The Chris Hughton Years

After four-and-a-half-years, Chris Hughton’s reign as Brighton boss has come to an end. But what a reign it has been.

For many Seagulls supporters, he has established himself as the very best manager the club has ever had. He took the Albion from 20th in the Championship to delivering the dream of Premier League football, keeping us in the top flight for three consecutive seasons and with a brilliant day out at Wembley in the semi finals of the FA Cup thrown in for good measure.

Only Alan Mullery can match Hughton’s achievements in the league. Only Jimmy Melia has done better in the FA Cup. His win rate of 41 percent is hugely impressive given two of his seasons in charge were spent in the top flight and half of one was when dealing with Sami Hyypia’s joke of a squad.

From that first game away at Brentford in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday 3rd January 2015 through to his final match in charge against Manchester City on Sunday 12th May, Hughton has been a brilliant ambassador for the Albion, a popular manager and an even greater gentlemen.

Here we take a look back at all the highs and some of the lows of the Hughton Era. The best times many of us have ever known as Albion fans.

Brighton’s best matches under Chris Hughton

Brighton 1-0 Manchester United, 04/05/18
If you were a kid who went to school in Sussex in the 1990s, chances are you were one of the only Brighton fans in amongst a class full of Premier League supporters. The majority of those would’ve been Manchester United fans and as the Red Devils dominated English football under the yet-to-be-knighted Alex Ferguson, those United followers would have taken great delight in tormenting you for supporting a side constantly battling against not just relegation but the threat of extinction as well. That is what made the Albion securing their Premier League survival 20 years later by beating United so sweet. It was the culmination of a long journey through four home grounds and four divisions to watching a Brighton side defeat the club who all those kids at school supported just because they were good. Brighton 1-0 Manchester United. Pascal Gross in the 57th minute. A second season of top flight football guaranteed. Who’s laughing now?
 

Brighton 3-1 Crystal Palace, 04/12/18
There cannot have been many better Albion wins in the 139 game history of the Brighton – Crystal Palace rivalry than this one. Glenn Murray opened the scoring with a penalty against his former club before things looked like they were about to take a turn for the worst when Shane Duffy was sent off for headbutting Patrick van Aanholt right in front of referee Kevin Friend with less than 30 minutes played. Gross was sacrificed for defender Leon Balogun who remarkably scored his first Brighton goal with his first touch within 20 seconds of coming on, delivering a crashing volley from a corner. On the stroke of halftime, Florin Andone picked up the ball inside his own half and sprinted 50 yards up the pitch and past three Palace defenders to make it 3-0 going into the break. Luka Milivojevic pulled one back with a penalty for the Eagles in the final 10 minutes later but that was all they had to show for their efforts as the Albion blew their arch enemy away despite playing for over an hour with a man less. An incredible performance.
 

Brighton 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday, 20/01/17
This was the night that many of us started to truly believe for the first time that Brighton were heading for the promised land of the Premier League. The Albion had a terrible record against Sheffield Wednesday by and large with the Owls having defeated the Seagulls in the Championship play off semi finals the previous season. Both clubs were in promotion contention when Carlos Carvalhal brought his side to Sussex on a cold Friday night in January and there was little sign of the drama that was to come when Anthony Knockaert scored the only goal of a tepid first half. The second 45 was a completely different story though. Lewis Dunk beat David Stockdale with an own goal and Murray saw red for a deliberate handball in the box, gifting Wednesday the chance to take the lead against 10 men. That they didn’t was thanks to a brilliant double save from Stockdale, who not only stopped Fernando Forestieri’s penalty but also managed to somehow keep out the rebound as well. That galvanised the Albion and they retook the lead with five minutes remaining through Knockaert again, leading to a fantastic meltdown in the Wednesday ranks as Steven Fletcher and Sam Hutchinson joined Murray in the red card club. A 2-1 win against a promotion rival playing for the final half an hour with 10 men was a stunning result and hammered home the fact that this Albion squad under Hughton were good enough to go all the way in the race for the top flight.
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Brighton’s worst matches under Chris Hughton

