What reception will Graham Potter get from Brighton fans?

Ahead of Graham Potter returning to the Amex as Chelsea boss for the first time, social media has been a cauldron of debate over what sort of reception Brighton fans should give the former head coach.

We have run a couple of very scientific and accurate opinion polls which have merely served to highlight how divided opinions on the subject are.

On Twitter, 38.4 percent of Albion supporters said they would boo. 16.6 percent said they would clap. 28.3 percent said they would ignore. The remaining 16.7 percent voted for another form of reaction, which we will come to shortly.

Comments on both our Instagram and Facebook pages suggested an equally broad split between booing and paying no attention to Potter, Billy Reid, Bjorn Hamberg, Ben Roberts, Bruno and Kyle Macaulay.

There was a far more complex poll over on North Stand Chat featuring nine different options. The general gist was that around 58 percent felt Potter deserved a hostile reception.

Just seven percent opted for clapping with 17.8 percent going for ignore. 9.9 percent voted for Don’t be a twat, whatever that might have meant.

With so much uncertainty, we have taken a look at what Graham Potter and the coaching team who walked out on Brighton might be greeted with as they set foot in the away dugout when the Albion host Chelsea.

Polite applause
Potter led Brighton to their highest ever finish in the English football of ninth. He overhauled the playing style and profile of the squad from a defensive team full of older, experienced players set up to etch out 1-0 wins into an exciting, young side capable of brilliant passing football.

The question facing Brighton supporters is do those achievements mean he is worthy of a good reception? Can you ignore the disappointment of his departure by remembering the good Potter did, whilst also acknowledging that not many people could turn down a pay rise to £60 million over five years?

If you are able to take emotion out of it, then you are probably more likely to feel Potter deserves respect on his return.

Just look at Andy Naylor. If our esteemed Brighton correspondent at The Athletic were in charge of the welcoming committee, he would have Potter doing laps of the Amex riding a donkey whilst Albion fans worshipped him by paving the way with palm leaves, ala Jesus arriving into Jerusalem.

What makes football the sport it is however is emotion. And a manager abandoning a club after a good run of 15 games, seven days after the transfer window shut, taking the entire coaching team with him, and when it felt like the Albion were on the cusp of something truly special is certain to evoke an emotional response.

If Dan Harding can be booed for saying he always supported The Leeds United as a boy after joining the 1996 Coca Cola Cup runners up on a free transfer and Dean Hammond can be hated for celebrating a Southampton goal in front of the South Stand, Potter should prepare for the worst. Brighton fans are good at holding grudges.

Boooooooooo
The most popular reception in virtually every poll taken to gauge the mood amongst Brighton fans has been to boo Graham Potter.

We know it is something he does not like, following his reaction to Boogate when the Albion drew 0-0 with Leeds last season.

The Amex is not exactly known for being an intimidating place to come. If a majority of the crowd however are willing to pour fury upon Chelsea and Potter, then there is the potential for an atmosphere rivalling the Sheffield Wednesday playoff semi final or the Burnley game when the Albion played for over an hour with just nine men.

Some Seagulls fans urge caution, believing that booing will just inspire Potter and Chelsea onto victory. It is hard to believe that many Blues players – other than Marc Cucurella – will care about or be motivated by being booed by the Amex.

They are a squad of world class professionals who go out and are good enough to win every game. What a rocking Amex does do is give Brighton a better chance of victory, as we saw when the place was bouncing during wins of the past six months over Manchester United, West Ham and Leicester City – all delivered by Potter, of course.

If it takes a booing of Potter and co to generate that sort of atmosphere from the start rather than having it influenced by what happens on the pitch, then that may well be a good thing.

Shouting shoooooooot
This was the fourth reaction from our Twitter poll which commandeered that aforementioned 16.7 percent of the vote.

Suggested by Shane Lower, it is an incredible suggestion in reference to when Potter said back in April that Albion fans shouting SHOOOOOOOT during the 0-0 draw with rock-bottom Norwich City was not helpful.

