘Better looking than Best’: George Ley could play a bit too!

I WAS SAD to learn of the recent death of George Ley, a classy left-back who brought higher level experience to newly-promoted Brighton in September 1972.

Ley, who died in a Tiverton, Devon, nursing home aged 80 on 22 April 2026, was a £28,000 signing from Portsmouth not long after Pat Saward had steered the club to promotion to the old Division Two.

It was a level Ley was more than comfortable with having been a regular for Pompey in that division for over five years. At the Albion, he linked up again with his old teammate Brian Bromley who he described as “one of my best mates”.

Interviewed several years later, Ley recalled: “He used to play just in front of me in midfield when I was at full back, that was one of the reasons why I left – to go and play with Brom again in that position.”

History has since shown that manager Pat Saward acted too hastily in breaking up the side that had won promotion from the Third Division four months earlier.

But Ley certainly added extra quality and he became a fixture on the left side of Albion’s defence throughout the remainder of Saward’s tenure, which sadly included relegation back to the third tier.

Fourteen months after signing, when Brian Clough and Peter Taylor took over the reins at Brighton, it was quite a different story for a player once voted the best-looking footballer in the country!

Ley was unceremoniously dumped after Albion had suffered three humiliating defeats in a row (4-0 v non-league Walton & Hersham in the FA Cup, 8-2 at home to Bristol Rovers and 4-1 at Tranmere Rovers) – and he never played for the club again.

George Ley in action for Brighton against Burnley

Clough brought in Burnley youngster Harry Wilson and he immediately took over Ley’s left-back spot, a position he held for the next three years.

Ley moved on to Gillingham for a couple of seasons before heading to the States where he eventually spent the majority of the rest of his life.

Born Oliver Albert George Ley in Exminster, Devon, on 7 April 1946, he went to Dawlish Secondary school and fellow pupil David Hill remembered fondly: “The games master Peter Gale arranged a football tour to Southampton. There was a competition for keepy-uppies with a football, George had to be stopped as he was doing too many!”

Teenage Ley had a three-month trial at Arsenal but didn’t earn a contract, instead joining Athenian League side Hitchin Town. At 17, he moved back to Devon to sign for Exeter City and made his first team debut aged 19 as a left-winger on 11 September 1963 in a 1-0 home win over Carlisle United.

After a run of nine games up until the middle of October, he slipped out of contention and made just five more league appearances as the Grecians won promotion from the old Division 4 in fourth spot. Ley made 18 appearances at the higher level the following season, when City finished 17th.

The excellent Grecian Archive notes that Ley cemented his place in the team after manager Ellis Stuttard, a full-back himself during his playing days, switched Ley to the left-back spot from October 1965 onwards. It records that Swansea showed an interest in him in June 1966 and at the start of the 1966-67 he asked for a transfer.

However, he stayed at the club and made 33 starts in the 1966-67 campaign, before being transferred to Portsmouth in May 1967 for a fee of £8,000. 

He reportedly received a £1,000 signing-on fee and his weekly wage went up from £20 to £30. He made his Pompey debut in the final match of the 1966-67 campaign at Huddersfield.

“This was a special talent swimming in a sea of mediocrity, a player who stood out a mile and was always destined to go on and sample greater things,” wrote columnist Vince Coulter in the south west Sunday newspaper, the Sunday Independent.

At Portsmouth, Ley made 204 appearances in five years and became something of a fans’ favourite. Readers of the Football League Review even voted him the best-looking player in the country – just ahead of George Best.

Ley in his pomp at Pompey
Left-back Ley against Blackpool
Hall of Fame inductee in 2015

As an indication of his enduring popularity among the Pompey faithful, in March 2015 he was inducted into Portsmouth’s Hall of Fame.

In his first full season, 1967-68, Pompey were top of the league at Christmas and looked on course for promotion to Division 1. But they won just three of their final 13 games and fell away to fifth.

There was a highlight in the FA Cup, though, when in February 1968 Pompey beat top-flight Fulham 1-0 in a fourth-round replay. A crowd of 44,050 packed into Fratton Park to see the home side overcome a team that included the likes of Johnny Haynes and a young Allan Clarke.

Portsmouth’s goal was scored by Mike Trebilcock, who’d scored twice for Everton in the 1965 FA Cup Final.

Another titanic FA Cup fourth round encounter at Fratton Park came in 1971 when Double-chasing Arsenal were held 1-1, Trebilcock grabbing a last-gasp leveller.

