History of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.

Formation and foundation

The 1910 team who beat Aston Villa to lift the FA Charity Shield

Brighton were founded in 1901 and 19 years later, in 1920, they were elected to the Football League's new Third Division — having previously been members of the Southern League. In the Southern League they won their only national honour to date, the FA Charity Shield, by defeating Football League Champions Aston Villa in 1910.

Crest history

The first known crest (1946-1975) to be used by Brighton & Hove Albion was the traditional coat-of-arms design of the twin towns of Brighton and Hove. A hybrid design employing the shield of Hove and the dolphin crest of Brighton was also used at times while a calligraphic shield was worn on the team shirts in the latter 1950s. During the 1974/75 season the club became known as 'The Dolphins' and by the beginning of the following season, a new club crest had been introduced. Both this nickname and crest were to prove short-lived, however, following an incident said to have taken place in the Bo'sun public house in Brighton. Prior to a 'derby' fixture with fierce rivals, Crystal Palace, a few away supporters started chanting, "Eagles, Eagles" to which a group of Brighton & Hove Albion fans responded with a chant of "Seagulls, Seagulls". Current club director, Derek Chapman, is said to have been among the group who first christened the club with this nickname. The club has been known as 'The Seagulls' ever since and in 1977 the club crest was changed once again to represent this. A round seagull crest was used on club shirts until 1998 when the current design was introduced. New chairman Dick Knight wanted to sweep away all the remnants of the old, disgraced regime and saw an updated crest as a sign to supporters of new beginnings and happier times ahead.

During the 2001/02 season, however, the club shirts displayed no seagull crest at all. For the club's centenary season a return was made to the traditional shields of the former boroughs of Brighton and Hove (now officially one city). The Brighton shield shows Martlets (birds used often in Sussex heraldry) and coral which both represent the sea. The Hove shield also displays martlets and a ship that has run ashore, representing a French galley, commemorating the French attacks on the coast of Hove during the early 16th century.

Life at the top (1979–83)

Brighton's life as a Football League club brought little in the way of success and headlines until 1979, when under the management of former England player Alan Mullery they were promoted to the First Division as Second Division runners-up.

In their first top-flight season, a 4-0 home defeat to Arsenal set the tone for an abysmal start to life in the big time. However, an away win to European Cup holders Nottingham Forest inspired a remarkable recovery and Brighton finished the season well safe from relegation with a respectable 37 points.

The following season, Brighton found themselves in relegation trouble before an end-of-season rally saw them to safety. However, Mullery resigned after a dispute with the directors, and was replaced by Charlton manager Mike Bailey.

Season 1981-82 was the high point of Brighton's stay in the top flight, with the side in the top half or mid-table all season, finishing a credible 13th on 52 points, their highest-ever league finish to date. The following season saw a wildly inconsistent start, with victories over Arsenal and Manchester United mixed in with heavy defeats, and Mike Bailey eventually lost his job at the start of December 1982. Jimmy Melia took over as manager, but was unable to turn the situation around and Brighton ended up being relegated in bottom place.

Despite their relegation, Brighton reached their first (and only to date) FA Cup final and drew 2–2 with Manchester United in the first match. Brighton's goals were scored by Gordon Smith and Gary Stevens. This was the final that featured the "miss" by Gordon Smith with virtually the last kick off the game in extra time prompting the well known phrase "and Smith must score" - in effect it was actually a save by the Manchester United goalkeeper, Gary Bailey. In the replay Manchester United won 4–0, despite Brighton dominating the first twenty minutes of the match.

Sliding towards another relegation (1983–87)

Brighton's first Second Division campaign for four years began with a three straight defeats, but then things perked up with a run of five games unbeaten, including an amazing 7-0 victory over Charlton. However, another run of three defeats was enough to cost Melia his job, with former player Chris Cattlin stepping up to replace him and steering Brighton to mid-table safety. 1984-85 saw Brighton nearly return to the top flight, missing out on promotion by only two points. However, the following season saw Brighton slump to 11th place which, along with purported complaints from the players about Cattlin's management style, caused the board to axe him in favour of returning hero Alan Mullery. However, Mullery resigned at the start of 1987 due to a combination of indifferent form and unhappiness over the club's financial situation, and after his resignation Brighton would only win two more games all season, resulting in them being relegated again — this time to the Third Division.

A brief revival (1987–91)

Although new manager Barry Lloyd hadn't been able to save Brighton's Second Division status, he helped them regain it at the first time of asking. In 1990–91 Brighton spent the season pushing for promotion to the First Division and finished sixth. They reached the play-off final after beating Millwall 4–1 at home and 2–1 away but lost to Notts County in the final at Wembley 3-1. If the disappointment of missing out on a top flight was traumatic for Brighton supporters, it was nothing compared to the traumas that the club would encounter over the next few years.

Relegated again and again (1991–96)

The club's fans were hoping for a push for promotion to the upcoming new Premier League for the 1991–92 season, but instead they watched their side battle against relegation. The battle was lost and Brighton started the 1992–93 season in the new Division Two.

