If you had a look at the League One table for the majority of April, you may have noticed
the ‘P’ next to runaway leaders Brighton’s name. Well, it doesn’t stand for pavilion or even pier
because thanks to a well known Uruguayan manager and his positive footballing philosophy -
that ‘P’ ensures that the seaside town is synonymous with ‘promotion’ this season.
Last season, Gus Poyet inherited a squad that he managed to steer to safety in League One and at the
start of this term his side were 20/1 outsiders in a division peppered with big names like Southampton,
Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield - all financially superior to the Seagulls. So how did the
renaissance at the Withdean begin?
The former Chelsea and Spurs midfielder greets me with an enthusiastic “Hello, young sir!” and I
congratulate him on winning the title. We are sat in a canteen at Brighton’s training ground and the
South Downs are a sea of green in the early summer sun. I waste no time finding out just what the
fundamental factors of this emphatic success were.
“When we set things up at the beginning of the season, one was the club itself, and then the players,”
he starts, “Then how strong you need that group to be and convince them that it's possible. Second -
without any doubt - the style of play. We had a system of playing football and we had to make sure
the players understood that and the sooner we could convince them (that was the right way) we could
find the consistency which is needed to win the league.”
That consistency saw Brighton and Hove Albion romp the title in emphatic style four games from
the end of the season with a 4-3 win over Dagenham and Redbridge at the Withdean to maintain an
unbeaten home record all season. Poyet was given full control of the signings needed to implement
the playing style that he told the club would bring them success.
“I'm pleased that the chairman agreed with the system and gave me the chance to put it in to practise
because you can believe in things but after if you don't have the right players or the right place to
play, it's difficult,” he tells me, before explaining the main motivation behind the system... it almost
sounds simple – football.
“I'm a believer that this game, if you think about the name - it's called football,” he tells me: “That
means that if the game is called football then you need to have the ball with you as much as you can.
If you don't have it, if you kick it, if you play the 50-50 all the time or you're just running about then
maybe we should call it athletics or whatever you want to call it! The idea is to make sure you use the
name of the game to your advantage and we try to do that.”
Football is the name of the game in Brighton that’s for sure, and an extra incentive for promotion this
season was the notion that the Seagulls could potentially be playing Championship football in their
inaugural season at the city’s brand new American Express Community Stadium, and Poyet would
need to take the reins of a master plan to deliver the dream promotion.
“I think the idea was to get up, somehow. That's what the club wanted, that's what the chairman asked
me. When he told me I had a good budget, I said that it was up to me to make sure that we were one
of the three going up. I needed to improve three or four places to get promoted automatically or win
the play-offs but that was the idea all the time and we did it, so I cannot be more proud than that.”
Poyet’s Brighton went top of the league on the 25th September when Francisco Sandaza scored a 95th
minute winner against Oldham and at the top they have remained where recently they ensured it was
mathematically impossible for any of the chasing pack to catch them and were promoted four weeks
early. The risk factor has played a major part in their success this season, and not one of the players is
to blame if he makes an error on the pitch as Poyet explains.
“They know if they make a mistake then it's my responsibility. Sometimes the best thing for a player
is to know that the manager will take that responsibility for everything that happens on the pitch,
wherever he goes and that is something they understand because we take risks. There is no team in
this league that takes more risks than us,” he continues, “We need to because we want the ball and if
we don't want the ball then you don't take risk, you put the ball as long as possible and really far from
your goal and that is not a risk.”
He pauses momentarily before adding: “It's a way of playing football, it's not bad or good - it's just
another way of playing football. We have to take risks but we manage to play the ball into areas
that nobody else does and I know that sometimes that can bring some massive mistakes. When that
happens people will always assume it's the player but it's not. It's me, and the players know it's me.”
In one season, Poyet has schooled a division on the art of football, creating superiority not only on the
pitch but in the league table as well. The former Uruguay international and a European Cup winner
has brought his experience of football outside of England to the fore whilst bring a new level of
understanding to his liege on the south coast.
“I think the dream of every single player, and every single manager is to get close to Barcelona and
the top teams in England that pass the ball well – Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea. You
need to adapt to the level that you're at and utilise the players you've got. Not just to dream and be a
dreamer. The idea is to play like the teams that like to pass the ball and keep it, create superiority and
use that to understand the game. People only see where my full-backs are or how we are playing but
they don't see the understanding of the game that we're trying to achieve.”
