[Football] A thread full of ONLY good things about CH

lawros left foot said:

Where do you start?

When he arrived, we were very poor, probably about to be relegated, and a squad of players that lacked any sort of fight, heart, and especially talent. He took us to the end of the season playing defensive, pragmatic football, and achieved exactly what he set out to do. We stayed up although the Huddersfield game was one of the worst I’ve ever seen, but, it got the job done.
The next season started with a 21 game unbeaten run , that lasted till Christmas, finally beaten by Boro, but with a squad decimated by injury. I seem to remember at one time in the Autumn we had8 first team players out with medium to long term injuries. But still Chris kept the run going, it wasn’t pretty at times but, by God it was effective.

Then the blip, 5 games without a win, we looked dead on our feet, but Chris stayed steady, no histrionics, just great man management. We started to win again, a vital 1-0 against Blackburn, then more points collected until Cardiff, our low point of the regular season, blown away 4-1 in the South Wales wind and rain. Our next game was crucial, away to a pretty decent Bristol City side on a Tuesday night. Chris lifted the test, a terrific 0-4 trouncing, we were back to our best. This was my favourite away game that season, we went there in trepidation, we left with a belief that Chris’s team would be in the mix at the end.
We didn’t lose another game in the regular season, a run that saw us finish 3rd, and a winner takes all game at Middlesbrough. We all know what happened, Stephens sent off by Mike Dean had given us hope, but, the team couldn’t quite get the vital winning goal that would have sent us up.Had it happened, it would have been astonishing, Hughton had taken a relegation bound team to within a whisper of the Premier League. So, on to the play offs then, Sheffield Wednesday awaited us at Hillsboro but, again the bitter hand of fate dealt us a shattering blow, four game finishing injuries in 55 minutes, reduced to 10 men for the last 40 minutes, but we still only lost 2-0. Did Chris complain? Of course not, he never once complained about injuries , refs, or bad luck,or when we lost, and he never gloated when we won. A mark of the man.
The second leg was played in an atmosphere so febrile that the Amex has never heard it’s like before or since, and, it nearly came off. We battered them for 30 minutes, scored a goal, and was so close on numerous other occasions, then, the dagger to our hearts. A Wednesday goal, allowed by referee Pawson even though it was a blatant foul on Dunk, The game was up, we tried to score, but, the football gods had turned their backs.
Bruno in tears, Liam’s chin-up gestures, it hurt, we had had such a season, one that I thought would break our team, but no, Chris rallied The troops and the following season we went again.

We were better, more expansive, and much more solid at the back. We looked good, up until we played Norwich, after that, we looked unbelievable. 5-0 we beat Norwich. They were lucky, it could have been 8. Everyone knew of Hughtons previous with them,it would have been forgivable for him to remind them of how he was treated there, but, not a word from our boss, just a couple of fist pumps, and on to the next game.
The next standout game , in a standout season, was Wednesday at home. What a game of football that was, in 50 years of watching, it is one of my favourites . A real roller coaster game, and the result made sweeter by the events of the previous season.
That was the game, where a lot of people, myself included, knew we would be promoted. It just felt right. A small wobble against Huddersfield, who many thought would be our nemesis that season, and then, my favourite away game, the 3-3 with Brentford, and our boys proving so hard to beat. I don’t know I’ve ever celebrated a goal as madly as I did Tomers 96th minute equaliser, if I have I don’t remember.
But, there was Chris, calmness personified,the man must have ice in his veins. Never too high, never too low, just keep on keeping on. On to the end of the season, and that never to be forgotten afternoon against Wigan, a 2-1 win, Huddersfield in the late kick off only managing a draw with Derby, and we were up. Promoted, with 3 games to go, we only had to take 3 more points to be Champions. Well, that didn’t quite happen, too much celebrating, an easing off when , perhaps we shouldn’t have done, but, understandable in the circumstances. And where was our manager during the Directors box mayhem after the Wigan game.? Nowhere to be seen, it’s just not his style, he probably had a satisfied smile on his face, a job well done, nothing more. Not the sort of man to lead the players sing song, or train surf to West Street for an all nighters, and all the better for it.
At last, the Holy Grail, 38 games in the most popular league in the World. Who would have thought it when Chris was given the task of saving us from relegation, on New Years Eve, 2014. We started the season slowly, a couple of expected defeats, and then, a result we had been waiting for since 1983, a win in the top division. The other Albion were dispatched 3-1 on an historic afternoon at the Amex, our new signing Pascal Gross scoring the clubs first ever Premier League goal.
This was one of the stand out games in Hughtons tenure, a first Premier League win, and when we all realised that we could compete in this division. But, Chris knew this, he knew his team couldn’t play like a City or a Liverpool, so, he made us hard to beat, and yes, a little boring, if truth be told, but, by the season end he had achieved the main aim of keeping us up. A few outstanding performances, a draw with Arsenal, and an incredible win against the giants of Manchester United, to cement our place in the Premier League the following season. And still, no gloating from our hero,just the acknowledgment of a satisfactory result over a good side.
Then on to, what would turn out to be his final season in charge, tougher than the last, injuries to key players, loss of form for others, and, not much luck with refereeing decisions, it has to be said.
Still though, he kept his calm and dignified personae, at least in public. I’m not going to bang on about the whys and wherefore of his sacking, they have been well documented on other threads, suffice to say, he accepted his dismissal with characteristic dignity.
I am glad that I have been able to witness Chris Hughtons time at our club, he is a giant amongst men, and a pretty good football manager as well.His personal qualities have shone out in the last 4 and a half years, not least his exemplary leadership during the tragedy of the Shoreham Air disaster

Thanks Chris, for everything you have done for the football club, you will be fondly remembered by Albion fans, all the time football is played in Sussex

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