Ley in the thick of FA Cup action tangles with Arsenal’s Ray Kennedy

In the replay at Highbury, with Pompey trailing 2-1, Ley unleashed a 30-yard shot which rocketed into the top corner to level it up. However, Arsenal won it 3-2, a Peter Storey penalty clinching it for the home side, who did indeed go on to win the Double.

Ley and good pal Brian Bromley reunited at Brighton

There was an amusing anecdote from that match which saw tempers flare in a tense finish and the aforementioned Bromley get sent off. Apparently, with only two minutes of the game to go, Ley hit Gunners full back Pat Rice. Bromley tried to intervene to hold his pal back – and ended up getting the marching orders instead!

There must have been something about the competition that fired Ley up because in a stormy third round FA Cup tie between Brighton and Chelsea at the Goldstone Ground in January 1973, he was sent off in the 85th minute for bringing down Tommy Baldwin from behind and then getting involved in a punch-up with England international Peter Osgood.

There was no defence from manager Saward either, who said: “He will get no sympathy from me. Any of my players who kicks opponents will have to deal with me. The club will not condone it. I will not tolerate it. To do a thing like that is disgraceful.”

On leaving Brighton, Ley played 10 matches for Dallas Tornado in the North American Soccer League before joining Gillingham under Len Ashurst in August 1974.

Ley tackles Albion’s Gerry Fell at Priestfield Stadium


He made his debut against Aldershot the following month and in two seasons with the club made 89 appearances.

According to contributor Richard Fallaize in a ‘Where are they now?’ article, Ley “got roasted by a very young Steve Coppell who was playing for Tranmere Rovers at Gillingham”.

After leaving Priestfield he returned to the States and Tornado where in five years he made 124 appearances, twice being named in the North American Soccer League’s All-Star team.

There’s a picture (below right) of him in action against the great Pele, who was playing for New York Cosmos, and he shared the experience in a letter to Exeter City-100 Club member John Brand.

“I played against Pele four times. In two of the games I had the job of marking hime in a man-to-man role. I saw a lot of his skills from a very close position and it was a great education.

“He was a complete player with great balance, wonderful touch, smooth movement and total awareness. He was always two or three moved ahead of the game. Pele looked at the game of football as an art.

“Pele did play a wall pass against my shins in one of the games. We looked at each other and share a smile. These games were a great experience for a boy from Exminster.”

Between 1979 and 1982, Ley played for indoor Soccer League side Wichita Wings, alongside former Pompey teammate Norman Piper, and he finished his career at Oklahoma City Slickers, where he was also assistant-coach.

When Ley’s Dallas Tornado and Wichita Wings teammate Jim Ryan was appointed manager of  Luton Town in January 1990, Ley joined him as the Hatters’ youth team coach at Kenilworth Road.

Ley and John Moore part of Jim Ryan’s Luton Town coaching staff

A fellow coach was Luton stalwart John Moore, who’d briefly played on loan at Brighton alongside Ley in October/November 1972. Town had Kurt Nogan and Andy Petterson on their books at the time.

Ley also coached at League of Ireland side St Patrick’s Athletic but he returned to the States, settled in Austin, Texas, and coached teams at various levels: youth, amateur and professional such as Austin Sockadillos, River City Rangers and Crossfire Soccer Club.

George Ley pictured in 2022

He returned to Devon in 2018 and, sadly, in his final years suffered dementia. In January 2024, an Exmouth bus driver, Jon Davis, said: “George is a regular on our bus services.

“Unfortunately, I believe George has been suffering from some form of dementia in older years. He’s sometimes very confused but he’s a lovely fella and we all make sure he gets home safe and sound.”

Former clubs Exeter and Portsmouth paid tribute on news of his death and in an obituary in Backpass magazine, Ivan Ponting described Ley as “a pacy, stylish full-back” and Kirsty Fitzpatrick wrote: “I got to know George in his later years and he spoke with such enthusiasm and pride about his football career. He had some great stories.”

Austrian left-back Markus Suttner fell down the Albion pecking order

MARKUS SUTTNER joined Albion only 12 days after his FC Ingolstadt teammate Pascal Gross but to say their fortunes went in different directions would be an understatement.

Gross established himself as a club legend and, although Austrian international Suttner started at left-back as Brighton made their bow in the Premier League, he ultimately played second fiddle to Cameroon international Gaetan Bong in that position.

Albion fans were divided on who was the better option; Suttner was often lauded for the accuracy of his crossing while Bong was viewed as a more aggressive wing back.

Suttner said of himself: “I’m a left-back who can cross and shoot; I have a good left foot for the set-pieces and corners, and I can also help the team with my passion and experience. I want to lead on the pitch.