Barry Lloyd quit in December 1993, having failed to mount a serious challenge for promotion to Division One, and was replaced by Liam Brady. Brady lasted just two years before being replaced by Jimmy Case, but the transition came too late to prevent Brighton from going down to Division Three at the end of the 1995–96 season.

Meanwhile, the club's financial situation was becoming increasingly precarious and the club's directors had come to a decision that the Goldstone Ground would have to be sold in order to pay off some of the club's huge debts.

Near oblivion (1996–98)

Jimmy Case was sacked after a terrible start to 1996–97 saw Brighton stuck the bottom of the league by a considerable margin — they seemed certain to be relegated from the Football League just 14 years after they had almost won the FA Cup. The club's directors, who appeared to not care in the slightest about the on-field fortunes of the club, appointed a relative unknown in Steve Gritt, the former joint manager of Charlton Athletic, in hope of performing a miracle survival.

Brighton's league form steadily improved under Gritt, although their improving chances of survival were put under further threat by a two-point deduction imposed as punishment for a pitch invasion by fans who were protesting against the sale of the Goldstone ground. By the last day of the season, after being 13 points adrift at one stage they were off the bottom of the table and had to play the team directly below them, Hereford United — the game was in their hands. If Brighton won or drew, they would be safe. Brighton defender Kerry Mayo scored an own goal in the first half and it looked as though their 77-year league career was over. But a late goal saved the day and Brighton retained their league status on goal difference. Robbie Reinelt scored the goal that will write his place in Albion history and in the process ending Hereford's 25-year league career.

The sale of the Goldstone ground went through in 1997 and this led to Brighton having to play some 70 miles away at Gillingham's Priestfield stadium.

1997-98 saw Brighton endure more dismal form but they were never in any real danger of going down because Doncaster Rovers seemed set for the drop long before Christmas due to exceptionally dreadful form. But the board of directors wanted to move the club forward, and knew that they couldn't go on hoping forever that another team would do even worse than them. So Gritt was axed in February 1998 and replaced by former club captain Brian Horton, who already had managerial experience with Hull, Oxford, Manchester City and most recently Huddersfield.

Brighton continued playing their home games at Gillingham for the 1998-99 season and were in contention for a play off place under Brian Horton. In January 1999 Horton left to join Port Vale as manager and Jeff Wood was installed as the new manager of Brighton. With two wins and a draw in the first three games under Wood things continued to look good, however after picking up just 1 point from the next 10 games Brighton fell from play off contention and in April 1999 Wood was sacked. Micky Adams was appointed Brighton's new manager. Brighton finished the season in 17th place, their early season form enough to ensure they didn't spend a 3rd straight season fighting relegation to the Conference.

Back home (1999–2000)

For the start of the 1999-2000 season The Seagulls moved back to Brighton and started playing their home games at Withdean Stadium, a converted athletics track owned by the local council. The season started very well with Brighton born debutant Darren Freeman scoring a hat-trick in a 6-0 demolition of Mansfield in the first game of the season. Brighton's early season form was very patchy as they struggled to find consistency as a rebuilt squad struggled to gel. This early season inconsistency was carried over into the New Year. One bright point was Darren Freeman becoming the first goal scorer of the new millennium when he scored after just 2 minutes against Exeter City on January 2 2000. In February 2000 Brighton signed a little known forward on loan from Bristol Rovers called Bobby Zamora. Zamora made an instant impact scoring in his debut, the 1-1 home draw with Plymouth. Brighton lost their next game away at Northampton 1-0, this was to prove their last defeat of the season as the following game a Zamora hat-trick inspired them to a 7-1 win at Chester City. Unfortunately the run of 8 wins and 6 draws came too late to mount a run at the play offs and Brighton finished 11, just 5 points off the play off places.

Promotion double (2000–02)

2000-01 was Brighton's first successful season for 13 years. They were crowned champions of Division Three and promoted to Division Two, where they made an excellent start and looked good bets for a second successive promotion. Adams left in October 2001 to work as Dave Bassett's assistant at Leicester, being replaced by former Leicester manager Peter Taylor. The transition proved to be a plus point for Brighton, who maintained their good form and ended the season as Division Two champions — winning a second successive promotion. Just five years after almost succumbing to the double threat of losing their Football League status and going out of business completely, Brighton were one division away from the Premiership.

Another struggle (2002–03)

Peter Taylor decided against renewing his short-term contract after the promotion triumph pursuing potentially bigger and better things at rich and up-and-coming club Hull City, so Brighton promoted youth team manager Martin Hinshelwood in his place. However, Brighton made a terrible start to the 2002–03 Division One campaign, after winning their first game 3–1 away at Burnley followed by a 0–0 draw against Coventry they set a record losing sequence losing 12 games in a row, including a 5-0 defeat by bitter rivals Crystal Palace on 26 October. Hinshelwood then became Director of Football and Steve Coppell was handed the manager's duties after the 10th defeat of the run. Coppell's spell started very brightly with a 2-0 half time lead against Sheffield United, however some questionable refereeing decisions led to Brighton losing 4-2, the 12th and final defeat in the streak. Brighton stopped the slump by beating Bradford 3-2 at Withdean and continued to improve substantially under Coppell and looked as though they might be able to pull off a miracle survival. Although the great escape eventually proved beyond them, Brighton gained some satisfaction by staying alive until the last game of the season, a 2–2 draw at Grimsby. It was at the end of this season that Bobby Zamora, who had been in the double championship winning side and top goalscorer during this period, was sold to Tottenham for a £1,500,000 fee.

