2019-20 Season Review: March

March of the 2019-20 football season will always be remembered as the month when football was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic – with Brighton & Hove Albion leading the way in terms of the Premier League’s response to the crisis.

One game was played before the decision to bring the campaign to a temporary halt was finally taken. Brighton went to Wolverhampton Wanderers on the first weekend of March, picking up a creditable point against a side who at that stage in 2019-20 had designs on a top four finish.

A poor February 2020 had left the Albion just one point above the relegation zone and with confidence at a season’s low having just lost 1-0 at home to arch rivals Crystal Palace.

The defeat to the Eagles made it two wins in 18 for Brighton – the exact same run of form which cost Chris Hughton his job. Graham Potter never looked in danger of being fired himself even if the Albion slipped into the bottom three, partly because he had been awarded a new six-year contract just three months earlier.

To sack him after that would have been an admission of a major cock up on the part of the club – and if there is one thing Brighton can never do, it is admit that they have made a mistake.

It would be down to Potter to turn things around. Drawing 0-0 at Molineux was certainly a start. The game itself was a pretty drab affair, not that anyone was complaining. Getting points on the board was suddenly much more important than stylish, attacking football.

A speculative Davy Propper effort easily saved by Rui Patricio was the only shot on target either side managed in the opening 70 minutes.

Wolves’ introduction of Adama Traore belatedly sparked the game into life, giving us some talking points other than the wonderful selection of drinks on sale on the concourse. The consumption of a pink gin and tonic followed by a rum and coke at half time was an absolute delight.

There was one chance apiece late on to win it, neither of which hit the target. For Wolves, Raul Jimenez hit a spectacular volley which had Maty Ryan beaten all ends up, but fortunately it crashed into the stanchion behind the goal.

Up the other end and Leandro Trossard centred to Solly March who had ghosted into the box to take a shot on first time from the penalty spot. March blasted over; had he taken a touch and set himself then the Albion might have had a first win of 2020 in the 10th week of the year.

Little did we know when the full time whistle blew away at Wolves, but those pink gins and rum and cokes would be the last drinks we would have inside a stadium. Brighton would be waiting some time to pick up their seventh win of 2019-20 as on Friday 13th March, the Premier League suspended the season.

It seems incredible to think now that everyone was determined to press ahead with that weekend’s game against Arsenal despite the fact that hundreds of people a day were now dying of an uncontrollable and highly contagious virus.

Imagine 30,000 crammed onto trains and buses to get to and from the Amex. Packed into seats. Hugging strangers if Brighton managed to finally win a game. The Premier League wanted the show to go on and we all know why – £££.

Three days before Arsenal were due at the Amex, the Gunners’ game against Manchester City was postponed. Their players were put into quarantine after coming into contact with the owner of Greek club Olympiakos, Vangelis Marinakis, who tested positive for Covid-19. Even that did not result in Arsenal’s trip to Sussex being postponed.

It took Mikel Arteta contracting the virus for the Premier League to finally suspend action, initially until the end of March. That ambitious return date was put back on several occasions until an indefinite pause was announced.

Brighton would eventually get to take on Arsenal 15 weeks later when March had given way to April, May and June. Football had never felt less important during that time and yet I don’t think I have ever felt prouder of being a Brighton fan for the way in which the club handled itself throughout the suspension.

They started by donating all the food prepared for the postponed Arsenal game to the homeless. Season ticket refunds were issued quickly to supporters now struggling due to losing jobs and being placed on furlough and the club launched a scheme whereby they pledged to offer free tickets to NHS workers when stadiums opened again.

Then there was the Albion As One Fund. Led by Lewis Dunk and Glenn Murray, Brighton’s squad set up a charity into which they paid a six figure sum from their own March and April wages.

Bloom, Barber, Potter and Dan Ashworth also contributed and supporters were offered the chance to make donations too. The money raised went to local charities across Sussex who were struggling to survive because of a lack of donations and cancelled fundraising opportunities.

The club led the way in communications via weekly Zoom press conferences – the only Premier League side to offer such regular updates. Barber also helped shape the return of football through his opposition to neutral venues and only allowing players back onto the pitch when it was deemed safe to do so.

Brighton argued that the integrity of the Premier League would be compromised if clubs no longer had home advantage for the final quarter of the campaign.

Murray meanwhile put his head above the parapet to tell Sky Sports that he did not think football should return until proper procedures were in place – and that there were many other professionals who felt the same way.

Barber and Murray were saying in public what the rest of the Premier League were feeling but were too scared to admit because they knew the reaction it would garner.

With sad predictability, fans of Liverpool and The Leeds United were furious with the Albion for saying they did not think football should return until it was safe to do so in club’s own stadiums.

Winning the Premier League or promotion out of the Championship was apparently more important than protecting the lives of players and their families – and Brighton should have been hit with immediate relegation to the Championship, points deductions and some sort of financial penalty for daring to suggest the 2019-20 season waited a little longer to resume after its March suspension.

Even pundits piled in. Jamie Carragher, Joey Barton and Ian Ladyman all took aim at the Albion. According to the rest of the football world, the only reason Barber and Murray did not want football to return was because they knew Brighton would be relegated.

The so-called experts and fans of other clubs were wrong on both counts. The rest of the Premier League overwhelmingly voted against neutral venues, proving that it was not just self-interest driving the Albion’s concerns.

Brighton then went and stayed up by seven clear points anyway once football did eventually resume in June. The Albion did not need the season to be null and voided to survive – they just wanted to make sure nobody died from coronavirus because Liverpool wanted to lift the title.

It was class all the way from Brighton and in many ways, helped to bring the club and supporters back together after a bit of a disconnection through poor form and critical comments from Barber and Potter about the Amex atmosphere.

There may have been only one game played in March, but the month really was the turning point in Brighton & Hove Albion’s 2019-20 season.

Performances improved following the three month break, Potter adapted his approach with great success and it felt like there was more unity than there had been since the 2017-18 season.

Without lockdown, things may have turned out very different.

March 2020 record: P1 W0 D1 L0 F0 A0
Results: 0-0 v Wolves (A)
League position at the end of the month: 15th
WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month: N/A