Kurt Nogan stood by the ticket office at Ninian Park as Cardiff supporters clamoured to get their passport into the ground for next week's FA Cup tie against Leeds United.

The former Albion striker was asked to move aside as he spoke to The Sports Argus on his mobile and laughed: "I'm blocking everyone from getting tickets, it's cup fever."

Cardiff-born Nogan, the Second Division club's forgotten man, was trying to put a brave face on being marginalised at his home town club managed by former Seagull assistant boss Alan Cork.

"It would be brilliant to be playing such a big game. I've always been one for the big occasion. I'd be confident of banging in one or two.

"But I don't think I'll be involved. I'll probably watch it in the stands as another spectator. They have such a big squad and I haven't even played so much as a reserve game since September and I'm on the transfer list. I am in a hole and need someone to throw me a rope to get me out of it.

"I was listed at the beginning of last season when the club was taken over (by Sam Hammam) and it has been a nightmare. I've not been treated well.

"A couple of clubs have come in for me to take me on loan but the club blocked them down because they were in the same division as us.

"All I can do is keep my head down, train hard and hope something comes up. I'll see out my contract which runs out in the summer and see what happens. What I want is a free transfer."

Maybe back to the Seagulls?

"That would be lovely. I've still got a flat in the city and I'm confident I can get the goals.

"Maybe if Bobby Zamora moves on - which all strikers, including myself seem to do - I could fill his boots! I think I could."

Nogan wishes Albion good luck as they take on another of his former clubs, Preston, in their third round tie at Withdean next Saturday.

"I played for Preston in the Cup against Arsenal at Deepdale a couple of years ago when they had the likes of Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit in their side. It looked as though we were going to win. I'd scored a couple of goals and we led 2-0. They got one back and that really deflated us and we lost 4-2 in the end.

"Preston are a good footballing side and are playing well. It will be a tough match for Brighton but they are going really well at the moment and I wish them well."

Nogan demonstrated his flair for the big occasion during his three-season spell at the Goldstone.

"We played Leicester in the League Cup in 1994 . I got a couple and we beat them. It was quite a feather in our cap to turn over a Premier side 3-0 over two legs. There were some great nights at the Goldstone while I was there. It had a great atmosphere. It is such a shame things turned out the way they did and they lost the ground.

"Withdean is obviously a step down from the Goldstone and hopefully they'll get a new stadium and really progress. I hope they do.

"I only know Kerry Mayo from my time at the club and we keep in touch. I know Richard Carpenter because he was at Cardiff, but I don't know him on a personal level.

"I keep in touch with Fozzie (Steve Foster). He was a Brighton player I knew before I even signed for Albion. I cleaned his boots when we were together at Luton."

The striker, invited to the club for a trial by former reserve team coach Larry May in 1992, scored 60 goals in 100 games, a scoring rate to put him alongside Jack Doran, Tommy Cook and Arthur Attwood as the best in the club's 100-year history.

"It was a brilliant time and I'm proud to be up there with the top scorers. I would have loved to have got 50 league goals for them but got stuck on 49. I managed more than 20 goals a season for a couple of years."

A barren run of 20 matches saw him transferred to Burnley against whom he had scored five times in four matches.

"Albion were going through some financial troubles and I remember them struggling to pay us on a few occasions. They wanted to cash in on me and my value went down a bit during that spell where I just couldn't score no matter what I did. The ball kept bouncing off my shin and missing the target.

"It was their decision to sell me. They told me they had accepted Burnley's bid (£250,000) and I was a bit gutted at first.

"But Burnley convinced me it would be rosier for me and a chance to prove myself in Division One.

"At first I thought I'd made a mistake. Burnley struggled at the bottom and were relegated. But it worked out okay in the end and I started to bang the goals in."

He moved to Preston for £150,00 before switching to Cardiff in a £100,000 deal.

"I'm disappointed with the way things have worked out for me at Cardiff. I'm a family man with a wife (Donna) and three children (Rhys, six, Rhiannan, three, and Cerys, one) and I thought Cardiff would be the final move of my career as it is where I come from. I was ready to settle down.

"But it seems it is not to be."

Nogan, who has played for his country at under-21s and B level and also got into their full squad, had lightening pace and an unerring eye for goal in his first 100 games for Albion.

He has faced the Seagulls since his departure to Turf Moor, scoring against them in a 3-0 home victory for the Lancashire side and he faced them last season while in favour at Cardiff.

The front runner, who has also had trials at Peterborough and Hearts, is now 31 and raring to show what he can do on the big stage. But whether Peter Taylor will take a punt on the former Goldstone goals hero is open to debate.

But Kurt, whose elder brother Lee is still in football at York, would like another chance to prove himself. Time will tell.