Chris the man to see Seagulls safe
TROUBLE seems to have arrived at Brighton at just the wrong moment of the season and the defeat by Cardiff on Tuesday was worrying. As manager, Chris Hughton has found himself in the spotlight and he has been in football long enough to know that bad results bring pressure. Brighton, who lost 5-0 at home to Bournemouth last Saturday, have certainly had a bad week. What I hope, though, is that a bad week does not lead to the club doing something stupid or rash. Chris coached me at Tottenham in the late 1990s and I know he is a man of integrity and class. He works constantly and the work he has done at Brighton has been magnificent. It was only 14 months ago, remember, that he won the Premier League’s Manager of the Month award, having steered the club into a position where their first season back in the top flight was a resounding success. Brighton are a stable club and people admire them. They have just had a trip to the FA Cup semi-finals — something, admittedly, that can lead to people taking their eye off the ball in the league — and this is their best time since the early 1980s. Every Premier League club outside the top six goes through sequences where one defeat can lead to another and another and another. Bournemouth have had one this season, Burnley have had one, so too have Everton, Southampton, Crystal Palace, Leicester and West Ham. It happens. Chris will be hurt by Brighton’s form but I also expect he will get the results that keep Brighton in the Premier League for another season. Trouble can disappear as quickly as it arrives. He is the man to make the trouble go away.