AmexRuislip
Trainee Spy 🕵️♂️
Another interesting 'under the radar' read, with some great photos on the link below 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...tml?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
Brighton have gone from the brink of oblivion to top of the Championship... Cloughie would be amazed by miracle
Brighton were heading out of the Football League in the 1996-97 season
But the arrival of Steve Gritt brought about a miraculous upturn in fortunes
20 seasons later the club are now top of the Championship under Chris Hughton
Hughton is looking at the bigger picture but the feeling is that this is their year.
People go to Brighton for various reasons, the late Brian Clough wrote, recalling his time at the club in the 1970s. 'For a holiday, for a day-trip, to retire, for a Tory Party conference . . . you don't go there for the football. Brighton is not a big club and is never likely to be.'
Clough had a traumatic time at Brighton. The 1970s Jose Mourinho lived in a hotel and struggled with the isolation. In the dugout, his relationship with assistant Peter Taylor fractured. In the league, he lost 8-2 at home to Bristol Rovers.In the first round of the FA Cup, there was a 4-0 defeat by non-League Walton and Hersham.
It would be interesting to hear what Clough had to say about Brighton now. For they are a club transformed. Under the guidance of Chris Hughton they are top of the Championship, 17 games unbeatenThey have suffered three play-off failures in the last four seasons, but there is a growing sense that this is Brighton's year.
In December 1996, Brighton were heading towards oblivion. They were bottom of the Football League and 11 points from safety when Steve Gritt took over as manager. Supporters reviled club chairman Bill Archer and his chief executive David Bellotti.
They had sold the club's Goldstone Stadium to developers and in the next two seasons Brighton played 74 miles away at Gillingham's ground before moving to the Withdean athletics stadium.
'It was desperate,' Gritt tells Sportsmail. 'I went in and the fans saw me as a puppet for the chairman. I drove to the ground for my first game and as I pulled in, I saw graffiti on the walls. It said, 'Gritt believes Bellotti bull****'. I went on the pitch before the game and they booed me. Attendances were just under 4,000, a club on its kneesIf you think Bob Bradley had it bad at Swansea, he's had nothing!'
Gritt kept Brighton up, winning 10 of his 12 home games in charge in the club's final season at the Goldstone. On the last day of the season, the club retained Football League status with a draw at Hereford.
For Brighton, it was the beginning of a long road to redemption. The key moment arrived in 2009, when Tony Bloom assumed majority control of the club.
A lifelong fan, the 46-year-old has invested more than £200million in the club. His £93m funding was central to move to their impressive new home — the 30,000-capacity Amex Stadium.
Bloom began attending Brighton games as a boy in the 1970s, accompanying grandad and club vice-chairman Harry.
As Harry had a flutter on the horses, Tony was putting his pocket money into the fruit machines. This was his training ground for life on the poker scene. Bloom has competed in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas but made his millions setting up online bookmaker sites in the early 2000s.
Immediately after last season's play-off defeat against Sheffield Wednesday, Bloom headed down to the dressing room to thank the players for their hard work. The following morning, he held a board meeting at 8am and Hughton received a four-year contract. The club spent only £5m in the summer but recruited know-how in Shane Duffy at centre back, Oliver Norwood in midfield and Glenn Murray up front.
Crucially, Hughton kept his squad together.
'The gaffer keeps us grounded,' says Murray, who has 15 goals so far. 'We won late at Birmingham recently and he was the only one not smiling! He is calm 98 per cent of the time, but it can be a different story at half-time. If we need a gee-up, he knows.'Inside the club, there is a unique camaraderie. When the father of winger Anthony Knockaert died last month, the entire squad flew to France to attend the funeral.
The players eat breakfast and lunch together every day, while meals are also provided for all staff working at the club.
Last season, players Gordon Greer and Inigo Calderon felt that if the players are on promotion-based incentives and bonuses, the backroom staff and club personnel should be, too. Bloom agreed.
Bloom is hands-on but will only be seen at the training ground when he is bringing work colleagues along for a five-a-side match. He allows Hughton to manage and trusts his chief executive Paul Barber, formerly of Tottenham and the FAOn transfers, he works closely with Hughton and head of recruitment Paul Winstanley. For prospective signings, there is a video that sells the Sussex region, the club's heritage and also shows their proximity to airports and the ease of routes to London.
The club fly to most games north of Birmingham and recently padded every seat in the stadium to ensure comfort for fans — at a cost of £500,000. During a trip to Bristol City this season, Bloom took over a pub and hosted 50 of Brighton's most loyal away fans for a no-holds-barred question-and-answer session.
Community ties are strong. In August 2015, tragedy struck when a vintage jet crashed on to traffic near Brighton's training groundThe Shoreham air crash claimed the life of Matthew Grimstone, a member of the ground staff, and fan Jacob Schilt. The police used the training complex as an incident base, the club chefs cooked for emergency services.
'There's a big picture here,' Hughton says. 'We have wonderful facilities now. Some of the history I knew but until you speak to people, you don't know the real struggle this club has endured.
