The best Brighton photos from an unforgettable 2023-24 season
Brighton played European football for the first time in the 2023-24 season and it is those unforgettable Europa League nights which dominate the best fan photos from the campaign.
The Seagulls were handed a dream group stage draw of AEK Athens, Marseille and Ajax. Three incredible cities to visit. Three massive clubs in their respective countries. Two former Champions League winners.
Reputations meant nothing though to the Seagulls, who soared into the round of 16 as Group B winners. Roma were next on the agenda and although a 4-0 defeat in the Eternal City effectively ended the European Tour, it was an adventure no Brighton fan would swap for anything in the world.
Dropping to 11th place in the Premier League certainly felt like a price worth paying for pizza in Rome, gyros in Athens, mushrooms in Amsterdam and red wine in Marseille.
Whilst the away trips were obviously incredible (tear gassing and stabbings aside), hosting giants of world football at the Amex felt surreal too.
Proper ultras – not teenagers from Croydon in black Primark hoodies – helped create unbelievable atmospheres for all four Europa League home matches.
The Albion did their bit on the pitch too. After losing 3-2 against AEK Athens in the opening game, Brighton won every subsequent European game at the Amex without conceding a goal.
On the domestic front, it was a season of two halves. The campaign proper got underway after the Albion took part in the Summer Series, facing Chelsea, Brentford and Newcastle in the United States.
Photos from the opening three months of 2023-24 then show Brighton scoring goals for fun, winning at Old Trafford and topping the Premier League for seven days.
Photos from January onwards include losing 4-0 at Luton Town, 3-0 at Fulham and 3-0 at Bournemouth. The demands of European football, not enough squad depth and so many injuries that Brighton have brought in a brand new medical team for 2024-25 proved too much for Roberto De Zerbi to overcome.
The problems caused enough difference in opinion between De Zerbi and the board for a parting of the ways to take place at the end of the campaign.
Brighton did at least make the announcement before the final game against Manchester United. De Zerbi was therefore able to receive the send off he deserved as the man who led the Albion to the greatest heights in the club’s 123-year history.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed photos over the past nine months, either via email or Twitter. Nobody knows what 2024-25 will bring but knowing the Albion, it will not be dull.
