Ivan Golac

Partizan

Golac was born in Koprivnica in PR Croatia, then part of FPR Yugoslavia, to Croat parents Ivan, who was a soldier in President Tito's guard, and Marija, both of whom hail from Lič in Gorski Kotar. 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…

Following the end of his playing days, Golac turned to coaching, where his laid-back, positive style led to further successes. Returning to Partizan, he became assistant to manager Momčilo Vukotić in 1989 and helped the club to Yugoslav Cup success that year. The following September, Golac had an extraordinary debut in management when Vukotić was taken ill on the eve of a Cup Winners' Cup first round tie against Celtic in Glasgow, with Partizan leading 2–1 from the first leg. An astonishing match saw Golac's team progress on away goals after a 5–4 victory for Celtic. Golac remained in charge at Partizan for the rest of the season before parting company with the club. He still had a home in Hampshire, and returned to Britain in search of work. After being unsuccessfully shortlisted for the manager's job at old adversaries Celtic, he had a brief spell in charge of Torquay United during 1992. Then, in July 1993, he was announced as the surprise choice to succeed legendary Dundee United manager Jim McLean. The Scottish sporting media quickly latched on to Golac, whose hippyish public image – he took United players to "smell the flowers" in Camperdown Park during training sessions, 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 at the end of his first season in charge, defeating hot…

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.

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