'They had so many planning applications that had to go through to build the stadium. It's a wonderful achievement in this day and age for a club and a chairman and owner to finance what we have here. Promotion would mean everything. I'm very proud to be here.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...tml?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
Brighton have gone from the brink of oblivion to top of the Championship... Cloughie would be amazed by miracle
Brighton were heading out of the Football League in the 1996-97 season
But the arrival of Steve Gritt brought about a miraculous upturn in fortunes
20 seasons later the club are now top of the Championship under Chris Hughton
Hughton is looking at the bigger picture but the feeling is that this is their year.
People go to Brighton for various reasons, the late Brian Clough wrote, recalling his time at the club in the 1970s. 'For a holiday, for a day-trip, to retire, for a Tory Party conference . . . you don't go there for the football. Brighton is not a big club and is never likely to be.'
Clough had a traumatic time at Brighton. The 1970s Jose Mourinho lived in a hotel and struggled with the isolation. In the dugout, his relationship with assistant Peter Taylor fractured. In the league, he lost 8-2 at home to Bristol Rovers.In the first round of the FA Cup, there was a 4-0 defeat by non-League Walton and Hersham.
It would be interesting to hear what Clough had to say about Brighton now. For they are a club transformed. Under the guidance of Chris Hughton they are top of the Championship, 17 games unbeatenThey have suffered three play-off failures in the last four seasons, but there is a growing sense that this is Brighton's year.
In December 1996, Brighton were heading towards oblivion. They were bottom of the Football League and 11 points from safety when Steve Gritt took over as manager. Supporters reviled club chairman Bill Archer and his chief executive David Bellotti.
They had sold the club's Goldstone Stadium to developers and in the next two seasons Brighton played 74 miles away at Gillingham's ground before moving to the Withdean athletics stadium.
'It was desperate,' Gritt tells Sportsmail. 'I went in and the fans saw me as a puppet for the chairman. I drove to the ground for my first game and as I pulled in, I saw graffiti on the walls. It said, 'Gritt believes Bellotti bull****'. I went on the pitch before the game and they booed me. Attendances were just under 4,000, a club on its kneesIf you think Bob Bradley had it bad at Swansea, he's had nothing!'
Gritt kept Brighton up, winning 10 of his 12 home games in charge in the club's final season at the Goldstone. On the last day of the season, the club retained Football League status with a draw at Hereford.
For Brighton, it was the beginning of a long road to redemption. The key moment arrived in 2009, when Tony Bloom assumed majority control of the club.
A lifelong fan, the 46-year-old has invested more than £200million in the club. His £93m funding was central to move to their impressive new home — the 30,000-capacity Amex Stadium.
Bloom began attending Brighton games as a boy in the 1970s, accompanying grandad and club vice-chairman Harry.
As Harry had a flutter on the horses, Tony was putting his pocket money into the fruit machines. This was his training ground for life on the poker scene. Bloom has competed in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas but made his millions setting up online bookmaker sites in the early 2000s.
Immediately after last season's play-off defeat against Sheffield Wednesday, Bloom headed down to the dressing room to thank the players for their hard work. The following morning, he held a board meeting at 8am and Hughton received a four-year contract. The club spent only £5m in the summer but recruited know-how in Shane Duffy at centre back, Oliver Norwood in midfield and Glenn Murray up front.
Crucially, Hughton kept his squad together.
'The gaffer keeps us grounded,' says Murray, who has 15 goals so far. 'We won late at Birmingham recently and he was the only one not smiling! He is calm 98 per cent of the time, but it can be a different story at half-time. If we need a gee-up, he knows.'Inside the club, there is a unique camaraderie. When the father of winger Anthony Knockaert died last month, the entire squad flew to France to attend the funeral.
The players eat breakfast and lunch together every day, while meals are also provided for all staff working at the club.
Last season, players Gordon Greer and Inigo Calderon felt that if the players are on promotion-based incentives and bonuses, the backroom staff and club personnel should be, too. Bloom agreed.
Bloom is hands-on but will only be seen at the training ground when he is bringing work colleagues along for a five-a-side match. He allows Hughton to manage and trusts his chief executive Paul Barber, formerly of Tottenham and the FAOn transfers, he works closely with Hughton and head of recruitment Paul Winstanley. For prospective signings, there is a video that sells the Sussex region, the club's heritage and also shows their proximity to airports and the ease of routes to London.
The club fly to most games north of Birmingham and recently padded every seat in the stadium to ensure comfort for fans — at a cost of £500,000. During a trip to Bristol City this season, Bloom took over a pub and hosted 50 of Brighton's most loyal away fans for a no-holds-barred question-and-answer session.
Community ties are strong. In August 2015, tragedy struck when a vintage jet crashed on to traffic near Brighton's training groundThe Shoreham air crash claimed the life of Matthew Grimstone, a member of the ground staff, and fan Jacob Schilt. The police used the training complex as an incident base, the club chefs cooked for emergency services.
'There's a big picture here,' Hughton says. 'We have wonderful facilities now. Some of the history I knew but until you speak to people, you don't know the real struggle this club has endured.
'They had so many planning applications that had to go through to build the stadium. It's a wonderful achievement in this day and age for a club and a chairman and owner to finance what we have here. Promotion would mean everything. I'm very proud to be here.'
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