Lloyd Owusu's strange ritual staved off relegation sickener

Eleven years on, the former striker wonders whether it might have been born out of anxiety when such matters were not really discussed.

Either way, it stuck. And it helped get him in the frame of mind which saved Albion from the sickening prospect of a return to the Football League basement.

Owusu arrived on loan from relegation-headed Cheltenham, who needed him off the wage bill.

He eventually struck up a partnership with Gary Hart as Albion won five of their last seven games to avoid the drop from League One.

Owusu scored winners at Hereford and Colchester, struck twice as Oldham were defeated at Withdean, then added goals in success at Bristol Rovers and a draw at Huddersfield.

He says he played with no nerves and no pressure. After all, he was only there to get fit.

But that pre-match ritual was still a comfort for him.

And that ritual? Come back to this story later if you are eating but… “I remember Lloyd throwing up before very game,” said wideman Dean Cox.

“The gaffer would be talking and you could hear Lloyd retching in the toilet. He did it every game.”

Owusu laughs when asked about it.

He said: “That started from 2002 when I moved to Sheffield Wednesday. When I made my debut I was sick on the pitch when I came on.

“When I look at how football has evolved, a lot of people have come out and talked about depression and anxiety but in those days it wasn’t spoken about at the time.

“I look back now to everything I was building up to, I put it down to nerves and anxiety.

“After that, it just became a ritual. It just felt like a comfort.

“When I moved to Brighton I wasn’t nervous.

“But when I went from Brentford to Sheffield Wednesday - from 8,000 people to 30,000 - it was a totally different kettle of fish.

“After I left Sheffield Wednesday it ended up becoming a bit of a ritual or comforter.

“I wouldn’t even have to force it. I would drink my fluids before the game to get my hydration and just before kick off I’d go to the toilet and puke up.

“It didn’t weaken me. It was a relief and I felt free.”

There was no reason for Owusu to be nervous as he joined a hot-potch Albion outfit under the caretaker management of Dean White.

He said: “It was all about just coming to get games and the table wasn’t looking very good.

“We were eight or nine points adrift.

“From my point of view, you’re not really worried about whether a team goes down in that situation. I just wanted to get games to try and prove myself and get a contract elsewhere or with Brighton.

“But being at training and you see the body language of the all the boys, I said to myself ‘You know what? We are in there because other teams are going to struggle as well’.

“I thought we’d be all right.”

Cox played a part in getting Hart into the side picked by recently-appointed boss Russell Slade.

He recalled: “Harty was a big influence in the changing room.

“I remember saying it actually on the training pitch and he didn’t really react.

“I went and knocked on his door and said ‘Gaffer, I know I shouldn’t really have said it in front of the lads but we’re all thinking it and we need to get him in the team. He’s wasted on the bench’.

“Harty was a big leader and a big influence on my career when I was breaking through and it was the best for the team.

“Russell used to have a narrow midfield three and a wide left player.

“Whoever was playing on the right-hand side of the three had the graveyard shift, as we used to call it.

“We liked to keep things compact and when we got the ball get it out to myself and get half a yard and get it into the box.”

Hart still has the Great Escape poster produced by The Argus.

He said: “Injuries I’d had were catching up with me but I had a great period over those few weeks.

“That Bristol Rovers game was one of those where the crowd was amazing in the little area we had and it was a great game for me, setting up both goals from crosses.

“I brought a little glimpse of my early days of playing into that game.

“We all got each other through when really we looked finished and relegated.”

There was a joyous pitch invasion at the end of the 1-0 win over Stockport which secured safety and Slade was carried off shoulder-high.

But the throng soon dispersed, celebrations did not really continue and the patchwork team broke up.

Owusu wanted to stay but ended up in Australia.

He said: “I was a bit peed off in the end. I believe, for what I did, I deserved a two-year contract.

“I was happy to sign a two-year contract for less money than I’d have been on for a year.

“I think they offered me £1,800 a week for a year. I said I’d rather take £1,500 a week for two years.

“They then signed Liam Dickinson for a lot more than that and, no disrespect, he did nothing.”

So Owusu took up an offer that had come in from Down Under in stead.

He said: “I was in the physio’s room late in the season and an agent called from Australia saying a team were quite keen and I said, ‘No, no, that’s all right mate’.

“Then Malcolm (Stuart, physio), a top guy, said ‘What’s that about Australia?’ And I told him a team called Adelaide United were keen.

“He said, ‘You remember Paul Reid don’t you? He’s out there’.

“Malcolm gave me Reidy’s number and he gave me bit more insight.

“I told the agent ‘Let them pay for me to come out and have a look’.”

Owusu returned to Australia in March, 2012, and now works at Cranbrook, a leading public school in Sydney.

“I’m first XI head coach and duty master, which means I’m in charge of discipline and just a presence around the school. I’m really enjoying it.”

Which begs the question: What would he say to a young player who, like him, had a ritual which was not ideal physically but a reassurance mentally?

He replied: “I’d let him know it happened to me and, if it feels like it helps him, all good.”

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