Cast your votes in the WAB Brighton Awards 2022-23

The 2022-23 season has seen Brighton crack the Premier League big six and qualify for Europa League football for the first time – and now comes your chance to recognise the key players and best moments in the 14th WAB End of Season Awards.

There are 10 categories to vote in. The one every player wants to get their hands on is obviously the coveted Look-a-Like of the Season Award, but failing that being named WAB Player of the Season is not a bad consolation prize.

Previous winners of Player of the Season include Andrew Crofts (left Brighton a month later), Glenn Murray (left Brighton a month later), Liam Bridcutt (left Brighton six months later), Stephen Ward (left Brighton a month later), Inigo Calderon (left Brighton a year later), Shane Duffy (sent on loan to Celtic a year later), Yves Bissouma (left Brighton a year later) and Marc Cucurella (left Brighton two months later).

Some might say the award is cursed, claims which will only strengthen should Moises Caicedo or Alexis Mac Allister win ahead of their anticipated summer transfers.

What we do know is that for the first time ever, we have to break the WAB Awards rule which states each category can only have six nominations – Brighton have been so good in 2022-23 as to make it impossible to cut the list to six.

Other categories include Goal of the Season, Miss of the Season and Comedy Moment of the Season. Manager of the Season returns to the WAB Awards in 2022-23 for the first time since 2014-15, thanks to Brighton rattling through three head coaches.

Who do you think is likely to win that one out of Glow Up Graham Potter, interim manager Crofts or Roberto De Zerbi?

Six own goals also gives us enough nominations to bring Own Goal of the Season back. Could Pascal Gross pick up a unique WAB Awards double by winning Brighton Goal of the Season and Own Goal of the Season in 2022-23?

You have until Monday 12th June to cast your votes. Thank you for taking the time to celebrate another history-making campaign in the history of Brighton & Hove Albion.

 

WAB Player of the Season 2022-23

Moises Caicedo
Brighton had lost six consecutive matches and drawn 0-0 with Norwich City before Caicedo’s debut at Arsenal in April 2021. His impact was impressive last season, incredible in the first six months of the current campaign and veered into world class territory since Arsenal failed in their January bid to sign him.

Lewis Dunk
Dunk has been so good in 2022-23 that even Gareth Southgate can no longer ignore him. His defensive skills have never been in doubt, but since De Zerbi arrived the Albion captain boasts the best success rate of English defenders in the Premier League for long passes, progressive passes and switching play. His pass accuracy meanwhile is an astonishing 90.04 percent, second to only John Stones.

Pervis Estupinan
Brighton banked £62 million for reigning WAB Player of the Season Cucurella and then signed a clear upgrade in Estupinan for £15 million. Solid defensively, brilliant going forward and possesses such fitness levels that he was the last outfield player to be rested during the ridiculously intense final two months of the campaign.

Pascal Gross
Right back. Left back. Defensive midfielder. Number 10. It mattered not where Gross was deployed; he just kept delivering. 10 goals were the most he has managed in a single season and 10 assists tied his previous best campaign in 2020-21. He now deserves to be in the conversation alongside the greatest Brighton players of all time.

Alexis Mac Allister
It seems mad to think that there were grumbles back in August about Mac Allister being in the starting XI. 12 goals later and he finishes the campaign as the Albion’s top scorer from midfield, with a World Cup winners medal around his neck and wanted by Liverpool and Manchester City.

Solly March
No player epitomised the impact of De Zerbi better than March. Three goals and four assists in 81 appearances under Potter gave way to seven goals and seven assists in 27 matches after De Zerbi took charge. A genuine match winner on his day, it was such a shame his season was cut short a month early by injury.

Kaoru Mitoma
Potter’s distrust of out-and-out wingers meant it had been some time since Brighton fans had been treated to a wide player flying down the flank. Mitoma’s unique combination of balance, pace and directness has made him one of the most exciting individuals to watch in the Premier League this season, culminating in 10 goals and eight assists.

 

WAB Goal of the Season 2022-23

Alexis Mac Allister v Leicester City (H)
Having earlier seen a wonder goal on the volley from 30 yards ruled out in controversial fashion by VAR, Mac Allister made up with it via a stunning free kick from distance in the final minute to complete a 5-2 rout for the Albion.

Solly March v Southampton (A)
When Brighton rocked up at St Mary’s on Boxing Day, March did not score goals. He could not even score a penalty, as Albion fans had seen in costly fashion five days earlier when exiting the League Cup at League One Charlton Athletic. It was an unexpected yet wonderful Christmas gift when the winger cut in from the right and bent an effort into the top corner from 30 yards out.

Kaoru Mitoma v Liverpool (H) FA Cup
A goal of sublime skill to eliminate the FA Cup holders in the final minute of their fourth round visit to the Amex. Mitoma chopped across a bouncing ball to spin it over the head of a Liverpool defender before crashing home on the volley.

