Hurzeler ends the new Brighton manager first home game curse

To say that new Albion managers do not have a good record in theIR first home game in charge would be a slight understatement. Before Fabian Hurzeler oversaw a 2-1 win against Manchester United on his Amex bow, you had to go back 23 years to find the last time a Brighton boss tasted victory in their home debut.

Peter Taylor II was the last to manage it, beating Oldham Athletic 3-0 at Withdean Stadium in October 2001. WAB favourite Lee Steele scored twice along with Albion captain Paul Rogers.

Since then, all of Martin Hinshelwood, Steve Coppell, Mark McGhee, Dean Wilkins, Micky Adams II, Russell Slade, He Who Must Not Be Named, Oscar Garcia, Sami Hyypia, Chris Hughton, Graham Potter and Roberto De Zerbi had tried. None succeeded.

Taylor went onto lead Brighton to the Division Two title at the end of the 2001-02 season. Taylor’s predecessor was Micky Adams I, who also tasted victory in his first home game in charge, beating Shrewsbury Town 1-0 at Gillingham. And Adams also delivered silverware for the Albion, winning the Division Three title in 2001.

What does all this mean for Hurzeler and Brighton in light of their famous 95th minute victory against United? Is the youngest permanent manager in Premier League history now destined to lead the Albion to the title?

Probably nothing and probably not. Hurzeler does at least end the long-standing New Brighton Manager First Home Game Curse, all of which afflicted these 12 great (and some not so great) Albion bosses.

Roberto De Zerbi – Brighton 0-1 Spurs, 8th October 2022

Given the records he would go onto break during his brief yet glorious 18 months in charge of Brighton, De Zerbi endured a pretty difficult start to life in England.

No other Albion head coach went winless through their first four matches before De Zerbi. The monkey of course came off the back in glorious style, Brighton hammering Chelsea 4-1 in front of a riotous Amex. There was no looking back after that.

De Zerbi’s first game in charge was a ridiculously entertaining 3-3 draw away against Liverpool, featuring a hat-trick from Leandro Trossard.

Seven days later and De Zerbi stepped out at the Amex for the first time. It was a far cry from the goal fest at Anfield, Harry Kane notching in the 22nd minute to give Tottenham Hotspur a 1-0 victory.

Graham Potter – Brighton 1-1 West Ham, 17th August 2019

Like Hurzeler, Potter started life as Brighton head coach with a 3-0 away win. Hurzeler’s was at Everton, Glow Up’s at Watford.

Optimism was therefore rife for Potter’s opening home fixture against West Ham United. But the Hammers had not read the script.

Javier Hernandez gave West Ham a 1-0 lead on 61 minutes. Trossard equalised four later. And that is how it finished.

Brighton 1-1 West Ham was not just Potter’s introduction to the Amex faithful. It was also the first time we saw VAR in action, ruling out another Trossard goal after Dan Burn was caught fractionally offside.

Chris Hughton – Brighton 0-1 Brentford, Saturday 17th January 2015

Hughton started life in the Albion dugout with back-to-back away victories. Brentford were beaten 2-0 at Griffin Park in the FA Cup. Chris O’Grady did score, but nobody went on the pitch. A 1-0 win at Charlton Athletic followed.

Brentford also provided the opposition for Hughton’s first match at the Amex, this time in the bread and butter of the Championship.

The Bees got revenge for their FA Cup elimination 14 days earlier, Andre Gray scoring the only goal in a 1-0 victory. Brighton ended the afternoon with only 10 men after Lewis Dunk was shown two yellow cards.

Sami Hyypia – Brighton 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday, Saturday 9th August 2014

We probably should have realised what a car crash the Hyypia Era was going to be after his first game in charge, when Sheffield Wednesday provided the opposition at the Amex on the opening day of the 2014-15 season.

Shamir Fenelon started up front. Craig Mackail-Smith and Will Buckley were on the bench. The full backs were absolutely all over the place. And Andrew Crofts was sent off before an hour had been played.

Wednesday already led by that point, courtesy of a Giles Coke effort five minutes prior to half time. It proved the only goal of an utterly dire game.

Oscar Garcia – Brighton 1-2 Derby County, Saturday 10th August 2013

Oscar did not get off to the best of starts as Brighton boss. A 2-1 loss on the opening day at The Leeds United was followed by an embarrassing 3-1 reversal against League Two outfit Newport County in the League Cup.

Derby County provided the first Championship opposition for Garcia at the Amex. This was around the time when the Rams had Steve McClaren in charge, were often the best side in the second tier and yet always seemed to falter in the playoffs.

Leonardo Ulloa put Brighton 1-0 up with only 17 minutes on the clock. But not for the first time, Chris Martin (former Crystal Palace forward rather then bloke from Coldplay) proved a thorn in the side of the Albion. Martin struck in the 27th and 54th minutes to give Derby all three points.

Gus Poyet – Brighton 0-3 The Leeds United, Saturday 21st November 2009

He Who Must Not Be Named actually won his first home game in charge, beating Wycombe Wanderers 2-0 at Withdean Stadium. However, the competition was the FA Cup.

You Know Who’s league debut came against The Leeds United three days later and did not go quite so well. Robert Snodgrass, Jermaine Beckford and Neil Kilkenny scored as the 1996 Coca Cola Cup runners up eased to a 3-0 victory.

