Inigo Calderon on his play-off joy in Indian Super League

But he had to give up both, temporarily at least, to help banish the ghosts of play-offs past with Albion.

The former Seagulls favourite helped Chennaiyin take the Indian Super League title by winning the play-off final 3-2 away to regular season table-toppers Bengaluru.

He is now back home in Vitoria, northern Spain, weighing up an offer to return to Chennai next season.

Calderon conquered heat and humidity to be officially crowned the fittest player in the Indian top flight.

Now he has told of the sacrifices, the experiences – and why scars of three play-off defeats with Albion initially tempered his enjoyment of securing the title.

He told The Argus: “After the final I remembered what had happened at Brighton.

“When we won the final the feeling for me was more relief than happiness.

“At last I had finished a play-off with a good feeling. In England and Spain they always ended badly for me.

“It was only the next day that I actually felt happy.

“We had the eighth biggest budget in the league so it meant a lot to finish as high as second place.

“The top four go into the title play-offs and then it becomes more of a lottery but we did really well.”

Calderon, married with two children, revealed last summer he faced a big decision over his future.

His family wanted to stay in Cyprus, where he had played for Anorthosis Famagusta, but he was looking to play his football elsewhere.

The offer to join a Chennaiyin side managed by ex-Albion right-back John Gregory served up various challenges.

But this time he did not take his family with him.

He said: “One of the most complicated things was the heat along with the humidity. In India it is always hot but some places are worse than others.

“Where we were is hotter than other places which actually helped us. It’s a good country to go to for holidays but to play in that heat and humidity makes it hard to recover from your runs.

“Obviously the way I like to play is to get up and down the wing and to do that for 95 minutes isn’t easy.

“But I played all the games and that helped me keep good fitness levels.

“We lived in a hotel so it was 24 hours a day being professional.

“I didn’t have time to do silly things.

“Sometimes I’d go out for a walk or something just to switch off a bit.

“But I had no distractions – no kids there so I could sleep well!”

Calderon suffers play-off woe with Albion at Derby

Joking aside, the absence of his family was tough and will play a part in his decision as to whether to return next term.

He said: “They came over for one month. They was really nice.

“But not seeing my family was the worst part of it.

“The club have asked me to play for one more year but I have asked for time to think about it.

“It’s not easy to stay that far away from your family.”

As a keen traveller, Calderon would have loved more time to enjoy the culture, the sights and the tastes of India.

But his dedication paid off when he won the prize as the league’s fittest player.

He said: “To be the fittest player for the whole season was very good for me at the age of 36.

“I think it can be good for my CV.

“If I’m looking to get a new deal and people have concerns about my age I can point to that.

“At the beginning I was eating Indian food and I tried everything. I love Indian food.

Calde enjoys life as a League One champion with Albion in 2011

“But after about a month I realised I had to change a bit.

“The Indians use a lot of vegetables in their cooking but there is also quite a lot of fat in there.

“I went back to more of a European diet, more salads.”

Calderon can see the Indian league making strides in the coming years.

He said: “The foreign players are very good. You can use five foreign players in a match although you can have eight in the squad.

“The foreigners were all of a good level, people like Robbie Keane, Wes Brown and Dimitar Berbatov. They might be a bit slower than we have seen them play but they still have something.

“The Indian players, apart from four or five, were not at the same level. They still need to improve a lot but I’m sure they will.

“The big handicap to the football was the heat. You can’t play at the pace I was used to in England.

“You could see it in the second half of matches. As you went into the last 15 minutes, a lot of spaces would appear. We tended to take advantage and score quite a few goals in the last minutes.

“As for the crowds – they are noisy!

“Their football is a party. It’s just a way to enjoy themselves because life is quite hard there. There were a few teams who got 50,000 or 60,000 at games.”

Goa, with its Portuguese background, tends to be more focused on football than other areas with English influence.

Calderon said: “Goa is really big for football. Other crowds weren’t as big. Our city was more about cricket but we would get 15,000 or 20,000, depending how things were going.”

Calderon admits he is feeling the cold back in Vitoria. He hopes to get to the Amex by the end of the season and he certainly has a few tales to tell.

But would he recommend a stint in India to other players?

“To some, yes,” he said. “They would have to be fully aware of where they are going. It’s not an easy country. You have to be open-minded. It’s a very different football, a very different country, a very different culture.”