The Fall and Rise of Brighton

Today, Brighton and Hove Albion are a model of how a football club should be run.

They punch above their weight. They unearth excellent players. And they play watchable football.

But it hasn’t always been the case. Seb Stafford-Bloor charts their rise from nearly collapsing as a football club. Craig Silcock illustrates.

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#BHAFC #Brighton

[Tifo]

Morning everyone: we got our Wills mixed up here - Will Buckley scored the double against Doncaster, not Will Hoskins. Our mistake - have a great day.

[scpjack]

Something that’s so cool about Brighton’s rise is each manager going slightly further than the last. Hughton won promotion and kept them up with good looking football, Potter ascended to mid-table and defined the culture of attacking football and a team of young stars, De Zerbi is challenging for Europe and is entrenching that. All three have played their part magnificently,

[jeromheath]

Thanks for this, Tifo. As a Brighton supporter, it made me feel quite emotional. How far we have come.

[vegetaXtreme]

Our club's story is starting to be told. Hard not to cry right now in all honesty

[henrymeyer]

I was 12 when we left the withdean but I remember so many rainy days wondering if we would ever make it this point. The last 5 years have felt like a vivid, crazy dream.

[JellyPants]

As a Bournemouth fan I'd love to see one of these about us. Brighton are a fantastic team and it's great to see them do so well coming from where they did.

[GeorgeStokes]

Brighton are what every club should aspire to be. They're a wonderful representation of our city. Honest, thoughtful, well run and fans put at the forefront. And we got to sneakily watch the stadium being built via livestream when we were supposed to be working in school!

[Xangoose]

This video is so well made, the animations are brilliant. The seagulls had me laughing 😂 We are lucky to have you, Tifo

[ShuffleSwitcher]

Brighton were League One champions in 2010/11, the final season at Withdean, not Champions in 2011-12 which the graphic suggests. Also it was Will Buckley who scored the goals against Doncaster in the opening league game, not Hoskins.

[JimmyWuffster]

I was born in Brighton, and while I've inherited supporting West Ham from my mother, it means a lot to see them in the PL and performing so well. I remember long chats with a friend who genuinely thought they were going to see them play their last game in the 90's

[stockportlad]

I'm a Stockport County fan and I went to a game at the Withdean Stadium in 2009, we'd just entered administration but were more or less safe from the drop regardless of the result barring some miraculous results meaning Crewe and Northampton would have had to score something like 7 goals each which obviously didn't happen and we lost 1-0 and whilst I was annoyed at the result, I was so pleased for Brighton staying up, I had a drink, sang some songs and generally had a proper laugh with some Brighton fans after the game, whilst I'm certainly not a Brighton 'fan', they're a club I definitely keep an eye out for. Whilst I doubt we're going anywhere near Brighton's level, it's encouraging to see how they have done and with our ground improvements starting this summer and massive investment into the club it makes me optimistic that we could become an established C'ship club one day!

[crispin]

I’ve fallen in love with Brighton so much over the last few years, I even named one of my dogs after them. I’m so happy to learn more about their upbringing through good ownership and loyal fans; I hope we see the same with Wrexham.

[Rileysteros]

Fantastic video, amazing that you're telling the story of the club I was a season ticket holder at for 10 years at the Withdean and the Amex... But the double goalscorer vs Doncaster was Will Buckley, not will Hoskins (sorry to be that guy)

[HeyJoshyJosh]

As a Man United fan, one player who often gets overlooked at Brighton is Welbeck. He's been brilliant since he's gone there.

[nicovanderwalt]

Thanks for making a short and sweet summary of Brighton. I've been reading on and listening to podcasts etc to learn more about the clubs history. I'm a South African fan, started following Brighton 3 years ago, I could never prior to that find an English club I liked. I grew up loving Bayern (and my dislike for sides like Chelsea, United etc was established) but the BuLi largely became irrelevant and all my friends were always supporting EPL sides. Brighton ignited that passion in watching footy again, the joy of winning, the pain of losing, watching attractive football. Never wanting to miss a single game, always excited for the next. Never experienced this feeling with Bayern. I do love this club and I'd love to one day visit the Amex. UP THE ALBION!!!

[snaggiz]

It’s hard to keep up the kind of growth Brighton has had, especially with the budgets that they have. But they do really conduct some quality business as well as developing players really well.

The next few steps will be the hardest I think as they want to look upwards, but as a club, they have immense potential.

[Ryan-hnit]

This short MASSIVELY undervalued Bloom’s impact. He’s changed the way in which clubs buy players. He was at the forefront of x betting patterns (the likelihood of an event in any given game) which became the xG’s that a so prevalent now. He could predict, with high certainty, what team would win. A lot of huge betting firms buy his algo’s, just because they’re so accurate. And he used that same method in buying players - working out who was undervalued. He took the concept of Moneyball and perfected it. The man is a genius, and a deadly negotiator (see Chelsea’s outlay on failed acquisitions). He might not have the financial might of the biggest clubs, but he knows far more than the heads of those clubs.

[joebond]

Would just like to clarify that the two goals against Doncaster in the first game at the AMEX were scored by Will Buckley, although Hoskins scored two bangers for us in his stint at the club. Great video!

[xkumanekox]

Hands down the best run club in the Prem rn.

[joshuatayloruk]

As a Seagulls supporter since the 2010-11 season, this video made me so emotional to see how far our club (as supporters) has come. Thank you.