Up… and down again (2003-06)

Coppell moved to Reading in October 2003 and was replaced by Mark McGhee, who had achieved Division Two promotion success with Reading in 1994 and Millwall in 2001 — both times as champions. McGhee achieved promotion with Brighton at the first time of asking after a dramatic two-legged play-off semi-final against Swindon in which Adam Virgo headed an injury time equaliser in extra time to take the tie to 2–2 and a subsequent penalty shoot out which Albion won. This was followed by a 1–0 victory over Bristol City in the 2003–04 Division Two play-off final (courtesy of a Leon Knight penalty in the 82nd minute) gaining them a place in the newly-named Coca-Cola Football League Championship for the 2004–05 season. Albion finished 20th out of 24 clubs in the 2004–2005 season, narrowly avoiding the drop by a single point, but achieving their highest league position for 14 years. Brighton were relegated two games before the end of the 2005–06 Championship campaign after a disappointing season on the South coast.

Wilkins takes over (2006-08)

The season began with uncertainty, over the future of manager Mark McGhee and consequently the out of contract players. Several board member, led by major shareholder Tony Bloom wanted McGhee sacked, but chairman Dick Knight still backed him. The situation was eventually resolved with McGhee retained as manager, youth coach Dean Wilkins promoted to first team coach, and first team coach Dean White named chief scout.

With pre-season came mixed messages, then manager Mark McGhee proclaiming promotion was the aim, while Knight stated at the pre-season fans forum that mid-table would be acceptable. The mixed feelings for Seagulls fans continued into the season, as new non-league signing Alex Revell scored a debut goal to secure a 1-0 victory at Rotherham, but in the immediate aftermath young forward Colin Kazim-Richards handed in a transfer request that would eventually lead to him leaving the club on deadline day to sign for Sheffield United for £150,000 with a 25% sell on clause. [2][3][4]

Results quickly deteriorated, and manager Mark McGhee was sacked at a meeting with Albion chairman Dick Knight on 7 September 2006. Assistant manager Bob Booker also left the club on the same day, after several years working with a number of managers. Many fans had lost faith in McGhee during the previous season's relegation battle, and this was cited by Knight as one of the key reasons for his departure, along with a loss of faith in the dressing room.

Following McGhee’s sacking the club installed Dean Wilkins as caretaker-manager, saying they would have to give Wilkins a chance to see what he could do for the club. Chief scout Dean White was promoted to Wilkins' assistant manager. The pair were given the posts on a permanent basis on 29 September, and former player Ian Chapman was also added to the coaching staff shortly afterwards.

It was to prove a difficult season for the rookie management team, whose inexperience was mirrored by that of the team, 10 youth players having been awarded contracts in the summer[5], along with several youth team graduates already in the first team. There were some highlights - beating Leyton Orient 4-1 home and away, winning 2-1 away at Scunthorpe United (one of only two home defeats for the eventual champions), and thrashing Conference side Northwich Victoria 8-0 at home in the first round of the FA Cup. A 3rd round tie away to West Ham United was a break from League One for Brighton's fans, but their side were beaten 3-0 after a disappointing second-half performance. Albion also reached the Southern area Semi-Final of the Football League Trophy. January signing Bas Savage claimed cult fame on television programme Soccer AM for his moonwalk celebration following each one of his goals scored for the Albion, which were also proving crucial in keeping Brighton away from a relegation battle.

The 2006-07 season proved to be very successful for the Seagulls Reserve team, after securing the Sussex Senior Cup and winning the Football Combination Southern League by finishing just one point ahead of Southampton Reserves.

On 24 April Dean Wilkins signed a three-year contract extension.[6]

The 2007-08 season was a considerably better season for the first team, who finished seventh in League One, finishing 7 points off the play-offs and the club retained the Sussex Senior Cup beating Crawley Town, 1-0, in the final.[7]

Adams Returns (2008 onwards)

After what many fans and pundits deemed a very good 2007-08 season for Brighton and Dean Wilkins, it was announced on the 8 May 2008 that Wilkins had been sacked from his position of manager and offered the role of first-team coach at the club, which he subsequently declined.[8] It was then revealed that Micky Adams would be returning to the club to take over the duties of being manager [9] and that reserve team coach Ian Chapman had left the club. [10].

The 2008-09 season began strongly, albeit with poor home form. An early highlight was a penalty win against the pompous Manchester City in the second round of the Football League Cup which shocked the city fans and their new owner, the royalty of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. After being defeated by Luton on penalties in the Football League Trophy, Adams left the club by mutual consent.