Julio Enciso v Chelsea (A)
The goal that had a million people across the world Googling Who is Julio Enciso? The Paraguayan wonderkid took a couple of steps forward, realised he had few passing options and so twatted the ball beyond Kepa Arrizabalaga from miles out to stun Chelsea.

Pascal Gross v Wolves (H)
Gross’ stonking volley against Wolves gains extra marks for the fact Der Kaiser teed himself up. His first touch flicked the ball into the air, his second touch smashed it into the stanchion. Unstoppable.

Julio Enciso v Manchester City (H)
Already voted BBC Match of the Day Goal of the Season, the best part about Enciso’s strike against City was the reaction of the away fans behind the goal as it flew in. There were hands on heads, mouths wide open in shock and awe, and one bloke bursting into applause before the ball had even hit the back of the net.

 

WAB Own Goal of the Season 2022-23

Alexis Mac Allister v Manchester United (A)
The first player to beat Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez in 2022-23 was Brighton midfielder Mac Allister. An own goal which would have played out perfectly to the Benny Hill Theme Tune as Sanchez pushed the ball into Mac Allister, from where it rebounded into the net in front of the Stretford End.

Lewis Dunk v Fulham (A)
The third player to beat Brighton goalkeeper Sanchez in 2022-23 was Brighton defender Dunk. This was an absolutely wonderful own goal as Fulham countered from an Albion corner, Andreas Pereira played a pass low and hard into the box and Dunk on his charge back towards Sanchez slid in to fire the ball beyond his advancing goalkeeper.

Adam Webster v Liverpool (A)
Anfield is one of those venues where Brighton have proven themselves good for an own goal through the years. Webster added his name to the likes of Dunk and Bridcutt when Sanchez punched a corner he should have caught straight into the back of his own defender, from where it rebounded into the net in front of the Anfield Road Stand. There is a pattern here, isn’t there?

Pascal Gross v Nottingham Forest (A)
Gross was unlucky more than anything else with his own goal which paved the way for Nottingham Forest to come from behind and defeat Brighton 3-1 at the City Ground. A Renan Lodi cross clipped Der Kaiser to catch Jason Steele unaware at his near post.

Jason Steele v Everton (H)
There seemed little danger when Dwight McNeil pulled a cross back from out on the left at the Amex until Steele managed to deflect the ball into his own net with an outstretched foot. A moment that perfectly summed up the shambles that was Brighton 1-5 Everton. Special praise to the official Albion website, which went all North Korea in its reporting of the truth by trying to claim it was a good finish from McNeil.

Deniz Undav v Newcastle United (A)
An interesting evening at Newcastle for Undav (which you can read more about in the WAB Brighton Awards 2022-23 Flair Moment of the Season category) began with a fantastic glancing header from a Kieran Trippier corner which left Steele with no chance.

 

WAB Manager of the Season 2022-23

Graham Potter
Lost just one of his six games in charge of Brighton in the 2022-23 season before he slithered off to Chelsea.

Andrew Crofts
A combination of train strikes and the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II meant he did not get to take charge of a competitive game as interim head coach between the reigns of Potter and De Zerbi. Which was a shame.

Roberto De Zerbi
Football from another planet. Goals galore. An infectious personality which has given him the best connection between a manager and fans since Gus Poyet had Brighton tearing up League One. What a bloke.

 

WAB Memorable Moment of the Season 2022-23

Brighton 4-1 Chelsea
Potter and has money grabbing cohorts returned to the Amex for the first time, unbeaten in their six weeks at Chelsea so far. Brighton were yet to taste victory under De Zerbi. The Amex rocked, Glow Up was humiliated and the 90 extraordinary minutes that played out transformed the fortunes of both clubs.

Alexis Mac Allister wins the World Cup
25 years ago and Brighton had a strike force consisting of Damian Hilton and Michael Mahoney-Johnson. Never could any Albion fan have dreamt that one day, their number 10 would be helping Argentina win a World Cup in front of a global audience. Made all the more special by the very obvious pride Mac Allister took in becoming the first Seagull to ever achieve the feat.

Self serve beer machines appear at the Amex
A genuine life-changing moment following the winter break when self serve beer machines appeared in the North and West Lower concourses. Gone are the days of queuing for 10 minutes for a warm, flat, disgusting Fosters. Simply grab a pint cup, get it into the machine and sip on a chilled Moretti or Neck Oil.

FA Cup Semi Final
Losing on penalties was heart breaking. But to reach an FA Cup semi final, have 35,000 Brighton fans turning Wembley into a sea of blue and white and go toe-to-toe with Manchester United was some achievement.

