Vote in the WeAreBrighton.com 2018-19 End of Season Awards

The 2018-19 season was a strange one for the Albion. Before Christmas, we were looking up the table with a possible top 10 finish in the Premier League being on the cards. By the end, we were relying on Crystal Palace to beat Cardiff City to keep us up and Chris Hughton was paying for that almighty collapse with his job.

We signed £50m worth of players, only one of whom has became a first team regular. As a result, the Albion’s Head of Recruitment features on the shortlist for our Villain of the Season award, spending a record £17m on a forward who has not scored a single goal or registered a single assist makes Comedy Moment of the Season and Percy Tau has spawned a whole award of his own given the social media furore that has exploded over the Lion of Judah not qualifying for a British work permit.

There are 10 categories in total for you to vote on in this years WeAreBrighton.com End of Season Awards with the most coveted being the Player of the Season crown. That’s been won in the past by such names as Inigo Calderon, Andrew Crofts, Glenn Murray, Liam Bridcutt and Stephen Ward, who all left within the following year. Curse, what curse?

Happy voting!

WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Season

Shane Duffy
He’s often overshadowed by his centre back partner Lewis Dunk due to the homegrown factor, but Shane Duffy has been marginally the better of the two this season. He’s defended as brilliantly as ever, blocking and heading everything that comes his way and he even managed to finish as second top scorer in the league at the other end, his five goals highlighting the threat he offers from set pieces and being second only to Glenn Murray’s 13.

Lewis Dunk
It’s been another fine campaign at the heart of the Albion defence for the Brighton-born defender. Not only did he earn his first call ups to the England squad, becoming the first Seagull to represent the Three Lions since 1982 when making his debut against the United States in November, but he also looks set to inherit the club captaincy following Bruno’s decision to retire. As the song says, blocking shots and scoring goals, Dunk is one of our own.

Anthony Knockaert
It says much about his contribution to the season that despite the fact he didn’t start a Premier League game in January or February, Anthony Knockaert still makes our shortlist for Player of the Season. He was voted as our WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month in September and March and he claimed more goals and more assists than any of the other wingers in the squad.

Glenn Murray
Where would the Albion be without Glenn Murray? He scored 15 times in 2018-19, beating last years tally by one and outscoring the likes of Roberto Firmino, Romelu Lukaku, Alexandre Lacazette and Son Heung-Min. Since the Albion won promotion to the top flight, he’s notched 36% of our goals which is the highest ever contribution to one club’s total in the history of the top flight. When you read statistics like that, you realise how criminally underrated he is.

Davy Propper
The Dutch midfielder’s form tailed off towards the end of the season with April being a bit of a write-off. Before that however he had an excellent campaign, finally scoring his first goal for the club in the defeat away at Leicester City in February and setting up Pascal Gross for his consolation at Manchester United in April with one of the best passes a Brighton player has ever played. All of that led to speculation about a potential £20m to Champions League semi finalists Ajax.

Maty Ryan
Missed five weeks of the season whilst playing for Australia at the Asian Cup and he returned from the United Arab Emirates not quite as best. That shouldn’t take away from what was a fine season overall. He became the first ever Albion player to win a PFA Premier League Player of the Month award after a string of superlative showings delivered three clean sheets in three victories over West Ham United, Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers and without his heroics at Millwall in the FA Cup quarter finals, we’d never have had such a brilliant day out at Wembley in the semis.

 

WeAreBrighton.com Goal of the Season

Glenn Murray v Manchester United home
David De Gea might have had his struggles this season, but he’s still one of the best goalkeepers in the world. That’s what made Murray’s goal against Manchester United at the Amex back in August so great as he produced a finish so good that it flummoxed an outstanding number one. Solly March delivered a low cross which Murray met with the deftest of flicks, almost off the back of his right boot and straight past De Gea who could only raise his hands in the air with a look of “What the hell just happened?” written on his face.

