Ivan Golac

Ivan Golac (, ; born 15 June 1950) is a Serbian and Yugoslav He moved to Belgrade where he joined the youth section of FK Partizan aged 12 and eventually graduated to the first team. He made over 350 appearances for the club and won League championship medals in 1976 and 1978. During this era, he also made his debut for the national team, but that match against Algeria in 1976 proved to be his only one at international level. "The Yugoslavian League was one of the best in the world; every game was really tough. It was a kind of war because there was a lot of talent and ambition. We had a very good crowd for all the games and more or less all the clubs, especially Partizan Belgrade, Red Star Belgrade and Dinamo Zagreb. You could put them among the ten biggest derbies in the world ... we would play in front of crowds of 90–100,000"

Southampton The year of 1978 would prove to be a watershed in Golac's career. He had reached the age of 28, when Yugoslavia's Communist authorities would allow players to move abroad; it was also the year in which English football's restrictions on foreign players were lifted.

Golac was transferred to Southampton in August 1978 for a fee of £50,000, initially on a non-contract basis until problems obtaining a work permit were resolved, before signing a permanent contract in September.

He immediately became the established right-back, rarely missing a game over the next four seasons. The Dell crowd soon warmed to his "swashbuckling, surging style along the touchline" and he was voted the "Saints" Player of the Year in 1981 although, according to manager Lawrie McMenemy he had a tendency to "go missing" in away matches. The following season, he lost his place to Mark Dennis and after another period on loan, this time at Portsmouth, and claimed to have learned English from listening to Rolling Stones records – was in pointed contrast to the austere reputation of his predecessor, McLean. Against the odds, Golac's confident approach led underdogs United to Scottish Cup success Since then, he has held several managerial posts around Europe without recording any significant achievements, having been in charge at ÍA Akranes from Iceland in 1997, Sartid Smederevo in Serbia and Karpaty Lviv in Ukraine.

Personal life Outside of football, Golac also had a spell running a chocolate factory in Belgrade. He is married to Bratislava, with daughters Andrijana and Ivana, and they have homes in Belgrade and Vienna.

Honours

As player Partizan Yugoslav First League: 1975–76, 1977–78

Southampton Football League Division 1 runner-up: 1983–84 League Cup finalist: 1979

As manager Dundee United Scottish Cup: 1994