Chris Hughton was asked after the drab but valuable deadlock at Cardiff how many points Albion need to stay up.
Sensibly, he did not provide an answer.
A Championship relegation fight is new territory, even for a manager with his vast experience. Hughton was at the right end of the table with Newcastle and Birmingham.
In any case, it is a hazardous guessing game knowing, for certain, what will be required for the Seagulls to make a piece of club history.
Birmingham survived by the skin of their teeth a year ago with 44 points. Barnsley needed 55 the year before.
Albion have never enjoyed five successive seasons in the second tier, emphasising that these remain relatively heady times for a club which has spent most of its lifetime in the bottom two divisions.
A study of the dozen seasons since the Seagulls returned to the level for the first time in a decade in 2002-03 suggests the traditional 50 points is the magic number which would virtually guarantee Championship football in 2015-16.
A 50-point tally has been sufficient in nine of the last 12 years.
Albion need to raise their game under Hughton in the 16 that remain. Maintaining the current average of a point per match would be very risky.
A total of 46 points would have escaped the hangman's noose in only five of the last 12 years.
So the comfort aim for Albion is five wins and five draws in the remaining 16 games.
That does not sound too demanding but, to add some perspective, Tuesday's stalemate in Cardiff completed a 16-fixture sequence of four wins, seven draws and five defeats.
The feeling persists that Hughton will keep Albion up, especially once Beram Kayal, Dale Stephens, Kazenga LuaLua and Leon Best are all up to speed and a more established right-wing option than Solly March is added to the squad in the loan window.
Original article
Sensibly, he did not provide an answer.
A Championship relegation fight is new territory, even for a manager with his vast experience. Hughton was at the right end of the table with Newcastle and Birmingham.
In any case, it is a hazardous guessing game knowing, for certain, what will be required for the Seagulls to make a piece of club history.
Birmingham survived by the skin of their teeth a year ago with 44 points. Barnsley needed 55 the year before.
Albion have never enjoyed five successive seasons in the second tier, emphasising that these remain relatively heady times for a club which has spent most of its lifetime in the bottom two divisions.
A study of the dozen seasons since the Seagulls returned to the level for the first time in a decade in 2002-03 suggests the traditional 50 points is the magic number which would virtually guarantee Championship football in 2015-16.
A 50-point tally has been sufficient in nine of the last 12 years.
Albion need to raise their game under Hughton in the 16 that remain. Maintaining the current average of a point per match would be very risky.
A total of 46 points would have escaped the hangman's noose in only five of the last 12 years.
So the comfort aim for Albion is five wins and five draws in the remaining 16 games.
That does not sound too demanding but, to add some perspective, Tuesday's stalemate in Cardiff completed a 16-fixture sequence of four wins, seven draws and five defeats.
The feeling persists that Hughton will keep Albion up, especially once Beram Kayal, Dale Stephens, Kazenga LuaLua and Leon Best are all up to speed and a more established right-wing option than Solly March is added to the squad in the loan window.
Original article