West Sussex County Times

Potter grateful for support during the tough times

- Derren Howard Visit us online at SussexWorl­d.co.uk

Graham Potter has revealed the extent of the backing he received from the club during the difficult times this Premier League season.

Albion ended their campaign with another fine display as a 3-1 win against a decent West Ham team saw them finish ninth in the Premier League table on 51 points.

It’s the highest position Albion have ever achieved in the Premier League but Potter admitted it’s been far from easy this campaign.

Brighton went on a terrible run of form towards the end of 2021 as they only won once in 11 games and there was a run of six successive losses in February and March.

An internatio­nal break arrived at just the right time and allowed Potter to

revaluate and allowed the

Potter came back revitalise­d and a change in tactics to the midfield – one that saw Moises Caicedo promoted to the first team – helped them finish the season like a train.

An impressive run of 18 points from their last nine games lifted them to ninth.

Many Premier League managers would have been ing that poor run but Potter said chairman Tony Bloom and chief executive Paul Barber were always supportive and were able to look at the situation objectivel­y.

“Once a week I speak to Tony and before every game to talk about the game ahead and the previous one and I mostly chat to Paul check in that everything is okay.

“It’s more a consistent approach and they are very supportive.

“They have the ability to be objective despite the fact we have sometimes been in an emotional rollercoas­ter of results.

“Hopefully it is a mutual relationsh­ip in terms of when I have been supportive and objective with them. It’s been a really important relationsh­ip that I identify as one of the main reasons why I came here in the first place.

“I think back to three years ago it was because of those two guys and thankfully I made the right call.”

Chairman Bloom added: “To be sitting on 48 points and 10th in the table with one game still to play is a superb achievemen­t, and I’d like to place on record my thanks to Graham Potter, his coaching and backroom staff, and, of course, the players for their efforts and

 ?? ?? Graham Potter
Graham Potter

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom