Late Wolves goal finally ends the Brighton Sami Hyypia Saga
Everyone remembers the Amex game against Millwall as the Friday night when the Sami Hyypia Reign of Terror totally unravelled. What is often forgotten is that Hyypia limped on for another week after Tony Bloom stuck by his head coach, meaning the final game of that sorry saga in Brighton history came away at Wolves.
Eight days earlier and the 1-0 defeat to Millwall ended with Albion fans fighting each other in the stands, a Hyypia Out banner being unfurled and the most poisonous atmosphere at a Brighton home match, arguably since the war years at the Goldstone Ground.
It still blows my mind the divide between the Hyypia In and Hyypia Out crowd could be so volatile. Surely everyone could see Hyypia was out of his depth?
And if not, the Championship table told you as much. The Albion sat five points adrift of Millwall in 21st when Bloom finally signed off Hyypia’s P45. The prospect of relegation was looming large over the Seagulls.
There was another Hyypia Out banner at Molineux but this one did not cause unrest between fans. Indeed, it was a very different feeling all round compared to the previous weekend against the Lions.
That is interesting in itself. Those who only attended home games at the Amex during the Sami Show seemed more inclined to give Hyypia further opportunities to turn it around.
Anyone who spent time and money following Brighton around the country, only to have the trip ruined by 90 minutes of football were more accepting that Hyypia was a hopeless cause.
This included the vast majority of the 799 Albion supporters who went to Wolves on Saturday 20th December 2014. A 400-odd mile round trip five days before Christmas.
Most there wanted Hyypia gone. Hence why there was little difference of opinion in the away stand. It was now over to Bloom to accept Hyypia’s resignation when it inevitably came in again. Please God, let Bloom accept it.
The train to Wolverhampton that day was full of strange feelings. On the one hand, nobody wants to go to an away game and see their team lose. But on the other, a Brighton win at Wolves might have earned Hyypia a stay of execution.
Three points gained at Molineux but 18 points potentially dropped over the coming month if Hyypia kept his job for another six games.
Albion fans were openly saying it would be better for Brighton to disappoint (again) at Molineux to hasten the departure of the manager rather than winning. That is how bad things were.
Still, at least we were arriving in Birmingham four hours before kick off with Christmas market season in full swing. Copious amounts of German beer would numb the pain of what everyone was expecting to come.
10 minutes into the game and one was left wondering if they had drank so much German beer as to be hallucinating? What else could explain the blurry vision of Brighton take the lead after only 10 minutes?
Inigo Calderon crossed and on-loan Darren Bent stooped to score a clever header in the penultimate game of his one month loan from Aston Villa.
The Albion apparently had the chance to bring Bent back in the New Year but Hyypia’s successor, Chris Hughton, opted instead to sign Leon Best on loan. Let that sink in for a minute. A decision almost as insane as Bloom rejecting Hyypia’s attempts to resign.
Wolves should have had a penalty early in the second half but incredibly, Nouha Dicko was booked for diving. Joe Bennett played a woefully under hit back pass to David Stockdale, Dicko latched onto it and was subsequently tripped by the Albion goalkeeper.
Referee Darren Bond initially pointed to the spot. But after a lengthy consultation with his assistant, changed his mind and showed Dicko a yellow.
The Albion got away with that but there was no escape from a blatant red card for Bruno. One of the many, many baffling decisions Hyypia made was to have Bruno moonlight as a central midfielder.
An attempted one-two with Bennett aimed at getting Brighton out of their own penalty area did not come off, leading Bruno to produce a jumping two-footed tackle on Kevin McDonald in an attempt to retrieve the situation.
Incredibly, Bruno had the nerve to complain about the decision. Bennett just looked baffled at his role in (almost) conceding a penalty and then selling his teammate short, resulting in their instant dismissal.
It should probably be added here that Bennett was actually one of the better of the 127 loan players the Albion signed in the 2014-15 season. Certainly compared to Gary Gardner or Ali Al-Habsi, for example.
Brighton now had 32 minutes plus injury time to hang onto their 1-0 lead. And they almost did. Maybe they would have done if Hyypia had opted to reinforce his defence for the final five minutes when coming under increasing Wolves pressure.
He had Aaron Hughes and Adam Chicksen on the bench. Bent was spent having run himself into the ground. Striker off, defender on, made perfect sense in the circumstances. Instead, Adrian Colunga was introduced in a straight swap for Bent.
Wolves duly equalised three minutes later when Danny Batth prodded home a Bakary Sako corner which the Albion failed to deal with.
Under normal circumstances, heartbreak. But with desperation to see Hyypia leave rife, conceding an 88th minute leveller to extend Brighton’s terrible form to one win in 18 was not the end of the world.
Three days later and it turned into a massive positive. Thank you, Wolves and thank you, Batth we all thought as Hyypia met with Bloom and Paul Barber and offered his resignation.
According to The Guardian: “His offer was initially rejected by the chairman, Tony Bloom, who had hoped to persuade him to remain in charge, though Hyypia reiterated his desire to leave. His departure was eventually sanctioned, albeit reluctantly, by the owner.”
With Hyypia gone, Nathan Jones subsequently picked up four points from two caretaker games in charge. Hughton then arrived as Hyypia’s replacement. And the rest, as they say, is history.
How different might that history look if Brighton had won at Wolves and Hyypia been given another couple of months in the job?
A scary thought.