Florin Andone v Crystal Palace home
If you could pick one way to score your first home goal for your new club, this is probably the way to do it. Bernardo’s clearance out of defence looked like nothing more than a hopeful punt forward but Florin Andone gave chase anyway, collecting it in his own half out on the left touchline. There was absolutely nothing on so the Romanian striker decided to charge forward, running 60 yards up the pitch with the ball and past two Crystal Palace defenders before burying a low shot into the back of Wayne Hennessey’s goal.

Shane Duffy v West Ham United away
The best of Duffy’s five goals came in the 2-2 draw away at West Ham United. Gross swung a corner over to the back post where Duffy arrived, controlled with his chest and then contorted his body into some weird shape that shouldn’t be humanly possible to volley home. It was the sort of finish you’d expect from a nimble Brazilian forward, not a bloke from Derry who is over six feet tall.

Pascal Gross v Manchester United away
This goal wasn’t so much about Gross’ finish as the ball that teed it up, Propper curling the perfect pass with the outside of his boot right onto the chest of the German playmaker who’d ghosted in between a couple of Manchester United defenders, from where he brought the ball down on his chest and volley over De Gea. We wrote at the time that had Paul Pogba had played that pass that Propper did, Match of the Day would have played it on loop that evening 25 times.

Anthony Knockaert v Crystal Palace away
You will struggle to find a sweeter hit than this if you watch football for the next thousand years. Dale Stephens picked out Knockaert out on the right wing with a David Beckham-esque switch of play. Knockaert still had plenty to do but do it he did, getting the ball under, cutting inside and bending an effort into the stanchion of Vicente Guaita’s goal from a full 25 yards out.

Jurgen Locadia v Millwall away
So, turns out that Jurgen Locadia did actually do a few things you might expect of a £14m striker. One of those came away at Millwall in the last eight of the FA Cup when he picked up a March cross and showed good strength to hold off the challenge of a defender before hitting a volley on the turn that although Lions goalkeeper David Martin got a hand to, was too powerful to keep out.

 

Memorable Moment of the Season

Glenn Murray’s 100th goal for Brighton
Only Tommy Cook had scored over 100 goals for Brighton and nobody had done it since World War II until Murray reached his century with the only goal in October’s 1-0 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. It was history unfolding in front of our eyes as Murray joined a very exclusive club, placing himself right at the very top of the rankings of Albion strikers. Oh, and he even brought back ‘The Glenn’ to celebrate it.

Lewis Dunk playing for England
Not since Steve Foster in 1982 had a Brighton player represented England with Peter Ward and the aforementioned Cook the few men who have pulled on a Three Lions shirt whilst playing for the Seagulls. It says much about just how good Dunk has become over the past five years or so that Gareth Southgate bestowed the ultimate honour on him for Engand’s November game with the United States, making everyone connected with the Albion as proud as punch.

Doing the double over Crystal Palace
Beating Crystal Palace 3-1 at the Amex in December despite having to play for over an hour with 10 men was good. But even better was to come three months later when we went to Selhurst Park and repeated the trick, this time via a 2-1 victory for a first league double over the Eagles since 1984. Ole, ole ole, six points, six points.

Millwall away
For the first 88 minutes of this FA Cup Quarter Final away at Millwall, Brighton were dire. Their hosts – sitting 20th in the Championship – led 2-0 and looked to be heading for a day out at Wembley in the last four, and deservedly so. “Manchester City, we’re coming for you” was the deafening song from the 18,000 locals crammed into the Den. Then with two minutes left, Locadia pulled one back. In the fifth minute of injury time and with the last kick of the game, March equalised. Suddenly, we were heading for an additional 30 minutes and ultimately penalties where Ryan proved to the hero as the Seagulls completed the most unlikely of turnarounds to book their spot in the semi finals.

