There was a time, when they advanced through the divisions after being in the fourth tier of English football in 2001, when Brighton and Hove Albion aspired to emulate Leicester City or Southampton.
They were his role models: clubs admired in the Premier League for overweight, narrowing the monetary gulf between them and the profligate elite, and praised for their consistent structure, control and shrewd recruitment of players.
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Now the feeling is that Brighton has overtaken Leicester, Southampton and so many others in the club-style of the moment.
Most of those who are not part of the so-called “Big Six”, and even some of those who are part of this national heavyweight organisation, are learning the way Brighton is run.
A design built and evolved under owner/chairman Tony Bloom provides the South Coast club with not only the most productive imaginable chance to build as one of the 10 most sensible groups and qualify for European football for the first time in its history, but also to maintain up to this point of good fortune for a long era of time.
“The wonderful thing about this club is that little by little we have built the infrastructure: the people, the policies, the procedures, the quality of the team and the coaches, the quality of the academy, the line of players coming in,” he said. Brighton CEO Paul Barber. ” All this with an owner who aims to do nothing with the club other than proceed to love and nurture it. “
Bloom helps keep Brighton at the forefront of the game by applying to football the same vision and foresight that has made it a wealthy player in the sports betting industry.
He said in the 1990s that Asian handicap football, a formula that brings practical benefits to small gaming groups rather than larger ones to increase odds, would spread around the world. He adapted this same philosophy to the control of his football club.
The proactive technique that drives his other business interests is replicated in Brighton. Anticipating the long term is one thing at all degrees of your recruitment strategy, from selecting first-team or academy coaches, to buying and promoting players, to appointing senior football and management officials. Executives
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The league-based style and player knowledge used through Bloom’s sports betting company, Starlizard, was used in the recruitment of Brighton players. Their complicated approach to identifying targets gives them an advantage over other clubs buying from the same markets and allows them to absorb the blows suffered by wasting key players and body of workers without negatively impacting their overall progression.
Bloom will already have a clever concept of who could come after Roberto De Zerbi. The club will follow a short list of coaches, the Italian’s tenure is still in its infancy after succeeding Chelsea-linked Graham Potter in September.
Over the past four months, Chelsea have attracted Potter, four of his assistants, as well as the club’s head of recruitment, Paul Winstanley, and his recruitment analyst, Kyle MacAulay, and signed Marc Cucurella, Brighton’s player last season.
It does not prevent there.
Key midfielder Yves Bissouma joined Tottenham in the same window of movement, and Spurs are now threatening to move up to their Brighton contingent after their attractions in volatile striker Leandro Trossard.
Manager Dan Ashworth and defender Dan Burn left to sign for Newcastle at other times in the latter part of last season. Neal Maupay, Brighton’s smartest goalscorer in each of the last three seasons, moved to Everton at the start of this season. one. Look ahead, in the summer of 2021, and Ben White was sold to Arsenal for £50 million.
Brighton was generously rewarded, of course, with Bloom’s reputation as a well-established negotiator. They won £20 million for Potter, an unprecedented figure for a manager/head coach, and around £165 million combined for Cucurella, Bissouma, Burn, Maupay and Blanco.
Even so, this has resulted in a relentless drain of talent, both on and off the field. The guy who would have sunk the maximum number of clubs.
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But Brighton.
Brighton continues under the charismatic De Zerbi.
Liverpool’s 3-0 destruction at the Amex Stadium on Saturday, a first home win against the Anfield men in the First Division and one won through a fluid team assembled to a combined load of around £33m, lifted them above their punished victims to seventh. They are also above Potter’s Chelsea, whom they beat 4-1 at Amex in October, and just 3 points behind Tottenham in fifth, with one game less.
For them it has been easy to regret again the blackberry of Cucurella or White. “But (losing players to the established elite) is a positive sign,” Bloom said. “We are in a position where our most productive players, if sold, will be sold to the six most sensible clubs. As long as we’re ready for that and invest in our academy and invest in other young players, so that when those things happen, we’re ready, that has to be a smart thing.
“It’s not smart the moment it happens. We would prefer them not to be sold, but, as a general rule, it is a sign that we are doing a lot of things right, while the biggest clubs in the world are interested in our players.
Such has been his foresight, Brighton can look forward to the next wave that is now making its mark.
How Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United will have to wish to have the dynamic Moisés Caicedo in their midfield.
United were on the trail of overseas Ecuador when Brighton bought the 21-year-old from Independiente del Valle two years ago this month for just £4 million. By a conservative estimate, Caicedo is worth 20 times that amount now.
Bissouma, who has become so influential with Potter sitting in front of all four butts, is hardly lost thanks to Caicedo’s formidable partnership with now-World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister.