Admittedly those who don’t see into the psyche of the squad could be forgiven as we have been
brought up to appreciate a very different style of football - the robust ‘England way’ that often leaves
us crying into our pints with a Union Jack around our shoulders every two summers. I ask Poyet
whether he has any idea why other teams in England aren’t utilising his title winning formula.
“I think it's something that is coming from the academies,” he says, “If you went to see any game
in the Sunday League or any game in the under ten, under 15 or even nine-year-olds and you saw a
defender kick the ball long and far from the goal, he's going to be told “well done” from the manager
or the parents next to the pitch.”
“So there is a kid who is nine, he kicks the ball and gets a well done. And when he is ten, he kicks the
ball long and gets a well done. And then when he is 12 and when he is 14 and when he is 16. So he's
going to come to my team and I'm going to say “No. Don't kick it. Keep it. Get it down.” That kid will
probably look at me and say ‘What is wrong? You've changed football, because I've been kicking it
long for ten years and every single person was telling me well done.’
“It's a way of understanding I think,” he concludes, before quickly refusing to condone that style
of football as good or bad: “Again, there is no right or wrong. Not everyone has to play my way!”
But I now have Poyet in his element, discussing the game he loves and the brand of football that has
brought him the success he deserves in his first full term as a manager. He continues to explain the
ideas behind his keep-ball philosophy as if it were a new world order.
“The same happens with the headers. In England when the ball is coming to a centre-half in our
division, the defender normally heads the ball as high as possible and as far away as possible. If you
are marking someone and it's a difficult header then that's okay, but if you're free, you can pass the
ball with the head... It's allowed! If you look at John Terry he even jumps on top of a player and
passes it to Ashley Cole with his head because they want to keep the ball. If you don't want to keep it,
for some reason, then you kick it.”
This season, Brighton fans were given a sign of things to come as bright new hopefuls Lewis Dunk
and Jamie Smith broke into the first team, well versed in the new style of play implemented here that
is now standard practise in the reserves, under 18’s. I’m given a further insight into the blossoming
future of youth here when I ask him about nurturing the youth at the club.
“That the best way. That's the best thing for the future. To make sure that we set it up this year for
the younger group, because they'll be the second group that are playing exactly the same way that we
play. We're convincing those players that are in-between the under 18's and the first team that this
is the way you are going to be playing if you make the first team. Now next year we need to go two
groups down, the new under 18's and the under 16's.”
There is a moments silence and then Poyet bursts into life, waxing lyrical about his football once
again. I suddenly feel like I am on the receiving end of a pre-training team talk from him, as he
becomes animated and starts to explain exactly how the players are drilled in the new system.
“It's not just about passing the ball, that's the main thing that it's very important you get. It's not
like ‘OK. From now on we're going to pass the ball, and we are not going to kick it anymore.’ It's
about when we want to kick it and when we want to pass it. Why we're going to pass it, in which
conditions, on which pitch - there are plenty of factors involved.”
I am transfixed by his arms and hands taking the role’s of full-backs, wingers, and centre backs as he
continues to go into depth about the Brighton way: “It's not just ‘you're here, you're here and you're
here.’ It's not chess. It's football, and in football you need to understand things. Who is playing next
to you? Who are you playing against? If you are a quick player and you're attacking me, who is slow,
go on, take me on, but if you're against Ashley Cole then it's not going to be as easy to go past him, so
you need to understand the game, when you need help and when you don't. One day, we'll try to go to
that level, it'll take time but we'll get there.”
Brighton’s test at the next level came this season at the Britannia stadium when they faced Stoke City
in the FA Cup fifth round. Having already dispatched of Portsmouth and Watford, the Seagulls would
have to face their footballing opposites in the form of Tony Pulis’ robust, physical side. It was the
ultimate test of the philosophy but Brighton slumped to a 3-0 defeat, in a clash of footballing style. It
would allow Poyet to focus his efforts on the League One title, but not without learning another lesson
in the process.
“We were not strong physically strong enough,” he recalls, “and that's another part of the game we
need to get better at. We thought that we prepared the game well, we trained the throw-ins, and we
trained the corners - everything you need to train before a game at Stoke but at the end of the day it's
on the pitch where you have to deal with that big, big throw in. We didn't have anyone to throw it in
training; we were throwing it one handed! But we learned we were not strong enough to deal with that
quality.”