FA Cup Semi Final v Manchester City
And what a day that semi final was. 33,000 Brighton fans packed into Wembley for our first proper visit to the national stadium in 28 years, a sea of blue and white and there was even a rare atmosphere inside the FA’s corporate bowl which normally has all the noise and colour of a library when England are at home. Manchester City may have won the day, but the Albion were far from disgraced and might have even taken it to extra time were it not for a clearance off the line and over the bar which defied the laws of gravity from Aymeric Laporte.

Goodbye Bruno
Bruno announced his retirement 48 hours before the final game of the season against Manchester City, which meant we all knew that we were in for an emotional afternoon at the Amex. But not many of us could’ve predicted just what a tear-jerker it would be. There was a standing ovation from every corner of the stadium when he made his way off the pitch for a last time in a Brighton shirt when being substituted in the 84th minute, including from the 3,000 City fans in the South Stand, Pep Guardiola and every one of his players. Then before the player’s lap of appreciation, Bruno carried out an interview on the pitch during which he was choked by tears, ending it with the line “Once a Seagull, always a Seagull”. Only those with a heart of ice could fail to be moved by it.

 

Flair Moment of the Season

Maty Ryan’s goal celebrations
It’s the celebration that keeps on giving. It hasn’t been seen quite as much this season, but it is still quite the sight to see Ryan sprinting the length of the pitch to join in when the Albion have scored a goal at the other end – most notably when Knockaert scored his wordlie away at Crystal Palace, much to the unrest of the locals.

Gaetan Bong and Neymar are best friends
Gaetan Bong was still in international retirement as recently as August. By November, not only had he decided to start playing for Cameroon again, but he was captaining his nation against a Brazil side led by Neymar. Cue the ludicrous sight of Bong and the most expensive player in history hugging and joking like best friends during the coin toss.

Glenn Murray scores with his penis
Chris Hughton sent out a starting line up which cost a combined £56m for the FA Cup fourth round replay away at Championship side West Bromwich Albion, and yet it took the penis of a 35-year-old originally signed from Rochdale for £300,000 over a decade earlier to beat the Baggies.

Anthony Knockaert gets booked after 28 seconds v Crystal Palace away
You can just imagine Hughton’s final instructions before the Albion took to the field against Palace at Selhurst. “Now I know it’s a derby game, there’s going to be a lot of emotion, but we don’t want a repeat of Shane getting sent off against them at the Amex, so everybody please keep your heads.” Then 28 seconds in, Knockaert receives the fastest booking in a Premier League game for over a decade with a ridiculous tackle on Luka Milivojevic that he is very lucky us isn’t deemed a red.

Short free kick routine v Newcastle United home
A free kick on the edge of the box in a very dangerous position in a must win home game against Newcastle United inside of the opening 10 minutes. What an opportunity this is. Gross and Bernardo stand over the ball, but it might as well have been Paul and Barry Chuckle. Rather than test Martin Dúbravka with a shot on goal, they tried some overthought short free kick routine which ended with the ball being passed aimlessly across the Newcastle box to absolutely nobody in blue and white.

Yves Bissouma can’t be stopped v Arsenal away
Yves Bissouma had one of his better games in the 1-1 draw away at the Emirates late in the season and there was one moment in particular which had flair written all over it. He drove into the box and a whole host of red shirts swarmed towards him, kicking him and trying to stop him but the ball was glued to his feet. Even when Bissouma stumbled over he managed to keep possession, spinning around on the ground before laying the ball off in a move that Lionel Messi would have been proud of.

 

Comedy Moment of the Season

Paying £17m for Alireza Jahanbakhsh
If you don’t laugh, you’ll have to cry. Brighton smashed their transfer record to sign Alireza Jahanbakhsh for £17m from AZ Alkmaar, a forward who played 25 times in the 2018-19 season without scoring a single goal or registering a single assist.

Somebody lobs a pie at Wilfried Zaha
Poor Wilf. He didn’t enjoy the best of times against the Albion this season, especially when he visited the Amex and somebody decided to launch a chicken and gammon pie at him in one of the most middle class examples of footballing hooliganism there has probably ever been.

