Not many former Albion players can say they are looking forward to playing against the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid this season.

But that is the prospect facing one-time Seagulls skipper Gary Chivers.

Chivers, now 41, takes the Chelsea old boys team he manages to an international tournament at Stiges, Barcelona, later this week.

Among the opponents he will come up against in the eight-team event, which includes Barca, Real and Valencia, are Johan Cruyff and Hristo Stoichkov.

Another Albion old boy, Clive Walker, is among his team-mates in the Chelsea side along with the likes of Tommy Langley, Gary Stanley, Micky Droy and Jason Cundy, who recently retired from the game.

Running the Chelsea old boys XI is one of the many interests Chivers still has in football despite leaving the pro game more than six years ago.

He explained: "I am doing a lot of PR work, working for the Press Association covering football games, and doing a lot for Sky and Cable TV.

"I go on the television to talk about football, which is brilliant, and I go to a lot of games, which I enjoy.

"I also work in a school doing coaching and I do some private coaching.

"I do things like player ratings for the Press Association. I went to Albion at the beginning of the season when they played Wigan. It was nice because I saw some old faces, like John Byrne and Dean Wilkins.

"It takes up a lot of my time."

Since bringing the curtain down on his career, Chivers was a chauffeur for a while and also obtained his black cab licence, but his football interests keep him fully occupied now.

Football has always been central to the life of Chivers, who played for Chelsea, Swansea City, Queens Park Rangers, Watford, Albion and Bournemouth in a League career spanning 465 games and 19 goals.

It all began at Chelsea, the club he supported as a boy. After serving his apprenticeship at Stamford Bridge, Chivers signed professional in July 1978 and went on to make 133 League appearance for the Blues over a seven-year period.

Known then as a defender or midfielder, Chivers moved in August 1983 to join a Swansea City side which had reached the top-flight of English football under John Toshack.

His spell there was curtailed by injuries and ended the following February when he moved to Queens Park Rangers, where he made 60 League appearances and also appeared in the UEFA Cup.

A move to Watford followed but that did not work out and, with Albion looking for a right-back, Chivers moved to the South Coast in March 1988.

Chivers enjoyed immediate success at the Goldstone Ground, helping Albion to promotion as runners-up of the old Third Division that season under Barry Lloyd and later being part of the team which reached the play-off final at Wembley in 1991.

In all, he made 252 League appearances for Albion, scoring 16 goals, and he has nothing but happy memories of his time in Sussex.

Chivers said: "They bought me from Watford in the old First Division. Albion were lying sixth in Division Three when I first came and I signed bang on deadline day in 1988.

"The aspirations were, if they could get into a play-off place, they would be happy with that.

"I remember me and Barry Lloyd having a conversation and I said, 'Have you properly looked at the run-in?' I always thought we could go straight up and in the first ten games I had for Albion we were unbeaten, seven wins and three draws.

"It was brilliant because people questioned me ambition wise when I left Watford for a Third Division side. The following season Watford were in the Second Division with us."

Chivers, now living a stone's throw from Fulham's training ground in Motspur Park, remembers the season of the play-off final well.

He said: "That was disappointing. Maybe, looking back, the manager did not pick the best side to play Notts County, who were a decent team at the time.

"We were a very entertaining side. We scored a lot of goals but we let in lots of goals as well. But it was a fantastic team."

Chivers admits Chelsea and Albion are the first scores he looks for on a Saturday, which is a compliment to the club when you consider the number of teams he played for, which included Bournemouth after leaving the Goldstone Ground in May 1993.

He said: "I loved it down there. I got on well with the fans and it was nice to be captain.

"I still go down there now when I can. If I get an odd weekend, I will go down there, stay in a hotel and take in a game.

"It was so sad when I saw the ground had been knocked down. I was absolutely chocked.

"I walked down from where Steve Gatting lived. I went across Hove Park and it was dead flat where the ground should have been. It brought a lump to my throat."

His career at Albion included a stint in goal, starting a game at Millwall in September 1991 after a pre-match injury to Perry Digweed. Chivers kept a clean sheet for eight minutes before being replaced by substitute keeper Mark Beeney.

Chivers approves of what he sees now at the club. He said: "Since the thing at Hereford when they had to win to stay up, they have gone from strength to strength.

"Micky Adams has gone and left them a very good squad. They now have got a fantastic manager and coach in Peter Taylor.

"He is a fantastic and wonderful coach. If you can't learn off that guy, you can't learn off anyone."

After leaving Brighton in 1993 Chivers spent the summer playing in Norway before joining Bournemouth in the November, ironically making his home debut in the Cherries' 4-2 FA Cup win over Albion.

The following season he was on the point of taking over as player-coach at Scarborough but the dismissal of manager Steve Wicks scuppered those plans and instead he returned to Bournemouth.

In January 1995 Chivers returned to Sussex to join ambitious County League side Stamco (now known as St Leonards) and he spent 18 months there. Later he had a brief spell at Worthing "until the money dried up".

International recognition passed Chivers by, but only just. If it had not been for red tape, he would have been part of Malta's bid to reach the World Cup finals during his time at Albion.

Chivers explained: "My dad was Maltese and they got in contact with me. The World Cup was coming up and they wanted me to play.

"I was 30-31 at the time and I said I would but it turned out you had to live in Malta for five years."

As for the future, Chivers appears happy with his life. He enjoys his media work and he enjoys coaching. How about a full time return to the game in a coaching position?

"I wouldn't mind that but it would have to be the right offer and the right club. If it is to be, it is to be.

"There have been 22 managers sacked already this season, so it is a pretty precarious position to be a manager or a coach."