Greece boss Gus Poyet was way ahead of his time during his spell in charge of Brighton, according to his former midfielder Gary Dicker.
Ex-UCD man Dicker spent four years with the Seagulls under Poyet, playing over 150 games and winning promotion from League One to the Championship in 2011.
Poyet hopes to mastermind a big win for Greece when they host Stephen Kenny’s Ireland in Athens tomorrow night.
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And Dicker, who has bagged a ticket for the away end in the Agia Sophia Stadium, says the Boys in Green will have to tread carefully against his former manager.
“He was probably one of the best I’ve worked under,” Dicker, who is now a coach with Brighton’s Under-21s, told the Mirror Sport.
“His style of play, his detail, how he wanted the team to play and his passion for football, if you speak to him you’ll know straight away how much he loves the game.
“He is infectious. You gravitate towards him straight away as a player. He always has something interesting to say.
“He came and flipped the club around at Brighton and he has done a steady job at Greece.
“I don’t think they were doing too great before he came in and he won his Nations League group. I think he is enjoying the job, to be fair.”
Greece have won seven of their 12 games so far under Poyet, with five of those coming in their Nations League C campaign, where they topped their table ahead of Kosovo, Northern Ireland and Cyprus.
“It’s easy to say that you are going to play a certain way, but he was really good at getting his point across,” Dicker continued.
“The detail he went into, breaking down the game and his understanding of the game, he probably changed my thinking on the game.
“It’s all about numbers and understanding where you need to be and when you need to build and how many you need to attack with.
“He was well ahead of his time back then. You see the managers now who are doing well, the Eddie Howes, he was years ahead of them with his ideas about football and his vision, and how he had us playing at Brighton.
“It’s no surprise to see that he has gone and landed some big, big jobs along the way.”
Dicker expects a tight game between two sides with similar game-plans.
“It will be interesting to see who has more possession, because he won’t want to give up possession,” said the 36-year-old, who spent nearly six years in the Scottish top-flight with Kilmarnock.
“I know Ireland are in that transition of trying to dominate games like this away from home, so it will be an interesting tussle to see who comes out on top of it.
“But possession doesn’t win games, you’ve got to score goals as well. I’m sure it will be a tight game.”
Poyet was only three years retired as a player when he was appointed Brighton manager - so he often joined in on the training pitch.
“They’d join in training a lot, Gus and (former Tottenham player) Mauricio Taricco, his assistant,” recalled Dicker.
“They wouldn’t be joining in for a jolly up or a kick about, they’d join in to win.
“You could see their quality. We’d do finishing drills and demos, they’d step in and stop training because they’d seen something that no one else had seen.
“They could speak about it and show it, which is probably unique in itself these days - to be able to speak about it and then show it yourself as well.
“They could join in sometimes on a Sunday with the lads who didn’t play on the Saturday; we’d be training on the Sunday and it would be nearly kicking off, it would be that competitive.
“But you could see the quality they both had from being in the Premier League and their understanding. They could see the next pass, they could see the picture before anyone else.
“I learned loads by listening and by watching them. His game-understanding was at a different level.
“(Gianfranco) Zola came in a few times to train, and Dennis Wise back in the day. A few lads came in and ended up joining in as well.
“It was a great time and I probably learned more in those four years than at any other time in my career.”
Despite his admiration for his former boss, Dicker won’t shed any tears tonight if Kenny’s men come away with all three points.
It’s a rare opportunity for the Dubliner to get to an away game.
“The last time I went to an away game was when I was playing at UCD,” he said. “Robbie Martin (ex-teammate) organised a trip to Paris in 2004. We drew 0-0.
“We came over on the Eurostar to that game. It was brilliant.
“It’s always the way when you are in football, you always miss out on going to games. But I’ve been back to the Aviva a few times.”
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