Going from 2-0 up away at Fulham to losing 4-2 in 22 minutes
When you go into half time with a 2-0 lead against easily the second worst team in the division, it should be game over. Except if you’re Brighton and Hove Albion, who somehow contrived to concede four goals in the space of 22 minutes in a collapse of epic proportions away at Fulham.

Shane Duffy fakes injury v Bournemouth
When Duffy’s attempted 40 yard cross field pass went seriously wrong at home to Bournemouth, he didn’t know what to do. At first, he started grabbing his hamstring in an attempt to claim that the howler was as a result of injury. Then he realised the Cherries were breaking at pace from his mistake and needed to get back into position, and so began sprinting back at the same time as faking injury. The result was him hopping back from half way line to defence like Skippy the Kangaroo, only to get there far too late as Bournemouth went 1-0 up.

Crystal Palace keeping us up
Not only did the Albion do the double over Palace this season, but it was also the Eagles who ended up keeping us in the Premier League. Their 3-2 win away at Cardiff City on the penultimate weekend of the season sent the Bluebirds down and saved our bacon – had Palace of lost in south Wales, it would have been Brighton relegated to the Championship the following weekend. Six points, and you kept us up.

Yves Bissouma laughing at Arsenal failing to finish in the top four
Brighton’s 1-1 draw away at Arsenal effectively ended the Gunners hopes of finishing in the top four and with it, their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League. That left a lot of disappointed players on the pitch come the final whistle at the Emirates with the Sky Sports cameras panning around each dejected body slumped in the floor. And then right in the middle of all this misery was Bissouma stumbling around laughing hysterically to himself. Bissouma later claimed it was because Bong was doing something funny somewhere to make laugh, but we much prefer the idea of the Mali international thoroughly enjoying costing Arsenal a place at Europe’s top table for next season.

 

Ashley Barnes Award for Red Card of the Season

Dale Stephens v Cardiff City away
This was one of those which if it’s one of your players putting the tackle in, you say isn’t a sending off offence – but if it’s an opponent doing it, then it’s a straight red. Unfortunately for Dale Stephens, his lunge at Cardiff’s Greg Cunningham looked reckless and that was the view of not just referee Martin Atkinson, but Chris Hughton as well.

Shane Duffy v Crystal Palace home
A few days before Palace’s visit to the Amex, Duffy had sent out a tweet which included the wonderful phrase “head’s gone.” It took just 28 minutes of the game with the Eagles for that prophecy to come true as Duffy lost his head in spectacular fashion, launching a headbutt at Patrick van Aanholt right in front of referee Kevin Friend. It was a case of all’s well that ends well though – the dismissal meant Pascal Gross being sacrificed for Leon Balogun who put the Albion 2-0 up with his first touch and on the way to a famous 3-1 win.

Lewis Dunk v Plucky Little Bournemouth away
To be fair to Dunk, this wasn’t actually his fault. There were no complaints about the second yellow for a foul on Callum Wilson but it was actually Bissouma who had tackled David Brooks 12 minutes earlier with referee Mike Dean mistakenly booking Dunk instead. Quite how Mr Dean managed to confuse a man born and bred in Sussex with a guy from Mali is anyone’s guess.

Florin Andone v West Bromwich Albion away
OK, so this wasn’t technically a red card at the time – but it bloody well should have been. And justice caught up with Andone eventually in the form of a retrospective three game ban. His crime? Producing a UFC style elbow smash into the face of West Bromwich Albion’s Sam Field which went unnoticed by referee Paul Tierney.

Anthony Knockaert v Plucky Little Bournemouth home
When things don’t go Knockaert’s way, he has the tendency to act like a kid playing Under 5’s football rather than a 27-year-old man who earns £45,000 a week. We saw that in all its glory in that diabolical 5-0 home defeat to Bournemouth. Knockaert had given the ball away with a terrible pass 10 minutes earlier for the Cherries’ second of the afternoon and he decided to take his upset out on Adam Smith by attempting to break Smith’s leg with a ridiculous sliding tackle.