“I’m a player who worked hard to get to the Bundesliga and I have worked hard again to get this opportunity in the Premier League.

“I want to experience the players and the stadiums here, but most of all I want to have success with Brighton and help us stay in the league.”

Having just turned 30 when he signed for the Seagulls, Suttner added: “At this stage of my career, at my age, it’s the perfect time to play in the Premier League.

“The challenge for Brighton is similar to the one I first encountered with Ingolstadt, with the side having won promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time in their history when I signed.

“Now, this is a new chapter for me and for the club, and to play in the Premier League is one of the best options for any player, so I’m very happy to be here.”

On the ball for ‘The Violet’

Suttner didn’t have far to travel to link up with his teammates after putting pen to paper in the summer of 2017 – Albion were on a pre-season training camp in Austria at the time, in the Alpine resort of Leogang, near Salzburg, where they played a pre-season friendly against Suttner’s future employer, Fortuna Dusseldorf.

The player told the matchday programme: “At the end of last season, I heard there was some interest in me from Brighton and then a few weeks later I had signed.

“It’s a dream move for me and a new challenge for me to come to the Premier League.”

Born in Hollabrunn, 36 miles north of Vienna, on 16 April 1987, his early football career was on the books of nearby SK Wullersdorf and after a year at football boarding school Stronach-Akademie he joined Austria Vienna, the club he’d supported as a boy, in 2004.

Suttner at Austria Vienna

His first professional game was in 2005 against Gratkorn and, in seven seasons with The Violet, Suttner made 260 appearances in Austria’s top division during which time he played in the Champions League and the Europa League.

He won seven caps for Austria under 21s and in 2012 won the first of 20 caps for the full international side, in a 3-2 win against Ukraine. Sixteen of his 20 games were friendlies and four were World Cup qualifying matches. His last international saw him play the first half of his country’s 1-1 draw with Finland in Innsbruck, four months before he joined Brighton.

Austrian international recognition

Suttner held the left-back spot for the opening matches of the season, partly benefitting from Bong suffering with a muscle injury.

The Cameroonian, who’d been a promotion winner with the Seagulls, won his place back in the side just before the October international break and told the Argus: “We are different types of players and everyone knows what I can bring from the two years I have been here – I have given everything on the pitch.

“The manager knows that as well, so it was good for me to have 90 minutes on the pitch to help the team and I’m here when the manager needs me.”

Suttner spoke about the rivalry in an exclusive interview with Andy Naylor, then of the Argus, and said: “We have good competition on the left-hand side with Bong and me.

“I think I have done well in my last games but I think I can also improve in the offence, because normally I have a few assists and goals per season. I hope it will come soon.”

Describing the Premier League as “tough, physical and different tactics from Germany”, Suttner added: “Everybody wants to play every game, that’s normal, but we have a good squad with good competition. We have no problem with each other, what’s best for the team is best for us.”

Expanding on the issues he was trying to overome, he said in a programme interview: “Obviously it’s a different kind of football to what I’ve been used to, and a different country and culture, so I’ve needed time to adapt.

“But I’m getting stronger and stronger and every day I feel you can learn something, in both training sessions and games.”

“I just want to go out and do my best, show my strength in attack but obviously make sure my defensive duties always come first.”

However, after the halfway point of the season, Bong got the shirt on more occasions than the Austrian; Suttner returned for FA Cup ties against Coventry City and Manchester United.

By the season’s end, Suttner had made just 16 league and cup starts plus one appearance off the bench. And his chances of reclaiming the shirt the following season dipped further when, in the summer, Brighton signed Brazilian ex-Red Bull Salzburg and Red Bull Leipzig defender Bernardo.

Now third-choice, Suttner made just one first team appearance, in a 1-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Southampton at the Amex in August, and, in the second half of the 2018-19 season, he returned to Germany on a half-season loan to Fortuna Dusseldorf.

Hughton said: “Markus has been a great pro since he joined us two summers ago, but he hasn’t been able to play the number of games he would have liked, due to the strong competition we have in the left-back position.

“This move will allow him to play regular football in the top division of the Bundesliga.”

Suttner said in an interview with Austrian online sports outlet Laola1.at: “They (Albion) already told me that it will be difficult for me. But after my son was born in September, I did not want to change in the summer – that would have been too much stress. The family comes first!

“From the summer it was clear that I am only third choice in the left-back position. Gaetan Bong played at the end of the season and was in the lead, so he was number two.

“After that I never really got a chance any more. That’s the way football is. I do not regret the move to Brighton, I played Premier League. It’s part of the business that a few players are always exchanged – now it’s just me.”