Mac Allister last minute penalty v Manchester United
11 days after Wembley and United came to the Amex in the Premier League. You could not have written a more ironic script than the Albion winning 1-0 via a 98th minute penalty perfectly despatched by Mac Allister. The noise when the ball hit the back of the net could be heard across Brighton.

Brighton secure European football v Southampton
The impossible dream came true when Southampton visited the Amex. A 3-1 win secured European football for the first time in Brighton history, leading to one big party both inside the stadium at full time and in the city afterwards. Including De Zerbi dancing on a bar.

 

WAB Flair Moment of the Season 2022-23

Roberto De Zerbi fights Thomas Frank
In future WAB Brighton Awards beyond the 2022-23 season, there might well be justification for a De Zerbi Moment of the Season category given the way he has dominated Flair Moment. Starting with his second game in charge away at Brentford, when he managed to get into a spot of handbags with Bees boss Thomas Frank.

Solly March celebrates in front of Palace family stand
March is meant to be the nice, quiet, polite lad from Hailsham who just happens to be good at football. He is no shithouse, like Maupay for example. And yet here March was, channelling his inner Neal by celebrating his goal away at Palace in front of the Selhurst Park family stand. Glorious.

Brighton bench fights Spurs bench
We did have this down as another moment of De Zerbi flair, but he actually managed to stay out of the mass brawl on the sidelines between the Brighton and Spurs benches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Did not stop De Zerbi getting sent off, mind.

Roberto De Zerbi knee slide v Arsenal (A)
Arsenal’s title hopes were done and dusted as Brighton scored two late goals on their way to a 3-0 win at the Emirates. And there was De Zerbi, channelling his inner Jose Mourinho my knee sliding around outside his technical area.

Deniz Undav v Newcastle United (A)
One of those performances no Albion fan is likely to forget in hurry. His first intervention has already been covered in the Own Goal of the Season category at the 2022-23 WAB Awards and things got even better when he next gave away the free kick which Brighton conceded their second goal from. Undav was booked for his troubles before scoring past Nick Pope at the right end.

Jan Paul van Hecke Cruyff Turns away from Erling Haaland
It takes a lot of confidence as a centre back to pull off a Cruyff Turn under pressure in your own box at the best of times. Let alone when you have hardly played in the Premier League in the current season, are facing the champions and Erling Haaland is breathing down your neck. What a moment from Jan Paul van Hecke which deservedly went viral.

 

WAB Comedy Moment of the Season 2022-23

Dave’s poem at the Fans’ Forum
The annual Brighton Fans’ Forum has always been a surreal event but before 2022-23 it had never received a nomination in the WAB Awards. Congratulations then to Dave, the supporter who wrote and read out a five minute long poem criticising the Albion for introducing a £2.50 charge for printing matchday tickets at home.

End of game victory music played to celebrate offside
Whoever was in charge of the PA for August’s 1-0 win over The Leeds United clearly had an eager finger. They pressed the button on the end of game victory music having mistaken the referee awarding an offside for the full time whistle. Fortunately (or unfortunately for full comedic impact) Leeds did not then go and find a late, late equaliser.

“I’m the president of this ****ing football club”
On the day Brighton’s new away ticket collection and ID policy was first introduced at a game, life president Dick Knight found his ticket for Brentford would not work at the turnstiles. Cue the surreal scenes of Knight shouting “I’M THE PRESIDENT OF THIS ****ING FOOTBALL CLUB” as he was unable to enter the Gtech Stadium, for which he then “imposed a 10 game ban on himself”.

Carabao Cup elimination at Charlton
A place in the quarter finals of the League Cup was the Albion’s; all they had to do was see off a struggling League One side whose previous two home matches had been defeats against Bristol Rovers and Cheltenham Town. Brighton being Brighton, this naturally meant failing to score in 90 minutes and then missing three penalties in the subsequent shootout to suffer an embarrassing exit.

Record signing paraded at half time of 5-1 defeat
New £30 million record signing Joao Pedro was introduced to the Amex faithful for the first time. And what a welcome it was, coming in the pissing rain at half time of what would turn out to be a 5-1 defeat against 19th in the table Everton. Welcome to Brighton, Joao.

Spelling mistake on 3,000 Roberto De Zerbi t-shirts
Great gesture from the club: Giving a free RDZ Blue & White Army t-shirt listing all the away games played in the 2022-23 season to every fan who attended the final fixture at Aston Villa. Not so great: Forgetting to spell check said t-shirt, so that it read Tottenham Hostpur rather than Tottenham Hotspur.

 

WAB Villain of the Season 2022-23

Away Ticket Checks
Remember when you could just hop on a train, watch a Brighton away game, come home again? These days it involves potentially collecting your ticket at the ground and getting asked to prove who you are by showing ID. The new away ticketing system has proven universally unpopular, even if the reasons for its introduction are justified.