 

Villain of the Season

Paul Barber
Whilst every other club who secured the use of the Boxpark for their trip to Wembley this year offered their supporters free entry to the facility, Paul Barber decided to charge Albion supporters up to £15 for the privilege. Nothing quite like milking fans for every penny they’ve got on a special day for the club.

Ricardo Gold
Ricardo Gold was the gimp who paid to have his shit single advertised with a mural on the side of Gelato Gusto in Church Street – painted over the Bruno El Capitan artwork that had adorned the wall for nearly two years. If it was meant to be some sort of marketing genius then it didn’t work as Gold ended The Great Escape Festival which he was in the city for with a grand total of 100 Twitter followers.

Four Three Three
The formation that ruined our season. Before Hughton switched from 4-4-1-1, we were 12 points clear of relegation and looking up the Premier League table. Afterwards, three wins in 23 games followed and we scraped our way to survival. Safe to say, 4-3-3 was a complete disaster – and went a long way towards costing Hughton his job.

Kyle Walker
England’s first choice right back got a little angry when we met Manchester City at Wembley and so decided to headbutt Jahanbakhsh in the first half. Remarkably, he somehow stayed on the pitch despite the decision being referred to VAR. Had Walker been shown the red card which he surely deserved, it might have been a different game.

West Bromwich Albion fans
What a nice bunch West Bromwich Albion fans are. They relentlessly booed Bong during our FA Cup visit to the Hawthorns because the Seagulls full back had the nerve to report that he believed Jay Rodriguez had racially abused him a year previously. Rodriguez was never cleared of the incident, the FA only said their was insufficient evidence, something which the Baggies fans seemingly don’t understand. Either that, or they’re all racists too. Classy.

Paul Winstanley
Brighton’s Head of Recruitment Paul Winstanley spent over £50m on new players this summer, more than the club has spent in it’s entire 117 year existence combined. Yet only one of those – Bernardo – has actually established himself as a first team regular with Jahanbakhsh and Locadia looking like particularly expensive mistakes.

 

Look-a-like of the Season

Bruno – Fred Sirieix
Bruno might find himself with a lot of time on his hands following his recent retirement, in which case perhaps he should consider teaming up with his look-a-like Fred Sirieix in the First Dates Restaurant? Frenchman Fred has gained a reputation for dishing out many pearls of wisdom when it comes to love to those who embark on a blind date in his restaurant and it isn’t hard to imagine Bruno doing similar.

David Button – Tyson Fury
When David Button made his Premier League debut for the Albion with an excellent clean sheet against Everton, it wasn’t the fact that he’d stepped so seamlessly into Ryan’s gloves that we were impressed with – it was more the fact that he was a dead ringer for former World Heavyweight champion boxer Tyson Fury.

Lewis Dunk – Neil from The Inbetweeners
This one crops up every year and it never gets old. The only difference now being that Dunk now has an England cap whilst Neil is presumably still seeing how much Lego he can fit up his bum. They might be similar in looks, but in career progression, they’re miles apart.

Chris Hughton – Barack Obama
Hughton and Barack Obama share both looks and personality traits. They’re both great leaders who have inspired their charges onto bigger and better things. They’ve won individual accolades with Obama a Nobel Peace Prize winner and Hughton a three-time Championship Manager of the Season and they’re both pretty popular. But above all, they’re both gentlemen. Obama does trump Hughton in one respect though – he held office for eight years rather than the former Albion manager’s four-and-a-half.

Anthony Knockaert – Eminem
Players bleaching their hair have a strong tradition in this category, most recently when Oliver Norwood inexplicably decided he wanted to look like Shirley from EastEnders towards the end of the 2016-17 season. Anthony Knockaert unfortunately didn’t resemble any female soap characters when he reached for the peroxide last summer, but he did turn into a bit of an Eminem look-a-like.