Suttner in action for Fortuna Dusseldorf

On his return to Brighton for pre-season training after playing six games on loan at Fortuna, a new head coach was in place in Graham Potter. Nevertheless, Suttner didn’t kick a ball in anger under the new man, and instead completed a permanent move to the Dusseldorf club.

Potter said: “Markus has trained exceptionally hard and been a pleasure to work with during my time here, but this move gives him a chance to play regularly.

“He will be returning to a team that he knows well, and it is a move that makes sense for all three parties.”

Suttner certainly found plenty of admirers at Fortuna having helped them climb out of relegation trouble to finish 10th in the table. Coach Friedhelm Funkel told the Rheinische Post: “Markus is a top-class footballer and a wonderful person.”

After a season with Fortuna, Suttner returned to Austria Vienna and saw out his playing days making 57 appearances between 2020 and 2022.

Reflecting on a career spanning 17 years, Suttner told the Austria Vienna website: “I am happy to have been able to do this unique job over such a long period of time. I’ll soon be 35 and come out of my career injury-free, which is worth a lot to me. I also don’t want to stand in the way of our young guns. I still feel physically fit, but the anticipation of the new phase of my life is too great.”

Coach Manfred Schmid paid tribute to the player, saying: “His attitude to the sport has made him a leader at each of his stations and he has always been able to demonstrate his qualities. Above all, however, he has grown on me as a person.”

Sporting director Manuel Ortlechner added: “Markus Suttner was and is an absolute leader, and he still proves that every day. He has put his bones on the line for Austria for many years and more than deserves to hang up his boots in the summer.

“After his return, he helped Austria to turn the tide and improve its sporting performance and image. It’s a self-determined end to his career, and you can only take your hat off to that.”

Suttner playing for his country up against Gareth Bale of Wales

The European Cup winning captain who didn’t fit in at the Albion

HAVING one former European Cup winning captain turning out for the Seagulls seemed remarkable enough, but then along came another.

Dennis Mortimer lifted that trophy as captain of Aston Villa three years before his former Coventry City teammate Chris Cattlin persuaded him to join the Albion in 1985.

Wind the clock forward to 1991 and Stefan Iovan, who lifted the same trophy in 1986 as captain of Steaua Bucharest, ended a protracted will he/won’t he saga when he joined Barry Lloyd’s promotion-seeking tier two side for a £60,000 fee.

I’d probably go so far as to say, if you ask any Brighton fans who were around when the Seagulls flew to Wembley for the Division Two (Championship equivalent) play-off final in May 1991, Iovan is probably the least remembered member of the side who lost 3-1 to Neil Warnock’s Notts County.

Iovan in action at Wembley

And former Albion favourite Gary Chivers has been pretty damning in retrospective interviews of what he felt went wrong that day.

“It just didn’t happen for us on the day,” he told Luke Nicoli in an April 2021 interview. “They say the buck stops with the manager and I thought we chose a funny line-up and a system that didn’t suit the personnel.

“We brought the Romanian Stefan Iovan in as a sweeper which was a big ask given he’d only just come into the team and the country. He may have been a European Cup winner, but I’d been used to playing alongside Colin Pates at the back – we knew each other’s game inside out.”

In a matchday programme article, Chivers went further and said Lloyd made a “monumental mistake” in playing Iovan as a sweeper when “it was clear he had no pace”.

Chivers reckoned: “Notts County could sense that was our weakness and they were playing balls over the heads of our wing-backs, namely Steve Gatting and myself, and exposing our centre-backs. In all honesty, they were having a field day and young Tommy Johnson – who, of course, would later go on to become a top player with Aston Villa and Celtic – was running rings around poor Stefan.”

After going behind to Johnson’s 29th-minute opener, Albion came close when a Clive Walker header hit the post just before half-time, and Dean Wilkins hit the crossbar with a curling free kick only three minutes into the restart.

But Johnson scored a second on 59 minutes and Dave Regis netted a third 12 minutes later.

Iovan made way for substitute John Byrne, who would certainly have played if he had been fully fit, and Byrne set up Wilkins to make it 3-1 in the last minute.

Born in Moțăței, in the south west corner of Romania, on 23 August 1960, Iovan first played professional football in Resita (150 miles from home) aged 17 and then spent 10 years at Steaua Bucharest, winning 34 caps for his country between 1983 and 1990. He played in a World Cup qualifier against England at Wembley on 11 September 1985, which finished 1-1. Glenn Hoddle opened the scoring for England in the 25th minute and Rodion Cămătaru equalised on the hour mark.