Brighton 0-2 Cardiff City, 16/04/19
This was said to be the night that Tony Bloom decided that Hughton’s race was run as Brighton boss and it’s hard to argue with that conclusion. Cardiff arrived at the Amex as one of only three teams below the Albion in the Premier League table, making this a must-win game. Indeed, it looked like the side who triumphed would be the more likely of the two to avoid joining Huddersfield Town and Fulham in the Championship in 2019-20. The players didn’t seem to get the memo about the importance as they gave an insipid display, allowing the Bluebirds to leave with all three points and a 2-0 victory courtesy of goals from Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Sean Morrison. That saw them move to within two points of the Albion, with us now relying effectively on Palace to beat Cardiff 18 days later to keep us up. Thankfully, our friends up the A23 did just that.
 

Brighton 0-5 Bournemouth, 13/04/19
The seeds of that Cardiff loss were sown three days earlier when Bournemouth came to town and inflicted upon the Albion a heaviest home defeat in 46 years. The Cherries had gone into half time 1-0 ahead through Dan Gosling after a Shane Duffy error. A Knockaert error then allowed Ryan Fraser to make it 2-0 before the Little French Magician lost his mind and attempted to break the legs of Adam Smith out of pure petulance brought on by his own stupidity. Knockaert saw red and a miserable day was completed as David Brooks, Callum Wilson and Junior Stanislas all scored, with Hughton admitting afterwards that he feared it could have been even worse. Which might explain why he made a ridiculous like-for-like change at 2-0 down when replacing Andone with Murray and sticking with one up front despite the fact we should have been chasing the game.
 

Wigan Athletic 2-1 Brighton, 18/04/15
Wigan hadn’t won a home game in 10 months and were already doomed to relegation to League One when the Albion rocked up to the DW Stadium in the final weeks of the 2014-15 season. Needless to say, the Latics ended that desperate record as a terrible Brighton performance saw the players booed off by the 700 or so traveling supporters, with the majority of men in red and black disappearing straight down the tunnel afterwards without so much as an acknowledgement for the away fans. Tim Chow gave Wigan a half time lead with Dale Stephens scoring an equaliser early in the second half for the first goal scored by a Brighton player in over 10 hours of football. The joy was short lived as a Stockdale howler allowed James Perch to win it for the hosts with eight minutes remaining. The result left the Albion having to rely on Millwall not picking up anymore points in order to avoid relegation to League One and they were extremely grateful to Rudy Gustede and Jordan Rhodes netting for Blackburn Rovers three days later to confirm the Lions’ relegation and the Brighton’s safety.
 

Brighton’s best goals scored under Chris Hughton

Anthony Knockaert v Crystal Palace, 09/03/19
A goal worthy of winning any game, let alone a derby to give Brighton their first victory away at Crystal Palace in 14 years. Dale Stephens executed a fine switch of play to Knockaert out on the left wing but he still had plenty to do being stationed miles out from goal. Do it thought he did, bringing the ball down and cutting inside before bending an unstoppable shot into the very top corner of Vicente Guaita’s goal to cue mental scenes in the Selhurst Park away end as the Albion completed the double. Ole, ole ole, six points, six points.
 

Steve Sidwell v Bristol City, 05/11/16
A goal every bit as emotional as it was impressive. The Albion had been rocked by the news of Knockaert’s father suddenly passing away and with the Frenchman subsequently missing the trip to Bristol City and as a result, they were determined to get a result for their grief stricken teammate. This was in the days when #Together was more than some overused commercial phrase and did actually mean something. The result was Steve Sidwell opening the scoring with just 13 minutes played with an outrageous lob from inside his own half with his weaker left foot after spotting City goalkeeper Richard O’Donnell off his line. Sidwell and the rest of the team tore off to celebrate in front of the Albion dugout, where they held up Knockaert’s shirt in a touching gesture. Jamie Murphy would go onto add a second in a routine 2-0 win.
 

