RESULT! Walters must make every minute count
Until May this year the former Fulham and Spurs midfielder (below) was the only man to lead the Seagulls into the top flight of English football, back in 1979.
Now a club ambassador, Mullery was delighted to welcome the current Brighton boss into his exclusive club.
Former Ireland international Hughton is one of football’s nice guys and steered his side to a second-place finish behind his former club Newcastle.
And as he prepares the club for a crack at the Premier League big boys, Mullery said: “It was getting a bit lonely being the only manager to have led the club into the top flight!
“Now Chris has j oined me and rightly takes his place in the history books of this great club.
“Chris is a quiet man – he’s not a Gus Poyet or an Alan Mullery – but he gets things done in a calm and collected manner.
“I t ’ s no c oincidence t hat wherever he has been people only say good things about him.
“After they lost out to Boro the season before I said to Chris, ‘Come on. Do it next year. Get this monkey off my back’. They did it in style.
“He will forever be remembered here as the man who took Albion to the promised land.”
Mullery still vividly recalls the day when his side won promotion with a 3-1 win at Newcastle on the final day 38 years ago, going on to stay in Division One until 1983.
The ex-England international said: “We caught the paralytic express train home and fans joined in the fun.”
And he was at a ‘Premier League Fixture Release Breakfast’ with 100 others at the Amex Stadium on Wednesday as Brighton learned that they will kick off with a home game against Manchester City. Mullery added: “When City were announced there was a thunderous cheer went up. “What a way to start, against one of the biggest clubs in the world. I just want to be there. “I owe Brighton. They gave me my first job in management. “It’s changed so much now, though, because you’ve got so many good sides in the Premier League. “You’ve got to fight to win as many games as you possibly can at the start because if you lose four or five you are on a downward trend and that can very difficult. “It’s got to be a big plus for the players that they are going to come up against some of the best players in the world.” Mullery cannot wait for Brighton to face his old clubs Tottenham and Crystal Palace, with whom Albion have a rivalry which he started when manager. He said: “They were managed by Terry Venables who followed me into Spurs and we both wanted to be winners. It sparked things up and the ball rolled from there. “I was at Spurs last season when they played Palace and I was invited on to the pitch for an interview. All 10,000 Palace fans booed me – 30 years on. “I’ve got four special games in my diary next season, the two against Spurs and then the two with Crystal Palace.” JON WALTERS is hoping for more time on the pitch with Stoke this season – to keep his World Cup dream alive.
The striker (below) only made 13 starts for the Potters last season but has managed to keep his place in Martin O’Neill’s Republic of Ireland side.
And last weekend saw him bag the 14th goal of his international career against Austria.
With Ireland second in Group D and in a prime position to reach their first World Cup finals since 2002, Walters is anxious to stay in O’Neill’s thoughts.
But he knows he needs to be playing regularly.
Last year was his worst – in terms of appearances – for Stoke since he joined the club from Ipswich in a £2.75million move in 2010.
And while he has clocked up 279 games in the seven years since, just 23 of them were last year, and worse still, 10 of those were from the bench.
Walters, 33, said: “I love Stoke and have had the time of my life here.
“Thankfully I’ve still got a year left on the contract. All I want is to play and be in with the chance of going to the World Cup.
“You want to be playing, every footballer does.
“Our aim is to make the finals.
“We got to the Euros last year and had a great time. We want another taste of that.” More than anyone, Walters wants a second chance to appear at a major tournament.
A year ago, he was the hero of the qualification campaign – scoring vital goals against Bosnia, Poland, Scotland and Georgia.
But when he got to France, injury limited his involvement to one start and one substitute appearance.
Despite that, he said: “There are far worse things happening in the world than me being injured for a tournament.
“I tried to get through it but couldn’t. You move on, now I want to get to the World Cup – we all do.” Buy four for Order 1 for £9.99 or buy 4 for only £19.98, Half Price.