Brighton failing to find a way past the worst team in the Premier League last season made it no goals at the Amex for three months. The Albion had not won in seven matches and only scored in one of those.

Who knew that Seagulls fans shouting SHOOOOOOOT were having a detrimental impact on the player’s chances of scoring?

Or that a man who had played in the bear pit of a Boca Juniors v River Plate fixture like Alexis Mac Allister struggles when the Amex crowd shout SHOOOOOOOT?

Or that Danny Welbeck – with 16 goals from 42 England caps including in some of the most intimidating atmospheres in Europe – found folk from Sussex crying SHOOOOOOOT a challenge?

Maybe Chelsea will find supporters shouting SHOOOOOOOT a problem too? It would be a wonderful reminder of one of the stranger reasons Potter gave as to why his Brighton side were unable to beat opponents struggling at the wrong end of the table.

And just imagine the irony of Mac Allister, Leandro Trossard or Moises Caicedo hitting an 89th minute winner from 30 yards with the whole stadium shouting SHOOOOOOOT? Glow Up Graham would hate it… which means we would love it.

(Disclaimer: Yes, we are aware it is far more likely to result in Mason Mount or someone twatting one in from the halfway line).

Inflatable snakes
There has been a lot of talk of waving inflatable snakes in the air to mark the return of Potter and co, which would create quite the visual if it were to be done by 10,000 – 15,000 supporters.

The problem with this particular idea comes from getting an inflatable snake into the Amex. Whilst there is nothing in the ground regulations to say inflatable snakes are prohibited, Brighton & Hove Albion are a football club who view a bottle lid as being more dangerous than a hydrogen bomb.

An elderly fan wanting to take in a mug of tea or hot soup might as well be carrying a flask of enriched uranium. Which means there is little chance of being allowed to enter with an inflatable snake. Good luck to those willing to try.

Monopoly money
A far more achievable alternative for a visual reception would be for fans to wave or throw Monopoly money around, referencing Graham Potter walking out on Brighton for all that cold hard cash.

Such a move would also pay homage to one of Potter’s predecessors as Albion boss. Alan Mullery famously ignited the Brighton v Crystal Palace rivalry by chucking money on the floor in front of Eagles supporters and shouting “You’re not worth that Palace” whilst flicking V signs at everyone.

Seeing as we are in a cost of living crisis, no Brighton fan could afford to throw actual £5 notes as a welcoming reception for Graham Potter. Fake money or Monopoly money would provide an alternative.

A pig’s head
One of the most infamous examples of irate supporters greeting a former figure they did not like came when Barcelona fans lobbed a pig’s head at Luis Figo on his return to Camp Nou as a Real Madrid player in 2002.

Getting a pig’s head into the Amex would be even more difficult than an inflatable snake. It would be offaly funny though if someone managed it.

Although maybe a block of tofu or a bag of organic brown lentils better represents the City of Brighton & Hove?

Complete indifference
Last but by no means least, how about greeting Potter with complete indifference? To clap would massage the ego of a bloke who likes to feel loved or else his thin skin comes to the fore.

We saw that thin skin when Potter talked about needing a history lesson because a handful of fans booed at over two months without a win either home or away or a goal from open play at the Amex.

Booing Potter would give him something to make a sarcastic comment about afterwards. The media would lap it up too, talking about how Brighton fans disrespected a man who led them to a first ever top 10 finish.

They will of course ignore the fact that said man gutted the club’s backroom staff, taking with him to Chelsea an iconic promotion winning Albion captain and a legendary playoff winning goalkeeper.

Potter would have ripped out the taps and the light fittings if he could (better check they remain in place after Chelsea leave the Amex, actually).

The reception Graham Potter would probably hate the most from Brighton fans is no reception at all. Let him think that nobody in Sussex cares about him anymore. That we have all moved on.

Instead, a cauldron of noise proving the complaints he had about Albion home support incorrect, cheering Roberto De Zerbi and the players to their first win of the Italian Era at the Amex.

Brighton have never beaten Chelsea in a league game before. If they manage it with Potter in the Blues dugout, how about that for a history lesson?