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The now 24-year-old Argentine, who bought in January 2019 for just £8 million from Argentinos Juniors de Buenos Aires, signed a new contract until the end of the 2024-25 season (with one more year of option for the club) just before heading into the lead. Towards this win in Qatar: an example of Brighton’s proactive approach, protecting its interests in terms of long-term sales values with feature plans and upfront contract renewals.
Although White and Burn have players in the good fortunes of Arsenal and Newcastle this season, Brighton has not been broken defensively with their departures, nor with those of Cucurella. 19-year-old centre-back Levi Colwill, on loan for one season from Chelsea, helped fill in the gaps transparently.
Where the artistic power of this team has not been matched by its bite in front of goal in past seasons, Brighton scores resolutions to laugh under De Zerbi. Their 15 games to date have seen them vibrate in 32 in all competitions. They have struck 12 in their last 3 games away from Amex.
Maupay, who has scored 26 goals in 102 Premier League appearances for the club, rarely deserves a mention among Brighton fans. Even less so with the appearance over the last month of 18-year-old Republic of Ireland centre forward Evan Ferguson, who scored Solly March’s goal of the moment in the win over Liverpool after making his mark in his more than two league outings.
Ireland, like South America, has been a source of recruitment for young players at Brighton.
This was partly due to the strong Irish connections of former academy director John Morling, who was sacked 11 months ago for breaching COVID-19 restrictions involving a young player. Ian Buckman, first of all Morling’s interim replacement after nearly 10 years at the club’s acting academy, was promoted to the inside position in September and there was no damage to the Irish source line.
Andrew Moran, a 19-year-old midfielder, made his Premier League debut as a substitute in the win over Everton two weeks ago. this month.
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Buckman’s internal promotion is a transparent trail and a reminder that outside source is not mandatory when clubs update deceased staff who don’t play.
David Weir, a former Glasgow Rangers, Everton and Scotland defender, had been promoted in the past from loan manager to Ashworth’s assistant before taking over as technical director once Ashworth left for Newcastle.
Similarly, Sam Jewell, son of former Derby County and Ipswich Town Paul will update Winstanley after his appointment as acting head of recruitment.
Jewell, who had been Brighton’s head of emerging skills exploration for 4 years, speaks Spanish and has been influential in securing several key signings, adding those of Caicedo and Paraguayan prospect Julio Enciso, 18.
There is also a continuity in De Zerbi’s behind-the-scenes squad, as the Italian promoted Andrew Crofts, a former club midfielder and later its U21 head coach, to his first team.
The attention to detail is relentless and the procedure is endless, regardless of the changes in the body of workers.
The constant in everything has been Barber. La right hand of Bloom has been guilty of the daily running of the club on his behalf for 10 and a half years.
Barber, awarded an OBE on the recent New Year’s Honours List for his football, is one of the game’s most reputable senior managers.
Under Bloom and Barber, Brighton built and moved into a new £32 million education and academic centre in Lancing, just west of the city, which opened in 2014. It has benefited from a further £15m upgrade in recent years, adding the addition of a £7 million centre for the club’s women’s team, which plays in the top-tier Women’s Super League.
Amex, Brighton’s home since 2011, is a conveniently luxurious stadium that fits seamlessly into the wider Premier League landscape with additional infrastructure innovations planned for the next 18 months in the form of a renovation for the 32,000-seat venue.
There will be a covered domain for outdoor stadium enthusiasts, with food and drink themes where enthusiasts can gather, and the arrival of a tunnel club to take members to the center of the players’ party on a training day, with seating for players. Canoe house.
It will be the third facility of its kind in the country after those opened at Manchester City and Tottenham.
Brighton will never be as big or as such clubs and another window of challenging summer movement awaits with players attracting elite attention.
Caicedo, who is already attracting stares, Mac Allister, Kaoru Mitoma and goalkeeper Robert Sanchez are the highlightest on the list, but Brighton will have already put their contingency plans in place. They are now a well-oiled machine to identify cap replacements for those who leave to make sure the wheels keep moving forward.
Argentine hopeful Facundo Buonanotte, who turned 18 just before Christmas, was already picked up from Rosario Central at his home this month. Brighton thinks it may be its next Mac Allister.
The former models of Brighton Leicester, who host them in the league on Saturday, won the Premier League in 2016, a feat that will be repeated at a club of their size in the short term. Since then, they have also finished fifth twice, won the FA Cup and played 3 seasons in Europe.
It’s a point of good fortune that Brighton believes he can emulate. “If being in the bottom 10 is realistic,” Bloom said, “then so is Europe. “
However, while Leicester’s progress seems to have stalled over the past 18 months, Bloom, Barber and Brighton will have their own design and foresight to maintain their prestige at such high heights.
(Top photo: Christopher Lee/Getty Images)
Athletic’s policy of the Spaniard has been expanded. . .