Legendary Charlton Athletic boss Alan Curbishley has paid tribute to Jorge Costa following his passing aged 53.
Costa joined the club on loan from FC Porto during the 2001/02 Premier League campaign and soon became a favourite with fans and Curbishley, despite only featuring 26 times across all competitions.
"You can’t believe it, it is dreadful news," Curbishley said. "Whenever Jorge Costa’s name is mentioned I have to smile because of some of the things that went on when he came and played for us. He integrated with the players fantastically well and everyone appreciated how good he was. He came and did a fabulous job for us."
Curbishley initially spotted Costa when covering games abroad for Capital Radio.
"A while later I was actually driving to The Valley for a match and his agent phoned me and said that Jorge needed to get out on loan," Curbishley explained. "There was a problem at Porto, he needed to be playing to go to the World Cup, would I be interested and that there were other clubs sniffing around him as well.
"This was Saturday and I said, ‘when can we talk to him?’ and he said he’d bring him over the following night. He arrived at The Valley and Richard Murray and I were waiting for him. He turned up with paparazzi, pictures being flashed all over the place. He came and sat down with his agent and he didn’t really know us but he just needed to play. It wasn’t a gamble for us because I knew how good he was.
"I do have to laugh and smile when I think about Jorge. Obviously there was the song the fans would sing about him, which mentions Millwall and some of the things he did and said. I had to talk to him through an interpreter. I think we were playing away at Chelsea and I was trying to explain to him about playing against Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink through the interpreter and he just stopped me and said, ‘no problem, Jorge will sort!’ and he did. I think we won 1-0.
"He wasn’t the quickest, but he was aggressive and read the game exceptionally well. If he had his mindset then no one was going to beat him."
Curbishley was very fond of Costa and stayed in touch with the Portuguese defender long after both had left the Addicks.
He said: "He was a fantastic person who always got his point across. Everyone respected him because of his ability. He was a great lad.
"He was so confident in his own ability, he wasn’t phased about who he was playing against. He was a nice lad, so it’s really sad.
"I did have a chat with him probably a few years ago because he was interested in coming to Charlton for the manager’s job, I don’t know who had been let go. That’s how much Charlton meant to him, he was only here for four, five months but it was a big thing. He helped us enormously and we helped him."
