RICHIE TOWELL GOT the first taste of his new surroundings at Brighton and Hove Albion after earning his big move earlier this week.
The former Dundalk star isn’t eligible to play until 2 January but he will be hoping to settle in quickly and push for a regular place at Chris Hughton’s Championship table-toppers over the second half of the campaign.
Gary Dicker, another Dublin-born midfielder who cut his teeth in the League of Ireland, knows all about life with the Seagulls having spent four seasons there between 2009-13.
After moving on an initial loan from UCD to Birmingham City, he joined Stockport County on a permanent basis and won promotion to League One before departing for Brighton.
Under Gus Poyet, Dicker made 129 league appearances as the club claimed the League One title in 2011 and narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League two years later — going down to Crystal Palace in the play-off semi-final.
The manager may have changed but many of the same players and staff are still there and Dicker believes it is an excellent club for Towell to fulfill his potential at.
“I think it was one of the better moves he could have got with the style of play they have,” Dicker told The42.
“Brighton has everything going for it — new training ground, new stadium, some good young players and a lot of lads that were playing when I was there so it’s a good mix.
“They get big crowds and are doing well in the league at the moment.
It’s a great place to live too as it is one of the nicest spots in England so I’m sure he will enjoy that.
“There aren’t really that many clubs too close to it so you’re noticed when you’re out and about but he will be made feel welcome.
“Like at any club, once you’re doing the business on the pitch fans will take to you straight away.
“First and foremost, he will want to get in the team and show people what he can do.”
The 29-year-old, currently with League Two outfit Carlisle United, doesn’t get to watch the SSE Airtricity League very often these days but he did catch last month’s FAI Cup final between Dundalk and Cork City online.
Towell scored the decisive goal in extra-time at the Aviva Stadium and if he can stay fit, Dicker is optimistic that he will make an impact.
“Obviously in the final it was one team trying to snuff out the other and Cork set up to not lose the game,” he said.
“He scored that day and if you score goals at any level you’re going to get noticed as it is the hardest thing to do in football.
“He’s coming from full-time football and he has been away before so he should hit the ground running.
“The games will be a lot quicker than they are at home and so is the training. You need a bit of luck to stay injury-free and get a chance to show what you can do early on.
“The last thing you want to do is go away after you had been playing week-in week-out then not get in. That’s what it is all about — training Monday to Friday and then playing your game.
“Hopefully he can get on there, they get promoted and you never know he could be playing Premier League football in a year.”
Former Ireland U21 international Dicker has played his way back into the Carlisle team in recent months after it had looked as though he was set to leave last summer when he was placed on the transfer list by manager Keith Curle.
With 21 appearances already under his belt this term, he’s enjoying his football again as the Cumbrians have gone from relegation strugglers to promotion hopefuls.
Last Saturday’s 3-1 win over Crawley Town leaves them sitting sixth and in the play-off places after 20 games.
“I came back in and played around 20 games already this year,” Dicker says. “I didn’t really expect to play after last season but I’ve done pretty well. I probably should have played a few more but that’s football.
I’m happy with how I’m playing and I’m back enjoying my football a lot more. I don’t think I touched the ball last year with the style of play we had!
“We’ve been picking up a few good results and had a run in the league cup and we’re still in the FA Cup so it’s been a pretty good season so far. We played Liverpool and probably should have beaten them when it got to penalties.
“I think if we can stay in and around the play-off places that would be a good achievement and I’m looking to play as many games as I can.”
Back in September, the lifelong Liverpool fan realised a boyhood dream by lining out at Anfield for a Capital One Cup third round clash with the Reds.
Dicker was immense for 120 minutes (see clip above) and, with the sides tied at 1-1, blasted home his penalty kick only to see his side lose the shootout 3-2.
Despite the result, he admits it was a special night.
“I’ve played against the likes of Arsenal, Newcastle, Chelsea, Spurs and that but I’m a Liverpool supporter and missed two previous games against them when I was at Brighton.
I had all my family over and it was sold out as we had 6,000 away fans there. It was one of those moments that you wish you could just bottle up before kick off.
“In fairness, we put in a decent display and they were struggling a bit. They have millions of pounds worth of players and would have been expected to walk all over us.
“But that’s the beauty of football and we didn’t lie down and get beaten. It was a bit gutting that we took them that far as we did have a few chances in the game.
“It was a great experience and I was just proud that my family were there and I scored in the shootout but it would have been nice to come away with the win.”