There was little sign of the dominance Brighton were about to exert over League One during any of The Dark Lord’s early home games.

After defeat to Leeds, he failed to beat Charlton Athletic, Colchester United, Leyton Orient, Millwall, Huddersfield Town and Norwich City.

He Who Must Not Be Named eventually got his maiden home league victory at the eighth time of asking. Goals from Tommy Elphick and Gary Dicker secured a 2-0 win over Exeter City on Saturday 27th February 2010, over three months after Poyet was appointed Brighton manager.

Russell Slade – Brighton 1-3 Southend United, Tuesday 10th March 2009

How much of a challenge Slade had taken on in terms of keeping the Albion in League One was made very clear to the shiny bonced manager on his first game in charge at Withdean.

Lee Barnard gave Southend United a 23rd minute lead, cancelled out by Lloyd Owusu on the stroke of half time.

Brighton looked on for a useful point until total capitulation in the final five minutes when Barnard struck again. Theo Robinson then added a third with 89 on the clock to secure a 3-1 victory for the Shrimpers.

Slade did at least get a significant reaction from his players four days later when they thrashed his former club Yeovil Town 5-0 at the Theatre of Trees.

That was followed by four defeats and a draw from the next five, leaving the Albion looking doomed to relegation – and setting the scene for the Great Escape.

Micky Adams – Brighton 1-1 Bristol Rovers, Saturday 26th August 2008

A penalty apiece meant Adams’ first league game back as Brighton boss at Withdean ended in a 1-1 draw with Bristol Rovers.

Nicky Forster put the Albion ahead on 10 minutes. Future England international Ricky Lambert levelled four minutes from time.

Colin Hawkins was the man who gave away the Rovers spot kick. An apt start to what would prove a wonderfully comic career in a Brighton shirt for the calamitous centre back.

Dean Wilkins – Brighton 2-2 Bournemouth, Tuesday 12th September 2006

Whilst Brighton now have a German head coach in Hurzeler and a squad of individuals from every corner of the globe, Dick Knight used to dream of a homegrown starting XI running out at the Falmer Community Stadium.

It therefore made kind of sense to appoint Wilkins as Albion boss around the same time as his successful youth team graduated into the first team ranks.

Wilkins’ first game in charge after succeeding McGhee was a 1-0 win at Millwall. His Withdean debut was an entertaining 2-2 Tuesday night draw with Plucky Little Bournemouth.

Steven Foley put the Cherries 1-0 up before two goals in the space of seven second half minutes from Alex Revell and Dean Hammond turned the game on its head.

Bournemouth were not quite done though and a certain Eddie Howe provided their equaliser as the game entered its final quarter of an hour. Wonder what happened to him?

Mark McGhee – Brighton 1-4 Bristol City, Saturday 15th November 2003

Like Poyet six years later, McGhee’s first Withdean match ended in a cup victory. Boston United were beaten 3-1 in the Paint Pot thanks to two extra time goals from Chris McPhee.

But his first Division Two game in charge at the Theatre of Trees was a disaster. Bristol City ran out 4-1 winners through Luke Wilshere, Lee Miller, Aaron Brown and Matt Hill. Leon Knight scored the Albion consolation from the penalty spot.

You would have got long odds that day on Brighton going onto keep a clean sheet against City in the playoff final six months later.

Steve Coppell – Brighton 2-4 Sheffield United, Saturday 19th October 2002

Brighton beating Manchester United 2-1 via a 95th minute winner made for a pretty chaotic start to home life under Hurzeler. It is still nothing though compared to the total clusterfuck that was Coppell’s first game in charge.

The Albion came into the visit of Sheffield United to Withdean having lost 10 league game in a row. Goals from Gary Hart and Graham Barrett sending Brighton into the break 2-0 ahead seemed too good to be true.

And it was. An extraordinary second half saw the Blades come back to win 4-2, helped massively by referee Phil Prosser awarding hugely controversial 86th and 88th minute penalties.

Carl Asaba scored both, adding to his 77th minute strike to complete a hat-trick. Neil Warnock stalwart Michael Brown had started the revival when pulling one back on 70.

Just to nicely round off a totally surreal afternoon, Hove MP Ivor Caplin called for the FA to launch an inquiry and suspend Prosser.

“The referee, in my view, gave a totally inept – some would say corrupt performance. He showed inconsistencies and bias towards Sheffield United,” Mr Caplin said afterwards.

Coppell must have been wondering what on earth he had signed up for.

Martin Hinshelwood – Brighton 0-0 Coventry, Tuesday 13th August 2002

Hinshelwood was the man in charge of Brighton’s first home game in the second tier of English football for a decade. It was a difficult assignment too, coming against Coventry City.

The Albion could therefore be pleased with a 0-0 draw. Combined with the 3-1 opening day win at Burnley, it meant Hinshelwood had taken four points from his first two matches.

An impressive start, seeing as he was only given the job when a deal for Cameroon’s 2002 World Cup manager Winfried Schafer fell through.

Had Schafer turned up to take the Brighton job, Hurzeler would instead be the second-ever German to manage the Albion. But still the youngest. Obviously.

Unfortunately for Hinshelwood, it was all downhill from there. 10 subsequent league games ended in 10 defeats, at which point Knight had no choice but to pull the trigger and end the shortest reign of any permanent Brighton manager.