Glenn Murray – Prince William
Tenuous, we know. But it did look at one point as though Glenn Murray’s hair was going at such a rate that he would soon resemble Prince William. Murray’s recede sadly seems to have stopped in recent years, but should it ever start up again then it won’t be long until he is looking like the third in line to the throne.

 

Sexiest Player of the Season

Bruno
Not only are Brighton losing a brilliant player, a great captain and a fine gentleman with Bruno’s retirement, but we’re also saying goodbye to a great looking man.

Shane Duffy
If you like rugged charms, an Irish accent and a man who knows how to have a good time, then Shane Duffy ticks every box. You’d also pick up a loyalty card for Molly Malone’s and as much Guinness as you can humanly handle.

Pascal Gross
Pascal Gross is included on the suggestion of my girlfriend actually. A left field entry, she reckons that there “is something good looking about him”. Must be that Germanic blood.

Solly March
A regular on these lists for several years now, Solly March is unfortunately off the market following his wedding last year. Despite being married, he still retains his boyish good looks.

Davy Propper
Davy Propper is a strange one as how good he looks largely depends on what is going on with his hair. Sometimes, he resembles a Hollywood actor when it’s at a trendy length and his beard is well groomed. At other times, he looks like a lesbian character from Emmerdale, such as when he turned up to Crystal Palace away with his luscious locks chopped off.

Maty Ryan
From the moment he arrived at the Amex in the summer of 2017, Maty Ryan has been a housewives favourite. Not the tallest of men, he more than makes up for that by being dark and handsome. He has a chiseled physique and the added bonus of probably being the nicest player at the Albion, as evidenced by the fact he took selfies with practically every supporter in the North Stand after the final game of the season against Manchester City.

 

Percy Tau Social Media Comment of the Season

Percy Tau no.10 is waiting for you..please don’t do shibobos or showboating they will take you to prison for 10 year’s or suspend you 20 games
Nhlakanipho Bright believes there to be quite a severe punishment for showboating or shibobos, whatever they may be. As far as we aware this is not the case, otherwise Kazenga LuaLua would have spent most of the past decade in jail for crimes other than throwing phones down drains.

Percy Tau don’t deserve to play this team…he need a team like Barcelona or go to Real Madrid as Ronaldo replacement
Funnily enough Deejay Phathaphatha Gumbi, we didn’t see Barca or Real knocking down Mamelodi Sundowns’ door for his signature in the summer. And, we could be wrong here, but it seems doubtful that a handful of goals in the Belgian second tier is going to have turned heads at Camp Nou or the Bernabeu.

He is far better than most players playing in ur team, that guy can dribble past 5 players and create a goal or score himself, he has got everything
Being able to dribble past five players and create a goal or score himself makes Tau better than the likes of Glenn Murray, Solly March, Lewis Dunk, Shane Duffy and Maty Ryan according to Surprise Manyika. Ah, if only life was so simple.

Congratulations to coach and Percy Tau on their achievements
It was nice of Prince Mpofana to congratulate Chris Hughton on receiving an honorary degree from the University of Brighton. And it was nice to see him congratulate Tau on his achievements at the same time, no matter how much lesser they might be.

Percy Tau’s spirit is with y’all…. in the name of Percy Tau Amen!
Relegation worries, what relegation worries? Thixo Sbozo thinks that Tau’s mere spirit will be enough to keep the Albion up. In the name of Percy Tau, amen!

wait till you see him,the lion of judah..wait till you hear peter drury go like..”oooooh how about that..just how good is he?”..and jim baglin go like “..peter, i mean over the years we’ve seen some good african players like aubemeyang,and some really great ones like mo salah..but this man percy tau is just something else..he is indeed the lion of judah”
No explanation needed. This is just insane from Phakisho Thaba.

Polls close at 8pm on Sunday 2nd June. Thanks for voting and keep your eye on WeAreBrighton.com for the results