Jiri Skalak v Queens Park Rangers, 19/04/16
Remember when Jiri Skalak looked like an absolute world beater during his first four months as a Brighton player? Nobody quite knows why it all went wrong for the Czech international after that, but easily his most telling contribution during that brilliant half-a-season was his stunning volley in a 4-0 win home over Queens Park Rangers. Hit from a full 30 yards, not even four goalkeepers could have saved it with the Albion having to reopen the voting process for their Goal of the Season award to accommodate it. Needless to say, it won.
 

Brighton’s worst goals conceded under Chris Hughton

David Stockdale v Aston Villa, 07/05/17
After confirming promotion from the Championship with a 2-1 victory over Wigan on Easter Monday, Brighton only needed one win from their final three fixtures to win the title. Defeats away at Norwich City and at home to Bristol City meant that it all came down to the last game away at Aston Villa. Murray’s penalty after 64 minutes meant that things were going pretty swimmingly right up until the 89th minute when a Jack Grealish shot went straight through the legs of Stockdale, gifting the championship to Newcastle United. Bugger.
 

Comedyfending v Bournemouth, 13/04/19
There was some astoundingly bad defending throughout that dire 5-0 defeat to Bournemouth, but the first goal was probably the worst of the lot. It began when Duffy tried to play a 40 yard cross field pass but only succeeded in gifting the ball straight to the Cherries. He was clearly embarrassed by that as he grabbed his hamstring and begun hobbling around in comical fashion, clearly torn between actually faking an injury and trying to sprint back into the position. The result was this weird kangaroo hop down the pitch which looked absolutely ridiculous. Whilst Duffy was channeling his inner Skippy, Bournemouth were breaking at pace. They found an easy away past Yves Bissouma and Knockaert who were strolling around without a care in the world as the visitors played one touch football around them and Lewis Dunk looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights as he went chasing thin air. The ball eventually found its way to Gosling who was free front and centre of the goal and applied a simple finish. The only way it could have been more Benny Hill is with the actual theme tune played over the top.
 

The freakiest goal you’ll ever see v Newcastle United, 28/02/17
There’s never a good time to concede a ridiculous freak goal, but when it’s first versus second in the Championship then it can prove to be particularly damaging, as we found out when Newcastle came to the Amex in February 2017. Stockdale came and made a weak punch from a corner which caused chaos, a mishit shot from Christian Atsu that looked like it was more of a danger to spectators in the East Stand rather than the net ended up hitting not one, but two Newcastle players – the second being Mohamed Diame, who claimed the goal – and looping up and into a gap around 2x2cm between the crossbar, post, Fikayo Tomori and the back pedaling Stockdale.
 

Brighton’s best signings under Chris Hughton

Glenn Murray, £3,000,000
When Brighton were two goals away from securing automatic promotion at the end of the 2015-16 season, Hughton knew where he had to improve his side for the following campaign – he needed a 20-goal-a-season striker to make the difference. The answer was to bring back Murray, initially on loan from Bournemouth with the clubs agreeing a £3m fee the following January. The decision has proven to be inspired. Not only did Murray score 23 goals to fire the Albion to the Premier League, but he notched 14 in 2017-18 to spark the most unlikeliest of campaigns for a call up to England’s World Cup squad and he’s added 15 this season. That means he has been responsible for 36% of Brighton’s goals in the top flight, the highest proportion any individual has ever contributed to a single teams success in Premier League history. In the process, he’s become only the second Brighton player to pass 100 goals for the club. Without him, who knows where we would be.
 