At this stage, it’s hard not to believe that he is the man who can bring the glory days back to Brighton
as the new breed of young upstarts mix with the more experienced heads in an attempt to push the
club onwards to the Premier League. Poyet’s first signing last summer was Gordon Greer from
Swindon Town who he instantly gave captaincy to, before building the promotion winning side
around him.
“That's the way I like to make my team, to make sure there is a good mix of experience and youth, a
good mix of technical players and players that will work hard. You need a defender who likes to play
the ball like Gordon, and another centre-half who is going to defend more than pass it. So you need to
mix the game up. I had been watching Gordon for a while and he was my first signing and he's been a
key part of this.”
Greer certainly was a huge part in the team forming a backbone in the team along with experienced
goalkeeper Casper Ankergren who Poyet knew well from his Leeds days and Radostin Kishishev
running the centre of the park for his team alongside the young, hungry Liam Bridcutt. A fruitful
relationship at the business end of the pitch between Ashley Barnes and Glenn Murray gave Brighton
over half of their goals this season, but is the gaffer going to stick to his guns next season and ensure
they pass their way to success?
“Yes, no doubt.” Is the succinct answer from Poyet, who clearly has faith in the system. We talk about
the success of Norwich, on the cusp of back-to-back promotions and he ponders his own aspirations
for next season: “We'll try to keep going. I think it's interesting how Norwich have done because
they've shown you can keep the momentum going up to the next level, so I'm looking forward to
doing something similar to that.”
Key to their fortunes will be winning the first few games but Poyet is not fussy who the curtain raiser
is against: “To be honest I just want to win the first game so it doesn't matter who it’s against really.
The main thing will be the week before, when we play the opening of the Amex. The last friendly
before the season starts.”
Ah yes! The Amex Stadium, the new 22,500 capacity ground that will be blessed with Championship
football in its first season. Chairman and professional poker player Tony ‘The Lizard’ Bloom invested
a cool £90m into the project which has coincided perfectly with Brightons’ rise to prominence, but
how does Poyet plan to turn the Amex into a fortress like Withdean was this season?
“Training as much as we can in there.” Is the answer, “that is something I've already asked for, and
I know it's going to be difficult because they'll want to keep the pitch beautiful for the first game but
we need to get in and train there.” If the pitch does stay in top condition then Brighton fans can look
forward to seeing some beautiful football on the new surface, not least when the Championship’s
passing sides such as Swansea City and Doncaster Rovers come to visit – a prospect Poyet relishes.
“They're going to be great games. They're the games that are going to be the bigger challenges
because we are used to having the ball, and in those games we're going to share the ball with
somebody else and that means you're are going to have a feeling like ‘Whoa, what's going on? We
normally have the ball!’ - That's something we'll need to learn because we're going to another level
where there are better teams and better players. We won't have the ball as much as we have had this
year so we need to make sure we are more clinical and that we defend better. I think we need to
improve.”
There will be plenty of opportunity for improvement. Rumours are circulating on fan forums that
Bloom is planning to invest £10m into the squad for next season and that he has the top six in his
sights. With that sort of expectation comes the pressure on the manager to perform.
“I think that everything is looking up and it's going to get better. I think the future of Brighton is very
bright,” says Poyet, before delivering a bite of reality: “The only problem is that needs to come with
the results. It doesn't matter how many things you've got - any football team will fail if you don't get
the results, so I need to make sure we get the right results.”
Poyet certainly has a knack for finding the right results down here at Brighton and Hove Albion so
far and he cites the three away games at Plymouth, Charlton and Peterborough as the moments he
was proudest of this season, confirming what they had been working so hard on with 2-0, 4-0 and 3-
0 victories respectively. He also hails Sandaza’s 95th minute goal at the Withdean against Oldham as
a “great moment” as it saw his side move clear at the top.
The allotted time is almost up and the players pass us out onto the training ground in the morning sun
to prepare for the weekends’ fixture against Southampton, full of excitement and laughing with one
another. I ask Poyet to imagine, for a moment, that this season has been a holiday. If he was to send a
postcard to somebody, what might it say?
“Being totally honest?” he asks. Before stating quite simply: “We are the champions!”
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