Leyton Orient struck gold with Brighton & Hove Albion transfer that cost £0 | OneFootball

As Brighton's ascent towards the Premier League gathered pace, some players became surplus to requirements, and this was to Orient's advantage.

As Brighton & Hove Albion's ascent towards the Premier League gathered pace, some players became surplus to requirements, and in the case of Dean Cox, this proved to be very much to Leyton Orient's advantage.

When Brighton moved into the Amex Stadoim in 2011, they were completing a journey which had begun many years earlier.

The path to Falmer from the wholly unsuitable Withdean Stadium had been a long and difficult one, but the construction of this new 30,000-capacity stadium altered the trajectory of the club, who went in one leap from playing in the worst ground in the entire 92 to a brand-new one that was ready for Premier League football.

But this wasn't good news for everybody at the club. The couple of seasons prior to this move saw Albion alter their personnel as they prepared to hit the ground running at their new stadium, and one of the players deemed surplus to requirements was a local lad who'd made almost 150 appearances for them.

Dean Cox's time at Brighton came to an end as the club prepared for AMEX move

Dean Cox may have only been 5ft 4 in tall, but he was a combative winger who became a fan favourite at the Withdean.

But after Brighton finished 13th in League One in 2010, it became apparent that his time at the club was coming to an end, five years after making his debut for them.

Playing over 150 times for the Seagulls during his time at the club, Cox had served a purpose in the third tier of English football, but as they looked to climb up the pyramid, Brighton would leave the pint-sized winger behind.

He was released at the end of the 2009-10 season after having fallen out of favour with manager Gus Poyet, but he was quickly picked up on a free transfer by another League One club, Leyton Orient, who had just appointed one of Cox's former Albion managers in the form of Russell Slade at Brisbane Road.

Dean Cox became a Leyton Orient star - he almost won them Championship promotion in 2014

Cox would go on to make over 260 appearances in his six-year spell with the O's following his move to east London, scoring 57 goals and providing 82 assists in that time.

The highlight - and some might argue the lowlight - of his time with the club came during the 2013-14 season, when Slade's Orient team suddenly and quite unexpectedly caught light, winning their first seven consecutive matches and staying in the top two in League One until the start of February.

Cox played a full part in this team, running up 44 appearances and becoming one of four Orient players to reach double-figures in terms of goals, with 12.

But a poor run of form - three wins from their last ten games - torpedoed their chances of an automatic promotion place, and they had to settle for a place in the play-offs.

The two automatically promoted teams that season, Wolves and Brentford, are both now well-established Premier League clubs, showing what Orient were up against back then, but they were in the play-offs - and came all so close to promotion.

Finishing in the top six was a big deal for Orient, who hadn't played in the second tier since 1982, and they won their play-off semi-final against Peterborough, with Cox scoring the opening goal in the 2-1 win which took them to Wembley.

And in the final against Rotherham United, Cox scored the second goal as the O's raced into a 2-0 lead before they were pegged back to 2-2 - and then agonisingly lost the penalty shoot-out 4-3.

Things wouldn't be that good again for Cox and Orient. They were relegated into League Two at the end of the following season, and in 2016 he left the club for Crawley Town, where he stayed for two years before dropping into the non-league game with Eastbourne Borough.

He's just returned as the manager of Lancing FC, who've just been relegated into the Southern Combination Football League, for a second spell at the club, having left in 2023 for Burgess Hill Town, so it's fair to say that Cox is keen to stamp his ground at non-league level in coaching and management.

Cox remains fondly remembered at both Brighton and Orient. With almost 400 appearances for the two clubs, this isn't surprising. He was one of the most important parts of Brighton's pre-Amex era, and of one of Leyton Orient's best - and most heart-breaking - seasons.