The remarkable rise of Brighton seen in two World Cups 24 years apart
A World Cup final in which one of the greatest players of all time desperately wanted to lead his nation to victory. For Lionel Messi and Argentina in Qatar 2022, see Zinedine Zidane and France at their home Coupe De Monde in 1998.
Messi has a Brighton player alongside him. Alexis Mac Allister has already made history in becoming the first ever Albion representative to play in a World Cup semi final.
Barring injury or illness, Mac Allister seems to certain to start against France in the Lusail Stadium for the final.
The only game he has missed in Qatar was uncoincidentally the only game Argentina have lost, that shock defeat to Saudi Arabia in their opening match of the tournament.
This is all a far cry from when Zidane was trying to cement his legacy by leading Les Bleus to success over Brazil at the Stade De Francie 24 years and six tournaments ago.
The name Brighton & Hove Albion was not mentioned once during the 1998 World Cup. In competing nations from Iran to Tunisia, it is doubtful whether football watching folk had ever heard of the Seagulls.
A month before France 1998 kicked off and Brighton had finished 91st out of 92 teams in the Football League.
It was the second year in succession that the Seagulls were officially ranked the second-worst team in English professional football.
The only side to finish below Brighton that season were Doncaster Rovers. They had a pretty good excuse for somehow being worse than the Albion, owned by a bloke who wanted to burn the main stand down at Belle Vue as part of attempts to run Donny out of business.
Albion home games were being played in front of a couple of thousand fans a 150-mile trip away from Brighton itself at the Priestfield Stadium, Gillingham.
Those brave souls who spent their Saturdays and the occasional midweek night travelling to and from Gillingham were treated to a club-record 12 home games without a victory.
That feat stood the test of time for 13 years until *checks notes* Graham Potter oversaw 14 winless matches at the Amex through the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. Quick history lesson for you there, Glow Up.
Players who turned out in the blue and white stripes through that 1997-98 campaign included the likes of Valur Gislason, Damien Hilton and Michael Mahoney-Johnson.
Kerry Mayo – who spent the majority of his Albion career as a left back – finished the season as top scorer with six goals.
If you had stood in the 1,025 crowd watching Brighton lose 3-0 to Barnet on Bonfire Night 1997 at the Priestfield and said that the Albion would have a player representing Argentina in a World Cup final in less than 25 years time, you would have been sectioned.
You probably should have been sectioned for being there watching Brighton v Barnet in the first place, but that is by-the-by.
The idea of a Seagull turning out in the biggest game in football would have seemed preposterous when Brighton were homeless, broke and only kept out of non-league because Doncaster had a pyromaniac madman as chairman.
Whilst Zidane was busy scoring twice alongside Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit to lead France to their first World Cup that summer, Brian Horton was trying to put together a squad capable of doing better than finishing 23rd in Division Three.
£1000 and a set of kit paid for Gary Hart to arrive from Stanstead. There was immense excitement when Stafford Browne swapped Hastings United for the Albion, having been one of the most feared strikers in the Isthmian League over the past couple of years.
Mark Walton came in from Fulham to fill the Albion goal. In his case, literally, as he weighed around 25 stone. Other summer signings included Glen Thomas, Mickey Bennett and Danny Mills.
If it all sounds a bit depressing, that is because it was. Which is why Brighton fans frequently look back in wonder and awe at how far the club have come thanks to Dick Knight, Tony Bloom and many others.
There have been numerous staging posts in Brighton’s rise over the intervening three decades that cause you to pinch yourself.
A ninth placed finish in the Premier League back in May. Winning promotion to the top flight in 2017. The opening of the Amex in 2011. Gus Poyet He Who Must Not Be Named leading a waltz to the 2020-11 League One title.
Even winning Division Three under Micky Adams whilst playing at Withdean a mere three years on from 1998 would have been difficult to imagine for Albion fans watching that summer’s World Cup in France.
And so to Mac Allister and his feats with Argentina. A Brighton player starting in a World Cup final will be the biggest pinch-me moment yet and by a considerable distance given where the achievement is placed in the context of the club.
The Albion had played top flight football before sinking to the lows of the mid-90s. They had finished as high as 13th in the old Division One. Players had turned out for England. Brighton had even come within Gary Bailey’s legs of winning the FA Cup.
This current spell in the Premier League is rewriting the record books. But the club’s first period in the top division contained equally impressive and memorable moments.
Never has a Brighton player come close to a World Cup final though. Mac Allister is breaking new ground of the sort nobody ever deemed possible.
By 8pm on Sunday night, less than 240 men in the history of humankind will have started a World Cup final. Mac Allister could be one if selected in Lionel Scaloni’s starting XI in the Lusail Stadium.
Mac Allister’s exploits for Argentina in Qatar have turned not just him but the Albion into a household name. Who would have ever thought that possible 24 years ago?