Romanian international
Iovan with the captain’s armband

That European Cup win in 1986 was on penalties against favourites Barcelona and was the first ever European Cup final to end 0-0 after 120 minutes. Steaua were also the first ever Eastern European winners.

Although goalkeeper Helmuth Duckadam was lauded as the hero for saving four Barca penalties, journalist Runar Nordvik wrote: “Stefan Iovan was the right back, the captain and the natural authority in the team.”

The following season, he lifted another prestigious trophy aloft when Steaua beat Dynamo Kiev 1-0 in the European Super Cup.

Long-time Albion-supporting freelance journalist Spencer Vignes described Iovan as “the unlikeliest lad ever to pull on an Albion shirt” and “an absolute colossus” in terms of his CV.

Lloyd had been alerted to Iovan’s possible availability during an Albion pre-season trip to Bucharest, as guests of city rivals Dinamo Bucharest. A fee of £60,000 was agreed in November 1990 but there was a long hold-up in him obtaining a work permit and it wasn’t until February1991 he was able to complete the move. Then it was a couple of months before he was deemed ready to play.

Albion had an outside chance of promotion and Iovan was an unused sub for the home game against Notts County on 13 April before making his debut as a sub in a 1-0 defeat at Portsmouth three days later. I remember standing on the terrace at Fratton Park witnessing his first touch: the ball skewed off his boot straight into touch. An inauspicious start.

A Seagull at last after a work permit hitch

He also went on as a sub the following home game, when the Albion crashed 3-0 to Oxford United. But Lloyd was convinced he’d pulled off a coup, writing in his programme notes for the penultimate home league game against Bristol City: “He arrives at the Goldstone with a record of achievement which arguably puts him on a level higher than any player previously signed by this club.”

Lloyd admitted though: “Compared to other positions, it can take longer for a defender to adjust to the demands of the English game.”

The manager pointed out: “He has been used to playing in a set-up in which defenders mark space – a method which is different from the man-for-man marking system more generally operated in this country.

“Of course, Stefan still has to prove that he can succeed in English football. But we are confident that he has the skill and experience which will enable him to adapt.”

After Albion just edged into the play-offs, a glimpse of what the experienced defender might bring to the party shone out in the two-legged play-off semi-final games against fancied Millwall, when Albion won 4-1 at home and 2-1 at The Den. “Stefan was a giant in both matches, bringing an air of composure and discipline to a back line prone to the jitters,” according to Vignes.

Sidestepping the sort of observations Chivers made of the Romanian’s contribution in the final, the writer maintained: “Notts County proved too strong for us in the final at Wembley, winning 3-1, but with Stefan in our midst the future seemed especially bright.”

And, sounding as though he was trying to convince any doubters, in his programme notes for a pre-season game against Iovan’s former club (Steaua), Lloyd reckoned: “Stefan has become a popular member of the dressing room although he is a very quiet and reserved character. However, now that his English is slowly improving, and he is becoming part of the dressing room banter, he has settled down and obviously is enjoying life in this country.”

Cover of the pre-season friendly game programme

Highlighting the “vital” role Iovan had played as a sweeper in those wins over Millwall, Lloyd pointed out that Albion had continued to play the same system on a three-game pre-season tour in Holland, winning each match.

In broken English, Iovan was quoted in the programme saying: “Pre-season training harder this time but I feel good. I like Brighton. The players, everybody, here very nice.”

Lloyd had said previously he was looking forward to Iovan playing an important role the following season but he was subbed off having started the first two games of the new season (a 2-0 home defeat to Tranmere and a 2-1 loss at Bristol City) and didn’t feature again until November when the side went down 1-0 at Blackburn.

Iovan and son at the Goldstone

He was also on the losing side later the same month in a ZDS area quarter final game at West Ham, when Brighton went down 2-0 although 10 days earlier he’d helped the Albion grind out a point at Cambridge United when emergency loanee goalkeeper Jurgen Sommer was between the sticks.

By the end of the season, when the Seagulls were relegated, Iovan had at least picked up a winners’ medal – but that was only for the reserve side’s 1-0 win over Langney Sports in the Sussex Senior Cup!

Vignes said it was a mystery why Iovan didn’t feature more for the first team, suggesting the player either wasn’t fit enough or was unable to adapt to a flat back four, having been more accustomed to a sweeper system.

Whatever the reason, he departed Sussex with a whimper, returning to his homeland with Rapid Bucharest.

He later coached Steaua, was assistant manager of the Romania national team for a while and remains associated with Steaua as head of youth development.

Stern-faced coach at Steaua