Marc Cucurella
Is Cucurella about go from Brighton Player of the Season at the WAB 2021-22 Awards to Villain of the Season in 2022-23? Not only did he try and force through a move, but when it did happen he began spouting an increasing amount of bollocks about Chelsea being his dream club and driving past Stamford Bridge on his way from London back to Brighton. Even though it is in completely the wrong direction.

Pastor John
The last thing a young man who had just had his livelihood ripped away by a hereditary heart condition needs is to be told by a pastor he is now cured through prayer and can now play football again. Pastor John did just that to Enock Mwepu in a strange series of events which might have been funny were it not a genuine life and death issue.

Graham Potter
No explanation needed.

Fabrizio Romano
Romano is a charlatan who knows nothing when he links Albion players with transfers away from the Amex. But when it is an incoming deal, his word becomes truth and gospel. That seems to be the general gist of things anyway. A lot of Brighton fans believe he goes out of his way to deliberately unsettle Seagulls players, hence his inclusion in the WAB 2022-23 Awards for Villain of the Season.

VAR
There was no clearer example of blatant cheating from match officials than Spurs 2-1 Brighton, when the Albion had two perfectly good goals disallowed and two clear cut penalties not awarded. VAR played its part in that, as well as drawing their offside lines from the wrong defender to rule out a Estupinan goal and deny Brighton all three points at Palace.

 

Look-a-Like of the Season 2022-23

Roberto De Zerbi – Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Somebody tweeted the other day: “Hear me out… but does Roberto De Zerbi look a bit like Volodymyr Zelenskyy?” Since then, I have thought about this look-a-like at least three times days.

Lewis Dunk – Neil from The Inbetweeners
A serial winner of this category every year at the WAB Awards since it was introduced, Brighton captain Dunk looking like Neil from The Inbetweeners is chasing a record-breaking third success in 2022-23m having missed out to Mac Allister and Lionel Messi last season.

Alexis Mac Allister – Lionel Messi
The reigning Look-a-Like of the Season champions, Mac Allister and Messi have more cause to follow up in the 2022-23 WAB Awards after the Brighton midfielder helped the Paris Saint-Germain forward complete his glittering trophy collection by winning the World Cup together.

Robert Sanchez – Duke of Hastings from Bridgerton
Series 2 of Bridgerton saw none of the Duke of Hastings. With Sanchez having thrown his toys out of the horse drawn carriage after being dropped for Steele, the former Albion number one surely has enough spare time on his hands now to return to society and the gossip sheets of Lady Whistledown.

Vincenzo Teresa – Gregg Wallace
When did you realise De Zerbi was going to be a success as Brighton manager? Was it when Liverpool were hammered 3-0 at the Amex? Or Chelsea dismantled 4-1? Or when he arrived with Gregg Wallace as his fitness coach? Vincenzo Teresa is the look-a-like who has taken the Albion by storm this season.

Deniz Undav – Viktor Krum
Bulgarian wizard Viktor Krum was considered one of the greatest Quidditch players in the world and also took part in the Triwizard Tournament, representing the Durmstrang Institute. He never scored an own goal, gave away a free kick for the opposition to score a second, got booked and then put the ball in the correct net in a single game before, though.

 

WAB Sexiest Player of the Season 2022-23

Levi Colwill
Based on what we have seen this season, Colwill is destined to win major trophies and accolades throughout his career. Might the first personal award of significance to come his way be WAB Sexiest Player?

Solly March
Having been nominated for Sexiest Brighton Player at every WAB Awards for the past half-decade, will 2022-23 be the year when March finally claims the crown? His boyish good looks have a certain appeal, but it is yet to be enough to take him to the title – although he has never had a season on the pitch as good as this one to sway uncertain voters.

Kaoru Mitoma
Brighton have never had a player who people have been willing to fly around the world for the sole purpose of watching before. The thousands of Japanese women (and men) have been a breath of fresh air at the Amex and for Mitoma to win Sexiest Player of the Season would justify their support and faith.

Robert Sanchez
Sexiest Player of the Season has been dominated by Sanchez in recent WAB Brighton Awards with him winning the crown for the past two years running – and with a summer sale likely, 2022-23 looks like his last opportunity to make it three in a row.

Jason Steele
Honestly, I have no idea if Steele is good looking. He is on the shortlist for the simple fact it would be bloody funny if he were to usurp Sanchez as both Brighton number one and Sexiest Player in the 2022-23 Awards.

Joel Veltman
A suave, sophisticated Dutchman who judging by his rescue of a seagull from the chimney of his Hove home last May is also an animal lover. What more could you possibly want?

Polls close at 8pm on Monday 12th June. Thanks for voting in our WAB Brighton End of Season Awards 2022-23 and keep your eyes on WeAreBrighton.com for the results