Taricco: Best Time as Player at Town

By TownFans.co.uk
January 1 2013

Brighton and Holve Albion assistant manager Mauricio Taricco says that his time at Portman Road as a player wes the best of his career.

The 39 year old spent almost five years at Portman Road after joining Town from Argentinos Juniors in 1994 appearing in 189 league games for the club, scoring seven goals and become a firm favourite with fans before departing for Tottenham Hotspur in 1998 for a seven figure sum. Today he returns as Brighton and Town meet this afternoon

Speaking about his time at the club, he told South coast paper, the Argus: "I want them to do well, to be a good team, of course not against us. I had a great time there, my best time as a player, even though I don't show it much.

"I am not the type of person who likes to talk about it much or make an issue out of it but I always had a great relationship with the fans. I am just not the type of person who claps all the time, I just feel it and that's it. Hopefully they know from the way I played. I gave everything when I was there."

The full back stayed at White Hart Lane for five years during which he appeared in almost 150 league games before joining West Ham on a free transfer in 2004. Taricco was injured in his first game for the Hammers however and generously offered to write off his short term contract when it was revealed he would be sidelined for the rest of the season.

On advice from medical staff, Taricco then decided to retire from professional football, but played for non-league Argentine side A.S. Villasimius for a further four years, becoming captain before again retiring in the second half of 2009 with most believing that they'd seen the last of the Argentine in a playing capacity.

In November 2009 Taricco was appointed assistant manager of Brighton, with former Spurs team-mate Gus Poyet having the top job. Since then he has played the occasional game for his new club, coming out of retirement on several occasions when the Brighton squad has been short of defensive cover. Altogether,

Taricco has appeared for Brighton 19 times since becoming assistant manager and retired once again at the end of the 2011/2012 season, this time almost certainly being for good as the fan favourite concentrates on his role of driving the club forward from a coaching perspective.