‘Football stadiums are built to have people in them’

WITH FANS STARTING TO RETURN AT HIS CLUB, BRIGHTON’S CHIEF EXECUTIVE CAN SEE CAUSE FOR OPTIMISM AT LAST

PAUL BARBER says Brighton are open for business again after a devastating 2020 he calls his toughest in 25 years in football. Rocked, like all parts of society, by the coronavirus pandemic, the game has faced acute financial hardship with clubs deprived of matchday income and their seasons interrupted and delayed.

While players and managers were sidelined from March to July, Seagulls chief executive and deputy chairman Barber, like dozens of administrators up and down the country, sought to make sense of the mess, and keep their clubs afloat.

A double dose of good news this month, with supporters’ safe return – Brighton are one of four Premier League clubs currently not in Tier 3 – combined with the arrival of a vaccine, will lead to more optimism for 2021.

So, the hardest 12 months on record? ‘Without a doubt. I was lucky enough to come into football after Euro 96 – post hooliganism, financial strife... it’s largely been an upward curve,’ he tells Metro. ‘This has been a crisis that has affected the whole game. Every club, all the way down.

‘We have 350 people at this club now and their livelihoods depend on us getting our business back to where it was. People are looking at you, almost pleadingly, saying: “Are we going to keep our jobs? Are we going to be okay in three months?” and you’re not able to give 100 per cent guarantees.

‘Everyone at the club has had to carry the weight of this, not just me or the chairman.’

Albion were finally able to welcome 2,000 fans back to the Amex for the first time since February when Southampton visited almost a fortnight ago. They are grateful the same amount will be there for the visit of Sheffield United on Sunday.

‘It was 282 days since they last attended a game,’ Barber says. ‘The emotions? Relief, because at one point in October, we certainly felt we wouldn’t get anyone back until the new year and possibly into the spring, and joy because football stadiums are built to have people in them. They’re not built to be empty.

‘In the days leading up to the game there was an energy again, which we’ve tried to maintain behind closed doors but it’s so much harder.

‘Like it or not, this is a branch of the entertainment industry and footballers love playing in front of an audience. Behind closed doors is not the same. We’ve all suffered because of that, not just on matchday but the build-up to matchday. It’s not the same.’

Barber has his own take on the issue, that quiet moment he used to find to contemplate between matches in front of packed houses down on the south coast having become a nasty reminder of how things now are.

‘I used to enjoy stadiums in between matches, when they were empty, almost like a sanctuary,’ he adds. ‘Now I hate it because it reminds me of what we’ve been through. Now I’m looking forward to enjoying the stadium empty again because we’ve had 30,000 people there the day before.’

The reality, Barber admits, is having a small number of supporters in the stadium is actually more costly than having no fans at all.

He says: ‘We went into these games knowing we’d lose money, probably more money than playing behind closed doors, but with 2,000 people we’ve got that little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

‘We now want to build confidence with fans who are coming back and also with government.

‘Give us a chance to show we can do it. This period is almost more about proof of concept, it’s small reward for the patience of fans. I’m sure there are going to be bumps in the road but 2021 will be better.’

During lockdown Brighton, perhaps somewhat reluctantly, found themselves forging forward – alone as it transpired – with new ways of communicating as face-to-face contact ceased and everything moved online.

Barber’s Zoom press conferences from home, with the trademark white blinds behind him and cameo appearances from his dogs, became well-known. The Seagulls were flying, at least online.

‘We wanted to stay communicative – with the fans, the media – and there was this period where we didn’t know how we would meet our media obligations,’ he explains.

‘(Manager) Graham [Potter] started it, I got involved, (technical director) Dan Ashworth and (women’s manager) Hope Powell did some sessions and it became a weekly thing that everyone seemed to appreciate.

‘We expected other clubs to follow suit – we weren’t expecting, and didn’t want to be, the only voice out there. It got to a point where we couldn’t stop!’

With action on the pitch stalled by the pandemic, Barber was busy fighting Albion’s corner off it, arguing last season must be completed and rejecting proposals to play out the campaign on neutral grounds.

‘We were accused of wanting to play on through self-interest,’ he recalls. ‘Everybody has self-interest. Liverpool wanted to play on because they wanted to win the title, Manchester United wanted to play on because they wanted to qualify for the Champions

League and we wanted to carry on because we didn’t want to go down.

‘I did feel very strongly about neutral venues not being right for the integrity of the game. I voiced those opinions, it leaked out that I was a bit of an outlier. I was asked about it and it became a story.

‘Looking back, there were times people didn’t quite like our opinion but you have to expect that.’

It is not only off the pitch where the club see themselves as progressive. In Potter they feel they have the perfect manager to take them from top-flight strugglers to mid-table and upwardly mobile battlers, even if recent results see them sit in the bottom five.

It is still a far cry from the club Barber joined in 2012 after roles at Tottenham, Vancouver Whitecaps and the Football Association, when they had just been promoted from League One to the Championship and had moved to the Amex – from the wilderness of the Withdean stadium, their ‘temporary home’ of 12 years.

‘Graham’s a very open, honest transparent guy, full of integrity. There’s no side to him, no huge ego. He is a down-to-earth manager who works incredibly hard,’ adds Barber. ‘He believes the environment is very important to the success of the club.

‘It doesn’t guarantee results but what it does do is give you the best chance of winning every week. We focus a lot on the culture of the club. It wasn’t that long ago we were nearly out of business, out of the league. We never forget that.’

Despite just one home win in 2020 to date, and two victories in 13 games, it is the manner in which Potter has transformed Albion into a team comfortable on the ball since his appointment in May 2019 that has won the team new admirers. Barber says: ‘I think people were surprised at the football we played last season. We almost came away with a result at Anfield on a day when Liverpool were flying. For the first time, journalists were saying to me “you look a different team”.

‘The fans took to Graham and his football and we’ve gone on this season and not quite got the results we have deserved. The players have responded to Graham’s methods but also to the person.’

A few more wins, just like a few more bums on seats, would not go amiss in the new year.