Shane Duffy, £4,000,000
It’s mad to think now, but when Hughton brought in Duffy from Blackburn Rovers for a then club record £4m, many people questioned if it was necessarily. We already had Dunk, Connor Goldson and Uwe Hunemeier. Why spend such a big amount of another defender, especially one who at that point in the season had played five times for Blackburn, scored three own goals and been sent off? Well, what do we know? Duffy has formed arguably the best centre back partnership in Albion history alongside Dunk and has to be worth at least five times that initial fee now. A magnificent piece of business.
 

Anthony Knockaert, £2,500,000
Have you ever seen a Brighton player dominate a division like Knockaert did in the Championship in 2016-17? He spent most of the season being genuinely unplayable, scoring 15 times from out on the right wing and registering nine assists. It was thrilling to watch and although he perhaps hasn’t lived up to expectations in the Premier League for a variety of reasons, the joy and success that he brought in the second tier for an outlay of just £2.5m from Standard Liege has proven to be an absolute bargain.
 

Brighton’s worst signings under Chris Hughton

Leon Best, loan
Leon Best doesn’t just have a claim to being the worst signing Hughton ever made – he has a claim to being the worst signing that Brighton have ever made, full stop. He played 13 games after arriving on loan in the second half of the 2014-15 season and scored a grand total of zero goals. He didn’t even break into a sweat during his time as an Albion player. A terrible, terrible piece of business – especially when you consider the fact that Hughton turned down the opportunity to extend Darren Bent’s loan in favour of bringing Best in.
 

Alireza Jahanbakhsh, £17,000,000
Albion’s Head of Recruitment Paul Winstanley remains largely responsible for these two next signings, both of whom have done nothing to justify their positions as Brighton’s first and third most expensive purchases of all time. Alireza Jahanbakhsh cost a club record £17m from AZ Alkmaar last summer and in 25 appearances he has managed no goals and no assists. What a colossal waste of money.
 

Jurgen Locadia, £14,000,000
Only slightly better than Jahanbakhsh is Jurgen Locadia. He too cost a big fee from the Netherlands, arriving for £14m from PSV Eindhoven in January 2018, but has at least managed to score three times in the Premier League and pop up with a couple of others against Championship and League Two opposition in the FA Cup. Still not exactly a fantastic use of funds, though.
 

Chris Hughton’s top three moments as Brighton manager

Beating Wigan Athletic to secure promotion to the Premier League
Before Monday April 6th 2017, Mullery was the only man to have led Brighton into the top flight of English football. Brighton’s 2-1 win over Wigan elevated Hughton into that most prestigious of clubs, putting him on a par with the greatest Albion manager of all time. That day will live long in the memory of everyone who was there, from the unbridled joy as the pitch was invaded from all sides to the party that went on long into the night as the players were paraded down West Street like modern-day Jesus Christs arriving in Jerusalem. It was one of the most glorious days in Brighton history and Hughton’s crowning glory.
 

Taking the squad to the funeral of Anthony Knockaert’s father in France
We’ve already touched upon the emotional scenes when Sidwell scored that cracker away at Bristol City just after the death of Knockaert’s father, but Hughton won’t above and beyond in the aftermath of the sad event. He cancelled training and took the players across to France for the funeral, rallying everyone around his star winger at his time of need. It was a class act from Hughton and showed not just what an outstanding manager he is, but an outstanding man as well.
 

Going 21 games undefeated at the start of the 2015-16 season
It’s easy to forget just how terrible the 2014-15 season under Hyypia and then Hughton was. We only survived relegation because somehow Millwall, Wigan and Blackpool were worse and if you’d suggested at the end of that dire campaign in which Lewis Dunk managed to finish top scorer that we’d start the following season by going the first 21 league games undefeated, you’d have been sent to a secure psychiatric facility. Yet that is the turnaround that Hughton managed to produce in just one summer. In the space of three months, we went from a side who couldn’t score for six consecutive games to one who didn’t lose for 21. It takes a manager of special talents to do something like that. That’s what Hughton was for the Albion.